Hey, Y'all
I went ahead with the idea to change the title of the story. There were too many other fics with "Juggernaut," in the name, or literally just named Juggernaut. That, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity for this pun. So, the new name is officially "Wroughten Shinobi."
freedomringer: Thank you again for the praise. Having Sarutobi personally train you might just be the most valuable thing you could get out of the whole ordeal. He did train 3 of the most powerful shinobi the Hidden Leaf has ever produced, after all. We'll see what Ryota decides in the end.
We officially hit 2k views on the last one, lets gooooo.
Hope you all enjoy this chapter
Mikoto stood in the middle of the training ground forest, eyes peering left and right. Taking a step forward, she quickly had to leap back as where her foot was about to touch, a spike of stone appeared.
She didn't have much time to think, though, as sailing directly towards her was a large fireball. This time she decided to leap onto a tree branch above her to avoid the attack. On the way up she noticed a string of ninja wire, which she deftly avoided.
That too was for naught, as even though she avoided that string, she heard a small snap of string under her foot on the branch, and the swoosh of kunai sailing towards her.
Those were dodged easily enough by leaping to another tree, but what she wasn't expecting were for them to suddenly change direction and start following her. She descended to the forest floor once again to give her more space to move and lose the kunai. As she ran forward, though, a strong gust of wind blew into her from the front, launching her and the kunai backward, where she was met with an earthen wall that had just been erected.
She quickly got back to her feet and regained her bearings, but not before two more walls of stone rose, blocking her in and leaving only one avenue of escape. That avenue was quickly blocked off by an enormous fire, filling the entire stone structure with flame, and eliciting a quick 'pop' sound.
A whistle could be heard being blown in the middle of the clearing to the training ground, where Mikoto stood, unscathed.
Out of the underbrush appeared Sasuke, Ryota, and Naruto. Making their way back to the middle of the clearing, they awaited her evaluation.
She clapped her hands together and smiled, "Well done, all three of you! Your expertise with your jutsu leaves little to be desired, and you work together as a team nominally!" She turned her head to me, "Ryota, since when are you able to control the flight path of your kunai?" Then she turned to Naruto and Sasuke, "And that fire jutsu at the end was incredible! You must have worked out the kinks in your fire and wind combination!" She finished excitedly.
We all beamed at the praise, but I was the first to respond. "It's something I've been working on for a while, Sensei, but if I can flood some metal with my chakra before sending it out, I'm able to control it to a certain extent. Not anywhere as well as metal I directly touch, but it's getting better." I finished while Sasuke added in his own part, "And we got it down once Knucklehead over there learned how not to overcharge his wind and blow my flames out," while point his thumb in Naruto's direction.
"Hey! I heard that!" Naruto yelled out, to which Sasuke quipped, "I would hope so. It'd be a shame to be stupid AND deaf." Which had elicited a small giggle from us all, much to Naruto's ire.
I had become the mediator of the group, so before Naruto's anger could grow too much, I said, "You know he doesn't mean it, Naruto. You both did great. Syncing your jutsu together like that is no easy feat." I offered with a smile.
Mikoto had decided that to be the time she was going to jump back into the conversation.
"There's only a week left until graduation, but you're all already genin in everything but name. Hell, I'm sure you guys could take a chunin on by yourself at this point." She said with a grin.
Naruto grins back and says, "You bet we could! If we can take you on, then no random chunin is gonna stand a chance!"
Mikoto's face took on a more serious expression, "Do remember I wasn't using any jutsu, and it was just a clone. Don't get too cocky there, that's how good ninja get killed." She finished solemnly.
Naruto gulped and nodded quickly.
Mikoto continued on, "We're not going to be having a genin test like the other jonin do. I've been working with each of you for a little more than a year now, Ryota and Sasuke longer. I know you're ready for this. And I just want to say I'm proud of each of you for how strong you've already become." She finished with a large smile on her face, before she elicited a small 'oof' sound and a little blond was hugging her at the waist.
Muffled into her side, Naruto said, "Thank you, Sensei. For believing in me." To which her heart just melted. She knew the boys childhood, but she didn't realize how much affect her words would have on him.
She looked up from Naruto and motioned for Sasuke and me to come over. "Group hug!" She exclaimed. I just walked over with Sasuke, out of the corner of my eye spotting a small smile on his face, and we joined the embrace.
The graduation exam was as easy as we expected. Not even as hard as the competition was, honestly. Thinking of the competition, I look down at my prize.
I had decided to go a bit bigger than just the vambraces, having a whole breastplate, shin-guards and the arms made.
It took a bit of getting used to, but now I can hardly feel them as I move around. It gave me a lot of readily available metal to shape that I was already touching and would keep me protected in general when in battle.
It was well cushioned and fitted, so there wasn't any noise from it as I moved around.
Seeing as I was still young, I would most likely need a new set made after my growth spurt, but hopefully I'll have made enough from missions by then to afford it.
Overall it had been an improvement to my outfit, which before was just the standard blank ninja jumper. Now, armor sat atop and was a dark forest green color, the chest-plate itself having a beautiful golden leaf symbol adorned on the front. For footwear I wore black steel-toed boots.
Finally, after finishing my graduation test, I completed the outfit with a Hidden Leaf headband, black strap of course, tied across my forehead.
Taking my seat next to Sasuke and Naruto, we awaited any last announcements from Iruka-sensei.
Every one of the clan kids had managed to graduate, and a few of the non-clan kids did as well. Sakura, of course, graduated with flying colors.
"I just want to congratulate you all." Iruka-sensei started. "You've all grown into splendid young Shinobi, and I wish you the greatest success in your journeys from here." He beamed, while tears started to form in his and a few of the students' eyes. He blinked them away and heaved a happy sigh. "As a final gift from the Academy, we've gotten all of you a fully kitted shinobi pack. The kind you'll take on longer-term missions, already pre-packed for you. Please take care of them." He paused once last time before finishing with, "And please do be mindful out there. The Shinobi world is a dangerous one."
He let us all know to be back in a week's time for our team assignments.
That night, Sasuke, Naruto, and I were treated to some ramen by Mikoto-sensei, at Naruto's request. She had decided we earned a treat for our graduation. Sasuke was never too into ramen, so he just sat and chatted with us; Mikoto promising to take him to the mart to pick up some tomatoes tomorrow.
We stayed there for a while before we went our separate ways.
The next day I heard tell that there was an attempt to steal the Forbidden Scroll of Seals by one of the Academy Teachers.
I scoffed at that, 'A Chunin trying to steal directly from the Hokage? How crazy can you get.'
The traitor had been locked up and was awaiting trial.
The rest of the week went by without anything eventful happening, and now all the graduates have met back up in the Academy classroom.
"Welcome back, Students" Iruka-sensei said before shaking his head. "Sorry, I mean Graduates." He corrected with a smile.
He continues, "After a week of deliberation, these are how the teams have been set up. I will call your names, and then who your sensei is going to be."
Iruka-sensei went down the list the while, a fair amount of teams were going to be formed it seemed, before he got to names I recognized.
"… Nakamura Ryota, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. You are going to be Team 7 under Jonin Uchiha Mikoto." Sensei said.
Even though we already knew what the outcome was going to be, Sasuke, Naruto, and I couldn't help but look at each other with an excited smirk.
Iruka then continued on, "Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba. You will be team 8 under Jonin Hatake Kakashi."
"Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino, you will be team 10, as team 9 is still in rotation from last year, and your Jonin sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma."
Ino complained at the situation, but Shikamaru explained it was a foregone conclusion, since of course they were going to reform the famous Ino-Shika-Cho trio.
Finding the flash of pink hair in the crowd, Iruka addressed Sakura, "Haruno Sakura. You've garnered the attention of a certain Jonin for your high chakra control and aptitude for Genjutsu. You've been given the honor of an apprenticeship under Yuhi Kurenai. You'll just be known as team Kurenai. Congratulations!" He gave her a proud smile.
Sakura, for her part, was shocked. She had been sad when she realized most of the other students she knew from class were already given Sensei, she had no idea this would be happening. As she mused over that, though, in walked a couple of people.
Sakura's new sensei in question, Kurenai, walked in with Asuma. They both picked up their students and left.
Next, in the middle of the classroom appeared Mikoto-sensei in a body flicker. "Team 7!" She said with a smirk. "Let's get a move on!" And with that, we made our way to our typical training ground.
Sensei rounded us and spoke, "Like I said, the other genin are going to be receiving tests from the prospective sensei today. We're not going to be doing that. Instead, we're going to be going to ask for our first mission so we can start figuring out our mission roles and forming our 'on-mission personas.'" She finished with some air quotes.
She continued on, "By that I just mean that you'll each have to act professionally when we're on missions. You will always address me by Sensei, and Sasuke," She looked at him, "You will never refer to me as your mother while on mission, understood?" She finished, gesturing to each of us.
"Yes, Sensei!" we chorused.
She smiled and said, "Good."
In the Hokage Tower, us genin had to wait in the lobby for a bit while Mikoto-sensei turned in her approval of the team to Hokage-sama. He must have assumed she would just automatically pass us, because she wasn't in there long with him.
She stepped out and motioned us down the hall to the chunin who oversaw handing out the missions.
"Oh boy!" Naruto said excitedly, "What kind of mission do you think we'll do first? I bet we're gonna go fight some missing-nin. Maybe deliver some super-secret scroll to the Daimyo. Ooo, I know! We're gonna go stop a giant bear that's been laying waste to farms in the country!" He finished.
"Not far off, I suppose." Mikoto said back to him, before tossing a scroll she had already picked out from the crop, Naruto catching it and quickly opening to read.
His expression quickly turned indignant though, as he read, "Weed and sow a crop field! What the heck is this?!"
I laughed at his exuberant ways. Sensei then went on to explain, "These are d-rank missions. There won't be any combat, trips to the Daimyo, or giant bears. That's not to say they aren't important though." She continued with a serious expression, "These missions allow us Ninja to establish a positive relationship with the civilian population. Most of them think we just sneak around in the shadows and kill whoever we're paid to. If we can show them we're also here to help, it strengthens the bond between each way of life, and makes the village stronger as a whole." She finished up.
I had taken my turn reading through the mission scroll, and added my own part, "This farmer has fallen ill as of late, and they need our help getting their farm back up to shape. So, in a way, we are rescuing them, Naruto." I smiled at him and finished with, "Just rescuing them from their sickness, rather than a giant bear."
Mikoto-sensei gave me a proud smile and said, "Exactly, Ryota. Also, this will give you a chance to practice your medical ninjutsu on the sick client. Overall, it's a great opportunity to do some good."
That all being said, we left the mission assignment room and made our way to the farm.
It was right on the outskirts of the village and wasn't too large. They were apparently the main producers of corn and tomatoes for the village, though. The latter of which got Sasuke's attention, I noticed with a snicker.
We were given some tools by the farmhand and led out into the field to start plowing the weeds and soil while Mikoto-sensei supervised. Before I could get too dirty, though, I made my way to the Farmer's home to see if I could help him with his sickness.
The old farmer was suffering from a fever, and after a quick scan with the Mystical Palm Jutsu, I could see the cause of it. There was an infection in his lungs, which was stunting his breathing. The infection had been caused by the build up of liquid in the lungs, most likely caused by breathing in cold morning air while working on the farm.
The heat of his body made the air condensate in the lungs, adding moisture and becoming a breeding ground for bacteria, until it had inflamed his alveoli and developed into full-blown pneumonia.
Luckily, this was a very common infection, and had been covered in the scrolls provided to me by Mikoto-sensei.
Common didn't mean not serious though, as left untreated, infections like this could be deadly.
I focused my Mystical Palm Jutsu above his lungs, first starting by just soothing the pain so he could start to rest peacefully. Then, I broke up the globs of infected fluid around the lungs, dissolving them down to a mostly sterile liquid. I warned the patient that the next step was going to be uncomfortable, as I had him turn over onto his stomach and lean over a bowl. With that, I forced the formerly infected liquid up through the esophagus and into the bowl. After the coughing and hacking that ensued had subsided, I had him return to laying on his back.
With the infection purged, all that was left to do was heal the affected areas, which was the inflamed and irritated lungs and bronchioles. They would heal on their own at this point with no infection present, but there was no need to leave the patient in such a state.
The process was rather long, about another hour of work, but overall, it saved him weeks of recovery. I placed a final hand to his forehead and made him fall asleep. When he awoke, he would feel like new.
The farmer's wife thanked me dearly, and I made my way back outside.
With all the fervent energy he could muster, Naruto had already plowed the field and now he and Sasuke were just finishing up the seeding.
We took our signed mission scroll back to the registration table, and the Chunin said we had been cut an extra tip due to going above and beyond by healing the Farmer. The wife had signed off on paying us double!
Originally the mission was worth 8000 Ryo, but now we were going to get 16000, so 4000 Ryo each.
'Not bad.' I mused to myself. Over the last year I had managed to save up even more since Mikoto-sensei started helping me with a lot of my expenses. Even so, this would be a sizable chunk added to my account.
I turned to Mikoto-sensei and asked, "Hey Sensei, is there any way I could take missions like these solo, so I could earn some more cash?"
She mused over it for a while, "It's not unheard of for genin from the Genin Corps to take on missions on their own. I don't see why you could do that as well, after we get a few more missions under our belt." She said with a smile.
I just nodded, and then we set off to our training ground to get an actual session in for the day.
There you have it, the genin days are upon us. Let me know what you think of the teams, and any fun ideas for some missions for the team to take you could think of. Do you think the Wave mission should still play out?
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed then please remember to favorite and follow the story, and if you have any questions feel free to review or PM me.
Question: Who's better with a sword, Kisame or Zabuza?
Later, Y'all.