Ralph panted as he collapsed on to the training field, landing on his back. Lilian sat down next to him while Enzo knelt, trying to catch his breath. They had dashed across town as fast as they could. Ralph considered it pure luck that they had made to the Training Field 15 within the time limit. The Urameshi district was on the far west side of town while the Training Fields were on the out skirts on the Eastern part of the village. Usually, it would be a hour walk. A mild run would cut it down to 45 minutes. They pushed themselves to make it to the Training field 15 in 30 minutes.

Raizen lend against a tree and looked at his pocket watch, tsk-ing, before he commented, “I thought I would have to send you three back for another year of training.” Ralph closed his eyes, breathing hard as he listened to Raizen. His throat felt raw. His mouth was dry. He should have packed some water in his bottle. “However, you made it with a minute to spare. I would like to say I’m impressed, but I’m not. You three need to work on your endurance.” He paused, eying them. “We will start working on that after lunch.”

“After lunch? “ Enzo asked, his voice was raspy. “I thought we weren’t start our ninja training until tomorrow.”

“Perhaps with another teacher,” Raizen admitted, “I’m different. We are going to start it today. I want to see how you three on your skills on weaponry, stealth, and jutsu; testing your knowledge on various topics, etc.”

“Are we going to be starting missions, soon, then,” Lilian asked, breathlessly. There was a note of excitement in her tone.

“Rank E and D, only,” Raizen stated. Lilian wilted and pouted. “But that won’t happen for another week, maybe longer, could be less, depending the progress you make and what kind of skills you already have.”

Ralph sat up and twisted around to face Raizen, glancing Lilian. He didn’t think she would be eager to start missions, already.

“Alright,” Raizen said causing Ralph to turn his attention back to him. “We are introduced ourselves: Name, age, Elemental Affinity, Purpose for being a Ninja, and First Kill.” Ralph blinked. That was unusual list of questions. “I’ll go first.” Raizen announced, “My name is Raizen Watanabe. My age is 34. My Elemental Affinity is Earth, but I can do the other elements. My purpose of being a ninja is none of your business. My First Kill is yes.” He hummed as Ralph tried to process the information provided. It wasn’t a lot. “You, girl. You introduced yourself.”

“Yes, sir,” Lilian replied, “My name is Lilian Sakura. You may call me Lily. I’m 15. I don’t know my elemental affinity. My Purpose for being a ninja is the desire to help my family and village where I can. My First Kill is yes.”

The last response caused Ralph to look at her with surprise. Raizen didn’t look surprise, but he nodded.

“Yes, I remember the Clans sent their heirs to some sort of networking event,” Raizen commented. “I assume you had your first kill there.”

“Yes, sir,” Lilian replied. She looked down into her lap, remembering. “It was an forest creature called a Fawn.”

Raizen blinked, “A Fawn? Well, then, that one is surprising. I thought it would be a squirrel or a deer.”

“That was the plan,” Lilian explained. She looked up at their teacher before she went on, “But we were attacked by one of the local tribes of Fawns and we didn’t have any of the older and more experience ninja to help us. Majority of the Clan heirs took their first kill that day.”

Raizen nodded. “How old were you?”

“13,” Lilian looked glum, “The youngest of the Heirs was 8.”

Ralph felt horrified. A 8 year old already had their first kill? He wondered which clan allowed that to happen. There was a reason why the ninja training age was 16 and not any younger, despite the fact, the Village needed ninja.

Their teacher nodded in understanding. Ralph felt his gaze upon him before Raizen said, “You with the gray hair. In the middle. You are next.”

“I’m Ralph Barkson. I’m 16. I don’t know my elemental affinity. My purpose for walking the ninja path are to gain respect from the village and crave out a piece of the village for myself and the future wife and children I will have one day, protecting them and the village with my life if it calls for it. My First Kill is nope,” Ralph answered the questions.

Raizen nodded and pointed at Enzo, “Last one.”

“My name is Enzo Smith, 16 years old. I have no clue on my elemental affinity. As for my purpose for becoming a ninja, I want to improve my status within the village, for others to stop looking down on me, and do something meaningful then just make weapons and working as a blacksmith like my father. My First Kill is no,” Enzo looked starry eyed as he listed off his purpose of being a ninja.

Raizen looked at him for a long moment before he nodded. “Alright. Since we got to know each other a little bit, we adjourn for now,” he said, “We will meet back here after lunch, say about 1 o’clock. We start our training by testing your knowledge, figuring out your affinity, and working on increasing your physical endurance. I’m sure there will be more add to the list when we come across it, but I have a rough idea what I am working with.” He looked at them. “Until then, Cheerio!”

Ralph saw pieces of bark fall to the ground as Raizen vanished from sight.

“Since we are dismissed for lunch,” Lilian stood up and looked at her teammates, “I will see you after lunch.” She turned and walked away.

Ralph and Enzo glanced at each other before they turned to look after Lilian. Ralph called out, “Hey, do you want us to walk you back?”

Lilian paused, glanced over her shoulder, and stated, “You to up.”

Ralph hurried to his feet while Enzo jumped up. They hurried to caught up with Lilian. Ralph tried to start a conversation, “I know this great restaurant we could get lunch at.”

Raizen watched as his new students left the training field, leaving together, but they went their separate ways once they reached the village. He doubt they would return their home for lunch. Enzo lived on the far side of the village, Lilian lived in the Sakura District, and Ralph stayed in the worst part of the village. If they kept to their routines when it came to lunch, they would find a suitable restaurant within each of their budgets. He smirked.

Lilian’s allowance for doing household chores and other things to help her mom would have cut to mere coppers, instead of the gold pieces she was used to getting. It would be interesting to see her reaction when she realized her allowance had been cut as she entered the Ninja force. If she didn’t make the choice of entering the Ninja Force, choosing to be a kept wife for a suitable husband, she might have been able to keep her allowance until her parents found her a husband, then it would be the husband’s responsibility to give her allowance for the things she sought to do to fill her days, doing. Of course, she would be in charge of her new husband’s household.

He sighed as he bounced from tree branch to tree branch, keeping his students in sight. From Lilian’s profile, she would not like that aspect. Maybe that’s why she chose to enter the Ninja Force, instead of focusing on the future of a Kept Wife. He knew from experience, there were some women who didn’t mind that and filled their days with arranging play dates with the various families they had connections. He glanced to the sky.

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His own wife talked about doing that once she retired from the Ninja Force or during her maternity leave while she adjusted to motherhood. A crocked smile pulled at his face. He was going to be a Father. He glanced down at the teenagers he was put in charge of. He was not looking forward to when his own child was old enough to walk the path of a Ninja.

Raizen shook his head and turned to focus on listening to his students as they entered the village. He paused, waiting to see which direction they would be taking. He heard Lilian comment that she was going to part way with them at the fork. Apparently, she had already planned to meet up with the other Kunoichi in their class over lunch. He raised an eyebrow as Ralph’s shoulders slumped in response, but he hid any disappointment he felt when he spoke about meeting up after lunch. Lilian nodded in response.

A strand of his blond hair fell into his face. He pushed it behind an ear, watching the trio split up. Ralph and Enzo talked animatedly about whatever topic they agreed upon and Lilian walked in the other direction. He hummed, recognizing a problem already. Lilian was not used to dealing other ninja of non-clan status outside the classroom. He got the feeling she only respected him due to the fact he was a higher rank then her, but when it came to the status of Clanship, she probably look down on him. Hopefully, he was wrong. He glanced to Ralph and Enzo to see them walking into a small restaurant and made his decision.

Raizen hopped from the tree branch onto the roof of a nearby building and walked along it, following Lilian. She didn’t bother looking around to see if someone was following her or not. He made a mental note about teaching situational awareness. He continued to follow her until she reached the grill restaurant called The Yukihira Grill. He shook his head.

The Yukihira Grill was one of the most expensive grills in the Bark Village, often catering to the rich whenever they stopped by the Bark Village. Raizen only ate there three times in his life and while it was worth the price, it was a rare treat for himself and his wife. He wondered how Lilian was paying for it. He tried to remember what her profile said about the various family members she may have within the Grill and drew a blank.

Raizen jumped down from the roof top in an alleyway. He tried to avoid landing in the road when he could. He didn’t like causing problems for the merchants when he could avoid it. He walked out of the alley, heading to the grill. He winced, knowing his lunch was expensive, instead the usually ramen noodles he prefer to have on his lunch. His wife would be cross with him as well. It might be best if he remembered to bring home of the Yukihira Grill for her. That might help to lesson her ire.

He walked into the grill and was greeted by the hostess. He nodded at her, saying, “It is just me.”

She nodded. “Booth or table?”

“Prefer a darken booth, near that kunoichi,” Raizen pointed at Lilian’s back, “And don’t inform her of my presence.”

The hostess’ eyes widened before she nodded, in understanding. She looked down at the podium, for a long moment before she commented, “Why are you following Miss Lilian, Mister Ninja?”

Raizen cocked his head to the side, debating on how to handle this. He wasn’t usually questioned by a member of the merchant class. He decided to wing it, “She was assigned to my team, today, and she decided to eat here without her teammates.” He shrugged.

“I see,” the hostess said, “In other ways, you are trying to get to know her without her knowing.”

“In a round about way, yes,” Raizen said, seeing Lilian sitting down at a table with other young women he recognized. It was the other Clan heiresses.

“Alright,” the hostess relaxed, “As long as you don’t hurt Miss Lilian.”

He saw his chance and asked, “Why do you address her as Miss Lilian?”

“Her Aunt is the co-owner of the Grill and the Wife of the owner,” the hostess stated, “As result, there are a lot of us protective of her, despite us being untrained in the Ninja arts.”

So there was a family connection to the Grill. It would mean Lilian could get a major discount whenever she ate here. He nodded, “Like I said, I’m just following her to see why she made the choice in eating without her teammates.”

“Alright,” the Hostess said, “Please, follow me.” She turned to walk from the podium, heading to a booth close to Lilian’s table, but far enough away and in a darken space where Lilian couldn’t see him unless she decided to walk by or he had to get up to use the restrooms. “Your server will be out, soon.”

Raizen nodded as he took his seat, sitting with his back to Lilian. It wasn’t long before the teen girls were gossiping about their teachers. Most of the voices he didn’t recognized, but whenever Lilian spoke, he focused on her voice. There were some complaints of the teachers putting off their training until morning and they wouldn’t able to go on missions for the earliest two to three weeks. Apparently, majority of the teachers wanted to see what their students could do and the Kunoichi didn’t like that.

“At least you have rest of the day off,” Lilian started, “I have to start my training today after lunch.” She fell silent. Raizen presumed she was eating her food while it was still hot.

One of the other kunoichi, she looked like she could be apart of the Orion Clan with her black hair and brown eyes, snorted, “Be glad. You are going to be ahead of us when it comes to getting missions. My teacher, Arwydd, told us she thought we weren’t be ready for a higher mission then E for a month or two.”

“Mr. Kakashi told my team he didn’t think we were able to handle anything he gave us for a while,” there was a pause, “He said he wanted to make sure our endurance will hold out against him before he would allow us to take any mission.”

Raizen held back a laugh. That was the Urameshi for you. That clan enjoyed a good fight and was not afraid to tell you if your endurance sucked or was going to get you killed in the heat of the battle. The waiter came by and took his order. He held a pitcher of clear liquid and he pour it into a wooden cup already on the table. Raizen waited until the Waiter left before he used his spiritual energy to see if the liquid was tamper with in anyway. It wasn’t. He took a small sip to discover it was water. He slowly relaxed. He was being too cautious, but he argued with himself over it, saying it was installed in him for the days of being surrounded by the enemy, not knowing who to trust, or if he would make it back home in one piece.

The kunoichi kept going on, complaining about their teachers already. They were going to be in a rude awakening when the teachers start getting serious. He might have to whisper a few things in their ears about what was being said from the kunoichi. He would have to find time to drop by and watched those training sessions.

“I think Raizen,” Lilian spoke, “said something about testing our knowledge, figure out what our affinity was, and endurance. I don’t remember if he said anything else, though.” There was a pause before she continued, “I hope the afternoon training session doesn’t go past dinner time. Mother wants me to meet the son of another clan tonight. I think she wants to have me married off soon or at least in a betrothal before I turn 17 since I am out of the basic Ninja training, now.”

“Can you blame her?” another kunoichi stated, “We are still dealing with that annoying law, saying once we turn 18, we have to produce 3 kids.” There was the noise of a chair scouting against the floor. “I’m not ready to have kids.”

Someone else spoke up, “I’m not sure if I even want to have kids.” A pause, “At least, now in this village.” Raizen felt a chill slide up his spine. “This village is nothing more then the dogs of war for the White Hall Family. Look at what happened the last time they summoned us for their war. We got slaughtered.”

“Shhh!” another young woman said, “Selma, don’t speak like that. You don’t know who could be listening!”

Selma Baker of Team 10, learning under Eres Roll, the eldest daughter of the Baker Clan. Raizen raised his cup to his lips. The Baker Clan served both the civilians families and the fighting force of the Bark Village through the numerous years of the clan living in the village. They were known for their delicious baked goods, in fact, they held a monopoly over the baked goods. He didn’t know if there was any deaths of the Baker Clan during the Last War or if they have an connections outside the village in the nearby kingdoms. He made a mental note to inform Eres to keep an closer eye on Selma Baker. He hoped it would be something Selma would grow out of soon before the Black Hands found out about her questionable alliances.

He sighed. He glanced at the bill. He felt ill to his stomach. 15 gold pieces. He grimaced as he pulled out his coin purse and paid for the meal, leaving another gold coin as a tip. He stood up and left the restaurant. He still needed to check on his other two students.

It didn’t take Raizen long to find Ralph and Enzo at the Bark Village’s famous ramen stand. He sat on the edge of a nearby rooftop, watching them. The two teens appeared to be getting along. He focused his spiritual energy on his hearing. He smirked. They were talking about the possibility of upcoming missions, how soon they will be able to leave the village to see what was going on in the Kingdom, and what kind adventures will they experience while on the outside of the village. Raizen chuckled. It was refreshing to see someone talking about that.