Chapter 3: Promotions and Pies

It was early February. The weather was cold and windy. With my cheeks and nose hidden by a long, white and fluffy scarf, I rubbed my gloved hands together.

If Genma pulled a Kakashi and made me wait for him, I wasn't going to stay outside with this cold. I would get my crepes with or—

"Nice scarf."

I started and turned around to hit the asshole who suddenly appeared behind me. "Show-off," I grumbled good-naturedly when he caught my wrist before it connected with his arm.

Genma chuckled and adjusted his hold from my wrist to my shoulders to drag me inside the tea house. "Darling, I'll use all the tricks I know if it means I can admire you without being hit more than once a week. You already had your shot yesterday." A waitress stepped forward. He asked: "A table for two, please. The one near the window at the back looks great."

I barely had time to notice the vegetal ambiance of the place that Genma had already grasped the spatial organization of the room. I supposed that was the difference between a special jounin and a member of the genin corps, or between a bodyguard and a secretary.

The furniture was traditional. After removing our coats, we sat on cushions at a low table with one side against a big window. Ferns and bushes were growing in a garden on the other side. It was a really nice view.

After our order, I looked around more curiously. "I really like it here. Thanks for bringing me." I didn't mention that it was too expensive for me to try it casually, but I didn't doubt that Genma had gathered as much. Apart from a few blanks in his view of the world, he was smart enough.

"My pleasure. Those pumpkin crepes look really good."

"That's a curious choice. Do you have a secret weakness for pumpkin?"

"Yes. It's not much of a secret though. My mom makes a really great pumpkin broth."

"Is that so? I'm not overfond of soups, but I like pumpkin purée or pumpkin pie."

"Pie?"

This world, just like Japan, wasn't used to pies. It had been the first thing I had changed in my diet when I started to cook. The recipe for a good crust dough had needed a few tries, but I felt much better since I had it. Food always made the nostalgia stronger and the culture difference more obvious.

"Now I want to try it," Genma grumbled, leaning against the window, a leg folded vertically and the other horizontally.

"When is your birthday? I'll make it for you then."

"It's in July, in five months!"

"Oh, what a shame."

"Come on, darling, don't do that to me," he whined. "That's just teasing. I'm buying you crepes, aren't I?"

"As an apology," I reminded him. "And buying something is not the same as taking time to do something."

"Alright then, ask me for something."

I raised an eyebrow, surprised by the offer.

"I'm always serious about pumpkin," he replied to my silent question.

I chuckled and thought it through. "Training."

His senbon went from pointing down to pointing up to show his surprise. "That would be fine, darling," he said carefully, "but I'm not sure–"

"Not for me," I interrupted with a wave of my hand. "I know you'll be bored in five minutes. For my cousin… and his best friend because they're stuck to the hip, really. They're going to participate in the Chuunin exams in Suna. It's their second time, but their sensei was hurt during their last mission. Apparently it's bad, and he's on the good drugs so unable to help. I heard about it this morning from two whining limpets on my couch."

Genma considered it thoughtfully. "Names?"

"Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu. They're fourteen. Their other teammate passed in the last exam."

Our orders arrived. We stopped speaking to taste the delicious and long-awaited crepes. Mine was filled with apples and topped by chocolate sauce and whipped cream. His had the same toppings with pumpkin filling.

"This is delicious," I mumbled between mouthfuls.

"Yeah." Genma agreed before pointing his fork at me. "Fine, I'll give your cousin and his friend a try, but your pumpkin pie better be worth it. I'm no sensei."

"Shame. You'd be a great one, I'm sure. Just give them a few tips on what to improve and how. They need some pointers and directions to nudge them on the right track. I already promised to train with them, to give them an opponent they aren't used to, but I don't have the experience of what they'll go through."

Genma twirled his fork between his fingers as he chewed his food and stared at me, contemplative. "So, it's true that you got a field promotion?"

"Yes."

"At thirteen, by stopping a jounin infiltrator?"

I snorted. "I don't know his rank, but I doubt he was a full jounin. A tokubetsu maybe, at best, and his specialization wasn't combat."

He wasn't going to ask – it was frowned upon to ask for war stories – but his interest was obvious and I supposed that training Izumo and Kotetsu was a bigger favor than baking a pumpkin pie.

So, I remembered…

o

… I had been in the Genin Corps for three years. The sabotage of Kannabi bridge had happened eight months ago. The failed attempt at kidnapping Rin was a few weeks old. Iwa had signed a peace treaty and Kiri – after angering The Yellow Flash by targeting his student and gotten their ass kicked – had also asked for a truce. Kumo was now the main enemy.

After being successful in my latest attempt to change History, I was in an excellent mood and confident that I could relax until Uzumaki Kushina showed signs of being pregnant (I was keeping an eye on her, which wasn't difficult: that woman wasn't discrete, especially around Ichiraku Ramen's stand).

How naive to forget that war didn't stop at the walls of the village.

In the middle of my shift, during a perfectly normal day, I was running up the spiral staircase leading up to the aviary when I heard it: a scream abruptly cut off and a thump like a body falling to the ground. I froze two steps away from the door, immediately on high alert. A part of me thought I was being paranoid and listened for words that would prove this wasn't exactly what I had imagined. Nothing came. Only the loud noises of the messenger birds. Too loud. As if something bothered them.

I was hyperaware of my breathing and heartbeat, which suddenly seemed so loud to me that everyone around could undoubtedly hear it. I thought to go back, to alert someone higher ranked, but to tell them what? That I had heard something weird in the aviary and I was too scared to check? That would go well. I could already imagine the jeering! And if something really was wrong, calling for backup might take too much time.

Slowly, I walked up to the door, channeled a small hint of chakra into the hinges to stop it from creaking (a trick taught to me by an old Nara veteran hating to be disturbed during his nap) and pushed it open.

I immediately had the confirmation that something was wrong. One of the falconers was lying down, face to the floor, in a growing puddle of blood.

Seized by fear, my heartbeat quickened so much that it was deafening. Yet, I stepped forward, protected from view by a row of cages. I could hear someone moving on the circular platform.

I took a peek and recognized one of the other members of the Aviary staff. He was rummaging through the drawers holding the ciphers (the basic ones, the others were only known to the Cryptanalysis Team), cursing between his teeth. He didn't seem to find what he wanted and made a mess of everything. Strange for someone who should have been familiar with the place. I didn't work here, and yet I had been taught the basics.

I held a kunai tightly, my free hand shaking.

The man suddenly pulled out a paper with a noise of triumph and walked to a cage, seeming intent on sending the cipher by bird. A bird which, considering its placement in the rows, was specialized in outposts' deliveries. That was against all protocols I knew. I didn't understand what he was planning, but that cipher should never leave Konoha.

He opened the cage's door, his back turned to me.

I reacted with just a thought: stop the cipher from leaving. I sprinted to a perfectly unremarkable lever at the rows' end and pushed it down. All cages' doors opened simultaneously, an action that the birds known as an emergency evacuation protocol. They all rushed out in a deafening concert of screeches and beating wings.

The enemy – because that's all he could be – had turned toward me when he heard me running. He threw a kunai which barely missed me. The chaos caught him off-guard. He crouched with his arms raised to protect his head from the talons clawing at everything in their way.

On the other hand, I had been expecting this. I didn't miss the opportunity to pounce on him. I kicked him with all my might. He staggered and rolled away. His henge fell while he did so, showing what I already suspected: that he was an impostor, a shinobi from Kumo, no doubt.

Determined to keep the advantage of surprise, since that was all I had for myself, I threw shuriken and kunai at him as he withdrew, and then pounced on him with double kicks, back kicks, side kicks… Anything that could keep him down and allow me to stay at distance without giving him the occasion to grab me and bring me closer like a punch would have done. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough when he finally caught my ankle and sent me flying through the room.

I hit the open cages before falling to the ground. Despite the pain all over and the breathlessness, years of training led me to roll as I landed and immediately rose on my knees.

This time, he was the one pressing his advantage. I raised my forearms hastily to block a punch to my face. When a kunai came down with his other hand, I threw myself at his knees. The blade cut through my kimono blouse, down my back, along my shoulder blade, and was prevented from going too deep by my mesh armor undershirt.

I managed to bring him down before rolling away.

The pain due to the cut was sharper, compared to the dull ache of future bruises I had obtained. Lifting my arm pulled at the wound, but it wasn't a priority. I had always thought that I would freeze in a life-threatening situation. It turned out that I had some survival instinct after all and also the determination to go down fighting. I wasn't afraid of death – I already died – but I refused to waste my second life.

We faced each other. I hastily removed my custom weapons, two tessens, from my obi and unfolded them to catch the kunai coming at me. Blocking incoming weapons with one war fan and slashing through the air with the other to keep the twenty years old man at distance, I was entirely focused on him. When he tried to form hand seals, I rushed at him, desperate to keep him from using a jutsu. That would undoubtedly be my downfall. My ninjutsu was poor for lack of tutoring.

He managed to avoid me with ease. My tessen barely left a trail of blood on his forearm as he dodged. He jumped away with a smirk, seeming so sure of himself that he was going to take the time to taunt me (we hadn't even exchanged one word till now). Suddenly he was thrown against the cages face first, a hand connecting harshly with the back of his neck. He was knocked out instantly.

I gaped as my adversary dropped to the floor at an ANBU's feet and gawked some more at the ANBU team surrounding me. I had never seen so many from so close. They were rather intimidating. After a few blinks, I squeaked a tentative "Thanks".

An ANBU in full armor and cloak stepped forward. "You're the one who evacuated the birds?"

I could hear them distantly over the Aviary. Dozens of birds flying around and screeching had no doubt attracted a lot of attention. That was one of the goals.

"Y-yes." I gulped and tried to catch my breath. "He tried to send a cipher to an outpost. He had an henge on before you came, as a member of the staff. When I arrived, I..." I glanced back to the lifeless body at the entrance, gripping my folded tessen tightly. "I saw something was wrong. I studied the situation, removed the risk of leak and engaged him in combat." Textbook response, really.

"Did you see which outpost?"

I blinked rapidly, turned toward the right row, then looked back from the place where I had watched it happen. As I adjusted my line of sight, I stepped forward and pointed to a cage. "This one. It's on the border with the Land of Hot Water."

"Well done," the leader said as one of his men retrieved the cipher from their prisoner.

I smiled slowly as it dawned on me that I had successfully survived an encounter with an enemy and avoided a breach of secrecy. My first feat as a kunoichi!

o

"And the Hokage promoted you for service to the village," Genma concluded.

"Well, not exactly," I replied between two sips of tea. "After the debriefing, I didn't hear anything about it for two weeks. Then, suddenly, while I was in the middle of a shift at Logistical Support, an ANBU appeared to drag me to the Hokage's Office. I was dumped in front of this very imposing Inuzuka and his giant dog…"

o

"What's that?" The Inuzuka asked with a frown.

"The kunoichi who stopped the intruder," the Sandaime replied peacefully.

"I didn't know she was so young. How old are you, girl? Did you just pass your chuunin exam?"

"I'm thirteen and a member of the Genin Corps, Inuzuka-san," I replied patiently.

His face did something complex, looking like a mix of constipation and disbelief. "You're kidding me. Genin Corps?" As I raised an eyebrow, he turned to the Hokage with a frown. "I can't fucking tell my squad we owe our life to a career genin!"

I stopped myself from answering something nasty, but my lips curved down in displeasure.

"Can't you?" The Hokage said placidly.

"That's unheard of!"

"Would a career chuunin be better?"

"Fuck yes!"

The Sandaime pushed a paper towards the Inuzuka who, after a glance at it, grabbed a pen and scrawled what looked like a signature in a corner, punctuating it violently.

"There!" Inuzuka-san turned and pointed at me. "You're a chuunin! Much better! And I meant to say before that: good job, kid, and thanks for saving my team's hide. There." And he left in a rush, without even bowing to the Hokage.

I gaped after him then turned to the Sandaime, expecting a denial and an explanation.

He gave me a little smile and said: "Congratulations on your promotion, Chuunin Kamizuki, you're a credit to the Genin Corps."

o

Genma burst into laughter. "Oh, I can see it! The Sandaime tricking someone into getting you promoted!"

I smiled sheepishly. I had learned later, while speaking to the Genin Corps Commander Akimichi Kuma, that a field promotion needed at least three recommendations from high-ranking people (and, of course, the Hokage's approbation). Kuma-san had been eager to recommend me, his best pupil. One of the ANBU had probably been impressed enough to add his or her signature. The Inuzuka had been the last one.

I didn't know exactly how my intervention had saved his team (secrecy and compartmentalization of information were things you had to accept as a shinobi), but I wasn't going to nitpick about it.

"So, there you go, you know everything about my promotion…"

"Can I share it with the boys? They'll love it."

I shrugged. "It's not classified."

Genma's smile told me that he wouldn't stop at just sharing it with his teammates.

Oh, well…

oOo

The next day, I woke up before sunrise to make the blasted pie. The kids better appreciated their training session because I was making an extraordinary effort for them. I wasn't an early bird!

I arrived at work holding a dish covered with a napkin.

Genma immediately focused on it, his senbon going up and down in anticipation. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Your pie, as requested. I took the liberty to cut it so you can share it with whoever you want."

Genma eagerly accepted the dish and peeked under the napkin. "Who said I'm sharing?" He asked with a grin, perfectly aware of Raidou staring at him intently.

"I'm not taking responsibility for any squabble over a damn pie," I said with a shrug, dragging myself to my desk to sort through the incoming mail.

Several hours later, at lunch break, I stepped into the Hokage's office with his customary cup of tea to find him and his Guard Platoon eating a slice of pie.

Minato-san looked at me with a cheerful smile. "Ah, Maiko-san, I was told you're the excellent cook we have to thank for this delicacy. I hope you don't mind me helping myself to it, but I had to settle an argument between my guards."

I would have sweat-dropped if I could. "Not at all, Hokage-sama. I apologize for the disturbance."

He waved his hand. "It livens up the day."

I glanced at Genma with an exasperated expression. He smiled shamelessly.

oOo

Two days later, a pair of genin ran up to my desk like buffalos huffing and puffing. I glanced at them distractedly before going back to writing a polite letter of refusal to an invitation for the Hokage. They were covered in dirt but also grinning like fools.

"It went well, I take it?"

"Maiko-san, it was awesome!" Kotetsu breathed.

"He had great advice to offer," Izumo agreed more calmly.

"That's good. Did you behave?"

"Of course!" They replied in unison.

I nodded and finished my sentence carefully. When neither of them said anything else, I glanced at them with a raised eyebrow. They were elbowing each other.

"Nee-chan," Izumo started hesitantly. "Shiranui-san… He mentioned that he would agree to train with us again if you made your lemon meringue pie for him."

"And how did he learn about that recipe?"

Izumo coughed in his fist and admitted: "He mentioned your pumpkin pie was good. I said the lemon one was better."

I pinched my lips, thought about it and shook my head. "No."

"Come ooon, Maiko-san, please!" Kotetsu immediately whined.

"I had to wake up one hour earlier last time," I grumbled. "And your sensei will feel better soon enough to help you."

Izumo elbowed his friend to stop him from moaning and pleading some more. He had always been the smart one, and apparently he had a plan. He leaned forward and offered: "If I tell mom you helped us, I bet she'll sew you a new kimono top."

I halted with the brush hovering above the letter and glared at him. "You shouldn't use your mom's labor for your own benefits just like you shouldn't use mine."

Unrepentant, he smiled at me calmly. "I found and bought her some of the best fabric she has ever seen during one of our last missions. She owes me a favor, which makes all of this quid pro quo and a perfectly reasonable trade."

I squinted at him, impressed by his maturity.

"She has some fabric which is your favorite shade, just a touch darker than forest green, and emerald green ribbons..." He tried to coax me.

"Fine!" I interrupted him with a wave of my hand. "Fine. I'll make the damn pie. Good Kami, Izumo, if you're tired of the field, just become a diplomat."

Kotetsu squealed in delight and crushed his best friend in a hug while Izumo smiled smugly.

"Just leave, boys. You're embarrassing me at work."

"Sure thing, Maiko-nee-chan. Thanks again!"

That's how I started trading favors for pies, of all things...

oOo

I hadn't used an official training ground in years (since I had left the Genin Corps and their private ground). I made the most of this opportunity and arrived early to warm up. Then I used the stumps to work on my aim.

Years ago, at the academy, I used to spend hours working on it after lessons. It was mindless work. It allowed me to think about other things while I threw shuriken and kunai. I had bad sight during my previous life. It might not be the case in this one, but it didn't mean that aiming came more easily. I had to work a lot on this skill and training so much early on gave me good reflexes for life.

"Maiko-nee-chan."

I turned around to see Izumo and Kotetsu walking up to me. I waved at them and went to retrieve my weapons on the tree stumps. "Ready to kick my ass, kiddos?"

"You bet!" Kotetsu shouted cheerfully.

Izumo was more cautious. "Only if you allow it, nee-chan."

I chuckled and went to hug him tightly. I still was taller than him, enough to rest my chin on his head as I squeezed him. He put up with it patiently, patting my back as he did so.

Izumo and I were as close as brother and sister. Our fathers were twins. They always did everything together, including fighting... and dying at the beginning of the Third Shinobi War. I had been around Izumo since he was born, playing sister, babysitter, tutor and confidante. He was a really cute kid, unlike his best friend (I wasn't surprised that Kotetsu had been the one to decide on their first day of school that they would be friends, and the introverted Izumo just went along with it, that's often how those things work). I gave a predatory grin to Kotetsu, who laughed nervously.

"I didn't mean it would be easy, of course! You're still a chuunin, even if…"

"Yes? Even if what, Kotetsu-kun?" I egged him on cheerfully.

He glanced at Izumo who was making cutting motions at his throat. "Nothing! Nothing!"

"Ah, my dear Kotetsu-kun, we never had the opportunity to train together, did we? Come on, you'll go first, this will be fun." I tousled his spiky hair before walking to the middle of the training ground. "Remember: same rules as the Chuunin Exam matches."

Kotetsu was a good fighter, excellent with weapons, but it wasn't anything I couldn't deal with. While he relied mostly on strength, I was faster and my mastery of the tessen took him by surprise, enough that I had the upper hand for most of our fight. He was too brash and overconfident, with not enough strategy to win against an opponent of his level or higher. I was expecting to finish it quickly, but he suddenly withdrew and squinted at me.

I tilted my head and smiled. "Finally revising your strategy, or rather the absence thereof?"

"Izumo didn't say you were that good."

I tutted. "Your codependent relationship has its limits, Kotetsu-kun. You can't always count on him to analyse your opponents for you, be it because he didn't have the opportunity to get intel on them or because he's just as loyal to me than he is to you." I waved my fan in front of my face. "I suggest you use that brain of yours a little more instead of waiting for it to—"

I frowned, a noise distracting me. My instincts were blaring something was wrong. I threw myself to the side and felt something heavy brush my arm without seeing anything. I immediately brought my hands together. "Kai!" My chakra flow was disrupted and the illusion I was in the middle of disappeared, showing Kotetsu charging at me instead of standing where he had appeared to be until now. Ranting during a fight truly wasn't the most brilliant idea I had! I jumped and danced out of the way, laughing. "Not bad, Ko-kun!"

"Stop twirling around!" Kotetsu growled, although there was a spark of amusement in his eyes.

"I can't do that, dear. I have to honor my name after all!" Maiko meant 'dancing child' and there was nothing I liked more than dancing around an opponent. I wasn't exactly fond of getting hit, after all…

Unfortunately for me, I was garbage at genjutsu and countering them, mostly because I had very little experience with them. I was unable to detect the next illusion Kotetsu used. I ended up lying on the ground with him on top of me and a blade at my throat. His victorious grin was a sight to see.

"Not bad, Kotetsu-kun," I congratulated him honestly after we caught our breath.

He helped me to stand up.

I patted his head despite his growl. "Your use of genjutsu was smart. Smarter than what you showed at first. I suck at dealing with illusions, but it's the case of many genin and chuunin so it's a good skill to have. Be careful though: your illusions are only visual, when you made too much noise it allowed me to realize that I was in a genjutsu. You need to work on your discretion."

Izumo, who had joined us at the end of the fight, snorted and crossed his arms. "Good luck with that."

"I can be discreet!" Kotetsu protested.

"When you try to avoid your mother and little sister, sure. Otherwise? Nope."

"Izumo, it's your turn," I interrupted before this got out of hand.

Izumo and I trained together since I started the academy and he asked me to teach him what I knew. We were familiar with each other, but since he had become a genin three years ago, we had rarely done more than warming up together.

He had become better, much better, and it turned out he had several water jutsu up his sleeve. I sputtered when a Water Clone exploded in my face and immediately twirled out of the way, hearing kunai coming at me.

"My little cousin knows elemental jutsu! I'm so proud!" I squealed as he tried to stab me (during moments like this, it was better not to compare the different mentalities of my two lives).

"Stop trying to embarrass me," he grumbled. "This stopped working years ago."

"But it's so fun to do!"

Izumo was less of a taijutsu user, less resistant and strong, but he was a smart fighter with good techniques. He was intelligent enough to make it quick. I ended up in one of his trap with one of my tessen hovering above his wrist. I could have seriously hurt him, but in the end he was the one able to kill me in the next move. He won.

When he helped me up, I caught him in a fierce hug.

"Nee-chan… are you crying?" He asked, baffled.

"I'm not," I denied as I sniffled. I hid my face in his bandana (it was new... How cute! my little cousin was imitating his Genma-senpai!). "I'm just… I'm really proud of you, Izumo-kun," I admitted. "Our dads would be too." I bet that the water jutsu came in part from the scrolls they had left behind. Water Affinity ran in the family. I probably had it too, but learning elemental jutsu without a sensei was extremely difficult.

When Kotetsu arrived to our level, I was perfectly composed once again. Izumo squeezed my hand. We exchanged a soft smile.

"So, do you think we've got this?" Kotetsu asked.

"Yes. If you think before you rush into a fight!" I replied as I poked him in the chest.

Izumo snickered. "That's exactly what sensei and Genma-senpai told him!"

Kotetsu waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah, I got it! Now come on, I'm hungry!"

"Good point. Let's hurry. I barely have one hour left before the end of my lunch break and I need to change beforehand." My clothes were sweaty, dusty and torn on several places. That's why training on a work day was annoying. However, I had planned ahead just for this. We went to sit on the grass where I had left my bag, and I pulled out three bentos from it. It also contained a change of clothes and a towel for a quick wash later.

"You're really good at taijutsu and shurikenjutsu, Maiko-san," Kotetsu said, "and you're scary with the tessen. I thought people coming from the Genin Corps would be… mh… you know..."

"Weaker?" I chuckled and munched on an onigiri.

"No! I mean… yeah. It's like... You know... You're a chuunin so obviously you have skills but…" Kotetsu made a lot of gestures to convey his thoughts as his words failed him. It didn't help much.

"The truth, Kotetsu-kun, is that the only difference between you and the members of the Genin Corps is luck and opportunity."

Izumo looked up from his lunch, curious. "What do you mean?"

"You think you're better than those of your year who were sent to the Genin Corps? Think about it…" I gave them a few seconds to do so before adding: "At my graduation, I was ranked in fourteenth position."

Kotetsu looked up, wide-eyed. "I was eighteenth!"

Izumo, I knew, was eighth. I had helped him with his lessons after all. I also knew that I could have done better than fourteenth. The top ten would have been easy, but I wanted to stay inconspicuous.

"Your ranking, in the end... it means jack shit."

Izumo twitched, unused to me swearing.

"It's luck. Whether you have a good team and a good sensei... That will get you on the right track or not."

"That's… that's a little pessimist, isn't it?" Izumo asked, dubious. The boys probably didn't appreciate the idea that they had come so far thanks to luck. And yet, luck was a shinobi's best friend.

"If you want pessimism, I could add that, of course, this is only true if you're not part of a clan but, oh, wait… that's just realism."

Kotetsu gave me a disappointed look. "Maiko-san, I didn't take you for the jealous and bitter kind of career chunin."

I shrugged. "I'm not jealous. Bitter... maybe. But mostly realist. I don't expect you to get it. You might have done more missions than me outside of Konoha, but you don't know how the village works like I do." I waved the subject aside with the back of my hand. I didn't want to shatter their illusions just before the Chunin Exams, that would be mean. "Back on track. The jounin sensei my team was assigned to was so eager to go back to the battlefield that he had already made up his mind about failing us before he met us. I know that because six months later I heard him say it to one of his friends, just before he added that if he had to be a sensei, he would only bother for clan children anyway. He was a Hyuuga. At the next graduation, he got a team with an Aburame. They passed. I pitied the two other kids." I chewed on my food thoughtfully. "I'm not sure they're still alive, to be honest."

The genin stared at me, horrified.

I blinked, realizing that my last comment was a little morbid. I smiled at them sheepishly. "Anyway! It's a little better now, of course. With the end of the war, genin can go back to the Academy to try again the Jounin path even when their first sensei was just an asshole. But during the war, believe me, the Genin Corps got lots of kids — often from civilian families, never ever from clans — kids who could have been great if only someone had bothered to give them a chance."

The Genin Corps weren't bad because all the weak shinobi ended up there. They were bad because once you were in it, you had little hope to become great. How could you, when you had no jounin to teach you, only a tokubetsu jounin to guide you and the hundred of others under his command? To climb your way up, you could only rely on your own diligence. No-one was going to hold your hand and help you to overcome your flaws. You were shy and hesitant like Hinata? You're screwed. Lazy like Shikamaru? Screwed. No self-discipline (and it wasn't easy to find in most teenagers)? Screwed.

I sometimes wondered what I would have become with a good jounin sensei. The jutsu I would have learned. The missions I would have done… Maybe it made me a little bitter to ponder this, but jealous? No. I wasn't jealous of the kids of my age who had been sent on the battlefield as soon as possible. If the price of a healthy mind was mediocrity then I was okay with it.

"Why never from clans?" Izumo asked, interrupting my thoughts. "Are you saying that all the clan kids got an automatic pass?"

"Oh no, some clan kids are rejected. They can't all be prodigies or privileged by jounin after all, but as soon as one of them is rejected they get an apprenticeship. Not necessarily with their own clansmen by the way, although it's often the case, but clans have so much influence that they can easily pull strings in any division. Anything is good as long as their precious kids stay out of the Genin Corps. It would be a scandal if one of them either ended up here. All the other clans would mocked them. That's just not done, not since the foundation of the village. The Genin Corps have been founded to give some use to the kids they couldn't be bothered to teach, aka the civilian ones. It was an idea of Uchiha Madara." Who was surprised by that? Not me. "Of course, officially, if you ask any clan, the reason their kids always get apprenticeships is that they all have specializations that can be better used elsewhere."

"That's… unfair."

"Yep." I finished my bento and leaned over to give Izumo a hug. "But don't worry, cousin, your nee-chan knows everything about how the village works now. I won't let anyone screw with your or your best friend."

Izumo patted my shoulder distractedly before he frowned. "What do you mean by that? We're on the Jounin path now. How could anyone… screw with us?"

I put my hands on his cheeks and squished them a little. "Never change," I said affectionately as I stood up. "I have to go. See ya!"

"Wha—? No, wait! Nee-chan, what do you mean?!"

I ran away with my bag, laughing cheerfully.

I never noticed the eyes watching me.

oOo Bonus - Izumo's PoV oOo

"Geez, your cousin is so weird," Kotetsu sighed as he stretched out in the grass.

"Is that why you have a crush on her?" Izumo replied, deadpan, as he stared at Maiko's back.

"I do not!" Kotetsu straightened on his elbows and blushed at his best friend's unimpressed glance. "Shut up! She's just hot, alright? That's it!"

"Maiko-nee-chan isn't hot, she's beautiful... and too good for you," Izumo replied primly.

Kotetsu sputtered, until he noticed the small smirk at the corner of his friend's lips. He tried to kick him, but Izumo just leaned to the side to avoid it.

"Just remember that she's like an older sister to me."

"I know she is," Kotetsu sighed. "I perfectly remember all the times she came to find us when we were late for dinner and the corresponding lectures, thank you very much. She was as fast as our sensei to find us. How the hell did she do that?"

"She knows Konoha like the back of her hand and she asked the genin corps to keep an eye on me."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah. Since her promotion she's a hero for them or something," Izumo shrugged. "I don't mind, it's useful to be known as Maiko's cousin." He wasn't sure that Maiko was aware of how much she meant to the Genin Corps. She was a big subject of gossip for them: they always knew the last news about her. They wanted to be in her favor because she was one of their own and had gone further than any other before without forgetting about where she came from. As such, it was no surprise that Izumo profit from her reputation, even if it sometimes meant gossiping a little about his own cousin (she would forgive him).

She was a role model for him. She had trained with him since he decided to become a shinobi, to 'make sure he survived'. She showed him everything, explained anything obscure patiently. He thought she was a bottomless well of knowledge and the best kunoichi there was. As such, he had been heartbroken when she had been sent to the Genin Corps. In fact, he had been more upset than she had been! He thought it was unfair, and to this day he still thought so. Maiko was smart, smarter than him. He had rationalized her 'failure' as the result of her being weaker than him on the physical part, maybe because she was a girl... that made sense, right?

In the end, maybe he just had more luck than her and life was just unfair after all... That might make more sense than his nee-chan being naturally weaker than him. If she didn't spend so much time sitting at a desk, she would kick his ass, no doubt about it!

Thank you for your support, it's really encouraging!

EDIT on 30th of July 2017: Bonus added.