The house was silent when Genma got up that morning. It normally was, but this was that peculiar silence that meant he was alone in the apartment. His sister had left a note on the fridge next to the chart. (Mom came up with it, after the third near-miss. It listed what the leftovers had in them, and when they had been made). Apparently she would be running semi-classified messages between the intelligence outposts for the next month or so.
The note actually said, "Hey Otouto, Sorry I can't see you off to your team meeting. I left money in the usual place and there are bentos in the fridge for you and your teammates (clearly labeled, of course). Behave for your sensei. Tell him I'll say hi to his kinsman and their other halves for him. Love, Aneki." It was her way of teaching him to look underneath the underneath.
The fact that there was a note meant that she was on a mission outside the village. No note would have meant in-village mission or errands and to expect her home that evening.
The amount of money left in the box indicated the expected length of her mission. It would get him through a month, and he could access the bank account if something unexpected came up. Or, she didn't come home. ("Shinobi have to be pragmatic." Mom looked sad, when she said it.)
The reference to his sensei's family meant the Akimichi, but the "other halves" meant the Yamanaka and the Nara. Altogether, this meant front line intelligence.
The rest he figured out from knowing his sister. Akemi was a new chunin who specialized in speed and precision strikes (assassinations). At her skill-level, the only use for that on the front lines was running messages. She didn't have the security clearance for classified messages, but she couldn't tell him directly what was going on. Therefore: semi-classified (aka, above a new genin's security clearance).
The bentos in the fridge? That wasn't code. Note that they were clearly labeled? Also not code. Assassination specialists who cooked? Liked to build up immunities to the poisons they used. Mixing up who/how much/what people are immune to, was why they had a chart now.
Any spies who saw the note would not gain any useful information from it. It was a careful balance between code and common knowledge. Codes are okay, but they are limited and require changing or they will be broken. But common knowledge is a combination of cultural understanding and realizations taught through time and experience. It is only valid in the time and place a person was raised and taught in.
Or so Genma's sister said. He didn't understand all the words yet, but he thinks he got the meaning. So as he walks to the assigned training ground, senbon between his teeth and bentos in hand, he wonders why his sister bothered with the bentos. After all, his sensei is an Akimichi. Akimichi were known for feeding the people around them, so his sensei would probably feed the team. Maybe Aneki had just felt like doing this for him?
Wondering about the team got him thinking about his teammates. He knew who they were, had been classmates with them for years, but he couldn't say he knew them well. He knew Ebisu-kun had really good scores on the bookwork where Gai-kun didn't. Gai-kun had been the best of their year in taijutsu and was in the top three for genjutsu, and Ebisu-kun had been average. Their skills complemented each other like that. Genma wondered how he fit in. He had always scored above average, but not been particularly notable, just like his mom had told him ("It's all about appearances," she used to say). Genma wishes he could ask her about these things.
Teammates; back to his teammates. Ebisu-kun had always seemed a little stuck up, like he didn't think some of the other kids ("Students, not kids." Mom said. "You are becoming soldiers in wartime. Don't be condescending to your future allies.") were worth his time. He had been okay for group projects and team exercises, but had always wanted to make the rules.
Gai-kun had been… loud, and odd. Nice, and extremely hard working, but odd. In group projects, he had always done more than his share of the work; but it was obvious bookwork was not his strength. Team exercises with Gai-kun had always been awesome. He came at things from a different angle and never gave up; sometimes Gai-kun's team won purely on stubbornness.
Genma knew he could work with both of them, he just wondered if they really needed his skills. He was probably destined to be a solo operative, anyway. That was what his family did. Setting the bento next to him, under the tree, Genma settled in to wait. He had already done his morning warm-ups and wanted to see what his sensei would have them do.
His sensei was really the biggest unknown in the situation. Sure it was common knowledge that Akimichi Chouza-sama was the new clan head. And everyone knew that Akimichi were as fiercely loyal as they were fierce fighters. Genma just didn't have any personal information or experience to work off. He only had gossip ("Unofficial channels, not gossip," Mom told them, "Information is currency, but always check for forgeries.") and what Akemi told him, which was not much better.
Genma just hoped that everyone would get along.
