The next morning was very special for Yoroi because he was able to have breakfast with Hanai and B and it was as if a long-time friend had stayed over. Yoroi's everyday life consisted of training and so this peaceful change was very pleasant.

During training he was allowed to compete against A again and made small improvements in his fighting style. Together with B he was able to let off steam in Kenjutsu and so a few days passed.

It was the morning of the final tournament of the chunin examination and Yoroi was supposed to be at the Raikage's building early in the morning. A was already waiting for him:

"So Yoroi, I really wanted to reward you for your performance the last time and make up for some of my uselessness. We are going to our archives today, there is a technique I want to show you."
They both went into the building and after a few stairs they were deep underground.

"This is where our jutsus, history and other valuable writings or treasures are stored. Don't worry, the top secret room is not so easy to reach. I have discovered a technique for you that will benefit your taijutstu extremely well. It took a few nights of rummaging, but in the end I was able to find a scroll from the Nidaime that suits you."

While A told Yoroi things about the room, they both came to a small table on which lay a scroll. A gestured to Yoroi to sit quietly and read. The technique contained in the scroll did not look spectacular at first, yet it seemed somewhat familiar. Finally, Yoroi concluded that the taijutsu his brother was teaching him must be a derivative of the Nidaime technique. The end of the scroll aroused his interest because the Nidaime himself had left a comment there.

"This technique has taken me far. It enabled me to become the bodyguard of the Raikage and eventually even to occupy this position myself. As times change, so do people. I have become much stronger and am now striving towards a new technique, so I would like to leave it to posterity. Here is my tip for success: This technique is designed for blocking, it gives you time to analyse your opponent and makes it difficult for him to find openings. But you have to be flexible and nimble. The same applies to the attack part, it is difficult to counter, but requires a lot of concentration. I hope this technique helps you to stand on top for once. A, Nidaime Raikage."

The technique seemed to be made for Yoroi, but he did not want to underestimate the level of difficulty. Blocking the opponent and leaving no openings requires a lot of training and probably just as much, if not more, combat experience. Nevertheless, Yoroi had to smile and was pleased that A had picked out the technique especially for him. After thanking A, they both went to the stadium for the final tournament of the Chunin exam.

Yoroi had promised his former students to watch it and watching his new team was definitely appropriate as a team leader.

At the stadium, B was waiting for them and they took their seats next to the Raikage's box. Many shinobi looked at them and Yoroi was somehow proud to be a disciple of A, the Raikage's son and presumably his successor. After not too long, the Raikage arrived and gave a speech that did not astonish Yoroi. He knew such speeches from politicians or from stories from his old world. For himself, however, he could summarise the speech as a lot of praise but little of substance.

Afterwards the first encounters were announced, Tahei had to fight first. Yoroi was very curious about the genjutsu of him, since he himself could not experience it properly. In fact, the fight did not last long, Tahei went into close combat and in the middle of the exchange of blows he managed to distract his opponent with a genjutsu so that he could disarm him. When the opponent regained his senses he had to admit defeat, because a kunai was held to his neck by Tahei.

The second fight was between Ainari and Megusuri, the latter being Yoroi's new team partner and the sensor ninja he had already lost to. Ainari showed a good balance of ninjutsu and taijutsu, he put Megusuri in trouble several times, but the sensor planned from the beginning on letting Ainari exhaust himself. After a few minutes, during which everyone thought Ainari was going to win the fight, some of them realised his problem. He had the fight under control, but he could not catch his opponent, in the end Megusuri took advantage of a small carelessness to catch him in a barrier. Yoroi had to smile, unfortunately he knew that jutsu personally.

After the long fight a couple of shinobi came that Yoroi didn't know any further. Finally, the last fight was between Jooi and Sakugai. The muscleman Jooi was able to block Sakugai's sword stroke with his bare arms, so that not only she but the whole audience was stunned. Yoroi could only state that he had never seen A so concentrated. A was totally impressed and happy to see a new taijutsu talent. Jooi eventually managed to break Sakugai's sword with his fist and she was forced to surrender. Without her sword, she had no chance in close combat.

Moi did not have to fight in the first round because there was an uneven number of participants. Yoroi was surprised, but assumed that someone had withdrawn at short notice.

The next rounds were not very exciting and Tahei, Moi, Jooi and Megusuri managed to reach the semi-finals. There the two fights were Tahei against Megusuri and Moi against Jooi. It was known to many that apart from Tahei they were all on the same team, so the Jonin of the team was extremely proud and was congratulated by many comrades. Yoroi was also pleased with him, because with strong comrades the upcoming mission should hopefully be easy to accomplish.

In the first fight of the semi-final, Tahei and Megusuri went straight into hand-to-hand combat. Yoroi expected something similar to Tahei's previous fights, in which he always placed his genjutsu very discreetly, but this time they did not work properly. Megusuri as a sensor could recognise and release them directly. So Megusuri was able to set the tone and the tempo more and more, so that in the end his stronger Taijutsu could prevail.

The second fight was extremely shocking for everyone. Moi had a wide arsenal of jutsu and avoided taijutsu with Jooi. As he was faster, he managed to keep his distance despite the use of jutsu. The shock, however, came from Jooi's resistance. He was hit several times by Moi's jutsu and it took a long time for them to take effect against him. In the end, Jooi could no longer move because of the electric shocks he received from the jutsu and lost.

The final between Megusuri and Moi was then held a few hours later, so that both could recover beforehand. Again, Megusuri's good evasive manoeuvres made themselves known, and his sensory abilities coupled with his knowledge of Moi made Moi slowly but surely despair.

"Megusuri, stop for a moment. Are you a shnobi or more of a scaredy-cat?"

Moi tried to unsettle Megusuri with words, but he knew himself that it would do no good.

After a while Megusuri used simple jutsu, which were very weak but hit Moi at inopportune moments. Instead of using elaborate jutsu, he used quick, simple and therefore weak jutsu. At first, many were confused about the ineffectiveness and why he would do such a thing, but the small injuries Moi suffered became more and more obvious. Moi was reminded of his fight in the semi-finals and boiled with rage because Megusuri simply copied his strategy and he was in danger of failing.

Megusuri was already aware of his victory and wanted to catch Moi in a barrier in a short Taijutsu fight. After Moi threw a kunai at him from close range and he was able to dodge without problems, Moi was caught. Smiling, Megusuri turned towards the Raikage to receive his well-deserved praise and was surprised by an explosion.

"Boom."

When he regained consciousness, he looked up into Moi's face, who was kneeling beside him.

"You were too convinced of yourself and your superiority. My kunai had an explosion tag attached, you missed that."

Moi informed Megusuri of his mistake with some glee, making the latter want to sink into the ground.

"Hahaha, don't worry Megusuri, you're young and you make mistakes. The most important thing is what you do with them. Moi, congratulations on your victory in this tournament, I am very pleased with your performance. As a reward, you will now be promoted first in front of the whole audience, while the others will only be informed of their success or defeat tomorrow."

The Raikage appeared in front of Moi after his words and put his hand out of Moi's shoulder with a smile.

"May you have a broad future and never lose your way as a shinobi."

With those words, the Raikage disappeared again and the various Jonin went to speak with their students. A said goodbye to Yoroi, as he was involved in the promotion decision and had to go to the meeting. Yoroi and B went to his former students and so the group ended up in a restaurant to celebrate the presumed promotion. Even though they were told the results would not be known until tomorrow, it was clear to pretty much every shinobi that anyone halfway capable would be promoted. The threat of the next war was no secret among them, only the civilians did not hear much about it.

The following day was dedicated to shopping for Yoroi. Hanai took him shopping for equipment so that he would be optimally prepared for the long mission ahead. Besides weapons, there were food pills which were mainly intended for the journey to and back from the mission. In addition, scrolls were a big focus of Hanai, as they would make the transport of equipment easier.

Towards afternoon, the time had come for the mission briefing with the Raikage. As usual, he entered the office without any problems, where he was the first.

"Yoroi, you'd better stand against the wall back there. In a moment your team partners will come and I will brief the mission, then you can introduce yourself further."

Yoroi, leaning against the wall, waited only about ten minutes until the three, by now chunin, arrived. The Raikage, who had been engrossed in his mountain of documents earlier, put down his work.

"Well, then everyone is here. I will now go over the mission details with you. It is a C rank escort mission where you will be escorting a rich and influential merchant. You have one month from today to get to your meeting point in the Land of Rain. There you will receive the client, who will be accompanied by a team from Suna and a team from Iwa. You will escort him with a team from Konoha. The itinerary will be through the small nations between the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire, the destination being the Land of Hot Waters. I expect the mission to take several months, prepare accordingly. Your team leader will be Yoroi, a Tokubetsu Jonin, you should have met him before. I have a scroll for each of you with the full details of the mission, before you leave send chakra into the seal on the scroll at the village gate. Only the client can open the scroll from that point on. You may leave, departure is tomorrow morning."

The three chunin were visibly confused, but also excited. Their first mission in their rank was so big and diverse. All three had never left the Land of Lightning before. After they left the room it was time for Yoroi to get the final details. The Raikage threw him three small books that were bound together.

"These are the bingo books of the three other Hidden Villages you will meet. Please read them carefully, the war is not over for long and it is quite possible that you will meet some wanted people. If they are Missing Nin from Konoha, they will probably take care of it, but you should keep your eyes open. Especially the shinobi from Konoha have special abilities, in particular the Byakugan and Sharingan are feared. If it presents itself, you secure them, here are five sealing scrolls, these are meant for corpses. I hope you only need them for hostile shinobi."

Yoroi accepted the five scrolls and put them in his equipment roll.

"Before I forget, if Konoha has a problem with you collecting Missing Nin from them you don't have to give in. They are always very willing to hide their secrets, but we are stronger. They had a big war with many losses, we have peace for longer and our conflict was much smaller. If they want to resort to violence against you we will use it as a reason for war, so you don't have to be considerate. That's all I have to say, you have everything else in the mission scroll. Good luck."

Yoroi already had the image in his head of the Konoha shinobi grumbling if he finished off one of their Missing Nin and then didn't hand the body over to them. The way he remembered the village, it would be a bigger deal, but it could certainly be used for more advantage. If he remembered correctly, the byakugan was useless when the shinobi was dead, but the Hyuga clan would certainly be willing to pay a lot for the remains. Besides the joy Yoroi felt at the thought, he was also a little shocked at how much he had changed. Actually, he was a peaceful person and yet he now thought about such things without bad feelings.

From the Raikage's office they went back to the restaurant without further ado, where they wanted to eat together again before the long mission. Of course, it was the old acquaintances who were there: The three former students, Hanai, Dodai, Nemui and Urui. It was a very nice evening, but unfortunately it ended earlier than usual, because Yoroi wanted to be fit and well the next morning.

Lying in bed, Yoroi realised that he would miss his daily routine. Lately, they were frequently eating in the restaurant as a group and he had a lot of fun. Sometimes he even had the feeling that every trivial matter was used as an excuse for a get-together. All the more reason for Yoroi to return from the mission. In the beginning, Hanai was his only reason, but now there were many more people waiting for him in the village. It took him a long time to fall asleep, he was too nervous.

The next morning, Hanai gave him a sumptuous breakfast that filled his stomach. Of course, only to the extent that it would not affect him. But then it was time to say goodbye to Hanai.

"Hanai-nee san, I will miss you. Please take good care of yourself until I get back."

"I should say that to you rather, you're the one leaving on a mission."

Tears came to Hanai's eyes, she leaned over and gave Yoroi a kiss on the forehead before putting on his forhead protector.

"You have to promise me to return or I won't be able to cope. You are all I have left, please don't leave me alone."

Yoroi couldn't help but shed a few tears and it took him a few minutes of comforting her before he could leave.

It was still early in the morning when he arrived at the village gate. His team members were already waiting and he went straight to them.

"Hello, I am Yoroi and I am leading this team on our mission. We already know each other from your preparation week for the Chunin exam. First of all, congratulations again on your promotion, especially for Moi who won the tournament. I' d been watching your fights and so I already know something about your skills. Accordingly, I would like to briefly say that I expect Megusuri to give his input on tactics and approaches. Other than that, we can sort out the rest on the way, we have a long time ahead of us, so let's walk for the first few days and use the time to get to know each other. I now ask you to send chakra into your seals on the respective scrolls."

Everyone activated the seals and so with the sunrise behind them they set off on their long mission and journey.

"I am Megusuri and a sensorninja as you should already know. I can sense chakra very well at a distance of 100 metres, at greater distances I am inaccurate and can only roughly detect chakra sources. Apart from that, I know a few barrier ninjutsu and am well trained in taijutsu. Up to now I have been the head of the team, so I have taken care of tactics and of course I will comply with your wish Yoroi. Please excuse me if I get too cocky, I've learned my lesson from the exam final and I'm trying to do better."

Megusuri introduced himself first and acknowledged Yoroi's request. Calling his faupax again in the final impressed Yoroi, he apparently took the criticism he received directly.

"My name is Jooi, I have a lot of strength and specialise in Taijutsu."

Jooi in turn introduced himself in one sentence, making it immediately clear that he was not a man of big words. It was only Moi left to introduce himself.

"I am Moi, I am an allrounder. I can force a draw in a Taijutsu fight with Jooi and I am also experienced with Lightning Release Jutsu. I have the most fighting power in the three-man team and mostly rely on suggestions from Megusuri, but have been working on strengthening my own perception and judgement for some time."

So ended the introduction and the village behind them was barely visible. Now the journey to the border of Konoha lay ahead of them, there they were to meet Konaha's squad to travel with them to the Land of Rain. Since their route would take them through several countries, it was easier to coordinate with the Konoha squad and travel through the Land of Fire.

"I have to give you a quick warning. We are on a C-rank mission but there is always the danger of running into Missing Nin. As you know, there was a great war in which the Land of Rain was the central stage. There will probably be resentment from the population against the other villages and the Konoha team may be involved in incidents. We will focus on the client and participate only on his order, more likely permission. Furthermore, there are some Missing Nin on the loose in the small nations who may be targeting our client. He is rich and influential, which is exactly what these people need. I would like to briefly introduce three Missing Nin from Konoha who are particularly dangerous. Uchiha Shin, a Chunin who had already awakened his Sharingan in the war. He deserted after presumably wiping out his team. More details about this incident have not been released. He is proficient in fire release ninjutsu belonging to his clan and carries a short sword. As he had only recently awakened his Sharingan, there is no information on his genjutsu. Uchiha with Sharingan are extremely dangerous, you should not underestimate their abilities. Next up is Mada Koya. He was a Jonin in Konoha until he suddenly disappeared during the war. He was later named by Suna and Iwa as a Missing Nin who was said to have committed terrible crimes in the Land of Rain. There is no specific information about him, but as he was a civilian, not belonging to one of the clans in Konoha, he must be strong if he had made it to the rank of Jonin. The last person would be Hashi Taka, a Chunin who was responsible for the death of two Konoha Jonin during the war. He has mastered some stronger water release jutsu and is very good at sword fighting, according to the injuries of the victims. There are more relevant Missing Nin in the Bingo Book, but none I would label as 'must remember'. But that's enough mission information for today, we should reach a small village around afternoon where we will spend the night."