Amaya was walking into Training Ground 3, her nose stuck in a medical textbook, glancing up every so often to make sure she wasn't going to crash into someone. Walking into people twice in the span of a week was not a great way to start her ninja career.
But, she still wasn't pleased when she tripped over Hajime, who was sitting down in the grass.
"I'm starting to think that there was a reason you were dead-last," Hajime snorted, helping her up.
"Oh, shut up," Amaya pouted.
Hajime burst out laughing. "You know, you're not what I expected."
Amaya looked at him curiously. "You had expectations?"
"Well, yeah. I was going to be put on a team with the dead-last and Rookie of the Year. I had some expectations. But, you're nicer than I thought you'd be."
"Well... thanks, I guess?"
Hajime flushed, making an abort motion with his arms. "That's not what I meant. It's just, the dead-last in my other class was really immature. Like those civilian kids, you know? The ones that don't know what they're signing up for and think that it's all about the glory or whatever? We're at war! People are gonna die, and if we aren't competent, we'll just become a statistic! That's why I tried so hard! So, when I found out the dead-last was one of my teammates... well, I had some subconscious level of anger. I'm glad that you aren't what I expected."
Amaya cocked her head to the side, reassessing her teammate.
'Heh, well, you aren't what I expected either. I don't know what I did, but you being this mature was not what I thought would happen.'
"Well, I'm happy to have surpassed your standards, Hajime-sama," Amaya joked, wiping the thoughtful expression off her face.
Hajime groaned and slapped his forehead.
"You'll lose your braincells if you do that," a voice called from the edge of the training ground.
Hajime and Amaya turned to find Jiraiya walking with Minato behind him.
The blonde sighed dramatically, "Oh god, there's two of her!"
Amaya mock-glared at her best friend as Hajime sniggered.
"How dare you! I'll have you know that I'm nothing like that old pervert!" Amaya declared, her hands on her hips.
"Old?" Jiraiya exclaimed. "I'm only twenty-four! And, besides, I'm not a pervert, I'm a super-pervert!"
The three Genin gave him identical unimpressed looks.
"Oh, alright. We need to go to the missions desk for some D-ranks. With the way the war's going, it won't be long and then you'll be doing C and B-ranks that are way above your capabilities." Jiraiya mumbled the last bit under his breath. Amaya got the feeling that she wasn't supposed to have heard that.
'We should stall. If we don't have any missions on our record, then he won't have to send us out to the frontlines.'
"Sensei," Amaya started, hoping her bullshitting would work. "Why don't we train first? I mean, I think you should figure out what type of team we're gonna be, y'know? Then you could train us first? We shouldn't go into missions yet."
The effect was instantaneous. All three members of Team 7 brightened. Minato and Hajime had already found out what D-ranks were going to consist of the day before, courtesy of Amaya's mother, and Jiraiya didn't have to supervise them pulling weeds.
"That's a great idea!" Jiraiya grinned, plopping onto the grass and causing the Genin to follow. "We can go in a circle and tell everyone your strengths, weaknesses, any special skills, and what area you think you're best suited for. Afterwards, let's all give our own opinions on what we think the other is suited for. Ladies first!"
"Alright," Amaya nodded. "My weakness is definitely my taijutsu and stamina. With my chakra control, ninjutsu is okay, but I only know the Body-Flicker and the Academy Three. Genjutsu is my best skill. Because I'm a natural chakra sensor, it's easy for me to tell when I'm caught in one, and with my medical ninjutsu, I have the control needed to pull off small details. Special skills... well I have my clan's jutsus, medical ninjutsu, and I'll probably recognize most of the plants in the Fire Country on sight. I wanted to start working with poisons and maybe find a way to cast auditory genjutsu with my voice. With my skillset, I'll probably do best in infiltration, information gathering, and reconnaissance. Maybe even assassination if I get decent with poisons... Anything stealth related, basically. If not that then I'd be a decent long-range fighter or support-type."
Then Minato, who was sitting to the right of her, went. "My weakness would be genjutsu. It's a bit hard for me to identify, and I don't know how to cast any. On the other hand, I'm pretty good at taijutsu and have great stamina and speed! I don't know much ninjutsu, but I know that my affinity is Wind. I always wanted to learn fuuinjutsu, though, and I come up with decent strategies in the middle of battle. I think I would make a pretty good frontline fighter if I build up my taijutsu and ninjutsu. If I really wanted to, I could be a decent long-range specialist because of my affinity."
"Aw man, I sound completely lame compared to you two," Hajime groaned. "I really suck at genjutsu, so that's my weakness. The Academy Three came pretty easily for me and I can do all of them with one hand sign, so I'd say my strength is ninjutsu. My taijutsu is also really good, but I focus more on stealth. I was a prankster during my first two years in the Academy, so I'm really good at setting traps. I think I could be a trap specialist? Maybe ANBU?"
"Alright! As I am Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, I have no weakn–"
Amaya shot him a glare.
He sighed, "Ruin all the fun, why don't you?"
Minato and Hajime joined in with glares of their own.
"Fine, fine," he groaned. "If I have to rate all my superb ski–"
The three Genin glared harder.
"I was getting to it!" he exclaimed. "My weakness is genjutsu. I'm a ninjutsu specialist, a close-ranged fighter, and amazing at taijutsu considering that I didn't specialize in it. I can also summon toa–"
Amaya huffed, stood up, and started to pace. "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TELLING ME THAT NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO HELP ME WITH GENJUTSU? "WHAT\? I HAVE A SENSEI AND HE CAN'T HELP ME AT ALL! HOW WILL I LEARN ANYTHING? HE'S GOOD AT EVERYTHING I CAN'T DO–"
"Oi! Who said I can't help you?" Jiraiya exclaimed. "Sure I can't physically do the things you can, but I know theory! I also have connections."
"Then can you help me figure out how to cast genjutsu through my voice?" she asked hopefully. "Auditory genjutsu is already feared for its long-range capabilities, being able to cast it by speaking would completely throw my opponent off-guard!"
Minato looked at her curiously. "I didn't realize how much you wanted to learn that," he commented.
Amaya smiled sheepishly. "I was focusing on medical ninjutsu more since kaa-chan could actually help me with that."
Hajime stared at his two teammates incredulously. Jiraiya, sensing that Hajime felt hopelessly behind, got an idea and grinned, clapping his hands together.
"Let me see you spar! Hajime-kun and Amaya-chan first, then Minato-kun and Hajime-kun, and finally Minato-kun and Amaya-chan! Go on!"
"I– Uh, okay..." Hajime said, looking at Amaya nervously as Jiraiya pulled Minato back.
"Hajime-kun, Amaya-chan, hajime!" Jiraiya exclaimed, laughing at his own pun.
The spars ended with Hajime winning against Amaya and Minato winning against both of them. Amaya wasn't too deterred, knowing that one-on-one combat was her worst nightmare.
"Alright, kiddos, can any of you tell me what this is?" Jiraiya asked, pulling out three small squares of paper from his pouch.
"Paper?" Hajime asked hopefully.
'Close.' Amaya thought. 'Chakra paper.'
"Really? I get stuck with brats that don't know this? This is chakra paper," Jiraiya explained. "Channel your chakra into it and it'll give a reaction based on your natural affinity. Most people have one, some two, and the very lucky rare ones get three. You can do elemental ninjutsu with any chakra nature, but your affinity is the easiest to master. I have an affinity of fire, but I can use fire, earth, water, and wind."
"Ooh! Let me try! I bet I'll get something badass like lightning!" Hajime exclaimed, making grabby motions towards the paper in Jiraiya's hand.
'How is he so serious one moment and so childish the next?''
Jiraiya snorted and handed Hajime one of the slips of paper. Hajime's face scrunched as he concentrated on channelling his chakra through the paper. A few seconds later, the paper dampened a bit and then burst into flames, causing Hajime to shriek and drop the paper.
"That means you have fire-natured chakra with a minor water affinity," Jiraiya explained. "You realize that the flames couldn't have hurt you, right? It was made from your own chakra."
"O– Oh, yeah. Totally knew that..." Hajime said sheepishly.
"Alright, Minato-kun, here."
Minato took the paper that Jiraiya offered him and channelled his chakra into it. The paper split in half and burst into flames.
"Wind and fire." Jiraiya commented, giving Amaya the last sheet of paper.
Amaya pushed a bit of chakra out her fingertips and watched as the paper crumbled, turning into dirt. She was about to stop, but felt the dirt slowly dampening and turning into mud.
"Earth and water," Jiraiya hummed. "That's good if you want to go far in medicine."
"Not unexpected, but ew," Amaya said, shaking her mucky hand, causing the mud to fly everywhere.
"We have a good mix of affinities here," Jiraiya commented. "W–"
He cut himself off upon noticing a messenger hawk come to a stop in front of him. Jiraiya untied the scroll tied to its leg, his eyebrows furrowing as he read the message.
"I have to go to the Hokage Tower, sorry. You three come back here tomorrow, same time as today."
Jiraiya left with a quick Body-Flicker, leaving three confused Genin in his wake.