Troublesome teammates

Konoha, Mission Department.

Sunlight streamed through the bright windows, spilling across the busy mission reception desk.

Asami Ri pushed the door open and walked straight to the counter, submitting a Sealing Scroll that carried a faint scent of blood along with a detailed mission report.

The clerk deftly opened the report and checked it against the Head-Sealing Information within the scroll. Once everything was verified, the clerk stamped a form firmly with the official "Completed" seal.

"Thank you for your hard work. Here's your payment."

With a soft rustle, a stack of banknotes was pushed in front of Asami Ri, carrying a faint scent of ink.

Asami Ri took the money and left the hall.

Hyuga Shin and Uchiha Tekka had already been waiting for some time in the shade of a column outside. Asami Ri motioned for them to follow, and the three walked to a secluded spot, where he divided the money into three shares.

"Here are your shares."

There were no pleasantries or polite refusals. The two accepted the money, checked the amounts, then exchanged glances with him and gave slight nods.

"Dismissed."

Asami Ri uttered the brief command.

As soon as he spoke, the two crossed paths and swiftly vanished down Konoha's bustling streets, just as they had arrived.

Only after their figures disappeared completely around the corner did Asami Ri's tense shoulders finally sag. He let out a long breath.

"Finally over... Those two walking headaches."

He tugged his collar loose, his stern expression quickly crumbling into exhaustion.

To outsiders, this squad boasted formidable combat strength and an extravagant lineup. In truth, it was a "misfit combination" the village leadership had cobbled together after the Chunin Ninja Exams, left with little choice.

The first headache was Hyuga Shin.

Promoted to Chunin at just fourteen, he possessed talent that was exceptional among members of the Branch Family.

Yet the greater his talent, the more painfully it underscored the tragedy of the Caged Bird Seal.

Hyuga Shin understood all too clearly that no matter how much he honed his skills, he would remain an expendable tool whose sole purpose was to protect the Main Family.

Years of resentment and repression had twisted his personality into a pathological duality.

Normally silent and brooding, he unleashed his hatred of fate upon his enemies the moment combat began. To him, fighting was not a mission, but a sick form of psychological compensation.

Almost none of his colleagues were willing to endure his madness on the battlefield.

The second headache was Uchiha Tekka.

Asami Ri's final opponent in the Chunin Ninja Exams, Tekka was not as psychologically repressed as Hyuga Shin, but he carried the arrogance typical of the Uchiha Clan.

As the rift between the Uchiha and the village leadership deepened, that underlying sense of alienation made Tekka intensely aloof and proud.

In his view, mediocre peers did not deserve to fight alongside him, and cooperating with any mediocre tactic was beneath him.

One was a "caged bird" shackled by fate; the other, a "lone wolf" bristling with thorns.

The village leadership had clearly recognized these two prodigies' destructive potential and instability, so they had simply dumped them on Asami Ri once he demonstrated his strength.

"They call it a squad, but really, they just want me to babysit these two 'problem prodigies,' don't they?"

As for why these two ill-tempered prodigies were willing to follow his commands?

The answer was simple. In the world of ninja, nothing was more persuasive than strength. On the very next day after receiving the order to form a squad, Asami Ri had taught those two conceited prodigies a lesson.

Without wasting a word, he had challenged them outright at the training ground. First, he had dismantled Hyuga Shin's prized Taijutsu in single combat.

The moment Asami Ri's Kunai pressed against Hyuga Shin's throat, the brooding Branch Family prodigy saw an insurmountable gulf for the first time.

As for Uchiha Tekka, they had already fought during the Chunin Ninja Exams.

Beat them into submission, and they'll listen, Asami Ri assessed privately.

Still, he knew perfectly well that this squad would not last long.

Based on his recent analysis and observations of the two, this so-called "genius squad" was ultimately only a temporary arrangement Konoha had put in place for the transition.

As a member of the Hyuga Branch Family, Hyuga Shin's fate had been decided the instant the Caged Bird Seal was branded onto him.

During these first few years after his promotion to Chunin, he would be thrown into various high-risk border missions like a spare part, tempered and worn down.

Once his experience and strength reached their peak, he would be recalled to the Main Family to serve as a guard for one of its members until he grew old.

Uchiha Tekka's destination was even more predictable. As one of the best of his clan's younger generation, his time gaining experience outside was already running out.

Before long, his clan would order him into the Konoha Military Police Force, where he would uphold the clan's honor on that marginalized island.

"Each to his proper place, each to his own future."

Asami Ri drew his thoughts back and looked toward the distant outline of Hokage Rock.

"Celestial Pivot, how's the analysis coming?"

[Preliminary technique identification: "Water Release: Water Clone"]

[As the sample's original owner used "Water Release: Water Clone" before death, a perfect reconstruction of this Ninjutsu's chakra flow pathways and nature transformation is expected.]

[Estimated time remaining: 60 hours.]

"Just as I thought. Ninjutsu used before a ninja's death has a very high chance of being analyzed."

This was the pattern he had deduced from Raiga Kurosuki and his recently completed missions.

Asami Ri passed through the noisy streets and returned to the secluded woods.

Far from the bustle, the trees were covered in blackened scorch marks and cuts left by Kunai. This place had long since become his private "secret training ground."

He stood in a clearing and slowly raised his right hand.

"As a C-rank Ninjutsu, Lightning Ball certainly packs an impressive burst of power." He stared at the faint arcs dancing over his fingertips, lost in thought. "But a simple sphere still leaves its attacks too one-dimensional."

In his conception, the shape transformation of Lightning Release chakra should not stop there.

If he could compress the violent Lightning Release chakra, collapsing it from a "surface" into a "line," the current's penetrating power and controllability would undergo a qualitative leap.

A bold idea took shape in his mind.

He tried extending extremely fine Chakra Threads outside his body, which would serve as "superconducting tracks."

Through these wires, all but invisible to the naked eye, he could precisely direct the current, weaving electricity that would otherwise disperse into a "lightning whip" that moved at his will, or condensing it into a Lightning Spear that pierced through anything.

"If I can achieve that level of control, Lightning Release will become far more versatile."

Yet when he tried separating out a single Chakra Thread, the previously stable electricity turned wild and fragile, bursting apart in the air with a sharp crack.

"Tch. Still not stable enough." Asami Ri frowned slightly.

Lightning Release was inherently unstable. Maintaining a long, thin, high-density wire outside his body demanded almost punishingly precise chakra control.

Although his brain had the support of Celestial Pivot's computing power, the responses of his chakra pathways and his muscle memory still could not keep up with such delicate manipulation.

"There's no point in reaching beyond my abilities." Asami Ri took a deep breath and calmed his restless thoughts. "Before constructing a Lightning Spear, I need more intensive training in fine chakra control. If I can't even sense the flow of every inch of chakra, shaping it is out of the question."

The setting sun stretched his shadow long.

Asami Ri raised his hand again. Rather than unleashing a powerful technique, he summoned a faint strand of chakra and tried to condense it at his fingertips into a thread as fine as a hair, yet solid enough to hold together.