Team assignments, Uzuki Yugao

The teams were assigned the next day.

Since Uchiha Sora and Itachi had graduated alongside the students in the higher grades, they naturally became the two youngest Genin in their graduating class.

However, they were not assigned to the same team. Instead, they were placed on different teams.

Itachi had his teammates, and Sora had his own.

Family origins and connections carried considerable weight in the assignment of teams after graduation.

Although Uchiha Sora belonged to the Uchiha Clan, both his parents were dead, and he had no powerful backing of his own. As a result, neither his teammates nor his Jonin instructor had any powerful connections either.

His Jonin instructor was named Uenaka Masaki. His two teammates, a boy and a girl, were Heping Hirai Mitsuteru and Uzuki Yugao.

Both teammates were twelve years old, five years older than Uchiha Sora was now.

Uchiha Sora was unfamiliar with Uenaka Masaki and Hirai Mitsuteru, but he knew Uzuki Yugao very well.

This female ninja would eventually become an elite member of the ANBU, skilled in swordsmanship. Unfortunately, her future lover would die young...

Because Uchiha Sora was the youngest, and because he was also a member of the Uchiha Clan, both his teammates and his instructor were very interested in him.

There was no traditional bell-snatching test. Once the teams had been assigned, their Jonin instructor, Uenaka Masaki, took the three of them out for a lavish meal so they could get to know one another before taking on missions.

Uenaka Masaki was an experienced Jonin in his forties. His abilities were fairly balanced across the board, but he had no particular strengths.

Hirai Mitsuteru specialized in Water Release and knew a little Medical Ninjutsu, while Uzuki Yugao specialized in swordsmanship. Uchiha Sora had no particular specialty, though he could also be said to have the potential to excel at anything. When he introduced himself, however, he said he specialized in Taijutsu and fire release.

After the four had briefly gotten acquainted, they began taking on Genin missions the following day.

Genin missions were all very simple: finding people's lost pets, helping the village's elderly residents move house, or escorting goods to nearby towns.

They were mostly D-rank and C-rank missions, with little danger involved, and were quite easy.

Uchiha Sora was in no hurry. After completing a few missions and saving up his first earnings, he went to a weapons shop and bought a Refined Iron Short Sword, intending to practice swordsmanship.

When Uchiha Sora arrived at their meeting point with a short sword strapped to his back, both his teammates noticed it. Uzuki Yugao asked curiously, "Sora, do you want to train in swordsmanship too? Have you learned any of the basics before?"

Uchiha Sora shook his head and smiled. "No, but I've got you, haven't I? I'll be counting on your guidance from now on!"

Uzuki Yugao paused, then rolled her eyes at him. "Aren't you afraid an ordinary Genin like me will lead an Uchiha genius like you astray?"

"Genius or not, as far as I'm concerned, you're a genius at swordsmanship!" Uchiha Sora said firmly.

At his words, the corners of Uzuki Yugao's lips lifted despite herself. Clearly, praise from a genius like Uchiha Sora was very pleasing to her.

Still, out of a girl's natural reserve, she quietly composed herself and nodded with a serious expression. "Since you've decided to practice swordsmanship, I'll definitely make time to train with you as your teammate."

Watching Uchiha Sora sweet-talk the girl of his dreams into agreeing to train with him in just a few words, Hirai Mitsuteru silently gave him a thumbs-up.

In his eyes, Uchiha Sora, who had no foundation in swordsmanship whatsoever, had suddenly bought a short sword and decided to learn for one reason alone: Uzuki Yugao!

After all, Uzuki Yugao was easily one of the prettiest girls in their graduating class, a well-known little beauty!

And with that, his swordsmanship training was settled.

Of course, Uchiha Sora had not really done it to pursue the pretty Uzuki Yugao. He simply thought that mastering swordsmanship would look incredibly cool, and that it had greater killing power than ordinary Taijutsu.

With his automatic training mode, Uchiha Sora used the opportunity to spar with Uzuki Yugao to add swordsmanship as a training category and put it into automatic training.

During his very first practice bout with Uzuki Yugao, his swordsmanship even obligingly underwent a round of accelerated training.

With that, Uchiha Sora had truly grasped the basics of swordsmanship, and he continued to improve steadily every moment.

Their Jonin instructor, Uenaka Masaki, also regularly taught them a wide range of ninja knowledge and skills.

These included basic skills such as tree climbing and Water Walking.

During one training session, Uenaka Masaki tested the three of them for their chakra affinities.

Hirai Mitsuteru tested as water, Uzuki Yugao as earth, and Uchiha Sora as fire.

"I didn't expect you to have only a fire affinity, Sora. I thought you'd have at least two!" Hirai Mitsuteru said with some disappointment when he saw the results.

The more gifted someone was, the more innate elemental affinities they tended to have. Uchiha Sora's affinity clearly fell a little short of the talent he had displayed.

Of course, Uchiha Sora knew why he only had a fire affinity. He was no genius at all-he relied on automatic training for everything!

"Ding! Someone has questioned your innate physical talents. Deeply indignant, they have awakened a new chakra affinity: wind!"

Just then, a system notification sounded.

Uchiha Sora felt a small surge of delight.

The system really did deliver. Even his innate physical talents could awaken automatically! Did that mean he might have a chance to awaken a new kekkei genkai in the future?

Looks like I'll have to find a chance to have a good spar with Yamato. Maybe it'll make my own physique envious enough to awaken Wood Release! Uchiha Sora thought.

Day after day passed as Uchiha Sora carried out Genin missions and sparred with Uzuki Yugao to practice swordsmanship.

Whenever he had time in the evenings, he also went over to Uchiha Izumi's home to mooch a meal.

His days were fulfilling and warm.

Without all the dangers that lay ahead, this would have been a pretty good life. Even if he remained a Genin forever, he could still live happily.

Time flew, and before he knew it, Uchiha Sora had been a Genin for almost a year.

Over that year, he had completed many Genin missions and made considerable progress in every aspect of his abilities. Thanks to the constant automatic training of his physical conditioning category, he had even grown as tall as his two teammates, who were five years older.

Since Uchiha Sora had never revealed his true strength, his two teammates only knew that he was probably the strongest of the three. Just how strong he was remained a mystery to them.

Then, one day, a piece of news put Uchiha Sora on alert.

"Uchiha Itachi awakened his Sharingan! His team was attacked by unidentified enemies during a Genin mission, and his teammate was killed!" Hirai Mitsuteru said nervously after they gathered. "I think our team needs to be more careful on missions too..."