After the chaotic arrival of Team Seven, the little ceremony eventually resumed. Following this, the four new Genin teams were assigned their first missions by the Hokage, who reviewed their Ninja Registration Forms with the aid of his adviser.
If Konoha’s leader was concerned by the information Team Four’s—or Naruto’s—records contained, he didn’t express it. He seemed rather entertained by the idea that both Amaya Sensei and Kakashi Sensei had recommended students at all. Both, it seemed, were infamous for the high fail rates of their respective exams.
Reito couldn’t help but be annoyed by the whole thing. Here he was, so proud of himself, Kazuki, and Yuji for passing, when Naruto, of all people, who was ranked below all three of them, had done the same thing. Maybe Team Seven’s test hadn’t been as difficult as theirs? Maybe Amaya Sensei had been too lenient with them? Well, whatever the reason for Naruto’s passing, it somehow marred their achievement.
“Maybe that Kakashi Sensei is a soft touch?” Kazuki offered after Reito shared his thoughts with his friends.
The boys’ first mission, if you could call it that, turned out to be vegetable picking, a request from a local farmer who needed extra laborers to bring in his harvest. It was hard work, but not something that required the skills of a ninja.
“He can’t be, or he wouldn’t have a bigger reputation than Amaya Sensei for failing students,” Reito replied while yanking a particularly stubborn carrot out of the ground and swinging it into the basket on his back, which was getting heavy now.
Yuji called from the row of earth to his left, “The teams passed or failed as a unit. Perhaps Naruto only passed because of Sasuke? He was the top student.”
“That would make sense,” began Reito, straightening up and wiping his brow, “except we know now that the exam was all about how the teams worked together. Based on what we saw at the Mission Meeting, those three can barely stand each other!”
“Maybe Yuji’s right — but for a different reason,” said Kazuki, pausing to catch his breath. “Maybe the higher-ups were forced to pass Naruto, so their Uchiha golden boy didn’t get dragged down with him? Same with Sakura. It would just be dumb if the academy’s best and brightest had to repeat the year because they got lumbered with a screw-up.”
Reito wondered about this. He might have thought it possible a few days ago, but after Amaya Sensei’s rigorous exam and her detailed explanation about the reasons for it, giving Naruto an easy ride just didn’t seem like something the higher-ups would do.
The exam measured the various abilities of the participants to see if they were cut out for life as ninjas, not just in terms of commitment but in terms of safety. Kakashi Sensei and the Hokage wouldn’t have passed Team Seven if Naruto was a danger to himself or his teammates. Would they?
***
Almost two months later, life as a Genin wasn’t what Reito had imagined it to be. Sure, he was doing good and getting a small but regular paycheck for it, which he only dipped into to buy the occasional treat for his little sister, but the missions were a joke. It was always nice to receive thanks in person from the requestees at a Mission Meeting, but the kind of jobs they were being assigned were ridiculous.
Team Four had completed five missions now, all similar in scope to their first. They weren’t missions so much as odd jobs. So far, they had harvested crops, cleaned the town community center, helped a family move house, tracked down a missing cat, which Reito still believed to be a feral creature, despite the rich owner’s insistence it was her beloved pet, and most frustrating of all, repaired the training ground that Amaya Sensei had ruined during her exam.
Their latest mission—investigating an underground counterfeiting operation—had sounded promising, but it turned out to be the work of an ambitious eight-year-old who was circulating fake trading cards at the academy during recess.
“What’s the matter with you three?” asked Amaya Sensei when the boys arrived at the Administration Building for their Mission Meeting. They were clearly not in the best of moods.
Amaya Sensei may not have been as mean as she had made out when they met, but she had still proven to be a very strict instructor. In between taking naps and disappearing for hours at a time while they were working, she had openly criticized their mission performance, often yelling when she deemed it slow or shoddy.
“We were wondering…” Reito hesitated as they made their way to the meeting room, “whether you thought we might be ready for a more challenging mission?”
“Oh? What’s wrong with the missions you’ve been assigned?” Amaya Sensei enquired.
“They suck,” said Kazuki.
Reito’s initial inclination was to chastise his friend for such bluntness toward a teacher, but since he didn’t disagree, he held his tongue. Even Yuji, who didn’t approve of such language, remained silent.
“Really?” the teacher said with a smug grin, folding her arms across her chest. “The way I see it, your first five missions helped build your endurance, strength, speed, and coordination.”
Reito opened his mouth to object, but there was something to that. Was it a coincidence, though, or were the missions really designed to train new Genins?
“Your last mission tested your intelligence-gathering skills, and really, it took you far too long to uncover the culprit.”
“We knew which kid was making those fake cards from day one!” Kazuki insisted.
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“Yes, but it took you a whole week to gather the evidence Iruka Sensei needed.”
Kazuki pouted.
“This is how D-rank missions work, boys. We’ll do some training after your next one, but I don’t believe you’re ready for C-rank yet.”
From beyond the meeting room door, there was a sudden outburst, “Nooooo! No! No, thank you! I want to do a more exciting mission! Give us something else!”
“That sounds like Naruto,” said Yuji.
“That jerk is disrespecting the Hokage again!” said Kazuki in disbelief.
“Know your place, you fool! You’re still the bottom rookie!” rebuked Iruka Sensei, their former teacher’s disciplinary tone unmistakable. “At the start, everyone moves up the ladder by gaining experience from simple missions!”
Amaya Sensei pointed at the door with a raised eyebrow as if to say, “What he said.”
“But it’s been nothing but blah missions so far!” Naruto argued.
There was some inaudible chatter for a while after that, then a strained voice shouted, “LISTEN!”
“Oh dear, was that the Hokage?” asked Yuji, covering his mouth in alarm.
Minutes passed without further noise when suddenly, Naruto started yelling, “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you!”
“Oh? What a feisty fellow. I sure don’t envy Kakashi,” Amaya Sensei remarked.
Reito clapped a hand to his forehead, wondering for the umpteenth time how the boy was ever allowed to graduate, let alone become a Genin.
Eventually, Team Seven filed out of the room, accompanied by their instructor and a bespectacled old man in a pointed hat. When they noticed Team Four waiting, Sasuke averted his eyes, Sakura smiled smugly, and Naruto happily revealed that they were going on a C-rank mission.
The boys turned accusatorily in Amaya Sensei’s direction as their former classmates departed.
“Is that how we’re supposed to get a C-rank mission? With screaming and death threats?” Kazuki groused.
“Scream at me all you want,” she replied with a wicked grin, then turned to enter the meeting room, “but do so at your own risk. I’m not as easygoing as Kakashi.”
The boys begrudgingly followed her in, where the Hokage was sat behind a row of tables with his advisors. Iruka Sensei was among them but came around the table to greet Team Four. “Congratulations on completing your latest mission,” he said brightly. “I requested this one myself, so I’m very happy with the outcome. You blew the case wide open! Little Kenji Ohara is in a lot of trouble.”
“Thank you, Sensei,” the boys said glumly with a bow, feeling a little foolish for helping apprehend a child.
“Yes, well done on a successful mission, Team Four,” the Hokage concurred, shuffling some papers. “Let’s see, now… Yes, your next mission will be… An errand to the neighboring town to babysit the chief Councilor’s son.”
The boys turned their heads as one, eyeing Amaya Sensei with varying degrees of irritation. This was surely the mission that triggered Naruto’s noisy objection.
She merely smiled without meeting their eyes, answering, “Sounds like just the job for these three. Thank you, Lord Hokage.”
***
Despite the absurd prospect of babysitting ahead of him, Reito had to admit that he was excited for the mission come the following morning. Leaving the village made it a little more interesting than previous missions, as did the fact that there would be an overnight stay at an inn to look forward to.
Before leaving the house with his traveling pack—and the full range of armaments required for away missions, even D-rank ones—Reito got a tight hug from his mother and some pocket money from his father.
“Be safe and listen to your instructor,” said the former, kissing him on the cheek.
“Buy yourself a treat,” said the latter, ruffling his hair.
Reito then had a teary goodbye with his sister, who didn’t like the idea of him going away and wouldn’t let go of his arm. “It’s only for one night, Reika,” he assured her, but she only finally relinquished her grip when he promised to bring her back a souvenir.
Fifteen minutes later, he was walking through the village gate with Kazuki, Yuji, and Amaya Sensei. He had seen his friends fully armed before, with their staff, bow, and other items, but it was the first time seeing the teacher in full ninja gear. She had a katana strapped to her back, making Reito realize again how relaxed she had been about their exam. She had brought a single kunai on the day, but apparently, she was a swordsman.
It was an odd feeling to be departing on their first away mission. Reito had barely ever left the village except for the occasional vacation, but they were few and far between owing to the demands of the family business.
He was happy to find that his friends seemed to be as pumped as he was. They had undoubtedly recognized the benefits of the mission as he had. They chatted excitedly about what they would get up to in Shukuda Town, which was one of the Land of Fire’s more infamous visitor spots.
“We’re not on vacation,” interrupted Amaya Sensei with a shake of her head after ten minutes of this. “We have a mission to complete.”
“Yeah, but the mission won’t begin right away, will it?” asked Kazuki. “That Councilor wants his brat watched for the afternoon and most of the evening. We’ll have some time to kill until then, won’t we?”
The boys looked expectantly to their teacher for her answer. She was silent for a moment before smiling ever so slightly and replying, “Not unless we pick up the pace.”
***
The journey took most of the morning. It was almost midday when the steep road dipped, and Shukuda Town came into view.
“There it is!” said Kazuki. “Let’s find a buffet place, and after, we can get some shaved ice!”
“I don’t like shaved ice,” said Yuji.
“Huh? How can you not?”
“It’s too cold. I prefer spicy foods.”
“On a hot day like today?”
Reito laughed. He’d heard this argument a hundred times, but it never failed to make him smile. At that moment, however, Amaya Sensei raised a hand in front of his face. Reito stopped in his tracks, and the other two boys followed suit.
“What’s up, Amaya Sen—" Kazuki started.
“Quiet,” she ordered in a dangerous tone.
“Oi! Is this them? Get up, shithead, this could be them,” said an obnoxiously loud male voice.
Just up ahead, two figures were getting to their feet atop a rock by the side of the road. Each wore matching conical straw hats with dangling white tassels and black robes with a red cloud print.
“Lower your voice, fool, or I’ll kill you,” the second threatened in an impossibly deep tone.
“Yeah, just try it, you bastard! I’ll sacrifice your old ass to my god!” the first retorted, flicking through a small notebook. “It’s them! It’s definitely them, just like your little book says. Three boys accompanied by an orange-haired woman in Konoha uniform.”
Taking the book in question from his comrade and consulting it, the deep-voiced man agreed, “It appears to be them. But don’t drag this out, newbie. Time is money.”
“My ritual takes as long as it takes!”
“How can we help you, gentlemen?” Amaya Sensei called out.
The two men removed and tossed aside their large hats, which Reito couldn’t help thinking were almost as silly as the Hokage’s. He tensed up then, though. Something was obviously amiss, and he didn’t like the look of these guys.
The foul-mouthed man was young, probably in his early twenties. He had slicked back medium-length gray hair and was licking his lips with a greedy expression. Much of his larger comrade’s visage was obscured by a head covering and a black face mask, but he had unsettling bloodshot eyes with vivid green irises, which created such a contrast they could be seen even at a distance. Both possessed ninja headbands, though the former wore his around his throat like a choker.
“How can you help us?” the noisy man answered mockingly, pulling a three-pronged red scythe from behind his back. “You can offer up your life to Lord Jashin!”