Chapter 28: Meet and Greet

Finally, finally the day came and we were waiting in classroom with a bunch of other elite-track graduates. Our lead personal instructor, a mix of military-skills guidance-counselor and homeroom teacher, came in and we immediately stood at attention, bowed, then settled in our seats. We were in the Ninja Academy, after all, not some civilian school. The Instructor read out assignments from a sheet, and eventually came to ours.

“Uzumaki Daichi, Hisakawa Sachiko, Hisakawa Yasu. Congratulations, you're now Provisional Genin Team Seven under Jiraiya, the Toad Sage.” I groaned. We just had to have that bastard. And Sachiko was most definitely not a kid anymore; she'd grown up to be quite the beauty, and I was just glad that she hadn't had anyone catch her eye yet. I might get into trouble if they disappeared after angering her, after all. But I should have guessed; Jiraiya had that whole “Child of Prophecy” fixation, and I was a likely candidate. Hell, it was possible I had already inadvertently fulfilled the prophecy.

After the names had all been read, Jonin-senseis started to show up and collect their charges. About five minutes into the frenzy, a fourteen year old Namikaze Minato walked in and called out for us, so we went over.

“Hi, Team Seven, commander Jonin Jiraiya?”

We nodded. “What is it, Namikaze-senpai?” I asked.

“Ah, Jiraiya-sensei said he was busy with research, and asked me to collect you.” I shared a glance with Sachiko. We all started walking with Minato towards where the hot-springs were located. Why Jiraiya had a peeking fetish in a village that would have literally thrown as many girls at him as he could cum in was beyond me. Maybe it helped him get it up? In which case it was actually, in a weird way, fulfilling what one might see as Jiraiya’s duty to Konohagakure.

Shaking the images out of my head, I refocused. As for Minato, so long as he kept his eyes off Sachiko, we would get along fine.

“So, did you two get reassigned or something?” Minato asked while motioning towards my retainers.

“No, they're my retainers; I got permission from Hokage-sama for us to all graduate together and for them to be on my team.”

“Really? For how long have they been your retainers?”

I just sighed. “Namikaze-senpai, I am aware that you're a jonin, you know; congratulations on your promotion, by the way. But, I know Jiraiya-sensei was your sensei. I suspect you've read our files; I would have. You don't need to pretend not to know us.”

At this he semi-nervously scratched the back of his head. “Wow. Haha. Well, um, sorry?”

“Like I said. No need to apologize.” I smiled gently to take the sting out of the situation.

“So, what ninja subjects do you guys like most? I actually only looked at the first page – I thought any more would be rude, so I only have a very basic idea of your capabilities.” If that was true then he needed to wise up.

I scratched my chin. “Now I'm interested in reading my own file to see what's there. Hmm. I like Seals.”

“Really! I didn't see that in the file. Well, if you ever have questions, feel free to ask me!” He was trying so hard to be nice and helpful. I doubted he had many friends his age, so I felt a little bad for the short burst of laughter that escaped my lips.

“Ha! Sorry, Namikaze-senpai.” He was looking a bit affronted, and Sachiko and Yasu were looking on in amusement. “It's just. You're probably what, level two? Level three maybe? I did hear you were a genius. But, I have a strong Uzumaki bloodline; I'm an Intuitive level five, a full High Expert.” I was lying. I was an Intuitive level six, almost seven, and a fully accredited Low Master (no specialty). But that was classified to within the Sealing Department and Kazuo-sama alone, as was the identity of all non-public masters. Either way though, it hardly changed the ridiculousness of him offering assistance when I was at that level at the age of four.

He looked puzzled. “Level two? Level three? We don't use those. I passed the Konohagakure Sealing Corps' expert test though.”

“We'll ask Jiraiya, but I'd bet that's about second or third level. Still very impressive, especially for someone who is so young and without any Uzumaki blood. You don't have any Uzumaki blood, do you?”

“I wouldn't know. I'm an orphan.” He was visibly a bit bummed out at my put-down.

“Ah, my apologies, Namikaze-senpai.”

“It's fine, it's fine. You can call me Minato too, you know. But if you're so good with seals, why didn't the Sealing Corps take you as an early graduate?”

Sachiko coughed lightly at his willingness to just jump into potentially awkward topics.

“Well, you probably saw that I'm on indefinite secondment to Konoha, right? I'm still a noble of the Whirlpool Court, and I'm not allowed to use or teach clan secrets without the right approval. I've actually been an expert since I arrived in Konoha when I was eight.”

“Huh. So, did you have any problems at the academy? It's just, Jiraiya-sensei said you were another genius, and we might get along, so it's just been bugging me that you entered and exited at the normal times. Ah! Sorry, I didn't mean that to sound rude or anything.” Awkward Minato was actually kind of endearing. He had a certain warmth to him, and to his chakra, almost a constant “I care” Presence. It was pretty interesting; I understood how he could be seen as charismatic. Even being all awkward, I wasn't pissed off with him.

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“No, no, it's alright. You've clearly spent most of your time as a combat, rather than diplomatic or noble infiltration ninja. I just wanted to take all the electives that seemed interesting.”

“Hahaha. Yes, my social skills aren't that trained. But were the electives really useful? I only took the ones my instructor guided me towards or that I thought I'd need in the future, so I'm interested in your take.”

“Hmm… Some. And some might be useful in the future. The best one, I think, was the Advanced Battlefield Presence.”

“Really, the Killing Intent class? But isn't that ineffective against stronger opponents?”

“Presence is much more than simple KI. It's good for a commander, since you can use it improve the morale of your forces. Were you there for the speech before the invasion of Water-country?”

“Yes,” he replied a bit hesitantly.

“Do you remember how pumped up you were? Both Hokage-sama and I were using Presence to make our speeches better. In general, it can be used like a weaker but less intrusive genjutsu, which is good because I can only use aggressive offensive genjutsu.”

“That sounds interesting. Maybe you can teach me some? And why can't you use genjutsu?”

“Sure. I suspect you were planning on continuing to train and work with Jiraiya-sensei, right? We'll probably be seeing a lot of each other. As for the genjutsu, I can use them. It's just that my chakra is so dense, any environmental genjutsu is really obvious, and my genjutsu are semi-permanent.”

His eyes widened a bit. “That's both terrifying and inconvenient. I heard a rumor about that, but didn't know it was true. Well, we're here now, so I'll just get Jiraiya-sensei. I'll be back in a moment,” he said as we reached a training ground near the hot-springs and Minato ran off to grab Jiraiya.

He arrived a few minutes later with Jiraiya, who was complaining about having to stop he research, in tow.

“Haaah…” he sighed. “Well, if I can't be doing research, might as well. Brat, Bigger Brat,” he said before his eyes turned to the female of our group. “Sachiko-chan, it's so nice to you see you again, you've grown up well!” the bastard said to wind me up a bit.

“Ero-sensei. I trust you've been in good health, and I do so hope it continues,” I replied drily with a semi-obvious threat. We were both just poking a bit of fun at each other though.

“Greetings, Jiraiya-sensei,” came from Sachiko, while Yasu just raised an eyebrow and nodded. Minato, used to a far more serious approach to senior military officers, looked on in shock.

“Alright, kiddies, take a seat. You too, Minato-kun, if you're staying.” We all dutifully sat on the grass, while Jiraiya remained standing.

“Allow me to introduce myself!” he began with his kabuki-introduction-dance. “I am the man that all women know, and all men wish to be! Renowned from East to West, North to South! The Mighty Toad Sage, The Hermit Jiraiya!” Minato barely reacted, used to his sensei's antics. I face-palmed, while Sachiko and Yasu were in shock.

“Alright, now you know who I am, so introduce yourselves!” he ordered with a clap. “Minato-kun, you can go first.”

“Sure thing, sensei. I'm Jonin Namikaze Minato, fourteen years old. I like creating jutsu. I dislike mud. My biggest strength is my speed. My biggest weakness is my size and lack of experience. My goal for the future is to become the fastest ninja in the world.”

Jiraiya nodded enthusiastically. “Good job, Minato, even if it wasn't as cool as mine. Next up, Sachiko-chan!”

“I'm a retainer to Daichi-sama, Genin Hisakawa Sachiko, seventeen years old. I like having a calm tea. I dislike lavender. My biggest strengths are genjutsu and court-infiltration. My biggest weakness is taijutsu. My goal for the future is to be an excellent retainer to Daichi-sama.”

“You already are, Sachiko-chan, but thank you,” I interjected with a grin.

“Urgh. Too sweet. You, the bigger brat, you're up,” Jiraiya said with a scrunched-up face.

“I'm also a retainer to Daichi-sama, and Sachiko nee-san's cousin, Genin Hisakawa Yasu, sixteen years old. I like the forest. I dislike crowds. My biggest strengths are my stealth and tracking. My biggest weakness is my genjutsu and long range jutsu. My goal is to continue enjoying life, I guess.” That was our Yasu. Loquacious to the extreme. I think that may have been the most I'd heard him speak at once, ever.

“Alright, good, good. Now, the littlest brat!” Jiraiya teased me about my height.

“I'm Genin Uzumaki Daichi Fuutaka. I'm also Consul to Konohagakure and vassal-Baron of the Fourth Rank of Seal-Hawk Harbor. I like coming up with new uses for seals. I dislike fatty foods. My biggest strength… Large scale destruction. My biggest weakness is an inability to use jutsu that require small amounts of chakra. My goal is a a long and full life for my family, retainers, and myself.”

“A good goal. Now that we all know each other a bit better, let's talk about what happens next. Normally, there would be a test to see if you could work together as a team, but since you lot have been training together for years, that's not really needed. Instead, I'll be giving you a combat test to see how you do,” he said seriously as he held out a bell. “To win, take this bell from me. Minato-kun will be watching from the sidelines, and will start the match. I'm pretty strong, so come with intent or you won't get anywhere. Understood?”

“Hai, Sensei!” we chorused. While Minato walked to the edge of the clearing, I turned to Sachiko and Yasu.

“Territorial Blitz, with a Dazzler opener,” I told them using our hand-signs.

“Ready! Three, two, one, Start!” Minato called from the edge.

Immediately, we burst into action. I tossed a seal and yelled out “Dazzler out!” as we activated our protections. The Dazzler was the second generation seal to the Sparkler. It set off dozens of smaller flash-bangs (emphasis on the flash) in a wide area, each accompanied by a chakra wave to disrupt any sensors. A lot of experienced ninja knew how to deal with flashbangs; this wider volume version often took them by surprise at least once (and once is all you need). We had specific seals we could activate to protect our sight and hearing, so we could react faster.

While Jiraiya was recoiling from the explosion of sensations, Yasu tossed four seals attached to kunai out in a tetrahedron with the point in the air and the point of the triangular base on the ground behind Jiraiya, crying out: “Tetrahedron up!” as he made a hand-seal and activated the technique.

The Tetrahedron was one of a number of temporary seal-shields I made and gave to my teammates. Its role was to keep an enemy inside the range where they were sure to fall to my chains, or break larger enemy forces up so we could eliminate them piecemeal. By orienting the point of the technique behind the opponent, it bound their motion and made it difficult to dodge. The shield could be taken down and re-charged, and contained sufficient chakra to pin even Jiraiya long enough to take him out.

At the same time that Yasu was establishing the territory, Sachiko launched the distraction: a long series of nuisance genjutsu interspersed with shuriken poisoned with a numbing agent and DEWS shots dialed down to a painful “sunburn” level for training and using a visual burst of light. Meanwhile, I shucked the top of my outfit, allowing it to settle around my waist while I launched a massive number of thread-thin chains, filling the whole area except for that around my retainers.

Jiraiya instinctively dodged when the tag went off, and demonstrated just why he was so feared while avoiding Sachiko's assault and breaking her genjutsu, taking only a few glancing shots as he began to have to deal with my capture threads. Individually weak enough to be broken, Jiraiya was quickly covered in enough that escape was impossible, and slowly wrapped up until he was totally incapable of moving. As Minato watched on with an open mouth through the faint blue color of the Tetrahedron, I sauntered up, smiling, and took the bell then released Jiraiya.

“That was fun, Jiraiya-sensei!” I said with a shit-eating grin. “Wanna do it again?”

He laughed and clapped his hands. “I can tell this team is going to be a lot of fun,” he proclaimed with a broad smile.