Kurenai reclined against a tree watching two of her newest students bicker back and forth. Konohamaru and Hanabi had known each other since their Academy days, and after their original teams had passed the Chunin Exams when they had not, were often partnered together despite their clashing personalities.
Her nephew, Asuma's really but everyone considered him her nephew, had a vibrant personality. He loved to talk to people and fight with other shinobi to test his skills. The tan coat he usually wore was surprisingly bland, but he more than made up for it with the long blue scarf he wore around his neck. Most shinobi would never intentionally give their opponents a method to strangle them, and Konohamaru did occasionally remove it for his more serious missions, but as a ninjutsu-specialist rather than a taijutsu-specialist he felt he could get away with it.
Hanabi, on the other hand, was generally a quiet, serious girl like most of her clan. Unlike her clan, she stayed away from whites and pale grays and always wore a black tank top and matching black pants, usually over metal mesh. Hinata had confided in Kurenai that it was Hanabi's goal to become the top assassin in ANBU having a driven personality that did not favor her family's usual style of defensive combat. Nonetheless, she was a master of the Hyuuga: Gentle Fist style.
As the friendly argument between Konohamaru and Hanabi exploded into a shouting match, Kurenai mused there were always exceptions to the rule. Konohamaru could make friends with anyone, except Hanabi, and Hanabi could put up with anything, except Konohamaru's antics. Their fights were legendary already, and they were still only genin, but anyone trying to step in-between the two would be met by blistering opposition from both sides. The one thing they agreed on was that were both Leaf-genin and that the shinobi of Konoha should always lookout for each other. It was the only reason they managed to work as a team.
Kurenai's attention was thankfully diverted by someone else entering the training ground. He was above average height, dressed in a blue tunic and black pants with woven sandals over white tabi. The bright orange of his hair matched his orange sash, where he had a wooden bokken tied to his waist. Kurenai easily recognized Kurosaki Ichigo from the file Tsunade had sent her yesterday afternoon and from the scowl that Kakashi had described as his default expression.
Kurenai subtly checked her watch. Seven fifty eight. He was cutting it close. She stood up and brushed the dirt of off her white dress. It was an impractical thing to wear for most shinobi. But she was a genjutsu expert. No one would see her if she didn't want them to.
Konohamaru and Hanabi both saw her stand and turned to look at their new teammate. He raised a hand in greeting.
"Sorry about running late," he said. "No one actually told me where Training Ground Ten was, so I had to ask for directions."
For a moment, his head turned to the side. Kurenai followed his gaze and caught a flash of bone-white mask. He had asked his ANBU guard for directions? She shook her head. He really had to be Naruto's cousin. No one else would be so bold.
"You're just on time," said Kurenai as the team formed a loose semi-circle in front of her. "For the purposes of the village, this is Genin Team Three under jounin-sensei Yuhi Kurenai. Let's do some introductions. I'll go first.
"My name is Yuhi Kurenai. I've been a jounin of Konoha for eleven years. My hobbies are taking care of my daughter and developing genjutsu. My dream for the future is to see my child grow up."
She looked to the left at Konohamaru.
"My name is Sarutobi Konohamaru. I've been a genin of Konoha for, ugh, eight years. My hobbies are helping out with my cousin and learning ninjutsu. My dream for the future is to learn as many ninjutsu as my grandfather and become hokage!"
Kurenai smiled. Konohamaru was an excellent baby-sitter for her daughter. Though now that she was training in the Academy, she really didn't need an after-hours watcher, but it was good for all three of them to know that they had family to rely on in case of trouble. She turned toward Hanabi.
I'm Hyuuga Hanabi. I am also a genin of Konoha. My hobbies are taijutsu practice and flower arranging. My dream for the future is to bring honor to Clan Hyuuga through my service to Konoha
Well, that was one way to phrase become an assassin, thought Kurenai. Though as her teammates, as shinobi, Hanabi did not need to hide her real goals from them. She looked at Ichigo.
"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. I've been a Konoha genin since yesterday. My hobbies are reading Shakespeare and fighting, I guess. My dream for the future…"
He trailed off. Kurenai frowned slightly. Konohamaru and Hanabi had known their goals for a long time, and she understood that Ichigo had been recently displayed, but he should still have some concrete idea of what he wanted to do, even if it was only "reach the Chunin Exams."
"My dream for the future is to protect my precious people," said Ichigo.
Kurenai smiled again. It was a good dream, even if it was a hard one.
"Hey, you're the boss's cousin, right?" asked Konohamaru.
Ichigo blinked. "The boss?"
"Naruto, Naruto!" said Konohamaru. "I escorted you and your sisters to the hokage the first day you got here. You said you were looking for family. It was the boss, right?"
Ichigo tilted his head in confusion. "That was you?"
Konohamaru's jaw dropped. "How could you forget…" He set on fist on his hip and flung out the other arm. His scarf floated in the air behind him. "…The Great Konohamaru!"
Ichigo pointed. "I remember now. You fell out of the gatehouse." Over Konohamaru's spluttering protests he continued, "Yeah, we're related. We have the same grandfather."
That meant Ichigo's grandfather was Kushina's father. She didn't remember much about the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero. To her, Kushina had been another kunoichi of the village, strong, certainly, and a woman she could admire, but she had been nothing more than another shinobi lost on the night of the Kyuubi attack, another name on the Memorial Stone, not a person to mourn the way Kakashi did.
"You spar with cousin Neji's team?" asked Hanabi cutting through Kurenai thoughts.
"For the past few days," said Ichigo. "You must be related. And to Hinata too, right?"
"She is my older sister," confirmed Hanabi. She barreled on. "Neji says you are very good at hand-to-hand and that you do not find Lee or Gai…too much."
"Nah," said Ichigo. "Some of the guys back in the Eleventh are just as bad, and Lee and Gai don't insult your fashion choices while they're at it."
The idea of Gai or Lee insulting anyone about their choice of clothing was so remarkable it took Kurenai a moment to find her train of thought. Luckily, Konohamaru and Hanabi were equally stunned.
"We'll hold off on a taijutsu assessment for now. Since you are sparring with Team Gai, I'm sure you'll do fine," she told Ichigo. Honestly, in that case, Kurenai hoped she was capable of keeping up. Gai's former genin were all monsters at their chosen styles. She turned to include the other genin. "Your first team assignment is this: Konohamaru and Hanabi will teach Ichigo tree-walking."
Ichigo looked mildly confused. Konohamaru and Hanabi stared at her in dismay.
"What?" demanded Konohamaru.
"Ichigo has no experience using chakra at all, so it's something he needs to work on," said Kurenai brightly. "Teaching him will be a good reminder for the two of you."
"And what will you be doing, Kurenai-sensei?" asked Hanabi. There was no mistaking the sullen tone in her voice.
"I'll be supervising, of course," said Kurenai. "Now, get to it."
She settled back under her tree to watch. It might have been mean of her to start with something like this, but her goal was prepare a team for the Chunin Exams. If they couldn't work together for something as simple as this, well, Tsunade-sama would just have to grit her teeth and promote Konohamaru and Hanabi outside of the normal ranking matches. It would be a blow to village pride but holding the two back any longer would definitely hurt their careers.
Ichigo was looking at his fellow genin in confusion. "Tree-walking isn't like tree-jumping then? Because I can already to that."
"No," said Hanabi.
Konohamaru cleared his throat. "Tree-walking refers to gathering chakra to the soles of your feet and using it to attach yourself to another surface. You can use it to walk anywhere that isn't level ground, but around Konoha it's usually trees. Let me demonstrate."
Konohamaru turned and planted his feet on the nearest tree. After a few casual strides, he was hanging upside down from the nearest branch. It was neat work, but Kurenai could tell he wasn't converting his chakra in a totally efficient manner. He didn't have to be as precise as medic-nin, but as a ninjutsu specialist he would to do better than the average shinobi.
Ichigo looked impressed. "That's got to be useful for hiding out of the way. What's the catch?"
"If you use too much, you blast yourself off the tree," said Hanabi.
"If you use too little," Konohamaru abruptly cut his chakra flow and dropped to the ground, flipping around to land on his feet, "You fall off."
"It all depends on how well you can control the chakra flow," continued Hanabi. "You can form chakra, can't you?"
"I did it once," said Ichigo staring at his feet.
He missed the pained looks Konohamaru and Hanabi sent her way. Kurenai sent them a pointed look right back despite her own surprise. Hokage's instructions said Kurosaki had demonstrated the potential to use chakra, not that he had never used it.
The silent contest of wills between jounin instructor and genin was interrupted by a sudden surge in chakra from Ichigo. Kurenai was no sensor-type but even she had felt that. Before she, or anyone else, could issue a warning, Ichigo apparently sent all of that energy into his feet.
He blasted himself a foot into the air before losing his concentration and promptly crashing back down raising a small puff dust. Ichigo groaned faintly. He had landed on his back, no doubt winding him. Hanabi leaned over to look into his face.
"That was too much," she said and promptly activated her byakugan. "Hmm. Your tenketsu look fine." The released the byakugan again. "Way to not permanently damage your chakra coils."
Her voice was a complete deadpan the entire time, a stark contrast to Konohamaru, whose faces of panic, dismay, and relief grew increasingly ridiculous even as he reached out to give Ichigo a hand up. Kurenai tried not to groan. If Konoha's most promising genin couldn't pass the exams, maybe they could start a standup comedy routine.
"What was that about chakra coils?" asked Ichigo when he was back on his feet.
"You can burn out your chakra coils by using too much chakra," said Konohamaru. "Usually, you can recover, but if you use too much, it's permanent. Try not to do that again, okay?"
Ichigo carefully touched the back of his head and winced. "Right. So how do I avoid it?"
"Start with less," said Hanabi. "You only need so much chakra to match the tree, so don't draw too much to start with."
"Start with less," muttered Ichigo.
He closed his eyes. When Kurenai reached out with her senses, she could feel the chakra slowly pooling in the new genin. Ever so carefully, Ichigo let a tiny trickle coat the bottom of his feet.
For a moment, everything was fine. Then Ichigo's weight shifted, and he wind-milled his arms desperately to stay balanced. Kurenai winced as he crashed back down.
"That wasn't enough," said Hanabi helpfully.
Konohamaru put his face in his hands. "It's the first time I've seen someone fail at tree-walking before they reach the tree."
Ichigo climbed to his feet. "It was better that time, at least."
Konohamaru sighed. "Yeah, you didn't blow yourself up. So that's good. Use something in between those two this time, but more like the second time, please."
"If you start out with too much or too little, you should be able to adjust the amount," added Hanabi.
Ichigo tried again. Taking Konohamaru's advice, he used a little more chakra, but it still wasn't enough. Starting to slide, he adjusted the amount of chakra again, but for some reason limited the change to just one foot and shot across the grass.
Kurenai stared in amazement as Ichigo slid back and forth over the grassy clearing like a one of the ice-dancers from Snow Country. An exceedingly drunk ice-dancer. She had never seen anything like it before. She could easily think of a dozen taijutsu applications for sliding out of the way in battle without ever changing one's stance. It would be better if Ichigo had done it on purpose, but maybe he could once his control improved.
Eventually—a very, very long eventually—Ichigo slowed to a stop. The next step he took was normal. And so was the one after that.
"I think I've got it," he said with relief.
Konohamaru gave him a thumbs-up. "Awesome. Now try it on the tree."
Kurenai cleared her throat as Ichigo moved to do just that. All three genin turned to look at her. They might have forgotten she was there. Ichigo's display had been entertaining."
"Don't forget, Ichigo, that the amount of chakra you need will be different because you'll be fighting gravity," she warned. "Not too different. But it's something to keep in mind."
Ichigo nodded. "Right."
He turned toward the tree and intense expression of concentration on his face. If he could cast a fire release, Kurenai was sure the tree would smoking charcoal.
Ichigo took a careful step. Then another. He had to bend awkwardly the first meter or so, so he didn't slam his head into the ground. But after that, he straightened out and walked easily up to the branch Konohamaru reached and passed it. He found a branch of his own and walked out steadily upside-down along the bottom.
Kurenai was impressed. Some genin had no trouble getting tree-walking on their first try. Hinata was one of those, and presumably so was Hanabi. However, most genin needed a few tries before they felt comfortable hanging upside down. Ichigo hadn't hesitated.
"Well done," she said rising to her feet to stand with the other genin. "Now, how are you going to get back down?"
Ichigo looked up (down) at them from his perch then down (up) from his feet. Scowling, he crouched and set his hands next to his feet on the underside of the branch. Then he carefully let go of the chakra in his feet and unfurled his body until he was hanging straight down with his hands stuck to the branch with chakra. Then he cut the flow to his hands and dropped lightly to the ground.
"How did I do?" he asked.
"Great," said Konohamaru. Hanabi nodded.
"It was very good for a first attempt," said Kurenai. "You'll need more practice. But I have just the thing for that."
She slipped a scroll out of her pouch. Ichigo looked curious, while the other two hovered between interested and bored. They had to do a lot of D-ranks over the years, though mostly they were being assigned C-ranks as a team with a supervising jounin or chunin these days.
"A mission scroll?" asked Hanabi.
"I thought D-ranks were mostly chores," said Ichigo.
"Oh, this isn't just any D-rank," said Kurenai smirking.
Hanabi and Konohamaru both paled. Ichigo looked at his teammates in alarm.
No, Aunt Kurenai," said Konohamaru. "Not that. Anything but that."
"Please," said Hanabi quietly but no less fervently. "Please, Kurenai-sensei, not the cat. We've already done our time."
"But Ichigo hasn't and you're a team now," she said. "Where one goes, all must go."
"What was this about a cat?" asked Ichigo.
Kurenai waved the mission scroll at him. "The fire-daimiyo's wife visited Konoha yesterday. Her cat, Tora, took the opportunity to escape. Team Three's mission is to find the cat and return it to the Hokage's office."
"That doesn't sound too hard," said Ichigo hesitantly casting a wary eye at his teammates.
"It's a demon," muttered Konohamaru.
Hanabi's eyes were closed and she was mouthing a quiet prayer.
Kurenai rolled her eyes at their antics. "In addition to completing the mission as stated, I want you all to use the tree-walking technique the entire time. You are not allowed to set foot on the ground until the mission is complete. This will be harder for you, Ichigo, since you just learned it. But it will also benefit you, Hanabi, and especially you, Konohamaru. It may take a while to find Tora, and you'll need to use your chakra efficiently."
"I'll find it," said Hanabi. "I swear, I'll find it. No stupid cat can escape my byakugan."
The rest of the team stared at her. Kurenai thought she would check Hanabi's records and see how many times she had been assigned the Tora mission. It wouldn't have changed Kurenai's decision, of course, but that was a very strong reaction.
"When do we start?" asked Ichigo.
Kurenai looked at them. "You start now. Meet you at the Tower when you're done!"
Forming the ram-seal, she used shunshin to disappear from the clearing then she applied a chameleon jutsu and walked back in. She would be tracking the team's progress from afar. Hanabi would be able to see her, but Kurenai trusted the girl would keep her mouth closed. Hinata had done so when Kurenai assigned Team Eight the Tora Mission as genin.
"I didn't expect it, not from Kurenai-sensei," said Hanabi mournfully. "Nee-san always said she was so nice."
Konohamaru shook his head. "She's been spending too much time with Shikamaru and Kakashi. She's gotten all their bad habits."
Ichigo was peering around the clearing. His gaze settled briefly on Kurenaui's hiding spot. He quirked a brow and moved on. Kurenai subtly checked her jutsu. She was definitely hidden. There was no way he could have seen her.
"Where should we start?" asked Ichigo.
"The beast often takes refuge in the woods," said Hanabi.
Ichigo looked around the clearing. They were surrounded by trees on all sides and this was only one training ground. "Anywhere more specific than that?"
"We'll go find where the daimiyo's wife is staying," said Konohamaru. "Tora usually makes a ruckus getting away."
Konohamaru took the lead at the trio of genin left to track the cat. They were being very careful not to touch the ground. Most of the time they were jumping from tree trunk to tree trunk, rather than the flat limbs, for the extra challenge. Kurenai stuck close to hear their conversation.
"This is just a normal cat, right?" asked Ichigo. "It's not a two-tailed one or anything?"
"One of the bijuu?" mused Konohamaru. "No, the Two-Tails was in Kumo. But a descendant maybe. Can the bijuu have descendants?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Ichigo.
Konohamaru cast him a confused glance. "You just asked if Tora was the Two-Tails."
"I asked if it was a two-tails," said Ichigo. "You know, cats that live one hundred years gain an extra tail and become demons."
Konohamaru boggled. Even Hanabi turned her head to stare. Kurenai frowned. She had never heard anything like that before. Everyone knew, now at least, that the Sage of Six Paths had created the nine bijuu from the Ten-Tails. There weren't any others.
Ichigo correctly interpreted their response as a denial. He looked thoughtful. "So you've only got one nine-tailed fox, too? There aren't any more of those running around either?"
"No!" shouted Konohamaru and Hanabi.
Ichigo yelped in surprise and slid off a branch. He slapped it with his hands as he passed. One slid off, but the other stuck firm. He hung there swaying for a moment or two then hauled himself back up shooting his teammates an annoyed look. He jumped to the next tree continuing in the direction of the village proper and dragging his teammates in his wake.
They were both too busy thinking about the possibility of mulitplie Nine-Tails to really notice. Under normal circumstances, Kurenai wouldn't blame them, but they were on a mission, even it was just a D-rank. She would have to dock points in their evaluation.
"How do you end up with more than one Nine-Tails?" asked Hanabi.
"It's like the two-tailed cat, a fox lives so long and gains another tail and then another. Nine-tailed foxes are the oldest and most powerful," said Ichigo.
They broke out of the forest and onto a street. There was a moment of confusion as all three genin automatically jumped for a lamp post. Ichigo did a curious little flick with his feet and landed on a nearby bench instead—Kurenai knew he was heading the wrong way and wanted to know how he managed to change direction in mid-air— while Konohamaru claimed the top of the lamp and Hanabi clung to the side of the pole.
After a swift debate, Konohamaru took the lead, Ichigo the middle, and Hanabi the rear. They would follow in each other's footsteps through the busier areas to avoid crashing. Theoretically, by walking in that order one of the other of the more experienced genin would be able to catch Ichigo if fell again. And, when they reached that stage, Hanabi could use her byakugan just as well from the rear as she could from the front. It was nice planning, and Kurenai mentally applauded them for taking their teammate's weakness into account.
"And you just have all these nine-tailed foxes running around?" asked Konohamaru when they were underway once more.
Ichigo's scowl was a constant, Kurenai noticed, but now he seemed to disapprove of the idea itself rather than life in general. It was remarkable how much feeling he could convey with a single facial expression.
"I've never seen one," said Ichigo. "They're mythical creatures. But Captain Komamura was—is yokai, a demon, so I guess the others exist too."
Neither of the genin had anything to say to that, and they returned their attention to the mission. But it gave Kurenai something to think about as the team searched for traces of the cat. She had never heard either of those legends. The only tailed beasts she knew of were the Tailed Beasts, but in Ichigo's homeland there were others, and no special weight given to the one sealed in his cousin's stomach.
The possibility dawned on Kurenai as she followed the genin back out of the developed districts and into a different set of woods that Ichigo had never heard of the Kyuubi until he arrived in village.
She knew he was not originally from Konoha. His file contained no information one way or the other, but rumor said the Kurosakis weren't even from the Elemental Countries. But if he wasn't from the Elemental Countries, surely his homeland had been effected by Infinite Tsukuyomi. The genjutsu had been cast over the entire world. They had to have known something about what was going on and that meant knowing about the Tailed-Beasts. But what if they hadn't?
The implications disturbed Kurenai, and she almost missed the team finding Tora.
The cat was sunning itself in the center of a clearing conveniently out range of any handy branches. With the advantage of Hanabi's byakugan, they had been able to reach the tree line without alerting Tora to his approaching capture.
After staring at the cat and the distance to the nearest branch, only a few meters, but oh what a difference it made, Konohamaru started signaling a plan. Hanabi was nodding along, but Ichigo was staring blankly in confusion. It took the other genin a minute or two to realize the problem. Ichigo was a brand new genin who had never attended the Academy. He didn't even know basic hand-signs much less the elaborate ones Konohamaru was using to outline his plan.
Konohamaru started pantomiming instead, which in Kurenai's opinion was even more confusing. Hanabi must have agreed because she cut him off with a sharp gesture the pulled a senbon out of her pouch. And smiled. Evilly.
Konohamaru and Ichigo exchanged a startled look. Both males grabbed one of her wrists and, in an excellent display of synchronization from a newly formed team, dragged her away from the clearing. They made a little noise as they went, but all Tora did was flick an ear and roll on to his back to get more sun.
Kurenai pitied the cat just a little. By this point in the year, all the new genin teams had drawn the Tora mission at least once and knew better than to accept it. That meant some poor, unlucky chunin had to track down the cat on his or her own the day the fire daimiyo's wife left the village. Tora was probably expecting a few more days of freedom.
She went to track down her wayward genin. They weren't too far away, just outside of the cat's hearing range. All three were attached to various tree limbs discussing strategy.
"—attached to one branch, then I'm attached to him, and then Hanabi would be attached to me. She can grab the cat since she has the best reflexes," concluded Konohamaru.
"The beast is crafty," said Hanabi. "It wouldn't work. My plan is best."
"Paralyzing the cat with senbon is not returning him in good condition," said Ichigo. "That's a requirement of the mission."
Konohamaru snorted. "I don't see why. The daimiyo's wife will squeeze the life out of it the second we hand it over."
Ichigo sighed. "What if one of us goes to the other side and sends the running toward the other two?"
"Tora's pretty tricky," said Konohamaru. "It can probably dodge us."
Ichigo scowled. "Well, can you do any of those earth attacks? Make a hole or raise some walls?"
Konohamaru looked thoughtful. "An Earth Release Jutsu? Those are pretty advanced. But I can make some walls no problem."
Ichigo nodded and looked at Hanabi. "Do you want me to catch the cat?"
"It is probably for the best," she said coldly. "I will find a spot for the ambush."
Hanabi activated her byakugan. She didn't turn her head, but then she didn't need to. Kurenai gave a cheerful little wave knowing that the Hyuuga-girl would be able to see through her genjutsu. Hanabi tilted her head ever so slightly in acknowledgement.
Ichigo, who was watching closely having not had a chance to see the long-range applications of the byakugan before, noticed the movement and turned to look. His gaze settled directly on Kurenai, again. She frowned. How did he keep doing that? Was he a sensor-type like Sasuke's follower? That was supposedly an Uzumaki talent.
"Five meters north on the edge of the clearing there is sufficient space to raise walls and a tree with a limb at the appropriate height," reported Hanabi drawing Ichigo's attention. "I will circle around and begin when you are in position."
Plans made, the genin split up to take their positions. Hanabi went one way while Konohamaru and Ichigo went another. Kurenai followed the boys. She would be able to see the results of Hanabi's "herding" either way, but she could get a better feel for Konohamaru's jutsu from up-close.
Konohamaru had attached himself to a young tree near the bottom—they still couldn't touch the ground after all—and was already gathering chakra to start his jutsu. He had to wait until Tora hit the tree line, otherwise the cat would know something was wrong and avoid the area.
Ichigo had found the tree Hanabi mentioned and was crouched upside down underneath the limb. He would be able to shoot out and grab the cat as it passed underneath him.
Kurenai positioned herself so she could see the genin and the field and waited. She didn't have to wait long.
Once Hanabi saw the boys were in position, she started her assault on Tora. A senbon landed just beside the cat's tail waking it up and sending it running in the opposite direction with a startled yowl. A flurry of senbon, kunai, and shuriken kept the animal running in the correct direction. Tora made for the safety of the trees where the projectile weapons couldn't reach with the same sort of accuracy.
As soon as Tora reached the relative safety of the forest, Konohamaru activated his earth release technique. Walls rose on either side of the cat, each at least a meter and a half high and ten centimeters thick. There was no way the cat could jump over those. Tora might have hesitated anyway, but a last kunai from Hanabi hit the dirt wall behind its head and sent it charging forward.
It was the easiest thing in the world for Ichigo to swing down and scoop up the cat as it ran past. Kurenai expected screeching cries, flying claws, and at least a little blood, but she got none of those. Ichigo actually knew how to hold an unhappy cat. He had Tora's front legs trapped in one hand, its back legs in the other, and held it tight against his torso so it couldn't wiggle free. All-in-all it was the easiest cat-retrieval Kurenai had ever seen.
Hanabi quickly joined the boys. All three of them stared at the black cat in Ichigo's arms.
"I thought this was supposed to be hard," said Ichigo. "The only thing that took anytime was asking people where Tora had been."
"Just don't let it escape before we get back to the Tower," said Konohamaru. "That's happened before, and it's harder to capture when it know you're coming."
"Right," said Ichigo. "We should get going then."
The genin team started back to the village proper and the Hokage Tower resuming the same straight-line formation as before. Kurenai paced them easily. Konohamaru was correct about Tora's tendency to escape at the last moment.
It hadn't been a problem for Team Eight when they had the Tora-mission, but that was because Kiba and Akamaru's scents kept scaring the cat, and it took them ten hours to track the beast down. By that time, Shino had been so fed-up with the situation that he had his insects drain the cat of chakra when they finally cornered it. The fire-daimiyo's wife had accepted the explanation that they had been playing with the cat until it was exhausted. Sarutobi-sama had not been amused.
They were only a few streets away from the Tower when Tora made his move. The cat sank its teeth into Ichigo's hand. Ichigo hissed in pain but gamely held onto the cat. Unfortunately, he lost his grip on his chakra and started to fall off the side of the building the genin were walking on. He automatically gathered his chakra—Kurenai felt the swell of energy where she was standing—but likely realized blasting a hole in a shop-owner's store was not going to be covered by the cost of the mission. He was in for a very nasty landing.
Hanabi and Konohamaru reacted instantly. She reached out and grabbed him before he could go too far while Konohamaru spun around and down pushed him up and away from the busy street. The two genin waited until Ichigo had reattached himself to the building to relax their grip but didn't let go entirely.
Ichigo looked down menacingly at Tora. "Try that again, I dare you."
Whether or not the cat understood, it let out an angry yowl and bit Ichigo again. Or, it tried to bite anyway. The cat's mouth was in position but the sharp little teeth weren't moving. The cat made a very different sort of sound, a low whimper, and gingerly removed its teeth and shut its mouth. Kurenai swore she saw tears in its eyes.
"That's what I thought," said Ichigo grimly. "Let's go."
Hanabi and Konohamaru exchanged curious looks but followed after their teammate. Kurenai realized that they would be delivering the cat after all and, after dropping her genjutsu, used Body Flicker to beat them to the base of the Tower.
Once Tora was safely back in his owner's arms, safely always a relative term in that case, and Team Three had submitted a brief verbal report to the Hokage, Kurenai gathered her team in a mostly secluded corner near the Mission desk.
"You did a good job working together today," she said. "You completed the mission assigned to you with relative ease and demonstrated good team work, especially at the end."
"It was just the Tora-mission," said Konohamaru lacing his fingers behind his heatd.
Kurenai pointed at him. "That was your biggest problem on this mission. You didn't take it seriously."
She looked at each of her genin. Konohamaru looked startled. Hanabi ashamed. Ichigo, well, he had taken the mission more seriously than the other two, it was his very first after all, but he was listening intently to what she had to say.
"I know that some of you are ready, more than ready, to move on to better things," said Kurenai. "But every mission, even D-ranks, are important to the village. By not focusing at the start of your mission, you very nearly failed to meet my requirements. What if this had been a courier mission? What if you weren't paying attention because you had just left Konoha and ran straight into an ambush? I want you to think about that before we meet again tomorrow."
Konohamaru and Hanabi both stared at their shoes. Ichigo looked faintly embarrassed and thoughtful, but he was the first to rally.
"So, we'll be meeting every day at eight?" he asked.
"Monday through Friday at Training Ground Ten," confirmed Kurenai. "You have all of Saturday and Sunday morning off to spend time with your families and train independently, and we'll meet Sunday afternoons to complete an extra D-rank. Of course, when we travel outside the village things will be different."
"Will we be doing a lot of that?" asked Ichigo.
"You have to complete at least one C-rank or better to be able to participate in the Exams," said Kurenai. "Konohamaru and Hanabi have done several with other teams, but we won't do one of those until you've had some more training."
Some of the tension in Ichigo, which she hadn't even noticed until that point, drained away at her assurances. Kurenai wondered if he was worried about leaving the village, but he had arrived in Konoha less than two weeks ago. She would have to find out if anything had happened on the trip. Kotetsu or Izumo would know. They knew all the gossip that came through the gates.
"That sounds fine," said Ichigo in reply. "Karin and Yuzu should be better trained by then."
Kurenai didn't let her curiosity show on her face. Ichigo was concerned for his sisters and thought he could protect them better than a village full of shinobi? She would have to learn if there was anything unusual about the kidnapping. She could ask Gai. He had been there for both attempts. She would have to talk to him anyway to get a fair assessment of Ichigo's taijutsu skills anyway.
"My father would like to invite the team to dinner on Saturday, since we will be entering the Exams together," said Hanabi into the silence.
Kurenai suppressed a wince. She remembered her first dinner at Hyuuga Compound when she was Team Eight's jounin-instructor. The relationship between Hinata and her father had improved since then, but the pall of gloom at that first meeting was hard to forget.
Konohamaru, on the other hand, appeared unbothered. "Nineteen hundred hours as usual?"
Hanabi nodded. Kurenai was startled to remember that Konohamaru had done this before. His last two entries in the Chunin Exam had him partnered with Hanabi, even if the teams were only temporary and just for the Exams. Failure on the part of the third member of the team was what kept both genin from advancing to the final round and possible promotion.
"That should be fine," said Kurenai. "Don't forget, tomorrow we meet at eight. Team Three dismissed."
The genin saluted. Konohamaru and Hanabi both wandered off, but Ichigo lingered.
"Is something wrong?" asked Kurenai. This was Ichigo's first day as a shinobi. She wouldn't be surprised if he had questions, she had some of her own.
Ichigo shook his head. "No. No." He looked mildly distressed. "It's just…dinner at the Hyuuga's? What should I expect?"
Kurenai smiled sympathetically. At least he had the sense to ask. "The Hyuuga are a very traditional clan. You should wear something formal if you have it, though given your circumstances," meaning his status as a newly arrived refugee, "it will be understandable if you don't. Other than that? Be on your best behavior. We'll swing by the compound tomorrow so you can see where it is."
"Thank you, Kurenai-sensei," said Ichigo.
He departed too leaving Kurenai on her own. She checked her watch. They really had completed the Tora-mission in record time. It was just about time for the Academy to end for the day. She could pick up her daughter and go out for an early dinner. The team had stopped briefly to buy some rice-balls in the market, the vendor only staring slightly as he negotiated with genin standing parallel to the ground, but that was only a light snack to tide them over until the mission was finished.
Humming happily to herself, Kurenai left the mission tower. She had a daughter to spoil and a team to train. She could inquire into Ichigo's mysterious background later.