I do not own Naruto or any associated characters.
I'm the last one to arrive at the gates. Yokuto-Sensei and my teammates are already there with the client.
"This is your third Genin?" The Client, a portly, bearded man, asks skeptically. "Isn't she a bit, tiny?"
"That may be so, but Aka-Chan is just as qualified as the other two."
"That doesn't reassure me." The man mutters.
"That's not what I mean" Sensei sweat drops. "I'm not saying they're on par with a six year old, I'm saying the six year old is a prodigy who's up to their level."
"Oh that's a bit of a relief." The client, Amano-san, is a textile merchant. Normally he'd travel with a large caravan, and they'd hire a joint Genin team, however, a wealthy client placed an order short notice. They paid extra to get it delivered ASAP, so Amano-san really couldn't wait the extra week for the caravan to leave.
We take formation around Amano-san's cart, log our departure with the chunin guards, and head out of Konoha. There's always a lot of talk about the 1st C-rank going completely down hill, take the wave mission for example. Our mission, however, goes off without a hitch. We don't run into a single bandit, much less an enemy Shinobi. We drop Amano-San off in Haru-no Machi, then head back to Konoha. It's both a disappointment and a relief.
"Kosuke-nii. Kaa-san! Tou-san!" I shout, bursting into the house.
"Hey Aka-Chan." Tou-san grins, scooping me up into a hug. It looks like he and Kaa-san have just gotten home from the station. "How was your first C-rank?"
"It was pretty boring, nothing actually happened."
"That's how C-ranked missions are supposed to work Aka-Chan." Kaa-san chides. "If you run into anything more complicated than bandits or the occasional genin deserter, you either have really bad luck or the mission was ranked incorrectly," Kaa-san chides.
"I know. I know. But we didn't even run into any bandits." I mutter.
Tou-san ruffles my hair. "I'd take your safety over bandits any day."
"Tou-san" I groan, glaring at him. "Don't mess up my hair."
In my past life, I'd read self insert fanfics before where the self insert didn't really feel comfortable calling their new parents Kaa-San and Tou-San. That doesn't really resonate with me. Although I have memories of my past life, of an adult, I still have the brain chemistry and emotions of a child. They may not be my original parents, but they care for me. It was a bit weird at first, but I love them. It also helps that calling them Kaa-san and Tou-san in Japanese is very different than calling them mom and dad in English.
"Hey, where's Kosuke-nii?"
"His team is taking a C-rank mission as well. They left about two days ago."
"Do you know when he'll be back?"
"Ah maybe two weeks? It's a longer mission with several stops along the way." Tou-san says, setting me back down.
I pout. "Can you and Kaa-San help me train then? You're always working in the police department. I want to spend time with you guys!"
"Why don't I make dinner while your father helps you with taijutsu? I'll help you train sometime else Aka-chan."
"Fine, but you better keep that promise." I pull Tou-san out the door.
He grins at me "Your older brother tells me you're developing your own taijutsu style. How's it going?"
"Pretty good. I have most of the katas done. There's a lot of moves taken from different styles." Some are moves from my past Life. "Most of it's very fluid, perfect for sweeping blows, intermixed with sharp jabs. I also use my opponents body weight against them. I'm thinking of maybe learning to use a whip; it would fit the style nicely. With some of the more acrobatic moves, it would be pretty hard to dodge the blows."
Tou-San nods in agreement. "That definitely seems like a pretty good plan. I'll see if I can find some scrolls for you. If I can't, I'd suggest asking your Jounin Sensei. Now, why don't we test out that new style of yours?" Tou-San lunges forward, lashing out with several punches. I block, attempting to kick him then ducking under another punch. He fights just slightly above my level of skill, giving me a good challenge while not overwhelming me. I duck under a kick and attempt to punch him.
It should be noted that taijutsu sparring is pretty hard for a six year old. Due to the difference in height, most vital strikes are out of reach. It's part of the reason my taijutsu style is very reactionary and fluid. It's hard to attack offensively when you're about the same height as your opponent's waist.
We spar back and forth, Tou-san always staying several steps ahead of me. He'll make suggestions on how to improve as we spar. "Aka keep your guard up. Don't drop your elbow. That last strike should have been sharper." A few of my strikes almost catch him by surprise, but I never truly catch him off guard.
"So, what do you think?" I ask as we sit down on the back porch. It's very nice outside today. The sky is cloudy, and there is a bit of a breeze.
"It's certainly a very good start. I can recognise several moves taken from other styles along with the added acrobatics and katas you created. Most of the moves from other styles are adjusted to make them more fluid and better suited for the style. It's highly dodge oriented with quick sweeping strikes. I'd recommend adding more stances to block attacks and deal heavy damage in case it's needed. The style will definitely become easier as you get older, but at least it also suits a younger fighter."I nod in agreement. I have several moves planned out that won't be possible until I'm taller.
We head in for dinner. Kaa-san has made tonkatsu, and she's a really good cook. She never lets me help cook, and it's definitely for the best. I somehow managed to set sushi on fire. Yes, I know sushi is made with raw fish. I don't know how it happened, it just happened. At least the house didn't catch on fire. I don't need to give my family anymore reasons to think I'm a pyromaniac.
After finishing dinner, I help Kaa-san wash the dishes. "I haven't seen you a lot, these past couple weeks. New genin team keeping you busy?" She asks.
I nod in affirmation. "Yokuto-sensei has us train from six to four. It's a lot."
"No kidding. Did he tell you about the…" She trails off, waiting to see if I know what she's talking about.
I nod. "Yep. He'd rather train us harshly now then have us die in the upcoming war because we weren't prepared."
Kaa-san nods. "Good. Your father and I would certainly give you supplemental training if he wasn't.
"Aka-chan!" Saburo squeals, picking me up in a hug. "It's been so long! I thought I'd never see you again.
"It's only been two days," Hisao deadpans. I snicker.
"But Senpai! Two days is too long to go without seeing my favorite chibi." He holds me up towards Hiso like a lost kitten. "Look at how adorable she is. She's so tiny and cute. Like a doll."
"I'm not a doll." I snap. "I easily hold my own when sparring with you two doofuses. Now put me down before I bite your arm."
Pouting, Saburo sets me back down. "Maybe she's a baby tiger instead of a kitten. As cute as she is, she's quite vicious."
"Hello? I'm a kunoichi. Being vicious is part of the job."
"She's right you know." Hisao pipes in.
Before Saburo can reply, Sensei appears with a shunshin. "Good! You're all here. Hokage-sama is calling all jounin-sensei in for a meeting."
"Why?" Hisao frowns.
"It's to discuss who's entering the chunin exams. Frankly, I'm not planning on entering you this time around. While I'm gone, you'll work together as a team to evade Hiroto." Sensei pats his ninken on the head. "He's an expert tracker so you'll need to camouflage your smell, hide your tracks, stay quiet, and stay out of view. You guys will get a five minute head start. Everytime you get caught, Hiroto will wait for five minutes before hunting you down again. Good luck!" Yokuto-sensei vanishes again.
We all turn to stare at Hiroto. The ninken is pretty much the same height as me, not that that's saying much. A bandana with the Konoha symbol is tied around his neck. Hiroto tilts his head as if to say "What are you doing silly genin, get a move on it." We vanish into the treeline.
"How the heck are we supposed to hide our scent?" Saburo panics.
"Find a stream or use mud?" Hisao suggests.
I frown. "We'd drip water everywhere, mud might work, but I'm not sure. Either way, I'd rather not cover myself in mud. It's probably best to focus on what we know." My teammates nod in agreement.
We attempt to stay up wind to hide our smell, and we take light steps to avoid making noise or leaving a physical trail. We are conciousious of the location of trees and foliage for that same reason. We do a decent job, but we move fairly slowly. When trying to avoid being tracked in the future, there's no doubt that we'll have to move faster. For now though, we learn to do things slowly so we'll know what to do when we move faster.
Hisao catches up to us after five to ten minutes. He gives us another five minute start so we can try again. Needless to say he catches us in under 15 minutes each time. Each time we improve, managing to avoid him for a little bit longer. Personally, I think we do quite well. We're only genin afterall.