"The first test regards your knowledge of seals," the Hokage said, motioning to the table placed nearby. "Please craft one sealing scroll, one exploding tag, and one other seal of your choice. You have thirty minutes."
Kuushou stared at him for a long moment, one eyebrow raised, before shaking his head and moving over to the table. Thirty minutes to craft three standard tags was far too much time. It seemed they were still underestimating his skill; or, worse, in this world that was how long they expected it to take.
The training ground they had gathered in – thirteen, if he remembered correctly – was relatively isolated and rarely used as it had no distinctive features and contained outdated equipment. It was currently half-filled with various spectators and ninja, ranging from Konoha's Council – which, in a change that thoroughly confused Kuushou when he had read about it, consisted solely of the Hokage's two teammates – to two chuunin that he didn't recognize to a med-nin he vaguely recalled from his time at the hospital. There were several ANBU scattered around, and he could pick out Kakashi Hatake's signature nearby as well.
Several clan heads were also in attendance, including Inoichi Yamanaka, Hiashi Hyuuga, and Shikaku Nara, who was the Jounin Commander in this world as well. The people observing this so-called exhibition were currently talking quietly amongst themselves and paying little attention to him other than the occasional glance to judge his progress.
He arranged a piece of chakra paper on the table, picked up a brush, then paused.
"This isn't chakra ink," he said.
"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?" the Hokage asked curiously, turning away from his conversation.
Kuushou frowned. "I mean exactly what I said. This is normal ink, not chakra ink."
The Hokage moved over to the table and picked up the inkwell, then frowned. "You are correct," he said, annoyed. He turned to the chuunin standing nearby. "Why were the proper materials not prepared?"
"It was a test, Hiruzen," Koharu interjected smoothly. "If he couldn't recognize the difference between normal ink and chakra ink, then he clearly isn't as skilled as he claims."
Kuushou waited for the Hokage to verbally reprimand his teammate for changing the test without his consent... but no such thing happened. Instead, the Hokage frowned briefly, then turned back to the chuunin.
"I trust you have the ink?" he asked.
The chuunin quickly nodded and placed another bottle on the table. Kuushou picked it up and confirmed that it was, in fact, chakra ink.
With that done, he focused on crafting the required seals. His hands moved in deft, graceful strokes as he created the storage seal with practiced ease. It was such a simple seal compared to some of the arrays he had studied – it required neither signature-recognition nor proximity arrays as security seals did. The version he personally preferred added durability and water-proofing arrays as well as a larger storage capacity, but even that was less complex than the most basic security seals.
Thirty-seven seconds after he first set brush to paper, he finished the seal with a small flourish; he had opted to create the tag he preferred, and would ask to keep the tag and sealing supplies after the test was concluded.
He pulled over the next sheet of paper and began working on the exploding tag. These were even simpler to create: a chakra storage array linked to a conversion array, chakra-triggered timer array, chakra-triggered adhesion array, and done. That one only took fourteen seconds. He snorted softly, amused; he could have done it even faster if he had left off the adhesion array, which technically wasn't required for the most basic version of the exploding tag.
He paused then, tapping the handle of the brush against his chin thoughtfully. There were a number of seals he could create at this point, but they would undoubtedly want something that could be demonstrated immediately. Once he had decided, he pulled over the next sheet of paper and began, finishing with another flourish thirty-one seconds later.
He turned around to inform the Hokage that he was finished, only to find the crowd staring at him silently. Raising an eyebrow curiously, he calmly announced, "Done."
"That was... very quick, Naruto-kun," the Hokage said.
"It's not like you asked for anything complicated."
He heard the chuunin behind him make a strangled sound and noted several surprised looks among those watching; Inoichi looked proud, oddly enough.
"Well then, I suppose we should verify that they were crafted correctly," Homura intoned, adjusting his glasses slightly.
"Yes, sir," the chuunin next to the table said. Kuushou turned around to observe as the ninja picked up the three papers, shuffling through them slowly and squinting at the fine lines that made up the arrays. He kept comparing them to sheets he had brought with him, which Kuushou noted contained a detailed explanation of the most basic versions of the sealing scroll and exploding tag.
"None of these are right," he finally announced. Somehow, Kuushou wasn't surprised to find that the chuunin assigned to test his sealing knowledge didn't actually have any knowledge of his own.
"Stop, stop," Kuushou said quickly, turning back to the Hokage. "Did he graduate after the Academy reforms?"
The Hokage blinked, then nodded.
"Yeah..., I don't think so," he said, snatching the seals out of the chuunin's hands. "These aren't the most basic versions possible, which is what you're comparing them to. Allow me to demonstrate that these are, in fact, crafted correctly. First, the storage seal."
With a few deft movements he had placed the storage seal on the table and moved the sealing brush and ink, as well as the rest of the paper on top of it. A tiny puff of smoke later and the materials had vanished. Another puff, and they were back.
"Second, the exploding tag."
He jogged across the field, slapping it on a tree of the far side of the clearing. A small flare of chakra later and he darted back across the field, moving much more quickly.
"Why did you place it that far-" the chuunin began to ask snidely, clearly annoyed at having his judgment questioned by a genin.
A resounding boom echoed throughout the clearing as the tag detonated. The shockwave hit a moment later, ruffling clothing and hair and causing the ninja to instinctively crouch into defensive stances. A few seconds after that and bits of debris began to rain down into the clearing.
The tree was simply gone.
"Third – and a personal favorite – the paralysis tag."
"Wha-" the chuunin started, only to find the tag being pressed against his forehead. A moment later he had collapsed to the ground limply.
"So," Kuushou asked rhetorically, "which one of those did I mess up again?" He then turned back to the Hokage, who looked oddly pleased. "What's next?"
"Release him this instant!" Koharu barked. "You are assaulting a Konoha ninja!"
"You mean he wasn't there to help with the demonstration?" Kuushou asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "He obviously wasn't there for his sealing knowledge, though that does make me wonder why he was the one judging the seals... Besides, that tag isn't a constant application type. It's a one-shot that will wear off in an hour or so."
He noted that Danzo had that tiny little smirk on his face again, but his attention was distracted by Inoichi, who appeared to be having a coughing fit. He wasn't fooling anybody though, judging by the sour looks on Koharu and Homura's faces or the smirk on Shikaku's.
"So anyway, what's next?"
The Hokage was definitely smiling now. "We'll be testing your medical knowledge next."
Kuushou turned to look at the chuunin again. The paralyzed ninja's eyes – the only thing he could move at the moment – widened dramatically.
"Well, if he's not the test dummy, then how am I doing that?"
The med-nin stepped forward. "Since it is not feasible to give you a live patient to work on, I will be asking you a series of questions to establish what you know, and outlining a few injuries that you will then describe how to treat." Her tone was bored, and she had a dubious expression on her face that clearly said she expected nothing to come of this.
Twenty minutes later, she had lost track of the exam entirely and was picking his brain for the details of a particular technique he had casually mentioned.
"So that's how you prevent chakra buildup while isolating a limb for treatment. We had a case recently where we nearly lost the leg entirely because we had to repeatedly stop surgery to allow the excess chakra to filter back through the wounded leg. Who taught you how to do that?"
"Shi-"
The Hokage coughed loudly, interrupting their conversation. "I think that is sufficient to establish his credentials, don't you?"
"Credentials? Whoever trained this boy is an absolute genius! When can he start?"
"Pardon?" the Hokage asked.
"He's working at the hospital, isn't he? It would be a crime to let someone like him get away!"
"That is under consideration," the Hokage said vaguely. "Thank you for your time, that concludes your part in these proceedings."
The med-nin huffed indignantly, but – after repeated threats that she would hunt Naruto down herself if need be – finally left the clearing.
"Well then, let's move on to the combat portion, shall we?" the Hokage said happily.
The other chuunin moved into the middle of the clearing, stretching his arms slightly and twisting his body to loosen up.
"Rules?" Kuushou asked, moving to join the chuunin.
"Any non-lethal attacks are allowed. Your performance will be judged according to how long you last against your opponent."
Kuushou paused, turning back to face the Hokage. "When did this one graduate?"
The Hokage grimaced. "Four years ago."
Kuushou just sighed and shook his head. "Start whenever," he said dismissively, not even bothering to get into a stance.
His chuunin opponent scowled at being taken so lightly. When the Hokage called for the match to start, the chuunin rushed forward, arm raised to deliver a strong blow to the arrogant blonde who was facing him.
Two seconds later, the chuunin was on the ground gasping for air. One second after that, and he had been rendered completely unconscious.
Kuushou turned to look at the gathered crowd, finding that everyone, even the Hokage, looked slightly stunned at the ease with which he had taken out the chuunin.
Everyone, that is, but Danzo.
"Sarutobi," the old man said, hobbling forward slightly. "If you don't mind, there's someone I have in mind that might make a more appropriate opponent for the boy."
The Hokage turned to look at the crippled ninja, raising one eyebrow curiously.
"Who would that be?"
"One of the ninja I sponsored through the Academy," Danzo replied, making a subtle motion with his hand. A moment later there was someone kneeling next to him, a slim, pale boy who appeared roughly twelve years old. He wore a short black jacket and black pants and had a small backpack. He also had a small sword attached to his back, the hilt sticking up over his shoulder.
"That's a good idea," Homura said, adjusting his glasses once again. "That battle wasn't sufficient to get a true measure of the boy's skill. The chuunin allowed himself to be taunted into attacking recklessly, nothing more."
The Hokage glanced in his direction, and Kuushou just shrugged. Honestly, he was rather curious about what Danzo was up to – it was becoming obvious that the old man had a lot of influence in Konoha, which made it that much stranger that Kuushou had never once heard of the man before.
"Very well then," the Hokage said slowly. "Same rules as before."
Kuushou faced off in the middle of the clearing once again, staring at the expressionless boy across from him. This was another chakra signature he didn't recognize, and he certainly hadn't gone to the Academy with him. There seemed to be quite a few people popping up that seemingly didn't exist in his own world.
"Begin!" the Hokage called out.
Kuushou waited for his opponent to make the first move, but it seemed his opponent was doing the same. After a few seconds, he saw the boy's hand lift towards his sword. Then he felt the precisely controlled surge of chakra and his eyes widened.
Shoving chakra into his limbs, he twisted sideways, narrowly avoiding the blade as it sliced through the air. His own hands blurred in a counterattack, trying to grab the boy's arm with one hand while the other aimed towards his elbow, intending to break the boy's dominant arm.
Instead he found a knee planted in his stomach and a kunai stabbing through his hand. He let himself get thrown backwards, rolling quickly to his feet after he landed. His opponent was already charging forward, blade held close to his body. Each step the boy took was balanced and sure, and his movement was smooth.
Kuushou found himself grinning; even among the Clan Kids there was no one who pressed him quite like this. There was always a certain reticence in their spars, especially as they grew older. They each knew techniques that could kill or maim all too easily, and they held themselves to certain limits even as they pushed each other harder and harder.
This boy had no such limits. That first attack may not have killed him, but it would have sliced deeply into his shoulder. Even the kunai sticking out of his hand, a serious but hardly fatal injury, was something the other Clan Kids would never have done.
When the pale boy was close enough, Kuushou quickly ripped the kunai out of his hand and flung it in one smooth motion, then darted forward. The boy responded well, knocking the kunai out of the air with his blade, but he wasn't entirely prepared for Kuushou's attack.
Kuushou landed a punch in the boy's stomach and a kick to the side of his knee. The sword swung back in his direction, but he slipped under it, twisting his body harshly, and a moment later he was behind his opponent. Another kick to the same knee had the boy stumbling, but the sword was jabbing backwards with shocking speed and Kuushou had to jump away to avoid being impaled. By the time he had landed the boy was back on his feet, sword held before him defensively.
The boy's expression hadn't changed the entire battle.
Realizing he was likely outmatched in melee, especially given how skillfully the boy was wielding that tanto, Kuushou raised his hands before him and prepared to begin adding ninjutsu to his assault.
"Enough!" the Hokage barked. The pale boy immediately lowered his blade and turned to face the Hokage, and Kuushou reluctantly dropped his hands as well. Figures that the old man would end the fight just as he was about to have some fun.
"ANBU, take Naruto to the hospital to get his wound treated."
"Why?" Kuushou asked, even as he felt an ANBU appear beside him. "I've already taken care of it."
"What?" the Hokage spluttered.
Kuushou wiped the remaining blood off on his orange pants and held up the previously injured hand. Sure enough, there was no gaping hole where the kunai had stabbed through it. In fact, there was no sign of injury at all.
After the end of the evaluation, Kuushou had returned to the Hokage's office where he now sat, waiting impatiently for the Hokage to get to the point.
"I must admit, Naruto-kun, that I had not expected something that... impressive. Your ability to heal yourself even in the heat of battle was particularly surprising. I did note, however, that your taijutsu, while effective, was not nearly as polished as your other skills."
Kuushou shrugged; it was true enough, after all. He was stronger and faster than most of his peers – and apparently most of the older ninja in this world as well, judging by the chuunin he faced – but against a true taijutsu specialist he inevitably found himself outmatched. Taijutsu required a level of familiarity and control over one's own body that he could not manage – and, given his unique circumstances, he likely never would, as the body in question was not his own.
He wasn't particularly concerned about it, though. If he found himself seriously threatened by someone who fought that close to him, he merely needed to manifest his youki and the threat would be easily dealt with.
"Given what I've seen today, I think I have a solution to your concerns," the Hokage said.
Kuushou straightened in his seat. It seemed the old man was going to place him somewhere other than on a genin team after all.
"There are two parts to this. For the first part, I would like you to train your fellow graduates in one-on-one sessions to increase their skills and give them experience fighting someone of your caliber. I believe you mentioned the group known as the Clan Kids... you would know better than anyone what those kids are truly capable of, and I want you to help bring them up to that level."
Kuushou frowned. "That's even worse than being on a genin team," he pointed out.
"For the second part," the Hokage continued, "you will be given a provisional promotion to chuunin and paired with another ninja who will take missions with you and evaluate you in the field. Depending on your performance both teaching and in the field, I will fully promote you to chuunin and allow you to participate in the tokubetsu jounin trials at your discretion."
Kuushou leaned back in his chair, considering the offer. It sounded good on the surface, but the details were actually incredibly vague and essentially allowed the Hokage to do as he wished.
"Let's talk specifics," Kuushou responded. "I will do three-hour sessions twice a day four days a week, one for each of the Clan Kids. Each session will count as a C-rank mission with matching pay. I will continue those sessions until you feel satisfied or until each of them has reached B-rank combat ability, at which point I may continue or cease the sessions as I see fit. I also reserve the right to stop the training sessions if I feel the student is not putting forth their best effort or is refusing to listen to me."
"Four hour sessions, paid as a D-rank," the Hokage replied, grinning slightly. "You also have to bring concerns about the student's attitude to me first, and keep trying for at least four sessions."
"One hour sessions, four a day," Kuushou shot back. If he was going to stay in Konoha, he definitely wasn't going to do so in that shitty apartment. He also needed clothing, equipment, supplies... everything, basically, and a lot of it was quite expensive as he refused to compromise on quality.
"Four hour sessions, twice a day, C-rank pay per week."
Kuushou weighed that mentally. The average C-rank was worth twenty D-ranks, but eight hours a day for four days would tie up a lot of his time. On the other hand, if the kids were performing exercises or practicing techniques it wasn't like he couldn't study other materials or work on his own skills.
"C-rank pay every two days," he finally replied.
The Hokage's smile widened. "Deal."
"How are you going to handle the scheduling with their duties as genin?"
"I've already got that covered," the Hokage replied smugly. "Each team traditionally has three days off each week if they aren't away on a mission, and the training sessions will be scheduled on those days."
Kuushou nodded, satisfied with that arrangement for now. "Now then, about my own missions. Obviously if I'm going to be teaching the Clan Kids that means I can't take a lot of long-term missions on my own. I would also have to match my schedule with whatever observer you have in mind, which makes things even harder."
The Hokage nodded again. "As for your observer," he said, "I had planned to assign them an A-rank mission to evaluate you on your own missions, which would eliminate any scheduling issues. The observer would also get half of your mission pay for the duration of the evaluation, which would make up for the longer than normal duration of the A-rank."
Kuushou scoffed. "Half? If I'm going to be doing missions, I'll be getting all of my pay. You can pay them for the mission separately."
"It may be necessary for the observer to step-in should things get out of hand, which means you aren't really performing the mission by yourself."
"If that should happen, you can take a quarter of my pay to compensate them. Otherwise, all of it goes to me."
The Hokage nodded. "Fair enough."
"Now, what happens if my observer is unable to go on missions for some reason? I'm not going to twiddle my thumbs doing nothing just because they aren't around."
"Should that happen, you can request another observer for a specific mission. I imagine most of the ninja eligible would view it as a pretty easy mission on their part."
"I can accept that," Kuushou said. "As for my advancement to full chuunin, I will be promoted after completing five C-ranks and a single B-rank."
"Fifteen and three," the Hokage countered.
"Five and two. Keep in mind that these will be effectively solo missions."
"Ten and two."
"... with the option to treat additional B-ranks as three C-ranks."
"And the observer makes the call as to whether you are prepared for the B-ranks," the Hokage said firmly.
Kuushou frowned. "Only if they can't veto all B-ranks indefinitely."
"If you think they are intentionally holding you back, you may bring it up with me and I will look into it. If I find that to be the case, I will assign you an appropriate B-rank personally."
"Acceptable," Kuushou said finally. "I suppose the only question left is... who is the observer you had in mind?"
The Hokage pulled a slim folder out of his desk and handed it across. "A tokubetsu jounin named Anko Mitarashi. I believe you've met," he added, a small smirk on his face.
The Hokage was true to his word, Kuushou found, as less than two hours later he was meeting his "observer" in order to begin his first C-rank mission. The Hokage had also been persuaded to include a set of C-rank ninja gear, so Kuushou was finally equipped with a set of kunai, ninja wire, rations, and all the other odds and ends that made up the basic ninja field pack. It was still a far cry from what he normally carried, but much better than what Naruto had kept in his apartment.
Kuushou had spent his time crafting a wide variety of seals, using up all of the ink and paper he had available. He now had storage scrolls, a small set of exploding tags, paralysis seals, a couple of basic security seals, three sets of proximity tags, and one chakra dampening tag.
His decision to take over one of the small, unoccupied tables around the edge of the mission office had also paid off. One of Konoha's rookie seal crafters had seen him at work and asked to study the storage scroll. This particular chuunin apparently had enough humility that he didn't care if he was learning from a ninja several years his junior. A few minutes of negotiating later and Kuushou had secured a source of free sealing supplies in exchange for a couple of lessons and some sample sealing arrays.
Kuushou was once again stretching his senses trying to identify the ninja he had known in his own world that appeared to be missing in this one. The Hokage had explained the situation with Tsunade and her apprentice, but Kuushou hadn't dared ask about Dragon, as he had no way of explaining how he knew the ANBU Commander was missing. Hinata's mother appeared to be absent as well, leaving him to wonder if they had died during his attack in this world.
"So, brat, I hear you think you're hot shit," Anko said as she approached. Kuushou had to give credit to the Hokage for his choice – Anko was one of the few who knew that he was not this world's Naruto, which would simplify their relationship immensely.
That didn't mean she couldn't be incredibly grating at times, especially when she put her mind to it. He hadn't interacted with her often prior to this, but their meetings had been... memorable.
"What mission are we taking first?" Kuushou asked, ignoring Anko's taunt.
She smirked slightly, then held up a green scroll tied with a blue ribbon. "Border check-in, quick and dirty," she responded. "We take messages and supplies from here, run to the border, deliver them, get any messages they want to send, run back. Think you can handle it?"
Kuushou just raised an eyebrow. "Do I need to be awake for this?"
Anko barked a laugh and shoved him towards the door. "Not bad, brat. We'll see if you can back that mouth of yours up."
"Are we the only ones working the entire fucking border?" Kuushou shouted as he danced around a lance of water and retaliated with a kunai that lodged in the Kiri missing-nin's throat.
"-son of a fucking goddamn goat-sucking-" Anko continued to yell as she directed the snakes she had called up from somewhere to harass their other opponents while she made short work of an Iwa missing-nin.
"I know standards have slipped, but you'd think something as simple as 'don't let them cross that line' wouldn't be so hard, right?"
"-two-bit back-stabbing scab-covered leech-infested-"
Kuushou's eye twitched as he sensed another missing-nin closing in from the south.
The two of them had reached the border yesterday, only to quickly discover that something was wrong. The guards at the camp they were supposed to report to had hastily vacated the area at least an hour before their arrival, though not before killing a few missing-nin.
Anko had insisted on tracking down the missing team to see if they needed support, but that plan lasted all of thirty minutes before they found themselves fighting a group of bandits, then low-ranking missing-nin, then more bandits. It had taken nearly an hour before they had managed to figure out that word had gotten out about the theft of the Forbidden Scroll and that everyone wanted to get their hands on it.
To make matters worse, all of the would-be thieves apparently felt that any battle was a sure sign that that group had the Forbidden Scroll and that they merely needed to kill everyone else to claim it.
Anko had initially insisted that he stay back and allow her to handle any ninja they wound up facing – that had lasted until she found herself facing off against seven different missing-nin from three different groups, all of them apparently attracted by the chakra being thrown around.
She hadn't actually asked for help even then – nor, if Kuushou was honest, did she really need it given the caliber of her opponents – but she certainly hadn't complained when his Earth Style: Skewering Spire technique took out two of the ninja attempting to flank her. She hadn't said a word about him staying out of the battles after that.
There had been lulls, of course; sometimes they didn't have to fight anyone for several hours. Inevitably, however, either he or Anko would detect another group trying to sneak across the border. It was during the first lull that they found the slaughtered remains of the border patrol they were supposed to meet, the ninja stabbed by a seemingly endless number of senbon needles.
Anko's banter had stopped at that point, vanishing to reveal a shockingly serious persona that Kuushou wouldn't have believed her capable of. She had swept over the scene of the battle swiftly and thoroughly, then called up two of her snakes. She had paused, staring at him contemplatively for several seconds, before nodding to herself and sending one snake out of the clearing to follow the trail and the other towards Konoha.
Kuushou's respect for the kunoichi had gone up several notches once they had caught up with the ninja who had killed the patrol.
Kuushou and Anko sat high in the trees above the clearing, stealthily observing the three ninja who were making camp below. They appeared to be Ame missing-nin judging by their forehead protectors and gear. Kuushou signaled to her using ANBU code, startling the tokubetsu jounin slightly before she responded in kind.
Attack, Plan, Question, he signed.
Wait, Sleep, she replied. A moment later she added another sign, her movements sharp and emphatic: Mine.
They continued to wait until two of the ninja had retired to their bedrolls and only one remained awake to patrol the clearing. Anko shimmied down the tree quickly and silently, using absolutely no chakra to betray her presence as she did so.
She waited for several minutes, silent and still, for the patrolling ninja to move closer to her. Once he was in range, she struck, plunging a senbon deep into the ninja's neck then carefully easing the suddenly limp body to the ground.
Kuushou was surprised to find that the ninja was still alive, and initially believed that the woman intended to capture the ninja for interrogation.
That belief lasted until she had similarly disabled the other two ninja and arranged them all in the middle of the clearing. She stuck each with another senbon and after a few seconds their eyes fluttered open. Their bodies remained still and they made no sound, however.
"I don't have time to do this properly," Anko said. "We've got a lot of other fish to fry, it seems. Still, I have long enough to make my point."
She ran through a series of handseals and a small snake appeared. This one seemed to have scales covering every color in the rainbow and shimmered in the dim light as it coiled around itself.
"It has been a long time, Anko-sama," the snake hissed quietly.
"That it has, Itami," she said. She pulled out another senbon, fingering it slowly as she stared at the paralyzed ninja.
"For your crimes against the village of Konoha, you are hereby sentenced to death," Anko told them. "Execution shall be carried out immediately." She glanced at the snake coiled at her feet. "Bite each of them once, in the foot."
"As you wish, Anko-sama," the snake hissed before slithering forward. After the snake had administered the bite, Anko stuck each of the ninja with the senbon.
"You bitch," one of the ninja growled as he began to regain control of his limbs, "I'm going to kill you for this."
"Why did you release them?" asked Kuushou curiously.
Anko's eyes were dark as she stared at them, unconcerned as they slowly struggled to their feet. "So I could hear them scream," was her answer.
A moment later, the ninja doubled over and an agonized yell tore its way out of their throats. They collapsed to the ground, rolling back and forth and clawing at their own bodies. It did not end quickly, either: one decided to stab himself rather than endure the pain; another expired as the convulsions wracking his body ended up snapping his neck, and the third lasted for nearly ten minutes, his cries growing weaker and weaker until he was finally reduced to feeble twitches and then nothing.
"Don't fuck with Konoha," Anko spat once the last of them had stopped moving.
Her viciousness in reacting to threats was almost inspiring, and reminded him of his own responses at times; she seemed quite loyal to Konoha, however, which was a shame.
After that she had returned to her previous persona and they had tracked down as many of the bandit groups and missing-nin as they could. They had definitely stayed longer than their mission called for, but they had been far from idle. During the first day they had taken out three more bandit groups and an even dozen missing-nin, the majority of them C-rank but with two B-rank mixed in.
They had spent the night in the wilderness, taking turns keeping watch and remaining wary of even more missing-nin attempting to enter the Land of Fire. Kuushou didn't particularly care either way, but this mission was proving to be very useful in impressing his observer and would likely remove any lingering doubts as to his abilities. The night had passed without incident, but the next day had revealed that the previous encounters were only the leading wave of opportunistic bandits and ninja scouring the Land of Fire for any sign of the Forbidden Scroll.
And now they were in the middle of an increasingly absurd battle as ninja and bandits targeted them and each other in an attempt to seize control of an object that wasn't even there. None of them were particularly skilled or dangerous, but sheer numbers and and chaos sufficed where individual merit did not. With yet another ninja charging in to join the battle, Kuushou had had enough.
He dispatched the closest enemy to give himself time to prepare, then knelt down and gathered up a handful of earth. His chakra was hard at work condensing and hardening the dirt as he rapidly repeated the gesture several more times. Once he was satisfied, he shoved the pellets into his mouth and swallowed them.
"-maggot-ridden pathetic shriveled excuses for ninja who couldn't-"
"Duck," Kuushou said almost lazily before taking a deep breath. Inside his body he was hard at work compressing the air he was drawing in and reinforcing his body to properly support what he was about to do.
Anko didn't bother to question him, instead kicking her opponent away and dropping to the ground.
A series of sharp cracks filled the air followed a moment later by a high-pitched whistling sound. All across the battlefield bandits and ninja alike found themselves struggling to adjust to the new holes their bodies had acquired and failing miserably - nearly a quarter of the enemy collapsed following Kuushou's rapid barrage.
Unfortunately, the ones who were not targeted turned their attention to the greatest threat. An understanding seemed to pass between the many different groups involved in the battle, and as one they all focused their attacks on the Konoha ninja.
"Great plan," Anko said sarcastically. "Got any other brilliant ideas?"
Instead of answering, Kuushou stepped closer to Anko and slapped his hands on the ground. A dome of earth rapidly formed around them, intercepting kunai and arrows aimed at the two of them.
"And now we're trapped," Anko observed idly. "I trust that's not all of it?"
"Hardly," Kuushou said, focusing. He made sure to run through handseals this time to maintain appearances; the other jutsu he could claim to have enough experience with, but not this one.
"Earth Style: Thundering Rampart," he intoned, once more placing his hands on the ground. His entire body began to radiate chakra as he poured more and more power into the technique.
Anko eyes narrowed for a moment as she recalled everything she knew about that jutsu, then widened when she took in the amount of chakra he was giving off. The jutsu, despite the grandiose name, was actually C-rank, and simply converted a earthen surface into crude stone kunai and launched them at a density and speed proportional to the chakra used in the technique. With the amount he was pushing into it, though...
"That'll work," she muttered lowly before sinking into the ground. "I'll take care of anyone that's left once you're done," she said, then submerged completely.
Kuushou grinned. He could definitely get used to working with Anko – even when he pulled out something that should be unexpected, she just took it in stride and adjusted her own tactics to match.
With another surge of chakra, he released the jutsu and the dome exploded outwards into thousands of sharpened rock spikes. The enemies who had surrounded the dome and were trying to force their way in were devastated by the attack, those closest to the dome getting ripped apart entirely while those further back were merely impaled several times over.
Roughly fifty feet out the attackers had enough time to react or at least had a chance to survive. Of course, Anko made short work of the remaining ninja when she popped out of the ground next to them while they were still trying to recover. Kuushou didn't waste any time either, charging into the fray to finish off the few remaining opponents who had survived that onslaught.
A few seconds later the battlefield was completely still.
Anko began to move around the battlefield, systematically beheading the fallen ninja and bandits and sealing their heads into various scrolls. Kuushou mirrored her actions on the other side of the battlefield, realizing she was making sure all of their enemies were actually defeated as well as preparing to claim any bounties any of them may have had.
They met in the middle of the field, each covered in blood but without any significant injuries of their own.
"Not bad, blondie," Anko said, grinning at him.
"Not brat?" Kuushou asked sarcastically.
"Nah, a brat would have been puking their guts out or cowering behind a tree somewhere."
Kuushou chuckled for a moment, surveying the blood-stained battlefield around them. "Quick and dirty mission, eh?"
"Well... it was dirty at least, right?"
"Definitely that," Kuushou paused then, his head cocked to the side. "What rank would you say this mission qualifies as now?"
"Definitely A, even if most of the enemy ninja were pathetic..." she trailed off, eyes widening as she realized why he was asking. Then she burst out laughing, Kuushou joining her after a moment.
Which is how the Konoha reinforcements found them when they arrived a few minutes later.
A/N: More minor revisions, with tweaks to the numbers during the negotiations and a bit of expansion to the flashback. The chapter also breaks in a different place that it does in the Filing Cabinet, mainly because this works just as well to wrap up the chapter and doesn't give me an 8k+ word chapter. I'll have the next chapter up either tonight or tomorrow morning.
I've decided to use a theme for the chapter titles in this story, and I might be changing up Ramen Days to do the same. Ten internet points if you realized there was a theme before reading the previous sentence.
As always, thanks for reading and thanks for all the reviews!