Konoha: I Have a Gravity Training Room

A genius and good at making friends too. Xia Mu's future looked bright indeed!

The barbecue was soon finished. Aoba Yamashiro reminded them of the time and place to meet tomorrow, then vanished in a blur.

Seeing that it was getting late, Xia Mu had Tatsuya Yamashiro escort Megumi Kato home.

He himself hurried toward the 21 Ninja Tool Shop. Sure enough, Tenten had been waiting at home for a while. The moment she saw Xia Mu, she ran over excitedly and threw herself into his arms.

"Mm-hm, you smell like grilled meat. Looks like your teacher treated you to barbecue too." Tenten seemed quite satisfied with that.

After all, Q Meat BBQ was not cheap. A teacher willing to spend money treating students to grilled meat on the first day of a new team was generally generous—a good teacher, no question.

If her boyfriend had a good teacher, then as his girlfriend, she could rest easy.

Xia Mu first nodded to his bargain future father-in-law, then began his report. "I was assigned to Team 9. My two teammates are Tatsuya Yamashiro and Megumi Kato, and our instructor is Aoba Yamashiro. Teacher Aoba is a Special Jonin from the Intelligence Division. His strength may not be among the very best, but he's skilled in many areas and extremely versatile. His taijutsu isn't any weaker than Might Guy's, either..."

Before long, Xia Mu had told her everything that had happened today.

Mostly, he wanted to reassure Tenten.

Tenten nodded after hearing it. She would have preferred Kakashi to lead Xia Mu, since she had seen how formidable Kakashi was, but Aoba Yamashiro seemed pretty good too.

Besides, this was the Hokage's arrangement. No one could question it.

Her shopkeeper father pretended to dust the counter with a feather duster, but he had been listening intently the whole time. He cared even more about his future son-in-law than Xia Mu had imagined.

"All right, Xia Mu, you must be tired too. Go take a bath first. Want me to scrub your back?" Tenten pushed Xia Mu toward the bathroom.

"Scrub my back? Can I?" Xia Mu could not help feeling hopeful.

"No! You're still too young!" the shopkeeper father roared, making Xia Mu and Tenten both jump. Then they mischievously stuck their tongues out at him.

Fine, no back scrubbing. Why did he have to yell so loudly?

Still, it really was not appropriate. They were indeed too young, and more importantly, they were entering puberty. Going into the bathroom together would look terrible.

What the shopkeeper did not know was that Tenten slipped into Xia Mu's bed again that night.

Xia Mu was both indulgent and helpless. "Tenten, you're a grown girl now. You can't keep crawling into my bed. Don't make me do something wrong."

Tenten mumbled, "Xia Mu, you haven't given me an electric shock in ages."

Xia Mu did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Didn't you learn how to shock yourself...?"

"I want you to help me! Please?"

"All right, all right! Don't move around! It's dangerous!"

After a night had passed, Xia Mu got up feeling refreshed. Luckily, Tenten had returned to her own room after the shock. Otherwise, he really would not have been able to sleep, and he would probably have gone out with dark circles under his eyes the next day.

After breakfast, the young couple sampled the meat bun flavor on each other's lips before parting at the shop entrance.

Xia Mu quickly arrived at the agreed-upon location. Tatsuya Yamashiro and Megumi Kato were already waiting there, though perhaps it was just his imagination, but the two of them seemed somewhat awkward around each other.

Xia Mu did not pay much attention to it. Instead, he gave each of them several special shuriken.

Tenten had agreed to it, so there was no problem. Of course, he would not charge them any less.

At exactly eight o'clock, Aoba Yamashiro appeared. He was perfectly punctual—not a second early or late. He immediately took the three of them to the Hokage Building, where they received a D-rank mission: harvesting wheat!

Tatsuya Yamashiro stood dazed in the wind. "Brother Aoba, isn't this farmer work? Why is it a ninja mission request?"

Megumi Kato could not quite understand it either. "Yeah, Teacher Aoba. Does this even count as a mission?"

Aoba Yamashiro did not explain. He only looked at Xia Mu.

Xia Mu had no choice but to speak. "All right, you two. A mission is a mission, so stop complaining. Since you're like this, I'll explain a little. D-rank missions are basically village odd jobs. First, there aren't that many dangerous missions, and ninjas need to earn money to support themselves. These D-rank missions are decent work. Second, they build teamwork and bonds among new team members, letting rookies like us become familiar with one another first. Third, and most importantly, they teach us how to disguise ourselves."

Learn to disguise themselves?

They seemed to understand, yet did not quite understand.

"You two need to learn to think!"

Xia Mu could only explain further. "Future dangerous missions may require us to infiltrate enemy territory. We might need to disguise ourselves as local villagers, and villagers have all kinds of occupations. Take harvesting wheat right now, for example. It teaches us how to act like farmers, so we won't be exposed by the enemy when we disguise ourselves later. Understand?"

The two suddenly understood. "So that's how it is! As expected of the boss, you know so much!"

Xia Mu twitched the corner of his mouth, unable to smile. Somehow, he felt that being praised by these two teammates was not something worth being happy about.

Aoba Yamashiro strolled along leisurely. He recalled what Kakashi had said: having a student like Xia Mu would make things much easier. Now, it seemed that was true.

There were many matters that he, as the teacher, did not need to handle. He could simply leave them to Xia Mu.

After all, Xia Mu was the boss of this class.

Then Xia Mu suddenly looked over. "Teacher Aoba, how about we play a game?"

Aoba Yamashiro looked composed. "What game?"

"It's simple. Teacher, don't go to the mission site yet. The three of us will go first and disguise ourselves with the Transformation Jutsu. Then you can come find us. If you can't spot any flaws in our disguises, we win. As punishment, you'll have to teach us one ninjutsu. If we lose, you can decide our punishment. How about it?"

"Heh, that sounds pretty interesting. Fine. You go ahead first. I'll come find you in twenty minutes."

Aoba Yamashiro thought it was a good idea. As Xia Mu had said, students could learn how to disguise themselves while doing these D-rank missions. As their teacher, he naturally needed to give them guidance. This game was perfect—not only fun, but educational as well.

Sure enough, Xia Mu was doing a fine job as the boss. Being his teacher would be easy from now on.

But had these three little brats forgotten that he was a Special Jonin from the Intelligence Division? Playing at disguise in front of him was far too naive!

Disguise Game

Xia Mu and the other two did not dare waste any time. They immediately quickened their pace toward the mission site.

"Whether we can get Teacher Aoba to teach us ninjutsu depends on how hard we try. Make your disguises convincing later. Don't let him see through you!" Xia Mu reminded them.

"Don't worry, Boss. It's not like we haven't studied disguise lessons and the Transformation Jutsu before."

The two were full of confidence. Unlike before, they were no longer complaining and had become excited instead.

Now this felt like the thrill of doing a mission. The boss really was the boss—he had even thought of turning it into a game, and if they won, they could learn a ninjutsu. How fun was that?

So they had to win!

Soon, the three arrived at the location, coordinated with the villager who had issued the request, and were brought before the wheat fields.

Quite a few people were already harvesting wheat in the fields. The villager who had issued the request also grabbed a sickle and went down into the field. Harvesting wheat was a race against the weather, after all. No one knew when it might rain.

Tatsuya Yamashiro observed the villagers, then used the Transformation Jutsu to become an honest-looking farmer. He picked up a sickle and began harvesting wheat earnestly. His disguise was actually quite convincing. Megumi Kato transformed into a village girl and joined the harvesting crowd as well.

Xia Mu, however, created two Shadow Clones, intending to do something different.

By the time Aoba Yamashiro arrived, the wheat field was bustling with activity, and there was naturally no sign of his students.

Yet he merely glanced around once before quickly locking onto two people. He walked over and said with a smile, "Your wheat-cutting movements are far too clumsy. You don't look like an old farmer at all. And you, village woman, you're pinching the wheat with three fingers. Which rich young lady are you supposed to be? Tatsuya, Megumi, stop pretending!"

Poof! Poof!

Tatsuya Yamashiro and Megumi Kato both reverted to their original forms, looking as though they wanted to cry.

They had not expected their supposedly perfect disguises to contain such obvious flaws. It seemed they had underestimated disguise work too much.

Boss, whether they could win depended entirely on you now!

Aoba Yamashiro swept his gaze around again before finally locking onto an utterly ordinary-looking villager. His harvesting movements were not particularly skilled, but they were not bad either. When he saw Aoba Yamashiro, he even gave him a simple, honest smile before lowering his head and continuing to cut wheat.

"Xia Mu, your disguise is quite good, but your stance is too steady. You don't look like a farmer. You look more like a warrior who has trained in martial arts."

Poof! The villager burst apart, but Xia Mu was nowhere to be seen.

Aoba Yamashiro narrowed his eyes. "You little brat, you used a Shadow Clone. You even fooled me!"

As he spoke, he scanned the field again before finally fixing his gaze on a child picking up fallen wheat stalks. "It's you! You think disguising yourself as a child can fool me?"

The child hugged the wheat stalks and tilted his head with a puzzled expression. "What are you talking about, mister? Are you a ninja, mister?"

Mister? I'm such a handsome young man, and you're calling me mister?

Don't think playing dumb will let you muddle through this!

Poof! The child burst apart, yet Xia Mu still did not appear. It was another Shadow Clone.

This time, Aoba Yamashiro could not help rubbing his chin. He felt that he had still underestimated Xia Mu. His eyes swept around once more, but even after a long while, he could not find Xia Mu anywhere. However, the skills of a Special Jonin were no joke. He immediately used Chakra sensing and finally locked onto a weed growing along a path between the wheat fields.

This guy had turned into a blade of grass!

"Heh, your Transformation Jutsu is well-practiced. Even this weed looks so real." Aoba Yamashiro reached out and poked the weed.

Poof! Xia Mu returned to his original form.

He spread his hands. "As expected, it's hard to fool Teacher Aoba."

Aoba Yamashiro chuckled. "How do you think I survived in the Intelligence Division? You did quite well, at least much better than those other two. You didn't win, but after the mission is over, I can still teach you something."

Xia Mu was surprised, but he understood that this was Aoba Yamashiro's acknowledgment of the game.

He quickly said, "Thank you, Teacher Aoba!"

Tatsuya Yamashiro and Megumi Kato grew excited as well. "Yay! Brother Aoba/Teacher Aoba, you're the best!"

After that, Xia Mu and the other two harvested the wheat as quickly as possible. After turning in the mission at the Hokage Building, they did not rush to accept another one. Instead, they followed their teacher to the training grounds.

Aoba Yamashiro coughed. "Tell me what ninjutsu you want to learn."

Tatsuya Yamashiro immediately raised his hand. "Brother! Brother! I want to learn the Thousand Crow Technique!"

Megumi Kato pressed her fingers together. "I-I have Water-nature Chakra. If possible, I'd like to learn Water Style Ninjutsu."

Aoba Yamashiro adjusted his sunglasses and noticed that Xia Mu had not spoken. "Xia Mu, what are you thinking? I may not know as many ninjutsu as Kakashi, but I can still teach you one or two."

Xia Mu thought for a moment, then looked at his two teammates.

In truth, he did not need to learn any ninjutsu himself. Even if Aoba Yamashiro could teach him something, it would only be D-rank or, at most, C-rank ninjutsu. It would not improve him much.

The Mind Reading Technique was good, but he did not need it for the time being.

The only reason he had proposed learning ninjutsu was for the sake of his two teammates. They were in the same class, after all. If his teammates were too weak, that would genuinely be troublesome.

So Xia Mu suggested, "Teacher Aoba, I suggest you teach the two of them the Shadow Clone Jutsu first, then assign them Tree Climbing and Water Walking training. From what I can see, their Chakra control is still too weak."

Tree Climbing and Water Walking—the training methods that never went out of style for Genin.

Tatsuya Yamashiro and Megumi Kato came from small clans. Their parents were probably only Genin themselves, so naturally, they did not have people to teach them as great clans did. Even though Aoba Yamashiro was Tatsuya Yamashiro's older clansman, they probably rarely saw each other, much less received guidance.

The two opened their mouths upon hearing that, but neither said anything.

They did not quite understand their boss's suggestion, but they trusted him. Surely he was doing it for their benefit.

Aoba Yamashiro was somewhat surprised, then smiled. Sure enough, teaching Xia Mu would be easy. This kid already knew to consider his teammates.

He nodded in agreement. "Then I'll teach them both the Shadow Clone Jutsu and assign Tree Climbing and Water Walking training."

Xia Mu explained to his two teammates, "You saw how convenient the Shadow Clone Jutsu is. There's no downside to learning it. And let me tell you, Shadow Clones can also be used for training, and the experience from that training can be fed back to your brains. In other words, if you have Shadow Clones help you learn ninjutsu in the future, your learning speed will double!"

The two immediately brightened. "Boss, you don't need to say any more. We'll learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"And Tree Climbing and Water Walking..."

"They train Chakra control, we know!"

Once Tatsuya Yamashiro and Megumi Kato saw how many benefits there were, they became extremely eager and urged Aoba Yamashiro to teach them quickly.

As for missions, there was no need to rush. Once the two learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu, they could simply take on several more. Having Shadow Clones was incredibly convenient.

Xia Mu vs. Aoba Yamashiro

It had to be said that Tatsuya Yamashiro and Megumi Kato had decent talent.

It took them only one day to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

After that, whenever they accepted missions, they would send Shadow Clones to do them while the two began practicing Tree Climbing and Water Walking. They were truly diligent and serious.

As for Xia Mu, Aoba Yamashiro called him aside.

"Xia Mu, I'm going to test your strength now. Show me everything you have. Whether it's the Six Styles you developed yourself, the Eight Gates, or Hatake Kenjutsu, attack me with all your strength. I want to see how far you've come!"

He was genuinely curious about this student of his.

Since both Might Guy and Kakashi had acknowledged him, he must have been quite capable.

Naturally, Xia Mu would not pass up the chance to test his strength. He might not use a move on the level of Vortex Boiling Water, but it was still worth seeing just how powerful the Eight Gates combined with Hatake Kenjutsu could be.

Besides, he needed to properly test whether the Six Styles could contend with a Jonin's taijutsu.

"All right, Teacher Aoba, be careful. I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back, so don't let me beat you to death!" Xia Mu assumed his stance.