New Beginnings Under the Summer Sun

''Like all things in life, the path of a ninja is indeed cyclical. The shinobi of the past prepare the next generation to safeguard their villages, slowly creating their own replacements. While borders may change, and clans may rise and fall the world in its entirety simply moves on. Those who unreasonably cling to the past are enveloped by it, disappearing into the sands of time. But this time, coincidentally in the Hidden Sand Village, this cycle begins anew. The endeavors the newly appointed genin of team 14 could very well make its way into history or become a simple mirage in the desert.''

The Dawn of a New Story
The intense rays of the sun pierce the window of a small apartment stirring a young shinobi from his restless slumber. Pulling himself to his feet and recalling his responsibilities as a member of Sungakure's military force Nōsei prepares himself for his first day of service. Washing up and collecting a bite to eat he slowly scans the emptiness of his humble abode. Nobody would be wishing him luck on his first day as a ninja, but this was the fate of an orphan. He didn't consider himself unlucky though, while he didn't receive a proper upbringing his home and expenses were taken care of. In fact Nōsei believed that he was luckier than most for being able to study ninjutsu as a profession.

"Soon," Nōsei whispers while gazing at his front door.

Across town, the market beings to open up and the roar of the morning shoppers begins to leak in through a window on the 2nd floor. Rubeing and wiping his face, flipping up and sitting on the side his bed. A young boy places his hands over face. Running his hands down along his face he feels the cut running across his face that he and gained just the day before. Thinking to himself, "Ozume, today starts the first day of what has the potential of being a journey for the ages". Ozume Fuyutama jumps up and grabbing his uniform as he heads to the bathroom. After a few mins he steps out dressed and ready for his first day as a ninja. Grabbing some breakfast he heads to the door. He grabs the door handle, stops, turns and looks over his shoulder at the empty house. A slight look of loneliness over comes his face.

"I will found out what happen..." Ozume thinks as he turns back around and steps out of the house. On to the market street, the old man who owns the potato stand. right outside Ozume's home. Waves and says "good morning Tsuyoi ippou" as he does everyday. Ozume has no idea way the man calls him that perhaps he is becoming crazying in his age.

Everything seemed still and silent in Nanase district. Knowing today would be the official day she would become a Genin she had already gotten up earlier to prepare. Though Nana was still a bit nervous to meet her new teammates and sensei. It was unnecessary stress she knew but she still couldn't help herself. Being a shinobi was her dream and knowing it was about to begin she couldn't help but be over excited and nervous. After cleansing her face, she sat in front of her dresser mirror to brush her messy hair. Nanase's walked up the stairs to call her daughter down to eat. Before she could get the chance to knock on her door, Nanase could sense her. "Yes what is it?" Nanase asks. "Uh...Its time to eat dear. You know...me and your father still don't like the idea of you becoming a shinobi...but if this really makes you happy, I'm alright with it." Nanase smiles, "Thanks mom I'll be down in a minute." She looked back into her mirror smiling. "I hope this turns out good..."

Back in the small hole of an apartment Nōsei was suiting up as he secured a a few kunai under his sleeves of his black kimono top. Assuming that he wouldn't require anything more than some basic equipment he simply secured a shuriken pouch to his side before heading towards the door. Looking back at his new sword leaning against the wall Nōsei simply leaves it behind for now unwilling to take it with him after the events the night before.

Locking his door and heading down a small staircase Nōsei surveys the surrounding neighborhood which appeared to decay further everyday. Even in the early morning people can be heard yelling and fighting amongst themselves. But that was simply life in the slums. The young genin navigates the maze of burnt out buildings making his way towards the location which he was instructed to meet his team.

Ozume stops at a fruit stand and buys a apple to eat later if needed, placing it in his punch. A young boy no older then 5 walks up to him and engages in conversation about Ozume's two swords on his back. After a few mintues of talking with the young boy Ozume says his goodbyes and walks away. He enters the main drag of the market. Roar of beggers and shopping makes it difficult to even think to himself. Becoming annoyed, Ozume leaps up to the roof tops of the city. Taking a moment Ozume looks around at the town. The dirty run down streets of the market are only complemented by the burnt out, beat down homes of the slums. Ozume shakes his head in disappointment of the state the west-side of town has fallen into. He starts walking jumping for roof to roof as he leaves the market district and enters the slums, heading to the location of his team and sensei

Nanase calmly makes her way to the meeting place while she began to unwrap a quick snack she grabbed from her home. As she was walking along she noticed younger children could be seen in the allies and streets either happy or depressed. This reminded her of how rough times can become. Approaching a young boy that appeared to be sulking in a corner, she gave him her snack. At first he was confused that she would be this generous, but soon took the snack and gave her a polite thank you. She walking to her designated location.

Making their way towards a third training ground that his team was ordered to meet at Nōsei passes by some questionable business establishments. The genin makes his way to the back of one of the particular and waits outside a door. After a few moments a heavy set man smelling heavily of alcohol and surrounded by a few guards comes out of the back exit. The man immediately takes notice of Nōsei's presence and makes his way across the alley towards him. The young shinobi had already memorized his benefactor's schedule which made finding him at any given time quite easy.

"Ah boy...showing up just like I asked you to. You are an excellent commodity," the merchant begins.

"Thank you sir," Nōsei responds calmly keeping his eyes down, "I was just making my way to meet my squad."

The large man coughs a few times showing both his age and the effects of his privileged lifestyle, "Good...good. What squad was that again?"

"Team 14 sir," the genin answers quickly.

"Oh yeah," the merchant continues motioning for one of his guards to take note of that information, "Run along then...you have your responsibilities as a shinobi now boy."

Without another word Nōsei dashes up the wall of the building and begins to truly make his way towards training ground. He was unsure if he was going to make it on time so he began to rush. Quickly rebounding between the walls of the stone constructions he flew towards his target, but he was nearly sure that his teammates would probably beat him there. If he made it there before the jonin he wasn't going to worry. He would do anything to avoid drawing unnecessary attention towards himself.

Taking note that the sun has moved nearly an hour since we woke up, he processeds with great speed to the meeting point. Just after a minute or so he arrives at a very old tree just outside the school. He scopes out the area hoping he isn't late. Ozume jumps down and takes a seet on a brick bench and waits.

"Guess I'll just have to be fashionably late...or just late." Nanese remarks due to her turning out of whack due to the blazing suns heat. Taking out a small bottle of water, she drunk it slowly. "Ugh I should at least make some effort into this...Alright." Finishing the refreshing beverage she tossed it into disposal and dashes her way to the training ground by rooftop. After a run she came across her destination, she notices the Fuyutama boy from her academy school. A little embarrassed and blushing she merely leans against the wall waiting for other members. Too shy to make contact or even say hello to her new partner.

Now on the roofs of Sunagakure Nōsei leaps around making his way toward his destination. A few blocks from the training ground near the school he stops after seeing two people shaded from the sun's rays by the old tree. He ducks down to avoid their attention and drops behind a building hoping to walk up casually. As he is is approaching the group he pauses for a moment, unwilling to walk quite past him. At this point though approaching from another direction would definitely make him late, which would draw even more attention to himself. He takes a deep breath and puts on his sunglasses before walking toward his group. He feels as if their eyes are piercing him as he passes them sits up against the tree. "This is going to be a long day, " Nōsei thinks to himself looking over the training field.

Nearly an hour after waiting in the training courtyard, a tall famine figure finally began to approach the graduation genin. As she entered, the area was filled with silence which caused Naomi to be a little embarrassed. After a few moments of observing the face expression, there shinobi wear, very carefully she started to giggle. She couldn't help herself from doing this, it was just in her and she needed to get it out. "So I'm guessing from the looks of things your the genin of Team 14, correct?" Naomi politely asked.

Unwilling to speak up even when he had just been addressed by his superior officer Nōsei simply nods his head in recognition without making eye contact. He then calmly waits for the other members of his team to respond as well. Team work had always been his weakness, and he was worried if his career was doomed to be stunted because of it.

Nanese pondered of this womens odd behavior as she already labeled her as a nice but goofy sensei. "Ah yes...we are the genin that were assigned to join Team 14. We've been her for quite awhile now like...an hour..." Nanese oddly added.

With an embarrassed appearance along with an uneasy chuckle stated, "Hehehe...I...kinda...sorta..forgot...hehehehe..heh.." Nervously she started to pick at her hair as she would hate to think that her own little teammates would already start to dislike her over waiting for such a long period, especially when the sun was blazing. "Im sorry!! I had other matters to attend to concerning my...kekk..well its not really important or something you should worry about...but again my apologies!! Will...you forgive me?!" Naomi emotionally spoke and looking as if she was about to cry as if they hated her.

Looking over at their obviously distressed sensei Nōsei wonders how he should respond. He felt like he should say something, but nothing was coming to mind. As tears started to form in Naomi's eyes he couldn't help it and suddenly stood up most likely drawing everyone's attention to himself. "Now I've done it....they're all looking at me. What was I thinking?" he thinks to himself as he begins to choke out some words of encouragement. "Uh...well...uh...I suppose that...well," the young shinobi begins having trouble finding the words, "I'm...I mean we...everyone's here now so..."

Calmly walking up to Nosei, she gives him warm and comforting hug which really made her feel better that he would forgive her. Even though it wasn't Nosei's exact words of forgiveness, it was enough to make her feel better. "Thank you." Naomi silently whispered into his ear.

Surprised by this sudden occurrence Nōsei simply doesn't respond at all. This was the first time he can be sure if he had ever been hugged, for he couldn't remember his early childhood. Naomi's actions seemed incredibly foreign to him, and he was having trouble fully understanding them, but for the first time in his life he felt like he had been acknowledged as a living person. Before he had noticed, several moments had passed and the jonin was still holding on to him. He glanced over at his new teammates and from their expressions realized that the situation had be come a bit awkward. "Umm...sensei?" he quietly questioned.

Continuing her hug she squeezed him even tighter and lifted him from the ground in a spinning motion. After Naomi released him from her soft clutches she repeated her embarrassed facial expression. "Sorry...I guess I got carried away again." Naomi apologizes while patting his short hair scuffing it up. "Now let me introduce myself..." She walked to the corner and turned around facing her new team. "My name is Naomi, I'm a Jonin and quite known throughout Sungakure, I've also gained my reputation outside of this village. Superiors and allies alike have given my the moniker of the Red Sand...heh I guess its best if I just say I gained it by protecting the people of this village. Now enough about me tell me about yourselves...your names, your goals, and nindo's,etc. Basically anything you would like to share." Naomi stated.

Seemingly exhausted from the exchange between himself and and his sensei Nōsei decides that he will definitely be letting someone else respond first this time. It wasn't even noon and already the day had been quite engaging. He wondered what would be coming up next, for he had heard about Jonin issuing examinations of their own.

Still sitting on the bench which is now covered by the shadow of the old tree, Ozume speaks up "I'm Ozume Fuyutama, the goal I have in life is to find out what happen to my parents. My nindo is to learn the truth and find out who I am." Ozume folds his arms as a small care free smile leaks across his face.

Still a little embarrassed, Nanase tried to reply towards her sensei's answer by calming herself down with a brief sigh. "My name is Nanase Sudachika. My goal in life is um...to become an exceptional kunochi and my nindo...is to help and serve the people of Sungakure from any danger."

"Already my turn?" Nōsei thinks to himself as the jonin's eyes fall upon him. "Well...uh my name is Nōsei. As for a goal...umm...I'm content right now learning ninjutsu," he begins feeling a little more confident talking in front of this group, "As for my nindō...I don't like mistakes, so I will accept nothing but absolute perfection in my action." Startling himself with that last part he begins to think about the weight of his words, "I didn't even know that was how I felt...I suppose it makes sense, but... "

"This seems to be an interesting group I have here...hopefully this will go along great. It is my first time being working with Genin, so I hope I can do an exceptional job." Naomi pondered for a while analyzing the teenagers.

Nōsei was unsure of what awaited him and his team, but for the first time in his life he was anxious to see what the future held for him.

"Ah yes...before anything...you three must complete the test that Genin must pass in order to continue your quest as a shinobi." Naomi states.

The Test
Moving out to the middle of the training field the whole of team 14 prepare for the test about to be administered by Naomi. Due to the minor amount to secrecy regarding these jonin initiated exams, the three genin had no idea what was to await them. All three shinobi were about to put there new careers on the line to see if they were worthy of both their rank and most importantly the forehead protectors they all received. Nōsei in particular pulled his own forehead protector out for the first time and stared at it intently. He didn't quite feel the same patriotic feelings that most other shinobi felt, but he could tell that this simple piece of metal with the symbol carved in it was incredibly important. Securing it near his shoulder he turned towards his sensei and awaited instruction.

After everything in the training field was set in place and ready Naomi approached the teenagers to give them directions to the following task they must complete. "Alright...you see these stuff dummies on each side of the field? The one behind me is mine and the one behind you is yours. To complete this task you must attack and "kill" the dummies on your opposite side while defending your dummy from being harmed. This shows the effort of teamwork, which as a team is very crucial if you plan to survive in missions. Failure is not an option. Any questions?" Naomi spoke while politely smiling at her team wishing them success.

"Sounds easy enough" Ozume pipes up "Hey Nōsei" Ozume whispers something into Nōsei's ear. "Sound good?" He ask his teammate "So when do we start Sensei?"

Excited that the newly team wanted to start immediately Naomi couldn't help but to burst a smile. For a few moments the joy made her forget the question but after some time she started to ponder. "Oh!" Naomi quickly yelled, she gave another embarrassed facial while placing her hands behind her back. She then began to think on the designated time to begin while rubbing her chin and switching her eye movements left to right. "Well I guess we should begin..." Before finishing the sentence Naomi face changed into a serious appearance, glaring at the young as if they were the enemy, the prey, the only thing in her way of her target. "Now." She gave in to offensive stance and revealed several smoke bombs from her sleeves. Slamming to the floor ignited a large puffy cloud of smoke taking away the teenagers line of sight. After a few seconds, Naomi used her sensor abilities to pinpoint of of the children. Targeting Ozume, she quickly dashed towards him and slamming his palm against his chest causing him to fall back several feet. She then pulled out a kunai from her pouch sprinting towards her Ozume and the dummy target. "All right children...show me what your really made of."

As Naomi made her way towards a burst of wind from her left side suddenly cut off her path through the smoke. With her sensory abilities she would be able to tell that the technique had originated from Nousei who should have been blinded like everyone else and that he had molded the chakra of the technique unusually quickly. Oddly it then appears as if the young shinobi's location shifts to her opposite side as another burst of wind can be sensed coming towards her at incredible speed.

Ozume burst into water, water covers the ground and Naomi. Moving throught the smoke with great speed as if he can see plam as day. Stepping out of the smoke he finds himself pearing at his own dummy. "Damn it!" Ozume yells out.

As the powerful gust of wind mixed in with particles sand from hunts down Naomi she greatly increases her speed and towards the dummy. At the last moment she pounces to the right avoiding the gust while it pushed the genins dummy to the ground even farther away from its previous pinpoint. "Not very smart." Naomi says while she calmly walks towards the dummy. "Not smart at all." A nearby voice says coming from the smoke which was revealed to also be a clone of Naomi.

Though Nanese could sense a presence near her she couldn't see nor breathe until the smoke cleared the way. As she noticed Naomi walking near the dummy she busted off ignoring the her sensei clone and dummy. "We can't allow her to get our dummy!" Nanese ran towards the female sensei preparing a technique we should we had hope to at least distract her. "Chakra Needles!" She quickly created several needles made of pure chakra at Naomi which was easily evaded but gave up her attention to the young female.

Suddenly the battlefield is covered in a decently thick Mist. Ozume can be seen by his sensei, as he rushes around at speeds greater then his skill leaves something about this mist made it hard for her to follow his movements a hunderd percent. Ozume then stops next to Nousei.

Nousei first turns in a defensive manner towards Ozume who had rushed up to him only to let his guard down upon seeing his teammate. "What's the next move?" he asks keeping his senses tuned to his surroundings.

"Together we get that dummy" Ozume says has he points at their target. "You take lead, lets get that dummy!" Ozume prepares to move.

Without another moment Nousei flickers out of sight in the direction of Naomi's dummy while failing to mention that he believes their sensei is using multiple clones. Simultaneously, he ponders if Nanase will be okay on her own for the time being before catching a glance of the target dummy. The dummy appeared to be oddly unguarded, leading the young shinobi to stop his advance and begin to survey the area. He had a feeling something was hiding in the remnants of the smoke mixed with Ozume's mist. Unfortunately due to the speed that he had taken off, he had become separated from his team. Allowing a kunai to slip out of his right sleeve and into his hand Nousei decided to play it stealthly by sneaking around behind the dummy.

Though the Ozume mist covered the are it didn't stop Nanese from defending her post though she still couldn't locate it. Creating and throwing several more charka needles at Naomi by sensing her chakra, in which the red-headed simply dodged with her sensory. After a several seconds Nanese paused her constant attacks to think of a plan. "Ugh! How the hell am I suppose to fight her if I can't see her actions. Chakra Sensing isn't enough in the position I'm in. If I could get rid of this mist I can better pin point her movements and at least attempt to stop her." She gently closed her eyes and focused on her target. "If I use an explosion tag it will lift up some of the mist...but I have to be careful I can hit my dummy too..." Preparing her Kunai and explosion tag she held the blade in Naomi's direction. Instead of directly throwing it to her she threw it near her position toward the ground. The explosion was powerful to knock Nanese down to the ground herself though it was unknown if it actually harmed Naomi. She patiently waited for the smoke to clear.

"You a smart little girl aren't you?" Naomi said to Nanese coming out of the smoke unharmed. "However your still not enough to stop me from getting my target. She draws a kunai from her pouch and turns to the dummy laying on the ground, preceding to strike and end the test.

However before she could release the blade from her fingers Nanese grabbed her hand, stopping the movement by releasing a rope made a pure chakra at. "I'm not giving up. I don't care who you are. When I said I was becoming a kunochi I meant it." Nanese stated while tugging the rope. Seeing that Naomi tried to cut her the rope she responded. "Don't bother, this rope is uncuttable."

"She is very determined to accomplish your task willing to do anything it takes to reach her goal. This can be good an a shinobi...however.." "Who ever said I needed to cut the rope to get rid of it?" Using her own strength she pulled the rope tightly around her arms and started to spin in a rotation like manner. This caused Nananse to spin with her, swinger her off her feet and into the air at a fast rate. Finally she ceased her spinning and pulled the rope towards her causing Nanase to fall to the ground, dispelling the rope. She appeared conscious but weak, still she brought herself up from the ground, not willing to give up so easily.

Ozume appearing on the oppesite side of the Dummy, "Ok bro, you could have said you was going. instead of leaving me behind." After thinking for a few seconds and staying low to the ground. "Umm....dude... What do we do with the dummy?" Ozume ask Nousei.

Looking over at his teammate Nousei ignores the fact that his timing had temporarily separated them. Taking to mind Ozume's inquiry regarding the dummy he glances down at the kunai in his hand and back at the dummy before shrugging. "I suppose...we could stab it," he replies calmly.

Ozume thinks for a moment.. "Very well stab it."

Feeling as if there may be an underlying trap with such an unguarded target Nousei step back several feet and tosses the kunai into the head of the dummy. Nothing appears to initially happen as he looks around the area in suspicion. "That was easy...too easy," he thinks to himself looking over at Ozume who was still by the dummy, "Uh...what now?"

somewhat worried with nothing happening and Nousei also steps back. "Umm... I don't know" scratching his head. "HEY!! Sensei! What do we do with this dummy?...We stabbed it" Ozume yells across the field.

"Thats the objective, stab and capture the dummy..." Naomi spoke appearing from behind both of the boys. Grabbing Ozume and Nosei by their shirts, she used her strength to throw Ozume to the ground tumbling several yards away from her position and threw Nosei in the air in which he hit a nearby tree and fell down to the ground. "The thing is...thats not the dummy, instead an illusion." The dummy appeared just to be a stake in the ground, a simple deception. "If I were you two though...I would help your other little friend."

Ozume rebounds off the ground landing on his feet and still sliding back. "Neat trick sensei, I got one to." Ozume hands cover engolf in Lightning chakra. Ozume lunches that charge, thats strength is equal to a stun gun. But he doesn't shoot it at the sensei, instead at the water based mist that she is standing in the charge hits the water and chain reaction is shoot thought the mist at lightning speed making it imposable to dodge. Sensei is shocked instantly do to the fact that she is in the mist. dropping Naomi-sensei to her knees. Ozume hand which still has lighting flickering on it can be seen moving very very slowly up his forearm as he walks over to his teammates who happen to be laying relatively close to one another. Nousei was rising to his knees, but Nananse was not moving but still awake.

On her knees, electricity from Ozume's genius combination she silently stood there giggling, louder and louder. "You sure are clever aren't you? Its been a while since someone your age actually harmed me. But enough play lets get to business." Getting up from her knees and slowly degenerated into electricity.

Shaken from hitting the tree Nousei pulls himself to his feet and wipes some blood from his mouth. He then slips a kunai out of one of his sleeves and into his hand and looks over at Ozume. "I'm going this way," he explains seriously before flickering in the direction of Nanase. As he moved towards the girl he made certain that his movements were noticeable. Appearing by the girl he couldn't observe any heavy injuries and saw that she was still breathing fine. Simply standing by the girl and the dummy the shinobi appeared to be waiting rotating the kunai in his hand rhythmically. Naomi should be able to notice that the young shinobi's chakra flow has begun to pulse in sync with the rotation of his kunai.

Pulling the two kunai off his chest Ozume spins one around his hand and holds it reverse blade style. Lightning flickering every few seconds on his hands and forearms. Thinking to himself "Man, I need to be more careful when I do that combo again, I got hit alittle bit.... Also my chakra is getting a little bit low" Cracking his neck by rotation his head from left to right. He slowly walks about 20 feet infront of the dummy and his teammate, Taking a battle stance "Well Sensei... Come get us!"

"These children sure are special...Nosei kid is quite but he is surely is skilled to use Wind Release tech. Ozume amazes me also able to use not one...but two chakra natures already also very skilled in them. But they all lack something that is needed to pass this test." Naomi thinks while walking towards the children. From Ozume's opposite direction a powerful blast of wind knocking the teens and the dummy even farther away from each other. After the wind ceased, Naomi appeared to be slowly walking towards them. "I've had a lot of opportunities to dispose of your dummy. I shouldn't even go easy on you all. Capturing and defending your dummy isn't the only objective here you have to show you that your a team. Teamwork is essential! If you can't help each other you can't help yourselves."

Ozume laughs as he stands up "Well Sensei, if you feel so confident that you can take the dummy, and that we are not working as a team... then please take the dummy be my guest." Ozume looks at Nousei and shakes his head. Then rushes at sensei. Knowing that there is a very strong chance that it is not really her. valets himself back up performing a 190 degree rotation and tries to connecting with sensei right ab area.

Naomi simply dodged by front flipping over Ozume, catching herself on a hand stand she flipped once more drawing a kunai thats been hiden in her sleeve and shifted to a defensive stance.

Suddenly appearing in Naomi's blinside Nousei rotates through the air and attempts to kick the jonin near her shoulder. Unfortunately his attack was timed incorrectly leading him attempt his strike after Naomi enters her defensive stance.