Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Trinity Chronicles: Rewind ❯ Chapter 5

Team 9: The Introduction of Morino Ami

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Naruto, Laharl, and Buds had come back to the classroom, looking worse for wear. They had spent almost the whole break in that stuffy bathroom expelling whatever they have ingested in the past few hours... and they were now hungry and weak for it. After much deliberation, the two brothers agreed that the blonde one was the cause of all their suffering, even though they had no real idea what he did.

“Last time I’m leaving Naruto in charge of the kitchen...” Buds muttered.

“I second that fact,” Laharl declared.

“Eh... come on,” Naruto grinned, scratching the back of his head. “Its not like we died or something...”

The two brothers glared at him.

“I’ll... shut up.”

“Yeah...” Buds muttered, feeling rather let down at the fact that he just probably blew the only chance he had of telling the Hyuga girl of the class his feelings.

Laharl wasn’t really much annoyed, more like angry at the fact that an Overlord (conveniently forgetting the fact that he wasn’t one anymore) like him had been forced to hiding in a bathroom, and doing rather unmentionable things. He hadn’t been so humiliated in his life... well, there was a time that his photos spread out in his netherworld. He could never forget Etna and Flonne looking at the pictures, giggling like a bunch of morons.

Naruto, though... kept mostly to himself. He had avoided a kiss from Sasuke-teme, which was already a mark on how good his day has been. Other than the fact that he was still stuck with the bum and his former crush rather than his brothers... or the fact that he had to take the same trip towards the bathroom... it was still a nice day.

“Team 9,” Buds stated with a rather curious look. “Morino Ami... if we take what Iruka-sensei said to account, with Laharl being on the bottom...”

The squinty-eyed Uzumaki jumped, and spun around, his extended leg almost hitting the brown-haired Uzumaki, who nimbly dodged his attack with ease.

“Stop it,” Buds growled. “I wasn’t insulting you.”

“Che...” Laharl muttered distastefully, but stopped his attacks.

“If Laharl is one of the bottom... and I’m just average... then to balance that out, this Morino Ami should be... the higher up of the class, maybe even best,” the brown haired Uzumaki reasoned.

“The best of the class is Sasuke...” the squinty-eyed Uzumaki declared.

“And add to the fact that there is no such person in our class,” Naruto wondered. “Meh... you guys landed in a very interesting team... so interesting that you guys have no idea who you are teamed up with.”

“I’d rather have landed on Team 8...” Buds moaned.

“And replace Kiba with someone who slobbers worse than him?” Laharl asked.

“I do not slobber!”

“Oh, fine... drool!” the squinty-eyed Uzumaki declared.

“Oi! I do not drool!” the brown-haired Uzumaki retorted. “My saliva glands are just... uh... somewhat overloaded with chakra when it sees beautiful women.”

“You did not just say that with a straight face,” Naruto raised his eyebrow, knowing full well that Buds was just poking fun at Laharl with his odd sense of self-depreciating humor.

“Well... it’s better than my ‘kunai’ joke...” Buds declared with a wide smile.

A normal reaction would be Naruto laughing aloud, catching the drift of his joke, while Laharl looked annoyed, but before they could even start with the routine, someone seemed to have beaten them to it.

“Heh...”

The Uzumaki brothers blinked, surprised to find someone listening in their conversation. Alert, and ready, they spotted a rather graceful looking kunoichi leaning on a wall. She was older than they were and wore a rather odd set of clothes...

She was dressed in a body-tight black suit, much obliged to Buds’ eyes (and a thorn to Laharl’s). It extended from her chest to her thighs... it would probably not have left much to the imagination but most of her ‘womanly’ features were hidden ibehind a dark blue jacket, zipped up until the collarbone, and on her waist was a miniskirt, same color as her jacket, accented by two belts crossing each other.

The belts themselves were no mere accessories. They held a whole bunch of rather interesting looking weapons... from normal kunais, to odd-looking shurikens, and something that got the three Uzumaki’s attention.

Her holsters were holding scalpels... the weapons that the Trinity Master used. However, unlike the straight edged ones, they have been curved somewhat, like hooks. To make things even more interesting, the gloves she wore looked rather unique. It looked plain at first, but the way they felt small sparks of chakra run across them made the brothers realize there was more than meets the eye with those gloves.

Her brown hair was cut rather short, and her face was shaped somewhat like a heart, but chiseled, and rather harsh. Her lips were full, accented by a beautiful red color, and her brown eyes narrowed as she looked at them, studying, sizing them up.

She was a very beautiful kunoichi, but came off as cruel, unsympathetic... and rather dangerous.

“So... you two are the ones on my team... pathetic,” she stated harshly.

Laharl glowered, feeling somewhat pissed while Buds looked rather curious.

“Uh... are you... Morino Ami?” the brown-haired Uzumaki asked.

She nodded, looked at Buds, and declared, “Uzumaki Tenshin. Likes to call himself Buds...” she smirked. “Is it because you dislike the name... or because you dislike yourself?”

It was the brown-haired Uzumaki’s turn to feel somewhat ticked off as her words hit him like an arrow towards the bulls-eye. He couldn’t even get a protest off when she turned, looked at the squinty-eyed purple haired Uzumaki, her lips curving up a few more notches.

“Uzumaki Laharl... odd name, even odder attitude,” she declared. “Judging from your disgusted eyes as you look at me, you detest the female form in its glory. Are you a homosexual... or just really immature?”

Laharl’s grin came, though with it was the evil backing of his killing intent.

“And I’m teamed up with you two...?” Ami shook her head. “I’ll give you two a warning: go home.”

The Uzumaki brothers looked at each other, and towards the girl. Did she just tell them to go home?

“Before the jounin sensei comes to pick you both up... disappear,” and her hands went towards her inner jacket pocket, which made the three brothers get into their fighting stances. They wondered what kind of weapon she was about to pull out, only to reveal a black book.

“Disappear... and I won’t need to use this on you,” she stated, showing them the book’s title in front.

Exhilaration of Pain

“The bible for all interrogators... in it are the details of the most painful, brutal, and bloody tortures, one chapter at a time,” she smiled. She flipped it open, and then walked away, reading the book. “I’ll be waiting eagerly for your decision. Uzumakis.”

Buds swallowed, looking somewhat afraid. Morino... Morino... was that girl related to Ibiki!? She never sent a killing intent, but her words were serious and truthful. She didn’t want them in her team... and she had promised pain if they ever dared to cross her wishes.

Laharl looked pissed. He was not to cower under threats, but he knew what he had just seen was a very powerful adversary. Her intents were real... very real. Yet, knowing that full well didn’t stop him from feeling excited. He wanted to see her, challenge her... and beat her to the ground.

Naruto looked somewhat jealous towards their brothers. Why couldn’t he land with someone as interesting as that!?

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At the classroom, everyone gathered, waiting patiently for their jounin senseis to come and pick them up. While most of them grouped together, talking about how excited they were about the teams, the Uzumaki brothers sat together, wondering how life would serve them now that they where to be, forcefully, separated from each other.

Naruto couldn't really complain... having Team 7 back may not have been his first choice, but it would be like back in the old days.

Well... maybe not exactly in the old days.

While he still feels that he shouldn’t use all his ninjutsu skills in his repertoire, unlike before, he now has above than average skills in taijutsu thanks to his morning practices with his brothers. The experience of living more than a hundred years helped him with his battle tactics, and the fact that the chicken butt had no Sharingan yet was making him feel really good at the moment.

Laharl, while he loathed being in a rather weakened body, it was dampened by the fact that he had somewhat full control over the three-tails that was given to him. It was a fact ever so present during the Uzumaki Morning Spars, that even Buds and Naruto’s higher fighting skills could never match Laharl’s raw power and endurance.

In addition, even now, he felt himself challenged by one young woman. Laharl loved the fleeting feeling; the anticipation of the challenge... the stomach churning awaiting a fight... and the utter joy he’d feel when he beats her.

Buds, on the other hand, was getting scared shitless every moment passed, jumping up out of his seat every time a jounin suddenly came to the room, and called a team.

“Settle down, would you, moron,” Laharl growled, feeling tired of the jumpy Uzumaki. He swore if another sensei came in, all left of Buds would be a pile of skin, his skeleton running away.

“Why the hell are we still here!?” Buds demanded softly. “We can still make a run for it you know...”

“The sparky kunoichi wants a challenge... she’s going to get one,” the squinty-eyed Uzumaki declared, smirking. He looked at his brother. “Besides, what’s got you shaking like a leaf? You’re the one who usually keeps a calm head around these things...”

“Death, I can face squarely,” the brother replied. “But she didn’t threaten to kill us. She just threatened to hurt us... badly. That, I don’t want.”

Laharl just scoffed.

“Ne, Buds... just calm down,” Naruto declared, slapping the brown-haired Uzumaki on his back gently. “We three faced together the worst things that the Universes have ever thrown at us... I’m sure you can get this Morino Ami on your side or something.”

“Che... Luckless Wonder?” the purple haired Uzumaki laughed. “He’ll be first on her death list.”

“I’m not the Luckless Wonder... Overlord Brat,” Buds growled, some color and mirth coming back to his face.

“Yeah, right,” Laharl grinned. “You’re the one that chickened out in telling-”

“SHHHH!!!” Buds shouted, covering his brother’s mouth. “Shut it! Stupid!”

The brown haired Uzumaki found his center again, and he realized it, much to his chagrined. Laharl may or may not have intentionally helped him out of his little rut, and he gave him silent thanks. Overbearing Laharl may be, but was not a total bastard, unlike some people (to which point, Buds stole a look towards Sasuke, who was being annoyed by Sakura).

He was being silly... he knew that. Maybe it was Ibiki’s reputation that frightened him more, or the fact that angry women are really much to fear, but Naruto was right. The three survived worse.

“I’m here for Team 8...” a rather calm and collected voice called from the entrance of the classroom. Yuhi Kurenai appeared from everyone’s view, and looked around. Spotting her hopeful students, Hinata, Kiba and Shino raising their hands, she was about to call them down when her eyes found themselves staring towards the Uzumakis.

“Oh crap...” Buds muttered, finding himself staring at the rather beautiful crimson eyes of the genjutsu specialist, and hid behind Laharl and Naruto.

Naruto chuckled as he found himself looking at the beautiful jounin’s face, transforming... from calm, to anger, to faux tranquility. It seems she still hasn’t forgotten what the great Luckless Wonder did to her a year ago. (1)

Professional, she was though. Despite the fact that she was somewhat ticked of seeing Buds again, Yuhi Kurenai called her team down, and led them out without another word.

“You’re lucky you’re not on her team...” Naruto declared.

“He’s a masochist,” Laharl chuckled. “He’d start to enjoy it after a week of her private tutoring.”

“You disturb me sometimes,” Buds declared, sighing. “I’m... I’m kinda glad she doesn’t really actively hunt me, but...”

He trailed off.

“She’s gonna give you a harder time in getting Hinata, right?” the two brothers asked, forming the same conclusion.

“Yup...” the brown haired Uzumaki confirmed. “Pretty much.”

“Hell, maybe she’ll just sabotage you outright, and tell Hinata that you are one sick perverted bastard,” Laharl laughed loud at the idea.

Before Buds could even reply to that, the classroom door slid open, revealing another jounin… while that itself wasn’t odd as some have been coming and going, gathering teams, this one was someone even Naruto didn’t recognize.

He wore a standard jounin vest, over his full uniform, which consisted of basic black jacket and black pants. His hair was dark colored, cut rather short and spiked up uncontrollably while his rather small dark eyes looked lazy yet alert. At the bottom of his left eye, though, a small scar running from it to the cheek. Like Kakashi, a black cloth covered his mouth and nose, but unlike Kakashi, his forehead protector was on his left arm, kind of like Shikamaru.

“Team 9…?” the jounin called.

Laharl’s face shone rather eagerly, and looked at Buds, who took a deep breath. They raised their hands, indicating they were present. The jounin nodded, and called them down.

“I am Asuka Goh,” he stated rather quietly. “You are Uzumaki Laharl, and Uzumaki Tenshin, am I right?”

“Yeah, he is Laharl,” Buds stated, pointing towards the eager Uzumaki. “And please call me Buds.”

Goh didn’t answer to that, just motioned them to follow him. Taking one last look towards Naruto, the Uzumaki brothers bade each other farewell, and the two followed their jounin sensei outside the classroom, to whatever destination he had planned... and apparently, that destination was nowhere near the academy. Jumping off a few rooftops, the jounin, Goh, was staying silent as Laharl seemed to have lost his patience, and began asking where they were going.

“Well?” Laharl asked for the fourth time. “Are we going somewhere far? Where’s that Ami bitch, anyway? Why are you so quiet? That scar... is that from battle, or did you shave your eyelashes, and missed?”

“As a ninja... I find your mouth spouting off towards your potential enemies disturbing,” the jounin muttered rather quietly.

“Say what?” the squinty-eyed Uzumaki.

Buds coughed. “He means you’re loud.”

“I don’t care!” Laharl growled. “We have the right to know where we are...”

“We have arrived.”

Landing on the clearing, Laharl and Buds found themselves on a training ground. Bordered by green grass, rocks, and even a small stream of flowing water, the whole place looked so comfortable that Buds visibly relaxed. The brown-haired Uzumaki, whose own affinity to Earth made him forget his worries about Morino Ami and made him lose himself in the beauty of nature of their surroundings.

The purple haired Uzumaki, though, was just looking around on high alert.

“I think I found a haven...” Buds whispered. “This... this is beautiful.”

“Eyes on the prize,” Laharl growled, staring at a certain area.

A spark of chakra garnered the attention of the distracted Uzumaki, and his eyes darted towards the same place where the ex-Overlord had been staring at for the past few moments, and spotted a figure walking towards them with deliberation. Buds swallowed, but stood his ground as he took deep and relaxing breathes, while Laharl was psyching himself out, his fists ready to explode.

“Is it bravery that makes you two stand against me, Uzumakis, or just stupidity?” Morino Ami asked as she finally came close to the two.

“I assume you three have met,” Goh stated quietly.

“Not quite, Goh-sensei...” Ami declared, looking towards the jounin with a smile. “Can you leave us, please? We three have to... introduce ourselves properly.”

Goh looked between Ami and towards the Uzumaki brothers, and nodded silently.

“Try not to cause too much damage,” he muttered, before he jumped away, disappearing from view, leaving the two brothers and the kunoichi alone in the training grounds.

Ami smiled somewhat, her energy levels spiking again. Laharl looked at her with his own smirk, going immediately to his own fighting style, while Buds panicked as he felt the air around them turn heavy and volatile.

“Hey... guys...” he called desperately.

“I warned you both,” the kunoichi declared, her gloves were now littered with electrical energies, roving from one finger to another. “I do not want you guys in my team. You two are not worthy.”

“I’m sorry little princess,” Laharl snarled, his killing intent spiking. “I do not want to be in this team either. I just want to beat you down.”

Buds chuckled nervously as the two looked at each other, one intending to kill, the other looking to dish out pain, and before the brown haired Uzumaki could try to stop them, Laharl came flying towards the kunoichi fast. His fist exploded forward, which Ami nimbly dodged, and with grace, spun around, and hit Laharl at the back of his head with her heel, coming from a spinning turn kick driving him down on the ground with a painful impact so powerful that it left a small crater.

“Heh... one down,” Ami declared. There was no way that he’d wake up from that, so her eyes moved towards Buds, who still stood there, in a neutral stance. “You better get ready, Uzumaki number two.”

“Uh... Ami-san... Laharl’s not...” Buds didn’t finish as the kunoichi suddenly felt a powerful hand grabbing her heel, and threw her towards one of the trees.

Ami spun twice around the air before she felt the hard impact on her back. She grunted, and she felt like her insides had rearranged themselves at the crash. Coughing, she was surprised to see Laharl standing, smiling at her.

She growled, very much surprised. It seemed the Uzumaki boy was harder than he looked... and strong too! He threw her with one hand a few meters away! Such a puny body producing such strength!

“What’s a matter, princess? Did an unworthy brat catch your tongue?” Laharl smirked.

“Um... Laharl... laying it a bit thick, aren’t you?” Buds asked.

“MWAHAHAHAHA! You made the first mistake in challenging your betters, little princess,” the squinty-eyed Uzumaki declared, ignoring his brother. “You’re not even worth fighting... weakling!”

“Weakling, am I?” Ami muttered, standing straight, now fully recovered. “I’ll give you one thing... I underestimated you. It won’t happen again.”

“What are you going to do? Cry for mommy or daddy?” Laharl smirked, and laughed aloud again.

“No... this.”

Buds didn’t know what happened... a flash of light momentarily blinded him, and Laharl shouted as he was pushed away through three trees, leaving smoldering wood pieces around the area. When the flash subsided, and Buds didn’t see his brother standing, he got worried.

“Laharl!” he shouted, running towards the smoking crater of the forest, quick to notice the air around the area was charged, even stinging somewhat as he approached... but before he could even see whether the squinty-eyed Uzumaki was alive or not, he felt the air cut around his back, and immediately rolled away, dodging two kunais thrown at his way.

“Wha...” Buds couldnt finish the sentence as he rolled away, dodging another flurry of kunai and shuriken coming at him. Everywhere he went, Ami threw her weapons at him, each accurately trying to disable him.

“Hey! Come on! Your fighting Laharl!” he called from behind a tree. It was imbedded immediately with shurikens.

“I am fighting both of you,” Ami stated calmly. “Now that your arrogant brother is down, you are next. Stop cowering behind that tree. Fight me like a man.”

“There is no reason to fight you, you know...” Buds muttered. “And as a sensible man... I’m staying here.”

“Your choice...”

Another spike in chakra got Buds attention. Throwing caution in the wind, he looked back towards the kunoichi, and realized what that flash of light was. On her hands, chakra gathered and formed into a bright blue-white electrical energy, and then she positioned her hands, each stretched towards him, touching together. One hand then began pulling back, and the electrical energies around her hand formed a c-shaped arc facing away from him.

It was a bow made of electricity. Realizing what she was about to do, Buds ran away from the tree as she launched a large lightning arrow towards his direction, smashing two trees at its course.

“ARE YOU NUTS!?” Buds shouted, running as Ami didn’t seem content in that one attack, but kept firing more and more bolts of electrical arrows at the running Uzumaki.

“Keep running, and you’ll lose ground,” she stated rather neutrally, firing more arrows. “I can keep doing this forever. All I have to do is wait for you to make a mistake-”

“And all I need is an opening!”

Laharl’s voice cut through the air... it gave Buds a relief, while for Ami, it gave her another surprise as she found herself on the receiving end of two sandals to her gut. Had the squinty-eyed Uzumaki not shouted his attack, it would have hit her full on, and may well have put her out of commission.

Still... his raw strength made her fall back in retreat, so she distanced herself from the boy, and threw her kunais and shurkens on his way, which was met by a quick movement of the air around her target.

Laharl smirked as all the thrown weapons were deflected away, and looked towards Buds, who was now standing in front of him, his wooden sword somewhat damaged yet usable after blocking all the projectiles rather easily.

“Thanks...” he muttered.

“Don’t worry about it,” Buds muttered, looking a bit angry. “I owe her some anyways. She almost fried my ass, you know...”

Laharl, from his position and had to stifle laughter as he could see that the backside of Buds’ pants was now smoking slightly.

“Yeah, yeah, lap it up,” his brother growled. “Let’s do this.”

“Let’s.”

Morino Ami kept silent, wondering what to make of this. It was glaringly obvious how the brothers operated... Laharl had the inhuman endurance; he was able to survive an accelerated descent, hitting the ground face on... she could still see the small crater that was formed where he had kissed the ground. Then there was also that lightning arrow that he took full force, and now he’s up and about again?

Never forgetting his strength as well, she deduced that Laharl was the tank... able to take and give hits, but his fighting form was glaring. He was too dependent on his might and stamina... unlike the other Uzumaki, who had shown considerable form with that wooden sword of his. How good was he?

That question was answered when the brothers were on her. Easily dodging Laharl’s rather pathetic offense, she thought she could take advantage of his openings and sent a kick towards the boy’s gut, only for her attack to be blocked with a hard hit from a wooden sword. Buds it seems, was covering for his brother, and parried her attacks, trying to destroy her form to leave her open for Laharl.

Close combat is suicide for me against these two... she thought with relative calm, though her temper was rising at the notion that she was being forced to use this.

Pushed away again, she called forth another electrical charge that began to swim around her arms. Like a blur, her hands dove towards her belt in her miniskirt, and grabbed out the scalpel hooks she had yet to use, and threw them up in the air.

Buds paused slightly, wondering what she was going to do, and was surprised when he noticed the scalpels being hit by electrical bolts, and floated in the air.

“Wha...!”

Before he could say anything, the scalpels around Ami suddenly charged towards him. Raising his wooden blade, he tried to parry them out of the way, but was shocked to find that the hooked scalpels moved away from his blocking motion as if they were alive, and hooked on the damaged part of his weapon, and without effort, completely broke it in one motion.

Deeming the disarmed Uzumaki harmless for now, Ami’s eyes went towards Laharl, who was charging at her, and as response, moved her hands to motion the scalpels to move at incredible speed towards him. The boy tried to dodge, but like earlier, the scalpels seemed to come alive, and followed his movements.

“ARGH!” Laharl growled as he covered himself as the kunoichi’s weapons came at him, cutting his clothes, arms, and even legs, and to make it worse, it came with a follow up attack at his back, pushing the squinty-eyed Uzumaki down on the ground.

“One down...” Ami muttered, raising her hand. The scalpels followed her motion, and went up, and pointed downwards to the prone Uzumaki, who didn’t know what was about to hit him.

“Omega Del Atla!” Buds raised his hand, his finger now focusing on his magics as he spoke Latin again. “Mother Earth, protect your children! Earth Coffin!”

Ami looked towards the other Uzumaki, his hands now directed towards his brother. She wondered what language that was, and what good it was going to do as her hand descended. The scalpels rained down from their position, and hit... nothing.

Her eyes widened.

Buds retracted his hands. He could feel the ground beneath him shift towards him, and then, a large dome appeared in front of him, gave way, revealing the fallen Laharl, who was now dirtier now that he took a subterranean route towards his brother.

“Don’t do that without warning me again...” the squinty-eyed Uzumaki declared, though he looked relieved.

Buds smirked somewhat, and the two brothers looked towards Ami, who was staring them, her eyebrow raised inquiringly. She had never seen such an earth element ninjutsu... activated by words, not by hand seals, and the energy she had felt was close enough to be chakra but was subtly different.

“Odd... interesting... fascinating...” she stated, her hand going towards her chin. “A sort of bloodline, maybe? Doesn’t matter... now that you revealed it, I shall be ready for it.”

“That isn’t the only thing he can do...” Laharl smirked, as he looked towards Buds. “Time to ask Mother Earth for gifts, mage...” he whispered the last word, inaudible to Ami.

Buds knew what he meant, and nodded. “Give me time. Omega Del Atla!”

Morino Ami found herself feeling a sense of foreboding doom as that Uzumaki boy chanted those words again with that strange language... but unlike the quick hymn, he was deliberate and slow with his words. The chakra-like energy than began to build up once again... she didn’t want to know what she was about to receive, and directed all her attacks towards Buds.

“Oh no you don’t!” Laharl growled, smirking as he blocked all incoming scalpels head on, ignoring the wounds he was receiving. “You’re not spoiling the surprise!”

“Damn...” Ami moved her hands around, manipulating her weapons once again, hoping to get a hit in, but the squinty-eyed Uzumaki blocked every move she did as behind him, the build-up of that odd chakra reinforced and then began to release itself around the area.

“Thank you, Earth Mother, as we receive your gifts...” Buds’ spoke in Greek, much notably slower than his Latin. “Bounty of Gaia, tempered by Hephaestus and Kronos... may my enemies fall by your blades!”

Laharl saw Buds nod towards him, smirked and charged towards the kunoichi, abandoning his role of being his brother’s shield. Ami’s mind began to think the implications... what tactics would the two would use?

Deciding to finish her original plan of taking out Buds, she ‘ordered’ the scalpels to hit him, and immediately released her control of her weapons. She then concentrated on the charging Uzumaki... gathering electrical energies in her hands, she readied herself.

Without Buds to cover for him, Laharl’s sloppy fighting style would be his downfall.

A sound of her metal scalpels hitting something hard and bouncing away surprised her, and noticed that Buds was now holding another sword... though unlike his wooden sword, which was curved somewhat at the tip (like a samurai’s sword), this one was uniform, straight and made of... dirt?

“Laharl!” Buds declared, throwing the sword high up in the air.

Ami’s eyes widened as she watched the purple haired Uzumaki jumped from his position, up to the air, grabbed the sword, and gathered chakra from his body and smirked as he faced her...

“Winged Slayer!”

Almost as fast as a bolt of lightning, he charged towards her, his blade up front, destroying everything it touched and more as he slid down to the ground. The force of his attack was so strong it, ripped her jacket to shreds, ruining it, and forced her away, to Buds’ awaiting form.

“Omega Del Atla!” Buds chanted once again in Latin. “Earth Capture!”

The ground gave way, and suddenly, dirt spiraled up and caught the kunoichi in the air, and dragged her back to the ground, pinning, hardening and trapping her in place. Ami could struggle for a moment, trying to get out of her bonds, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t budge.

“Don’t bother,” Buds declared behind her. “You’re beaten.”

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From above the treetops, Asuka Goh studied his new team with scrutiny, without showing much emotion. This was probably the first two genins who showed guts and potential as they faced off against the fifteen year old kunoichi, though he wondered how would that fare for Morino Ami; she was now trapped in an interesting earth elemental technique, made by that Uzumaki Tenshin.

“Interesting...” stated a voice behind Goh.

“Quite... Kakashi-sempai,” the jounin-sensei replied, without looking to see who it was. “Though too destructive. A ninja must not leave any sign.”

“True enough,” Kakashi stated, his hand going towards his chin. “But there are times that power can be used as a theatrical means.” He paused. “What do you think of the two Uzumakis?”

“That Tenshin boy has a lot of battle potential... odd earth elemental techniques, and solid kenjutsu,” Goh closed his eyes for a moment. “Laharl, though... a powerhouse. While his unarmed fighting style leaves much to be desired, he has displayed some skill with the sword on his last attack. And they both work well together.”

“Ara... I guess the question is, can the three work together as a team?”

“My guess would be it will fall in the hands of Ami-san,” Goh replied. “By the way, Kakashi-sempai... when are you going to get your students?”

The Copycat Ninja looked confused for a moment, and then scratched his silver hair nervously. “Mah... I forgot.”

Goh rolled his eyes as Kakashi left him alone to get his students, and continued to watch the Uzumakis and Morino Ami.

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“MWAHAHAHAHA! ” Laharl laughed, looking at the trapped kunoichi, the sword he had used was now crumbling away. “Was that it? Your promise of pain? Looks like the little princess has taken on more than she can swallow!”

“Eh, Laharl, come on, don’t tease her,” Buds muttered.

“I’m not teasing,” the squinty-eyed Uzumaki declared. “I’m gloating.”

“Your arrogance is the worse,” Ami muttered, still held in place by the spell that Buds had cast on her.

“Ooh, the dog without teeth just barks... you hear that, Buds? Hear that sound?” Laharl paused, putting a hand on his ear. “That is the sound of the sore loser.”

“I will admit I lost this round... but it won’t happen again,” Ami stated, looking towards Laharl. “You'd do well to kill now or I’m coming back for both of you... and this time the gloves will be off.”

“No, no, no my dear sore loser,” Laharl smirked, approaching the trapped Ami. “There won’t be a next time... because now, we’ll see if this book will be useful.”

The kunoichi’s eyes widened as Laharl showed a black book titled Exhilaration of Pain in his hand. Buds looked puzzled how his brother got it.

“How?” he asked.

“Found it on the ground,” the ex-Overlord shrugged. “Must have fallen out when her jacket got ripped.”

“Stop fooling around!” Ami growled, now renewing her struggle with her bonds, showing signs of agitation. “Give me back that book!”

Laharl looked at her rather evilly, and towards the book. He nodded.

“Oh, I will give you back the book...” he declared, opening it. “One chapter at a time...”

“No! LEAVE IT ALONE!” Ami shouted. “RELEASE ME! GIVE THAT BACK!”

“Whoa, chill,” Buds declared, patting the pinned kunoichi on the back nervously. “Don’t worry, Ami-san... I don’t think he’s going to hurt you, really... right Laharl?”

Buds looked towards his brother, who was staring at the open book. Noting the utterly confused look at Laharl’s face, he approached him.

“What’s got you dazed? The book can’t be that bad... can i... wha... What. The. Hell...?”

The brown haired Uzumaki was now looking at the page that Laharl was staring at... now he realized what had stunned his ex-Overlord brother. He expected paragraphs describing the fine art of torture, interrogation and whatever Morino Ami was supposed to have been
threatening them with...

What they got was something else entirely.

“Is... is this... Love Hina?” Buds asked, his eyes going towards Ami, who was now looking away, her cheeks flushing like ripened red tomatoes.

“Uh... no, I mean, yes, but... uh...” she spluttered, her calm facade fading to non-existence. The brothers fought a hardened genin, with powerful moves and techniques... now, she seemed like she wanted to melt into the ground, her face looking like she wanted to disappear.

“It is... isn’t it?” Buds asked again.

“It’s not mine! A friend of mines just lent it to me! I thought it was interesting, so I was only reading a bit!” Ami said rather fast. “It’s not what you think!”

“Oh... well.. if it isn’t yours, then, I guess its okay if I do this... right?” Laharl asked, and began to dangle the book, holding it up by a page.

“NOOO! Don’t do that! IT’S A SPECIAL EDITION VOLUME, SIGNED BY AKAMATSU-SENSEI HIMSELF! THERE ARE ONLY 5 OF THEM IN THE WORLD!”

Laharl and Buds looked at each other knowingly.

“I think she’s... yeah?”

“Yup... definitely.”

“I am not what you’re thinking... whatever it is!” Ami growled, struggling against her bonds once more.

“If you’re not, then tell me... what’s the name of the ultimate form of a Shinigami’s blade at Bleach?” Buds asked.

“You mean the Ban...” Ami stopped. Her eyes glazed as she stared at the two brothers, and began to struggle again. “I am going to kill you both... I promise! I will kill you both!”

“She’s digging her own grave,” Buds stated, feeling rather sorry for her.

“Heh... little princess is some otaku!” Laharl teased, flipping the book he was holding up and down at her face. “Little princess is an otaku...”

“You just love to pour gasoline on a fire, don’t you?”

“Fire! Now that is a good idea!” the squinty-eyed Uzumaki smirked, dangling the book again by a page, his fingers holding a corner. “A nice bonfire would do this book... oh, wait... this manga, some good, whatcha think? Eh? Eh?”

RIP!

“Oh...” Laharl paused, seeing the book fall to the ground... and on his finger was a piece of the corner of the page he had been holding earlier. “Oops.”

“Oops!?”

Voice laced in venom... the area now silent as it was bathed in killing intent... Buds shivered as he looked towards the shaking kunoichi, whose head was down, and around her began to glow so brightly underneath her bonds.

“Oh... bugger...” was all Buds could say before everything exploded into a white light. Everything after that was blank... he was momentarily blinded once again, and his ears rang.

Laharl readied himself, but his surroundings were nothing more than white noise. He didn’t even know if he was standing or on the ground. He felt disconnected from his body… until a strong and painful lightning attack hit him on the stomach, shoulder, face, and chest.

He could only scream in agony.

“How did that feel!? Good, doesn’t it!? And now…”

Buds heard the painful screams of his brother, and tried to pin-point his location, but before he could do anything, someone punched his gut multiple times before grabbing his neck, and pinning him to a tree.

The smoke cleared, and Buds, in agony, could finally see who was holding him... it was Morino Ami. Her left gloved hand was squeezing his neck, while her right hand, ungloved, was crackling with electrical-blue light. She was shaking, looking at him with water in her eyes.

“I’m going to kill you...” she declared, her tears falling freely. “You know my secret... I can’t let you ruin me...”

Buds could only twitch weakly as he tried to get in air. “H... hold on...! Ca... can’t breathe...!”

“You think I’m weird don’t you!? You think I’m weird!” she cried, shaking him more. “Most shinobis aren’t interested in stuff like this... comedy, romance, fantasy... what use is this kids stuff when you’re facing life and death everyday?”

“Y... you’re... you’re not weird...” Buds gasped. “I... I think its... normal...”

“Liar! You’re lying so I won’t kill you!”

“No... seriously...” he groaned. “I’m like yo... agh!”

Buds began to twitch as her grip tightened. In the corner of his eye, he could see Laharl, alive, but somehow rigid, his limbs twitching. Whatever Ami did to his brother, it put him out commission for a while... Laharl wasn’t going to be helping him anytime soon.

He could only laugh weakly, and Ami looked at him, confused.

“Hey... if you’re going to kill me...” Buds coughed. “... can you at least... tell me what happened in this week’s JUMP Weekly? I missed... it...”

Morino Ami looked towards Uzumaki Tenshin, surprised at what he said. She loosened her grip, sending him to the ground, coughing hard, taking in all the air that he could, and she moved away. Spotting her glove for her right hand on the ground, she picked it up with her left, and shoved it to her lightning hand, covering it.

“Done?”

Ami turned towards the voice. It was Goh, who was looking at her neutrally. She wiped the tears from her face, and it transformed once again to her calm facade, though her eyes gave it away.

“Yes...” she replied.

“Good,” Goh looked towards the coughing Buds, and towards the twitching Laharl. “When you both recover, we’ll start introductions.”

--------------------------------

Ba ck at the academy, Naruto grinned (Sakura, inwardly, was as well) as the door swung open, and a jounin with broom-like silver hair poked his head inside, only to suddenly be drenched in a bucket of cold water.

“Nyahahaha! I can’t believe you fell for that!” Naruto laughed aloud, clutching his stomach.

“Uh... sorry, sensei... I tried to stop him...” Sakura began, though inside, her Inner Sakura was clapping strongly for Naruto.

Tch... is this really a jounin? Sasuke thought darkly, not impressed with the man.

“Hoh... my first impression is...” Kakashi paused. “I don’t like you guys.”

“Tough talk from a wet scarecrow!” the blonde Uzumaki rolled on the floor, laughing.

“Says the blonde monkey in an orange jumpsuit...” the jounin replied.

“Blonde monkey...!?” Naruto asked, looking shocked. He grinned manically. “You’re on my hit list, scarecrow.”

“Hnh... meet upstairs in the rooftops,” Kakashi declared, ignoring Naruto’s threat, and left them.

--------------------------------

Buds, Laharl, and Ami sat side by side; Laharl on the left, glaring daggers at Ami, who was on the right, back to her calm self once more, and Buds sandwiched in-between the two. Their jounin sensei, Goh, was in front of them, looking at them through his small eyes, though the brown-haired Uzumaki thought that the jounin was smiling underneath that mouth mask.

“Now that you three have had a taste of one another...” Laharl glared at Ami, who looked at him disdainfully, much to Goh’s amusement. “Its time for some introductions.”

Goh put his hand at his chest. “I am Asuka Goh. I like experimenting with ninjutsu, and challenging missions. I dislike loudmouths...” and he looked towards Laharl at that point, “and traitors. My dream is to train worthy shinobi.

“Your turn, Ami-san,” Goh finished.

“Fine. Morino Ami... My likes are none of your business...”

“Like we need to know what other series' of ‘kiddy books’ you like,” Laharl growled, earning Ami’s glare.

“I dislike arrogant brats who can’t fight their way off a paper bag,” she leered towards the squinty-eyed Uzumaki. Buds just rolled his eyes. “And my dream... well... truthfully, is also none of your business.”

“Fair enough,” Goh nodded. “Uzumaki Laharl?”

“Yeah, yeah...” Laharl nodded. “Uzumaki Laharl, ex-Overlord extraordinaire. I like beating down overconfident little princesses...”

“Do you really want me to repeat your ‘beat down’?” Ami asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Oh, come on guys,” Buds declared, keeping the peace between the two. “Let’s just get the introductions done without another war... okay?”

“Tche,” Laharl growled. “My dislikes are none of your concern, and neither are my dreams.”

“Alright. Uzumaki Tenshin?”

“Uh... Buds. Please call me Buds,” the brown-haired Uzumaki said with a smile. “I like my brothers, and... uh... well...” his thoughts went towards Hinata. “I also like cooking, and learning more recipes. I dislike a lot of things... my dream is to... uh...” and his thoughts went back towards Hyuga Hinata again. “Y... yeah.”

“Interesting,” Goh declared after a while, realizing Buds had finished his introduction. Standing up, he continued, “Now that we know each other, we can officially call this Team 9. Congratulations, you two,” he looked towards the Uzumakis. “You are now officially genins of Konoha. I shall discuss our training options tomorrow, and the day after that we shall take missions.

“Now... dismissed!”

Goh stood up, bowed slightly while he formed a hand seal, and disappeared from their sight. Laharl looked towards Ami, who stood up first from the group, and ignored them. After ten paces, she looked back towards Buds, who was now laughing somewhat towards his brother.

“Hey...” she called. “Tenshin.”

“Uh... Buds!” he corrected her.

“Yeah, whatever...” she muttered. “I’ll bring my JUMP tomorrow. You can borrow it... just don’t ruin it.”

Buds was taken aback, and then smiled widely, expressing his thanks with a deep bow. Morino Ami ignored him, turned her back at them, and walked away.

“Hehe... are you gonna betray Hinata now?” Laharl leered.

“Nah...” Buds grinned towards his brother. “So shut up, or I’m telling Naruto you got your ass handed to you by a girl.”

“We won, and you know it,” the squinty-eyed Uzumaki growled.

“Maybe...” his brother replied. “So... can you stand...?”

“Nope...”

“Me neither...” Buds stated.

The two Uzumakis fell on their backs looking at the sky, clutching their injuries, moaning in pain on the training grounds.

To Be Continued...

--------------------------------

Omake:

“Damn it… stupid Uzumaki…” Ami growled as she pinned her manga on both sides, forcing it to stay open. She grabbed some scotch tape and the ripped part of her manga (which she recovered from Laharl), and meticulously tried to connect the two broken pieces together.

“Apologies to Akamatsu-sensei…” she muttered, bowing towards the manga. “Maybe I shouldn’t have taken you out of my room… but I wouldn’t have anything to read if those idiots didn’t show up.”

Ami looked somewhat miffed at how everything played out. She supposed that she was unprepared with her foe as usually her threats and her name would give the usual green genins a scare powerful enough to make them run. Now, she was in a team again, after 2 years of doing nothing with that oddball Asuka Goh.

She snorted. Didn’t the man even feel shame that his last name was a woman’s name? Maybe that’s the reason why he seemed a bit too… apathetic. His childhood must have consisted of his schoolmates teasing him, calling him ‘Asuka-chan’.

She would have. It was a joke you shouldn’t miss telling.

“Ami-san…”

“AGH!” the kunoichi screamed as Goh appeared from her window, her hand going for her weapon holster, only to hear a very… very painful ripping sound.

Beads of sweat began to pour down her face as she looked towards her manga. She had been in the final process of fixing the tear, and now after her jounin-sensei scared her, the rip had increased in size.

She screeched.

“Hmmm… must be a bad time,” Goh decalred softly, before disappearing.

Ami cursed, and threw her shurikens towards the window. She swore… he did that in purpose.

--------------------------------

Additional Notes:

(1) - described last chapter.

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Next:

Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke are now taking Kakashi’s Bell test to show that they are worthy of being kept as genin... but, unfortunately, for the jounin, Naruto already knows what the test holds, and is planning something to give a little something back.

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Author’s Notes:

No love or reviews for the last chapter? T_T

XD Before anyone complains about Naruto not being much on the last two chapters, well, yeah... sorry about that, but this one was necessary to introduce Team 9. Next is all Naruto... the fox prankster is back! :P

And thanks for Nadia for editing and proof-reading this for me.