9Author's note: Here is the next (well, technically first) chapter! It jumps back in time considerably from the prologue, and it's based on the actual first day of training that Team Hiruzen actually did.
Chapter One
In the early morning light, the windswept grass of the training field rippled. Tsunade bounced up and down on her toes, peering out across the field, ready to begin her very first session of official ninja training with her new sensei and teammates.
None of the aforementioned persons had appeared on the scene, however, so she was left sitting on her own at the edge of the field. Excitement boiled in the pit of her stomach. Or maybe that was hunger. Probably the latter. She had not eaten breakfast; in fact she had specifically been instructed not to. Instead she'd brought a lunch with her, thinking she might need it after training. But since no one had bothered to show up and commence said training, the blonde reached for the small package at her side and began to unwrap the meal.
The sky was clear. The food was good. Tsunade sighed. Despite the fact that she was still alone in the training area, she felt an increased sense of hopefulness. Today would be the day her journey along the road to being a true ninja would begin. Again she looked out across the field. In roughly the middle, three wooden poles suck out of the earth. Tsunade didn't know what purpose they served, but she didn't get much time to ponder it. A party of three was approaching from the east. The would-be kunoichi stood up abruptly and brushed herself off. Surely these were her teammates.
The group, as far as Tsunade could see, was composed of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, who was to be her sensei, and two other boys who walked along at his side. One had a shock of white hair, but the other had straight, black locks. The three of them stopped in front of the logs in the middle of the field. Hiruzen, who had apparently noticed Tsunade making her way towards them, waved at her.
"Hello Tsunade," he said when she came to a stop, "I see you arrived here early. I apologize for my tardiness, however there was…well, an issue which was in need of resolving." The two boys gave each other pointed glares.
"Don't apologize," replied Tsunade cheerfully, "I'm just pleased to be here."
"We might as well start," Hiruzen sighed, "Now would probably be a good time for introductions. Why don't you tell each other your names and a little bit about yourselves?"
The three would-be Genin stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, silently sizing up their competition. Tsunade spoke first.
"I'm Tsunade Senju," she said, pride accenting her voice, "And I'm gonna be the greatest kunoichi the world has ever seen!"
Again there was silence. Then, the white haired boy strode up to Tsunade and stuck out his hand.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Jiraiya! You can send me a love letter later!" he grinned at her, eyes sparkling.
"Whatever," she said, looking away, "I don't much care for you."
"Pffhe…" Jiraiya slowly dropped his hand, his smile evaporating, "It's not like I'd want to associate with a flat-chested girl like you anyway."
"What did you just say about me, you perverted brat?" Tsunade spun around and glared at him, fists clenched.
"Hey!" reprimanded their sensei. "We've just gotten here. Could you try not to argue? And Jiraiya…please don't start anything with Tsunade."
"Yeah," said Jiraiya, looking down.
"What about you?" asked Hiruzen, looking over at the black haired boy.
"My name is Orochimaru," he rasped, pausing for a second as if considering whether he should go on, "My goal is to learn every jutsu in the world."
"A very admirable goal," said Hiruzen, obviously pleased with this answer, "Now that you're all acquainted with each other, why don't we start with the training, huh?"
"Finally!" Jiraiya pumped a fist in the air. Tsunade looked at him disapprovingly, but inside she mirrored him. She too was happy to get started.
"The first thing on the agenda is actually a test," started Hiruzen as he reached into his pocket and extracted two small silver bells, which jingled as he moved them, "The objective is to take these bells from me. However, as you can see, there are two of them and three of you. This means that …"
"One of us will end up without a bell." finished Orochimaru.
"Very good inference, Orochimaru. Well done." said Hiruzen approvingly.
"Hey, Tsunade, if I get one of those bells, then you will go out with me?" asked Jiraiya.
"If you don't, then you'll stop bothering me about it."
"You want to bet?"
"Why not?"
"Alright! I'll do it!" said Jiraiya with newfound enthusiasm. He was just about to attack when Hiruzen disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
"What?" shrieked the white haired boy, "He can't just challenge us and then leave!"
"He's still somewhere in the vicinity," said Orochimaru dismissively, "we just have to find him."
The three split, setting out to look for their sensei. Tsunade slipped through the forest at the edge of the field. Focusing her mind on stealth, she snuck around trees and dodged behind bushes, until finally she came upon a small clearing. Peeking out from behind a tree she saw Hiruzen sitting on the ground, reading a book. He had his back to her, and Tsunade, overtaken buy a surge of ambition, was about to rush forward before she noticed something shiny just below her eye level. The metal strings were almost invisible, but if she ran into them it would be a dead giveaway of her presence and would completely nullify her chances at a sneak attack.
As far as she could see, the wires were wrapped around the whole perimeter of the clearing. Her sensei was obviously prepared, so Tsunade opted to climb a tree and attack from above. Not yet proficient enough in chakra control as to be able to simply walk up the trunk, she had to scale the nearest tree hand over hand, grabbing onto branches until she was high up enough to have a clear view. Astounded that the noise she had made climbing the tree had not already alerted Hiruzen to her presence, she inched out along a branch, reaching for a kunai. Pulling one from her pocket, she grasped it and then leapt from the tree.
As soon as her feet left the branch, Hiruzen looked up and saw his trainee descending upon him. Swiftly he pulled out a kunai to counter Tsunade's oncoming attack. Student and teacher met with a clang of metal. Tsunade tried to reach for one of the bells dangling from Hiruzen's belt, but he sprang out of reach. Annoyed, she pulled four shuriken from a pouch attached to her leg and hurled them at her sensei. He dodged them with ease, but this gave Tsunade time to run up and engage him in hand-to-hand combat.
She threw a punch at him, but he simply put up his hand to block it.
"Taijutsu, Tsunade?" he asked, amused. She reached up and grabbed his hand, quickly pulling his arm down and kneeing him in the chest. He grunted, but pushed her away with his other arm. Undeterred, Tsunade came at him with a series of well-executed kicks aimed at his head and chest. Hiruzen blocked all of them, as Tsunade knew he would, but he still took a step back. She smiled.
Tsunade continued to attack her sensei with punches and kicks, most of them being ineffectual, however they all served one purpose: to drive him to the edge of the clearing. It wasn't something Tsunade was sure would work, but if she could get him to trip or hesitate for even one second because of that wire, she could grab one of the bells.
They were getting closer. Tsunade once again pulled out her kunai, slashing directly at her sensei's face. He moved to the side, but Tsunade brought the kunai down, forcing him to move again. He hadn't looked behind him, and at that second his ankle connected with the wire.
He didn't trip. He didn't fall backwards, in fact, he didn't move at all. Tsunade lunged for the bells, but before she could grab them, a smoke bomb went off.
It was not something she had intended to happen. She couldn't even see where Hiruzen was, but there was no doubt he had escaped her reach by now. All she heard was the tapping of sandals against the earth, and somebody shot past her. There was the screech of metal on metal, followed by a faint jingle of the bells, and then nothing.
Damnit.
As the smoke cleared, Tsunade readied herself, clutching her kunai in one hand and few shuriken. At that moment she wished she knew more techniques, but she was armed with only with her academy knowledge and ninja tools. Looking around, she tried to locate her sensei again.
To her surprise, Hiruzen was still there, only this time he was perched in a tree above her. He had gone back to reading his book. Tsunade flung a shuriken at him, and Hiruzen was about to move to dodge it, but it didn't even come close enough to graze him. Instead, the shuriken lodged itself firmly into the branch a few feet away. He looked down at her expectantly.
"Well?" he asked. She didn't move. She didn't even reply. He withdrew a kunai from his pouch and threw it at her, assuming she would dodge. But she didn't.
The second the sharp blade made contact, Tsunade exploded from the shuriken behind her sensei, diving forward and grasping for the one remaining bell. Her fingers closed around it, and she jumped back, yanking it from Hiruzen's belt. The clone in the clearing went up in a cloud of smoke. She stumbled back along the branch, trying to catch her balance. Hiruzen looked down, and then slowly broke into a smile.
"Well done, Tsunade," he said, "Well done indeed. Very effective use of the transformation technique."
She was out of breath, but she grinned widely. She'd actually done it, wrested the bell from a ninja many ranks above herself. She'd completed the test.
"Who got the other one?" she asked, although she was almost sure she already knew.
"Orochimaru," confirmed Hiruzen, "He was the one who threw that smoke bomb."
"We should probably go and see how Jiraiya is getting on," laughed Tsunade. She had been right. Her other teammate hadn't gotten a bell after all.
"Ah…well, yes."
And so it was that Jiraiya ended up tied to the log without a bell or a lunch while Tsunade dangled her hard won prize just out of his reach.
"It seems like I've won this bet, Jir-ai-ya," she gloated.
"Shut it, plywood chest!" he said, grinding his teeth.
"Did you just-"
"Stop that!" said Hiruzen, before Tsunade could beat Jiraiya to a pulp, "You are now all a team, and if you want to be successful, you must learn to work together rather than insult each other."
Jiraiya pouted, and Tsunade crossed her arms, but the two ceased throwing insults. It was a fragile peace, one that could be broken by a simple misplaced comment from Jiraiya, but it held for the most part. Tsunade grew used to her white haired teammate, and they formed a tentative friendship. Slowly, very slowly, Tsunade began to realize that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't as much of an idiot as she had thought.
A/N: If you're wondering what even happened with Tsunade and how she got the bell, I'll explain it here. It was a bit tough to come up with a realistic plan using only E-rank techniques but this was what happened: Tsunade made a clone but also used the transformation technique on herself in order to take the shape of a shuriken, which she had the clone throw. Hiruzen didn't realize this, so while he was distracted with the clone, Tsunade released her transformation (since she had gone from the ground to the tree unassumingly) and grabbed the bell. I hope you liked this part! Tell me what you thought, positive or negative, anything really, I'd love to hear it.