The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

11: A Practice Skirmish

"How do you want to do this?" Tenten asked.

"I think we should split into teams," Kankuro said.

"No, I want to beat all of you," Bakugo declared.

"That's not realistic," Shoto spoke. "Even you can't actually think we could beat all of them alone?"

"Who said anything about we, Icyhot?" Bakugo said.

"Is he really this arrogant?" Sai asked, with a straight face.

"Who the heck are you calling arrogant, Paint Brush?!" Bakugo barked at him.

"You," Sai said. "I thought that was clear."

Shoto smiled wryly. 

"Shut the heck up, you freaking twink!" Bakugo snapped back at Sai.

"Language!" Shine called.

"Captain America!" Wally cried.

"What?" Ino wondered.

"The teams idea makes more sense," Temari interjected. "We should pick leaders and duke it out, just like in the Chunin exams. We can pick a leader based on who has seniority or skill."

"That's not fair," Hanabi piped up. "That puts me at an immediate disadvantage, and it's not my fault."

"That's just how it goes," Temari said, rather insensitively.

"You just want to be a leader." Tenten crossed her arms. "And that's not fair. You're already a team leader for the real mission. Why not give someone else a chance? Shine said it was open to change later anyway."

"She didn't mean that," Kankuro said. "She was just trying to make you feel better."

"So you're saying that Shine doesn't mean things?" Sasuke said.

His tone wasn't extremely aggressive, as Sasuke wasn't usually openly aggressive--but it was still  threatening. He was just so cold.

No one was quite sure whether the implied threat was that Shine was open to be questioned if she wasn't fully honest, or if it was defending Shine's honor. But they guessed the first one.

"Even if she did mean it," Kankuro objected, "Hair Buns has no experience leading."

"That's not entirely true," Tenten objected.

"I don't want it to be Fan Girl either," Bakugo said. "I should lead."

"You?" they scoffed.

"Don't leaders have to have charisma?" Suigetsu said.

"Shine did say he should practice," Shoto said. "But, to be honest, I wouldn't want to follow his lead either."

"At least he can fight," Tenten pointed out.

"If Bakugo is leading one group," Temari said, "someone still has to lead the opposing team."

"At home, one side plays the heroes and one side plays the villains," Shoto said.

"I'm always the villain," Bakugo said. "That's freaking pathetic."

"We don't really do that," Shikamaru said. "There are no heroes and villains in the shinobi world, Shoto-san. Just who is on your side and your opponents."

"If you don't want me to be in charge, which is sexist by the way," Temari said, "why not Kankuro? At least he has experience."

"I would be amenable to that," Sai said. "I was in his squad in the war."

"That does give us an advantage," Kankuro mused. "Sure, I'll take charge. Us vs. Bakugo would be like finesse vs. brute force."

Bakugo glared at him. "You'll eat those words, Puppet Man."