Path to Jounin Part 1

Mission Link

Mission Details:

Senshi woke up, rolling out of bed with a slight groan. It seemed that ever since he had become a Chuunin he had done nothing but work extremely hard the entire time. Well he wouldn’t call some of the work he had been doing hard, but he had been going through more of a daily grind then when he was a Genin. Genin were focused on training and improving themselves in order to survive and eventually become Chuunin. Chuunin however, were the work horses of the village. They were in charge of running the mission office desks, working at the academy to teach the academy students, working with new Genin and taking them on C ranks if the Jounin were too busy, conducting patrols of the village, and working at the village gates.
 
Often times it seemed as though there were not nearly enough Chuunin in order to complete all of these tasks. Senshi had found himself working so many shifts since he had been promoted that he hadn’t had time to learn a second specialty or to even learn all that many new techniques. On top of that he often found that he was still sent on missions as well, since apparently there weren’t enough Genin to complete all of them as well. Ignoring his annoyed feelings at not being able to train as often as he wanted to he quickly got dressed. The longest part of this was putting the wrappings on himself, since they covered his entire body. Once he had finished that he headed to his apartments tiny kitchen, quickly fixing himself a meal.
 
Just as he was finishing the dishes from his meal, a loud series of knocks resounded through his apartment. Moving quickly, since there were few people who knew he lived here and even fewer who would visit he pulled the door open surprised to see a Jounin standing behind the door. He quickly saluted standing at attention as the man appraised him. “Chuunin Kobayashi Senshi?” The man made it sound like a question so Senshi gave a firm nod of affirmation to him. “Good follow me, you’ve been selected for a series of missions known as the Path to Jounin.” Senshi held back the look of surprise, he had been a Chuunin for nearly long enough to think he was qualified to be a Jounin.
 
However he did have several missions where he had led Genin on missions throughout the village, and even outside of it. Pushing his surprise down he grabbed his sword that rested beside the door and placed it on his back following the Jounin as quickly as he could. He needed to ban himself from feeling any emotions so that he could concentrate on the task at hand. He couldn’t fail a selection like this, as it would not only make him look bad but bring dishonor onto a person. Senshi was decently sure that in order to take the Jounin exams, a Jounin needed to sponsor you for them.
 
That meant that someone he had worked with recently, felt that he deserved this chance. He wouldn’t let that person, whomever it may be, down by appearing to be weaker or undeserving of this opportunity they were giving him. Frankly, he was quite honored by this chance he was receiving. Plus it meant that there was an end in sight to the utter droll of Chuunin duties that he was currently under. It did however mean that he would need to step up his own training in order to ensure that he was deserving of this opportunity. He had not had a chance to even learn an S rank level technique, let alone start researching one. Any decent Chuunin would have done that by now.
 
As they arrived in the training grounds, Senshi noted that there were ten Jounin milling off to the side and another Jounin standing with what appeared to be a fellow Chuunin. Senshi recognized him from working alongside at the gates. His name, if Senshi recalled correctly was Yazu. Before Senshi could wonder too long what they were all going to be doing with so many Jounin and only two Chuunin his curiosity was laid to rest as the Jounin who had retrieved him began to speak. “Your mission details are as follows; you will be given a team of three Genin and on hour in order to familiarize yourself with their abilities and develop a plan. You will lead your team on a mission to retrieve a scroll from a location on this map.”
 
The Jounin paused as he pulled a map from one of his many pouches and handed it over to Senshi, before continuing. “You will have twenty four hours in which to retrieve the scroll, should you fail to do so you will fail the mission. That Chuunin over there will have a team of three Genin himself, and his mission is to protect the scroll from you and your team. You are each being evaluated on your ability to lead a team, understand teamwork, knowledge of your team’s abilities, and ability to navigate and retrieve an item.” The man paused speaking again as a Jounin arrived leading six Genin. It was an odd mix of Genin, three Girls and three boys, not something you saw very often.
 
The Jounin spoke to the Genin pointing two of the girls and one of the boys to head over to Senshi and the other two boys and final girl to head over towards the other Chuunin. Before Senshi could begin analyzing them the Jounin began speaking again. “Should you fail this mission you will not be allowed to attempt it again for six months. Also I will be accompanying your team directly, while a Jounin will accompany the other Chuunin directly as well so that way we can better evaluate you. The other eleven Jounin here will be spread throughout the grounds so that they can evaluate the entire fight as well. At the end we will have an after action review for each of you two Chuunin to allow you to know where you can improve. Your hour preparation time start now.”
 
As the Jounin finished speaking the three Genin had just stepped up standing at a strict attention in front of Senshi. The dark haired Chuunin noted that the other Chuunin and his team had already left the clearing, presumably in order to do their own hour of preparation at the sight of their scrolls location. Pushing that thought off Senshi focused on the three in front of them, doing a quick assessment. The first girl was tall, and clearly much older than Genin normally were looking to be around fifteen or sixteen. It made Senshi happy that he had taken the age pills so that Genin like this would take him seriously from the get go rather than questioning what appeared to be a child in their midst.
 
She was blonde, like many of Kumo’s inhabitants, and didn’t look to be too strong. Then again as a Genin that was only expected. The second girl was considerably younger than both of her temporary teammates. She looked to be seven or eight years old, was sleight of build just like Max was, and her blonde hair had odd white streaks through it. The lone boy had stringy medium length brown hair, that seemed to have an odd tint, and he was the average of the two female Genin, looking to be between twelve and thirteen years of age. Just on the cusp of entering puberty himself. All three Genin seemed to have been issued uniforms as they all had on black pants, a black long sleeve shirt, and a dark gray vest that only covered one shoulder.

The Genin that the other Chuunin had received had been dressed the same though their vests had been light gray instead of the dark gray his Genin wore. With a breath Senshi finally spoke, “I am Chuunin Kobayashi Senshi, before I brief you all please tell me your name and give me a run down on your abilities. We will start with you.” Senshi nodded to the eldest Genin, he made sure to speak with an authoritative, but respectful tone. They would need to understand that he was in charge, but at the same time that he respected the, because respect was a two way street. If he treated them right, then they would be more likely to perform to the best of their abilities while under his charge rather than giving a lack luster performance.
 
All of the books on leadership had told him this, and his own experience in leading missions already had shown him this. He had already taken a team of Genin on a C rank mission, and he had taken his own apprentice, Sora, on a series of E rank missions. So he was not completely unused to being in charge of a team. Though the majority of his missions had been conducted alone he had completed two C rank missions with his own team under his Jounin Commander, Terumi Itami. He had learned from the man’s own leadership style how he should act himself and strove to emulate him as well. The girl spoke, his voice surprisingly husky for her slight build and gender.
 
“I am Genin Kimyona Aiko, I only know the substitution technique, the transformation technique, and the basic clone technique. The three of use only just graduated the academy yesterday, sir.” Senshi withheld a wince at the information she had just given him. He had graduated the academy with far more techniques under his belt, but he guessed he couldn’t expect that of everyone. Plus he had trained the newly promoted Genin Mugen, in several more techniques than just that as well. Still it wouldn’t do any good to show his dismay at learning that or even let them know how he felt about it. That would only lower their confidence and right now, Senshi needed them to be confident that he could lead them to victory because it seemed that was all he had to go on.
 
The second girl, the very young Genin spoke, her voice was an annoying high pitched tingling in his ears. “I am called Yakkaina Josei, I also only know the basic academy three.” Senshi held back his sigh as his fears were confirmed, it looked like for the Jounin Preparations Exams he had been issued the weakest bunch in the academy. He could only hope that the Chuunin he was competing against had received the same low quality soldiers that he had. It made sense though this was a test of his abilities, not of his teams. Giving him Genin that were prodigies would be unfair as they would skew the results of such a test. Common fodder Genin like this is what he would need to prove himself with. Senshi nodded to the lone male Genin to indicate for him to speak.
 
The boy had a bland, normal voice to go along with his strikingly mediocre appearance. “Furigan Shujin. Same skills.” Senshi blinked at the boy’s short response wondering if he simply did not like speaking or if he was just displeased with having to do this. He had a look to him of utter boredom and a lack of interest in what was going on around him. Deciding to not mention it just yet he finally spoke, pulling out the map he had been given earlier. “Alright, so that you three know this is a Preparation Jounin Exam, in order to qualify for the actual Jounin Exams.” Senshi could see the two females inflate slightly in pride at being selected to participate in such a high level event.
 
He had wanted them to feel pride, in order to build their confidence and while it seemed to be working with the two females the boy seemed just as disinterested as before. “The mission we will be on is a retrieval mission, we are being task to steal a scroll from this location.” As he spoke this time he knelt down laying the map onto the ground, motioning for the three Genin to kneel down around him as well. The two girls seemed eager, while the boy seemed annoyed and took a position several feet away from the girls not even looking at the map as Senshi pointed at the small triangle on it. Glaring at the boy briefly Senshi decided on smaller test was in order before he issued a correction to the boy.
 
“There will be four guard around this scroll, a Chuunin and three Genin much like yourselves. They, along with the terrain, are our sole opposition. We need to retrieve the scroll, and then return back here with it safely in order to accomplish our mission. Shujin!” Senshi finally snapped at the boy catching his attention. Fixing a stern glare onto his face Senshi rose to his full height leaving the map on the ground for now. “Is there an issue Genin?” The boy gave s light sneer before looking off to the side and muttering too low for Senshi to hear. With a further frown Senshi’s eyebrows dipped lower as his glare turned steelier eyed. “Speak up Genin, and explain you complete lack of interest in this briefing.”
 
The boy turned his head to meet Senshi’s glare rising up himself and taking a slightly aggressive step forwards. Senshi didn’t move or tense his body but he prepared himself for the idiot boy to try and attack him. “I said, why we should care. It’s your stupid exam and I don’t want to be a part of it, especially since I remember you from the academy. I don’t know why you’re so much older now but I remember when you were younger than me, just a snot nosed ten year old. I bet I’m stronger than you.” Senshi gave one short blink before he decided to reply. It seemed he had been right that his age would get in the way of things and make it harder for a Genin to accept his leadership.
 
He was glad he had taken the age pills to increase his age and make things like this much less likely to happen. However, it also seemed he would have to deal with people who knew his true age and thus would still judge him by it. He was aware of the looks the two girls were giving him and knew that how he handled this would reflect their opinions of him. He needed to be careful to ensure that he kept their confidence in this missions succeeding high and ensuring that they still followed his leadership. “For one, you should care because this mission will be reflected in your files. How you perform will be noted and will be looked at when you yourself are attempting to be promoted. Secondly, if you want to question my abilities I will more than happily show you that I am deserving of the rank that I have achieved.”
 
Taking two steps back Senshi turned his eyes to the girls of the group and spoke, he could see the assessing eyes they were giving him. “To prove myself you two,” Senshi indicated the two girls with a slight nod, “will restrain me. Do it however you wish.” He nodded to the two female Genin who moved forwards hesitantly and slightly awkwardly before coming over. The younger of the two jumped up onto his back wrapping her legs tightly around his neck and then bending oddly to the side and wrapping her arms around his shoulder locking them under his arm pit. She immediately began squeezing his neck with all her strength.
 
The elder of the two girls bent down pulling out a rope she had and tying his legs tightly together with a rather efficient knot. She then moved in front of him stepping on his right foot and grabbed both of his arms lifting herself up and twisting around his body awkwardly so that she locked her legs around the opposite shoulder from the girl. By the look of things he should be slowly losing air and almost completely unable to move his awkwardly twist arms and his tied together legs. “Now, you may attack me. If you can even land a hit you win and can walk away now. However if I break their guards and block your attack you have to follow more orders and give it your all for this mission. Agreed?”
 
He didn’t bother to pretend like his was straining to speak as the girl wrapped around his neck was barely even noticeable to him. He could see the slight surprise on the boy’s face but didn’t comment on it. With an annoyed and then angry glare the male Genin nodded before speaking. “Sure, you don’t stand a chance after all so I have nothing to worry about.” Senshi just shrugged at the boys words, shifting the two girls like they weighed nothing. Honestly to him, they did weight nothing. Bastuodosodo weighed more than all three of his Genin combined, to think that he was so weak with such a large and obviously sturdy blade on his back was odd, but Senshi just figured this was the best way to deal with it.
 
His father had always said that boys were hard headed and needed to be taught their place. While he wasn’t going to strike the boy Genin hard, mainly because they had a mission to complete and knocking him out would be detrimental to doing so. Honestly Senshi wished he could just leave the three Genin behind and complete the mission by himself. They were really just dead weight that he was being forced to baby sit for the duration of this mission. But unfortunately, the Jounin, who was standing several feet away watching the proceedings with an amused look on his face, had made it abundantly clear that this was a team work mission. He was being graded on his ability to lead these three Genin into the completion of the mission. Running off and completing it solo, was not using his team at all. Despite the fact that it would be infinitely faster and more efficient.
 
Then again, the other Chuunin could be incredibly strong, but Senshi was pretty sure he was only mediocre. From what he could recall from their joint duty together the man had seemed rather lazy, and uninterested in training. He didn’t seem to like putting in the amount of effort that Senshi did. Senshi also know however, that the man had been a Chuunin for several years now, before even Raikage-sama had taken control of the village. Which meant that he had so much more experience in not only being a leader and controlling a team, but also in combat experience. A trait Senshi was going to need to overcome with his obviously better physical skills, but also hopefully with his own leadership and combat experience. There weren’t many Chuunin that had fought the Raikage or that had also fought and survived and encounter with an S rank Missing ninja like Maku after all.
 
“You may attack whenever you are ready.” Senshi watched the boy, waiting for him to move. When he finally did so he moved so slow that to Senshi he seemed to being in slow motion. It was almost pathetic, so much so that Senshi wondered if he himself could have ever been so weak. He watched as the boys hands came up forming seals in what he probably thought was an incredibly fast rate, but was in fact slower than a growing cunt hair. Shujin probably thought he was being clever as two clones appeared to his side. He probably thought that Senshi would think the center clone was him, but he had been easily able to follow the boys speed and creation of the clones. He was the left most clone, and Senshi’s ears followed his impossibly loud footsteps, a sound that the two clones could obviously not make since they were completely intangible.
 
He watched the boy circle around towards his back, the center clone coming at him from a forty five degree angle and the right clone coming at him straight on. Senshi waited not bothering to turn and watch the boy approach him since he could easily hear the boy’s footsteps. Instead he waited timing his own movement until he heard the boy only a foot step or two away from him. He moved suddenly one foot stepping forwards explosively and breaking the rope almost like it was paper from his sheer strength alone. At the same time he pulled his right arm forwards turning at the waist towards the boy Genin as he did so throwing the smallest female Genin off his back violently from the speed of his turn.
 
The elder of the two female Genin held on tightly, giving a loud shriek as she was wiped violently to the side. His left arm wrenched backwards twisting awkwardly and grabbing her arm before tossing her gently towards the youngest Genin on his team. His right arm moved parrying the boys punch and redirecting it to the side easily while the rest of his body completed the turn and his left arm came forwards at its full speed. He ensured to not aim to hit the boy, instead just allowing his arm to fly past his head. The speed of the movement cause the air to whoosh forwards sending the boy tumbling backwards for several feet. All three Genin stared at Senshi in utter surprise, the youngest girl had a look of awe while Senshi could see the calculating look in the elders face.
 
Most of his attention was however on the boy who had flipped, ass over tea kettle and was laying in the dirt awkwardly. He was pushing himself up glaring at Senshi in obvious jealousy and rage. “A deal is a deal Genin, you will follow my orders and perform to the best of your ability or next time I won’t miss you with that punch. Do you understand me?” The boy glared before sullenly responding, looking away slightly in his hate, “Yea, whatever.” He mumbled something else under his breath that Senshi couldn’t fully hear, and Senshi’s face contorted to a stern glare. His hazel eyes staring down the average and forgettable looking Genin for several tense seconds before the boy finally came to the shabbiest looking form of attention ever. “Yes, sir.” The way he spoke was still clearly sullen, and the sir had obvious sarcastic undertones.
 
But Senshi decided to let it go for now, he really didn’t have the time to waste on the boys jealously. He would just need to keep in mind that this boy was not happy about his position in life and likely would not be responding well to any orders he was given. Senshi would need to keep him close so that he could keep a careful and very watchful eye on the boy. He wouldn’t put it past him to purposely sabotage Senshi’s chances at completing this mission successfully if he was given the chance to. Holding back the sigh that he wanted to release he motioned for the three Genin to cluster back around the map. All four knelt and Senshi noted that while Shujin was certainly more interested looking than before his body language was still sullen. Plus was crouching several feet away from the two girls and Senshi himself.
 
It was at least progress however. Senshi noted the Jounin moving closer so he could watch and all three Genin gave him an odd look before focusing back in on Senshi. “The Jounin will be accompanying us to better evaluate me from a closer range. Ignore him, as he will not be contributing to the mission.” The Genin nodded, Shujin making a point of doing so after the others and giving a bit of a sarcastic tilt to his head as he did so. Ignoring it, for now, Senshi pointed at the clearing they were in before he began to brief his plan. He was well aware that thirty minutes of his sixty minutes had already gone by and he still needed to brief his plan and ensure the Genin understood it well enough.
 
Pointing at the map Senshi began to speak again, “This is where we are currently,” He dragged his hand along the map putting a small amount of wind chakra into his fist causing a thing cut to appear showing the path they would take. He pause about two thirds of the way towards their destination and continued speaking, “This is the path we will take as a team. On the way there we will travel in a wedge formation. I will take point, since the most likely danger will come from there.” Senshi pointed at Shujin, “You will take the right flank, Josei the left flank, and Aiko you will be in charge of the rear.” He pointed to each Genin in turn as he spoke to ensure that they knew he was talking about them.
 
“While we are traveling remember to keep at least fifteen meters away from each other, there should be thirty meters between the two flank men. Aiko as the rear guard it will be up to you to ensure that no one sneaks up on us, so you will need to check behind you constantly alright?” The girl, young woman really, nodded her affirmation of his orders. Senshi could see the nervousness in her body language however, and he couldn’t quite blame her. Just promoted the day before and suddenly not only was she participating in a Jounin’s Preparation Exam, but she was being given a rather large responsibility to ensure that they were all safe.
 
Still he hoped she was up to the task, he didn’t want to put their youngest member in such a precarious position and he didn’t trust Shujin with the responsibility of it. Not with all of the attitude he had been showing, Senshi wouldn’t pose the knife at his own back like that. He could see the slight approval in the Jounin’s eyes before he pushed it off and continued speaking. “Once we reach this point on the map, that’s when our real plan for this mission will start.” Senshi pointed at Aiko again and gave her a slight smile and nod to let her know that he trusted in her abilities. He didn’t but all the leadership books he had read said that I was important to show to your minions that you trusted them. It increased their confidence and made them want to perform better.
 
As such if he had to fake that level of confidence then he would. He needed all the help he could get with this team since he couldn’t just run off and complete the mission on his own. “You Aiko will be taking this route, while the rest of us will approach from the rear.” He drew two new lines on the map. One showing Aiko coming around to a forty five degree angle from the front of the enemy’s base of operations. That would be Aiko’s path, and the second showing a straight line assault towards the rear of the enemy’s base, the rest of the team’s path. “Don’t worry though Aiko, I won’t be leaving you to work alone. I will be sending a water clone of myself to assist you.”
 
Aiko seemed to relax at the mention that he would be sending a clone of himself to assist her. Senshi could the see the disdain on Shujin’s face but before anyone else could react he continued speaking. “Water clones are only half as strong as I am, and they can’t travel too far from me or they’ll disperse. So you’ll need to be careful during this approach to take the path I marked out. You’ll never be more than fifteen meters from our real bodies but this terrain will make this a viable option.” Senshi pointed to the terrain features on the map. The area was heavily wooded and had several dips and high rises that Aiko and his water clone could use to hide themselves.
 
Though they would be limited in distance that they could travel from him the clone and Aiko would be able to hide themselves easily in this terrain and then move around stealthily through the battle field. “I will have a second shadow clone that will be transformed to look like you. Our job as the main team will be to draw all of the attention of the enemy shinobi onto us so that you and my clone can sneak into the area and steal the scroll.” He could see Aiko’s tension ratcheting up again and jealousy showing on Shujin’s face. Frankly he didn’t care about Shujin’s jealousy but he knew he needed the boy to work for him so he turned his attention fully on to his single male Genin.
 
“Shujin your responsibility in the fight will be to lead the assault on the enemies Genin. You may end up finding yourself out numbered, I hope with my water clone you won’t but the water clone will be busy supplying support to either Josei or myself.” Senshi could see the boy swelling with pride at the thought of taking on two Genin by himself. The Chuunin didn’t actually think the boy could handle two Genin by himself, but playing to his ego was probably the best way to get him to actually try and work during this mission rather than to attempt to fail them. “Josei you will be focusing on one of the enemy Genin while I will take on the Chuunin. My clone will be there to support us both, though understand that I may need its assistance to beat the Chuunin so you may find yourself alone and unsupported.”
 
The girl nodded, she did not seem nervous at all. Either that was because she was confident in her abilities or because Senshi wasn’t exactly entrusting her with any task too difficult. Fighting an enemy Genin long enough for him to finish the Chuunin didn’t seem like too hard of a task. Then again no plan ever survived contact with the enemy so Senshi knew he would need to be on his toes in order to change the plan on the fly if need be. Shrugging off his thoughts he noted that it was now almost time to start the mission. Senshi smiled as a though occurred to him, he had not had a chance to actually use this seal yet but he had been studying it intently for a while now.
 
The shinobi of kumogakure had communications headsets, but they were generally shoddy and didn’t always work too well in the field. Plus they were obvious and when talking into them would give away the users position. So Senshi had dove into the books and found the Telepathy seal. It was an A ranked fuuinjutsu that would allow him to talk to anybody that he applied to it from any range without ever having to speak a word alive. It cost very little chakra to activate once he had applied it and thus that would make it even better since someone could use it while suppressing their chakra. “All right the final thing that we need to do is I need to apply a seal to each of you.”
 
Senshi paused as he saw the extreme dislike on Shujin’s face, he resisted the urge to sigh instead taking the time to explain the seal to them. “It is known as the telepathy seal and it will allow us to communicate, all you will need to do is apply chakra to it and then think. It will only activate when you want it to, so you don’t need to worry about me reading your minds and what not.” Senshi could see even the girls relaxed at this information though Shujin still had a look of dislike on his face. Deciding to make the hand sequence to tie these seals together relatively simple he used Dog, bird, dog, and then bird before tapping Shujin behind his left ear. He then repeated the process with Aiko, Josei, and then himself.
 
He took a deep breath, resisting the urge to wipe the sweat that had gathered on his forehead away, applying the seal four times had been far more tiring than he had thought I would be. Still it would be invaluable for the team to use. Charging a small amount of chakra into the seal he thought to the three Genin, “You see simple as this.” Senshi could see the surprise on their faces as they looked around realizing he hadn’t moved his mouth at all. A moment later he could hear Josei’s voice in his thoughts. “So it works like this?” Senshi merely nodded and allowed the three Genin to take their final five minutes of preparation to test the seal between themselves.
 
He spent that time staring at the Jounin, who was giving him a rather appraising work. Such a difficult seal wasn’t well known and Senshi could see that the man had not thought that he would be capable of it. He probably hadn’t even known that Senshi knew Fuuinjutsu at all since during his Chuunin exams he had only used weaponry. He regretted that he was pretty much giving away his second specialty so early in his Jounin trials, but really it only made sense to apply this seal. With the way he was planning to separate part of his force, he needed to be able to communicate in case Aiko ended up needing help from the real him. His clone should hopefully be enough, but it was bad to not plan for as many eventualities as he could.
 
Finally the hour preparation period was up and the Jounin proctor for the mission nodded to Senshi letting him know that it was finally time to begin. Motioning to the three Genin he began what he would fondly call Radio Silence, no more speaking for the rest of the mission if they could help it. “All right, take your positions. Remember from here on out no more talking unless absolutely need to, understand?” He received back three yes, sir’s one of them the sullen thought voice of Shujin. Senshi ignored the residual attitude from the Genin as they quickly took their positions. He had to wave Aiko to move back several meters before he started forwards at a light pace.
 
He didn’t want to test the Genin’s endurance and speed, after all, they needed to be in good shape for the battle that lay ahead of them. Senshi doubted with the three dead weights attached to him that he would be able to do this without a fight. Plus he wouldn’t put it past the Jounin proctors to purposefully give his position away in order to ensure a fight. He kept his chakra suppressed as they moved, his eyes roaming the area around him. He could sense anything with his chakra sensory ability either but, then again they had quite the distance the cover just to get to the two thirds part of their journey.
 
He had chosen that specific spot because it was just over a hundred meters away from where they needed to get to. That would be outside any sensory range that a shinobi could have, thus allowing him to use the chakra to create the water clone and not be sensed. He wasn’t too worried about his three Genin showing up on some one’s chakra sensory abilities just yet since even for him they seemed to just be background noise. He only knew they were there because he could physically see them, if it weren’t for that he doubted he would know they were even alive. That was a double edged sword however since it meant that he probably would not be able to sense the opposing Genin either.
 
As they closed in on their two thirds point Senshi felt his tension ratching up, he hadn’t even seen or sensed the Jounin during their trek even though he knew that they had been watching his progress thus far. He made a halt sign and then signaled all of the Genin to take a knee and hide in the brush around them. “All right, this is where we split up. Aiko be careful to watch for traps while you move forwards, they’ve had an hour to prepare as well.” Senshi couldn’t see the girl but he could only imagine how nervous she must be. He could only hope that he wasn’t putting too much expectations on her and that she would be able to perform well enough to assist him.
 
He was relying on her because she was the eldest of the three, and more than likely far more mature than the other two. That didn’t always hold true but he had to rely on statistics and the minimal amount of interaction he had, had with them thus far. Shujin was clearly not an option for a solo mission and Josei had seemed to already be submitting herself to the older girl. He could only hope that he had not guessed wrong. “Shujin, Josei please create two clones each. Spread them out from your position to make them wonder which the real is you.” He couldn’t even feel the chakra spike as the two Genin created their clones but he had glanced back and watched as they appeared.
 
“Yes sir!” Senshi was mildly surprised at the boisterous voice of Josei in his mind but shrugged it off, happy that he had thought to apply the telepathy seal. “Aiko, make two clones of yourself as well then transform yourself to a squirrel. Shujin transform into a rabbit and Josei you transform into a squirrel.” Senshi could feel the confusion emanating from his squad at his orders and why he had waited to give them to them now instead of back in the clearing. Frankly it was because he didn’t trust the proctors not to give some form of the plan away, and this way they hopefully wouldn’t have time to do so if they were even so inclined.
 
He certainly wouldn’t put it past them in order to make it more difficult for the attacking Chuunin. “This will help to disguise the real you, while your clones draw the enemies attention first giving you a chance to sneak up on them.” Senshi could almost hear the OH’s of acknowledgment and surprise from his Genin as they completed his tasks. Finally he pulled one of his water storage scrolls off his belt and unsealed it realizing a small amount of water into the area around him. He then formed the tiger hand seal and pushing his chakra out formed two clones of himself. He watched as the two clones quickly moved backwards, he could feel one of them transforming to look like Aiko and creating two clones of itself as well.
 
Good now they looked more like a large formation coming up on the enemy position. The clones wouldn’t make noise, since they were intangible, but their silhouettes would be visible to the enemy. It might increase his footprint overall but then he wasn’t looking for his main force to be completely stealthy. He was looking to draw the attention of the enemy Chuunin and all of his forces. With a sigh he finally gave the go order, an hour and a half of his twenty four hours was already up. No point in wasting any more time, “Let’s move out, remember to stay hidden but within fifteen meters Aiko.” Senshi moved forwards counting on his eldest Genin to keep to the script, really it was all he could do.
 
It wasn’t long into the second part of their trek that Senshi felt an increase in the background noise from his chakra sensory. He knew that this must mean the enemy Genin were nearby but due to their pathetically low chakra potency he was unable to really pick up their location. The only reason he knew they existed was because he was growing more used to his own Genin’s background feeling. He knew that this meant the other Chuunin could probably feel out his Genin’s chakra and feel them approaching. Good, that meant they would be more likely to meet up with him. When they had moved about fifty meters or so Senshi heard a twang and watched as suddenly forty weapons were flying his way.
 
He hadn’t seen a trap trip wire, but from the looks of things they were coming from Josei’s direction. It was likely the girl, in her squirrel form had set a trap off unknowingly. He could just see the little looking like she was going to freeze up, when he activated his telepathy seal. “Josei run towards the weapons in your current form they’ll fly over you harmlessly, Aiko I’ll protect you from them so as not to give your position away, and Shujin I’m counting on you to stay safe.” Senshi could only hope that the boy would take this as some kind of false faith in him. Frankly, Senshi could tell by the trajectory of the weapons that most were too off target to hit Shujin anyways.
 
Aiko was truly the only one in danger, and mostly because Senshi did not want her to give her position away and alert the enemy that she was there. He dashed backwards pulling his blade off his back, his clone in Aiko form moving forwards to also take shelter from his protection to make it seem like this was his intention all along. Senshi knew that the enemy shinobi would undoubtedly hear the noise of the trap going off, but he didn’t have time to speak aloud. Hopefully they wouldn’t figure out that the team could communicate telepathically just yet, as Senshi was hoping to keep that a secret for as long as possible.
 
Bring his blade about he lashed out with it quickly knocking many of the incoming weapons back due to the sheer size of the blade and the strength with which he swung it. He then planted it into the ground ducking slightly behind it with his clone pressed close against him, and the real Aiko in her squirrel transformation and his second clone also a squirrel huddled close. Senshi could hear the weapons pinging loudly off his blade and could see them smashing into the dirt around them before he quickly stood up motioning for his clones and Aiko to move back. He didn’t hear anyone approaching which was vaguely surprising but they did still have quite the distance to trek in order to get to the location.
 
He spent several seconds scanning the area around them his team hunkering down to hide but it didn’t seem as if anything was going to happen. Finally letting out the breath he was holding he holstered his blade and began to move forwards his eyes peeled for anyone approaching. “All right, let’s keep moving. Aiko stay a bit closer to me just in case.” He heard the girl’s acceptance of his orders but ignored it, instead choosing to focus on the area around him. This time as they moved forwards he slowed their pace to a crawl, only going at half the Genin’s speed. He needed to make this seem like a legit approach and at least attempt stealth.
 
“Trap. Tripwire. Four meters to my left.” Senshi paused motioning for them all to halt as Shujin’s words came into his mind. He looked around focusing hard towards where Shujin had pointed out before he noted the tripwire. He continued to stare at it for several seconds trying to see what it led to when he realized it was a dummy trip wire for an explosive tag that was several feet before it. Well concealed and probably lethal to one of the Genin. With a frown he considered his options, it would be best if he could possibly trick the enemy into coming his way. “Shujin, transform to look like you’re wounded. Make it so that it looks like you lost your leg about mid-calf and then lie on the ground and scream bloody murder. Josei, once the explosion start to go off I want you to make your clones cry and scream and rush towards him while the real you prepares to throw weapons at the enemy.”
 
He paused as the two gave their acceptance of his orders before turning his mind towards Aiko, “Aiko I want you to move fifteen meters from me once the explosion goes off. We are still twenty meters away from the location of the scroll. I’ll move forwards slowly once the fight starts so keep track of where I’m at and just be patient. Stealth is key alright?” He heard her nervous acceptance but decided to ignore it. His clone would have an extra five meters as a safety net to play with in order to protect her. He would just have to hope that his clone would be enough protection in order to get the scroll safely. With all that in mind he bent down grabbing a rock and tossing it hard at the seal on the ground.
 
It likely had a weight limit to set it off so he needed as much force behind the small rock in order to set the trap off. As it connected with the scroll the sudden boom was ear shattering and Senshi had to shake his head in surprise at the strength of the explosive tag. If they hadn’t of been careful that really could have mortally wounded Senshi himself, or been fatal for one of the three Genin. Immediately after the explosion Shujin began to scream about his leg and the pain and he could hear the, muted to him, screams of Josei and her clones and watched as they started to rush towards Shujin’s position.
 
His water clone of Aiko, was crouched on the ground shedding fake tears at the sight of her teammate bleeding and Senshi was looking around as the enemy Chuunin appeared on one of the tree branches. He didn’t have time to consider the area anymore as he found himself dashing backwards as what seemed to be hair came flying at him. Ducking one of the hairs he reached to his hips gripping his two tantos and pulling them from their sheaths chakra lighting down them. He heard a sudden scream of horror and out of the corner of his eye could see one of the male Genin from earlier staring at Shujin and rushing towards him muttering apologies.
 
Senshi didn’t have time to focus on that any more as the Chuunin body flickered towards him forming hand seals, that Senshi recognized as the Doku Giri technique. He formed his own hand seal for the body flicker and dashed forwards under the Chuunin’s jump. As he turned to keep his eyes on the Chuunin, his back towards the scrolls sanctuary he saw his clone, henged into Aiko, rushing towards his two Genin. Shujin had one of the enemy Genin pinned beneath him and was punching him repeatedly. Senshi could only guess that he had lain in wait and surprised the boy once he had approached him, releasing the henge he had held.
 
The reason his clone was rushing forwards was because Josei was clearly losing her match with the enemy female Genin. Senshi frowned wondering where the third Genin was, but before he could activate his telepathy seal to ask he noticed the Chuunin rushing towards him. He brought his tantos around catching the strike of the Chuunin’s kunai on them. Either the man was testing him or he was seriously incredibly slow. Senshi wasn’t sure which it was but he ducked under the next strike and charged wind chakra into his blades striking at the mans mid-section with them.
 
He was surprised when he burst into water and immediately turned forming the hand signs for a flicker movement he dashed forwards faster than he had been before. He would leave Josei, Shujin, and his water clone to handle to the two Genin. As he started moving he had already seen his clone forming he bird hand sign and sending several water shuriken forwards towards enemy Genin that was threatening Josei. He could feel it pop as he moved forwards into the clearing and was immediately set upon by two versions of the Chuunin. “Aiko move to the scroll now, its eleven meters to my left.” Senshi blocked the first blow the man sent at him ducking as his second clone, that had been accompanying Aiko threw two water shuriken in his direction.
 
As they sailed over his head he leg swept one of the Chuunin before him frowning as it burst into water when the two water shuriken collided with it. He hissed in pain as the second version of the Chuunin used his distraction of his own clones attack to run his hand along Senshi’s forearm. Senshi watched as his arm split open despite the fact that the man had barely touched him. He didn’t know what that technique was, but by god it had hurt. Senshi watched as his arm suddenly spurted blood everywhere and the enemy Chuunin moved backwards. With a slight growl Senshi followed him bringing his tantos around and lashing out with the wind chakra that was in them.
 
The man danced backwards and Senshi moved forwards jumping slightly to kick at the man with a dynamic entry. He brought his hands up to block but as Senshi’s foot connected he was sent skidding backwards. Before he could recover Senshi’s hands flashed and several small bullets of air blaster forwards at the man pushing him back again. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Aiko engaged in a taijutsu battle with the third and final Genin. Out of the woods his two Genin were dragging the two enemy Genin, both of whom were unconscious. His water clone that had been with them had dispersed when he had dashed towards the clearing since he had gotten too far from it.
 
He couldn’t see where his remaining water clone was, but didn’t have to think for too long as several shuriken’s made of water came flying forwards burying themselves into the enemy Chuunin’s torso. Senshi watched dispassionately as he collapsed to the ground, he motioned for his water clone to knock the man out while he turned and headed towards the lone remaining Genin. As he approached he drew his hand back and smacked the shit out of the Genin, using the taijutsu discipline technique to knock him backwards and completely unconscious. “Aiko grab the scroll. Shujin, Josei excellent job tie them up and get ready to head back.” Senshi then tied up the final Genin while his clone hefted up the Chuunin who was steadily bleeding on it.
 
Blinking at the sight of himself covered in blood he shrugged it off before motioning for the Genin to follow him. They started back on their path towards the clearing they had started in but before they had gotten to the woods the Jounin, not just his proctor, but all of them appeared. Senshi’s hand darted up grabbing the hilt of his blade in case they planned to attack, his clone mimicking his actions. His proctor Jounin merely held up his hands before speaking, “Good job, Chuunin Kobayashi Senshi. This completes your missions, please hand your opponent over so we can save his life. A review of your performance will be sent to you, and you will be alerted if you have passed. Genin, follow me.”
 

Senshi blinked as everyone began moving around, most of the Jounin to begin cleaning up the area, though one came and retrieved the enemy Chuunin from his clone who simply shrugged in confusion and dispersed itself. His three Genin looked nervously at Senshi before following the Jounin. Senshi watched them go, wondering why everything was happening so fast. He figured maybe the Jounin wanted to debrief with the Genin, but he seemed to have forgotten Senshi didn’t need to speak to them directly in order to converse with them anymore. “You three did outstanding, once your debriefing is complete meet me at the teppanyaki grill in three days at noon. My treat for your hard work. Thank you again.” The three each activated their owns seals agreeing to meet him, Shujin still seemed to have his attitude but winning the match at least had curbed some of it.


TWC: 8818 

Requesting:
A Rank Mission Complete
4000 Ryo
Permission to Move to Next Mission
Water Clone
Water Shuriken
Telepathy Seal