Chapter 7
Onoki was sitting in his office working away almost on autopilot, yet still with an angry expression on his face. Everything was peaceful before a knock at his door interrupted the silence.
"Enter." He beckoned, never looking away from his papers.
Looking to the door, he saw a disheveled looking Shinji Sato. The boy was tired, at a cursory glance Onoki could also see bruised skin around his knuckles and he had minor chakra burns all over his body.
"Dear kami child, you look like hell." The elder kage grunted out.
Shinji gave a tired smirk, "This is the result of training myself to complete exhaustion gramps. In any case, I've made my decision." Smirk gone, what was left was a serious faced seven year old with the eyes of a jonin three times his age.
Putting down his pen, Onoki gave the boy his full attention. "Continue," he commanded.
"I need to graduate early. That way I can take the chunin exams in six months and join ANBU. Oni informed me that being a chunin was a requirement to even be considered." Shinji explained.
Onokis interest was piqued, 'When I offered the chance of an early graduation a few months ago, he hesitated. Now he's not only taking me up on it, but striving for ANBU of all things.'
"Why this sudden interest in ANBU? I wont act like you're stupid, but you do know what ANBU are to do other than being a normal shinobi?" Onoki questioned the boy with a raised eyebrow.
"I already got the same speech from Oni, gramps. I know what I'm getting myself into."
Growing annoyed by the boy's arrogance, Onoki began to discipline him "let me inform you of something, the ANBU are those who do the work the village doesn't hear about." Onoki stood from his desk and floated over to Shinji, making himself a few inches taller than him.
"They are those who suffer the greatest, not because of battle, but because they serve the greater good of the village. That is the price ANBU suffers, Shinji Sato." Onoki looked down on the boy who seemed to start shrinking.
"Is that life truly what you seek, boy?" Onoki finished his speech with a question, and the shrinking boy stood back up, small and proud, and answered, "Yes, all I've ever known is the dark side of the world. If I join ANBU it's my chance to maybe do something worth doing." He stared into Onoki's aged gaze which beat down on shinji, yet the boy remained strong.
'He truly believes in this course of action. Very well.' Onoki relaxed his gaze and backed off a few feet. He ran his fingers through his beard and spoke with a strong voice, "Very well Shinji, I'm happy to hear you've decided to accept my offer. However, it will disappoint you to hear that there is a mission count requirement, especially for one in your circumstances."
Shinji's ears perked up, "I'm listening." Onoki explained how the general requirement for a single genin team to qualify for the chunin exam was at least 30 D rank missions, 15 C rank, and 5 B rank missions before having a shot.
The boy at first sighed at this news but gave a tired smirk, "No special exception?" Shinji tried with Onoki who huffed in response.
"Head to training ground four and wait for your assigned jonin sensei brat, I have work to do." Onoki sounded deeply hurt by his resumption of his paperwork, alas, the Tsuchikage's work is never done.
After a few short minutes of travel, Shinji arrived at the training ground designated by the old kage. He didn't see anyone there, but the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and on instinct, the boy jumped away.
Luckily for him, he dodged what was heading for him, which happened to be the rock bullet jutsu fired from just out of sight.
Reincarnation be damned, Shinji's instincts were still intact. He remained quiet and listened to the surrounding environment.
The birds chirping, water rushing in a nearby stream and the muffled whispers of two children sounded coming from behind the boulder to his right. Smirking as he figured out their location, the black haired boy flew through hand seals, "Earth release: Mudslide jutsu!"
Slapping his hands to the rocky ground, all of the earth in front of Shinji turned to deep and thick mud. The boulder began to sink and whoever was behind was also trapped.
"H-hey what the hell!?" One feminine voice called out.
"Get us out of this!" another tried in vain. Jumping on top of the sinking boulder, Shinji looked down to the two shinobi his age..
"Hey hey you two, there's no need for all of this is there?" Came the cold, sing-song voice of Shinji looking down at the black haired boy and the dirty blonde girl. They looked at the boy in shock at being caught as easily as they did.
"I'll make you regret that little surprise stunt of yours…" the boy said to the two trying to escape from the mud now reaching their knees. They looked at him with horror etched on their faces at their impending doom as the one they tried to attack looked down with a twisted smile
"Okay that's it! I've seen enough." A huskier feminine voice called from…somewhere. Shinji looked around with a raised eyebrow to see, nothing there.
He looked back to the kids trapped in mud to see they too were gone. Jumping back in surprise, Shinji drew his sword.
"There's no need for that among allies." the voice said from directly behind him as the person tried to snatch the blade from his hands. Senses being heightened due to adrenaline had put him on edge, allowing Shinji to keep his blade firmly within his hands as he sprang a few feet in front of him and turned around.
Which left him slack jawed. Before him stood a tall woman with raven black hair, sharp dangerous eyes and a curvaceous figure dressed with the jonin attire of the village.
"Am I to guess you're my new sensei?" Shinji questioned, still keeping his guard up.
The woman remained with her steely gaze at the boy, "Shinji Sato i presume. A pleasure." She gave a slight bow, "I am indeed your new sensei, I am Hana Tanaka, and these are your teammates." she gestured to two figures that melded into reality allowing shinji to get a better look at his would be teammates.
They were still covered in mud from the knee down which made shinji snicker. The black haired boy stepped forward with an angry expression, "Names Takahashi Nakamura." Takahashi wanted to speak more, however a glance from their sensei said otherwise.
The dirty blonde girl stepped forward and she seemed a little skittish, but not weak. "My name is M-Maki Fujimoto, it's a pleasure." Maki gave a slight bow which Shinji repeated.
Clapping his hands together, Shinji said "Guess it's my turn now. Uh Hi, I'm Shinji Sato and if you wanna approach an animal or person of our calibur, gotta speak a little quieter." He made a tiny gesture with his fingers which served to aggravate Takahashi even more and seemed to dishearten Maki a little.
"In any case, I should explain the team dynamic to you. The Tsuchikage deemed our squad a support squad, meaning just that, we support our shinobi on the field." Sensei Tanaka explained. However, Shinji was not paying attention in the slightest, he was thinking and planning to himself just how effective he would be on this team.
"Make sure you're paying attention, Shinji!" Sensei Tanaka called out to the boy, snapping him back to reality.
A little embarrassed and trying to save face, Shinji did what everyone did in this scenario, he lied, "I was totally paying attention! Ask me anything." He said confidently. Within the depths of his mind, 'Why did I say that?! She'll know I wasn't paying attention to her! Wait…why do I even care?!'
—-
Sensei Tanaka seemed to have something in common with Gaston's mentor, "That woman's a slave driver! Ow-my rib"the black haired boy said to himself as he nursed his injured midsection.
Walking back home through the village at night exposed Shinji to the nightlife of the village which he never seemed to notice until now. Seeing the night time lights of a nearby restaurant stall open, he decided he needed a warm meal.
Approaching the stall, he walked through the flaps revealing a small counter with multiple stools set up in front of it. There was a young man in his twenties working there who had a permanent smile on his face.
"Hi there! Welcome to Bao-dacious, want me to get you something to drink or you need a minute?" the shop worker asked politely. Shinji ordered six large pork buns and water and waited patiently, thinking about the events of the day.
'Well my teammates couldn't even counter a simple jutsu like the mudslide, how are they going to be in the field I wonder.' His ice cold water was placed in front of him and, taking a large sip, resumed his thought, 'those two won't survive the frontlines, none of us will, not from what Oni's told me anyway. There's a new player, it seems, someone being called the Yellow Flash. According to Oni, this yellow flash guy is tearing through Iwa's forces like wet tissue paper.'
Half of Shinji's bun order was placed next to his water and the other directly in front of him. Taking a single bun and taking a massive bite, Shinji's cynical thoughts of his teammates giving the ultimate sacrifice in the field of battle swirled within him.
As Shinji was lost in thought, he didn't hear the sound of the flaps to the shop opening next to him and also didn't see the large man donned in red armor sit beside him at the far end of the bao shop.
"I remember you." The deep baritone voice sounded next to him that caused Shinji to nearly choke on his bun. Coughing to get the clogged piece of pork out of his gullet, he responded, "You're han right? *cough cough* the jinchuriki?"
Shinji continued his coughing fit as he was kindly handed another glass of water by the store owner. In his startlement, Shinji didn't realize the words he spoke and saw Han looking at him with a dangerous expression.
"What do you know of such things boy?" He asked, now paying his full undivided attention. Seeing the developing conversation, the stand owner politely turned his head out of respect.
Shinji fully turned to Han, confusion on his face, "Only what you all are, that's about it. I don't think you're the tailed beast in human form or whatever." the boy took another sip.
"I'm smarter than most people about these things." The boy added in a tired and disarming tone that made Han relax some, however still giving shinji the occasional glance out of the corner of his eye.
The pair ate their dinner in respective silence, Shinji going about his thinking and planning, while Han continued to do Han things. Upon finishing his last bun, Shinji paid the stand owner, but the boy had a question, burning his mind, one that he felt he needed to ask.
"Hey han." The red giant looked toward the boy to see him looking with a quizzical appearance. Han grunted and waited for the question.
"What do you think the limits of a Jinchuriki are?" he asked.
Han, taken aback by this question, was at a loss. He never really considered the limits of his curse, it was powerful, sure, but he and his cohabitant hated one another. The armor he wore was designed in order to use the five tails chakra, even without its approval.
Safe to say with their strained relationship, Han never once wondered what the limit of his power was, and answered as such, "I'm not sure, the demon and I don't get along."
"Well, goodnight Han. It was nice talking with you." Shinji bid farewell to the large shinobi and made his way home.
'My theory is that they don't have limits. Either Han is a terrible Jinchuriki, or he's just weak.'
Continuing his walk through the darkened village, the former grandmaster witcher began to plot once more.