As Kakashi’s word echoed, Ren just shook his head and put his head to work. Facts about his ‘survival training’ immediately surfaced on his mind. It was not at all like how he put it. His eyes went upwards to the absolute top of the rooftop and then towards his new teammates.
“Do not heed his words. What this ‘survival’ training he is talking about is actually just a test of our teamwork. I don’t really get why he’s doing it since we did show our teamwork on that little prank of ours, but I guess he wants to see our combat capabilities as well.”
Sasuke spread his hands behind him and leaned backwards on what appeared to be a thick metal rod. He then put a leg above another and emanated a relaxed appearance, contrary to the previous one where his look could kill people.
“I suppose what you’re saying does have some merit. I’ve heard rumors… about him. He and… an acquaintance of mine used to be on the same Anbu Squad for a while. I never was told of his name, but his characteristics such as his hair was mentioned and I’d need to be blind not to make a connection.”
‘So, while he does hate his brother, he’s not above logic at the very least. Nice to see that, I could reason with him while we discuss a plan on how to take him down tomorrow.’
“What sort of survival training was he even speaking about then? I don’t want to… cooperate with him, but if I must I’m not going to fight it. I will become Hokage no matter what it takes!” Naruto formed a fist and pointed it at him.
Ren stood up and removed whatever dust could’ve been left behind on his attire calmly. “I’m not exactly sure how other jounins do it, but Kakashi Hatake is very infamous for the fact he’s never passed a single team before.”
“Hik! Not even once?!” Naruto stumbled backwards as panic showed itself on his face. ‘This is bad, even I am not confident enough to take a former anbu on a fight when it comes to combat. But this is all 3 of us together so we might stand a chance!’
“As far as I am aware, yes, he hasn’t passed a single team before. He’s quite the ruthless fellow. That’s why if we want to pass his test we will need to face it together with our full strength to even stand a chance I guess.”
Confirming his own words with a nod, the redhead shrugged afterwards and slapped air with a palm. The results of it were a seal opening in mid-air and launching a water bottle at low speed at him.
Both of his teammates widened their eyes at this show of fuinjutsu prowess.
“A seal in air?! What the hell is that?” Sasuke was the first to start questioning. He liked to consider himself decently knowledgeable at everything, but he had never heard of such usage of fuinjutsu.
“Since we’re going to fight a dude who’s known for completing more missions as a teenager than most experienced jounins, I thought I’d show you all a certain trump card of mine. Look at my palm for a sec’ please.”
Ren raised one of his palms and the two focused on what was visible there.
Tiny… simbols?
No to be more exact tiny kanjis. They were so tiny it would probably take a lot of focus to not tremble while you did them.
“One of those kanjis represents ‘Air’ which I use in combination with plenty of other symbols to create a seal in mid-air. It’s pretty useful considering the fact that it catches people off-guard. A seal on the ground? You got the Summoning Technique, but on the fucking air? I don’t think anyone’s done that before.”
Ren grinned.
“Using this I could probably catch him off-guard at least once during the fight. However! That won’t be enough to defeat him, not even close. So, we need to create a plan which will catch him off-guard for enough time for one of you two to stun him or temporarily stop him.”
“Aaaand how do you suppose we can do that?”
“That, dear Naruto is not going to be easy, but it’s going to be where you come into play~”
“Hmm, what can he possibly do to help on this ‘great plan’ of yours Uzumaki?” Sasuke snorted but from his tone it was quite apparent he was willing to follow this plan.
‘This is ridiculous, why am I even bothering with these two. A person as great as I with the bloodline of the Uchiha will be plenty enough to stop him myself.’
“Also, before you say it out loud, we’ll need to fix attitude of yours Uchiha.” Ren’s posture changed almost instantly. No longer did he emanate a care-free attitude and instead it was switched with that of a seasoned veteran – or that’s what he liked to tell himself.
“Attitude? I do not think we’re speaking on the same paper here.” Sasuke stated an all-but refused to acknowledge whatever Ren wanted to tell him.
“Listen to me, all three of us have our own goals. You want to avenge yourself and your clan, Naruto wants to become the Hokage… and I have my own goal and dream. I will not allow you to step on any of our future hopes and turn a blind eye here. Your teamwork is necessary and you will provide it if you want to accomplish your own goal.”
Sasuke formed a scowl on his face. It was quite apparent just how uncomfortable Ren’s words had made him feel.
“Teamwork will not get me closer to my revenge! I will not allow others to get between me and him!”
Like a candle’s flickering flames, his anger was on the brink of exploding with an unknown source of vigor.
Ren pulled him up by his collar and pushed his body up a wall.
“This is not about your deathmatch or whatever, teamwork will get you ready for whatever crisis you are facing. What will you do after your so-called revenge? Do not let it consume your entire being Sasuke.”
“What the fuck do you know about revenge Uzumaki? Your life’s perfect. Sure, you are an orphan, but you’ve never lacked anything. You fucking had everything handed to you with a golden spoon.”
Sasuke’s retaliation did not take long, but no matter how much strength he pulled he could not affect Ren’s grip; it was as if he was meet with an unstoppable force, an unmovable object.
“You will agree to work with us if you want certain victory against Kakashi, Sasuke. Teamwork is the core of this trial, do you not get it?!”
Onyx eyes stared straight back at his amethyst ones. Naruto just stood there witnessing the two bicker it against each other for over several minutes, unaware of what he could do. This was too awkward for him to interrupt.
“Fine idiot, tell me the plan.”
A smile appeared on Ren’s face as he let go of the Uchiha who began to straighten his attire, fixing any wrinkle Ren’s touch might’ve created. He glared at the redhead for a silver of a second before shaking his head.
‘I can’t believe I’ve been pushed to this low of a level. Still he’s not exactly wrong, there’s no actual way I can defeat Kakashi without the Sharingan…’
“Now, since both of you are ready to listen to me, I’ll begin explaining what I want to do. So first I’ll distract Kakashi with an air seal and then Naruto will…”
Unbenowst to all three of them, the jounin was yawning and actually listening to whatever discussion they were having. For him, hiding his chakra signature from Ren’s radar wasn’t that hard. Total suppression of chakra was one of the skills taught to the most elite of shinobis, but few managed to actually master it.
‘I’ll admit it, this Ren fellow has the qualities of a leader. He’s actually thinking of such a deep-layered plan. If not for me being an ahead thinker I might’ve fallen for it. Good thing I didn’t decide to outright ditch them and listen to their ‘plan’.’
Though, such a skill was totally useless against a sensor of very high talent. He doubted that Ren was such a prodigy at sensory, what were the chances?
Right?
…
“Do not forget, don’t listen to his advice of ‘not eating’ breakfast. He’s just trying to trick all three of us. What shinobi goes on a battlefield with an empty stomach to distract them?”
Ren finished with a last-minute advice which he hoped both of his teammates upheld.
‘Geez, playing an act for Kakashi-sensei sure is annoying. I hope he bought it off and didn’t think we were just playing because it looked quite unnatural to me. There’s no way Sasuke would retreat that easily if not for the fact I transmitted a seal on his body when I showed my air seal.’
