TangentTwo: Hiruzen's being a bit of a twat.
TangentOne: He's just doing his job, Two.
TangentTwo: Exactly! He's a twat!
TangentOne: I admit, he's one of the worst guys in Naruto's history. A lot of war crimes, nasty ones too.
TangentTwo: Wait... really?
TangentOne: Yeah, he's a fucking maniac. He used to kill anything without an allied headband just because it moved.
TangentTwo: I like him a lot more now!
"Yes, Lord Third?" I ask, moving myself to his desk.
"I just wanted to make sure you're doing okay today. I know you didn't take this reassignment very well." Lord Third admits.
"You're right, I didn't take it well, but I'm doing better. I'll do what you ask of me." I affirm, my features saying the opposite.
"Don't lie to me Yūichi, I can read you like a book." Lord Third demands of me, stranding himself upright.
"Fine, I'm a fucking wreck, in ANBU I had no time to worry about it, now it's all I can think of, I've lost most of those close to me. I refuse to lose more. Yet instead of making sure I don't lose anyone else, you have me sat teaching genin!" I shout, anger bubbling to the surface.
"I'm doing this for your own good, you're a kind man. You need to grieve, not repress it!" Lord Third explains with an aura that demands I concede.
I back down, moving myself into a bow, and hold my head low. Arguing with the Hokage is not going to get me back into ANBU, nor will it allow me to protect those close to me. Being in jail is not a place I can do anything, and this is borderline treason to argue like I am.
"Yes, Lord Third, I'll do as you ask, but I wish to ask something of you." I concede, but I refuse to stop protecting the village.
"What is it?" He sighs, sitting himself down again and picking up his pipe.
"Whenever I'm free, you allow me to help with any mission that needs it. Be it an A-rank mission or a B-rank mission." I try to barter with him, pushing our friendship to it's limit.
"If it'll help you become yourself again, I'll call for you whenever you're free." Lord Third agrees, lighting his pipe and puffing on it. "You may leave, be at the academy at ten o'clock sharp."
"Yes, Lord Third." I finish my bow, and leave, walking back to my apartment to ready myself for teaching.
The next day comes, I am up early, preparing myself. I'm not overly good at teaching, I was only really good at learning. I often found it hard to help my teammates with something they didn't understand but I did. I would normally do it myself. The only thing I could teach well would be fūinjutsu, and that's because of my blood, nothing else. My clan always had great skill with it, and it comes so naturally that parting with the knowledge is also natural to me.
I dress myself, and head for the academy. Today I decide to take the quick route, the ninja highway. Other ninja ran across the rooftops, each head to mission or to other parts of the village. After a few minutes, another Jōnin-sensei fell in step with me, one I recognised from the meeting with Lord Third yesterday. He was the one asking all the questions.
"Morning, Yūichi-san, you looking forward to meeting your genin team?" He asks, the same eagerness present from yesterday.
"Not really, I'm not really a teacher, more of a fighter." I return, much to his dismay.
"Then why are you a Jōnin-sensei? Wouldn't you be best as a normal Jōnin, and sent on missions? Or even be used in ANBU?" The rather short man questions, a look of deep confusion in his eyes.
"Can I ask your name? I like knowing who I'm talking to." I voice, lowering my pace so he can keep up, he's rather slow.
"Oh my name is Kazuo, Fujima Kazuo. I guess you don't remember me from the academy." Kazuo sighs, feeling sorry for himself.
"I don't, sorry, I've had a lot on my mind since then, but you'd be right. I am better suited to being a normal Jōnin or an ANBU." I admit, leaving out my ANBU past.
A few more minutes of idle chatter, much of which I ignored, we arrived at the academy. It was very busy, the graduation was yesterday but the parents of the genin still came to see off their children for the first day of their ninja career. Well for the most of them, some will be back at the academy before the end of the day, another year at the academy waiting for them.
I along with Kazuo, make our way to the sign outside of the academy, looking for the room our genin teams would be in. Most genin were still outside or arriving. I quickly found my name, and left for the room. I made my way to the room, and sat myself at the back of it, waiting for my genin team. I hide my presence and made myself at home, lounging in my chair with my feet on the table. Around twenty two minutes pass before the genin walk into the room, looking around for their sensei.
"Didn't Momo-sensei say our Jōnin-sensei would be here before us?" A girl voices, very confused and looking to her teammates for clarification.
"She did, so where is he?" The other girl answers, slightly taller than the other, she too confused.
The last of the trio looks around, not finding anything out of the ordinary. He moves himself to the first chair he sees and sits down, leaning on the table.
"Well we can't leave until he comes, so you may as well sit down." The boy chimes in, a look of extreme boredom creeping into his features.
"We need to look our best when he arrives, we only have one chance to make a first impression." The first girl states, wiping her clothes down.
"You know it could be a she, I hope it is." The second girl mentions, looking for a role model.
I continue to hide myself. This is their first test, how long until they try to look for me or at least do something productive like train or spar. They wait for another hour, until the taller girl looks directly at the back, and crooks her head.
"I think he's in here." The girl informs her teammates, as they look at her with looks of doubt.
"He wasn't here when we got here, so he couldn't be." The boy retorts dismissively.
"Well he's a Jōnin, so he could've. Let's go look." The shorter girl insists as the other two stand next to her and begin to walk up to the back of the room.
They take their time, each looking rather worried. It takes them twenty seconds before they see me casually lounging and looking directly at them.
"You were here all along and you didn't tell us?" The boy shouts, but quickly quiets himself once he realises who he's just shouted at.
"I was, yet none of you took the initiative to look around the room fully, I expected a little more from you." I say with a hint of dissatisfaction at my new genin.
"Hello sensei, my name is, Ashida Narumi, pleased to meet you." The smaller of the two girls greets me with a bow.
"My name is, Fuyuki Fumi." The taller girl greets, bowing also but with a hint of sadness at her sensei's gender.
The boy says nothing, still angry at me for not announcing my presence sooner and my immediate disappointment at their lack of initiative. The girls next to him both glare, waiting for him to introduce himself. Which after a moment he does.
"The name's Nagasu Hideshi." The boy spits out, much to the horror of his teammates.
"I see you think you deserve my respect, or at least to be treated as a ninja." I quickly summarize, still lounging.
"I do, I may only be a genin but you should still treat me as a ninja, not a child." He swiftly argues, both girls going pink from embarrassment.
"With that attitude, you'd die on your first mission, you earn respect. Right now you've earned fuck all, passing the academy test means nothing unless I pass you also." I retort as fast as the child did.
"That's not fair, Momo-sensei would never allow it!" The boy bellows again, this time he doesn't hide his anger at all.
"Momo-sensei has no say in the matter, nor does Lord Third before you try that angle. If you fail my test, you can look forward to another year at the academy." I inform the boy, his face now turning white, he's regretting his every word since they found me.
The room fell silent. Both of the girls were in complete shock and the boy was looking at me, trying to conjure a way in his mind to say sorry. Not that it would change the fact I would be testing the trio. The silence persisted for a few moments before the small girl spoke up.
"Oh, sensei, you didn't tell us your name." Narumi says, after regaining her composure.
"If you pass my test I'll tell you, if you don't, well you get the idea. Now, all three of you will meet me at training field three, at six tomorrow morning. If even one of you is late, you fail." I finish, teleporting myself back to my apartment with a crimson flash for a night of seal making.
The next morning, I arrive at the training field at five, and make my way to the memorial to grieve for a while before arriving in the field to await for the genin. All three of them early, taking my speech yesterday to heart and ensuring they don't get sent back to the academy. I pull out two bells the second they arrive, and hold them out to them.
"These bells are your target, if you can take one you pass. If not you fail, and you'll report back to the academy after we finish." I lay out the test, now attaching each bell to one of my seal marked kunai.
"Sensei, what are those kunai for? Isn't this meant to be a test genin can face, not an all out fight?" Fumi questions, moving her hand over her kunai pouch.
Interesting, she's shows some initiative. I muse.
I throw the kunai into the surrounding woods, and enter my battle stance.
"In this test, you must locate them, whilst fighting me, and if you don't fight me with the intent to kill, you'll fail." I say simply, pulling out another handful of my seal marked kunai and launching them into the woods also.
All three of them tense up before relenting and entering their standard Konoha taijutsu stances. Hideshi watched each kunai as I threw them. He had the look of victory in his eyes.
"Start!" I shout, all three of the genin launch themselves into the woods, looking for my kunais with the bells.
Much to their future dismay, I never threw the kunai with bells into the woods, I kept them on my person with a simple bait and switch esque tactic. The kunai I threw were not marked with my Flying Thunder God formula, but my sensing formula so I would know what the genin get up to in the woods.
"I'd best join the fray." I mutter to myself, launching myself into the woods after them, tracking them to see how they search and move.
After seventeen minutes of their search, they leave the woods and enter the clearing, each at the others throat.
"Which one of you has the bells? I couldn't find it so one of you must have it!" Hideshi seethes towards his two teammates.
"I haven't got it you dullard, you must have it!" Fumi shouts back, leaving Narumi to stand between them to try and calm them.
"Both of you listen! Perhaps sensei has it, he did enter the woods after us, he could of picked them up to see how we'd react." The short genin tries to reason, but falling on the deaf ears of her teammates.
Fumi and Hideshi both enter their battles stances and start a rather mediocre taijutsu brawl, both in denial at their teammates words. I watch the fight for a few minutes, noting their prowess but still annoyed at the fact they've learned nothing. Only one of the three has the qualities of a Konoha shinobi, yet she's far too weak to pass as well. After another moment or so, I jump to them, and am immediately beset upon by the two genin. Each trying their hardest to beat me, now they see the bells dangling from my belt.
Each punch they throw I dodge with such ease it would look like I wasn't even paying attention to them, which for the most part I wasn't. They've fallen too far from the expectation of Konoha ninja, and at this point, I'm just waiting for them to tire. Which after another minute they do, each falling to a knee with slight exhaustion.
"You all fail, none of you have the skills or teamwork required to be a Konoha shinobi or kunoichi. Report to the academy immediately." I say, dismissing them and preparing to leave, but as I do Narumi walks up to me.
"I tried sensei, thank you for everything you taught us, even if it was only for a morning." She bows and leaves to drag the others back to the academy.
"I did nothing." I mutter to myself, before teleporting myself to my apartment, then head to the Hokage's Office to give my report.
I walk to the Hokage's office, ensuring I have the report ready in my mind so I can get back to creating seals for the rest of the day. I'm close to perfecting a new one and would like to work on it. I see a few other Jōnin-sensei walking with their genin, either taking them for their tests or bonding with them. Either way, at least they had more success than my lot did. That or I was given the bottom of the barrel for students.
I sigh and run the rest of the way to the office, jumping across the rooftops and landing next to the window. I knock and wait for Hiruzen to open the window.
"Yūichi, can I help you? Shouldn't you be with your genin team..? Unless you've already failed them?" Lord Third queries, gesturing for me to enter.
"I failed them, Lord Third. They lacked the qualities of a Konoha-nin and so I believe the best option for them was to go back to the academy." I inform him simply.
"Ah, I understand, is that all you came for? I don't have anything for you to do so until a mission comes up you're on leave. Just remember you'll get another set of genin at the next graduation in around six months." Lord Thirds explains, sitting himself into his chair.
"Yes, Lord Third." I say, leaving through the window I came in, heading home again to make some more progress on my seals.