13 First mission

Kaname woke up earlier than assumed to - the sun was still below the horizon. She had enough time for hers wake up jog around the district after her little early morning warm-up, she unleashed hell upon her favorite training pole. One hour later she had to go to the meeting with her team.

"Congratulations. Your teamwork is the best in the last batch of the academy students, but you lack in the individual department, I will try to remedy that. For example, Maki-chan, you lack situational awareness - most likely, you would charge into a fight without thinking, is that right? About you, Takeshi-kun, you need additional oomph behind your attacks, your clan's techniques, are good for controlling your enemy. Now for you, Kaname-chan." the blonde-haired jōnin scratched his head, "You're the most prepared of them, It took me some time on where I could help you, but there is one thing I can give you some pointers at. I'm one of the best mind manipulators in Konoha, I will try to help to make your genjutsus even deadlier, I think I can help you as well in packing more punch with your taijutsu and kenjutsu." Their captain summarized.

"Inoichi-san, will we have to wait between you train each of us? Maybe we could spar while waiting?" Kaname proposed.

"Good idea, Kana-chan, but it's unnecessary. I have got it covered!"

His hands aligned in a weird seal looking like a plus sign, from a smoke cloud came out his two other exact copies.

"This is a clone technique called Shadow Cloning Jutsu, they are one of the few physical clones and got extremely high chakra requirements. Any physical damage done to one will dispel it, giving the caster all the knowledge the clone gained." Inoichi saw a small glint in Kaname's eyes.

All six of them went away in pairs for individual training, Kaname went with the original Inoichi.

"So that's how you all do it, Sensei, can you teach me this, please?" Kaname pleaded with a sweet smile.

'Haha, that's perfect for my plan!' Kaname thought of her new plan in pranking the Anbu corps.

"It's a B class jutsu, you need very developed chakra reserves to use them, you would lose consciousness with two clones and most likely die trying to get four of them. If you promise me to not use more than you are ready for, I can show you how to create them." Inoichi nodded towards her.

"I promise! So what will you teach me today?"

"First, we will discuss how you can make your genjutsu harder to detect. About the taijutsu, we can spar, but if you want more power behind your tiny hands, we will have to wait for my friend Chōza to get out of the hospital. With the kenjutsu, I can show you some techniques my late sensei Sakumo taught me, he was one of the most known Konoha's kenjutsu masters." her new teacher gloated. (AN: No idea when Sakumo was born, but he was approx. Sannin's age, 10 years older than Inoichi and 20 years older than Kakashi/Asuma/… .)

Four hours later, tired Kaname found her teammates lying on the ground.

"Wow, Maki-chan, I never took you for the cloud-watching type. Hahaha." she laughed out.

"*Growl* Shut up and lay here with us, Kana-chan," Maki replied.

"Hmm, you know what Take-kun? It's not so bad," whispered Kaname after laying on the grass and watching the clouds drift for five minutes.

"Heh, I told you so."

'Fuck this war, this team could reach an insane level if they had the time for training.' Their captain thought, watching his team bonding just after the first day of training.

"Now that you caught your breath, let's go to Hokage's tower to get our first mission," Inoichi said, a little mad at himself for stopping his team from resting.

Ten minutes later, they were inside Sandaime's office. "Why are we getting C-rank mission as the first one, Jiji? Umino-sensei told us missions start from D-rank." Kaname asked her foster grandfather.

"I'm sorry, Kana-chan, in the times of war all D-rank missions are postponed. I gave you pretty much the easiest one, just barely above the threshold of D-ranks. Team 9 must go to one of our outposts half the way towards Valley of the End, receive a report and get it back to Konoha. As far as I know, there won't be any enemy ninjas, but from a year ago, there were rumors about highwaymen groups rising there. Please exercise caution and return here in one-piece. Good luck." Hokage sadly explained the mission.

When the teens left the office, Sandaime had something else to say to Inoichi, "Please keep them safe, I couldn't stop the Council voting on postponing the D-ranks, they had the Daimyo's approval," he whispered.

"I will and I know, but Hokage-sama, you remember what letter C stands for in C-ranks?" replied sad Inoichi.

"Yes, I do, catastrophe… *Sigh* Good luck."

Soon the team met at the north gate, but this time they wore their combat gear. Kaname, thanks to her foster aunt, got herself a standard black Konoha combat uniform, upon each thigh she wore a kunai pouch, on the back of her hip, there was her tanto blade. The standard Konoha's leather armor was replaced with dark red plate armor, similar to the ones that Anbu wore - but in a different color. Beneath her armor, for double security, she got herself a mesh chain draped over her body. The additional weight didn't give her any problems, thanks to her brother's advice, as she entered the academy, she started wearing extra weights on her back, and each of her arms and legs. Every month, she added a little more weight to her training gear.

[AN: Don't ask me why it works, all questions should be delivered to the author of the original story :-)]

"Team 9, I see you are ready, here is the plan. The traveling distance from here to the outpost and back should take about three hours of non-stop running, we don't have any deadline, so we won't charge like bulls, I hope we can finish the missions in ten hours tops." Inoichi started, "We will move in tandem, I will go first, Maki-chan stay behind me, try to smell everything around us. Takeshi-kun, you are behind Maki, you are to provide support to whoever needs it. Kaname-chan will act as our back-shield - if she gets attacked, I want you Takeshi-kun to immediately provide help. If we find any opposition, first, we regroup and think it out. Any questions?"

"Yes! Inoichi-sensei, why are you going first? I have a pretty good nose, isn't it better for me to scout out before you?" Maki raised her hand in question.

"Yes, but in ambush situations, the head and the last ninja in tandem goes down first. As your Jōnin-captain, I have more chances to get out of it alive. And Kaname-chan has trained more than you two put together, I know she will survive long enough to receive help. Any more questions? Good, let's go." he finished and led them north.