We stood in the training ground. "All you have to do is make me move."
That sounded incredibly disrespectful. Sensei sat in the middle of the field with a cloud of insects buzzing around him. "You two hours. I will only defend and do counters."
We exchanged glances at the edge of the field. "Let's surround him." Rina mouthed. But as soon as she took the first step into the field. Boom. An explosion knocked us all down and made Rina fly several feet into the air before she fell face-first into the dirt.
"If that had been a real explosion tag, you would be bits and pieces. Some reconnaissance squad you are." He commented. Damnit. If this whole field were trapped, then I would be at a significant disadvantage. And also Rina. "Also, don't trust the enemy. He is usually tring to kill you," he chukled.
"Souta, Trigger, and disarm the traps using kunai and senbon."
"That's a waste of time!"
"We have time, and sensei won't move or he'll lose. With traps, Rina and I are handicapped."
"Good plan, rig the battlefield in your favor when you can."
Just as Souta triggered the first trap, A cloud of insects struck him in the stomach. He had tried to dodge but wasn't fast enough. He fell back, wheezing.
I stared at our sensei incredulously while he cherished a mischievous grin as if waiting for something. "Don't trust your enemy's words. Got it." His smug grin widened. "Exactly!"
Over the next hour, we failed in many different ways. We were all bruised and hurting from insect bites all over the place. We didn't even have a chance. Chiefly because we had no crowd control ability, you can't exactly punch and slash thousands of insects to death. We needed an equilibrium breaker to take him by surprise. I know he said we won't fail, but this was just getting ridiculous and shameful.
I could use explosive tags, but that would be too much for a spar, according to prior agreement. Sensei didn't want to waste that many insects. I only had paralysis tags for now. An idea slowly formed in my mind. "Hey, Souta!" I whispered while our teacher dealt with Rina on the other side again. I passed him a tag. "On my mark, closely behind me."
He just nodded. There was a good chance my plan wouldn't work. But there was a chance it would.
We both simultaneously charged at Sensei. "Repeating your mistakes is not a wise way to try again. I appreciate your grit, though. "
Yeah, that was another reason I was willing to try this. It was a spar and not a battle. If I failed once. I could try again. I had confidence in succeeding at least once in 4-5 tries. Fortunately, we didn't need to. As I ran, I circulated my immense chakra, but instead of physical ability, I directed it to my hands holding the sword. A wall of insects started forming in front. No doubt to crash into us both and throw us back.
As we neared him, and the cloud began moving, I unleashed my simplest and strongest jutsu. Shogeki. Yes, it was simpler than academy jutsus as long as you were good at chakra transformation into lightning. A lightning pulse spread out from my hand, dazing the insects. I broke through the wall only to see a smaller group smash into my face and hurl me back. But that gave enough wiggle room to Souta to reach the sensei and unleash his gentle fist. He was still sent flying in a few moves, though.
Yeah, Chunin things. "That was a nice attempt this..." Sensei suddenly paused as I made a detonation seal. He looked at his hand only for the tag to activate and for him to lose his chakra manipulation.
-----
Beef and pork with orange juice.
Ah, this is life.
We sat inside a modest restaurant tucked near the eastern market — the kind of place that smelled of sizzling fat and soy glaze, with chatter rising and falling like waves. It wasn't fancy, but to us, it felt like luxury. Sensei's treat.
"It was a good strategy to unleash that ace up your sleeve; it took me by surprise," Sensei said, leaning back with his cup of tea.
We had still lost. The seal I'd placed blocked only one arm. The chakra flow needed to be sealed near the torso or head to truly immobilize. And unfortunately, our sensei could weave one-handed seals. When that substitution jutsu went off, we knew the match was done.
But even so, he had given us the win, saying that in a real mission, I could have used an explosive tag instead, which would've forced him to retreat or take damage. Technicalities aside, it felt good to hear.
"The win doesn't matter," Sensei continued, reaching for a slice of pork. "What matters is that you three worked like an actual team. That's rare for freshly-made genin teams."
Rina smiled faintly. "We've been practicing."
We nodded our heads. Souta and Rina had been teammates before. I had practiced to try and meld into their flow during return training.
Sensei chuckled. "Whatever it was, it worked today." He turned to me, eyes narrowing in mock seriousness. "But you, Ren-kun — your chakra control is still abysmal. How do you even make all those tags with such rough flow?"
I blinked. "Practice makes Perfect?" It was true, my accuracy had decreased. I needed that Refinement technique ASAP.
That got a laugh out of the whole table. Rina nearly spilled her drink.
"Hey! They work, don't they?"
"Sure," Souta said dryly, "when they don't explode in your face."
Sensei was smiling, but there was a touch of genuine curiosity behind his eyes. "You really have a knack for Fuinjutsu. Not just theory — the instinct for it. That's rare outside of clans like the Uzumaki. Keep refining that. Just… learn not to blow your eyebrows off while you're at it. A lot of Fuinjutsu experts have died experimenting."
I nodded, smiling sheepishly. "Yes, Sensei."
He poured himself more tea, his expression softening. "You all did well today. Most genin teams struggle to balance trust and command. You didn't. We'll be doing C-rank missions regularly starting next month. Until then, report to the training ground every morning at ten. You'll need to polish chakra control, especially you, Ren, and your coordination, before we set out."
We all straightened at that.
C-rank. Real missions and not the ones any Genin could pick.
Rina's face lit up with excitement. Souta's mouth tightened — his version of a grin. For me, it felt like something unspoken had finally clicked. We weren't just surviving anymore; we were moving forward.
The waiter arrived with a new plate of grilled skewers, still steaming. Sensei raised his cup. "You three have a lot to learn, but for now… enjoy this. You've earned it."
We clinked our cups of orange juice together.
"To victory," Rina said.
"To survival," Souta countered.
I smirked. "To free food."
Sensei laughed. For a while, the world outside the restaurant didn't matter. There was just food, laughter, and the faint glow of street lanterns filtering through the window.
Tomorrow, there would be training and exhaustion again.
But tonight? Tonight, life was warm and golden. I smiled, looking at the photo our team had taken in the end.