["absit omen"- let this not be a bad omen]


"Got another mission under your belt, huh, Nara-kun?" Iruka chuckled, stamping the papers with the seal.

"Yeah," Tadashi smiled easily, feeling a bit giddy with the leftover adrenaline from his last job. "I think I've finally worked out a good rhythm. I'm satisfied with my progress, at the very least."

"Good for you," Iruka nodded, and the genuine pride in his expression made it very easy to like him.

Tadashi hadn't been in any of Iruka's classes in the academy. but the older man still went out of his way to check in and talk to him when he was doing his mission briefings. It made the tedious paperwork seem a lot easier— he couldn't bear to let down someone who had such clear faith in him.

Hana insisted that it was all part of Iruka's master plan, but Tadashi knew that she only said that because the academy teacher was always scolding her for being late with her reports. It felt a bit weird, in some ways, especially since Iruka was only a few years older than them, but he had the kind of authoritative air that Tadashi could only dream of.

Regardless, it was nice to have someone who took the time to get to know him. And it only proved his point about the rest of the kids in their academy class— he wasn't standoffish or cruel to Iruka because he actually tried. That was all it took, seriously. A genuine interest was enough to earn Tadashi's respect, if not his loyalty.

"Hey, can I ask a favor?" Iruka said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

Tadashi blinked in surprise, but nodded his consent. "Of course, Iruka-sensei. I'd be happy to help. What is it?"

"Well, you know Kiba-kun, right?"

"Yes, fairly well."

They hadn't had too many conversations— Tadashi's attention was mainly taken up by Hana when they were all in the same vicinity. But he was still one of Hana's beloved younger brothers, so of course Tadashi knew him.

"His team is a combination of tracking and combat specialists, and they've been pushing to get a 'cooler' mission lately..." Iruka trailed off, looking a bit exasperated at his students' mischief.

"So you want me to use them on one of my missions," Tadashi realized. If he thought about it, it wasn't a terrible idea. It'd have to be a more low-profile one than the jobs he'd been taking recently, but that wasn't an issue. It would just give him some time to try out some of his newer techniques in a low-stress environment.

Yeah. That sounded perfect, actually.

"If you wouldn't mind," Iruka said, breaking out into a reluctant-sounding laugh. "Kurenai-san also wants them to get in some last-minute practice before the chūnin exams. I figured that you would be the best person to go to in this case."

"I appreciate the confidence," Tadashi smirked, before the rest of the sentence caught up with him and he blinked, a bit taken-aback. "Wait, is it time for the exams already? It feels like it's only been a few weeks since they graduated..."

"I know," Iruka said ruefully. "Six months goes by a lot faster than you'd think. To be honest, I wish they'd wait until they at least had a full year under their belts, but nothing I say will deter them."

"True enough." Tadashi bowed slightly, taking his leave. "I'll be back to place a request for Team Eight's assistance tomorrow, Iruka-sensei. Until then."

"Thanks for agreeing to this, Nara-kun!" Iruka called after him, his gloom momentarily lifted. "I'm sure that you'll all have a lot of fun!"

(|||)

This was not fun. To be fair, it had started out okay.

"Alright, are the three of you ready to go?" Kurenai-san said, surveying her genin with a critical eye.

"As we'll ever be!" was Kiba's careless reply, a fanged grin on his face. By his feet Akamaru barked in agreement.

Tadashi resisted a smile, walking up to the group with perhaps a bit more pep in his step than usual. He couldn't help it. Kiba was so much like his sister— Tadashi wasn't much of an energetic person himself, but it was a trait that he admired in others.

"Sounds good to me," he said, startling the three genin by silently popping up behind them.

"Ah! Tadashi, what the hell are you doing here?" Kiba said, pointing at him accusingly.

"N-Nara-san," Hinata whispered, eyes wide with shock at his sudden appearance.

"I'm going on this mission with you," Tadashi jerked his head towards the gate, emphasizing his point. "Or, well, you're going on it with me."

"Happy to have you with us, Nara-kun," Kurenai said, her expression warming.

Tadashi gifted her with a smile, nodding gratefully. "Happy to be with you. Iruka-sensei told me that you guys have a lot of potential. We figured that it was about time that talent was put to the test."

"So, we will be using our specialty skills to assist you in this mission, correct?" Shino asked, adjusting his glasses as he spoke. Tadashi suspected that it was something of a nervous habit, but didn't know the younger boy well enough to judge it quite yet.

"Right on the mark. My specialty is find-and-destroy."

"Sabotage," Hinata whispered, still staring directly at him. It was a bit eerie, if he was being honest.

Tadashi just nodded in reply. It was best not to discuss such things so openly, even when they were in relatively safe territory.

Kurenai must have come to the same conclusion, because she was quickly ushering them outside of the village gates.

"We already received the mission scroll for this, but would you mind explaining our specific roles to us, Nara-kun?" Kurenai inquired, the group setting an easy pace through the forest. All three genin were experienced enough to go tree-hopping, thank goodness.

"Alright, here's the plan..."

In retrospect, Tadashi really should have known that something was going to go wrong— they were from Konoha, something always went wrong.

This magnitude of an issue was unexpected, however. But Tadashi didn't think that he should be blamed for this one.

Really, how the hell was he supposed to know that some crazy missing-nin had taken the temple over as a home base? The damn thing was supposed to be abandoned!

This mission was supposed to be easy! Why did no one ever tell him anything?!

"I won't let you take me back," the man said coldly, expression completely unchanging except for a small crease of his brows to indicate his anger. "I'd rather die."

By the mark on his hitai-ate he was from Takigakure, because of course he was. All the crazies came from that area. And he had no eyebrows! What the hell was up with that?

"Look, dude!" Kiba yelled in frustration, leaping to avoid another fireball that was launched his way. "We're not even here for you! We just want to get one damn artifact out of that temple, that's it!"

In normal circumstances, Tadashi would have scolded Kiba for giving the enemy any information on their missions, but in normal circumstances he wouldn't be trapped in a giant fucking web.

God, if he didn't have a reason to hate spiders before, he definitely did now!

Kurenai had disappeared before they'd even gotten to the temple— and sure, Tadashi got it. She wanted to know if her genin were really prepared for the exams, wanted to give them one last test. But before all they'd thought that they'd have to deal with was a couple of booby-traps! Wasn't this a bit extreme?

He cursed, struggling to reach one of his pockets to find something that would get them out of this mess.

Shino was already down for the count it seemed— he'd been knocked pretty heavily in the head during the very beginning of the fight, and had seemed woozy and out of it ever since.

Hinata and Kiba were doing their best, but this guy had to be at jōnin level. Their best just wasn't enough.

Tadashi turned his attention away from the fight, praying that the two of them could hold on for a few seconds longer. He finally managed to wriggle a kunai out of one of his side-pockets, using it to cut his way free.

As soon as he had, he wasted no time in hurrying over to Shino. Thankfully, the kid seemed alright. Mild concussion, probably. Taijutsu was a serious weakness for most Aburame members, and apparently Shino was no exception.

"Are you good to help us out?" he asked seriously, hoping that Shino wouldn't try to play it tough and give more than he was capable of.

"I can help," Shino insisted. Even though Tadashi couldn't see it, he just knew that Shino was scowling in frustration.

"Alright." He would have to take his word for it. This plan was going to require his help. "You go in with your insects— help your teammates distract him. Then I'll pin him down, and you guys finish him. Got it?"

"Understood."

Shino went back into the battle, sending a cloud of insects to block an attack that almost caught Kiba in the back.

Tadashi left them to it, slinking around behind the conflict and taking position. He moved as close to the missing-nin as he dared, trying to make sure that his technique would have the most effectiveness possible.

"Kage-Kubishibari no Jutsu!" Tadashi hissed, feeling a vindictive sort of pleasure when his shadow shot out to bind the man to the spot, an image of a hand slithering up his flesh and choking him.

The man cut off his next jutsu abruptly, gasping for air as Tadashi's grip tightened.

"Hurry!" he called out, voice strained already from the effort it took to simultaneously strangle the enemy and hold him in place.

Out of the three genin racing forwards, Hinata got there first— and the result was so surprising that Tadashi actually dropped his jutsu, gaping.

Did the Hyuga heiress just fucking dropkick a dude? That wasn't quite the graceful trigrams-palm jutsu that he'd been expecting.

"Where the hell did you learn to do that?" he asked later, once they got the prisoner squared away and Kurenai had returned to help them with their wounds and give them her report.

"I just picked it up," Hinata smiled shyly, fiddling with her long sleeves.

"Well, I've gotta say that I'm impressed," Tadashi complimented, graciously ignoring the way her face grew bright red at the praise. "It's not so often that I see someone with such a nice left-hook, either."

"Well..." Hinata bit her lip, eyes darting to him for a quick moment, before she seemed to gather courage and go on. "I met someone, years ago, who gave me some good advice. They told me that if someone was doing something that I didn't like, I couldn't just stand there and take it. So now, if I get into a fight, I won't stop at just trying to hold off my opponents. I'm going to crush them."

I was talking about schoolyard bullies, Tadashi thought to himself, in a bit of a daze, but hell. Don't let me stop you!

"Of that, I have no doubt," he said wryly. The way Hinata beamed at him in reply made this whole excursion worth it.

These kids were ready. After all, he'd passed the chūnin exams pretty easily, and he wasn't even versed in combat like them. And the exam was even in Konoha this year!

There wouldn't be any real competition. Tadashi had confidence in this one.