Genkaku (Naruto fanfic)

Chapter 10: Make or break

Shizuka double checked the contents of her weapons pouch. Now that she had graduated from the academy (or maybe not depending on the outcome of today's test) she was allowed to carry weapons publicly. She had used some of the money provided by the Hokage to invest in a good pair of kunai, shuriken and a few explosive tags, all neatly stored in the sleek black leather pouch tied around her right thigh.

Her stomach growled softly as she arrived at training ground 3, reminding her of the missed breakfast as per her sensei's orders. Sasuke was already there, casually leaning against a tree with that ever-present scowl on his face.

Shizuka was surprised to see him there as she herself had been twenty minutes early, too jittery to sleep well that night. Judging from the slight bags under his eyes, he had also not slept well.

"Morning." She greeted, voice still slightly thick with sleep due to the outrageously early hour.

Her cousin nodded at her in return. Shizuka took that as a good sign and sat down besides him, tree bark digging into her back semi-uncomfortably.

It was silent for a while, one cousin caught up in his own head and the other still trying to wake herself up.

"You think we're going to have to fight?" Shizuka eventually broke the silence. 

During her restless night she had mulled it over and come to the tentative conclusion that if they were going to be a combat team, which was highly likely, they would be tested accordingly.

Sasuke shifted next to her, opting to sit down instead of stand.

"Probably."

"Against him? Or each other?"

The boy contemplated her words for several seconds.

"Him." Came his answer. "They've made us spar against each other enough during our time in the academy to know how we'd fare against each other."

Shizuka had quickly figured that even though Sasuke didn't speak much usually, he would make an exception when it was regarding anything shinobi related so she put in the effort to make conversation about it. He was her closest remaining family after all and Shizuka was intent on at least getting to know him well. 

She nodded thoughtfully as she overthought the consequences of that. If they were truly going to fight against their sensei, who was a jounin, they would be pulverized within seconds. Would he hold back and spar them one on one to test them out? Or would he make all three of them fight him at once?

Their third teammate arrived exactly at 5 A.M., still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. His hair stood up in all directions, clearly not brushed, and his orange jumpsuit was wrinkled as if he had slept in it. The boy clearly wasn't an early riser.

"G'morning." Naruto mumbled before plopping down a few meters from his other teammates, his eyes nearly sliding shut again.

"Good morning." Shizuka replied politely.

Sasuke predictably remained quiet, opting to ignore the boy all together, and a slightly uncomfortable silence returned to the training ground once more.

Their sensei was late. Again. A dull sense of irritation ignited deep in her chest as Shizuka realized that yesterday's shenanigans weren't a one-off as she had hoped. It seemed Kakashi needed to invest in a good watch.

After the first hour of sitting and waiting passed, Shizuka was bored enough to start doing some of the stretches Gai-sensei had taught her.

Unfortunately, Naruto was now also awake enough for brain function and Sasuke was bored enough to rile the boy up. They had been in a staring contest for twenty minutes now and she could literally see tears welling up in their eyes from the lack of blinking.