Chap. 9: Leadership

It was time for the academy's annual survival training, genin were chosen to lead a group of three academy students through a three day survival exercise. Kiyoka and her team had already completed the exercise a few years prior, so they weren't present in the meeting at Minato's office

"Come on Dad, this lame exercise again? No thanks! I'd rather go train my fuinjutsu, ya know, this is way lame. Ya know." Naruto said with his hands behind his head, looking towards his father, before turning to walk away, his blonde hair sitting around his head falling around the metal of his headband. Wearing a blue-orange ninja outfit with his shuriken holster on his right thigh. The other genin in their class plus Neji and his team stood in a row with the other genin. Sasuke stood on his right, with Hinami on his left. 

"Well, part of becoming a great hokage, is first being a great leader… But, since you don't want to… I guess you just don't want to be hokage… Oh well, I suppose I could get someone el--" Minato started before Naruto's paper was taken from his hand, laughing as he looked towards him rubbing the back of his head

"Hey! I was joking before ya know." Naruto said 'Man, he played you like a fiddle man.' Kiba thought looking over towards the boy, wearing a gray jacket with a hood over his head hiding his headband that sat around his forehead, from view, wearing brown pants with his shuriken holster on his right thigh and his kunai pouch behind his waist. 'Idiot…' Kyoto thought from the other side of the room, his team on the other side of Neji's his black hair in a ponytail behind his head, wearing an entirely black short sleeve ninja outfit, with his shuriken holster on his left thigh with his kunai pouch on his back waist, 'Oh Naruto…' Hinata thought looking over towards the boy, her violet hair reached the nape of her neck while her bangs sat over her forehead with two strands reaching her chin, wearing a tan hyuga jacket with blue capris pants, wearing her shuriken holster on her right thigh with her kunai pouch on her back, she pushed her fingers together as she looked over, Hinami and Sasuke had their hands on their faces as Naruto looked over the paper with excitement. 'Man, I feel bad for those two. Naruto can be real stupid.' Ino thought as she looked over, her platinum blonde hair was in a ponytail behind her head, wearing a purple outfit consisting of a high-collared blouse and matching apron skirt. With bandages on her abdomen and legs, small hoop-earrings, her forehead protector worn as a belt, and for a time, white arm warmers. 

"Alright, now that thats out of the way, here are your team assignments. For this exercise." Minato said, passing papers to the rest of the genin. Hinami looking over her team before sighing, she had Ikumi, Meiko, and Asahi. Those three were best friends and oftentimes asked Hinami or Kiyoka help in training which they would help when they could but being genin/chunin and with Kiyoka putting more focus on being a medical shinobi, they didn't have a lot of time they could offer. 

"Alright! These genin will be your leaders for this exercise, remember to listen to them!" Iruka said as the genin stood in front of the academy students, Shikamaru had his hand behind his head as he looked towards the students he was going to be leading. 'Man, what a drag…' He thought, his black hair was in a spiked ponytail behind his head, wearing a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves and the rudimentary Nara clan symbol on the back, under which is a green-lined mesh armour T-shirt. Along with brown pants, a pair of his clan's traditional silver hoop earrings, and his blue forehead protector around his left arm. He rubbed the back of his head as he looked forewards with his black eyes. 

"Alright, Ikumi, Meiko, Asahi, what plant is this, do you know?" Hinami asked, pointing out some poison oak, her black hair in a plait braid with one lilac strand and one yellow strand intertwined with her own. wearing a lilac purple sleeveless top with a black skirt, paired with a tan cropped jacket overtop, with the hyuga symbol on the arms, with the Senju symbol on the back in black. Wearing a shuriken holster on her right thigh with a kunai pouch on her back, wearing sleeveless black gloves on her hands with arm guards underneath her jacket. Her scar which sat on the left side of her face, just outside of her eye, she came close to loosing the appendage, but was lucky

"Uh… it looks like a regular vine to me?" Meiko commented her black hair was down behind her head, wearing a pink shirt with an off green skirt, wearing red sandals on her feet that matched her red glasses that she held on her face, hiding her brown eyes. Hinami shook her head, 

"Wrong. This plant is called poison oak, so you want to avoid touching it, or you could get sick. But it's only really deadly if you drink it or eat it. It's important to keep these things in mind when you're in forests and you're looking for something to eat." Hinami said in return, and the three nodded in unison, 

"Man, this exercise will be a cinch with you sis, you know pretty much everything about forests." Ikumi said, his half brown-half white hair sat spiked around his head as he wore a brown longsleeve shirt with the sleeves reaching his forearms with black pants, wearing a dark green poncho over his shoulders with the Senju clan symbol on the front. Looking towards Hinami, with his pupiless pink eyes, and the girl looked back. 

"I know a lot about forests but so do all the genin. On a mission it's important to know what plants can save your lives and which will not. It's also important to work as a team. If you can't trust the people you're with, your mission will fail before it begins." Hinami said as they continued down the path, before picking up a yellow flower with a purple stem, paired with leafs

"Ah! Perfect! This is called Nanohana it's an edible plant. And this plant here is shinobi's beef sashimi grass. These plants can be eaten raw and help with regaining energy. you kind find them around this area." she said looking back to her team, 

"Really?" Asahi said and Hinami nodded, looking towards the boy with black hair in a japanese bun, wearing a red short sleeve shirt with a high uchiha collar, wearing black pants with his sandals on his feet. Hinami nodded in response,

"Yeah, and since we're here, why don't you guys search for some more for us to eat." Hinami said and the academy students nodded eagerly before going to do so, Hinami stopping Ikumi from eating a poisonous plant that looked similar to the beef sashimi and Nanohana plant. Choji having the same conversation with his team. While Naruto had his team looking for edible plants and so on as well. Having also packed extra ramen in his bag just in case. 

"Alright… because of the geology, magnets are thrown off. Making using a compass hard. Ah, you have a watch." Neji commented as he turned completely to face his team, wearing his black hair behind his head with a loose ponytail behind his head, wearing a shortsleeve hoodless tan hyuga jacket, paired with brown shorts, his shuriken holster on his right thigh with his kunai pouch on his back waist, wearing wrappings around his right arm and leg. His headband tied around his forehead. The students looked towards him in curiosity as he looked down to his watch

"Ah.. Yes sir." He said in return, Neji encouraging him to look towards it, drawing an imaginary line bisecting the angle between 12 o clock and the current position of the hour hand. Pointing the imaginary line towards the sun, South would be a 12oclock, he checked to make sure the academy students understood before they continued on our way

"Excuse me, Hinami, but the compass isn't working." Meiko said quietly, she was selected as the navigator for the group, much to her initial hesitance. Hinami, who stood in front hummed a moment before glancing back towards the students. They'd gone over a few strategies for encountering enemy ninja, and were all set with some wild berries and leaves they'd found to eat. Ikumi and Meiko electing Asahi as their team leader.

"Let me see it a moment." She said and Meiko passed it forwards, the needle was indeed going haywire, it kept floating between east and west. Hinami hummed a moment, looking at the device, looking towards the students

"Oh, I see. This area throws off magnets it's just due to the geology, but it's nothing to worry about." She said, explaining more how to navigate in the wild, as they walked past some trees. Passing the compass back towards Meiko, 

"Couldn't you just use your forest release to get us to the scroll." Ikumi questioned, and Hinami nodded, 

"Yes I could, but there's a difference between being able to do something, and needing to do something. I could use my jutsu to create more plants and transport us directly to our target, but what would you learn then? Having powerful jutsu, and having strength, isn't the same as being strong. True strength, comes from knowing when not to use your abilities too." She said in response, 

"Come on…" Ikumi said 

"No. The point of this exercise is to teach you three about shinobi work, and besides. What happens if I used my jutsu, and then an enemy ninja came up? No, chakra and jutsu should be reserved for fights or emergency's when possible." Hinami said, 

"Well said… But lets see what you've learned so far." one of the instructors said, as a group of three jumped down, posing as enemy ninja, Hinami avoiding the bo staff, 

"Alright Asahi, your teammates chose you as team leader, what should we do?" Hinami asked the boy who looked over, with a grin, 

"We stand and fight, obviously!" He said and Hinami nodded, 

"Alright. Plan A." Hinami said

"Right!" they said before getting into position, fighting off the 'enemy ninja' Ikumi hitting the instructor with gentle fist, sending him tumbling back, passed out, Meiko going to strike out as the instructor came closer with a bo-staff, she froze, Hinami glancing over before using vines to block the bo-staff twisting she kicked his abdomen, sending him to the ground as Asahi sent a fireball jutsu to the rest of the instructors. When they were on the ground, Hinami looked over her team, the kids were all still standing, their hands in front of their faces, ready to defend themselves, well, Meiko had frozen just barely but overall, they did well.

"Are you okay?" she asked, 

"Yes, Hinami-sensei. We're fine." they said, while Meiko looked more downcast, 

"I froze up, I don't know why, I don't think I'm very good at fighting." she said quietly, looking towards the ground, looking ready to cry, and Hinami hummed, 

"It happens to the best of us. You know, our first mission, Naruto, Sasuke, Hinami, and I went to the land of waves. That was the first time we'd ever encountered enemy ninja, and you wanna know a secret?" Hinami asked and Meiko looked over towards the girl, 

"I froze up too. I was so scared that my body wouldn't move. So did Naruto." She said after the three nodded, 

"No way! You and Naruto froze up? But how come you don't anymore?" Meiko said and Hinami hummed, 

"Well, we took a deep breath, and trained more. We learned to persevere through the fear. We know we can rely on our muscle memory even when we're scared, being brave is standing your ground, and doing things even when your scared. But even though you were scared, you stood your ground, Meiko. And that makes you just as brave and just as strong as Ikumi and Asahi." she said placing a hand on the girls had as she looked shocked, Hinami grinned, 

"You ready to continue?" She asked and Meiko nodded,

"Yeah! That scroll isn't going to get itself… let… lets do it." She said with a grin and Hinami nodded 

"Here navigator." Ikumi said passing back the map and compass, unable to read either. Naruto defeating Iruka sensei with his sexy jutsu combined with Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon. 

That night as they walked through the forest Hinami hummed, before looking back at her team. 

"A storm is going to come soon. We need to find an area to camp." She said, looking towards the sky a moment before looking towards her team 

"Alright!" the team said, with Ikumi finding a patch of solid ground for the tent to be pitched, Hinami clearing the area of twigs and rocks that would hurt to lay or sit on. While she had the students pitch the tent themselves, while she oversaw the action. When that was done, Hinami brought out a heated lantern and placed it in the middle, 

"Excellent work everyone, we'll stay inside the tent until the storm blows over." she said as she set her backpack against one of the far walls of the tent.

"How'd you know a storm was coming?" Asahi asked, as they sat around the lantern, 

"Well, a good shinobi pays attention and watches the weather. But also, before a storm, or the sun sets, theres a coolness that settles on my skin.." Hinami said, Hinata having a similar conversation with her team as Shikamaru did the same with his. This training was a bit different from Hinami's time, though, during her test there wasn't a big storm in the middle of it, They were so close to the parchment, they could practically taste it. Rain hit the tent and the ground outside as they sat in the tent, 

"We'll have to cancel the survival exercise, tell the teams to return to the village at once." Iruka said upon receiving word about a large storm, going to evacuate the teams back to the village. Naruto and his team going off route, with Naruto teaching his team the basics of chakra control, and working together as a team, allowing them to climb the mountain despite the storm raging. Minato grabbing his collar before they could get halfway up the mountain. 

"And where do you think you're going? This isn't a trail on the map." Minato said as Naruto moved his arms,

"Hey! Dad! Put me down ya know, we're gonna get the scroll! It's my fault my team is so far behind so we have to get that scroll ya know! Come on put me down, we're gonna win this thing together please. Dad come on!" Naruto said as he moved his arms

"The exercise has been called off due to the inclement weather. Return to the village at once." Minato said, 

"Gee we would… if we hadn't gotten ourselves lost too." Konohamaru said in return, Minato sighed, 'well… navigating isn't one of his strengths… I'm glad I placed that marker on him otherwise we wouldn't know where he was.' Minato thought

"Alright! Come on, I'll lead you back to the village. Oh and Naruto" Minato said after placing his son back on the ground,

"I see you taught them chakra control, well done. Thats not an easy thing to teach or master at such a young age." he said, before leading them back to the village for the storm to blow over.

Minato was going over the results from the survival training the next day, three teams stuck out to him, Hinami's, Naruto's and Shikamaru's team. Those three in particular caught Minato's attention this survival test was also to show their leadership skills and from the looks of it, while Naruto may not be great at Navigating, he was a natural leader. Hinami was often too shy to really take charge but she also proved she could lead a three man squad. Hinami seemed to be loud and off topic, but was able to keept her team focused and on track. As did Shikamaru, the boy often complained of things being a drag. Just as he'd done throughout the exercise, but he was able to lead the team under him and get close to their target before it was called off. He sat behind his desk and hummed, his blonde hair spiking around his head, with his sideburns reaching his chin, wearing his headband around his head paired with his dark blue ninja outfit and sandals, wearing his jonin vest overtop with his hokage cloak over that. Before a knock sounded at the door, 

"Yes." he said, he didn't know what he was expecting, but his wife dragging Naruto in by his ear along with the academy students he led, was, decidedly, not among the realms of things. He blinked as Naruto yelled his displeasure for being dragged by his ear, the academy students passed forwards their papers that they held in their hands, 

"Well." Kushina said,

"Alright alright, geez." Naruto said passing Minato papers from his hand as well, 

"We're sorry for going off trail and ignoring the rules in favor of catching up. It was dangerous and wrong of us to do so. We made the decision as a team." The group said bowing to Minato as he nodded in response, accepting the apology, 

"Ow! Ow ow ow! Mom! You're gonna rip my ear off!" Naruto said 

"You can't just disregard the rules ya know. It could've been real bad. Ya know." Kushina said

"Ouch! Yes! Geez! I get it! I said I was sorry!" Naruto said and Kushina sighed releasing his ear before pushing his head down,