29 [First C-rank! part-1]

From the next day onwards we went back to the same schedule of D-ranks and training that we had before the B-rank mission, I grinded my wind mastery just like in the old days instead of studying about ninjutsu and genjutsu as Kurenai-sensei said she needed to whip Hinata and Shino into shape… It took me a while before progress really started showing on the nature transformation exercise…

"Come on team! Let's get some lunch and then mission time!"

'I hate those D-ranks...'

We all sat down on the ground and unsealed our lunch boxes… 'Hmm...Mom's cooking is improving...wonder what level her skill is at...'

I sensed the presence of Kabuto again… 'Damnit doesn't he take a rest...' He was crouching down on a tree directly behind sensei and his stealth skills were quite good for Kurenai-sensei to not be able to detect it…'

"Umm Kurenai-sensei?"

"Yes, Tobi-kun"

"Has someone been assigned to watch over our team from the shadows?...don't react Hinata-chan, Shino..." I lower my voice so that he won't be able to hear it…

"Do you sense someone?" Kurenai sensei asked as she was calmly eating her riceball...Seeing her still eating we continued to eat but Kabuto suddenly darted backward intending to get lost in the forest…

"He's running..." I jump and made a beeline towards him as Hinata and Shino were by my side and Kurenai sensei completed our standard arrow formation…

'Let's try this out...'

'Wind release: shuriken' I took out three shurikens and coat them in wind chakra to make them sharper, faster, and overall deadlier… I aimed and flicked them towards the fleeing masked shape as his speed was too fast for us and we were being left behind…

My shurikens were already very fast but in addition to it, by using wind natured chakra their speed further increased...on top of it I controlled them with magnet release and my sensory ability to try and hack away at Kabuto…

His reflexes were up to the mark though as he successfully dodged each attack, even while fleeing… His black cloak had a lot of cuts though and some blood was flowing out of those cuts as the invisible wind blades surrounding the shurikens still managed to do some damage…

Kurenai-sensei went through some genjutsu but he quickly managed to break out of them for anyone to take advantage…

After a futile chase for a few minutes, he vanished in a clearing and his chakra melded with the ground and then there was no trace of him…

'That's a huge hole in my sensory skills...'

"Everyone alright?" Everyone was still alert as Kurenai-sensei started flaring her chakra in rhythmic beats… After that, she fussed over us for a few minutes before a team of anbu led by a toad-masked man appeared…

"What happen Jounin Kurenai..."

Kurenai-Sensei nodded to the Anbu team leader and replied, "My student is a sensor shinobi and he found out that a particular chakra signature has been keeping watch over the team for the last few days… As we were about to set up a trap for him, he probably figured it out that we know and fled...we chased after him but his speed was a little faster than me and I had a genin team so he got away..."

He signaled his team to scour the area as he started asking more questions to Kurenai-sensei… "Did he use any Jutsu's, any intel on his fighting style...possible country origins?"

As Kurenai-sensei shook her head I stepped forward, "He is most probably a medic-nin..."

The anbu-captain at me and said, "and why is that?"

"Well I can't be a hundred percent sure but I managed to hurt him a little with shuriken's but the way he kept running would not be possible unless he was healing those injuries..."

'Damn I can't tell what he is thinking...that toad mask is kind of funny though...'

"You a genin managed to hurt a jounin enough that he had to heal himself while he was fleeing…?" there was doubt and contempt in his tone so I pulled a shuriken out of my pouch and again used the same technique…

'Wind Release: shuriken'

A thin fine layer of wind chakra coated the shuriken and as I flicked it the layer extended to some 5cm in diameter with the spinning shuriken in its center… the shuriken went on to cleanly pass through 3 trees before the wind chakra was all used up and it fell on the ground…

"Well you probably didn't see it but the wind chakra is like an invisible blade surrounding the shuriken...so maybe it was his first time dealing with wind chakra flow so he messed up..."

A member of his team shunshin'd back to the clearing and handed 2 shurikens that had a little blood on them… I scanned the toad masked anbu's chakra to notice that his emotions have changed from contempt to surprise and intrigue…

"Hmm...this blood sample's will help a lot...Kurenai-san you would have to report the incident back at the Hokage residence while we will manage the investigation…"

Kurenai-sensei nodded and then signaled us to follow her as we all dashed towards the Hokage-sama's office… The three of us waited in the hallway as Kurenai-Sensei went into Hokage-sama's office in order to report the incident…

All three of us were a little rattled after today's incident, so we silently sat in our seats…

"Are you okay, Hinata-chan?" her face had a nervous expression as she was constantly looking around…

"Yes, I am Tobi-kun..." I looked at her with a questioning look so she continued, "I...I never thought someone would spy on us in our own village...I'm just thinking about that..."

"We are shinobi's Hinata-chan, you can't always be nice and happy...sooner or later you will...we all will have to make some sacrifices to protect our loved ones...The world isn't a nice place Hinata-chan, but don't worry too much okay...we are a team, I'll always be there so don't worry okay..." She gave me a grateful smile as a notification popped up in front of me…

[C-Rank Mission Accepted: Being a glorified guard...]

'...'