Blood & Hidden Leaves

Taga and Nori found themselves walking through one of the main streets of Konoha, making their way to the forest, when they saw Kusuri running to catch up to them.

"I assume you got the same letter we did?" Taga questioned.

"Probably. Did yours say something along the lines of, 'Go to the eighth training ground at 10, I have lunch' with no signature?" Kusuri replied.

"Pretty much. I'm sure it was from our sensei, but could he really not be bothered to put his name?"

Kusuri and Nori both shrugged in response and, queries unanswered, the three of them made their way toward the eighth training ground. They filled the twenty minutes it took to get there with speculation on who their sensei might be. Although, since none of them knew a large number of Jonin, they knew any guesses they had were likely to be proven false.

Their hypothesizing was cut short when they finally arrived.

"Ten minutes to spare. Huh, I guess Ku really is wearing off on us." Taga declared, turning to Nori.

"Ten minutes early is better than a half hour late," Kusuri mumbled under his breath.

Nori chuckled in response to both statements, and the three of them began to scan the clearing where they had been asked to meet. No matter how much they looked around, however, they couldn't seem to find their teacher anywhere.

That was until they looked up.

It was then that they saw a willowy man in his early to mid-twenties sitting cross-legged on the branch of a large tree. He wore loose, white clothing, and sported long, black hair tied into a loose ponytail.

Kusuri, or the other two for that matter, didn't notice any of that though. 

The only thing they noticed was his large, white eyes.

The man, seemingly ignoring the stares he was getting, stood up and hopped down onto the grassy forest floor.

He then started to stretch and crack his joints before begining to speak.

"Hello, you three. As you can likely guess, I am your sensei, and thus, the leader of Team 9."

He took the next minute or so to finish his stretching routine and then continued.

"Sorry about that, I was sitting like that for a while."

He gestured for them to follow him to the center of the clearing, then sat down and gestured for them to do the same. Once they had all gotten situated, he began a proper introduction.

"I am Takeshi Hyūga and, as I said, I am going to be the Jōnin leader of Team 9. Now, if the three of you would please introduce yourselves as well, with, let's say a… uh… fun fact I guess."

Kusuri was a bit surprised at the nonchalance of their sensei, especially because of his identity as a Hyuga, but that didn't stop him from wanting to make a good first impression, so he decided to speak up first.

"Kusuri Saiyō," he announced, raising his hand, "I like to help out in the kitchen at my grandparents' tea shop".

Having already known this, Taga and Nori showed no change in expression, but their sensei seemed quite pleasantly surprised.

"Oh! Not what I was expecting. Out of curiosity, what's it called?"

"The, uh..."

Kusuri visibly cringed just thinking about it.

"The Hidden Tealeaf"

In an instant, Takeshi went slack-jawed before quickly regaining his composure.

"I didn't know Toshi had a grandson—or, hell, even a son. Anyway, I'm surprised I've never seen you; I go there fairly often."

"Like I said, I'm usually in the kitchen. That or reading in a corner," Kusuri explained.

"Ah, yes, I suppose that makes sense."

After their exchange was completed, a few moments of silence passed, and then Nori spoke up to fill the void.

"Nori Kato. As for a fun fact," Nori trailed off, her face contorting from thought, "I, uh, like cats?"

Following suit, Taga answered as well.

"Tagayasu Hatake. No one calls me that, please call me Taga."

A few seconds of silence pass and then Nori whispers in his ear.

"Oh yeah, right. I guess I've... never been to a hot spring?"

Taga then winced in pain as Kusuri flicked him in the temple.

"Ow!"

Chuckling at the display, Takeshi clapped his hands to get their attention.

"With introductions out of the way, I'd like to get on to what I intend the main focus of this little meeting. Simply put, I intend to test your combat capabilities, first apart, then together."

He stood up stretching a bit once again.

"So, who's first."

The three genin were surprised at the succinctness of his explanation. Unfortunately, they felt they could likely figure out what was about to happen to them.

Hoping said figuring was incorrect, Nori raised her hand.

"How, exactly might you be testing us?"

"You're all smart kids," he said, a knowing grin forming his face, "You know exactly how I'm going to test you."

----------

Taga was quickly chosen as the sacrificial lamb, mainly because he had the worst chances since Gentle Fist hard-countered his taijutsu.

They moved to a different clearing, one farther into the forest, and the first two combatants squared up.

Then, in a flash, the battle began.

Taga began the battle by attempting a leaping kick at their sensei's head, an attempt that was easily thwarted as he dodged the kick, grabbed Taga's leg, and threw him into the ground like a ragdoll.

"Ow..." Taga whimpered, marking the end of the match as far as the observers were concerned.

All in all, Taga had lasted all of two seconds.

This did not bode well for the remaining pair.

"He didn't even activate his Byakugan!" Kusuri thought to himself, shocked, "Is he seriously just that much faster than us?!"

While Kusuri was weighing whether or not he should run for his life, Takeshi nonchalantly grabbed Taga and hoisted him up by the ankle, before walking over to a nearby tree and laying him against it.

"You okay?" he asked Taga while brushing some dirt, "I may have thrown a bit harder than I meant to."

"Yeah, totally fine," Taga groaned, "Totally didn't bruise most of my upper body... and maybe a rib."

"Well, at least you didn't break anything. You'll probably be fine. Although I will give you your first piece of proper combat advice, don't leave yourself so open all the time. Anyway, who's next?"