Teamwork

"...is to be the strongest entity in this world!"

Hearing the words of his friend, Itachi looked over at him while contemplating, [So this is why he became a shinobi?]

"Strongest, huh? Well, good luck with that.", said Yūki sensei a little disappointed, before addressing all of them, "Team two! Tomorrow morning, I want all of you to meet me at the second training grounds! I will first evaluate your skills before making a training plan for each of you. Dismissed!"

As Ryu started to go home, he heard Itachi calling his name. Turning around, he confronted Itachi, "Is there something you want, Itachi?"

"What are you going to do now? Training?"

"Well, yeah. I have a special training session with my father at home."

"Special?", asked Itachi.

"Genjutsu.", not bothering to elaborate his answer, he waved at Itachi and walk off, "See you tomorrow morning."

A few minutes later, as he walked through the streets of Konoha, he starts pondering about his new training, [At this point in time, my only actual weakness is genjutsu. If I got trapped inside one, even if I dispel it one second later, it might prove to be fatal. I need to find a way to fix this weakness. At the same time, learning genjutsu will allow me to use my powerful consciousness to its full potential, as genjutsu is formed by using the Yin Release created by spiritual energy.]

Reaching his house, he opens the door and goes inside. Seeing his father on the couch, he was reading a book and still clad in Jonin outfit. He goes up in front of him and says, "Father. About the thing we discussed yesterday, I'm ready!"

Putting the book aside, he looks at his son, "Very well. I just returned from my duties, we can start right away.", he stands up and walked to the other side of the room, standing in front of his son.

"You can start!", exclaims Ryu.

"Five minutes. Is the time I will wait before releasing the genjutsu if you are unable to do it yourself.", after warning Ryu, both make eye contact, then he performs a few hand seals and activates his genjutsu.

"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu!" (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique)

Ryu sees his father disappearing in a swirl of leaves, remained calm as he closed his eyes. As his eyes remained closed, he sensed a few 'people' appearing all around him. [This genjutsu subjects targets to have visions of things they fear, or merely the image they least want to see. I honestly thought this wouldn't have any effects on me, but it seems I was wrong. Let's see, the thing that I 'fear'.]

Opening his eyes and looking around, he could see various figures looking at him with weird smiles on their faces. Some of them were not even human, having bizarre appearances. [...I see. This is indeed the things that I least want to see...], he crossed his arms, [...my reincarnations.]

Turning to look at the clock hung up on the wall, he noticed that one minute has already passed. So, he closed his eyes and started sensing the flow of chakra in his brain.

When he opened his eyes, he looked at the clock and saw that he still have one more minute before the 5 minutes deadline is over. [I've made some progress. Although I still need to analyze a few more times to make sure I completely understand how genjutsu affects the chakra flow in my brain.], with a one-handed ram seal, he dispelled the genjutsu, "release."

Endo was ready to get his son out of the genjutsu when he notices Ryu getting out of his stupor and looking around. As Ryu finally understood that this is indeed reality, he turned to Endo.

"Again!"

Curious of what his son saw at the illusion, he asked, "What have you seen?"

"My dangos falling on the ground."

Sighing, but no really believing, he just chooses to not ask again. Doing the hand seals necessary for the jutsu, he activates the illusion once again.

"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu!"

Entering the genjutsu once more, Ryu chooses to ignore the figures staring at him and closed his eyes to analyze his chakra flow. While always releasing the illusion before the time was up.

They repeated the process for two hours, during which he asked his father to occasionally use different genjutsus, they only stopped once to let his father rest. Finally, after two hours, he was finally enough to devise a way to counter this troublesome ability.

[I already have studied all pathways that a genjutsu can use to affect my brain. Now, as long as I monitor these pathways for any disturbance, I will know that someone is using an illusion on me. The problem is, I can't be monitoring at all times. Once I get caught by surprise, I might get stuck in an illusion. I need a way to passively get those pathways under my control, this way I won't need to worry about genjutsu anymore.]

Thinking for a moment, he crossed his arms and started pacing around the living room. His father, seeing him in deep thought, decided to just wait.

[Hmmm. Maybe if I apply a genjutsu on me in a way that it uses all those pathways, I can use it to counter any genjutsu thrown at me. Once detecting a foreign force trying to alter the flow of my chakra, the genjutsu will send pulses throughout these pathways, temporarily disrupting the flow in them and inhibiting the illusion to take effect. Right, I'll try this.]

Doing a few hand seals in only one second, he applied a genjutsu on himself. Feeling ready, he beckons to his father to try the genjutsu once again.

Nodding, his father performed the necessary hand seals, activating the illusion.

"Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu!" (Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique)

Suddenly, Ryu feels the genjutsu he cast on himself being broken as the flow of his chakra inside his brain is slightly disrupted. Looking around, nothing seemed to change. Looking at his father, he tried to confirm if he is under an illusion or not.

"Father?"

Surprised that his son is not affected, he asked, "Yeah? have you already got out of the illusion?", he was surprised because his son seemed to always need about four minutes and a half to get out of the illusion.

After hearing his answer, Ryu knew he had succeeded. Rising the corner of his mouth, he exclaims inwardly, [Progress! Now the next step is to make the genjutsu permanent so that it will not be broken once it blocks another illusion. I might need the help of Shisui with this, his genjutsu is much stronger than my father's illusions. By perfecting my new genjutsu after having it block his, I will be able to create a perfect counter against genjutsu. Also, I just created a jutsu, might as well name it... hmmm. Illusion Barrier? Genjutsu Blocker? Maybe a more bold name... Great Wall Of Ryu? Oh, I know. Chakra Flow Brain Guard Jutsu. Yes, I will go with that.]

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

In the morning of the next day, in the second training ground.

Itachi and Shinko sat on the ground while Ryu was laying down on his back with both hands behind his head and crossed legs. Watching the sunrise, the corner of his mouth was slightly raised.

While both Itachi and Ryu seemed calm, Shinko was unable to withstand the stifling silence. She was the first to spoke up.

"So we are a team now, right? Aren't we supposed to be knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses? I will go first.", seeing as she had succeeded in attracting their attention, she continues, "I'm proficient in medical ninjutsu. That means I'll be the medic of our team. My weakness is my weak defense. What about you two?"

Looking at each other, Ryu nodded at Itachi to signal that he can talk first.

"I mainly proficient in ninjutsu and genjutsu. As for my weakness, I would say is sensing techniques.", answered Itachi.

Looking at the laid-back Ryu, Shinko asked, "And you?"

Thinking for a moment he answered, "I'm pretty good at everything. My only weakness got fixed yesterday."

Frowning, her impression of Ryu lowered considerably, [Isn't he too cocky? Even Itachi admitted having a weakness.]

"Anyway, don't you think sensei should already be here?", ask her as she observes that the sun has already moved considerably from the earlier position.

"He's probably already here, concealed while listening to us. Probably to test our team chemistry.", answered Ryu with indifference.

"What?", surprised, both Shinko and Itachi started searching around for their sensei.

"Sigh. I got discovered.", said Yūki sensei as he appeared from the cover of the bushes he was hiding on.

"He was really here!", exclaimed Shinko.

"Ryu, do you mind sharing with us how you discovered me?", asked Yūki sensei.

Standing up, Ryu scratched his head and said, "I was just guessing.", and with that, he went on a full explanation, "You know, I deduced that you being late would have two logical explanations.", raising the index finger, he continued, "Number one, you are actually really late, which would mean that you, Yūki sensei, is a bad sensei.", raising the other finger, he said, "Number two, you were already here waiting for something to happen before you show yourself with an excuse of why you were late."

Frowning, Yūki sensei questioned, "And how did you reach the conclusion that it was number two, and not number one?"

"Logical thinking! Tell me, do you really think that the Lord Hokage would send us to a bad teacher?", he said as he pointed to Itachi and him, leaving Shinko sulking at the side, "The only remaining option is number two.", he finished with a shrug. Although he let out the main motive to be said internally, [Besides, this is a really common thing to do in a variety of universes where you are expected to form a team. After all, in these cases, coordination between teammates is the thing they expect the most.]

As Itachi heard his explanation, he went into deep thought. Meanwhile, Yūki sensei widened his eyes, his impression of Ryu went above that of Itachi at that moment.

"That's... impressive.", is all he was able to say. Shaking his head to get rid of his stray thoughts, he gathered the three and announced loudly, "Team two! Although all of you passed the Academy's graduation exam, none of you are a true genin yet. I'll be giving you all my final test, if you fail to meet my requirements... I'll be sending you right back to the Academy!"

"What!? Wait, How is this fair?", exclaimed Shinko. Meanwhile, both Ryu and Itachi just calmly decided to listen to Yūki sensei. After all, they still don't even know the contents of the surprise test.

Ignoring the words of his student, Yūki sensei went on to explain the new test, "Do you see these bells?", he fished two bells out of his pocket, "You have until noon to take them away. By the end of the test, the one without a bell will be sent back to the Academy."

Widening her eyes, Shinko had a bad feeling. Looking at both her teammates, she became a little afraid of returning to the academy. Her competitors are the two most talented students of the Academy, who not only hold the highest scores but also graduated after only a single year.

[I don't want to fail! I'll give my all in this test. Itachi, Ryu, I'm sorry but I can't go back to the Academy.]

Contrary to Shinko's frantic expression, Itachi is showing a thoughtful expression. Meanwhile, Ryu still has the same indifferent expression he likes to wear.

Seeing the expressions on his student's faces, he smiled. Although he was a little surprised by the lack of change on Ryu's face, he did not show it externally.

"All of you are allowed to use real weapons. If you don't... none of you will be able to pass!", raising three fingers, he started counting down, "The test starts in three, two, one... start!"

With the signal, all three flickered away in different directions. Pleased with their reactions, he stood in the same place waiting for them.

Ryu appeared on the trunk of a tree, kneeling horizontally as he starts ruminating over Yūki sensei's words.

[Only two bells for a team of three, which according to logic means that one of us will be eliminated. The only problem is... there's no team of two genins in Konoha. So, if one of us is disqualified, all of us are. Humph. This is merely a way to assess our team spirit, to find if we can work inside a team. I should go communicate with the other two, I already have a plan.]

Disappearing from his location, he goes straight to where he saw Itachi going.

Sensing Ryu going straight to Itachi, Yūki sensei became surprised and thought, [Is he going to fight Itachi? Or did he already understood the purpose of this test? There's no way... it's only been five seconds.]

As Ryu reached the bushes where Itachi is hiding, he saw Itachi immersed in his thoughts. [Itachi is an intelligent person. If given a few more minutes he might have figured everything out by himself. But as I'm already here, might as well help him.], landing beside him, he successfully got Itachi's attention.

"Itachi, think for a moment. There's no team of two genins in Konoha."

Reflecting on Ryu's words for a moment, Itachi's eyes suddenly brightened. "I understood it!"

Smiling, he said, "Let's go. We need to find Shinko. I already have a plan to get those bells.", he flickered away from his location, with Itachi closely following him.

Shinko was hiding behind a big tree, trying to come up with a plan to get one bell as fast as possible. Suddenly, two figures appeared in front of her, prompting her to smile bitterly to herself. With a kunai in hand, she confronted her foes.

"What... what do you want? Want to go two against one?"

"Calm down Shinko, we are not your enemies here. All of this is a ploy from our teacher to get us against one another.", answered Ryu with both hands in the air, with Itachi imitating him.

Frowning, she thought briefly about these words but did not lower her guard, "What do you mean?"

Sighing, Ryu went on to explain everything to her. Surprised, she finally lowered her guard as she thought it makes complete sense.

"So what do we do now? We still have to get the bells.", said Shinko.

"I have a plan. If you guys trust me, we can use it."

"I trust you.", said Itachi.

Seeing Shinko nodding to him, Ryu explained his plans.

In the meantime, Yūki sensei was surprised to sense all his students' chakra gathered in one place. [So they notice it, huh? Judging by how he was the first to take action, it must've been Ryu.], suddenly one of the chakra signatures completely vanished from his senses, [Huh!? How did he do it?], but his thoughts are cut short as he sensed the remaining two coming at him at full speed. Deciding to entertain these two, he still kept an eye out for the remaining one.

With him at the center, Shinko and Itachi circled him, each taking one side, and started throwing a variety of ninja tools at him. He evaded them easily, occasionally deflecting those sent by the Uchiha. [Their coordination is still lacking. It's not surprising though, as this is the first time they are fighting together. These two should merely be decoys to keep me occupied so that he can catch me off-guard.]

Suddenly, he sensed something, [Above?!], looking up, Ryu was in the air finishing his hand seals at astonishingly fast speed.

"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)

Four fire dragons of a significant size run down through the air towards his back, front, and both sides. Feeling the intensity of the flames, he winced, [Does he really want to kill me?], taking a deep breath, he does five hand seals and spits a stream of water through his mouth.

"Suiton: Suijinheki!" (Water Release: Water Formation Wall)

When both jutsus are connected with each other, a big amount of steam is generated. As Ryu watches from above, just before he starts falling down and being engulfed by the fog, he senses something and looks at the side. Just as Yūki sensei's kick reaches his face, he is replaced with a block of wood.

[Kawarimi no Jutsu, huh?] (Body Replacement Technique)

As he falls down and is engulfed by the fog, he is attacked by a kunai that came from where Shinko is stationed. Not needing to dodge, he was about to let the kunai go past him when it suddenly burst into white smoke and Ryu appeared with a grin.

[Henge no Jutsu!] (Transformation Technique)

As their eyes locked with each other, a kunai appeared in Ryu's hand, which he thrust towards his sensei's head. Deflecting the blow with his right hand, he punched him in the stomach with the left one. Only to be surprised yet again as the Ryu in front of him turned in white smoke.

[A clone?!]

As he was about to touch the ground a kunai came from Itachi's direction towards his head, which he was able to evade. Finally, on the ground, just as he was going to get out of the steam, he heard the sickening sound of the kunai he just evaded hitting flesh along with a bloodcurdling scream. With a flickering of his body, he got out of the steam towards the sound.

There on the ground, lay Shinko with a kunai embedded in her throat, with gurgling sounds as blood flooded her mouth. Stunned, he was about to go help when he heard the previously hidden Ryu appear beside her with horror covering his face, and shouting in fear.

"Shinko!! No... No! This can't be happening! Sensei, this wasn't part of the plan! THIS WASN'T PART OF THE PLAN!", he screams as he took her body in his arms.

Suddenly, he turned around and noticed the fog dispersing enough to be able to see his other student. Itachi, with wide eyes, tears streaming down his face, was looking at his hands while uttering uncontrollably.

"No... I... I didn't mean it! It wasn't my fault!", he started shaking. Suddenly, his eyes got a shade of red. He awakened his Sharingan.

"Itachi! You did this! Why did you do it? We were friends!", screamed Ryu.

coming out of his stupor, Itachi turned towards Ryu, who was all bloodied at this point because he was hugging the corpse in his hands. "No... Ryu, I didn't mean to kill her! Please, trust me!", pleaded Itachi.

"Trust you?! You killed her, you Uchiha psycho. I'm going to take you down!", saying that, a kunai appeared in his hands as he runs towards Itachi, ready to kill him.

As everything happened too fast, Yūki sensei watched all happening while stunned. When he was going to stop his remaining students from killing one another, he seemed to figure out something and stopped.

[Everything happened too fast for me to react. How could something like this happen during my training...wait! Something is wrong with this situation. Could it be?]

Realizing what is wrong, he made a hand seal, "Release!", and the world around him changed. There was no bloodied body on the ground, no Ryu trying to fight Itachi and no Sharingan. Looking at the side, he saw Itachi and Shinko each holding a bell with smiles o their faces, Ryu was leaning on a tree behind them with a light smile on his face.

[I see. It was all a genjutsu, huh? But, since when? Probably since 'that' time.], he thought as remember the time where he locked gaze with Ryu's clone.

"So... does that mean we passed?", he heard Ryu's calm voice. Not even a drop of sweat was on his face.