Tekuno?The act of becoming a Jōnin-sensei was a big commitment. He felt like that sort of thing went without saying, perhaps, but repeating it in his mind was important. Konohagakure had a reputation for putting out above-average shinobi with some regurity, but the background processes could be a touch arcane to an outside observer.

  Tekuno had always found it funny that the truth was a lot less complex than foreigners assumed.

  Unlike Iwagakure, with their reputation for quantity, Konohagakure had maintained one of quality through a rather rigorous standard. With each successive generation, the required age for academy graduation rose, and with it the general baseline of their shinobi. Graduation also came with entrance into the General Forces, which usually was a precursor to some sort of specialization into one of the various tracks for their ninja.

  That said, the most prestigious of them all were the scant graduates that managed to gain the attention of a Jōnin-sensei. Not every team became as well-known as the Sannin, but being trained underneath a properly talented superior could well and truly bring out the shine in countless young ninja. Or, more critically, reveal hidden talents that would have otherwise nguished in obscurity.

  If asked, Tekuno would have professed to being one of those hidden talents. His team had hardly been made up of cn heirs, or individuals with anything particurly noteworthy about them. Yūhi-sensei had seen something in them, though, and polished out their hidden talents over the years he'd been their team leader.

  The man had been a firm believer in the transformative power of training. Genuinely passionate about teaching, in a way that Tekuno wasn't ever sure he'd reach himself. A life cut too short by the Kyuubi's assault on the vilge.

  Bringing forth his sensei's ideals into the future wouldn't be easy. There had been at times an insurmountable gap between even himself, and the other Jōnin that came from shinobi backgrounds. But it was better to try and fail, than not to try at all.

  When the assignments for teams to test came down, Tekuno wasn't all that surprised when he ended up getting a team not so unlike the original Team Eleven. He didn't have any special, outstanding capabilities that any of the current cns would have wanted for their heirs, and his capabilities as a Jōnin didn't merit too much special consideration beyond that.

  Even so, he hadn't minded the opportunity that was given to him. Especially once he'd gotten a chance to properly test the three newly minted Genin. It was a learning experience for him, if nothing else.

  Ami was not a prodigy, or an inheritor of any hidden bloodline. But she was a girl with no small amount of determination and spite, as made evident by his own personal observations and her personnel files. If nothing else, those two things could take a kunoichi a very long way.

  Her stated future focus on infiltration and subterfuge was perfectly viable as well, for her build and resources. Most kunoichi, outside of a few exceptional outliers, did not make the most capable frontline combatants. It was a sad fact of life, but even with chakra-enhancing their builds, they would usually g behind their male counterparts regarding raw pound-for-pound strength.

  The life of a shinobi was a fundamentally unfair one, though. Those of their number who accepted and internalized this knowledge and turned that perceived weakness into a strength…those women carved their name into legend. Only time would tell if Ami would be among their number or not.

  Hibachi, however, was a very different challenge to overcome. In his eyes, the boy was much like himself when it came to his viewpoint on serving as a ninja, which meant that he precisely understood the brand of ziness that could be instilled. Which would be a terrible shame in his eyes, for there was a truly calcuting mind underneath that half-lidded gaze.

  And in him, in that gleaming, spinning consciousness, Tekuno saw a true inheritor for his trapmaking arts. That, more than anything else, made him eager to see the boy's true potential reached. Unfortunately he cked any real aptitude for most combat arts. It wasn't to say that he couldn't train himself up in time, but there was always a difference between people who were born for a specific field, and those who had to gain their edge through hard effort.

  Some people were merely meant to wield a sword in their hands or learn to apply their taijutsu skills properly. Others, like Tekuno, were simply those who trained themselves in as many weapons as possible, without ever truly being a master of any.

  No, the real standout was Nakamura Tobio. Erstwhile orphan of no real fame, notice, or particurly outstanding skills and abilities. That was what his personnel file said, and Tekuno wished he could violently box whoever wrote it in their ears. They somehow allowed an exceptionally potent kekkei genkai to fall through the cracks due to their ck of observation.

  He would have ughed if the abilities of his newest student weren't so incredible.

  Most enhanced abilities that shinobi possessed ran on chakra. While they had it, they could spit out gouts of fme, punch mountains apart, and far more besides. But the moment they began to run out, so did their more miraculous abilities. It was a well-known and understandable tradeoff, as chakra was comprised of both physical metabolism from the cells of the body, but also the 'mental energy' of the mind.

  Tobio's capabilities spat in the face of everything that Tekuno thought he knew. At the border of chakra exhaustion, the boy possessed a staggering physicality that seemed like his baseline, rather than one enhanced by chakra. The kind of fortitude and might that would daunt much higher-ranked shinobi, save for the ck of skill to go along with it.

  Which, if he were being entirely honest, would not stay the same for long.

  The boy was currently twelve, but who knew what his potential strength, speed, and durability would be in a decade, when he was fully grown? It was exactly the kind of seed that the vilge had been founded to nurture, that the entire three-Genin team structure was meant to support. Provided Tekuno didn't fuck it up, somewhere along the way.

  And provided the Hokage didn't think that there were better uses for Tobio.

  A part of him didn't want to share this secret, but it was one that Tekuno couldn't justify keeping to himself. The Hokage needed to be told, and the man could only hope that Hiruzen Sarutobi would maintain his reputation for more conservative moves rather than do anything drastic. Tobio was a good kid, a loyal Genin, yet it was hard to tell how someone would react to a restriction of their freedom.

  Especially with the skulduggery that a new bloodline would entail for the vilge. The moment that it got out to the wider world, there'd be eyes on him, for better or worse. And sometimes, a Hidden Vilge would rather a resource like that stay dormant for as long as possible.

  It was why he'd scheduled ahead, to make an appointment with the Hokage. The matter of Tobio's bloodline wasn't so pressing that it was a priority alert, not considering how it wasn't anything that couldn't be chalked up to intense training. Beyond the confidential tag assigned to his request, he wasn't expecting to be seen so quickly.

  Tekuno had thought that after all these years, standing in front of the door to the Hokage's office wouldn't be so daunting. He still felt like a child, even with the time that had passed. Maybe that could be chalked up to the legendary reputation of the man that he was about to meet.

  Standing before the desk, the man sitting at the desk before the room gnced his way, arching a singur brow. "Are you Kanden Tekuno, ninja registration number 007350?"

  This was a test.

  "The right number would be 003244."

  "Ah," the man nodded, as if that wasn't some of the most basic tradecraft to catch out a possible infiltrator. Not that it would have been likely for one to get this deep into the vilge, past the ANBU and sensors who were stationed at the building. "My mistake, I appear to have had the wrong number."

  He smiled, shrugging softly. "No harm, no foul."

  "Well, with that crification done, the Hokage should be all prepared for your requested meeting. Please feel free to go inside."

  With that permission, he didn't hesitate to step forward, and into the waiting office. It was a normal space, and one Tekuno had entered plenty of times before in order to hand in mission reports at one time or another. But the man sitting behind the rge desk always managed to make him guarded in a way that most shinobi would be quick to understand.

  The Professor, one of the strongest ninja in the world, was not someone that you treated lightly. Not if you just so happened to be some first-generation civilian ninja with no real connections.

  Walking in, he stopped a few paces away and gave a respectful bow toward the man. "Lord Third."

  "Kanden-san," Hiruzen greeted, voice raspy and rumbling at the same time, as he idly smoked from his pipe. "I'll admit that I'm surprised to have received notice for a confidential meeting from you." Taking another drag from his pipe, Hiruzen paused briefly to savor the smoke before continuing. "I take it the information you have to share is accordingly as important?"

  Tobio had trusted him with this news, and as much as his instincts rebelled against it, the question still needed to be asked. "This room is…secure, yes?"

  "With the finest seals we could set up for privacy," the Hokage nodded. His flinty gaze pushed against him the longer Tekuno held off actually saying the information. "Unless it's information of truly vilge-shaking importance, those should suffice."

  He wasn't sure if this news qualified as vilge-shaking. In his heart, Tekuno felt like it did, but he could recognize where he was woefully biased in favor of his students. That was probably how a teacher ought to be, though.

  "Then I'll get on with it," Tekuno spoke, breathing in softly. "One of my students, Nakamura Tobio, has dispyed signs of an advanced kekkai genkai, and has confided in me his own personal suspicions as such."

  Whatever casual air the meeting held up to that point evaporated in an instant. Repced entirely by a focus that Hiruzen centered his way, leaning forward so incrementally and slightly, Tekuno would have thought he imagined it. "...Are you sure?"

  "Based off my observations? I'm almost positive."

  "...Describe it to me, if you can."

  "At the baseline, there's a significant development in physical capabilities," Tekuno began. "I went through his Academy records, and unless there was a complete and total failure on behalf of the teachers there, his strength, speed, and baseline durability have skyrocketed in no time at all."

  "Can you give me an example?"

  "In the graduation exam spars, he soundly defeated Inuzuka Kiba, and outmaneuvered Uchiha Sasuke," the Jōnin expined. "Moving forward past that, he's physically well past what would be considered Genin, and even some Tokubetsu Jōnin I'm aware of."

  In terms of raw, physical strength, he was already pushing the envelope in some regards. Most Jōnin, with some notable exceptions, were not physically robust. Chakra could push the difference at times, but the usual preference was for speed and agility over raw might and durability. A cn of such individuals who reliably had both, at such ridiculous levels, held the kind of strategic value that military strategists would be drooling over, provided that talent and potential were fostered correctly.

  Supported, rather than feared, or otherwise abused before said potential could be realised. He squashed his doubts once more, though, as Hiruzen thoughtfully stared ahead at him.

  "Hmm…" He paused, one hand reaching up to rub softly at his chin. "An unexpected variable to be sure. In time, I'd like to set up some proper specialists, but we'll have to recall them from outposts and other assignments, which may take some time."

  To that, Tekuno could only nod in understanding. The call for bloodline specialists full-time at the hospital was likely there, but trained medic-nin were a resource. If nothing else, he imagined that they had plenty of other draws on their time, and thus would be brought back piecemeal until schedules lined up for a full-on examination.

  It wasn't ideal, given the peculiarities that could crop up around bloodlines. Leaving matters unsettled didn't sit right with Tekuno. There could be special dietary requirements, debilitating effects on Tobio's psychology, hormone levels, or even his chakra itself, that they wouldn't know about until it was too te.

  But the one-two punch of Tsunade's quiet abandonment of the vilge and Orochimaru's much louder turncoat departure had left them without many options. Try as some medic-nin might, none had managed to reach that level of brilliance in the years since, and the vilge was all the poorer for it.

  "I take it you'd prefer I continue to observe to see if anything changes?"

  "That'd be best, yes," Hiruzen nodded in agreement. "We'll have to put some assets on observation for the young man, but you've been with him for longer. What would you say of the boy's character?"

  Tekuno understood what was being asked between the lines, what Hiruzen wasn't quite saying. Was Tobio loyal to the Hidden Leaf, or did more pressing measures to secure him need to be taken? Thankfully, he didn't need to lie, or squeeze the truth in any respect.

  "Tobio is an intelligent boy, if a little prone to blunt solutions to his problems," he began. "From what I understand of his academy years, he made plenty of acquaintances but no close friends. That's begun to change, however, as he's started to grow close to his teammates. Nor has he ever expressed even an inkling of dissatisfaction with the internal policies of the vilge at rge."

  In summary, he was hardly any threat to anyone. Tekuno did not doubt that there'd still be an ANBU asset or two on Tobio to ascertain if he was telling the truth before the day was out, yet anything beyond felt like it'd be too much. Unless he'd grossly misjudged Tobio's character, he was fine where he was.

  And with a bloodline they knew startlingly little about so far, overcorrection could have some unexpected results.

  "He's got no problematic ambitions or deep goals beyond wishing to excel in this profession," Tekuno finished.

  "That's good to hear. And your own personal loyalty in bringing this to my attention is appreciated as well," Hiruzen said. "For now, please do keep me abreast of any future developments with Tobio's bloodline."

  "Will do, sir. Anything else?"

  "No. You're dismissed, Kanden-san."

  With a salute thrown the man's way, Tekuno exited the room. The parting order wasn't too much of a concern for the Jonin, though. He didn't think that his three Genin were going to be able to get into that much trouble, especially when they wouldn't be taking any particurly complex or dangerous missions for a while.

  Ultimately, that was how he liked things. Tekuno had not just a professional obligation to keep his wards from harm, but a moral one. They were prepared to throw themselves into tough training to catch up wholly with their peers.

  How much trouble could three kids get into in a few short months?

  It should have been criminal for a team of Genin to age him like this. Torture and Interrogation needed to write down their methods. The other Hidden Vilges would have been downright rabid over their ability to give a Jōnin a heart attack. He was being dramatic, ever so slightly, but not by much.

  As time passed, there hadn't seemed to be any new developments with Tobio's kekkai genkai, so the topic had drifted to the back of his mind as a secondary concern compared to the realities of Team Eleven's training. He'd even felt confident that taking a C-rank mission would be a solid experience for them, moving through retively safe territory on a mere formality of a diplomatic assignment.

  For something to cut their teeth on, it should have been straightforward. Even if stepping away for a time was perhaps not the most ideal, Tekuno trusted their capability to flee from any danger. What he should have been worried about was Takigakure's complete and total breakdown in internal security, and his Genin's hardheadedness.

  Almost the moment that he was out of sight, they came under assault from a number of nuke-nin. The sensible thing would have been to abandon the mission and get back to Konoha or a nearby outpost to report it to someone higher-ranked.

  At the moment enemy ninja appeared, the mission ceased to be a C-rank. Naturally, his three idiots decided to do the exact opposite and throw themselves into the fray.

  Was this his fault? Had he at some point instilled this sense of bravado into them, or was it just a byproduct of youthful confidence? What was even more maddening were the reports that came in almost the moment he'd returned to Konohagakure for that emergency meeting. In the middle of worrying about scouting results that hinted at Iwagakure build-up near the border, another messenger hawk arrived from Takigakure.

  Over a score of ninja had attacked his Genin, and they had not flinched at the numbers arrayed against them. Where an entire vilge of ninja, albeit from a minor vilge, had balked they had not.

  They tore through their numbers, including a Jōnin-ranked nuke-nin. He oscilted from anxiety, anger, but also pride at their accomplishment. And then a cool fear, as he reached the part of the letter that spoke of Tobio resting in some kind of coma, after pulling off a suicidal move to take out Suien of the Waterfall.

  Tekuno couldn't recall much of the journey back, as he ate on the wing, keeping moving faster than ever before. All to get back to the team that he should have taken with him, damn the consequences. Takigakure was not his concern, and if something happened to Tobio because he hadn't been there to protect them…

  He'd never forgive himself.

  When he finally arrived at Takigakure, Tekuno came in like a storm. The man knew full well that he must have been in something of a state, smelling like the road, hair askew, and dirty beyond belief. He also didn't care, as he arrived at the waterfall that served as the entrance to the vilge.

  It wasn't that surprising when some of the likely paranoid Takigakure shinobi on guard materialized out of whatever spots they'd been waiting at. After an attack on Konoha, their own forces wouldn't have been any different.

  "Halt!" One of them yelled, speaking in clipped tones, one hand already on his kunai. The other three alongside him were in simir states of tension. "State your name and business!"

  For a few brief moments, Tekuno entertained the thought of how many given fools he'd be able to put into the ground, mainly for the crime of coming between himself and his Genin. But that was an unreasonable amount of aggression for the situation, so he refrained from immediately throwing an explosive tag at them and interrogating the survivors for how to get inside the vilge.

  For now, anyway.

  That didn't stop him from putting out a low aura of menace, as he took a step forward, killing intent leaking out from his body. "I am Kanden Tekuno, Jōnin of Konohagakure, and leader of Team Eleven."

  The wariness in their postures lessened to some degree, but not entirely. For the apparent leader who'd spoken up, he cleared his throat, gesturing to the ground. "Understood. Due to recent events, we are not allowing outsiders into our vilge, but when the security of our borders has been reasserte-"

  A low, throaty chuckle escaped Tekuno at those words, as he shook his head ever so slightly. That motion ramped up their arm even more, or by the casual way Tekuno kept walking forward.

  "I think there's been something of a misunderstanding," the Jōnin spoke, voice crisp, clear, and unyieldingly authoritative. "I am a Jōnin of Konohagakure, ally of Takigakure."

  "...Yes?"

  "And if you don't get me to my Genin in the next ten minutes, a strange transformation will occur."

  There was a confusion in their eyes, one that didn't st long. Tekuno's eyes turned flinty, as he narrowed his gaze at the four men. "In an instant, I'll become Kanden Tekuno, Jōnin of Konohagakure, no longer ally to your small, insignificant vilge. And I will put the enormity of my years and skills to inflicting such terror upon your people, you'll be picking apart my traps for years to come from your nds and vilge."

  Pale, the man's eyes widened before Tekuno. "I-Is that a threat?"

  "I've never made a threat in my life." The natural presumption being that it was a promise. Wasn't that worse?

  It turned out that their worries about vilge security were in fact overwrought, and they did have space for one of the esteemed allies of the Hidden Waterfall. Funny how that worked out, wasn't it?

  One brief trip through an underwater passage ter, and he was with his Genin. Ami and Hibachi were fine, for retive values of the word, if a little shaken. He wasn't sure if the shock of combat had hit them yet, if it had already hit them, or if they were just waiting to get back home to fall apart. Either way, he was proud of them for managing to keep it together for so long.

  And ashamed of himself anew, when he saw the ruin that had been made of Tobio's body.

  He was one gigantic bruise, and his face was swollen almost beyond recognition. Wrapped up in bandages, the only thing the medical report said hadn't been broken were most of his bones. A small miracle, it seemed, as the few that had cracked or fractured managed to put themselves back together curiously once fed medicinal chakra.

  Another mystery to add to the growing strangeness surrounding Tobio's bloodline. However much they thought it added to his physical resilience, it appeared as if they'd been underestimating how robust it made the boy. To have survived a fall from that height, even if it put him into a coma…

  It was a good thing that his student didn't have a quiet future in mind. Because with capabilities like this, he doubted he'd ever get it. His future children were being consigned to an age of frontline combat before they were ever born.

  Bile rose in Tekuno in that moment, squashed down by long-held reflexes. They didn't live in the world that he wished they lived in. Instead, he'd made his peace with the realities of their age.

  He could only hope that the boy would wake up from his coma. It was also due to that unknown peculiarity from his bloodline that just pumping medicinal chakra into Tobio's body allowed him to knit himself back together, bit by bit. Tekuno sat in on one of the sessions just to observe the ability at work, and to impress upon Takigakure's scant medic-nin popution the necessity of discretion. It had been an illuminating, if stomach-turning, experience.

  There wasn't anything to do but wait for Tobio to wake up, at least for now. Given that it'd give Ami and Hibachi the time they needed to recover, he wasn't in any particur rush, beyond the drive to see them safely ensconced in their vilge's walls. For now? It was time to hurry up and wait.

  It was on the second day, when he was whittling away a piece of wood, that Ami plopped beside him on the hospital's porch. Her arm was still healing, but at a normal rate. And he didn't need to be all that perceptive to know that the girl had something on her mind. Still, Tekuno wasn't going to push her, instead filling the companionable silence with the sound of soft wood being carved.

  "...Do you think I'm any good at being a shinobi, sensei?"

  Well. She wasn't coming at him with the easy questions, was she? "Before I answer, I'd like to ask my own question." His brown eyes turned her way. "Is that okay?"

  "Sure." Ami shrugged with her undamaged side.

  "What's brought on that question?"

  With pursed lips, he could see the gears whirling in her mind. Admittedly, one of the things he appreciated the most about his Genin was that they always gave his questions their due diligence, for all they could be thoughtless in some respects. He couldn't have said the same about himself when he was their age.

  "When we were fighting the rogues, I helped. I was right there alongside Tobio, but…" She worried her lip back and forth, trying to give shape to her thoughts. "Was it because I'm too weak? That I haven't trained enough, or hard enough, or if I'm just…not built for that."

  It was tough to quantify the tone in her voice, or what 'that' meant, mostly because it oscilted between reverent and envious in the same measure. He'd seen the remains of the nuke-nin himself, and Tekuno understood why she felt that way.

  Tobio was strong, but strong enough to strike a man so hard he'd snap his neck on impact… Well, Might Guy and his apprentice would have some competition for the physically strongest men in Konohagakure before long.

  "Ami, you haven't been a full-fledged Genin for long. The differences and gaps between you and Tobio seem like a…chasm," Tekuno spoke. "It feels like you'll never catch up, when you look at what he can do, and that even trying is pointless, right?"

  Her big eyes looked his way, mouth opening and closing as she floundered for words, before snapping shut. Ami stared into her p. Tekuno, more than she ever knew, understood the envy of seeing someone race in front of you like never before.

  As a child, it'd been a festering boil beneath his skin when he saw some of his peers become the kind of prodigy he wished to be. If only he had that kind of attention doled out to him, he'd be able to thrive. Or if he'd been lucky enough to have been born into a cn with hidden techniques and centuries of carefully pruned features.

  He couldn't say when he eased out of it, but it wasn't all at once. It'd been a gradual thing, that poison in his veins being released drop by drop.

  "One day, you're going to see that perceived gap between you and Tobio shrink, as his progress slows down." It happened to everyone, eventually. The raw, explosive jumps you made when you were young giving way to a slow grind as age and responsibility hit you. "And it won't seem so interminable of a wall you'll need to climb over."

  "...Really?"

  "Take it from personal experience. I wasn't always a badass Jōnin-extraordinare with all the answers."

  "What were you before that?"

  "Hah…" Tekuno breathed out, a wistful smile on his face. "A chubby kid with a dream, and a bit of a chip on his shoulder."

  "And now you've got everything together."

  That got a more earnest ugh from him, as he shook his head. "Adults don't know what we're doing any more than kids, Ami. We're just a lot better at faking it in front of you lot." He was still that chubby kid with a dream at heart. His goals had just gotten far more pragmatic over the years, pared down by the realities of life.

  "You'll get to where you need to be in time," Tekuno promised, handing her the tiny carved figurine of a boar he'd been working on. "Comparison is the thief of joy. Focus on where you're at, and you'll be fine."

  Ami rolled the little wooden object in her hands for a few moments, before giving him a nod in turn. "Did that make it better for you, sensei?"

  "It was a start." He didn't think this was going to be solved with one conversation. But Tekuno was willing to be patient, and slowly let her grievances air out rather than trying to force a resolution.

  They were all young. Some envy was natural at that age.

  In the coming days, Tobio woke up, after having almost miraculously healed the rest of the way in the span of an hour. There was something deeply, profoundly suspicious about that, but given that Tekuno hadn't so much as sensed a fre of chakra coming from the hospital, and he'd been checking on Tobio regurly…he was forced to accept that it was some effect of his bloodline that'd occurred the moment he went out of view.

  That said, the trip back to Konoha was one of observation, and quiet dread. Before the mission, he assumed he'd have plenty of time to train his team for a future Chūnin Exam. Now…

  For better or worse, he feared they'd be victims of their success. He could only hope that the months of training they had ahead of them would be enough to prepare them.

  When they got back to Konohagakure, Tekuno hadn't been too sure about the hornet's nest that their mission kicked up. There'd been some degree of underlying dissatisfaction with the capabilities of their erstwhile ally's fighting forces, but it had been bubbling at a simmer for a long time. Three barely trained Genin taking out a sizable force of nuke-nin, even if it was mostly at the hands of one prodigious member, was impossible to ignore.

  Especially when Takigakure's ostensible leader wasn't able to handle the threat.

  If the other Hidden Vilges found out, if the scene were made public, Takigakure would have been a ughingstock on the world stage. Nobody would have respected their sovereignty, and Konoha, by extension, would look weak for having an ally this feeble.

  Blessedly, nobody who wasn't part of either vilge escaped alive to share word of the event.

  …Though Konohagakure had some stiputions to their silence. Practical ones, too, since Taki had proven fundamentally incapable of their internal security. This time their traitors had merely been seeking one of their vilge treasures. But what if the next time, they were looking for something far more dangerous?

  It was a small miracle that Suien had not been aware of who the host of the Seven-Tails was, but there'd been every opportunity to go after that resource instead. A Jinchūriki being co-opted by a rogue organization, or Kami forbid, another major Hidden Vilge, would be an untenable situation for the vilge as a whole.

  Or, so it was described to him. Tekuno was more willing to believe some higher-up was greedy to secure their Hidden Vilge's power, and used this as a pretense to get the third strongest tailed beast under their control, but he wasn't going to compin about that much.

  As much as people moaned about Jinchūriki and the damage a seal failure could cause, you'd rather have one on your side than against you.

  Tekuno was only privy to the broad strokes because he and his team were already so wrapped up in its conception, which was why someone got the bright idea to foist the incoming Jinchūriki on him.

  Who, he didn't know, but he'd curse their name until his dying breath.

  He was barely managing to hold on with three precocious brats! And they expected him to manage with a fourth. Whose crush did he sleep with? The list was a little longer than Tekuno would like to narrow it down, but still, it was the principle of the thing to not hold that against a man.

  What he especially did not particurly care for, though, was the unpleasant surprise he received in the privacy of his own home.

  One moment, he was minding his own business, over his stove, preparing dinner. The next, the twitch of movement he sensed out of the periphery of his vision made him blur into motion, brandishing cooking knives that were just as good for combat as they were for cutting vegetables.

  Note to self. Buy my students pairs of cross-applicable knives.

  Standing near one of his windows (having to undo the trap on it first), was a masked figure. And unfortunately, they weren't one of the kind he was supposed to stab for interrupting his mealtime preparations. Instead, it was an ANBU agent, looking alert but not quite prepared to move deeper into the apartment.

  Which spoke well of their intelligence. The doors and windows in his apartment were trapped, though with retively non-lethal contraptions. Yet the lethality only spiked the deeper you ventured into his home. Around his bed were some of the most dangerous ones.

  Stumbling across the domain of an admitted trap specialist was poorly done. Now, he would have to double-check his security and see if it could stand up to an ANBU-level shinobi.

  "I'm going to assume I'm not being assassinated, and this intrusion is for a reason." He hadn't done anything worth being killed over, he was pretty sure.

  "No," the ANBU shook their head, long purple hair moving with the motion. "I have a direct message from the Hokage." She held up a sealed scroll, about to walk forward before he gestured for her to stop.

  "...You should probably just set it down on the ground. I'll come over and get it."

  With how hastily she did so, and the wary look she cast around her as she exited, he suspected the cat-masked woman understood a little about his reputation. As if he put explosive tags in his own home…

  Well. Only a few low-yield, directional ones, filled with paralyzing agents. That barely felt like it counted!

  Carefully, he walked over to the scroll, inspecting it for any tampering. For all intents and purposes, though, it appeared untouched. So, he ambled over to his couch and opened up the scroll.

  Its contents killed his appetite.

  To Kanden-san,

  I do not write these words lightly, or without a heavy heart. But there are realities of our Hidden Vilge that every shinobi must grapple with. If it were not due to prior preparations and engagements that I had to attend to, I would have spoken to you face to face for this request.

  Our vilge has still not entirely recovered from the damage and strife of the Kyūbi's attack. And now, more than ever, we need to project overwhelming strength and future potential, not weakness. If not for ourselves and our own internal morale, then for the world. For the nobility that will seek to test whether or not our Hidden Vilge still has the capability to produce the best of the best in the Elemental Nations.

  And, for the other Hidden Vilges, as a warning. That we too still have teeth, that our forests can still rear the truest prodigies in the known world. For this reason, I would ask that you strongly consider pushing your team forward for the upcoming Chūnin Selection Exams. Some would say it is too early, but your descriptions of their capabilities paint an advanced picture.

  In the end, I trust that you will make the right decision.

  Signed, Sarutobi Hiruzen

  It was an earnest, almost pleading request, that came from a congenial figure. If it wasn't for his ability to read between the lines, Tekuno might have missed the almost pinly stated order hidden there. There was no choice, not really. Not after the glowing praise he'd heaped on his Genin…or the quietly growing scrutiny he suspected was swirling around Tobio's bloodline.

  Whether they were ready or not, he had to shove them into the exams and hope they made it out of that crucible. As long as Tobio was alive by the end of it, he suspected that the powers that be would have been fine to write off grievous injury, maiming, or death when it came to Ami and Hibachi.

  Acceptable losses in the eyes of many of the old warhawks, if it meant that they had one more prodigy to tout across the nd. Unacceptable to him, not that he could ever admit such openly. Their vilge worshipped those exceptions above the norm, even when it also inevitably drove them to an early death or insanity.

  Unspoken truths that anyone with eyes could see, yet would never admit.

  "It's been a while, Tekuno."

  Standing in the mixed crowd of shinobi, waiting for Hiruzen to show up, he passed the time thinking of recipes he wanted to foist onto Tobio to cook. As the older ninja, he was willing to admit that he wasn't as good of a chef as his student. It was enough to distract him, as he gnced over at the sight of a familiar face.

  Yūhi Kurenai was a known element to Tekuno, if only because her father had trained him. Shinku had been a man incandescent with the Will of Fire, like no one Tekuno had ever known. He'd passed down that belief to all of his students, or at the very least, had tried his best to instil it in them.

  And for a very brief amount of time, Tekuno had a crush on her. Right up until Shinku had sussed it out when the heavyset boy had come by for dinner one day, and promptly trained him into the fucking dirt the very next day. Unfortunately, his interest in Kurenai, beautiful woman that she was, did not survive the spectre of her father's methods hanging over him after that.

  That said, he had plenty of respect for her, and they'd worked together professionally just fine over the years.

  "The same to you, Kurenai," Tekuno smiled as the woman approached him through the crowd. "I trust you've been well."

  "It's been hectic, I'll admit. My Genin are a complicated bunch, to be sure, each with their own quirks," she expined. "Word is, you also passed your own team?"

  "Team Eleven," he nodded in confirmation. "They drive me spare most days, but I don't think I'd trade them for all the S-Css payouts in the world."

  There was something deeply, remarkably fulfilling about passing on your knowledge to the next generation. Worrisome at times, and there were certainly points where he felt like his heart was going to leap up his throat when they were in danger…but it was worth it all the same.

  Seeing Ami, Hibachi, and Tobio overcome challenges and become better versions of themselves… It was one of the most genuinely fulfilling duties he'd bore in a very long time. He didn't know if he'd go back to pick up another team after Team Eleven inevitably grew up. That much pnning could be left well into the future.

  Kurenai smiled in that way of hers, soft and subtle. It could make you feel like you were her entire world, for however long you kept talking. Once, he'd wondered if that was just the vaunted kunoichi training kicking in. Over time, however, Tekuno just figured…she was like that.

  Or maybe she was so good she pulled the wool over his eyes,

  "I'm happy to hear that. Do you think you're going to put them forward for the Chūnin Exams?"

  "Well-"

  "Hey!" A new voice greeted as another figure came into view. "Kurenai!" It was someone he was familiar with as well, though less so than Kurenai. It'd been years since he'd talked to Sarutobi Asuma, though his posting in the Guardian Shinobi didn't help things either.

  "Asuma," Kurenai greeted, eyes lighting up at the sight of the bearded man. "Come, join us. You remember Tekuno, don't you? My father was his sensei, once upon a time."

  The heir apparent of the Sarutobi cn turned Tekuno's way for a brief moment, eyebrows raising. "Huh. It is you! I haven't seen you since…Kami, it had to have been our own Chūnin Exams."

  "Actually, I was in the capital a few years ago, guarding a VIP. I saw you guarding the daimyo, but never quite got a moment to peek my own head in and say hello." That was a boring mission from his own recollection, but the food in the capital was outstanding. He'd written down the names of some food stalls and restaurants to remember for the future.

  "Huh. Well, good to see you again," Asuma nodded. "How's life been for you?"

  Well, his teacher was dead, one of his teammates had died, his students were being nudged into an examination they weren't ready for, and he was losing weight by the month just from the stress. But besides all of that?

  "I've been good," Tekuno shrugged. "How about yourself? You've got a Genin team too, if memory serves."

  "They're some interesting characters," Asuma smiled. "Though, motivating them can be a little tough, y'know?"

  He could not rete, but nodded along all the same. Would it be better or worse if his band of brats had been less motivated to turn themselves into killing machines as fast as possible? Tekuno decided he didn't want to know the true answer.

  "Would you like to trade teams?" The voice that came by Tekuno's side did not make him jump or flinch. But he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little surprised by Kakashi's appearance from nowhere.

  Was this what it was like for his Genin? He'd have to make an apology to them ter.

  The list of things he knew about Hatake Kakashi was not very long, but it did paint a portrait of a man who basically had been born in another league from Tekuno. And then just kept on climbing farther, until he stalled out for a few years. His legendary war hero father had trained him from a young age, hard enough to see Kakashi graduate far earlier than any of his peers, and then be picked up by the Yellow Fsh himself as a student.

  The resulting camity that was his Genin team was best not spoken of in polite company. However, he'd acquitted himself well in ANBU to Tekuno's knowledge, and had retively recently left the division to take up the post as a sensei. His habits and sarcasm were legendary, but Kakashi had the chops to wear that arrogance proudly.

  If he were younger, Tekuno would not have tremendously liked the man. As an older, more seasoned shinobi, though, he was mostly ambivalent about him these days. He was powerful and heir to a cn education to some degree, yet was that worth the tremendous amount of loss that Hatake had gone through in his life?

  No, Tekuno was satisfied with his boring, average level of power. He might not be the strongest of his peers, especially in a straight fight, but he'd made his peace with that. Unlike Tobio, he just didn't have that driving, burning need to climb the ranks anymore.

  Nowadays, Tekuno was satisfied to merely help others possibly reach the heights he'd missed. …Even if there was a part of him that still yearned to shoot for the sky, after all these years. Maybe it was watching Team Eleven's efforts that stoked his Will of Fire to a confgration after so much time had passed.

  "Kakashi," Kurenai greeted with an incline of her head. "Fashionably te as ever."

  "Ah, well, my arm clock and I had a disagreement. I won, but at what cost?"

  What? What kind of excuse was that? Tekuno squinted at the man, but Asuma and Kurenai could only groan at his words. It seemed as if this was a running theme for him.

  "He's hardly te," Tekuno spoke up, trying to move past that prior confusing statement. "Though I think he's right on time."

  Their little crowd of shinobi seemed to be parting, for a pretty logical reason. Hiruzen had showed up in the space where so many ninja had gathered, making his way through the room, and heading up to his desk in the rge chamber. He had a stately demeanor about him all the while, effortlessly capturing the attention of the gathered jonin.

  It wasn't long before he got seated in his chair, the conversations around the room dying down gradually, before a silence took over.

  "Now then, in conjunction with the beginning of the Chūnin Exam, let us first have those in charge of the rookie Genin come forward."

  In an ideal world, he wouldn't be following in lockstep with the other Jōnin who presented themselves. But the reality of your situation was hardly what he desired.

  "Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, and Tekuno." With his pipe in his mouth, the wrinkled features of the Hokage peered out at the four of them. "So? Are there any Genin from your squads you wish to recommend for these exams?"

  It was theater, Tekuno distantly noted. As if they'd avoid putting so many cn heirs, with connections and influence, up for promotion so early. Or maybe that was just some of the bitterness that Tekuno thought he'd left behind in years past, rearing its ugly head.

  Perhaps he was less satisfied with his implicit suggestion to hurry along his kids than he'd thought.

  "It goes without saying, but if it's a Genin who has carried out eight or more formal missions, you can recommend them for the exams if you wish." He paused, taking a moment to clear his throat, before he continued. "Well, as a general rule, having carried out more than twice that amount of missions is appropriate."

  Inclining his head ever so slightly, the grandfatherly figure gestured softly toward Kakashi. "Then, you first Kakashi."

  Raising a hand in a formal salute, the Copy-nin stared ahead at the Hokage. "The Kakashi-led Team Seven…Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura. I, Hatake Kakashi, recommend these three for the Chūnin Exam."

  The first name needed no introduction to Tekuno, the second was straight-up infamous, but he was pretty sure the third had civilian shinobi parents, didn't she? He hadn't recalled hearing anything unfortunate about the Haruno family, besides the fact that they were unfortunately still Genin at their age.

  …Well. Not everyone had the chops for higher promotion. Hopefully she'd do better than her parents in that regard.

  Kurenai was up next, lifting her own hand, her soft voice calling out. "The Kurenai-led Team Eight…Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. These three, I, Yuhi Kurenai, recommend for the same."

  The speciality tracking squad, if memory served. Or, more accurately, search and destroy. All three of those Cns were good at hunting things—and people—down. They were usually even better at dispatching whatever they tracked. Having sparred with a few Aburame, the notion of dealing with their gigantic insects was enough to give him the heebie-jeebies.

  Following her was Asuma, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, almost like an unwitting mirror to his father puffing on his pipe before him. "The Asuma-led Team Ten…Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. For these three, I, Sarutobi Asuma, follow suit in their recommendation."

  "And what about you, Kanden-san?" Hiruzen's gaze drifted his way, and Tekuno felt himself stiffen habitually, if only from being under the older man's regard. "What are your feelings regarding Team Eleven's suitability?"

  He squashed the knee-jerk reaction to say that they weren't ready. That the three of them needed more time together, more training, and that it'd be more appropriate to give them a year or two to solidify their foundations.

  Because he knew without a shadow of a doubt, they wouldn't be given it.

  This was all theater, at best. He knew, and the Hokage knew, what his answer was going to be. Saying anything else at this juncture was merely the height of foolishness, and would only get him censured ter. Yet even so…

  Tekuno hated it. Swallowing the words that he wanted to say, to push down his instinct to protect the three children entrusted to him by their parents.

  If his three Genin, who were working together with the kind of shocking cooperation that only came from years in the field, weren't ready, the others couldn't be any more prepared.

  He understood that on some level, it was wrong to throw them onto the fmes of their ambition. But they all had their duties to fulfill, and he was no different.

  "For the Tekuno-led Team Eleven…" Clearing his throat, and taking a bracing breath, he firmed his resolve. "Nakamura Tobio, Kato Ami, and Mishima Hibachi. I, Kanden Tekuno, nominate them for the exams like my peers."

  For better or worse, the gauntlet had been thrown. Murmurs began to break out amongst the various shinobi present, the shock of four rookie teams of Genin perhaps being enough to shake their normally unfppable demeanor. He couldn't say either way, merely acknowledging the ripple that went through the crowd of ninja.

  Considering that most shinobi could go years before attempting to take the exams, Tekuno wasn't surprised.

  "Then my approval for those four teams to move forward is given," the Hokage spoke. Tekuno didn't even need to turn around to feel the ripples of shock that came from some of the crowd.

  Altogether, though, it was clear that the die was cast. There was no going back.

  And he could only hope that Team Eleven would be able to weather the coming storm.