Team Assignments
"Hmph! Shunren, I'll remember this..." Asuma wasn't an idiot, and he wouldn't make a scene during such an important exercise today. After leaving behind a parting threat that carried little sting, he slunk away.
Shunren shook his head. "Kids these days, honestly..."
"You say that like you're not a kid yourself." Kurenai had her share of complaints about the elder's air Shunren so often put on.
After calling Asuma to order, Feimu began counting the people assembled, veins bulging on his forehead. "Thirty-eight... Damn it, Obito! You little brat, how dare you be late even today! Hey, you kids, hurry up and sort yourselves into groups of three! Move it!"
Seeing Feimu's foul mood, none of the students dared get on his bad side, so they all obediently got moving.
Shunren turned to Kurenai and asked, "If we're in groups of three, who's our third?"
Kurenai frowned slightly without answering, merely sweeping her gaze around them.
Given Kurenai's personality, she wouldn't normally invite anyone or join someone else's group of her own accord. Ordinarily, barring any surprises, Asuma would certainly come to her. Although she found his arrogant personality somewhat off-putting, there was no denying that he was a highly capable teammate. Today, if not for Shunren, Kurenai would very likely have accommodated Asuma and joined his team.
Shunren didn't know that, despite how low a profile he had kept, the butterfly effect he brought as a transmigrator was still slowly shifting the course of the story.
"There are thirty-nine people in our class, enough for exactly thirteen teams. But with Obito missing, I'm afraid one team won't have three people." Shunren looked around at the teams gathered in groups of three. "Looks like everyone found a team beforehand."
Since the class could be divided evenly into groups of three, Shunren hadn't bothered looking for anyone himself. Whoever was left over would be fine as a teammate. And because Kurenai had expected Asuma to come bother her, she hadn't needed to think about grouping up either.
"Looks like it's just the two of us," Shunren said mildly.
"So what? Our Genjutsu alone is enough." Kurenai, like a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, didn't take the upcoming survival exercise seriously at all.
Shunren, however, didn't see it that way. Based on his memories and his deductions about the timeline, the Third Shinobi World War would soon erupt. Konoha and the Sand Ninja were enemies, and this survival exercise was set in the border region between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. There was no guarantee that the Sand Ninja on the other side wouldn't make a move.
If they did, things wouldn't be as simple as a survival exercise. Perhaps, while the situation remained unclear, the Sand Ninja would only send cannon-fodder scouts to probe them. But no matter what, that would undoubtedly be disastrous for students who were still in school and hadn't become true shinobi.
Once they walked out of Konoha's gates and reached the border, relying on others would be absolutely impossible. Besides, the accompanying Konoha teachers were only ordinary Chunin, and they had so many students to watch over. If anything unexpected happened, they would still have to rely on themselves.
Shunren knew his own strength very well. He was no good at either Ninjutsu or Taijutsu, and had only a little talent in Genjutsu, along with Yin Release, which he could only use as a trump card at a critical moment. His overall strength barely reached the level of a Genin, and he was also severely lacking in actual combat experience.
One person wouldn't be enough, and with two, their distribution of fighting strength would still be lacking.
"Feimu-sensei, our group is one person short." To be safe, Shunren reported this to Feimu and asked for another teammate.
"Ah! I almost forgot there were thirty-eight... Damn Obito!" Feimu was in a terrible mood.
He then said impatiently, "Just wait for now. If Obito still hasn't come by the time we leave, I'll go check the other classes and see if there's anyone left over." Faced with Feimu's dismissive response, Shunren could do nothing. It was clear that Feimu wasn't taking the exercise seriously either. After all, the school held exercises like this almost every six months, and the teachers were long accustomed to them.
Konoha was still peaceful and at ease, and no one had noticed that war was silently approaching. Or perhaps Konoha's higher-ups were deliberately suppressing the news to maintain stability in the village.
Shunren didn't know what the truth was. All he knew was that he had to do everything he could to get through this danger. With the current situation on the eve of war, it would be perfectly normal for something unexpected to happen. He had to be mentally prepared to fight at any moment.
"Kurenai, have you prepared all the necessities, like ninja tools and medicine?" Shunren had already made ample preparations a day in advance, packing the necessities for field operations neatly into his backpack.
"Mm." Kurenai tugged at the strap over her shoulder and asked, slightly surprised, "What's wrong, Shunren? Are you nervous?"
"Maybe." Shunren didn't deny it. He simply said with a serious expression, "You mustn't let your guard down, Kurenai. There's no room for the slightest mistake in a shinobi's battle. There's only one consequence for failure, and that's death."
Kurenai froze for a moment. For a child her age, the word death was rather heavy. But when she saw that Shunren wasn't joking in the slightest, she nodded, only half understanding.
"I understand."
They waited a little longer, but there was still no sign of Obito. Feimu had reached the end of his patience and went straight to the other classes to find someone to fill the spot. As it happened, one class had forty people, leaving exactly one extra when divided into groups of three. Feimu brought her back.
"All right, with this girl, you've got three people too."
Before them stood a rather petite girl with short black hair, large dark eyes, and delicate features. She gave off a quiet, gentle air.
Shunren studied her and felt that she looked somewhat familiar.
"H-hello... I'm from third-year class C... Shizune. I h-hope we can get along!" The girl was a little shy around strangers and spoke with a slight stammer as she timidly introduced herself to Shunren and Kurenai. When she finished, she lowered her head, her little face flushed red and looking especially cute.
"Hello, I'm Shunren. I hope we can get along." Shunren greeted her without showing any reaction, though he understood now. Shizune, a future Konoha elite Jonin who specialized in Medical Ninjutsu and was one of the Fifth Hokage Tsunade's prized disciples.