Two months had passed since the bell test.
During these two months, Team 8, who had grown accustomed to student life, struggled to adapt.
Back at the ninja academy, the most exhausting course they had was nothing more than survival training. Most of the exercises were confined to the school grounds, simply requiring them to find specific items.
After becoming Genin, the missions they now received were mostly ordinary D-rank missions. D-rank missions were largely physical labor, helping villagers with daily tasks, such as farming, caring for children, cleaning up trash, or finding lost pets.
The rewards for these missions were meager.
The commission fees were divided into five parts: one for the village, one for the supervising Jonin, and the remaining for Haruma and the others to split.
Haruma and his teammates took a long time to get used to this life. Fortunately, Kurenai Yuhi was a responsible teacher.
Almost every day, she would assign Team 8 a D-rank mission and, after completion, teach them ninja techniques.
Naturally, her main focus was on Haruma.
Hinata and Shino, as heirs of major ninja clans, had their family secrets and bloodline limits, so they could not learn Kurenai's genjutsu.
All advanced genjutsu relied on Yin chakra, so anyone aiming to excel in genjutsu needed a strong Yin chakra.
Thus, Haruma was the only one in Team 8 suitable for learning Kurenai's genjutsu.
To ensure Haruma could keep up with Kakashi, Asuma, and Might Guy, who became Jonin instructors earlier, Kurenai taught him without holding anything back.
During the first month, Haruma received two genjutsu scrolls from Kurenai, Magical Tree Bind Kill and Three Absolute Sakura.
Both were B-rank genjutsu, previously demonstrated by Kurenai during survival exercises.
With his sharingan already evolved to three tomoe and his exceptional talent for genjutsu, Haruma mastered both within less than a day.
However, to avoid scaring Kurenai, he waited half a month before showing he had learned the techniques.
Even then, Haruma's talent for genjutsu still amazed her.
Kurenai then taught him three more of her specialized genjutsu, Absolute Lotus, Mirage Tower and Naraku Clone.
All three were B-rank at most. She did not teach any A-rank genjutsu, not because she was unwilling, but because it wasn't the right time.
Regardless of ninjutsu or genjutsu, techniques at A-rank involve a qualitative leap in chakra consumption. Teaching them before a student has sufficient combat experience and mental maturity would be harmful.
For example, Kakashi's Chidori and Sasuke's version could only be used once or twice. If these attacks failed, the user would be in grave danger.
Moreover, a twelve or thirteen year old would be tempted to show off such powerful techniques. Against experienced enemies, losing the technique to a trick could be fatal.
Thus, Kurenai, unaware of Haruma's hidden strength, withheld A-rank genjutsu.
It didn't matter, Haruma wasn't lacking strong genjutsu; he only lacked non-dōjutsu genjutsu.
While teaching Haruma, Kurenai didn't neglect Hinata and Shino. Although they couldn't learn her genjutsu, basic ninja skills could still be taught.
Seeing that Haruma had already mastered these skills, Kurenai was even more satisfied. He was truly a civilian prodigy, surpassing the Uchiha, Hyuga, and major clans for six consecutive years as the top student.
With him around, Kurenai was confident she could outperform Kakashi and the others.
Recalling the recent gathering where Asuma, Kakashi, and Might Guy competed and ignored her, Kurenai felt indignant. "They think I can't train outstanding students? Just wait!"
After obtaining five genjutsu from Kurenai and partially unlocking the power of his 'civilian top student' identity, Haruma, during the second month, finally began spending more effort to increase Hinata's favor.
After finishing each mission, he would use teaching her water-walking as an excuse, taking her to the waterfall training spot he frequented. He genuinely taught Hinata how to walk on water and up a tree, even how to disrupt higher level genjutsu.
Of course, this was more of an exucse to increase Hinata's confidence and courage, and through repeated training sessions and barbecues, Hinata gradually became bolder in Haruma's presence. Habit became second nature.
In six years, Hinata had never spent time alone with Haruma. Now, being able to, brought her quiet joy. As long as she didn't faint, she treasured the moments training with him.
Two months of experience had passed thoroughly.
Kurenai, seeing the growth of her three students, felt satisfied and proud, deciding it was time to send them on real missions.
Real missions meant C-rank and above.
Mission ranks, from low to high, are: D, C, B, A, S.
D-rank missions were what Team 8 had done the past two months: farming, cleaning, etc.
C-rank missions, under normal circumstances, were the highest missions genin could execute, usually involving escorting outsiders, driving off large beasts, or delivering less critical confidential documents.
B-rank missions had a high likelihood of combat, requiring a chunin or jonin.
A-rank missions involved national or village-level concerns, often under orders from other countries, participating in wars, or protecting important figures like daimyo or nobles.
S-rank missions were only for jonin, involving critical national or village matters.S-rank were the highest-level missions, usually only appearing during war time, executable only by jonin and upwards.
Before becoming Chunin, C-rank missions were the highest missions Team 8 could handle.
For C-rank missions, Kurenai had to personally lead them.
Only after some members of Team 8 became Chunin could Kurenai appoint a leader to take two subordinates on C-rank missions independently.