Chapter 16

Chapter 16

KURENAI YUHI

Kurenai Yuhi woke up groggily and rubbed her eyes as he left her bed. Despite the full night's sleep, the exhaustion from yesterday's fight against their sensei remained. She yawned and was about to walk into the bathroom when suddenly she felt someone's presence downstairs. Her senses perked up and she opened the door and questioned.

"Father, are you home?" she shouted and in response, a figure appeared at the base of the stairs, surprising her, and she broke out into a stride and jumped down the stairs as she hugged her father.

"You are home!" she shouted as he scooped her in her arms.

"Yes, Kurenai-chan, I am home," he said as he rubbed her head.

"And I am sorry that I couldn't make it for your graduation," he said, and Kurenai shook her head. She was aware that her father had been stationed at the southern border. And according to the rumors, there had been major trouble on the border, so she was just happy that he had made it back alive.

"It's okay," she said, and he rubbed her hair as he placed her down. And then she noticed the lights turned on in the kitchen and a table set with breakfast.

"Why don't we have breakfast, and you tell me about your graduation? We could even go out for lunch or dinner," he said as he rubbed her head, straightening her hair slightly.

"I don't know about lunch, and today is our first day with our sensei. I don't think I will be free for lunch though I think I will be free for dinner," she said as she took her seat on the table and was shortly joined by her father. It was a simple breakfast, and her father perked up at her words.

"Ohh, tell me about your team. Who are they, and who is your sensei," he asked as they both began to dive in. She took a bite of the fish and replied slowly.

"Well, I am on a team with Asuma Sarutobi and Ebisu Shirahoshi," her father's brows were raised at her words.

"Asuma Sarutobi, isn't he Lord Third's son," and she nodded.

"Yes, he is, and our sensei is someone rather young, I think you even mentioned him before, his name is Ohashi Hatake," and her father stilled at her words before his head snapped up as he looked up at her.

"Ohashi Hatake is your sensei," her father was rather impressed and she nodded, placing down her chopsticks.

"Yes, and he seems quite strong," she said as she thought about their test from yesterday. She then questioned her father.

"Do you know him?" and her father nodded.

"I do, not extensively, but we have worked together a couple of times. He is one of the most skilled shinobi I have had the pleasure to work with, you would do well to learn as much as you can from him," he replied as he wiped his mouth clean.

"But he is rather young, isn't he?" she questioned, and her father nodded.

"He is, but I can assure you the number of people who can take him down can be counted on both hands," and her eyes widened at that. Kurenai wasn't oblivious, from the fight yesterday, she could tell that their sensei was strong. Yet the way her father phrased it made it evident that their sensei wasn't just strong. He was very, very strong.

Their team had passed his test yesterday, and though she found him rather too strict, it would matter little if he was as strong as her father made him out to be.

She was getting a bit excited for her first day, to see exactly what he was going to teach them. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was an hour left before their meeting time. And she still had to bathe and get ready.

"Well, I need to get ready for my first day," she said as she got out of her chair. Her father nodded and began to pick up the dishes.

"I will take care of it, and you go get ready. It wouldn't be good to be late on the first day," he said with a smile, and she nodded as she began to walk up the stairs to her room, her heart brimming with excitement for her first day as a kunoichi of Konohagakure.

0000

OHASHI HATAKE

Ohashi Hatake stood in front of his three genin and watched as the three of them stood there nervously. There were still hints of fatigue apparent in their posture, further cementing that perhaps he had gotten a bit too serious last night. But it didn't matter.

He had just finished with their introductions and their aspirations, and it had been pretty revealing about their personalities.

Asuma was a young prodigy that was tired of getting overshadowed by the achievements of his father and brother. The boy had quite a chip on his shoulder.

Kurenai was young and ambitious and wished to be a genjutsu master, trying to emulate her father. She was strong yet narrow-minded and hadn't even thought about any other options.

Ebisu had a penchant for going against the current and had a headstrong personality.

The three of them were rough and unpolished diamonds and it was his duty to turn them into exemplary shinobi.

"Ok, now that we are done with the introductions, we will begin our first lesson," he began and saw the three of them perk up at his words. He reached into his pocket and took out a pack of chakra papers that he had bought yesterday, and placed it in front of them.

"Can anyone of you tell me what these are?" he questioned, and Asuma and Kurenai nodded. However, Ebisu seemed oblivious and shook his head.

"This is chakra paper. It is used to check for chakra nature," said Asuma, and he nodded before he took out a paper and put it between his fingers. As he sent a sliver of chakra into his fingers, the paper got soaked immediately.

"You are right. This is indeed chakra paper. It reacts differently according to the nature of the chakra infused into it. As you three can see, when I pushed my chakra into the paper, it got soaked showing that my chakra is attuned to water nature," he said before he pushed forward the pack.

"I want each of you to pick one and push a small amount of chakra into it so we can identify your chakra nature," he said, and the three of them each reached forward and took chakra paper in their fingers. And then, after a second, their papers changed.

Asuma's paper cut itself into two pieces before it turned into ash much like Ebisu's paper by his side. On the other hand, Kurenai's paper got soaked much like his very own.

"Ok, so Ebisu has fire, Asuma, yours is wind and fire and lastly, Kurenai is water natured much like me," he said and saw that Asuma had a massive grin on his face. Having two natural affinities was rare and a sign of great talent.

Two of his students had a fire, and Ohashi was thankful to the Toad sage for his help, for he had managed to master the fire nature with the man's help.

"Ok, now that we have done this. I am going to show you something interesting," he said, and then he picked up another chakra paper and held it in his hands.

He closed his eyes, and then the paper cut itself into four parts when suddenly one of them got soaked, one got burnt to ask, one crumbled, and the last one got wrinkled. He smiled as he saw their eyes widen in surprise, and he considered the hour he had spent mastering this technique worth it.

"Wow! But aren't you water nature sensei!" spoke Kurenai and I nodded.

"Indeed, I am, but what I wanted to show you guys was that a natural affinity means that you will find it easier to use techniques belonging to that nature. But that doesn't mean that you cannot use other chakra natures at all. You can proficiently use any nature as long as you train with it," he said before he placed the remaining pack back in his pocket.

"There are very few shinobi who master all five, I myself am a master of four while I am still working on my Earth nature," and he saw their eyes widen as they looked at him with awe. He preened as he continued.

"The only shinobi to master all five are Shodaime, Sandaime, and Orochimaru-sama of the Sanin," he finished trying to make them understand the sheer enormity of such a task. And the way they stilled, and their eyes widened, he got his point across.

"Ok, now from what I read in your files, all three of you have learned tree walking," he questioned, and the three nodded.

"Hmm, that is good. Then I believe it is time for the next step, water walking, and he said as he turned away from the three genin and began to form a set of handseals, and pushed chakra into his hands as he struck them on the ground.

"DOTON: GREAT CAVITATION!" the ground shook before suddenly a massive portion of it in front of him began to sink down. It looked like a massive emptied lake and then he began to form another set of handseals.

"SUITON: EXPLODING WATER WAVE!" and then water began to appear out of thin air behind him before it crashed down into the cavity as a massive wave and filled it with water forming an artificial lake. His reserves had taken a hit, but it was necessary to train them in water walking.

He stood up and turned to face his genin.

"No matter what technique or whatever specialty you choose, chakra control is essential in everything. In the shinobi world, it is your bread and butter," he said emphatically.

"But sensei, we have already learned about control in the academy," complained Asuma, and Ohashi kneeled down and plucked out some grass.

"Academy only taught you the basics, and until I am satisfied, all three of you are going to work on your chakra control," and then he showed them his hand as a single blade of grass remained attached to his finger as he waved his hand.

"The technique I showed you all yesterday was pure chakra control. It was a technique I made myself and is still getting an evaluation from the Intelligence division, though even in a preliminary examination they believe that it will be ranked as either A or S class," he said and the three of them perked up at that. A and S class techniques were no joke.

"It requires at least more than the ninetieth percentile in the Uzu-mi-ko chakra control test," he added and saw them getting excited.

"I will teach the basics to whichever one of you achieves that rank first," he said as he folded his hands. The three of them looked at each other. A chance to learn a technique like that. All three of them had determined faces as they nodded and walked forward and into the lake.

"Ok, then let me tell you the basics of water walking so we can begin," he said as he joined them, but unlike them, he didn't stop at the edge of the water and simply walked onto the lake's surface before turning to face them.

0000

TSUNADE SENJU

Tsuande Senju rubbed her temples as she saw the forms of three soaking genin as their sensei just stood there smiling at their predicament. Behind her, Shizune was smiling as well, as the three genin just stood there, simply awed by her presence.

"Why are your genin soaked Ohashi?" she asked in a tired voice. And the kid had the audacity to shrug.

"Ohh, I was teaching them water walking," he explained, and though they were soaking, at least he was responsible enough to bring them for an evaluation, unlike the other idiots whom her teacher had made sensei. She sighed as she waved at Shizune.

"Do a complete exam on all three of them and give them dry clothes. And you, Ohashi, come to my office," she said, and the kid followed her into her office as Shizune led away his students for an evaluation.

Her room was filled with files and papers. She hadn't had the time to clean, and even if she did, it would just get messy after a day. The workload was simply that massive, especially with the war. There was little time for organization and paperwork.

"I saw you put your team through the wringer last night," she began as she sat down as she thought of the spectacle she had witnessed last night. Ohashi's new technique was quite impressive though she hadn't missed the glaring weaknesses of it, but still the technique was quite something.

"Ohh, I thought you never came. So, how was I?" he questioned as he settled down into the seat opposite her.

"I wouldn't know, I haven't trained a team," she answered. She had only ever trained Shizune, and training an apprentice was quite different from training a team.

"Well, the Hokage-sama just assigned me a team out of the blue. And though I wanted to become a sensei, I had never thought that it would happen so early," Ohashi said with a sigh, and she shrugged.

"You will do just fine," she said as she looked over the kid once more. The kid had changed over the past six months and had grown up. His hair had grown longer, and now his bangs reached his eyes, and his features had become sharper.

"I believe you have an idea about why I summoned you," she said, and he perked up at her words as he nodded.

"I do," he replied as his eyes narrowed.

"So, did your search reveal anything incriminating," he questioned her and she gritted her teeth and shook her head.

"No, the bastard was meticulous in covering up his tracks. There is nothing to tie him to any of those plots," she said through gritted teeth, and Ohashi nodded.

"I had expected as much," he said before suddenly his eyes sparkled.

"Tsunade-sama, what do you know about the orphanages operating in the village?" he suddenly questioned her.

"Why do you ask about them?" she questioned and Ohashi shrugged.

"Well, if we cannot kill him, then I was thinking perhaps we could weaken him, and since most of his forces come from the orphanages," and she understood his plan.

"We could hinder him by getting them out of his control," she finished, and he nodded. And a plan began to form in her head. The massive wealth of her clan and family had been wasting away, and perhaps this was the perfect opportunity for her to use that fortune.

"It is a nice plan," she said, and Ohashi nodded.

0000

MIKOTO UCHIHA

"Ohashi-kun was given a team as well!" spoke out her friend in excitement. And Mikoto nodded, brimming with pride at the accomplishments of her student.

"Wah! But he is so young, and now he has a team of his own," complained the red-headed kunoichi before her brows got scrunched up, and her head snapped towards the Uchiha matriarch.

"Wait! Don't tell he wished to compete with my Minato for the hat," she said scandalously as if she had uncovered a great plot. Mikoto broke out into a small laugh.

"I don't believe Ohashi kun aspires to become a Hokage. Though, I don't believe it would be bad if your Minato got some competition," she said as she emphasized your part. Kushina just blushed and frailed her arm in embarrassment.

"Don't twist my words Mikoto! You are the one who is behind this, but I am telling you, no one is beating Minato to the hat. No one!" said Kushina enthusiastically, and a pang of sadness hit her as she glanced at her red-headed friend. Once upon a time, it had been her dream to get that hat yet she had been forced to give it up.

"Though I refuse to believe he would be a better sensei than Minato. Minato's team will be much stronger than your student's team," said Kushina with a huff as she folded her arms. And Mikoto just shook her head at her friend's antics.

"Isn't Minato-san's apprentice Ohashi's half-brother," she added from the side, teasing her friend, who spluttered.

"Ah, but that doesn't matter. Kakashi-kun is Minato's apprentice first and your student's brother later!" said Kushina proudly before she added.

"As you say, Kushina, as you say," she replied, shaking her head.

"Of course! I am right 'datteban"

0000

The noose around Danzo tightens.

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