Chapter 6: A Death Exam?
After all three had introduced themselves, Kihon Toichi smiled and said, "Alright, that's enough for today. Gather here tomorrow morning, and I'll take you to accept a mission."
After saying that, he vanished without even giving the three a chance to respond.
Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon were both dumbfounded.
They stared at the now-empty spot in complete confusion.
Yoruha shook his head helplessly. "Looks like this teacher's unreliable too."
"Yamada, Hon, see you tomorrow."
With Kihon Toichi gone, Yoruha naturally had no desire to stay either.
But just as he was about to leave, Yamada Juki called out to him.
"Yoruha, wait a second. Today's the day we graduated, and it's also our first day as a team. Shouldn't we go celebrate?"
Before Yoruha could answer, Tanako Hon agreed at once. "Sure, let's go eat barbecue. My treat, okay?"
"Yoruha, neither of us has really gotten to know you yet."
Now fully recovered, Tanako Hon blinked her beautiful eyes at Yoruha.
That made it hard for him to refuse.
"Uh, then I'll have to trouble you, Hon."
Although he had guessed Tanako Hon was fairly well-off, he still felt a little embarrassed about letting her pay.
After all, in Konohagakure, a barbecue meal wasn't cheap. It was nothing like ramen.
Yamada Juki said with a grin, "Yoruha, you don't need to feel bad. Ta-ko's father is a famous rich man in Konohagakure. Her monthly allowance alone is equal to the reward for a B-rank mission."
"If you keep talking like that, Juki, I'll make you pay for yourself."
Tanako Hon seemed to dislike people bringing up how rich she was.
Yamada Juki laughed. "Alright, alright, I'll stop."
"So, Yoruha, are you coming or not?"
Yoruha was a little surprised by Tanako Hon's family background.
He had guessed her family was well-off before, but he hadn't expected them to be this wealthy.
A B-rank mission reward was eighty thousand to two hundred thousand ryō.
Even using the minimum standard of eighty thousand, Tanako Hon's monthly allowance alone could buy over a thousand bowls of ordinary Ichiraku ramen.
Meanwhile, Yoruha's monthly living expenses were only five thousand ryō.
And five thousand was already enough for Yoruha to live fairly comfortably.
Tanako Hon's allowance alone was at least sixteen times Yoruha's living expenses.
The corner of Yoruha's mouth twitched. "The wealth gap really is huge."
Since someone was treating him to barbecue, Yoruha naturally had no reason to refuse.
Yoruha smiled. "Alright, let's go."
They arrived at Konohagakure's most famous barbecue restaurant, a place where ninja often gathered.
The moment they stepped in, a voice called out from inside.
"Yoruha, over here!"
Yoruha looked in the direction of the voice.
It turned out Ino and the others were there too.
Yoruha glanced at Tanako Hon, asking for her opinion.
Tanako Hon smiled. "You and Ino seem pretty close, Yoruha."
Yoruha said flatly, "We only met today."
He didn't know what Tanako Hon meant by asking that.
But Yamada Juki, standing beside them, suddenly felt a chill.
"Don't tell me Ta-ko's jealous?"
Yoruha didn't understand Tanako Hon, but Yamada Juki did.
Though Tanako Hon had a gentle personality, she could often be subtly barbed.
And only after hearing Yoruha's answer did Tanako Hon smile and say, "Then let's go join them."
Yoruha didn't really feel anything, but Yamada Juki had a bad feeling.
"Hopefully this barbecue meal can stay peaceful."
"Though that's probably impossible."
Yamada Juki could already imagine what might happen in a little while.
The three of them went over to Ino's table.
Sure enough, Ino, Shikamaru, Chōji, and their instructor Asuma were all there.
When Yoruha reached Ino's side, Tanako Hon sat down between him and Ino.
With a smile, she said, "Ino, I didn't expect to see you here too."
Ino glanced at Tanako Hon. The two of them actually got along fairly well.
Back in the Ninja Academy, Tanako Hon had been one of the few girls in class who wasn't obsessed with Sasuke.
So there had never been any rivalry between her and Ino.
And since Tanako Hon, while not from a ninja family, belonged to a wealthy household in Konohagakure, the two had usually maintained a good relationship.
Still, today Ino felt that Tanako Hon seemed a little different than usual.
Both Yamada Juki and Shikamaru noticed it.
Yoruha, meanwhile, sat down beside Yamada Juki.
Shikamaru introduced them. "Yoruha, this is our instructor, Asuma."
Yoruha, Yamada Juki, and Tanako Hon immediately stood up. "Asuma-sensei."
All three knew who Asuma was.
Even setting aside the fact that he was the Third Hokage's son, his status as an Elite Jonin was enough to make them treat him seriously.
Elite Jonin were extremely powerful in a ninja village. In some smaller villages, someone of that level could even serve as a Kage.
And even in Konohagakure, there weren't many ninja with Elite Jonin strength. In any village, they belonged to the very top tier.
Seeing how formal they were being, Asuma quickly waved his hands.
"No need to be so polite. Sit, sit."
After the three sat down, Asuma looked at Shikamaru and the others helplessly. "Look at how sensible your classmates are. You should learn from them."
But Shikamaru's group paid him no mind.
After all, all three came from ninja clans. Even if they respected Asuma, they weren't going to be overly deferential.
The Ino-Shika-Chō clans were in no way inferior to the Sarutobi Clan.
Ino didn't bother with Asuma at all, instead staring brightly at Yoruha.
"Yoruha, how come you guys finished so quickly? Didn't your teacher give you an exam?"
As Ino leaned past Tanako Hon to talk to Yoruha, Tanako Hon felt a little displeased.
She just didn't show it.
Everyone looked toward Yoruha, because they all wanted to know what had happened too.
Although they had graduated and successfully become ninja, they still had to pass their instructor's test. If they failed, the instructor had the authority to send them back to the Ninja Academy for retraining.
Yoruha explained, "Our teacher's test was relatively simple, so it ended quickly."
But before he could say more, Yamada Juki blurted out, "It wasn't simple at all. Our teacher's test was terrifying. Ta-ko and I almost died."
Just thinking of Kihon Toichi's test still left Yamada Juki shaken.
It had been far too terrifying. At that moment, he had even felt that dying might be better.
Yamada Juki's words made Shikamaru and the others curious.
Asuma frowned and asked, "Who is your teacher?"
Because Asuma had entered the classroom before Kihon Toichi, the two had missed each other.
"It's Kihon Toichi-sensei," Yamada Juki answered.
Asuma froze for a moment, then frowned. He couldn't recall any Jonin in Konohagakure by that name.
"Kihon Toichi? Why don't I remember any ninja in Konohagakure with that name?"