Chapter 04: The Genjutsu Mistress

"Nee, Sensei, are we doing another D rank today?" asked Aoba Yamashiro asked his sensei as they walked.

Yuuhi Kurenai, who was walking in the back, rolled her eyes. She'd been a genin for nearly a year already, having been added on to the three man cell when her predecessor passed away on a C-ranked mission. To her right was the oddly proper Tobita Ebisu, who kept eyeing her strangely behind his round black shades when he thought she wasn't looking. He was several years older than her at thirteen, but had not yet been promoted to chunin. The strange boy liked to think of himself as an expert philosopher and observer, but Kurenai was beginning to suspect that the strange young man was nothing more than a closet pervert.

A head of them was Yamashiro Aoba, the eldest of the genins at fifteen and the most senior of the shinobi under their jonin sensei Hyuuga Aoi. Aoba was a strange guy, acting more like an Inuzuka than a shinobi from a civilian clan. The boy seemed to have limitless stamina with skills that were only mediocre at best. She had a hard time believing that Aoba managed to outlive an Uchiha and a Yamanaka, but as he was a long distance weapons specialist, she could understand the reason behind his resilience.

Their sensei, Hyuuga Aoi, was currently walking in front, her jonin flak jacket covering the long flowing robes the Hyuuga often preferred. Though as stoic as any Hyuuga, Aoi seemed to understand the position of a kunoichi within the group and often showed uncharacteristic compassion to Kurenai during times when the young genjutsu mistress seemed lost or unsure.

Aoi nodded, "Yes, we are Aoba. Your teamwork on our last C-rank has not improved in the slightest, so I feel we will benefit with more team building. And that means more D rank missions."

The teenager scoffed, "Oh come on, Sensei! It's not our fault that Kurenai can't keep up with us!?"

A flash of irritation crossed the white eyed woman's face, but she hid it well. Kurenai, on the other hand, was at her wits' end with the arrogant bastard's grumbling and shifted through several hand seals.

"Magen: Dankon na hima," she whispered, sending the genjutsu at the boy's unprotected back.

Immediately, Aoba stopped dead in his tracks, eyes widening till they were about to pop out of his skull and furiously began trying to feel himself up. Kurenai was laughing on the inside as the boy was jumping around and yelling at the top of his lungs.

"MY-MY-MY-MY-THING! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY THING!"

That got the attention of the few civilians up at the time. Several old men roared in laughter and the old ladies turned up their noses, whispering and admonishing the boy for his rude behavior.

Aoba, finally getting it together, at least somewhat, turned frantic to his sensei, "SENSEI! SENSEI! PLEASE, YOU NEED TO HELP ME FIND IT! IT'S GONE!" he yelled, pulling down his pants and giving everyone an eyeful.

Aoi turned a critical eye on the delirious genin and Ebisu ran over to his team mate.

"How dare you do such a despicable thing!" he yelled, "I Tobita Ebisu! Son of the honorable Tobita family shall punish you!"

Pulling out a bludgeon, he would have brained his friend had their Sensei not intervened by slapping the weapon out of Ebisu's hand and giving the Yamashiro boy a chakra powered slap, using the pain to dispel the psychosomatic genjutsu.

Immediately, Aoba pulled out of the genjutsu induced panic and realized that he was standing in the middle of the street, his pants hanging around his ankles as he sexually assaulted his teacher.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, he yanked his pants up and took off towards the tower at a run, tripping over himself a few times and going white shiny bottoms up on a few of the more spectacular falls. Ebisu, who had been admonished by their jonin sensei walked ahead, a blush suffusing his cheeks as he hurried forward.

Kurenai was more than satisfied at her handy work and had to hold back her laughter as she walked along with her sensei. Though the youngest on the team, Yuuhi Kurenai was more skilled than most of her peers. Graduating from the academy at nine years old at the top of her class, the young woman was an oddity of sorts. The Yuuhi clan was never on the Konoha roster of shinobi families, nor were they on the civilian family lists. No one knew much about her past, she had just showed up one day in the middle of the main Konoha Avenue, her dirty ripped kimono naming her a refugee or something of the sort. The Fourth's men found her in the street and brought her to him. Recognizing her potential, the Yondaime accepted her into the shinobi clans, and found someone to take her in.

She was eventually raised by one of the Yamanakas, and it was from them that she had grown into the powerful kunoichi she was today. Though not entirely skilled in taijutsu or ninjutsu, she wasn't called the next Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha for nothing. Coupling her astounding charka control with the genjutsu she learned from the Yamanakas, Kurenai was actually able to develop her own original genjutsus. Such a skill had not been seen in Konoha in decades. Ever since the disgrace of the once powerful Kurama clan, the genjutsu mastery Konoha once boasted had begun to fall. But in Yuuhi Kurenai, the Village Council saw a way to revitalize that part of their forces, to develop a new line of genjutsu specialists that could stand up to the power of the foreign shinobi forces. Currently, she was simply awaiting her sensei's permission to join the chuunin exams, though she understood why Aoi was loath to submit their names, especially at such a young age.

Life for kunoichi was so very different than for Shinobi. The dangers they faced were far crueler than their male counterparts. It was not uncommon for genin teams to be ambushed, the male members slain, but the female members captured to be used for a few nights of pleasure and then sold into slavery once they grew board of their prey. Even the kinds of missions they were assigned were vastly different. Men were usually called on for direct combat, fighting on patrols, or for direct assaults. Women in the ninja ranks were called on for different kinds of missions. Information gathering was chief amongst those missions. Women were smaller than men, they were more silent, quicker, and for the most part, were more intelligent and observant. But where they were really called on, were seduction tactics. A kunoichi was expected to bed any kind of man, in order to get information and other kinds of details, and she was to do it without complaint or hesitation.

She'd been shocked at the revelation when the kunoichi were taught that during their time in the Academy, and more than half of the kunoichi who originally joined quit the next day. Kurenai had not been called upon to do such a thing yet, but she knew it would be inevitable.

"Kurenai…" came the voice of her sensei.

The red eyed genjutsu mistress jumped at the sound and turned a sheepish look onto their sensei. Aoi had a hard look on her face, but her white eyes were dancing with mirth.

"I assume you did such a thing to teach young Yamashita a lesson. Am I correct?" Aoi asked.

Kurenai knew she was caught and simply replied, "Well, he deserved it Aoi-sensei. How dare he underestimate kunoichi! Especially after I saved him on our last C-rank when he was dumb enough to walk right into that trap!?"

Aoi chuckled, "I never said what you did was wrong. I only wanted to know if you did it for a reason. Had you not done so with a good reason, I would have punished you, but as you did so to teach Aoba not to underestimate his opponents, I will not."

The red eyed girl giggled behind her hand and replied, "Of course sensei. That's exactly what I was getting at."

The three genin and their jonin sensei continued to walk through the halls of the Hokage tower. She never ceased to be amazed at the goings on in the bustling building complex. Everywhere she looked, there were shinobi and kunoichi running their daily lives, either doing research in the huge shinobi library, transporting prisoners into the ANBU wing, filing reports with the various divisions, training in technical work, or a myriad of other odd jobs that required completion. It was always a hive of activity, even as early as it was.

Aoi-sensei always had them meet her for assignments as early as they could. Their usual work consisted of a D rank mission in the morning, and training until the evening, with a short break for lunch at mid day. As a consequence to that, they were allowed to get their assignments directly from the Hokage himself, a plus in her book as the head of their village knowing her name and face would be most beneficial to her career.

Moving down the hall, they greeted the Hokage's secretary, an old near senile kunoichi, and waited just outside the office. As the doors were partially open, Kurenai, having near perfect charka control, could make out what they were talking about by pushing charka into her ears and enhancing sound, much like the Inuzuka could do. Though impossible to do safely for normal shinobi, Kurenai's chakra control was so good that she could enhance it without diminishing the function of her ears, a skill she was more than proud of.

"Good morning Hokage-sama," said a deep voice.

The wizened old voice of the Hokage greeted the man, "Welcome back Shoto. I assume that you are well rested? I plan on working you like a draft horse for those five years you went on vacation."

The deep voiced man, Shoto, chuckled, "Yes, don't worry about it Hokage-sama, I can handle anything you give me."

The Hokage chuckled, "Alright then Shoto. Well, I have to give you solo missions for a while. Your old team mates have all been reassigned, and the only team openings we have are in the ANBU. Are you still unwilling to commit to them, Shoto?"

Shoto replied, "I have told you my response to that Hokage-sama. But should you need another fist, I shall be there, but as it stands, I do not wish to take up a mask."

"I see," replied the Hokage, "I will reinstate you. I need you to familiarize yourself with the village once again, as well as the people. I might have you evaluate our new crop of Tokubetsu Jonins' skills, some of them are lacking."

"Yes, I've met several, Hokage-sama, and I am not very pleased with their progress," he finished.

The Hokage sighed, "I know. Most of them were political appointees, but what can we do. We're slowly consolidating our strength, but there's nothing we can do at this point in time. Anyway, I'll have you reinstated within the week. Take the rest of the time off, I'll send a missive to you when we're ready to have you on duty. Dismissed."

Shoto seemed to step away, but walked back, "Hokage-sama, I have a quick question."

The Hokage asked, "Is this about Naruto?"

Kurenai frowned. Naruto? She heard that name before. Mister Yamanaka had said something about a demon child in reference to that name, and Naruto was not a very common name at all. I mean, who would name their kid after a damn ramen topping!? So this Naruto had to be one in the same. But why would they call him a demon child?

The man replied, "Yes Hokage-sama. After the attack last night, I wanted to check on him to see if there were any changes."

"Nothing as of yet, Shoto. The boy is resilient, even for someone with his limitations. He will be in room 224, if you wish to visit him. I think he could use the company, and he probably would like to thank you if he recognizes you. Naruto is a good boy, so he probably would," said the Hokage.

Shoto replied, "Yes I'm sure he is. Gai had very good things to say about him, and Jiraiya thinks highly of him as well."

"Oh? You spoke to my old student?" the Hokage asked.

"Yes I did Hokage-sama. We met up about three years ago, and sometime last year. I now understand why he looked so guarded when I asked about the village," he said, his voice hardening.

The Hokage sighed, "Yes. Well, we must move on. I think we have a genin team outside right now. Good luck, Shoto and say hello to Shina and Yosh for me."

Kurenai quickly let the chakra fade as she stood outside, waiting for the door to open. What did they mean about the attack? The demon boy was in the hospital? But if he really was a demon child, then why would the Hokage, Lord Jiraiya, as well as the Taijutsu Master Maito Gai speak highly of him? It piqued her interest.

Suddenly, the doors opened and a tall man walked out. Her jaw dropped as she recognized the red hand wraps and the red chakra bandages around his calves. It was Kanga Shoto, the Vengeful Red Beast of Konoha, the Master of the Goken, and one of the Twin Beasts of the Leaf. They were in the presence of a legend.

As he strode out, his short pointed black beard oiled and his piercing stare taking in everything, his eyes settled on Aoi.

"Aoi-san!?" he said.

Their sensei's face lit up with an uncharacteristic grin, "Shoto-san!? Is that really you?"

The man walked over and caught their sensei up in a bear hug, "Sweet Kami! It's so good to see you again Aoi-san! How are your parents?"

Aoi chuckled, "They're fine you great Ox. How many times did I tell you not to do that to me!"

The two adults bantered back and forth catching up on old times, until Shoto realized that she had a genin team with her.

"Aoi-san. Is this your team?" he asked.

She nodded, "Yes. I was assigned one three years ago. This is Yamashiro Aoba," she said, introducing hyperactive boy, "This is Tobita Ebisu," Shoto shook the boy's hand and had to pry his arm away from the boy who was nearly drooling at the God of the Strong Fist, "And finally, this is Yuuhi Kurenai."

Shoto's eyes widened at the name, "Pleased to meet you Yuuhi-san. You know, I was the one that spotted you when you first came to the village," he said with a sad smile, "You were such a tiny little thing back then," he chuckled at her indignant look, "If you need anything, just ask your sensei for my address," he said, turning to Aoi, "I'm still at the same place. Well, I've got to top by the hospital for a bit."

Aoi frowned, "What happened? Did you hurt yourself training again?"

Shoto shook his head, "Not me. There was another attack on the kid, last night."

Their sensei frowned, "Again? Kami, that poor child," she finished shaking her head.

Shoto just nodded, "Yes. I found him there and had to rush him to the hospital after doing a little patch work. It wasn't a pretty sight. Anyway," he said, shaking himself, "I'll see you around Aoi-san."

The man walked away, waving over his shoulder as he went around the corner.

Kurenai curious and asked, "Someone was hurt last night, sensei?"

Aoi shook herself and nodded, "Yes. Someone attacked a child last night, but he's alright now. Shoto-san managed to stop it. But it doesn't concern us. Shall we?"

The three genin nodded and walked into the Hokage's office after their sensei. The Hokage's chambers were impressive to say the least. Though generally a wood paneled room, the office looked the size of a large classroom, with the great heavy desk was set against a large window pane and the backdrop of the city clear as day. All along the sides of the room were pictures and scrolls, framed for posterity. There was the Credo of the Konoha ninja, the Oath of Fire, several instrumental treaties, as well as pictures of all four Hokage. She'd always been partial to the Yondaime herself, she liked the whole blonde hair blue eyed look, but the fact that he was the strongest of the four wasn't bad either.

"Good morning, Aoi-san," said the Houkage as he smiled, his cheeks puffing as he smoked his pipe.

Aoi bowed, "Good morning Hokage-sama. We are here for a D-ranked mission."

Sarutobi smiled and nodded, "Of course. Still not happy with the teamwork, are we?"

Their sensei nodded, "That is correct Hokage-sama. Though I am not certain about their teamwork, their individual skills have improved greatly. I believe, should they demonstrate teamwork, that I will be willing to enter them into the Chunin Exams next year."

That got the three genins excited. The thought of going to the chunin exams made them stand prouder as their sensei extolled their virtues.

"I shall be looking forward to their performance, Aoi-san," the Houkage said, "Now, as for available missions…" he rummaged around on his desk, "Here, they are requesting assistance at Konoha General. It seems as though they have a shortage of support staff there and the civilian nurses require assistants. You will be assisting in patient care, cleaning, giving baths, assisting in ambulation, and practicing your first aide skills on patients that the nurses deem adequate. Please refrain from harassing or bothering both the patients and the staff, if you would."

Aoi snapped to attention, "Thank you Hokage-sama."

Ebisu, who was frowning as they were walking out, asked, "Are we really going to be…er…washing patients?"

Aoba laughed, "Yeah, but only little old men for you, Ebisu! We don't want you to get us thrown out of the shinobi forces for trying to molest a little old lady!"

The affronted young man scowled at his team mate, "Well I never, you uncouth barbarian!"

They bickered all the way there.