"How are you feeling, Takuma?" asked Enomoto as they headed into the Learning Resource Center (LRC) building. "Last I heard, you haven't been doing well in the weapons category. Congratulations on moving up to the category. Every win means more money now."

Takuma indeed hadn't been doing good in his latest fights. In his first five weapon category fights, he had only won one. Of his four losses, two had been one-sided, one he could've won if he hadn't fallen first, while the last one was his if he hadn't been blindsided at the last moment and stabbed in the gut. The four losses had ruined his record. 20-16. He had gone from a 61% winning percentage to a 55% winning percentage— he had gone from the top of the crop to just good enough.

Different weapons added the dimension of range to the fight. He looked down at his heavy feet dragging across the floor. He needed to get faster and nimbler on his feet to decrease his chances of getting slashed or bludgeoned.

"How is this place going to help me get paid?" asked Takuma.

Enomoto looked at Takuma and his lips curled into a small smile. "An influx of mission points can look suspicious if it suddenly appears in your account. We need a reason for the money to come into your account," he said.

They entered the enormous hall with a long row of reception desks, but unlike Mission Desk Central, only one was occupied by a bored-looking shinobi. Across the reception desk row, on the large wall, was an information board stating various details like course subject, instructor name, code, price, and level.

"Wait here, I'll be back in a second," Enomoto walked towards the reception desk. Takuma followed after him. Enomoto quirked his brow, "Curious, aren't you? Be my guest; come along."

They walked to the receptionist, who looked at them with a half-lidded gaze as if bored out of his mind. Through the glass divider, on the counter, they could see a house of cards by the shinobi stacked to an impressive height.

"One opening form, please," said Enomoto.

The receptionist caught the sight of Enomoto's flak jacket and sat straight up in a hurry in the presence of a chunin, slamming his knee below the counter table that knocked over the house of cards so meticulously stacked.

The genin receptionist outright ignored the falling cards and pulled out a form with haste. "Here you go, sir. If you need any assistance with the form, please don't hesitate to ask," he said.

Enomoto smiled as he pulled the form towards him through the slot in the glass and walked away without saying a word. As they walked away, Enomoto spoke, "Mission points coming into your account might seem suspicious, but what if we created a reason for them to be there," he raised the form, "and what better reason than to open a course in the esteemed Learning Resource Centre and get paid by your fellow shinobi."

"Huh?" Takuma stopped in his steps as he tried to make sense of the situation. A light bulb moment struck his mind, and he understood what Enomoto was talking about. "We're laundering mission points?!"

Enomoto also stopped and looked around the empty hall, glancing briefly at the receptionist. "I appreciate that you already know what we are doing; it saves me time," he said to Takuma, "but if you know that, you should also know to keep it down. So, let's be a little hush-hush."

Takuma sighed and followed Enomoto, and they sat down at a table in a room beside the large main hall. He thought about what they were doing.

The mission points he earned through his wins weren't legitimate, and if he were to put them in his account without reason, it might look suspicious if someone was looking for any reason. Mission points were a virtual currency with no physical tokens, so Takuma couldn't stash them in his toilet under the flush. He needed to receive them in his mission point account.

To make the illegitimate mission points legitimate, they needed to come through a legitimate source. Takuma was coming to realize why they had come to the LRC. He looked at Enomoto, filling the form with an unexpected familiarity, and knew that the shady iryo-nin was filling a form that would open a new course in the LRC.

It made sense. It wouldn't look odd if the mission points came through the LRC because Takuma taught a course.

But he had one question.

"Who's going to pay for the courses?" he asked. "From whose account will these mission points come from?"

Enomoto flashed him a smile as he continued filling out the form. "That's for me to know and you to not find out. Curiosity is good but also know that it did kill the cat. I can tell you there will be no danger to you if we do it this way." He glanced up at Takuma, "It has worked for thousands of people for decades, and it will work for decades to come."

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Takuma leaned back with skepticism floating in his eyes.

"Do I need to pay a commission to LRC for running the course because if I do, I demand that you guys pay for that commission on top of my winnings," said Takuma.

"Only if your course requires you to rent out some equipment," Enomoto slid over the filled form and tapped his finger on an empty dotted line. "Time to come up with a course name and try to make it plausible. Something that you can actually teach… just in case someone comes asking."

Takuma first looked over the entire form to see what all Enomoto had filled. Enomoto only watched with a smile as Takuma did so. After making sure there was nothing hidden in the form, Takuma thought about a course and wrote one out on the paper.

Enomoto pulled his glasses down as he narrowed his eyes at the form, "Trash talking: The verbal art of mental victory?" He looked at Takuma, "What is this?"

"It'd be better if you ligma," Takuma wasn't sure if he was able to keep the smile off his face.

"Ligma?"

"Ligma balls! Because believe me, getting real familiar with these two nutsacks slapping against your face would be infinitely better than fighting me, bitch!" Takuma leaned back again and shrugged his shoulders, "Something like that. No need to applaud or anything.."

Enomoto stared with a baffled and speechless expression. He removed his small blackout shades and cleaned them with his handkerchief. "I sometimes don't understand the children these days. If you want to go with that, why not, let's go with that," he said. "After the course is approved, submit the course code to Matsui, and he will start signing up paying students for the course. You will get paid by the end of this week."

Enomoto wore his shades back and got up. "You're going to get a lot of mission points, and from here on out, your winnings won't be held back." The smile reappeared on his face, "You have done good, Takuma. Enjoy the fruit of your labor." He paused for a moment before he said, "I like you, kid, if you want to make some extra on the side, come look for me."

Takuma tilted his head, confused. Enomoto flashed him a look but didn't say anything and walked away, leaving Takuma with a tap on his shoulder.

That day, Takuma exited the LRC leaving behind two applications: Trash talking: The verbal art of mental victory, and Lockpicking: Locks are begging to be opened.

One for work and one just for fun.

———

.

"Thank you for coming," said Iruka as Takuma sat down across the table from him. They sat in the same hall Takuma had first met Iruka during his first C-rank mission.

"It's okay, sir," said Takuma, greeting Iruka. "You said you wanted to talk to me about something important."

It was a surprise for Takuma when he found a pigeon knocking on his window with its beak as he was washing his dishes on a Sunday afternoon. He recognized the pigeon to be one of those carrier pigeons trained by the messenger towers around the Hidden Leaf. When he slid open the window, it was as he thought as he found a letter scroll written in the Hidden Leaf shorthand system.

Fortunately for Takuma, he had a lot of practice in his shorthand skills (it was all that Maruboshi used when they exchanged letters.)

To his further surprise, Takuma wasn't expecting to get a letter from Iruka. The letter was short and only asked to set up a meeting. Takuma accepted and sent the pigeon back with his reply. He guessed what the meeting could be about but thought he was being too optimistic.

"Are you familiar with the concept of team leaders?" asked Iruka.

It seemed being optimistic was fine from time to time.

"Chunin or experienced genin leading a team of genin for C-rank missions…. Or, Jonin or experienced chunin leading a team of chunin for B-rank and even A-rank missions," said Takuma. He was well aware of it.

Iruka nodded, "Correct. Currently, I'm in the process of working on forming my team. I was impressed by how you handled yourself on the mission… and because of that, there might be a spot for you on the team…. Are you interested?"

Takuma silently took a breath. He felt his heartbeat rise up gently. This was it. He didn't think it would come this quickly; he had thought it would take another half year if not more, and that he would've had to go through multiple chunin or even genin to get a chance.

But here it was. A chance.

Takuma steadied himself immediately. A chance was all it was. It would only mean something if he could make something of it.

"I'm wholeheartedly interested, sir," Takuma said.

"Good, then you wouldn't mind answering some questions, would you," said Iruka, taking a scroll from his person. Iruka spoke as he read the scroll, "While I was impressed by your performance, I see that your academy scores don't reflect the same. Why is that?"

Takuma didn't answer the question immediately. There was no need to blurt out an answer without thinking. He gave it a thought before saying, "I have no excuse for my poor performance during my academy days. It was a folly on my part, and it cost me. However, you will find that I have worked on myself to be the shinobi that sits before you today. I won the basic training tournament, never had an infraction on my record in all the missions I have completed to this day, and you have personally seen my performance during the mission."

Iruka looked back down at the scroll, which supposedly had intel on Takuma, his expression not giving away anything. Takuma didn't know if Iruka liked his answer or not.

"You say you've improved, and I'll agree that you have, but others who were better than you from before have improved as well. There are genin who are older than you, who have been working on themselves longer than you— what puts you apart from others?" asked Iruka.

Takuma took out a scroll of his own and placed it in front of Iruka. "That's what sets me apart from others," he said.

Iruka looked intrigued as he opened the scrolls, but as he read through them, his eyes widened. "You know all of this?" asked Iruka.

Takuma nodded, "I know every one of the skills on that scroll. From foraging for food to tailing someone, I can do everything on that list."

Iruka blinked and continued to read the scroll for a few more moments. "Do you always have this scroll ready with you?"

"Of course not."

"… Then you prepared this for today?" an expression of realization came over Iruka's face as he spoke. "You knew this was going to be an interview?"

Takuma shrugged with a hint of a smile.

Iruka leaned back into his chair with a small sigh.

"Very well… Genin Takuma," he smiled, "welcome to the team."

The smile widened on his face as Takuma said,

"Glad to be here."