One year later…
"Team 10 under Sarutobi Asuma will consist of Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Choji." Iruka called from the front of the class as the rest of the class listened raptly, with the exception of Yoshina, who was reading as usual, and Shikamaru who seemed to be asleep.
"Team 8 under Yuhi Kurenai will consist of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba," Mizuki called this time from his set of lists.
It had been a year since the Uchiha incident, and things had been… different… since then. Both Sasuke and Minako had taken their training up by a notch as they no longer had much to do with the absence of residents in the Uchiha district. In fact, the only two residents were Sasuke and herself, and to say it was lonely was a huge understatement.
After the incident, she had officially moved into the Uchiha manor to keep Sasuke company and to stop him from damaging himself through extensive training that he couldn't handle. He was hell-bent on revenge against Itachi, but at least he would listen to Minako most of the time, most likely because he was in a similar situation to her, where she was one of the important people left to him.
Though she knew the real reason behind Itachi's actions, she didn't speak about it like she (or Kurama to be exact) had promised Itachi. If Sasuke wanted his vengeance, then she would play along for both Itachi and Sasuke's sake. She spent most of her spare time sparring with Sasuke, hunting or reading through the Uchiha library which she got permission from Sasuke to use.
Speaking of the library, shortly after the incident, her father had contacted Sasuke and expressed his condolences along with providing aid, including funds necessary to keep the more important functions of the Uchiha districts functional.
Though he had been hesitant on accepting an offer from the man who had forgotten their own child and left her to survive on her own, she had managed to convince Sasuke to not let grudges interfere with needs.
Danzo's death was publically announced, but not his actions. As much as Minako wanted the man revealed for the monster he was, he simply had too much support within the village, and such an announcement would most certainly cause unrest within Konoha, something she agreed was not needed, which was why it was said that he had simply been killed by Itachi whilst he was visiting the clan head.
Root, a division of the ANBU headed by Danzo, was merged with the general ANBU unit, whilst his personal assets were seized to be used to fund Sasuke and the rebuilding of certain parts of the Uchiha district. Only Sasuke knew the truth behind the man's death, and when he had learnt of why she had done so, he swiftly wrapped the girl in a hug and thanked her for preventing the desecration of his clansmen, much to the embarrassment of Minako.
She had also forbidden him from using his Mangekyou, and it was one of the few problems they both agreed upon rather swiftly. After some light reading in the deeper parts of the clan library, the disadvantages of its use heavily outweighed the advantages in the long run, and losing his vision was not something Sasuke wanted before he even met Itachi.
And here they were now, a year later after passing the Genin exam and finally being assigned into teams with a jounin sensei.
Team 10 was the Ino-Shika-Cho trio of this generation, and if anything they seemed slightly dysfunctional even if the three members were close friends. Their abilities synergize well together but for now they were simply a ragtag group of people with abilities that could potentially work well.
Shikamaru was the quiet and observant type, much like Yoshina, but added with it he also was the laziest person she knew. She had no idea how the man could fall asleep in the middle of PRACTICAL exams, but somehow he proceeded to prove her wrong at every instance. Despite this, he was capable during the few times he was serious.
Choji was an… odd-ball, to say the least. One look at him, and the last thing that comes to mind would be a Shinobi, Seriously. His physical stamina was not high, and his refusal to hurt his targets was also another issue, but despite his size and quarks he was indeed very well-versed with the Akimichi clan techniques, and could use his size to his advantage.
Ino was probably the weakest link of the three. The main problem was that for some reason she considered Minako as a love rival in her pursuit of Sasuke's attention along with 3/4 of the female class population. For one, she was incredibly jealous that Minako was the only one that Sasuke would allow near him, not to mention the fact that he was more comfortable when she was, but she was also incompetent due to the fact that she spent most of her time visually stripping said boy instead of training.
Though the Yamanaka clan poison techniques could be extremely dangerous when used correctly, Ino did not give off the vibe of reaching such a level anytime soon. The team wouldn't work well if their only ranged support was incompetent.
That said however, the team probably had the most synergy out of all teams mentioned so far.
Minako's results were somewhere in the upper middle, mostly because of her refusal to use kunais and shurikens, or should she say her complete inability to use them, as in Shiro would literally NOT LET HER USE THEM AT ALL EVEN IF SHE WANTED TO, much like Kuro with swords. This resulted in her failing most practical exams they set up, though she was given a satisfactory score in all cases since she had proven that she was faster and far more skilled with the bow than most students were with their shurikens and kunais.
In fact, it would be blasphemy if they failed her simply because she didn't follow norms, if her accuracy and power with the weapon was any indication of her becoming a splendid kunoichi, her skills with the sword was another, though the school didn't know of course as there wasn't a test for kenjutsu.
This however, meant that she was given only a satisfactory grade, and was not marked like the rest of the students were.
Her taijutsu was at genin standards at the very least, and she couldn't find a reason to train herself in it except to the required level as there wouldn't be a situation where she couldn't access Kuro and Shiro.
Whilst she didn't have the Top Kunoichi nor Rookie of the Year titles of the graduates (instead taken by Yoshina and Sasuke respectively) due to this, the class and instructors commonly agreed on the fact that she had the most combat potential of the graduates, even more so than Sasuke.
Of course, it wouldn't be a surprise when team 7 was called.
"Team 7 under Hatake Kakashi will consist of Hyuuga Hikaru, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke." Iruka called.
…
Well this would be a pain.
Though she had beaten most of the arrogance out of Sasuke, he still had an unnecessary amount of pride in his skills at his age, and no one in that team was near his level in terms of skill. Whilst the Hyuuga girl is of a branch house, her abilities were at least near the top of the class, but not enough to stop Sasuke if he were to do something stupid
Though Minako didn't know how that would work out, it was good to know that Kakashi would be with them to teach Sasuke on the effective usage of the Sharingan. Since the massacre a year ago, the lack of Sharingan wielders meant that he had to improvise on his learning of his clan dojutsu, which also meant that his progress was slowed down quite considerably in that field.
She could hear Sasuke banging his head on the desk from behind her, more so when he heard the Haruno girl's name than when he heard the Hyuuga's. At the very least Hikaru could keep up with him during missions.
"Team 12 under Namikaze Kushina will consist of Minako, and Namikaze Yoshina and Namikaze Naruto."
…
Minako looked up and stared at Yoshina with an unreadable expression, who stared back with the same. Naruto was at the front of the class celebrating the team he had been put in. Despite how calm she looked on the outside, her thoughts were in turmoil.
The siblings said nothing, but the two could hold a mental conversation through gestures and eye movements.
"Does she know?" Minako asked using the universal hand language of the Elemental Nations. Whilst the team members and sensei could be a coincidence, it was nonetheless unbelievable that the entire team could consist of one family, despite the fact she was not formally known or registered as an Uzumaki-Namikaze.
"No, she doesn't know yet, most likely coincidence." Yoshina signaled back, earning a sigh from Minako, both from disappointment and a slight hint of loneliness.
Despite the fact that it was only a coincidence, at least it meant that she could spend some time with her family even if half of them weren't aware of her identity. The last time she had seen her mother was a number of years ago, before she left to live in the forest.
"Please wait here until your jounin sensei arrives to pick you up, and most importantly, Congratulations to you all!" Iruka exclaimed before exiting the room with Mizuki in tow
***
Minako waited in silence with her eyes closed whilst Yoshina continued to read as if nothing happened in the first place. Naruto seemed to be trying to copy the two of them in their silence, but the fact that he was tapping the floor with his foot repeatedly was a sign that he was starting to get bored from the lack of action.
As time passed, people began to leave one by one following the jounins that had begun to arrive until it was only them and team 7 remaining. The only noise present in the class were Naruto's occasional foot-tapping and Haruno's squeals whilst ogling Sasuke.
Around half an hour later, the door opened to show a red-haired beauty that seemingly hadn't aged a day since Minako had last seen her. Wearing a green jonin vest and red gloves covering both her hands. She could make out rough seals that went across the surface of the two gloves, and seeing that she was specialised in bare-handed taijutsu, it seemed fitting that she wore custom gloves that most likely had gravity seals to bring down her fists with less effort and more power.
"O-K! Team 12, meet me at training ground 12 in the next 5 minutes or I will fail you immediately, bye bye." Minako sweatdropped at the sudden tone change the moment she threatened to fail them. Naruto immediately took off with a motivating shout whilst Yoshina silently closed her book and began to calmly walk towards the window before leaping off, leaving her alone with team 7.
She stood up and left the building after bidding farewell to Sasuke, who returned the farewell with a nod. She could hear the Haruno girl fuming as she left, most likely because Sasuke answered everyone except Minako with only typical Uchiha grunts as a response.
She leapt onto the top of the academy building before looking around to locate her destination, which was west from her current position. Releasing her inner Kyuubi side whilst maintaining her henge, her pupils turned into slits as her eyes began to glow a dangerous blue, giving off a beastly glint.
A growl escaped her lips as she bent her legs and took off towards the training ground. She leapt as high as she could into the sky with the use of her chakra, before diving like a meteorite towards the center of the field by creating a physical platform of chakra in midair for her to kick off from.
Despite the speed she was going it, it was still not enough to cover a whole 3 kilometers with a single leap. Landing on the edge of Konoha's walls, she kicked off again whilst keeping her momentum.
It hadn't even taken a minute to reach the field through the method, but the main problem was that due to her speed, her landing was quite… unique. Despite her training to control her landings, it was still not at a level where she could safely land without causing any destruction, and as such the training ground shook slightly as she landed in the middle of training ground 12.
Crap, got a cramp. Minako mentally thought as she held her left leg in her arm, ignoring the pain coming from the cramp.
"That is kind of your fault you know, you could have just come over with a shunshin, would have taken you three minutes at max." Kurama chided within her mind.
"But where's the fun in that? You can't even feel the breeze as you go by it using that method!" She retorted back.
"… Showoff."
Minako huffed as she turned and looked around. Her mother was silently watching her as she recovered with an amused grin playing at her lips with a hint of surprise, most likely not expecting anyone to reach the place with such a method, more so that a simple graduate was the one who used it.
"That… technique… is convenient and all, but you really should learn to control your landing a bit more, at this rate the training ground won't last if you do it every day." Kushina joked, though by the tone of her voice, the chances of it actually happening was quite high.
Minako pouted slightly as Kurama let out a laugh, mentally high-fiving the mother.
As another minute passed, Yoshina and Naruto appeared from the clearing, the latter celebrating his victory over his 'race' with Yoshina, who ignored her brother and took out her book from her back pocket, beginning to read as if nothing had happened.
"Alright, now that we're all here, why don't we introduce ourselves, I'll go first then. My name is Kushina, but you all can just call me Sensei, I specialise in hand-to-hand combat and my hobbies are cooking and gardening. As for dreams, already fulfilled." She said with a smile.
"Alright! My name is Naruto, and you better remember it because I'm going to be the strongest, believe it! My dream is to be the strongest and my hobby is to fight!" Her brother yelled from the side.
"… He even speaks like you…" Kurama deadpanned, though ignored by Minako.
"…Name is Yoshina… I like reading…" her younger sister said softly, head still down reading the book in her hands. Minako could feel the eyes of her mother and brother on her, waiting for her to do her own introduction.
She sighed. "My name is Minako, I've lived in the forest for most of my life, and as such my hobbies are hunting and sparring. The only weapons I can use are my bow and my sword, and as you already know I am currently living in the Uchiha manor. My dream… I don't really have one except to live a satisfying life… I guess."
"Wait! So you ARE skilled in kenjutsu!" Naruto exclaimed. She had never confirmed the rumors of her using kenjutsu, so most had dismissed it as simple rumors since she was never seen with a sword—at least in the academy.
She nodded in confirmation before Kushina coughed into her hands to get everyone's attention.
"Alright, I already know Yoshina and Naruto's capabilities, but if you attack like you landed earlier, then I'm sure we can work together just fine." The light in her mother's eyes was almost frightening and Naruto shrunk back slightly, now slightly afraid that Minako could have his mother's temper.
"Anyways, it's time for the REAL genin exam! You have half an hour to try and stop me from moving for a full second, your time starts now!" Before the three even had time to respond, she swiftly jumped onto a nearby tree and dashed into the forest.
The three graduates stared at where their mother was a moment earlier, slightly confused as to what had just happened before Naruto let out a panicked yell and followed Kushina into the forest. Yoshina looked towards her, and the two siblings stared at each other for a moment, as if communicating simply through eye contact, before the former nodded and rushed into the forest, leaving Minako in the forest clearing by herself.
Seeing that no one was watching her, she climbed a nearby pole that reached far above the trees in the area, giving her an aerial view of the forest within the training ground. She could see Naruto attacking Kushina with… clones? No, they were all attacking at the same time, so shadow clones?
"Though your chakra reserve is quite large, even for jounins and possibly kages, those two have my chakra sealed within them, they probably beat you in terms of chakra reserves by at least four times, EACH. They most likely can't use normal clones as they would overload it with chakra."
It made sense, though the prospects of fighting an army of Naruto's and Yoshina's was quite frightening.
She watched for another ten minutes as Naruto slowly exhausted himself, eventually falling to the ground panting. She saw Kushina talking to the defeated Naruto, possibly giving him feedback on his performance and reprimanding him for running off on his own without his team, though she was on the move the entire time she spoke as not to lose to her own rules.
She hadn't expected her brother to be able to hold his own against her mother for such a long time even without using any of Kyuubi's Chakra. Though Kushina was holding back slightly, it did go to show that Naruto did have some skill and wasn't all brawn.
Seeing that Kushina was a safe distance away from Naruto, she silently took out five arrows from her quiver and began to nock them all at the same time. She aimed upwards towards the sky, arced slightly towards where her brother and mother were.
"Help me out here Kurama."
"Already on it" The aim slightly adjusted itself from Kurama's influence as she released the arrows. Once they reached their peak height and began to descend, she flashed through a series of handseals.
"[Shinobi Arts: Arrow Shadow Clone Technique]" She said as the five arrows each multiplied in number as they rained down upon Kushina, who had only just realised what was happening from the sound of piercing air above her. The jutsu was of her own creation, modeled after the [Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique], an advanced form of the Shadow Clone that allowed for shurikens to multiply after being thrown. Since the base idea was the same, it only took a few weeks to master. As the arrows flew, she dashed towards where they were to meet up with Naruto and Yoshina.
She had also blunted the ends of the arrows slightly so that it wouldn't injure Kushina heavily on the off-chance that the arrows did manage to hit her.
Kushina picked up her pace and dodged around the hundreds of arrows that were raining down upon her, but by doing so she lost track of her surroundings and found herself in a small opening in the forest. Her eyes widened as the ground suddenly lit up and a strange markings suddenly covered the area.
" [Four-Corner Gravity Barrier]" Said Yoshina as she appeared from behind a nearby boulder, her hands still held in a hand-seal to maintain fuinjutsu.
Kushina's legs buckled slightly as she gritted her teeth. The seal's main purpose was to increase the effects of gravity by several fold in a certain area. Though it was an unpopular seal due to how easy it was to escape it, it was the perfect seal to use in a situation like this where Kushina had nowhere to go due to the arrow bombardment provided by Minako.
Two hands erupted from the ground and held onto Kushina's legs, surprising her. A moment later, Naruto's face also emerged from the ground, bleeding slightly but still grinning. their mother couldn't do anything as her shoulders dropped from resignation.
"Alright, alright, you win, you can stop the seal now Yoshina-chan." Yoshina nodded and released the seal, one hand reaching for the book in her back pocket after confirming the end of the test.
"That was awesome Minako-chan! How'd you do that!" Naruto asked whilst jumping around energetically, clothes slightly torn after emerging from the ground. She didn't even have a chance to speak before he had jumped in front of her with star-filled eyes.
"I-I just used a variation of the shadow clone that I made for the bow." She stuttered, pushing Naruto away slightly as he had gotten uncomfortably close.
Kushina spoke up before Naruto could say any more. "Despite the lack of talking between you three, you managed to corner me through a crude yet effective strategy. I must say that I'm impressed that fresh graduates managed to pull that off.
"We have a ranged support, a front-line combatant and a fuinjutsu specialist, so the team is reasonably balanced, not to mention that Minako can switch to a melee combatant when necessary which is also a plus.
"Naruto-kun, though you do specialise in close range combat, you can't win against other melee specialists who are superior to you like me by just swarming them with shadow clones. It might work on a ranged support since they have no way to take you all out, but to someone like me, all I need is just one hit to take out a clone. You jumped in first after me without confirming your role and plans with the team unlike Yoshina-chan and Minako-chan. It's good that you found a role in the plan the two devised and held me down, but in situations where the plan is more intricate, you would have been the odd one out and possibly killed.
"Yoshina-chan, though you did well, revealing yourself after activating the seal was a mistake. If I were someone who had mastered knowledge in ranged techniques, I could have easily fired some at you to stop you from providing chakra into the seal and escaped. Be careful of that in the future.
"Minako-chan, though this is the first time I have seen you in action, I must say that I am impressed that you can use a variation of the shadow clone to such a level. The accuracy was also on point, and you managed to lead me to where Yoshina-chan was waiting. I hope that your kenjutsu is just as sharp in the future, though I have to say that you will do well even if you were exclusively a ranged support for the team." Kushina said as she ended her small lecture. "No one on this team is normal by any standards." She muttered to herself with a sigh.
Minako's features brightened considerably as she had been praised by her mother for possibly the first time. She hung her head to hide the tears that were forming in her eyes, though Kushina had already moved onto lecturing Naruto on his recklessness to notice.
Yoshina, sensing her discomfort, walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. Even with her blank expression, her eyes held a comforting gaze as if telling Minako that it was alright.
Kushina, however, was still oblivious to what was happening behind her. "Alright, you are dismissed for today, I want each and every one of you in front of the Hokage's office by 7 tomorrow morning to begin your first D-rank mission!"