Suki leaned her head on her hand as she stared out of the dirty classroom widow, trying not to doze off as her teacher lectured them about the rules of their exam. Her sapphire blue eyes turned back to the paper packet on her desk, the dark circles under them seeming much more prominent than normal. In her other hand, her pencil was poised to start writing. There was a tension in the air, and her senses were on high alert despite her exhaustion.

Today was her graduation exam. Suki studied religiously the previous night, reviewing every spare note she had taken since the start of the academy. The small black haired girl was taking the test a year early, basically unheard of outside of wartime, but the chunin teachers admired her ambition enough to allow her an attempt. She understood why they didn't think she could make it, considering her class hadn't yet been taught the basic 3 jutsu, and the graduation requirements were much more strict when Iwa and Kuma weren't culling them by the hundreds. The replacement technique, the clone technique, and the transformation technique was her biggest obstacle. That normally came in the last year of the academy, after it was determined there would be no more dropouts.

Little did the teachers know, the little sneak had "friends" in high places. Such friends included upperclassmen naively leaving their jutsu notes unattended during break, of which she was able to copy and study on her own. It had been a challenge, but she succeeded. They were the basic 3 for a reason; they were ridiculously easy. She copied notes frequently from different students. It was the only reason she was confident she could pass.

And so, here she was, scribbling in a concentrated fervor. There was a ridiculous amount of questions, she could either waste time on checking her answers or try to answer as many as possible. There were quite a few questions she knew even the year above her hadn't learned. She answered those to the best of her ability. It still wasn't quite fast enough, as she still had a full blank page when time was called and they were instructed to put their pencils down.

They were called one by one to hand in their packets and enter a conjoined room, where they would continue their test. As she sat right in front of the entrance, she had to watch each student walk through the door with anxiety rolling around in her stomach like marbles in a bowl. This needed to be over already.

Her navy blue pinky nail was picking wax out of her ear when she was finally called. The exhausted-looking chunin at the front of the room lazily drawled her name, "Suki Cho?"

She focused on her feet as she wiped her finger on her shirt, handed in her paper, and turned to the door. She felt like she was buzzing, chakra had probably flooded her muscles on instinct, same as the adrenaline sharpening her eyesight and hearing. These classes were boring her to death and she was tired of being stuck around immature children. She had been ridiculously lucky thus far in life, and could only hope her streak could continue.

She had been lucky to be an orphan. While morbid, she could realize this as fact. It disadvantaged her in some areas, but was also the card up her sleeve. Had she been in any normal family, they would have questioned her natural wisdom and knowledge of the world. Suki was far too lazy to pretend she was stupid, and would have been deemed either a spy or a prodigy. Neither of which had promising fates (a shiver rolled down her spine as she remembered the newspaper clippings she saw a while ago, a clan massacred by their their own genius).

She was lucky to have been reincarnated. Or whatever she was. She didn't feel like she was any older than she actually was, she still felt like 12-year-old Suki Cho. She just... knew things. Had memories she couldn't possibly have. They didn't quite feel like hers, but they had to be. It was disorienting when she slipped between "old" memories and her own, but she could tell the difference between them clearly.

She so lucky to have such random knowledge, even if she sometimes doubted its accuracy. She assumes she must have been a therapist or something in her previous life, as she knew an aweful lot about the human phychology, but some things seem totally different in this world. Probably because of chakra, which wasn't something that she remembered ever existing before.

Suki was also lucky to be so naturally inclined to the ninja lifestyle. It was almost like it was in her blood. Kunai and shuriken sung in her palms. Her muscles burned pleasantly when she exercised, it was almost hard for her to stop. She would push herself to the point of nausea before finally giving up, but even that wasn't enough. If she didn't have any ninja in her DNA, she would be truly surprised.

Hopefully that talent would help her graduate today. Shaking herself from her daze, she steeled her nerves before continuing to the second part of the exam. The door closed behind her with a clack, alerting the new examiner to her presence.

The black haired girl seemed like an airhead from any outside perspective, she often had a deadpan or dazed look on her face. The only thing that told of her hard work were the permanent dark circles under her eyes, from years of restless nights, and the muscles hidden under an old baggy off-shoulder blue t-shirt and black ninja pants with matching boots, which were tapered together with bandanges.

Maybe if she passed, she would buy herself a new outfit? She would need one better suited for "ninja-business" anyways. Maybe she could spoil herself and actually buy female clothes? Male clothes tend to be cheaper, she hadn't ever thought twice on saving the extra cash.

She cleared her throat, and the Yamanaka proctor focused on her with sky-blue pupiless eyes. Goosebumps erupted along her pale arms. She could feel her fingers trembling minutely, and in an attempt to ease her nerves, she popped her knuckles. The pretty young Yamanaka seemed less than impressed, looking down her nose to meet a similar blue gaze. Her voice was much deeper than Suki expected, it almost made her jump when the blonde spoke. "Suki Cho. Please perform the Transformation jutsu to the best of your ability. Your target is the written exams' proctor."

Soft black hair tickled her hot face as she nodded. Swallowing the anxiety that grew in her throat, she took a stance and performed the handsigns slower than normal, just in case she fucked it up. That would be embarrassing.

She focused on the memory of handing in her paper, cursing herself at the fact she had been so nervous she barely studied his appearance. Hopefully her recollection was accurate. Plain, course brown hair; brown eyes with crows feet and laugh lines; a small scar in the corner of thin lips; small, slightly uneven ears. Rather tall, probably six feet? At least.

She moulded her chakra in a shell around her body, forming an illusion into the details she had observed. The transformation technique was unique, a delicate mixture of nin- and genjutsu. The chakra had to be solid but flexible, so the transformation could move normally (too solid or too soft would make its movements look too stiff or too jello-like), which fit more into the ninjustu category, but the real challenge was in the genjutsu part. You had to create an illusion from your imagination, which was a lot harder than it sounded. It's much easier when you have a memory to focus on, but requires a certain amount of focus if you haven't mastered it. That's how some people manage to hold up a henge even in combat. Your control and familiarity with the jutsu would need to be excellent.

In a small burst of smoke, where small Suki had once stood, was now the tall chunin academy teacher. She even tried mimicking his posture and facial expression (slightly slouched with an impatient scowl).

The blonde chunin had been aware of the youngest examinee, but had thought nothing of it. No one denied a student if they wanted to try to graduate early, so the smart ones used that opportunity to take the test a year early get a feel for how the it would be conducted. She obviously didn't actually expect the barely 12-year-old to be able to perform a jutsu (even E-rank) that hadn't been taught in class.

"Wait a second you brat, where'd you learn that?! Who taught you?!" The disbelief in her voice couldn't be filtered. She was now standing, staring at her "coworkers" face. It was an extremely good transformation, made more impressive by the acting. "He" shrugged his shoulders, and pupiless eyes studied the fluid way the chakra construct moved. It was a near perfect consistency.

Sighing, the proctor slumped back into her seat. Suki let the transformation drop. The girl looked at her faded black boots, noticing the way her laces were starting to fray. Definitely would buy herself a cool new outfit if she could manage to get herself out of this mess. She decided that being honest was probably the best. After all, what if they decided to hold her back for lying? What if they were just testing her, and they already knew of her antics? "I, uh, borrowed some notes."

The Yamanaka slapped a hand to her face, and threw a blue headband at the smaller girl rather forcefully. It hit her square in the stomach, and she scrambled to catch it before it fell. "I assume on your own? Don't practice without supervision you idiot. If you got yourself killed, it'd be awefully embarrassing. There's your headband, you're the Hokages' problem now. Come back in a week for genin orientation. Congratulations, kunoichi. Now scram."

Suki nodded, dazedly tying the blue headband around her thigh before making her way to the academy gates, not pointing out that she couldn't be embarrassed if she was dead. She could remember some very embarrassing moments from before, after all.

The sense of accomplishment burning through her veins made her want to scream from excitement, but she had better manners than that. Instead of squealing with joy, she took off on a run. It was a wild dash instead of her usual placid pace, straight through the center of the village. She parkoured around citizens and through the market, laughing uncontrollably whenever she was airborne particularly long or when her momentum was at its fastest. She got a few dirty looks from the ninja on patrol, but they couldnt damper her spirits. By the time she looped back around to her house, she had probably lapped the whole village twice. It showed in her exhaustion.

Standing at the entrance to her apartment complex, she had to lean over the railing and vomit before she entered. Sometimes, Suki worked out a little too hard. She often pushed herself to literal sickness, and with no one to tell her to stop, she didn't. She didn't know her body's limitations at times.

She took off the blue string necklace her key resided on and tossed it onto the coffee table before going to clean up, once again losing herself in memories. She sat in her small bathtub, enjoying the lukewarm water and trying to ignore the mold that had creeping down from the ceiling (again, she had scrubbed it clean probably seven times now). It was easy to forget about her dingy apartment and get lost in her thoughts when they were much more pleasant.

The petite blonde woman was in most of her happy memories. Fresh and clean smelling. Her bony figure poking into her when they hugged and she had a laugh like wind chimes. Suki wonders, absently, if this woman was her mom, or another family member. Or a friend. Or even a lover. She wonders if the woman would be proud of Suki for graduating, if she would be disappointed in her for copying someone's notes and practicing jutsu without permission. She wonders if she will ever meet a person like that in this lifetime.

She lays on her bed, hair wet from her bath. Suki wishes she had such a someone to share her accomplishments with, to laugh together, to cry together. To hold until their arms were too tired to hold each other any longer. To eat sweets with, filling the cracks in their hearts together as they complained about life.

In place of the blonde woman, Suki removed the pillow from under her head and held it in her arm instead, wrapping one thin leg around the threadbare fabric of her pillowcase. Her other arm curled underneath her head, taking its spot, ignoring the dampness her hair had left. It wasn't quite the same, but it would do.

She should invest in more pillows.

Change POV

Kotaro was a simple man. All he wanted was money, women, and power. He wanted a simple, easy life. But the Nara was also a realist. Women? They cause problems. Power? That definitely gives you problems. Money? Well, money is the root of all problems. None of which led to a simple, easy life.

So despite his wish for riches, he lives a very minimalistic life. He penny-pinches, even though he makes more than most in the village as a jonin. Despite his longing for a female companion, he refrains from indulging. He was rather pitiful with the opposite sex, and it's really saving everybody involved from a headache. And despite his lust for power, he doesn't particularly involve himself with the political schemes that the elite normally find themselves in. It was the influence that attracted him- not all the mind games and responsibilities. So he stayed in the background.

In some ways, he was every bit his clans legacy.

When the Hokage offered him a team this year, he had been surprised, but took a couple days to consider. Not many Nara took on teams, for very practical reasons. A genin team would most definitely hold him back in a lot of areas. Innumerable, assumably. He could always fail them with a test, use the excuse that he didn't see potential, but Kotaro was lazy. While most Nara like wasting their time with pointless tasks, Kotaro does not. His laziness expresses itself in other ways.

Alas, he saw a glimmer of an opportunity. There was one Nara trait he embodied wholly, and that was opportunism. Maybe it was just a gut feeling, telling him that something held promise here, but who was he to deny it? They would be Team 13, and while some saw it as cursed, it had always been his lucky number. His senses have never failed him before.

Okay, maybe they have failed him a few times. But not often. There was logic behind this decision, unlike a couple of his previous... instinctual actions.

Taking on a genin team gave him a considerable pay raise. He could finally get that house at the edge of the compound he's been looking at for the past month, and move out of the cramped little apartment his aunt rented to him while he saved up for a nice place. Cute little students might also mean he could pull a kunoichi instead of a civilian (which ninja normally attracted by the swarms. Too many glorified romantic novels, his aunt explained to him). That thought was tempting enough on its own. Iryo-nin were known to be suckers for children, and didn't have a lot of free time... perfect for a man who didn't care much for romantism. Coupled with a new place? He could try his chances. That's not even mentioning the amount of time he would have off, missions would be cut to zilch for a short while, which was horribly tempting with the pace the Hokage had been pushing his Corp lately. He would even have more free time to train and get stronger, possibly even develop that jutsu he had been working on for years now, the breakthrough idea that might put him in a more favorable position with the Nara Clan Elders he so often displeased. Even if his team flopped, it's still a net gain. He wouldn't have to put that much effort into them, just enough for them to become chunin. Piece of cake, as a Nara. He just had to be ruthlessly efficient.

Really, the "consideration" was more for show. This was a blessing in disguise. He couldn't let the Hokage know that, though. The old man would be a little too smug, considering a previous conversation that had taken place.

But enough of that. He was getting his own little students!

His dark brown hair, short and spiked, matched the goatee he was casually rubbing in thought. He had all three of their files in his gloved palm, and he was unusually tempted to read them before he got to the privacy of his apartment. Innocent impulses like these were normally ones that got him in trouble, so he refrained. Black-brown eyes scanned the thickness, noticing one was much smaller than the other two.

Finally slipping through his front door, he spread the files over his stained kitchen table, tossing a couple of old coffee mugs in the half-full sink. He scanned the smallest file first. Suki Cho.

Orphaned at birth by mother Suki Cho, she was given her mother's name in her honor. Her mother had been a seamtress, becoming pregnant on a trip to obtain rare silks for a kimono commission. She, embarassingly, claimed she forgot who the father was. She had a complicated pregnancy, and went into an early labor her body wasn't ready for. Suki grew up in the Yakushi orphanage, before entering the academy and recieving home-care education (a common d-rank mission given to the Genin Corp. Basically just "teach orphans how to take care of themselves so we can focus on the important things").

She seemed to excel, surprisingly. Orphans and civilian born didn't tend to rank in the better half of their class, let alone top five. The system wasn't up to date, anybody could admit, but only since the latest war have civilians really been called into action. Yet Suki Cho sat at rank 3, top kunoichi of her grade, besting even most of the boys. That was rather noteworthy.

She didn't have prodigy status, but she was considered a rare talent. Stealing an older kids notes and learned the basic 3 without an adult noticing was quite an accomplishment. If she wasn't a genius, she was awfully crafty.

His next student had quite a thicker file compared to the basically one-page report on his underclassman. Jun Jun, aged 13, had a heavy record of cheating on tests and assignments. He's lucky he's in a ninja academy. They let it slide, considering what they're being trained for... if you can do it well enough. A few notes here or there on Juns' attitude drew his attention. The boy apparently has an issue with authority figures.

He, like his teammate, has absolutely no shinobi life exposure. Great, two civilian-raised he would have to show the ropes. It was going to be awfully troublesome.

He groaned as he reached across the table to grab the rest of the unread papers, his green vest pressing heavily into his sternum. Masao Aubrame, he read. Hey, there's once clan kid at least.

It matched every typical Aubrame file. Well-behaved, responsible, intelligent, and lots of bugs. Kotaro has worked with plenty of Aubrame, if he has any questions he's sure he could approach any one of his coworkers.

The clan was rather odd, they liked being asked for help. There was a legend saying the bug clan joined Konoha only because the First Hokage and his wife politely asked with an offering of a tree who's sap attracts rare beetles. They had been so moved by the gift and politeness they couldn't refuse. Despite their well-known good nature, they were still written off as "creepy" by most of the population.

A challenging team, he thought to himself. Potential for tracking, capture, and recon. Possibly even infiltration. Of course the Hokage would stick him with something like this. The jonin had some ideas already brewing as he looked at their newly printed genin identification pictures.

He would only know which idea would be viable when he saw their skill level. Academy Ability Reports are rarely accurate.

He had a good feeling though. So when the next week found him standing in front of three useless looking brats, he tried to keep optimistic. The group of four sat in the middle of a training ground that resides on the outskirts of the Nara compound, therefore the edge of the village. His students formed a half-circle around a wooden log, which he was perched upon like a bird observing its prey. The Nara Forest loomed behind him, the shadows from the setting sun reaching for their tiny little toes. They were stiff under his gaze, waiting for any sort of inclination to what what going one.

His jonin uniform felt rather warm in this weather, and he was secretly jealous of the comfortable looking kids in front of him. His hand landed on his chin absently as he observed them.

Jun seemed taller than he actually was, his big personality and perfect posture seemed to add to his height. His black hair was messy and unkempt, standing up at multiple odd angles. He wore a very practical outfit consisting of black cargo shorts with multiple zippered pockets and a grey T-shirt. The dark colors made his pale skin seem almost ashy, and contrasted with his navy blue ninja sandals. He sat closer to his male teammate, which led Kotaro to assume they were acquainted.

Masao was in the usual Aubrame light grey cloak, with black ninja pants visible underneath. His chocolate brown hair was almost invisible under his hood, but he could see the bump of a ponytail at the back of his neck. He had a spattering of freckles along the bridge of his nose, half-hidden by a pair of black oval-shaped sunglasses. He seemed buzzing with excitement, unable to sit still.

The smallest and youngest of the three, also the only female, sat slightly off to the side. Her ash black hair was in a short messy style he could tell she probably cut by herself with a kunai. It didn't look bad, just choppy and slightly asymmetrical. She had a striking pair of hazy blue eyes that would have her pegged for a Yamanaka if her pupil went missing. The dark circles that painted her under eyes told him she didn't get much sleep, but she didn't look tired. Just a little out-of-focus. She had a dark beauty mark just below her left eye, and other random dots dotted her seldom exposed skin. Her outfit was brand-new, today was probably the first day she had worn it. She had a black battle skirt adorned with slits in the thighs for mobility and built-in shorts. White pouches rested on each thigh above matching kunai holsters. Ambidextrous then? She had a simple white tank top with a grey (almost black) cropped hoodie over top. The crop ended just above where he assumed her bellybutton would be. She had on black cleated ankle boots that covered her feet completely, an unusual style for a ninja, but not unheard of. Dark gray socks that matched her hoodie stopped just above her knee, a thick patch where her joint lay to slightly protect for rough landings. A very practical outfit.

She was the only one out of the three who had calloused and scars adorning her small hands. She was the only one who was wary of the shadows creeping towards them steadily, sending her sensei unsure glances. She was also the only one who had brought full gear, kunai and medic pouches included.

They were a monotone looking bunch, he had to admit. Maybe one of his first attempts at being a sensei would get them to wear a little bit more color. Sure, black and grey are useful for shinobi business, but not required. His colleagues will surely make some way to make fun of him for it.

He nodded to himself, rubbing his goatee absently, elbow on his knee. "Alright. I'm done analyzing, you can relax now. I'm Kotaro Nara. I'll be your jonin sensei from now on. This is where we will meet up regularly, so make sure you don't get lost wondering around the compound or forest. The deer get anxious around strangers. I know who you all are, so introduce yourselves to each other. Goals, likes, dislikes, all that."

He peeked a lazy eye at the Aubrame, who spoke up first. He seemed to be talking to Suki and himself rather than Jun. "I'm Masao Aubrame. I'm hoping to one day be a jonin in the Tracking Corp like my father. Umm, I like barbecue and sour candy. I don't really dislike anything in particular, I guess people who complain a lot?"

Kotaro pretended not to notice the glare the two boys shared at the last remark. They were very companionable then. The black haired boy elbowed his teammate, starting his introduction before the silence got too awkward. "I'm Jun Jun. I wanna be a spy or something, maybe try for a position in torture and investigation? I don't know what my goals are yet, I guess. I like those little puzzle games, playing pranks, and fried rice. I hate sweet food, and getting nagged."

"Don't worry, Jun. we have plenty of time to figure out what Corp you want to join." He commented. Masao scoffed, muttering something he could barely hear before Jun elbowed him once again. It sounded suspiciously like "You'll end up in TI alright, but not on the good side."

He hid the smirk that threatened his bored facade. These kids were proving to be interesting. He turned to a quiet voice that spoke, belonging to none other than the mysterious Suki. She had snapped from her daze somewhere in their introductions.

The boys turned towards her, curiousity winning over their little argument. Thankfully they were at least somewhat interested in learning about their teammate. "I'm Suki Cho. I want to be... an ANBU Elite, I guess. That's the strongest title in the village, right? Save for the Hokage, of course. I like training, learning, and cherries. I hate pickled vegetables and trying to fall asleep. I know I'm young, but please do not underestimate me."

The similar-looking boys gave her a once-over, apparently deeming her acceptable. She looked prepared and capable.

Kotaro grinned widely at his cute new students. This next part was going to be a little fun. "Alright! Now that we all know each other, let's get down to the nitty gritty. This will be an assessment of sorts."

He stood from his place on the wooden log, removing a small trinket from his side pouch and holding it for them to see. It was a small lacquered wooden figurine of a money, squatting, with its furry arms held up in what looked like a prayer. "This, little genin, is a Macaque Monkey Charm. They're entirely plain. Two others are somewhere in the forest, either guarded or hidden. As Team 13, you'll be best suited for tracking, capture, and reconnaissance. Treat this as a trial run for future missions you may encounter."

He tried not to giggle at the serious looks dawning their faces. They were so much more cute than he thought they would be. He might actually enjoy this teaching gig.

"You have until midnight to complete this task. If you encounter resistance it will be up to you how much force you use. I only request you keep destruction to an absolute minimal. These are clan grounds, after all."

He gave a pointed look at the pouches on his female students thighs. He was pretty certain they contained at least one seal. He doesn't know how she would get her hands on any, but he doesn't dare doubt her capabilities, or his instinct.

The children shared uneasy glances, and Suki took a step closer towards the older boys in instinctive preparation, slightly impressing her sensei. She had a sixth sense for danger the boys seemed to lack. They had all been so focused on his directions, they forgot to pay attention to the shadows inching across the ground. With all of their shadows connected, he captured all three genin at once. Suki was the fastest to react, having been ridiculously on edge, but it was still too late.

He balanced the monkey totem carefully on his head as he slowly walked away, melding fluidly into the shadows. Their struggles were pitiful compared to some of the foes he had restrained. "I'll be keeping ahold of this one. When you obtain all three, or when the time runs out, you'll have passed this exercise."

His voice became disembodied as he disappeared completely. He reveled in the faces they made. So what if he was slightly sadistic? "If any one of you, at any point, are unable to continue, you fail!"

Change POV

Suki hadn't known true helplessness until she had been frozen by her sensei's family jutsu. Even as a child she had at least been able to struggle, attempt to close her guard or protect her weak points. Now her guard was wide open. She fell to her knees when it was finally released, ignoring the tremble in her fist as she struggled back onto her feet.

Jun seemed rather flustered. He moved to sprint towards the direction their new sensei left in, but Masao caught hold of his wrist just in time. They had both managed to stay on their feet, unlike her. "Jun, wait a minute-"

"No! We have to get that charm right?! He has one!" Came an explosive reply. "We might lose him if we wait too long. He's a jonin!"

The taller boy sighed, pushing his hood from his face, revealing the shoulder-length chocolate brown hair gathered in a bun at the nape of his neck. "He's already gone, I can't sense him anywhere nearby. He must have killed the beetle I planted on him, my hive can't locate her. I'll send a search, we have plenty of time. If they don't find anything within a half hour we'll start looking with them. In the mean time, let's learn what our teammate can do, and let's tell her our abilities."

Jun sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. Suki watched the situation cautiously, not knowing what the proper course of action was. They both looked at her expectantly. She gulped, suddenly noticing how dirty her white tank top appeared. "I, uh, I can do the basic three jutsu."

Jun slouched from his pristine posture, rolling his eyes at her. Masao rubbed the back of his neck, and she could see in the twitch of his lip that he was trying to refrain from laughing. Blushing, she thought about what else she could do. "I can, uh, I mean, I know two different taijutsu styles. I was the best in my class at taijutsu. I'm... pretty good with kunai."

The short girl turned her blue eyes to the side as she tried to word herself carefully, not wanting to boast. In all honestly, she was a god with kunai. She could deflect them into multiple directions, and with ninja wire, her aim and precision was even more deadly. Her eyesight was sharp, and she spent a considerable amount of time to hone her reflexes enough to take advantage of it.

They seemed a bit more pleased with her continuation. Jun grumbled when he noticed yet another flaw in their plan. "You're the only one who came prepared. Masa-chan, remind me to never come unprepared again. Speaking of which, you seem like you have kunai to spare. Mind lending me a few? I can set traps once we find sensei or the other charms. That's my specialty. I also specialize in intel gathering, but that's a subtle art that you probably wouldn't appreciate."

He gave her a cocky grin. Nodding, she ignored his oozing self-confidence and forked over four kunai and her only roll of ninja wire. He dropped two into one of the many pockets adorning his shorts, palmed one and handed the other to Masao. Suki hesitated for a second, before sharing another tool she had at their disposal. "I also have these," she slipped her scarred palm into her white side pouch, pulling out a small envelope that contained six tags. Three explosive tags and three flash tags.

Jun whooped, notably excited. "Nice, Su-chan! I knew there was something I liked about you. How'd you get ahold of these babies?! You must be a sneaky little bugger."

Masao grinned at his teams enthusiasm. "Now now, Jun. It's better not to ask how she obtained them. Why? Plausible deniability."

They shared a mischievous looking smirk, before turning to their new partner in crime. Thrown off guard by the sudden change in mood, Suki only slightly flinched when they threw their arms over her shoulders and formed a huddle, Masao throwing her hood over her head. She was only slightly miffed. Her name was already short enough, it didn't need to be any shorter, and the hood was too large as it hid her vision. She threw her hood back again, ignored her messed up hair, and cracked her knuckles in anticipaticion as they conspired. The tallest boy had to crouch slightly to reach the other twos' matching height, but it worked. She froze for a moment, confused. "Wait, why are we in a kickball huddle?"

Her teammates nodded seriously in unison, with Jun explaining to her, "If we put all of our heads together, we'll have three times the brain power."

Suki ignored the first-year level logic, simply indulging them. The black haired boy didn't stop speaking. "Right now we're relying on you, Masa-chan. You're our tracker, also the largest of us, and have good long range capabilities. Su-chan and I will be distraction and defense. Since you probably have the most chakra, you'll be able to last longer than Su and I in a battle of endurance, like this is seeming to be."

Masao shook his head in disagreement, pushing the black spectacles up his nose. "Actually, JuJu, Suki almost has as much chakra as I do. And she said she knows more taijutsu than us, her stamina probably outclasses both of ours. Looks can be deceiving. She was only a year below us after all."

The boys turned to face her, doubt painted on their features. She could almost read their minds. Glaring, she met their gazes. "Yes, I'm capable! I said I was the best in my class at taijutsu, didn't I? I promise I can keep up, if not beat both your asses at once."

Jun cracked another mischievous smile and chuckled, slipping four of the flash tags and explosive seals from her envelope and sharing them with Masao. "Whatever you say, Su~chan! What are those seals anyways? I can't tell."

Rubbing the back of her head, she sighed, trying to explain it as simple as possible. "You got excited over something you didn't even understand? Ridiculous. You can at least tell the difference in ink strokes, right? The ones with more space between the lines is a flash tag. It only flashes on the side with the ink, so stay on the right side of the tag unless you want to get blinded. The ones with a ton of close lines are explosive tags, be careful, they're live. You both know how to activate seals, right?"

Masao slapped her back roughly. "Of course we do. You're awesome! Sorry we didn't think to bring our own gear, we won't rely on you next time. I think you should be the one on offense when we find the charms, JuJu and I will be support. Neither of us are particularly talented at taijutsu, so it's up to you to try and grab the charms. Just try to last as long as possible so my kikaichu bugs can drain their chakra! Sensei might be a tough opponent, but if we work together, we just might be able to impress him."

She nodded, trying to ignore the disappointment in her gut. Those tags had been a bitch and a half to knick, and she probably wasn't going to get them back if they managed to track down their sensei. She had spent hours collecting left over kunai from the training grounds. She hoped she would have extra, but it wasn't looking like it.

Jun didn't seem to protest Masao's idea at all. Slipping her own tags back into her hip pouch, she regarded the Aubrame curiously. "Have they found anything?"

He shrugged his shoulders, finally breaking the huddle they fell into. They seemed to be in agreement on their plan of action. "Not particularly, but they found some sort of chakra residue a click east. We should head that way so I can inspect closer."

Thankfully they only wasted ten or so minutes on their plan, and it only took them five to arrive at the destination of the "residual chakra".

Masao crouched in front of a bush, trying to find any disturbance. There were no tracks or anything to indicate someone had come through. Suki crouched next to him, curious. "What does it feel like?"

He glanced at her cautiously before obliging her question. "It feels like someone just used a jutsu here. I can't tell exactly how long ago. But I can't find any sign of a jutsu being used anywhere around this area."

He stood, bringing his hands together in a seal and shouted "KAI!"

But nothing happened.

Suki bit her lip, rolling her hands around each other. "What about... earth jutsu? Could the charm be buried?"

Jun scoffed, turning his back to them. "Or it could just be something to throw us off the trail." Masao seemed to agree, readying to continue their search. Suki ignored him and studied the ground, scuffing it with her toes here and- there!

She crouched on the balls of her feet, digging into the soil. It seemed slightly softer here, and there was the smallest divot in the ground. Before long, a small monkey totem emerged. Jun skipped over and plucked it out of her dirty palm. "Well, I guess I'll eat my words next time."

Masao clapped her on the back, "Woah! That was actually pretty cool, we would've walked right passed it! Nice work Suki! By the way, looks like my kikaichu have found a small structure nearby that has the same residue, but stronger. should we go check it out?"

Suki dusted the dirt off her hands as she nodded, a small smile adorning her chubby cheeks from the praise she received. She had first been nervous that her teammates would look down on her for being younger, but her fears had been unjustified. These boys seemed kind.

Jun slipped the totem into another one of his many pockets, looking at the sky as he did so. "It's only 9:30 or so. We only have two and a half hours. We should hurry, I feel like tracking Sensei will be our hardest challenge."

"It's four or so clicks away, we should move immediately." Masao agreed. The three of them started, the sensor of the squad leading the way, with Jun and Suki flanking.

It didn't take long before they arrived at a small shrine, a small monkey balanced precariously on the point of a pyramid roof. They kicked up a cloud of dust as they slid to a stop in the wide dirt clearing. Immediately, Suki felt on edge. "Wait, something's not right here."

Jun, who had taken a few steps towards their objective, paused in thought. He must've noticed the same prickling feeling she did. Yet he was still the slowest to react when someone swiped at them from the tree above.

They all managed to duck in time, with Jun falling to his bottom roughly. Suki immediately scanned the treetops, trying to catch a glimpse of their assailant. She saw a flash of silver. "THERE!"

Bringing a set of kunai from her thigh holster, she waited for them to reveal themselves once more. Masao and Jun scrambled to back her, covering her blind spots as she did theirs in a basic academy formation. Jun was panicking, eyes darting to and fro. "Wait, you saw them? What'd they look like?"

"I couldn't get a good look, they're fast and hiding behind the trees. I only saw a flash of silver." She explained. Masao nodded at her, donning a serious expression that looked foreign on his normally cheerful demeanor. "I'm trying to plant a beetle, but he's too fast. He's dancing around my hive like it's nothing. I'm going to bring them back to conserve my chakra."

Suki cursed. Their went their main plan.

Another a rustle of leaves came from her right but she ignored it, focusing instead on the hint of silver she barely caught in her left peripheral vision. Two kunai flung from her grip before she could blink, the matte black metal singing as they left her palms. They cluttered together, before diverging in different directions. The kunai she was sure had followed him thunked harmlessly into a tree. She sighed in disappointment, palming two more weapons. "Hey! You said you were only pretty good with kunai. That was great!"

"This isn't the time for that. Hand me some of that ninja wire I gave you earlier." He seemed slightly miffed at her demanding tone, and after a moment she tacked on a sheepish "Please?"

He handed her the free end and she took the length she needed, hanging the long loops of metal around her forearm. She would need a lot of wire for this. Masao was looking at her oddly, watching as she worked to tie a kunai on one end of her ridiculously long wire behind their backs so their opponent couldn't see. "What are you doing? We don't have a lot of time if we want to find the last charm. We just need to grab this one and go."

She gave him a side glance, putting a kunai between her teeth as she focused on not cutting her fingers on the sharp wire. She tied a complicated looking knot. She has never tried this move, or even knew if it was practical. She just hoped their opponent was underestimating her as much as she was overestimating herself. After finishing she palmed her other kunai, tying the other end of wire around it. She answered him when she was done. "Just cover me. He's guarding it right? He'll only attack me when I make a move for the monkey. Look, he's just circling us right now. This won't take long. If we get the charm, we hightail it and start planning on finding sensei. If I fail we can retreat and come up with another idea."

Before he could protest, she was already gone. It wasn't a very big clearing, but she still couldn't make it very far before she was stopped. She was right when she assumed she would need nearly half the roll of wire for this. She had barely made it half way when their opponent finally showed himself, landing aggressively in front of her in a primal crouch.

It wasn't human. It was a silver beast, with glossy grey fur and beady black eyes. Its face and hands were bald, revealing calloused skin covered in scars and wrinkles. He had the bushiest eyebrows she had ever seen sitting atop his protruding forehead. His muscle definition was not lost under all of his fur. This was the biggest and most terrifying fucking monkey Suki had ever seen.

They had small moneys that often picked through the trash bins around Konoha, she couldn't remember their real name, but they had been the only primate she had ever seen until now. In an accurate comparison, those small monkeys were the size of a newborn baby next to the grizzly bear of an ape in front of her.

She skidded, stopping only feet away. She could smell the forest on him. As ridiculously long arms reached for her, she realized she didn't want to know what would happen if that meaty palm grabbed her. She enacted her plan, and the next few moments went by in slow motion, although it really happened in a span of a few seconds. Suki threw both of her kunai at the beast, missing. She could make out a smirk that had started to take form on its ugly wrinkled face, but it vanished into one of shock as he heard a "ka-thunk" and watched her tighten her fist and tug around the wire he hadn't noticed her attach. He reached for the wire that slipped past him, but she had already tugged it out of his reach, putting her entire body weight into it and throwing herself away from him, getting as much distance as possible in the single move.

The kunai had impaled the laquered wooden totem, and with a twirl, she sent it flying back towards her teammates. This still left her within his reach, though. Thankfully, he seemed to have forgotten about the second kunai she threw. While he was distracted, the other end of the wire arrived at just the right time, allowing her weaponry to loop around a tree, the shrine, and come at her opponent from the side in a slicing motion. He heard the whooshing of air a little too late.

The kunai sliced his shoulder, only making a shallow cut to what would have probably taken a humans arm off. It probably wouldn't have done much, if not for the flash tag attached, that went off at point-blank range. Ouch.

Suki used this as a distraction to scramble back and away, but before she realized it, he poofed away in a billow of smoke. It was apparently enough.

Coughing and waving the swirling jutsu byproduct from her face, she finally looked back at her teammates. Jun held the wooden monkey up high in the air, cheering. Masao laughed gleefully at him. She carefully stepped around the trails of wire she made as she ran, a trap in case he had come up from behind her, instead of the front.

Moral was at an all time high as they started on their search for their sensei. Jun was lagging before long, and they had to take breaks more often to compensate.

Civilian born ninja had a severe disadvantage at birth. There was no one to teach them chakra control or ninja rules, etiquette, and politics. Most were disgustingly unaware of the harsh truths of a shinobi society until it was shown to them first hand. They had a higher death rate compared to those born in major or minor clans (which are basically just large families with shinobi ancestry, such as the Hatake, Nohara, Lee, and Kurama clans to name a few. Major clans with dwindled members like the Uchiha, Senju, Sarutobi, and Shimura would be in this category, had they not served the village to such a degree). They were often stuck in the Genin Corp, once graduating from the academy. If one managed to prove themselves in the academy, they were put on a jonin team and became track genin like the rest of the clan kids. They had a better chance for a chunin promotion like this, but rarely advanced further than that either way. There was 5 civilian-born jonin... from 205 total.

Suki, being the self-aware child she was, immediately noticed the discrepancies. As an orphan, rather capable and independent, she was often left to her own devices. Once she taught herself to read (it took a couple years of badgering the older girls to read for her so she could memorize the kanji. They often indulged the cute little blue-eyed girl), it was game over. She inhaled information like a black hole. She stole the daily newspaper from her caretakers whenever they were done with it, learning about her village and the issues it faced. What the civilians were complaining about and what recent tragedy (or victory) that graced our military.

She read the history books, trying to see past most of the blatant propaganda to peer into the true details. She couldn't glean much, but it was enough for her to understand that this society was practically in infant stages compared to her memories from before, although the core issues remained the same. They tended to be the same in most societies. Misogyny, racism/elitism, poverty, and corruption was just as prominent here as it was everywhere before. It made the gaping differences slightly easier to grasp. It gave her a different perspective.

So she trained her best with the materials she had at her disposal. As a smaller child, she bothered the older academy children to teach her their taijutsu forms. Most refused, except for Kabuto Yakushi, not an orphan but one of the caretakers children. He taught her kata from his own family scrolls he had been learning from. They had been thick as thieves as children, but he had cut her off harshly when he had started medical training with his mother. He had no time for playing games with children, he explained. She didn't hold it against him. He had done enough for her by teaching her the style, even if it required to stretch every morning to increase her flexibility, and if she missed his company. The irony of him looking down on her age, when she had years of experience on him, was kept locked away in the depths of her mind.

When she first entered the academy and lived on her own, she had managed to trick the genin assigned to teaching her how to "take care of herself" in home care education (honestly the boy probably could cook just as much as she could) into tutoring her on the basic academy kata and exercises, which she performed religiously. The kata were much easier than the first style she learned, less flexible, focused more on blocking and delivering powerful force rather than feints and precise attacks. He probably only indulged her because she caught on fast.

She went to the public library in her free time, reading about a variety of topics. It was mostly a cover for her random knowledge, she reasoned to herself, but she enjoyed it even if she already knew some of the things she was reading. The few basic medical texts they had were her favorite.

Apparently, with the help of chakra and the mind of the great Slug Sanin, Konoha was quite medically advanced.

TL;DR: Suki worked her ass off. As soon as she had learned about shinobi, and the existence of chakra, it's like she found the missing puzzle piece, and this world felt like it made sense for once. It made sense for her to be a ninja. She didn't question it, it just was. There was no motive outside of the fact she felt it in her blood. The way sharp objects sung in her grip would be dangerous in most civilian occupations. She could imagine herself as a seamtress, accidentally poking her clients multiple times just from the satisfaction. Playing mind games when she haggled for better prices on silks. Or as a politician, fighting for better civilian treatment and actual resources for civilian born ninja to improve themselves. Or even as a gardener, working with the yanamakas, learning about flowers and herbs (and poisons) among other things. Yes, it was much safer for others sanity if she became a shinobi.

Although if it didn't work out, being a seamtress wouldn't be too awful. Something to think about.

Change POV

Kotaro was shocked. They had found the first two charms within an hour. He hadn't chosen his strongest monkey summon, and he had told Buro to disperse after a solid hit, but he didn't expect it to be so easy, and for them to blind him, even if temporarily. If you ignored the recklessness of her plan, it was impressive.

Their teamwork was also something that stumped him. He hadn't expected them to get along so well. There had yet to be any strife. They all shared ideas and information, if a disagreement occurred it happened peacefully and resolved diplomatically. The more physically fit two didn't have a problem with their lagging teammate as they searched for his hiding spot, or if they did, they kept it to themselves. Their search pattern was inefficient, but practical enough considering the possibility of enemies and the general cautiousness that came with being in unknown territory.

Maybe he should have put more pressure on them. Threatened them with something. He made a motion to rub his goatee, but refrained. He didn't wanna get mud smeared in it.

His hiding place was much cooler than the world above him. He was underground, using a high ranked Nara technique to see through the shadows and observe his students.

They completely overlooked his little hint. They wouldn't look underground twice. He had honestly expected them to split up before now, but it's almost like the idea hadn't even occurred to them. It was like teamwork came to them naturally. The plan was to pick them off once they were separated, but that wasn't happening.

He watched as they searched for him until the moon was directly above them. The trio made their way back to the training grounds, quite dejected at their failure. To be fair, they only had one capable tracker at the moment. But he would change that. Suki's vision was spectacular, he would teach her the traditional tracking by sight, and since she showed promise, maybe even chakra sensing. Jun didn't have the aptitude for it, but that wasn't his role anyways. He was the distraction and capture. He would be learning a different skill set as support.

Masao was very well-rounded as it is, he could focus on improving his tracking as his teammates caught up to his skill level. While Kotaro hadn't tried taking it easy on them (not even close), he also didn't expect them to completely dismiss the idea of him being underground.

They would probably be so disappointed they completely overlooked that possibility. He held back a chuckle at the faces he imagined them making. None of them were able to sense his jonin-level reserves, which he wasn't exactly hiding. He just had a minor genjutsu to confuse the kikaichu, which his Yamanaka genin teammate had shared with him. He noticed how Suki's vision would flicker over his underground hiding places occasionally, despite her obviously not knowing why.

Yeah, Suki would be learning chakra sensing. Either that or her instincts are on par with a chunin. She was mean with those kunai, so he could probably teach her another weapon? Maybe he could convince his aunt to tutor her on the tessen. He was definitely teaching her another taijutsu style. The girl didn't look like the average taijutsu specialist, but he saw the potential in her figure. She wasn't lithe or petite like most kunoichi tended to be at this age. She had powerful legs and arms, a solid frame. Most chunin knew at least three, so she was ahead of her teammates in that area. She will have to learn a few genjutsu too, at least one to help out Jun.

Jun was the most complicated of the three. His trapping and taijutsu skills were average at best. He basically had zero potential for tracking or sensing. His low reserves ruled him out as a ninjutsu specialist. He would have to pair him with Suki often in spars, hopefully she'll help him catch up in the physical department. He could call in a favor with an old teammate to teach him more about trapping and genjutsu? That would be most beneficial.

Masao, although more advanced than the other two, was still lacking in some areas. His sensing could definitely be improved. He was most suitable as their ninjutsu specialist, so Kotaro should probably get ahold of some chakra paper to tell the boys' chakra type. Then they could start on elemental transformation, maybe even learn a few E-rank elemental skills. He hadn't seen his taijutsu, but knew it was at least be passable. He was a clan kid. He always had his clan techniques to work on, too. His bugs should, in theory, have noticed him following them around after so long. Or maybe he

made the genjutsu too strong? He hasn't exactly mastered it yet.

The general plan of action made some of the anxiety about his decision to accept the team fade. It helped that they were already becoming a pod of peas.

He tried not to feel guilty about having his friends and family help him, but honestly failed. He was one of the few Nara who hadn't been on a countless number of capture missions. This new assignment will probably change that. They needed a different skill set from him, and his skill sets didn't really suit any of them anyways. Easier for him, in the long run.

He was a Nara, after all. He was pretty lazy sometimes.