Yuto had brought Ten-Ten back to her father's weapons shop after a few hours. He gave the man a nod and bent down on one knee, gazing into ten-tens innocent brown eyes.
"See you later, kid," Yuto said before leaving, casually waving over his shoulder as he walked out the door.
He finally made it back to the training grounds, seeing his team there. He looked at the sky, noticing he was late by a few seconds, but he wasn't going to say anything if they didn't. He really needed to learn the body flicker jutsu; it's practical and convenient.
"Yo," Yuto said casually, walking towards the team.
"Yuto, it's not like you to be late," Gemma said.
"Ohh, yeah, I was training my student," he said with a frown, as he didn't think anyone would bring up being late by a few seconds.
"You're already taking on a student," Ganro asked, surprised.
"Yes, I have. I'm molding a weapons specialish," Yuto said.
"What doesn't he do?" Yugao said, rolling her eyes, as she didn't really like Yuto that much.
Gemma stopped their chatter. "Alright, today we will do a basic tracking exercise, so try to keep up," Gemma said, looking at Yuto in particular.
Yuto scoffed, feeling like he was being underestimated.
"I'm not your regular upstart," Yuto said pompously.
Yugao scowled, murmuring something under her breath. But Yuto paid it no mind; he didn't care about whatever issue she had with him as long as it didn't interfere with missions.
Gemma sighed, "The goal of today is to capture me," Gemma said boredly
"Okay, easy enough," Yuto said, unsheathing his blade.
"Did yesterday not teach you enough, brat?" Yugao chastized.
"It taught me that you are strong. I'm confident that if we all work together, we can capture sinbon sinpai," Yuto replied calmly.
"Yuto's right. I got a feeling, today is the day we finally do it," Ganro said as he was amped up.
"Wait, you've never captured Sinbon senpai once," Yuto asked, surprised.
"It's one of Gemma's specialties. Gemmas already has jonin-level skills in every ninja art, including tracking and invasion," Ganro said.
"I see, we won't be capturing him today then," Yuto said knowingly.
"Maybe he's not as cocky as he seems," Yugao thought.
"Alright," Yuto said, stretching his muscles. "I've already devised the strategy," he said.
"Wow, that was quick," Ganro said.
"We already have plans," Yugao retorted.
"Well, they haven't worked so far," Yuto said.
She frowned, but nevertheless relented as he had a sound point.
"Look, I don't know what you guys did with your previous teammate, but that won't work for me. My skills are like no one else's, and we will need new plans to implement me into the team strategies," Yuto said calmly.
They both nodded before Ganro spoke. "So what are your skills besides what you showed in your spar with Yugao?" he asked.
"I'll explain my skills after Sinbon senpai leaves," Yuto said, tilting his head towards Gemma.
Ganro and yugao looked at Gemma standing there boredly, his sinbon in his mouth.
"Alright, the test begins now," Gemma said before disappearing in a body flicker.
"ok, as for my skills. I know basic sealing jutsu, and I'm building the foundation for my kinjutsu. I can perform the basic academy jutsu and my spitball ninjutsu. I'm skilled with shuriken, and my kunai throwing skills are mediocre. While my combat strength is at the chunin level, my chakra reserves are at the high chunin level, and my analytical and perception skills outclass regular jonin," Yuto said proudly.
"I see, we can work with that," Ganro said.
"So what's this plan you speak of?" asked Yugao.
"Oh yes, listen closely," Yuto said.
A few minutes later...
Gemma flipped backward, performing a few backflips. He blocked a flurry of shuriken weaving through the projectiles. Gemma hadn't even broken a sweat yet, his bangs under his bandana flapping as he weaved through the shuriken. Yuto landed on a tree in front of Gemma, as he was crouched on the tree with his hand in a single seal. He spat a few spitballs at him, but Gemma hopped back a few times, the spitballs splattering on the ground, replacing his previous position.
Yuto pulled his tanto from the sheath and hopped off the tree. He didn't charge forward, though he stopped realizing he was headed into a trap. He looked down, seeing the ground trap, and scoffed.
"You're underestimating me," Yuto said.
He sheathed his blade and unzipped his low-collared jacket, folding it neatly. he sealed it in a scroll and tucked the scroll in his ninja pouch that seemed to have unlimited room.
He jumped into the air, landing on a tree, and started to tree hop. he was later joined by Yugao, who had dirt on her chunin vest and was a bit winded.
"What the hell, when were you going to make your big plan?" she said, frustratedly.
"Be patient, yugao. I had to escape a trap left by Sinbon senpai," Yuto said calmly.
Her frustration dimmed a little, but she was still unhappy with the circumstances. They had been at it for 10 minutes and hadn't even put a scratch on Gemma's fabrics.
"Don't act with haste, my plan has yet to be enacted," Yuto said reassuringly.
She gave a nod. "I'll move in close while you attack with your long-range spitball ninjutsu," she said.
Yuto nodded before they leaped off.
They finally caught up to Ganro and Gemma in a clearing of trees as Ganro was combating against Gemma with pure taijutsu while Gemma wielded his kunai. Yuto landed on a tree in the clearing, a hand on his hip. he signaled with his hands for the next course of action to yugao. Yugao nodded before hopping off the branch a dashing forward at Gemma while he was still engaged in combat with Ganro. Gemma glanced at her without a flicker of worry on his face.
Gemma placed a kick in Ganros's abdomen, sending him flying back, and clashed his kunai against Yugaos' long blade. Yugao slashed at Gemma a few times, but Gemma deflected a few of her slashes before jumping over her blade and planting a kick in her face, sending her stumbling back. But Yugao didn't stop at that. She charged back in, performing a downward slash. Yuto noticed Yugao was no match for the more skilled and experienced Gemma and knew it was time he truly entered the fight. He made a signal to Ganro that the plan would come into play before descending from the tree, landing lightly on the ground. Ganro nodded as he pulled himself off the ground after the kick.
Yugao glanced to her side, seeing Ganro about to take action. Yugao intentionally left an opening, anticipating that Gemma would make an attack.
Gemma drove his kunai forward, placing a deep slash on yugao's shoulder, forcing a wince out of her as she hopped back a few times, regrouping with Yuto.
Ganro, ahead of them both, performed a set of hand seals.
"fire-style fireball technique," he said.
The fireball slammed into Gemma as he screamed in agonizing pain, but it was revealed to be a shadow clone from the familiar sound of a puff of smoke.
"Substitution. he must have made the shadow clone while we were discussing the plan," Yuto said.
"were is he now?" Yugao said, darting her eyes across the terrain.
"My intuition tells me he's underground, but I can't be sure," Yuto said.
Yuto's face became surprised. "Ganro, send a fireball at 2 o'clock," Yuto said.
"On it," he said before quickly running through a set of hand seals.
He spewed a spiraling fireball out of his mouth in the trees ahead.
Gemma was surprised his position had been discovered as he was hiding under a consilment illusionary technique. He dropped the jutsu, showing his form crouched on the side of the tree. He jumped down to the ground before jumping to the side again to avoid the large explosion, the jutsu made when it collided with the tree.
"That brat gave them my position. But how?" Gemma said.
He jumped forward onto another tree as he caught sight of the miniature firballs coming towards his position.
"I see, he put Ganro up to this as well; he's never taken such a bold, offensive approach towards me," Gemma thought.
He jumped to another tree, repeating the same sequence, dodging the other miniature fireballs. He hopped to another tree, dodging the last fireball before hopping towards the rest of the team. he reached into his ninja pouch, tossing out a flurry of shuriken at the team while he descended from the air onto another tree. he landed in a crouched position on the tree, raising an eyebrow, seeing neither yugao nor ganro moving from their position.
Yuto grinned before raising a single handseal and shooting off a few spitballs at the kunai, changing their trajectory as they dropped onto the floor around them.
Yuto threw a kunai in the air, making Ganro and Yugao look at him in confusion. The kunai sliced a rope as a giant log flew towards the branch Gemma was on.
"he predicted I would jump on this specific branch. That's some intuition he has," Gemma thought.
He jumped backward, evading the log that slammed into the tree.
"Not shabby, but that's not enough to beat me," Gemma said.
Yuto frowned, but his face became determined. "It's time for plan B," Yuto said, unsheathing his tanto.
After half an hour of trying to capture Gemma, they failed miserably. When it came to fighting against jonin, it was either kill them or be killed. Jonins were rarely captured, and if they were captured, it was because they surrendered to the enemy. Gemma, while a chunin, already had jonin-level skills and experience. One genin and two inexperienced chunin wouldn't be enough to capture him. They wouldn't even be enough to kill him. The only time a jonin is killed in combat is when faced with another enemy jonin or when a platoon of ninjas with specific skills is sent out for his head. Those specialized teams are sent out when jonin become rogue ninja.
Yuto sighed, seeing that Gemma looked the same when he entered the training ground. Not even a scratch on his figure, and he still had that bored, uninterested look on his face.
"Alright, that's enough for today, team," Gemma said.
"It's only been about an hour," Yuto said.
"Yes, you'll use the rest of the day to train your individual skills," Gemma said.
Yuto nodded before pulling out another scroll from his pouch. It was a water nature scroll he had bought from the academy library with his academy credits. But it was just the academy library after all, and the scroll only described the uses of water nature jutsu. The scroll didn't actually give you any techniques or water nature theory. He wished it were that easy.
"I remember that scroll from the academy," Yugao said.
"Really, you know water nature techniques?" Yuto asked in surprise.
She nodded, "I wouldn't mind giving you a few pointers if you're interested," she said casually.
"I would appreciate that," Yuto said, thankfully.
"Yuto, come with me. We need to talk," Gemma said seriously.
"Yeah, what is it?" Yuto asked as he was a bit concerned by Gemma's serious tone.
"It has to do with the team," he said.
Yugao and Ganro took that as their cue to leave.
After they left, Gemma and Yuto walked into another clearing of trees. Yuto leaned his shoulder against a tree with his arms crossed.
"Why are you so serious all of a sudden?" Yuto asked.
Gemma took the senbon out of his mouth for the first time since the two met.
He only took his senbon out of his mouth in the field and in cases like this one.
"Look, kid, sorry to break the news to you like this," he said.
Yuto's 5-star acting dropped for the first time since the two met. His face was a bit worried.
Gemma sighed, seeing Yuto's face as he felt even more guilt for what he was about to say.
"The team is being disbanded after the mission in a few days. My contributions were reconsidered, and I've been granted my jonin promotion early."
Yuto frowned before his face returned to its original state. "I see, but I do have a question," Yuto said.
"Mmm, what's that?" Gemma asked.
"I'm curious, why offer a genin a place on your chunin team?" Yuto asked.
"I saw something in you. And I'm not just saying that. I saw your potential, I saw your mindset, from just our one spar at the academy. You're a coward, I know that much," Gemma said.
Yuto looked at Gemma in shock, his poker face falling for the second time that day.
"You're wondering how I knew, aren't you?" he said
"You could determine that from just our one exchange. But how?" Yuto asked.
"I used to be just like you. I would hide my fear behind arrogance and indifference until it became my personality," Gemma said.
"So how did you rid yourself of fear?" Yuto asked.
Gemma let out a light chuckle. " I still fear till this day, everyone does. My issue was not my fear; it was my courage, my will," he said.
"I see, but then why would you want me on the team if you knew my true mindset?" Yuto asked, confused.
"I saw your skills and your sharp mind, but above all, I wanted to give you the opportunity I never got," he said.
Yuto's face took on an understanding look. "You knew if I were on this team, I would gain experience and learn camaraderie, and my will would be developed over time, just like yours was, except you weren't given a chance," Yuto said knowingly.
Gemma nodded.
"Thank you, Gemma," Yuto said, saying his name for the first time.
"No need," he said.
"We originally were going to take a C-rank mission to get you prepared, but seeing the team is being disbanded, I've decided to take a B-rank mission. That's the least I can do," Gemma said.
Yuto's face shifted to shock as he knew how good a B rank mission would look on his resume. If he were lucky, he might catch the attention of another chunin team if the mission went well. But that was just high hopes.
"I see," Yuto said.
"Alright, kid, see you tomorrow," he said, slipping his senbon back into his mouth and disappearing with a body flicker.
Yuto looked down at the ground a little down as he had been given the opportunity of a lifetime, just for it to be taken away the next day.
[Be sure to give me your power stones]