[Kukui Tanku]

'This guy definitely drank a lot of milk as a child.' Hayate was currently fighting me. One handed. He was winning too. He had just finished Sparring Mika and winning. I was next. I barely blocked a slash from Hayate's Katana. 'He's channeling Earth Chakra into his blade to make it stronger.' His blade didn't show the signs of Chakra Flow either. Hayate grinned and I felt his chakra appear behind me.

I quickly replaced myself as a log and watched as said log was cut in half. Using my flame seal I sent three fire arrows at the Hayate's. His clone was incinerated but the original quickly dodged and sent a slash of fire at me. 'Fuck.' I ducked and felt a foot hit my face and sent me back into the fire. Quickly, I replaced myself with another log and winced. 'Burns on the back.'

Everythign in me suddenly told me to block and I did. My Tanto was shaking as Hayate slammed his Katana into it. I collapsed onto the ground, barely keeping my Tanto up. I kicked upwards, Hitting Hayate in the stomach, and jumped up as he moved back, swinging my sword downward into his. 'I got him!'

My celebration was short lived however as an earth wall raised suddenly and I was sent into the air. My ribs were killing me at this point. Suddenly I felt the hilt of Hayate's Katana hit my back, sending me into the ground. 'I hate Hayate.' I replaced myself with the last log I had nearby and hid behind a tree.

'Okay Kukui. Think of a way to beat Sensei.' I could theoretically blast him with the entirety of my flame seal. But that was dumb. He could replace himself with a log or a cl- 'An idea has been formed.' I unsealed two earth clones. They nodded and took two explosive tags each. Hayate was roughly 30 degrees to the left. Unmoving.

My clones stepped out of the metaphorical shadows and I could hear explosions. "Good try, Kukui but you lose." I looked down. Oh hey a sword right by my throat! Just what I wanted at eleven in the morning.

I sighed. "Okay." I watched as Hayate sheathed his sword and crouched down. "So how'd I do?" I didn't last nearly as long as Mika did. She lasted an hour. To be fair to Hayate, he was holding back immensely. Like he was here.

"You did good. not as good as Mika did but you did good. I think I should teach you something else in terms of offense. I assume you've heard of chakra flow before?" I nodded." Good. Well Chakra flow is something that normally wouldn't combine well with fire. But with how you can freely manipulate it to a degree you can use fire chakra flow for attacks." Wait... Like Demon Slayer... Hinokami Kagura... I had to have that written down somewhere. "Try channeling some fire into your Tanto."

'I can stop people from Regenerating with Fire release Chakra flow. And Maybe I can use it to extend my sword and pull off shit like Fire Dragons...' I grinned and grabbed my Tanto. Using the Flame Seal's control I watched as the Tanto ignited in a brilliant blaze of orange and red. It extended the blade's length too with the fire... Oddly enough I saw no Skill for Chakra Flow appear. 'I suppose it makes sense since I'm not actually using Chakra Flow. Just an application of my Flame Seal.' "I'm not actually using Chakra Flow... But My Flame Seal is doing the work for me instead."

Hayate nodded. "Alright. That's good and bad. Good because it means you have a use for your Flame Seal. But if it gets destroyed you won't know how to use Chakra Flow."

"Yeah, I'll need to learn it still. But this is good." I grinned and swung the Tanto a few times. "I can surprise a few people like this."

"Not a lot of people know Chakra Flow." Hayate stood up. As did I. We began walking back to where Mika and Tenten were talking. "So they won't expect seeing a Tanto extend with Fire." Hayate looked at my Still Flaming Tanto which Sputtered out as I stopped supplying it with precious chakra. "It won't be useful often but one day I'm sure it will be."

I grinned. 'Obito's Hashirama Cell's can't do much if I cauterize his arm off or something like that.' I was so gonna kick Obito's ass one day. If I could play my Cards right then I was so gonna win. "Yeah." But first I needed to worry about other threats. "Hopefully not soon though."

"Hopefully." Hayate looked up. "But you never know what could go wrong on a mission."

[Shisui Uchiha]

"So have you gotten any cool missions yet?" Shisui looked at the boy in front of him. Kukui had become his second most frequent visitor. Whenever his sister was doing something else he'd be there. And most of the time they'd play a game. Today was Uno! "My sister said no but I know anything short of combat is boring to her." One day Mika's battle hunger would be curbed hopefully. Hopefully.

Kukui grinned and placed down a plus 4. Shisui cursed. "Green." Shisui cursed again. He didn't have any green cards! "Not really. The only thing I can say is fun is teaching Tora more about Chakra." Shisui was the only person other than Kukui, Mika, and their other Teammate to know about the little deal the three made with the cat. Said cat had to be the smartest damn cat ever too. Shisui pitied the poor genin the cat didn't like.

"I wish I could walk and go outside. Just to see some poor genin chasing a cat who can walk up walls." Shisui grinned. The thought of walking and being able to see the outside beyond his window was something that kept Shisui going some days. He knew that it'd never happen unless Tsuande descended from the heavens to heal him. But still. "Fuck." Shisui looked at the ten new cards infront of him. It took him six extra cards to get one green. At least it was a plus 2. "Hah!" Shisui placed down the Plus 2.

Kukui placed down another plus two. "One day you'll walk again," Kukui whispered to himself. He seemed really deadset on that huh? "And no." Kukui placed down another plus 2. Shisui now had to pick up another four cards. Why couldn't Kukui have bad luck in Uno like he did in Monopoly? Shisui was tempted to cheat at this point. He had like 40 cards! "I'm afraid I cannot let you do that."

"Damnit brat can't you let me have anything?" Shisui looked at all of his cards. Several decks of cards... Man he should stop playing uno. He's lost every game they've played so far in spectacular fashion. 'I wonder if he plans on studying medical jutsu or actually finding Tsunade.' Shisui knew that Kukui held an oddly high amount of respect for him. He's heard him whisper a lot before since he sometimes did it without noticing. But would he really find a way to bring Tsunade back?

Maybe? Probably? Who knows?

Nobody had been able to bring Tsunade back. Not even the Sandaime.

"No." Kukui had a Shit eating grin on. One that looked very punchable. "This is my revenge for all of those Monopoly games." You know what? That was fair.

"Fair enough." Shisui drew another four cards. Oh thank god he got a green card. He placed it down and then noticed Kukui had around three cards left. " So you think you'll get a C-rank soon?" Its only been three weeks but SHisui thought that Mika and Kukui were ready. And since presumably their third teammate was a friend she was likely ready too. Mika was fucking strong so they weren't far behind most likely.

And they should have good enough teamwork too!

"Maybe." Kukui placed down another card. "Uno." He then looked at Shisui. "Hayate-sensei wants to be extra sure. He says that we'd be ready soon though. So maybe sometime next month?' Kukui shrugged and scratched his arm. He was nervous. "I'm a bit nervous though." Nailed it in one.

'Anything can go wrong on a mission.' Shisui knew that all too well. He lost a teammate on a mission that was supposed to be a C-rank. Mainly due to his jealousy. "Understandable. You never knwo what could happen." Shisui hoped that he'd never live to see the day his sister died... He wishes he could have been her sensei to ensure her survival. But he was stuck in bed. "Anyone can die. Anything can happen. You can lose an eye or an arm."

"Or a friend." A horrified look etched itself onto Kukui's face.

Shisui nodded. 'Welp might as well ask.' "That's the worst case scenario." Shisui then placed down another card, only to be plus 2'd twice and lose."Fuck." He intelligently said. Shisui then sighed. "I need you to do me a favor."

Kukui looked up at Shisui as he finished regathering the cards. "What do you need?"

"Since I can't be there to protect Mika, should anything go wrong could you do so for me? Not only that but can you protect your other teammate as well?" Shisui looked at Kukui in the eyes. He watched a fire in the boy's eyes ignite.

Kukui nodded. "I'll protect them with my life." His voice was full of steel.

Shisui grinned. 'I can't be there physically but I can help in other ways...' "Good. I expect no less." Shisui took out a seal. He had Hiruzen help him with this. It was originally intended to be for Mika should he have passed from Danzo's poison. He was barely lucid enough to do this with Hiruzen's help. But since it was never needed he never gave it to Mika. But since the topic of her safety was brought up...

He might as well give it to someone he could trust to help keep Mika safe. God knows by the time Mika wanted to use it she'd either be six feet under or handless.

"Is that a summoning seal?" Kukui looked to be in awe. It was a level seven seal. One of the few the Hokage could do. It was the easiest level seven after all.

Shisui nodded. "It is the key to summon one of my crows. This crow was given a sharingan. Originally mine but I took it back. But it has a sharingan of my mother inside instead. It is programmed to use a genjutsu on its opponent to subdue them. Should you ever be in a situation where your power isn't enough. I want you to summon Kyouka to help you." Kyouka was his favorite crow. And the crow that was most loyal to him. She was awesome.

Kukui took the seal and sealed it away in a sealing scroll. "I won't let you down."

Shisui grinned. "I know." Shisui then took out the Monopoly board. "Now lets play a game of Monopoly. I feel like winning again."

To that, Kukui groaned.

[Kukui Tanku]

Today is a great day. The sky is a brilliant blue, the sun is shining, it isn't too hot outside, and I was watching Hayate fight five genin with one arm. Hayate was fighting Team seven, Mika, and Tenten. Fun fact, Suigetsu Fucking Hozuki was in Konoha somehow. Not really anything horrible but still. Either we were allied with Kirigakure or somehow Suigetsu stumbled into a Konoha shinobi and they took him here.

It was fun watching him get hit with wind jutsu though.

I wasn't participating in the fight. Mainly because I was exhausted from fighting Hayate earlier in the day. The man really didn't pull his punches. And I was enjoying training the second stage of Fire manipulation. I had to burn a rock. No I'm not kidding. And I was lying about enjoying it.

[Fire manipulation lvl 13

Increases control of Fire according to lvl

Fire jutsu use 13% less chakra

User is 13% more resistant to fire

Fire jutsu are 13% more effective]

It was high leveled. It's boosts were nice but not nearly as nice as the boosts I got from other skills when I did use them. Intermediate Kenjutsu and Taijutsu were a bitch to level. But damnit they gave some absolutely wonderful boosts that would be vital in some fights.

[Intermediate Kenjutsu Lvl 4:

Increases skill level with a sword depending on lvl.

Increases stats by 2 when actively used

Cost: 30 Energy points a second]

[Intermediate Hummingbird-Fist Lvl 4:

Increases skill level with Hummingbird-Fist depending on lvl.

Increases stats by 2 when actively used

Cost: 30 Energy points a second]

'Man I need to level them up some more.' They had an extremely high cost which made them usable in almost no situations. But there might be a moment one day where I'd need to have the timing of a bastardized black flash with this. No I wouldn't get the cool black lightning effects when I punched either. But the +4 to my stats if I used both would be nice. Speaking of... 'Stats.' I called mentally.

[Name: Kukui Tanku

Title: Aspiring Prodigy

Chakra: 500/500

Energy points: 36/500

Dexterity: 26

Strength: 25

Constitution: 25

Chakra: 25

Chakra control C]

'Beautiful.' I might be on par with Mika if I used Intermediate Kenjutsu and Intermediate Taijutsu. Hell if I used Running I might be able to beat her. I'd love to try that sometime. I had 500 energy points after all... Well 36 at the moment as they were regenerating. But still I had 500 that could be used soon.

"So may I ask why you aren't helping your team out?" For the first time in nearly an hour, Kakashi spoke. He was sitting next to me. Watching the fight from his Icha Icha book. "Do you plan on going in for the kill once you see an opportunity?"

If it were a real fight then yes. But I'd probably already be helping them out. "Nah. I'm tired from Sensei kicking my ass black and blue. I'm just observing." I watched as Sasuke tried to kick Hayate only for Suigetsu to land infront of Sasuke and get kicked instead. "Team Seven has horrible Teamwork."

Kakashi glanced at Mika and Tenten. "I notice your teammates don't though. I wish my team would work together like that but alas it takes time to build a bond." Kakashi sighed. "Suigetsu and Naruto get along but they don't really get along with Sasuke that well yet." Mika and Tenten combined their jutsu to unleash an inferno upon Hayate.

I nodded. "It makes sense... From what I can see, Suigetsu and Naruto have personalities that mesh well together. But they don't really like Sasuke due to his broodiness and general unintentional assholery." I do believe most of what Naruto calls Sasuke's "Assholeness" is just Sasuke not paying attention.

"You seem to know Sasuke well. Are you a friend of his?" Kakashi asked with a hint of intrigue in his voice. "I know your a friend of Naruto's because he keeps mentioning how you can beat Sasuke easily whenever he loses to Sasuke and how he needs to catch up."

I chuckled. I had a fond smile on my face. "Sounds like the blond idiot." I then looked at Sasuke who tiredly threw a fuuma shuriken at Hayate. "I don't really know Sasuke that well. I can just read people really well." The eyes were the window to the soul!

"I suppose that makes sense." Kakashi then closed his Icha Icha book. "I suppose we should get down there. Hayate wanted me to teach you all a jutsu in return for beating up my genin with his as a comparison to see how much their teamwork sucked. I can see its working." The fuuma shuriken Sasuke threw turned into Naruto who grabbed Suigetsu and threw him into Hayate. "Two winds, a water, two fires, and what would you want to learn? I know of that seal you have. Fire jutsu aren't needed when you can learn something else."

I grinned. Of course Hayate would get Kakashi to teach us something! I knew what I'd like to be taught. "Earth. Preferably something to help with stealth. I wanna get a better idea on how earth chakra flows and its probably my second element anyways." If I could make an earth seal anytime soon I'd be golden.

"Alright. Well its time to hop off the road of life." Kakashi put a hand on my shoulder.

Now here comes the Shunshin.

I didn't know what to expect in today's team meeting. It was sudden. At Five PM on a Wednesday. Exactly a month and 9 hours after I received my Headband tied around my neck. Yes I memorized that.

It had been a long month to be honest. The most eventful things were me making more minimal progress on the Genjutsu seal, learning two earth jutsu, and getting a summon tag from Shisui. I was working on the modified elemental seal still and I was having a tough time converting the seal to hold a chakra with a higher concentration of Yin than Yang. I am also working on converting it for Yang chakra for whenever I get around to making the Medical seal.

Charka conversion is a bitch. One that once I dealt with I'd be laughing and crying at the same time because of the many sleepless nights I've had.

"So what do you think Hayate-sensei called us here for, Kukui?" Mika asked from beside me. "Maybe we'll get to go on another exciting Tora mission." Tenten chuckled at that. I also smiled... That cat is a quick learner. I love deals.

I shrugged. "I dunno. Could be anything. Probably not another Tora mission though." Ever since that cat learned how to use chakra it had been escaping daily. Sometimes twice in one day! We had been getting the mission less and less since it was basically just an infinite money glitch at this point and Hayate wanted us to gain "experience". I looked at Tenten. "What do you think Sensei called us here for, Tenten?"

Tenten stopped sharpening the sickle she had in her hands for a moment. "I'd say either a mission." She sealed the Sickle away and unsealed a katana and began sharpening it. "Or maybe he's going to put us through some more training?" The way she phrased it sounded more like a question than anything really. "He might want to help us get better defense before anything crazy like a C-rank."

I kinda hoped we got a C-rank soon. But at the same time I didn't. Anything could go wrong and Mika and Tenten could die... Fuck everything else. They along with Naruto were all I had left to be honest. Although I was starting to actually befriend Shisui I still didn't consider him someone I'd die for. But I still wanted to help him. But I don't know what i'd do if anyone of my friends died.

It'd probably be raining fire and blood.

"Wrong and wrong." We all looked in front of us to see Hayate sitting on a log suddenly.

He was holding a rather suspicious-looking scroll. 'No fucking way.' If this was what I thought it would be then Hayate was both dramatic as fuck and an asshole for not telling this at our last team meeting nine hours ago.

"Sensei, Why are you holding a scroll? Is this another D-rank mission?" Tenten narrowed her eyes at the scroll as she sealed her Katana.

"Please let it be another Tora mission!" Mika whispered with her fingers crossed.

Hayate chuckled before coughing a few times. "No. Its actually something else. It is a mission but not a D-rank one." Fuck yeah I was right! "I have deemed you all ready for a C-rank mission." I saw Mika's eyes light up and I slapped a hand over her mouth before she said anything. "Thank you Kukui." I grinned. "I already picked out a mission. This mission is a diplomatic mission."

"Aren't those usually at least B-rank though?" Tenten asked with a tilt of her head.

"Normally they are." Hayate pocked the scroll. "But this mission is of relatively low priority. Even as a diplomatic mission. Mainly because even without this mission the relationship between villages would still be roughly the same." Now I wondered what the mission was. "Now for the mission itself. We are heading to Takigakure."

Why do I immediately feel like something is going to go horribly wrong?

Fuck man. This chapter took an unreasonable amount of time to write. Like its been... a whole week since i've touched anything related to this fic. Now normally after such a time I'd be frantically writing but... I have over Ten chapters in the stockpile still. So I Kinda don't need to worry much for a few weeks.

Anyways I really enjoyed writing this chapter. From the Kukui and Hayate part( I contemplated having Kukui learn actual chakra flow but I decided against it) to the final part where Team three gets the C-rank mission. Honestly this is one of the shorter chapters wordcount wise but it probably doesn't look like it due to the System stuff I included this chapter.

Speaking of... Its been way too long since I've included some system stuff so there you go.

Anyways I suppose I should answer the one question I've been asked in the reviews so far. Even though it won't be seen until somewhere in December. I think it was a bit stupid for the academy students to not be taught wall walking. Six years is a lot of time. I don't understand why you need to know history when walking on walls sounds way better to know. But then again that may just be my naive world view.

Hopfully you all enjoyed the chapter! The mission truly starts next chapter. And its currently 1:30 in the morning so I'm gonna go to bed so I can play the MW3 Beta later and then finish schoolwork for the week.

- Tobi