By noon of the same day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were leaving the village as well, following Genma down the opposite path at the crossroads that Team 7 had taken.
Their mission was not an escort; it was border patrol.
"After hearing all of Kurenai-sensei's stories about escort missions, I'm quite relieved," Hermione mumbled.
Genma sighed. "Sad but true, even if Kurenai-chan tends to exaggerate when she gets worked up."
They were to head West from Konoha, to relieve the team currently patrolling the border that the Land of Fire shared with the Land of Bamboo and the Land of Fens.
"Er, what's a fen?" Ron asked.
"It's a type of swamp," Hermione replied.
Genma nodded. "We'll be a few days getting there, since you're all still getting used to tree-jumping. We'll relieve the Konoha squad there, make friendly contact with our allies from Kusagakure in the Land of Bamboo, and specifically avoid unfriendly contact with any ninja we may see from Amegakure, which is situated in the middle of the Land of Fens."
"Do you expect trouble?" said Harry, who had noted his tone.
Genma chewed his senbon. "Not particularly," he said at last. "Ame is a minor, but highly industrialized village. They are not currently allied with any other village, major or minor, and are in general very isolationist. Thus, they don't take kindly to foreigners 'trespassing' on their land, no matter the reason. We'll be patrolling well back from that border, so that if we do meet any Ame ninja, it'll be very clear who is on what side of the line.
"Those two countries, along with the Land of Waterfalls—which contains another ally of ours, Takigakure—form the line of border states between the Land of Fire and our traditional enemy, the Land of Earth."
"That's who Konoha fought in the last war, right?" Ron asked Genma.
"Yes. I don't expect any incursion from Iwagakure, since they would have to cross through Kusa's or Taki's lands to easily do so. They won't cross Ame, just like we won't," Genma added. "So make no mistake, while I don't expect trouble, this is an important border. This is a real mission and I expect you all to treat it as such."
They all nodded determinedly, and Genma grinned. "Good. Now, let's see how you're all doing with tree jumping." With that, he leapt up to the lowest branch of the nearest of the Land of Fire's characteristically enormous trees, and they all followed him. The process involved channelling chakra to the leg muscles to make the jump, aiming correctly so as not to overshoot or accidentally brain oneself on the branch itself, then channelling a precise amount of chakra to the feet in order to stick to the branch upon landing. Ron and Hermione both made the jump correctly, though Ron's foot slipped upon landing and he staggered.
Harry, unfortunately, failed to jump quite high enough and had to quickly channel chakra to his hands, which he slapped against the branch before he fell the ten meters back to the ground. Hanging from the branch by this skin of his palms was neither easy nor comfortable, so Harry pulled himself upward as best he could until he could clamber onto the branch properly.
Genma clacked his senbon. "A little more force on the jump, Harry-kun," he said unnecessarily. "You did a good job catching yourself, though. Otherwise, you all did well. We'll travel like this for as long as you're able, but don't push yourself past your limits." They all nodded again, and set off.
It took two days to reach the correct border. Genma was very pleased with their tree-jumping progress, and told them so.
The forest ended a short way from the border of the Land of Bamboo, so they had to cover the last few kilometers to the meeting point on foot. The border was marked by a tremendous canyon, at the bottom of which lay a great river. Genma continued their geography lesson as he led them north at a jog, following the crevasse. Finally, they arrived at Tenchi Bridge, which Genma said was the only standing bridge that still crossed the ravine. The only other bridge that had been built to cross the distance had been further North, and it had been utterly destroyed in the previous Shinobi World War and never rebuilt.
There, at Tenchi Bridge itself, Genma greeted the team they were relieving, which had been there for two weeks. He presented the official red-sealed scroll from the Hokage, indicating that the orders were genuine, and saw them off. After their allies were gone though, the Hogwarts students could hear Genma mumbling about no-name, ambitionless chunin squads still taking simple C-ranked missions.
Shortly thereafter, they were joined on the bridge by another squad of ninja who approached from the Kusa side.
"Hello," called what would have been the largest man any of them had ever seen, were it not for Hagrid, approaching with his hands visible. The three smaller figures behind him did likewise, and they paused a few feet away.
"Hello," Genma drawled back. "Our opposite numbers, I see."
"Yes, we'll be here for another week." He extended an enormous hand, which Genma shook. Then he cocked his head, taking in Genma's appearance, and added, "I remember you from the war."
Both jonin gestured for their genin to step forward.
"To introduce myself properly, I am called Shiranui Genma, jonin of Konohagakure; these are genin Potter Harry, Weasley Ron, and Granger Hermione," said Genma, whose pronunciation of their names was spot-on by now. "This is Makuragi Kousei of Kusa." The three students understood Makuragi as 'Sleeper', which was apparently some sort of title. The word Kousei did not translate, evidently being the large man's name.
Each of them bowed politely as they were named, murmuring, "It is nice to meet you," as they had been taught.
The other jonin's eyebrows rose at the foreign names, but he made no comment. Instead, he bowed himself, and answered formally, "It is good to meet you; I am called Kousei Benneki, jonin of Kusagakure; these are genin Juujiro, Shiore, and Karin. I see you remember me as well, Hawara." This time, the translation charm supplied 'Laughing Blade', which seemed appropriate for Genma. "Well met, all of you," Kousei finished.
Genma's eyes lingered on the last Kusa genin, Karin, who had long auburn hair and reddish-brown eyes. Pushing her glasses back up her nose, she flushed a little. "What is it, jonin-san?"
"You remind me of someone that I used to know," Genma said quietly. "She had exactly the same hair. May I ask, do you have a clan name?"
Karin's eyes widened, then narrowed, and she shook her head. Genma smiled disarmingly and returned his attention to Kousei. "We'll be in this area for today before we start our patrol. May we invite your squad to supper, Kousei-san?"
Kousei bowed his head in assent. "We would be honoured, Shiranui-san. We will meet you at sundown."
"We have not yet set up a camp," Genma said. "I will meet you here to lead you back."
Kousei smiled. "That will not be necessary, Shiranui-san. We will be able to find you. By all means, please conceal yourselves well; it will be an excellent opportunity for us to practice."
As the Konoha team left, Genma felt eyes on his back. Glancing behind him, he found Karin's gaze boring into him. He gave his usual smile and put it out of his mind. Though, she really did look damn like Kushina-hime…
Harry and Hermione were sparring when the sun set, while Ron helped Genma prepare dinner for eight. Their form had improved to the point where they were able to spar at full battle-speed, though Genma forbade them from using chakra to spar while in the field. Neither noticed immediately when the red-haired Kusa kunoichi Karin led her squad into the Konoha encampment before the sun was even fully down.
Hermione slipped around Harry's palm-thrust, and turned on her heel to step outside his guard, directly to his side. She braced her hip against his, then laid a hand on his still-outstretched arm and pulled, which forced him to continue his forward motion in a half-circle around her. After two steps, when his balance was fully dependent on his momentum, she lifted both their arms and drew his upper body backward. His legs continued forward, and she pushed gently to force Harry to the ground on his back, tapping at his throat with her right hand for the point.
"Enough, you two," Genma called, as Ron sat back, rubbing his stomach. "Dinner's up."
Hermione pulled Harry to his feet, and the two of them joined the others around the fire as night began to fall in earnest.
"I must admit that I'm impressed," Genma said as he passed a plate to Karin. "I personally covered our tracks as well as I could, and you still found us with no trouble. Not to mention we're almost a mile from the river."
Karin glanced at her Jonin-sensei, who nodded. Turning back to Genma, she boasted, "I could sense you even from there; Kousei-sensei expects me to specialize in tracking."
Genma's eyebrows rose high on his forehead. "If that's true, then I have to agree. If I ever need someone tracked, I'll be sure to remember to send for Kusa." Then he grinned, and added, "Not that we don't generally do that anyway. Kusa has always been known for talented sensors. My genin squad's sensei once ignored a warning from a Kusa sensor-nin; I am sorry to say that it was a mistake she did not survive."
"I thought your sensei was that Zankyou-sama, Genma-sensei," Ron said curiously.
"Uragiri-sensei was my second mentor," Genma corrected. "He trained my original genin squad for the month or so after the mission I'm talking about, until the next Chunin Exam, at which all of us were promoted. Out of the three of us, only I continued to work with him. I was shortly joined by two other talented shinobi who have also, unfortunately, passed away: Uchiha Shisui and Uzumaki Kushina."
"Uzumaki!?"
The cry of surprise came from Karin, who leapt to her feet and began tugging Genma's hand like a small child. "Did you say Uzumaki? Uzumaki Kushina is in Konoha?"
Genma's eyebrows were near his hairline again, but his students could detect a glint of satisfaction along with the sorrow in his eyes. "Kushina-chan was a Konoha kunoichi until her death during the Kyuubi's attack twelve years ago," he clarified.
Karin dropped his hand and slumped to the ground. "My mother was right," she whispered, tears starting in her eyes. She looked up at Genma, and elaborated without being prompted.
"I lied to you earlier when you asked if I had a clan name," she said, with no hint of shame. She dragged down one sleeve of the jacket she was wearing, revealing a familiar red spiral on the sleeve of her undershirt. "Though I don't use it in Kusa, my family's traditional clan name was Uzumaki; my mother was one of the refugees of the destruction of Uzushiogakure."
Her voice, which had been steadily gaining in force, was suddenly extremely bitter. "She tried to come to Konoha with the rest of the refugees, but they were turned away, because Konoha feared that taking them in would bring reprisals, just as the Second Shinobi World War was finally winding down. She appealed to the guards that rebuffed her, claiming sanctuary in the name of the ancient alliance between Konoha and Uzushio, but was never acknowledged. She came to the conclusion that there were no Uzumaki left in Konoha, and moved on.
"She eventually settled in Kusa, where she was not allowed to become a kunoichi, and where she met my father, a career genin until his retirement from service. Both of them died in the final days of the Third Shinobi World War, when retreating Iwa forces burned our village to delay the platoon pursuing them, and I was taken to Kusa itself by those who found me. If I had known that there were living Uzumaki in Konoha…"
She trailed off, shutting her watery red eyes. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all glanced at each other, and Genma met Harry's eye. Harry took a deep breath, and said as cryptically as he could, given the foreign shinobi present, "I told him that we knew that night before we left, Genma-sensei. I mentioned that you knew his predecessor, but not that we knew who it was. Still, it's his name. I think he'd want to know." Ron and Hermione nodded earnestly.
Genma considered this for a long moment. While no one in Konoha apparently connected Naruto to Kushina, it was probably because Kushina-hime had not used her clan name much after the destruction of Uzushio, for fear of further kidnapping attempts such as she had faced in her youth. Combined with the fact that the history of Uzushio was no longer taught in the Academy for whatever reason, most people in Konoha seemed to be under the impression that Naruto had been given a family name at random, rather than to assume he in any way deserved it. Fools. Still, Harry was probably right—Naruto would be overjoyed to discover he had family, however distant. Seeing as Kusa was an ally of Konoha, there was probably no reason not to tell Karin about Naruto. He supposed it would have to go into his report to Hokage-sama, but he saw little harm in it. Genma would also now have to tell Naruto that he'd known his mother, but if he didn't reveal her status as the previous jinchuuriki, there was unlikely to be a problem with that, either. Finally, he gave a short nod, causing Harry, Ron, and Hermione to grin at each other, happy to have won a battle on their friend's behalf.
"If you are planning to attend the upcoming Chunin Exam in Konoha," Genma said to Karin, with a half-glance to acknowledge a nod from Kousei that they were, "Then you may want to keep an eye out for a short, loud blond boy near the ramen stand in town."
Karin's eyes widened as she realized what Genma was saying. "You mean…?"
"Kushina-chan had a son, Naruto, who carries her last name," Genma acknowledged. "For various reasons—similar, I think, to your own reasons for not using your family name—Naruto was brought up unaware of his familial connections. I will be certain to sit down with him and tell him about his mother and his clan when we return to Konoha so that he can look forward to your visit. He was raised in an orphanage until he was able to live on his own, so I think that he would be thrilled to meet you, Karin-chan."
Seemingly unable to muster words, Karin just nodded and got slowly to her feet. She rejoined her team and ate dinner silently, and only showed a genuine emotional reaction again when her teammate Juujiro began pestering her about "sulking". At this, she exploded, shouting that she was not sulking and that she was not still crying and that she would not hesitate to pound his face into the dirt if he didn't LEAVE HER ALONE!
Kousei restrained her, bowing hastily, and the rest of the team beat a hasty retreat, thanking the Konoha-nin for the meal as their jonin-sensei dragged their teammate away.
Genma, however, had a wider grin on his face than they had ever seen. When questioned, he said only, "Now I'm convinced she's related to 'Shina-hime," before ordering Harry and Hermione to clean up, since Ron had helped him make dinner. Tonight, Harry provided the water using Gyoushuku no jutsu, which Hermione had taught to him and Ron per Kakashi's and Genma's suggestion. Neither of the boys were as good at it as Hermione, but both of them could at least use it.
Genma insisted they keep at it, so that they didn't overspecialize in their own most-affine elements…though unlike Hermione, whose talent for suiton was almost equal to doton, Genma didn't peg either of the boys for a water-type, even as a secondary element. In fact, if he had to guess, he would say they would likely both be secondarily fire-users. Still, training of secondary elements was a long way off, and until then, they were going to be learning E- and D-ranked jutsu of all elements.
After a short lesson on tactics around the campfire—pursuant to Genma's Rule Number Twenty-Five: Don't waste time; which still applied on missions—the three genin drew lots for the night's watches while Genma banked the fire, and began their nightly cooldown exercises and meditation. After fifteen minutes, Ron and Hermione bid the other two goodnight, and headed for their tents. Harry and Ron would be sharing a tent, while Hermione and Genma each had their own.
Harry, who had drawn the first watch, moved out of the ring of firelight in a Southerly direction, at Genma's suggestion. This far in friendly territory, the possibility of danger coming in the night was very small, since South and East lay the greater part of Fire country, North sat Waterfall country, and directly East was Bamboo country, all of which were allied and thus friendly. The closest non-friendly territory was Fen country, South and West from where they stood, unless some Iwa-nin somehow evaded Kusagakure's famous Sensor Patrols.
After a moment, Genma joined Harry outside the firelight, which he had banked heavily enough that, while still warm, it was not as bright, and it would detract far less from their night vision.
"Interesting day," he remarked. "Never thought I'd see Sleeper Kousei with a genin squad…though a few months ago I'd have said the same about myself."
"Sorry to be such a burden to you," said Harry in mock-outrage. Genma just chuckled.
"Did anything else interesting happen the other night?" he asked Harry. "Besides chatting with Naruto and detecting an ANBU. Good work on that, by the way."
"Thanks," said Harry, pleased at the genuine praise, so much more gratifying to him than any headpat or concession he got for his fame. "After talking to Naruto, I went for a walk to clear my head. I ended up visiting the Uchiha Compound."
"I don't suppose Uchiha-san was in any fit state to meet you," Genma said after a moment.
Harry shrugged. "Not really. He hid it pretty well, though, and invited me in. Once we got back to his house, he told me a little about that night."
For the third time that day, Genma's eyebrows were in danger of vanishing beneath his bandanna. "To my knowledge, he's never spoken about the Incident in detail to anybody; not even the psych-medic-nin that was assigned to him."
Harry nodded. "He's been bottling it up a long time," he said simply. "He wasn't ready to talk about it back then, and by the time he was, he felt like there was nobody to talk to. And a lot of people in the village—meaning civilians and shinobi—seem to expect incredible things from him. Having experienced that myself, I can tell you that it's not fun."
Genma nodded, accepting the statement as given, and let Harry continue.
"Apparently the Uchiha were disliked to the point that the funerals were poorly attended, which also had an impact on his failure to reach out to anybody. He told me about how he had to clean basically the entire compound himself, since nobody else would come in. I think he repairs the houses as best he can, too, in what time he has between training.
"Anyway, he told me about the Incident, and his brother's last words to him: that he had to get stronger, alone, and avenge the clan. I asked him about that, and he sort of collapsed on the table. When he raised his head again, he was crying blood and his eyes were Sharingan." Genma appeared to be concealing a look of shock with difficulty. "I got him cleaned up, carried him to bed, and he passed out," Harry finished. "After I met with you and Lizard on the roof, I went back to see if I needed to wake him up in time for his mission, but there was no need. I walked him to the gate and saw their team off. I hope their mission is going as well as ours," he added, smiling.
"So far, Harry-kun. So far," said Genma. Some might regard that as tempting fate, but Genma's Rule Number Eight ("Prepare for everything, before it is too late to prepare for anything") demanded that they acknowledge the possibility that something could go wrong—as it could on any mission. Superstition was no excuse for being unprepared.
Harry and Genma discussed Sasuke for a little while longer, and Harry recited Sasuke's explanation of his first-stage Sharingan, before the conversation turned back to Naruto. As Harry had predicted, Genma was not especially pleased to hear that Naruto was clad in orange once more, though his reaction was as understated as one might expect from the laid-back jonin:
He had drawn himself up indignantly, taken a breath as if to shout or curse…then exhaled again, and sighing, "Ah, well. Not my student; not my responsibility. Hell, I'll just think of it as stealth training. Maybe I should get myself an orange jumpsuit, too, so I don't get rusty."
"I did make sure he brought some other clothes with him on his mission," Harry assured Genma.
"That's about the best we can hope for, it seems," Genma said. "Little hope he'll actually wear them, though, if we're honest with ourselves. Anything else of note before your watch ends?"
"Well," Harry grinned. "Tomorrow is my birthday."
"Happy early birthday then, Harry-kun. You'll be…fifteen?" he guessed. Harry nodded. "Go on and wake Hermione-chan for her watch then," Genma said, revealing that he had been paying attention to their lots earlier. "Remember to practice your Occlumency before you go to sleep, but don't stay up too late. Sleep well and wake."
"Happy birthday, mate," was Ron's greeting the next morning, as he pulled open the tent flap and passed Harry a piece of toast topped with a fried egg.
"Thanks," Harry yawned, clambering out of the tent and taking a bite.
"Your present's back in the village, so you'll have to wait a bit for that," said Ron.
"No problem," Harry assured him, accepting a hug from Hermione as he warmed his hands over the coals remaining from the fire.
"Morning warm-ups, deshi! You can get your morning jog in by running to the canyon and back." Genma called from within his tent, making no apparent motions to get out of it. The three of them looked at each other, then set off, chuckling.
When they arrived back fifteen minutes later, it was to find Genma shaking his head. "Still slow, brats," he told them, though his ever-present smile took the sting from the criticism, as it always did when he knew they were taking their training seriously.
"It was only a jog, sensei," Harry shot back.
"Don't you get smart with me," Genma chuckled. "You all do need to improve your speed. Speed is the best offense, the best defense, and the best utility: it doesn't matter how strong the enemy is if they can't hit you, doesn't matter how strong you are if you can't hit them, and doesn't matter either way if you're late to the battle."
"Yes, Genma-sensei," they chanted.
Their sensei merely snorted. "I wish Minato-sama were here to show you brats some tricks. You'd all be begging me for speed training."
Genma made himself some food as they finished their morning exercises and packed away the tents. Then he used Gyoushuku no jutsu to extinguish the coals, and Wana no jutsu to carefully bury them. They all swept through their campsite briefly to ensure they left no trace that they had been there, then set off North. They would head this way for perhaps a day, simply to confirm that there had been no unaccounted border crossings, then turn South again and spend the next ten or so days patrolling the Fire-Fen border. At the end of their two weeks, they would return to Tenchi Bridge to meet their relief team, and head back to Konoha to report.
Genma's lecture as they sped North was about the Third Shinobi World War. "If I had to guess, I'd say that the Iwa-nin that torched Karin's old village were stragglers fleeing Minato-sama's last offensive. We'd always known he was a powerful ninja, but that was when he really cut loose…"
"What happened?" Hermione prompted him.
Genma sighed. "I told you that the only other bridge across the ravine into Bamboo country was destroyed during that time period, to cut off Iwa's supply lines—Hokage-sama assigned the mission to an elite team of jonin who had trained under Minato-sama himself."
"You mean Kakashi's squad?" Hermione pressed.
Genma nodded. "The same mission where he lost his eye. Bear in mind that although I have seen the official reports, I also heard this story from Kakashi-taichou one night at the bar—and in case you're wondering, it's a rarity to see him there." After a moment, the suffix -taichou registered to the genin as 'captain', something they had heard before from members of ANBU.
"Anyway," Genma continued, "on their way to destroy Kannabi Bridge, Minato-sama delegated the mission to Kakashi and headed to the front lines himself to join the skirmishing. When a handful of survivors of that first skirmish brought word that the famous Namikaze Minato was on the front lines, Iwa rallied and sent an entire regiment to that front. Minato-sama is said to have killed nearly all the enemy nin himself."
All of them simply stared.
"Meanwhile, though, Kakashi's squad was ambushed, and one of them was captured, probably to lure out Minato-sama. The way Kakashi told it, he and his Uchiha teammate disagreed on what to do. As I've told you, when he was younger Kakashi was a stickler for rules and regulations, a relic of his own haunted childhood; he wanted to continue on their mission to destroy the bridge. Eventually he relented and helped rescue his squadmate, but took an injury to the face and lost his Uchiha teammate. Minato-sama, already pursuing the fleeing Iwa-nin, arrived in time to save the remaining two, and together they wiped out Kannabi Bridge behind the retreating enemy. The Tsuchikage began pressing for surrender terms soon afterward, and Sandaime-sama, having already decided to name Minato his successor, accepted. The peace talks were settled in Konoha, though admittedly not without further incident."
"He killed a thousand people?" Hermione repeated in a high-pitched voice. "By himself?"
Genma hummed in thought. "Reasonable estimates put his personal count for that battle at closer to eight hundred. Despite what Iwa likes to claim, he was not the only one fighting. One thousand to fifteen-hundred would be closer to his count for the entire war."
"I don't think even You-Know-Who killed that many people…" Ron said weakly.
"This was in open war," Genma emphasized. "He was a soldier. He killed men who were invading his land, attacking his comrades, and killing his countrymen. When an enemy surrendered, he moved on. And Minato-sama never harmed civilians. Ever. There are many accounts of him ordering a ceasefire if he found that there were noncombatants on the battlefield. This is in spite of Iwa repeatedly targeting our medics and burning farmland both here and in Bamboo."
Harry just shook his head. He understood what Genma was saying; he could even say he understood Minato's actions…but the idea of taking a life, even a Death Eater who attacked him, just didn't sit right with Harry. He wondered vaguely if Professor Dumbledore had ever killed anyone. Sensing their collective discomfort, Genma dropped the subject and let them be for a few hours.
When the party stopped for lunch, the conversation turned to elemental ninjutsu training. As they all unpacked their food, Genma explained how they would train to refine their control—they all leaped high enough to pluck leaves from the tree under which they sat, Genma actually tearing off an entire branch.
"You all recall the test with the chakra-paper. By focusing your chakra correctly, you will be able to recreate the same effect with the leaf. This will require you to actually transform your chakra into your element under your own power, rather than relying on the paper to reveal it."
Genma held up a leaf between his first two fingers, and a moment later it drooped over, heavy and dripping with water. He dropped it and plucked another from his branch. This one crumbled to dirt, which Ron then had to brush off his jacket. Genma's third leaf burst into flames, burning down to his fingers before he shot a narrow jet of water out of his mouth at it. He plucked a fourth leaf.
"Just a moment," he mumbled through clenched teeth, his senbon rigid. "I have to work harder for the last two."
After about twenty seconds, the leaf crinkled and crumpled, like Harry's chakra paper had. Genma's fifth leaf wavered for a almost a full minute before it slowly began to tear itself in half from the top.
"Mmm. Looks like I need more practice myself," Genma mumbled. "Anyway, that's what you'll be trying to do. You three, cup the leaf between both your hands, and start by focusing your chakra like you do for the leaf-spinning exercise you've already mastered. Then, concentrate on changing the nature of your chakra. Imbue it with the characteristics of your element; for instance, water chakra is fluid and cool, like a cloth or thread, able to be as soft as silk or as strong as wire. What characteristics do you think your elements may possess?"
"Asuma-sensei says wind chakra is narrow and fine, like the sharpest blades imaginable grinding against one another," Ron said immediately.
"So Earth chakra would be…dry and…solid like stone?" Hermione suggested.
"And lightning would be harsh," guessed Harry, "and sort of…charged? Like the air before a thunderstorm."
"I think that's a good start, in every case. It also helps that you know the goal you're shooting for, since you've already done the paper test. All of you, bear in mind, this is not going to be easy. This exercise is meant for chunin, with years more practice regulating chakra. You boys also need to be careful practicing this if you're not in a position to get some medical attention: uncontrolled wind chakra will cut your hands instead of the leaf. Lightning chakra can numb your nerves like when you misuse your Dengekishu no jutsu, Harry-kun; in fact, that is essentially the effect you are trying to replicate, except without hand signs to focus. You understand?"
They all nodded, and began trying to focus enough chakra between their hands as they set out North again. Genma carried the branch with him on the off chance any of them needed a new leaf that day. True to his word, Genma himself spent the time practicing with wind chakra on his own leaves, causing them to cut themselves in different ways. He occasionally switched to lightning chakra for more practice, or one of the elements he was already proficient with, as if to set an example of what they should strive for.
They set up camp in a tiny clearing in the middle of a small stand of trees near what Genma said was called No-Man's Isthmus—referring not to a true geographical feature, but to the narrow band of neutral territory formed by the farthest reaches of Waterfall and Bamboo. This, he said, was where Earth and Fire countries stood the closest, and thus the place where anyone wishing to avoid the strenuous patrols within the border countries would try to speed across. After another geography and tracking review, he informed them that they would spend tomorrow scouting the area for signs of crossing, before retracing their steps Southward.
None of them made any progress with their elemental transformations that day, that night, or the next morning. Genma kept up a steadier flow of advice and encouragement than ever before, reminding them again and again that they were learning elemental control years ahead of their peers, and providing what pointers he could.
In essence, Genma explained, what they were learning was how to replace hand seals with precise control in order to increase their efficiency. As they ought to know by now, hand seals caused chakra to be moulded a certain way, resulting in a jutsu. The main portion of that moulding process was to cause the two main types of chakra transformation: shape transformation and nature transformation. By channeling chakra in bands across the hands and imbuing them with a lightning nature, the Dengekishu no jutsu was created.
However, if Harry mastered transforming his chakra into its lightning nature on his own, he could eliminate two of the three hand seals he currently needed to use Dengekishu no jutsu, retaining only the third which dictated the chakra's shape transformation. Theoretically, if Harry learned to manipulate his chakra's shape precisely enough, he could actually perform the jutsu without seals.
But, Genma then hastened to add, perfecting shape transformation was even more difficult than learning to manipulate chakra's elemental nature. Even senior jonin could often only eliminate the seals needed for the elemental transformation, and then only for the elements they had mastered, such as how he himself could spray water from his mouth to later use for suiton jutsu.
"But sensei," Hermione had interrupted him at this point. "During our spars you've used Shunshin no jutsu without any seals."
"Ah, you noticed that," Genma grinned. "Yes, indeed. Shunshin no jutsu is an interesting case. Despite requiring precise control and a not unappreciable amount of chakra, the technique actually does not require any chakra transformation. The tiger seal is traditionally said to be used for Shunshin, but all that it does in that case is help to focus and draw sufficient chakra forth, the same way a learner might first gather their chakra before an attempt to wall-climb or waterwalk.
"As for why I use it so well, perfecting the Shunshin is a staple of Uragiri-sensei's training. He can be…very insistent, and training with Uragiri-sensei can get very painful if you don't pick up what he's trying to teach quickly. At least, that's how he was during the war, but as far as I know, that's the only time he's ever mentored any other nin. But nobody took to Shunshin like my teammate Shisui, who mastered the skill to such a degree that he seemed to simply dissolve from view, even in full daylight. He was even entered in the Bingo Book as 'Shunshin no Shisui' before his death."
"Will we be learning Shunshin, sensei?" Harry asked.
"Is it going to be painful?" Ron added, affecting a worried tone.
Genma laughed. "Eventually, deshi. You all need much larger reserves before you start to learn Shunshin, or doing it will leave you too tired to actually fight. …Of course, once you can do it, I'm going to make you do it constantly, because it's also a great way to both exercise control and increase your reserves, especially when you have to combine it with other control exercises. In other words, you can look forward to learning it, but you probably won't enjoy it," he finished, smirking.
"Why do you emphasize chakra control so much, sensei?" Hermione asked curiously. "From what we've heard, not even Kurenai-sensei focuses on it to this degree, and I understand that genjutsu requires near-perfect control."
Genma stared at her, working his senbon as though chewing his words. He was probably, they thought, deciding how or even if he would answer.
"I have several reasons," he said finally. "First, and most important, because I personally prize control. Genma's Rule Number Twenty-Four: If you lose control, you're already dead."
Genma waited for them all to nod that they understood. They did so, assuming that this was the only reason he was going to give. Surprisingly, however, he continued.
"Second, because the primary focus of a Konoha ninja squad is teamwork. Establishing the required trust can sometimes take years, especially in peacetime, during which the squad should never take even a single C-ranked mission. You three, however, already demonstrate flawless teamwork without any hesitation, so those drills aren't as necessary.
"Third, because most first-year genin already have practice manipulating their chakra internally, and usually at least an understanding of the theory for manipulating externally from Academy lectures which you three never heard.
"Fourth, because most of those same first-year genin lack the reserves that you three have from mahoujutsu training at your school which they never had. Thus, your training focuses only moderately on building your reserves, mainly by demanding combinations of control exercises which your peers won't start for another six to twelve months."
All told, Genma's answer was far more thorough than they had expected, and they all bowed and thanked him. Once the exercises and lecture had concluded, Genma led the three Hogwarts students out on a sweep of the surrounding area. The border itself was clear-cut for half a kilometer on the Fire side, and Genma showed the squad the most likely places and most efficient methods to inspect the ground and trees all along the border for tracks, refuse, and evidence of campfires.
After lunch, they continued their search for a kilometer or more within the treeline, but the only camp they discovered was the one the previous Konoha squad on this patrol route had used during their own inspection several weeks before—the footprints around the clearing were from Konoha sandals, and Genma additionally wrenched from a tree a discarded shuriken of Fire country make.
The fact that Ron had spotted the site itself, frankly meant that the chunin they had relieved had done a poor job of clearing out. Genma's report would recommend a censure for the careless nin, along with a commendation for Ron.
Late in the afternoon, just as the four of them were returning to break down their tents and clear out of their campsite, they heard a tremendous explosion. The shockwave shook the leaves around them, the ground trembled, Genma nearly dropped his senbon, and all of them stared around in astonishment, and in the students' case, fear.
Then, from somewhere in the trees ahead, they heard a loud voice cry, "I know you're out there; I found your camp, hm! You're not gonna run me in, and I'm not going back where I'm not appreciated! Get lost, unless you wanna be my next art show, yeah!"
A/N: The Kusa genin Shiore is someone who appears briefly in the anime (in a role that would be a spoiler if I identified it); she is not in that role yet (and may never be). Karin, likewise, is exactly what she appears to be: a genin kunoichi of Kusagakure. Juujiro is an OC I created to round out the squad; his name means "crossroads". Their sensei, Kōsei Ben'eki (whose name means something like "greater good"), is also an OC.
As far as I'm concerned/can tell, Karin is probably something like Naruto's second cousin, while Tsunade would be more like his second cousin twice removed (from a completely different branch of the family).
Hermione puts Harry on his ass with the version of Munetsuki Kotegaeshi that I was taught, though she moves to strike the throat as a finish rather than pinning him.
This chapter also established Genma's Bingo Book nom de guerre, which I am pretty proud of.
I'm not going to start holding updates hostage for reviews like I've seen other people do, but it does always warm my heart to see that little number go up, so if you want to leave me your thoughts…it would make me happy!
I also hope to entertain enough people to someday earn a page on TVTropes, for my story(ies) if not for myself. Let that be my stated goal as a fanfic author. (To make a page myself would be vainglorious. I won't do that.)