Takeda grunted as he landed another series of punches into a dummy at one of the training grounds; It had been a couple of hours since Kakashi dismissed the three of them in order to prepare for their first team exercise in the morning, Sakura had irritated him immensely after she rolled back to placating Sasuke once they were alone and above it all…He needed to blow off steam. "If one's too far up his own ass to think straight, the other one's too busy kissing it…I hate this already…"
However unbeknownst to Takeda who was practicing his drills on a dummy, there was someone watching him…Someone who vouched for him even though she rarely had to voice it; Hinata Hyuga watched him curiously as he punched and kicked at the swaying dummy, she knew that Takeda had a lot to deal with and taking it on the chin was one of the few things that she could respect. "You certainly know how to make a dummy feel sorry for itself." She said dryly as she made herself known to Takeda once he swung a powerful kick into it's head.
"I'm not looking to train today, Ms Hyuga…." Takeda said with a voice that blended courtesy with his upticked annoyance from the day. "I've got an exercise to prepare for tomorrow."
Hinata watched Takeda's more terse expression when he turned to look at her, granted he was very much a closed book prior to becoming a Genin but she didn't need a Byakugan to see that something had him more on edge. "And taking out frustrations on a training dummy is how you pass?"
Takeda exhaled through his nose before finally deciding to take a break. "Better a training dummy than a tree in my back yard." He mentioned as he then sat down on a bench, gazing down at the ring on his hand. "Then again, a training dummy is more agreeable than the teammates that I've been put with."
Hinata raised an eyebrow when she realised the motive but considering that she also knew them as classmates, she couldn't exactly blame Takeda for being just a little exasperated. "Your teammates with Sasuke and Sakura, right? They're not exactly lacking in talent."
"Yeah, but they're not exactly pleasant people." Takeda retorted as he rested his head on his palm. "Sasuke's the epitome of "I am the Avenger and my place is the only one that matters" while Sakura takes pride in pointing out my problems while tripping over herself to appease Sasuke…And that was after she agreed to be nicer or trust me."
Hinata nodded as she was well aware of all three's shortcomings: Sakura was incredibly smart for her class and very much a talent when it came to non-Jutsu skill but that all goes out the window when their raven haired brooder enters her sight.
Sasuke was a natural prodigy in the same way that her cousin was but that ego and his desire for constant affirmations made it difficult to tolerate him in class.
Not to mention that while she respected him the most out of the three, Takeda wasn't exactly flawless: He lacked a filter on his honesty, he was mostly introverted, short tempered and he had a chip on his shoulder that threatened to dig into his body…Though she couldn't blame some of that due to years of watching him getting insulted, spat at and generally treated like a pariah.
"Then show them that, it's all well and good telling them this but if they can see you are worth putting the effort of counting on…Then that'll follow." Hinata mentioned as she walked past him toward the sparring ring. "Now the next part is to make sure you can back up your skills."
"You think that this is going to work?" Takeda asked but then flinched as he saw Hinata rush him with her palms forward in her Gentle Fist style.
Hinata watched as Takeda ducked and weaved with her strikes, granted she was going slower and easier to avoid hitting him with everything at the start but she was determined to get him out of that rut, even if it meant smacking him silly. "Come on, show me the fighting style that knocked down Kiba in your training."
"I'm not going to fight all out on y-oof!" Takeda retorted but then got a palm strike to the stomach to stumble him and push onto the more defensive.
"Being defensive of your clan's secrets is fine but if you're going to start going on missions with people, let alone go through training in a team…You need to show something to bring to the table, otherwise you will just appear weak to not just your teacher but to those teammates as well." Hinata said sternly as she followed up with a series of quick jabs, ones that Takeda had been able to deflect as he got more serious.
"I'm willing to share but there's a limit to what I can talk about." Takeda fired back as he caught one of Hinata's jabs in the shoulder and brought a leg up to kick, only to get flipped onto the ground with Hinata staring down at him with her lavender eyes, the fact that she wasn't blinking or looking away made her look owlish. "And to what I'm willing to do in a sparring match, even with you."
"I'm not a doll, Takeda…We're training to be ninja so don't hold back because your enemies won't." Hinata said with a serious, almost offended tone before pulling him to his feet and got into her stance. "I respect you enough to fight you as an equal…So respect me enough to put the effort in fighting me back."
By the time that night came around and rolled into morning, it was time for Kakashi's forewarned training…Though they initially met for 7 in the morning, the hours slowly ticked by as the sun came up and before the three knew it, it was 10am.
Takeda was sat under a tree, nursing his bruised arms and yawning from the less than kind sparring matches that Hinata roped him into so she could "prove that he could go the distance" and show what he's got.
Sakura didn't look any better as she was equally as tired from studying, though it could have also been the fact that she looked dolled up for Sasuke despite her eyes looking exhausted. "Where is he? We've been stuck around for hours…And he's not even given us so much as a heads up."
Sasuke was the least visibly affected by the double whammy of wakeup and hunger, though he still had a sour look on his face so it could have been. "He's probably realising that dealing with an Uchiha is a tall order and wussed out."
Takeda rolled his eyes as his teammate's arrogance did nothing for his irritation but the growl of his stomach distracted him enough to focus. "He told us to wait for him, so let's wait…Whether we like it or not, he's still our teacher so let's grin and bear for a little longer."
"Speaking of bearing it, what happened to you?" Sakura asked as she wasn't blind enough to not notice the bruises. "Did you get into another fight again?"
"No…Well, technically yes but this was a sanctioned one in the sparring ring." Takeda admitted as he adjusted himself and looked to the two. "I wanted to be ready for this test and Hinata figured a spar was better than just beating on a dummy."
"Wait, you sparred with the Ice Queen?" Sakura asked, her voice tinted with both surprise and apprehension; Every time she had seen Hinata in their class, she was either by herself or she was blocking people out when they tried to engage with her. She mostly attributed the latter to being from a high branch in the esteemed Hyuga family, though there was also the fact that she was also called that because her standoffish nature mixed perfectly with her effortless elegance and regal beauty.
"He's lying." Sasuke snipped as he rolled his eyes; He of all people had his eyes on Hinata purely for the fact that she came from a family that was considered powerful…Which then snowballed into gossip/rumours among the girls, leading to added ostracisation for Hinata purely because Sasuke looked in her direction. "One of the top Taijutsu users in our class wouldn't bother with someone like him."
"But…Isn't Takeda also in the same category as you and her?" Sakura asked curiously; Admittedly she was one of the girls who got jealous at the idea of Hinata and Sasuke fighting together but she also knew for a fact that Hinata could very easily beat most of the people around her.
"Ah good…You guys made it on time." Kakashi cheered casually as he strolled towards the training spot. "Glad to see you guys talking at least."
"Only because you're late!" Sakura pointed out as she decided to take her snippiness out on him, partly because the hunger pangs gnawed at her stomach and partly because she didn't want to validate that Takeda was right about the whole "Respect agreements" argument.
"I just got lost on the path of life, it happens a lot these days." Kakashi played it off as he looked to the trio and noticed that it wasn't just Sakura that was looking at him dirty. "Well, at the very least that hungry look in your eyes tells me that you were listening to my instructions."
"So what is this exercise you want us to do? Because I promise you that I can excel any task or previous student you took on." Sasuke boasted as he kept his eye on Kakashi, knowing that he was still a Jonin despite his attitude.
Kakashi hmm'd as he then reached into the pouch hanging from his waist. "I'll make sure I hold you to that, Sasuke…because this one is a test that very few in my previous groups never fully grasped." He warned as he jingled the bells in his hand. "It's rather simple…Get the bells from me before lunchtime and I'll consider it a pass, fail to do it and none of you get lunch."
Sakura looked confused at this condition but then realised why he told them not to eat beforehand. "So one of us fails then we all fail."
"Pretty much, which is why I'm not going to hold it against if you guys come at me with everything…You can even try to kill-"
Sasuke however wasn't eager on waiting for this to finish as he threw a kunai and rushed at Kakashi with the hope of taking him by surprise…Only to be then slammed into the dirt with an armlock and the kunai dropped inches from his face.
"Whoawhoawhoa, slow your roll, Uchiha…I admire your nerve but I didn't say go yet." Kakashi said as he kept Sasuke pinned to the ground. "Now when I say go, you can start your attempts." He said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Sakura blinked as she saw this; Not only with Sasuke getting manhandled so easily but also by how abruptly that their teacher left. "Did he-"
"He said it! I'm gonna destroy him!" Sasuke growled as he rushed into the woods to try tracking Kakashi down. "I won't let anyone disrespect me like that, Jonin or not!"
"Wait, we need t-" Takeda tried to yell after him but only succeeded in yelling at air as Sasuke vanished into the trees. "For the love of…Okay Sakura, if we're going to get these bells then we need to come up with a-"
"Wait for me! I can help you win, Sasuke!" Sakura called out as she rushed in Sasuke's direction in a mad sprint and leaving Takeda alone with his budding frustrations.
"Am…Am I just invisible to these people? I thought THEY were supposed to be the ninja here." Takeda sighed to himself as he followed after them, if he couldn't get them together for a plan then he may as well try to help back them up.
Kakashi meanwhile was watching the trio from a nearby tree; Hidden in the foliage as he saw Sasuke's blind charge, Sakura's blind devotion to help him and Takeda's blind…annoyance. "Come on, kids…Work with me here." He thought as he vanished to start trying to pick them off…Beginning with Sakura.
"Damn it…I was trying to keep up with Sasuke so he didn't get hurt but now I've lost him AND Yoshi…Oh for the love of- I did it again!" Sakura thought as she lamented her sudden reflex in jumping to help Sasuke, ignoring Takeda in the process and making her feel that pang of guilt. "Why are you like this?!" Her Inner Sakura mentally yelled at her.
"You need to mind your surroundings." Kakashi said from behind her before weaving a handsign and then suddenly engulfed Sakura in a whirlwind of leaves, watching her twitch before dropping to the ground. "One down…Let's see how the prodigal two handle things."
Sasuke however was too busy bickering with Takeda to notice what Kakashi had in store for the both of them. "I already told you, I know what I'm doing so go buzz off and bother someone else!"
It had been a while since both Takeda and Sasuke had been elected for team exercises and this particular instance showed why that was rare. "And again, I'm not convinced that you do because we should be taking this seriously, not running off to stroke your ego about taking on a Jonin solo!"
"And what better way to show my skills as the last Uchiha than by doing so!" Sasuke bragged, forgetting that it was just Takeda around…The one person who was in their student group that didn't cater to him.
"And I'm the last Mafia in Konoha, what exactly is your point?" Takeda pointed out as he then glanced around cautiously. "Neither of us are going to take on Kakashi alone so we may as well work together!"
"With you? You'd sooner drag me down to YOUR woefully abysmal level by proximity before I can even see those bells." Sasuke said with a snort of derision and then started walking. "Besides, you don't even have Jutsu or anything at your disposal."
"Doesn't mean that I'm not low on options, you jerk!" Takeda snapped back, summoning up copies of himself through the indigo Mist Flames before calming himself. "Look, you don't have to listen to orders but at least follow my lead on this and we can turn thi-"
"YOUR lead? Why the hell would I follow you when you're probably just going to sell me out?!"
"Right on cue and the money…" Kakashi quietly muttered as he could feel his mental eye roll charge up while he watched the two argue with each other, jumping down since he figured this'd be easier than he thought. "I heard you two have problems working together but Iruka REALLY undersold that comment."
Sasuke grit his teeth and then without another word; He rushed at Kakashi with wild swings and carefully plotted out Taijutsu strikes, snapping down with ferocity and using every skill he hammered into himself.
However Kakashi was more than well versed in handling him as he effortlessly blocked, deflected and even flipped the attacking Sasuke into the ground. "You know, it pays to listen to people…Because despite what you think, Yoshida does know what he's talking about."
"As if I will listen to that underhanded thug and humour what he has to say about this matter between Ninja!" Sasuke spat as he kicked and struggled to pull free.
"Glad to see that Fugaku got involved with teaching Sasuke…" Kakashi thought with a mental eye roll before leaning in close. "Right now, you aren't making any progress or headway to impressing anyone so I suggest you put in the effort…"
It was there that Takeda had made himself known by charging forward with fists that burned with a flaming Orange, initially taking Kakashi off guard with a jab to the side to knock him off of Sasuke, though he then ended up getting met with block after block once the element of surprise wore off. "Airtight…I can't even swipe to get at the bells."
Sasuke however decided to be opportunistic and moved to swipe when Takeda wasn't swinging to get at the bells though neither of them had much luck, Kakashi then grabbed their wrists and threw Takeda away but kept Sasuke pinned since he knew that the Uchiha was more erratic. "You're strong…"
"They didn't make me a Jonin because of my good looks after all." Kakashi remarked with a breezy tone but then blinked in surprise when he saw Takeda start to multiply himself in bursts of indigo flames. "Huh…Guess even the Mafia have their own versions of Clone Jutsu."
"Training exercise or not, I'm passing this." Takeda said with a determined look on his face as the other "Takedas" also got into stances. "So hand over the bells."
"I'll admit it's impressive to see one of Iruka's students pulling something like this off but you guys are getting way too predictable…In a Ninja's line of work, neither of you would be as lucky." Kakashi pointed out as the multiple Takedas attacked him
"Maybe not…" Takeda started but then smirked a little as he held up his ringed hand. "But did you ever stop to notice that the Sasuke that attacked you was a few inches taller?"
Kakashi didn't have much of a chance to react as the sudden disappearance the Sasuke that he had pinned was now gone and one of the copies of Takeda attacking had burned away to reveal Sasuke hidden underneath it.
With the moment lined up, Sasuke then vaulted over a Takeda copy and delivered a double footed kick to knock Kakashi off balance while then swiping two bells from his person. "How is that for predictable?"
Takeda then caught one of the bells that Sasuke tossed to him, thankful that the plan worked. "It probably would've worked better if you had listened to me the first time."
"The only thing you said was that I could get the drop on Kakashi while you did your little parlour trick." Sasuke snipped as he dangled the bell in his fingers. "Besides, why should I entertain your would-be plan? It's not anything that I can't do on my own…All you did was ape an easy to use technique."
"You just can't-" Takeda was about to fully argue but then he felt his legs get swept out from under him as Kakashi kicked low along with using the momentum to knock Sasuke off balance…And taking the two bells back.
"You two really had it there…Which is a shame to say that time's up for your test." Kakashi stated with a disappointed albeit casual tone before jingling the bells and pointed to the main area. "Sakura's back there anyway so she should be waking up soon."
By the time that the trio were sat in the spot where Kakashi first explained the test, Kakashi was already making it clear just how much he felt disappointed. "Okay…I have seen my fair share of problems with people who I had to take but sweet gods above, you three take the disappointing cake."
"But I got the bells from you! That should count for passing me." Sasuke argued as he refused to believe that he failed…He never failed…Anyone who said otherwise wasn't worth his time.
"That's one of the problems I have with you so how about we start with the goods and the bad." Kakashi sighed as he then pointed at Takeda first since he was the closest and the most visibly disgruntled. "YOU can think on your feet and you can work with the others…But you keep letting everyone else talk over you without letting it bother you, that isn't being a bigger person, that's you letting others drown you out."
Sasuke felt a little of his anger wane when he saw Takeda get a dressing down from Kakashi, he knew that he was the more superior out of the two but it felt right knowing that someone else on a higher stature thought the same…At least until Kakashi turned to face him.
"You on the other hand are the opposite; You have the makings of a strong Ninja in both skill and technique...but that immediately diminishes when you wilfully disregard and ignore the advice of others." Kakashi carried on. "I'll admit that teamup of your's threw me for a loop but it doesn't take a genius to see that whatever you two have…it's shaky at best."
"We teamed up though." Takeda pointed out as he didn't want to abandon the credit. "That switchup got us the bells before you swiped them back."
"Any tag team or collaborated effort is only as effective as what you have as a foundation…The fact that you could only steer Sasuke in the right direction because it meant getting a shot at me." Kakashi retorted as contrary to what most people think; He does pay attention to things and he was more than aware of the animosity that both Sasuke and Takeda held toward each other. "That only indicates to me that even the idea of being in the same area is enough to make you both retch."
Sakura felt her lips tighten into a thin frown as she heard this; One part of her wanted to complain that it was unfair for three recent Genin to compete against a seasoned Jonin, while the other part reflexively wanted to call out Takeda for not being a team player…Wait…
"And then there's you, Sakura." Kakashi said as he finally got to her while she was thinking, dragging her out of her thoughts. "From what I could tell from your records, you are an exceptional kunoichi and top of your class academically." He started off but then that turned into a disappointed tone. "Which is why I was shocked to see that you not only failed to see some of the more obvious tells in this scenario but you also failed in keeping up with the other two."
"But they-"
"I'm not saying you need to match them in all equal aspects but while you were fixated on worrying about Sasuke during the whole thing, you also abandoned any semblance of aid towards Takeda…As well as the attention to your own surroundings."
"Teamwork…" Sakura finally mumbled as both Kakashi's words and Takeda's unimpressed glare struck the sore spots in her psyche like an arrow. "That's the secret! You were trying to get us to work as a team."
Kakashi nodded in approval, however that didn't do much to alleviate the lesson. "Key word being tried…Sakura is right that this lesson was supposed to inspire teamwork between the three of you in more ways than one."
Sakura beamed as she realised that she got it right, though Sasuke huffed as he muttered some offhand comment that he figured it out from the beginning. "And here it comes…" The more pessimistic voice in her head cut through that initial joy like a knife.
"But so far from what I can tell, you three are by far…Not only the most squabble prone team put together but the most dysfunctional team to be put together!" Kakashi stated without any hint of subtlety. "Because I see one person trying too hard to make sure everyone sees he is better than everyone else, one who gets too easily frustrated and shut out…And someone who's more fixated on good impressions than they are on actively helping their teammates."
Takeda and Sasuke didn't look like it but they were equally shrinking under Kakashi's mellow yet equally blunt words like Sakura had been, it was hard enough to have someone point out their flaws in front of the other but it was harder to dispute them when they knew they couldn't bluff it.
"So what happens now?" Sakura asked, she felt hesitant especially when she was equally under the gaze. "Do we try again?"
Kakashi shook his head. "From where I see it, you three can try again with this test as many times as you want…But it'll all lead back to the same conclusion." He explained and then stood up to dust himself off. "Two of you can't even breathe in the same room without picking a fight with the other, the third is stuck spinning her wheels and all in all, you three can't even see eye to eye about your responsibilities"
The trio cast their eyes downward but Sasuke kept determined as he scoffed.
"So to answer your question, I'm gonna fill out the paperwork and you three will be sent BACK to the academy so you can learn how to properly work with other people." Kakashi said and then vanished, leaving his words to stew in their minds.
"All that effort…And I couldn't even show anyone what I could do…" Sakura lamented to herself as she felt a combination of self-disdain at not being able to excel with any of her skills, the embarrassment of failing with Sasuke watching her…and the fact that despite all her insistence and her attempts, old habits came back and she flubbed it with Takeda. "So what happened that you guys got the bells?"
"I came up with the idea for the gangster to use a knockoff Clone Jutsu and I disguised myself as one of them, allowing me to catch him by surprise and get the bells…If the idiot didn't let Kakashi get the drop on us." Sasuke explained and made a pointed glare at Takeda with the latter half of his sniping.
"Really? You want to do this now?" Takeda huffed as he got to his feet, the lesson was done with and so was his patience for Sasuke's attitude. "In this grand plan of your's: What part of it did you come up with? Criticising the initial plan I made up, ignoring everything I said because it got you close enough to land hits on him…Or the fact that if I didn't say a thing, you'd be face down in the dirt screaming about how he cheated somehow."
"All I know is that you didn't back me up when I had the advantage and now you made us all fail." Sasuke spat as he turned to look at what he figured was the most interesting patch of grass, that was the end of his discussion and he wasn't going to entertain anymore.
"Wait, look!" Sakura stepped in as she saw something curious: In her peripheral vision, she saw that there were three bento boxes tied up on a broken tree stump. "Kakashi-sensei must have left them behind when we finished the test."
"But why? He told us not to eat and he dangles the boxes…Probably wanted to make us really hate failing the test." Sasuke thought as the knot in his stomach tugged again in hunger.
Sakura could see the confliction etched on Sasuke's brow and she honestly couldn't blame him, the fact that they were up early without breakfast and the subsequent grilling made it exceptionally difficult to think straight, let alone argue a point. Her own inner self made it painfully aware that this could also be a veiled taunt at the fact that their inability to work together cost them a full stomach and a chance to work as Genin, though that thought quickly dispelled when she saw Takeda walk past them towards the boxes. "Yoshida, what are you doing?! Don't mess around with those, we're already in enough trouble!"
"I'm getting food, what does it look like?" Takeda said with a tone so simple and blatantly clear that he looked at them like they both grew a second head, casually grabbing two boxes and held one out to Sasuke begrudgingly.
"Leave them alone! We've already failed our tasks as it is, we don't need Kakashi-sensei to snap at us more." Sakura protested as she got to her feet, making it clear that while her stomach bellowed at her to chow down, she also felt the urge to argue against further antagonising.
"Screw him, he left them behind." Sasuke grumbled as he grabbed one of the boxes out of Takeda's hand and placed it on his lap to open it up. "If that Jonin was too distracted to take them with…Then he's not exactly setting the bar high for us in the first place."
"But that's-"
"Sakura…We already failed his dumb test so we may as well go back to the academy on our own terms with full stomachs." Takeda said as he handed her one of the bento boxes. "I'm hungry, you're hungry and the jerk over there may not admit it but he is too…So you may as well eat."
Sakura felt the words die in her throat as she reluctantly took the box from him, her hunger outweighed her morals at this point and she wasn't exactly planning on suffering alone if Sasuke was going to eat. "And if he comes back?"
"Then I'll take the flack." Takeda scoffed as he picked up the chopsticks. "I always get the blame so if he asks, it was my fault you guys got the boxes." He explained without even looking up from his own bento box. "So eat up…If we have to deal with failing this then we may as well do it together and with some energy at least."
Their budding moment was far from isolated as in the distance among the trees, Kakashi was watching the three as part of his test; His idea was to take the full details of their failed mission to the Hokage like he had done so many times before, however this time around he was taken by mild surprise when he saw that not only did they look out for each other but the most opposed member of their team actually stuck his neck out for the both of them. "Well…This certainly is a nice change of pace…Maybe they CAN make it work." He thought to himself before preparing himself to jump out and scare them into a psyche out…Vanishing in a puff of smoke and making the training ground let loose a triad of screams from the forged team as Kakashi scared the bejesus out of them.