Two months had passed since Shota had brought back Fū to the village. The little girl had settled into the orphanage under the careful watch of the matron and the other children.
There were still three months before this batch of academy students was graduated and he was given the responsibility of a genin team.
The upcoming duty of leading three young genin felt distant for now. So naturally it was decided that he had to complete an S rank mission before doing kids babysitting.
The village leaders wanted their new Jonin tested once more in real combat before he took on the long term role of a teacher of two very important Kekkei Genkai users of the village.
The S rank mission was to be a joint mission with the team of Konoha against the Bloody Mist. Kiri was still aggressive to both Suna and Konoha.
The Hidden Mist Village continued its harsh policies and refused any lasting peace. They had even had the gall to ask for Pakura's death in exchange for peace.
'They would have to walk over my dead body to get to Pakura sama,' Shota had thought. The idea of anyone harming the Scorch Release user filled him with cold determination. He would never allow such a price to be paid.
A team of some of the best Jonin was formed to enter the Land of Water along with Konoha shinobi in a requested joint mission by the Third Hokage and cause enough damage and chaos that Kiri chose to retreat.
Shota stood at the meeting point outside the village walls and waited for the rest of his squad.
Sōshi Kuromori the vice commander of the puppet corps who used snake puppets was the first person to reach their meeting spot where Shota was waiting.
The older man carried several scrolls at his side. He looked Shota up and down and spoke with a mix of pride and amusement. "You sure have grown kid. From me leading you to your first S rank mission to you leading me to an S rank mission as an S rank shinobi."
He was the one who had led the team which comprised of Shota against the Explosion Corps of Iwa in the Third Great Ninja War. That mission had nearly cost them all their lives yet it had also forged Shota into a stronger fighter.
Shota answered with polite honesty. "And you have not aged much Soshi san." He said the words not knowing how to complement the man further.
He was a top tier Jonin but at the end of the day, he had stayed mediocre. The older puppet user had solid skills yet never reached the level of true legends.
Soshi just chuckled at the awkward praise and accepted it without offense. The two stood together in comfortable silence until the remaining members of the team arrived.
The first was Baki the future sensei of Gaara's team. He was called the Blade of Suna for his self created wind blades jutsu.
Baki gave him a respectful nod which Shota returned. No extra words were needed between them.
And the last was Spider apparently whose real name was Sajin Kaito. The man who had once served as Shota's direct superior in ANBU stepped into the clearing with a familiar smirk.
Shota greeted him with a light tease. "Spider senpai or should I say Sajin Kaito senpai?"
The use of the real name felt strange after so many years of code names.
Spider answered at once with rough humor. "Shut up brat. You might be some big shot now but do not forget that I used to whoop your ass back in the day."
Shota kept the playful tone going. "Ah back in the day. I guess I was right about your age. You really look old with those wrinkles."
There were enough wrinkles that Spider looked in his early thirties. The older man only shook his head and muttered something about disrespectful juniors.
With Suna having Sasori back they could spare so many of their better Jonin for a high rank mission. The return of the puppet genius had freed skilled fighters from constant village defense duties as well as with him making replacement puppet limbs for many of the injured and retired shinobi, there was no shortage of shinobi in Suna.
The four man squad now stood ready and fully equipped. And Shota was confident in what came in the next mission. The past two months of hard work had prepared him better than ever before.
During the past two months he had trained tremendously. He had used shadow clones which he could now create five of them with much more chakra than previously thanks to the nine tails chakra inside him.
The extra energy from the sealed power let him maintain multiple clones for longer periods and train in ninjutsu. Each clone trained in a different area and returned memories of progress every evening. The method multiplied his growth far beyond normal limits.
He managed to learn most of the Vacuum series jutsu. He had managed to learn different wind release principles and applied them to learn those jutsus as well as strengthened the other wind release jutsus that he knew.
He was now essentially an elite Jonin in terms even if he just used wind nature in a battle. Pure wind mastery alone placed him among the strongest fighters the village could send.
He had also managed to regain his chakra control which had taken a hit after becoming a pseudo jinchuriki. Though he was not able to use the nine tails chakra mode like Naruto, the sealed power still boosted his reserves and healing.
But his new biggest trump card was the puppet hands that were attached to his back and sealed inside seals.
These puppet hands had the power of Explosion Release and could create explosions on command.
And above all that he still had his Erasure.
Shota stood at the front of the small group with being the most confident he had ever been for an S rank mission. He spoke, "Let's go and meet up with Konoha's team at the designated spot."
--------Author Notes---------
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