Meeting of Team 6 (team 6 members only)

[Nara Shono]

A sunny day in Konoha with a sky that housed many puffy clouds that, to the trained eye, made for excellent cloud watching. One such person that had trained his eye to allow the beauty of clouds to be witnessable was Nara Shono, one of the top Jounin that Konoha had to offer. To the general person that Shono passed he looked like the average ninja but with a somewhat different attire. But, to those that knew of his accolades he was far from average. After many years of hard work, and with many of those years of not particularly liking the the hard work, Shono grew in stature to be feared by enemies. Many know of him by his alias, the Crimson Shadow, which he obtained for spilling much blood with the Nara clan's hidden shadow jutsu.

On this sunny day Shono had plans, plans that consisted of him taking on maybe the most work he had ever willingly taken on. It was not in his nature to not take on work if he didn't need to, but it was also in his nature to not fail, so much so that it often created more work that would have otherwise gone undone. It was troublesome, but when presented with a challenge Shono had to succeed, and what he was about to take on posed quite a big challenge. After many years of contemplating Shono had finally decided to take on a genin team. A few reasons factored into this decision. One was that he felt he had good knowledge to pass on to the younger generation, and the other was that by taking on a genin team the probability of being assigned a S-ranked mission was lowered, this meant a little less work in the long run.

Today was the day that Shono was going to meet his team, Team six. He had left messages to the three genin; Hyuuga Hanabi, Yamanaka Meushi, and Inuzuka Taiyo, to meet under a specific tree near the vast training grounds. The tree was very big and offered plenty of shade for a person to lay in. It was also just far enough from the training grounds in a somewhat secluded spot, which made it great for times when you wanted to be alone. Shono often visited this spot to take a nap or watch the clouds, but today it would be the spot for the first team meeting.

After a small walk Shono reached the desired spot. As he looked around the familiar setting there was a noticeable absence of people. This usually meant a good thing, but today it meant his team had not arrived yet. This was half expected given that Shono was early. He wanted to be early so that his team didn't pass by the tree when they didn't see anybody there, thinking that they had found the wrong tree. Shono walked over to the trunk of the tree and took a seat.
Before squating down to take a seat he first had to remove his sword from his back, sitting against the trunk of a tree with a sword on your back didn't make for a comfortable position.
Once the strap was unbuckled and the sword removed Shono sat, pressing his back to the tree trunk. Shono brought his knees up so that his feet were flat on the ground and placed his sword between his legs with the hilt being nessled in his right shoulder. Shono's right arm cradled the sword while his left was placed on his knee, and with the desired position attained he looked up into the sky. The puffy white clouds strolled along effortlessly, creating different objects and pictures.

Being early allowed for some quality cloud watching before his team arrived, this was something that Shono would take full advantage of. "That looks like a dog...." He muttered these words to himself, trying to figure out what object the clouds were conveying was the most pure form of entertainment Shono had. Natural beauty was something he could appreciate well. "Now an alligator....alligator from a dog, that's a good one...." More muttering, if anybody were to pass by they would probably think he was a bit off his rocker just sitting their muttering to himself, hence the reason for the secluded spot. Shono continued to watch the clouds pass by while trying to interpret what they were. It would only be a matter of time before the first person of his new team would show up, who that first person would be was anybodies guess.

[Hyuuga Hanabi]

Hanabi, even without her Byakugan to aid her, had an almost innate sense of direction when it came to areas near and around the village. She'd often spent her time training in whatever new areas she could find when her father was either training with Neji or busy doing his own thing... It meant she had to fend for herself, to an extent. She was a Genin now, a year early - much to the pleasure of her father - and was working to surpass her sister, still. She wasn't going to let Hinata beat her to being the heiress; she would surely beat her, most definitely. She knew if she could take down Neji - which, sadly, she hadn't even tried yet; for some reason, the teen Jounin scared her - then she would be able to surpass Hinata... right?

Nonetheless, Hanabi wasn't surprised about who she was paired with. Yamanaka Meushi and Inuzuka Taiyo, the two she'd been moved up a class with when she'd been deemed fit to graduate a year early. All she could remember about either of them was that Meushi was... rather self-obsessed, much like she'd heard that her older cousin, Ino, was like, or used to be. Now, how did she know Ino was like that, or used to be? It came as a surprise how much Hinata actually talked to her younger sister; Hanabi often listened - in between bouts of either teasing her about Naruto or teasing Neji about Tenten, a common thing she always did - to what the girl had to say. Shy as she was, she was a little tougher now, and could stand her own ground.

And so... Here she was, walking down the streets of Konoha, and then through parts of the forest and underbrush, following the exact route to perfect memory about what had been given. Hanabi never missed a detail; she was the type that paid attention, because it could possibly mean advancement in her own abilities. The question was... What sort of test would their Jounin-sensei throw on them today? No matter... Hanabi would, hopefully with the help of her teammates rather than on her own, overcome whatever was thrown at them.

Coming across the mentioned tree, making sure it was the right one, Hanabi could see someone lying under it... The fact that he was an older man - and reminding her of another boy Hinata had mentioned, by the name of Nara Shikamaru - and looking rather lazy told her the name Nara Shono, the name of their Jounin-sensei. It was a little odd; their whole team was from a clan, and while not all of them were bloodlines, they were all well-known in the village. The Inuzuka-Hyuuga pairing was already common, with Kiba and Hinata, but she was surprised there wasn't an Aburame... And that there was a Yamanaka. Didn't the Yamanaka usually do the Ino-Shika-Cho thing with their teams? Whatever the case, it didn't matter to Hanabi. They were a team, and that was final.

"Shono-sensei?" a questioning voice said, one that sounded both confident and rather cute, like a child, at the same time. Lavender orbs that looked like they simply didn't have pupils surveyed the man, the girl's head cocked slightly to the side. Instinctively, she checked her pocket for the hair tie she always carried... She didn't like her hair getting in her face while she sparred. To make sure of that now, she pulled the rubber band out, neatly brushed her hair back with her fingers, her bangs still fluttering partially over her face, and tied it back tight enough that it wouldn't fall out. It seemed she was the first one here... Well, she was punctual, like the rest of the Hyuuga. It was simply a trait they seemed to have...

[Yamanaka Meushi]

::Yamanaka Meushi::

Not being one who traveled for out of the village, the Yamanaka known as Meushi was having some trouble finding this tree she was supposed to be meet her team at. While she knew she should have had a more intimate knowledge of the area, she never got the chance to do so. Usually she remained at home, training in the flower fields instead of the training areas around the village. Since her jutsus consisted of either Yamanaka clan jutsu or flower-based jutsu, it was the most convenient for her. One of her parents was almost always available if she needed help, and she had an almost endless supply of petals to use for ammo. Why should she go anywhere else?

Still, this extra time meant she would be able to think over her current situation. She thought that her team was a little odd. Sure, she knew the two students she was teamed with (and had already encountered Taiyo before) and the girl she had drafted as her rival, Hanabi. They also had graduated early for one reason or another, giving them that common thread as well. Still, it just messed up all the classic team set ups. The Yamanaka were almost always teamed up with a Akimichi and Nara in the (in)famous Ino-Shika-Cho combination. She couldn't recall any of those clans in her class, but there had to be some available somewhere. Maybe she was placed with these two because her name didnft start with Ino in it? She laughed that off really quick, seeing as it was a rather ridiculous reason for making a team.

She then thought of another reason for her placement; someone recognized she wanted to be more combat-ready than past Yamanakas. The Ino-Shika-Cho combination focused on restraining the enemy and then using the Yamanaka clan jutsu to mess up their minds. While she still knew how to do that, she also wanted to be able to fight on her own and not rely completely on others to help her. Her teammates were a Hyuuga and an Inuzuka; the former had the best taijutsu style in Konoha and the other were always rather aggressive types (or at least what she could deduce from Taiyo's behavior). Perfect for someone who wanted a little more action in their life.

Of course, that would depend a lot on Hanabi and their sensei's personalities. She already knew Taiyo would be ready for a fight, but she didn't know Hanabi as well. Going off of what she heard about Hinata from Ino, she might be rather timid and shy person. Of course, she also knew of Neji, the Hyuuga prodigy. Two completely different personalities, which left a large range of personalities for Hanabi to possibly have. Meushi hoped she was more like Neji, with maybe a tint of Hinata in it so she could be someone she could live with. As for the sensei, the Nara named attached to him didnft improve her mood. If he was anything like the Shikamaru that was on Inofs team, then they were in for a snooze-fest, and she meant that in a literal sense.

Eventually, by fate or by pure luck, Meushi stumbled upon a large tree with a man underneath. Nearby was a girl, and one quick look at her eyes that looked as if they had no pupils alerted Meushi to the fact that she must have been Hanabi. And if the girl was Hanabi, that meant the man was their sensei Nara Shono. To no surprise, he was sitting there watching the clouds. Yep, he was a full-fledged Nara alright, but Meushi simply walked into the area as bright and peppy as she usually was. She was trying to hide of the disappointment that maybe she wouldn't get the combat training she wanted.

"Hey, Hanabi-chan," she yelled out, giving a rather energetic wave before turning to face their sensei. "Are you Shono-sensei?" she asked, her voice quickly turning more polite and softer than the energetic and friendly voice she used to address Hanabi.

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[Inuzuka Taiyo]

For Taiyo and Myou, direction was not much of an issue, they knew they had to look for someone that had a large amount of chakra supple. Their sensei was a Jounin and from his experience with meeting Aya the other day it shouldn't be much of a problem for them to locate this Jounin. Their problem was actually trying to get in the mood to even search for the meeting spot. Taiyo was never one to be on time for things, he and Myou was always in late for class which they was made to stay after and write lines. How Taiyo managed to pass into the ranks with Meushi and Hanabi was beyond his mother, tho she was still proud of them for passing an year early than most children in the village.

He looked down to Myou and sighed for a moment, he wasn't looking forward to meeting the rest of the team after hearing his cousin Kiba described the Nara and the Hyuuga kids that was his age range. He heard that the Hyuuga had this weird branch and main branch going on and something about a seal across their foreheads. When he saw a Hyuuga in the village they always seemed distance towards the rest of the village like they was better than most people. Having their eyes solid with no iris was something else the clearly freaked him out, but there was no way that he was going to allow that to get out from his new team mate Hanabi. Sure he had known her in the academy, well of her. Taiyo was always friendly but there was a group of kids that he always hanged out with and she was not in that group.

Has for Meushi, Taiyo and Myou already meet and got into a feet. During the fight they did developed a respect for Meushi, simple because she could take what they could dish out without a big fuss. Sure at first she had annoyed him to a bit, but he quickly warmed up to her, tho it didn't look like he did to start with. He was not sure if he was going to stop calling her the nickname or not, but it was best not to say it to loud in front of the rest of the team today, because he didn't know how they would act to him picking on Meushi right off the back and the one thing that he wanted to aviod today was doing something stupid in front of their new sensei. Meushi had in the long run earned a pass of being picked on by the two of them for now.

As for their sensei Nara, he remembered clearing of her ability of a Nara and an Aburame. He had gotten a mouth fulled of her bugs, and then trapped by her shadow possession jutsu. The feeling that came over him during the possession was fear, and that was something he had never really experience before. The ability not to be able to control his movements scared him to a bit and that was something he didn't want his sensei to do on him. There was a small amount of question if he was also a mix clan, but at the moment wont voice it. He had no choice, but to force himself not to make a judgment about this Nara tho.

Myou gave a short bark and looked up to Taiyo after the long silence between them. She hated when he was to quit for the most part, it was unnatural for the two of them not to be running about and playing. She wanted to play with him, but knew that it was not the time to play, she knew that they was meeting more people today. That tho didn't stop her playful nature towards Taiyo. She did tho give a few small barks in the direction of the overly large chakra supply that was coming from just about east of them. She smelt three chakra types and one of them being large for that matter.

Taiyo looked down to Myou and watched her for a moment, just before she sounded off east of them. He tilted his head slightly and bent down and petted her behind the ear for doing a good job. He would have given her a treat but they was running late because his mother had to make a fuss about the state of his bedroom and he had to quickly pick it up and run out of the door. He smiled slightly and picked Myou up in his arm and unzipped his jacket he was wearing and placed her inside of it zipping it back up. "Eh, guess we have no choice now Myou. We seemed like has it is now, last to show like normal huh?" He made his way over to the big tree. He saw Hanabi and Meushi, he gave at lease Meushi a wave to say hi. He looked down to the older man, he was slightly in relief that he was not being on a team with three females and there was another male on the team, but the fact that he was laying on the ground kinda annoyed him. "Oi! Sensei....why are you laying down?" He knew that was not very respectful of him, but he was an Inuzuka and most of them tend to run their mouths.

[Nara Shono]

The joy of watching clouds had almost distracted Shono completely from why exactly he had come to this spot today. The reason for him being their was very quickly implanted back into his head when the sound of footsteps slowly drew closer to where he was sitting. Shono managed to avert his gaze from the sky long enough to see a very young girl walk towards him. A quick once-over of the girl gave Shono all the information he needed about which of the three genin she was. The fact that she was female ruled out one possible choice, and the lack of pupils in the girl's lavender eyes was a sure tell sign that she was Hyuuga Hanabi.

Hanabi finally came close enough to him that she was able to quizzically call out his name. As she did so she also reached into her pocket for something. Before Shono spoke in reply to her questioning of him he saw what she pulled from her pocket, a hair tie, pretty obvious what she was going to do with it. "Yes, I am Shono, your new sensei. By my estimation you must be Hanabi of the Hyuuga family, a pleasure to meet you." A smile was casted in Hanabi's direction, followed by a small hand gesture towards a spot in the shade that was a few yards from where he sat. "Please, have a seat, your teammates should be arriving soon. In the mean time you can watch the clouds pass by with me, they seem to be extra good today..."

Shono's gaze was once again fixated on the clouds passing by above, but now there was one extra person to enjoy them with him. After a brief time had passed the estimations Shono had made came to pass. More footsteps were heard and another genin from his new team walked forth. By a very simple process of elimination it was clear that the girl that was now walking towards Hanabi and himself was Yamanaka Meushi. Shono averted his stare from the clouds long enough to witness Meushi give Hanabi a very big wave before turning to face him. The same question came from Meushi's mouth that had come from Hanabi's, so another response was in order. "Yes, I am Shono, your new sensei. You must be Meushi of the Yamanaka family, and it seems that you already know Hanabi here from your greeting." The same hand gesture that had been given to Hanabi was given to Meushi. "Why don't you take a seat in the shade next to Hanabi and we can wait for the last member of this team. In the mean time, I say we continue watching the clouds, as I told Hanabi they are extra good today...."

Once again Shono's gaze was fixated upon the sky and all the cloud glory that it had to bestow. After watching a rocking chair start to deform and form into a brand new object the sound of footsteps was heard again for the third time, and that meant the final genin of Team 6 had arrived. From the sight of a small dog being housed in the from of the boy's zipped up jacket there was no doubt who it was. The markings on the boys face was also dead giveaway that he was Inuzuka Taiyo. As Taiyo waived in the direction of Meushi there was a small sense of relief for Shono, and probably for Taiyo as well, that there were at least two males on the team.

What Shono expected Taiyo to say when he got done waiving at Meushi and facing himself was the same question that he had gotten from Hanabi and Meushi. Shono couldn't have been more wrong. The Inuzuka tended to be outspoken, so the brash question wasn't entirely out of the realm of questions now that he thought about it. With a smile and another hand gesture Shono started to speak, thinking it better to first introduce himself and then answer Taiyo's question. "Hello to you, I am Shono, your new sensei. Why don't you have a seat next to Meushi there since it seems like you already know her....and the reason i'm sitting down here is so I don't have to strain my neck watching the clouds stroll by above."

Now that all three genin were sitting in front of him it started to sink in that he really was the sensei. All the years of doing his best to avoid work and here he was taking on a huge task willingly. But who knows, it could actually be a great time leading this team, only time would tell. That type of thinking would have to be saved for later, there were things that Shono wanted to get done right now, starting with the same team meeting introductions he had gone through when he first became a genin. Shono remained positioned like he had been, cradling his sword with his left hand while resting his left on his knee, but now his focus was on that of the genin before him and not that of the clouds above.

"Now that all three of you are here we can begin. The first thing I want to do is have introductions from everyone to your teammates just like I did when I first became a genin. First start out by saying your name followed by a brief history of yourself. Next, I want you tell me why you are here, or rather why you have decided to embark on the dangerous path of the shinobi. Then, I want to know what you expect from me as your sensei. Finally, if there are any questions you have from me right off the bat you can then voice them." As he spoke his gaze shifted from person to person, all the while emminating the same smile that he had shown before.

Shono had answered all of those questions the day he met his team back in his genin days. After many years of shinobi work Shono had more history to tell, but the reason for him wanting to become a ninja had remained the same. "I will answer the same questions I've posed after all three of you have gone. So, I think we'll have Meushi first, then you Taiyo, and finally Hanabi since she was the first to show up....after that i've got more questions, but the introductions are good enough for now, so you can start Meushi."

[[Since Saska is gonna be gone Meushi will go first, then Taiyo, and then Hanabi when Saska gets back from her trip. After that i'll post another turn order, maybe keeping the one i just listed.]]

[Yamanaka Meushi]

::Yamanaka Meushi::

Meushi thought her new sensei was a bit…odd. Sure, she knew he was going to be a Nara, and had expected him to be rather lazy, but it still didn’t prepare her exactly for this. She hadn’t expected him to basically say ‘sit and watch the clouds’. For their first day, she had expected maybe a little more than that. Then again, since Taiyo wasn’t there yet, it would have been rude to do anything else. While she would have rather had something like some training or something to pass the time, she followed her sensei’s orders and settled down into the shade near Hanabi. She didn’t say anything to the girl, as she didn’t have an idea of what to say. Hanabi always seemed so much more serious than her, which made talking to her a bit jarring at times.

It felt a little odd, just sitting there with her sensei and teammate in silence. Seeing as there wasn’t anything else to do, she followed through with her sensei’s suggestion and decided to watch the clouds. Lying against the tree, she just lazily looked up into the sky and watched the white, fluffy objects twist and turn around in the sky. Unlike the sensei, Meushi had some trouble figuring out objects in the sky. Some just looked like giant blobs, others looked like something for a split second before dissolving away. Everything else her mind created into various kinds of flowers or gardening equipment. A side effect from working in the flower fields at home.

Speaking of that, Meushi had been working on that flower smell issue Taiyo had brought up in their first encounter. She had taken great pains to separate her clothes into two different outfits sets. One set was for working in the fields, and that was all they were for. They would probably be bursting with the smell of freshly cut flowers by now. The clothes she was wearing now, however, were kept separate from those at all times, to be used only for ninja missions or any interactions with Taiyo. She hoped this would lessen the flower smell on her and make it more tolerable for him, plus prevent anyone from tracking her just by the scent.

By the time Taiyo finally arrived she was on the verge of finally asleep. Cloud watching was not the most stimulating activity for her, so she had drifted off some. The Inuzuka, however, was loud enough to jar her from her half-sleep, and she was glad to see everyone was there. Hopefully that meant their sensei Shono would finally get to do something, though she felt she wouldn’t be surprised if this turned out to be the entire lesson plan for today.

Instead, they were apparently going to be hit with the usual introduction spiel; name, reason for wanting to be a ninja, etc. What surprised Meushi was that she was going to have to go first, and she was rather quiet for a moment as she tried to organize her thoughts. Eventually she felt ready to go, and sat up so she didn’t seem like a slouch in front of her teammates.

”I’m Meushi of the Yamanaka clan. My parents own flower fields that provide the flowers not only for the Yamanaka flower shop but some other ones as well. I’ve had some anger issues in the past, but I’m getting better at it,” after that she became quiet again as she worked out the next part, the part that she felt would be most important.

”As for why I want to be a ninja, well, I’m not sure how to explain this. Ino is one of my idols, but I always noticed she doesn’t seem to get much chance to show her worth as a ninja. And listening to my parents and stuff, that seems to be a common thread amongst Yamanakas. So I wanted to show that we can be more than simple support in a fight, but capable of being on the front lines just as much as any other clan.”

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[Inuzuka Taiyo]

Taiyo knew he was late getting to this meeting but he didn't care one way or another. If his sensei was going to be like the other sensei that he knew from the academy he and Myou would be scolded for being late right away. So Taiyo was kinda expecting that when he arrived up to the scene and his rounds of questions didn't help matters either. He watched Hanabi and Meushi for a moment, not wanting to look Shono in the eyes.

It was odd to him, the only one that was out place on this time was in fact the Yamanaka and the Nara. It seemed like the Hokage was splitting up the normal clan teams for her own needs at the moment. Tho the thought that neither a Nara, Aburame, and a Akimichi became a Genin this pass year was the real reason why the teams has been split like this. Giving them a Nara has a sensei tho, that was just asking for trouble consider what Taiyo knew about them. He knew him and Myou would be the trouble markers of the team because of how active and hyper they was for the most part.

Finally when Shono told him to have sit and actually answered his questions about laying under the sky the way he was doing, he looked over to Shono. Taiyo caught himself staring at the sword he had, slightly amazed at it, because the Nara was not known to be close range fighters because of their jutsu. He slowly sat down taking Myou out of his jacket and placing her on his lap. He knew that the dog would go and lay down somewhere else if she wanted to, but for now he was happy just to pet her.

He looked up to the sky for a moment or so wondering what was so great up there. This was never something that he and Myou took the time to do in the long run. They was always running around or something. Taiyo himself hated to be in one spot for long periods of time, it was just not like him. Because of that habit, Myou was nearly just like that but when she wanted her space she allowed Taiyo to know it by growling at him.

He looked down to Myou slightly when she whimpered about the being still in his lap for now. He smiled at her and petted her head. He was doing this to calm her down for now, has Shono started to speak about what he wanted from the three of them. Questions to why they wanted to be a shinobi and their names and everything. This was more stupid than the test that they was made to take during the academy years, tho he knew there was no way around it for the long run.

He turned his head has Meushi started to speak, glad that Shono was not barking at how he and Myou was late and allowed Meushi to go first. He let out a sigh of relief has he listened to her statement. He took in most of the information and then petted Myou some more. He grinned when she stopped talking and eyes drew on him. They did like to be center of attention just not this kind of attention.

He took a deep breath and started to smirk slightly. "Inuzuka Taiyo, and this is Myou and we are from the Inuzuka Clan." His dark blue eyes wandered around the party slightly and looked back to Myou for a moment and smiled. "My dad was killed in action when I was little, everything I have learned other than the regular academy stuff is because of my aunt and cousin Kiba. It just me and my mom and Myou. I want to help her out the best I can."

He brought up his hand to his nose and rubbed it slightly. It was just his way of dealing with all the scents around at the moment. He smirked at Meushi for a moment. 'Unlike her I don't idolize my cousin Kiba. One day I am going to be better than him and put that loud mouth in his place. Mine and Myou's reason for doing this is carry on my father's way and make friends. I idolize my father who died to protect this village." He smirked, that was the first time he had ever shared that with anyone even Kiba, and his mother who he was close to. Myou wagged her tail and gave a few barks in agreement. 'Yup Myou agrees with me." He petted Myou's head.

[Hyuuga Hanabi]

Interesting, Hanabi thought, noting who all arrived... And how their sensei had still been staring up at the clouds. Hanabi didn't quite understand what was so... 'interesting' about the clouds. There was nothing one could really see there, and for Hanabi, she would rather be training. As Meushi waved to her, Hanabi smiled back, her lavender eyes brimming with happiness. Whatever the case, their whole team was here now, and Hanabi was merely silent while the other two introduced themselves.

Meushi was first, and Hanabi was a little... Well, she wasn't sure how she felt about the girl's reason to be a shinobi. She idolized her cousin, Ino, and yet she wanted to be a frontline fighter... Hanabi didn't see it as very possible. Fighting on the frontlines, rather, as a Taijutsu user in the Hyuuga's case, was a very hard and grueling kind of training. Hanabi, however, was a Hyuuga; she was built to fight that way.

Then Taiyo was next, and Hanabi didn't have much to think on his area, either. She would agree that his cousin, Kiba, was a loudmouth; she knew that one a little too well. Kiba was her sister's teammate, and she was glad they hadn't ever shown up in the Hyuuga district, at least not in the areas where Hiashi often was... Otherwise, well, that could've been an interesting ordeal. After Taiyo finished, it was Hanabi's turn to introduce herself.

Unsure how to start, she paused for a moment, obviously thinking, then began to speak. "Well, I'm Hyuuga Hanabi... Of the Hyuuga clan. I am the younger sister of none other than Hyuuga Hinata-neechan and cousin of Hyuuga Neji-niisan." Hanabi knew that sounded awkward... But whatever. Who wouldn't think themselves to sound awkward in such a situation? "Though my father believes that I would make a better heir to the Head Branch, I am basically the... 'backup' of my sister should she pass on before she can become the head of the Head branch.

"The lot of you, I assume, have heard of the divisions within the Hyuuga clan, between the Main or Head branch and the 'branch' family. While the divisions are much less prominent now, I may as well explain all that I know and have heard." Hanabi hated the way she was speaking... She sounded so professional, and smart, too. Nonetheless, she continued with her explanation of things, because she knew it was necessary to her main point.

"My father, Hyuuga Hiashi-sama, had a brother... Neji-niisan's father, Hyuuga Hizashi-san. While the war between Kumogakure no Sato and Konohagakure no Sato was coming to a close, Kumogakure wasn't playing... 'fairly', as one could call. One night, my older sister, Hinata-neechan, was almost captured. Hiashi-sama, hearing the commotion, killed the man who kidnapped Hinata-neechan and took back his eldest daughter.

"To backtrack a little... Hiashi-sama and Hizashi-san had been born twins. Hiashi-sama, however, was born first, and there was then a split in the family, basically... Hiashi-sama became a member of the Head family, and Hizashi-san a member of the Branch family. According to the elders, the Branch family serves to protect the Head family... And are branded with a seal. I don't know the details, but... To some, it is an omen. After the Kumogakure traitor was killed, the others demanded the body of Hyuuga Hiashi-sama as payment to avoid another war. My uncle, however, stepped in, saying that they could send his body in the place of his brother.

"Such an event became trivial in the family... Especially to those who didn't learn the true reason behind Hizashi-san's death. One person stood out prominently: Hyuuga Neji-niisan. A prodigy, a lot called him, and I do agree with them... He is powerful, sometimes to the point that he scares me. Nonetheless... He hated the fact that he was a member of the Branch family. He was bitter, coarse, and reserved... Nobody really talked to him, simply because he was cold... Except Tenten-chan," Hanabi added with a smirk... "But that's beside the point. Shono-sensei, you may remember the Chuunin exams, where Neji-niisan fought none other than Uzumaki Naruto-san... It was then that Neji-niisan changed, and became who he is today.

"However, I was also touched by his bitterness... I somewhat understood him. That, alongside with my father wishing me to be the heir of the Head family, is why I am a shinobi. I want to change the Hyuuga family... I don't want that split to be there any more. I saw the pain, the bitterness, the hatred of my cousin. He's much different now, but... Because nobody told him at first that Hizashi-san died of his own will, he believed it to be a forced death, and that it was unnecessary. I cannot speak for his point of view now, but... Nonetheless. I strive to become the head of the Hyuuga family at one point and to change this Main and Branch nonsense." Such a heartfelt tale... Hanabi closed her eyes for a moment. She remembered how she'd felt for her cousin... It was terrible that he'd had to suffer the way he did. Even she hated it, and that was the reason that she strove towards what she did now. Of course... Strangely enough, she was still afraid of Neji because of the way he used to be. Nothing could be helped...

"As for expectations... I truly do not have any," she stated, back to her happy-go-lucky self. "I just hope we can all get along."

[Nara Shono]

With Meushi being the first to answer the questions Shono's eyes shifted to look right at her. The entire time that Meushi spoke Shono eminated the same soft smile that he had been showing, whilst at the same time never breaking eye contact with her. Meushi's short speech about why she wanted to be a ninja was sufficient enough. She wanted to try and break the perception that people had about how her clan were only good for support and weren't really the front-line type of people. Shono himself had to deal with the perceptions people had of him just because he was a Nara. True, he did have some of the Nara traits like the laziness, but over the years he had distanced himself slightly from some of the traits. When Meushi finished Shono didn't say anything, mainly because she didn't have any questions for him, so his eyes shifted from her over to the next person to speak.

Taiyo was the next to go, and his reason for being a ninja was highly different than that of Meushi's. Taiyo wanted to be like his dad who had given his life protecting the Leaf Village, a very commendable act. He also had a very different view of his older cousin. Where Meushi idolized her cousin Taiyo didn't, instead wanting to put him in his place. Shono had to chuckle to himself when Taiyo said that, the conviction in which he made that statement really made Shono believe he wanted to be better than his cousin Kiba would ever be. Once again Shono didn't say a word, instead he watched Myou bark in agreement to what Taiyo had just said before shifting his gaze to the final genin to speak, Hanabi.

Shono's facial expression had not changed a bit from person to person. He was still emminating the same soft smile for Hanabi that he had put on for Meushi and Taiyo. As Shono listened to Hanabi speak about how her clan was set up into a main and branch family he couldn't but help that her manner of speaking was different than the other two. Hanabi was very well composed, articulate, and almost professional in manner. This didn't surprise Shono that much since she was a Hyuuga, his experience with Hyuuga clan members gave him the impression of professionalism. What also seperated Hanabi's speech from Meushi's and Taiyo's was the length. Hanabi was going very indepth, with most of the information probably being new to Meushi and Taiyo but not himself. Shono was in his early genin years during the Kumo-Konoha war, and with his 24 years of being in the Leaf Village he had time to learn about the Hyuuga's and their clan's ways.

Hanabi's reason's for wanting to be a shinobi had the same feel about it that Meushi's and Taiyo's had. She wanted to be the head of her family and change the main and branch family divide, but she also spoke of her cousin Neji. So all three genin were influenced by their older cousins in some way; either wanting to be like them, wanting to be better than them, or wanting to do something because of they related to them. A smirk came over Shono's face when Hanabi voiced her expectations, and for the first time since asking Meushi to go first, Shono finally spoke. "I hope we can too...and to what you said about Neji's and Naruto's fight, I do remember that, I was working security detail during those exams."

Now that all three of the genin had gone it was time for Shono to do his own little speech. He shifted slightly from the position he had been sitting in to a more upright one, bringing his legs from their bent position to a crossed position in front of his body. He also moved the sword that was resting against his shoulder to a resting position across his crossed legs. Shono's eyes kept moving from person to person as he spoke, making sure he was making eye contact with them so that they were paying attention. "My name is Nara Shono, and I am from the Nara clan. I have alot more history than you three do, so i'll be as brief as I can and just hit the major points."

Shono paused for a second to recall all of his past memories and decide which were important to voice and which weren't. After a very brief time Shono began to speak again. "I graduated from the academy at the age of 12 with the highest marks of the class. I was placed on a team with one other male, Bunju, and one other female, Hiko, with our sensei being Tokoku...you probably havn't heard of any of these people, but Bunju would become my best friend...anyways, I digress. We did missions and were held back one year from taking the Chuunin exams. We did more missions and since the techniques we could learn as genin seemed limited my sensei taught us alot of taijutsu. He didn't teach us specific moves, but he wanted us to be ready for close combat situations." Another small pause to catch his breath and to allow all he had said to sink in before starting again.

"At 13 my teammates and I were allowed to take the Chuunin exam. Bunju and I made it all the way to the final match of the exams where we had to face each other. I ended up beating him to win the whole thing, along with being given the rank of Chuunin...oh, and Bunju was promoted too, if you were wondering." It might have seemed that adding Bunju to the conversation was unneeded, but they were to find out that he played a critical part in his history. "I did more missions and at 17 both Bunju and I were promoted to Jounin because of our outstanding ability and near perfect mission success rate. As a Jounin I was giving very high ranking missions, undertaking alot of S-ranked missions to the point that I became pretty well recognized and was given the nickname 'Crimson Shadow'...so if you've ever heard that name or do hear that name they're talking about me."

Another pause in his speech, to again catch his breath, but to also brace himself for what he was about to say next. "Five years ago I went on probably the biggest mission of my life, at least it feels that way. The Hidden Sand had one of their most secret documents stolen from an elaborate gang of A and S ranked rogue-nin, and since they were a common enemy of both Sand and Leaf we decided to help them get their document back. I was squad leader of one of the four squads consisting of Konoha's top Jounin....and Bunju was a leader of a different squad. We penetrated the rogue-nin's fortress and the battle got heated. We were winning until they brought out some weird weapons...and then things turned. As I was fighting I saw Bunju start to get into trouble, I tried to get to him in time....." Even with five years passing since the incident it still played vividely in Shono's mind, causing him to stop and regroup his thoughts for a second.

While Shono was silent his eyes averted from looking at his team to looking down at his sword. He usually didn't talk about the incident to anyone other than his family and close friends, but with these genin being his new team they would be spending a whole lot of time together so they would probably find out eventually, and better from him than someone else. "Bunju, my best friend, was K.I.A that day, and it was by this sword that he fell." It would no doubt be a shock to the three that he was carrying around the sword that had killed his best friend, but there was reason for this. "So in my rage I took this sword from the enemy and used it to defeat him...and now I carry this sword around in honor of Bunju, hoping that by using it for good it can somehow honor his memory."

"Since then i've done more missions, watch my fair share of clouds, and have taken plenty of naps, so there's my history." The soft smile had returned to his face as he once again looked from person to person as he got ready to tell his reason for taking the shinobi path. "So I guess next is why I wanted to be a ninja, and that reason is the same now as it was when i first became a genin. I want to protect my family, friends, and the Leaf Village from harm any way I can. You will find out just like I found out that your reasons for being a ninja will be alot harder to accomplish than you expect. I knew it would be hard, just like you all probably know it will be, but knowing it will be hard and actually doing the work that's needed are two completely different things."

Finally, my expectations of myself. I expect to help all of you to reach your goals and be the best shinobi you can be. I know many people in this village, even if they don't know me, so I know who the cousins you have spoken of are. Whether you want to be like them or better than them, I will try to do what I can to help you....oh, and I also expect to watch clouds and take naps, so hopefully you three can learn to like that too." Taking on three genin was quite a job, the cloud watching outlet and nap outlet were going to be highly used tools in Shono's arsenal to help combat the stress and work...plus you can't break 24 years of habitual napping and cloud watching, just isn't gonna happen.

With the introductions now done it was time to move on to what Shono had mentioned earlier, more questions. These questions were to be different than what was considered 'normal questioning,' but Shono had plans and he was going to follow them. "So, now that the introductions are done, it's time for more questions." Shono expected some grumbling and groaning about doing more questions, it would be odd for three brand new genin not to grumble about questions when what they really wanted to do was train.

"There will be four more questions, but some will be individualized so that you can't just go and copy the answer the person before you gave. When it's your turn you'll answer all four questions at once just like you did with your intro." He had spent some time deciding on the perfect questions to ask, and he didn't want anyone to have an easy way out by copying an answer. "The first question is for all of you. I want you all to look up into the sky right now, and I want you to look at those magnificient puffy white clouds floating lazily through the air. Okay, I want you to tell me what 'thing' you see the clouds shaping to be." It was a good thing that there were actually clouds in the sky for this question to work, Shono had been banking on the fact that there would be, so he lucked out on that one.

This question might seem a bit, well, odd, but you wouldn't be able to tell that from looking as Shono's face. He had given that question with a serious yet soft smile, no hint of sarcasm or joking in his voice what so ever. The next questions were to be of the individualized kind, being so Shono took a moment to word the questions in his head before speaking them. "The second question is going to be individualized, so each of you will be getting a different second question." His eyes look over to Meushi first. "Here's your question Meushi. You're on a mission where you have to build a dirt wall out of the dirt piles that are present. When you get there you see that there are three piles to your left, four piles to your right, and six piles directly in front of you. If you put all those together how many piles do you have? Please explain how you came about your answer as well, I want to know your thought process."

After giving Meushi her question, Shono's eyes focused onto Taiyo. "Taiyo, here's your question. You're on a mission to collect data about how coins react to dropping in water. You are given two buckets of the exact same size and dimensions, you are also given two coins that are the exact same size and weight. Each bucket is filled with exactly the same amount of water. Everything is same except for one thing, the temperature of the water. Bucket A contains 60°F water and bucket B is exactly half that, 30°F water. If both coins are dropped from the same height, at the same time, with one coin going into one bucket, which coin will hit the bottom of which bucket first? Coin into bucket A or coin into bucket B? Also, please explain how you came to this answer."

Next was Hanabi, and Shono's eyes made his way to look at the young girl. "Hanabi, your question now. You're on a mission to retrieve a lost dog all by yourself. You find the dog and begin to chase him, eventually chasing him straight into a forest. You know the forest to be one mile long. If neither the dog or you get tired, there are no outside occurences that would slow either of you down, you chase the dog in a straight line, the dog is actually faster than you, and you can't use any type of tool to capture him, exactly how far can you chase the dog into the forest? Again, please explain your answer."

"The third question is also individualized, but they are considerably shorter in length." Shono's gaze went back to Meushi to give her her next question, moving his gaze from person to person in the same order he had done before. "Meushi, I want you to look around yourself, and then tell me who you think the strongest person is. Taiyo, I want you to look around too, and then tell me who you think the smartest person is. Hanabi, I also want you to look around yourself, but I want you to tell me who you think the overall weakes person is. None of you have to tell me why if you don't want to, all I need for this question is a name."

"The last question isn't technically a question, but roll with it. You are given one more opportunity to ask me anything at all....well, except for the answers to the questions, those I won't answer. Anything else I will answer with 100% truth, so if you have anything at all you want to ask me this is your last chance." With those last few words he was done, the questions had been asked and all that was left was for them to answer. Each question had a purpose, a purpose that was known only to Shono, but a purpose none-the-less. Now that the questions were put forth it was time to hear the answers. "So I guess we'll go in the same order as before; Meushi, Taiyo, and then Hanabi."

[[Gonna keep the same order I guess, Shono, Meushi, Taiyo, Hanabi...so you're up Meushi ^^]]

[Yamanaka Meushi]

::Yamanaka Meushi::

Meushi had thought that her little speech had been rather well. She didn’t think it at all a problem wanting to emulate what you considered an idol. As the others talked, however, she found she was the minority in this view. Taiyo even gave her a smirk and, at least in her view, bashed her thoughts. His smirk was responded to by her giving him a bit of an angry glare before she crossed her arms in front of her and looked away. Childish, yes, but even if they were ninja, they were children as well. Meushi felt perfectly justified in letting him know she didn’t appreciate the comment. Though once he mentioned that his father had died she softened up. Even if it didn’t look like he was overly depressed, she was sure he felt sad about it. Looking like a cold-hearted little brat wouldn’t endear her to anyone, so she had to tone down her anger after that.

She focused her attention on Hanabi once the Hyuuga girl started to speak. And boy did the girl speak. For once, though, Meushi didn’t mind someone rambling on and on. This drama in the Hyuuga house was interesting stuff, tragic though it was. All of them had been born just after the war, so all of this was unknown to her. In her mind Meushi thought it rather wrong that the brother had to sacrifice himself to save the clan, but at the same time she could see why did what he did. Besides, it was by his own free will, which just muddled up the morality of it.

What did seem wrong, however, was what the situation created. She had heard of the famous Neji Hyuuga not only from her parents and Ino, but from talk around town as well. Ino had mentioned to her before that Neji had used to be this rather arrogant guy always talking about destiny and what not, but apparently another one of Ino’s generation of ninja named Naruto had beaten some sense into him. Still, it was a rather sad story, but apparently he had softened up over time and was more pleasant to be around. So at least there had been a happy ending of sorts. Meushi wished the Hyuuga girl in making sure that such a story wouldn’t have to happen again.

Now that the three of them had gotten to tell their stories, Meushi was hoping their sensei would actually interact with them. During the entire session he had just sat there with a smile. It was actually kind of creepy just to see him sit there smiling. The only time he made a comment was at the end of Hanabi’s turn. So now that they were all done, he had to finally let them get to some kind of training, right? What else could he let them do?

The answer to that question was, apparently, continue on with his own story. Meushi held back her disappointment, not wanting to look rude when her sensei was speaking. She listened to him as he talked about his own experiences as a ninja. It all sounded rather standard to her; Genin team, missions, Chuunin Exams. It was odd he ended up fighting one of his own teammates in the final rounds of the Exams though. Meushi had thought the system was built to avoid such occurrences, but apparently it wasn’t. That actually excited the Yamanaka some, as it meant one day she’d get the chance to prove herself up against Hanabi. She would make sure that if that happened, it would be a battle everyone would remember far into the future.

Her thoughts of glory were put on hold as Shono continued to talk. “Crimson Shadow” sounded familiar, but Meushi couldn’t exactly place a finger on where she had heard it from. Most likely her parents had said something about it in passing while talking over dinner. Meushi kind of had a habit of phasing out when they talked most of the time, only popping in when she heard something she already knew about. So even if they did mention him, she didn’t know anything about his exploits.

Apparently they were going to hear about one though as he started to talk about a mission to help Hidden Sand with some stolen scrolls. While she wished he had elaborated about the weird weapons, upon the mention that his friend Bunju had died, she removed the thought from her mind. Though she had never had the misfortune of loosing a person close to her, she didn’t think it would be that pleasant of an experience.

By now all the anger she had from Taiyo’s earlier comment was gone, replaced with her looking rather ashamed of herself. Her reason for being a ninja seemed so, well, pathetic compared to the others. Taiyo wanted to honor his father, Hanabi wanted to change the Hyuuga family, and their sensei wanted to protect his loved ones and the village. All of them suffered some kind of tragedy as well. It wasn’t like she wanted something bad to happen to her of course, but it just made her feel a bit disconnected from them all. She brought her legs up to her chest as she curled up under the tree, and then just rested her head on them as she used her arms to hold them in place.

She listened to his expectation of himself for this team. All sounded rather standard pep-talk stuff like helping to reach goals and all that. If it weren’t for her moment of self-loathing, she would have groaned at the comment about clouds and naps. It didn’t sound that great at all, but she just ignored it at the moment. Her mind was too distracted to complain. Even the mentioning of more questions didn’t bring a groan from her, though she at least paid more attention to this part. It didn’t surprise her cloud watching was part of it, but the personalized questions seemed a lot more like math and academic stuff. There had to be some deeper meaning behind them. The last one, however, she already had an answer to it.

Of course, she was the first one to have to start answering them. As soon as she opened up her mouth, it was obvious she wasn’t as peppy as she was earlier. Her voice was quieter and less cheerful. She hoped her sudden shift in attitude didn’t bring the rest of the team down.

For the first question Meushi lazily lifted her head up into the clouds. Like before, she mostly saw blobs at first, so it took awhile before she finally got an answer out, though it was a rather predictable one.

“Well, I think I see a girl or something with a big, fanciful flower in her hair,” she replied. Leave it to her to look at clouds and automatically think of some beauty design and flowers. Apparently living for 11 years in a flower field was enough to make them an inescapable sight.

Question number two was just for her, and she thought up of two different answers to it. The first was the obvious one, which was to just add them all up and get thirteen for an answer. Since the mission was to make a dirt wall, however, you would end up putting them all into one big pile anyway. She decided to go with the second one. It sounded more clever and profound, and it was always nice to not look like an idiot in front of your teammates.

”Well, since the mission is to build a dirt wall, once you ‘put them all together’, you would end up having one giant pile to build the wall from. I assumed when you said ‘put them all together’ it meant to literally put them all together. For a moment I almost added up the piles, but I thought that a weirder answer.”

Now came the finale; Meushi had to tell who she thought was the strongest among them. For a moment she thought of sucking up and saying he was, but that was probably not the answer he wanted. So instead she was going to choose out of the three of them, but for her the question was a no brainer.

”I believe that Hanabi is the strongest between the three of us. She was always a top scorer at the Academy, and she’s a Hyuuga. Everyone knows that members of that clan are good ninja.”

With all the questions now answered, Meushi tried to think of any questions that she might have for their sensei. Asking if they would ever actually do training would be futile since she assumed they would do some eventually. He had told them his backstory, so that answered any of the ones she may have had before. Overall there just wasn’t anything that stuck out to Meushi that needed answering.

”I think I’m done with my round, so go ahead and start Taiyo.”

[Inuzuka Taiyo]

Taiyo listened to Hanabi talk about the Hyuuga clan, it was not something that he had actually listened to for the most part from Kiba, but got bits of the information what happened in the Chuunin exam from him. She had changed because of Neji for the most part because of his story until he heard the truth about his father. He couldn't help but fell a bit sorry for Neji because of his father, but he was like Neji right? Lost his father, but he lost his father due to a mission out of the country Neji's father chose to give up his life to have a choice. He stared at the ground for a moment.

He looked up to Hanabi than to Meushi, each of them had talked about their cousins some how. There was a connection already between them because in some way they wanted to either help or become better than their cousins. He smiled slightly and petted Myou on her head has he pulled her into his lap. He was having second thoughts about how this team was not going to so bad now, even if he was the only male on the team of the same age. Those two girls could not be all bad right?

He looked up to Shono just slightly when he started to talk about his history. He growled slightly to himself, it was not something that he wanted to listen to for the most. Why did they need to know about him? He was to teach them about being a shinobi not his history of being a Shinobi. He looked down to the grass and closed his eyes slightly tapping one hand on his knee and the other hand petted Myou to keep her calm for the most part. It was hard to stay still throughout the most part of history because he and Myou was not use to sitting for so long without doing anything. Half way through it he yawned and brought his hand that was tapping against his knee to cover his mouth, it was the proper thing to do.

He looked up to Shono when he talked about taking nap and watching the clouds. It was not something he was looking forward to doing for the most part. If he wanted to sleep he would go and take one on his own. What made it worse that Shono wanted them to answer questions about something. He was not sure if he was liking this Jounin now. He thought he was wasting their time now with proper training of the sorts. He growled slightly when the first question was to look up at the clouds and tell him what they saw.

He looked over to Meushi when she answered first about the flower girl. "Pfft, it just like you to see a girl and flowers up there." He looked back to Shono sorta glaring at the fact that he was being made to look up and see something that he would rather not see. He had never once really looked at the clouds it was just boring when he could be running around with Myou and stuff and bugging Kiba. He heard Myou give him a sharp bark and nudge his hand. He looked down to her. "Fine..." It was more of a grumble in his answer to Myou has he looked up at the sky. His deep blue eyes locked on to the first thing that he saw and that appeared to be a ball. "I guess I see a ball in the sky, sorta like the ball me and Myou play with a lot." He rolled his eyes slightly.

He then watched Shono waiting for his next question. He listened to Meushi question and before he could even started to think about that one Shono was throwing his out there. He grinned when he was given the question about the two coins and buckets. Exactly how was he suppose to figure this out without seeing it first hand. Without really seeing it most would have thought they would make to the bottom at the same time. He looked down at the ground has his mind started to restate the question inside of his head for a moment, he didn't even hear what Hanabi's question was. He could have said that there was not enough information to answer properly and that was the first thing that popped into his head to tell him, but that would be wrong, and Taiyo gut even told him that. The coins was a never angle to look at and the only clear reason there was exactly how they was dropped. Flat or upright? Would that even matter?

He twiddle some grass in his finger a bit before he reached his answer. He looked back up to Shono with a confident smile on his face. "The answer would be A, you would think that there was not enough information to answer because you don't know how the coins was dropped. Flat or upright, but that would be thinking rather to hard on the matter. The answer would be A due to density. The colder the water the more pressure, the warmer the less pressure the coin encounters."

He was confident in his answer because that was something that all shinobi was suppose to do right? Be confident in their answers and abilities. Even if he didn't answer correctly the fact that he attempted the question itself with logic was something to think about in the long run. Myou gave a bark for support, and growled at Shono daring him to question Taiyo's answer in the long run. She was very loyal to Taiyo. He petted her on her head again.

Once again Shono gave them a three part question. For Meushi her question was to pick the stronger, and she picked Hanabi, something that Taiyo growled about, that was until Shono placed him on the spot about the smartest of them. That would place him in a pickle with his new team mates if he chose him or even one of the girls. He really didn't want to start off on the wrong feet with the two of them and having them hate him in the long run. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment or so about his answer. "You know, you really shouldn't question us like this. Either way we would look bad for answering wrong or choose between us like this. Its not fair in the long run, but there are four simple answers to that question. The smartest is you, because you have more experience than us. Then there Meushi, who has knowledge her flowers of her clan and what not and has good chakra control for the most part. Third there Hanabi who by far place mine and Meushi's taijutsu and chakra control to shame because of her Byakugan that relies on both of those. Last is me and Myou, we have worked together has a team for years now, not only that we are great with our noises and staying in sync with one of another. we reach excelled in our own ways, each one of us three did graduate a year early than our cousins did, that proves something in its own." He smiled slightly, Aya had given him that answer when he first meet her.

He grinned at the last question. He was given them each a chance to ask a question that he would answer. He closed his eyes for a moment or so. He was trying to think about this. He wouldn't answer anything from their second or third question so there was no point ans asking about that. "One question and you have to answer huh? What do you know about Aburame Aya? She was toying with my aunt a lot the other day..and she used that Shadow possession jutsu on me that was not fun. She claims that her mother is a Nara." He raised his eyebrow at Shono, nearly glaring at him once more.

[Hyuuga Hanabi]

It seemed everyone had heard much about the events at the Chuunin exams, and Hanabi was glad that she had been listened to rather well. Naruto's and Neji's fight was one of the more well-known ones around the village... Hanabi had seen it first-hand. She was glad that Naruto had changed Neji for the better; while she never got the guts to ask him herself, he always helped her with her training when Hiashi asked him to do so. As their sensei began his own little history, Hanabi noticed something... Her, Meushi, and Taiyo were all influenced by their cousins in different ways. Taiyo wanted to beat his cousin. Meushi wanted to be like her cousin. Hanabi herself wanted to help her cousin in a way. How ironic...

Hanabi might have seemed somewhat apathetic during Shono's life story, but that was simply the way she acted. She thought of it as 'it's over and done with, no need to worry' because that was simply the way she thought of things. Unless it was vital and important to a situation - like how Neji used to be was important as the driving force behind Hanabi's own expectations - she never really gave things much though. Of course, she listened... She was saddened to hear it, yes, but she didn't show it. Hiding emotion was a skill she was good at... And right now, the situation called for her more shinobi-esque, professional side. The child that she was had been locked down for the time being... Eventually, the other two would see her other side, but for now, it was not necessary.

Now it was time to really pay attention. She didn't pay much mind to the questions that were asked of the other two, but carefully thought about her own questions. The first one would be easy; she knew the reason behind it, too. It was to test how they thought, what they could see in what was basically a bunch of... nothing. The second one was their common sense... And the third, how they thought of people. Hanabi already had her answers, and she waited quietly and calmly as Meushi and Taiyo finished their questions. Most of the answers didn't surprise her... But nonetheless, now it was her turn.

Hanabi looked up to the sky for her first question, and looked rather carefully as she did so. She didn't see much... She looked again, carefully. She thought she saw a girl with two buns on her head, and a boy whose hair was long... Both were dressed in rather baggy clothing, and they were holding hands. A small giggle escaped her lips, because it didn't surprise her that her inner child wanted to leak out a little bit. Ah, she'd let it have its reign, at least for a little bit.

"I see... My cousin Neji and his teammate holding hands like they're lovers," she ground out between small giggles. Regaining her composure, she answered the second question.

"For the second question, I could only chase the dog half a mile into the forest. I could only chase it into the center, and if one were to assume the area to be a circle, I could only chase it the length of the radius of the circle. Therefore, half a mile." It was easy enough to figure out, she knew, and distance for her came like nothing. She gauged distance with her Byakugan, and she also was the tracker type. She used that tracking skill often... When she liked to basically 'stalk' her cousin and his teammate. Of course, that was only when the fun side of Hanabi came out.

"For the third question... For the overall weakest, it really depends which sort of ability you are thinking of," she started, feeling as if she would have to explain herself for this one. It was simply her way... "If it came down to a close-combat confrontation, such as Taijutsu, I would say Meushi to be dubbed the weakest; as a Yamanaka, she's not necessarily built for that sort of confrontation. However were it to come down to something such as Ninjutsu, I would dub myself to be the weakest, due to my focus on Taijutsu rather than Ninjutsu. Were it to come down to Genjutsu, Taiyo and Myou would be considered the weakest. You, as a Nara, would be considered weakest in the area of endurance of chakra, as I've noted with that genius Nara, Shikamaru. All in all, each of us is weak in some area, but that is simply because it is nearly the opposite of what our full strength is." Hanabi was never very simple with her explanations. She had a mind that was advanced for her age, yes... She thought along the lines of being intelligent in these sorts of situations rather than anything. She would have explained the strengths of each of their to reinforce her statement, but she'd only been asked for who was the 'weakest'. She'd given her answer for the third... Now it was time to move to the fourth.

"I do not have any question as of yet to ask... for the fourth 'question'."

[Nara Shono]

When Shono had finished giving his questions to his genin there was a small period of time before Meushi started to answer her series of questions. This small time slot allowed Shono to look back and forth to each genin to see the wheels turning in their heads as to how to answer their questions. Though the questions he had posed may have seemed a little, odd, each one had a purpose behind them, and Shono didn't expect them to get all of the questions right...actually, he didn't really expect them to do all that well, but he was about to find out just why these three had graduated a year earlier than their fellow classmates.

One by one they looked into the sky to watch the clouds for their first question, following that by answering each of their questions when the previous person had finished. The only one that posed a question to Shono for the forth question was Taiyo, so Shono answered his question about Aburame Aya as soon as he posed it, breaking up the silence that Shono had been showing while Meushi and Taiyo had answered the previous three questions. As Shono prepared his answer he couldn't but help notice Taiyo's demeanor, the very confident posture and near glare like stare, it looked like this boy wasn't one to be intimidated. "I do know Aya, but we're not really that close...well, close enough that she's recently asked me to help her with her shadow jutsu. Her mother is from the Nara clan and her father is from the Aburame clan, a weird pairing I know, but I think that pairing can lead to some pretty interesting combo jutsu. Really, other than that we're the same age I don't know to much more about her....so you didn't like the Shadow Possession huh? That's too bad..."

The last little comment was thrown out there to see how Taiyo reacted to it. Noone liked being trapped in the Shadow Possession Jutsu, you could have asked Shono's enemies that, problem with that is that none of them are around anymore to ask. With his response done Shono's gaze shifted and fixated on Hanabi, the last one to go. Her answer to the cloud question seemed to have more meaning behind it than the previous two genin's answers, but it still pertained to things she knew just like the previous two; Meushi and flowers, and Taiyo and a ball. Seeing how Hanabi didn't have a question for him it was now time to grade them on their answers and give them the meaning behind it. The grading was pretty easy, and the outcome was pretty far from what he had expected.

"Well, I have to say, all three of you have done very well, alot better than one would expect from a genin fresh out of the academy...but I guess there's a reason you three graduated early. So I guess i'll break down each question and how you did on it." Shono's eyes pandered from one person to the next as he gave the results to each of their questions. "For the first question, I didn't really matter what you saw, more that you were willing to look up and see it. It was more of an order than a question, and I wanted to see if you would follow it without dispute. I know other people don't understand or like cloud watching, don't know why cause it's soothing and relaxing and perfectly good way to spend your time....sorry, bit off track, anywho, since many find it dumb to find pictures in clouds I wanted to see if you do it without dispute if you're one of those people. Some of you had more...eccentric answers than others...I mean, I just happen to know who's on Neji's team and i'm pretty sure he isn't holding that Rock Lee boy's hand, so it could only be one other person....despite that, all three of you passed question number one."

"Question number two was more riddle than question, and once again each of you passed it." Shono turned his eyes over to Meushi. "You were right with the piles. Keep putting piles together and you just get one bigger pile." Next Shono looked over at Taiyo. "You were right with the density, though it was the more complicated answer. What I was looking for was that water at 30°F is below the freezing point of 32°F, so it would technically be ice or some form of slush, making it very difficult for the coin to hit bottom before the other coin. That being said, you're more scientific approach of density is also correct, so good job." Finally Shono turned his attention to Hanabi. "You were right on with only being able to go into the forest half a mile, half being the key word. If it were two miles long then it would one mile....ten miles long then it would be five miles. You can only go halfway into something, because after halfway you're technically no longer going into it, you're going out of it." The fact that all three had successfully answered their questions was a bit of a surprise, Shono expected at least one of them to get their question wrong, it looked like he had a bunch of smart genin before him.

"You were dead on when you said question three was meant to make you look bad, because I wanted to see if you three were the type of people to throw each other under the bus or compliment each other. I really have zero qualms with any of your answers...though Meushi, you would have also been right to say 'Shono' for your answer since I asked you to look around and i'm around. But the way you worded your answer as 'between the three of us' was clever, so I have no dispute with that." Seeing how well each of them had done was a pleasant surprise to say the least. Shono was expecting nieve genin who were headstrong and all for themselves, but what he had been given were intelligent and team-conscious genin.

The only problem Shono had was the fourth and final question that wasn't really a question. Taiyo had been the only person to take advantage of it, and even he hadn't used it to its full capacity. This would be something that would no doubt be regretted in the near future. "Now, the fourth question....I have to say i'm a little disappointed, seeing as how you three were so good with the first three questions. I gave you the opportunity to ask me anything, anything, and you all fell short. You could have asked me about what I thought about you, what jutsu I knew, what my weaknesses were, what my strengths were, you could have asked me about this sword that's laying in my lap....I did tell you in my history portion that the enemy had brought out weird weapons and that I took this from them, kinda surprised you didn't put two and two together that this sword was....special."

Shono's hands shifted slightly on his sword as he spoke of it, and in a very natural but quick motion he formed a single hand sign, the hand sign needed to perform the Shadow Possession Jutsu. Right as the word 'special' left his mouth his shadow sprung forth and split into three, each attaching itself to one of the genin's shadows. The natural and quick motion of the hand sign combined with the suddeness of this jutsu made it down right impossible to avoid from the sitting position they were all in. With all three of their shadows now under his control the next phase of Shono's plan for the day was about to come into action. He grabbed his sword from his lap and stood up, this motion was copied by the genin whether they liked it or not, though with nothing in the genin's laps the sword grabbing motion yielding nothing in their hands.

A smirk crossed Shono's face as he looked at the possessed genin. "Maybe the best question would have been what I was planning next, because the day isn't over yet. I knew a day of questions would be no fun for you, so a bit of combat is in order." Shono placed the sword on his back and watched the genin do the same motion with nothing in their hands. After his sword was secured his hands moved so that there would now be something in each of the genin's hands. He moved his hands so that in the end all three genin ended up with their ninja headband in either their left or right hand. Shono made a throwing motion so that the genin's headbands flew into the air towards himself...though his own headband that had also been in his was also tossed forward. Before his own headband went far he broke the possession so that they were all free, and then quickly snatched his headband out of the air. With his headband secured he quickly snatched the three genin's headbands out of the air as they flew towards him. In only a matter of moments he had successfully taken the three genin's headbands away from them, he had too, he needed them for the next phase.

Shono re-tied his headband around his forehead and placed the other three headbands in his nin-pack around his waist. "So this is what's gonna happen. I'm going to keep your headbands until you three show me you can work successfully as a team. All that talk during the questions was just that, talk. Like I said before, it's one thing to talk about goals and what you're gonna do, and another thing to actually do it. I want to see if you three can put all that good team talk into action in combat against me. You've all proven your smarts from the questions so there's no point in me making you figure out that you need to work as a team, you probably would've figured it out by right....now." Shono walked around the tree he had just been laying against into a more open field within this forest, though with the position of the sun there were still an abundance of shadows present.

"There will be no re-stealing of your headbands, I will give them back to you when I feel you're working well together. This means that either all three of you get your headbands back or none of you....and don't worry, if you can't get them back today there's always tomarrow...in fact, take as much time as you like. The longer you take the longer you go without doing missions or doing 'proper' training....so I guess this is where you start your attack...and don't worry about me running, with an Inuzuka and a Hyuuga present I doubt i'd be able to hide very effectively." With those final words Shono crossed his arms infront of his chest and awaited the attack that would be coming.

[[keeping same posting order until further notice]]

[Yamanaka Meushi]

::Yamanaka Meushi::

By the time the other two began to answer their own questions, Meushi remained in the mild depression she had gained from comparing her reasons for being a shinobi to the others. She had lightened up a bit because of the questions distracting her mind, and she did realize she really shouldn’t be comparing herself to the others. Her life had been average and simple and lacked tragedy. It shouldn’t have been surprising at all her reasons wouldn’t have involved honoring a fallen relative or changing her clan’s rules and regulations. Still, she still felt a little bit ashamed that her reasons sounded so petty compared to theirs. She would have to get over it though because she was not one to give herself a pity party.

Listening to Taiyo’s response to the cloud-watching question forced Meushi to give out a little giggle. The thought of Taiyo playing around with a ball like a puppy was enough to cancel out any insult he might have had behind that comment on her view. It was just to adorable a sight to think of really. Of course, Hanabi’s answer elicited the same response. She already knew full well the story behind those two, and Hanabi’s laughter was on the contagious side. Meushi found it rather calming to know that underneath all that serious talk about the Hyuuga clan Hanabi could be just as much as a girl as herself. The laughter helped to relieve some of her depression, so by the time the next round of answers began she was much more relaxed and cheerful.

Taiyo’s bucket question was interesting, and his answer seemed reasonable. Meushi of course hadn’t been thinking much about it, and so she might have been agreeing with him just to be lazy. Still, he hadn’t graduated a year early like her and Hanabi for nothing, so his answer was probably partially right. Hanabi’s question was much more math oriented than Taiyo’s was. Seemed odd both the girls got what could be considered ‘math’ questions, although both of them were also logical. Her answer, like Taiyo’s, seemed reasonable enough for the question. Overall though, Meushi wasn’t paying too much attention to the second round of questions because they just didn’t seem that interesting.

The third round of questions, however, was much more revealing. First off, Meushi grumbled a bit about how the other two skipped around the question. Their sensei had asked who they thought was the “smartest” and “weakest”, not “Well, who is the smartest in this category or weakest in that category.” Meushi had been the only one to be blunt about it, though she did leave out the sensei in her calculations because that was too obvious really. Sure, what they said had made sense, but it just seemed to be a copout on telling the truth. Well, at least in Taiyo’s case, which surprised her the most because last time she met him he wasn’t holding anything back. Hanabi, on the other hand, probably had thought it all out like that and was being her honest self. Still, now Meushi felt she had given a subpart answer because she didn’t go on a long rant on who was strongest at what.

The last part about asking him a question Hanabi had ignored as well, with only Taiyo taking advantage of it. However, he only asked about some person named Aya, so Meushi didn’t really take an interest in it. Probably some person he had a run in with and wanted to know about. Unless she heard the name in some gossip or rumor, Meushi didn’t really care that much. She finally unfurled from her depressed position and leaned back against a tree as she waited for their sensei’s responses.

Meushi smiled when Shono said that all three of them had done better than expected. Apparently what she thought were subpart answers had been good enough for him. Though the reasoning behind the first question surprised her a little bit. The entire cloud-watching thing was simply a test to see if they would actually do it? Apparently their sensei must have known plenty of people who didn’t follow orders well in his past. Though the last bit referencing Hanabi’s answer returned Meushi to a slight giggle before she started to listen again. They were all right with the second question as well, which was making Meushi feel a lot more relieved.

As for the third question, Meushi hadn’t enjoyed being singled out like that. Even if he said she was right with her response and it being “clever”, it still made it seem a bit like it wasn’t exactly on the money. At least he didn’t comment on her being the only one to not try and word it so everyone was involved somehow. She had thought her comment on Hanabi being the strongest was a ‘compliment’, but apparently having some reasoning behind it was enough to make it not so.

That left only the fourth part, which is when he finally mentioned he was disappointed about something. Apparently he had hoped they would have asked more questions about him. When he started giving examples, Meushi felt like an idiot for not thinking of such things. Oh well, there wasn’t anything they could do about it now, and in due time they would learn all of that information anyway so it wasn’t as if they truly lost anything out of it. Though after what happened next, Meushi wished someone had thought of them.

As Taiyo mentioned earlier, being under the Shadow Possession Jutsu was not fun at all. Meushi felt trapped as their sensei’s jutsu took a hold, and she felt rather afraid. She doubted that he would hurt them, but having no control over ones body was not something you should be overly calm about. She kept her focus on him (not like she had a choice really) and watched as he made them all stand up. When the word ‘combat’ was brought up, Meushi started to miss the question segment already. Since she still had control over her eyes, she watched as he made all three of them remove their headbands. She was greatly relieved after they were free, though she wondered why in the world he had gone through all of that just to get rid of their headbands. He could have asked politely after all.

Meushi listened as he explained the rules, her eyes glancing over at the other too. If they wanted their headbands back they would have to act as a team. Looking at Taiyo, her memory of his rudeness still fresh (even with the apologies Meushi still was a bit upset about it all), she knew she was going to have to keep it all suppressed for now. Sure, she wanted to get back at him for it (and had already started the plans for doing so), she wasn’t dumb enough to let it get in the way of a mission…sort of.

”So, uhm, either of you two got a plan of action? We can’t get too close to him because of Shadow Possession so taijutsu is out of the question. Either of you know anything with range? I got my flower petals, as you should know very well Taiyo.” Meushi whispered to them to hope and get some kind of planning going on.

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[Inuzuka Taiyo]

Taiyo listened to both Hanabi and Shono. It would seem that Meushi didn't have much to say in the matter of getting her questions right or wrong, tho it seemed like all of them had gotten them right in the long run so there would be no more silly questions like that. He looked up to Shono when he said something about him giving a bit more details in the answers. This statement only boosted is already inflated ego that he had of himself. He also heard Myou give a bark showing him that he was the best has she nudge his hand for a moment for attention. The fact that Shono seem to over look Myou for the most part at the moment didn't get pass him and it was something that he was not going to put up with for much longer.

To Taiyo, Myou was every part of this team has Hanabi and Meushi, and to him even more. This was his partner in crime, learning, and friendship. He needed the bond between Myou to fight and look for people that was hiding out in the wild. Sure he could do it alone but with a dog partner it just advance his skill even greater. He petted Myou, and it was clear that he was getting rather upset about something but he was trying to hide it. There was no need to get upset over this, this was a simple matter right. All he had to do was pull Shono away and tell him about Myou right? She was apart of the team and he knew that she would start making a bigger fuss over things if he kept leaving her out about this team work.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm down as Shono went on about Aya being apart of both clans. He grumbled a bit about that, it was just not fair to have to abilites like that and get away with teasing the hell out of Tsume like that. He made sure to stay the hell away from her the last couple of days tho. There was no point in getting his head bite off because of that girl. He tapped his fingers against his leg for a moment when Shono talked about the questions that they should have asked.

He did ask a questions, just not about Shono. It would seem that Shono was going to explain to them one way or another and there was no way out of not listening to him this time. He fought the urge to roll his eyes for the most part. He thought he asked a good question because he got information about Aya that way. It was Shono job to teach them not make them feel like idiots right?

When he stopped talking Myou gave a bark and jumped out of Taiyo's lap growling at Shono. She smelt the increase of chakra coming from him, but it was too late for Taiyo and the others as the Shadow Possession Jutsu washed over them. He growled slightly some more. This was his second time being caught by this jutsu and it made him sick to his stomach. He hated not having control over his own body like this. It was just wrong in the long run how a clan could go about doing this. It just was not fair! Taiyo planned on making sure Shono knew how he felt about this jutsu. He was going to allow Myou free range of biting the hell out of Shono when they got out of this. It was only a matter of time for the most part.

Taiyo felt his hand come up and take off his headband. He blinked and watched them throw it against their wills. He had gone and was caught by this jutsu again and his headband was taken from him. Now Shono was crossing the lines in this matter. They had earned their headbands in the academy honestly and faster than most people did now a days. He felt the Shadow Jutsu come off them and looked up to Shono when he started to talk again about how they was going to get their headbands back.

Team work with these two was going to be a nightmare for him and Myou. He bent down and snapped his fingers slightly and watched Myou came rushing up to him. He petted her and smiled slightly. "He didn't get your headband girl. Thats a plus. He seems to forget about you a lot. We are going to make him pay for that and taking my headband. Right Myou? He heard a couple of barks from Myou as he stood back up.

His first choice of action was just to plan out attack him out right, but because of the shadow jutsu there was no way he was going to fall for that quick of an attack. He heard Meushi talk about a plan of actions and looked over to her. "Attacking to just attack will not solve anything, you are right there. He took our headbands, that just not right. Myou going to give him a nice bite in the butt here soon tho." He looked over to Hanabi and grinned slightly. It was true with the two of them Shono could not hide from them, but it was going to be hard going up against a Jounin. He had saw what Aya was doing to Tsume and that was intense to some degree. 'Any suggestions?"