When Hayashi-sensei had told us to meet him at 7:00 in the morning, I'd expected him to pull a Kakashi and turn up after noon. I'd still showed up at 6:15 just to say I had, but it turned out, Kakashi was the exception, not the rule.
"Good. You're here on time." Hayashi said. He was seated on a branch above me, his legs dangling over the side.
"You said seven."
"I said we train at seven. That means you need to be warmed up and ready to go at seven. Hop to it, Shinto." He clapped his hands together dramatically, swinging his legs up onto the branch and laying down, a hand propped under his head.
I shrugged and began warming up. He was the jonin, and he'd proven he was a far better ninja than I was by avoiding everything I'd thrown at him with humiliating ease.
Misaki turned up at 6:30 and joined me in warming up. We did some very light sparring to keep each other warm until seven. Kenji arrived at 7:15.
"Kenji! You're late." Hayashi said, appearing directly in front of the boy.
Kenji yelped and leapt a good foot in the air in surprise. "I'm sorry, sensei! My mom–"
Hayashi held up his hand. "Kenji, I must have heard you wrong. I could have sworn that you, a genin of Konoha and therefore an adult, just blamed your mother for being late to training instead of taking accountability for your own actions. Now, would you please tell me what you actually said so I don't make you do pushups until your arms fall off?" He had a wide, toothless smile on his face as he bore down on Kenji.
"Uh…I didn't set my alarm early enough?" Kenji said hesitantly, leaning away from Hayashi.
Hayashi nodded. "That's what I thought you said. Now! Five-hundred pushups as punishment for being late."
"What!" Kenji cried. "But you said–"
"Do I hear one-thousand?" Hayashi said, looking off to the side, his hand on his chin as he adopted a thinking pose.
Kenji slumped in on himself, lowering down to the ground and slowly starting his pushups.
I sighed, motioning towards him with my head to Misaki. "Come on."
Misaki's eyebrows furrowed and she frowned. "We were not late."
"No, but we're a team. If one of us screws up, we all screw up." I said, walking over to Kenji and joining him on the ground. Misaki had a displeased look on her face, but she followed and joined me after a moment's hesitation.
"What are you guys doing?" Kenji asked, pausing his pushups in confusion as Misaki and I both started pushups next to him.
"We're a team." I answered him as I did my pushups. "Be here at six o'clock tomorrow. If you aren't here, I will run to your house and get you. We're ninja now. Training is literally a matter of life or death, so we have to take it seriously."
"I… Okay." Kenji said, returning to his pushups. He was having a much harder time of it than Misaki and I. We had both been training our strength, conditioning and speed for years now. It seemed Kenji only ever trained when he was at the Academy. There was a wide gap between us that he needed to fill before we went on serious missions together.
"All done?" Hayashi asked when we walked over to him after our pushups were done. He had a reflective foil in his hands and was lounging in a lawn chair, reflecting the light up into his neck. Kenji was dripping with sweat from all the pushups, but seemed determined to stay on his feet.
"Good!" Hayashi hopped to his feet and tossed the foil aside. "Alright, little genin, we're going to work on team tactics for this first month, then, once I feel you're all able to effectively work together, I'll start taking you aside for one-on-one training."
"Sensei?" Misaki asked, raising her hand.
"This isn't the Academy, Misaki. If you have a question, just ask. It saves time. What do you need?"
Misaki put her hand down and said, "Will you be training our team to carry out a certain task?"
That was actually a good question I hadn't thought of. While ninja could fill in whatever role was required of them, most were trained and specialized in a certain job. These ranged from reconnaissance to recovery with a whole list in between.
"Search and destroy." Hayashi answered her question easily. "I was originally going to train you to be a fast-response tracking team, but Shinto's…dramatic showing during my little test changed my orders."
I frowned. "Others know about my Boil release, then?"
He nodded. "I spoke to your Clan Head about it, and he agreed it was time to spread the news around."
"Wait, sensei. Someone ordered you to train us a certain way?" Kenji asked, saving me the trouble of asking myself. That had been my follow up question.
"A lot of planning goes into the decision making when it comes to assigning teams. With a strong Hyuga and a proficient Nara, our team could have hunted down specific targets and retrieved them easily. Now that Shinto's Boil Release is known, it was decided that we should cultivate that technique and see it prosper. Konoha has never had a Boil Release practitioner, so this presents a unique opportunity for us."
I didn't like where my mind wandered after hearing that. The mental image I got was of Danzo locking me in a cage labeled, 'Breeding Bull'. Shikaku would likely prevent something that dramatic from happening, but I'd need to keep an eye out regardless.
Kenji was frowning. "What about me, sensei?"
Hayashi laid a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "It's no secret that you are the least developed in this team, but that was determined to be a good thing in this case. You are able to grow into whatever role the team needs from you, and you will have both Misaki and Shinto to help you along the way. Don't be discouraged, Kenji. I know that, in time, you will be a great ninja."
Hayashi's speech seemed to have done the trick, because Kenji was smiling again. "When do we start, sensei?"
Hayashi smiled down at him. "No time like the present, now is there?"
X
Hiruzen Sarutobi had a small frown on his face. His hands were steepled in front of him as he addressed his jonin commander. "Why did you not trust me with this information before?" Hiruzen kept the accusation out of his voice, merely asking for the reasoning behind the decision.
Shikaku Nara stood in front of him, his hands in his pockets, leaning more on his right foot than his left, making him appear to be skewed to one side. "It was a clan matter first. I needed to conduct my own investigation to see if Shinto was an isolated case or if there were others."
"And your assessment?" Hiruzen asked patiently.
"Shinto is the only one. His affinity for both water and fire don't appear to have any negative effects other than slowing him from learning jutsu of a single element."
"And you still do not know the cause of his difficulty?"
Shikaku shrugged. "He's far better with our clan's shadow jutsu than even some of our experienced chunin. That could be part of it."
Hiruzen's frown deepened. In years past, he would often call on his old student to advise him on matters such as this. Sadly, he could no longer count on Orochimaru's counsel. Moreover, merely the thought of how Orochimaru obtained the knowledge he once offered sent a pang of anguish and regret traveling through Hiruzen's veins. So many innocents had fallen prey to Orochimaru's experimentation, and he hadn't even known of it.
"I expect you wish for this information to remain privileged?" Hiruzen asked Shikaku, putting thoughts of his traitorous pupil from his mind.
Shikaku nodded minutely. "I understand that you need to make certain people aware of it, but I would ask you to keep it as confidential as you can, for Shinto's protection if nothing else. If word got out that he had a kekkei genkai–"
"He would be targeted by enemies and allies alike." Hiruzen finished. Enemies would seek to capture the boy, and allies within Konoha would seek to drag him into their politics. Hiruzen had seen first hand the damage such machinations could bring on the youth. Hatake Kakashi was a perfect example. The boy was expected to be the second coming of his father, then, after the tragic death of Obito Uchiha, he was hounded mercilessly by the Uchiha Clan for the final gift his old friend had given him
"I will ensure no records are kept of Shinto Nara's status, but it is only a matter of time until it is known what he can do." Hiruzen warned.
"I know. My hope is he will be able to take care of himself when that time comes." Shikaku said. He bowed his head shallowly. "Thank you for your time, Hokage-sama." He turned around and left without another word.
No sooner had Shikaku left, than an elderly man covered in wrappings that shielded a great many wounds walked into the room in his place.
"Danzo." Hiruzen greeted his oldest friend.
"Hiruzen," Danzo replied with a nod. "I assume the Jonin Commander was here to discuss young Shinto?"
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. "He was. As I have said, Danzo, Shinto will remain with his jonin sensei until he becomes a chunin. Once he is a chunin, he will be able to make his own decisions." Hiruzen was firm. He would not force another child into ANBU like Kakashi had been.
Danzo frowned. "Shinto has great potential, Hiruzen. Unless that potential is fostered he will stagnate."
"Hiroshi is a capable teacher. He will be good for Shinto and Misaki both." Hiruzen said. He had thought long and hard on who to assign the two up and coming clan children to. Hiroshi had proven himself during the war in not only a combat capacity, but in a leadership role as well. He would be good for Shinto and Misaki, and for Kenji as well. Hiruzen hoped surrounding Kenji with so many strong influences would help him grow. He saw his old pupil Jiraya in Kenji, and hoped he could rise to the same heights.
Danzo did not seem pleased, but he did not offer any more arguments. With a small bow, he said, "Hiruzen." He left.
Hiruzen sighed as he rubbed his forehead. First young Kakashi graduated at age 5, then Misaki and Shinto graduated at ten years old. Hiruzen had hoped such early graduation would cease after the end of the war. But then he'd hoped to be able to enjoy his retirement after the war as well. Things don't always go to plan.
Hiruzen would watch Team Hiroshi closely, monitoring their progress and ensuring they worked well together. Hiruzen had high hopes for them all.