Chapter 37

I re-did the ending of Chapter 36, you may want to go read that, I planned to just add maybe a hundred words and tie it up better...then it hit over 6,000 words.

...Whoops.

Originally, I was going to make Hikaru have a panic attack, then when Akari went to his home after knocking him out with a Genjutsu then leaving him at the Hospital, his father would reveal that his sister had been killed by Iwa-nin in the last war, then it would lead onto him self-harming through some reason I hadn't come up with yet.

Then I realized this story really doesn't need shit like that...so I deleted it. Sure, it set me back a ways, but I don't want to have another Chapter 27 on my hands, and I'm sure you boos don't want that either.

Also, ran into someone in the YouTube comments section who recognized me, so that was cool. If you're reading this boo, yes, it actually was me.

Chapter 37

"Ehh? How could you not tell us?"

Akari unrepentantly shrugged, ignoring Aiko's twitching eye. "It slipped my mind." What he was referring to was her birthday. It occurred only a week after she'd taken the Genin on their first D-rank mission, but she'd let it slip by without any fanfare. Of course, she, Naruto, Sei and Kana had all had dinner together to celebrate, but it was a much more private affair than most others had their birthdays.

To be perfectly honest, she was happy with that. Anko, Komachi, along with all the other nin she knew had no idea when her birthday was, which was how she liked it, spending time with close family. "But how are we meant to get you presents if we don't know?" Aiko yelled, waving his arms around for emphasis.

Akari folded her arms. "Aiko, I don't want presents and things like that. I'm far happier spending my time with those close to me. Maybe next year we can all have dinner together, but I don't want to be getting wrapped-up things I don't really care about. If you honestly see something you think I'd adore like a rare Fuinjutsu scroll or something then sure, go for it, but don't get me a trinket or whatever just because you couldn't find a present. I get presents for other people, sure, but I try to think of a present they would actually appreciate."

She thought back to Deidara. Sure, it didn't matter what the clay he used was, but damn if his eyes didn't light up on seeing the incredibly fine clay she'd gotten for him. "But...but we're still meant to get you something!" Akari rolled her eyes.

"You really aren't Aiko. Besides, I think getting you three was a pretty good early present for me." That was the truth. While sure they took up her time, having them around was great fun. Teaching them the wall-walking technique was also amazing, watching Hikaru's hesitant steps up the tree while Tachiko and Aiko struggled. Then Tachiko observed how Hikaru did it and tried to mimic him, eventually leaving Aiko behind still blasting holes in the tree as he tried to climb.

"Akari-san?" She looked over at the secretary. "The Hokage is ready for you now." Nodding her acknowledgement, she ushered the three Genin out of the seats and towards the door, sidestepping another team as they left. She didn't recognize the man leading them, but she gave them a wave as they passed. Even if only one of them returned her wave, that was still a success in her eyes.

She held the door open for her team, then letting the door swing shut as she walked into the room. After a few weeks of doing D-ranks, a lot of the hero-worship the three Genin held for the Hokage had diminished since he was the man constantly assigning them, in their own words, 'lame baby missions'. "Ahh, Akari-san, good to see you." Hiruzen greeted her as she faced him, a genial smile on his face, even as he pulled out papers from his desk.

Akari returned his greeting with a wave. "Heya Hokage-sama, you have another mission for us?" She ignored the pleading looks her Genin gave her, watching the Hokage instead. He'd made mention of whether she thought her team was ready for a C-rank mission last time she delivered the mission report, evidently trying to cover for the fact that Akari had absolutely no experience with a typical team progression. She thought they were ready, and that she could cover if something dumb happened, but the Hokage didn't go anywhere with it, merely accepting her words.

The man nodded, pulling one page out from the sheaf of papers, laying it down on his desk. "Indeed. I would normally give this to another team, but since you believe your team ready to handle this, well, I think you three would appreciate the change of difficulty, yes?" As he spun the page around so Akari could read it, her team all leaned in, still having not learned their lesson about mission reports.

So while they looked at the indecipherable page in incomprehension, Akari read what the document actually said, her eyebrows raising as she looked up at the Hokage. "Well, you certainly don't disappoint, Hokage-sama." Her brats all looked at her for answers, ones she was happy to provide. "This mission is a seek and destroy mission, our objective being the leader of a bandit group. We have to hunt him down somewhere in Hi no Kuni, take his head, then bring it back for confirmation. Apparently the client got a caravan raided by him and wants his head to make a statement." She spoke bluntly, no need to sugar-coat what it was, glorified mercenary work.

Aiko's face blanched slightly, which was better than Hikaru's strangely surprised appearance. Tachiko seemed to be the only one who actually knew, really knew, what they were getting into, probably due to her past living with her mother in the Red Light District. There were certainly more than a handful of Konoha Shinobi who visited the area, and who would be quite loose-lipped with the daughter of the woman they were seeing, especially if she was merely asking about their life. "H-his head?" Hikaru asked.

Akari shrugged. "Well, not explicitly his head, those are just easiest for identification. You could take a memento of theirs that the target would never part with, but those are often disputed, meaning you won't get paid until the target has been confirmed dead by a 'reputable source'." Akari looked over her three Genin with a frown. "You three should know this sort of thing by now. How did you get through so long in the Academy without knowing what it was you'd be getting into?" Tachiko raised her hand, stepping forwards slightly when Akari nodded at her.

"Well, I think the Academy started taking in farm ore civilians, whose parents petitioned the civilian liaison with the Hokage to get the Academy's standards lowered, since it put far too much favor in the hands of the Clan Kids." Akari blinked, turning her gaze towards Hiruzen, nonchalantly puffing away at his pipe.

Akari pinched her nose with a sigh. "Hokage-sama, please don't tell me they actually did that?" Though he clearly didn't want to say it, the Hokage nodded. "Idiots. All that's going to do is get their kids killed believing that being a Shinobi is some fairy-tale,-" She waved her hand at Aiko. "-saving princesses and defeating evil when it arises. I've probably killed more people than any missing-nin listed in the Bingo Books, just due to the nature of the missions I undertook, sabotage and seek/destroy missions. I would eliminate everybody in the camp, which serves as a dangerous message to Konoha's enemies...'Don't fuck with us.' Who would mess with Konoha after uncovering a camp ridden with dead bodies, all slain by one person?"

Her Genin all looked pretty horrified at the prospect of killing so many people, even Tachiko, who Akari knew had a slightly stronger stomach for things like that. "I think you've said enough Akari-san." The Hokage's firm voice brought her back down from her anger, justified as it was, merely misdirected. Akari shook her head, mumbling an apology as she stuffed her hands into her pockets. "Now then, do you still believe your team ready for this mission?" Akari shrugged, but nodded all the same.

"Yeah, I think they are. I'll make sure they all come back...ready for what's in their future."

Quest Received!

Crimson Sunrise.

Objectives: Take your Team on their first C-rank mission.

Ensure each member survives.

Reward: 25,000 experience

Hidden objective:

?

After they left the Hokage's office, Akari gave them each instructions.

They were to gather up anything necessary for a weeks travel, something that fortunately the Academy still covered, then meet her at Konoha's south gate tomorrow, bright and early at seven in the morning. If the mission extended past that, she'd just use her 'Fuinjutsu', or perhaps make them hunt some animals. After all, she couldn't always be there to hold their hands and pull food from her inventory for them.

Then she sent them off, though she was curious as to how they'd look in the morning. Knowing Aiko, he'd have bounced right back from what was revealed, somehow justifying it to himself. Tachiko seemed already prepared for the prospect, though she would probably freeze up in a nasty way when the reality of things came crashing down as she plunged her Kunai into the throat of her first enemy.

But Hikaru was the one she was keeping the sharpest eye on. He...really didn't seem cut out for being a Shinobi. He was shy, rather softly-spoken, though he had a wicked tongue for humor when he was able to stutter out his words correctly. He seemed pretty afraid of the whole idea of taking a life, something that completely threw Akari off. She'd have to keep one hand on his collar the entire time they were out hunting this guy down, otherwise he would probably find himself in a situation he couldn't handle, and would freeze up on her. She certainly didn't want to lose a member of her team, not so soon after it was formed.

Akari spent the day at home with Naruto, doing what he wanted to do. Of course, the first thing he asked was if they could have Ramen, which Akari finally gave into and made him a few bowls, though off-set it by making sure he didn't just have pork ramen, slipping in a few other ingredients to the mix, just to spice things up. He didn't seem too happy that there was bits of turnip, carrot, potato and other things, but he knew enough about Akari to not complain, eating it all up regardless.

After food, the pair spent a lot of their time going over Fuinjutsu. Thanks to his Uzumaki heritage, Naruto had a frankly unfair advantage for learning it, compared to other people at least. The only person Akari knew who could out-class him in learning speed was herself, thanks to the perk she'd selected when she first arrived there. She also had the advantage of being able to learn advanced seals just by repeatedly grinding scrolls she would then scrap, or sell off to Shinobi stores. After all, Konoha had very few Fuinjutsu experts, Jiraiya being one of them. As he was practically never in the village, Akari was one of the very few people to even know how to write seals, let alone ones good enough for re-sale to other Shinobi for use.

She only did that with seals she didn't care about, storage seals, explosive tags, things of that nature. Even if somebody stole those seals, they weren't exactly unique. As it stood, she was left at level 94 Fuinjutsu proficiency, having gained three during her time working on the Kage no Te seal. That meant she could conceive most seals, if she took the time to think about them that was.

Since Fuinjutsu regularly broke all logic, just like her own hand, she didn't tamper too much with things, not wanting to accidentally create a Fuinjutsu that turned the sky pink. Though maybe doing that temporarily, just for a day or so, to celebrate something...that'd be fun. Considering how the Sage of Six Paths managed to make a seal strong enough to trap the ten-tailed beast, a god-like being, doing something that paled by comparison was certainly within her grasp.

It didn't honestly make too much sense to her knowing that if she just thought about it, her mind would somehow supply a way to do it, but she didn't question it. It was a great way to avoid unnecessary headaches. So she just let her attention be taken up by Naruto, who seemed to be making the most of his time with her. She always told him, when she could at least, of the times she was leaving, when she expected to be back, and who would be looking after him in her absence, usually Anko or her mother would be happy to look after him for a few days.

Sure, he was rather mature for his age, but she didn't trust him to actually look after himself for more than a single day. Since she didn't want to leave Kurama behind, as the whole idea for the seal she'd made was that he got to experience the world for himself, she couldn't just ask him to watch over Naruto. And, though he didn't complain, it was clear Naruto wasn't happy with how often she had to disappear, several hundred missions undertaken while he was growing up would do that.

He understood though, he knew that he himself, when he made Genin that was, would be out of Konoha often on missions, doing missions just like Akari. Well, hopefully not the exact same, she didn't want him to have to kill so many people. He'd definitely have to kill at least a few, that was unavoidable in their line of work, but she never wanted him to get his own bingo-book page for killing more than a thousand enemies.

That was one of the achievements she had missed, though it didn't give her anything useful, just a small pile of health potions. Now, that might have sounded super useful, but each potion she had to drink in its entirety, which wasn't viable during combat. If it gave her a large chunk of health, that'd also be useful, except all it did was a single-use 1000 hit-points heal.

As in, two seconds of Mystical Palm usage. That simply wasn't useful to her anymore. On the occasion that she ran out of Chakra or something, then certainly, they'd be handy, which was why they were in her inventory still, but in general, she'd much prefer to simply use her own Jutsu to heal herself.

Speaking of Jutsu, Akari looked at her hand, using her Observe skill to check how long her Fuinjutsu would last. She had finally gotten around, whilst Naruto was busy inscribing a basic barrier seal, to writing the seal onto Vellum, then sewing it into the lining of her left armguard. She had another month left on her hand, so just to be safe she pushed another fifteen-thousand points of Chakra into the seal, exhaling at the large dip in her reserves. That was enough for another six months, and she would regenerate it after only two and a half minutes, so she wasn't worried in the slightest about going on-mission with low reserves.

Even if she did, Kurama would just back her up.

Akari tapped her foot on the floor, resisting the urge to check her Game for the time.

She told the three Genin to be there at seven. It was now about five minutes to seven, and none of them had shown up yet. She expected at least Tachiko to have shown up early, but there was no sign of her. The gate-guards said they hadn't seen them, and they'd been there since six, so that ruled out them hiding from her. Not that they could, since she swept the area with her Sharingan, just in case they were hiding somewhere, planning to do something stupid.

She gave in to the urge and flicked her eyes to her Game. 6:58AM, two minutes to go. if they were late for their first mission, she was going to push their asses harder than Kushina pressed her into Fuinjutsu training. Since her fingers still ached when she remembered how many times she had to write out seals until Kushina deemed them acceptable, it didn't bode well for her team.

As 6:59 rolled around, she caught sight of her three Genin, all walking in a group towards them. She looked them each over with her Sharingan, frowning. Hikaru looked far more ruffled than expected. She certainly expected him to be uncomfortable going on his first mission where he would have to kill somebody else, but not to that degree. Her Genin chose that moment to spot her and head over, arriving beside her just as seven on the dot rolled around.

Saying nothing, Akari stepped forwards, looking Hikaru over closely. She ignored Aiko and Tachiko as she stared at him. After he withstood her gaze without backing down for a few moments, she patted him on the head. "You're stronger than you know Hikaru. I know some Jonin who can't match my stare for longer than a few seconds." She ruffled his hair slightly, smirking as he pouted and tried to fix his hair. Tachiko snorted at him and shoved his hands away, righting his hair while Aiko hammered about how awesome this mission was going to be.

If he didn't make any mention of the fact that they'd have to kill somebody, Akari pretended not to notice.

"Before we move in, take one of these each."

Akari handed out ear-pieces, each of them similar to those her own Sensei gave to her team all those years ago. "S-sensei, these are expensive!" That was true, to the tune of a hundred-thousand Ryo per individual ear-piece. But to her, that wasn't really much at all, especially given how high her bingo-book bounty was. Besides, she spent maybe half of the money she earned, the rest just got stored in her inventory, doing absolutely nothing useful for her, so spending it on her team wasn't going to hurt her at all.

"That doesn't matter, what matters is that now I can know for sure you three aren't getting into trouble. If you ever get in over your head, just say so and I'll be there in a flash." What her Genin didn't know was that a modified Hiraishin seal had been condensed and written on the insides of each ear-piece. The only difference in her edited seal was that instead of spitting her out directly beside their ear, it would locate the seal's orientation to the ground, then make sure she appeared feet-first in empty space a short distance from the seal. That way she wouldn't appear and practically flatten whoever needed her help, nor appear upside-down or sideways and face on her face.

In a way, being there in a flash was an apt way to describe it. Hikaru looked like he still wanted to argue, but Akari's look sent him putting the ear-piece on hurriedly, while Aiko and Tachiko had already placed theirs in. "Okay, rules of engagement. We are being paid to take back the head of the leader for this merry band. Said band probably won't be happy, they'll try to keep his head on his shoulders, meaning we're gonna have to kill at least a few of them, possibly all of them. I won't lie to you three, the first is going to be hardest, this will decide whether you'll be able to be a Shinobi or not. But...-" Akari looked them each in the eyes as she spoke. "-just know that you three have certainly earned the right to call yourselves Shinobi of Konoha, just by being here today."

With those totally inspirational words, Akari turned to face the camp. "Well, I suppose since I'm meant to be training you guys as well, who wants to volunteer to do reconnaissance?" The three Genin looked between each other, each discussing who would be best suited for the task, finally nominating Hikaru for the role. "Hmm, well, I'll defer to your knowledge you three."

Being totally honest, she would have selected Tachiko, but then again, Hikaru was the one who managed to sneak up on her using Aiko's distraction, maybe he was better at stealth than she'd realized. "Okay, you know what you're looking for?" he shook his head. "Oh for fuck sake. Okay, figure out how many guards they have, where the perimeter of their camp is, on each side mind you, and try to get a rough count of how many there are based on tent-counts. For every three tents, you can guess two people, since bandits usually sleep in their own lodgings, but they'll need places for their loot and other things." He nodded along to her words, dropping off the branch when she waved him off. "Don't forget to keep in contact with your ear-piece if you need advice."

He mumbled an affirmative. Being frank, she didn't actually know much about doing reconnaissance, she would usually just slip inside the perimeter then wreak havoc, but since that wouldn't work for her Genin, coming up with a plan was probably best. Of course, she was the best equipped to do scouting thanks to her Sharingan, but her Genin had to learn their own skills somehow, so what better way than in the field?

A few minutes passed before Hikaru spoke into his ear-piece. "Akari-sensei, should I try and figure out where we should enter?"

"Well, if somewhere obvious appears, like a breach in their perimeter, then sure, but otherwise, bring back at much information as you can, leave the planning part to me." Sure, they were meant to be learning, but they wouldn't have to command their own squad until at minimum they had a years experience as a Chunin. Recon was certainly something a Chunin would be used for, so they each had to learn how to effectively recon an enemy base, but planning and tactics? Those were Jonin things to do, perhaps High-Chunin.

After maybe ten minutes total, Hikaru slipped back up into the tree Akari and the rest of the team were waiting within. "There are twelve sentries around the wall, mostly focused on the north and south side, only two each on the east and west walls. There are only two gates, one on the northern side, one southern, but there looked to be a damaged section of wall on the western side. It looked patched over, s-so potentially a viable entry point, but only if we were going loud since we'd have to break through the patched section. From what I could see, there were about 37 tents, so approximately...24 or 25 h-hostiles?"

Akari nodded, smiling. "Good job. You able to scribe a rough map of the wall, marking down where that breach is?" Hikaru nodded hesitantly, to which she clasped his shoulder. "Hey, you did a good job. Intel is often the most important part for a Shinobi, otherwise we could run in there and get attacked by a squad of Iwa-nin. Now, you three stay put, I'm going to have a quick peek, then we'll move in." She vanished from the branch as she spoke, using the Kiri-Woka no Jutsu to vanish from sight, then slipping down into the brush below.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Hikaru's estimations and observations, she just wanted to make absolutely sure none of her team got injured during the sight. That was one way she differed from her own Sensei, considering the injury she got on her very first mission could have been attributed to him losing track of his target.

Stalking through the forest, she quickly came to the small clearing erected around the short wooden palisade the bandits were using for a defensive wall. Akari circled the entire camp, the entire time staring inwardly with her Sharingan. She spotted the damaged wall section Hikaru mentioned, but what he failed to see were the trip-wires crisscrossed across the area directly in front of it, which were hooked up to...

"Oh shit." She mumbled. There were explosive tags attached to those trip-wires, that meant somebody in the camp could use Fuinjutsu. Either that, or they knew enough about Chakra to activate a conditional explosive tag and bind it to a physical tripwire. That could spell trouble. It was still totally within the purview of the mission, it just meant she'd have to be doubly careful not to let one of her Genin run into anyone too dangerous.

Akari finished her circle around the camp and frowned. Aside from the explosive-rigged hole, she didn't see anything too suspicious about the camp, it seemed like a typical bandit camp, the kind she'd taken more than her fair share of during her career. Hikaru had missed three tents in his count, so there were possibly one, maybe two more hostiles in the camp, by average of course. There could be more, or there could be less, the estimate was just that, an estimation.

She took another brief glance over the camp, then headed back towards her Genin. She arrived quickly, de-activating her Jutsu and re-appearing with a shimmer. "Okay, let's move in. We'll go over the eastern wall, use the wall-walking technique." Her Genin took in her voice and facial expression, adopting serious expressions of their own. the time for jokes and light-heartedness was over, they were now about to attack and kill other people because they'd been paid to do it.

Akari took the lead, slipping off the branch, followed closely by the three Genin. "I'll handle the leader, you three will take point when we go over the wall, kill anyone nearby, we can't afford to have them wake up and stab us in the back." She heard Hikaru swallow audibly, but they each took up positions in front of Akari as they ran, quickly breaching the treeline and making straight for the wall, sprinting straight up. Hikaru and Aiko went on the left side, whilst Tachiko went right, emerging over the lip of the wall in front of the surprised patrolling bandits.

Aiko planted a fist right into his targets face, while Tachiko used a Kunai, her blade slashing at his face. The man yelled in pain, alerting the rest of the camp as he drew his sword and raised it over his head. Akari flickered her gaze from side to side, assessing the situation. Aiko had a Kunai in his hand, stood over his downed opponent in indecision, whilst Tachiko was now fending off blows from her injured opponent. Hikaru looked torn between protecting Aiko and helping Tachiko.

Sighing, Akari formed several hand seals, raising her hand towards the oncoming reinforcements. "Raiton: Hebi Ikazuchi." A coiling snake of red Lightning sprung from her palm, growing in size as more Chakra was expelled. The lead bandit screamed in agony as the snake slammed straight through him, shocking him with a massive amount of electricity.

But, as the snake was made of lightning, it continued on unhindered, sweeping across the top of the wall like a wave and electrocuting every single bandit it made contact with. She bid the snake to then sweep all the way around the wall, plowing through every bandit until it had come around, where it fizzled into nothingness. "Hmm, fodder." Those bandits were probably only level 10 or so, so weak even a single Jutsu killed them. She looked at Aiko, seeing as Tachiko was handling herself in her first proper fight. "Either do it, or we're going back to Konoha right now." Her calm, yet cutting words, managed to break Aiko from his shock, sending his clenched Kunai into the throat of the unconscious bandit, killing the man in moments.

She saw the moment that Aiko went into an acute stress reaction, his eyes glazing over slightly as he stared at the corpse. She grabbed his collar and pulled him away from the corpse, forcing him to look away from the body and at her, while at the same time Kurama kept an eye on Tachiko's fight, just in case something happened while she was busy. "Aiko, listen to me. You did a good job. These men are all bandits, you hear me? They won't hesitate to kill you. Certainly, he was defenseless at that moment, but if he woke up, he wouldn't think twice about stabbing one of us in the back for stopping him and his group, even knowing he'd die to one of us for doing it."

She rubbed his hair as the light returned to his eyes, regaining focus. Unfortunately, she couldn't stay and make absolutely sure he was alright, as more bandits were coming up onto the palisade. She got up, slipping the Kusanagi out of her inventory. "Well, I think this is the first time I've used you in combat, let's see how you perform." She held the blade up in both hands, the tip pointed squarely past Tachiko, lined up perfectly with the oncoming group of bandits.

With a nonchalant press of Chakra, she sent the blade tip piercing several dozen meters forwards, skewering at least a dozen men on her sword. With her high strength, she then wrenched the blade upwards, carving straight through the bodies of those men. As the sword receded, each dead man fell to the ground, while she flicked the now-regularly-sized sword off of blood. "Well, that was successful."

Watching Tachiko's fight, she had to say that the girl was keeping her cool quite well, even if she was clearly outmatched a little by her opponent. She had a new cut on her finger which was dribbling blood at a steady pace, but other than that, the only problem she was having was her flagging stamina. Akari stepped in, gripping the arm which was bringing a sword down towards Tachiko's Kunai, then wrenched that arm around until it snapped with an audible crack.

The blade clattered to the ground as the man screamed, though Akari was busy looking at Tachiko. "Finish him." The girl looked at the KUnai in her hand, then at the man, who even in agony still looked at her with fury, as if she was responsible for what Akari had done to him. Tightening her grip on her Kunai, she stepped forwards and plunged the weapon through the soft flesh of his throat, ending his life.

Akari was ready for another stress reaction to deal with, but was surprised when Tachiko looked between her KUnai and the corpse, then shook the blade off and re-sheathed it. She was probably compartmentalized, an efficient but dangerous way to deal with things of that nature. As long as she made sure to vent occasionally, she'd be alright, but if she always pushed it aside, she'd break down.

Looking across the corpses she'd generated, Akari couldn't locate any live bandits for Hikaru to mercy-kill, that was irritating. But, since she had promised the Hokage that her team would come back 'ready', she had to ensure they were all blooded with at least one kill. She couldn't put it off, otherwise it'd just get harder and harder to do. "Hikaru, on me. You two, take our rear." She jumped off the palisade, the thump of her landing matched by the quieter thumps as the rest of the team landed. "We're going to be in contact in about ten seconds, so you have to be ready for what you have to do."

Hikaru gave a shaky nod, his hands clasped around a pair of Kunai. An interesting choice, but it was his decision, so she would let him do as he wished. She dropped Kusanagi into her inventory, quirking her lips to the side before drawing her old Karambit knives, those would be perfect for hooking underneath any armour her opponents might be wearing. Plus she could trap a blade quite easily, then flick it away before stabbing her opponent.

Just as she drew her knives, two bandits came around the corner of the tents, charging them with a loud yell. Silently, Akari stepped forwards, her eyes flicking to the side just to make sure that Hikaru was meeting her movements. He was a little behind her, but he was still pushing forwards slightly. Aas the first bandit brought his blade down towards her, Akari swung her left arm out, smashing the blade to the side with extreme force, then stepping in past his pitiful guard, plunging the hooked knife through his armpit, then wrenching it sideways and down, which brought him low enough for Akari to swipe her other blade across his throat.

She shoved the corpse to the side, straight through a tent. As she looked left, she watched Hikaru stab his opponent's arm as he overextended, but another blade called her attention forwards. She avoided the strike, stabbed one blade into his wrist, then used that anchor-point to pull him forwards into a vicious head-butt, shattering his entire face with the force.

By comparison? Akari lost a hundred hit-points, totally worth it. This was what she relished, the feeling of a good fight. It was how she coped with killing so many people. The next fight was always there. And the next. All the way until there were no more fights to fight. What would she do then? She'd come home again, to Naruto. To Monty. Anko, Komachi, Deidara, Sei and Kana. Even Hiruzen. But that time, she wouldn't have to leave again.

She rolled her eyes of her own silly thoughts, looking again at Hikaru, just in time to watch him stab his Kunai into the eye-socket of his opponent. He'd been forced to make a choice, he could stab his opponent, or the man would have stabbed him. He, much like Aiko, froze up. However, unlike Aiko, Akari couldn't just pull him from the fight for twenty seconds to correct him.

So, dropping her knives into her inventory, she formed several two-handed seals. "Raiton: Hyakurai!" She intoned, raising her hands and releasing a wave of lightning bolts which seared the air as they bolted towards the oncoming group of bandits. The storm of lightning only lasted a few seconds, but that was enough time to eliminate the opposition, as it was all low-levelled bandits, not a major threat to a level 78 like herself. She made a quick Shadow Clone, fueling it with enough Chakra for a few hours, then sending it forwards to take up her enemies for a few seconds.

She knelt down and gripped Hikaru on both sides of his head, tipping his head to look at her. "Hikaru, listen to me. Are you listening to me? Nod your head if you are, yeah?" He slowly tipped his head up and down. "Good. Do you remember what I told Aiko? These men are killers. By doing what you just did, you probably vindicated more than a few families who he tore apart. Focus on that, not on what he could have been, focus on the lives you have avenged, and those you potentially saved, those he can't hurt any-shit!"

Akari spun around in time to deflect the sword coming for her back, using her left hand to wrap straight around the blade, then clenching harshly, crushing the sword in her hand. Unconsciously, she released her control over her speed, bolting forwards and plunging her fist straight through the chest of the man who had slipped by her Shadow Clone, just for a brief moment. As she turned back around, she could see Hikaru reacting at least somewhat normally. "T-thank you S-sensei..." She patted him on the head with her left hand, as her right was covered at least a little on blood.

"Don't mention it. You want to pivot out and let Tachiko take over for a moment, catch your breath?" As she spoke, she turned to face forwards again, watching her Shadow Clone pummel its way through bandits in a fury, evidently unhappy at having one slip past. She peered at the corpse, then snorted. That was the leader of the bandits she'd just killed. What a weakling.

She heard Hikaru shift away, Tachiko coming up behind her. "I'll take point with a large-scale Jutsu. Let's wipe the rest of these guys out then head home, I already dealt with the leader." She dispelled her Shadow Clone, ignoring the flush of memories as she flipped through several hand seals, holding one as she inhaled. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Exhaling, Akari breathed a stream of flames into life, twisting her head from left to right, unleashing a wave of fire which sent the bandits screaming as they were lit on fire.

Tachiko covered her eyes from the brightness, then formed hand seals of her own, ending after five seals by clapping her hands together. "Futon: Reppusho!" She thrust one palm forwards, forcing a gust of wind into Akari's fire, boosting the flames by a degree. It wasn't exactly much, but for a Genin, it was certainly a pleasant surprise to know one of her students knew Wind techniques. She cut the stream of flames off, observing her handiwork with a sigh. "Well, at least I didn't burn his corpse." When Tachiko and Hikaru both laughed then looked at each other in surprise, Akari donned a smile of her own.

Oh yeah, they were going to be just fine.

So, first C-rank mission!

I kinda suck at writing Acute Stress Reactions, so I just made then each have one, have Tachiko just compartmentalize it, whereas Aiko and Hikaru both freeze up, then having Akari basically push them to press on. I really don't know how to write those scenes, so...that's all I got really.

Akari won't be finishing her mission until she hands in her report to the Hokage, so don't worry about me forgetting a quest again! She did get some experience though, so her Exp counter has risen a bit. Since they were so low-level though, not by much.

See ya soon boos!

Name: Akari Uchiha

Level: 78

Age: 16

Experience: 10152/78,000

To Next Level: 67848

Title: Sannin-slayer - Defeating one of the three legendary sannin is no easy feat, but you managed it. Future opportunities unlocked.

Secondary Title: Jonin - +25% Experience gained working with Genin

Health Points: 18,500 - (100 Base + (Vit x End)) x 5

Regeneration Rate - 3600/m - 60/s - Vit x End - Halted when afflicted with bleed status.

Chakra Points: 36,620 - (100 Base + (Int x Wis)) x 5

Regeneration Rate - 7200/m - 120/s - Int x Wis - Halted when continuous chakra drain Jutsu in use.

Strength - 70

Vitality - 60

Endurance - 60

Intelligence - 80

Agility - 161

Wisdom - 90

Luck - 60

5 Skill Points Available