Chapter 10

(Next Morning)

"So, Yukimura Sensei, what are we doing today? Sparring? Cardio? Stamina? Teamwork exercises?"

"Actually Blade, I thought we could test all of your elemental affinities."

"Me first! I wanna go first..!! This is going to be awesome!"

"Akira you're going last."

"Mean sensei..!!"

"Blade, come here"

Yukimura sensei handed over a piece of paper to Blade. He looks so confused.

"Yukimura-sensei? What do I do?"

"Channel chakra into the paper. Depending on how it reacts, it'll show your chakra nature. Earth nature turns the paper to dust, wind nature cuts the paper, water nature soaks the paper, fire nature burns the paper, and lightning nature crinkles the paper. Go on! Let's see what you get!"

Blade channeled chakra into the paper. All looked on in anticipation. The paper... got burned.

"Fire"

"I got fire..!! fire is good right?"

"Elemental affinities are neither good nor bad. It depends upon the user... But Just so that you know, fire is the element of pure destruction, that burns over everything in its way, Just like you"

Blade looked oddly smug about that

"Shiro"

Shiro took the paper and channeled a bit of his chakra into that... only for the paper to become an ice cube.

Yukimura sensei watched Shiro who looked so disappointed...

Shiro knew he couldn't just channel his chakra into some paper and hope to get anything other than Ice. Yet he had some expectations in finding his true affinities.

'Maybe I should just stick with this Ice'

"Your affinity is ice? Isn't it some kind of Kekkai Genkai? Soooo cooooolllll"

"Stay away from me crazy woman"

Yukimura smiled kindly watching Shiro's little smile that formed on his face.

'Akira might be the only one in here who binds this group together... especially him'

"Ice is the element of raw power, like the great glaciers sliding across the landscape.

"Yes"

"Akira, you next"

"Hahaha tremble before me mortals I am going to---

BAM

"Sensei"

"Just channel your Chakra into it"

Taking the paper very carefully, she channels some chakra into it. The paper got torn in half.

"Wind is the element of freedom, Just like you"

"Woot! wind! Oh, man! sensei! You need to show me how to use wind chakra! Can you imagine it: Wind blades! Muahahahaha! Picture it! Ten invisible wind blades flying around the battlefield!"

"Alright. We will start it tomorrow." Sensei half-heartedly agrees.

"Really?", asked Blade feeling shocked

"Yes, but for now, why don't we do some starting stuff, Since you all learned Basic tree walking it's time for some elementary Jutsus, and then we can move on to the water walking "

"Deal!"

-------

At the side, Yukimura Sensei threw stones after stones at Shiro.

For the first 50 minutes, he got a lot of new bruises. Stones hurt. Badly

Bruised and bloody Shiro stood up... again

"Again"

"Why don't we stop here? You are badly hurt. At the rate you are going, you might become the first Genin in history to die from stones"

"What's the matter sensei... Scared"

Yukimura sensei grin and threw again.

His glass cannon body is just too weak to take attacks.

"AGAIN", said the bloody Shiro

Yukimura Sensei threw another stone at him....

*whoose

The stone ripped through the air...

... Just as the stone was about to hit him, He disappeared...

And the stone hit nothing but thin air...

"wooohooooo did you see that Sensei that was so freaking cool"

Yukimura sensei turned his head to the side, to see the grinning Shiro who was hanging upside down on a tree branch.

"Great Job brat, what's the name are you going to give to this technique?"

"A gentle Drop"

Shiro said that without a single hesitation or thought.

"well, come down from there, let's work on perfecting your Gentle Drop"

-------

Later that Day, Hokage office

Hokage and Shiro were having their lunch

"So, you created a new technique"

"Yeah, Sensei was helpful"

"Yukimura is a good teacher, so this technique of yours, this Gentle Drop, is it, body flicker"

Shiro scoffed, "You know that I can't really run as fast as others right? I am not physically capable of it, not even with Chakra"

"So..."

"I freeze things"

"What"

"I freeze the space, and create or delete a tunnel"

"... Oh"

"You are not as surprised as I thought you would be, I thought you would be all over me for that"

Hokage chuckled, "I have seen and heard worst news"

Shiro chuckled

"So, this technique"

"This technique is not invincible, I need to be able to freeze space faster than my opponents reaching me, I am trying to improve it but someone with good speed might not give me enough time to set it up"

"That's a severe limitation... is this the work of that Heart of yours as well"

"Yes, this heart, this mutated Ice, it can freeze anything including space and either delete it, making me teleport any direction possible... or using the same principle to create space as well, although I don't know how to do it right now... I can create space between anything and dodge nearly everything and anything this way"

"But, all of this is only possible if you are able to finish freezing the space between you and the enemy's attack"

"Yes, the faster I freeze, The faster I get"

"It's not easy to be able to perfect it"

"Never said it's going to be"

-------

(Later that afternoon)

"Team 6, reporting for duty Hokage-sama. What missions do you have?"

"Hmm... Let's see." Sarutobi Hiruzen, Lord Hokage idly browses through a stack of mission scrolls.

"We have a babysitting mission, a gardening mission, and a Tora mission." The Hokage tells us.

"Team 6 accepts the Tora mission. They deserve it." Yukimura gleefully accepts the scroll.

"That is not good. Yukimura sensei is too happy about this. His happiness means other's pain. Usually, our pain", Blade whispered to his two teammates.

"Oh, really yukimura-kun? This is quite a punishment." The Hokage sounds mildly surprised.

"I know. That is the point."

"Why do all the older nin look like they are in on the joke of the century?", Blade continued whispering making Akira and Shiro nervous as hell.

"Your goal: return the Daiymo's housewife's cat to either her or me. Good luck!" The Hokage finally tells the mission parameters.

"Wait a moment"

"Yes"

"So that we are clear, we are catching a cat yes?"

"Yes , what you getting at Blade?"

"I don't know, you tell me, I thought with the way you guys were talking like we were going to catch a demon or something"

Hokage smiled

Iruka sensei who was sitting on the side shook his head

and Yukimura sensei grinned

"Believe me kiddo, we are going to catch a demon. Let's go, team! The record is 4 hours! Let's try and beat it!"

They head out of the door.

"Hokage-sama, isn't that a little, well, mean? Those kids have no idea what they are getting into." Iruka asks.

"It is better this way." The Hokage puffs on his pipe.

"I have to say, those kids are in for one long D-rank. What was the record? For hours?"

"Four hours and seventeen minutes. Think they can beat it?"

"I'll take that bet! They will beat the time. Blade is a super Taijutsu user, and even if she doesn't look like it Akira has sharp intuitions. Maybe she is a Sensor or something. And Shiro, well let's just say his mind is too much of haunted house. The winner leaves an hour early. Deal?"

"Deal. Iruka-kun you should know that the record is 5 years old. Tora has only gotten more elusive and cunning with age. I'll enjoy going home early!"

"And you should know that they were my students for four years. I know what they're capable of."

The door opens. Team 6 enters.

"Oh? Give up already Yukimura-kun? That won't look good on your student's records."

"We've finished." Yukimura sensei blandly responds.

"Excuse me?"

-------

(5 Minutes Earlier), with Team 6

"So. We need to catch a cat?"

"Correction: you three need to catch the cat. I'll be here when you are done."

They are idly standing outside of the Hokage tower. Where could this cat be? Hopefully not all the way across town.

"Where is it?", asked Akira

"I don't know", said Blade

All turned to look at Shiro

"What, why are you guys looking me like that, Just so you guys know, I am not some omnipotent god or something, I don't know some things"

"That hard to accept", said Blade

"Yea, He knows everything", Akira nodded sagely

"I agree", Yukimura sensei barged in the conversation

CRASH

All three of the gennin flinch at the loud noise.

A cat knocked over a trash can.

"Meow." It happily trots over to Blade.

"Shoo kitty. I can't play with you right now. I need to go find Tora with my team."

"Actually, Tora is a cat. Could this be Tora?", said Shiro

"Ae, no way, there are literally 0% chances this cat is Tora."

"Hey. Yukimura-sensei? What does Tora look like?"

Blade watched the cat rubbing and purring against his leg

"Mostly black with a bell on her collar. The caller has 'Tora' etched into it."

Blade picks up the cat. Yep, it says Tora on the collar. The cat - Tora – decides she wants to snuggle Blade's face. How embarrassing. Turns out cats love him.

"I have Tora," Blade says to the rest of his team.

"Excuse me?" Yukimura sensei asks.

"See? It says Tora right here on the collar."

They lean in for a good look. Tora instantly starts hissing and clawing at them and they all reflexively jump backward.

"Well then. Good job team!"

"Smooth Yukimura sensei".

Shiro felt strange with these bunch of weirdos. Especially their sensei who just act like everything is normal, when weird things happen.

"Let's turn in the mission!"

(Back to the Present)

"Oh? Give up already Yukimura-kun? That won't look good on your student's records." The Hokage disapprovingly says.

"We've finished." Yukimura sensei blandly responds.

"Excuse me?"

"We have Tora. Mission complete." Yukimura sensei pushes Blade forward with Tora happily lounging in his arms.

"But... that was 5 minutes!"

"Would you look at that! I get to go home early Hokage-sama!"

Blade hand Tora over to the Hokage. Immediately Tora starts hissing and scratching the strongest shinobi in the village.

"This..." the Hokage says while holding Tora at arm's length and a great deal of disdain on his face, "is most certainly Tora. Good job Team 6. The new record for Tora retrieval missions is... 5 minutes and 47 seconds?"

An awkward silence settles over the room.

"Easiest. Mission. Ever."

With those parting words, Team 6 leave the room