There was a tradition of putting the top kunoichi, rookie of the year, and dead-last on a single team. It had worked out more often than one would think. Admittedly "ninja" was a pretty deadly business and when it did NOT work out - someone died. Team Minato for example.
When it DID work out - the results generally played out a lot better. Generally. Actually, having gone over the records, Iruka had argued for retiring this particular tradition. Even when it worked out as far as the team surviving - things often fell apart a bit later. Whereas teams like the Ino-Shika-Cho group managed to reach that coveted goal of not only surviving but retiring from active duty.
Still, someone who'd passed the course by one point. Someone who'd deliberately and precisely made sure their score was just barely enough to pass.
Though he hadn't heard about Ibiki Morino's file until recently.
"My name is Higure. It was something else before Lord Naruto summoned my unworthy self. When this one arrived, this one took a name in the language of this land."
Ibiki glanced at the girl. Small and looked to be about fourteen. If he understood the variety of elf she was - then she'd be that age long after he'd died of old age. "Well, with this last batch, it took awhile to get to you. So, your occupation?"
"Assassin."
"Pardon me?" asked Ibiki.
"My profession, my skills, my talents - lie in the termination of other life," said Higure.
Ibiki didn't show any outward signs of interest, but this WAS different from the others and moving into familiar territory. "You were a ninja?"
"As I understand the term, yes," said Higure. "I was betrayed by the Mistress I served as she apparently felt I was becoming too powerful, too skilled. Therefore a threat."
"Ah," said Ibiki, making a couple of notes. THIS at least was familiar territory to him after dealing with catgirl waitresses and drow arena slaves and lamia priestesses and the like. Kirigakure had turned out a few with nearly identical stories to this. "Tell me more."
Higure was silent for a moment. "My Matron was one of the highest matriarchs of the drow, and under her command for thirty-five of your years I was the dagger she directed to strike at her foes and fulfill her will-"
"So we have the rookie of the year," said Iruka aloud. "Naruto Uzumaki."
Cheers from the pro-Naruto crowd.
"He must have CHEATED!" yelled Sakura.
"Yeah, and not gotten caught. Almost like a ninja," pointed out Shiroko, the sarcasm in her voice so flat you could press clothes with it.
"Nobody said we were supposed to cheat!" protested Sakura.
"Damn, I hope she didn't make 'top kunoichi'," said a dark elf. "That'd be embarassing."
"Ahem," said Iruka, interrupting before things escalated any further. "Rookie of the year, Naruto Uzumaki. Top Kunoichi - Kara Zor-El."
"As expected of my rival!" declared Ryuuko. "Congratulations are indeed in order!"
Kara merely looked slightly embarrassed.
"-and dead last - Higure." Iruka fixed the dark elf with a glare. "As if she hadn't PLANNED on that."
Higure shrugged ever so slightly.
"Uhm," said Naruto. "Is Higure around?"
Kara looked up from her book, eyes narrowing briefly. "Yes. Concealed on the roof."
"Oh," said Naruto, slumping back down. After a few minutes he began to fidget. After fifteen he gave up, got out a fresh notebook and started working out a fuuinjutsu.
Kakashi sighed as he looked over the memorial stone. "Another genin team to fail. Another..."
Flame interrupted him. BLUE flame.
Kakashi frowned as he substituted with a log, then dodged kunai linked with ninja-wire, then avoided two bolts of lightning.
"Do I have your attention yet?" asked the snake-woman. "You are in charge of Team 7, yet you leave them to languish. Is there a reason for you to dismiss them so casually?"
"My team, my rules," said Kakashi, landing behind the serpent woman and putting a kunai up against her neck. "What makes-"
POFF! went the Shiroko as soon as his kunai had dented her neck.
"A shadow clone?" asked Kakashi, not sounding surprised in the least. "You can come out now."
Shiroko came out of the brush, looking mildly vexed.
"All of you can come out now," said Kakashi.
Ryuuko shimmered into view, two catgirls appearing next to her.
"I said 'all'," said Kakashi.
Thirty women of various species appeared.
Okay, that mass-invisibility spell of the dragon-girl is going to be a major pain in the future, realized Kakashi. Or a major asset for the village if we ever have another war.
"Aren't you supposed to be with your own teams?" asked Kakashi.
"Already let out for the day," said Shiroko. "We meet tomorrow morning for the hidden test."
"A common psychological tactic," noted an elf. "Ninja like their secrets."
"It's a pity there are not more varied occupational tracks," admitted Shiroko. "Until one has reached the rank of chunin, the prospects are simply 'ninja genin' and 'civilian' - and specialty tracks are simply not available."
"What? You wanted to be samurai?" asked Kakashi.
Ryuuko shrugged. "To be a shinobi is to walk hand-in-hand with death. To want some additional options is merely part of being human."
"Says a dragon-girl who is hovering two feet off of the ground," noted Kakashi.
"My Lady was merely using an inclusive sense of the term," said Shiroko, the white-snake lamia coiling and uncoiling a bit.
"We are simply here to request you go meet with your team, as a responsible jonin should do," said a calico catgirl.
"Well, I'm hardly a responsible jonin," argued Kakashi.
"We noticed... Oh," said Ryuuko, looking up. "Apparently Lord Naruto got bored and is preparing his own manner of chastisement for the insult done him."
"Then it would be rude of us to further interfere," noted Shiroko.
"Why did that sound ominous somehow?" asked Kakashi as the group started backing away from him.
"You're a jonin of the Leaf," said Ryuuko, lingering behind the others. "I'd expect some degree of ability in the sensing of danger is required for such a position."
With that, the dragon-girl literally took off - shooting up into the air about two hundred feet before arcing off towards the direction of the hospital.
"Was that supposed to worry me?" asked Kakashi, watching the dragon-girl fly off. "I'm a jonin. He's a genin. What could he do to surprise me?"
There was a brief silence as Kakashi Hatake considered that. Also considering that this is the same boy who came up with a "rescue girls no jutsu" that had elves, centaurs, dark elves, catgirls, wolfgirls, foxgirls, and a few others all joining the village or settling within the land of fire.
There was a brief splash as a mermaid stuck her head out of the nearby river. "You don't want me to answer that, do you?"
"Rhetorical question," replied Kakashi, who then frowned as the river hadn't been THAT nearby an hour ago.
"So, Ken, you got a team?"
The large man nodded but didn't stop going through martial arts forms.
"His 'rescue girls' jutsu managed to get us, but apparently he hasn't been able to get guys on their own," said Yuria, shifting her weight onto a tree branch. "So it's all still predominantly girls in his class."
Ken nodded. "Toki preferred not to take a team himself, and will be teaching at the Academy."
"Yes," said Yuria, taking a deep breath before deciding to just go ahead with it. "So am I."
Kenshiro stopped and considered her.
"Look, the Academy doesn't teach a lot of things that they need," said Yuria. "Toki's going to act as the 'school nurse' but they have another opening now that Mizuki went traitor."
Kenshiro nodded.
"Which team are you working with?" asked Yuria.
"Team Eleven," said Kenshiro.
"Is that the one with Ryuuko and Shiroko?" asked Yuria.
"Ryuuko and Shiroko are on Team Anko," said Kenshiro, after thinking a moment. "Inku is their third member."
"Well, it's just as well," said Yuria. "You're the only one from our world to make it to jonin-sensei."
"Tokubetsu jonin," corrected Kenshiro. "There were enough graduating teams they had to do something like that."
"Are you sure about this, Sarutobi?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded. "The clan heads have too many of their own in this graduating class for me to suggest pulling them in. The number of available jonin is a concern. Opening it up for tokubetsu jonin was the most practical solution."
"What about this 'Kenshiro' - isn't he just a taijutsu practitioner?" asked Homura.
"Oh?" asked the Hokage. "Do tell him that sometime. Be sure to get the sneer and distaste in your voice."
"Ah, so he's pretty good at it?" asked Koharu.
"Something like that," said the Hokage. "Personally, from what I've seen? If someone goes around threatening the children under his protection? It's not likely to end peacefully."
"This should work," said Naruto, using a summons to find their apparently-lost sensei.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:43)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.