Chapter ten

It was late in the evening and the Jōnin sensei were all finishing up their assessments and were gathering to give their report as they gathered together into the upper most room of the Hokage tower.

The room was a small square room with no windows and only a single door into the room on the far side. Opposite it was a knee high desk with a number of papers on it. The room was lit by several candles on either side of the room and three on the small desk.

Behind the desk, Hiruzen Sarutobi knelt in the lotus position as he took a breath from his pipe and exhaled slowly as he looked over the papers in front of him as the Jōnin entered the room and fell into the formation to give their reports.

As the last Jōnin entered the room and the door closed, Hiruzen let out another breath of smoke before looking up at his Jōnin.

"Alright, let's have the latest team reports, Team one?" Hiruzen asked as he looked at the back.

A standard Jōnin stepped forward, "Failed, they didn't grasp the reason till I told them, they need to re-sit the last year of the academy before being put on the reserve listings for a few months to make sure they get it."

Hiruzen nodded as he marked it down and the Jōnin stepped back, "Team two?"

The next Jōnin stepped forward, "Failed, completely useless, I recommend they're dropped from the program and their charka sealed, they don't have the mentality of shinobi at all."

Hiruzen nodded grimly as he marked it down and called for the next, as the same report was given from each team with either a last year re-sit recommendation before being put on the reserve listings or a total fail. Taking another pull from his pipe Hiruzen let it out as he spoke, "Team seven?"

At this Kakashi stepped forward, "Team seven, Pass."

Hearing this the other Jōnin all look to him in shock most with eyes wide, bar Anko who just smirked from the side already knowing his reasoning.

Hiruzen let a small smile grace his lips as he marked it down, ��Indeed, a team has finally met your high standards Kakashi have they?"

Kakashi let out a small sigh, "Barely." he replied with a frown under his mask.

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, "Oh?" he asked as he moved a page and lifted the team placement list, "If I recall that was the team Genin Uchiha, Haruno and Uzumaki were placed on," he said remembering the placement clearly but just making sure from the list, "what are your opinions on them, do they meet your standards or not?" he asked looking up at Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.

Kakashi nodded, "When I met them originally before the test, I didn't exactly have high hopes for them, but that slowly started to change during and after the introductions, some for the better and some for the worse." Kakashi explained as all the other Jōnin listened to him, "The test showed the multiple areas the team needs to improve on, individually the team will work, they just need some experience at it is all."

Hiruzen nodded as he took another puff from his pipe, "I see, and what makes you think this? What are their individual skills?" he asked as he set his pipe down and moved some papers again lifting the Genin files.

Kakashi nodded hearing the order, "Genin Uzumaki Naruto, my original assessment of him was he didn't look like much, but I was pleasantly surprised during his test," he said while Anko suppressed a snort of amusement hearing Kakashi, "he is skilled in Kenjutsu and is at such a level that his speed proved to be a challenge to fend off during the test, and proved to be even more impressive when he combined his skills with that of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and the Shunshin. I am currently unaware of his maximum number of clones for his technique, but during the exam I had to repel six Kage Bunshin along with the original each moving with shunshin to enhance their speed." he reported as multiple of the Jōnin couldn't believe what they were hearing, "I am not ashamed to say if there were many more of them I would have had to resort to my Sharingan in order to keep up, they were moving that fast. Next, to that he possesses a specialised number of Jutsu that I witnessed during the test, each that works well with his individual style, he is well trained and disciplined in the shinobi arts, if he continues down this road I can see him becoming an excellent shinobi and a valuable resource to the village."

Hiruzen nodded as his smile grew somewhat hearing of Naruto's progress and suppressed a small chuckle, 'Well I think it's safe to say that Naruto's training under his brother has paid off, the two of them should be fine now.' he thought to himself only to be broken from his thoughts as he heard muttering coming from the back of the group of Jōnin, and he wasn't the only one as both he, Kakashi and Anko's turned their gaze as they heard the whispers.

"How the hell'd the demon brat get so strong?", "This is bad, if the demon gets any stronger we're in trouble.", "I can't believe he's passing that monster, is he insane?"

Hearing the last comment Hiruzen's patients snapped before every voice in the room fell silent as the air rippled with his release of Sakki as those responsible for the whispers trembled under the feeling and the glares from the powerful Kage, which was backed up by a hardened one eye glare from Kakashi and a pissed off snarl from Anko as the three responsible gulped.

After a moment the Sakki faded after Hiruzen felt his warning was well received before he cleared his throat and the glares from Kakashi and Anko moved off before Hiruzen nodded to Kakashi to continue.

"The next member of my team, Genin Uchiha Sasuke, at first I wasn't overly concerned about him, he possesses average skills for his age and shows potential as his reserves are slightly above average. The problems arose later during the test. While his academy scores are good what worries me is his mindset and mentality, he is quick to anger. A trait I'm assuming came from his Uchiha blood similar to his Katon affinity which is what his Jutsu arsenal seems to be limited to offensive wise at least." Kakashi said before reaching up and rubbing the bridge of his nose through his mask before continuing, "The main problem arises from his disregard for his teammates and his lack of concern for their well-being and safety. Which was something that I witnessed first-hand during the test when he launched a "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique) at myself while Genin Uzumaki was still engaging me in combat. While I concede the fact I told them to come at me with the intent to kill, I didn't tell him to do so in such a way that would endanger his other teammates. Luckily Genin Uzumaki was able to Shunshin out of the way before it hit and I escaped via Kawarimi, had we would have both been caught in the impact that caused a large crater in the middle of the training field."

Whispers started to float around the room again, these ones questioning the Uchiha heir's loyalties if he was willing to endanger his own team mates like that, others whispering why Kakashi was passing the team with a potentially unstable Genin.

Ignoring the whispers Kakashi continued, "The last member of my team is the one I think will require the most work, Genin Haruno Sakura. While her academy reports have her listed in one of the higher tiers in the class knowledge wise, her mindset leaves me questioning why she is still in the shinobi program at all as in my opinion she showed no discernible skill that would lead me to believe she is fit to be a Konoha Kunoichi, she shows more attention to Genin Uchiha that her actual shinobi career, she actually passed out towards the end of the test when she thought her Uchiha has lost his head as a result of my Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu)." Kakashi said as he shook his head in disappointment, "Her only redeeming qualities are her abilities to memorise information, which is how I assumed she got such high marks on her written exam, and her small charka reserves and the resulting high levels of control." Kakashi said as he crossed his arms, "It might be possible to make something of her if she is broken out of current mindset and she is given the proper training, with her high control she might make a valuable Iryō-Nin or a Genjutsu mistress, although in her current state that might not be possible." Kakashi finished with a sigh.

Hiruzen nodded as he wrote down the information for the shinobi archives before placing his brush down, "Very well, your concerns are noted and I share them concerning Genin Uchiha's mindset and mentality towards his team mates, you're to watch him closely and inform me should he start to deteriorate further. Recommendations will then be discussed on further steps whether he needs counselling and if it would be necessary to remove him from the program for a time or completely altogether." he instructed as Kakashi nodded and stepped back, "Team eight?"

Kurenai stepped forward, "Team eight, pass."

Hiruzen nodded his head, "I see, and what are your thoughts on your three Genin, are there any problems like team seven?"

Kurenai shook her head, "Not to such an extent no, although the team isn't without its problems." she explained, "They tracked me down as per the teams test and worked well utilising each other's strengths. Genin Inuzuka Kiba and his Ninken partner Akamaru work well as expected, Kiba is a little full of himself but that's to be expected for an Inuzuka male, but he isn't reckless and knows his limitations. Both he and his partner work well in a team and in combat when the team confronted me and attempted to subdue me for capture."

"Genin Hyūga Hinata is as expected, very skilled in her family Taijutsu style although she is currently lacking the mentality to use it in a lethal capacity, given her home life I can hardly say it is a surprise." she said but did not elaborate further, "Her Byakugan was the team's first attempt to locate me which was well utilized to track down the number of Kage Bunshin I had scattered throughout the testing area as a means to counter it."

"The final member and most surprising of the team was Genin Aburame Shino. I attempted to throw him off balance by attacking him with Taijutsu in order to extort what I had assumed was his weaker area. What was surprising was that he actually was able to defend against my attacks and to my surprise proved more capable than I thought before surprising me again by revealing he possessed the knowledge of close combat weapons not taught in the academy or by his clan which is something of a relief to see he has branched out slightly beyond his insects. I will not reveal what his weapons are, as he requests that I keep that information secret, as they are his trump card in a fight should his opponent attempt close range combat."

Hiruzen nodded as he noted down some information from her report, "I see, your report is acceptable." he said as Kurenai stepped back, "Team ten?"

Asuma stepped forward with his hands in his pockets looking relaxed as he exhaled a break of smoke from the cigarette in his mouth, "Team ten's a pass as well. Their teamwork is a little on the rough side but that's to be expected for first time teams. There are some clashing personalities at first but after they started working together as a team they worked well."

"Genin Nara was as expected lazy but when it came to planning out a strategy to face and capture me, as per the test, his plans were well thought out and executed playing to his teammates strengths and covering their weaknesses."

"Genin Akimichi fell into place almost immediately with Genin Nara when the plan was done, the two of them have a history of working together in the academy so it was only natural for them to do so. His clan's expansion Jutsu was the power play that Genin Nara relied on for his plan while he kept me moving with his shadows."

"The teams friction came from Genin Yamanaka, she had her mind set on being the team leader and was somewhat reluctant to listen to Genin Nara's plan. It was only when she couldn't think of a better one after her own plans had their flaws pointed out to her that she finally conceded to listen to her team mates. While I admit that I was concerned about her mindset being similar to Genin Haruno's in team seven, it would appear that being from a shinobi clan and responsibilities has kept her more grounded that Genin Haruno who comes from civilian roots, while she still has an infatuation with Genin Uchiha she still has enough skill to hold her own with her team mates, but she still needs a lot of work."

Hiruzen nodded slowly, "Very well keep me notified on their progress, the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho will be a boon for the village in the not so distant future I hope." he said before looking to Anko, "Finally team eleven."

Anko smirked stepping forward, "Do you even have to ask? They passed my test before I even gave it. Heck I'd recommend both of them for promotion right now if I didn't already know you'd deny it, both of them are well above Genin level, only thing holding them back is experience in the field."

Her response started up another wave of multiple whispers of disbelief and uncertainty among the gathered Jōnin all except for Kakashi who remained neutral and looked un-shocked by her words. Kurenai rounded on her friend looking at her with shock.

"Anko, take this seriously and stop joking," Kurenai started, "there's no way two fresh out of the academy Genin could be ready for promotion their first day without even doing one mission yet."

Anko narrowed her eyes on her friend before speaking, "I am taking this seriously, and I would never joke about those two like this, both of my two have skills well above that of any Genin in their year."

"Genin Uchiha Sayaka has Jōnin level chakra reserves on top of her extremely high levels of control, she passed the extra portion of her Genin exam by demonstrating a B-rank Iryō Ninjutsu flawlessly, which I know for a fact is only one of the many she can do. She also possesses the skill to perform multiple of her clans Katon Jutsu as well as multiple Genjutsu all without the aid of her clans Dōjutsu." Anko said as she squared up to Kurenai, "Her Taijutsu is flawless, damn near perfect and she also is nothing like her brother and actually cares for her teammate. The only thing missing is her Sharingan which she will be able to awaken hopefully before the first month is up." Anko said as she crossed her arms over her check before looking to the other Jōnin in the room.

"The second member of my team, Genin Uzumaki Kenta, is even more skilled than his teammate. His chakra reserves are well above that of any Jōnin I've ever meet, and his control is always increasing to cope with it. His teamwork with his Ninken partner, Midnight, is next to flawless which is a given after they've trained, relentlessly, together for four years. On top of all this Kenta also possess multiple high level Ninjutsu that he can perform with ease thanks to his training and large reserves, and he is made even more lethal with his unique Kenjutsu style and the fact that he is a prodigy in Fūinjutsu." Anko said before turning back to Kurenai, "Combining all those facts it's no shock why both of them were named the rookies of their year, heck they'd probably be the rookies of the other ten graduating classes in the years ahead and behind them, and it's that fact why I would put them up for promotion if I could." she said as Kurenai seemed to waiver under Anko's argument.

But as she did more whispers began to circle the room that made it to Anko's ear's, "This isn't good.", "First the demon now its brother.", "It's too close to the Uchiha princess.", "Someone should warn Mikoto-sama."

But before Anko could turn to shut the idiots up, the Hokage cleared his throat as he stood up from behind his desk, "That is enough." he stated as the air rippled once more with his Sakki as it quieted the room instantly, "Team elevens skill set is beyond reproach, they are both without a doubt highly skilled, I would never have put them on a team together on their own otherwise if there was any doubt about that fact." he spoke as Kurenai fell back in line, "It is as Anko said it is due to their lack of field experience that I did not promote them both already and is why they will be competing in the Chūnin exams when it comes time and I will be continuing to look for the third member of your team, Anko, so that they will have that opportunity. But until then they are like every other team, they must complete missions assigned to them at their judged level, no special privileges will be given regardless of their team numbers, they have the skill of a full team so they can pull the weight of one, a task they and the other teams, that have passed, will begin tomorrow. You are all dismissed, report with your teams to the mission desk starting at 08:00 tomorrow for their first missions."

With bows from each Jōnin they all filed out of the room leaving Hiruzen standing shaking his head after the door closed, 'There is still so much hatred towards those two, regardless of what they do to prove themselves, to think the will of fire could have dimmed so harshly in all these years, I just pray that it doesn't extinguish the flames of the young should that happen then we are truly lost.'

Time skip- next morning- 07:00

Kenta stood in his apartment, dressed in a pair of black slacks and a loose white vest shirt, running his hands through his long red hair, a look of utter frustration on his face that made him want to pull his hair out in his irritation as he looked down at the mess of white pages spread out on the ground in front of his feet, the black inked lines of an intricate Fūinjutsu array spread out over them, showing the various stages of the arrays construction process.

Midnight lay on his masters beg giving out a whine as it watched as Kenta turned and paced, his hands still running through his hair in frustration.

"Ahhhhh, this shouldn't be this damn hard!" Kenta yelled in frustration as he turned back to the array and looked over each of the markings of the intricate design, "It should be working. Why won't you just work!" he yelled at the pages in his angered state.

Midnight just gave another wine never having really understood what the lines were for, all he knew was his master's yelling was giving him a headache, but his ears picked up when the door opened and Sayaka walked in giggling slightly.

"You know when you start yelling at inanimate objects, like sheets of paper, it's usually a sign to take a break at whatever it is you're doing." she giggled as she came in closing the door behind her.

Kenta sighed shaking his head, "Maybe you're right, it's just so damn frustrating." he said before looking at her, "How'd you know I'd be here anyway, I'm normally out on a run at this time?"

Sayaka giggled, "It wasn't that difficult, I ran into Naruto-Nii on the way here, said he had to get out of the apartments to give his ears a break from your yelling. Not hard to work out one of your projects was driving you mental again." she said before looking down at the array, "Is this a new one?"

Kenta sighed shaking his head, "No, it's the same disruption array idea I had back in the academy, I still can't get the damn thing to work."

Sayaka raised an eyebrow at that, "Really, it looks different since the last time I saw you working on it, would have thought after four years you'd have it solved and working by now." she said as she knelt down and tried to follow the connecting arrays, "What's with the new array lay out? More connecting arrays?"

Kenta shook his head, "I'm close but it's still being a headache." He said as he knelt down beside her, "Yeah, it's to allow the flow of chakra in the array to reach out to the other farther arrays in the circuit." he said as he pointed his finger at the centre of the array and helped her trace one of paths to the outer ring of the array, "The stable number set in Fūinjutsu and Barrier Jutsu all starts from the fourth form for stability purposes, and for complete stability the distribution stays even among all the arrays so the easiest way is to double up each time, that was the mistake I made back when I first started off I had an odd number of arrays the balance was off and there was no stability in the fourths so I had problems from the start. This new array is following the fourth form rule it starts at the centre a strong four form base and then another four around the base for strength and to give connections to the next form in the series, and then the array is doubled into eight that circle the inner eight for sixteen arrays in the first two segments, that's four and four and eight on the inner and a sixteen ring on the outside that makes for a thirty-two pillar support on the entire thing." he said as they traced the line to the outer ring before Kenta stood up, "But no matter what I do the disruption rate is still as slow as a four pillar support and by the time it reaches the second array there is too much strain and one of the connecting to the sixteen pillar array breaks, it just doesn't have enough push to get it there any faster to shorten the strain on the connecting arrays."

Sayaka frowned as she stood up, while she didn't know as much about Fūinjutsu as Kenta did as it was one of his specialties that he seemed to have an affinity for, she tried to think what the problem was, "Have you thought about maybe adding some inter connecting arrays between the connecting points for longer stability?" she recommended, "The increase in the connections could…" she started but stopped when Kenta shook his head.

"No." he said shaking his head slightly, "I already thought of that in a previous attempt, it only bought a couple of seconds at most, before the array failed again, the more arrays I add only added to the power being pulled from the inner arrays and pulling more power means that the disruption will take even longer at the source and if it's even slower than the strain on the connecting arrays lasts even longer."

Sayaka shook her head understanding why Kenta was having such a hard time with the array now, she'd never had much of an affinity for the intricate art, sure she knew enough from what Kenta had caught her over the years but she was by no means a master of it, the mathematical knowledge required for the techniques and the understanding behind the different ink mixtures that was required for the unique sealing techniques and the multitude of arrays and their different purposes, were so vast she knew she could never memorise them all, let alone being to understand the intricate working in how to design unique arrays like Kenta had done in the past, she had just settled for knowing that they both had their unique specialties in their chosen fields.

Looking back at the array she frowned, while Kenta had it all laid out and she could follow it. Many of the internal arrays that were in the main components were so complex, she knew they were years beyond her, the only ones she understood were the ones at the centre of it all, the main chakra power arrays that were designed to power the other arrays to disrupt and displace external chakra sources, the four arrays in the centre were the foundation of the rest of the array as Kenta had already explained, four was the number needed to keep the rest of the array steady and to give it a firm grounding, shaking her head it was so far beyond her she didn't know how Kenta could even keep all this knowledge in his head.

"If only you could increase the power source for the arrays, if there was more power then there would be more push to get the outer arrays working to complete and hold the disruption." Sayaka said as she looked down at the arrays.

Kenta paused for a moment as his mind ran a mile a minute after hearing Sayaka's words, 'more power…' his eyes widened, 'more power', "That's it!" he said a little louder than he meant to before he quickly rushed over to his desk scrambling for his inks and his paper pads.

Sayaka and Midnight both jumped at the small yell from Kenta and watched as he rushed to his desk both looked to each other and shrugged before looking back to Kenta as Sayaka walked over to him, "What's it?" she asked as she approached him.

"More power, you're right," Kenta exclaimed as he pulled out a paper pad from his table drawer and three jars of ink and brushes as he started to work on more designs, "I've been so focused on trying to make sure the connections were flawless and it was grounded properly, it completely went over my head the drain each of the arrays would expand on the internal chakra arrays." he said as he moved the brush fluidly across the pad as he worked, "The number of the arrays is so large that the four pillar base can't possibly supply enough chakra to reach them all and maintain them until they become self-sufficient to run on their own. It was like expecting any shinobi to try and pull off a high-powered Jutsu with only the reserve levels of an academy student, without enough chakra the Jutsu will fail. I can't believe I over looked it." he said as he finished his new array, before opening up one of his desk drawers and pulling out a number of already pre made arrays.

Sayaka peered over his shoulder as she looked at the array that he had drawn and for a second she didn't think there was any difference between it and the central array already in place, but then she noticed the smaller marking with in the array, and noticed it was by far more complex than a standard array. But it was what was on the outside of the internal arrays before the connecting points, and the pre-made arrays that had her eyes widening more, "Are those transmission arrays?" she asked looking at them.

Kenta quickly tore the sheet of paper from the pad and moved carefully to the array on the ground and replaced the centre sheet with the new one lining up the lines so that they over crossed to allow the chakra to flow, before he started to move around the array placing the transmission arrays, "Yes, they are part of the plan, plus a precautionary safety measure in case the chakra is too much for the array, they will bleed some of it off out of the array so that there isn't a discharge that burns the rest of the arrays up. I've never used this many as a foundation before in any array, I'm not sure how it will react."

Sayaka gulped, "Why how many are you using?" she asked not sure she wanted to know the answer, messing with chakra arrays was like messing with the arrays of an explosion tag if you messed them up things tended to blow up in a big way.

Kenta smirked nervously as he stepped back, "Well, I had to keep everything in the standards of four so that the array wouldn't need to be tweaked and completely reworked to account for the change in the foundation arrays, and I needed to make sure there was enough chakra so that the arrays would function properly till they run themselves and have enough strength to disrupt as much chakra as possible as fast as possible. So I reworked each of the individual chakra arrays to be a four pillar foundation all on their own, so four by four, which means…" Kenta spoke and left it hanging.

Sayaka's eye's widened, "Sixteen! That array has a sixteen-pillar foundation and chakra base, that's literally four times the power the original had. Don't you think that's a bit much?"

Kenta chuckled slightly, "Maybe a little but in the long run its small time for what I'm planning for the final outcome." he said as he looked to Sayaka with a mischievous glint in his eye, "If a sixteen pillar foundation packs a punch, what would a sixty four pillar core pack?"

If Sayaka's eyes were wide before they were almost bulging out of their sockets now, "Sixty four, you're planning to duplicate the array over four times over. Why, why would you do that? Sixteen cores is already going to be over kill for this, why would you need more power?"

Kenta smirked, "To disperse more chakra and faster than before. Think about it. If I wanted to use this array on a barrier to get through it… a single point breach isn't going to cut it, it wouldn't open up a large enough window for me to get through, but if I used four arrays, all of which were connected…"

Sayaka's mouth gaped looking at him, "You could open up a larger breach four times as fast and hold it for four times as longer than you could with one." she said as she started to understand where Kenta was going with his plan.

Kenta nodded, "Precisely." he said before looking back to the array.

Sayaka paused for a moment as she tried to think of the numbers involved in the arrays, "Wait a minute if this single array has a sixteen pillar core foundation with a further twenty-eight disruption seals, with a further three transmission arrays, that's a forty-seven point array."

Kenta nodded, "Precisely, and when it's used in unison with three other arrays of the same count that will round up to a hundred and eighty-eight arrays." Kenta stated with a proud smile at his creation, "Now the only thing left to do is to test to see if the sixteen pillar core can power all the arrays." he said as he raised his hands into the ram hand sign before looking to Sayaka, "You ready?"

Sayaka gulped, "Um shouldn't we be behind something in case the array can't handle the chakra and decides to blow up on us?"

Kenta gave a half shrug, "Not really, most explosive tags only run on two arrays of chakra, this array has eight times that, if it does go boom, there won't be an apartment block left, let alone any thing we're shielding ourselves with." he replied causally.

Sayaka gulped, "Way to make a girl feel safe."

Kenta shrugged again, "We're shinobi now, we're going to be facing danger every day, didn't think you'd be scared so easily." he said with a smirk.

Giving Kenta a glare she punched him mildly in the shoulder in annoyance, "Hey I'm not scared, and just because we're going to be facing danger on missions doesn't mean I want to end my career early by being blown up before I can even go on my first mission." she said as she continued to glare at him her anger ebbing slightly.

Kenta chuckled, "Well too late to turn back now, ready or not." he said as he looked back to the array on the floor, as Sayaka's eye widened and she turned and covered her head as Kenta channelled chakra and spoke "Hai!"

At the activation command the central arrays chakra arrays of the larger array lit up and the next second the chakra was channelled through the connecting lines before the entire intricate array shown a bright blue.

Kenta's eyes widened seeing the positive reaction as the array held, the light confirming that the array was functioning perfectly and that there were no further problems.

After a couple of second of no explosions, Sayaka turned around to gaze into the light that was coming from the large array and she smiled before looking to Kenta seeing an equally happy smile on his face, his project of four years was finally finished.

With a pleased nod, Kenta channelled his chakra once more as he spoke, "Kai!" as the glow from the ruins faded before he started to run through several hand signs before he spoke again, "Fūin!" as the inked markings responded a second time only this time they began to shrink and recede, following each other as they seemed to move from page to page back to the central page as the middle arrays warped along with them, the ink soaking onto the page as the sealing process drew nearer to completion as the array took on its final form before glowing a faint red before fading back to black.

Releasing his hand sign Kenta moved forward and picked up the middle sheet with the complete compressed form of his chakra disruption array on it, its final sealed form resembling that of a tapered line that twisted into a curve at the end with a slight bend at the thicker end.

Checking there was no damage to the sheet or the final array Kenta smiled proudly at it, as Sayaka came over to him looking at the design, "So, is that it?" she asked, "It's finally done?"

Kenta nodded, "Yep, now all that's needed is for it to be tested in the field to make sure it works properly."

Sayaka smirked, "Well I'm sure you'll be able to arrange a test for it eventually, and I'm sure it'll work just as you've planned it to. Kami knows it's got more than enough power behind it, but you'd better put it somewhere safe so that no one else can get their hands on it before you do."

Kenta nodded, "No need to tell me twice." he said as he rolled the sheet of paper up and moved to his desk, pulling out the lower desk drawer revealing the small cast iron safe with in, biting his thumb he pressed his blood to the sealing array on the front of the door, the array hissed before the door clicked open and he gripped the handle opening the lid fully before placing the rolled up sheet into it next to a number of other scrolls and notes before he closed it once more and the blood seal reset glowing white before fading to black as the locks reset and sealed the safe as he closed the drawer, "There all locked up."

Sayaka smiled, "Good, now that you're finished how about getting ready, we have our first mission in half an hour or did you get so sucked up into your project that you forgot about it? We're meant to be meeting Anko-sensei at the tower to get our first mission."

Kenta shook his head, "No I didn't forget Sayaka-chan, I'm just not seeing it as that big a deal, it isn't like we're getting a high priority mission on our first day." he explained as he started to gather up the now blank sheets of paper that were on the ground, "Sarutobi-sensei told me that fresh out of the academy Genin are given D-rank missions to test them and build up their experience. Missions of that rank are nothing more than glorified public chores like weeding, dog walking, street cleaning, public service stuff, and the really bad part is that every Genin team has to do at least thirty missions of that rank before they can qualify for the higher ranked stuff." he said as he stood up with a thick stack of papers in his hand, "So forgive me if I'm not that anxious to get started early on our month of public chores. I don't know why those kind of missions aren't given to us as final year academy students to prepare us before we get out of the academy, seems like a waste of a month if you ask me." he said setting the sheets on his desk.

Sayaka sighed, "Yeah you're probably right, but everyone's got to start somewhere, and hopefully if we get there early, we won't get one of the crappy missions, I heard from Kaa-chan that there's supposedly this demon cat that's a plague on all the Genin teams because it keeps running away and they have to catch it."

Kenta gave an amused scoff, "I'd actually hope for that one. Me and Midnight would scare that thing so bad that it'd never run away again, ain't that right Midnight?" he called to his partner.

Midnight gave a bark in reply and agreement with his master, hoping they did get that mission now.

Sayaka giggled, "Yeah you're probably right, Anko-sensei would probably skin the poor thing and make boot liner out of it, and a pair of mitten to go along with them if we got that mission." she said as she lifted Kenta's flak jacket from his bed tossing it to him, "Now hurry up and get dressed we've got a mission to go and start."

Kenta chuckled, "Ok, just give me a minute, I need to get on my proper kit, so can you step outside while I get dressed," he said before giving her a teasing smirk as he channelled his inner Anko for a bit of fun, "or not, I don't mind." he said giving Sayaka a grin as she blushed a shade of red that would make Hinata jealous before she made a beeline out of the front door leaving a chucking Kenta to get dressed.

Scene break

Ten minutes later Sayaka, Kenta with Midnight between them were walking up to the Hokage tower, Kenta still chuckling slightly while Sayaka pouted with her arms crossed.

"I can't believe you said that." she shook her head in a disbelieving tone.

Kenta chuckled, "And I can't believe you can actually turn that shade of red."

Sayaka growled in response, "I did not turn red!" she snapped in annoyance and embarrassment.

Kenta put up his hands in a take it easy gesture, "Alright-alright, whatever you say." he said in a mollified tone before smirking playfully, "It was more of a beat root colour actually, now that I think about it." he added before ducking at Sayaka swiped for the back of his head as they reached the tower yard entrance as Anko stepped around the corner seeing the pair and smirked seeing the action.

"Well good morning my cute little Genin," she said in a sing song tone, "care to share what's got you trying to give Kenta a smack this morning Sayaka? Not normally something we see, must have done something to really get your panties in a twist."

Sayaka huffed crossing her arms looking away, "Just being an even bigger idiot than usual."

Anko raised an eyebrow and looked to Kenta who was chuckling, "Care to explain?" she asked interested now.

Kenta shrugged, "Sayaka stopped by my apparent this morning and helped me out with my Fūinjutsu project, that's ready for testing now thanks to her giving me the idea to fix its problem, after she told me to get dressed cause we only had half an hour to get here for our mission, I may or may not have suggested she step out of the apparent unless she wanted to say for a free show of me changing, and she may or may not have blushed a shade of red resembling a beat root before legging it out my front door." he explained trying not to chuckle from the memory.

Sayaka was fighting back a blush from the memory as Anko nodded sagely, before shrugging, "So I was close," she said looking to Sayaka, "your panties aren't twisted, they're just damp."

Sayaka's eyes widened at Anko's bluntness, "Anko-sensei!" she cried out in embarrassment as even Kenta had the decency to look away trying not to show his own embarrassment Anko's bluntness, that he should have expected.

Anko shook her head chuckling before ending in a smirk, "Alright then, Genin thoroughly embarrassed, check. Now let's get to what we're going to be doing today, follow me." she said before turning and heading back into the tower yard, both Genin following her neither meeting the eyes of the other still embarrassed, with Midnight following behind now.

Coming up to the side of the steps of the entrance into the tower Anko turned to address the pair, "Alright, Genin and mutt," *insert Midnight's growl here*, "I suppose you both already know what fate awaits all new Genin teams when they start their missions, the dreaded wave of D-rank missions, or as I like to call them, the dumbass ranked missions, so simple any dumbass Genin can do them."

Both Sayaka and Kenta smirked at the comment before Anko cleared her throat to continue, "now normally we'd be heading into the tower, and if we were a normal Genin team we'd be taking the standard dumbass ranked missions, and work at a snail's pace for the next month doing a single mission a day until we reached the thirty mission quota by the end of the month, before we can finally start on the C-rank missions, or again as I like to call them, the Crappy paying missions. Most Genin only think they're good cause the pay increase it about ten times that of the dumbass ranked ones, trust me it's not all that good." she said before smirking, "But as I said that would be if we were a normal Genin team, and there's nothing normal about this team in the slightest," she said with a proud looking smirk, "and it just hit me this morning how, with this teams skills, we are going to be the best team mission wise there is and leave the other teams in the dust with our mission completion rate."

Kenta crossed his arms, "Oh and how do you figure that when there's less of us than there are of them, some missions would take the same length of time regardless of how skilled we are, some ones can't be rushed."

Sayaka nodded in agreement, "Yeah, plus I don't really see the point in doing any more than the necessary amount of the D-ranks till we can pass to do the serious missions."

Anko nodded, "And normally I would as well, except given that we're down one team member we need to prove that we can pull our weight even more than the other teams, so we're going to take this first month and do as many of the dumbass missions as we can, while at the same time you'll be taking specialised training sessions with me, and to accomplish this, we'll be using Kenta here as our secret weapon."

Kenta blinked, "Me? How am I a secret weapon? I'm good but…" he started to say only to stop as Anko gave him an "are you serious" stare, "Um what am I missing here?"

Anko sighed shaking her head, "I swear, sometimes you can be so smart, and other times I swear that mutt of yours has more brains than you" *insert Midnight's bark here*, "do I have to spell it out for you, with the size of your chakra reserves and the sear number of Kage Bunshin you can make…"

Kenta blinked, "You want to use my Kage Bunshins to do the missions for us!?" he said in realisation before slapping his forehead, "Why the hell didn't I think of that?" *up in the Hokage's office Hiruzen looked up from his little orange book, "I know exactly how you feel"*

Anko laughed, "Now, you're getting it. each day while they're out there doing the missions bringing in the cash and boosting our mission numbers, you two will be in special training for the rest of the month that I arranged last night when this idea came to me, and the first lesson is set up to start in twenty minutes, so," she said as she took out a scroll from her pocket and tossed it to Kenta, "there are fifty Dumbass missions in there, make with the Kage Bunshin so we can get going already."

Kenta smirked as he turned and took a few steps away, "No problem." he said before raising his hands into the cross hand sign before calling out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" before he was engulfed in smoke followed by the rest of the area in front of him, only for it to fade seconds later revealing a veritable army of Kenta's standing in front of them.

"Alright!" Kenta called out to them all, "Line up in squads of three to receive your missions." he called out as all the Bunshins started moving and forming teams as they lined up in them, once they were ready Kenta tossed the scroll to one of them, "Hand them out, one per squad, any squads without are to report to the usual training area and start working on chakra control exercises and disperse at the usual time." Kenta said before turning back to a smirking Anko and grinning Sayaka.

"Alright now that that's done," Anko said before looking to Midnight, "you can go with one of the Bunshin groups mutt, the type of training we're going to be doing isn't for animals."

Midnight whined in sadness at being dismissed and looked to his master to say differently but Kenta shook his head, "Sorry buddy, Anko's orders," he said as he kneeled down and scratched the large dog behind the ear, "Why don't you go and see if one of the teams got that demon cat mission, maybe hunting down the fur ball will make for a fun day, alright, just try not to scare it to much the first time, I want to help the next," he suggested getting a bark of approval for his partner before he trotted off to the teams.

Anko nodded, "Alright come on then you two, we're burning daylight," she said as they headed towards one of the other exits to the compound to where ever it was they were going.

Scene break

It was another twenty or so minutes of walking before the trio stopped at their destination, a large building that was built in a clearing away from the rest of the structures.

Looking up Sayaka and Kenta couldn't help but be intimidated by its size, its cold metallic grey paint giving off a cold feel to the building, and the only entrance was a metal door with a slot cover peep hole.

Walking up to the door Anko knocked on the door in a rhythmic sequence that both Genin realised was a security knock and instantly committed it to memory in case they needed it in the future.

Seconds later the slot opened and a set of squinting eyes looked out at them for a split second before the slot closed up again and the sound of several locking mechanisms being released could be heard before the door opened with a click. Swinging open to reveal a man dressed in the standard Chūnin uniform with squinted eyes and a small pointed goatee.

"Morning Anko," the Chūnin said giving a small smirk, "getting to work early today as usual I see."

Anko smirked back, "You know it Ranka, gotta give these two their first lessons," she said gesturing to Sayaka and Kenta over her shoulder, "I see Ibiki's got you on door duty again," she smirked, "What'd you do to piss him off this time?"

Ranka shrugged, "Got me, sometimes I think he's trying out a new form of psychological torture, boring me to death," he smirked stepping out of the way to let the three inside before closing the door behind them.

The three of them walked down a narrow corridor for several meters before coming to a room with a few chairs and a table, as they entered Kenta took note of the interior, plain and with very little colour anywhere, at the other side there was a large door that lead to a hallway with many other doors and stairs up and down at the far end. Coming to a halt Anko turned to face them a serious look on her face.

"Alright you two this is where shit gets real." she said sounding more serious than either had heard her before.

Sayaka gulped, "Anko-sensei what is this place?" she asked a little concerned.

Anko held her arms out gesturing around them, "This my little Genin is one of the multiple branch offices of the Torture and Intelligence gathering department with in Konoha, well one of the lesser known ones at least." she said lowering her hands.

Kenta blinked hearing that as he looked around, Anko had taken him to a large building she had said was the T&I office before back about a month into his training, it had been where he'd met some of the people Anko had worked with, and now he couldn't help but shake his head suppressing a smirk, 'Of course they'd have more secure buildings, a building with the kanji "Konoha Intelligence division" stencilled above the entrance isn't exactly covert', "And just what are we doing here, Anko?" he asked as he looked back at her.

Anko smirked, "That's simple, follow me," she said turning again heading down the corridor on the other side of the room, "Today we're starting your more specialised training, that will be relevant on this team." she explained as they stopped at one of the doors and walked in.

The room was a small box room with a metal table in its centre, and a couple of chairs set around it, the table had heavy metal clasps bolted to it that looked to be for restraining whoever was set at the opposite side of the table, a few meters from the nearest wall with a one way glass mirror on it. There was also a range of various sharp implements on the far wall, each looked as painful as the last, ranging from sharp, long, needles, to curved blades and painful looking devices used to inflict maximum pain, both Genin couldn't help but feel a little green imagining what some of them were used for.

Clearing her throat Anko gestured to the two of them to take seats on two of the chairs away from the table, as they did as they were bid, she leaned on the table the serious look still on her face as she spoke.

"Alright I'm not going to sugar coat this, starting today I will be giving you two a three week crash course in interrogation and torture methodology,��� she said bluntly as both Genin's eyes widened hearing her, "and there is going to be plenty of opportunity for the both of you to get hands on in this, as it will be a learning experience in all manner of the word." she said as she watched both her Genin's reactions to this, seeing their faces pail slightly she continued.

"Now I can understand that you are reluctant to the idea and I don't blame either of you for that, I blame that more to the academy's teachings," she said with a grimace, "most Genin that come out of the academy green around the gills and it's usually much later in their careers, before they choose or are placed into a specific division with in the village, most Genin teams are made with specific purposes in mind, as I'm sure you've worked that out." she explained as both Genin nodded, "These teams are to help train Genin to get used to working as a unit when they are assigned their divisions, usually when they reach Chūnin or Tokubetsu Jōnin." she explained, "That is if they survive that long, and most don't because they freeze up at their first enemy encounter or the first time they injure another person enough to draw blood." she said watching both of them with careful eyes as she watched the emotions play across their faces, she couldn't exactly blame them for their reluctance as most don't have the mindset for torture, that generally came with time, but she was doing this for a reason, one they needed to know, "I need to know that neither of you two is going to lose it out there on the field and freeze up because it's shit like that, that will get people killed. Losing your lunch over something gruesome and foul is one thing, and trust me it's guaranteed to happen cause it does even to the best of us, but freezing up like a little shit when there are enemies around cannot happen out there."

Both Sayaka and Kenta sat in silence as Anko talked, both feeling unsure about the lessons they were going to get, neither was anxious to inflict pain on others to get information from them, both for different reasons.

Anko crossed her arms over her chest as she shook her head, "Look, I know that you both can hold your own in a fight, heck I've fought you, Kenta more times than I can count in your training, I know how good you are and that's a fact. I know you can get your hands dirty when you need to, but I need to know how far you are actually willing to go and I need to know that before our first C-rank mission cause I can guarantee that unless you're willing to go all the way, you aren't going to be able to cut it out in the real world."

The three sat in silence as Anko finished, the cold, harsh, reality of her words setting in on just what it meant to be a shinobi, she didn't have to say it for both of them to know what she meant by going all the way, they'd have to be willing to take the life of another at a moment's notice on a mission if that's what was required of them, they'd have to be able to torture, and inflict pain to get information they needed in order to complete their objective, to put their feelings and morality aside in order to complete their missions. This was what it meant to be a shinobi, the mission came first.

Sayaka swallowed before speaking, "Will we be doing it often?" she asked getting a raised eyebrow from Anko like it was a stupid question, "Torture I mean, I understand that taking lives is part of being a shinobi, I knew that starting the academy and taking a life is one thing, but all my life I've wanted to be an Iryō-Nin, hurting people in combat and taking lives is one thing, but torturing, inflicting pain to get information…" she said not sure how to continue.

Anko took a deep breath and exhaled nodding, "I see, I had anticipated this but to be honest I don't exactly know the answer for you. Our team's specialities fall under two categories, assault and intelligence gathering. This team was designed around those to objectives, and you were placed on this team for because of your skills as an Iryō-Nin." she explained as Sayaka looked to her in her own confusion, "While this team's primary purpose will be as an assault team, as that is what the village needs mostly. Interrogation will be part of our skill set and will be applied when necessary, we won't go looking for it but when it does come up you will be trained for it." Anko said before looking at Sayaka with a reassuring smile, "Both of you will have your roles to play in interrogations. While you both will be taking these lessons on the field, the only ones actually doing any torturing will be me or Kenta depending on the circumstances. Your job Sayaka will be as the attending Iryō-Nin, same as the three currently on call on this floor, to treat the subject after the interrogation or should the session be pushed to the extreme keep them alive long enough for us to get all the information, you will not be getting hands on in the sessions unless you want to." Anko explained as Sayaka nodded in understanding, "But given that we may be doing interrogations on the field, I wanted you in the room to witness the sessions seeing as you won't exactly have the option of stepping out of the room on a field interrogation, it will help you prepare for the inevitable."

Sayaka nodded knowing that Anko was right and feeling slightly better knowing that she wouldn't be risking breaking the oath she as an Iryō-Nin to cause unnecessary harm when she first started volunteering at the hospital treating injured shinobi, something not many academy students did.

Both Sayaka and Anko looked to Kenta to see his reaction to hearing that he'd be the second interrogator on the team, and were a little worried by what they say. As Kenta sat with his head lowered his hair shading his eyes, neither sure what to make of him, as he slowly reached to his right shoulder gripping it slightly, both Kunoichi looked at him eyes filled with concern and worry.

"Kenta-Kun." Sayaka spoke slightly gently to him.

After several second Kenta spoke in a low voice, "It will serve a purpose, and will not be undeserved." he said making both Kunoichi look at him in confusion as Kenta sat back with a sigh, "The torture will have a purpose and won't be pointless, just for the purpose of inflicting pain, and it's not like those we actually torture won't deserve it. They'll be bandits, enemy shinobi, criminals, they'd have earned the pain we inflict." he said as both Kunoichi seemed to get what he was saying.

Anko nodded, "Yes they would, we're not in the business of interrogating and torturing little old ladies here, anyone we put the screws to won't be innocent."

Kenta nodded in response, "Then I'm fine with it." he said in a tone of finality as Anko nodded back to him as she pushed herself up from the desk.

"Good, cause like I said before we came here, I've scheduled multiple sessions for you both over the next three weeks, Kenta you'll be with me in the interrogations while Sayaka your time will be split fifty-fifty between the interrogation rooms and shadowing the on call Iryō-Nins on the same floor as us when they have to treat the scum being interrogated. So you'll get used to the different types of damage you might have to treat on the field. Now you two wait right here and I'll be back with the subject of your first lesson, I picked a real peach of a guy for your first session." Anko smirked heading to the door, walking out with a final "This should be fun." before closing the door leaving the two Genin alone in the room to their thoughts and each other.

Sayaka glanced at Kenta still worried, "Kenta-Kun, are you sure you'll be…" she started to ask but stopped when Kenta shook his head.

"I'll be fine Sayaka-chan," Kenta said trying to keep himself calm, "I should have figured this would be part of our training when Anko was assigned as our sensei, she's been in the T&I department since before I met her, I should have realised that we'd be given lessons like these." Kenta reasoned swallowing slightly, "While I may not like the idea of inflicting pain on someone, as long as it serves a purpose I'll be fine, if it was inflicting pain for pains sake then I might have had a problem but I'll be fine."

Sayaka nodded slightly still not sure what to make of Kenta, while she had known him now for over six years and spent nearly every day with him since the massacre of her clan at her brothers hand, there were still secrets that he kept from her, mostly it was only small things, like where in his apartment he hid his Pocky stash which she still hadn't found in all these years, but the one that stood out the most was where he got his scars from, or rather, one in particular. The one on his right shoulder that seemed to cause him pain at times judging by how he gripped it, she had seen it only a few times over the years and one thing was clear it wasn't a simple cut that was healed poorly, it had been a serious injury where he had been stabbed because there was a mirroring scar on the back of his shoulder as well from where whatever it had been that had stabbed him had either entered or exited. She had tried to ask Naruto about it in the past but he had refused to talk about it, commenting only that it was a painful memory for the both of them asking her not to ask about it again, and so she hadn't, but she still held hope that one day that he might tell her just what had happened.

***Reader digression is advices from this point on***

***Mild torture scene ahead***

The pair sat in relative silence for the next couple of minutes before the door of the interrogation room opened again and Anko came back in, carrying a slim brown folder, followed by two other interrogators both pulling and shoving along a third man who the pair assumed was the one they'd be interrogating.

He had a hood over his head so they couldn't see his face, they realised it would make the man more compliant given he couldn't see where he was, and Kenta marked it as a strategic power play move designed to give them more control over the prisoner, on top of his hands being bound and being out numbered the man had no other options left but to do as he was told, though the guy apparently didn't realise this as he was still resisting the interrogators as they manhandled him into the seat before undoing his hand bindings and bound him to the desk before ripping his hood off, that was when Kenta got his first look at the man he'd be assisting in interrogating.

He was a dark-skinned man with mid length messy black hair, a scraggly looking black goatee, and a jagged X-shaped scar above his right eye, which was blackened and partly swollen due to what Kenta assumed had been either a previous interrogation session or his own stupidity from giving one of the guards or fellow prisoners lip and getting his comeuppance, same thing with his split bottom lip, that had clearly been the result of a back hand from someone.

With the man now secured the two interrogators left the room leaving an eager grinning Anko and the two Genin alone with their subject to have at it, which Anko did.

"Alright I believe some introductions are in order for this first of our hopefully many little meet and greets." Anko said with a smirk, before she opened the folder she had in her hand and started reading the contents out, "Name of scum bag, Higuma, no last name known, age unimportant, land of origins, Kumogakure, accused crimes: assault, theft, murder, kidnapping, rape, selling of slaves and illegal contraband, known to be affiliated with a slaver ring that has crossed the borders into the fire nation in recent months," she finished as she closed the folder before tossing it to the side not caring where it landed as she smirked at the man, Higuma, "Oh goodie I love it when I get to work on your type, I'm going to enjoy this, and you couldn't have come at a better time, you see these two." she said gesturing to Kenta and Sayaka, "Well they're both here to watch and learn how an interrogation session is carried out by yours truly, and I'm going to enjoy showing them all the different interrogations methods I know, with you as my lovely little demonstration dummy." she said her grin turning sadistic as she looked at him glaring at her, "Now for today I'll be focusing mainly on your hands as, take notes you two, is one of the areas on the body with the highest number of pain receptors thus where the most pain can be inflicted with very little effort, not to say there aren't other fun way and places to inflict pain, the top five most effective being the hands, lips, tongue, feet and of course the genitals, but for today we're focusing on the hands, won't this be fun." she grinned, "I just hope you can last long enough for me to give my two cute Genin here a detailed lesson on just how many ways there are to torture just the hands, cause I can assure you there are a lot." she said before walking past the table and over to the wall to browse the tools for a moment.

Higuma spat at her growling, "Do your worst bitch, I'm not telling you shit! You and your two little shits here can fuck off, you hear me!" he spat at her.

Smirk still in place Anko turned having chosen her tool, a pair of, cast iron, curved pliers, "Oh goodie, I was hoping you'd say that. First lesson then." she said before moving at a speed that Higuma couldn't react to before he found his head pushed back and a strap across his forehead keeping his head back, seconds before he felt Anko pinning his hand to the table his fingers stretched out, and he heard Anko continue talking, "Lesson one, while it might be tempting to start breaking fingers and cutting bits off the more subtle ways are the best and leave a lasting impression. For example targeting where there are the most nerve endings will cause the greatest pain, and on the hands that's one of two places, the finger tips, or the eponychium, which can most easily targeted by the simple act of the pulling of a finger nail," she said as she took the pliers and used them to grip Higuma's over grown fingernail before she pulled and twisted as she pried the finger nail from its place painfully at the same time as extracting a painful yell from Higuma as he felt the pain rip through him.

Both Sayaka and Kenta did their best not to wince at the scene, as well as not to think about what pain Higuma must have been feeling, but both hardened their resolves as the list of charges the man had no doubt committed still rang in their ears, this was nothing compared to what he put his victims through and he deserved every bit of it.

"Ahhhhh, fuck you bitch!" Higuma yelled as he felt the pain being to ebb and his finger throbbing painfully as his nail bed bled after having his nail pulled and twisted out.

Anko for her part was ignoring him as she examined the finger nail still in the pliers before she just tossed it away, "Awe quit your whining, it wasn't that bad, and look just nine more to go, before we can get started on the next juicy little part, there are so many after all." she grinned.

Higuma paled slightly, "What the fuck is wrong with you, you haven't even asked me any fucking questions yet!"

Anko paused before laughing to herself, "I guess I haven't, have I?" she laughed before looking to the one-way mirror and waving, "Sorry about that Mozuku, I'll remember this time, got a little caught up on the lesson." she laughed.

It was then that the two Genin looked at the mirror and realised that there had been someone inside it the whole time watching, both had been grateful now that they hadn't said much while Anko was away that whoever was in there could have overheard.

Anko quickly turned back to Higuma, "Now let's see what were those questions again… ah yes," she said before as fast as the last time she pinned Higuma's other hand gripping the same finger nail on the opposite hand and repeated the process of pulling and twisting and she pulled the nail and another scream from the slaver free, before she turned to Kenta and Sayaka holding up the finger nail to them, "You see the way it's twisting, that's because of all my twisting, I'm not only pulling it from the root, I'm also using the nail to hurt the nerves in the nail bed itself, just a little trick I picked up," she said before tossing the nail away.

"Ahhhhh, you twisted bitch!" Higuma roared in pain as both his arms shook from the experience.

Anko just ignored him, "There now that we're all even let's get to the questions." she said as she sat on the edge of the table as she twirled the pliers in her hand, "You see we're already aware of your little slave ring that has moved into our lands, we know you're group's supplies slaves on demand for your clients, which you get from the small villages you attack and the settlements you pillage, where you kill off the men before raping the women and killing them too, it's only the children you take to sell, children as young as nine or less, with their families gone, sold into slavery to all sorts of places, brothels, work houses, even to serve as slaves and servants to some high paying folk who use them and then throw them away when they're done, never alive of course and only after they've put them through years of hell."

Hearing this both Sayaka and Kenta were both incensed and disgusted beyond all matter of the words looking at what they now knew to be a monster before them, all form of pity stricken from their faces, replaced with ice cold glares as Anko continued.

"Now, what you're going to do, is that you're going to spill every little bit of information you know about your little group, names of your little friends, locations of all your bases, clients who buy from you, potential buyers, the whole operation, and the sooner you start talking the sooner the pain stops," Anko said as she started to look at her own nails, "you see the actually reason I torture first ask questions later wasn't for my students benefit as it was yours, I wanted to give you a preview of just what is to come, I find it loosens lips quicker when a person has a taste of what they will get if they don't talk" she said before stopping and looking to Higuma and narrowing her eyes, "and yet I still don't hear you talking, perhaps I wasn't clear." she said before she slammed the pliers down on Higuma's hand making him yell out as he flexed his hand in pain before his middle finger was grabbed and Anko pulled yet another of his nails as Higuma's cries doubled from the pain.

"Ahhhhh, you fucking whore, fuck, Ahhhhh, you can keep doing that all fucking day cause I'm not talking, you think this is going to break me, ha, I've had worse fucking paper cuts than this bitch. If this is your best, you may as well let one of your fucking brats try," Higuma spat at Anko only to be on the receiving end of a back hand from Anko pliers still in hand.

"That's not the kind of talking I was thinking of," Anko said as she stood up and smirked, "but then again perhaps you're right, I have been hogging all the fun." she said before turning to Kenta and Sayaka and held out the pliers to Kenta, "How about it, want to take a crack at this egg see if you can make him crack?"

Kenta paused for a moment and looked at Anko seeing the seriousness in her eyes, she may have been putting on a show and having a little bit of fun, but she meant what she said. With a nod Kenta rose from his seat and stepped forward taking the pliers from Anko as she stepped back to beside Sayaka and watched as Kenta stepped forward again, looking at the pliers and then to Higuma glaring at him, and Higuma glaring back.

Looking back to the pliers Kenta paused for a moment as the reality of what he was about to do set in, 'Am I capable of this? Torturing another human being, is there really a difference between this and…' he started to think but was pulled out of his thoughts when something wet hit his face and the feeling made him snap back to the present, his hand went to his face cheek as he realised what had happened, this bastard had just spat at him and was now laughing at him.

"You think I'm going to break for you, like hell I'm going to break to some snot nosed little fuck who probably hasn't even seen his first pair of tits yet." Higuma laughed.

Kenta felt his rage boil inside as he glared at the bastard and it settled in him as it answered his unfinished thoughts for him as he strode forward to Higuma's right using the pliers he gripped the thickest joint of the man's pinkie finger reversing his grip on the pliers before he twisted them towards Higuma as a sickening pop and crack filled the room followed by the loudest yells from Higuma yet as Kenta completely dislocated and broke his pinkie finger and knuckle.

Both Sayaka and Anko winced before Anko started applauding, "Very nice, not bad for an opener, and you put enough force on it to break it not just dislocated it. I give it a seven for result but a five for method and presentation, if you had drawn it out more you could have increased the overall pain, but that's the good thing about hands, there's always the opposite digit for you to try and improve your technique, why don't you even his other hand up the same way." she said gesturing to the other pinkie.

Kenta nodded and moved to the other side of Higuma and got his other pinkie in the same grip as the last and started to twist, this time following Anko's advice and applying the same constant slow pressure as Higuma's yelling increased as his pain went up for several slow and very painful second before a second pop and crack sounded followed by more of Higuma's yells.

Anko started laughing, "Oh yes that's definitely a ten." she said as she walked closed inspecting both of the man's mangled and broken pinkies, "Very nice, extra credit marks for creative thinking and good symmetry, I might just learn a thing or two myself" she grinned as she took the pliers, "so what's it going to be jackass, you gonna talk or do I follow my students example and start working inwards, see if I can't improve on his technique, maybe break each joint separately what do you think?" she said as she took the farthest joint of Higuma's right ring finger in the pliers, but before she could start twisting he started to speak through his yells.

"I'll talk, I'll talk." Higuma cried out his whole body shaking.

Anko's smile fell to a pout, "Ah shit, he broke already, guess you aren't such a tough guy after all.", she said before shrugging and twisting hard and fast anyway as the screaming renewed again as a new wave of pain hit Higuma from having one of another joint in his hand broken.

"WHAT THE FUCK! WHY!" Higuma cried out as he tried to fight through the pain.

Anko shrugged, "Call it an incentive not to lie to us, now, start talking or I even things up, you know how I love symmetry." she said as she moved to his left tapping the table in front of Higuma's left hand with the pliers.

"A-Alright, the group, i-it started in Kiri, I-I only joined when it branched out in Kumo, but most of the guys are from Kiri, those who were on my team, we came from Kumo, at least we did till you shits killed them." Higuma spat out at Anko in hatred.

Anko shrugged, "I ain't going to shed a tear over some Kumo slave traders, keep talking unless you want to join them… minus a few extremities that is, I can think of the perfect one for a rapist to loose." she grinned sadistically.

Higuma tensed at the threat before continued, "I was part of a five man cell, I don't know how many cells there are but there's got to be over fifty of us with the scales the bosses are working at across the nations."

Anko raised an eyebrow, "And just who are these bosses of yours?" she asked with interest.

Higuma shook his head, "I don't know, I've never seen them they're supposed to be some high up sort with large bounties but they're always moving from one base to another, we have a number of them set up in the different nations to store those we take, mostly from Kiri above the others, with the war going on. There's plenty of orphans, no one notices or asks questions when a few go missing." he said with a smirk.

Kenta saw red hearing him before surging forward driving his fist into Higuma's jaw with enough force to know two teeth out and bust open his lip again, before Kenta had Higuma by the throat glaring into the bastards face, "Say that again, and I'll gladly show you what it's like to lose those fingers instead of breaking them." he threatened before releasing Higuma's throat before pulling out a kunai from his pouch with speed and stabbing it into the man's right hand making him cry out in pain as his hand was run through its centre, "Talk!" Kenta yelled as he twisted the kunai with vigour making Higuma cry out more, his voice unable to get any louder than it was, "Where are your bases in the fire nation, how many are there, talk!"

Hearing the Higuma's cries of pain made Sayaka unwillingly flinch but not in pity for the man, but in worry and shock at what she was seeing. Never had she seen this side of Kenta before, sure he could be a little sadistic when it came to training, but she had never seen him truly angry before, his anger was normally a silent rage in the moments before he beat down whoever it was that angered him like when they had first meet and he beat the boys who were insulting her and then insulted Naruto, or the multiple times in their academy years when Sasuke had tried to prove himself superior, Kenta would put up with it quietly for so long before shutting him up with a beating in Taijutsu practice, a silence that usually lasted through the rest of the day and the next before Sasuke was back to running his mouth, but she had never seen him lose his cool like this over some words, the orphan comment must have struck a nerve.

Anko watched on with a neutral expression, she had to admit to herself that she was impressed quite a bit with Kenta's brutality, but she had been at this game long enough to know what she was seeing, he was running on the adrenaline his anger was giving him and acting on instinct letting his anger control him, she made a mental note to confront him about it afterwards but decided to let him continue like this for now, anger normally got results, while it wasn't her preferred go to in interrogations it still worked, and she couldn't say the bastard on the receiving end didn't deserve it and all the pain that came with it.

"Alright!" Higuma cried as Kenta twisted the kunai again ��I'll talk, I'll talk, we've got four bases in the land of fire, but I only know the locations of the two my group used," he said before crying out as Kenta twisted the kunai again, "we were never supposed to know where the others were or where to find them, it was set up that way so that if any of us ever got captured that none of us could give up the whole operation." he hurried to explain only to get another twist of the kunai in response.

Anko nodded as she heard his explanation, 'Smart bastards, compartmentalize the information that way there isn't a risk to the whole operation being blown by just one guy, it's a standard shinobi tactic used for long term assignments, even with two of their bases compromised they can still rebuild elsewhere and keep operations running, things just got interesting whoever these bosses are they're smarter than we thought,' she surmised to herself before she reached forward and took Kenta's shoulder, "That's enough." she spoke as she pulled Kenta back with enough force to let him know she was serious, he nodded and stepped back pulling the kunai from Higuma's hand as Anko stepped into his place, "You are going to give us the locations and guard numbers on both of the sites you know of, and every bit of that information had better be correct if not you'll find yourself back in here and next time we won't be so gentle." she threatened as Higuma nodded as best he could his head still restrained before Anko turned and gestured Kenta and Sayaka to the door out to the hall, they got the message and walked out followed by their sensei.

***Torture scene ends here***

As the door shut to the interrogation room Kenta let out a pained breath before he spoke, "Anko, I'm…" he started to say only to be cut off by Anko.

"There's no need to apologise Kenta, I get it, I've been in this game long enough to recognise what I saw in there, you let your anger get the better of you, you let his words rile you up and then you hit him with your anger driving you forward on instinct." Anko explained as Kenta nodded slowly, Anko sighed, "I've seen it done before, anger can be a great way to intimidate a subject, most like that prick in there would break in the first few minutes, and it's usually what first time interrogators go with in their first interrogations, the adrenaline helps you to ignore what it actually is you're doing to another human being, helps you to overrule your sense of right and wrong and just focuses you on inflicting pain to make the subject talk, the kunai was a nice touch by the way, I doubt that he'll be using that hand for anything anytime soon."

Kenta went a little green as he felt his stomach churn as he remembered that, he had been so enraged at the time he just wanted Higuma to suffer for what he said, he hadn't even thought about what he was doing.

Seeing his reaction Anko put her hand on his shoulder as he had started to double over obviously starting to feel sick at his own actions, "How do you feel Kenta, talk it out, talk about what you've just done." She explained as gently as she could.

Kenta flinched but nodded slowly, "I, I honestly don't know, I know I'm meant to feel about what I've just done, and I don't know what's worse, knowing how I should be feeling or not feeling it, I feel sick to my gut at what I did, the action itself, knowing that I could do that to another human makes me feel like I've taken a punch to the gut, but at the same time I… I feel justified," he said not believing his own words, "I feel justified in doing what I did, just the thought of how many innocent lives that… thing, has ruined and I feel justified for even inflicting a small portion of what his victims must have gone through, it's not who I did it to it's the act that I'm disgusted in if that even makes sense."

Sayaka stepped forward and put her hand on Kenta's other shoulder and smiled sadly at him, "It does Kenta." she said gently trying to help him as he gave her a small smile in response before grimacing at the feeling in his gut.

Anko nodded in agreement, "She's right Kenta, what you're feeling is normal for some, your mind is trying to rationalize your actions, I'd have been worried if you had said that you didn't feel anything, even though what you did in there was tame by my standards, for a first time session that was a bit farther than I has expected you to go, so it's understandable," she said giving him a small smile, "Though I know you don't want to hear this it's the truth, the sessions will get easier over time, you'll start to see the victim of your subject, focus on them, focus on who else the bastard on the other side of the table will hurt if you don't get the information you need, use that as your driving force instead of your anger, cause it will last you a hell of a lot longer than your adrenaline will, and will help you to sleep better for it."

Kenta nodded as he took a couple of deep breaths and did as Anko recommended focusing on Higuma's victims, and those he would have hurt as he started to feel the feeling in his gut lessen, but not go away completely, that was good, he was still feeling something about it, because no matter how much he tried to deny it Higuma was still another human being no matter how many inhuman things he did, he had still inflicted pain, tortured another human being, and he knew because of that the feeling deep inside would never fully go away and he didn't want it to because he knew that when it did that he'd have finally crossed the line and become as bad as those he was torturing.

Anko nodded as she watched Kenta try to come to terms with his own feelings before looking to her other charge, "And how do you feel Sayaka, after what you just saw Kenta do in there, what you witnessed him doing to another human being. If you can even call that scum that."

Sayaka tensed at the question and she could feel Kenta tense as well, waiting for her response and she frowned looking down as she remembered the events that happened in the room and felt a shiver go down her spine in remembrance before taking a breath to reply, "I'm not going to lie and say that what I saw didn't disturb me on some level," she said as she paused to take another breath, "and while I understand what happened was necessary, I know that as I am right now, I could never do that to another person, with a calm mind at least, out of anger I guess no one really knows what they're capable of until the time comes."

Anko nodded, "I see, and what did you think of Kenta's little bout of anger in there, I saw you flinch away from it when it happened."

Sayaka nodded, "It was more out of shock than anything else, it was just so out of character for him that I didn't know what I was seeing, it was probably the first time I've ever seen Kenta truly get angry like that, and while it was a little freighting, I understand how and why it happened and I don't hold it against you Kenta, anyone can lose themselves to anger, it only proves that you're human like the rest of us."

Kenta let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding as he nodded his head, his body relaxing as he heard Sayaka's words, while in his head he was thanking whatever deity that was watching over him for her understanding.

Anko nodded, "Good, then you both pass your first lesson, the first is always a tough one, accepting what yourself as well as what others are capable of is the first step, today was just getting your feet wet and preparing you for the lessons that will follow in the coming days, I want you both to go home now and take the rest of the day to come to term with what you've experienced here today for yourselves, and I want to see you both at the normal time in front of the Hokage tower for your next lesson, got it?" she said giving them a small smile each as they both nodded to her, "Good now get out of here" she said gesturing down the hall.

Both Genin turned and started to walk down the hallway in silence heading for the exit, the events of that day still weighing heavy on their minds as they made their way out of the building.

Anko watched in silence as her two Genin walked out letting out a small breath as she watched them leave, just as the door next to the interrogation room opened as the large figure of Ibiki stepped out, dressed in his usual business attire of his dark grey uniform and black trench coat with his bandana Hitai-ate covering the top of his head and forehead.

"That kid has sure grown up over the years" Ibiki said openly as he looked down the corridor in the direction the two Genin went, "and if I've said it once I'll say it again, that kid's got potential, he didn't even flinch at breaking that scums finger, not something most his age could claim to."

Anko nodded, "I saw," she said plainly before taking a breath, "He had me worried for a few minutes in there, given his history I wasn't sure he'd have been able to go through with it a second time, guess he's just stronger than I gave him credit for."

Ibiki looked at her with a smirk, "Look at you worrying over some Gaki, you're not going soft on me are you?" he laughed.

Anko scoffed, "Not a chance, you're just going senile in your age old timer, guess it happens to the best of us." she joked as she turned and started back towards the interrogation room to get the rest of the information from Higuma about the slave ring.

Ibiki gave an amused laugh as he shook his head before looking down the corridor toward the exit, the two Genin long since gone as he smirked knowingly, 'that kid's going to be something special one day,' he thought before shaking his head and turning to head back in to observe the rest of the session hoping the Higuma had gotten a second wind and he'd get to have a crack at him before the day was through, it was scum like him that made his job all the more satisfying.