Naruto – Cybernin

Disclaimer: This will be a Naruto and Transformers/Beastwars fanfiction. However, please note that Transformers/Beastwars component will cover a wide range of series from G1, Beastwars, Animated, Michael Bay Movies, Cybertron Games, Prime and so on. Also, there will be a couple of twists necessary for the two series to somehow fit which will hopefully not ruin the fanfiction.

Chapter 6: Time to Hit the Scrapper!

It was the day after Naruto had returned to class and the two Autobots, Arcee and Prowl, became teachers at the Ninja Academy. However, unlike before, the boy was a nervous wreck while Metaru was trying her best to comfort him. Had the other children not felt worried by his unease, they would have found it comical.

Curious and impatient, Kiba asked, "Hey, what's wrong man? You look like the Cons are about to attack again."

Grinning nervously, Naruto explained, "Well, let's just say that it is survival training today and Arcee-neechan just told me that she's going to make it "interesting"."

Raising an eyebrow, Kiba asked, "Is it really that bad?"

Nodding, Naruto meekly replied, "Yes."

Opening one eye, Shikamaru who overheard Naruto's conversation with Kiba asked, "Do I even want to know the details?"

Plonking his head onto the desk, Naruto dejectedly moaned, "Let's just say that the last time Arcee-neechan sparred with me, I had enough dents and scrapes on my armour to make it look like I just entered one end of the scrapper and crawled out the other!"

Blinking, almost everyone who overheard Naruto's statement had one common thought, "This can't be good!"

Scene Change

Before long, the class had gathered in a clearing known as Training Ground Three with Arcee, Prowl and Soundblaster waiting for them. Anyone who noticed the smirking Arcee could immediately tell that she was up to something as she spoke, "Good to see that you kids are on time. Being able to reach to your targets or destinations on time can make the difference between victory and failure in any battle."

Looking up at the female Aubotbot, Sakura said, "Wait a minute, I thought this is just survival training. You make it sound as if…"

"As if you'll be fighting for your lives?" asked Arcee who then added, "To answer your question, the answer will be yes. This survival training session will be a survival battle training session between you against our selected Autobots for the sake of preparation for any further Decepticon attacks." Turning her attention to Soundblaster, she spoke, "Soundblaster, if you may?"

Nodding, Soundblaster opened his chest, which has a miniature hammer-space for storing objects and even minicons, and released four humanoid forms which leapt out of it. The children backed away as the four forms, which have roughly the same size as their own, landed before them.

On one side were two humanoid Autobots who could very well be related to one another as they have the same physical appearance and even have the same red faces, grey face-plates, and blue optics. The main difference between them was that one had blue and grey plating while the other had blue and black plating. The third humanoid had gold-yellow plates and appeared as though he has a lion alternate mode while the fourth had red plating and obviously had a rhinoceros alternate mode.

Staring at the four Autobot Minicons, Sakura had to ask, "Wait, so you're pitting four of them against all of us?" Metal humanoids or not, the four Minicons do not look as intimidating as their larger counterparts and it was only four of them against the entire class including its two top students.

Nodding, Arcee said, "Correct, however I would have you know that they are not much bigger than you children, they are all warriors who had earned their rights to be called such."

Stepping forward, the blue and grey-plated Minicon introduced himself, "Hi there, the name's Eject, one of Soundblaster's Minicon assistants. I like friendly sports and I dislike pointless fighting. My dream is to one day persuade everyone that conflicts can be resolved by holding sport events."

After Eject introduced himself, his blue and black-plated twin introduced himself, "The name's Rewind and I'm Eject's brother. I like gathering information and I don't like it when the information I get is false. I don't really have much of a dream, unless you consider surviving our war against the Decepticons with my friends and family by my side as one."

"My name is Steeljaw and I'm one of the best trackers among the Autobots. I like tracking down new kinds of smells but I don't like fouls smells or people acting unprofessionally. My dream's similar to Rewind's."

The last humanoid, the red-plated one, gruffly spoke, "The name's Ramhorn. I don't like a lot of things and I'm not interested in telling you what I actually like. I just want this damned war to be done and over with so that I can go on with my life." Needless to say, every student in Naruto's class considered Ramhorn to be grouchy, to put it mildly.

Once the four Minicons were done introducing themselves, Arcee explained, "The rules of this survival exercise are simple. All you have to do is survive for the next hour as they try to take you all down. Taking them down is an option but I would advise against facing any one of them on your own without support from your classmates. As I've said before, they are experienced warriors and they have already been informed about your general abilities as ninja academy students so expect them to be prepared. Despite their size they are much tougher than normal humans so don't be surprised if they can keep on fighting even if you take off a limb or two." Seeing many of the students becoming uneasy, Arcee assured them, "Don't worry, they will hold back so that they won't kill or maim you by accident. I even told them to set their blasters to stun so you don't have to worry about being blasted into ashes or anything like that. One the other hand, I know that your village has medic-nin who can treat fractured bones and minor burns with ease so don't be surprised if you end up with some." Needless to say, Arcee's "reassurance" did little to assure the students.

Peering at Naruto, Kiba said, "You're right, Arcee is a sadist when it comes to training!" Akamaru could only whine in agreement with Kiba.

Sighing, Shikamaru muttered, "Troublesome!" Chouji nodded in agreement with Shikamaru as he hoped that the coming survival training session will not be as painful as Arcee and Naruto implied.

Adjusting his sunglasses, Shino thought, "This could an educational, if potentially painful, experience."

Hinata was fearfully afraid of the coming survival training session and could only hope that she can join up with Naruto and, more importantly, not drag him down. Both Sakura and Ino were also fearful but were sure that Sasuke will protect them and that they can somehow prevail against the Autobots Minicons, preferably without ruining their hair or clothes. Sasuke on the other hand scoffed at the four Minicons as he was sure that he can take down any one of them in a one-on-one match.

Smirking at the uneasy children before her, Arcee said, "One last thing, you are all free to team up with your classmates and no penalty will be given for it. Now, without any further delays, you have exactly one minute to get out of our sight. If you choose to remain in our sight after the one minute is over, it means that you want no part in this survival training exercise and will automatically fail. This does not include Metaru by the way as she is expected to stay here for her own safety." Metaru pouted a bit as Arcee continued, "If you wander off beyond this training ground, and we will know about it, you will also automatically fail. You will also fail if you are incapacitated or captured by any one of the Minicons during this exercise. Is there any questions?" Seeing Shikamaru raising his hand, Arcee asked, "Yes?"

"How large a team can we make?" asked Shikamaru.

"A good question, as long as your teammates are your own classmates and you do not betray their trust in you, you can form as large as team as you wish." Shikamaru barely held back his smirk as Arcee asked again, "Is there anyone else with a question to ask?" After a moment of silent pause, Arcee then said, "If not, the one-minute countdown begins NOW!"

Scene Change

It took less than half a minute for the children to disperse into the trees while it took five whole minutes for Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Shino and even Hinata to find Naruto who was surprisingly good at hiding despite the bright coloration of his metallic plates. Then again, he did somehow manage to sneak into ANBU headquarters at one time to paint the walls bright-orange so perhaps it can be said that his stealth is better than most, at least as long as he is not looking for attention anyway.

Relieved to see his friends, and the strange shy girl who always seemed ready to faint whenever she looks at him but is otherwise a nice girl, Naruto asked, "I'm guessing that you guys want to team up with me?"

Nodding, Shikamaru said, "I figured that teaming up with you would be the least troublesome course of action." Assuming his thinking pose, Shikamaru then said, "We need to plan quickly before those four Minicons can find us, tell me everything that you know about them…"

Scene Change

Ten minutes had passed and already more than a tenth of Naruto's class had been found and captured or incapacitated. Some were paralysed by energy blasters which were set to stun while others bore singe marks, bruises and sometimes even cracked bones form their ordeal in the survival exercise. Despite the medic-nin available to treat their injuries, Iruka was nevertheless worried for his students as he asked, "Was it really necessary to push them this hard?"

Gazing at the captured students in distaste, Arcee knew that they need a lot of work before they can ever be ready to become ninjas as she replied, "Considering that we will soon be at war with the Decepticons, I'd say yes as much for their sake as for my own. If those kids continue being so foolish and naïve when it comes to being ninjas, they will only get themselves and their allies killed in the coming war." Hearing the less-injured girls from Sasuke's fanclub complaining about their ruined appearances or losing their chances to impress Sasuke annoyed her even further as they were obvious disgraces to any warrior let alone ninjas, especially when compared to students who at least have a good reason to be crying, whimpering or groaning in pain due to more serious injuries such as cracked bones. Speaking her thoughts aloud so everyone could hear, Arcee added, "Especially those so-called kunoichi of yours who have the gall to say that Naruto, the same boy who could prank even ANBU, is a worthless dead last despite their own poor abilities. Goes to show what those kids really know about a ninja's lifestyle."

Infuriated, Ami, shouted, "You dare say that we're even worse as ninjas that dead-last idiot?"

Suddenly, Arcee appeared before Ami and forcefully slammed both of her hands onto the ground beside her as she growled, "As a matter of fact, I do. Tell me, what exactly did you or your precious "Sasuke-Kun" do during the Decepticon attack? Nothing, none of you did anything while Naruto, the so-called worthless dead-last as you yourself put it, risked his own life to protect Metaru and even forced those Seekers into actually considering him as a credible threat. I may not know how you humans grade yourselves but among my kind Naruto would already be considered a respected fighter for his deeds during the attack. Until you brats finally stop deluding yourself into believing that being a ninja is some sort of glorious, glamorous or, Primus forbid, romantic job, and finally take is seriously as a responsibility to protect the innocents from the shadows even if it means putting your own life or sanity onto the line of duty, I will never acknowledge any of you as ninjas! Am I clear?"

Terrified by Arcee's harsh expression and tone, Ami could only tearfully nod in acknowledgement while Iruka thought, "She certainly knows how to drive the point across, if a touch too harshly in my opinion." Turning his attention towards the other terrified students, and noticing the hand-prints on the soil besides a petrified Ami, Iruka amended his earlier statement, "More than a touch too harsh in fact."

Scene Change

Fifteen minutes had passed and Steeljaw sighed in distaste as he captured his tenth fangirl while in his lion-like alternate form. With the perfumes they wear to woo Sasuke, he had no trouble in finding them at all. Their poor fighting skills were one issue but their blatantly unprofessional attitude towards their future profession was downright appalling to him. Seriously, why even become ninjas if they are not even interested in learning how to protect themselves from harm and having Sasuke do all the hard work for them? By the Pit, he personally felt that he was actually doing them a favour when he forced them to be covered in dirt, scratches, singe marks and even a couple of bruises as it would no doubt force them to toughen up somewhat.

Hearing the sounds of laser blasters being fired, Steeljaw knew that the twins had found their next target. Unlike Ramhorn or himself, the twins would always work together to accomplish their given tasks. Like most Cybertronian twins, they have a unique mental link to one another thus allowing them to work together as though they are a single robot thus granting them a clear advantage in teamwork. Speaking of teamwork, Steeljaw noticed that Kiba, the student with his puppy riding on his head, was travelling together with at least three other scents. Smirking, Steeljaw knew that at least some of the students had heeded Arcee's advice to work as a team and will prove to be more of an entertaining challenge than these hopeless excuses for ninja academy students…

Scene Change

While Steeljaw noted Kiba's scent, Hibachi and his friend were desperately trying to fight off the Minicon twins as they short red bursts of energy at them. Granted, the energy blasts did not do anything worse than singe their clothes, hair and skin as well as cause minor paralysis but getting hit by them is nevertheless painful. Desperately substituting himself with a random log, Hibachi swore as he saw it crack due to a rock, which Eject kicked as though it was a rubber ball, colliding into it. Seriously, being able to kick rocks like that without hurting yourself is just plain unfair! Before long, the two were incapacitated and then captured by the twins.

Scene Change

Twenty minutes had already passed and Sasuke was alone as usual as he was confident that he can take on the Minicons on his own. Granted, even he knew better than to face them all at once but he was sure that he can eventually defeat them all by taking them down one by one, hence why he was currently stalking Ramhorn, the most aggressive of the four and the least likely to work together with his own allies. Despite his confidence, Sasuke approached with caution as he saw what Ramhorn could do in his rhinoceros alternate form. Like most people, Sasuke does not want to end up like that tree Ramhorn tore apart with his horn alone when he smelled one of his classmates hiding on its branches. Seeing the rampaging Minicon tear his way through roughly a few dozen trees before finally giving up on the chase only cemented Sasuke's opinion that Ramhorn is dangerous. He was also quite sure that the classmate who got away would not want to face Ranhorm again anytime soon.

Suddenly, the winds shifted and Ramhorn got a whiff of Sasuke's scent. Seeing Ramhorn's pause, Sasuke froze as he wondered what the red Autobot would do next. Sasuke got his answer quickly enough as Ramhorn suddenly turned around and his hind legs opened to reveal their hidden weapons, a pair of dual-barrelled plasma cannons. Sasuke's eyes widened as he thought, "Oh hell no…!"

Scene Change

Steeljaw was about to pounce onto another unsuspecting student when the both of them were suddenly startled by a loud explosion. Recognizing the sound, Steeljaw cursed at Ramhorn through their communicator as he barely avoided being pelted by kunai and shuriken thrown by the startled student, "Ramhorn, I'm pretty fraggin' sure that Arcee said no killing or maiming the students!"

Snorting, Ramhorn replied, "The kid's not dead or crippled if that's what you're worried about…"

Scene Change

"…So shut up and let me do my thing, my way!" said Ramhorn.

Looking at the small smouldering crater, Ramhorn saw that his target was nowhere to be found. Having lived through enough battles to know that the boy is alive and probably unhurt, Ramhorn wasted no time in smashing down a tree behind him as soon as he heard a twig snap.

Barely avoiding the charge, Sasuke proceeded to breathe a ball of fire onto the Autobot, confident that his technique can defeat him despite being made out of metal. However, Sasuke did not expect Ramhorn to suddenly transform into his humanoid form and leap out of the way with a surprising amount of agility. Rolling back onto his feet, Ramhorn revealed the same cannons Sasuke saw earlier on his shoulders and proceeded to shoot rounds of energy blasts at him.

Quickly substituting himself with a random log, Sasuke suddenly appeared behind Ramhorn stabbed him in the back with his kunai. Normally such an attack would cripple or even kill a human but Ramhorn is an Autobot and so took the blow without even flinching. Sasuke was then forced to let go of his kunai as it suddenly started to vibrate violently, almost cracking the bones in his hands as a result. Glaring at the Autobot, Sasuke realized to his displeasure that Ramhorn was far more formidable an opponent than he initially assumed…

Scene Change

As Sasuke fought against Ramhorn and Steeljaw continued to hunt down unwary academy students, both Eject and Rewind were on their way to find their next victim when Rewind suddenly froze. Curious, Eject asked, "What is it?"

Rewind's eyes were wide in panic as he suddenly shouted, "Duck!"

Quickly ducking down, Eject barely dodged Rewind's punch as he asked, "Hey, what the slag is wrong with you?"

"That's not me, someone's…!"

Suddenly sensing a familiar energy signature, Eject deadpanned, "Let me guess, Naruto is right behind me and he has some friends with him, one of whom somehow took control of your servos and made you try to punch me."

Rewind sighed and said, "That's about the gist of it, brother…"

Scene Change

A while later, Arcee raised an eyebrow as she saw Eject and Rewind return empty-handed, and painted in bright-orange paint. Seeing the obviously dejected pair, she had to ask, "Naruto?"

Nodding, the twins replied in unison, "Naruto, and company."

Scene Change

"That went a lot easier than I expected," said Kiba who was somewhat disappointed in the fact that the two brothers were taken down so easily.

"Well, in their defence, they never faced the Shadow Imitation Technique before and it was like six of us against two of them. Besides, Hinata and Shino gave us the heads-up we needed to prepare while Shikamaru did the planning," explained Naruto.

"Not only that, even I wasn't sure if my clan's technique can even work on them," admitted Shikamaru. The Shadow Imitation Technique is one of the secret techniques of the Nara clan and allows the user to bind an enemy's shadow with his own shadow, therefore forcing the enemy to imitate the user's actions. Had the technique not worked against the Autobot Minicon, Shikamaru would not have been able to disable Rewind while the Naruto and Kiba dealt with Eject with Chouji as a reserve fighter.

"Also, my Kikaichuu are unable to safely ingest their energon despite being able to drain them as though they are chakra. Until my clan somehow produces a breed which can safely ingest energon, my allies would be a mere annoyance against them during combat at best," added Shino. Hinata also felt that her clan's unique style of taijutsu, the Jyuuken, may also be ineffective against the Autobots although she admittedly had yet to actually try it against them.

"That said, we won't need to worry about those two for a while," said a grinning Naruto.

"Then let's find the other Minicons before…"

Kiba's statement was cut short when they heard another round of explosions. Turning around, Hinata activated her Byakugan and said, "Sasuke-san is still fighting against Ramhorn but appears to be losing." Indeed, from what she could see, all Sasuke was doing was avoiding getting blasted or smashed into pieces by the overly aggressive Autobot. The fact that Sasuke was obviously getting exhausted while Ramhorn seemed as furious as ever did not bode well for the Uchiha boy whose attempts to harm him only infuriated him even further.

Smirking, Kiba said, "Hah, serves that arrogant prick right!"

"What about Steeljaw, Hinata?"

Blushing as Naruto was the one who asked her, Hinata was nevertheless able to reply, "Steeljaw is currently stalking Sakura-san and Ino-san…"

Scene Change

"Hey, Forehead?" asked Ino.

Turning her attention to Ino, Sakura asked, "Yes, Ino-pig?"

"What do you think about… well, you know, everything that has been happening recently?" For Ino, it felt like it wasn't even yesterday when things were normal and did not involve giant sentient robot aliens.

Hearing Ino's query, Sakura sighed and said, "To be honest, things had been happening so quickly that I can't even begin to describe it. I mean, Naruto suddenly becoming a dad for a little girl, never mind if it is only through adoption, said girl turning out to be a half-robot that eats metal, energon AND ramen, our village getting involved with metal giants from outer space, and that girl being a member of their race, one faction of the said giants helping us prepare for a war against their enemies who only see us as a source of energon, and Naruto becoming more like Metaru of his new body parts are anything to go by. That's a whole lot to take in, you know?"

Ino nodded in understanding as she spoke, "Yeah, I get what you're saying here. I mean, do you remember what happened when the Decepticons attacked our village?"

Remembering that event all too well, Sakura replied, "How can I not forget, it was the first time Naruto ever yelled at me, not to mention him actually risking his life to protect Metaru…" Sighing, Sakura the hesitantly asked, "Do you think… that Naruto will ever forgive me for what I said that day?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure. But even I know that not apologizing to him will not convince him into forgiving you," replied Ino.

Well aware that Ino was correct, Sakura asked, "But how? You of all people know that I don't like that baka, with him annoying me all the time with his requests for a date with him and getting in my way all the time. I don't even know where to begin in apologizing to him, assuming that I can even get him to listen to me after everything that I had said to him that day, on top of everything else I had already done to him!"

Seeing Sakura groan in frustrated melancholy, Ino knew that Sakura had a point. The pink-haired girl was never kind to Naruto, consistently yelling at him or belittling him for every mistake he made and even physically beating him whenever he annoyed her too much. As a member of the Yamanaka clan, a clan known for reading minds and even hijacking the bodies of their victims through mind-transferring or mind-control, Ino knew more about psychology than most of her classmates. It was therefore not surprising that she knew Sakura's desire to apologize to Naruto was struggling against her pride which refused to appear shamefully weak towards the dead-last of their class whom no one likes. An equally proud girl herself, Ino understood Sakura's reluctance as she asked, "Did Naruto say anything to you yesterday?"

Shaking her head, Sakura replied, "No, he wouldn't even look at me if he could help it. And when I tried talking to him after class, he just ignored me by teleporting himself and Metaru away without saying anything to me." Left unsaid was that Naruto threw a glare at her before he teleported away, a glare which was not even one of raging anger but of cold disappointment.

Almost shocked by how much Naruto had changed so much with regards of Sakura, the same girl whom he once had a major crush on, Ino asked, "That bad huh?"

Nodding, Sakura then asked, "Say, Ino-pig, do you think it's normal to feel so sad and empty when someone you never liked suddenly started to stay away from you like you always wanted?"

Shrugging, Ino said, "Well, it largely depends on who you don't like and why. I don't know about you but Naruto may be annoying with a horrible sense in fashion but he was at least nice towards you while he was at it from what I can tell. I mean, didn't the fact that he kept being nice to you in spite of how much you yell and hit him mean anything to you?" Admittedly, Ino did not care about Naruto very much either but she was also less aggressively mean towards Naruto as compared to Sakura, if only because she paid even less attention to him.

Shaking her head, Sakura admitted, "No, I supposed not."

"Then how about now?" asked Ino.

Unexpectedly, tears appeared in Sakura's eyes as she spoke to Ino, "Now I feel like I lost one of the few people whom I can call a real friend, which I know just can't be true because I don't like him at all and I never had any faith in him being anything more than an idiot who would never stop annoying me!" Sakura's voice rose as she continued to rant, "I mean, why didn't that baka ever take a hint that I'm just not interested in becoming his friend, much less his girlfriend, from all the punches, yelling and mean words I said to him? Why did that baka have to suddenly do a "one-eighty" after that battle with the Decepticons, and don't even bother explaining it to me because I know that what I said that day was horrible! I know that he no longer likes me because of what I said, but why does the fact that he probably hates me, especially because of what I said that day as well as every other mean thing that I did to him, which I never bothered to think about before now… hurts so much?"

Seeing Sakura breaking down into tears of remorse and frustration, Ino sighed as she thought, "Probably because he really was a dear friend to you, even though you never realized it yourself." Indeed, Ino could not remember the last the last time any boy, not even Sasuke, showed any interest in Sakura while the girls were either rivals for Sasuke's affections or were jealous of her status as the top kunoichi of the class even if only because of her stellar academic grades. Looking back, Sakura actually had very few friends among her peers and, like it or not, Naruto was one of the few people who honestly thought of her as someone worthwhile befriending. Considering what happened between Sakura and Naruto during the Decepticon attack at Konohagakure, it was no surprise that Naruto is angry at her to say the least while even his admittedly distant friends are now contemptuous of her. As much as Ino wished that Sakura and Naruto could somehow reconcile, even if only for Sakura's sake, she knew that it would be far more difficult than her own recent reconciliation with Sakura after the Decepticaon attack, especially since it was apparent that Naruto no longer wanted anything to do with her…

Scene Change

Steeljaw knew that he could take down the two girls with ease by ambushing them, even after considering with their superior numbers against him. However, seeing Sakura's emotional turmoil and realizing that she was sincerely regretting her past actions against Naruto, Steeljaw decided to leave them alone for now. While he understood that an opponent's emotional distress can be taken advantage off during a fight, he felt no desire to do so even after realizing that Sakura was one of Naruto's many tormentors and actually tried to force him into giving up Metaru to the Decepticons. It was not because he suddenly cared for the girl, although he did begin to find a little less reason to dislike her, it was simply because he had already witnessed far too many friendships broken beyond repair during the early days of the war against the Decepticons.

How many friends had fought against one another to the death, how many brothers and sisters betrayed one another, how many loved ones became hated enemies over the course of the war? As Optimus Prime would put it, "Our tragic war ravaged Cybertron, as its own people tore each other asunder."

Looking back at the pair, Steeljaw could smell Sakura's tears realized that he might be forced to smell those terrible tears of sorrow far too often once the war against the Decepticons truly breaks loose upon the Ninja World. Sighing, Steeljaw thought, "I hope for their sake that they learn to take things more seriously after this…"

Scene Change

Deciding to ignore both Ramhorn and Steeljaw, as their goal was to survive the remainder of the hour-long training session rather than take down their remaining pursuers, Naruto and the rest of the group set off to keep moving. As they set off, Hinata was surprised as she noted that Steeljaw actually decided to change targets and left Sakura and Ino alone. Curious, Naruto asked about it as he was sure that Steeljaw would not hesitate to teach those two Sasuke-fangirls a painful lesson in professionalism.

"W-well, I'm not exactly sure why but Sakura-san was crying about something and Ino was trying to comfort her," answered Hinata.

Confused, Kiba asked, "Crying? Crying about what exactly?"

"L-like I said, I don't really know since I can't read her lips," replied Hinata who mentally added, "Although I do have an idea why." She was present, albeit unnoticed, when she saw Sakura trying to talk to Naruto after class during the previous day only for the boy to completely ignore her with the exception of a cold glare which clearly indicated that he had not forgotten what she had tried to force Naruto to do during the previous Decepticon attack. She also remembered how Sakura wore a hurt expression when Naruto simply teleported himself and Metaru away from her, not giving her a chance to even apologize to him. Granted, Hinata knew that Naruto had a very good reason to be angry with Sakura but it was also true that Hinata hated hurting other people or seeing people suffer in general. As such, Hinata asked, "Naruto, aren't you even going to ask Sakura-san to join us?"

Visibly tensing, Naruto then replied, "No, it would have been a waste of our precious time and effort as she would have most likely refused our offer just because I'm on the team. Even if she does join us, she would have disagreed with everything I say just because I'm the one saying anything regardless of my greater understanding about Cybertronians than most of the entire class. That is not even counting the very likely possibility that she would try to manipulate or force us into helping her "precious Sasuke-kun" since we know his location even if it means putting this entire team at risk. By the Pit, I wouldn't be surprised if she decides to abandon us or even betray us if we refuse to do as she says with regards to that Teme."

Hearing Naruto's downright bitter response shocked the others even though they knew that his reasoning is understandable given Sakura's past misdeeds towards him. It was also true that Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Kiba and even Hinata presently dislike Sakura but it was still shocking for them that Naruto, the same boy who once had a major crush on Sakura and easily forgave her for her past transgressions prior to the Decepticon attack, despised her so strongly now. Then again, they should have at least half-expected Naruto to not forgive Sakura as easily as before since she did try to force Naruto into giving up Metaru, the closest thing he had to a younger sister or even daughter, to the obviously malicious Decepticons. It was one thing to belittle and punch Naruto, but forcing him to abandon or harm his own precious people was another matter altogether.

"D-do you… hate her?" asked Hinata.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto sighed before he admitted, "Not as much as you guys probably think, but just because I don't absolutely hate her doesn't mean that I'm going to trust her either. I may be willing to at least try to understand her point of view, and maybe even forgive her eventually for everything that she had done, including that incident when Cons' attacked that day since she was obviously scared and didn't know any better about Metaru-chan, but I'm not going to just trust her again just because I used to have a crush on her only to have her betray me or, worse yet, my precious people."

Hearing Naruto's explanation, Shino then spoke, "Your reasoning is indeed sound given the circumstances. However, I am curious as to why you were once so enamoured with her to begin with."

"…You guys probably won't believe it but she wasn't always an aggressive fangirl. She used to be a shy girl who I had a crush on as soon as I first saw her as she was really cute and pretty, especially with her forehead which made me want to kiss it. Even back then I wanted to be her friend but her parents… didn't really approve of me being her friend to say the least." Sighing, Naruto continued to speak, "When I found out about her getting bullied, I really wanted to help her but she was being bullied by girls and back then I was dumb enough to think that boys are not supposed to hit girls. I tried telling the teachers and her parents but none of them listened to me. I was really glad when Ino helped her to deal with her bully problem and even helped her to become the top kunoichi of her class. Pits, I even saw inspiration in it as it meant that I have a chance to become Hokage and make friends. But then… well, you know what happened when both Ino and Sakura started liking that Teme and became enemies because of that."

Hearing Naruto's confession, his teammates were silent before Kiba spoke, "Well, that explains why you liked her so much even though she was such a bitch to you." Hearing Akamaru growl, Kiba added, "And I don't mean the female-dog kind of bitch either."

"I always knew your persistent attitude was troublesome," said Shikamaru.

Smirking a little, Naruto mentally admitted, "Yeah, I'm a persistent idiot, but then what other choice did I have? It was either letting everyone who hated me keep me down or keep trying to get back up no matter how everyone thought that I would fail or wanted me to fail." His expression saddened as he mentally added, "Still, it does nothing to change the fact that someone whom I once thought of as a precious person had done nothing but hurt me over the past few years, even going as far as to not even give a moment to care about how much giving up Metaru-chan would hurt me regardless of the fact that she did not know any better." Naruto then thought about Optimus Prime, about how he, as a humble clerk known as Orion Pax, was once inspired by a gladiator of Kaon who wanted to change Cybertron for the better known a Megatronus, the same Cybertronion who would later become the infamous Megatron. "Granted, those two were not exactly romantically involved with one another, but it does not change the fact that they were once friends, assuming that Megatron really considered Optimus Prime as a friend and not as a mere tool for his conquest over Cybertron. For that matter, did I actually mean anything at all to her…?"

Scene Change

Arcee was positively smug as she saw Ramhorn dragging a battered and bruised Uchiha Sasuke along the ground as though he was a sack of meat. Hearing the fangirls shriek in distress was an added bonus for Arcee as Ramhorn roughly tossed Sasuke towards the shocked medic-nin and then said, "That brat does have some talent, I'll give him that much. He actually had me chasing him for more than five minutes before he got too tired to dodge properly. Landed a few hits on me too, even if they were all too weak to even scratch me."

"Let me guess, he tried to take you down, all on his own no less, instead of avoiding you or the others for the duration of the exercise?" asked Arcee.

"You could say that," replied Ramhorn.

Ramhorn was about to turn his back and return back into the forest when a random fangirl shrieked, "How could you do this to him, you brute?"

Halting, Ramhorn then turned around and glared at the fangirl who shrieked at him and growled, "Be thankful that we're allies and that I'm forbidden from hurting you too much or I would have punched some sense into your obviously empty head-case. So instead I'll ask this, which part of "preparation for any further Decepticon attacks" did any of you NOT understand?"

Intimidated by the aggressive Autobot, the fangirls all shut up while the more rational students realized that Ramhorn actually had a point. If they could not even properly fight against four Autobot Minicons who were obviously holding back, what chance would they have against the obviously ruthless Decepticons?

Noticing that some of the students were slowly realizing the true gravity of their current circumstances, Arcee smiled as she knew that those who made the realization would take their training as ninjas more seriously…

Scene Change

Almost fifty minutes had passed and Naruto's group was tense as they knew that the Autobots had dealt with almost every other student from their class. Surprisingly enough, Sakura and Ino were among the few that were not captured although it was also admittedly true that it was mainly because Steeljaw decided not to capture them while Ramhorn, and the twins who had cleaned themselves up before returning to capture the remaining students, were not exactly trackers. While it was true that the group could keep moving, Hinata was getting tired from the constant use of her Byakugan. Of course, one of the boys could always carry her while they kept moving and they still had Shino's insects as well as Kiba's nose but it was also becoming increasingly apparent that Steeljaw was leading the other three Minicons towards their location to surround them.

"This is going to be a long, and troublesome, ten minutes!" groaned Shikamaru as the four Autobots were actually getting closer towards his group's location.

Grinning, Kiba said, "Personally, I'm excited to get into this fight."

Chouji turned his attention to Shino and asked, "How long do you two think we have until we have to fight them?"

"Assuming that they do not start using their long-ranged weaponry or locate us immediately, two minutes tops given Steeljaw's distance from our current location," replied Shino.

"I-I'm sorry for dragging all of you down," apologized Hinata.

Grinning, Naruto said, "Don't be too hard on yourself, you helped us avoid getting into a serious fight against them for this long. Just rest up and be ready to try your Jyuuken against them. We won't know if it will work against them or not until we actually try." Glad that Naruto seemed to have cheered up, Hinata wore a shy smile and nodded while trying her best not to blush too deeply or faint from his praise and encouragement.

Suddenly, everyone in Naruto's group felt that they were in danger and so no one questioned Naruto's warning, "Everyone, get down!"

Just as everyone ducked for cover, a loud explosion could be heard. Soon, the group was bombarded by multiple rounds of plasma cannon fire as Ramhorn was pinning them down.

"Crap, now I know what that Sasuke-teme went through!" swore Kiba.

"Kiba, you think you can dig a way for us to get out of here?" asked Chouji.

"That won't work. We won't have enough time to dig our way out before the other Autobots find us!" shouted Shikamaru who then turned his attention to Naruto and asked, "Naruto, you think you can teleport to Ramhorn and distract him? We'll handle the rest of them!"

Grinning, Naruto replied, "Believe it!

Scene Change

Ramhorn may not be the most agile or brightest of Autobots but it is also undisputedly true that he is among the most aggressive among them with strength greater than his small Minicon size implied. However, that did not mean that he was a complete fool either as the war on Cybertron had a tendency to eliminate the weak and foolish. As such, Ramhorn knew that when he felt Naruto's unique energy signature close by, he needed to stop using his cannons and duck as Naruto's own energy attack flew right over him.

Quickly rising back up, Ramhorn who was still in his rhinoceros form glared at the blond boy. Now completely covered in yellow and orange-plated armour over the blue spandex, including his head which now looked like a cross between Optimus Prime's own head and the Decepticon symbol, as well as having three whisker-like lines of each cheek-plate, the boy was ready to battle. Lowering his left arm, which was transformed into reveal an arm-cannon form, Naruto grinned beneath his face-plates as he transformed his other arm into a another cannon. Angry at the boy who had interrupted his siege-attack, although it is admittedly true that almost everyone and everything makes him angry to some degree, Ramhorn transformed into his humanoid form and charged towards Naruto…

Scene Change

While Naruto engaged Ramhorn to stop his cannons, Shikamaru was busy helping Chouji and Shino take on the twins while Kiba and Hinata took on Steeljaw.

Already aware that at least one of them can take control of their servos, the twins were more wary than before and quickly learnt that Shikamaru was the shadow-user of the group. As such, they opted to use their arm-mounted guns to shoot at Shikamaru, Chouji and Shino from a safe distance as it was also apparent that Chouji was a close-range fighter. However, their ranged attacks were not very effective as Shino used his Kikaichuu to cover their optics, thus blinding them for the most part.

Steeljaw, who was in his lion form, was also affected by Shino's insects as they not only covered his optics but even assaulted his audio and olfactory receptors, thus rendering him incapable of even smelling his opponents. The fact that Shino specifically used female Kikaichuu, which release pheromones to attract males, to specifically plug Steeljaw's olfactory receptors certainly did not make it any easier for the lion-Autobot. Desperately trying to dislodge the insects, Steeljaw was pawing at his face when Hinata took her chance and quickly tapped him on his right abdomen with her hand which was coated with chakra. Known as the Jyuuken, the Hyuuga clan can use it in conjunction with their Byakugan to disable or even kill their opponents by striking the tenketsu points of their chakra circulatory system with their own chakra. Surprisingly enough, the attack was equally effective against the Autobot as Steeljaw suddenly felt as though someone tried to paralyze him with some sort of EMP attack. Desperate, he tried to transform to drive off the insects from his face only to realize to his horror that whoever struck him while he was blinded actually disabled his T-cog, a body-part which is essential for all Cybertronians to be Tranformers. Panicking, Steeljaw shouted, "I-I can't transform!"

Seeing Steeljaw thrash about even more wildly than before with his bared claws, Hinata did not dare to get any closer to him and was shocked that she actually disabled his transforming ability. Staring at the obviously panicking Autobot, Kiba swore, "Damn, remind me to never piss you off."

Still surprised that she actually took the initiative to strike Steeljaw, Hinata said, "I didn't that it could actually work."

Grinning, Kiba said, "Well, let's get started in kicking his ass!"

Turning her attention to Kiba, Hinata asked, "H-how? H-his body is made of steel." Mentally, Hinata added, "Almost literally!"

Realizing that Hinata was right, and not wanting to end up hurting himself like how Sasuke had suffered when he fought against Arcee in a previous taijutsu match, Kiba was at a loss when an explosion suddenly occurred, effectively dispersing the insects away from the Autobots in a wave of energy. It also caused all the humans to feel as though they were struck by a wave of static electricity which also made their hairs to comically stand on end. Shocked, everyone turned their attention to Eject who swore, "Primus bless Energizer-Bombs!"

Energizer Bomb is a nickname for a type of a Cybertonian tool known as Energon Batteries when used as such. Normally used like typical batteries, it can also be used as either an explosive or, as it name implies, a bomb which releases a wave of energon to energize all exhausted Cybertronians within explosive range. Using the Energizer Bomb also forcefully disables cloaking as well as undoes certain circuitry-related ailments. However, Energon batteries were not used often as Energizer Bombs as the explosions would destroy the batteries, never mind the risk of accidentally energizing enemies as well. Using Energon Batteries like typical grenades was not very practical either as most other explosives were more powerful. Still, no one ever said that an Autobot cannot use an Energon Battery as an Energizer Bomb to drive off organic insects which cannot safely ingest energon, especially since the other organics will not benefit from it either.

With his Kikaichuu effectively disabled by the explosive wave of energon, Shino knew that the group was in trouble as Steeljaw managed to transform into his humanoid form, the disabling of his T-cog undone by the Energizer Bomb. Looking at his humanoid hands, Steeljaw could not repress his sigh of relief of being able to transform again before turning his attention to Kiba and Hinata. Knowing that one of them must have disabled his T-cog, Steeljaw was determined to take down the perpetrator before he or she can cause any further damage…

Scene Change

Meanwhile, Ramhorn was becoming increasingly furious as Naruto teleported out of the way, for the umpteenth time, and shot a small blast of energy at him before teleporting away again. Unable to both teleport and use powerful attacks at the same time, Naruto opted to just pepper Ramhorn with weaker attacks while teleporting frequently to avoid getting smashed or blasted by him. True, the attacks were mere annoyances to Ramhorn but it did make sure that the furious Autobot was paying all of his attention to Naruto, the only academy student who has a chance to actually keep on fighting after receiving a direct hit from him.

Barely avoiding Ramhorn's cannons, Naruto shot a burst of energy at his face, hoping to blind him momentarily and gaining a chance to do more damage. However, Ramhorn knew that Naruto's weaker attacks cannot significantly damage his armoured plates and so chose to charge through the attack and ram him. Naruto swore as he teleported again, thankful of his large chakra/energon reserves for allowing him to teleport repeatedly. "Otherwise I might have ended up as a stain on his plates by now!"

Scene Change

Shikamaru swore as he barely avoided getting shot by Rewind while Chouji engaged Eject in an impromptu sumo-wresting match. Shino on the other hand was forced to engage Steeljaw alongside with Kiba as Steeljaw was quick to stun Hinata with his own energy guns once he realized that she could use the Jyuuken to disable him. Frowning, Shikamaru knew that they were at a disadvantage in both fighting experience and combat abilities. Chouji could barely even stand his ground as Eject as clearly stronger than him while Kiba's ferocious taijutsu style was useless against Steeljaw's metal hide. Shino could still use his Kikaichuu but there was no telling how many more of those bombs the Autobots had in their possession, never mind the fact that almost all of Shino's Kikaichuu were stunned by the initial "explosion".

Striking down Kiba and Akamaru with his clawed hands, although he took care not to injure them too badly, Steeljaw was about to attack Shino when he noticed that Shino was not looking at him with his eyebrows arching over his sunglasses. A little confused, Steeljaw was about to ask the Aburame boy when he suddenly left incoming danger and quickly turned around. Shock was apparent on his face as he saw Hinata attempting to strike his torso with her Jyuuken. Quickly retreating, Steeljaw asked, "H-how? My guns should have stunned you for five whole minutes!" Granted, she was barely able to stand and her attempt to disable him with her Jyuuken was slow and clumsy but the fact that she could stand at all, let alone move and attack, was shocking.

Hyuuga Hinata, the eldest daughter of the current leader of the Hyuuga Clan, Hyuuga Hiashi, was forced to live with high expectations placed upon her. Wanting a daughter worthy to take over his position, Hiashi had forced her to spar against her own clansmen, including her own younger sister Hyuuga Hanabi, on a near-daily basis. However, due to her meek nature and her dislike for hurting other people, especially her younger sister, Hinata was always beaten in her sparring matches to her father's great displeasure and disappointment. In an attempt to force her into becoming stronger, her father forced her to spar even more to the point that Hinata was often too exhausted or beaten to even move until she recovered on her own. Her constant defeats, combined with the majority of her clan either pitying or mocking her for her weakness, only made her even more withdrawn and timid. It was therefore ironic that she painful past experiences had allowed her to quickly recover from Steeljaw's attack which was less harmful than her clansmen's merciless Jyuuken strikes. Combined with her determination to not be a burden to Naruto or his friends, Hinata was able to somehow overcome her stunned state more quickly than anyone expected and thus attack Steeljaw when he least expected it.

Looking at her eyes Steeljaw almost smiled as he saw her determination to keep fighting. Moving more quickly than Hinata's eyes could follow, Steeljaw punched her abdomen with enough force to knock her out but not harm her internal organs. Looking at her wide eyes, Steeljaw said, "I don't know how you managed to keep moving let alone try to disable me again, but you have my respect. Keep at it and I'm pretty sure you'll be a great warrior worthy of respect one day."

Surprised, as she was often berated and mocked for failing to meet the high expectations placed upon her by her father and some of her clansmen, Hinata shed a tear as she passed out with a smile on her face. Gently placing the girl onto the ground, Steeljaw turned his attention to Shino and asked, "Are you not going to attack me? I did leave my back open to you for a while now."

Adjusting his sunglasses, Shino spoke, "Considering that you have defeated Kiba and Hinata, both of whom have taijutsu skills superior over my own, and that I lack the aid of my allies which are still stunned, it would be more logical to admit defeat. However…" Assuming a taijutsu stance, Shino added, "I admittedly do have my pride and do not wish to admit defeat to you without a proper fight."

Pleased by Shino's answer, Steeljaw assumed his own fighting stance and said, "Good answer!"

Scene Change

Meanwhile, unknown to the academy students, the jounin and clan heads of Konohagakure were watching the survival training session with much interest. Thanks to Soundblaster's surveillance drones, they could witness the entire session without having to enter the training ground themselves. One of them, a man with gravity-defying silver hair and a Konohagakure headband covering his left eye while his right eye had a black iris, said, "Looks like Naruto's little band knows more about the importance of teamwork than almost the entire class combined."

Grinning, Anko added, "And the brat's not too shabby on his own either." Indeed, Naruto was doing considerably better than Sasuke in his fight against Ramhorn. In fact, he was actually starting to damage Ramhorn's plating by shooting at the same spots repeatedly.

Standing beside the silver-haired man was Guy as he spoke, "Yosh, the flames of youth burns brightly in them!" Turning his attention to the silver-haired man, Guy asked, "So, you think these youthful students will have what it takes to be you genin students, my eternal rival?"

Guy's "eternal rival", also known as Hatake Kakashi, simply replied, "Huh, did you say something?"

"Gah, damn you and your hip ways!" exclaimed an overly-dramatic Guy.

Raising a brow, Bumblebee, who decided to join them in watching the video feed from Soundblaster's surveillance drones, asked, "Are those two always like that?"

"Yup, if I didn't know any better, I'd say those two had a thing for each other," replied a smirking Anko. Although not a human himself, Bumblebee found the notion of Kakashi and Guy being romantically involved with one another disturbing.

"Anko-chan, behave," said a young woman with black untamed hair, uniquely red eyes, purple eye-shadow and red lipstick. Known as Yuuhi Kurenai, the young woman was also known as the genjutsu mistress of Konohagakure. Standing beside her was a man with black hair and beard as well as brown eyes with a smoking cigarette in his mouth known as Sarutobi Asuma, Hiruzen's own son.

"From the looks of it, Naruto's team will probably barely pass given the remaining time limit," said Asuma,

"Knowing Arcee, she'll just let them keep on fighting until either side wins rather than make them stop once the hour is over," said Bumblebee.

Raising an eyebrow, Kakashi asked, "Really?"

Nodding, Bumblebee explained, "And I bet she'll explain how missions often don't go as planned if anyone complains about her being unfair to Naruto's group."

Seeing the logic in Arcee's belief, none of the jounin question Bumblebee further about it as they continued to watch…

Scene Change

Ramhorn was, to put it simply, pissed. Naruto was not only infuriatingly annoying with his teleporting ability and his constant attacks, his repeated attacks were actually starting to damage his armoured plates. Transforming into his rhinoceros form, Ramhorn tried to gore Naruto only to miss as Naruto teleported yet again, smashing into a tree in the process.

Shaking his head, Ramhorn glared at the boy who must be grinning beneath his face plates and growled, "Stand still and face me!" Revealing his cannons on his hind legs, Ramhorn proceeded to shoot at Naruto.

Teleporting away, Naruto replied, "No thanks, I'm quite happy with what I'm doing right now, thank you very much!"

Roaring in outrage, Ramhorn proceeded to level the entire forested area around him even more than before…

Scene Change

"Damn, I'm not sure if we should be more worried about Ramhorn suddenly blowing every fuse in his body or him killing Naruto," swore Rewind.

Having defeated Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Kiba and Hinata, the remaining three Minicons decided to let them stay with them rather than send them to Arcee. The one-hour time limit was already over by the time the three Minicons defeated them so there was no reason for them to fight or struggle any longer. Besides, these children actually fought like trainee ninjas which made them worthwhile company to hang around with. Of course, for the sake of ensuring their good health, Steeljaw told Arcee about their decision and requested her to send a medic to their location.

"Me too, Ramhorn's completely nuts right now," said Eject.

Steeljaw sighed as he spoke, "That fool's temper will be the death of him yet."

"Sounds like he's really troublesome," said Shikamaru. While exhausted, he readily admitted defeat once the hour was over and was thus the least injured among his teammates.

"He is. He may be a powerful fighter but his temper makes him impossible to work with for any mission other than missions which allow him to break anything that stands in his way," explained Steeljaw.

"Damn, he must be a total drag," swore Shikamaru.

Chuckling, Rewind agreed, "Like you wouldn't believe it, especially when it comes to mission which require less-than-total destruction. Thankfully enough, he likes being left alone so there's no problem with us avoiding him, unless he's angry at someone."

Hearing another explosion, Chouji, who was exhausted from trying to restrain Eject and suffered a mild paralysis due to Rewind's attack with his gun, asked, "So, how long do think it will take for either of them to realize that the hour is already over?"

"Knowing Ramhorn, he wouldn't care even if he knew," stated Steeljaw.

Suddenly, a medic-nin arrived with a surprisingly stealthy Soundblaster who was carrying Metaru on his shoulder. Grinning, Soundblaster asked, "Yo, I'm guessing Naruto and Ramhorn are still at it?"

"What was your first clue?" deadpanned Steeljaw as he heard another tree falling down.

Chuckling, Soundblaster continued to ask while the medic-nin attended to the exhausted students, "So, mind telling me your personal opinion about the students so far?"

Steeljaw was the first to speak, "Well, to be perfectly honest, most of the kids are really just that, kids with little to no idea of what being a warrior is really all about. Don't get me wrong, I know there is a great difference between an academy student who has never experienced war and a warrior who had fought a war for many centuries, but even so I had expected them to take the responsibilities and risks of becoming a warrior more seriously. I mean, didn't the Decepticon attack from before taught them anything? And don't even get me started on the so-called fangirls, Primus forbid!"

Shaking his head, Rewind spoke in agreement, "While it is possible to make the students take their responsibilities as potential warriors more seriously, and learn some humility while we're at it, I'm more worried about the fangirls who just don't seem to realize that their so-called "Prince Charming" won't always be there to protect them, assuming that he even bothers to do so. Personally, some of those fangirls shouldn't even be in the academy in the first place since they didn't even consider working together with anyone other than Sasuke while those who did were actually trying to force their teammates into finding him."

Knowing full well that Sasuke is the sort to abandon others if they drag him down, Soundblaster decided to ask a different question, "So how about this group? They must have done much better than the rest of them."

Smirking beneath his face-plates, Eject said, "Like you didn't already know about their performance. These kids may be too young to be proper warriors but they have the right mind-set which is more than I can say for most of the other kids we had dealt with today. They not only managed to work together as a unit, they even managed to take us off guard with their abilities. Granted, we didn't know the full extent of their abilities and we were holding back but nevertheless we are experienced warriors so their accomplishments are still considered worthy of note. Why, they even managed to get Steeljaw panicky for a moment back there."

Steeljaw seemed to be actually blushing in embarrassment while Soundblaster smirked at the yellow autobot and drawled, "I know, and I'm so saving that recording to show it to the others once they arrive!"

Huffing in mild indignation, Steeljaw argued, "In my defence, I was rendered blind, deaf and unable to smell by those Kikaichuu while the girl actually managed to disable my T-cog."

Wincing at the mention of the disabled T-cog, even if only temporarily, Soundblaster replied, "Duly noted." Turning his attention to the children, he wore a grin as he added, "Still, you kids have my respect for being able to do this well against them. As long as you kids continue to improve and not let yourselves become arrogant, I'm sure all of you will become worthwhile comrades in the coming war."

Curious, Metaru asked, "What about my papa?"

Soundblaster and the three Minicons laughed or chuckled as the larger Autobot replied, "Considering that he is lasting this long against Ramhorn, and managed to cover Rewind and Eject in orange paint with the help of his teammates, I'd say he passed even if Ramhorn frags his rear!"

"Hey, what are you doing over here? I thought you and Arcee-neechan were supposed to be waiting at the clearing."

Surprised, everyone turned their attention to Naruto who appeared understandably exhausted and looked as though he had just survived a fight against a rampaging fire-breathing oven. Raising a single brow, Soundblaster asked, "Okay, what happened to Ramhorn? Knowing him, he wouldn't willingly quit trying to pulverize you."

"Oh, he exhausted himself," replied Naruto.

Everyone blinked in bewilderment before Kiba swore, "Damn, just how much chakra do you have to be able to keep up with him?"

Shrugging, Naruto admitted, "I don't know, but this is the first time I got exhausted so quickly." As if to emphasize, Naruto sat down or rather landed beside Metaru who was obviously concerned for him.

"Considering that he was literally spamming his teleporting ability and was shooting at Ramhorn repeatedly at the same time, I'm hardly surprised," thought Soundblaster who then turned his attention to Steeljaw. Knowing what Soundblaster was requesting, Steeljaw nodded before setting off to retrieve Ramhorn.

"Are you hurt, Papa?" asked Metaru.

Naruto grinned reassuringly as he playfully tousled her hair and said, "A little, but nothing that a bit of rest can't handle, believe it." Giggling, Metaru happily hugged him in return.

Scene Change

Before long, the survival lesson was over with only a Naruto's group and, surprisingly enough, Sakura and Ino as the few remaining "survivors". However, Arcee made it clear that Sakura and Ino only managed to win by pure dumb luck as she explained, "Had Steeljaw not decided to spare you two due to a merciful whim when he overheard your conversation, you two would have been among the failures today, which equals to being captured or killed by the Cons' in an actual combat scenario." Her stern expression softened somewhat as she added, "On the other hand, while I may not know what exactly Steeljaw overheard, I do know that it must be something rather significant for him to actually decide to spare you two let alone keep it a secret even from me. However, be aware that the Cons' will be far less merciful and some of them would gleefully take advantage of what they had overheard from you to torment you." Hearing Arcee's warning, and mortified that Steeljaw overheard, the two girls could only nod in affirmative while Sakura prayed that Steeljaw would be willing to keep what he had heard from her a secret from the other Autobots as well.

Turning her attention to Naruto's group, Arcee smirked as she spoke, "As for your group, I will say that you all passed even though many of you were defeated by Soundblaster's Minicons as you all lasted for at least almost an hour and actually managed to put up an impressive fight. Keep up with the good work, all of you."

"If I may ask, why did you force some of us to continue fighting even after the time limit was over?" asked Shino.

"Good question. The reason why I did so was to make you experience a more realistic combat scenario. As much as any of us would like to have things going according to plan, more often than not, they won't. Therefore, being able to improvise and persevere despite undesirable circumstances are vital to ensure success," explained Arcee.

Hearing her explanation, none of the children in Naruto's group questioned her logic although it did not prevent Shikamaru from quietly muttering, "Troublesome fem-bot!"

Smirking, Arcee mock-scolded Shikamaru, "I heard that!"

Shikamaru's paled expression amused almost everyone at his expense. However, the atmosphere of good humour soon dissipated as she turned her attention towards those that had failed, paying special attention to the fangirls and Sasuke, "As for the rest of you, I hope that this survival exercise had taught you all some valuable lessons. However, in case you children had not yet grasped the lessons I am referring to, I will make it crystal-clear. One, some of you children should not have underestimated the Minicons. If you had made that same mistake with the Cons', you would have been killed or worse. Two, I made it very clear that you were all allowed to work together as teammates, and yet some of you refused to even consider the option. Considering that I also made it clear that there will be no penalties in working together in teams, or benefits in working alone for that matter as I admittedly assumed that you children had the common sense to at least know that much, none of you should have made that mistake in the first place!" The fangirls who refused to work together winced while Sasuke simply glared at Arcee as she continued to speak, "Last, but not least, some if not most of you children have the wrong mentality to become warriors. I won't bother pointing out each and every flaw I saw in you but I will state the more significant issues."

Turning her gaze towards the fangirls, Arcee spoke, "Most of you "fangirls", should not even be training to be ninjas with the foolish mentality you possess! You are supposed to be training to become warriors, assassins that strike down their enemies from the shadows, not a bunch of cheerleaders who cannot even properly defend themselves and expect your so-called "Prince Charming" to save you every time! And don't even get me started on those fangirls who think that they can force their own teammates to risk their lives for their own selfish agendas! That kind of thinking will get you AND your teammates killed!" Arcee then turned her attention from the fearful fangirls to Sasuke as she continued to speak, "And you, who are supposed to be the most talented and intelligent of this entire class, should have known that the goal of this exercise is to survive one hour as the Minicons hunt you down and that defeating them is purely optional! Yet you not only decided to take them on, you actually had the arrogance to think that you can take them on your own despite my warning that they are experienced warriors that, like myself, are sentient robotic beings of metal. At the very least, you should have at considered working together with your classmates to defeat the Minicons even if it means many of you fighting many against one of them!"

Glaring at Arcee, Sasuke shouted, "And what good will working together with my classmates do? Those weaklings will only drag me down!"

Unimpressed by Sasuke's words, Arcee asked, "Is that so, then why is it that Naruto and his group did not fail, unlike you."

Snorting, Sasuke argued, "That's because they are weak. Unless I'm mistaken, even as a team with superior numbers they could not defeat your Minicons and barely passed as a team, with defeated teammates I might add, because of the time limit."

"Oh, I won't deny that many of them were soundly beaten by Soundblaster's Minicons. However, if these "so-called weaklings" could actually coat Eject and Rewind in orange paint, cause Steeljaw to actually panic, and even managed to wear down Ramhorn by working together, I'm quite certain that someone of your supposedly greater skill and prowess would have been able to do more than simply annoy Ramhorn if you had actually decided to be a team-player rather than an arrogant brat who thought he could do everything on his own." Hearing Arcee's spoken words, Sasuke almost snarled at her but was forced to back down as he knew that he could not beat her or even deny her argument. Seeing Sasuke's growing rage, the fangirls, including Sakura and Ino, would have tried to argue in his defence but they all also knew that Arcee would not tolerate their "fair" opinion on the Uchiha boy. As for the boys who disliked Sasuke, many of them smirked at his expense.

Sighing at the stubborn boy, Arcee turned her attention to Naruto's group and spoke, "While your group did pass, that does not mean that I cannot give you all some advice on improving yourselves." Looking at Hinata, Arcee smiled at the meek girl as she spoke, "I heard from Steeljaw how you managed to disable his T-cog and I would be among the first to admit that such a skill will be very useful in disabling an enemy Con'. However, you will need to find a way to make your attacks such that you can hit your opponents from a distance, especially since a typical non-Minicon Cybertronian would be much larger than you. Once you have that ability, and gain a bit more confidence in yourself, I'm sure you will be an invaluable asset to both us and your village." While Hinata blushed at Arcee's praise, and taking her advice to heart, Arcee turned her gaze upon Shino and spoke, "As for you, I must admit that I honestly have no idea how to advise you to make your insects more effective against the Cons'. On the other hand, I do believe that you should learn some combat skills so that you will not be as helpless without your insects, preferably skills that would allow you to harm an enemy Con' without necessarily injuring yourself in the process." Shino nodded in understanding while Arcee spoke to Kiba and said, "Like what I had advised to Shino, I strongly suggest that you learn how to harm a Cybertronian without harming yourself in the process. As for your puppy, I would entrust its own training to you and your clan." Arcee then turned her attention to Chouji and said, "I'm giving you the same advice as the other two as you're obviously meant to punch someone into submission. However, I suggest that you start learning how to take on enemies physically larger, stronger and heavier than yourself as I'm sure you have already realized how heavy even a Minicon can be." Chouji did not argue against Arcee's advice as she spoke to Shikamaru, "I heard from Rewind and Eject how you can capture their shadows and force them to copy your movements. It will most definitely be an advantage to all of us if you can somehow do that on a full-sized Cybertronian or larger." While Shikamaru sighed at how troublesome his life if quickly becoming, Arcee spoke to Naruto, "As for you, I won't deny that allowing Ramhorn to attack your teammates, even by accident, will be a very bad idea but you will need to become stronger, or at least be able to be at two places at once considering that the ninjas of this world can actually create solid clones of themselves, so that you can protect your comrades more effectively. If you had been able to take him down more quickly or be able to be at two places at once, your teammates would not have necessarily been beaten by the other three Minicons before the time limit was over."

Naruto nodded in understanding as he replied with determination in his eyes, "I understand, Arcee-neechan."

Smiling approvingly at the boy, Arcee was about to dismiss the class session when she noticed Metaru raising her hand as the little girl asked, "What can I do?"

Blinking, Arcee then smiled at Metaru as she spoke, "Well, since you never joined this survival exercise, I cannot really judge your skills. On the other hand, I might just consider having you join my next lesson as a "client" protected by "guards". Perhaps you can use your talents to help your "guards" fight off your "assassins" then."

Happy to hear Arcee's response, Metaru nodded in eager agreement…

Scene Change

Meanwhile, as class was dismissed, Optimus Prime was with Hiruzen as the both of them watched the video feed Soundblaster had helpfully provided them. Rubbing his chin, Hiruzen spoke, "I must say, your subordinate certainly has a talent for teaching some of the harsher realities of being a ninja."

"She had endured much over the course of her life, especially during the war on Cybertron. To say that the more foolish girls annoyed her would be an understatement," replied Optimus Prime.

"And it's a good thing that we have a number of good reasons to excuse her harsher methods of training, the same methods that we used to have during the previous Ninja World Wars," said Hiruzen who then added with a sigh, "Granted, allowing children from civilian families to train to become ninjas of Konohagakure was a good idea at the time as we were low on ninjas after the third war AND the attack from the Kyuubi no Youko but no Kage in his right mind would ever willingly allow the quality of his ninjas, regardless of the fact that they are mere academy students, to deteriorate to this level."

"So why did you?" asked Optimus Prime.

"Well, it is mostly because the civilian parents were not too happy that their children were not able to become ninjas and felt that children from ninja clans had an unfair advantage. While I understood their displeasure, I cannot simply allow a child to become a ninja unless they are fully ready for the challenges ahead. The last thing I would ever want is to hear reports about dead or tortured children who were overconfident of their own abilities as ninjas, let alone tell the facts to their parents. And so, while I did lower the passing standards to become potential genin, I also made sure that they are forced to face jounin instructors who have strict expectations." There was an unmistakable gleam in Hiruzen's eyes as he added, "Hence why the numbers of students who actually succeed to becoming genin are much lower than students who have earned the right to be tested as potential genin."

Nodding in understanding, Optimus Prime spoke, "A sound compromise, all things considered. Nevertheless, I still fail to understand why the majority of the female students are unsatisfactory as warriors to such a degree. Even if they did come from civilian families and knew that the passing requirements to become potential genin are lower than before, they should at the very least realize that being a warrior is about enduring sacrifice and loss, not gaining glory or honour."

"And I for one agree with you. However, you must understand that civilians generally do not fully understand the burdens of becoming a ninja and thus tend to have some unrealistic expectations of becoming a ninja as a result. The fact that we are currently at peace certainly did not give them any reason to think otherwise. On the other hand, I do know at least one ninja clan which refuses to accept any significant compromise on their "clan honour" and thinks that a civilian life is beneath their "noble clan status", regardless of the fact that we do need people with civilian skills to ensure that our village can actually function as a society of people, albeit with dangerously powerful ninjas in our midst, myself included."

"It appears that your village seems to actually have a caste system of sorts. However, at least your people are generally allowed to have a chance in changing their caste, unlike my own people during the end of Cybertron's Golden Age."

Hiruzen almost winced at Optimus Prime's statement as it is not entirely true, especially for one particular ninja clan. Seeking to change the subject, Hiruzen asked, "Given what we have seen so far, what is your opinion on Naruto's group?"

"My assessment would have been more or less the same as my subordinates. On the other hand, we must immediately teach these children how to properly use their weapons and tools so that they can properly defend themselves against the Decepticons who, like us, are made of metal and can use dangerous ranged weaponry. The only other option I can think of is to train their bodies so that they can actually damage metal with their own bare hands much like Might Guy."

Nodding in agreement with the Autobot leader, Hiruzen replied, "Duly noted. I will also have the academy teachers push the students into improving their chakra reserves and chakra control so that they can execute ninjutsu more easily."

Scene Change

"Damn, I always knew that blond brat was a hard to chase down during his pranks but his new teleporting ability just makes it unfair!" swore Anko.

"Can you imagine what would happen if he learns how to make a solid clone?" asked Asuma.

Kakashi shuddered as he spoke his thoughts aloud, "A boy who can create solid clones and teleport, not to mention having the reserves to do both with ease and then some, he would be a nightmare to catch!"

Snickering, Bumblebee asked, "I know that he's a troublemaker in your village, but is he really that bad?"

"Contrary to popular belief, the kid can be stealthy enough to make even ANBU lose notice of him if they are careless. The only reason why everyone knows about his pranks is because he wants people to notice him. It certainly doesn't help that he does not want to actually harm anybody, which makes it even harder to sense his ill-intent when he decides to play a prank on someone," said Anko.

"And let's not forget that with his stamina, he can keep on running while most genin and even a few chuunin would be biting his dust," added Kakashi. "That is not even counting his ability to prepare traps which even careless ANBU can fall for, including traps in the most impossible of places such as the cafeteria and the bathroom at ANBU headquarters."

"On the other hand, these traits would also make him very effective in infuriating our enemies," noted Kurenai.

"Which can easily go both ways for us, but I do agree that he can easily become a major menace to our enemies," said a chuckling Asuma.

Grinning, Bumblebee said, "You know, assuming that everything you said about Naruto's pranking skills is true, if he does not graduate soon and feels the need to prank people so that he is noticed by someone, you will have an even harder time to catch him than before, especially if he learns how to make solid clones and how to be even sneakier than before."

Every ninja who heard the conversation paled at the implications…

Scene Change

Rubbing his nose, Naruto wondered who was talking about him as he made a mental note to ask Hiruzen for a favour on learning how to make solid clones as well as learn more advanced forms of chakra control…

Scene Change

Meanwhile, Megatron felt a chill run down his equivalent of a human spine as he mentally growled, "Somehow I have a distinct feeling that Prime will soon become be the least of my future problems…"

-Chapter Fin-

Note: I know that it has been a long time since my last post and so I apologize for it as I hope that this chapter is worth the wait. As for Sakura feeling so bad about her past mistreatment towards Naruto, please be aware that she had a few days to think over her past actions after the Decepticon attack as stated in the past chapter (Kiba and Shino calling her out for what she was about to force Naruto into doing certainly helped). Just so you know this will NOT necessarily be a Naru-Hina or Naru-Saku story until proven otherwise. Also, here's an Omake of the Decepticons!

Omake:

Megatron: Greeting, fleshlings, I am Megatron, leader of the Decepticon army!

Starscream: Just for the sake of information to you readers, in this admittedly peculiar moment of breaking the Fourth Wall, Lord Megatron and I are largely based on our TF Prime counterparts.

Soundwave: I am Soundwave, I am based on TF G1 elements from TF Prime.

Shockwave: I on the other hand am based on TF G1 and TF Prime. And before you ask, no, I am not a Doublespy like my TF Animated counterpart.

Lugnut: I am Lugnut, and I swear upon my loyalty to Lord Megatron that I am based on TF Animated.

Starscream: As for the Seekers, my own personal armada, they mostly follow their TF G1 incarnations in personality but have physical designs more similar to my own. Granted, the so-called Cone Heads are bulkier than the other Seekers but are thankfully no less quick in flight. We also have a female Seeker but she is… abrasive like her TF Animated counterpart so to speak.

Shockwave: We also have the Constucticons and Soundwave does of course possess his own Minicon symbiotes. Hopefully, the Author will use his blasted sentiment-addled organic processor bring them to the fore in future chapters to help us crush the pathetic Autobots and their human allies like the logical conclusion it should be.

Megatron: And be aware that I WILL arrive to the Ninja World and there will be more enemies against both the Autobots and their allies!

"Mysterious Voice": Like myself and Crasher, yes…!