As I walked towards the training ground for my first training session with my genin team and Sensei, I contemplated something that was in my mind for a very long time.
My parents bodies were taken by Orochimaru and he would definitely like them alive to perform experiments on them. So that would mean that there is a high chance that they are still alive.
I had done some digging myself and had found out that among the group that Orochimaru fought, only my parents were from a clan.
So what are the odds that Orochimaru attacks my parents and takes their bodies among thousands of other Konoha shinobi?
And then there was Danzo who indirectly asked me to join Root during their Funeral. All of this indicated to me that he somehow knew about my abundant talent in Yin release.
And if Danzo knew about it, surely Orochimaru would know about it. So my theory was Orochimaru decided to find out what made me so special from other Naras. And that's why he decided to target my parents.
If I was right about them being alive, I hoped that they could endure whatever torture Orochimaru is subjecting to them.
As for Orochimaru killing them after not finding anything useful, I was sure that the news about me having Crystal Release would reach him soon.
Danzo would probably know it even if Shikaku does not spread the information and then Orochimaru would automatically know it. This would increase the value of my parents in Orochimaru's eyes.
I would bide the extra time to get stronger. I was a Nara and was not going to storm towards Orichimaru's base like Naruto did to retrieve Sasuke just like that.
I was no protagonist but what I was an angry and determined Nara. And you never want such a Nara to be your enemy. Just ask future Hidan who had faced future angry and determined Shikamura.
Finally, I reached the training ground. When Ren-sensei had told us to meet him at 7:00 in the morning, I'd expected him to pull a Kakashi and turn up after noon. I'd still showed up at 6:15 just to say I had, but it turned out, Kakashi was the exception, not the rule.
"Good. You're here on time." Ren said. He was seated on a branch above me, his legs dangling over the side.
"You said seven."
"I said we train at seven. That means you need to be warmed up and ready to go at seven. Get on with it, Kagen." He clapped his hands together dramatically, swinging his legs up onto the branch and laying down, a hand propped under his head.
I shrugged and began warming up. He was the jonin, and he'd proven he was a far better ninja than I was by avoiding everything I'd thrown at him with humiliating ease.
Besides, At least he was punctual compared to Kakashi and was willing to be focused on teaching rather than whatever Kakashi did.
Misa turned up at 6:30 and joined me in warming up. We did some very light sparring to keep each other warm until seven. Kenji arrived at 7:15.
"Kenji! You're late." Ren said, appearing directly in front of the boy.
Kenji yelped and leapt a good foot in the air in surprise. "I'm sorry, sensei! My mom–"
Ren sensei held up his hand. "Kenji, I must have heard you wrong. I could have sworn that you, a genin of Konoha and therefore an adult, just blamed your mother for being late to training instead of taking accountability for your own actions. Now, would you please tell me what you actually said so I don't make you do pushups until your arms fall off?" He had a wide, toothless smile on his face as he bore down on Kenji.
"Uh…I didn't set my alarm early enough?" Kenji said hesitantly, leaning away from Ren.
Ren nodded. "That's what I thought you said. Now! Five-hundred pushups as punishment for being late."
"What!" Kenji cried. "But you said–"
"Do I hear one-thousand?" Ren said, looking off to the side, his hand on his chin as he adopted a thinking pose.
Kenji slumped in on himself, lowering down to the ground and slowly starting his pushups.
I sighed, motioning towards him with my head to Misa. "Come on."
Misa's eyebrows furrowed and she frowned. "We were not late."
"No, but we're a team. If one of us screws up, we all screw up." I said, walking over to Kenji and joining him on the ground.
Misa had a displeased look on her face, but she followed and joined me after a moment's hesitation.
Ren sensei raised an eyebrow probably shocked to see a Nara take on a physical punishment on his own for the first time. He would have to get used to it.
"What are you guys doing?" Kenji asked, pausing his pushups in confusion as Misa and I both started pushups next to him.
"We're a team." I answered him as I did my pushups. "Be here at six o'clock tomorrow. If you aren't here, I will run to your house and get you. We're ninja now. Training is literally a matter of life or death, so we have to take it seriously."
"I… Okay." Kenji said, returning to his pushups. He was having a much harder time of it than Misa and I. We had both been training our strength, conditioning and speed for years now.
It seemed Kenji only ever trained when he was at the Academy. There was a wide gap between us that he needed to fill before we went on serious missions together.
"All done?" Ren asked when we walked over to him after our pushups were done. He had a reflective foil in his hands and was lounging in a lawn chair, reflecting the light up into his neck. Kenji was dripping with sweat from all the pushups, but seemed determined to stay on his feet.
"Good!" Ren hopped to his feet and tossed the foil aside. "Alright, little genin, we're going to work on team tactics for this first month, then, once I feel you're all able to effectively work together, I'll start taking you aside for one-on-one training."
"Sensei?" Misa asked, raising her hand.
"This isn't the Academy, Misa. If you have a question, just ask. It saves time. What do you need?"
Misa put her hand down and said, "Will you be training our team to carry out a certain task?"
That was actually a good question I hadn't thought of. While ninja could fill in whatever role was required of them, most were trained and specialized in a certain job. These ranged from reconnaissance to recovery with a whole list in between.
"Search and destroy." Ren answered her question easily. "I was originally going to train you to be a fast-response tracking team, but Kagen's…dramatic showing during my little test changed my orders."
I frowned. "Others know about my Crystal release, then?"
He nodded. "I spoke to your Clan Head about it, and he agreed it was time to spread the news around."
I was right. It would not take it too long to reach Danzo ears now. +10 points to Nara's foresight and planning.
"Wait, sensei. Someone ordered you to train us a certain way?" Kenji asked, saving me the trouble of asking myself. That had been my follow up question.
"A lot of planning goes into the decision making when it comes to assigning teams. With a strong Hyuga and a proficient Nara, our team could have hunted down specific targets and retrieved them easily. Now that Kagen's Crystal Release is known, it was decided that we should cultivate that technique and see it prosper. Konoha has never had a Crystal Release practitioner and a Kekkei Tōta, so this presents a unique opportunity for us."
I didn't like where my mind wandered after hearing that. The mental image I got was of Danzo locking me in a cage labeled, 'Breeding Bull'. Shikaku would likely prevent something that dramatic from happening, but I'd need to keep an eye out regardless.
Kenji was frowning. "What about me, sensei?"
Ren laid a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "It's no secret that you are the least developed in this team, but that was determined to be a good thing in this case. You are able to grow into whatever role the team needs from you, and you will have both Misa and Kagen to help you along the way. Don't be discouraged, Kenji. I know that, in time, you will be a great ninja."
Ren sensei's speech seemed to have done the trick, because Kenji was smiling again. "When do we start, sensei?"
Ren smiled down at him. "No time like the present, now is there?"
---------Author Notes--------
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