At eleven that night, Kushina tiptoed into Shin's room. Shin was still awake.
"Shin, I came to sleep with you."
Kushina pounced toward Shin, but just as she was about to land on him, a hand suddenly grabbed her.
"What are you doing? Put me down, now! You awful woman, Tsunade!"
Caught by Tsunade, Kushina yelled furiously. She couldn't believe that even this late, the woman was still awake.
"Hmph, I knew you'd sneak over here. Back to your own room."
Tsunade carried Kushina away. Kushina shouted and protested, but she couldn't escape her fate of being hauled off by Tsunade.
When Shin saw Kushina cast him a pleading look, he could only helplessly watch her go.
"Tsunade, what does it have to do with you if I go see Shin?"
Kushina asked Tsunade indignantly.
"You two are grown up now. You absolutely can't sleep together anymore."
Tsunade didn't give Kushina a chance to argue. She tossed her back into her own room, leaving Kushina pouting angrily.
Early the next morning, after
breakfast, Kushina glared at Tsunade and then dragged Shin off to school.
"Little brat, you dare glare at me? Just you wait. I'll teach you a lesson someday," Tsunade muttered as she watched Kushina walk away.
When they arrived at school, Shin realized they seemed to be the last ones there. Even Nawaki, who usually liked to be late, had arrived on time today.
The students in the classroom wore their Forehead Protectors, their eyes filled with excitement and nervousness. Once they were assigned to teams, they could go on missions as ninjas.
"Shin, who do you think your team leader will be?" Nawaki excitedly ran over and asked him.
"Going by my guess, it'll probably be your sister, Tsunade," Shin replied.
The day before, Tsunade had said she would give him a surprise, so Shin guessed that she might become his leading Jonin.
"Really? Did my sister tell you? Did she tell you who my team leader will be?" Nawaki asked, looking expectantly at Shin.
"Tsunade didn't tell me. It's just my own guess. Nawaki, which leading Jonin would you like to follow?"
Shin shook his head. Tsunade hadn't told him; he'd simply made the guess himself. Though he couldn't be completely certain,
he was pretty sure he was right.
"I want to follow Lord Orochimaru."
When Nawaki spoke of Orochimaru, his eyes held a hint of admiration. He seemed to genuinely want to follow him.
Shin gave him a strange look. Follow Orochimaru? What was so appealing about Orochimaru, anyway?
After thinking it over, Shin realized Orochimaru did have plenty of appeal. In the original story, quite a few people had been willing to risk their lives for him.
"I don't know why you like that gloomy guy, Orochimaru."
Shin shook his head. He neither liked nor disliked Orochimaru. At this point, Orochimaru wasn't so gloomy or twisted yet.
"Lord Orochimaru is a genius of Konoha, and he's incredibly strong. He's much stronger than my sister."
Nawaki seemed to admire Orochimaru a great deal.
"Just don't let your awful sister hear you say that, or you might not live to regret it," Kushina cut in.
"Quiet down."
Teacher Tanaka walked into the classroom. Seeing the students making a racket, his expression darkened.
As soon as he saw Tanaka's grim expression, Nawaki hurried back to his seat. The others quickly returned to theirs as well.
Teacher Tanaka had quite a presence.
Then the team assignments began. One Jonin after another came in with a list, called out the names, and left.
"Team 3: Senju Nawaki, Uzumaki Kai, Hizashi Hyuga."
Orochimaru walked in, read out the three names, and left immediately.
Nawaki looked delighted. He couldn't believe his leading Jonin really was Orochimaru. He quickly went out with Uzumaki Kai and Hizashi Hyuga.
"Team 5 members: Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Akiko, Inuzuka Tsume. The three of you, come with me."
Jiraiya entered the classroom and announced,
Namikaze Minato and the others left, and the number of students in the classroom dwindled.
"Uzumaki Shin, Kushina Uzumaki, Uchiha Mikoto. You three are members of Team 9. Come with me."
When only a few students remained, Tsunade walked in and called out to Shin and the others.
Looking at Tsunade, Shin gave a faint smile. He'd guessed right after all: Tsunade really was their leading Jonin.
They followed Tsunade out of the Ninja Academy and went to one of Konoha's training grounds. Shin wasn't sure which number it was.
"Shin, why do you seem completely unsurprised?" Tsunade asked him.
"I already guessed it would be you. How could I be surprised? This is the surprise you mentioned, right, Tsunade?"
"Tch, you little brat guessed it again. That's really annoying."
Kushina looked disgusted. So Tsunade really was their team leader? Kushina was starting to think they should ask for someone else.
Mikoto, on the other hand, was delighted. She wasn't happy because she'd become Tsunade's student, but because she'd been assigned to the same team as Shin and Kushina.
"First, I'm going to test your abilities. You'd better not hold back."
Tsunade spoke to Shin and the others.
She wasn't planning to put them through any other evaluations, but testing their abilities was essential.
As their leading Jonin, she needed to know how strong her students were so she could choose suitable missions for them.
"Do you really need to test our abilities?" Shin asked, as if seeking confirmation.
"Of course. I can't take missions recklessly without knowing how strong you are. Naturally, if you'd rather do D-Rank missions, there's no need for a test."
Missions in Konoha had five ranks. The lowest, D-Rank missions, were small jobs that involved no direct combat or risk to life, such as weeding, babysitting, and street cleaning.
C-Rank missions were the sort where you might get hurt, but your life wouldn't be in danger. They generally didn't involve fighting other ninjas.
B-Rank Missions were dangerous. A B-Rank mission almost always involved encountering ninjas, and there was a risk of death.
A-Rank missions were even more dangerous. They could involve Jonin or even stronger ninjas, and Genin couldn't take part in them.
S-Rank missions involved the safety of nations and villages. They were rare, but whenever one came up, it was a major
event.
S-Rank missions required at least Elite Jonin to be dispatched. They might even involve battles between Quasi-Kage and Kage Level fighters. They were the most dangerous missions, and naturally paid the most.
Newly graduated ninjas usually took D-Rank missions such as weeding and cleaning up garbage. But from what Tsunade had said, it seemed she had no intention of taking them on D-Rank missions.
That was for the best. Shin didn't want to do such low-level missions either. They did nothing to improve his abilities and only earned him a little money.
But D-Rank missions paid so little that the money probably wouldn't even cover a decent meal. Besides, Shin wasn't short on money now, so he
had no interest in taking those missions.
Before you continue