Training the Youth

C-Rank Mission: Training The Youth:

Winter mornings had a certain bite to them that Natsumi much preferred to the Leaf Village's sweltering summers. The way the wind tugged at her scarf, the sound the leafless trees made as they scratched at the sky, and the fleeting warmth of passing by the glow of an open storefront, it all felt right. And walking down Konoha's main thoroughfare with its many festive decorations ready for the coming of a new year, the teen felt just that: right.

All was right with the world.

Unfortunately, the world being right meant that she still had work to do. And though she'd come to dread the seemingly endless docket of missions sent her way less as of late, the trek through the village was especially bittersweet. Each passing store offered deals galore: 20 percent off clothes for the new year, buy one get free bento boxes, and the newest novels at a steep discount. However, instead of flitting in and out of each store, she contented herself with what few glimpses she got from the street.

Being late was not an option.

Though she lacked proof, Natsumi suspected that genin who arrived later in the day received the bottom of the barrel missions. Some weeks ago, she slept through her alarm, making her nearly an hour behind when she typically arrived at Konoha’s administrative annex. The mission that awaited her was trash duty; she spent a full day collecting litter off the streets. Since then, the Nara had fallen into the habit of setting two alarms lest she find herself drafted unwillingly into the janitorial service once more.

The Leaf Village’s administrative annex was not the flashiest building. Its aged paint job and tinted windows conjured images of a structure that had seen better days. And yet, the building played a key role in maintaining the beating pulse of the village. Without fail, each day shinobi and kunoichi shuffled in and out of the building, completing missions and safeguarding the village at large. And today, Natsumi would join that shuffle as she pulled up the annex’s door.

Despite the early hour, the lobby buzzed with activity. A squad of genin waited by the door, a pair of chuunin chatted by the window, and several jounin milled about carrying files this way and that. At the center of it all was a circular desk staffed by a few attendants who were already in the process of chipping away at a winding line of waiting shinobi and kunoichi. It seemed that the teen would have to resign herself to the back of the line for the time being—so much for waking up early.

“Natsumi?”

A familiar voice pulled the Nara from her thoughts.

“Hatsune?” the genin turned in line to find a familiar red-headed kunoichi grinning at her. “It’s been ages. How’ve have you been?”

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind if I’m being honest,” Hatsune shrugged, making a show of her chuunin flak jacket. “I’m sure you heard I got promoted recently, first one in our academy class to reach chuunin isn’t too bad, right?”

Unfortunately, Natsumi had heard.

“Ah,” Natsumi contorted her face into a forced smile. “I had heard, congratulations. It’s well deserved.”

“Isn’t it though?” Hatsune began, but mercifully, a voice from the desk cut her off

“Next!”

Relieved, Natsumi turned from Hatsune without another word and stepped up to the dispatch desk. Hatsune had been insufferable in the academy, and her promotion clearly hadn’t changed all that much, if anything she seemed worse than before. Even the prospect of another stint as a janitor seemed appealing at this point, anything to get away from the redhead.

“Good morning,” Natsumi said, stepping up to the circular desk. “Natsumi Nara, genin, here for today’s mission.”

“Nara…Nara…Nara,” the unfamiliar attendant muttered under their breath as they sorted through a pile of folders. “Ah, Natsumi Nara, here you are.”

The gray-haired woman slid a folder across the desk.

“I’ll need you to sign these papers,” the attendant continued. “You’re needed in the academy today. Tatsubaki Sensei is out sick and his substitute won’t be able to make it in until later in the day. As such, you’ll be filling in for her in the meantime. You’ll be teaching the class some of the more basic ninjutsu and chakra molding skills. Any questions?”

Natsumi glanced through the file. It didn’t really matter if she read the contract therein: either she signed and accepted the mission or she didn’t and she didn’t get paid. Simple as that, so she signed.

“Yes, just one question: wouldn’t someone a bit more experienced be a better fit for this particular task?”

The look on the attendant’s face told her all she needed to know—it was a childish question.

“I’m afraid I only distribute the missions, nothing more. You were chosen because you were chosen and that’s that.”

“Right,” Natsumi muttered, sliding the folder back across the desk. “I suppose that’s everything then. Have a lovely day.”

“Likewise,” the attendant flashed a patronizing smile before raising her voice again. “Next!”

Not sparing Hatsune a second glance, the teen returned to the streets of Konoha once more. The path from the administrative annex to the village’s academy was not an unfamiliar path.  Indeed, it was a path she had walked many times before. However, each time she walked the path recently, she secretly hoped that it would be the last time she walked it. How many times would she get pulled back to the place she so despised?

Perhaps despised was too strong a word, but it certainly wasn’t all that far off. Despite the expectations that came with her surname, Natsumi had struggled in the academy. Though she passed all the tests put before her, the endless lectures, tedious exercises, and friendless days tended to drag on back then. Times had certainly changed with her promotion to genin, but looking back at her time in the academy was not a comfortable experience. And, as of late, it seemed that so many of her missions pulled her back to the building, like some cruel joke.

The academy, if nothing else, looked the part. An elegant sloping roof, recently replaced siding, and meticulously maintained landscaping made for an appealing exterior. Meanwhile, the wood-lined inner hallways were devoid of dirt, dust, and other signs of neglect. Indeed, the building deserved to be one of the crown jewels of the village. And, in many ways, it was also the lifeblood of the village; a village’s power stemmed from its ability to nurture the next generation of shinobi and kunoichi, after all.

Now it was Natsumi’s turn to nurture, or at least try.

And yet, standing before the door to classroom 12-B, she felt a prickle on the back of her neck and a bead of sweat on her furrowed brow. It was the same feeling she had on a previous mission at the academy. At the time, she was hunting down a rogue academy student who was especially skilled in ninjutsu, so the apprehension made sense. This time, however, she was only teaching a class; perhaps it wasn’t the danger on the previous mission? She couldn’t be sure, but she also couldn’t spend all day standing outside the classroom.

“Good morning,” she said, pulling open the door. “My name is Natsumi Nara, and I’ll be filling in for Tatsubaki Sensei for first period.”

The twenty students in the room were on the younger side. Some were attentive, a few distracted, but most were likely simply counting down the minutes until lunch. Despite the lack of a gloomy, black-haired Nara at the back of class, Natsumi couldn’t help drawing parallels to her own experience at the academy. How strange to be back in the same room again.

“We’ll be starting with the basic chakra molding,” she strode to the center of the room. “Everyone, please stand up.”

The students stood up, some more reluctantly than others.

“As I’m sure you know, the first step in molding chakra effectively is finding your focus,” she formed the ram hand seal. “Try and make the Ram hand seal, I’ll be around to help correct any forms.”

Stepping into the metaphorical fray, Natsumi wound her way through the classroom. The front row of students had the hand seal down without too much issue, though she did stop to praise those who formed the seal correctly. Then, as she moved further back in the classroom, she found herself spending more time correcting form. In theory, hand seals were easy to make, however, when molding chakra being off by even an inch or two resulted in an inefficient flow. As such, ensuring proper form was key in maximizing one’s use of jutsu, a skill that could mean the difference between life and death in the real world.

“Perfect, you’re all doing wonderfully,” she chirped, returning to the front of the classroom and forming the Ram seal again. “The next step is allowing your chakra to flow freely.”

A blue wreath of chakra flickered to life around Natsumi.

“This won’t be as easy as the first step,” she admitted. “If I’m being honest this particular step took me a while to master, but in time it will become second nature. So, if at first you don’t get it, don’t beat yourself up too much about it.”

She paused, allowing the chakra around her to dissipate.

“I found it’s best if you close your eyes and try to listen to your heartbeat. At first, you’ll only feel your heart, but the longer you listen the more you’ll start to hear another rhythm from your chakra network, kind of like an echo of your heart. Focus on that rhythm for as long as you can, and let it flow out of you.”

The rest of the class time followed a rhythm all its own. Natsumi would speak, the students would practice, and Natsumi would correct. Then, Natsumi would speak again, the students would practice again, and Natsumi would correct again. This cycle continued on and on and on until it was less speaking and more practicing. Some of the students were better than others, but every student—Natsumi was proud to see—had improved by the time the bell rang, even if only by a small amount.

The thank you’s she received from the students warmed her on her walk home from the academy. Once more she found herself walking down one of Konoha’s main boulevards where the same ads promising the latest fashions blink in and out as she passed by. Yet, this time, her eyes didn’t flit from window to window. Rather, her gaze remained forward as her mind continued to wander back to the academy.

In retrospect, her fear seemed a bit silly. Her time in the academy hadn’t been the greatest experience, but that didn’t mean it had to be the same for the current students. In fact, she could very well be one of the reasons that a student came to like the academy. Perhaps there was something to that, maybe it made sense to request more missions related to molding the minds of the next generation?

The thought lingered with the genin through to the evening. Certainly, she had a long way to go in her career as a kunoichi, but having a goal in mind wouldn’t hurt. After all, having a goal was good, it gave one purpose, focus, and a destination—all things she previously lacked. Even as she slipped from consciousness and into the world of dreams her mind brought her back to her days as an academy student. However, instead of all the bad times, she relived the good: passing her first test, making her parents proud, and her eventual graduation.

Now she had a next step and that, more than anything, was worth more than the ryo she received from the mission. Perhaps she’d been wrong to question why she’d been given it in the first place, because safe in her dream world it all made perfect sense. Now, she had a purpose.

---

Exit/Thread Closed.

TWC: 2011

Thread Claims:
+ 2011 words toward learning Swamp of the Underworld
+ 20 speed
+ 4000 ryo & 20 AP for completing C-rank mission linked at top of thread