"Alright, I believe it's time you four walk me through what happened," said Kurenai, sipping at her tea. She'd taken them to the same cafe as yesterday, the proprietor being a friend of her's, so she'd gotten him to open up just a little early for her. She had planned to bring them here, of course, but she'd also planned for the training to last until at least eleven in the morning, not to be over in five minutes, and for them to succeed.
"What did you want to know, sensei?" asked Shino as he sat there, right across from her, and in the middle of the team.
"When did you get the tiles from me?" was her first question.
"Oh, that was me. When I used Phoenix to make that sonic boom, I kind of riffled through your pockets on the way past. Hinata was the one who saw there were five of them though," commented the silver haired boy.
"That clicking code, thinking back, it seemed random, and no where near complex enough to be a language. You somehow were talking to each other, correct?" she asked next, and the four nodded, three of them. all but Heero, pulling at their collars, and revealing a single blue beetle sitting on the inside of their clothing. Heero himself tried to look away, either embarrassed that he didn't have one, or just not liking the sight of the things. Or both, perhaps.
"These are special insects from a holy land in the west. My clan makes use of them, sometimes, as alarms, as their wings make an awful racket when they are removed from either water or a chakra source for long. My father discovered, however, that when you allow them to grow together, their wing beats synchronize, and if one moves, the others move with it. In such a way, they can actually be used as transmitters, of a sort, though their range is limited to a hundred meters or so," explained Shino, and Kurenai nodded, her mind reeling a little with this information. Most squads developed techniques for trading information quickly, without talking, but if Shino's bugs could do what he said, her squad was at a serious advantage there.
"We determined that Heero's speed would allow him to grab the tiles, and then Naruto and he could flee the battle. We did not understand why there would be more than one, but I believed the best course of action was to simply take them all and escape. You thwarted the second stage of that plan, as I underestimated your abilities," said the kikai-nin, with a respectful bow of his head towards his jonin sensei, who laughed to herself.
"The point of the test was actually to see if you would keep fighting a hopeless battle. Each tile has small cuts in its surface so that I can do this," as she spoke, she pulled one of the tiles off the table, and then snapped it into a dozen pieces, turning into into the consistency of fine sand, which she then let go into an errant breeze.
"You were to try and get the first, which I would smash just before you could. I was then to offer you a second chance, and then a third when you failed there. I hadn't expected you to go through my pockets, or to be able to move that fast," she admitted, as she sat there, staring into her cup.
"Then we did the impossible?" asked Naruto, a hint of eagerness in his voice.
"Heh, in a way, yes. Of course, don't take that to mean you would pass a second such trial as easily. I only had notes to go on about your abilities before. Now I have seen you in action first hand, and would not underestimate you," she informed him, and that bright, shimmering look of pride behind his eyes faded a little.
"After acquiring the tiles, Naruto switched his clone with Heero, and then the clone made other clones by dividing it's chakra between them. We had hoped this would delay you for the time needed to escape. When that failed, Hinata and I tried to cover the escape," continued Shino.
"Why did Hinata attack me first?" asked Kurenai, remembering the order of the events.
"Honestly, I had believed my Gentle Fist style could paralyze you before you could catch us, and we could actually take you prisoner. I suppose I was overconfident," admitted the Hyuga heir, her gaze turning down, and Kurenai reached over the small table to put her finger under the girl's chin. Raising her face up, she could see a bit of shame in those white eyes, shame at her own lack of skill, shame at her overconfidence, shame at her underestimating her sensei, or some mixture of all three.
"You still did better than most. And remember, I knew exactly what those glowing fingertips meant, not every ninja does. In that fight, superior intelligence on the enemies abilities made a huge difference," she explained to the girl, who seemed to brighten up a bit with the words of her sensei.
"So, then I took out the Naruto clones, and Shino charged me. After I took him and some of the clones out, Naruto had more attack me as a distraction. Tell me, how did they teleport like that though? Space-time jutsus are among the most advanced techniques, and I know for a fact that their not part of the Academy's curriculum," she asked.
"Well, the clones are just made of chakra right? We use kawarimi to switch position with something else, locking our chakra onto it and just sort of popping between the two, right?" asked Naruto, and Kurenai nodded. That was the basic form of the technique, it was also why you tended to use logs or the like, living things to do the switch. It required it, or so she had thought.
"Since the clones are made of chakra, they don't have to have something to lock onto other than just some of the stuff, and it's in the air around us, right? Living energy sort of thing? So I figured, why not just switch them with the air itself? It took me almost six months to make clones capable of doing it, and still be good in a fight, but I think it paid off," he bragged a little, and Kurenai had to agree. The ability to teleport like that, as long as there was chakra in the air, would be almost godlike in some hands. Of course, it would also require being close to sources of great chakra, so the places beyond the Elemental Nations would be a bit harder to use the technique in, but with a little practice...
"Alright, after that, I noticed these clones were different in more ways than their ability to just randomly teleport. Namely, they could take one hit a piece. How did you discover that?" she asked this while putting down an empty tea cup, and Heero refilled it without thinking from the pot in the middle of the table.
"That trick I knew about that first summer. Most people don't have my bloodlimit, so they don't have enough excess chakra to create more than a few clones, I think Kakashi said at most he could make five at a time, and that was exceptional. I could make a lot more, even back then," he explained, grabbing a cookie from a small dish on the table, and quickly downing it with a single swallow.
"Anyway, I found I could make clones just like me if I used enough chakra to make a hundred or more on just one. But the more I make of those, the more draining it is. Like it starts at a hundred, but the next needs two hundred, and then three, and then up again. Since I couldn't make a whole squad of me's, I tried to just put a bit more into each one, and found, putting enough chakra for twenty clones into a single one, I could make one able to take a punch or good smack," he explained, and she nodded at his reasoning. She also tried not to show a reaction to his thoughts on how he had so much chakra. Most of the children of his class thought the same, or so the reports she'd read said. It wouldn't do to dispel that illusion, at least not until they were older.
"So, you made a few clones like that to send against me, while you recovered Shino and Hinata, and then tried to escape. I must admit, you would have gotten away if those clones had been of second variant, rather than the original kage bushin," she admitted, both to herself and to her students. Had they been like that, it would have been impossible to tell that the originals weren't mixed in with the group, limiting the techniques she could use against them, and giving her students enough time to exit the training grounds.
"Heh, Shino suggested that when Hinata saw you coming after us, but I didn't have enough left in me right then to make too many of the second level clones, so I just made as many first level as I could, and we tried to run," conceded Naruto.
"Excellent work then. If I hadn't had knowledge of your abilities, you might have been able to make good on that escape," she complimented them, seeing each of their faces light up at that.
"However, never assume that any opponent you fight is ignorant of what you can do. You must always be on guard, and have a good grasp of both your own limits, and your enemy's. That is one of the first rules of being a Ninja of the Leaf," she told them solemnly as she set her teacup down, and then looked in the sky. This training was supposed to take all day, a few hours at least until they caught her that first time. To have them succeed at what was supposed to be a training about learning failure...well, it made her task of training them to be even better more daunting than it already was. She hoped, deep down inside, she was really ready for this, and sighed as she turned back towards her students.
"I was going to start us on missions tomorrow, but seeing as how we now have almost the entire afternoon free, why don't we go to the Hokage's Tower and accept our first mission, just to get your feet wet?" she suggested, and all of them leapt to their feet, their cups and plates quickly cleaned off, with Naruto pocketing the remaining cookies for later. Smiling at her squad, Kurenai left a few ryo on the table for the meal, and then motioned for them to follow her.
Almost half an hour later, they were standing in front of a home. The place appeared to be a little run down, with numerous shingles on the roof having cracks or just being missing. Beside the home were two green houses, as well as a large garden. This home belonged to one of the Leaf's many herb growers, not one of the largest, but still one that supplied many pharmacies, as well as the Tower itself with the plants and medicinal herbs that went into the making of things like soldier pills. Odd that it would be so worn down, but then, the owner of the home came out, and it was obvious why. The man was on crutches, his left leg in a cast that went all the way from the toes, up to his hip.
"Ah, finally, someone from the Tower accepted my mission," he said as they approached.
"Hello sir, you must be the owner of this home, and yes, we accepted your mission," said Kurenai as she drew nearer to him, and bowed slightly, a show of respect that her Genin mimed.
"So, who do we fight?" asked Naruto, his eyes going all around, only to get a swift smack to the back of his head by Hinata.
"Baka, didn't you read the request back at the Tower?" she asked, and then motioned for Shino to pass along the paper. The taller boy did so, allowing Naruto's eyes to quickly take in the words on it, before he went rigid.
"So we're just repairmen then?!" he demanded to know, a statement that got even Heero to rub the bridge of his nose in annoyance at the attitude. Interestingly, it was Shino who didn't seem to be frustrated by it, stepping past a rather perturb looking Hinata to stand in front of him.
"Our rank is Genin, not Chuunin, Jonin, or Kage. As such, we must handle those tasks as our skills are up to. To prove our skills to those above us, we must make the Leaf stronger, and we do so by helping the village and those in it. Only after we have shown we can strengthen the Leaf, can we be allowed to show how strong it has become," he stated simply, and Naruto seemed to think on this for a few seconds as he passed the mission paper back to the other boy, and then finally nodded.
"Okay, so let's make this the strongest Leaf in the world, what do we do first?" he asked, eagerly throwing himself into the mission now. Shino clicked his fingers together, and as Kurenai had expected, she could hear whispered words coming from his mouth. Suddenly, Hinata stepped forward, and her eyes flared, veins appearing along their sides. Her gaze went slowly over the compound, taking in details that no one else could see, before she stepped back, and began to snap her own fingers to cover whispered words.
"Heero, how long can you move at increased speed?" asked Shino after a moment, and Heero almost fell back from being startled by the words. Luckily, he caught himself on the mailbox, and then focused inward, his hands going into the odd inverted Bird Seal, before he turned towards Shino.
"A few minutes, and then I'd need Naruto to give me a recharge," he said, and Shino nodded, before clicking his fingers together again, the sound of a series of snaps filling the air, before Naruto nodded, and then went into the house. When he came out, there were over two dozen of him, all jockeying for position, before they started off down the streets of Konoha, all separating and going their own ways.
"Naruto will handle the deliveries for us. Hinata and I shall tend the gardens, and you can repair the roof. I assume you have experience at that?" asked the older boy, and Heero nodded.
"Naurto and I have been doing that since we were eight. I'll have this thing patched up in ten seconds flat," he declared, and then crouched down, his body soon flaring out with the red chakra, before he declared the movement, and vanished, stacks of shingles on the ground, as well as a ladder, a hammer, and some nails, all seemed to vanish at once, as a blur began to move over the roof, everywhere it passed the gaps and cracked shingles vanishing behind it.
"This would be easier if he'd just wear the beetle," declared Hinata as she and Shino made their way into the back. The garden, once tended with love and care, still showed signs of it, even if several parts of the once straight rows of herbs had become broken and stilted. Shino and Hinata stood at the garden side for a few seconds, before Hinata flared her eyes again, and then whispered into her collar, not even doing the snapping to cover it. Shino, nodding at her voice that only he could hear, reached down and let a small trail of bugs out of his jacket, the kikai working their way into the garden like a small line of ants. In seconds though, it was obvious what they were doing, as various other bugs began to swarm out of the herbs, being driven out by the ninja insects.
After that was done, the two began the work of tending the garden, taking the precise amount of effort necessary, no more or less. Each action was measured out so they got the most benefit for it, and even the gardener seemed impressed as they went, straightening his beloved herbs, and making the garden look fresh and clean. In only a few minutes, their work was done, the plants now in perfect rows again, and each one watered to perfection. Even as they finished, a blurry form joined them at the garden's edge, staying well away from Shino as he recovered his swarm, and soon an orange clad boy fell out of the sky, landing lightly beside his teammates, and assuming a ready stance before his sensei.
"I believe this job is completed as ordered," declared Shino as he rose, and took his place beside Hinata in line, and Kurenai and the gardener went over their work. Naurto had delivered all the waiting orders, the roof looked good, not professional grade, but still a far sight better than it had been, and the garden itself was nearly immaculate. Looking at her watch, Kurenai was forced to keep her eyes in check, as her team of four had just done in ten minutes what should have taken at least an hour's work.
"Fine work, my young friends, fine work indeed. It almost makes waiting a week for someone to take my request worth it just to see you attack the task with such vigor. Gives a man hope for the future of his village," said the man, looking over their handiwork, a bit of awe in his voice, as he went back into his home. For her part, Kurenai smiled at her students, and then led them back to the Tower, taking another mission the instant the first was turned in. Then another when that was finished. Then another. This pattern repeated itself for five hours, during which time her team completed almost a dozen missions, and would have done more, as Shino noted, had they been allowed to take multiple missions at once.
"For today, I think that's enough," said the Jonin as they stepped out into the late afternoon sun, turning to her students. Behind her were four children covered in the dirt and grime that came from a hard day of work. Oddly though, none of them were slouching or otherwise showing that they were tired. In fact, it seemed that Naruto wanted to keep going, his eagerness obvious in his face.
"Tonight, I'm going to request that each of you work on your chakra control exercises, and then meet me in Field Twenty-two at eight a.m. for some team training. After that, we'll see how many missions we can do again," she told them, and the four bowed to her, before they started off towards home. She watched them each make their way home, the two boys taking to the rooftops, while Shino and Hinata took a more dignified strolling pace through the streets, both of them seemingly having the day catch up to them as they took their time.
The very moment they were out of sight, Kurenai, who had been waiting for five o'clock, bolted from the scene. Her pace was such that she would appear to be a red blur along the roof tops, scattering a few birds that took to the cool evening air as she raced along the city, until she came to a halt right outside a bar. Stopping just long enough to brush herself off, and straighten her hair, she walked inside. The place had just opened, and already it was near capacity, as Chuunin and Jonin gathered here, sipping at drinks, and many recounting stories to each other of missions or times long past. She took only a second to spot the pair she wanted, sitting at the bar, one with his head smacking repeatedly into the counter, while the other just leaned back, puffing on a cigarette.
"I see you two must have had a similar day to mine," she commented as she walked up to the pair, taking the seat to the side of Iruka, who finally stopped banging his head, and looked at her, his forehead showing that he had been doing that since the barkeep had let him in.
"You mean one where your Genin are mutants, and do things you couldn't have done at that age, if at all?" asked the famous Barrier Ninja, getting a nod from the kunoichi as he sat up in his seat.
"That's the day alright. So, what tests did you go with?" she asked, holding up a finger, and soon having a bottle of sake and a small cup placed in front of her to mirror her compatriots.
"I decided to stick with just them fighting me. It took everything I had just to keep them off balance, every trick and skill, and even then I only barely won. These kids should just be made Chuunin and get it over with," admitted Asuma as he sipped at his drink, not even bothering to remove the lit cigarette from his mouth.
"I went with the bell test, an old stand by. Get them to think only two of them can pass, and then see if they come together. I had to use a dozen barriers just to keep Sasuke contained. Kiba was even worse, he was so fast I finally had to resort to laying trap barriers, and even then it took four in a row to finally catch him. Then it all turned out to be a ruse as Sakura snuck up behind me and snatched the bells. I wanted to smack them by the end, but I have to admit, they were good," said Iruka, as he just picked up his bottle and took several swallows from it.
"Heh, I used the old tile test on mine. Didn't even get to break the first one, they snatched all five from me right away, and then proceeded to try and run," she aded to the pot, and all three nodded.
"What is wrong with these kids?" asked Asuma at last.
"Nothing's wrong with them, it's just with Naruto's help, they trained harder. Did you ever get to catch one of their matches over at the Hyuga compound?" asked Iruka, and Asuma, who'd heard rumors about something like that, but had never bothered investigating, shook his head.
"Naruto knows a medical jutsu that lets him transfer chakra to others. I don't know when he picked it up, but he used it liberally in those matches, to keep everyone fighting for hours at a time. When you can just keep going when even the adults would fall over exhausted, it only makes sense that you would improve yourself exponentially," explained Iruka, the other two, neither of which had ever watched one of the matches, just nodding to each other, before they grabbed their own bottles, and took long pulls on them.
"So, now what?" asked Asuma as he set his drink down, watching with some interest as Kurenai kept draining her's until it was half gone before finally letting it go.
"We train them. They're great fighters, and already know squad tactics well. Given even a little push, I'm sure they'll be as great as the Sanin were back in their generation," said Iruka, and the other two just looked at him, before remembering the skills the kids had shown off in their tests. These children were exceptional, and not all of that was just special training. Each one had talent for the work of a ninja, and each had been perfecting their roles for as long as they had known them. The Konoha Thirteen rumor had called this generation, and they would go on to live in infamy. Asuma finally set his bottle down, and watched, a little awed, as Kurenai continued to drain her's for a few swallows, before putting the half empty bottle back down.
"So, did you start them on missions yet?" she asked, when she finally set the bottle back down, and the two men nodded at her.
"I gave them the old, Catch the Cat mission, since the Fire Diamyo's Wife's cat had escaped into town again. I remember when my team took that mission the first time, it took us almost four hours to find the thing, these kids did it in two," responded Iruka.
"I asked for something a little more physical, and found a mission to tear down one of the old houses outside the wall of the village. I had hoped to see what the kids were capable of, and I got my wish. In three quick jumps, Shika was able to use some shadow technique to lift Ino and Choji off the ground. Then Ino tossed Choji even higher, before the kid did that Bullet Tank Technique and smashed into the building like a meteor, demolishing it in a single move," added Asuma.
"I had my students running ragged over the town for five hours after they passed the Tile Test so well. In that time they did everything from gardening and delivery, to chopping firewood for a potter, to filling in potholes. Eleven missions in all, and they wanted to do more, but the Tower was out of D-Ranked missions for the day," she said simply, and then smirked at the reactions she got. Iruka had been sipping at his drink, but a sudden intake of breath caused the ninja to just start coughing, forcing him to pound at his chest, while Asuma's cigarette flared a little as he sucked on it, reducing the thing to so much ash that fell into a tray he suddenly had in his free hand. After recovering, Iruka's coughing fit subsiding and Asuma pulling another stick from somewhere, they turned to her.
"Are you going for the record?" asked Asuma as he took a short drag on the new cigarette to get it flavorful.
"I wasn't originally, but now I think I am. I was going to see if either of you was up for a wager too, but seeing as how your teams aren't doing nearly as well, I think we can safely say you'd lose," she said, sipping at her sake, and causing the other two's faces to go through a series of emotions, from anger, to shame, to a little bit of pride in the Leaf, and finally, to acceptance. They of course, knew what she was doing, goading them that way, but neither one was going to give up on a challenge like that, no matter if it was just basic psychological warfare.
"Most missions in the first week, not counting today, and we see if we can beat the Sannin's number?" proposed Iruka after a few moments, holding up his bottle. Asuma and Kurenai looked at him, then at each other, before banging their bottles against his.
"It's a bet. We'll work out terms once it's over," said Asuma, before guzzling down the rest of his bottle, and then getting up. He had a few home visits to make now, so he might actually have a chance to win this one. Iruka and Kurenai, for their part, stayed in the bar for a few more hours, before heading home, their minds spinning with plans on how to make the most of their time with their Gennin for this week.