"Team Seven...Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke...under Jounin Hatake Kakashi.", Iruka read out and immediately a banshee screech assaulted his ears. Yamanaka Ino made sure everyone knew her displeasure at the team assignments, assignments that were months in the making, had gone through multiple rounds of debates among the Jounins of the village, and had the Hokage's seal of approval stamped on each page.
If Iruka felt annoyed at the sudden rude disruption, he didn't show it in his tone or on his face and stayed calm while her flash of anger boiled over, Ino was...not the closest match to the ideal genin, but she was just starting out. Before long she would grow into her role and someday make a fine Chunin her clan would be proud of, and maybe even a Jounin like her father. Of that Iruka was sure, every good teacher needs to have faith in his students after all.
"What? Sensei can't you kick Sasuke-teme out and put Aiki-chan in instead? I wanna team up with her!", Naruto interrupted Iruka's train of thought.
The second interruption was one too many even for the patient Iruka and he decided to nip them in the bud. "These team assignments were FINALIZED after careful consideration by a lot of people including Lord Hokage himself! There can be NO changes at this point so calm down and let me read the assignments for the next teams." He said firmly, then locked eyes with Ino, "I hope everyone gets that you are not little kids anymore...you are officially my co-workers, Genin of the Leaf village. The time for childish outbursts was over yesterday." He let out a breathe to regain his composure and started reading off names again.
Naruto didn't look too pleased but he sat down, choosing not to escalate the pointless complain any further.
"What about you Aiki-chan, you happy with you team assignment? I thought you wanted to team up with me too but you didn't say anything!" Naruto asked Aiki, making the same squinty eyed face she had learned to associate with his...less than bright moments.
"Oh Naruto, of course I wanted to team up with you...but it's an unspoken rule in the academy to make a team out of the top of the class shinobi, top of the class kunoichi, and...late bloomer...shinobi of the batch", she said after carefully considering her words so as to not rile Naruto up any more.
"B-But how are YOU not the top kunoichi of the class? They must have made a mistake! I know I'll talk to Iruka sensei about a re-test!", Naruto said with hope in his eyes. Aiki was naturally wary of words and flattery, but she had no doubt that in his mind, Naruto really did see her as the best kunoichi of the class (maybe because she was the only kunoichi he interacted positively with.)
But Aiki knew better.
She placed her gloved hand on top of his and gave him it a gentle squeeze, "Thank you, Naruto. It means a lot to me that you think of me that way...but the results are accurate. Sakura knows the lore and theory subjects better than me, Ino scored the best in kunoichi classes consistently, the Hyuuga surprisingly...or perhaps unsurprisingly given her kekkei genkai...was the best in Taijutsu, and with my Medical Condition...it's not like I could do exceptionally well with the Ninjutsu section, despite having a solid grasp of the Academy Three", she made sure to speak slowly and with emphasis on her short comings so Naruto could grasp and understand what she was trying to say.
Thinking and coming to terms with her limitations was not an easy task for her, the only silver lining was that she was that the Academy scores will be meaningless post team assignment, and she could always pick up the slack in the areas where she was lacked. Well, most of them...
"I can improve...in all except the 'Kunoichi skills' I flunked AND the inability to use Ninjutsu beyond E class!", she thought bitterly. Both of these things were out of her control and that made it a sore spot for her. She squeezed Naruto's hand a little more, to anchor her to the present as her head got lost in reminiscing about the past.
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(7 years ago, Konoha Central Hospital)
Just like the Lord Hokage had said, a group of doctors showed at the foot of her hospital bed on the third day after she was cleared to walk again.
One of them, a woman in her mid-...Aiki couldn't grasp her age, with blonde hair tied in a ponytail and pupil-less green eyes, walked up to her with a clipboard in hand.
"Good Morning Aiki-san! I am Doctor Miyuki. I will now be conducting a routine check-up to make sure you are perfectly healthy. After that, my colleagues would like to ask for your co-operation for a series of harmless tests that will help us gauge your capabilities...I am sure Lord Hokage must have told you about this, do you remember?", she said in a voice that although wasn't overly cheerful, but was just pleasant enough to make her seem like a nice person...someone around whom she didn't need to mind her words.
"Yes, I remember. It's about testing my skills for the academy right?", Aiki answered, she answered politely but without lowering her guard, she was
The 2 doctors behind her stirred slightly at her response and looked at Doctor Miyuki. Aiki took this time to visually size up them as well. Both of them wore long white lab coats, dark black sunglasses that obscured their eyes, and had sickly pale skin. One of them took to tying a bandana on his forehead (Aiki figured it was to tie up his long dark brown hair) while the other had his jet black hair trimmed neatly.
Dr. Miyuki raised her hand and Aiki instinctively flinched back...till her hand landed on Aiki's shoulder and gave it a little reassuring squeeze. "Very Good Aiki-san! I was told you were smart and it seems I was told correctly. Also, just between you and me...those two behind me look scary but are super nice! Don't be scared and do your best, OK?"
At Dr. Miyuki's touch, Aiki could sense that she had a relatively big pool of chakra, something not uncommon in all doctors in the hospital or atleast those that had treated Aiki. Further she could sense her intent and it didn't made her feel bad. Aiki decided to smile a little and enjoy the kindness she was being shown by Dr. Miyuki (it wasn't common for her to experience it afterall.)
Dr. Miyuki gave her a sweet smile too and prompted her to lay down on the bed before weaving hand signs for whatever jutsu it was she planned to deploy.
The rest of the day was occupied with Dr. Miyuki and her...assistants?...asking her questions about her fight, then her abilities, followed by them asking her to give them a demonstration and ended with some physical drills like running and push-ups (Aiki didn't knew what Push-Ups were, so Miyuki was nice enough to get the Bandana-man to show her how.)
Aiki didn't really like Dr. Miyuki's assistants...The Bandana man kept staring at her from under his sunglasses and the bulging veins around his glasses were freaky to say the least...And he was somehow the less freaky one! The other one stared at her too when she did her tricks, but then he went ahead and copied her movements and would let out an angry groan once in a while.
Thankfully Dr. Miyuki seemed to notice her displeasure and would immediately tell her assistants to not scare her. The Assistants too, would apologize to her and Aiki...She still didn't like them as much as Miyuki, talking to her was fun.
It was later that day, when Aiki was told about her "unique" but still unpolished ability to control the raw elements themselves, without molding or transforming chakra. She taken parts in further testing regarding her skills and learnt more about them over the years...like how she couldn't manipulate more than 10 Kilograms of matter at a time (in effect it was even less most of the times unless she was fully concentrated), or how she couldn't manipulate two elements at the same time.
It was also the day when she found out that the burns she had suffered when she was little...had stunted the growth of her tenketsus. Which effectively made it impossible for her to ever manipulate, expel or shape too much chakra too quickly. Effectively, she would be stuck with E rank Ninjutsus for the foreseeable future...maybe push it to the very basics of D rank Ninjutsus with enough training and control. Anything higher than that would be impossible to perform reliably, if at all, with satisfactory speed in the heat of the battle or at a critical moment.
Sure there was still Genjutsu that required more precision and control than volume and speed, or Taijutsu, or Bukijutsu...but anything that required using lots of chakra and using it fast, was forever out of her grasp. 'Aiki the Ninjutsu-mistress of the Leaf' was something no foreign shinobi would ever have to fear.
Dr. Miyuki had clearly told her that, and asked her again if she wanted to be a Ninja.
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Over her years at the Academy, equipped with the basic knowledge of Chakra in the curriculum...she had learnt the Academy three jutsus, Clone-Transformation-Substitution, and could perform them to a satisfactory degree.
But there was little she could do to improve her Kunoichi-skills.
The Kunoichi classes had started from the second year at the Academy. It was a mandatory course for all the girls (the boys had their own version of it, something that taught them about male dominated jobs like Construction, Plumbing, Forging, etc.), and one Aiki hated the most.
The concept of the class was nice, specially during the early years. They were taught about skills that would uniquely suit a kunoichi throughout her career. From combat, to infiltration, to body-guard duty.
It started with learning Flower arrangement and it's uses in encoding messages or smuggling poisonous ingredients. It also included learning about mixing some basic (but potent) poisons, antidotes, and such.
Second year was all about learning an art that could capture multiple people's attention for a good amount of time like singing, dancing or playing an instrument (Aiki had grown fond of the humble Shamisen over the year, and the extra credit was always welcome)
Third year was when Taijutsu spars among students became part of the curriculum, so the entire year was spent learning about how to best take care of their body. Everything from proper nutrition to problems they were soon to face in their teenage and how to avoid/minimize their impact, was included.
In the Fourth year, the class focused on psychology and learning how to best get people to drop their guard around you. The course was geared towards learning to read body language, defusing tense situation, dodging suspicion, appearing harmless, cultivating a silver tongue (or a potty mouth, that worked too), and other such small but convenient skills.
Aiki didn't had too bad of a time during these classes, she mostly kept to herself and rarely (if ever) spoke to her peers...who were more than happy to never talk to her, given the faces they pulled on even catching the sight of her. It also didn't help that the universally well liked Hyuuga Princess was always deeply nervous around her...if not outright scared of her.
There were a few attempts where some dumb girl tried to talk shit to her or pick fights with her for some dumb reason. They all ended with her fists wet with their blood or tears, mostly both.
So for the first four years she enjoyed the reputation (read 'infamy') of being a dumb brute who everyone avoided (which was funny because her theory grades were consistently in the top 5 of the class.)
But, starting fifth year things changed.
Fifth year, the class had focused on Disguises. It aimed to teach the girls about coming up with air-tight cover stories, commonly used disguises, proper makeup, correct application of perfume and olfactory intoxicants, and such.
While Aiki did well in the theoretical aspects of the course (even had the best score in perfumes section of the class), no amount of makeup would make her look 'Agreeable' and the disguise needed to cover her 'unsalvagable flaws' would always make her seem suspicious. Worse was when the kids were paired up and graded on how well they worked on each other...anyone paired with her would inevitably score bad and that made her the target of genuine hatred.
The noses that would turn on catching her sight, now had the excuse of her bad scores to slander her, and their bad scores due to circumstances out of her hands fueled their 'righteous' anger. One became two, became four, and soon most if not all the class was jumping on the hate wagon. Aiki had felt isolated before, but now she well and truly was isolated.
But bad news didn't stop there...Sixth year focused on seduction tactics, focused on teaching the girls on how to best use their beauty to get their targets to let their guard down, or reveal some information they weren't meant to, or make a boast that would reveal more than they realize in order to make a better impression, and such.
Again and unsurprisingly, she did not do well.
The severe burns on her body had left her face horribly scarred...even worse, the burns had ensured that she would never develop outwards secondary sexual characteristics her fellow kunoichi in the making were developing.
The mocking, the hatred and isolation had only worsened this year. (On a brighter note, Aiki now knew why her upperclassmen were so obsessed with fangirl-ing...it seems this class had that sort of an effect.) It went to a point where Aiki was actually starting to get affected mentally (worse because she couldn't meet Naruto as frequently, who was her only source of positive interaction.)
Fortunately, her instructor was not unreasonable or unkind...and decided that her time would be better spent learning some skills in the boy's version of the course (Which they called Apprenticeship-101).
Aiki spent the rest of the year learning basic Plumbing with Naruto (Naruto chose Plumbing because "Plumbing is the closest to Ramen because of water pipes".)
It wasn't Peaches and Cream there as well, boys indulged in gossip just as much as girls and everybody hated her by proximity due to Naruto...but atleast no one was outright hostile or mean...she spent that year clung to that bit of silver lining.
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(Present day)
"-ki-chan! Aiki-chan! AIKI-CHAN!", Naruto called out to her getting progressively louder. That brought Aiki out of the memory lane.
"Huh? Yeah...Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts.", she said as she grasped the changes around her.
For once she was grasping Naruto's hand a bit more forcefully than she intended so she relaxed her grip. Second, Iruka-sensei was out of the class, so it must be...
"Lunch-time Aiki-chan! Boy, you didn't hear anything Iruka sensei said, did you?" Naruto said smugly.
"I stopped listening after he got you to shut up in front of the whole class...", Aiki shot back and smiled under her mask.
"What? Don't you be mean to me too! And you are agreeing with me too so I was right!", Naruto shot back with his face scrunched up in that fox like expression that was a trademark of his.
"There There! Don't get riled up so easily or your teammates will keep teasing you.", she said as she patted his head, a gesture Naruto was so familiar with that he instinctively bowed down his head before his thoughts and embarrassment caught up to him.
Naruto would have growled in frustration before a giggle pulled his and Aiki's attention towards it. Sakura was standing near their bench and abruptly finding herself the object of their attention made her falter a bit...but she pressed on.
"Good Afternoon Aiki-san, Naruto-san...I was wondering, since Naruto-san and I are on the same team...would Naruto-san be willing to have lunch with me and Sasuke-kun?", she spoke out slowly as if unsure of how best to frame her words...also it might be Aiki's imagination but she felt the question was pointed more towards her than Naruto himself.
"That's a good idea...Naruto, go have lunch with your new teammates. You can finally make some new friends besides me, isn't that great Naruto?", Aiki practically pushed Naruto into a standing position, then dug out a lunchbox from her bag. "Here, I made extra food for the big day. Share it with your new friends, make a good impression and tell me all about it later." she pushed it in his hands.
"Aww...I still wanted to be on a team with you. Why can't You, Me and Sakura-chan be a team?", Naruto lamented again and Aiki suppressed the urge to correct the Me-I usage.
"I feel like we already had this conversation Naruto, now go before lunch time is up and your Jounin sensei shows up!" Saying that Aiki left Naruto with Sakura and walked out of the desk to look for her own teammates.
"Ryuuji and Tarosuke...", Aiki thought as she tried to find the faces that popped up in her head at the mention of those names.
It didn't take her long to find them. They were sitting on a bench under a tree close to the class entrance and were discussing something about food from what Aiki could catch.
"Hello, Ryuuji. Hello, Tarosuke." she pulled their attention to herself.
Ryuuji nodded. Tarosuke greeted her, "Hello...Aiki?"
"Aiki, yes. I figured we could take the lunch-time to get introductions and such out of the way. It would do us good since we are a team now.", Aiki answered while wondering if Ryuuji had a problem with her, or if he was a man of few words.
Both Ryuuji and Tarosuke scooted over and made place for her to sit at the side, which Aiki occupied. "The silent type it is then.", she concluded about Ryuuji.
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The new genin walked back in and most (including Naruto and Aiki) sat with their teammates this time as they waited for their jounin sensei to come pick them up.
Aiki didn't had to wait for too long.
There was a sudden puff of smoke near the door and a man with a generic looking face, an eye-patch covering his left-eye, a relaxed expression on his face, and wearing the standard issue Leaf's Jounin Uniform showed up from within it.
"Team 4, meet me at the location in 10 minutes", that's all he said before he vanished in a gust of wind and left behind twirling leaves.
Team 4 who had barely pulled their attention to their Jounin sensei, and were still shocked by his sudden departure, took a couple of seconds to process his words.
Tarosuke spoke out first, "Wha-What location? Iruka-sensei never told us any 'location' like that and neither did he!", His voice grew an octave in panic from start to finish.
Aiki was shocked too...but pulled herself together and took the first step on her journey to wherever the 'location' was, that is, she stood up.
Or atleast, she tried to.
Her sleeve was caught on something and it kept her from standing up completely.
She looked down and her eyes widened in surprise and a gasp escaped her lips. Tarosuke and Ryuuji followed her gaze too, startled by her gasping, and were similarly surprised.
Pinning her sleeve to the front face of the wooden desk, was a senbon with a rolled strip of paper wound around it.
"W-What? When...When did he do that?", Tarosuke asked no one in particular.
"So fast...What's more, I never felt it impacting the desk at all!", Ryuuji broke his silence with his surprisingly high pitched voice.
"So...THAT...is the strength of a Jounin...My eyes were on him all the time...yet not only did we not saw it coming...we never even FELT it coming! If this were a battlefield...we would all be DEAD before we knew what happened.", Aiki involuntarily shuddered.
Looking at her teammates, she figured they were going through their version of the first lesson their Jounin sensei imparted on them...
Jounin are...without exception...unimaginably dangerous.
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Aiki, Tarosuke and Ryuuji sat across their sensei on a table in a fancy restaurant...the name of which along with a simple line map to it's location was written on the sheet of paper delivered to them through their sensei's senbon.
Morale was high, all their ordered food was currently being prepared in the kitchen on their sensei's dime...who chose this moment to start conversation in earnest.
"My name, as you were told, is Ryotei Hitoshi. I have been a Jounin in the service of the Hidden Leaf Village for the last 4 years and counting.", he said as he swept his one good eye on the three of his charges. "Now, how about we start with a little introduction session, get to know each other better? I'll go first."
"You already know my name. I am 28 years old. I started out as a Genin like you, but a bit earlier, at the age of 9. Back then the Third Shinobi War wasn't looking good for us so my team was deployed on the Land of Frost front against Hidden Cloud. I got promoted to Chunin on-field when I was 14, then again to Special Jounin at the age of 20 for excellence in spycraft. My hobbies include wood carving and poetry. As for the things I don't like...I suppose nothing in particular. I hope someday I am able to retire peacefully and spend the rest of my days Bar hopping across The Land of Fire.", he spoke slowly giving them time to fill in the details in his story with their imagination.
"Now, you three. Start from the left to right. Name, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. Go!", he leaned back.
"Uh..My name is Tarosuke. I like playing with my baby sister, she is 2 years old. I didn't enjoy the History classes in the Academy. I want to earn tons of money in the future!"
"I'm Ryuuji. I like collecting smooth round rocks at the river. I dislike noise. I want to be a Jounin."
"I am Aiki. I like doing anything with my...childhood friend. I dislike...nothing in particular. I want to grow strong enough to protect what I love with my own two hands."
"Interesting bunch, you three. Good...Look the food is here!", he waited for the waiter to set up the table and leave.
"Now before you three start eating, I have an important announcement to make.", three sets of cutlery froze along with the hands holding them as he felt their attention draw to him.
"As of right now, you three are not officially genin of the Leaf village-", he was interrupted by the sound of a pair of chopstick clatter against a plate and the sound of Tarosuke complaining.
"B-B-But we passed the Academy test! They told us we were finally Ninja now! I d-", Tarosuke froze mid sentence under the heavy glare of Hitoshi that weighed on him heavier than a ton of steel.
"Now...as I was saying...You three are not official Leaf Genin yet. The Academy has been rather lax with it's graduating requirements lately so us Jounin sensei arrange a test for their potential students. Know well that I have complete authority to revoke your status as Leaf's Genin. If I find your performance lacking...I will be sending you back to the Academy, to further refine your skills.", he spoke and only then lifted his glare off of Tarosuke who then gulped in air noisily and took several seconds to settle down.
"What will be our test sensei?", Aiki asked.
"That will be revealed to you tomorrow. The three of you, make your way to Training Ground 4 tomorrow. The test that quite literally decides your future will start tomorrow at 10 AMsharp...I'll see you then." he stood off his chair and walked to the door.
"Oh, and do remember to do your best. The Jounin sensei exams have a failure rate of 67 percent!", saying that he walked out of the door.
"Well...what are you waiting for? Dig in!", he closed the door behind him and Team 4 could only hear his laughter in the distance.
The food was exquisite, the aroma enticing...but suddenly the three had lost their apatite.
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(Next day, 9:45 AM, Training Ground 4)
"So, what do you think the test will be?" Aiki asked, more to kill the silence than to make conversation.
Her plan to have a nice breakfast with Naruto early in the morning had failed. Naruto was already out of his home at 6:30 AM. It seemed Naruto's Jounin sensei was a morning person who put great importance on following schedules and punctuality...why else would he call them at that ungodly hour.
Tarosuke jumped at the chance to soothe his jittery nerves, "I asked my mom about it. But it might be outdated now since she quit being a genin 20 years ago...that's a lifetime!" He made a face that told Aiki he had just subtracted his age from 20.
"It's something, which is more than the nothing we have right now...so what did your mother say?", Aiki prompted him to tell and this time even Ryuuji turned his head to look at Tarosuke.
"She said Jounin tests have always been a thing and that it's always unique to the Jounin in charge. She also said that the 'sent back to the Academy' thing was true...but then went ahead and told me to not worry about losing my status as a Leaf Ninja...I guess she just wanted me to not mess up under pressure." Tarosuke said.
"Hitoshi-sensei made it a point to tell us his speciality...I think the test might very well consist of evasion tactics, but it could be a spar to judge our skill set too.", Ryuuji thought out loud.
"Good guess, Ryuuji. It's something similar." came a voice from their back.
All three of them turned around startled and found themselves facing Ryotei Hitoshi who had seemingly popped out of nowhere without them even realizing.
"Good Morning Team! I am glad to see none of you are late. Are you nervous about the test?", He asked with a good natured laugh.
"I am..but I'm excited too", Tarosuke answered. Ryuuji nodded. Aiki stayed silent.
"Oh? That so? It was to be expected...but don't worry. My test will be nothing extreme, I realize you are fresh out of academy genin.", He said in a calming voice.
"Hmmm...how about this. We postpone all the tedious stuff by an hour or so and go for a nice outing in the meanwhile. Maybe get a nice snack too! My treat, of course. That will take pull you out of your slump, yeah?" He proposed.
Tarosuke was the first but not the only one to readily agree. If their sensei was showing them kindness and giving them a chance to perform to the best of their abilities, then it would be foolish to not take it.
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What followed was an hour of them following Hitoshi to a series of his 'Konoha's must visit' locations like the Hokage Monument, A bar at the edge of the village, The Konoha Museum, Hitoshi's favorite Yakitori skewer spot and many more.
It was a perfect stress reliever! They stayed at the places for just long enough to experience the sights, smells and tastes but never long enough for them to get bored and start thinking about their upcoming test.
It also helped that Ryotei Hitoshi was one hell of a conversationalist. He kept talking to them throughout the trip...joking, throwing trivia about the places they visited, etcetra. By the time the trip ended and they were back in training ground 4, none of them were nervous anymore.
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"Would you look at that! Three bright faces...err I can only confirm 2 but I hope you are happy too Aiki-chan. It's already 1105 hours...what say you to letting me get a look at your abilities?" he asked his team again and was answered by three 'Yes sensei's.
"All right, so here is what I will need you to do. I got three of these on me...", he dug into one of the many pockets on his vest and pulled out three envelops.
"...each one of these envelops has one of your names on it. I will be placing these at three separate locations of my choosing inside the training ground 4's forest cover...your task, is to do your best to make your way from here to their location, gather the information inside the letter on-site, and coming back here to answer my questions regarding the information you gathered today.", he explained and the kids nodded.
"The only catch...is that I will be hunting you. You must do all these tasks without letting me capture you...because if I do, it won't look good for your passing chances.", he said with a stern expression and all the genin on team 4 gulped reflexively.
"Now! Now! Don't worry too much, I will obviously be scaling myself down to a reasonable level...let's say, a Fresh Chunin level, ah nostalgic!" He chuckled then continued. "I will also be generous enough to show up at the target locations only once every 2 minutes! That's a steal, kids!"
"Ok...time to get serious and put on a show kids, I would say see you soon...but you REALLY don't want that. Treat this exercise like a real battle. If you, unfortunately, find yourself fighting me...then come at me with the intent to kill!", saying that he vanished in a puff of smoke.
The Team-4 genin took a few seconds to understand their task and it's gravity.
Then took a few more seconds before déjà-vu kicked in.
"Hey! He didn't tell us about the locations! AGAIN!" Tarosuke shouted out in frustration.
Aiki, not one to be fooled by the same trick twice, looked down at her arms and legs for any stray senbon. Finding none she twirled around to check behind her, but was stopped midway by Ryuuji grabbing her shoulders.
"Your back.", Ryuuji spoke...was that a smile on his face!
Aiki ran her hand over her back...and groaned hard.
Taped to her back, was a line map to the target locations.
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(Hitoshi's P.O.V.)
He suppressed his chuckle at Aiki's outburst...the baby faced genin were always so easy to tease specially the dark and broody types like her.
"Now...let's get down to business", he thought as he weaved the hand-signs for the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Soon three more of him appeared on an adjacent branch.
"You know what to do. Track and Capture them...but don't use advanced techniques and don't randomly screen for them without catching a trail first. Relax enough to give them a chance to show what they are all about, but not enough to make it a cake walk. Test their basics when you make contact. I'll be observing all three of them but won't be interfering.", he laid out the plan to his clones, who nodded and followed his gaze to where his genin were supposed to be.
"They wasted no time...Good." He turned to his clones, "It seems they split up, an obvious choice...go, start hunting!" Soon after saying that, no one save for a few leaves and a gust of wind, remained on the branches he and his clones stood on.
He had deliberately kept the targets far away from each other and at roughly 20 minutes away from the starting position.
He perched up on the tallest branch in the training ground and waited for his clones to alert him using chakra codes.
Meanwhile he mentally iterated over his genins' profile he had created based on their files and their behavior.
"Tarosuke...it said his shuriken-jutsu was above average in class but his tactics and taijutsu scores were consistently low. Based on his personality he really wouldn't work well in pressure and would be prone to panic if startled...that would take away his only advantage, nobody will throw straight with a jittery hand. I should pressure him close to the target location, dash his hopes and push him into despair...he should learn how to overcome this weakness."
"Ryuuji...his Taijutsu scores were some of the best, good with tactics and did well in apprenticeship...but the kid is blunt as a brick and only half as emotive! He walks everywhere like a man on mission...even during our little outing he never once relaxed, he might as well wear a banner that declares him a shinobi to counter intelligence forces everywhere. That sort of thing could get you killed on field...I bet he will be the one to hold his ground and fight when discovered, instead of evading and going back to mission."
"Finally Aiki...We could always use a competent sensor ninja. Great scores across the board...except in the one subject I would have liked, disguises and makeup. Not the little girl's fault, but the world isn't fair...though her other skills should make up for it somewhat. I hope whatever trauma she carries doesn't come to bite her back at the worst time...but that's besides the point. I should hunt her after she opens the envelope...tasting defeat so close to victory, due to negligence, is always a good lesson for her type."
Soon after he finished his plan he produced another shadow clone and groaned through his gritted teeth to fight against the pain of near chakra exhaustion. Once he controlled himself enough to speak, he told the plan of attack to his clone and dispelled it, using that clone as a sort of broadcast relay for the rest of his clones.
"Ugh...not much chakra left now. Lucky I'm facing a bunch of little kids playing Ninja", he joked half to calm himself down and half because it was the truth.
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(Aiki's P.O.V.)
Aiki didn't need anymore rude reminders about the Jounin being incomprehensibly stronger than her than the two harmless one se had already received.
She focused hard and performed one of the techniques she had developed during her academy days, with the help of the doctors who ran periodic tests on her abilities.
"Wind Release: Wind Veil jutsu"
It was a jutsu only in name, there was no chakra involved. But there was no name for whatever it was she did to get the effect that she wanted, so they had labelled it a Wind Release, since that was the closest and only way they had to classify it.
An invisible pocket of air surrounded Aiki's body and opened around her body's point of contact with whatever surfaces she touched.
This effectively eliminated her scent from leaking out of the bubble, and also eliminated any sounds made by her to spread through air.
Of course, it wasn't perfect. Her scent could linger at her point of contacts with her environment outside her bubble and the sounds she produced could still travel as vibrations though earth or whatever she was in contact with.
But it was still an undeniably massive advantage for her...given humans evolved to hear 'sounds' through 'air' in their 'ears' instead of feeling vibrations through their hands and feet, and the negligible amount of lingering scent (if any did at all) would be hard for even a trained dog to track if she traveled carefully.
But the one who hunted her today, was a Jounin.
So she decided to take another precaution and travel by branch hopping instead of running and leaving a trail of footprints for anyone to follow.
She suppressed her chakra as much as she could without hampering her speed and strength, she didn't want to risk getting caught if her sensei turned out to be Chakra sensitive.
She further strained her chakra sense to avoid getting ambushed. There wasn't much she could do if her sensei planned to suppress his chakra too, but she still did the most she could to ensure her success.
With her preparations complete, she slowly made her way to her destination, making sure to follow the standard evasive maneuvers she was taught in Academy and throwing in some improvised looping and creating suddenly termination false trails for good measure.
Before long the envelope was in her sights, resting on a tree's stump, in the center of a clearing with NO immediate cover for a good hundred meters around it.
Aiki stopped herself from rushing at it, instead she waited for Hitoshi to show up so she could time his rotation and get the most amount of time for gathering information inside the envelope...whatever their sensei meant by that.
Aiki stayed perched up on a branch that overlooked the clearing and hid herself the best she could in the meanwhile.
After a few nerve wracking minutes of playing a sitting duck and hoping she hid herself good enough, Hitoshi appeared.
He walked around the perimeter of the treeless patch of ground, stopping every once in a while as if waiting specifically for her to make a wrong move or slip in her concentration and reveal herself.
Aiki closed her eyes to concentrate better and also to calm herself down. She took one deep breathe and..let it out.
Slowly, she opened her eyes.
And found Hitoshi's single good eye locked onto her!
Fear took her and her jutsu came undone. The raspy rattle of her breathing escaped into the air around her.
She fought against her panic to wrestle back the control over body, then quickly deployed the Wind Veil around herself, and observed her sensei.
He wasn't looking at her anymore...matter of fact, it looked like he hadn't discovered where she was at all!
He kept circling the perimeter of the clearing for a minute more and then left.
"Damn! I thought I was done for...I'm safe, for now.", with that thought Aiki rushed to the envelope and opened it.
Inside it was a...piece of abstract line art? And there was a similarly pointless bit of overly complex line art etched onto the face of the tree stump as well.
Aiki stood confused for a second...till she saw a tiny 'Key' etched in the center of the stump.
"Encrypted data! Of course! The chicken scratch down there is the key to whatever cipher the envelope's message was passed through!...Problem is, the key is too damn big and complex. I can't see it from far away and I can't just remember every detail in less than two minutes...I need to stand here in the open and solve before Hitoshi-sensei shows up.", It wasn't a pleasant conclusion, but it was what it was.
She picked up a stray stick and softened the earth under her feet to use as a makeshift pencil and notebook, then got on with solving the puzzle in front of her.
Seconds passed, then a minute, then more, and Aiki made rapid progress.
"This cipher looked scary, but it isn't very complex at all! There are a lot of steps involved but the individual steps aren't very tough...Dare I say, this is pretty fun, I feel confident that I can solve it...just need more time.", Aiki thought while scribbling away.
But then...at the very edges of her chakra senses she felt it.
Hitoshi-sensei was coming!
She could tell he was 200 meters away and at the slow leisurely pace he was taking, would come here in less than 25 seconds!
She needed to hide and she needed to do it as soon as possible, but...
"If I go now and my train of thought is lost...I will have to start again from the very beginning!...and then what? I will still have the same amount of time to solve it, only that time...I might not get the 25 seconds window...23 seconds now...I have again!...No, I am too close to give up!", Aiki fought hard to focus on the decryption task and not let her thoughts wander too much.
She remembered the last time Hitoshi had patrolled the clearing. "I just need 10 more seconds to solve this...I can rush to my old hiding spot in 8 seconds and still not loose breathe...yeah I can do this, I can't drop it this close to success."
With her mind made, she focused on deciphering the data. But, it didn't go as planned.
The cipher was deeper than she had first grasped. Decrypting using the provided key kept outputting looping garbage data.
"Did I miss something?!...No...BASTARD! He gave me the wrong key! Where is he now?", Aiki reigned in her anger and reached out with her chakra sense to track Hitoshi.
Somehow, her day got worse.
"Shit! 8 seconds away!...", She gritted her teeth, lines of betrayal and frustration etched on her face and she rushed away to her old hiding spot.
Not the Ideal escape she had planned, but still acceptable.
She casted the Wind Veil jutsu once more to hide better, then extended her chakra senses to sense any nearby threats...
Her blood ran cold! She turned around with a swiftness of a viper ready to bite.
"Found you, Aiki-chan!", said Hitoshi who was casually sticking to the tree right behind her...by his feet..standing parallel to the ground!
Aiki was too shocked...almost too shocked, by the absurd situation that she barely missed the fist swinging for her gut..and got nailed by a kick on her ribs.
Aiki decided it was better to run, reposition and try again than to scuffle with the freak of nature that was a jounin.
Using the momentum of the fist that had struck her face, she flipped back and off of the branch she was on and landed on a lower one, then another and another...till she was safely on the ground and running away from Hitoshi with her head down to solely focus on the ground and maximize her speed.
"That was a neat little trick you did Aiki-chan. I didn't hear or smell you at all!...except for when I scared you a bit there. Are you sure you are up for becoming a Ninja if just a look was enough to make you piss your pants?" Aiki heard Hitoshi in front of her.
He had already not only caught up, but was also blocking her way.
Aiki dodged the series of senbon he threw at her with a kunai she pulled from her thigh strap and at the end threw the kunai in her hand back at Hitoshi, who stepped aside to dodge it. Aiki used the little time it took him to turn to run away in the opposite direction.
"That WAS piss I smelled back then, right Aiki-chan? Or are you telling me you ALWAYS smell like that?", Aiki heard in front of her again.
Aiki had had enough of his bullshit at this point. She was angry, she felt betrayed and now the bastard was mocking her on top of it?!
If he wouldn't let her go without a fight...then so be it!
Aiki pulled another kunai from her thigh strap, just in time to deflect the hail of senbon launched at her by Hitoshi again.
But this time, instead of deflecting the last senbon, Aiki decided to duck under it and discreetly grab a clump of firm and moist soil off the ground, and in the same fluid motion, smooth the ground under her foot to hide any signs of tampering.
Aiki hid the clump inside her hand which she balled into a fist and faced Hitoshi with it and her kunai raised in a battle ready stance.
"How did you find me sensei?", Aiki needed some time for her plan to work and she decided talking was the best way to get it.
"Oh? Buying time are we? I am curious about whatever little plan you got brewing so I'll play ball.", he shrugged and Aiki felt like she was already defeated before even fighting.
She swallowed down her discomfort, "I hid my smell and sound, I made sure to not leave an obvious trail, and I even suppressed my chakra...so what gives?", she talked while taking small steps backwards.
Hitoshi also mirrored her by taking small steps towards her, maintaining the distance between them, "If I wanted, I could track you through the faint traces of scent you left behind or the vibrations your steps induced in the trees and by extension the ground...it would be extremely difficult, but I could get it done."
Aiki said nothing, waiting for Hitoshi to continue, and kept taking small steps back as Hitoshi maintained the distance between them.
"But why would I need to search for you, when I could wait in ambush? You DID need to come to the envelope afterall...your Bloodline limit helps you hide from my nose and ears, but even my single eye was enough to find you...you should work on better camouflage.", he taunted at the end.
Aiki stopped walking abruptly and mirroring her, so did Hitoshi.
"You saw me coming, did you? Did you see this coming too?", she snapped her hand holding the kunai and threw it at a reasonably thick branch above Hitoshi's head, breaking it off the tree and sending it dropping, on a collision course with Hitoshi's head...who just side-stepped to dodge it.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I did...That wasn't the BEST you had right? Oh I feel so cheated right now!", disappointment dripped from his words.
Hitoshi saw the anger, uncertainty and panic in Aiki's eyes and concluded it would be wise to get her out of the fight quickly.
A thought further reinforced when Aiki rushed him after grabbing her third and last kunai and rushing him in a blind rage.
But he was prove wrong...
Aiki took the time spent talking, to use her heat manipulation power to slowly heat the wet soil in her hands into dry sand...which she flung into Hitoshi's eyes after abruptly halting her charge at a carefully selected time.
Even blinded like that, Aiki knew approaching Hitoshi while he was ready for her assault would be courting death itself.
So in the little time it took him to clear his vision...Aiki quickly weaved the hand signs to push out a clone in her place while she actively jumped behind a nearby tree. Once she had her clone ready she used the substitution jutsu to replace herself with a branch on the tree Hitoshi was standing under.
Using the substitution jutsu form behind the tree had ensured that the branch that would replace her on the tree would not draw attention to her being missing from the scene and leaving only her clone behind.
On the tree she immediately suppressed her chakra and engaged Wind Veil and PRAYED to whoever would listen, that she was fast enough.
She looked down and Hitoshi had just regained his bearings, her prayers had worked.
She mentally instructed her clone to rush Hitoshi, so as to not give Hitoshi too much time to recover, and hence too much time to uncover her plan.
Hitoshi dodged Aiki-clone's kunai swipe and threw a punch at it's gut, which the clone weaved around.
"Yes! He is following the same attack pattern that he did when we first fought each other...next should be that swing kick from hell...bastard put his whole body into it!", Aiki silently observed from the tree and waited for her moment.
"THERE IT IS!", Aiki weaved the hand signs for the substitution jutsu faster than she ever did in her entire life!
In a puff of smoke, Aiki substituted herself with the tree branch she had earlier felled with her kunai throw...
...In front of her she saw Hitoshi's whole body twisting, resting on his single foot on the ground as his other foot struck her clone in the ribs and dispelled it a puff of smoke that served to distract him from Aiki's next move.
Aiki quickly bent down and struck the ground with her palms and manipulated the solid stable ground under and around Hitoshi's feet to become extremely soft and unstable, not unlike sand.
The effect was immediate and much to Aiki's pleasure...Hitoshi's single leg on the ground sunk deep into the soft sandy mud and ruined his balance catastrophically! Better yet, the angular momentum of his mid-kick body sent him falling down quickly and uncontrollably.
Aiki, without wasting a single moment, grabbed her final - this time real - kunai, and struck Hitoshi in his thigh (the closest part of his body to her).
The kunai sank into his thigh with a dry thunk.
"...WAIT! THAT SOUND WASN'T RIGHT!", Aiki's thoughts went from those of sweet victory to pure dread and she looked down to see her kunai buried into a wooden log.
"Substitution Jut-..."
Her thoughts were abruptly cut by a swift bare handed strike at the back of her neck.
"Neat trick! Substitution Jutsu...I know that one too!" Hitoshi said with a chuckle.
It was the last thing Aiki heard before her vision darkened and she lost consciousness.
.
.
.
(Training Ground 4, 12:20 PM)
Aiki woke up with a gasp and her hand flew to her Kunai strap...and was restrained by Hitoshi before she flew off the handle.
Aiki looked around her and saw her teammates sitting around her in a similarly beat up manner.
"So, you three...ready for the final part of the exam?" Hitoshi more ordered than asked.
Without waiting for them to confirm he proceeded "First question...and this is a team exercise, so anyone of you can answer...What was the message in the envelope?"
Aiki who was already a bit frustrated, didn't really care for the dismissive attitude she was being shown.
"Sensei! The key you provided didn't work! It w-", she was cut off by Hitoshi's with a raise of his hand and a glare from his eyes.
"Any objections you have, save them for the end of the test...do NOT interrupt me again.", Hitoshi said in a calm tone that left no room for objection.
After a moment of silence Hitoshi continued. "Second question...How many drinks did the man wearing the Black Fedora hat and sporting a black goatee order?"
Silence...Pure. Utter. Silence.
"What?" All three genin, including Ryuuji asked in unison.
"The bar I took you three to, at 1017 hours, how many drinks did the man wearing the Black Fedora hat and sporting a black goatee order?"
Again, pure silence was the only answer he received.
Realization set in for Aiki, followed by Ryuuji and then Tarosuke...the fun little trip, the stress-reliever their sensei had thrown at them...was all part of the test!
"Third question...How much change did the Yakitori stand owner return to me?...Here's a tip, it wasn't the correct amount, so don't even bother guessing." Hitoshi waited for an answer he knew wouldn't be coming, if the looks on his genins' face was anything to go by.
"Fourth question...What two items did I swap the labels for in the Konoha Museum?" Hitoshi didn't wait for an answer this time.
The result was clear to him, his genins had not paid attention.
"So, you lot...if you have any questions or objections...now would be the time to present them, before I give my final verdict." Hitoshi said, his voice free of all hints of humor.
Tarosuke immediately shot off. "Sensei that's cheating! You said you were postponing the test by an hour! Of course we wouldn't be paying attention to random things on a fun outing with friends!"
Hitoshi didn't respond immediately, instead he turned to Aiki and Ryuuji. "Aiki, you already had an objection...any more from you? What about you Ryuuji, you have been quiet?"
Aiki and Ryuuji shook their head in refusal...They could feel a big shift in the tone of the conversation rapidly approaching.
"Ok, so let's start with Tarosuke.", Hitoshi turned to Tarosuke after a minute of silence.
"I never...NEVER...told you that the test was being postponed. I even clearly remember telling you yesterday that the test would start at 10 A.M. today, sharp.", Hitoshi paused to let his words sink in, for both Tarosuke and the rest.
"I had said...and I quote...'postpone all the tedious stuff by an hour'...did I ever mention that test being postponed, Genin Tarosuke?", Tarosuke shook when Hitoshi pulled rank on him.
"N-N-No S-Sir!", he answered with his gaze drilling into the ground.
"Then, is it my fault that you were DUMB enough to not pay attention during test time? Tell me Genin Tarosuke!", Hitoshi had let his anger show for the first time since they met him.
"You were talking about cheating? WE ARE SHINOBI! OUR ECONOMY RUNS ON THAT, YOU MORON!", Hitoshi really twisted the metaphorical knife.
"What happened to shinobi looking underneath the underneath?! Random things? On a fun outing? With friends?...This was your test, This was Critical information! Gathered on a mission! While behind enemy lines with your comrades! You are a shinobi of the Leaf and this was your chance to prove your skills as the best of the best!...How does it feel to know that you flunked your ONLY chance at it?" Hitoshi asked a now crying Tarosuke.
Hitoshi's words had really put the whole test into perspective...it really was a mock infiltration and spying scenario...and they had failed before they even started.
Then Hitoshi turned to Aiki...Aiki gulped.
"The Key I provided was wrong...you said? No, Aiki, I don't think I provided you the wrong key at all! Where did you find this wrong key?" Hitoshi asked, and the sudden change in his tone creeped her out.
"I found it etched on the tree stump the envelope was placed on, Sir.", Aiki decided to add the Sir as a precaution after Hitoshi had pulled his rank on Tarosuke.
"See! That's where you were wrong! The REAL key to the cipher was MUCH smaller and was drawn on the exact spot on the Hokage Monument from where we saw the village's skyline...I remember you particularly liked that spot" Hitoshi said with enthusiasm so fake it made plastic look natural.
"Wait...you mean to tell me...that you used...a key that was placed right under the one document you were meant to decipher? WHO WOULD PLACE THE KEY TO A TREASURE RIGHT NEXT TO IT, YOU DUMBASS!" Aiki could only grit her teeth and endure, it was her fault afterall.
"IF THIS WAS REAL LIFE YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD IN SOME ENEMY CAMP...AND THAT WOULD BE THE BEST OUTCOME POSSIBLE! GETTING WRONG INFORMATION OR DELIBERATELY PLANTED FAKE INFORMATION WOULD SEE YOUR COMRADES BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS TOO! GET IT? DUMBASS!", Hitoshi screamed loud enough to drive his point home.
After a few seconds of him catching his breath and motioning the three genins to sit down...he gave his final verdict.
"I will now be telling your individual strengths and weaknesses, starting from Tarosuke.", Hitoshi turned his gaze to him.
"You have your basics down, your idea to tranform into a rock for evading my vision and into a tiger to not leave obvious trails was impressive...But your taijutsu is weak at best, your chakra control was sloppy and you lose heart too quickly. Sparring more would do you much good"
"Ryuuji, your Taijutsu is impressive for one your age and specially with no clan backing...but that's about it. You ignored mission directives, came to me for a 'battle' knowing the difference of strength between a Jounin and a Genin, Were too slow with your ninjutsu, and didn't plan your battle with an intelligent approach. You should practice your jutsus more and learn about some basic tactics."
"Aiki, you showed great intelligence by setting up the battlefield to your advantage and using it to it's fullest, your jutsu arsenal was great and it's application was even more impressive...But your approach to mission objective was not ideal. I had deliberately set the fake key such that it would keep you trapped in a loop of endless gratification...where you made just enough progress to not get frustrated and leave. You should have, ideally, abandoned your attempt and hidden yourself much before you actually did."
Hitoshi continued, "And while I must praise you for our final battle, it should never have ended that way. You should have used the opening you created to run away, yet you engaged me in combat again, knowing the strength disparity between us...I suggest you to train your taijutsu more and to read any mission reports you can get your hands on...learn to think according to the objective. You are a Leaf kunoichi now, not a kid engaged in schoolyard brawl."
All three kids nodded and accepted their judgement, they could complain about Hitoshi's harshness...but they couldn't complain about Hitoshi being unfair or uncaring. This analysis had proved it.
"Now as for your final judgement as Team 4...You three, Fail." Before the kids could make a single sound, he continued.
"As a Jounin sensei, I will be responsible for the life of you three on field. It is a harsh truth, but for us shinobi, the mission comes first. I might not always be there to directly protect you, or guide you, or answer each one of your questions..." Hitoshi waited for his words to sink in, then continued.
"...Leading a genin team is a good 3 to 4 years commitment for me, on top of my current obligations. So I require the genin I lead to meet a minimum level of skill and have a particular mindset...I understand that what I ask is too much! The expectations I have for fresh genin is unfair!..."
"...But so is the world we live in...As you three are right now, I cannot take responsibility for your lives and by extension your careers, under my guidance...Blame my lack of skills for this decision more than your own." Hitoshi said his piece and let the genins come to term with his judgement.
"...Take your time, but make your way back to the Academy before 2 PM. You will be briefed there about your next assignments."
Saying that, Hitoshi vanished in a puff of smoke and a whirlwind of leaves.
.
.
.
Aiki sat at her usual place.
At the very back of the class that, true to Hitoshi, saw two thirds of the students returning to it
Today was still a blur to her, she had yet to properly process what happened. The sudden formation of team 4, dissolution of team 4 and the impacts it would have on her career was still something she needed to unpack...but she would do that later.
Right now she just wanted to sleep.
"At least, Naruto isn't here...I'm happy he passed his test!", Aiki tried her best to look at the silver lining.
Before long, Iruka-sensei appeared and addressed the class.
"First of all...Do not let the failure of today bring you down...or define your career. Jounin sensei tests can be extremely stringent and are in no way a metric to test your readiness as a Leaf Genin."
That brought the mood up a little.
"Now, I will be distributing to you all...a copy of the contents of this folder" Iruka showed the class the green folder in his hands.
"And it will contain all the details necessary to thrive in your career as an Independent Leaf Genin."