I admired my new computer, purchased not an hour earlier with my very generous graduation present of cold hard ryo from the Sandaime Hokage. It was a 'clunky' model to the mind of my inner Earthling, looking like something that had been produced circa the mid-1980s. The monitor, keyboard, and processor were all integrated into one big case. I'd call it a laptop except it didn't fold and it also weighed about 15 Imperial pounds, give or take.

"25MHz single core processor, 640x480 pixel display, 8 MB of RAM, and 200 MB hard drive," I listed to myself, recalling the details I'd memorized about this model all the months I'd been eying it. Which, if my mental copy of Moore's Law was accurate (and don't quote me on it) meant this was equivalent to a state-of-the-art portable computer around the time I'd been in middle school back in my past life. Which, hey, was better than a computer from before I'd been born in that life, I suppose. Still, the smartphone I'd had before my death was literally over 100 times stronger than this thing across the board. But the march of progress would catch up in this world eventually barring the apocalypse. Which sadly was all but a guarantee, though hopefully avertable before it came to its final conclusion.

Shaking my head, I plugged in my new toy and went through the log-in sequence. I set up a password (alphanumeric with at least one symbol, of course) and then looked at the home screen. Bland off-blue background, and 4 shortcut icons. One went to the drive, so it would be empty except for the basic software package I'd had this thing loaded with when I bought it. The second was for a few basic games, which I didn't see myself using often. The third was for a word document program, and the fourth was for a spreadsheet application. I clicked on the menu button in the corner and saw a full list of everything this baby could do.

I quickly set up a spreadsheet budget plan, logging every ryo I had and where it was intended to go. That done, I set up a word document to log my current PRs for every standard physical exercise, from pull-ups to a 2k sprint time, along with my weight and height and basic measurements. I liked to have these things recorded and written down somewhere to keep track of. I'd log my progress every week, have a tangible outline of how I grew and progressed over the coming weeks once I was an active Genin.

Once that was out of the way, I went up to the roof of the building, bringing the book on Fuinjutsu general theory I'd checked out from the Shinobi Library yesterday along with my alarm clock. Then, setting an alarm for 2 hours, I started to run around the rectangle of the rooftop while starting to read. I was a master of multitasking, no reason not to learn and work my cardiovascular endurance simultaneously. I quickly got into a smooth groove of running, and dedicated every bit of my attention not on my peripheral vision to make sure I didn't fall off the roof on reading the text.

By the time the alarm finally went off, I felt like my whole world had tilted on its axis. I could only compare the feeling in my brain to the moment in my previous life when I'd fully grasped relativity, or maybe quantum mechanics or even string theory.

Fuinjutsu, no two ways about it, involved the discovery, analysis, and then implementation of the very source code of reality. The runic language, painstakingly developed over trial and error over the last millennium (and completely unintelligible compared to the 'standard' Narutoverse alphabet) spelled out the very essence of Creation. It was physics, the fundamental forces and laws of the universe, captured in two dimensional shapes.

So it was, of course, both the most powerful and the most dangerous of all the Shinobi arts. There was a whole chapter on famous Fuinjutsu fuck-ups. For example, a famous lake in the Land of Rivers was apparently actually the crater from a Fuinjutsu master experimenting with a new Explosion Tag and accidentally inventing an atomic bomb. Most attempts at teleportation ended with the seal's creator vanishing and never being seen or heard from again. Turning inside-out was apparently a surprisingly common mistake once you got into trying to mix Fuinjutsu and Medical Ninjutsu.

The point was, the sealing arts were the REAL DEAL. Someone who mastered them could, with just some liquid and a brush, hack the world around them in every conceivable way so long as they followed the laws of Fuinjutsu as they were understood. It kind of hurt my head that this book was available to any ninja in the village from the most green Genin like myself on up. Or that the sum total of Konoha's books on Fuinjutsu amounted to less than 100 texts, from what I'd seen in the Shinobi Library yesterday. Why wasn't everyone and their grandmother getting in on this shit?!

I ended up answering my own question a few seconds later. Naruto was part of a dying clan because Fuinjutsu were so feared. 3 of the 5 major hidden villages had allied with each other just to wipe out Uzushiogakure and end the threat that the Uzumaki clan posed to their enemies. Getting even a journeyman's understanding of Fuinjutsu painted a target on the back of your head. People feared both power and what they did not understand. Fuinjutsu had power out the gunwales and, even for a respectable intellect such as my own, was devilishly complex and hard to figure out. I was only halfway through the book and I still felt I'd need to reread a few chapters several times for the ideas to really sink into the old gray matter.

All that being said… I was ready, willing, and able to get good at Fuinjutsu as fast as humanly possible. I had found my niche, my passion, my hobby that would be useful on the battlefield. It seemed like the perfect union of my software engineer's mind and the magic of this world's chakra.

But all that was for down the line. Right now, I needed to shower, get a quick lunch, then meet up with Naruto.

Still, even as I closed the Fuinjutsu textbook, I did so with the reverence of a zealot closing their holy book.

Shinobi Singularity

I entered my old classroom and went to the first empty seat. I'd arrived 15 minutes early, per my personal norm, but the room was already pretty full. Everyone was eager to be on time and not miss the chance to get their team assignments and start their careers as proud ninja of Konohagakure.

We needn't have bothered, our Chunin-sensei ended up being 5 minutes late. Those 5 minutes were so thick with tension I could have taken a bite out of it. Granted, I had my meta knowledge as an advantage, but my peers might have been taking this a tad too seriously. Genin were the rank-and-file (cough cannon fodder cough) soldiers of the ninja armies. We were destined for community service in the form of D-ranks and the occasional C-rank which may not even necessitate leaving the village until we racked up enough experience and training to take a shot at the Chunin Exams. I wasn't looking forward to my new full-time job as a Genin so much as the potential training opportunities if, miracle of miracles, me and my two teammates managed to pass our Jonin-sensei's test.

The Chunin-sensei, after a token apology for being unpunctual, gave a brief description of how our 3-man squads with a Jonin-sensei worked and then began to read the teams off. I paid attention to each one in passing, focusing more intently when I finally heard my name. "Team 6: Shiho, Shon, and Amari Yori, assigned to Jonin Hyuuga Iroha."

The rest of the teams were read out and then we were released to wait for an hour until the Jonin-sensei started to arrive. I tracked down my two teammates and managed to convince them to have an impromptu meeting in the courtyard.

"What do you want to talk to us about, Shon-san?" Shiho asked, adjusting her glasses.

I took a moment to regard her and Yori. Shiho was a bookworm, basically a blonde Sakura one year older. She managed to pass the Academy graduation exam, so she was above a minimum standard when it came to physical prowess, but she definitely was more a thinker than a fighter at this point. Yori, based on what I remembered, was a civilian who'd averaged in the bottom quarter of the whole class. In his defense, his family ran a 24/7 convenience store and he had to work shifts after school, so he didn't have much time to study or even catch up on sleep. Still, he was what I had to work with, so I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"We're Team 6 now," I began. "Until such time as one of us is promoted to Chunin, retires, or dies, we're going to be spending an awful lot of our waking hours together. From this day forward, we're going to work together, train together. On long-term missions we'll eat and sleep together. We may even die together if we get ambushed by a superior force or bite off more than we can chew. I figure the least each of us can do is establish a healthy working relationship with the other two. I think we should take the next hour to just get to know each other. Do you concur?"

"Aren't you taking this a bit too seriously? As long as we stay out of each other's way and get the job done, there's no reason we have to get all buddy-buddy," Yori scoffed.

I turned to regard him, making sure to maintain eye contact. He met my gaze challengingly. "Tell me, Yori-san, which is stronger? 3 or 1?"

"That's easy, 3," he rolled his eyes.

I held up 3 of my fingers. "3." Then I curled them back into my fist. "1. A single unit, with a clear goal and a clear purpose. You don't have to love me or Shiho. You don't even have to like us. But you do need to cooperate and rely on us. That's what will make us a team, not just 3 ninja in the same spot waving kunai. I have to know I can trust you, and that you trust me. Same for me and Shiho, and you and Shiho. To quote a much better man than I am, 'a house divided against itself cannot stand'. We'll be much more effective, and more importantly more likely to stay alive, if we can have each other's backs instead of being 'every man for himself'. Do you disagree?"

He gulped. "Anyone ever tell you that you're a bit intense?" he asked.

"We're shinobi now, Yori-san. We're enlisted in Hokage-sama's army. Anyone who isn't wearing a Konoha forehead protector is an enemy, and sometimes you can't even count on that. Out beyond the village walls, every bandit, enemy-nin, and missing-nin worth the name wants to kill you. Some even want to do it painful instead of quick. This is a life-or-death career we all signed up for, and tomorrow is never going to be a guarantee. To you I may seem too serious or callous. I would argue that you're too frivolous or relaxed about the realities of this line of work. So forgive me if I want a harmonious relationship with the man and woman who very well might end up saving my life one day," I said, not looking away once.

Yori looked away, but I noticed his hands were trembling faintly. Shiho had turned pale as a ghost.

I sighed. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm dropping the hammer a bit too hard. But it's my opinion, take it with a grain of salt, that over half the kids who sign up for the Academy don't fully realize what they're committing to. I'm not one of them. I knew from day one that I was volunteering to become a mercenary soldier, and that the risk of death on any given day once I graduated would never be zero. I'm not trying to scare you two so much as I'm trying to get you both into the right mindset. Us working together could very well be a matter of survival. I don't know about you, but I'm not in a rush to die. So I want to try my hardest to figure out how you both tick, and to return the favor, all so that we can be a better shinobi team for it."

Shiho reached up to wipe a bead of sweat from her brow. Jeez Louis, I was making the poor girl sweat. Maybe I was being too intense. "Shon-san… we're only Genin. You're acting like we're going to be Jonin or ANBU, out on the frontlines. I did research, most Genin teams do nothing but D-rank missions for the first year. We may not even leave the village in that timeframe."

"Granted," I nodded in assent. "Still, nothing wrong with having a frontline attitude even while I'm walking the Inuzuka dogs or helping to paint an old lady's fence. I'm not asking you both to share my fervor. I'm just asking you both to meet me halfway in figuring out how to work together smoothly and with as little frustration or miscommunication as possible."

Yori got a brash grin back, but I was confident it was all bravado. I'd rattled him, I could tell. "Sure, we can chat for an hour, set some ground rules. Long as it'll shut you up."

"Thank you," I grinned. I couldn't care less why he was doing it so long as he was now onboard. "Let's start with the basics. We'll each go around, state our name, 1 interesting fact about ourselves, our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness. I'll start. I'm Shon, no clan name. I know the 3 major programming languages and have already written a novel piece of software on my computer. My greatest strength is my strategic planning, and my greatest weakness is my chakra control. Now you go."

Shiho cleared her throat. "I'm Shiho, no clan name. I have a photographic memory, I can quote any page from any textbook we were ever assigned word for word. My greatest strength is my book knowledge, but my weakness is my Taijutsu."

Yori shrugged. "Amari Yori. I know a couple card tricks, my dad wanted to be a stage magician as a kid and taught me a few things. My greatest strength is my muscle, but I'll admit I probably tanked the academic part of the graduation exam. Studying just ain't my bag."

I nodded. "Good. Next, let's answer the most important question: why are we here?"

"Do you mean here on this planet, or alive in the first place?" Shiho asked.

"Nothing so cerebral," I chuckled. "Why did you want to become a shinobi? When things get tough, when we're scraping the bottom of the barrel during training, when we run into the first major problem on a mission, we'll need a good answer to the question of 'why?'. If we don't, we'll crumple and give up and fail, which may or may not have major consequences depending on the situation. Again, I'll go first. I'm a shinobi because I want to get as hard to kill as possible."

"What do you mean by that?" Yori frowned.

"My parents both died in the Kyuubi attack," I answered. "My earliest memory is the feeling of the beast's Killing Intent. Did you know over half the population under the age of 3 died that night just from the effects of that Killing Intent? To say nothing of the casualties caused by the actual assault on the village, all the buildings destroyed or crushed or even atomized. I've tasted Death already, and it scares the piss out of me. At the bare minimum, I want to get stronger than the Kyuubi so if and when a comparable threat comes along, I'm not just another statistic in the aftermath. That's why I became a shinobi. The top 100 strongest humans on this planet are almost exclusively ninja warriors. As ironic as it sounds, I signed up for a career where I'll risk death daily in order to not die before my time. That's my 'why'. What's yours?"

Yori was trembling again. But he took a deep breath and steadied a bit. "That's… okay, maybe you're allowed to be a bit intense. Anyway, I became a shinobi for my family. Ninja make good money. My dream is to retire my parents, make enough money that they never have to work another day for the rest of their lives."

I grinned at him honestly. "That's an admirable goal, Yori-san. I would even say it's better than mine. My goal is inherently selfish. Not that I don't love and value the lives of others, but it's always going to come down to number one in my book. I'm doing this for me. You're doing it for the people you love. That might serve you better than my reason ever would."

Yori blushed. "Man, make up your mind. I can't decide whether you're trying to scare the crap out of me or get me to climb a mountain with you."

"Are the two mutually exclusive?" I posed.

Shiho chuckled at that. "My 'why' is going to sound silly compared to both of yours. But I really want to get into the Cryptanalysis department. I love puzzles, and if I get a position there I'll basically be paid to solve puzzles all day. Make of that what you will."

"That's not a bad 'why' at all," I assured her. "You enjoy it, you're good at it I presume, it'll make you money, and it helps the village. Sounds like the ideal career path for you, in all honesty." I looked between her and Yori. "Now, I'm about to disclose something in confidence. I'm a personal acquaintance of Hokage-sama, for reasons I can disclose at a later date. But I know a few things through my relationship with him. One of them is the fact that of all the teams assigned today, less than half will go on to active duty."

"What do you mean?" Shiho asked, her glasses glinting as she focused on me. Yori too had stood to attention.

"There's an old quote by a philosopher from the Warring Clans era," I started. "'Out of every 100 men in battle, 10 shouldn't even be there, 80 are just targets, 9 are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.' The reason I mention this is to make you understand the purpose of the Academy Exam. Simply put, our Chunin-sensei are meant to weed out the 10 who shouldn't even be ninja in the first place. Each team's Jonin-sensei, they give their own exam. Some focus on teamwork, others on basic competence, others on whatever quality they consider most important in a shinobi or kunoichi. But to weed out the 80 who are just targets, each team will have to get through their Jonin-sensei's exam. Roughly 1 out of every 3 teams each year passes the second Genin exam. Those that fail are given the choice of either joining the Genin Corps or repeating the final year of the Academy and hope for better luck next year."

I crossed my arms. "Now, there's no shame in joining the Genin Corps. And if we fail today, that's where I'll go. But the chance to get individual or even just group training from a legit Jonin is worth its weight in diamonds. We'll all become much better shinobi and have higher chances of becoming Chunin if we manage to pass Iroha-sensei's exam and stay Team 6 instead of each going our separate ways. So, even if it's just for today, can we all agree to share our strengths and cover each others' weaknesses for the purposes of the test?"

Yori smirked. "A Chunin earns 30% more a year than a Genin on average. Sooner I'm a Chunin, the richer me and my family become. Sure, I'll work with you to get on this Hyuuga bastard's good side."

Shiho hummed. "Your hyperfixation on teamwork makes more sense, given this context. Very well, Shon-san, I will endeavor to work with you and Amari-san to the best of my ability."

"Good," I grinned. I put both my hands out. "Shall we shake on it to seal the deal?"

With grins, we all grasped the others' hands and gave a triangular shake.

"Well, this is a surprise," came a voice from nowhere.

I blinked and looked behind Shiho's left shoulder. A Hyuuga, the characteristic pupil-free lavender eyes locked with razor-sharp focus on the three of us, had appeared as if from thin air. His forehead protector was tied as a bandana, probably to hide the Curse Seal of the Branch family. He wore standard Konoha Jonin garb, the green flak jacket over a blue long-sleeve top and blue pants with bandages tying the bottoms up to his shinobi sandals. A single sharp bang of dark-brown hair emerged from the bandana, but otherwise he looked like a generic Hyuuga Chunin or Jonin.

"I don't quite resort to the bell test, but my personal exam focuses on teamwork. It would seem rather redundant in this particular case," the man mused.

"Iroha-sensei, I presume," I said respectfully.

"Correct, Genin Shon," Iroha said briskly. He spent a solid 5 seconds staring at each of us, and I was bone-deep certain he didn't need the Byakugan to see right through us. "Well, I suppose you're worth the trouble and the boost to my file I'll get for getting you all through at least one Chunin Exam alive. And a challenge is always refreshing. Given you all realized the value of mutual aid all on your own, I will consider you all to have passed my personal exam. As of this moment, we are Team 6 of Konohagakure."

"Booyah!" Yori whooped, pumping his fists. Shiho and I both got pleased grins.

"Yes, yes, have your fun. I intend to hit the ground running. You're my students now, and my job is to get you to a point where I don't need to waste all my time and energy babysitting and keeping you 3 alive when we're on a mission," Iroha said flatly. His tone made it very clear that he wasn't going to be our sensei out of the goodness of his heart or be a second father to each of us. He was our boss, our direct superior, and he'd care for us only as members of his personal unit under his command. "Follow me to Training Ground 11."

He took off at what, for a Jonin, was probably the equivalent of a brisk walk. For me and my new teammates, we had to go at an all-out sprint just to keep Iroha in sight. He finally led us outside the village center into one of the numerous training grounds tucked inside the massive village walls. Unlike the iconic Training Ground 3 utilized by Team 7, this was nothing but a standard man-made clearing in the sprawling forest made by the Shodai Hokage back during the village's founding.

Iroha turned to us, where we were desperately trying to catch our breath. "In order to understand what I have to work with, I need to assess each of you at your very best. You will individually come at me with the intent to kill. That is an order, not a suggestion. Rest assured, you will have no chance of succeeding. Genin Yori, you first."

I backed away to give Yori a little room, Shiho mimicking me. Yori did some quick stretches, then pulled out a kunai from his pouch. Getting into what looked like a bastardized fusion of the Academy Taijutsu style and a traditional boxing stance, Yori charged forward with a war cry.

Iroha effortlessly dodged the swipes, thrusts, punches, and kicks sent by Yori. To the Genin's credit, he chained his moves rather well for someone his age and skill level. But against a Jonin, he might as well have been shadow boxing for all the hope he had of actually landing a hit on his opponent. When Iroha had learned all he needed to know, he moved lightning fast to give just 2 jabs, one to each shoulder. Yori's arms both went slack, the kunai falling from a limp grip.

"What the… Neji's just a beginner at the Gentle Fist, isn't he?" Yori gasped, trying and failing to move either arm with zero success.

"Please do not compare me to a member of my clan, however talented, when he's a third my age," Iroha said briskly. "Now stay still, I'll reverse the damage." Unable to stop a few twitches or grunts of pain, Yori let Iroha unblock the two tenketsu that had shut down either arm. Iroha turned to Shiho. "Proceed, Genin Shiho."

Shiho spent a solid 10 seconds seeming to just plan her move. Then she took out 2 handfuls of shuriken and sent them in a staggered wave. While Iroha artfully dodged, Shiho went through quick hand seals and made 5 standard Bunshin. The 6 versions of the blonde kunoichi moved to engage Iroha. He ignored the first 3 copies for the illusions they were, before catching the wrist of the hand clutching a kunai that Shiho tried to stab into his side. "Very good… for an Academy student. You're a Genin now. The standards have been raised. You'll have to do much better in a very short time or else I'll have you discharged just to save your skin and everyone you might serve with," Iroha said, harsh and critical, but a bit constructive. I was sensing that was simply his style of teaching.

Shiho gulped and shakily nodded, before Iroha let her go and she pocketed the kunai. Iroha turned to me, and I braced myself. "Proceed, Genin Shon," he commanded.

I took out a kunai and threw it before beginning hand seals. While Iroha idly tilted his head to dodge, I finished my favorite of the Academy 3 Ninjutsu. "Kawarimi no Jutsu," I declared at inside volume, no need to broadcast to the opponent what I was doing. In a blurring shift, I had taken the kunai's place behind Iroha. I twisted to give a good kick to his head, which he avoided like we'd practiced the move for weeks. Not to be deterred, I got into position and caught the same kunai I'd just replaced myself with. Conservation of momentum and all. Armed with a weapon, I got the sharpened trowel in a icepick grip and went to town in Iroha's general direction.

He humored me for 60 seconds, as he had Yori, and then he guided my attacking arm out to the side before giving a single palm strike to my solar plexus. I don't think he even used the Gentle Fist, but he was so freaking strong I still collapsed to the ground in danger of puking my guts out.

"Clever opening move, and you lack the hesitation your teammates had in going for vital areas," Iroha noted. "Tell me, Genin Shon, do you see yourself as the 'one warrior' you referenced with your quote earlier?"

"Hardly," I gasped when I had a bare minimum of oxygen back in my lungs. "I'm best friends with a 'one warrior', and I'm man enough to admit I'm just not cut from the same cloth he is. I'll settle for being one of the 9 real fighters."

"Well, in any case, you're the least disappointing of the 3 of you. Believe me, that's not saying much," Iroha said, sharp but not really cruel. "Now, I have a basic idea of where all of you need some comprehensive training. Individual specialization will be done on your own training time or if I deign to grant a request for mentoring from one of you. Meet me here tomorrow at 6 am, sharp."

"Yes, Iroha-sensei," the three of us chorused.

Iroha's blank eyes seemed to get even more intense for a second. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear from the start. I will only put in as much effort as each of you do. I will not work harder on your personal development than you do. And if you don't keep up with my expectations for progression, I can and will make all 3 of your lives a living hell in the form of remedial training. Something to bear in mind going forward. Now, that's it for today. Team 6, dismissed."

And with those parting words, he vanished in a Shunshin.

I got a slow grin. "I don't know about you two," I said. "But I cannot wait to become a legitimate badass like that guy."