The two exchanged a few quick glances with each other.
„Please don't take this the wrong way Tora," Kakashi finally began. "But yes, it was meant as an exercise, so that we can assess your abilities and then be able to help you accordingly."
I growled lowly. Sure, I understood that they needed to know what abilities I possessed and to what extent I was able to control my chakra, but still, the two of them had given me the shock of my life. „That was really sneaky of you Sensei Kakashi and ... I don't know your name yet," I said in the direction of the dark-haired Jonin.
„Genma," he said. „Genma Shiranui, Special Jonin."
I nodded and Kakashi began to pick up his strand again.
„You're probably wondering why there are two of us showing up here. Well ... there's a simple explanation for that." He paused. Slightly impatient, I looked at him. Was he doing this on purpose? Genma looked at Kakashi with a big grin. Good for him if he thought it was funny to put me on the spot, when he knew the reason and I didn't. Granted ... if I were in his place, it would probably be the same fun.
I almost winced as he continued. „Well. In the beginning, the Hokage wanted me alone, to take over your training ... but after he remembered that ... oh well, you can't know that yet." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. First, he was heading for it, and then I wasn't allowed to know. „You'll know what he means after the final exam," Genma objected, who seemed to have noticed my glance. Friendly, he blinked at me.
„Anyway, we'll take it from here together. Genma and me, that is. Because we'll both be on missions from time to time. And as long as one is gone, the other can help out. Got it?" I nodded. That was still correctly expressed in an understandable way.
„Good. So, your real training won't start until tomorrow, but today we can already talk about your strengths and weaknesses. We will now list everything that we have analysed and observed in this fight. If you notice something that we haven't listed, then you may interrupt us," Genma said and nodded promptly to Kakashi.
„Very well. We've been watching you from the beginning." „Since I sat in the tree?", I asked surprised. I hadn't noticed anyone. „The reason you didn't see or notice us was because we had suppressed our chakra. A lesson we may teach you soon, too." I nodded, pleased. This promised to be interesting. „Well, you have almost very good chakra control. There are still a few small points that would need improvement, but otherwise already very accomplished. We saw that especially when you gathered the chakra in your feet and ran up the tree. Almost no one your age can do that. Very Amazing."
„Yes. That's because I taught myself. I lived in the forest all that time, hunting from the trees. That means I also had to learn how to stay on them. I once observed this technique in two chunin and decided to teach myself. It took some time, but finally it was crowned with success," I explained.
Kakashi and Genma exchanged a glance. „It's really remarkable that you taught yourself all this," Genma finally said. „I had to watch how I survived. I watched and imitated. Actually, similar to what you do in class. Except I didn't have a teacher to double and triple explain everything to me. And some things took me a really long time to teach myself, too." Kakashi nodded.
„I would still have one small criticism to make: it struck me that you let yourself be cornered a lot." I gulped, having guessed that this question would come.
„Well, that's because I haven't really focused on attack tactics all this time, but defence. I never had any intention of hurting ninjas or the residents, in my escapes. Defence alone was important to me and that has always worked until now," I explained hesitantly. "Even though it may seem cowardly."
„No. Not at all. It's just that it's a little unusual for a thief not to attack his pursuers." I interrupted Genma. „But I did attack once, but that was only because my father was on the pursuit team and I didn't want him to get too close."
I took a deep breath and then looked them both firmly in the eye. They should see that I was telling the truth. Genma seemed to know about the actions of my father because he nodded understandingly.
„Well, that's it, next time, you'll meet either Kakashi or me, again here at the training ground. Again, at the same time. Take whatever weapons you have with you. After all, we want to see exactly how you handle each one. Also, the unusual ones, like bow and arrow. Let's see if we can make something out of them. As for your Kekkei Genkai, I'm sure we can train that as well. And then you will learn something about chakra control. I hope you can swim," Genma said.
I said nothing, was much too surprised by what was said. The brown-haired man took that as a yes and nodded to Kakashi before he disappeared. I raised my hand to explain to the Jonin that I couldn't swim, no matter what was coming. But he only raised his hand briefly and fizzled out as well. Well, thank you very much. And how was I supposed to explain to them that I, a thirteen-year-old kunoichi, couldn't swim... They would laugh themselves sick.
I had to prevent that, at any price. I could already control my chakra well, so the exercise would certainly not be a really big problem for me. At least that's what I hoped. I should try to face the positive. Because if I didn't, nothing would come out of it and I would embarrass myself hopelessly.
„Hey Tora!" I looked up and grinned. Naruto came running in my direction, waving. „Is your training over yet?" I nodded. „Great, then we can go to Ichiraku's together and have some noodle soup. Well, what do you think?" „Sure, we can do that," I said.
On the way to Naruto's favourite restaurant, we were joined by Shikamaru, who also wanted to go there. And since it seemed to me that the black-haired guy didn't want to be annoyed by Naruto anymore, he agreed right away. I couldn't help but grin. Even if the Nara acted as if he couldn't stand the blond slob, somehow, I knew that he liked him. And that alone ensured that I was completely satisfied the entire evening and even forgot what would still be waiting for me in the training session the next day.