Hey there! I finally(i.e. really late) got this updated. So sorry for the delay. It seems I am horrible at keeping up with this story lately. I have been busy planning out the team's first C-rank! All the planning and reviewing slowed me down. Nevertheless, here is a new chapter. I hope you all enjoy.
Last time: Ibiki tapped the barrier with a finger, finding it to be a tangible construct. He would go with the flow on this, and not call them out on anything this time. They had showed him some of their skills without much hesitation, so perhaps trust was building. He would affirm their success, then instruct them on the places he saw a need for improvement.
"You two have done well." Shino stared up at him silently. Shikamaru sighed and leaned back, rubbing at his bleeding leg. "Are you able to take down the barrier? That wound needs to be treated, and we will need Naruto to join us." The words were hardly out of his mouth when the boy in question dropped from the trees behind his team and approached. He was limping slightly, and his clothes were damaged. Ibiki frowned at him. Shikamaru had a mirror expression.
"I'll take it down." He offered before Shino or Shikamaru could say anything.
A quick hand seal, and the barrier was down. Ibiki knelt down by the Nara and started to peel back the bloody fabric.
"Hmm, this will need to be cleaned and bandaged. There is no poison, and no stitches needed. Naruto, come here." The blond boy grimaced and walked around the shrine. Ibiki counted it as a win, he was approaching voluntarily. The last time he'd been hurt, ht had resisted any treatment. He must trust the jonin more than previously, which was a good sign. There was a cut on his forehead, a scrape, clearly from taijutsu, on his left arm, and his right and left legs were banged up. There were cuts, and several forming bruises. The boy didn't flinch, but he was holding himself stiffly.
"All three of you will be doing a debrief as soon as we get back to the training area. For now, get up and get moving." The boys did so with no comment. It was part of their routine that Ibiki had set up early on.
If the jonin sensei coddled the genin team under their instruction, what good was the teaching? At first, the three boys had been a bit bitter about the harshness of their training and the lack of time to recover, but after a few weeks of it, they had all started to see the benefits. They were learning to push through pain and exhaustion and function on sore muscles and worn out chakra reserves. As this moment, they were also a bit preoccupied with each other. Naruto kept shooting glances at the other two, and they were taking stock of him as well. They would hold their own meeting back at the base once this was over, or possibly in the morning. If their sensei took them to the hospital, they would be expected back at home. That would make it nearly impossible for them to leave and meet up. Past experience with returning home had made that clear.
Neither the Aburame nor Nara were particularly interested in babying their heirs, but they were concerned with them recovering from training. On the plus side, if one or the other could convince Naruto to go with them, the blond boy would also get to be subtly fussed over. Heaven knew the quiet boy needed it. As the team made their way back through the woods to the village, they passed through a portion of the forest that was torn up. There were trees sporting broken limbs, gashes in the bark. The ground was littered with impact marks and scorch marks. There was mud and broken up remains of earth walls littered around as well. Ibiki raised an eyebrow at the now grinning blond. Shino let lose a low whistle.
"I take it you encountered one or more of the ABNU?" Naruto just shrugged.
"I like pranks still. It was fun to mess around with combining the jutsu I know." Ibiki thought this was a bit more than combining jutsu, and that encountering one or more ANBU should not be considered a time to experiment and play pranks. Nevertheless, it was good to see some humor in the usually quiet and reserved boy. The jonin couldn't forget the terrified child that he, Inoichi, and Shikaku had encountered during the graduation exam.
"Sensei, will this type of thing become a regular part of our training?" Shino quietly inquired. He was feeling bruises forming now that the adrenalin rush was ending. Ibiki gave him a sidelong look.
"I do think it could help our team. Perhaps next time I will also participate. None of you have had direct experience with working under a higher ranked ninja in the field. It would be beneficial for us to start venturing into C-rank missions and more direct team training." Shino nodded behind the high collar of his jacket, and pondered this. He could understand the logic behind needing more training, but he wasn't exactly looking forwards to more stress, failure, or injury.
The party was quiet until they reached their usual spot. Ibiki sat them down on the fallen logs that had become their favored seats.
"Mission report." He demanded in a clipped tone. He glanced at Naruto first. Naruto shifted slightly and deferred to Shikamaru. The Nara blinked back a wince as his leg throbbed.
"The mission was a success. Team Ibiki split into two groups, a decoy and real unit. The unit further split. A single man split and carried the cargo to the drop successfully. The unit continued with the recon portion of the mission. Here are the details gathered." He handed over the scroll and continued. "There were signs of past and recent movement, but only one physical encounter. An ANBU level shinobi was encountered and engaged with the unit. The unit attempted to skirmish, failed, lead ANBU to a preplaced trap matrix and re-engaged there. The skirmish was a clear loss, the unit cut and ran, leaving the ANBU at least temporarily detained. Minor injuries were sustained. The unit proceeded at a high speed to the drop site, confirmed success of drop, and completed the recon portion of the mission. End of report." Ibiki said nothing. Naruto spoke up more quietly and slowly.
"As stated, the unit split, I took the cargo through an alternate route. I encountered two ANBU at the halfway point. I engaged. Jutsu, taijutsu, and kenjutsu were utilized. I sustained small injuries, and inflicted some minor injuries on the enemy. The ANBU were not defeated, but they retreated after a certain point. I proceeded to dodge and lose them after they attempted to pursue at a distance. I laid out a false trail, then continued to the drop point. There were no other encounters. I trapped the drop site and retreated to conduct recon and assess the area." He was still obviously less comfortable talking to the jonin, but the whole report was fairly well done. Ibiki considered the three boys for a moment, putting both sides of the mission together in his mind. He would have them write out complete reports later, and he would be getting the other side from his ANBU as well.
"On the whole, I believe you all did well. You planned out a mission, including multiple variations in that planning. You took a multi-faceted goal and broke it down. There were measures taken to lead away the enemy from you, as well as preparation for fighting them. It was a good effort for a team that is as young as you are." Ibiki wasn't telling them that it was far- far above what the other jonin were doing with their genin. He suspected that they would find out at some point, if they didn't already know. Even if they knew that he was more strict and advanced, they might not know the extent of that. For now, though, it would be best to keep them going at their current pace. If they knew just how far he had pushed them, it could change how they grew. It was also never a good idea to implant the idea of complacency into a ninja. He had seen far to many good men and women make fatal mistakes because they were overconfident.
"Now, we are going to the hospital for a full check of all of you, and then you need to go home and rest. Tomorrow, we will do some light training, and then prepare for our first C-rank." Naruto grimaced at the thought of the sterile white halls, but he knew better than to argue. Shino was also shooting him glances, and if he was correct, the bug user would be dragging him back to his family home after they had gotten out of the hospital. The jonin ushered his charges through the training grounds, and the village to the hospital. The intimidating aura he projected was enough to cow the nurses into putting all three boys in one room, and the doctor- not his first choice- into quickly examining and treating the boys.
Shikamaru only had the one large cut, and it was easily cleaned and closed with jutsu. Shino had only minor injuries, and low levels of chakra. He had a few bandages, and nothing more. Naruto had several cuts, and a burn that had to be treated with jutsu, and one of his shoulders showed signs of partial dislocation. Ibiki scowled at that. He would bet good money that the boy had actually fully dislocated the joint, and just popped it back in during his fight. The jonin had noticed how quickly the blond could recover from injuries.
It was a possible side effect of his status as a jinchuuriki, but the jonin wasn't positive. Due to the secrecy around the blond boy's cargo, he also couldn't ask about it without drawing attention. The other injuries, a set of deep scrapes to both legs and ankles, were easier to fix. Throughout the process, Naruto hardly reacted again. Both Shino and Shikamaru had flinched and then shown relief during their turn under the green healing jutsu. Naruto did not react. It bothered the jonin, but he had to remind himself that the boy, really all three of them, had grown and changed quite a bit in the two months that he had been teaching them.
The jonin took stock of them after the grumbling doctor shuffled out. Shikamaru looked exhausted. Both other boys showed it less, but he could tell that they were also ready for the day to end. The tension in their shoulders, and the way the eyes tracked around the room in patterns, seeking movement or threats belied the calmness they portrayed. Very few shinobi could stand being in the hospital. Ibiki could empathise. He hated being here just as much as the boys did. And right now, they were worn out.
"Go home, get some rest. Tomorrow we will start prepping." He ushered them out of the hospital and watched for a moment to make sure that they were heading away from the training grounds. The Jonin then took off to ANBU headquarters to get a debrief from the team he's had out with them. He was interested to see how the two compared.
After Ibiki left them, the three boys started to separate. Shino grabbed Naruto's sleeve before the blond had gotten more than a step away from him and pulled him towards the path that would eventually lead to the Aburame land. The bug user started to talk quickly.
"I-" Naruto cut him off.
"I know what you are gonna say. I got the memo the first time." He grumbled. The first time Naruto had tried to just go home and lick his wounds, it had caused a huge argument between the three of them. The blond might not like being taken care of, because of the discomfort the attention caused. Oh he enjoyed being with his friends and being safe and cared for. But the focus being on him and feeling like he was taking advantage of Shino or Shikamaru's parents wasn't good.
It had taken the others almost an hour or logic, arguments, and guilting to get the blond boy to accept the offer. Naruto had no desire to repeat that experience, and he was starting to learn that when his team offered him something, they really truly meant well. It wasn't a sign of pity, or some kind of trick. They wouldn't be changing their minds either. Iruka-sensei's help when he graduated, and all the time spent so closely with the two boys had made a huge difference. He was still working on the suspicion and instinct to pull away from others, though. By now it was something of a habit to be dragged off to one or the other's homes if he had any injuries that they considered too much for him to just let them be. Naruto still protested at times, but he mostly went along with the whims of his teammates.
"Shika, can you meet at the base early tomorrow? Or would it be better to wait?" Naruto glanced over his shoulder at the other boy as Shino pulled on him. The Nara sighed and shrugged.
"I that should be fine. I don't know for sure though. Dad has been paying more attention to me lately. I think he suspects that something is off with us. He hasn't said anything, but you know…" The other two stopped.
"Hm, yeah that might be hard then."
"I think before training should work. Ibiki-sensei said we would have an easy day." Shikamaru stretched slightly as he spoke, feeling the effects of their trial mission. "I do think we should take a little bit of a break today." Naruto blinked widely shrugged.
"I might still work on my research and development. I get that you two are tired through." Shino huffed.
"Not everyone can have your stamina. Why? Because bloodlines and other factors do you so many favors that are not afforded to others." Naruto grimaced slightly at the mention of 'other factors'.
"Yeah. I guess. Let's go. I can get being smothered over with faster then." The other two boys snickered at his expense, but dispersed nonetheless.
The Aburame clan lands were calm and quiet. Naruto appreciated that about both his friends' homes. There was none of the loud bustle that encompassed the rest of the village. The lightly forested area was quite relaxing to him. The pair walked in silence, both unwinding from their mission.
When the reached his home, the brunette slipped off his sandals at the porch and stepped up onto the raised walkway. Naruto followed closely. They went around the house to the kitchen entrance. Shino blinked when his mother greeted him. He hadn't been expecting her to be home at this point. Naruto bowed slightly to the woman.
"Hello, thank you for your hospitality." The woman blinked and nodded at him.
"It is nothing to thank me for, why? Because you are always welcome here." The blond knew that, but he still wanted Shino and his family to know that he was grateful for their kindness. After a short conversation where she tutted over how dirty they both were, the boys were safe to continue on to the rest of the house. Shino ducked into his bedroom, and Naruto slipped in to the guest room beside it. There was an extra set of clothes, just a plain yukata and such, that Naruto had been given in the back of the closet. He grabbed it and ducked into the attached bathroom to clean up.
Ten minutes later, he knocked on Shino's door, and poked his head in.
"I'm done, are we doing anything or just whatever?" Shino looked up from drying his hair.
"I thought some time out in the garden might be good. I insist that you leave the theory work out of it for a while. Logically, we need time to rest, physically and mentally. Your research and theories are not restful." Naruto huffed and rolled his eyes. He enjoyed the research, but it was often frustrating when the pieces didn't work together like he expected. He also had trouble resisting trying the new versions of his seals.
"Yeah, I guess you are right. I can take a few hours off." They wandered downstairs and out into a small fenced garden. There were a few decorative trees with deep red leaves that had soft moss growing under them. This was usually where they would sit, partially obscured from view. Today, Naruto flopped onto his back and stared up at the branches.
"Do you think we are ready for C-ranks?" He asked quietly. Shino hummed.
"I don't know. I would like to think that we are more than prepared for such ventures. We have gone up against jonin and ANBU in training, and our own personal developments are rather advanced. That said, we have not faced true opponents, those who actually mean to harm us. There are also more uncontrolled variables out on missions that cannot be accounted for in planning. It will be different, I think." Naruto folded his hands under his head, a typical Shikamaru pose.
"Yeah. I get the feeling that we will be both prepared, and not. All of our experiments and such have been fairly contained and sheltered. Even today, I doubt the ANBU were really trying as hard as they could, what with two clan heirs running around with the Kyuubi container. How much could they really have gotten away with?" Shino shrugged noncommittally. Naruto blinked back and settled in for the long haul.