Leading Jonin - Tsunade

It was eleven o'clock at night in Uzumaki Shin's room. Kushina snuck in on tiptoe, though Uzumaki Shin had not yet gone to sleep.

"Shin, I've come to sleep with you."

Kushina lunged toward Uzumaki Shin, but just as she was about to land on him, she was suddenly grabbed by a hand.

"What are you doing? Let me down right now, you hateful woman, Tsunade!"

Kushina, caught by Tsunade, shrieked in anger. She hadn't expected this woman to still be awake so late at night.

"Hmph, I knew you would try to sneak in here. Get back to your own room."

Tsunade hauled Kushina away. Kushina kicked and screamed, but she could not change the fate of being dragged off by Tsunade.

Watching Kushina cast a pleading look toward him, Uzumaki Shin could only signal that he was powerless to help.

"Tsunade, I'm going to see Shin, what does that have to do with you?"

Kushina asked Tsunade, pouting in frustration.

"You two aren't little anymore; you absolutely cannot sleep together."

Without giving Kushina a chance to argue, Tsunade tossed her back into her own room, leaving Kushina to pout in annoyance.

The next morning, after finishing breakfast, Kushina glared at Tsunade before grabbing Uzumaki Shin and heading to school.

"Little girl, you dare glare at me? Just wait until I deal with you later," Tsunade muttered to herself, watching Kushina's retreating back.

Upon arriving at school, Uzumaki Shin noticed they seemed to be the last to arrive; even Nawaki, who usually liked to be late, was on time today.

The students in the classroom wore their headbands, their eyes filled with excitement and nervousness. Once teams were assigned, they would be able to carry out missions as ninjas.

"Shin, who do you think our team leader will be?" Nawaki ran over to Uzumaki Shin, brimming with excitement.

"My guess is it's likely your sister, Tsunade," Uzumaki Shin said.

Yesterday, Tsunade had mentioned wanting to give him a surprise, so Uzumaki Shin guessed she might become his jonin instructor.

"Really? Did my sister tell you? Did she tell you who my team leader is?" Nawaki looked at Uzumaki Shin expectantly.

"Tsunade didn't tell me; it's just my own guess. Nawaki, which jonin instructor do you want to follow?"

Uzumaki Shin shook his head. It wasn't that Tsunade had told him, but rather his own deduction. While he couldn't be one hundred percent certain, it was likely close to the truth.

"I want to follow Lord Orochimaru."

When Nawaki mentioned Orochimaru, his eyes held a hint of longing. Looking at him, it seemed he truly wanted to follow Orochimaru.

Uzumaki Shin's expression turned strange. Following Orochimaru? What kind of charm did Orochimaru have, anyway?

Uzumaki Shin thought about it; it seemed Orochimaru's charm was indeed significant, as many people in the original story had been willing to die for him.

"I don't know why you like that gloomy guy, Orochimaru."

Uzumaki Shin shook his head. As for Orochimaru, he neither liked nor disliked him. At this point, Orochimaru's personality wasn't as dark or twisted as it would become.

"Lord Orochimaru is a genius of our Konoha. His strength is incredible, far greater than my sister's."

Nawaki seemed to worship Orochimaru.

"Don't let your hateful sister hear you say that, or you'd better watch out for your life," Kushina interjected.

"Quiet down."

Tanaka walked in, his face darkening at the sight of the chaotic classroom.

Seeing the grim-faced Tanaka, Nawaki immediately scrambled back to his seat, and the others quickly followed suit.

Tanaka still commanded a great deal of authority.

Afterward, the team assignments began. Jonin entered one by one with their lists, calling out names before leaving.

"Team 3: Nawaki Senju, Uzumaki Kai, Hizashi Hyuga."

Orochimaru walked in, read the three names, and left immediately.

Nawaki was pleasantly surprised; he hadn't expected his jonin instructor to actually be Orochimaru. He quickly followed him out alongside Uzumaki Kai and Hizashi Hyuga.

"Members of Team 5: Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Akiko, Inuzuka Tsume. You three, come with me," Jiraiya said after entering the classroom.

As Namikaze Minato and the others left, the number of students in the classroom dwindled.

"Uzumaki Shin, Kushina, Uchiha Mikoto. You three are members of Team 9. Come with me."

When only a few people remained, Tsunade walked in and called out to the three of them.

Looking at Tsunade, Uzumaki Shin chuckled softly. His guess had been right; Tsunade really had become their jonin instructor.

Following Tsunade, they left the Ninja Academy and arrived at a Konoha training ground, though it was unclear which number this specific training ground was.

"Shin, how come I don't see you looking surprised at all?" Tsunade asked, looking at Shin.

"I had already guessed it was you, so how could I be surprised? Tsunade, the surprise you mentioned must be this, right?"

"Tch, you little brat guessed it again. That's really annoying."

Kushina looked disgusted. She couldn't believe their jonin leader was actually her; she even had the urge to request a change.

Mikoto, on the other hand, was very happy. She wasn't happy about becoming Tsunade's student, but rather that she had been grouped together with Shin and Kushina.

"Now, I will test your strength first. It's best if you don't hold back."

Tsunade said to Shin and the others.

There was no intention of conducting any other assessments, but testing their strength was indeed very necessary.

As the jonin leader, she naturally had to grasp the strength of her students so she could make better choices when accepting missions.

"Is testing our strength really necessary?" Shin asked Tsunade, seeking confirmation.

"Of course. If I don't know your strength, I wouldn't dare to accept missions rashly. Of course, if you prefer doing D-rank missions, we can skip the test."

Konoha missions are divided into five ranks. The lowest, D-rank missions, are small tasks that don't require direct combat or involve life-threatening risks, such as weeding, babysitting, or cleaning the streets.

C-rank missions are those where one might get injured but are not life-threatening; they generally do not involve combat with other ninja.

B-rank missions are dangerous. As long as it is a B-rank mission, you will basically encounter other ninja and face the risk of death.

A-rank missions are even more dangerous, involving jonin or even stronger ninja; genin are unable to participate in such missions.

S-rank missions involve the safety of the country or the village. S-rank missions rarely appear, but whenever they do, it is absolutely a major event.

S-rank missions require at least elite jonin to be dispatched, and may even involve battles between quasi-kage and kage-level ninja; they are the most dangerous missions, and the rewards are naturally the highest.

Generally, newly graduated ninja would take on D-rank missions like weeding or cleaning up trash, but judging by Tsunade's tone, she didn't seem to intend on having them perform D-rank missions.

That was for the best. Shin had no desire to perform such low-level tasks; they had no effect on improving his strength and at most only earned a little money.

However, the rewards for D-rank missions were unimaginably low, likely not even enough for a big meal, and since Shin wasn't short on money, he naturally didn't want to perform such tasks.