Hokage Office.
A group of Jonin and Special Jonin had gathered.
Once they received the files for their respective teams, they began departing one by one, heading for the Ninja Academy.
Kakashi looked at the student roster for Team 7 with a helpless expression. He'd been hoping for a laid-back life, but the Hokage had thrown him into yet another troublesome situation.
Uzumaki Naruto—Minato-sensei's son, and the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki.
Sasuke—last surviving member of the Uchiha clan.
This wasn't going to be an easy group to handle.
Meanwhile, Yamashiro Aoba received the file for Team 9 and let out a rare sigh of relief when he saw that his younger cousin, Yamashiro Rone, was one of the students.
Honestly, Aoba didn't really understand why someone like him—an Intelligence Division Special Jonin—was being assigned to lead a Genin squad. But since his cousin was among the members, he figured it might as well be a mini-vacation.
Hiruzen had also given him a subtle reminder: "Aoba, there's a kid in your team named Natsuki. He's a real genius. Make sure you train him well."
Natsuki? A genius?
Aoba opened Natsuki's file and was momentarily stunned. "This Natsuki… he's the inventor of the Ninja Card Game? And he even beat Uchiha Sasuke in a match? One-handed seals… Water Release… Hokage-sama, with all due respect, a genius like this should be assigned to Kakashi!"
Kakashi rolled his eyes. Why did everyone keep trying to dump all the problems on him?
Hiruzen chuckled. "Kakashi already has his hands full. Only he is suitable for guiding Sasuke, and of course, there's also Naruto… As for Natsuki, just keep a close eye on him."
Kakashi patted Aoba on the shoulder. "You'll be fine, Aoba. Natsuki's a great kid—smart, calm, responsible. He'll make your job easy."
Aoba gave Kakashi a surprised look. He hadn't expected Kakashi to have such high praise for this Natsuki. That made him genuinely curious.
"Well then, I'll do my best."
With that, Aoba tucked the files away and headed for the school. Before reaching the classroom, he quickly reviewed the team information again before putting it all away. Then, he appeared at the doorway of the classroom.
"Team 9—Natsuki, Yamashiro Rone, Kato Megumi. With me!"
He turned around and left without waiting.
Natsuki nodded to Shino, then quickly left the classroom with his two teammates and followed after their retreating squad leader.
This Aoba-sensei clearly didn't play by the book. He called them out but then rushed off without explanation—was this an immediate field test?
The three of them made a prompt decision to pursue. Natsuki kept the pace in the middle, setting the rhythm, ensuring they kept up without burning too much stamina. More importantly, none of them said a word. They didn't seem curious or eager to ask what Aoba had planned.
Aoba noticed all of this and nodded internally.
Never mind their actual combat ability—for Genin, this kind of composure was already a passing mark.
A shinobi should follow orders without unnecessary chatter. When a leader says move, you move. If it's something you need to know, the leader will tell you.
If it were Naruto, he'd already be whining and shouting by now. Noisy, reckless hotheads were the worst kind of teammates for Jonin. They disobey orders and mess things up. Only Kakashi had the patience to handle that kind of energy.
Anyway—back to Aoba.
Natsuki had also been observing their new squad leader. Appearance-wise, he was just like in the original timeline.
Spiky black hair, forehead protector worn at an angle, green sunglasses, blue body suit with green Jonin armor—very cool looking.
As for personality and strength, that would take time to figure out.
Not long after, Aoba stopped at a training field. Natsuki and his teammates halted across from him, standing at attention.
Aoba adjusted his sunglasses. "I'm Yamashiro Aoba, Special Jonin of the Intelligence Division. From now on, I'm your team leader. I've read your files, so let's skip the introductions. Let me see your strength first."
Oh-ho, straight to the point, huh?
That's fine—no need to talk about likes, dislikes, and dreams. Let's just fight.
Natsuki made a hand sign. Immediately, Rone and Megumi moved to either side of Aoba, subtly forming a three-way encirclement, though none of them rushed in recklessly.
Aoba smiled. "Starting off with a direct attack? I thought stealth was a ninja's basic skill?"
Natsuki's expression didn't change. "Aoba-sensei is a Special Jonin who specializes in detection and tracking. Our stealth techniques wouldn't fool you anyway—so no point pretending."
Aoba gave an approving nod. "Not a bad assessment. So then, how do you plan to attack?"
Natsuki flicked out a shuriken to test the waters.
Aoba casually deflected it with a kunai, keeping an eye on the two flanking Genin. Dodging would have created an opening, so he blocked instead.
He didn't expect both Megumi and Rone to follow up with shuriken of their own.
Aoba frowned and parried again.
Something felt off.
The moment his kunai made contact, the shuriken suddenly burst—releasing a cloud of toxic smoke that instantly surrounded him. His expression changed as he held his breath.
"These little punks are pulling tricks on me already!"
Natsuki took the opportunity to form hand seals, summoning a few shadow clones to burrow underground, then continued sealing to activate Four Demon Seal Technique and Clone Fusion Technique.
Meanwhile, Megumi and Rone kept throwing more shuriken—but instead of aiming at Aoba, they embedded them in the ground. The next second, the shuriken ejected hooked wires, successfully latching onto Aoba's clothing.
He hadn't even managed to escape the poison mist yet and was already hooked. Getting free now would be messy.
These were custom shuriken Natsuki had given his teammates. The poisoned ones obstructed vision and created chaos. The wire ones didn't cause much damage but made it really annoying to move. Trying to break free would just waste time and effort—or worse, tear your clothes off mid-fight.
"These kids… their sneak attack game's strong!"
Aoba almost laughed. He was genuinely impressed.
He might only be a Special Jonin—not some Kage-level powerhouse—but it was rare for fresh Genin to manage to catch him off guard like this. That alone was a solid achievement.
Still, he couldn't be too easy on them. If he looked too weak now, he'd lose all authority as their leader.
With a quick set of hand seals, he blew a gust of wind from his mouth, dispersing the toxic mist.
But just as he was about to break the wires, Natsuki charged at him head-on. His speed was impressive, and the sound of air splitting around his punch made it clear—this hit packed a punch.
Aoba instinctively tilted his head to dodge. But those damn hooks were still caught on his clothes, which made it awkward.
He narrowly avoided the blow—
Only for another fist to emerge from Natsuki's back, striking Aoba hard and sending him flying along with a mess of wires and shuriken.
(End of Chapter)
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