In Naruto: Reborn With Talent

by Little Merger

A soul was transmigrated into Narutoverse but was refused to be given any sort of insta-OP power, instead, he could choose from three talents. Follow him and his loved ones on their journey to become strong as they pave their own path through the battle-filled world of Naruto. Will they be villains? For some, surely. Will they be heroes? For others, maybe. But anything they do is d

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In Naruto: Reborn With Talent #Chapter 289 - Ch289. Teams 2 - Politics... Yuck - Read In Naruto: Reborn With Talent Chapter 289 - Ch289. Teams 2 - Politics... Yuck Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Chapter 289 - Ch289. Teams 2 - Politics... Yuck

"But..." Shikaku reluctantly started again. There were many faults with Team Seven. So many he wouldn't mind reshuffling all of the teams if it got rid of these incoming problems. "Putting the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, the heir to the Uchiha clan, and the heiress to the Hyuuga clan on one team is..." Shikaku grimaced.

Team Seven was a political team. It wouldn't be bad if there were just two of them, paired with a civilian-born but all three...

People in high positions usually liked to look a bit into the future and if Team Seven was formed like this, there was a high chance they would eventually become friends. Which, in turn, would create a strong political block later on when these kids grow up.

And that's where the problem laid.

Putting together Ino-Shika-Cho was fine. These clans didn't have much ambition other than keeping their current influence. They seldom tried to 'use the system' in order to get a leg up. It was also a known fact these three clans were already allied so putting them together in a team wouldn't create any future problem in the political sphere that wasn't already present.

The same could be said about the Aburame clan. They were simply far too passive for politicians and other clan heads to worry about them. It was a stupid way of thinking because Shikaku still thought the Aburame clan was one of the most dangerous clans in Konoha, both combat-wise and politically, but people simply didn't see it that way. They were too used that the Aburame just stoically sat in their place and wordlessly observed the happenings without much input.

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In the team setup Shikaku previously made, he planned to pair Hinata, Kiba, and Shino because of that reason. Shino was the Aburame her. Kiba was an Inuzuka, and they were far too brash and not exactly clever so nobody took them all that seriously. Plus he was not the heir which meant even if he got along with his team, there would be no extremely strong political alliance later on.

The only issue with that setup was Hinata Hyuuga who would almost certainly become a big political figure in the future. Then again, two heirs, where one was from a clan that didn't have that much influence... that was the limit for Shikaku.

But Team Seven as Tsunade envisioned it?

That was a political disaster just waiting to happen.

Sasuke Uchiha, the last loyal Uchiha, the heir to the Uchiha 'clan', might have lost a lot of influence considering his own clan was non-existent anymore but the kid was now a part of the top five wealthiest people in Konoha since every account previously belonging to an Uchiha now belonged to the kid. He also had a clan library full of Jutsu for himself...

Simply put, if Sasuke played his cards right and became at least Elite Jonin... he could one day be a very influential person in Konoha despite lacking the influence of a fully functioning clan.

Shikaku didn't think the Uchiha clan could quickly rise again. It would take at least fifty years for them to be sufficiently recreated and that would only be the case if Sasuke decided to be 'proactive' in that regard. God knew there were many morons in Konoha Council that would like nothing more than Sasuke becoming a sex beast focused on impregnating their daughters. Many would like to have a shot at a portion of the wealth of the kid, after all.

But the Uchiha kid was the least of Shikaku's worries. He was like Kiba... unimportant.

The real problems were Hinata Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki. Hinata... in Team Seven, she would have access to two heirs who will, later on, become influential. Coupled with the Hyuuga clan's influence, Shikaku could already see some of the smarter councilmen having a problem with this setup.

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As for Naruto... people knew only that he is a jinchuuriki and that he is recognized as a part of the Senju clan.

Being a jinchuuriki, that alone would make him a focus of higher-ups. Shikaku was supremely glad nobody knew the kid was the heir to the Uzumaki clan and the son of the Fourth. How nobody put two and two together, he would never know. But... this stupidity of Konoha's citizens was certainly convenient.

If people found out the real political weight Naruto will one day carry... Shikaku had no doubt they would stop at nothing in order to prevent his placement on the team with Hyuuga princess and Uchiha heir. Together, these three could create a political block that would totally suppress anybody who didn't agree with them.

Shikaku glanced at Tsunade, 'And all three of them are under the tutelage of Anko Mitarashi who is the apprentice to Tsunade.' He inwardly cringed. 'God am I glad that the Nara clan is allied to the Senju clan. If people had any idea what kind of frightening political moves this blond menace is casually throwing around, I wouldn't be surprised if the Konoha's clans tried to pull the Uchiha move on us and all rebelled.' He dryly thought.

Sure, since Tsunade became the Daimyo, the influential people in Konoha lost quite a bit of their pull but Tsunade made sure to leave a lot of influence in their hands to keep them satisfied.

Clans and councilors loved their influence. The formation of a political block that could suppress them to a degree where they wouldn't be able to take a shit without permission was something they would surely take offense at. Yet, Tsunade was seemingly doing exactly that, with no one the wiser.

'Senju, Uzumaki, Uchiha, Hyuuga, Nara, and through my clan, she also gets the Yamanaka and Akimichi... I have no doubt she could get the Aburame clan on board too if she tried.' Shikaku thought with a suppressed shudder at the political web the woman was slowly creating.

"What? Would you like it better if I put Haruno in there instead of Hyuuga?" Tsunade asked with no small measure of sarcasm in her tone, pulling Shikaku out of his thoughts.

His eyebrows instantly furrowed when he heard her question but his real reason was a short choking session as his spit got caught in his throat.

"Hell no!" Shikaku exclaimed as he finally managed to stop choking, "Right now, we are dealing with a political disaster. Swapping Hinata for Haruno is a totally new kind of catastrophe." He snorted, "Now I worry about the reactions of the clan heads and the politicians you so magnanimously allowed to keep their influence. If Haruno was a part of Team Seven, however, I would have to worry about their life expectancy. I will take political worries rather than that any day of the week, you troublesome blonde." He replied indignantly despite knowing he couldn't put Haruno in that team anyway.

Tsunade created many programs for the academy and Haruno Sakura ended in one of them. The girl had superb chakra control but other than that, she was useless. That was mostly because of her naivety and kiddy fantasies but still... She was not cut out to be a kunoichi. Not unless she grew up a bit. Putting her in Team Seven, a team that will undoubtedly be an assault-focused team would have been a seppuku-worthy mistake.

As such, the girl ended up in the medical program, and once she graduated, she would be an apprentice under one of the medic ninjas in Konoha's hospital. She would be in a safe environment, contributing to the village by doing things she had a talent for.

"Thought so." Tsunade smugly said, "In that case, what the heck are you still complaining about? Team Seven will be as I said it will be. Stop trying to change my mind, Shikaku. We," She glanced at the sheepish Yoshino, "all know that you just want to talk me out of it because you are too lazy." She rolled her eyes and gestured at him to continue with the teams before taking a sip from her tea.

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Chapter 290 - Ch290. Teams 3: Ino-Shika-Cho

"Next we have the Ino-Shika-Cho trio." Shikaku stated with open fondness as he mentioned the team his kid would be joining, making even Yoshino break her professional demeanor and smile a bit. "If it was previously, I would have protested but now..." Shikaku trailed off.

He still remembered how lazy his own son was when he was a kid. Since Shikamaru was six, Shikaku could see that putting him, Ino, and Choji together would not improve them as a unit as it happened for him, Inoichi, and Choza. The personalities of their kids were simply far too... alike.

Shikamaru was lazy, resulting in the lack of motivation to even attempt to get better at the necessary things. Choji didn't want to hurt a fly, resulting in the very same thing as Shikamaru, and Ino...

Ino might have seemed to be an exuberant and active girl that loved to tackle problems head-on and could motivate both Choji and Shikamaru into doing their best but Shikaku met the girl almost every other week during the Ino-Shika-Cho clan gatherings.

The girl had no interest in being a kunoichi whatsoever. She simply wasn't raised to want to be a kunoichi. Inoichi spoiled her far too much. The girl also didn't have a reality check that is usually delivered to clan children. Shikamaru was putting down old and sick deers since he was six and Shikaku knew that Choza also had Choji kill pigs since that age to start teaching him about the importance of life and prepare him for the harsh realities of ninja life.

Ino didn't have that. But... Shikaku couldn't really fault him much. He also spoiled Ino quite a lot, not wanting to see these innocent blue eyes to peer at the cruel side of the world. Shikaku, however, knew that he couldn't shield the girl from it forever. Then again, she was not his daughter, therefore, not his problem.

It was exactly this upbringing that destroyed any synergy between Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. Ino, who was supposed to be the glue and motivator of the team, simply lacked motivation herself, therefore was unable to properly motivate Shikamaru and Choji. When she tried to get them to do something, she mostly irritated them with her high-pitched voice and bossy attitude rather than using her Yamanaka subtle emotional bullying to manipulate them like the previous Yamanaka's in the Ino-Shika-Cho trio did.

This resulted in the three children kinda drifting apart during their younger years. Ino became Sasuke's fangirl, befriending other girls in the academy while Shikamaru hanged out mostly with Choji, separating themselves from their classmates.

When their kids were nine, Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza were already prepared to break the tradition and not make the Ino-Shika-Cho team out of them.

Fortunately, Tsunade's reforms in the academy straightened the kids out, much to the pleasure of their parents. Shikaku couldn't help but be immensely grateful for that. Raising a ninja was hard. Moreso for the parent rather than for the child. Children had a miraculous ability to adapt but no parent liked to see their child suffer the adaptation process. Or so, Shikaku would like to believe, despite knowing he was wrong.

Neither Choza, Inoichi, or him, had the necessary predisposition to push their children hard enough to make them excel. Shikaku didn't want to see Shikamaru crying tears of blood due to their special clan training for kids. Not when he knew how it felt since his own father put him through it.

At that time, Shikaku resented his father for quite a bit of time but when he grew up, he realized it was precisely that training that helped him to survive the Third Ninja War. But that was a different time. A time of unease and war. Now that peace was here, Shikaku was hesitant to make Shikamaru go through the same experience.

Choza was much the same. Shikaku could still remember how Choza was walking with his body constantly riddled with black and blue bruises, getting new ones every day. Shikaku doubted Choza wanted to make Choji go through that training. The Akimichi clan's early training was pure physical hell.

As for Inoichi... he was blessed and cursed at the same time. He had a girl. Shikaku couldn't even imagine how hard it was on Inoichi. How could he make his princess go through the necessary suffering?

All three of them were in a bind and in the end, they decided to not make their kids go through their own experiences.

But then, Tsunade reformed the academy, doing their job for them when it came to training the kids. Shikaku doubted that most of the kids even noticed that their exercises were getting more and more demanding as the learning curve was not all that steep. The fast pace of exercises made up for that and so, the graduating class was actually already at least genin-level according to the previous standards while the kids got the necessary habits for ninjas. Habits like the need for self-improvement.

Hence, Team Ino-Shika-Cho was a go.

Shikaku's lips suddenly turned into a frown, "I actually received a request from Asuma Sarutobi for the Ino-Shika-Cho team but I refused. That guy is lazy as heck and I am afraid the kids could relapse back into their old habits under his watch."

It was a shame too, in Shikaku's opinion. Asuma was one of the Elite Jonins of the village and was a very talented man. The problem was he simply didn't want to put in more effort than strictly necessary. Shikaku could already deduce what would have happened with his and his friends' kids under Asuma's tutelage. They would simply get lazy again, noticing Asuma's habit of taking things easy.

The problem with that was... Asuma already achieved the necessary strength threshold and only had to maintain his body fit. The kids, however, needed a lot of work to get to that point, and being lazy now could prevent them from reaching their potential later on.

Hearing about Asuma, Tsunade inwardly groaned. Asuma and Shizune married a year ago... not a happy occasion for Tsunade as she still didn't like the young Sarutobi. But... she relented and blessed their union as Shizune's mentor.

What else could she have done?

It was either grit her teeth and let her young apprentice do whatever foolish thing she wanted or distancing herself from Shizune even more than they already were. Tsunade simply chose to let Shizune make her own choices.

Surprisingly, Asuma was shaping up to be quite a good husband, much to Tsunade's ire.

She still didn't like him though...

At least her newest apprentice, Kurenai, was averted from the dark side and persuaded that Asuma was not as 'cool' as she always thought. But damn if that didn't take a lot of subtle manipulations.

"Who is getting this team?" Tsunade asked in an attempt to change the topic and distract herself from thinking about Asuma.

"Yugao Uzuki. I pulled her out of ANBU just for this." Shikaku answered with a tired sigh. It took him quite a lot of persuasion to make Yugao accept. That meant Ino-Shika-Cho will still get their genin test from their Jonin teacher but unknown to them, they would pass no matter what, and then... welcome to hell. "They might not focus on kenjutsu but I think a watered-down ANBU style training would do them good considering the Ino-Shika-Cho specialty."

"I see... Yugao must have been happy. Training the Hokage's son is quite an honor." Tsunade offhandedly remarked, doing it more to annoy Shikaku because she knew that the woman would vehemently protest being separated from her lover, Hayate.

Shikaku didn't deem that remark with a reply, knowing it was smarter to be quiet as he remembered the passive anger seeping out of Yugao as he gave her her new orders.

"You want me to train some spoiled lazy gits?" ... Was her cold reaction.

To be fair, Shikamaru was not... that spoiled. At least Shikaku would like to believe that but then he remembered how other clan kids were trained during their youth...

"Anyway, let's move on..."

Chapter 291 - Ch291. Teams 4

"Team 8, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Kurama Yakumo under the tutelage of Kurenai Yuhi." Shikaku read aloud from the file before looking at Tsunade, "Are you sure about letting Kurenai lead a team? She is your apprentice so wouldn't this take a big chunk of her training time?"

In reply, Tsunade could only helplessly smile, "Kurenai has a special past with the Yakumo Heiress and she spent the past two months begging me for this team. It was annoying me beyond reason."

"I guess not even you are exempt from problems with pupils." Shikaku amusedly quipped, understanding the problem. It was almost like some unspoken rule that high-ranking people usually trained people with high potential. These people, however, were most of the time quite problematic.

The three Sannin were the best example where even the Third Hokage couldn't do much about their behavior. The Fourth Hokage had Kakashi Hatake. And now, Tsunade had Kurenai and Anko.

Anko was... well, Anko. She was obsessed with her revenge against Orochimaru and that was a problem in itself. Then there was her usual behavior and honestly, Shikaku didn't envy Tsunade. Anko's behavior might have improved drastically since she became a part of the Senju clan but she still wasn't a good 'representative'. She was one of those people parents told their children to never imitate. Despite that, Shikaku had to admit that since Tsunade started seriously training Anko a few years ago, the Snake Mistress became one of the most valued secret assets of the village. Her potential was astonishing. Shikaku didn't delude himself into thinking he knew the full picture either. He was only aware of what Tsunade allowed him to know and even that was enough to raise Anko's value quite high and make sure nobody found out about it.

As for Kurenai... 'I still remember how annoyed Tsunade was when she had to beat feminism out of Kurenai.' Shikaku mirthfully thought.

Kurenai had major hidden inferiority issues, believing she had to show the worth of kunoichi to the world. This helped her to gain motivation to reach a high chunin level but after that, this kind of mental state was mostly just a hindrance. From Jonin and up the power scale shot towards the sky and male or female, ninja or kunoichi, gender didn't matter anymore.

Knowing that, Tsunade had to set Kurenai's mentality straight and decided to do so in a Tsunade-like manner. By beating Kurenai up until her head understood the lesson.

Well, Kurenai still hated perverts but at least she now didn't think every male except Sarutobi Asuma was a pig. Shikaku could actually put Kurenai on a team that was not solely composed of females these days and took it as a major improvement in the girl's temperament.

Sometimes, Shikaku wondered why the most talented people were also the most eccentric ones. Why couldn't everyone just realize the greatness of sleep and lazing around? Wouldn't it be best if instead of wars, the nations solved their problems with shogi matches?

Shikaku sighed, 'Maybe I should conquer the world and show the people the correct path?' His face then thoughtfully scrunched for a second before slacking into his usual lazy and tired expression, 'Naaaah~. Too troublesome.'

"I think it will be a good experience for Kurenai. Yakumo is also a budding genius in genjutsu so they might be a good inspiration for each other." Tsunade dryly said, having enough of this topic. Kurenai at first saw Yakumo as a daughter and her motherly instincts were messing up with her head so much that Tsunade had to step in otherwise the Yakumo Heiress would not be trained properly but pampered. If she didn't have to deal with any problem pertaining to Team 8 in the immediate future, Tsunade would be delighted. 'One can dream...' She wistfully thought. 'Was this how Rei and Konan felt when they trained Ringo and Mei?'

"I don't see any major problem with Team 8. Kiba Inuzuka will probably try to become the Alpha of the team as is commonly seen in Inuzuka ninjas. The file stated he is quite... unrestrained with his behavior but Kurenai with her special brand of dislike for... his kind... will probably rein him in quite fast." Shikaku shuddered and pitied the young boy who liked to let his instinct decide his actions. "Shino Aburame is calm and level-headed with a great analytical mind. His insects will also fit right in with two genjutsu users and one taijutsu-oriented fighter." It was a good composition. A bit lacking in ninjutsu but if used correctly, they would be superior in subtle warfare. "Neither Yakumo nor Shino should clash with Kiba personality-wise either." Shikaku nodded and stamped his approval on the file.

Tsunade watched in distaste as that happened. In the whole roster of the new teams, Team 8 was the only one that irked her. In an ideal world, Tsunade would forbid Kurenai from taking a team and focus on improving her strength. The woman had the potential to reach the level of the Second Mizukage with her genjutsu and Tsunade wanted her to be the next Hokage. She had no delusions that Shikaku would stay in the office for a long time. The Nara Clan head clearly disliked his current place in life and most likely only went along with Tsunade's plans because of the respect he had for her and the Senju clan.

That meant, Tsunade had to prepare for the day when he had had enough. Unfortunately for Tsunade, she had only two choices as of now. Anko and Kurenai. There had to be no discussion about Anko. As long as that woman never came anywhere close to the Hokage seat, the citizens of Konoha could live happily. That left only Kurenai and while there were many issues with her, Tsunade had to admit that every ninja had their own special quirks. Letting Kurenai take in a team was actually also a way to train her and that's why Tsunade relented in the end.

Shikaku and Tsunade then spent the next few hours coursing through more teams. Unlike the time when the Third Hokage was in the office, the concept of 'dropping' out of the academy was almost nonexistent. There were three graduating classes and everyone graduated.

While only half of these kids were assigned to a team with a jonin sensei, that was still enough to create around fifteen teams. It took time to sort through all of them and discuss the compatibility of the kids while suggesting reshuffling and improvements.

That was not even mentioning the other half of the graduates that were directly assigned to a department. These were the kids that ended up like Sakura Haruno and their career was mostly decided as they were sent to be apprenticed under specific departments due to their talents. These were not supposed to be field ninjas. If these kids wanted to be a part of Konoha's ninja force, they had to train in their spare time and request a trainer or reassignment when they got competent enough.

Still, six years ago, from these three graduating classes, barely three to five teams would be passed. Now there were fifteen and all the graduates were actually trained enough to be competent. Shikaku had to admit that Konoha improved quite a lot during the time Tsunade was in charge.

His eyes trailed to a file in the trash bin, the same file that Hiruzen Sarutobi 'politely' handed him. It was a team setup the old man thought would be best for the village. Hiruzen didn't have much, if any, political influence in the village nowadays but nobody could say the old man didn't try to influence certain things. That's actually where his joke of putting Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto together came from. Shikaku knew most would pay the document a lot of attention because, despite everything, the former Third Hokage still held a lot of respect in the village. But he also knew Tsunade would bash his head through his office table if he tried to implement Hiruzen's team setup so Shikaku did the smart thing and threw it away the second the door closed behind Hiruzen.

'Better not think about it. Getting mixed up in the silent war between these old foggies will just reduce my nap time.'

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Chapter 292 - Ch292. Hard Lesson For Kiddies 1

Anko arrived in the classroom where the new genin teams anxiously waited for their jonin senseis. She obviously didn't show herself and hid in one of the corners on the ceiling as was a norm for ninjas, half expecting to be discovered. After all, it WAS the norm for the ninjas! Kids or not, they should have at least a basic degree of awareness and wariness, no?

Well, she was sorely disappointed... and her team was in for a rude awakening once they passed their genin test. That, she swore.

'Oh, well, at least my snakes will be entertained.' Anko thought in a sadistic manner as she eyes her three new cute little genins who shuddered from the sudden chill.

Then, the jonin senseis started to arrive and Anko's disappointment only deepened. From the fourteen that picked up their teams, only six gave her a subtle sign that they spotted her while three others had this sudden case of momentary stiffening, betraying that they also were aware of her presence. As for the other five... Anko lamented how they became jonins when she was still de-facto chunin.

The classroom slowly emptied, leaving only the exuberant and always excited ball of sadly still orange sunshine called Naruto, frowning emo duck-butt who just wouldn't change his hairstyle no matter how many snakes Anko sent at him called Sasuke, and thankfully no longer timid and always blushing Hinata who became a total badass under the smug Anko's tutelage.

Yes, this team was gonna rock! ... When they learned to detect sloppily hidden enemies. The Hyuuga was in for some serious spanking sessions for this overSIGHT. Of that, Anko was sure.

Ten minutes passed and Anko blankly stared at the back of her brats' heads, wishing for them to finally notice because she was getting bored. And bored Anko was antsy Anko.

Ten more minutes passed and the antsy Anko was blankly looking around the room, her fingers twitching closer to her kunai pouch while her eyes involuntarily narrowed. She desperately hoped her wait wouldn't be long because antsy Anko was quickly becoming pissed off Anko.

Ten more minutes passed... Anko was utterly pissed.

Jumping down from the ceiling and silently appearing behind the three carefreely sitting brats, Anko quickly whipped a kunai from her thigh pouch and slashed at Hinata's jugular.

Fortunately for the Hyuuga girl, Naruto's senses were quite sharp thanks to all the training he underwent. It allowed him to hear the swishing sound as the kunai razed its path through the air. Reacting on instinct, he pushed himself from his seat, his body colliding with the unsuspecting Hinata, sending her tumbling down from her chain just in time to make Anko's kunai miss her neck by an inch.

Naruto wasn't the only one who heard the kunai though. While Sasuke was too late to do anything for Hinata, he also reacted and as her kunai missed the girl's neck, Anko found herself leaning backward to avoid two shurikens thrown at her neck and forehead with great precision. She was not given a breather though as both Naruto and Sasuke followed with their attacks, Sasuke going for a high kick to the face while Naruto lunged at her legs, his nails already sharpened with Kyuubi's chakra.

A very unsettling grin appearing on her face, Anko twisted her body and jumped.

Sasuke found his kick missed its mark as a hand suddenly gripped his forehead in a vice grip before throwing him headfirst into the wall while Naruto had his face promptly planted into the floor when Anko's foot landed on the back of his head while he was in the air. The two groaning boys didn't even see how their opponent manhandled them.

"Ha, you suck!" Anko boasted, "Be more awa-"

Anko's hand snapped into action and caught Hinata's strike just an inch away from impacting the side of her chest from behind. If that landed, it would most likely shred her lung into a paste.

Hinata tried to yank her hand away but Anko held her wrist too strongly for her to do anything. In the last attempt, she tried to go on the offensive and struck with her free hand towards Anko's hand that held her wrist.

Anko wasn't having that. During her training with Tsunade, her strength improved leaps and bounds so it was relatively easier for her to simply yank the entire body of Hinata Hyuuga upward, lifting her from the ground. Anko then spun on the spot, carrying Hinata with her momentum before gently, by Anko's standards, smashing her back onto the fortunately sturdy desk, causing Hinata to gasp from the sudden pain. She was beaten and she knew it.

"As I was saying... be more aware of your surroundings, brats." Anko merrily quipped, noticing that Sasuke and Naruto were almost recovered. It wouldn't do to let them attack her again. Nope...

Anko, with a smug smirk blooming on her face, pulled out a kunai and slowly put it on the neck of the still dazed Hinata, giving a meaningful look at the two boys whose eyes were burning with desire to beat the crap out of her for endangering their friend.

Oh, they were pissed and Anko enjoyed every second of it!

Cocking her eyebrow in a 'what are ya gonna do?' manner, Anko waited for their next move.

Silence spread in the classroom, only Hinata's pained breathing interrupting the serenity of the moment as the senior kunoichi beckoning the two freshly-minted genins to do something with her gaze.

Naruto and Sasuke were stumped. They had no idea if they should continue attacking and risk Hinata's throat being slit... and yes, Anko was a Konoha ninja but she was Anko! After the training she made them undergo these past years, they could totally see her casually slitting the throat of the Hyuuga Heiress just to make a point.

Unfortunately for them, Anko trained them in a lot of things but none of that was teamwork and response to certain situations in the field so this was a completely new experience for them.

Naturally, the only other option was to surrender. The two boys didn't dare to hope to outsmart Anko. It was a less known fact but the woman was frighteningly smart when she wanted to be. So much so that even Naruto feared pissing her off because it usually meant Anko got creative with her punishments. And creative Anko was determined Anko. Sadly for him, determined Anko was thinking Anko and that's when the shit hit the fan.

And in most cases, the fan was Naruto.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged brief glances and nodded, understanding each other in a way only long-time friends could.

Honestly, Anko wanted to coo at them about how cute their behavior was but she still had a point to prove.

"We... surrender." Sasuke said in distaste, grimacing as if he just ate a bug while Naruto looked disgruntled but his eyes shone in determination, still trying to find a way to win this encounter.

"Is that so?" Anko hummed, "Fine then," She slightly lifted the kunai, her smile widening when she noticed the apparent relief on the boys' faces. And then, in one fluid motion, she plunged the kunai handle deep into Hinata's throat, its tip reaching the hard work of the desk.

The two boys blinked in incomprehension as their female friend gurgled and spasmed on the desk, her hands instinctively but weakly grasping Anko's hand that held the kunai while she choked on her own blood that was gushing out of her mouth as she stared in clear horror and fear of death at Anko who was still tightly holding the handle of the kunai, pinning the girl onto the desk through her throat.

Naruto and Sasuke blankly stared at the sight in shock and denial until... Hinata stopped struggling and her lavender eyes dimmed as the desk and the floor underneath it became painted crimson red with blood.

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Chapter 293 - Ch293. Hard Lesson For Kiddies 2

Anko watched with a bloodthirsty grin as the gears in her new boys' heads turned and the horrible comprehension of what just happened dawned on them. She enjoyed the abject horror etched on their faces and the feeling of hopelessness and loss that filled their unmoving eyes focused on Hinata's corpse.

But... she didn't need a rampaging Kyuubi on her hands so, unfortunately, her fun was over. Letting go of the kunai's handle, Hinata's corpse suddenly burst into smoke, leaving only a log behind, driving the two despairing boys into an almost heart-attack-inducing shock.

The amount of relief their faces showed... Anko couldn't help herself and chuckle at how naively cute they were.

The teacher's desk suddenly burst into smoke, revealing the blushing and bound Hinata with fear-filled eyes while Anko's clone had her in her lap, leaning the girl's back on her chest while her hand was under Hinata's jacket, fondling the girl's left breast..

Hinata didn't know what to do. She felt... odd. On one hand, the things Anko did to her chest were very... amazing and felt good. She didn't want her to stop. On the other hand, she just witnessed herself dying in a very cruel manner by the hand of the woman who was currently fondling her chest. That naturally drove the fear of God into the girl's mind. She couldn't even muster the courage to give a meager protest against the way Anko's clone treated her.

"Do you know what you did wrong?" Anko asked Naruto and Sasuke, causing them to feel as if a bucket of ice-cold water was poured on them when they finally realized it was all just an illusion and Hinata was still alive.

Obviously, neither of the boys had any idea why their asses were so thoroughly kicked and their ugly expressions showed it.

Sighing, Anko decided to enlighten them, "Your eyes are fucking faulty, that's what!" She gave an intense meaningful look at the Uchiha who stopped short when his brain realized what she just said.

Sasuke... blushed beet red when he finally realized that he didn't even activate his Sharingan for this fight. He was so caught up in the moment that he totally forgot. Too worried for Hinata that it never even occurred to him.

"And you!" Anko redirected her gaze to Naruto who gave her an unsure sheepish grin and waited for his 'judgment', "No ramen for you for a month if you don't tell me what you did wrong in five seconds!"

Naruto's grin disappeared as if in a flash as the consequences of failure dawned on him and his face revealed even bigger horror than when Hinata supposedly died.

'Shit, shit, shit!' His mind worked overtime. 'Shit, shit, shit!'

"One... Two... Three..." Anko started the countdown while Naruto was outwardly panicking, sweat streaming down his forehead and his eyes wide in disbelief at his predicament, "Four... Fi-"

"SENSING!" Naruto screamed in desperation, "I FAILED TO SENSE YOU, ANKO-SENSEI!"

Anko silently stared at the gasping blonde who stared at her with intense worry, hoping he was correct. When she didn't say anything, Naruto was becoming more and more agitated, gulping hard and fidgeting.

Only after ten more seconds did Anko finally nod her head, "Correct. You idiot are one of the natural sensors in the village, yet, you didn't notice that 'Hinata' was just an illusion. How dense must you be for that to happen? No ramen for you this week and that's final!" Anko's words fell on Naruto like lightning from the sky.

Naruto was aware he messed up. He was so worried for Hinata he never even considered the possibility that what his eyes perceived was not real. In hindsight, he should have known better after training under Anko for years. But... no ramen for an entire week!? Wasn't that just Anko being unreasonably cruel for the sake of being cruel!? His religion was at stake here! He gotta do something!

"And no complaining or I will change it to a month." Anko added and Naruto suddenly decided that a week-long break sounded good. The Food of Gods could wait that long for its most ardent worshipper. It wasn't smart to tempt the devil Dango blasphemer and get his access to ramen cut for longer...

Nobody could say Naruto didn't learn when to be quiet under Anko's tutelage.

"And then we have the perverted peeker girl." The real Anko turned towards Hinata who was still being given the groping of her young life by the clone Anko. "I am sure you know what you did wrong. Tell us." She beckoned.

Hinata was half-mortified because she indeed knew what Anko wanted from her. Saying it, however... It was embarrassing! Knowing what is good for her, Hinata ducked her head and decided to obey. "I... I didn't peeeeeek!" She started and then squeaked in a high voice when the clone Anko licked her neck mid-speech, causing the girl to blush from head to toes.

"Yes... with how much you use your Byakugan to look at what's in the boys' pants, I thought you would be the first to notice me." Anko remarked in disappointment, mischievously smiling when she saw the two boys give Hinata astonished but bashful looks.

"I-... I-... I do-... I don't do THAT!" Hinata screamed in an embarrassed stutter as her delicate Hyuuga sensibilities were offended enough for her to momentarily even ignore the clone Anko's antics.

"And you can prove that... how?" Anko gleefully goaded, causing the mortified Hinata to go completely quiet as she had no proof. "Thought so, Princess!" Anko said in a sing-song voice.

Anko was satisfied with her handiwork here. Sasuke was berating himself for being stupid. With this embarrassing experience, Anko doubted the boy will ever forget to use his Sharingan. Naruto was properly cowed and shown his place, which meant he hopefully won't cause trouble and try to prank anyone in the following month. And Hinata was embarrassed just shy of fainting, which, from what Anko knew of the girl after she trained her for years, would motivate the girl to get better. This could be counted as a very productive hour for Anko-sensei!

'And they said I would be a horrible sensei!' Anko inwardly complained, not even realizing how close her methods were to Orochimaru's.

"You three... Ninja lesson number ONE! Just because you are in a friendly territory doesn't mean you can completely disregard vigilance. You drop your guard as a ninja only in case... NEVER!" Anko firmly stated, glaring at the three cowed genins.

Noticing that her cute little genins understood the hard lesson, Anko's mind trailed off to the last part of her team and her expression twitched.

Narrowing her eyes, Anko spoke, "Let's go. We have a lost jonin sensei to find." She commanded in a tone that clearly stated complaining would not be tolerated, causing the three genins to fearfully nod.

They realized that...

The pissed-off Anko was back.

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Chapter 294 - Ch294. Hard Lesson For Dummies

Anko walked through the village like a woman on a mission, followed by her three cute little genins as if they were little ducklings. She knew exactly where to find her target at this hour of the day and boy was he in for a rude awakening!

Eventually, she and her entourage arrived at the place where the Memorial Stone was located, and voila, in front of it stood what Anko called a gloomy figure of average-sized white-haired perverted dipshit who liked to cover his face because he thought it was cool.

Just her luck to have him in her team... .

The problem was... this bastard made her wait. Nobody was allowed to make her wait! ... Well, nobody except Tsunade-sama.

Anyway, Anko narrowed her eyes at the unsuspecting jonin who was paying his respect to the dead and the three genins behind her instantly knew there would be a bloodbath in the near future. They could only take a cautious step back, knowing this was inevitable.

Anko's expression suddenly shifted into a pleasant smile. It was so sudden the three genins felt creeped out, rather than calm though. With a spring in her step, Anko moved forward, walking towards the Memorial Stone.

She knew exactly how to solve this little issue of hers...

Kakashi Hatake stood in front of the Memorial Stone, lost in his thoughts as he reminisced of better, happier times. He, for the n-th time, asked himself why he even continued being a ninja. It was a dreadful job that took everything away from him, yet, he knew nothing else. He had nothing else. At least in ANBU, he found a semblance of home mixed with professionalism, something he desperately needed. Yet, even that small reprieve was taken from him.

Today was a big day for him. He was getting a genin team but unlike the teams he got previous years, Kakashi knew there was no refusing this one. The last Uchiha, the Hyuuga heiress, and... the son of his sensei. The last one hurt the most. He never approached Naruto, believing he had no right after he accepted the order from the Third Hokage to keep his distance. The most he could do was to watch over the boy in his capacity as a member of the ANBU. It was indeed him who took most of those missions, much to the bewilderment of his former colleagues.

He tried. He really did. He kept leaving groceries for the boy when he noticed him eating only ramen. He sneaked academy books into his apartment when he noticed the boy lacked them. He tried.

But even that was taken from him when the boy was taken in by the Senju clan. Kakashi could no longer provide even this meager support to the son of his sensei. On one hand, it relieved him that Naruto finally had someone who cared about him. On other hand, it made him depressed that he was totally cut off from the boy's life.

Alas, such was the life of Kakashi Hatake. Losing everyone who ever mattered to him.

As he was yet again drowning in his depressing thoughts, his line of sight was suddenly obstructed when, much to his surprise and horror, SAT ON THE MEMORIAL STONE as if it was a bar stool!

Kakashi silently lifted his disbelieving wide eye, his gaze landing on the disrespectful ingrate only to find the resident Snake Mistress grinning at him like a Cheshire cat. Honestly, as mad as he was, he was also too unnerved to voice his complaints.

"Hatake, tell me, what the heck do you think you are doing?" Anko's calm voice resounded through the clearing as she tapped the Memorial Stone with her finger.

Kakashi blinked. "Paying respect to the dead?" He smoothly replied, trying to calm the clearly incensed woman. 'Did I... possibly miss the appointed time?' He idly wondered.

Hearing him, Anko's smile did the impossible and widened even more, "Oooh~, and..." She slightly leaned forward, continuing in a sweet hushed tone, "do you think these dead fuckers care about you wasting your time in front of this stupid rock?" She asked, pushing several vases with flowers with her foot, causing them to fall over.

Kakashi visibly recoiled when he heard her question and saw her blatant disrespect to the deceased heroes of Konoha, feeling as if he was just slapped. Before he could explode in anger, however, Anko continued in a coaxing tone as if she was scolding a stupid child.

"Let me tell you a secret, then." She briefly paused, "They don't. They don't care at all. Do you know why?" Her cold narrowed eyes met the disturbed uncovered eye of Kakashi who was simply far too stunned at the audacity of this woman he couldn't even utter a word, "Because they are fucking DEAD, you dipshit!" She gleefully told him, "But do you know who cares? The living!" She started shouting, "I will not have my time wasted by you. Do you understand, Hatake!?" She firmly stated, fully releasing her killing intent.

Kakashi took a step back and gulped. He would never have thought somebody other than Kushina could be so... so... so damn frightening!

Seeing the white-haired bastard was properly cowed, yet still silent, Anko decided to stop releasing her killing intent and push his buttons some more. "Oh, I heard the stories." She tapped the Memorial Stone with her heel, "Your friends, right? Ah, former friends... sorry." She said in a mocking tone before switching into a pleasant one again, "They are dead because you didn't make it on time, no?"

Now, no matter how stunned he was, Kakashi had his limits and he was starting to get pissed.

Anko continued... "Yet, what do you do now? Did you learn your lesson? Nope, you still waste time. You are still late to every damn thing." She said with obvious exasperation.

"Are you finished?" Kakashi lazily asked, giving Anko an eye-smile despite wanting nothing more than to rip her apart. No... this reaction would make her infinitely angrier.

Contrary to his expectations, Anko didn't get mad. Tilting her head, she peered at him as if he was some kind of curious specimen, the same kind of look he received from Orochimaru when he met him during one of his missions. It made Kakashi inwardly shudder.

"No. Not by a long shot." Anko chuckled, "I can't even put into words how disappointed the Fourth Hokage would be. I mean... the guy was an idiot," Naruto barely grit his teeth, wanting to complain and Kakashi did his best not to pull out a kunai and jump at her while she just continued without a care in the world, "but one would wonder what did he actually teach you if you can't even be on time. Well, I guess his death was a happy occasion for Konoha if you are supposed to be the result of his efforts. Damn the guy must have been incompetent!"

As soon as she said that, Anko twisted her body with a smirk upon her face, evading the shurikens Kakashi threw at her, all aimed at lethal spots.

"Oh, you are on." Kakashi growled, knowing she was goading him but she went way past his limits and verbally hit where it counted most for him. There was no other way in his mind than to show her she could not say whatever she wanted.

Anko just lifted her eyebrow at him, clear amusement written in her expression, "Unable to contain his anger too... what a disappointment." She exaggeratedly sighed before turning to the three genins standing a bit away, "You guys go and stand on the edge of this clearing. This will be your first opportunity to witness a fight between high-ranked ninjas." She ordered before turning back towards Kakashi with an excited smile on her face, "Or at least... a fight between an amazing and superb kunoichi and a supposedly high-ranking slacker."

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Chapter 295 - Ch295. Anko Vs Kakashi 1

Anko and Kakashi stood opposite each other in the clearing, Kakashi lazily hunched over in apathy but not daring to pull out his orange book while facing someone like Anko, while Anko was grinning like an excited kid who was about to kick nuts... er, kick butts.

Despite his bored outlook, Anko could clearly see in his sole uncovered eye that Kakashi was angry. That was good. She wanted him angry. It wasn't any sort of grand strategy from her side. Anko was not stupid enough to believe she could make someone of Kakashi's caliber mad enough it would affect his fighting ability. The guy was in ANBU and he certainly learned how to keep his emotions at bay during a fight. No... Anko wanted him angry because he made her wait! He deserved to be angry!.

"You know... I liked you better when you looked at me with these dead eyes. Angry-like-a-squirrel glare doesn't suit you, Doggy-kun. Not with that pirate outlook." Anko chirped.

"Ha-Ha-Ha. Very funny, Anko-chan." Kakashi eye-smiled, "What a coincidence! I liked you more when you were a slut too. All this pretending that you are an upstanding person doesn't suit you."

Despite the two just exchanging some casual banter, the atmosphere around them became tense and stifling, causing the three genins that observed them to feel uncomfortable.

The two ninjas glared at each other from behind their pleasant facades, as if waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, a gentle breeze rustled the leaves in the crowns of the trees around the clearing and the two ninjas abruptly disappeared.

All the indication the three genins got that the fight started was a barely noticeable blur before Kakashi and Anko clashed in the middle of the clearing, their kunais crossed, trying to overpower each other while their arms trembled from exertion.

Looking each other straight in the eye, Anko and Kakashi snarled before their kunais separated with a loud clang reverberating through the clearing. Both jumped back, creating a distance between each other while not letting the other out of their line of sight.

"Maa~, nothing impressive so far." Kakashi cheerfully taunted, causing Anko to pleasantly smile.

"That's what she said? Poor you." She licked her lips and abruptly threw a shuriken at the unsuspecting Kakashi who was about to retort, causing him to shut his mouth and lean back, letting the shuriken harmlessly pass by his body... only to burst into smoke when it was close to his body, revealing a coiled venomous snake springing head-first towards him.

Much to Kakashi's horror, the snake was aimed at his crotch.

It was relatively easy for Kakashi to sidestep the snake but that... meant a war.

Kakashi ran at Anko with his full speed, engaging her in a taijutsu bout mixed with some kunaijutsu here and there.

Anko used her flexibility to negate, deflect, and evade most blows, occasionally using moves from her Snake Style to mitigate the force behind her opponent's attacks by taking the hit earlier than intended while returning one of hers at full power in return. It was obvious her taijutsu was not her main means of offense.

Kakashi's style was more dependent on speed and fast but effective hits into weak spots. Unfortunately for him, Anko was his worst enemy in that regard as she was far too flexible for him to hit his intended targets.

The two danced around the clearing, exchanging hits, swipes, and slashes, more often than not, missing the other by a small margin. Kakashi suddenly spotted a twitch of Anko's lips as his back hit a tree, getting a bad premonition. He was a guy who trusted his instincts and in this case, it saved him when Anko abruptly changed her style, and instead of her usual flexible and fast jab, she tightened her fist and sent a strong solid punch at Kakashi's chest.

Normally, Kakashi would face it head-on. He sparred with Might Guy so solid and strong punches were something he learned to counter quite easily. But his instincts forced him to dodge roll to the left, pushing himself up from the ground and back onto his feet.

He was really glad he didn't take the hit head-on when Anko's fist impacted the tree, bisecting its trunk with sheer brute force as if it was a child's play, causing the eyes of Kakashi alongside the three watching genins to widen in bewilderment and fear.

The three genins quickly came to their first decision as a team. To not piss Anko off. They were trained by her for years but this was the first time they saw her use this super strength technique. Honestly, it made them wonder what else she could do they were not aware of.

As for Kakashi...

'She knows Tsunade's technique!' Kakashi mentally exclaimed, not liking where this fight was going. 'Oookay... maybe letting her wait might have been a bit of an oversight on my part.' He thought and gulped as Anko turned to him with an eye-smile of her own.

"I will teach you... letting a Lady wait."

Kakashi wanted... he really wanted to retort that there was no lady present here but his suicidal days were already long over. Since he found the joy of Icha Icha, he no longer desired to join his friends on the other side. Not yet, at least. And nobody can claim Kakashi didn't know when to keep his thoughts to himself.

Anko dashed at Kakashi, using a completely different set of movements than previously. Her Snake Style was nimble and flexible, its movements adjusted for quickness and readiness to evade. Anko's current moves, however, felt heavier, less focused on speed.

That said, while her current style indeed wasn't focused on quickness, Anko herself was very fast. Kakashi had only a split second before she was in front of him, already swinging her fist in the direction of his face.

Kakashi leaned back, doing a bridge under Anko's swing before he propelled himself into a handstand and pushed his body away from the murder-happy woman capable of crushing a mountain with her fist. He didn't sign up for this shit!

Anko didn't let Kakashi get away easily though. As he landed on his feet, she was already closing the distance between them. Kakashi barely managed to redirect her punch by leaning his body to the left while hitting her elbow, evading his demise by an inch. Seeing his chance, he grabbed Anko's outstretched arm and shoulder-threw her away from himself. The second he let go of her, Kakashi's hands started quickly forming hand seals.

Anko was in mid-air when she heard Kakashi's voice, "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!", and a moment later, she could feel the heat around her rising. Twisting her body in a way that would get her closer to the ground, Anko sent a sharp kick to the ground under herself, causing it to rise and cover her body, shielding her from the flying ball of fire. That also allowed her to regain her balance and land on her feet.

Both ninjas momentarily stopped, sizing up the other while taking a small breather.

Kakashi was good, Anko had to admit. Rusty... but good. His instincts were top-notch and he clearly had enough experience to carry him through the tight spots.

Anko was... unpredictable, Kakashi inwardly sighed. Unpredictable was bad. Hard to deal with. He hated unpredictable. As he looked at the woman, he had to admit, she made him respect her during this fight. It would be foolish not to respect her, considering she could make him into a pancake with a punch. That said, the woman was utterly irritating! He still had to teach her a lesson too...

Yes, there was no other way... Kakashi decided and pulled his headband up, revealing his Sharingan.

"Up for ninja lesson number two?" He eye-smiled at Anko who snorted but readied herself.

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Chapter 296 - Ch296. Anko Vs Kakashi 2

Author Note:

Okay, so... as many of you probably noticed, this arc will not focus on Rei and his girls. I want to portray the situation in Konoha and Team Seven because of the upcoming Chunin Exam which I plan to make into a kinda important milestone.

I am sorry if some of you don't like that but... I must say, I had fun writing it and it was refreshing just switching away from Rei and his girls for a bit since I was finding it harder and harder to find something to write about.

One of you asked me (I read through the comments on the last ten or so chapters today) if I am taking a break from the plot around MC's group. And my answer is yes. I need this break :D. I hope you will enjoy the arc as there will be much more action and combat involved.

I honestly found out how 'unusual' and 'dissatisfying' it could feel for some readers because I am not involving the actual MC when I was halfway done with this arc and by that time, I decided to just roll with it and properly finish it rather than rushing it.

And for those interested:

Pa treon - 35 chapters ahead.

If you want to support me or read ahead:

https/www.pa /kasicair

--

Kakashi and Anko initiated their second round by dashing towards each other and Sasuke who already had his matured three-tomoe Sharingan opened since Kakashi threw Great Fireball instantly noticed Kakashi's own Sharingan. It made him feel a bit angry as he had no idea Konoha had a ninja who possessed the eye of his clan but these thoughts were shelved in favor of getting new techniques.

At first, Sasuke would never try to copy techniques of other Konoha's ninjas but Anko set him straight quite fast.

"Why do you even have those eyes if you don't make full use of them? Stop wasting my time and get such a bullshit concept as 'stealing is bad' out of your head or I will pluck your eyes out and give them to someone worthy of them." She said.

It was one of the very rare times Sasuke saw Anko serious and... He decided listening to her was a good way to keep his eyes in his head. He didn't dare thinking she wouldn't do it. That was a gamble Sasuke would not participate in. Especially since this was Anko and he had no idea what went through the head of that woman.

Sasuke instantly noticed their dash wasn't intended to end in a taijutsu exchange. Their muscles were far too relaxed for that. Relaxed muscles meant preparation for evasion while tensed meant preparation for engaging in taijutsu. At least, that's what Anko taught him. He would have never thought to use Sharingan in this way, to predict what a person would do from the slight shift in his or her muscles. The two ninjas in front of him were about to fight with ninjutsu and Sasuke couldn't help but be excited and happy from all the Jutsu he would witness and copy.

Kakashi started with Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, blanketing the area in front of the dashing Anko with a volley of small fireballs, making her weave through them while disregarding the heat. Momentarily surprised that his technique didn't even slow his opponent down, Kakashi decided he would have to put more effort into it.

Anko was far too proficient in Katon Release to be bothered by a slight increase in heat. She weaved through the small fireballs, using them to obstruct Kakashi's line of sight while she weaved hand signs for her own technique. This way, he wouldn't be able to copy it since he would miss quite a bit of hand signs and chakra molding steps. The same went for the duck-haired kid who tried to peek at her and was failing miserably because of the chakra contained in the small fireballs. There would be no copying of her personal techniques!

Suddenly, Kakashi noticed Anko's chakra spike, causing his eyes to go wide as she abruptly stopped before taking a deep breath and spitting a purple smoke from her mouth. The smoke twisted at breakneck speed, creating a snake almost as thick as a tree trunk before it sprang in the direction of Kakashi fast enough to give him a pause.

'Shit! That's an A-rank technique! Why would she use something like that in a spar!?' He thought in panic before jumping back, trying to increase the distance between him and the quickly approaching snake. Kakashi was very experienced and instantly realized the smoke forming the snake is most likely highly poisonous. He had to avoid it at all costs.

Anko focused on directing the snake, watching as it engulfed Kakashi's body. Something was off, however. It was far too easy...

Her eyes suddenly gleamed before she quickly crouched down, putting her palm on the ground, "Earth Release: Pulse Hardening!" The ground under her slightly caved as a pulse of chakra was sent through it, compressing the earth enough to crush anyone trying to hide there.

Anko watched with a smirk as ruffled Kakashi rose from the ground a few feet away from her, giving her a stink eye for what she just did.

Kakashi couldn't believe it. The crazy bitch almost squashed him like a bug with that earth Jutsu! And he was supposed to work with her? To be on the same team?

'Is it too late to retire and start a career as an Icha Icha actor?' Kakashi inwardly mused while keeping his eyes firmly on the dangerous woman in front of him. When he heard there would be a chunin as a sort of secondary teacher, he didn't mind. In fact, he was glad for being given a flunky who would do the troublesome parts of being a jonin sensei for him. Now though... 'This is gonna be a long fight, isn't it?' He sighed, steeling his resolve while mourning the loss of his time for Icha Icha.

Putting his hands into a cross-shaped hand sign, Kakashi called forth five shadow clones and had them spread out around the clearing. "Fine then... I guess I can take you a bit more seriously." He cheerfully quipped.

Anko chuckled at the cheap attempt to unnerve her. Unfortunately for Kakashi, she got a bit more snake-like under Tsunade's tutelage. His chirpy facade was fooling no one. She could smell the irritation, worry, and unwillingness from Kakashi.

Anko crossed her arms on her chest and relaxed her posture, "Heh, in that case, I think you won't need this." The air shimmered around the fingers of her right hand and Kakashi froze for a second before his hand involuntarily reached into his kunai pouch only for his eyes to widen in desperation.

"My Icha Icha limited edition." He whispered in horror as the enemy got hold of the most important hostage present on the field.

If only the poor little genins knew Kakashi's train of thoughts...

"I... give up." Kakashi ground out. He didn't like it. Him giving up meant indirectly admitting she was correct about Minato-sensei but the stakes were far too high for him to continue. This was a limited edition personally signed by Jiraiya! The only in the world!

Anko's eyes mirthfully flashed with mischief as she saw the distress in Kakashi's eyes. She lightly waved the book, looking at it with a lifted eyebrow before giving Kakashi a smug look, "I think not." She said and sparks suddenly went off around her fingers, igniting the book.

The world stopped for Kakashi and all of his shadow clones at that moment as they watched his most valuable possession burn while the Icha Icha murderer took pleasure in doing the heinous deed.

Robotically turning towards Anko, all cheer was gone from Kakashi's face. "I am going to kill you." He menacingly said in a low tone, completely serious.

Anko... smirked. "Too late."

Five earth clones suddenly sprang up from the ground behind each of the five shadow clones of Kakashi, using their momentary distraction to subdue them without popping them.

The real Kakashi snorted, palming a kunai as he also expected to be attacked, yet no attack came. "So? You got my clones. Big deal." He narrowed his eyes at Anko, lowering his posture. His hands blurred as a lightning edge formed on one of them while his Sharingan menacingly followed Anko's every movement. He wasn't going to kill her but damn him if he didn't make her stay in hospital for the foreseeable future!

Kakashi was about to dash at Anko with his Raikiri in hand when she spoke, "Shadow clones are a very peculiar thing. Did you know the main reason why they are forbidden and why Tobirama Senju added a safeguard that pops them after suffering a hit is because they transfer pain?" Anko couldn't contain her wide smile, "Let me demonstrate!"

Kakashi couldn't be bothered to listen to her drivel. He only listened to the first part before disregarding it and rushing at Anko who just relaxedly stood in her place, not even bothering to assume a defensive stance. When he was halfway through the clearing, Anko's earth clones simultaneously plunged kunai into the crotches of Kakashi's shadow clones.

Kakashi's mind received five experiences of castration at the same time, smashing into his mind like a truck. Losing his concentration, his Raikiri faded while he missed a step during his dash, causing his body to lose balance before it was sent rolling on the ground for a few meters because of his momentum.

Anko watched in satisfaction as one of the most feared ninjas of Konoha curled into a ball, holding his crotch while whimpering like a kid. 'I still got it!' She snickered before turning towards the three pale genins.

"Since your jonin-sensei is... ah, disabled, your true genin exam will be conducted tomorrow. Be at the third training ground at ten a.m., prepared to fight for your life. And since I still have a pending conversation with your future team leader... Dismissed!" Anko announced to the three freshly graduated genins.

They were so shaken they didn't even question what she meant by 'true genin exam' as they decided a tactical retreat was in order.

Watching her three cute little genins run for their lives, Anko turned towards Kakashi who was still whimpering on the ground and cheerfully crouched near him.

"Now then, I think it's high time to discuss the rules you will obey as my superior and the leader of Team Seven, don't you think?"

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Chapter 297 - Ch297. Genin Test 1

Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata arrived at the training ground three at ten minutes before ten a.m., anxious about this supposed real genin test.

They were not nervous because of the test. Far from it. They were ninjas and information gathering was a basic skill taught in the academy. They asked around and found out almost nobody fails the test nowadays. That, however, only put more pressure on them.

No, they were nervous because of who was going to be testing them.

Kakashi Hatake was one of the very few jonins who failed fresh genins since the reforms in the academy took effect. Sure, these genins were simply given a second chance and passed with flying colors because... apparently, Kakashi was a huge dick, but that was not really important.

They witnessed the white-haired jonin fight Anko and the idea of being part of such a fast-paced fight was as scary as it was exciting for the trio. After all, Anko handed their asses to them hands down without even really trying and Kakashi could go blow for blow against her. Judging by that, their prospects were not the best...

"Calm down. I don't understand why you are so uptight about it, bastard." Naruto lazily said from his spot under a tree where he carefreely laid with his hands behind his head, not betraying how nervous he really felt.

"Why? Maybe because we are going to fight against one of the strongest jonins in Konoha? Unlike you, I did my homework and gathered information about this Hatake Kakashi. He is famed as the Sharingan no Kakashi and is known for copying more than a thousand ninjutsu! Fighting against him won't be easy, loser." Sasuke grunted, counting his newly-purchased exploding tags to pass the long while.

"But Anko has beaten him so readily..." Naruto whined.

"Sometimes you act so smartly I forget you are actually an idiot." Sasuke wearily sighed, "Anko played dirty and dispatched him before he could use his area of expertise, ninjutsu. The man has Sharingan and was a ninjutsu prodigy even before he got that."

"So we just have to play dirty too!" Naruto rolled his eyes.

"No shit sherlock..." Hinata muttered under her nose. She was occasionally activating and deactivating her eyes to scan the surroundings. Being surprised by Anko once was enough trauma for one lifetime.

As such, she was very aware that Naruto's clones were currently trapping the forest to high heavens and made sure to remember the position of every trap. They were given the advantage of knowing where they would fight and not using it would be such a waste Anko would no doubt flunk them just because.

"As if it was that easy..." Sasuke snorted.

Honestly, he was very interested in Kakashi after finding out the man possessed Sharingan. That desire plummeted when he heard what others had to say about him. Pervert, lazy as fuck, always late... Apparently, he pissed off quite a few people with his bad habits.

When Sasuke thought a person like this possessed his clan's fabled dojutsu and was known for using it to great effect... he couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed to share this trait with him. God knows Anko-sensei would beat the crap out of him if she caught him reading Icha Icha before he became a full-fledged genin.

He definitely didn't know that because she once caught him... Nope.

The trio quieted down in silent contemplation, all going through the repertoire of techniques they knew while trying to devise a strategy based on what they saw Kakashi being capable of in his fight against Anko. Their information was severely limited but it was still better than going in completely blind.

When the clock hit ten a.m., Kakashi finally arrived, boredly hunching down while trying to keep as far away as possible from the excitable and sadistic kunoichi who followed him to make sure he wouldn't be late.

Kakashi didn't like being on this team. At all. Especially so after the three hours he spent in hospital yesterday while his mind tried to reboot from all the pain Anko put him through. Unfortunately for him, he was under the threat of having his eggs scrambled... and Kakashi quickly learned to take Anko's threats quite seriously... so he had to listen to the ridiculous rules Anko gave him.

1. No pissing people off by being lazy and arriving in every meeting three hours late!

2. No pissing on people!

3. No pissing Anko off as that makes her cranky and cranky Anko is stabby Anko! Consider yourself warned.

4. No imagining humping Anko's leg because she forbade you to read Icha Icha during work, ya pervert!

5. No beating your genin up to relieve your frustration! In this team, only Anko-chan can bully others!

6. No playing fetch with pointy sharp metal with your genins! Use blunted ones! They hurt longer.

7. No teamwork crap until the team members are individually competent enough to actually make working together worth it.

Anko called these things the Seven Commandments of Utterly Amazing Anko-chan and Kakashi wasn't sure if some of them didn't come from a book about training pets.

"Yo..." Kakashi lazily waved at his three new genins but his voice didn't contain the usual cheer. Instead, it sounded quite dejected. He then pulled out a clock from his pocket and set it up on a nearby stump, "So... well, I wanted to give you a teamwork test but it was pointed to me," He shivered as he remembered Anko's kunai approaching his ass while he was paralyzed from all the pain coming from his crotch, "that three genins put together on a team are not supposed to have a passable teamwork and it is my duty as your jonin-sensei to teach you how to work together rather than expect it from you right off the bat."

Kakashi had no idea why he was explaining himself but damn if it didn't feel good to complain in this roundabout way about the brutal team-leader abuse going on in his team.

"Instead, you three will try to subdue me within the next two hours," Cue the three groans that lifted Kakashi's mood, "so I can get a decent image of your current skillset. Don't worry and-" He eye-smiled before setting the alarm to go off in two hours, "come at me with the intent to kill."

The second he finished saying that, the ground under him suddenly exploded as three exploding tags went off right underneath him, sending rocks, dirt, and dust into the air.

Sasuke and Naruto glanced at Hinata who gently shook her head, gesturing with her head at a tree to their left where Kakashi was currently halfheartedly 'hiding' by leaning on the tree trunk with his back while reading Icha Icha. Fortunately, Anko allowed him to read it during this occasion as it would be a good motivation for the genins.

Kakashi yet again wondered why did he agree to Anko's ridiculous rules and why did he need permission from the younger woman to read his porn...

"Nice plan, you three." He half-heartedly praised, "You definitely deserve a point for eagerness and being murder-happy."

Contrary to Kakashi's expectations, the three genins didn't react to his remark and just spread out, watching him with cute determined looks as if they had a chance.

'Let's get this over with. Might as well use this opportunity to show the Uchiha some Jutsu while teaching him humility, teach the Hyuuga her clan's fighting style is not God's gift, and make sure Naruto would never dream of pranking me out of fear of retaliation.' He thought with a sigh. This was going to be a nice leisure two hours of fun.

Unknown to Kakashi, Anko watched in anticipation from her hiding spot. Yes, the three genins were anxious and careful but she didn't train the three of them to be Kakashi's personal punching bag. If he thought this was going to be easy he had another thing coming.

'I wonder if Hinata will make good use of my advice about how to subdue men..' Anko giggled, imagining the vast possibilities of Gentle Fist.

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Chapter 298 - Ch298. Genin Test 2

Kakashi carefully observed the three genins from behind his Icha Icha, mildly displeased, yet slightly impressed that he had to split his attention between his favorite book and his opponents. That exploding trap was ingenious and if he didn't have jonin-level reflexes, he would have been killed there and then. It was obvious his cute little genins were a bit special.

As he was waiting for the genins to attack, Kakashi suddenly stiffened. Only his instincts honed through numerous battles made him able to react in time as two clones of Naruto appeared from the ground, catching his legs while a small stone behind him transformed into yet another clone and took hold of his only free hand, limiting its movement range.

Before he even managed to realize he was trapped, Hinata did something he saw only one other person do. She shunshined right in front of him with pinpoint precision, already striking with her Gentle Fist as she appeared.

Kakashi's hair on his entire body stood when he saw where she was aiming...

'Not my crotch!' He inwardly freaked out, using his only free hand to try blocking her. As he positioned his hand in front of his crotch and Hinata's strike found a purchase... a flurry of torn papers exploded in all directions, ripping the item Kakashi held in his free hand, making his eyes go wide in horror. 'My Icha Icha Paradise Special Edition... Noooooooooooo!' Anguish filled his mind when he saw the ripped remains of his second most precious book.

Sasuke didn't care about Kakashi's mental state. He continued with his attack and as the 'Sasuke' in front of Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, the real Sasuke jumped out of the foliage right behind Kakashi, aiming a high kick at his head.

Sasuke's foot was about to hit when Kakashi suddenly spun at a ferocious speed that almost made him a blur to the three genins, shaking off Naruto's clones and making some of them dispel. He caught Sasuke's ankle before using his body as a club to smash Hinata away while letting go of Sasuke's ankle, sending both Icha-Icha-killing monsters brutally tumbling on the ground.

"That was my second favorite book, you bastards." Kakashi menacingly said in a low tone, his lone visible eye twitching in anger. "I am done with being nice. Screw Anko and her rules. Let's see how you manage in a fight against a real jonin."

Normally, Kakashi would not get mad. Normally, he would have a firm grip on his emotions. Normally, he would think getting mad at three genins who had no experience in emotional warfare or manipulation was beneath him since it was him who would be emotionally bullying them to toughen them up a bit. Normally, Kakashi would be calm and collected, always cheerful if only to piss the people around him off.

Unfortunately for the three genins, his encounter with Anko and the following trauma made him crack and Hinata destroying his second favorite book was just the right spark he needed to ignite.

Kakashi appeared in front of Naruto, kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying into the forest. Suddenly ducking under a kunai thrown by Sasuke, Kakashi stopped his pursuit of Naruto and focused on Sasuke, dashing towards him with the intention of beating the crap out of the kid to release his frustration. He was about to punch Sasuke's cheek when Hinata appeared in Sasuke's place via a quick Kawarimi, making Kakashi's eyes widen when she spun into Kaiten, causing his fist to be deflected with enough force to rattle his bones and sending his body spinning away.

Kakashi regained his balance and used the momentum of his spinning body to throw a kunai with the explosive note right at the edge of Hinata's Kaiten. The second the girl stopped spinning, the weak exploding tag went off, sending her body hurling back. Kakashi was not done yet, and turned towards the direction of Sasuke... only to see an empty clearing. He slowly blinked, his temper calming down due to the unexpectedness of the situation, and turned towards where Hinata's body was supposed to be located, only to find a smoking log.

'Damn... tough kids.' Kakashi thought, knowing they did not avoid his hits. His eyes strayed towards the forest with unwilling apathy, 'They will make me work for this, won't they?' He sighed. The fact he had nothing better to do anyway only reminded him his precious Icha Icha was destroyed, causing a new determination to hunt them down to rise in Kakashi's chest as he entered the forest.

Kakashi trekked through the forest, automatically using shadows to hide without even putting much thought into it. He was amazed that he couldn't find the three genins.

'I want to make their lives hell but they continue to impress me.' Kakashi thought in amusement, 'To think they would take precautions against my sense of smell. No... the really praiseworthy thing is that they gathered enough information about me to know about my exceptional sense of smell.'

Suddenly he stopped, tilting his head before chuckling as he crouched down and took a look at the elementary attempt at setting up a trap.

"Next time set a tripwire in a place without shade. You need enough light to make it invisible." Kakashi calmly but loudly spoke before standing up and stepping around the tripwire, going further into the forest, occasionally finding the blatant traps strewn around the forest amusing.

'Naruto... I know you love pranks but this is just pathetic. At least try to hide the traps...' Kakashi shook his head.

Unknown to Kakashi, he saw only what Naruto wanted him to see as he stepped further and further into the centre of Naruto's trap.

...

Naruto suddenly grinned as the clone he transformed into a tripwire popped, alerting him that Kakashi passed by. This was it. This was what he waited for. He was an extremely good sensor and even before he trained that particular skill of his, his instincts and observatory abilities were very good. He naturally recognized Kakashi as Inu, one of his ANBU guards when he was younger.

Naruto also remembered bags of groceries occasionally waiting for him in front of his house whenever Inu's shift ended. Or the academy books appearing out of nowhere in his apartment. Or...

Well, Naruto knew Inu was helping him quite a lot.

Unfortunately for the poor unsuspecting Kakashi, Naruto was raised by Anko who imparted a simple piece of knowledge into him.

'If you want to impress someone, show them how much you improved.'

And Naruto took it quite literally.

"Heh, Inu-san... I am going to show you I am no longer that little boy who needs protection!" Naruto whispered to himself with a fox-like grin before nodding at his clone, "The operation Doggy Style is a go." He quipped, making it dispel which gave the signal for his other clones.

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Chapter 299 - Ch299.Operation Doggy Style

Kakashi finally reached the center of the forest and found himself almost awed that he still couldn't find the three genins. He might not be using all tools in his repertoire but this was supposed to be a genin test. He was not supposed to be going hard on the three kids.

'Looks like they understood the underlying meaning of the test well...' Kakashi inwardly mused, unable to suppress the small smile that formed on his face.

It might not seem so but the bell test and the one he was currently administering were very different. The bell test's objective was to get a bell. That meant Kakashi could just laze around as long as he protected the bell well. It was the genins who were hunters. It was them who had to get the objective.

In this test, however, Kakashi had two hours to test the skill of his genin team. Unlike in the bell test, the hunter in this test was Kakashi himself. It was his job to test them, hence, he had to force them to fight. Not the other way around. It irritated and pleased Kakashi at the same time that his team realized they could pass the test even if they hid for the whole duration of it. It would simply showcase their superior capability at stealth if they managed to hide from an ex-ANBU captain for two whole hours.

If this test was translated to a practical, real-life situation, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata could be compared to three ninjas behind enemy lines attacked by a superior enemy and their goal is to survive until the alarm rings which could be compared to reinforcements arriving.

Kakashi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, 'I might be forced to take this a bit more seriously and properly track the kids.' He thought wryly. 'Aaah~, I don't wanna be mocked by my colleagues for losing to three new genins.' He lamented.

"Ah, well... whatever." Shrugging, Kakashi crouched down and started lazily weave hand signs. "Kuchiyose no-"

Kakashi was in the middle of casting the Jutsu when his senses registered a kunai heading towards him. In an instant, multiple things happened. Firstly, Kakashi mentally rolled his eyes when he realized the trajectory of the kunai was off. Honestly... he was a stationary target and the kid throwing the kunai still missed? It certainly must have been Naruto.

Naturally, Kakashi was experienced enough to check if the kunai had an explosive tag attached but there was none and there was no chakra fluctuation coming from it either.

The kunai landed an entire three feet away from the crouching Kakashi, making him furrow his eyebrows and feel embarrassed for his future pupil.

"-Jutsu!" Kakashi finished the summoning Jutsu, summoning his eight ninja dogs with an explosion of smoke for each dog.

There were, however, nine smoke explosions instead of just the expected eight, freezing Kakashi in his tracks as he realized the kunai was indeed a trap. He didn't manage to dodge in time as the smoke that exploded from the kunai engulfed his body.

Kakashi instantly held his breath, not knowing what to expect from the smoke. He wasn't inside of the smoke cloud for long as his body instantly jumped out on instinct while his mind wondered how Naruto managed to create a trap kunai like this without causing any chakra fluctuations.

Unfortunately for Kakashi, this was indeed Naruto Uzumaki the Prankster King of Konoha's custom-made anti-Kakashi trademark.

Kakashi didn't feel any different than normal and he doubted the kid had access to anything potent enough to get through his trained poison immunity anyway but... 'Was it a dud?' He wondered.

Suddenly, his eight ninja dogs pounced... right at Kakashi.

Kakashi's eyes widened in shock, not expecting his own dogs to attack him out of nowhere. Yet, his mind couldn't, in the split second he had, react as it registered the dogs as his allies. Kakashi often played with his ninja dogs and that meant them playfully pouncing on him. Because of that, his body didn't react, and the eight ninja dogs collided with Kakashi's body, sending it onto the ground before they started... wildly humping all over him. His legs, arms, belly, shoulders... not even his face was spared as the biggest of the pack decided it was a good target. The stunned Kakashi was only glad he wore his many facemasks as the dog's balls started impacting his face.

High in the treetops, Anko watched in disbelief at the helpless Kakashi who uselessly flailed his arms and feet while being literally 'dogpiled', suddenly bursting into uncontrollable laughter, deciding to reward her brat for such an ingenious and cruel way to prove his improvement in trap-making.

Rei, who was surrounded by his wives, watched this historical event through the Hokage's Crystal Ball Tsunade confiscated as it was made by her family. He couldn't help but feel pity for the white-haired jonin. Nevertheless, his lips were twitching upward no matter how much he tried not to smile as Kakashi was having a bonding experience with his eight dogs. As for Rei's wives... they had no problem laughing their collective asses off.

'That hidden seal on the kunai was quite good...' Rei hummed in appreciation, wondering if Naruto chose to become a seal user focusing on trap-making.

Back in the forest in training ground three, Naruto who was hiding in foliage while using multiple seals to prevent Kakashi from finding him had to bite into his hand quite hard to not start outright laughing while he watched his carefully laid plan work like a charm.

'Mixing all these hormones of female dogs in the heat was SO worth it! Ha! Inu-san, Feel the hump of the Uzumaki hidden combo number sixty-nine!' Naruto mentally thought while his eyes started to water as he barely held back tears of laughter.

Hiding in a different spot, Sasuke watched in deadpan at the trap his numbskull of a teammate prepared. He had to close his eyes as he could feel a headache forming behind them. 'Shit... Sharingan gives me eidetic memory. I will never be able to forget the image of Kakashi being... ugh.' Sasuke's complexion turned green as he mentally cursed Naruto.

Not far away, Hinata was blushing while watching her future jonin sensei's little pet problem, 'Naruto-kun... that was evil.' She thought, feeling a bit bad for Kakashi before her eyes lit up with glee, 'Anko-sensei will definitely be proud!'

The cute little Hyuuga was slowly falling to the dark side from all the cinnamon rolls Anko fed her through the years of her training.

For two minutes, Kakashi's mind tried to comprehend what the heck was happening while he thrashed around, trying to shake off his eight crazed dogs. Unfortunately for him, even though he was physically jonin-level, ninja dogs are a lot stronger than regular ones. He was also too dumbfounded by his situation to use his full power and as such, it took his two whole minutes of being humped before he finally realized he could just cancel the summoning.

The eight dogs disappeared with a puff of smoke, leaving behind only Kakashi who laid on his back, wordlessly staring at the sky with a blank mind and a deep burning desire to forget the last three minutes of his life.

Only then his chaotic mind clicked, making him realize an important fact. His dogs... his beloved pets and the friends that helped keep him above the water surface, away from suicidal thoughts during his most depressing and hardest times were used to... to... to...

A potent killing intent surged from Kakashi, engulfing the surroundings as his upper body sprang up into a sitting position while screaming in impotent rage, "NARUTO! I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU!"

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Chapter 300 - Ch300. Genin Test 3

Kakashi slowly stood up, gritting his teeth in anger. He was no longer willing to be accommodating towards his new genins. No matter how impressive their performance was so far... Naruto went too far with this last stunt.

Contrary to what Kakashi shouted, he wasn't going for the kill. Enraged he might be, but tight emotional control was a necessary skill for a ninja. Nevertheless, he was going to make damn sure he beat some respect into Naruto!

Summoning four shadow clones, Kakashi decided to take a small breather as they dashed into the foliage, intent to find the three wayward genins. These clones would no longer treat them as genins. No... since Naruto was so adamant to make him serious, the fight was on.

A bit further in the forest, Naruto heard Kakashi's enraged shout, causing chills to jump up to his spine while he briefly wondered if he went too far before his pride as a prankster quickly squashed these feelings down. After all, it was just a harmless prank, no? Kakashi wouldn't get too mad... right? He didn't even use anything lethal or permanent, dattebayo!

Turning on his sensory abilities to the extreme, Naruto 'watched' Kakashi like a hawk. Even after five whole minutes, Kakashi seemed to stay in the same spot, greatly puzzling Naruto.

'What is he doing?' Naruto pondered in confusion, 'He couldn't be traumatized enough to give up. He is supposed to be a jonin!'

Naruto was aware that Kakashi was working on a time limit. There were barely thirty minutes remaining until the alarm bell announced the end of this exercise, yet, the 'hunter' was still taking it easy.

If it was his old self, Naruto would rush out to engage Kakashi but... training with Anko has beaten these bad habits out of him. This Naruto preferred to stay hidden if he had the option. After all, why bother fighting when you could just laze around?

The bush near Naruto suddenly shifted, causing Naruto's guard to rise, only for Hinata to rush out, making him feel relieved.

"Naruto! Watch out!" Hinata exclaimed in-between her gasps for air, the veins around her eyes bulging out.

In the next instant, a few things happened at once. Naruto's mind halted for a second when he saw Hinata's urgent expression. He didn't know why she was so distressed because his sensory abilities didn't alert him about anything nearby. It was only then he saw her Byakugan activated and registered what she said.

Naruto's eyes widened as he pushed himself off the ground into a roll, only barely dodging a downward kick from Kakashi that spread many cracks through the place where Naruto's chest was just a second ago.

'That would have cracked my ribs for sure!' Naruto thought with a bit of fear creeping into his mind.

Hinata, without really thinking, sprang forward, intending to make Kakashi busy in order to give Naruto a second of a much-needed breather so he could find his balance and rejoin the fight. Unfortunately for her, Kakashi wasn't having it, and as the girl stuck with her fingers towards Kakashi's chest in the initial move for the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, she found herself gasping for air as her eyes bulged while the air was forced out of her. Only when she was flying back did her mind distantly realize Kakashi used his superior reach to deliver a strong kick to her stomach, stopping her technique before she even started.

Naruto watched as Hinata's body uncontrollably rolled on the ground after Kakashi delivered his brutal kick to her abdomen. He quickly stood up, creating two Shadow Clones, one going to engage Kakashi while the other went to check up on Hinata. As for the original, he knew Kakashi would target him so he decided to keep his distance for now.

Kakashi, however, surprised Naruto by just standing in front of him, not engaging again despite his apparent momentary advantage. Before the original Naruto could think up a reason for that, he felt something grab his ankle, and his world spun before he felt a tremendous impact from his back brutally colliding with a tree, cracking its bark.

Spitting some blood, Naruto felt his assailant prepare to swing his body again so he kicked down with his free leg, trying to hit whoever held him.

Hinata regained her bearings and saw second Kakashi succeeding in a sneak attack on Naruto. Before she could jump at him, a kunai flew from the treetops to the right, aiming at the head of this second Kakashi who just leaned back a bit, letting it harmlessly sail past him. The kunai was just a distraction though. Sasuke was already mid-kick, heading towards Kakashi's head. With his previous leaning back, the guy shouldn't have enough balance to dodge...

Except, a third Kakashi suddenly appeared behind Sasuke who was mid-air and couldn't dodge as the third Kakashi drove his fist into his stomach. That was not the end of it. After the first punch, Kakashi delivered the second. Then third. Then fourth. The combo continued, keeping Sasuke stationary in the air before Kakashi put a bit more strength into his tenth punch, sending the Uchiha's body flying back into the foliage.

Knowing she had to intervene, Hinata dashed at the second Kakashi who held Naruto by his ankle with one hand while blocking his kick with the other, preparing to swing his body again... She threw some shurikens at him, trying to prevent him from doing it.

That was the extent of the help she could provide to Naruto as she suddenly found her body being driven into the ground when the fourth Kakashi suddenly showed up out of nowhere, kicking her between the shoulder blades. Hinata had only an instant to curse herself for being too focused on Naruto and Sasuke that she didn't pay enough attention to her surroundings before she realized the fourth Kakashi intended to land on her back with his knees.

Widening her eyes, Hinata realized that would break bones and quickly pushed her body to the side, evading the fourth Kakashi by an inch, causing him to pop in an explosion of smoke when his knees impacted the ground so heavily it spread cracks through it.

Both Sasuke and Hinata were prevented from helping Naruto but he didn't count on them much, considering their opponent. The Shadow Clone that engaged the very first Kakashi that appeared was already done for, as was the one Naruto created to check on Hinata. Ten more Naruto's shadow clones rushed into the fight as Naruto recalled them from their job of placing traps around the forest. Five went towards the original Naruto who still tried to get out of Kakashi's vice-grip by thrashing his body. Three went towards the Kakashi who used Sasuke as his impromptu punching bag. And the last two went towards the first Kakashi to delay him since Hinata's opponent already popped out of existence.

The five shadow clones managed to force the second Kakashi to release Naruto's ankle but not before he delivered a bone-shattering kick into his chest, cracking multiple ribs in the process. Only Naruto's superior constitution prevented his ribcage from resembling a broken window. The second Kakashi then engaged the five shadow clones, instantly dispatching three with taijutsu before the remaining two managed to embrace him in a suicide attack with explosive notes attached to them. With a loud boom, both the second Kakashi and the two Naruto's disappeared, leaving behind only a scorched ground.

The three clones that engaged the third Kakashi weren't so lucky. The first of them experienced how it felt to have kunai enter his head through the eye before popping out of existence. The second managed to deliver a punch to Kakashi's side... unfortunately it was just a glancing blow as most of the force behind the punch was mitigated by Kakashi backhanding the clone, turning it into an explosion of smoke. The third clone of Naruto deviously went for a low blow, hugging one of Kakashi's legs. It would have been a great tactic too if Kakashi didn't already deal with the other two clones.

As the third Kakashi was about to swing his kunai down at the head of Naruto's clone who was hugging his leg like a koala, his eye pupils dilating in realization it was over... a huge fireball appeared, engulfing both of them.

A few feet away, panting Sasuke fell onto his knees, holding his chest that was full of broken ribs.

The first Kakashi already dealt with his two opponents, looking at the three kids in an appraising manner. Naruto and Sasuke had broken bones while Hinata had a few bruises at most. Nodding to himself he spoke, "And that, kids, was the ninja lesson number one. Taijutsu. Now it's time for lesson number two..." He eye-smiled while pulling his headband up. Sasuke's red eyes widened in alert and he opened his mouth to warn his two teammates but he was too late as his world spun. "Genjutsu."

Three screams resounded through the forest, making the real Kakashi, who still rested in the place where his dogs attacked him, genuinely smile as the nice symphony entered his ears.

Alas... it was time to move.

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Chapter 301 - Ch301. Genin Test: Genjutsu

Feeling a bit disoriented, Hinata found herself staring at Naruto on the verge of death, riddled with kunais and shurikens. It shocked her but she quickly recognized she was in Genjutsu and promptly fluctuated her chakra, breaking out of it.

Her senses returned to normal, making her head snap in the direction of the Kakashi who cast the genjutsu only to witness a few wisps of white smoke, signifying it was a clone that dispelled.

The immediate threat gone, Hinata's eyes quickly flickered to Sasuke who stood rooted in his spot with wide eyes before she looked at Naruto who lied on the ground, shivering. Hinata disregarded the Uchiha and jumped directly towards Naruto, knowing the knucklehead will have a lot harder time combating illusions than someone with activated Sharingan.

Kneeling next to Naruto, Hinata put her hand on his chest and pulsed her chakra into his system, only briefly noting that Sasuke finally snapped out of the genjutsu. Unlike Hinata's expectations, Naruto didn't immediately wake up. Instead, tears started to stream down his cheeks, making Hinata worry.

"Naru-" She leaned forward in worry when...

"RAMEN!!!" Naruto's upper body abruptly sprang up with a scream, causing Hinata to widen her eyes before their foreheads collided with a loud and painful thud, making their heads jerk backward.

"Oww!" Naruto's upper body impacted the ground headfirst before his hands snapped towards the back of his head that hurt more than his forehead.

"Uuuu..." Hinata who fell on her bum also started to rub her forehead with her hands, holding back tears while slightly blushing from the proximity of their faces at the time of the collision.

Both of them completely ignored the deadpan look a certain Uchiha was shooting them from the side, 'I am in the team with idiots...' He resignedly thought with a tired sigh.

...

Not far away, Kakashi who was about to start running in the direction of the three genins suddenly shook his head as a sudden pain invaded it alongside the memories of his last clone who was forcibly dispelled by exhausting almost all of its available chakra. This kind of dispel was even worse than a clone being killed as far as the user was concerned.

In a fight, this would have been fatal since for a second, it gave the user a sense of vertigo not dissimilar from what real chakra exhaustion feels like, causing him a headache and an impression of physical weakness that almost drove Kakashi to his knees. The unpleasant feeling was gone almost as far as it appeared but that second would have been fatal in a fight. This was yet another reason why shadow clones were not used by high-ranked ninjas in fights.

"Naruto..." Kakashi frowned, "who would have thought the kid has anti-genjutsu counter-measures set up."

Kakashi's clone knew that genjutsu was a bad idea against a team with Hyuuga and Uchiha. He didn't think it would be effective much. He just wanted to see how long it would take them to break out of it for the sake of evaluation.

Sasuke had his Sharingan, which meant sticking a genjutsu on the kid was hard as heck. Fortunately for Kakashi, he knew a lot about Sharingan and knew how to bypass some of its natural abilities. Getting past Sasuke's three-tomoe Sharingan was a slightly troublesome piece of cake for Kakashi even though he doubted the genjutsu would last for more than five seconds. After all, a fully matured Sharingan was called a cheat for a reason.

Hinata was a Hyuuga. This was even more bothersome than Sharingan as far as genjutsu was concerned. Many genjutsu specialists think that the key to defeating a Hyuuga with genjutsu is using non-visual one. Well... many of those found out the hard way why that was not a good idea. Hyuugas simply could see their own chakra network and that meant they instantly discovered if something was amiss with it.

Kakashi was in ANBU and thanks to his bountiful experience he knew a way to trick these white eyes too. Granted, only one out of ten Hyuugas would be unobservant enough to miss it but Kakashi decided to test Hinata anyway.

As for Naruto...

A sudden desperate scream of, "RAMEN!!!" spread through the forest, scaring many birds in the vicinity and causing Kakashi to grin.

Since Uchiha and Hyuuga were walking cheats against genjutsu, Kakashi decided Naruto would have to be evaluated more... harshly. As such, the genjutsu he put Naruto under was a bit special.

A less known fact about Sharingan was that it could alter the perception of time to an extent in its genjutsu. In the few seconds, Naruto was caught in the genjutsu, he was made to relive an entire day of being bound to a chair and unable to move while all around him were thousands of fragrant, delicious-looking ramen bowls daringly tempting the young Uzumaki with their delicious aroma, making him drool. And amidst these bowls, right opposite Naruto, a different Naruto stood, gulping down a bowl after bowl with gusto before the ramen replenished itself while he viciously mocked and taunted the real Naruto.

'Ah... nothing triumphs a good mental tortu... ahem, training.' Kakashi nodded in self-satisfaction.

The Sharingan's ability to change the perception of time was very limited. It only allowed Kakashi's clone to at most stretch a few seconds to one day and even that consumed half of its available chakra. Even the original Kakashi would not be able to do better than that, no matter if he was willing to expend more chakra on it. This ability of Sharingan wasn't known simply because no Uchiha in his right mind would use it in the middle of a fight. The chakra consumption was far too much and extending the target's perception of time just gave him more time to actually realize he is in genjutsu and counter it. That said, this was Naruto surrounded by ramen so Kakashi wouldn't be surprised if the kid totally disregarded the possibility of genjutsu and actually thought he died and went to heaven...

Kakashi went through the memories he inherited from his clone and unexpectedly, the second the clone caught Naruto in the genjutsu, something triggered, making the clone unable to 'disconnect' his chakra from Naruto's and he was instantly sucked dry of its chakra, causing him to dispel before he could gather the necessary anti-genjutsu evaluation of the team.

'So that was the reason I was hit by the feeling of chakra exhaustion!' Kakashi briefly shuddered, glad he didn't try to use genjutsu on Naruto himself while wondering what the heck was the Jutsu safeguarding him. It clearly allowed Naruto to be put under genjutsu while attacking the caster.

'Maybe it's a seal?' Kakashi pondered. It wouldn't be far-fetched. Naruto was an Uzumaki and both of his parents were Seal Masters. Yet... Kakashi doubted it is a seal made by Naruto. It was a too brutal counter for the knuckleheaded sunshine to come up with it himself. Kakashi's mood soured as a frown shoed on his hidden lips, 'Why do I have the bad feeling it is some kind of extremely dangerous forbidden Jutsu? And why only Anko comes to mind as the person who would teach an academy student such a thing?'

Kakashi wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to these questions...

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Chapter 302 - Ch302. Genin Test: Fin

The three genins tried to hide again but once Kakashi employed some unconventional methods he learned during his stay in ANBU, even the ingenious cloaking seals Naruto made couldn't prevent him from finding them. Alas, Naruto simply didn't have enough experience to configure the seal against every possible way of tracking somebody.

That's how the unfortunate Naruto, and yes, Kakashi targeted him first on purpose despite Uchiha or Hyuuga being better targets, suddenly found himself being pulled down into the ground, causing Hinata's eyes to widen as she inwardly scolded herself for not looking underground with her Byakugan while jumping towards him in an attempt to help.

Naruto wasn't in the best mental state when the attack happened. He was nervous and anxious. He just experienced the mental torture of being surrounded by thousands of bowls of ramen and not being able to eat any of it! He also knew he probably... maybe... most likely... went a bit too far with his dog-prank on Kakashi. As his mind was preoccupied with these thoughts, he wasn't able to react in time when Kakashi suddenly attacked.

Hinata was about to reach him when Naruto's body was fully submerged underground, only his head sticking out. Unfortunately for her, she was mid-jump when Kakashi sprang up from the ground and swiftly grabbed her by forearms and swung their bodies to the right, spinning on his heel as he threw her like a sack of potatoes right at Sasuke who was leaping into the fray from the opposite side.

Hinata's body crashed into Sasuke's for the second time that day, sending them tumbling through the air. This time, she was more prepared and Sasuke found himself quite literally being kicked out of his stupor when Hinata's feet brutally impacted his gut, making his body bend as she kicked him away from herself.

Not a second later, a fireball sent at her from Kakashi's direction engulfed her body... before its spinning rapidly increased more and more until it spun so fast the flames were extinguished, revealing Hinata's Kaiten.

As Sasuke's body flew through the air, he made use of the momentum Hinata's kick granted him to shift into a good position before he threw a shuriken at Kakashi who just finished casting fireball and was about to focus back on Naruto. This shuriken made him lean back and momentarily stop paying attention to Naruto which interrupted his attack on the defenseless prankster.

Nevertheless, Kakashi's left foot sprang forward while his body was leaning back, delivering a nasty kick to Naruto's chin with the intention of knocking him out... and breaking his jaw.

Much to Kakashi's surprise, as his kick connected, Naruto burst into smoke, revealing it was just a clone.

Naruto was quite proficient at getting out of body restrictions. He kinda had to be since he lived with Anko. All he needed was Kakashi being distracted for a second so he could replace himself without alerting the jonin. Fortunately for him, Sasuke's shuriken gave him such a distraction.

Kakashi wasn't surprised for more than a split of a second before his hand sneaked into his pouch and three shurikens found themselves flying in three different directions.

Hinata just finished her Kaiten, a bit disoriented because Kaiten was not made to be used mid-air. Her feet barely landed on the ground and she was intending to jump back into the fray when her eyes widened... She quickly threw her body back, evading the shuriken that aimed at her jugular by a half-inch. Unfortunately for her, behind her was a tree and her back impacted it with all of her weight, making her groan as she fell on her knees which distracted her from her intention of attacking Kakashi. She wondered how experienced her jonin-sensei must be to make such perfect use of the biggest weakness of Kaiten.

Not many knew but it took a split second for Hyuuga to reorient himself after finishing Kaiten. During that split second, they might as well be blind to the world despite their Byakugan since everything is just spinning in front of their eyes. That's why Hinata noticed the shuriken so late.

The second shuriken headed straight at Sasuke who was in the middle of weaving seals for the Great Fireball Technique. Sasuke's eyes also widened when he realized he can either finish the technique and get hit by the shuriken or interrupt his technique and evade. The Uchiha briefly wondered if his attack was worth getting hit by the shuriken but then decided there was no guarantee his fireball would actually hit Kakashi so he promptly threw himself into the roll to the left, fully intending to start quickly attacking again in order to minimize the amount of time Kakashi had without being pressurized.

As for the third shuriken... Naruto who suddenly leaped out of the treetops a bit right above Kakashi only barely managed to tilt his head downward, almost pressing his cheek to his shoulder. This allowed him to use said cheek as a shield. Instead of ripping through his neck, the shuriken whizzed through his cheek, leaving a bloody gash behind.

Naruto didn't pay much attention to his injury. Because he didn't dodge, he was still mid-leap at Kakashi and he fully intended to continue his attack.

Kakashi, as if momentarily stunned that Naruto didn't evade, also failed to dodge when Naruto's fist impacted his cheek.

Naruto wasn't happy though. The Kakashi he hit was too hard... before he could finish that thought, the Kakashi turned to stone, revealing it was just an Earth Clone. Naruto's breath briefly hitched as he remembered a small problem. Since he didn't burst into smoke upon hitting the earth clone, it practically revealed that he was the original. He was about to do a quick Kawarimi when...

"Secret Ninja Technique: Thousand Years of Pain!"

Naruto felt something enter his ass from below, sending a weak current of raiton chakra through his body, causing his eyes to bulge out before he was propelled forward, back into the treetops where he smacked his head on a thick branch with a loud crack just at the right angle which made his body twirl around the branch and start crashing to the ground. Naruto was out cold before he impacted the ground, breaking several bones, and started twitching.

Sasuke and Hinata finally reoriented themselves just in time to witness this historical moment, making them both stupefied while a chill went up to their spines as they subconsciously tightened their butt cheeks before giving Kakashi wary looks.

In return, he only eye-smiled at them before bursting into smoke.

Both Sasuke and Hinata cursed, raising their guard...

Sasuke suddenly raised his forearm, blocking Kakashi only thanks to being able to see him with his matured Sharingan. Unfortunately for him, a loud crack resounded through the surroundings, making him grit his teeth and soldier through the pain as Kakashi was already mid-kick towards his left side. Sasuke had no other choice than to lift his left leg, blocking Kakashi's kick with his shin... another cracking sound reverberated through the clearing when Hinata finally reached her teammate.

Kakashi refocused on the Hyuuga heiress, finished with the Uchiha who helplessly flopped onto the ground whimpering and trying to stifle his groans of pain. This lesson was, in Kakashi's opinion, very necessary for the kid. This would hammer down the fact that just because he can see the attack, doesn't mean he can react or safely block it.

Hinata pushed down her fear as Kakashi turned towards her and was about to attack when the alarm bell announced the end of this exercise. Hinata stopped in her tracks and blinked... her mind freaking out as she suddenly realized Kakashi's fist was just an inch from her face. Gulping, she bonelessly fell onto her bum, looking at the jonin with wide eyes. She didn't see him move at all!

Kakashi sighed and turned to Hinata, "Maa~, basically... unlike Sharingan, Byakugan doesn't give you a better perception. You can see a lot further than Uchiha can and with a bigger detail but that doesn't mean you can react or even notice someone moving too fast for your eyes. Or at least... that's what I was about to beat into you." He nonchalantly shrugged after verbally narrating her lesson, "Lucky you."

Hearing him, Hinata fainted, the mild chakra exhaustion finally catching up to her. It might not have seemed like it but during these few hours, it was her who used most chakra as she had to constantly keep Byakugan up while also using Kaiten multiple times.

Seeing that the fight was done, Anko jumped down from the treetops from where she witnessed the entire thing.

"I see you took your teaching duties seriously." She sweetly smiled, making Kakashi take a step back.

"You can say that." He casually replied, thankful that his forehead hid the bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"But Kakashi..." Anko cracked her knuckles with a wide ominous smile spreading across her lips, "What did we say about getting too serious against our cute little genins?"

Kakashi's eyes flickered towards the three kids who were either on the verge of chakra exhaustion or had multiple broken bones... 'Oh... Shit!'

Needless to say, he attempted to run for his life.

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Chapter 303 - Ch303. Tsunade And Her Students

"This must be some kind of a new record." Tsunade's cold stare landed on the fidgeting Anko who was currently standing in front of her table and giving a report about the genin test of Team Seven. "Let me get this straight. Not even a day has passed and your entire team is out of commission? You have not finished even one D-rank mission yet but four out of five members of your team are already in the hospital?"

"It's not my fault!" Anko defended herself, crossing her arms under her chest with a pout while averting her eyes from Tsunade's steel-like gaze.

"Not your fault?" Tsunade repeated with a hint of disbelief in the undertone of her voice. "Hmm... Let's see," Tsunade took a file from her table, flipping it open, and started narrating, "Uchiha Sasuke, broken right hand and left leg, multiple cracked ribs, several torn muscles, concussion... It goes on." Tsunade glanced at Anko who grimaced. "Even with our medics tending to him, he will be out of commission for a week."

"Uh... It's not the worst he has had so far?" Anko weakly tried, getting a snort from Tsunade.

"Hinata Hyuuga," Tsunade continued, "Also cracked several ribs, mild burns on her arms, chakra exhaustion... Well, she got off lightly. Praiseworthy result considering Kakashi was going at them quite seriously. Still, she will be in hospital for three days at the very least."

Anko's eyes slightly widened when she heard that. Tsunade just basically admitted she was watching the whole thing! Needless to say, Anko got even quieter, knowing no amount of Bullshit no Jutsu could save her now.

"Naruto Uzumaki... Well, not important." Tsunade hummed, "He is already healed and is only detained in the hospital for observation because he had burns on his internal organs from Kakashi's lightning ass poke."

Anko's eyebrow twitched at that. She remembered that scene and couldn't help but try hard at stifling a chuckle. Her good mood quickly ceased when Tsunade warningly narrowed her eyes at her.

"And the best one... Kakashi Hatake." Tsunade gave Anko an accusatory look, "Broken both knees, broken right arm in five different places, broken left arm at the forearm, shattered ribs, concussion, torn muscles at multiple places... you know what? Let's just say the man was basically dismantled alive. You wouldn't know something about that, would you, Anko-chan?" Tsunade asked in a sweet coaxing tone and Anko shivered.

"I... I might have gone a bit too far in our spar." Anko slumped her shoulders, admitting her wrongdoings.

"Spar?" Tsunade lifted an eyebrow at the wording, "Anko... Sparring matches do not end with your opponent having to spend two weeks in the hospital eating through a straw."

"I wouldn't know. I sparred only with you for the last few years..." Anko petulantly mumbled, causing the corner of Tsunade's lips to twitch in amusement.

"Haa~, what am I going to do with you..." Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose while secretly smirking. This was exactly why Anko was never considered for the position of the next Hokage by Tsunade despite being the second strongest ninja currently in the village. "Just go and report for duty in a week when your genins are healed. Your team will be without jonin until Kakashi gets better."

"Understood." Anko nodded, knowing this meant she would have to supervise D-ranks. For the first time since it happened, Anko regretted roughing Kakashi up. This was basically punishment in itself!

"Dismissed." Tsunade said, returning to her paperwork while Anko left with a dejected sigh.

Tsunade was signing papers when she suddenly offhandedly spoke, "You can stop, Kurenai. Your genjutsu is fooling no one. Even Anko noticed you."

The air above the couch suddenly shimmered, revealing Kurenai sitting there, frowning at being discovered so easily. "One day... I swear that one day I will catch you off-guard, sensei." She muttered, causing Tsunade to shake her head in exasperation.

'Not likely. My Senjutsu senses are impossible to fool with a genjutsu.' Tsunade thought, keeping that bit to herself. "So, how was your team?" She asked.

Kurenai proudly beamed, "They are incredible! Yakumo is such a great talent in genjutsu! She will no doubt become the next Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress! During the test, she managed to catch me for a second in such an incredibly intricate..."

Tsunade half-listened, half-ignored the enthusiastic bragging veiled as a report while trying to find out what did she do to deserve this kind of torture. She was a taijutsu expert. She had no idea what half of the things Kurenai was talking about meant. Half an hour passed like this and Tsunade finished half of her daily quota of paperwork while Kurenai didn't stop talking even for a second.

"... and then there is Shino!" Hearing the name, Tsunade decided to pay a bit more attention in-between her paperwork since the excruciating genjutsu-describing part was mostly over. "His bug techniques are good but he will need more training in taijutsu. Er... Sensei?" Kurenai shyly started.

"Yeah?" Tsunade boredly asked, already aware of what her student will ask next.

"Could you... perhaps... give me some advice on how to help Shino with taijutsu? I have can give him basic exercises but... well... you are the expert here so I thought I would ask... uh... if it's no problem..." Kurenai averted her gaze, hoping her mentor would help her student.

Tsunade found Kurenai's eagerness when it came to genjutsu bothersome but this was the reason why she decided to groom Kurenai into the next Hokage. Despite all of her faults, the woman simply cared in a special kind of way.

"Haa~," Tsunade sighed, giving Kurenai a fed-up glance before she threw a scroll at her. "There are exercises for both Aburame and Inuzuka. So? How is the last member of your team? Chop-chop, I don't have the whole day for your report, Kurenai."

"Ah... Kiba." Kurenai's voice lost all enthusiasm. "He is a pervert." She deadpanned, causing Tsunade to snicker. "I honestly have no idea why you gave him to me when you know how I don't like these kinds of people." She complained.

"Exactly because of that." Tsunade admitted, "This will be a learning experience for both you and Kiba. There is no better teacher than you as far as curbing his more Inuzuka-ish nature goes and there is no better student than Kiba as far as training your patience is concerned. You will be good for each other."

Needless to say, Tsunade inwardly laughed at the conflicted and unwilling expression on Kurenai's face. Alas, being a Hokage meant being a politician, and being a politician meant dealing with all kinds of unsavory people. This was just the start of preparing Kurenai for her future. Then again, Tsunade couldn't really explain that to the woman since she didn't even tell her she will be the next Hokage yet.

"I already want to strangle the mutt..." Kurenai quietly mumbled. She was very eager to teach all three of her students. She heard about Kiba's nature before she even met him, and she was willing to give him a chance. She didn't mind his not-so-discreet looks. If that was the extent of how annoying he was, she would have been fine with that.

The problem was his loud mouth and desire to be the alpha of the team. Kiba was too rash to be a leader. Unfortunately, Shino was too smart to argue with Kiba, knowing it is pointless and Yakumo couldn't care less. As such, Kiba tried to command the team, breaking the superb teamwork between Yakumo and Shino apart rather than trying to insert himself into it in a meaningful way.

"Well, it's just the first day. I am sure you will get used to his antics." Tsunade smiled, remembering her own time as a genin. It took quite a lot of beatings until Jiraiya stopped being so obvious about his pervertedness near her. "Dismissed."

Kurenai grumbled something inaudible under her nose before leaving Tsunade's office.

'Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered taking in apprentices..' Tsunade inwardly mused, deciding to quickly finish her paperwork.

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Chapter 304 - Ch304. Grandmother's Sadness

'So these are the so-called children of my eldest son...' Kaguya's voice gently resounded through Rei's head as he watched Yagura and Yugito spar, using full bijuu mode.

They were currently quite far from the Village on the Other Side, using one of the more remote, and therefore massive, training grounds. Two humongous beasts tore into each other with sheer physical might that rendered the surrounding country in shambles. Pieces of trees flew through the air, craters littered the ground, boulders were smashed into pulp...

The fight between bijuu was brutal and savage from the perspective of an outsider, yet, both Rei and Kaguya, who watched through his eyes, knew they were just playing around. After all, no bijuudama was involved.

Yet...

'Yeah, that's Isobu and Matatabi. The three-tails and two-tails respectively.' Rei nodded. This was the first time Kaguya saw what Hagoromo did with Juubi. The nine bijuu were created after she was already sealed and since Hagoromo basically adopted them, Kaguya was somewhat of a grandmother to them.

Needless to say, Rei had a blast feeling all the conflicting feelings within her through their mental connection. He already informed her she had two long-dead grandsons and also that their reincarnations are still plaguing the world.

Okay... using the word 'plaguing' might have been a bit too much but she didn't have to give him a migraine for an entire day because of it, no? Women...

That was the reason why Rei watched the Genin Test of Team Seven. After all, both the reincarnations of Indra and Ashura were there. That event was both fun and... not.

Seeing Kakashi's suffering was very entertaining. Seeing Kakashi brutally beat the shit out of Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata was also very enjoyable and nostalgic. It made Rei remember his own days as Jonin Sensei.

Unknown to him, Mei and Ringo involuntarily shuddered when he was remembering those times...

What wasn't fun was feeling Kaguya's feelings as she watched the spectacle. For the first time, Rei actually regretted making the mental connection between her and him. The sadness rolled out of her, seeping through the connection and ruining his merry mood. Kaguya wasn't sad because of seeing her grandsons' reincarnations. Nor was she sad that they were injured by Kakashi. She felt sad, regretful, and copious amounts of self-pity because she didn't feel anything watching Sasuke and Naruto. No familial love. No sudden spark and grandmotherly care. Nothing. Kaguya was sad because she simply couldn't bring herself to care about them.

Logically, she knew they were somewhat of a family to her. Yet, her heart refused to acknowledge it.

That sent Kaguya into a long pondering mood that ended with her requesting Rei to show her the bijuu created by Hagoromo. Hence... here he was.

'They are quite feisty.' Kaguya dryly remarked as yet another shockwave reached Rei's position, making his clothes flutter in the fierce wind despite the massive distance between him and the fighting bijuu.

'Yeah... they have been married just a bit over two years and they already pull their bijuu into their marriage quarrels. I wonder if it is the after-pregnancy crisis or if this will be the new norm in their relationship.' Rei wryly responded, thinking about the explosive relationship between Yugito and Yagura had after their daughter was born.

'So it's not the bijuu who is in control?' Kaguya rhetorically asked, already deciphering the answer from Rei's thoughts.

Rei knew the thing she asked and the thing she actually wanted to know were two different things. He didn't bother waiting for her to elaborate and ask a proper question and decided to answer what she wanted to know.

'No. Isobu is one of the laziest beings alive. In the past, he couldn't be bothered to fight even ninjas trying to seal him. Since I remade his seal, he is mostly sleeping his life away. Yagura can use bijuu mode only because Isobu allowed him to, stating it would be too troublesome having to be awake for every fight of his host.' Rei explained the circumstances between Yagura and Isobu's cordial relationship, feeling Kaguya's amusement through the mental connection.

'As for Matatabi...' Rei trailed off, feeling a bit awkward having to explain the cat, 'She is a massive pervert who just loves to nag Yugito to have sex with everything that walks. It is actually a wonder how she became like that, considering she is a chakra being.' Rei knew that while Matatabi might be a female in spirit but bodily she is asexual. That's why her antics were quite a curious thing. 'I personally blame faulty Kumo Seals.' Rei added.

'What do you mean?' Kaguya asked in confusion.

'You know how we have this mental connection between us, right?' Rei hinted at the answer and felt Kaguya's mild embarrassment.

The connection suddenly went silent, causing Rei to chuckle as he remembered Kaguya connecting to him when he had sex with Konan. Now that was both an amusing and awkward situation. Unfortunately for Kaguya, after Rei explained to Konan why he suddenly stopped, she showed not an ounce of care or embarrassment that Kaguya watched.

Poor Kaguya was trapped watching the two going wild at it while being mortified and feeling like a perverted voyeur. Yet, she was also far too curious for her own good to stop watching. Worse yet, some of Rei's sensations seeped through the mental bond...

Shortly put, Rei could hear two sets of womanly moans that night.

'You... stop remembering it! It's embarrassing!' Kaguya's aggravated yell made Rei rub his temples. 'You promised not to bring it up.' She mentally mumbled and despite the headache she previously inflicted upon him, Rei couldn't help but smile as he could clearly picture her blushing from head to toes.

'Yes, yes... I will stop embarrassing you now. Happy?' Rei teased with an eye roll. 'Don't yell again or I will cut out the mental connection.' Weirdly enough, he got a distinct feeling Kaguya pouted...

'Anyway... yeah. Matatabi probably had a few experiences with feeling and sensation leakage through seals which resulted in her perverted nature. She is quite an honest and kind individual though. If she wasn't, Yugito wouldn't live to see a double-digit age.' Rei wryly smiled, remembering the atrocious seal Yugito had on her body. Then again, it was no wonder Matatabi was both perverted and kind to her hosts with how they were treated in Kumo.

'A sloth and a pervert... what a great family legacy.' Kaguya deadpanned.

'Well, look at it from a positive angle. At least they are one of the most powerful beings on this planet.' Rei nonchalantly shrugged.

'That makes it even worse...' Kaguya mumbled. She had her hopes up for the bijuu as they were powerful enough to be able to help against the Otsutsuki clan. Getting to know that two of the nine were a pervert and a sloth was definitely not reassuring for her.

Rei wondered if he should tell her that Ichibi is murder-hobo, and Kyuubi hate-filled tsundere but decided that one revelation like this was enough for the day. He didn't want to bring her hopes down even more. Fortunately, he had the foresight to give himself a bit of leeway with their mental connection so he could hide his thoughts from Kaguya when he wanted.

'So? Do you feel anything for them?' Rei decided to change the topic and instantly got his answer when a wisp of resigned sadness seeped through the connection.

'No... I can't consider them as my grandchildren. No matter the circumstances behind their creation. The sheer thought of that is... ridiculous.' Kaguya sighed.

'Well, at least you are not giving me a headache with your self-pity this time.' Rei teased.

'Ass...' Kaguya harrumphed and cut the connection between them.

Well, Rei's comment clearly made the woman come to different thoughts. That was as good a win as any in his books.

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Chapter 305 - Ch305. Izumi Uchiha

As Rei watched the proceeding battle between Yugito and Yagura in their bijuu modes, he suddenly sensed an approaching chakra signature coming towards him from the direction of the Village on the Other Side.

Rei sighed and instantly created four shadow clones, sending them to create a barrier separating the fighting bijuu and him, not wanting the approaching person to be affected by the shockwaves. He knew it was time for a report from the spy network but since Konan didn't mentally send him anything, he thought this was one of those rare peaceful days when nothing of importance happened.

Apparently, he was wrong. Sitting down on a boulder, Rei waited...

It took twenty more minutes before he could see a form of heavily breathing Izumi Uchiha jumping through the treetops towards him while clutching a file to her chest. It was honestly cute how she gave it her all to rush with the report to him.

'Such eagerness...' Rei chuckled, 'As if it mattered if I was made to wait for five or fifteen more minutes for the report. Anything extremely important would be reported by Konan through our mental connection anyway. Poor girl, she was definitely sent on this errand because she annoyed Konan with her questions again.'

Rei knew Konan liked Izumi. The girl was eager to please and desired to prove herself, putting her all in every task. Konan saw herself in the girl... although, Rei really didn't see any semblance between the two. Naturally, he wisely kept quiet about it and just nodded in agreement when his wife asked about the topic.

Unfortunately for Konan, Izumi was one of those people who needed things explained to them at least three times before they understood them. Mentoring her proved extremely aggravating for the bluenette. Then again, Izumi was also one of those geniuses that once understood something, they would start using it in unexpected ways nobody sane could think of.

'Hmm... maybe they ARE a bit similar, after all.' Rei idly pondered, remembering all the irritating paper Jutsu Konan created over the years.

Izumi finally arrived, landing close to the place where Rei sat. Her face was bright red with a small hint of exhaustion as she animatedly tried to present the file. She clearly wanted to start speaking but it was difficult through all that gasping for air.

Amusement clearly written in his face, Rei took the file Izumi tried to hand to him while offhandedly commenting, "It is always fun to see one of the village's S-rank ninjas gasp for breath like a freshly graduated genin."

Izumi was still red from head to toes but now the reason for her redness was different.

'How easy...' Rei inwardly snickered, watching the young woman with the corner of his eye.

In the past few years, Izumi became one of the cornerstones of his village. The strongest Uchiha, her clan revered her. They even offered her the clan head position again but Izumi, for some reason, rejected and continued working under Konan.

'Ah... it's her again.' Kaguya suddenly stated.

'You are still here? I thought you got all pouty on me and decided to sulk in your new bed.' Rei offhandedly teased, the corner of his lips twitching when he felt Kaguya stiffen. He realized he nailed it right on the head. Well, that didn't mean he was going to rub it in, though.

'Hmpf! I felt a familiar chakra around you so I decided to take a look. I definitely didn't want to talk to your witty ass again. You are good only in small doses, you jerk.' Kaguya mentally scoffed.

'And let me guess, today you are overdosing, right?' Rei rolled his eyes. Honestly, whatever insult she could muster, it wouldn't phase him in the slightest. After all, he could feel her enjoyment from their banter. Before Kaguya could return some witty remark of her own, Rei continued, 'Anyway, by familiar chakra signature you mean Izumi, no?'

'Yes... I definitely mean that lovestruck Uchiha girl in front of you who is cutely blundering around like a bumbling fool whenever she is in your presence. It's funny to watch.' Kaguya giggled and Rei could feel her genuinely smile. 'Honestly, from all the descendants of mine, she is the most heartwarming one.'

'That's mighty praise coming from the Rabbit Goddess herself.' Rei remarked while pretending to read the utterly boring report. Why was he even getting them? Ah right... he was the person in charge. Sucks to be him!

'Well... the girl deserves it. She did awaken Rinnegan, after all.' Kaguya proudly nodded.

And that was another thing. Tsunade went ballistic in her experiments two years ago and Izumi was a prime candidate to become the Uchiha lab rat number one. The reason for that was simple. As a part of the village hidden on the other side, the Uchiha clan had the right to refuse and they promptly executed it. Izumi, as Konan's apprentice, had no such luck and was promptly volunteered by her mentor.

Although... Konan knew Tsunade would be returning her apprentice in pristine condition. Izumi, the poor girl, however, had no idea.

Tsunade blended Senjutsu DNA into Izumi, and at the end of the experiments, Izumi awakened Rinnegan. Frankly, it was a shock even for Rei who knew about the ancestry of the two clans, not to mention Tsunade, the Uchiha clan, and others.

Apparently, it had something to do with Izumi's strong Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan... or whatever. Rei didn't really care about all that scientific crap. The girl awakened the purple freaky eyes and that was that. Needless to say, Tsunade promptly rejected any request to perform the procedure on other Uchihas. She only wanted to give Senju clan's physical prowess and potent yang chakra to the village's ninjas. Evolving Izumi's eyes was not in the plan so when it happened, the entire project was quickly scrapped by Tsunade.

'The next thing you're gonna say is that you want to adopt her, no?' Rei dryly stated, giving the clueless Uchiha girl a gentle smile, flustering her a bit.

He couldn't blame Kaguya for her fondness for Izumi. Kaguya's close family was dead so she only had distant descendants. From what Kaguya said, it was hard to care for those. With such diluted blood ties, Kaguya mostly judged familial relations through the chakra of a person. It was indeed true that chakra was special for each person, much like DNA. Kaguya could feel chakra on a whole new level of depth and the second she saw Izumi, she instantly recognized the girl awakened Rinnegan as according to Kaguya's words, it purified the girl's bloodline, making her closer to Otsutsuki.

"What a perfect vessel..." Were Kaguya's exact words.

Alas, Rei shut down THAT idea pretty quickly and Kaguya learned to not mention it again. Fortunately for Izumi, the woman then grew fond of her clumsy act around Rei, otherwise Rei had no doubt Kaguya would be plotting possession right about now.

"Oh." Rei suddenly halted, finally finding something interesting in the report, "Kumo and Iwa are naughty! I wonder how that will go." His lips widened into a smirk.

Looking back at Izumi who was curiously glancing at the file while trying to be subtle, he closed it before handing it back to her, "Go and give it to Tsunade, will you? She can handle the rest for now."

"Ri-right now?" Izumi grimaced. She just ran here from the village and now she was supposed to run back to the village? She couldn't help but curse the prick who decided these training grounds will be so far away from the village.

Unknown to her, the prick stood right in front of her.

Rei chuckled, stretching his arm before patting the young woman's head, causing her to lower it and subconsciously lean into his palm. "Well, it's two-thirty. As I know Konan, she will want a report by three p.m. since afterward she is leaving her office. You got half an hour to get back to the village..." Rei trailed off, seeing how Izumi's eyes widened in panic.

"It's already so late!?" She exclaimed, her eyes turning red before she disappeared into thin air.

"..." Rei blinked with a frozen smile on his face, looking at his outstretched hand patting air...

'You look like an idiot..' Kaguya's amused remark didn't help his internal turmoil.

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Chapter 306 - Ch306. Konan's Matchmaking

Rei sat in the living room reviewing the copied disassembled versions of seals that kept Kaguya a prisoner in the moon. This was his main project for quite some months now and he was making albeit slow, but acceptable progress, immensely pleasing the Rabbit Goddess who always watched with rapt attention when he was doing this.

Honestly, it surprised Rei how driven the woman was to learn more about her proverbial prison shackles. For a princess who never bothered to master her inner power, her desire to better herself startled Rei. Then again, who was he to prevent her?

It didn't matter to him anyway. Hagoromo had quite a lot of knowledge of old sealing arts that didn't really use chakra but nature energy. Studying these seals gave Rei a massive overview of how sealing worked before the humans in the Elemental Nations 'received' chakra and were taught how to utilize it.

Sealing arts were very old practices that changed drastically over the past millennia. That was actually the main reason why Rei's progress was slow. He was basically rediscovering a long-lost way of sealing with no guidebook, relying only on deconstructing very complex seals. while trying to glean the secrets behind their making.

That was the main point why Rei didn't mind Kaguya learning how to prevent them from affecting her again. The modern way of sealing was far too different so even if she knew how to disrupt this archaic one, Rei still had a working trump card against her.

Or... at least, that was his initial intention but the more insight he got to her head, feelings, and thought process through their mental connection, the more he realized he would most likely not need it.

Then again... better safe than sorry.

As he was browsing through some papers with drawn parts of a particularly hard-to-decipher seal, he was suddenly embraced from behind by a pair of gentle hands sporting nails decorated with blue nail polish, instantly revealing the identity of its owner.

Rei's lips curled into a smile, "Hello, Konan," He gently put his hand over hers. "How was your day?"

"Izumi was being difficult. You just couldn't help yourself and tease her when she was giving you her report, could you?" Konan said in a mock accusing tone without any heat behind it as she placed her chin on the top of Rei's head, leaning against him.

"Well, she is just so easy to tease I sometimes find it hard to resist," Rei chuckled, getting an amused eye roll from Konan while her lips slightly curled. "Not to mention, I am well aware of your intentions." He nonchalantly added, causing Konan's eyebrows to twitch.

"Haa~, I guess you would be, wouldn't you?" Konan resignedly remarked, lifting her chin from his head while her hands moved from the embrace onto Rei's shoulders as she started to rub them, "I admit that starting to invite her to our family dinners was not the subtlest move. Aren't you going to ask why though?" Curiosity seeped into her tone.

"I don't need to. You clearly care about the girl. Considering our familial arrangements worked all these years, you probably don't see any problem with having a new addition to our family." Rei wryly shook his head.

He wasn't exactly pleased with this discussion. Especially not with the silent observer who was extremely interested in the topic and most likely forgot Rei could feel when the mental connection between them was open.

Before Konan could start speaking again, Rei continued, "I guess you already roped Tsunade in since she helped with elevating Izumi's strength. The Uchiha clan might have been deceived but seriously? She didn't really need an Uchiha to try experimenting with the Senju bloodline. If my assumption is correct, you wanted to grant Izumi the ability to easily access Senjutsu. Am I wrong?" Rei narrated in an impassive tone, lifting his eyebrow in curiosity about the correctness of his own hypothesis.

"Uh... That didn't go exactly according to the plan." Konan sheepishly chuckled. "Still, the results were extraordinary and the girl did get stronger."

"That so..." Rei hummed in agreement, "Since you have Tsunade already persuaded, the only problematic person would be Pakura, considering both Mei and Ringo see you and Tsunade as their quasi-parental mentor figures and would listen to you. Not to mention Ringo would most likely not care as long as I don't stop caring for her while Mei is quite close with Izumi."

"Pakura already agreed." Konan's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she said that.

In Rei's harem, Konan was basically the leader. She was with him the longest and was arguably strongest out of all his girls. Frankly, it was questionable who would win between her and Tsunade but Tsunade was never interested in being dominant. Pakura was the only one who occasionally challenged Konan, and to be honest, it was a breath of fresh air for the bluenette.

If Tsunade disagreed with her, she would simply ignore her opinion. If Mei disagreed with her, she would simply pretend to not understand until she made Konan annoyed enough to give it up. If Ringo disagreed with her, she would simply turn around and go back to her forge, giving Konan a silent treatment. That said, all three of those held Konan in high regard, and them disagreeing seldom happened. Even then it was quickly resolved.

Pakura was different. She didn't grow up or live with them for years before she became a part of Rei's harem. As such, she was the only one who still didn't have her own way of preventing arguments and opted to actually argue with Konan about certain decisions. Honestly, it really helped as Konan knew she was not infallible, and having a different perspective on things usually helped to reveal errors she might have overlooked.

"Ah, yeah, considering she is also raising her little windy murder machine to one day join our little family, I can see why she would agree." Rei's lips twitched into a shadow of a smile before he shook his head in amusement, "She really started to care about that girl."

"Are you okay with that?" Konan asked in worry, "We are basically trying to force you to take more women without asking you about your feelings."

"Well, if you tried to force me to accept them, I would be pissed." Rei dryly pointed out. "This awkward matchmaking maneuvering of yours though? I am honestly amused and willing to give Izumi a chance." He shrugged, "Doesn't mean I will accept her. I guess we'll just have to wait and see where it will lead us."

Konan showed a sincere smile due to his answer and leaned around his head, giving his cheek an appreciative kiss. "Thank you."

Rei closed his eyes with a sigh. 'Great. Now I won't be able to focus.' Putting down the papers, Rei slowly turned around to face the quietly smug Konan as she licked her lips, knowing her kiss made his focus go bye-bye.

"You minx, you are basically asking for it with those seductive amber orbs of yours." Rei exasperatedly whispered and before Konan could reply, his lips smashed against her as he pulled her body closer to his, hauling her around the backrest of the couch as they made out.

After a few moments, Konan pulled away enough to break the string of saliva that was connecting them and straddled Rei whose back was pressed into the couch. She put her hands onto his chest, feeling up his muscles without breaking their eye contact. It greatly pleased her when she saw the raw desire in her lover's eyes. Even after all those years together, she still evoked the same lust in him as when their relationship started. Then again, her eyes no doubt showed the exact same want if the way she felt was any indication.

"I have no idea what you are implying. This is all purely educational. I am just showing Kaguya how to keep her man happy." Konan quipped, causing Rei to chuckle as he could feel Kaguya's embarrassment.

Needless to say, the mortified but guiltily curious Rabbit Goddess didn't cancel the mental connection, witnessing the couple having their intimate fun the whole night.

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Chapter 307 - Ch307. What Lies Beyond The Sea

Rei watched in untold amusement as Konan who was currently comfortably snuggling into his chest while drooling finally stirred, waking up from her undoubtedly pleasant dreams. Her drowsy eyes slowly opened with confusion as her sleep-muddled mind tried to catch up. Konan suddenly flared bright red, no doubt realizing her current position. Despite her embarrassment, she just slightly lifted her head and looked Rei straight into his eyes, a happy smile stretching on her lips.

"Good morning." She tried to play off her embarrassment by acting as if nothing happened.

Rei lifted an eyebrow at her, the corner of his lips tugging upward while his eyes amusedly flickered at the wet spot on his chest, causing Konan to flush even deeper red as he returned her greeting, "Good morning. I see you slept well."

Konan narrowed her eyes and bit her lower lip, "And whose fault is that?" She playfully huffed, mentally feeling her pleasantly sore body pressing into Rei's figure and sharing their warmth.

"No comment. Any answer I could give you will be used against me." Rei quipped.

Konan giggled at that before she returned her cheek to her comfortable place on Rei's chest. "So true..." She hummed as Rei started to absently stroke her hair.

The duo enjoyed the slow and comfy morning in the bed, unburdened by their duties. These could and would wait.

It was only after some time that Rei noticed Konan had a strange expression and decided to ask her what was bothering her.

"I... must have received a memory package from my clones while I slept. They finally managed to scout the other continents to some degree." She stated in reply, "I am just surprised there is no mention of Chakra there."

"Hmm~... maybe they have a different name for it?" Rei tried to be helpful but then a thought occurred to him, "You know... in the legends, it is said it was the Sage of the Six Paths that taught humans how to use chakra. Since the guy was obviously active in the Elemental Nations, he probably didn't travel to other continents. Maybe they just never figured out how to make use of chakra or that it even exists." Rei theorized.

The history of chakra and how it came to be was confusing at best.

"That's possible. My clones didn't focus on the history there, yet. I ordered them to focus on looking for anyone who could be a threat." Konan said with a sigh. "It is going slowly since I'd rather not attract unwanted attention."

These new continents were uncharted territory for them and that meant Konan decided to go with the most careful approach. She didn't dare to create any waves and only sent clones that would stick to the shadows while gathering rumors. It wasn't the most effective or quickest method but it was the one with the least risks of somebody powerful spotting her spying.

Rei didn't have any complaints about that. Firstly, he knew there would be no invasion of note before the Fourth Great Ninja War so, unlike Konan, he wasn't overly worried about the other continents. It didn't really matter for him if the progress on that front went slow. It wasn't as if he had actual time to pay attention to what happened overseas.

"According to Yuriko's observations from the moon, on the west, there is a continent ten times the size of Elemental Nations. I wasn't able to get there yet with my Paper Clones but I managed to infiltrate a... well, I am unsure if I should call it a continent or an island but between this massive continent and our home, there is a land as big as Land of Fire, Earth, and Wind put together. It is quite close to the massive continent and in comparison to it, it's but an island, to be honest." Konan explained, knowing Rei didn't pay the other continents much attention so she was trying to give him all the necessary information in a small compressed bundle.

"It felt as if I entered one of the remote underdeveloped parts of Elemental Nations with a different culture and sense of fashion, to be honest." She chuckled, "My clone instantly stood out."

'So... medieval setting, huh?' Rei outwardly hummed in acknowledgment. 'Kinda expected. If they were technologically developed enough to build planes, they would discover Elemental Nations long ago.'

"The only mention of something out of the ordinary I managed to get was just rumors about silver-eyed witches and man-eating monsters. Honestly... you wouldn't believe how superstitious the people there are." Konan huffed. "Still, my clone didn't find any of the two but the villagers seemed to have a way to contact these witches so they are most likely real."

Rei was shocked when he heard her. 'Silver-eyed witches? Claymore? But... if that's true then the bigger continent to the west might be the home of the two races that are warring among themselves. The human land was supposed to be just some experimental ground or something if I remember correctly.' Rei's thoughts then skipped towards the... human-eating monsters. It was certainly possible that their Yoki was just tainted chakra. One just had to look at Orochimaru's handicrafts to see that it was definitely possible to create monsters via science.

Not noticing Rei's pondering mood, Konan continued with her report, inwardly enjoying his absentminded gentle caressing of her hair. "To the south, the continent closest to us is quite technologically developed but the people don't seem to have any independent supernatural abilities. They instead focus on tools. My clones recorded a technology similar to the Chakra Armor powered by an unknown energy source."

"That could be dangerous... If they are able to outfit an army with it and cross the ocean." Rei remarked. "Any information about how good this armor is?"

"Normal soldiers wearing it are around low chunin level threats if the guys that tried to apprehend my clone were any indication." Konan's cheeks briefly reddened as she averted her gaze, "That infiltration didn't go well. My clone might or might not have decimated a military camp. In my defense, they were rude when I wanted to just ask a few questions."

Rei snorted. It was praise-worthy that they discovered Konan sneaking around. Most likely some of their technology isn't so shabby. Still, the most important question was... "Do they have the means to cross the ocean?"

"No and yes." Konan calmed down and continued, "Yes, they have sufficient technology that with some..." She briefly paused before chuckling, "oh, who am I kidding, with a shitload of luck they MIGHT be able to get through all the monsters lurking in the waters between the continents. Will they waste the resources to do so? Nope. That's not gonna happen anytime soon."

"Oh? Are you sure?" Rei asked, remembering there was a Naruto movie about some invaders. Then again, genin Team 7 managed to subdue them all so...

"The countries on that continent have problems of their own and the existence of Elemental Nations is basically just a legend. Not many believe there is a different continent beyond the sea."

"Ah. Countries won't dispatch an army without proof. That's good." Rei said.

"Yeah, the strongest nation on that continent is currently in a sort of civil war anyway and the surrounding countries are just waiting like hungry dogs to pounce once it's weakened enough. My clones heard they use something called Teigu in that country but there is no confirmation since they haven't infiltrated it yet."

Rei furrowed his eyebrows, 'Teigu? Really? ... I guess the Danger Beasts might be likened to Chakra Beasts and the Teigu could possibly be something like Samehada but... Okay. Whatever. I don't care.' He released a suffering sigh. 'It could have been worse. It could have been a cultivation world or something. I think I should be grateful for these small mercies.'

"Just keep up with your information gathering and try to get into the mainland of the western continent and reach the eastern continent with your clones. No hurry. Unless they are planning to invade us, there is no need to intervene in their affairs. The best would be if they had no idea about the existence of Elemental Nation altogether.. We don't really have the time for other continents since Kumo and Iwa are getting restless because of the Alliance talks between Konoha, Kiri, and Suna."

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Chapter 308 - Ch308. The Woes Of Genin-hood

Naruto was annoyed.

He never really wanted to become a shinobi but he knew he had no choice in the matter since his daddy dearest decided to add some fox stuffing into him.

But inwardly seething at being forced to become a shinobi and outwardly showing his displeasure were two very different things. He might have been young but he was not stupid. If he was not being given an option anyway, he might as well go with the flow and milk it for all it was worth. Hence, his foolhardy and prankster image was created to cover his real skill and personality.

Only when Anko started to take care of him did his silent discontent at his situation improve. For the first time in his life, Naruto gained a proper reason to be a ninja. He wanted to prove himself to Anko. To become stronger. To prove that her training him, giving him the time of her day was worth it. And... to be able to protect her.

Academy was a tedious matter for Naruto. Even the improved curriculum wasn't challenging enough considering he was being chased by Anko's massive serpents hellbent on eating him alive through the Training Ground 44 every afternoon. And according to Anko, that was a warm-up before the real training began...

There really was nothing of interest in the Academy for Naruto so he used the time to perfect his cheerful and foolish facade of a prankster. After all, there was no sense in wasting his time even more than he was already forced to.

When he finally graduated from the Academy, Naruto cheered and celebrated... he even wanted to paint the Hokage monument from the sheer joy of leaving his dull repetitive lifestyle and only the fear of livid Tsunade stopped him short of buying paint cans.

Now... imagine Naruto's surprise when after two weeks of vacation due to medical reasons... damn that Kakashi... his team finally received their first mission.

Naruto wasn't an impressionable dumb kid with grand unreachable dreams and determination to reach them that could only be acquired through long-term brainwashing and mental conditioning. He knew there would be no saving princesses or protecting the Daimyo for him and his team anytime soon.

But... weeding the garden of some old bitch who glared at him the entire time?

Could you blame him that with every two weeds he pulled out he also 'mistakenly' pulled out a herb? Payment reduction or not, it was totally worth it.

Fortunately, Anko taught him which herbs were the really precious ones so, by the time their mission was done, the old woman was pale with silent pent-up rage at his 'clumsiness' while Anko tried to hide her smile behind her left hand as her right one was firmly grasping Kakashi's shoulder, preventing him from intervening.

Not that the lazy ass had any intention of doing anything after Anko stopped him in his tracks the first time he tried to step forward and reprimand Naruto. Anko most likely just liked how the porn-lover shuddered with her hand that could at any time crush his bones to mush on his shoulder.

But even with his incredible patience, somewhere between the sixteenth time his team was forced to walk Inuzuka's dogs and the thirteenth time they had to repair a damn fence, Naruto had had enough. Could anyone blame him for using a bear trap on poor little Tora?

Naruto's disappointment was immense when the stupid cat survived...

As a last-ditch effort, he started acting like a whiny brat, exactly as his facade dictated, and demanded a C-rank mission. Naruto had no idea how well he sold his act... probably not so well considering it was Shikaku Nara who lifted his eyebrow at him in amusement before he silently turned towards Kakashi with a question written in his eyes.

When Kakashi nervously shuffled while pretending to be extremely interested in the current chapter of his porn, Shikaku took it as agreement, much to the betrayed glance the white-haired jonin threw him after the Hokage announced they were getting their first C-rank mission.

Needless to say, Naruto was elated! He knew the very first C-rank is customary bandit extermination to make the genins used to killing as quickly and safely as possible. After all, if one doesn't have the mental fortitude to kill, there is no reason to continue with the ninja career.

Naruto doubted there would be a person with such a problem in his team. The months of D-rank missions made sure to heighten their frustration enough that they needed a special kind of destressing activity. Somebody was gonna die and the only question was who.

And then Team Seven was given the mission with the least possibility of getting into a fight. A protection detail over a dumb unimportant drunk who liked to piss Naruto off by cracking jokes about his height.

Just... great.

The question of who Naruto will slaughter at the end of the mission was slowly becoming apparent...

...

Anko walked behind their client with hands behind her head and a deceptively cheerful gait in her steps while her eyes subtly hovered over Naruto. She was aware how... twitchy, he was in the past month.

It was just natural. During his training, she did not only hone his skills but also his instincts. He probably didn't even realize it but his frustration from doing chores somewhat lessened the hold on the stabbiness Anko instilled in him.

That was fine. The kid just had to learn how to control himself and that required nothing but experience. Usually, a good beating got rid of all of the brat's frustration but if he wanted to get better emotional control, he needed practical experience so, during the past month, Anko didn't spar with him, letting his frustration slowly build up.

She was aware Naruto most likely expected bandit extermination as their first C-rank. After all, it was her who told him about that tradition. The new improved curriculum in the Academy contained one lesson in the last week before graduation. The kids were taken into Konoha's prison and then they had to kill a prisoner. The bandit extermination was more of a test if they can replicate the feat in action and during the threat on their own life.

But Anko didn't think her team needed such a test. Now when she nearly killed them on a weekly basis during her training sessions. As such, she took this protection detail. It was cute, seeing Naruto act like a total brat and demand a C-rank. He had no idea Anko had already picked a C-rank for them and they would get it today no matter what.

Anko's eyes moved towards their client and her lips slightly twitched. 'I wonder what he is hiding.' She narrowed her eyes. The man was too nervous for her liking.

The fact that Tsunade told her to send a message if anything went wrong with the mission as if she already expected problems didn't instill much confidence in Anko either. Then again, Anko was also happy that Tsunade trusted her enough to still send her on the mission despite having a hunch it would go horribly wrong.

She might be just a chunin on the official records but Anko was S-class skill-wise. If even she was unable to finish the mission, then sending even a team of jonin would be pointless.

Anko suddenly stiffened a bit as her snakes warned her of possible hostiles. She quickly relaxed and continued with her carefree pace, not giving any hint that she was wary. Her eyes briefly glanced in Kakashi's direction, showing him a wide cocky grin when she realized he noticed her brief stiffening.

The white-haired jonin just shrugged in apathy before he returned to his smut but now there was a concealed edge behind his movements.

Anko looked at her three students who poutingly walked in front of their client, still clueless about the approaching threat. She inwardly chuckled.

All the pieces were in their place.

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Chapter 309 - Ch309. Ambush 1

As the group walked through the path surrounded by trees, Anko suddenly looked upward, inwardly cursing while her hands whirled into weaving seals.

"Kuchiyose!" She exclaimed as smoke started filling the surroundings. Not a second later, a serpentine shadow rapidly slithered towards the bridge builder Tazuna, coiling around the man who was about to piss himself, not comprehending the situation.

Anko's summon barely managed to cover the man as an explosive lightning bolt fell from the clear sky, diving right into the smoke directly onto where the client was supposed to be.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata jumped around in fright when the booming sounds started resounding through the area while more bolts started raining down, all aiming to end their client. Their brains were trying to desperately process what just happened, never before experiencing a sneak attack aimed not at them, but at their client. Frankly, neither of the genins thought such a thing would happen so this proved to be a very good life lesson for them.

Kakashi released a relieved sigh, his tensed muscles relaxing while the crackling electricity around his right hand started to diminish. The only reason why he didn't jump forward in an attempt to redirect the lightning bolt the second he felt the surge of chakra above them was that Anko reacted first. He was a bit thankful for that when he saw more and more lightning bolts being conjured. He could take on one or two no problem but more than that would be difficult even for his Chidori.

"Thank you, Kamine." Anko said in relief after the lightning stopped raining. She had to admit, this sudden attack almost succeeded. Whoever was responsible clearly had enough brains to realize that killing the civilian was the best option.

Fortunately, Kamine was a snake summon resistant to lightning. No matter how many bolts fell from the sky onto her body, she wouldn't even feel it. The second Anko felt the surge of lightning chakra, she knew exactly what summon to use.

Kamine, who was towering over the group of ninjas while coiling around the civilian, moved her head to give Anko an acknowledging nod, "Isss' fineee, Anko-chan." A quiet masculine hiss replied to Anko's thanks.

"Please cover for the client while we deal with the annoyances." Anko requested while standing up from her crouch. She half-expected the attacker to retreat and try again later... at least, that's what she would have done, but she was clearly mistaken if the five figures that jumped in front of them from the treetops were any indication.

Kamine nodded in agreement, warily observing the five ninjas that blocked the path.

"Raiga Kurosuki, Aoi Rokusho, and three Rain genin." Kakashi boredly spoke, "How un-youthful," Kakashi tried to be funny but his eye-smile became a bit forced as he said those words, "of you to try and ambush us."

Aoi ignored Kakashi's remark and turned towards Raiga, "Are you sure you can deal with the Copycat?"

He survived so far only because of his caution and fighting one of the most infamous ninjas of Konoha head-on wasn't very clever in his books. That said, Raiga was also equally infamous and as a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Aoi decided to trust him to take Kakashi on. Not that he wouldn't bolt away the second he finds Raiga struggling.

"Who do you think you are talking to, twerp? I will prepare a good funeral for him!" Raiga stonily glanced at Aoi, causing him to shiver and reluctantly avert his eyes.

"In that case, I will take the Snake Bitch and the genins can fight it out among themselves." He said in a completely dismissive way that had his students nervously shuffle behind him.

At that moment, Anko's lips stretched into a grin when she heard how much he was underestimating her, 'I guess it is only natural. The last time any information about me got out was years ago when I was still a chunin.' She inwardly snickered, preparing to give Aoi a proper beatdown.

Kakashi threw his genins a worried glance but when they saw them either excited or determined he only silently sighed and jumped to the side, trying to distance his fight with Raiga from the genins. Anko did the same, just in a different manner. She leisurely walked a bit further from the road into the forest, making sure that Aoi unhurriedly followed her while the kiddies were left alone to play with each other.

...

"So... you are the bastard who stole the Raijin no Ken that belonged to the Senju clan, huh?" Anko offhandedly asked with a skip in her step, looking around the area and subtly checking for traps while she also observed Aoi like a hawk with the corner of her eyes.

"Yes, I acquired the Raijin no Ken before defecting Konoha." He said it with obvious smugness as if it was an incredible accomplishment.

"And Konoha basically stole it from the Senju clan after Tsunade decided to leave the village." Anko nodded before flashing Aoi an innocent grin, "Stealing is bad, you know?"

Aoi blinked in disbelief, furrowing his brows as if trying to reassure himself he heard right. "We are ninjas, you know?" He dryly replied.

"I guess that would make it all better." Anko chuckled. "Don't worry, I will steal the sword from you after I beat you to death."

Aoi just rolled his eyes and let his chakra course through the handle of Raijin no Ken, creating a lightning edge. "Chunins shouldn't be so overconfident. I am actually surprised you are still loyal to Konoha with how they treated you. Why not defect to Rain?" He tried.

Anko sighed and shook her head before pulling out a kunai and coursing her chakra through it, shocking Aoi as the kunai gained a lightning coating. This was a jonin level skill and suddenly, Aoi wasn't as confident as before.

"Tell you what..." Anko started, "Since you are gonna be dead in a moment anyway, there is no harm in being honest." She shrugged, "I am not loyal to Konoha." These words would definitely earn Anko a punishment if she said it out loud in the hearing range of a Konoha ninja. Even Aoi was flabbergasted that Anko actually had the balls to admit it so openly. "I am loyal to the Senju Clan and you, my dear soon-to-be-miserable idiot, did something that pissed Lady Tsunade off."

Anko now understood why Tsunade told her to be cautious and send a message if anything out of ordinary happened. Seeing a guy who stole the Raijin no Ken in front of her... Anko got the message loud and clear.

"Enough talking. I will show you the might of the Second Hokage wielded by me!" Aoi shouted and dashed at Anko while she watched him approach with a deadpan expression, wondering if the guy was really so arrogant as to think he was on par with Tobirama just because he stole his shiny sword. The same sword Tobirama seldom used...

Wordlessly swinging her kunai upward while bracing herself for the impact, Anko parried Aoi's blow and locked her kunai with his sword, lightning crackling against lightning as her bored eyes met Aoi's shocked gaze. The Raijin no Ken was supposed to be able to cut through anything!

"I have unlimited access to the Senju Library. Did you really think I wouldn't know how to block the Second's sword? Especially since the sword itself is not really a weapon but a training tool for lightning shape manipulation?" Anko asked in an amused drawl.

Honestly, morons these days... using training tools as if they were weapons.

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Chapter 310 - Ch310. Ambush 2

Raijin no Ken became famous during the First Ninja War when Tobirama used his incredible Water ninjutsu to soak an entire battalion of ninjas before he discharged electricity from the Raijin no Ken, frying them alive. Tobirama took a shine to the device and used it a lot before his death, making it famous.

Frankly, Tobirama, while good at kenjutsu, didn't use swords much. He was mostly a ninjutsu expert. Raijin no Ken had indeed the reputation of being able to cut through anything but that was mostly because Tobirama was good at lightning shape manipulation and the seals that made up the internal structure of the device so the lighting edge he created through the 'training tool' that later became known as Raijin no Ken was simply strong enough to rival the strength of Raikage's Lightning Armor.

In the hands of Second Hokage, this training tool became an unstoppable slaughter machine. In Aoi's hand though...

Anko inwardly sighed as she parried with her kunai yet another strike from Aoi who was wildly swinging the Raijin no Ken at her. It was all about vibration frequency when it came to the Lightning Chakra and she simply made the lightning coating on her kunai vibrate in frequencies that repelled the pre-set frequency of the Raijin no Ken.

She didn't get the upper hand because she was a better lightning nature user. On the contrary, Anko's main affinity was the fire. She didn't train lightning much, only learning some useful tidbits about the element like the lightning coating. But she didn't need to be a good lightning user when she simply knew how to perfectly counter the sword through its biggest weakness.

Aoi was growing more reckless by the second. The more his strikes were parried, blocked, or redirected, the more his stomach sunk into despair that was slowly gnawing at him. He was one of those people who chose their battles well and didn't engage if they thought they would lose. That was the whole reason why he made Jonin despite there being many chunin stronger than him.

Even his defection was a well-calculated plan. The benefits and prestige he received as a Jonin in Rain Village, a smaller village with fewer jonins, were much better than what he received in Konoha where jonins, while rare, were not all that hard to find. Aoi did his research well before defecting and was proud of his ability to snatch the Raijin no Ken.

With the sword in hand, he cut through most of his enemies or those pricks who opposed him in the Rain village. Before the might of this mythical sword, nobody stood a chance. Then...

'Why?' Aoi tried a downward slash, only for Anko to catch it with the edge of her kunai and gently lead it to the side, redirecting the strike away from her body.

'Why!' Aoi desperately swung the sword in an arc from right to the left, aiming at Anko's hip but the woman just swiftly and fiercely swung her kunai at his sword. The weapons met for a second before they were pushed away and Aoi barely managed to refrain from screaming as his arm was almost yanked from his shoulder due to the sheer force of that parry.

Unknown to Aoi, even Anko felt her shoulder aching from that one. The Raijin no Ken was still a danger to her if she let it land a hit on her body and a kunai was not exactly the best weapon for blocking a sword. She mostly used the repulsive vibrating of their respective lightning element and that, unfortunately, meant that if she hit the two weapons on each other at just the right angle, it would fling them back with a force comparable to Gai's fully serious punch with three gates opened.

It was definitely NOT a pleasant feeling.

Why!?' Aoi mentally cried again as his shoulder screamed in pain. He didn't let himself stop attacking Anko though. He swung and swung and swung... He knew he finally met his match and there was no running away from this one.

He tried to strike at her left hip, only to redirect the trajectory of his sword into a stab mid-flight, trying to use the fact his opponent was using a smaller weapon. Anko had to admit that this tactic would have worked against most chunins too. Sadly for Aoi, Anko was definitely far above chunin-level. She used her considerable reflexes to spot the feint in time and then her arm blurred. The next thing Aoi knew was that his sword stopped. Only then his brain registered that the tip of the Raijin no Ken was trying to futilely push through the side of the kunai Anko leisurely held in her hand. Seeing that, Aoi's expression turned ugly.

"Why isn't Raijin no Ken cutting through your kunai!?" Unable to hold it in, Aoi shouted at Anko with bloodshot eyes, trying to put more power behind his thrust but he felt as if there was an impassable wall between the kunai and the tip of his sword no matter how much strength he exerted.

Anko's brown eyes brightened with amusement. The lightning chakra on the side of her kunai vibrated at a frequency that created a strong repulsive field. Instead of one massively strong push, it was more of a constant effect not strong enough to fling the Raijin no Ken back but there was no way the lightning edge was going through it. The two blades didn't even really touch. The reclusive forces behind them were simply far too much for either Aoi or Anko to surpass them with their physical strength.

'Who would have known I would use science during my fights.' Anko mentally chuckled. She remembered how vehemently she resisted learning about these things when she was under Orochimaru, always saying she didn't need to learn this useless crap. Orochimaru let her be as long as she got better with her poisons, Jutsu, and kept up her physical training to a degree she could still be called a prodigy. Tsunade though...

Anko shuddered. There was no negotiating with that woman and Anko had to relent and learn all this scientific mumbo-jumbo.

'And what a difference did it make...' Her perpetual grin turned a bit sheepish as Aoi jumped back, finally giving up on penetrating the kunai.

"Is that all? My genins put up more of a fight than you." Anko taunted, inwardly feeling pity for the man because she didn't even need to lie in order to get a good taunt. She was basically toying with Aoi, using even less effort than what Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata made her exert. It was just... sad.

"Shut up!" Aoi he bellowed, his free hand reaching for the umbrella on his back before he threw it into the air. "Senbon Rain!"

Anko stared at the literal rain of Senbon that was approaching her and tiredly sighed. There was no chakra in the senbons, no augmentation, no extraordinary power behind them... "Just normal senbons? Are you kidding me?" Anko wryly muttered, lifting her right foot a bit and letting chakra course through it.

Aoi watched in growing hope as his attack was about to reach the Konoha kunoichi while she stood rooted in her place. He finally got her!

His hopes were dashed a second later when Anko stomped her right foot onto the ground, sending a booming sound through the clearing alongside a shockwave that repelled all the senbons and flung Aoi back, straight into a tree with a resounding crack, snapping his spine and making him scream bloody murder from the pain coursing through his body.

Anko observed her handiwork with a dull gaze, her cheek twitching in dissatisfaction. "Is this why Tsunade focused on healing? This was... anticlimactic." She mumbled, a bit frustrated that the fight ended so easily. One chakra-enhanced stomp? That was it? The guy was supposed to be a freaking Jonin! She expected him to dodge!

Releasing a long sigh, Anko walked close to the screaming Aoi, noticing that not only was his spine broken, he also had a few new holes in his body. The strength of her shockwave was enough to make the senbons that hit him go right through him. The man was just lucky none hit anything vital.

Crouching down, Anko leisurely gathered the Raijin no Ken that lied next to him before pushing her lightning chakra into it. The sword pulsed before a strong current of lightning was generated, making an edge far better than what Aoi was capable of. If Rei saw it, he would be reminded of a miniature chainsaw made of lightning condensed into a lean blade.

Anko's eyes met Aoi's frightened gaze, making him silent in fright as he realized what would follow. After a tense moment, Anko decided she gave the guy enough time to make a peace with his demise and swung the Raijin no Ken, causing Aoi's head to separate from his body.

Looking in apathy at the blood gushing from the neck, dirtying the ground, Anko couldn't help but lament her choice of opponent. "I hope the kiddies and Kakashi had more fun than me..."

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Chapter 311 - Ch311. Genin Vs Genin: Hinata

Author Note:

For those that didn't yet notice, I posted a new story...

Well, don't expect anything extraordinary :D, and do read the synopsis as it explains some things so you won't be disappointed later on.

Its name is Overlord: Rei Shiba.

Have a nice day.

--

Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata stood in the clearing, and in front of them were cautiously standing three Rain genins, eyeing them warily. Both groups knew they would fight, possibly to the death, but either was reluctant to begin the battle.

The first Rain genin was a fifteen years old boy with semi-long brown hair and a mousy look. There was nothing intimidating on this one. In fact, he looked meek and withdrawn, wearing a raincoat with long sleeves that covered his hands.

Sasuke's eyes flashed with interest... only he knew why... as he slightly walked to the left, gesturing with his head to the genin to follow him.

The genin narrowed his eyes, briefly breaking his meek and insecure expression, before glancing at his two teammates and deciding to follow the duck-butt-haired boy. Getting a bit of distance from his teammates would have been for the best anyway. His fighting style was dangerous for friendlies, after all.

The second person from the Rain genin team was a short black-haired boy who threw a glare at the last member, a purple-haired kunoichi who had her hair in an onion-style bun.

"Ajisai, I am going to take on the shorty. Don't mess up and lose against the Hyuuga kid. I am sure even you can beat her. She looks like even a small burst of wind could topple her." He scoffed before sneering at Naruto and walking to the right side of the clearing.

"Whatever... you jealous prick." Ajisai muttered, inwardly happy this team was only temporary.

"What was that!?" The short genin turned around and leveled a heated glare at her.

"She called you a prick, you short prick." Naruto barked out with a laugh, irritated for the idiot poking fun at his height's expense.

Needless to say, the two boys were ready to tear each other a new one.

The two girls that were left in the middle of the clearing looked at each other and resignedly smiled at the antics of their teammates.

"I doubt we could resolve this peacefully, right?" Hinata asked in a weak voice, fidgeting.

"Unfortunately, no. Aoi-sensei ordered us to be ruthless." Ajisai said bitterly. "I am sorry but unless you surrender your client, I will have to kill you."

Hinata blinked and tilted her head at that, "Kill me?" Her eyebrow rose. "Is that so?" A Byakugan flashed into existence and Hinata let out her bloodlust.

Ajisai knew something was wrong when the nervous wreck of a Hyuuga in front of her stilled. Then the girl did a sudden complete shift in personality and the shaking rabbit turned into a fierce cat as the veins around her eyes bulged and the air abruptly became suffocating. The Hyuuga girl dashed at Ajisai, making her eyes widen at the speed of her opponent.

Ajisai instantly realized she won't be able to fight against the girl in taijutsu. She pulled out a tag and aimed it at the quickly approaching Hinata...

Hinata narrowed her eyes, recognizing the tag contained a seal. Ajisai unsealed the contents of the storage seal and Hinata found herself staring at a wall of fast approaching deadly weapons, hurled at her at breakneck speeds.

Not panicking, Hinata instantly started Kaiten, deflecting the rain of projectiles all over the surroundings.

Ajisai cursed as her weapons just bounced from the spinning chakra shield with loud clanging noises. Whipping out a new seal she put it onto a kunai's handle before throwing it above Hinata, timing its unsealing just right.

Hinata noticed the new seal that was above her almost instantly as she stopped spinning. It was still a tad bit too late as a large boulder was unsealed and pushed downward, straight at her.

They were in a clearing so there was nothing Hinata could use for a Kawarimi and she didn't want to risk using Kaiten. There was a chance she wouldn't be able to stop the boulder with it and that would mean instant KO if not death.

Gritting her teeth, Hinata created two Shadow Clones next to her. The clones grabbed Hinata by her hands and with a jerk, they threw the original Hinata away.

Hinata rolled on the ground before she pushed herself back onto her feet just in time to see her clone being squashed by the boulder, smoke being pushed away from underneath it by the pressure of the descending weight. She got back the memory feedback of being crushed to the death and winced, both praising and cursing Naruto in her head for teaching her the technique. At least, most of her chakra returned back.

"You are quite good." Ajisai uttered with a slight unease on her face.

Hinata nodded, "You have an interesting fighting style too."

The two stared at each other for a second before Hinata whipped a kunai from her pouch and threw it at Ajisai. The kunai was intercepted mid-flight by a shuriken but Hinata used this small distraction to start running in the direction of a clockwise circle around Ajisai, throwing shurikens at her.

Ajisai didn't want to use her stored weapons or any of her storage seals until Hinata was a bit closer so she only threw her own weapons in retaliation, intercepting the shurikens as the two kunoichis entered a stalemate.

'I can't let her get close.' Ajisai thought disgruntledly. 'But my weapons are not infinite. Once my supplies are depleted, I am screwed. I gotta either end this fight before that happens or stall until Aoi-sensei returns.' That only made Ajisai even more dejected.

She didn't like the Aoi guy. He was appointed as their jonin for this mission but... she was barely fifteen and he subtly hit on her almost every hour. Basically, he was a prick and Ajisai was not sure about his capabilities. Waiting for him to rescue her from the stalemate was a gamble she was unwilling to do.

'All out, it is...' Ajisai inwardly sighed and her eyes gained a determined glint as she crouched and pushed herself forward, straight at Hinata.

Seeing it, Hinata jumped back instead of rushing to confront Ajisai in her niche, the close combat. Ajisai didn't like that the taijutsu-oriented kunoichi was trying to avoid getting closer. She instantly became wary but sped up a bit. She needed to get to the mid-range so her stored projectiles would have the best chance at hitting the Hyuuga.

As Ajisai was rushing forward, she was passing by the line of deflected kunai and shurikens, when her world suddenly shifted and she found herself falling down onto the ground.

'Wha-?' Her mind confusedly asked before she registered the piercing pain from her foot. Stifling a pain-filled scream, Ajisai looked down and noticed her Achilles tendon was slashed. Her eyes widened and her body involuntarily curled into a ball as her hands grabbed her leg when the second Hinata slowly emerged from the ground nearby, holding a bloodied kunai.

"Hyuugas eyes can see through things. Hiding Like a Mole Technique is incredibly good with them." The second Hinata gave her a small regretful smile.

The original Hinata approached, "I created two clones. You should have checked if both were dispelled by the boulder." She added as if lecturing the girl.

Ajisai gritted her teeth, her arms snapping into her pouch as she tried to pull out her seals in an attempt to fight until the bitter end when something grabbed her wrists, both her hands just an inch away from her pouch. Ajisai found her world spinning and quickly found herself flipped upside down before her cheek painfully crashed into the ground, making her involuntarily whimper.

The original Hinata and the second Hinata watched as a third Hinata sprang from under Ajisai, flipped her from her back to her front, and ended up pressing her knee to the girl's back while pulling her hands back, ready to snap them at any given moment.

"Shadow Clones can create other Shadow Clones." The original Hinata pointed out.

"H-Heh... I... never stood a chance, huh?" Ajisai mumbled into the ground, relaxing her body. "Are you going to kill me?" She bitterly asked, knowing there was no way out of the firm hold with her skillset. Especially since the second Hinata approached and took away her pouch with seals and weapons, throwing it away from them before searching her body for more hidden weapons.

"No. I will not kill you." Hinata crouched down, making sure she was not at a striking distance from Ajisai, "I think Anko-sensei would be interested in your budding fuinjutsu abilities so I am capturing you. What about becoming a Konoha kunoichi?" She innocently asked.

Ajisai couldn't believe her ears. This was just ridiculous. "Fuck you. Just kill me now. I won't betray my village." She spat out.

"We shall see..." Hinata eye-smiled, causing a chill to go down Ajisai's spine before the world became back as the second Hinata knocked her out.

"Poor girl. Brainwashed to valiantly die for the cause. In this situation, you should agree and secretly plot your eventual escape, you dolt. What do they teach their recruits in Rain..." Hinata exasperatedly shook her head, "Now then, I wonder how Naruto and Sasuke are faring?"

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Chapter 312 - Ch312. Genin Vs Genin: Sasuke

"M-My n-name is P-Pete P-Peti." The mousy-looking rain genin stuttered, covering the lower part of his face with his sleeve in a show of embarrassment.

Sasuke stared at him for a long while, causing him to nervously fidget. Inwardly satisfied with how cowed his opponent seemed, Sasuke decided to break off the staring contest.

"Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke." The duckbutt-haired genin introduced himself and the breeze suddenly gently ruffled his hair for an added cool effect as his eyes turned red and three tomeoes started spinning around his pupils.

The mousy-looking genin sweatdropped, clearly detecting the small surge of chakra that provided the breeze. Alas, since Anko showed him how effective seeming above your game was, Sasuke gained a flair for dramatics.

The two stilled as if waiting for a non-existent signal...

Abruptly, Sasuke's hand blurred and a kunai flew towards Pete who intercepted it with a shuriken, making the kunai spin upward. Pete was about to reach for another shuriken when he was surprised by a loud boom coming from above.

'E-explosive tag!?' He freaked out, inwardly extremely glad he intercepted it with a projectile rather than trying to block it only to be blown up.

Sasuke smirked to himself and used this brief distraction to start a rapid dash at his opponent. Knowing he couldn't possibly cover the whole distance between them fast enough to not give his opponent any time to prepare, he whipped a few shurikens and started throwing them.

Pete forcefully shook off his shock when he spotted the quickly-spinning dangerous pointy stars flying straight at him and started to deflect with his kunai. His situation wasn't great. His opponent was keeping him busy while shortening the distance between them. He couldn't really turn around and start running and trying to jump back was also not a great idea. Pete had no doubt the second his feet left the ground, multiple pointy projectiles would be thrown at him. He couldn't possibly block all of that. Not in mid-jump. The only thing he could do was try to stand his ground.

Sasuke saw the distress in his opponent's eyes, making him excited. The mousy-looking guy's body language oozed anxiety and from how lanky he was, it was obvious the boy was no great hand-to-hand combatant. Sasuke was going to break him like a twig!

'One should never panic in combat.' Sasuke mentally admonished his opponent. Contrary to his thoughts, he felt great. Finally, a real chance to prove himself in a fight!

Sasuke was almost upon Pete, pulling his arm back in preparation for a devastating jab... when Sasuke's Sharingan noticed a great change in his opponent. Pete's body stilled, all previous indications of his panic, nervosity, and uncertainty disappeared as the boy outstretched his arms with a triumphant smirk and an almost predatory look. Gone was the fidgety prey.

The world slowed down for Sasuke, his Sharingan showing him in great detail as the sleeves of Pete split, revealing two wooden canisters fastened to his wrists. The wooden canisters burst open and a spray of senbon was sent forward. At the next moment, Sasuke registered a few things.

Firstly, Pete baited him the entire time. Secondly, he was too close to dodge. Thirdly, the area of effect was too wide for him to get out of the way. Fourthly, he cursed himself for not learning any Doton technique that could create a wall.

Sasuke kicked the ground and pushed his body back, trying to widen the distance between himself and the wall of senbons flying at him. It didn't help much since the senbons were faster than him but at least he got enough time to throw his kunai at Pete, preventing him from doing anything else. Then, in one fluid motion, Sasuke whipped out a new kunai from his pouch and started to weave through the rain of senbon while stepping back while his hand blurred, blocking every senbon that would hit in a vital area with his kunai.

It took barely a few seconds until the attack was finished and when Sasuke deflected the last possible senbon, he quickly threw the kunai in his hand at Pete who was in the middle of doing hand-seals for a Jutsu, forcing him to abandon the thought and evade.

Most senbon sailed harmlessly around Sasuke and his Sharingan was a great help in helping him to evade the ones that flew in his direction. It was not enough, however. Sasuke wasn't fast enough and thirteen needles were stuck in his body. He was annoyed rather than bothered by it though. He evaded the fatal ones and deflected more than eighty percent of the remaining senbon he couldn't dodge.

Sasuke didn't have the time to pull the senbons out. His enemy would not give him such leisure. With a grunt, his hands sprang into weaving seals, and before Pete could press on with his attacks, a fireball rapidly flew in his direction.

Pete was surprised that a genin could do elemental Jutsu so proficiently and his brows creased. Genins were not supposed to know elemental techniques!

'Haa~, so this is what being from a major village means.' Pete wryly thought as he threw a kunai with an explosive tag right at the fireball.

This particular explosive tag had a very sensitive trigger so it went off the second it entered the fireball. This canceled the technique out in a bright flare of light before creating a smokescreen that obscured the unsuspecting Sasuke's vision. Worse yet, he had a Sharingan so he was even more susceptible to such an attack.

"Grah!" Sasuke tightly closed his eyes because of the suddenly intense light and tried to cover them with his hand. It was an instinctual reaction. Knowing that the fight was not yet finished and that his opponent had some dangerous tricks up his sleeve, he forced his eyes to open, the disorienting blurry world greeting him.

Pete rushed through the place where the fireball and explosive tag met, not minding the scalding temperature that licked his skin as he dashed at Sasuke through the smoke, throwing two kunai at Sasuke the second he spotted him.

Sasuke was still trying to refocus his vision to properly see but his senses were sharp enough to enable him to feel the shifts in the air and dodge the two kunais. That gave Pete the necessary time to close the distance between them, however, and Sasuke found himself barely blocking a punch aimed at his chin.

Pete spun into a kick, trying to land it on Sasuke's abdomen but Sasuke twisted his body to the side and instantly retaliated with an elbow nearing Pete's cheek. Pete pulled his head back, letting the elbow strike barely clip his nose while his right hand flipped a kunai out of his pouch and swung at Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes widened, seeing the approaching steel. He quickly reacted by kicking Pete into the left knee, making him falter which gave Sasuke enough time to step back and avoid being knifed.

Sweat rolled down Sasuke's brows and only the fact that both he and his opponent breathed hard relieved him. This was challenging and his lack of experience showed a great deal in this fight. His opponent was basically beating him with tricks and attacks that targeted his weaknesses! Sasuke realized this would require him to be a bit more... cunning.

Sasuke's eyes briefly locked with Pete's whose expression was grimacing from the kick to the knee. Not willing to give his opponent a chance to regain his balance, Sasuke sprang forward, punching Pete's chest. Unfortunately for Sasuke, Pete was expecting this and let the punch through. He could see that it was not strong enough to break bones and would only create some bruising. In exchange, Pete's hand snapped forward and counterattacked. The difference was, he was holding a kunai.

As Sasuke's punch landed, Pete's kunai buried deep into Sasuke's chest, causing Pete to show a tired smile.

Then... Pete spat blood.

Confusion obvious in his eyes, Pete looked down and his expression twisted in horror. The kunai he thought he held shimmered out of existence as he realized he had half of the kunai's blade sticking from his chest where Sasuke seemingly landed a punch.

Pete looked back at Sasuke...

"Sh-Shar-gan..." He gurgled with a horrified realization as his body gave out, making him fall forward onto his knees before it fell back with a thud.

Pete... was dead.

Sasuke chuckled before the pain from the blow to the chest and the senbons made him wince, "Sorry..." He sincerely apologized to the corpse. "I wanted to enjoy our dance more but you just had to use poisoned needles." He shook his head in genuine disappointment.

Anko might have made all of the Team Seven resistant to most poisons but that didn't mean they were fully immune. Sasuke was starting to feel aches and fatigue from all the poison in his veins. That was why he decided to end the battle so quickly.

Turning around, he was just in time to see a clone of Hinata knock out her opponent, causing relief to flood his body.

Sasuke walked towards his teammate while pulling out the pesky needles and discarding them on the ground. When he got near her, his cheeks gained a slightly pink dusting from shame as he realized that unlike him, she didn't have a scratch on herself.

"Hinata... er, could I get a detoxifying pill?" Sasuke asked with a sheepish expression. Sage, this was embarrassing!

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Chapter 313 - Ch313. Genin Vs Genin: Naruto

"I am going to show you a prick, you orange retard!" The short black-haired rain genin growled.

"Oh? Sorry, I am not interested in your prick." Naruto lightheartedly refused while vehemently waving his hand left and right. That only made the short rain genin angrier and his cheeks flushed. "Considering your height, it can't be very big anyway." Naruto pointed his finger at the rain genin and mocked as Anko taught him.

"You are shorter than me, bastard!" The rain genin screamed in indignation.

"Am not!" Naruto realized his insult could be used against him and flushed red too.

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not! You ugly!" Naruto used his creativity.

"Are t-, Ugly!? You are ugly! Your mother is ugly! Your sister is ugly!" The rain genin huffed, gasping for air from the heated exchange of words.

Hearing that, Naruto quieted down and the rain genin took it as his victory. Unknown to him, mentioning Naruto's mother might not have been the best idea.

"MY MOTHER WAS NOT UGLY, YOU SHORT SWINE! YOU ARE UGLY! YOUR MOTHER IS UGLY! YOUR SISTER IS UGLY!" Naruto suddenly erupted in an imitation of Iruka's Big-Head Jutsu, childishly screaming so loudly that the rain genin swayed on his feet, utterly deafened and dazed.

The rain genin blinked and shook his head, trying to stop the ringing in his ears while Naruto was angrily huffing, glaring at him.

The two boys glared at each other with the intensity of angry squirrels when the sounds of fighting reached them.

"Ha! I bet my teammates are already kicking the asses of yours!" The rain genin smugly boasted, crossing his arms under his chest.

Naruto naturally couldn't let that go without comment, "Hmph! Hinata-chan and Sasuke-teme are stronger! Hinata can spin so no attack can harm her and Sasuke-teme is a bastard!" He childishly defended his teammates, making even the rain genin deadpan on him.

"Hah! As much as I don't like them, mine are better. Ajisai is good with seals and... er," He tried to fish in his head for the name but drew blanks, "the other guy... is almost chunin." The rain genin snorted in distaste.

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Ar-"

"Shut up!" The rain genin rubbed his forehead that started painfully throbbing. Dealing with the hyperactive orange kid was starting to be too much for him. "We are supposed to fight." He reminded.

"Oh..." Naruto exclaimed as if he just remembered, "Do you want to fight?" He asked the rain genin and tilted his head.

The rain genins headache intensified when he heard Naruto's stupid question. In fact, he was fine with not fighting. His makeshift genin team for this mission was one of the strongest in the Rain village. When they won their fights, they would come here and the blondie would be screwed.

Pete was chunin in all but rank and Ajisai was also one of the most skilled genins of Rain. As for him... Well, nobody said he could not show the loudmouthed kid who was the boss.

"Bring it!" He smirked at Naruto, knowing the blonde would take that challenge head-on. "I, Genzo of Rain, will show you your place!"

Naruto's blue eyes gleamed with determination as he put his hands together in a cross-shaped hand seal, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He shouted, creating five copies of himself with a puff of smoke.

All six Naruto's instantly dashed at Genzo, who sneered and started weaving seals. "Ha! You think your clones can defeat me? Think again, kid! Water Release: Water Dragon Technique!"

Only now did Naruto realize they were quite close to a water source. No wonder Genzo was so self-assured. No genin was supposed to know and be able to perform a technique such as the Water Dragon.

'He must be quite the prodigy of his village...' Naruto idly thought, not slowing his dash even for a second despite a massive Water Dragon rising from the lake behind Genzo.

"I argued with you so much in order to get time for infusing my chakra into the water! You can only blame yourself for your stupidity!" Genzo yelled while mentally commanding the dragon to attack.

The Water dragon flew at Naruto and his clones, suddenly twisting to the left and with a big splash crashing into the first clone, flattening it into the ground from the sheer weight of the water.

The head of the water dragon was destroyed by it but a new head formed from the side of its body and flew straight at the next Naruto clone, easily sweeping it from existence as it ferociously slithered on the ground. The clone didn't manage to even yelp before it was destroyed and the Water Dragon continued on its clone-annihilation spree.

Two more clones were swept by the massive current of water shaped like a dragon, unable to keep their form due to the massive force behind the water. As the Water Dragon approached the last clone and original Naruto, its watery jaws opening wide about to devour them, the clone quickly grabbed the original and threw him at Genzo.

Naruto was mid-flight, whipping a kunai from his pouch and throwing it at his opponent, forcing him to side-step while distracting him from casting another Jutsu. He was almost close enough...

A water spear suddenly tore through Naruto's abdomen, creating a large hole through it and suspending him in the air a few feet in front of Genzo who was smugly smirking at Naruto.

"A true ninja always has a trick up his sleeve!" Genzo boasted, waiting for his gutted opponent to die.

Naruto shakily lifted his head, looking straight at Genzo with a forced smile as he winced, "J-Jok-es on y-you." He said, causing Genzo to furrow his eyebrows before his eyes widened as the skewered Naruto poofed in a burst of smoke.

Genzo heard another poof from his right side, the spot where Naruto's kunai previously landed, and before he could react, Naruto's form tightly hugged Genzo.

Genzo instantly reacted, about to tear Naruto's form away from him when his ears suddenly heard his death sentence.

"Exploding Shadow Clone."

The Naruto who was hugging him whispered and Genzo only managed to widen his eyes in fright before his body was ripped apart followed by a booming sound and flash of the explosion.

Naruto walked from behind a tree on the edge of the clearing, looking in a bit of dismay at Genzo's charred upper body while his other charred body parts were strewn on the ground not far away. He might have been a prodigy in the Rain Village but in the end, Genzo was a genin while Naruto was trained by Anko.

So what if he could use A-rank offensive Water Jutsu? He was a sitting duck while using it!

"A true ninja always has a trick up his sleeve, indeed." Naruto mumbled with a conflicted and unsatisfied look. "I was too cautious. I expected the guy in the clearing to be a Water Clone." He clicked his tongue and started to walk towards the corpse when he froze and a smile bloomed on his lips.

"So Hinata-chan and Sasuke-teme already won!" Naruto chuckled, "And the bastard is also injured! Oh, oh, oh! Time to lord it over him!"

Just like that, Naruto rushed towards his teammates like a man on a mission.

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Chapter 314 - Ch314. Kakashi Vs Raiga 1

Kakashi and Raiga stood opposite each other surrounded by trees. Raiga held the Kiba blades in a loose grip, ready for a battle at moment's notice while Kakashi was also slouching forward, seemingly not bothered that he would face one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist in mortal combat in a few seconds.

"So... how did it feel to run away from your village after the third war?" Kakashi lazily asked, his sole visible eye sluggishly observing every twitch of his future opponent. It was always a good thing to make your enemies angry before the battle even began and Kakashi was a master at pissing people off.

The only indication that Raiga was affected by the offhanded comment was a slight twitch of his finger, but Kakashi's sharp eye spotted it. His lips almost involuntarily twitched at that.

"I mean... to go so far as to steal a national treasure such as the Kiba blades... I must say I am grateful. Once I beat you, I will hang them on a wall at home as a trophy." Kakashi eye-smiled.

Raiga's body tensed... before it relaxed, disappointing Kakashi a great deal.

"Say what you want, Copycat." Raiga chuckled, "You were not there. You have no idea how frightening the new Mizukage is. She could destroy Konoha in seconds and you, tree-hugging twerps, would be utterly powerless." He divulged, making Kakashi's eyes dim a little.

"You are basically comparing her to the likes of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama. How ridiculous." Kakashi rebuked, not as nonchalant as before. There was not much information about the new Mizukage and her prowess. Everybody saw her fight against Yagura and the three-tailed bijuu but after that... nothing. Kakashi wouldn't say no to free information from one of the most important ex-Kiri ninjas even if he would take it with a grain of salt.

Raiga scoffed at Kakashi's disbelief, "Hah, you Konoha ninjas and your worship of past Hokages... You saw her prowess, yet, you still don't believe she could defeat your founders. As arrogant as ever, I see."

"Well, from where I stand, she seemed to struggle quite a bit against three-tails while both Hashirama and Madara could stop the beast with just a single Jutsu." Kakashi casually shrugged, drawling his words out as if he was explaining things to a particularly stupid child while giving Raiga a condescending look.

Not that he cared who was stronger. Both Madara and Hashirama were dead and if the current Mizukage really was their match... well, it was quite a shuddering thought.

Better not think about it.

"She was not even trying." Raiga shook his head, "All of us, the Seven Swordsmen, fought her at the end of the Third War-"

This, Kakashi knew. Gai was always shouting how grateful he was for the youthful actions that saved his father that day. Duy retired after that and now owns a bit unpopular dojo of youth in the village. Kakashi lamented if it wouldn't be better for him to meet his end that day. It would certainly make Konoha a bit more peaceful during the mornings.

"-and we had no chance. All seven of us together and we didn't manage to make her even winded. That was years ago. I can only imagine what kind of monster Ringo Ameyuri is now. These blades," Raiga's expression was wistful as he tightly gripped the Kiba blade in his right hand and put its blade in front of him as if he was showing it to Kakashi, "are the proof of her disregard for us. The disregard for the best the previous Kirigakura had to offer. Ringo Ameyuri's childhood dream was to be the wielder of Kiba blades. She was one of the very few orphans who actually managed to do it too. Yet, the fact she let me have them after she defeated me proves they no longer matter to her."

"Or it proves that you are a coward. Shouldn't being defeated mean you should stop using these swords?" Kakashi lightheartedly asked with an innocent look.

Raiga gave Kakashi a silent piercing look before sighing, "Whatever. I think it wouldn't matter to you since this will be your funeral."

And just like that, the atmosphere around them became heavy, filled with chakra and killing intent. Both men were still quite leisure in their posture but the look in their eyes was anything but. Kakashi slowly lifted his hand towards his forehead protector, about to lift it...

Raiga used that exact moment to dash forward, pouring his lightning chakra into his muscles and nervous system, becoming even faster for it. The Kiba blades were crossed in front of him, surging with electricity and ready to be used.

Kakashi silently cursed, pulling his headband up. It took just a second of distraction but in that single second, Raiga closed a significant distance between them and was almost upon Kakashi.

'No time for Chidori.' Kakashi's eyes flickered downward, 'Ground too wet, hardening it into a strong-enough wall would take too long.' His lips pursed as he decided on the course of action.

Snake Ram Monkey Boar Horse Tiger, "Fire Release: Great Fireball!"

A searing fireball flew right at Raiga who was dashing straight into it. He could already feel its burning hotness on his skin and had no intention to let it touch him. Unfortunately for Kakashi...

Raiga used the electricity coursing through his nervous system to make his body respond, jerkily jumping to the left while using his heightened perception to duck at just the right angle so the edge of the fireball would miss him by an inch. His dash didn't even slow down as he mostly harmlessly passed the heated ball of flames, rushing at its caster.

Kakashi didn't think Raiga would just dash right past his technique nor did he actually think a C-rank Fire Jutsu would be enough to deal with someone of Raiga's caliber. He still hoped it would buy him a bit more time but the lighting user didn't even slow down!

Mentally cursing, Kakashi jumped back, trying to make some distance between Raiga and him. It was simple math. A guy with two swords and skilled at their use versus a guy who while good, only had kunais at hand, equaled that the kunai guy would get cut. Close-quarter combat was therefore a big no-no in Kakashi's books.

Raiga saw Kakashi jumping back and suddenly grinned, pushing his right foot into the ground with enough force to make it create a small trench, causing his body to abruptly stop. The momentum of his dash was not yet lost though. Instead, it was redirected into his upper body that was already mid-throw.

Kakashi didn't have enough time to react. His eyes widened and the three tomoes of his Sharingan desperately spun, seeing one Kiba blade fly directly at him, surging with a lightning coating... Even with the slowed perception of his Sharingan, the blade seemed far too fast.

Raiga expectantly watched as his blade went straight through Kakashi's chest and two tree trunks behind him only to stop being buried handle-deep in the third one. His grin faltered, however, when the big backpack on his back 'whispered' something to him.

Clicking his tongue, Raiga looked to the left into the treetops and Kakashi could just sheepishly come out of hiding since Raiga already knew where he was.

That was when the 'corpse' puffed into smoke, revealing a skewered log.

"Right... Konoha ninja. You love Kawarimi." Raiga snorted.

"Don't diss the Log. It did help me get rid of one of your swords." Kakashi jovially spoke. Both him and Raiga knew he would not give the Kiri missing ninja the chance to retrieve his blade. Kakashi liked his odds at facing Raiga with one Kiba more than facing him with both.

Raiga just gave Kakashi an unamused look, not liking how much he was underestimated. A seal on his wrist flared to life and the Kiba blade he threw away was suddenly back in his hand, making Kakashi's non-Sharingan eye twitch.

"Did you really think I would throw such a precious weapon if I had no way of retrieving it? What do you take me for? A chunin?" Raiga rolled his eyes. "I said I am going to make this your funeral. I fully intend to uphold my promise, Copycat."

Kakashi's shoulders slumped and his mood darkened at that, 'Ah, shit... wasn't this supposed to be a C-rank mission? Honestly, if it is not Anko trying to kick my ass, it is some kind of rogue ninja. Where is my well-deserved vacation!?'

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Chapter 315 - Ch315. Kakashi Vs Raiga 2

Raiga lunged towards Kakashi who stood on a tree branch, swinging his sword in an arc, causing Kakashi to jump back in order to evade the blow that instantly cut through the thick branch, separating it from the rest of the tree.

Kakashi landed on the ground in a crouch, using the momentum to bounce into another jump, leaping backward and barely evading the falling Raiga's blades while whipping shurikens from his pouch and throwing them at Raiga.

There wasn't much distance between Raiga and Kakashi. The shurikens were a certain hit and Kakashi thought there wasn't much Raiga could do against them but to his surprise, Raiga's chakra surged around him, crackling with lightning and the shurikens were deflected, not even making Raiga slow down.

As Raiga landed, he slightly bent his knees, also using the momentum of his fall and redirecting it to propel himself forward towards Kakashi.

Seeing the scowling swordsman leaping at him, Kakashi redirected his jump mid-flight by kicking a nearby tree, making his body fly to the right, and putting a tree behind Raiga and himself.

Raiga understood that the Copy ninja would not willingly enter close combat so he didn't give chase. Instead, he started feeding his chakra into the Kiba blade in his right hand, making electricity crack around it before he swung it, sending forward a horizontal arc of concentrated lightning where his 'backpack' whispered to him Kakashi's waist was currently located. The lightning went through the tree trunks like a knife through butter, cutting down several trees in the forest and making them fall down.

Kakashi only barely managed to evade the lightning arc. Raiga simply conjured it far too fast and he had to admit, going behind a tree was a bad move. It obscured his Sharingan, hence, his only warning was the chirping noise and that didn't give him enough time. The shallow cut on his abdomen clearly proved that fact, and Kakashi was just glad he had the presence of mind to use Kawarimi before he was bisected like the tree trunks.

Kakashi wasn't given a moment of reprieve though. Raiga was again upon him, making him wonder how the ex-Kiri nin knew his position so fast. He didn't have a long time to ponder about that though and was forced to block the initial strike with his kunai.

Chakra metal met steel and Kakashi could feel his disadvantage as Raiga's lightning chakra entered his hand through the kunai, venturing further into his forearm, upper arm... until it permeated his whole body. Only his own lightning chakra he instantly started molding saved him from full-body paralysis. Kakashi's movements were still slowed down. Kiba blades amplified the lightning chakra of their user so despite lightning being Kakashi's primary and most practiced element, he found himself disadvantaged.

"Got you!" Raiga didn't tarry. The second he saw Kakashi's body stiffen due to his chakra, he grinned and swung his second Kiba blade at his neck. Kakashi's head separated from his body but Raiga's grin turned into a frown the second he saw droplets of water as his blade went through Kakashi's neck. He was from Kiri and knew what that meant. "Ranmaru!" Raiga shouted, demanding his partner to tell him where the real Kakashi was as the one in front of him burst into a splash of water, forcing him to jump back.

Kakashi wasn't about to waste this chance. Raiga was about to land when his body emerged from the ground right under him, Chidori already crackling around his right hand.

"Under you!" Came from Raiga's backpack, making him jerk his attention to the place where he was about to land.

Raiga's eyes widened, his mind telling him it would be impossible to fully evade that blow because he was in the air and falling straight at Kakashi. He jerkily twisted his body mid-air and met Kakashi's Chidori with his left Kiba blade. Electricity clashed against electricity, creating a bright blue flash of light while lightning bolts were thrown around because of the intense clash, devastating the surroundings.

Raiga didn't come out unscathed from this. His hand was numb and sported new burns. It didn't bother him much. He was used to lightning-induced burns but he still felt annoyed because this injury would somewhat hinder him. His entire sleeve was in a worse state than his forearm. It was littered with new holes where the lightning burned through the cloth.

"Heh, I guess we can call this a draw." Raiga smirked as he looked at the state of Copy-nin's right forearm and his shaking hand littered in burns.

"Pretty much." Kakashi eye-smiled through the pain. This gamble didn't pay off. Kakashi was made aware of why Kiba blades were so legendary. He burned more chakra than he was comfortable with for that Chidori and yet, the Kiba blades returned even more damage than he dished out while consuming a lot less chakra from Raiga.

'Lightning is out. As long as he has these swords, he can pretty much nullify any lightning attack that is under A-rank, and the ones that can deal damage to him would be mostly resisted and are too chakra-consuming.' Kakashi inwardly grimaced. Lightning was his best element and finding himself at such a disadvantage hurt his pride. 'Water is out too... As a Kiri ninja, he sparred against Water Users most. I don't think I can surprise-attack him with a Water Jutsu. He spotted my Water Clone before he was even done dispatching it.' Kakashi continued his analysis.

That left Kakashi only with Earth and Fire Jutsu since he was useless with Wind Release.

"Is that all you've got?" Raiga suddenly asked, steadily walking to the left, circling Kakashi and looking at him as if he measured his worth. "This is the extent of Sharingan no Kakashi's power? How... pathetic." He chuckled.

Kakashi didn't mind the small talk. Right now, he needed time to recover and formulate his next plan so he let Raiga talk his heart out.

"You know..." Raiga gave Kakashi a sympathetic look, "I was once in your position. Standing in front of Ringo Ameyuri, thinking I was a hot shit only to be brutally made aware of the cruel reality. Maybe this was how she felt after defeating me? This... disappointment?" He shook his head, "She let me survive and I trained. I trained and trained, hoping to one day defeat her. Then... the reality gave me a hard blow again when I saw her facing the three-tails and I understood. She let me live because there was no chance in hell I could ever match her." Raiga ruefully grinned for a moment before his expression went blank as he looked straight at Kakashi. "Unfortunately for you, I am quite aware you could one day match me if I let you live."

Kakashi's eyes suddenly widened as he felt the surge of lightning chakra coming from Raiga. Lightning cracked around him in a similar fashion to the Raikage's Lightning Armor, causing Kakashi to feel dread.

"Lightning Release: Full Body Activation!" Raiga exclaimed, his body coated in crackling arcs of electricity. The name made Kakashi somewhat relieved but his wariness didn't subside. The amount of Lightning Chakra wrapped around Raiga was monstrous.

The air between Raiga and Kakashi became still as they stared at each other before...

Raiga soundlessly disappeared.

The tomoes of Kakashi's Sharingan furiously spun, trying to get every bit of information they possibly could. It was only thanks to this Sharingan that Kakashi perceived Raiga approaching him, his Kiba blades about to skewer him through the chest. There was no way to dodge it. Raiga was too fast for Kakashi's body to react in time. He could see it but he couldn't dodge it.

The tomoes in Kakashi's Sharingan suddenly came to an abrupt stop as Kakashi's eye met Raiga's gaze, 'Genjutsu: Sharingan!'

Raiga's stab suddenly redirected to the left, going through Kakashi's hip rather than the middle of his chest. The wound was instantly burned shut due to the lightning coursing through the blades and Kakashi barely stifled his scream.

Raiga blinked and furrowed his eyebrows, noticing the situation. He twisted the Kiba blade, widening Kakashi's wound while cauterizing it before he brutally ripped the sword out of Kakashi's hip and jumped back. Both him and Kakashi were aware Raiga could have ended it then and there. He could have used his second Kiba blade to kill Kakashi quite easily since there was no way the Copy ninja could get away from that position.

Kakashi fell to his knees, his left hand holding his right hip as he gasped for air through the immense pain both from the burned hole in his hip and from the unhealthy amount of lightning chakra coursing through his system, trying to paralyze him as it delivered insane amounts of pain.

"Genjutsu... I have to admit, I never expected it would be able to affect me in this state." Raiga did break out of the genjutsu in one second and anything bigger than the slight perception alteration Kakashi used would be instantly noticed and broken even sooner, but between the casting of the genjutsu and the stab, there was no time to dispel it. Kakashi simply used Raiga's speed against him. "I have to commend you for that. Now... will you survive the second bl-"

Raiga suddenly stopped as Ranmaru in his lightning-proof backpack whispered something to him, causing his eyes to widen and his gaze to snap to the right, in the direction where Kakashi's team was supposed to be located.

"I see... my associates were defeated." Raiga muttered, "Are you sure, Ranmaru?"

Kakashi tried to focus his hearing but could only hear a muted, "Yes."

"Someone with chakra more potent than me, huh?" Raiga clicked his tongue. His reserves were still half-full but he thought Kakashi would be the strongest of the lot. "Fine..." He sighed and turned towards Kakashi. "Looks like it is your lucky day, Copy-nin.." He said almost sullenly before again soundlessly disappearing and Kakashi thanked the Sage when his Sharingan perceived Raiga speeding away right before he fainted.

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Chapter 316 - Ch316. Kakashi Awakens

Kakashi woke up, not opening his eyes or giving any visible sign he was awake as his first instinct cultivated by his ninja experiences dictated. He explored his surroundings with his senses, only relaxing when he found out there was no threat around.

Naruto, who was on Kakashi-watching duty, was almost dozing off when he noticed his jonin instructor slightly stirring, instantly pulling him from his half-asleep state as he energetically jumped towards Kakashi's bed and saw the man's eyes opening.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! YOU ARE AWAKE!" He happily exclaimed in his outdoor voice, making Kakashi involuntarily wince as his head throbbed in pain, and cursed his luck. If he wasn't fully awake before, he definitely was now. Alongside the entire house.

Na... r... to." Kakashi rasped, unable to pronounce Naruto's name because of how parched his throat was. Only now his head caught up and realized how shitty his body felt. Kakashi's lone visible eye slightly widened as the events before he fainted came back to him.

"AH! Don't worry! I will bring you water." Naruto's face brightened before he scrambled out of the room.

Kakashi could only helplessly watch his excitable student bounce out of the room with a deadpan gaze. Water would be nice but knowing what exactly happened to the rest of the team was the priority. He was responsible for them, dammit!

Fortunately for Kakashi, he wasn't alone in the room. Naruto's scream awoke Sasuke who was shooting the door with very irritated looks, judging by his eyes most likely imagining a hundred ways he could skin a certain loud annoyance. Sasuke just KNEW Naruto did that on purpose.

'The dobe most likely doesn't want to explain the situation...' He grumbled, feeling Kakashi's piercing gaze on him.

Sasuke let out a long-suffering sigh at his teammate's antics. "We won. Raiga ran away. The Rain team was wiped out except the girl. She is being held prisoner in Anko-sensei's room. We are at Tazuna's home." Sasuke described their situation in a droll voice, trying to keep it short and factual. When he got to the part of the rain girl, he noticed Kakashi slightly winced at the fact she was rooming with Anko. Somehow, Sasuke could sympathize.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi and saw the unasked question in his eye.

"Anko. She patched you up. I was also hurt." He said that in an almost sullen voice, "Watching her heal you was actually amazing. The burnt flesh rejuvenated at a visible rate and the gaping hole in your hip closed... I had no idea Anko-sensei was a medic ninja." Awe seeped through Sasuke's facade.

Kakashi grimaced. Of course, Sasuke had no clue. Despite being Tsunade's apprentice, nobody in his right mind would let Anko into the hospital with the aim to cure people. He had no idea how Anko attained her mastery in medical arts but it definitely was NOT in Konoha hospital. Which was strange, considering nobody could become a skilled medical ninja just by reading books. They needed experience and hands-on practice.

Kakashi couldn't know that Anko had this much-needed practice in the Village on the Other Side where she was a quite popular medic.

Something in the way Kakashi's eye cringed must have given him away as Sasuke mirthlessly chuckled, "Don't worry. I have watched the whole time she was healing you. She didn't slip any poison or otherwise experimented with your body."

The sad part was he couldn't assure himself of that. He indeed watched Kakashi's healing, mostly because he was afraid of what was awaiting him since his turn was next. But once Kakashi was done, Anko zoomed on him, and unfortunately, Kakashi was unconscious so it was just him and Anko in the room... a very dangerous situation in Sasuke's opinion. He was on the verge of shitting himself the entire time until she finished with his wounds, expecting an excruciating pain to start at any given moment, considering her personality.

It was this worry that made Sasuke faint halfway through his treatment, not that he would ever admit it wasn't due to fatigue, so anything Anko did to him after that... he wouldn't know.

"Oh~, you believe you would notice, genin?" Anko's cheerful voice suddenly resounded through the room, making Sasuke flinch and splutter. "You are still too overconfident in your Sharingan, Sasuke-chan!"

Hearing that, Sasuke decided to do the right thing. He threw her a stink eye, huffed, and lied back down into his bed, petulantly turning his back at Anko.

"Cute..." She rolled her eyes before striding towards Kakashi and putting her hand covered in a light green aura on his forehead. She smirked at the older Jonin, "Raiga got you good, Hatake." She patronizingly patted his forehead, not raising her palm high enough for the medical Jutsu to stop affecting him.

Kakashi groaned and wanted to do nothing more than to shake her hand from his forehead but his body finally started to feel better. In the end, he could only silently bear with the smugness oozing from Anko as she enjoyed treating him like a misbehaving child.

"H-He was S-rank." Kakashi croaked out after he finally regained his ability to talk, "Got a J-Jutsu similar t-to Rai...kage's Li-Lightning Armor." That sentence made his throat hurt again but he knew this might be a very important piece of information.

Anko's patronizing smirk fell, easing into a wry and understanding smile. She knew best how hard it was to face S-rank ninja in one versus one. Tsunade's training regime consisted of lot of battles between her and Anko, basically beating Anko into the half-dead pulp before healing her and repeating the process until Anko got better.

"Don't worry, I have already sent a report and request for reinforcements to Lady Tsunade." She informed Kakashi, trying to make him feel at ease.

Kakashi closed his eye, relaxing into bed. Getting reinforcements was good, there was no telling what Raiga would do, now that he knew Team Seven was capable of handling the Rain Team. Worse yet, what would Gato do...

Gato was incredibly wealthy. Hiring ninjas was no problem for him. He didn't do it because most of his criminal activities simply didn't require ninjas. Common thugs were enough. If he suddenly decided to splurge in order to get Tazuna's head, though, Team Seven would be in trouble. Raiga was a problem but if he was supported by some jonin level fighters...

"I should have discarded the mission the second I understood the client lied, shouldn't I?" Kakashi sighed, finally feeling good enough to speak without gasping for air afterward. He inwardly marveled at her medical prowess. Not that he would tell that to her anytime soon. It would just inflate the woman's ego and give him more ammunition to tease him.

"Meh, I opted for continuing too." Anko carelessly shrugged, "Nobody could have known there would be S-rank ninja in the opposition."

And that was the truth too. S-rank ninjas were extremely rare. Most ninjas have a goal to become Jonins, not even thinking of becoming an S-rank level threat simply because of how small a number of them existed in the world. Most ninjas never met someone classed as S-rank in their whole lives. Anko reckoned there were not more than sixty of them in the whole Elemental Nations.

"Ah," Anko abruptly stopped channeling her soothing chakra into Kakashi's body through his forehead, causing him a mild headache. He opened his eye, inquisitively looking at Anko and finding her giving him a sheepish and apologetic look, "Naruto is coming. I am in no mood to take on his exuberance this early in the morning. Sorry, Kakashi, it's time for you to act like a good team leader and sacrifice yourself for the team."

With that, Anko poofed into smoke, revealing she was just a shadow clone, the original no doubt sleeping.

'And here I thought she cared.' Kakashi's stomach sank as the door flew open, Naruto triumphantly bounced through them with an excited expression. Kakashi somehow knew this was his revenge for all the D-ranks.

"Kakashi-sensei! Here, water!" Naruto hurried towards Kakashi.

He was almost near the bed when he suddenly... tripped, splashing the water all over Kakashi's face. Naruto lowered his head, hiding his grin before he looked towards Kakashi, his face a perfect picture of sheepish regret.

Kakashi knew who to blame for his not-so-cute little orange genin's sadistic streak and taste in revenge. His mind again strayed to the woman who left him to his fate in his bleariest hour of need and his mood soured.

'That... bitch.'

Some very hard hours with Naruto were upon the poor Kakashi who couldn't even move.

--

Author Note (And wow! It might be longer than the actual chapter...):

Okay, guys, long one here so if you don't feel like wasting some of your time for the little ol' me, feel free to skip it.

This one is more of me stating my opinion on Bleach anime girls and then a 'questionnaire' because I am just that bored and interested in your opinion :D. Hahaha...

A few days ago, I wrote my opinion on DxD girls in a comment. I stated I don't really like them as female leads for my MCs because... well, I do think they are hot, after all, they were created with that in mind by the author, but I simply find them not all that appealing and lacking in likable personalities or interesting background. The exception to this is maybe:

Sona... because damn if her way to evade engagement is not intelligent enough to be actually hot. Devils from the older generation would not challenge her because they would become a laughing stock for their peers for centuries. Such a marriage would be forever given the stigma of mockery and in an aristocratic society, good reputation actually matters even among devils. There are just some things one should never do to bring dishonor to his house. And the younger generation has no way to win against her. She basically screwed with the entire Underworld in her own way.

Moving on... her always serious attitude just screams repressed desires and I can't help but ponder how wonderful it would have been if her sin was actually Lust and she was a closet pervert who is bottling up her desires and then an MC would come and... Hehe, boi.

And,

Serafall... - because I find her the most reasonable of the Devil Kings, and the background and meaning of her being the main diplomat of her utterly deviant race with many misfits who do whatever they want, consequences be damned, and how hard and exhausting her duties must be for her opens a lot of potential for plot development and opportunities for interaction with an MC. Her sis-con act opens the two-in-one-package route too which is... hmm, interesting, wouldn't you say?

But other than that, nope. I don't find other DxD girls all that interesting.

I like Naruto girls more. to be honest, I like quite a few of the females in Naruto as should be obvious from this story, so much so that I don't even know which one is actually my favorite as it changed on weekly basis. I just realized how ridiculous it was after responding to that comment. Kishimoto stated he was bad at making female characters but weirdly enough, his female characters are more appealing to me, have incredible potential for development, and have generally more depth to them than those females in DxD despite females being a big part of DxD, unlike Naruto.

Then one dude asked me for my opinion on Bleach female characters and I was stumped. I kinda don't like many Bleach female characters. Unohana, Yoruichi and, I do understand this will set some of you off but, suck it up, here it goes... gender-bent Ulquiorra.

Yeah, degenerate much, huh?

That's it.

Both Unohana and Yoruichi have that duality vibe with massive potential and interesting personalities.

Unohana... she is that killer healer who seems to not really understand romance or enjoyment of life unless it has to do with the killing. She is weary and only seems a good fight as her only source of fun. That simply makes me want to write an MC who could coddle and spoil her rotten, showing her that there is more to life and her desire for death is misplaced because she did not truly even attempt to live yet.

Yoruichi, on the other hand... I perceive her differently. She has that coy and teasing vibe but her background portrays a wholly different picture which makes her just as interesting. As an ex-Captain of the Second Division, Yoruichi is a ruthless killer with no shred of conscience. Logically, she could not be anything else. Not in that position. She was basically the leader of those who dealt with Soul Society's undesirables without asking any questions. That's very telling on what kind of person she was/is and her values. Her personality in the story makes her seem approachable, mischievous, and friendly but I find myself asking how much of that is real and how much is a mere facade. This gives her a unique flavor as a character in my opinion. She has tremendous potential for development as a character. She has depth.

Also, her style of combat and the fact her Zanpakuto was never showcased in the story makes her character and her development potential even more open to speculations which increases her 'interest value' in my eyes.

As for gender-bent Ulquiorra... do you even need to ask? Ulquiorra is cool and loyal to the death. Plus I like his Segunda Etapa form. That's all.

Other Bleach girls lack these aspects. Bleach was not focused on expanding females into interesting characters. Not really. It was too hung up on fighting one strong opponent after the other. The women there are a bit... underdeveloped as far as their background and personalities go.

To name a few...

Rukia... yeah, she is interesting but for me, she is also too pushy and violent. I kinda like her looks and her Bankai is just massive WOW. She is basically the opposite of Yamamoto and the potential of her powers is tremendous. But as a character, I just can't see myself picking her as a love interest for my characters. Her depiction in Bleach kinda screwed her up in that regard.

Rangiku... I don't like her personality. I don't like the size of her melons. There should be a limit to the size of a female's rack and she is far past it. She is... meh. Her Zanpakuto, though, is basically a better version of Byakuya's so her potential is massive and I think her past 'interaction' with Aizen screwed her over a lot. By now, she should have Bankai if not for that. Her backstory with Aizen taking something from her to create Hogyoku could be expanded into a very interesting story on its own too. But... I simply don't like her. I don't even properly know why. I just don't.

Orihime... meh. The character with the most OP powers in the entire series, yet, she is a clumsy waste of air who is unable to hurt a fly. 'nuff said. Excluded by default.

And then there are Neliel and Harribel.

Neliel... I find her cute but oddly enough not as a love interest. She is hot but not in that way. I dunno if I am making any sense. It's confusing even to me but it is what it is.

I also don't like her released form. I mean... a centaur? Really? Not into Beastiality, sorry. If a character has less or more than two legs, two arms, and one head, it is not for me. Brrr...

Harribel... yeah. This girl is the hard one. I do like her. I could picture her as a love interest. But at the same time, she is also the one I am most unsure about. I do find myself drawn to her as in I would not mind having her as a love interest for my MC in a story but I would also not mind her not being one. I like Tiburon and how it could be developed. I like her personality, her undying loyalty until she is betrayed, and her willpower. I, however, still have some hesitation and reservations when it comes to her. That, in itself, is an answer enough so she is not included in my 'preference list'. Oh... and I don't like the baggage of her faction that naturally comes with her as a package.

Now, why would I waste my time doing this author note?

First of all, I want to start a new story and currently, I am in the stage of 'gathering facts, creating at least average plot that won't be just some wish fulfillment wank, deciding things like harem members and reasons for their addiction to the harem, their personalities, powers, future power development, future personality development etc, and creating a solid background for my main character, his powers, appearance and so on.

Obviously, I will start with this new story only after I finish this Naruto fanfiction so there is still a lot of time to really put effort into this preparation stage. (Not that you should expect something grand because of it. It will still be fanfiction so the quality is not guaranteed)

That said, since I want to do it properly, I decided to give it a bit more thought. (And you can only hope I won't get bored and decide it is not worth the trouble before I really start with it. Sucks to be you :D)

So... since you are here, meaning, you stuck to my story for the last 315 chapters and probably like something in it, I decided to involve you a bit. Naturally, your opinion will be most likely totally disregarded :D, yes, you read that correctly, no need to return to that sentence.

But I am nevertheless still interested in it.

So if you find so inclined... tell me your opinion on various female characters, your thoughts about their personality, your thoughts about their powers, and their probable development, anything you would like to say about them, really.

I might not even use it as I like doing things my way far too much but who knows? Maybe your opinion would influence my view on some things in some incomprehensible way. Maybe your input would make me more inclined to include certain characters in MC's harem, or maybe it will do the exact opposite. If you don't like certain characters, then you can comment on why too.

Now... I don't want anybody to accuse me of trying to steal ideas or something equally inane. If you don't want to share, then don't.

Well then, I will be reading all of it so go nuts.

Anyway, here is the list:

1. - No, the main and most important female lead I have already selected and won't be listing her here. That one is mine! Your opinion on her is irrelevant. You will just have to wait and see... I doubt you will guess who it is anyway. To be totally honest with you, you really have no chance of guessing it. No need to feel bad because of it though. Even I wouldn't be able to guess it if I didn't already know. And no, I won't be revealing her identity. (Damn, sometimes being an author is actually fun since I can screw with you like this!)

2. - Unohana Retsu

3. - Yoruichi Shihoin

4. - Gender-bent Ulquiorra (Pfft, just for the kicks and giggles. I am REALLY interested in your opinion on this one. Will I find more degene-, ahem, men of the culture here, I wonder...)

5. - Rukia Kuchiki

6. - Tier Harribel

7. - Daphne Greengrass (She will be included in the story, period. Dunno if she will be a love interest though and I am kinda indecisive about it)

8. - Bellatrix Black/Lestrange

9. - Narcissa Black/Malfoy

10. - Luna Lovegood

11. - Hermione Granger

12. - Natasha Romanoff

13. - Rias Gremory (Yeah, nope. Not adding this spoiled princess as a love interest. You would have to put some really good and solid points to change my opinion on this matter. I added her to this list because I am interested in your opinion on her and to mix things up a bit)

14. - Sona Sitri

15. - Serafall Sitri/Leviathan

16. - Artoria Pendragon (I am very unsure about this one. On one hand, I do want to add her but... I just don't know. I have a plan that actually makes sense and could make her extremely overpowered, so much so, that even Sirzechs would shit his pants in front of her. That, however, also makes me hesitant. It would be pity nerfing her and my pride would not allow me to do so since I thought up such a bullshit plan with all the necessary background for it to work that actually totally makes sense but on the other hand, she would be far too powerful at the start of the story and I have some reservations about it)

17. - Scathath (Not adding her either. I love her character as it has similarities with Unohana Retsu but as of now, I don't plan on including her in my next story. Just want your input and see if it can influence me. Probably not, though.)

18. - Semiramis (Too queenly and prideful)

19. - gender-bent female Fate Grand Order Merlin the dick witch (okay, that honestly sounded... eww - Eww with a potential for trolling people though.)

20. Merlin (from Nanatsu no Taizai)

21. - Soifon(??? Meh.)

22. - Yasaka (Unlikely)

23. - Ancient One (Pfft. As if. Could have added Nicholas Fury too if that was the case)

24. - Wanda Maximoff (I actually forgot about her until I started writing this list)

25. Demon Maid Hildegarde (From Beelzebub anime - could make her like a Mephisto or Dormammu since she is a demon. She would need a contract to be able to access her full power and contracting MC would have made her power skyrocket beyond Demon King level for some bullshit reasons that would totally make sense... Well, it was just a stray idea of mine. I probably won't use it in my next story)

26. - I shoot blanks.

27. - Others. Here you can share your thoughts and write about any female that is not included in the list. Don't constrict yourself with just the franchises from which the girls on the list originate. You can write about Esdeath or Lady Death for all I care. It is however unlikely for me to really put any mind into adding them into my story. Still, you can freely write your opinion and I will read it.

As you probably already found out, for now, I plan for my next story to be a massive crossover between several universes mashed into one in at least a somewhat reasonable manner. (And yes, I am aware it will be hard to make it work and I will try to justify it in the story).

I won't say which worlds I will be using and which I won't. I gave some hints already and that's all you will get from me. I won't even confirm if these hints are actually truthful. It will be more interesting that way.

Anyway, I posted over 20 'choices' for female leads but do keep in mind I plan to make a harem (it's fanfiction so of course, it would be a harem, duh!) at most of seven girls (more like three to five but I am giving myself room for breathing here just in case). I can go over this self-imposed limit if the story will have more than a few hundred chapters but I want to keep it small for the most part and the MC's interaction with his harem meaningful at least to a degree.

I naturally don't intend to include every girl I posted in the list into MC's harem. That would have been ridiculous.

Well, that's all from me. Have a nice day and thank you for putting up with my long author note :).

(Yeah, it is definitely longer than the actual chapter)

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Chapter 317 - Ch317. Kakashi's Training Methods

In the morning, Team Seven gathered around the table in the kitchen while Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, busied herself with preparing food. Anko was mildly surprised. She sent a few Shadow Clones to survey the surroundings and saw how poor the people in the area were. She didn't expect to be served normal food in Tazuna's home. She briefly wondered where Tsunami got the ingredients.

Kakashi still looked a bit drained but that was expected. Healing a hole through his gut so fast must have taken a toll on his body but Anko would rather him suffer for the next day and be ready to fight afterward than give him prolonged and comfortable medical care.

"So... what are we gonna do?" Naruto asked, waiting for food.

The man was giving Naruto a subtle stink eye while the whiskered boy was grinning like a loon. 'Must have enacted his revenge for all the physical drills.' Anko thought with pride swelling in her chest.

Kakashi suddenly eye-smiled, unnerving his three young charges at the sudden flip of his mood. "Why... we are going to train, of course!"

Hearing that, Anko couldn't help but give Kakashi a deadpan look. She wasn't very satisfied with how Kakashi was leading the team. Teamwork drills and physical exercises were important but not THAT important.

Individual combat capability was what really mattered no matter whether Konoha focused on teamwork. Three weaklings working together would not be able to beat one strong ninja no matter how good their teamwork was. If Anko didn't train Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata during their free time, they would have been hopeless and useless right about now. Three months being a team and Kakashi didn't even try teaching them Tree Walking yet. Anko knew that Asuma, for example, went straight for Water Walking in the second week of his tutelage.

Sure, Kakashi was their jonin instructor, not their mother. It was expected of the genins that they will train by themselves but Kakashi should still have asked and tried to help in this regard. The man, however, was too used to teaching ANBU.

"Oh? You are finally going to stop being a dick and start doing your job?" Anko sweetly asked, making Kakashi slightly flinch. "Now? When their lives are already on the line?"

They had a deal when the Team training started. Kakashi didn't want Anko to interfere with his tutelage and she reluctantly obeyed. After all, she was just an assistant while he was the team leader. She could possibly beat him every time he decided he wouldn't let her have her way so she took the wait and see approach. And boy wasn't she impressed!

"That's harsh, Anko-chan." Kakashi replied in a shaken tone, "I was focusing on teamwork and..."

"And you are an inept idiot who is too prideful to admit your shortcomings as a teacher." Anko rolled her eyes, giving him a harsh tongue-lashing. "Our team is not ANBU who are already competent ninja needing just the final polishing and can visit various secret libraries of Konoha anytime they want and learn whatever they want. They are amateurs who just started out-"

Anko had to suppress her smirk at Naruto's pout, Sasuke's scowl, and Hinata's lowering of her head. Her students were not exactly weak. They could fight against chunins but they had no real-life experience, hence, amateurs. Not that the trio would dispute her claim. She long ago beat defiance out of them.

"- and physical exercises are good and all but they are still children. Unless they work out twenty-four-seven every day, their bodies simply won't match the capabilities of an adult ninja. That's why you are supposed to teach them chakra control first, so they can somewhat level the playing field by enhancing their bodies with chakra." Anko flatly finished.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing I intend to teach them Water Walking, no?" Kakashi flippantly replied. He was secretly quite ashamed now that Anko told him to his face his faults. In ANBU, he was one of the best instructors but... 'She is right.' He sighed, 'These kids are not ANBU recruits who already have years of active duty behind themselves. Maybe I was blinded by their competence?'

"We already know that." Sasuke grumbled, unimpressed at Kakashi's attitude. Honestly! If he didn't get tutelage from Anko, who didn't even HAVE TO teach them anything since it wasn't technically her job, he would probably contemplate defection right about now.

"Eh, er... what?" Kakashi slowly blinked. He knew the kids already mastered Tree Walking. They regularly used it during spars and their 3D maneuvering was something even Kakashi had to praise.

"We already know that. Anko taught us when we were still in the academy." Naruto poutingly whined and averted his gaze, slouching a bit more in his seat in a show of petty protest.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows at Anko.

"I wanted to see how long would it take you to finally take interest in your genin's capabilities and act as a responsible instructor." She casually shrugged. "You practically demanded I didn't interfere in your teaching methods so I wanted to see them for myself." Kakashi let out an awkward laugh at the pointed look of his assistant teacher.

It wasn't that Kakashi didn't teach the kids anything useful. He did. He gave them plenty of useful information and advice during the D-ranks and team training. One just had to look a bit deeper into the meaning of his bored lazy drawl in-between the giggling induced by reading his smut while answering the questions of his genin.

Again, the problem was the man expected the genin to act like veteran ninjas wanting to join ANBU. The team drills were incredibly useful. Anko couldn't dispute that. They had to be done and showed the three munchkins their individual weaknesses and faults when fighting as one unit. Some of the things Kakashi taught them during these team drills was straight-out ANBU material. The problem was, Kakashi was too focused on it as if he was training skilled ANBU recruits to make a proper team out of them.

Slumping his shoulders, Kakashi let out a long-suffering sigh, lamenting why he couldn't just stay in the comfort of the ANBU division. "Fine..." He said almost whinily, "Is there anything I can help them with?" He asked, inwardly complaining that Anko was taking all the fun from being a teacher from him.

Anko chuckled, and leaned forward, patting Kakashi's head as if he was a kid, "Good boy." She cheerily praised, making Kakashi even more annoyed, "I am not too versatile with ninjutsu and you are the guy who is said to have copied thousands of techniques.'' Anko stated and Kakashi instantly understood even before she continued. " Both Hinata and Sasuke's main nature is lightning and I don't have even one lightning Jutsu. Naruto is wind-natured so that is a huge problem as well. I started them on the leaf exercise for their natures but that was as far as I went in their elemental training. As you most likely already saw during spars, they know some useful Earth and Fire techniques but I am sure you will know a whole lot more of these than me and can probably give them sound advice on how to improve in this regard." Anko listed, straightening one finger on her hand every time she made each point. "There is a lot you CAN help them with. If you are finally done moping around, just pick one thing and start teaching."

"Okay, I will think about it during breakfast." Kakashi relented, returning to his book while he could.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata threw Anko a grateful look. They were weary of not improving at the fast pace as before since they became genins. Anko also told them she could not teach them as much as before since that was Kakashi's 'privilege' now. For three months, their rate of progress slowed to almost a halt and every single one of them hated it.

Anko smirked in return. She knew their feelings but this was necessary. The kiddies were far too advanced for their age and had everything handed to them on a silver platter by her. They needed to experience what it was like for other genins. For those who didn't have a teacher hellbent on making them strong. She would rather slow their progress for a few months and then make their lives hell on Earth to catch up than make them grow arrogant and think they will always get what they want.

Kakashi showed to be a bit disinterested in their personal prowess so the kids naturally went back to Anko, asking for more spanking. She had to deal with a lot of whining, complaints, and dissatisfaction when she refused to advance their training.

Anko was pleasantly surprised though. The kids got the message. Hinata focused more on her Gentle Fist and started studying from her clan libraries. Naruto used his shadow clones to improve his somewhat passable-but-still-nothing-extra chakra control. And Sasuke finally started to improve his skills with genjutsu now that there was no juicy ninjutsu or taijutsu lesson just waiting to be delivered for the great last Uchiha.

'Sometimes I feel as if I was babysitting kids, rather than training killers.' Anko sighed, her cheek twitching as Kakashi again started to perversely giggle, his nose buried in his book.

"The breakfast is ready!" Tsunami suddenly interrupted the impromptu team meeting as she carried a pot onto the table.

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Chapter 318 - Ch318. Reinforcements

Four days passed and Team Seven gathered again around the kitchen table in Tazuna's house, eating dinner alongside Tazuna's family.

Anko enjoyed these past few days a lot. Now that Kakashi took his teaching duty seriously, she had nothing to do for most of the day so it was her who accompanied Tazuna to the bridge. She also confiscated a certain book from the Copycat to make sure he won't be distracted during training.

'I have to admit, Icha Icha is not half-bad.' Anko inwardly snickered.

Frankly, all members of Team Seven except Anko looked like crap. Even Naruto was swaying in his seat, his eyelids drooping from time to time. Kakashi certainly didn't pull his punches during the training but Anko suspected that it was more from the build-up frustration rather than wanting to make the brats stronger. She knew best how hard it was to deal with them.

Teaching Naruto, even when he was serious, was nerve-wracking. The boy was the type that learned by doing and trying to explain something to him with words was simply pointless. Unfortunately for Kakashi, Naruto was still pissed that he didn't learn anything for three months straight so he decided to step up his 'excitement' and made the training literal hell of exuberance for Kakashi. No wonder the jonin was dead tired on his feet and that didn't even take into account the other two of his students!

Sasuke was moody and liked to hold his grudges. He would not interrupt Kakashi mid-explanation with inane questions like Naruto, bouncing up and down with an innocent look and a wide stupid grin. No... he rather liked to take a different approach.

Anko's eyes flickered towards Kakashi, letting out a small snicker at his singed clothes with various burn marks. He was a mess and his lone visible eye conveyed profound exhaustion. While Naruto and Hinata got shadow clones, the real Kakashi focused on Sasuke. It wasn't because of favoritism or anything like that. It was simply because Sasuke liked to bathe the shadow clones in fireballs so sending them was counterproductive.

'I taught him so well! He can already perform techniques fast enough to clip Kakashi with his Fire Release.' She thought proudly before her eyes landed on the brooding Uchiha, causing her to snort. 'I will have to give him another brutal behavior correcting training session when we get back to Konoha. No student of mine would be brooding emo.'

Anko did watch all of these training sessions with Shadow Clones. Sasuke's drive was clearly to barbecue Kakashi alive and the brat was putting extreme determination into it. Anko might or might not have provided some more advanced tips for Fire Release so the play of 'Burn Kakashi' would get a bit more interesting. Needless to say, seeing Kakashi desperately dodging small balls of searing flames with a disturbed look was always fun. Especially since he couldn't really retaliate and had to take it.

The funniest of the lot was by far Hinata though. She was quite vindictive and decided to give Kakashi the stuttering treatment.

'And Sage was it irritating to teach her anything when it took her five minutes to just ask a simple question!' Anko remembered her own early experiences with the Hyuuga heiress.

Kakashi's patience was put under an extremely straining test. He had to repeat any explanations at least three times, every time Hinata asked a question, she made sure she stuttered in the exact right places to ensure Kakashi wouldn't clearly hear her so he had to ask her to repeat the question. Teaching Hinata in this mode was a long, frustrating, headache-inducing process. Especially since the girl took to her lessons under Anko like a fish to water.

While it was a shadow clone that was annoyed by Hinata's behavior, when it popped and gave Kakashi the memory feedback, it made him instantly weary and frustrated out of nowhere. It was the sort of emotional bullying one would expect from Anko's apprentice.

The only reason why he didn't find it suspicious was that he never really paid much attention to Hinata. He left her in Anko's care while he focused more on Sasuke and Naruto. That galled both Anko and Hinata but... it was better that way anyway.

Nobody spoke during the dinner. The civilians kept to themselves, seeing how tired the ninjas were, and the majority of the ninjas were too annoyed or tired to say anything. As such, the awkward silence was maintained until suddenly, three knocks resounded from the door and everybody instantly tensed.

"I assume you don't expect guests this late in the evening, Tazuna-san." Kakashi quietly asked in a laid back tone.

The bridge builder just frantically shook his head. Kakashi was about to give orders but Anko decided to give her team a break, "Relax. It is the reinforcements Lady Tsunade arranged."

"And how would you know?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that. He had the house surrounded by his shadow clones keeping watch, yet, the people near the door slipped right past them without being noticed. He didn't really think anybody in Konoha would be able to get past him like this.

"The same way as you are keeping the perimeter watch." Anko casually remarked, "While I guarded Tazuna, I also made a few shadow clones to scout ahead. One of my clones met them earlier today. They were quite suspicious so the clone decided to confront them to find out if they were hired by Gato and would attack me or not." Such suicidal tasks were best for Shadow Clones, after all.

"And you didn't deem it important to tell me?" Exasperation seeped into Kakashi's voice.

"You were busy... and I am telling you now." Anko nonchalantly shrugged. Honestly, she might have been taking out her own frustration on the man at this point. Scouting ahead the entire four days and getting no real result was quite maddening. Anko tried to find the hideout of Gato and Raiga. Unfortunately, she had no success. She couldn't create an army of clones like Naruto so her means were limited and despite everything, the Land of Waves was a country. It was impossible for one person to scout even one-tenth of it in four days.

Before Kakashi could give some snarky reply to Anko's easygoing excuse, one of Anko's shadow clones led inside two people wearing Kiri hitai-ate.

"This is Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice, Haku Yuki." The clone introduced them before gesturing towards Team Seven, "The civilians are Tazuna the bridge builder, his daughter Tsunami, and her son... I have no clue what his name is nor do I care. The gloomy broody is Sasuke Uchiha, the blushing mess is Hinata Hyuuga, the brat who is half-asleep and leaning on Hinata is Naruto Uzumaki. The annoyed creep is too famous for you to not know him and I am your awesome guide, Anko Mitarashi!" The clone exclaimed with a thumbs up. "The rest is up to you, original." With that, the clone popped out of existence, making the real Anko chuckle while the people in the room felt very awkward.

"Kiri?" Kakashi eventually asked, suspiciously eyeing the two newcomers. As much as he wanted to trust Anko's words, he wouldn't just accept them at face value.

"Yeah," Anko dismissively waved her hand, "Raiga is Kirigakure's missing ninja so Lady Tsunade reached towards her friend Lady Mizukage and the result is this creep being present," She pointed at Zabuza who was getting seated behind the table and threw her unamused look. Anko just ignored it. "Don't worry, Kakashi. I am sure you will get along smashingly! You aren't all that different. Both of you are ashamed of your faces and are tsunderes." She tried to reassure them but for some reason, it only earned her two heated glares. Anko wondered why...

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Chapter 319 - Ch319. Anko's Mission Experiences

Author's Note:

Pa treon - 35 chapters ahead.

If you want to support me or read ahead:

https/www.pa /kasicair

For those that read this author note later on and are interested in joining my pa treon, don't subscribe at the end of the month. It is better to wait for a new month and then join. A few days worth of wait won't kill you :D.

--

It was two weeks since Team Seven arrived in the Land of Waves and Anko was getting more and more frustrated as her attempts at locating Gato failed one after another. The rat was hidden well. Much too well, for her tastes. If only she was able to reach him and introduce him to her snakes. The rest of this entire mission would be a piece of cake after that.

But no! At first, Anko tried the old-fashioned way and sent shadow clones as scouts all around, listening to rumors and trying to find Gato's hideout with their tracking and sensing prowess. That didn't do much. She didn't have a proper lead for tracking to work and Anko quickly understood that her meager sensing capabilities were rendered useless by the fact Land of Waves was a country. It didn't matter she could sense almost anything in several hundred meters when she really focused. In the end, that was not even a drop in the bucket compared to the size of an entire country.

Since her first attempts failed, Anko decided to go a bit smarter about it. She decided that tracking Gato was pointless for now, and as such, she focused on his subordinates. Anko tracked several thugs working for Gato. Some she interrogated and killed, others she let be and just followed them to their hideout.

Unfortunately, this was yet another miss. Anko did discover several hideouts across the country but there was no sign of Gato in any of them. No matter how much Anko searched them, she simply found out that these were hideouts for his mercenaries and the businessman clearly didn't stay in such lowly accommodations.

Anko's third attempt was fueled by her frustration. She honestly decided to stop giving a damn and straight-out infiltrated a town where Gato's shipping activities were focused. That was Gato's domain. Everybody important in the town worked for Gato. It was the only port in the Land of Waves that was allowed to trade with the 'outer' world and Gato's ships were coming and going on a constant basis.

Anko quickly found out the main reason why Gato wanted to keep the Land of Waves under his rule was the humid temperature good for growing a particular drug that was all the rage nowadays in the capital cities. Most of these 'trading' ships simply smuggled drugs and occasionally slaves.

Not that she cared. It was a horrid sight but during her career as a kunoichi, Anko saw and did worse. Unfortunately for the slaves, nobody paid her to free them. She was not a hero and helping these people would not help her in finding Gato. She did briefly ponder about causing a commotion and hoping the businessman would show up but that would take too much time. It would be a waste of effort considering Anko suspected Gato's men would definitely attempt attacking Tazuna again in a week or so.

Gato most likely already sent mission requests so his reinforcements should be arriving anytime soon. His wealth was also nowhere near the Land of Waves or its slowly bankrupting banks. Even if Anko fully destroyed the town, it wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The only thing capable of making their mission easier was Gato stopping his breathing activities.

The next thing Anko did was to check on the supply lines of the town. She broke into various offices and checked what was imported and exported. Sadly, she didn't find what she was looking for and had to grudgingly admit she started to feel a bit of respect towards Gato and his methods of hiding. Wherever he stayed, he probably received supplies from somewhere else than this town. In hindsight, that was quite smart as it prevented anybody from finding out the location of his hideout by simply following the paper trail.

That was Anko's last attempt at locating Gato. She simply lacked the necessary time to find the midget.

Fortunately, the two Kiri ninjas arrived and that meant the responsibility of guarding Tazuna could be split among them and Team Seven.

Zabuza and Kakashi usually were on the babysitting duty, taking the genins of Team Seven to the bridge and attempted not being bored to death watching the process of bridge-building while Anko enjoyed some of her secret stash of Dango at Tazuna's house, lazing arou-... ahem, she meant guarding Tsunami and Inari.

Zabuza's apprentice, Haku, was quickly snatched by Anko when she found out the... trap could actually make Dango. As such, Haku was stuck with house-guarding duty with Anko where she served as the main Dango-maker for what she thought was a slightly deranged snake-loving kunoichi, too dangerous to offend. Hence, Haku made damn sure her Dango was tasty.

Needless to say, this was one of the more bizarre missions for the young trap.

It was only natural to split their forces in this way. Raiga was apparently S-rank so while Anko was also S-rank ability-wise and could theoretically face Raiga in one versus one, Kakashi and Zabuza would be outmatched if they found themselves alone facing Raiga. Putting them together on one team was to simply give them a chance to survive and withstand Raiga's attack until Anko arrived.

Inari actually tried to tell them how hopeless facing Gato was and how utterly outmatched they were by the civilian dwarf. Poor kid miscalculated his candies with that decision because Zabuza was not one for coddling kids. Nor was the extremely frustrated Anko.

The killing intent that washed over Inari the moment after he tried to be a childish prick made the boy cream his pants brown and fall on his butt, bawling his eyes out from the sheer fright.

Anko could swear it was mostly Zabuza's fault! She released only enough killing intent to scare a chunin! Who in their right mind would use their whole killing intent on a small brat?

She utterly ignored the fact Zabuza, even when using all of his killing intent, would not be able to scare an experienced chunin...

Poor Inari forgot how to speak for the next day. Good for him that Anko knew some rudimentary mind-healing otherwise he would have had nightmares until he was middle-aged.

After that, Tsunami was quite cross with both Anko and Zabuza, and they suddenly found themselves without breakfast privileges. What a bummer...

On a less depressing note, Kakashi was also glad for the addition of Zabuza and Haku once the two tsunderes became comfortable around each other and stopped secretly palming their weapons every second of the day. Nowadays Zabuza only glared at the giggling Kakashi whenever the perv read his books in front of Haku who became red as tomato every time.

This led to little Sasuke developing a small crush on Haku. Oh, the mighty Uchiha tried to hide it and act indifferently but Anko saw right through his facade and noticed the 'subtle' glances in Haku's direction with his Sharingan activated, etching the sight into his memory.

Anko wasn't about to tell the poor boy that he fell for a trap. She could almost taste the sweet, sweet opportunity for some high-end teasing that would present themselves when the Uchiha finally realizes he etched Haku's image forever into his mind, linking it with the feelings of attraction and that Haku is actually not as female as Sasuke first thought.

Anko wondered if this would cause some problems with the boy's sexual orientation later on. Sharingan was a powerful tool but it could be utterly devastating to the user if used during emotional moments since anything seen with it can't be unseen.

She ALMOST pitied Sasuke.

So far, this first mission was proving to be an incredible success as far as getting new experiences went and provided a lot of entertainment for Anko.

'Alas, all good fun has to come to an end,' Anko sighed, sipping on her tea as her senses picked up two hostile people approaching Tazuna's house. She stood up and rolled her shoulders, 'Time to earn my keep, I guess...'

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Chapter 320 - Ch320. Attack On Tazuna's House

"We will have uninvited guests soon." Anko informed Haku who briefly stiffened before resuming her Dango-making activities, only acknowledging the information with a small hum. Tsunami, who was making lunchboxes for the bridge-builders, threw Anko a nervous glance but the kunoichi didn't deem it important to assuage the woman's worries. She simply created a shadow clone, sending it to guard Inari in his room while the original Anko leisurely walked to the porch and sat on the stairs there, waiting for the two attackers while chewing on Dango.

Despite her being a picture of perfect calmness outwardly, Anko was very worried about her team on the bridge. She felt only two hostile signatures with chakra around genin-level approaching Tazuna's home. That either meant the bulk of Gato's forces would focus on the bridge or that these two were just an obvious distraction and there was somebody else hidden in the shadows.

Anko wanted nothing more than to send Haku to the bridge or even go there herself while only leaving Shadow Clones for Tsunami and Inari's protection. For the two approaching thugs, that would have been more than enough. Unfortunately, there was still that second option and the possibility these two were just a cheap diversion. It was at times like these Anko cursed that she was not a natural sensor. The sensing technique Lady Tsunade taught her was good and Anko's sensing abilities were great but that was still far from 'incredible'.

'Guess I will just have to believe in Kakashi and the brats..' She mentally frowned.

Her Shadow Clones scattered around the country didn't report anything unusual and the clone she sent to tail Tazuna and her team still existed. The clone would pop the second it deemed the brats were in danger, so its continuous existence was reassuring for Anko.

It took ten more minutes until Anko saw two thugs exit the forested area near the house, confidently grinning as if they already finished their tasks. Anko instantly recognized them from her time of infiltrating Gato's town. These two were not the 'good sort' even among the slavers working there.

Karizu and Mamoto were quite infamous for their raping tendencies and while they would not disobey orders, they were also known to be overly brutal fulfilling them. Unless it was stated their target was to be brought back unharmed, these two would take great pleasure indulging their sadistic urges. Sage forbid if their target was actually some hapless woman.

'Gato must have definitely hand-picked them for this.' The only indication of Anko's displeasure was a slight twitch in her cheek.

It was obvious what the midget wanted to happen to Inari and Tsunami. Not for a second did Anko doubt that if she wasn't here to protect them, Inari would have been given a slow and painful death in front of Tsunami as the two would have raped her while forcing her to watch her dying son, probably taunting her with some cheap lines like, 'Don't worry, we will give you another son soon!', or something similarly disgusting.

The life of kunoichi made Anko desensitized to many things but that didn't mean she didn't find some of them extremely displeasing. The two thugs in front of her? There was no way Anko would give them an easy death.

"Heh, you must be one of the ninjas boss mentioned." Mamoto's grin widened as he spotted Anko, his eyes caressing her curves.

Anko did wear somewhat revealing clothes. It was nothing like what she was used to wearing before meeting Lady Tsunade but her clothes still clearly showed her curves and a bit of cleavage. It was a perfect distraction, considering the majority of ninjas were males.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot!" Karizu exclaimed, also ogling Anko who just lazily watched them from her spot on the porch. "Not only can we play with Tazuna's daughter but there is also another bitch for free!" He snickered.

Anko... felt a bit disappointed at their reaction. Clearly, these two belonged to the majority of civilians that never saw a ninja nor had any idea what it meant to be a ninja. It was a curious thing, considering their profession.

'They are probably just locals who were thugs and became mercenaries for Gato when the midget showed up. Experienced mercenaries would run the heck away the second they got to know ninjas were involved.' Anko thought.

Despite the existence of ninjas, there were still some nutjobs who would risk being a bandit or a mercenary. Then again, that might have been due to the fact the prowess of ninjas was not widely known among the masses.

Anko's lips widened into a sadistic smirk, "Oh, boys. Yes... you are right. You hit the jackpot and can now play with Anko-nee." She whispered to herself, licking her lips in anticipation as she slowly stood up.

Karizu and Mamoto heard her words and while the content slightly aroused them, the looks the woman was giving them unsettled them and killed any boner they could have had.

Mamoto opened his mouth to say something but Anko didn't care for idle banter. These two were weak and had no information she was interested in. Before either of the two thugs even comprehended what was happening, they found themselves enwrapped in a bone-crushing embrace of two massive serpents that threateningly hissed into their ears. Only then did they realize their feet were no longer on the ground as they powerlessly dangled through the air, making the two thugs struggle for air. With every jerk, however, their prison only tightened.

"Gotta love constrictors, neh?" Anko chuckled, slowly approaching the two in a purposeful gait, her body language screaming 'danger' while she twirled a kunai in her hand.

Karizu wanted to retort. He really did. But he was barely able to gasp for air. Letting out a sound was impossible in his current situation. Instead of an angry retort, only an empty wheeze left his lips. Mamoto, on the other hand, watched Anko with wide frightened eyes. He was afraid of snakes, even the small ones, so the massive one currently crushing his bones had a profound effect on his bowels. He already realized what was coming and that this was the end for him.

Just for their respective reactions, Anko chose to plunge her kunai in the gap in-between the coils of her snake summon who was giving Kurizu a hug, nailing it handle-deep in the unfortunate man's thigh, causing him to scream. Anko didn't like his defiant look. She decided to correct his attitude before asking her questions.

"I dislike rapists." Anko cheerfully said as she jerked the kunai out of Karizu's body in a fluid, quick, and very painful motion. "That kind of threat always hangs above the head of every kunoichi. Quite a lot of us actually do find ourselves on the receiving side at least once during our careers." The snake coiling around Karizu shifted, revealing his groin area, only giving him a second to realize what is to come. Anko also decided to slowly approach the man's bits with her kunai, savoring the growing horror in his eyes.

"Some of us," Anko abruptly slashed... and enjoyed the man's pain-filled shrieks instead. "learn to accept it as a part of the job." Continuing to inflict pain on Karizu would be pointless for now. He was almost drowning in it. Anko decided to turn towards Mamoto who was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. Anko gave him a cheerful smile and continued talking, "Others... mostly those who already experienced it once... try to get used to it. You wouldn't believe how many kunoichi like rough play in the bed as a result." Anko's bloody kunai gently dug into Mamoto's cheek, creating a small gash almost from the side of his mouth to his ear. "I heard it is much easier to cope with it when you can find at least a minuscule enjoyment in that shitty situation." Anko hissed in Mamoto's ear while her words dripped with venom as her kunai carved into his flesh, hitting all the most painful and tender spots, causing him to scream.

Two minutes later, Anko suddenly stepped back, her kunai just shy of Mamoto's eye as she realized that she might have gone a bit too far.

'I got carried away.' She wryly smiled in self-mockery and rubbed her forehead. Her face contorted into a grimace, 'Damn... that was so much fun! I wonder if I would have ended in Torture and Interrogation department if Lady Tsunade didn't take an interest in me. I gotta say...' She appraisingly looked towards two gasping and whimpering men. 'I do have a talent for this!'

Her story about kunoichi and *? That was just to rile herself up and unnerve the two poor sods. A passionate torturer with a personal vendetta is much more frightening than a stone-faced one who is doing it just because it is his job. In a way, it was a form of mental torture.

Not that it didn't happen. It's just that only an enemy ninja had a chance to * a kunoichi and most would sooner kill than *. Anko's opinion on that particular part of kunoichi life was simple. If you are weak enough to get raped, then you clearly deserved it.

Anko's view was cold and unsympathizing. As expected from a woman who didn't have all that many friends and was hard to get along with.

'Now then... let's continue!' Anko excitedly thought, giving the two bloodied men a starry-eyed look. She already decided to ask the lazy-ass Hokage to assign her some interrogation missions after this. Tort... ahem, training her brats couldn't compare to tending to someone she knew deserved her worst. It filled her with quite a bit of satisfaction, seeing these rapists' faces contort in pain.

Unfortunately for Anko, it was then she froze as memory feedback from her clone entered her mind, causing her head to alarmingly whip into the direction of the bridge with worry in her eyes.

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