The white-haired jonin sat in front of the four on a nearby rooftop. They had all spent a few minutes staring at each other after their instructor's previous remark.

 

"So, I think it's about time we get to know each other. Why don't you tell me about yourselves? Your hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes, skills, anything. Just don't take too long, we don't have all day," the white-haired man said, looking at the group with a dull eye.

 

"You go first! We all know each other but we don't even know your name!" Naruto burst out, leading to a flurry of nods from Sakura.

 

"Sure…" The jonin looked as bored as ever. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I'm a jonin, so my skills are good. As for my likes and dislikes, maybe you'll find them out eventually. My dreams? They're pretty normal. Alright, who's next?"

 

"So, all you told us was your name?" Naruto asked, looking disappointed.

 

"Yep. Since you decided to talk, you should go first."

 

"Fine. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I still need to work on my chakra control but I'm pretty strong! I like ramen and my friends. I dislike waiting for my ramen to cook and people who look at me with cold eyes. As for my dreams, I'm gonna make everybody in this village accept me as a great shinobi! I don't care if that means I end up as a sulky guy like you or if I become Hokage, but I know that everyone will acknowledge my existence one day!" Naruto stood and pointed at Kakashi to emphasize his point.

 

Looks like he's grown up a little bit. I'm sure my other half is at least somewhat pleased.

 

Maybe. We should probably have a talk with him sometime. I've been putting it off but it's probably about time he has a proper conversation with your other half. The seal has weakened over time, too. It's disgustingly inefficient if you think about it. Seals should feed off of energy from the environment to work properly. What's the point of making something like that if it has to constantly be nursed like a newborn?

 

I see your ideals are surfacing again. I'll just say I agree with you since I doubt you'll be making any seals yourself.

 

Oh, whatever!

 

"Next, let's hear from the sulky kid."

 

Sasuke clicked his tongue but didn't take long to start speaking.

 

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I'm strong enough to be on my own, so frankly I don't know why I'm even here. I don't like anything, I don't have any need to like anything. I dislike many things but feel the need to name none of them. My only dream is to kill a certain man and complete my revenge."

 

Naruto looked suspicious and worried of who Sasuke wanted to kill, Sakura was absolutely enthralled, and both Kakashi and Mikoto appeared to be bored.

 

"Alright, that was an introduction. Pinky, you're up next."

 

Sakura broke out of her love-induced stupor for long enough to begin speaking.

 

"I'm Sakura Haruno. I have good chakra control and good knowledge of theory; I'm mostly lacking in experience. As for what I like… Hehe, what isn't there to like about him… I dislike loud and annoying people- people like Naruto! My dreams… Well… They're really good!" The entire time Sakura was casting glances at Sasuke. She looked to and from him so often that one might have thought she was having a seizure had she not been speaking. The rest of the group looked mildly concerned regarding her mental state, but chose to ignore it.

 

"Okay, next up is the silver-haired girl."

 

Mikoto thought for a second before speaking.

 

"I'm Mikoto Hyuga. You'll figure out my skills soon enough, but there isn't anything I'm necessarily bad it and the only thing that really needs work is my lacking chakra capacity. I like doing nothing, my friends- obviously- and creating new jutsu. I dislike being unjustly bothered and scum who don't know what's good for them. My dream is to live a relatively normal life." Mikoto spoke while smiling, but it only made some of her words more concerning.

 

"You said you liked creating new jutsu. That isn't something a fresh genin should be able to do. Are you just bragging?" Kakashi followed up on a particularly odd point.

 

"Yeah, as if a weakling like you could create a new jutsu." Sasuke decided to chime in with a particularly harsh opinion.

 

"I dare you to say that again!" Naruto was about to jump at Sasuke but was ultimately stopped by Mikoto.

 

"I did say that. Clearly you didn't read my file from the academy. I've already created two new jutsu that have been made public, one used by me and one used by Hinata during our mid-education assessment. Actually creating a new jutsu is simple enough. You just need to shape the chakra and transform it. Watch." Mikoto held her hand up again.

 

A small chakra orb appeared above each of her five fingers. Each one quickly changed its form. One became a ball of water, another a small ball of earth, a green orb that swirled in place, a flaming ball, and a blue ball that crackled with electricity.

 

"Obviously these are just transformations, but shaping it is easy if you have enough chakra control."

 

All orbs except the lightning natured one disappeared. Its color quickly changed to yellow as it expanded. It grew in size and density as it lengthened into the shape of a spear. If was now giving off severe heat as the lightning bolt tried to lash out at everything around it. Unlike Hinata's spear that stopped at her height, Mikoto's grew in size until it was almost five meters long! It was as thick around as a tree trunk and made the hair on everyone's head begin to stand.

 

"This is an original jutsu, created by me. I gifted it to Hinata for her birthday a few years back as she was suited for it. Its name is Gungnir. As you can see, it's a lightning spear. Frankly speaking, as an original jutsu this is rather disappointing. I've been meaning to upgrade it now that I have more chakra. So, originally this only exploded on contact, but why should it only do that? Lightning should expand outwards, chaining itself to new targets. I'll add some more chakra, and change its properties so it does just that."

 

The crackling given off by the spear was now even more fierce. At first the lightning only lashed out in an attempt to ground itself, but now it was trying to break free from every direction, looking for anything to attack. The light given off by it was almost blinding.

 

"Well, this has taken most of my chakra so I'll send it off before it gets out of hand."

 

Mikoto formed a gun with her hand and aimed at a nearby cloud. Her thumb was raised while she took aim and the spear flew off the second her thumb fell to her index finger. It launched itself, leaving a long yellow streak from the point where it started directly to the cloud. The moment it hit, it branched out, covering the entire cloud with electricity. The cloud was instantly vaporized, creating an explosion with a sound that rang throughout the village.

 

"Whoops, that's probably going to put some people on high alert again. Anyways, the new change means that the spear will now affect any surrounding people instead of a certain radius around it. The area of effect has been expanded and it will cause less property damage." Mikoto shook her head, ashamed of her blunder.

 

"…" Sasuke and Sakura looked as though they wanted to say something, but no words came out.

 

"Way to go!" Naruto was as excited as always to see Mikoto show off.

 

"Right, I guess you two were out when we took our assessment so you never actually saw what happened. So, Sasuke, would you say I'm still a weakling?"

 

Sasuke only turned his head, the furrow between his brows deeper than ever.

 

"Mikoto, you do realize that what you've just used could be classified as an A-rank jutsu, right?" Kakashi asked, looking serious for once.

 

"Nope. It shouldn't be, either. It's still too weak. If I had more chakra it could have branched out to every cloud up until the horizon, if not farther. I've read about them, but I still think that A-rank jutsu should either have a very focused power output or a very wide area of effect. This currently has neither. The only thing going for it is the chakra control required to keep the lightning in check. I suppose the nature transformation is decent, as the lightning might as well be real, but there's still so many ways it could be changed to make it more interesting or deadly." Mikoto looked at the remains of the shockwave that spread throughout the sky and shook her head.

 

"Right… So let's say someone with such a monstrous amount of chakra used it, would you consider it A-rank then?"

 

"Sure. By the way, could you refrain from looking at me so closely in the future? That fancy eye of yours makes you seem like a pervert."

 

Although Mikoto's remark confused the rest of her team, Kakashi's eye widened for a moment before he returned to his normal state and readjusted his headband some.

 

"Apologies. We should probably move on."

 

Kakashi's apparent nonchalance at the entire situation stunned the group for a moment. He ignored the fact that a rookie on his team could use A-rank jutsu and just moved on.

 

"So, we've got our introductions out of the way. Now we'll begin on your duties as shinobi. First up, we'll be having survival training."

 

"Why? We already graduated, didn't we? There's no point," Sasuke interjected, still looking as angry as ever.

 

"That was just to see if you have the potential to become a genin. In reality, the failure rate for this next test is over sixty-six percent. The Hidden Leaf desires quality, not quantity."

 

"Wait, at least two of us are going to fail?" Sakura blanched.

 

"Well, something like that. Make sure to try your hardest to pass. Oh, you should also avoid eating before tomorrow, otherwise you're just going to end up throwing up your meal. In fact, I'll make it a rule that you can't eat before the test. That's all the information I'm going to give you. Make sure you come to the seventh training ground by 6 a.m. tomorrow." Kakashi put on a cutesy voice towards the end, which seemed to annoy most of the group.

 

After his spiel about the final test, he disappeared from the spot, leaving his new students to think about their predicament.

 

Interesting.

 

Your taste is strange, did you know that?

 

Eventually, the group disbanded. Naruto and Mikoto went to go see how Hinata's first day went. After some chatting about the following day's test over food, they all went home.