To my right, the ocean stretched out in bands of blue and silver, waves rolling in with steady persistence over and over. To my left, the camp walls rose against the bright sky and numerous faces watched from above. I expected the Ino-Shika-Cho trio to watch, as they were some of the few jonin who had not seen me fight, Fugaku joining to watch the simple sparring match was surprising to me. Across from me stood Shisui, Rin, and Kakashi, with his new Sharingan uncovered, in an upside-down triangular formation with Rin at the back.
The bright sunlight reflected off the water and even the sand, causing slight heat distortions. The wind was rolling in off the ocean with the smell of salt water in the air. Soft mumbling could be heard from the wall, but otherwise, there was only the sound of the wind and waves. With a smirk, I pulled out a small stone which I casually tossed up a few times and caught it before I threw it into the air for real.
Shisui was used to my little games, so he remained calm while the other two nearly drew their weapons multiple times with my 'test' tosses. His Sharingan flared to life with my real throw and immediately drew the tanto that poked over his shoulder as he dashed forward. Kakashi, to his credit, was less than half a step behind with his father's sword in his hand, the White Fang, while Rin moved back with a series of quick, controlled jumps backward as she drew a handful of shurikens. Making a fist defensively in front of myself, I activated my Yang Chakra Enhanced Strength which filled my muscles, tendons, and bones with powerful energy.
Once Shisui was within five meters of me, his body blurred as two more Shisuis split from his real body as he kicked up sand in all directions. They positioned themselves so that I was locked into his favorite formation while Kakashi's sword lit up with electricity. A high chop from the right, a sweeping low swing from left, and direct piercing thrust to the gut, Shisui's current finishing technique since only those who understood the principles had a chance of countering.
Before any of the three attacks could last, I flashed through a few hand signs and released a burst of Wind chakra from all around my body. While Shisui's Ghosts were unaffected by the wind, the young Uchiha himself was sent flying back and, once he was more than five meters from one of his Ghosts, they dispelled. It was that moment when I threw Shisui back that Kakashi attempted to strike me, enhancing his body flicker with Lightning chakra, but unfortunately for him, the move was too telegraphed, so I dodged with a simple lean of my body and gave him a 'gentle' kick that only bruised his ribs in return.
As Kakashi was launched and sent skidding across the sand, Rin's attack finally reached me. While the others had made their attempts to strike me directly, she used some wire to tie between the shurikens then threw them as Kakashi attacked. With how determined their attacks seemed to be, even risking their teammates potentially, I knew that Shisui must have firmly planted in the idea that their attacks would be mostly useless against me. Her move to attempt to restrict my movements was tactically the wisest, but with the Flying Thunder God technique at my fingertips, it was essentially a useless try.
No sooner had I teleported to the side than Shisui charged me with a barrage of attacks. The first clone stabbed out with his tanto, doing a full leaping strike, which forced me to defend with my bracer filled with Earth chakra. The blade scrapped off harmlessly, but another clone came crashing through the ghost clone swinging down at my head. I punched the blade and shattered it, but since it was just a compression of Space chakra which allowed a 'ghost' to attack, any damage that I might have done was ultimately just an expenditure of chakra for Shisui.
From the right, left, and behind me, Water, Lightning, and Earth bullets shot at me while I was distracted by Shisui's ghosts. To make matter worse, not all them were direct straight at me, so I could not teleport slightly out of the way, and I had not used any marked shurikens so far in this match, meaning that I could not use any of my marks. Flashing through a few hand signs, I dropped to the ground and slammed my hands down, causing three earthen walls to erupt around me in just enough time to block the jutsu flying at me. The Lightning bullets managed to break through the wall they hit but were so weak that I did not even need to dodge them.
Both Shisui and Kakshi jumped into the air, already finishing another set of hand signs, which they finished one after the other, almost perfectly in rhythm. Shisui released the Waterfall Basin technique which flooded the small chamber that I had created with my defense while Kakashi fired a Thunderclap Arrow straight into the water, electrifying it. What the pair had missed, though, was me tunneling underground immediately after forming the earthen walls and leaving behind an illusion behind to distract them.
Using one of Kakashi's moves from the show, I grabbed Rin from underground as I used the Headhunter jutsu, burying her up to the neck in the ground while pulling myself out of the ground. Shisui and Kakashi landed on the walls I had made, breathing hard and clutching their short swords in their hands. I smirked at the pair as I put my hands in my pockets.
"Not bad; you three would be able to take down most jonin despite being a fresh team," I said with confidence then noticed Shisui's slightest smirk, only recognizable due to how close we had gotten over the last year.
Out of instinct, I teleported back to where I had been, which was now under water. That proved to be the right move as 'Rin' exploded with several explosive tags that were planted on her clone's body. Internally, I scolded myself for relaxing as much as I did when testing Shisui, who trained with me for hours everyday, and Kakashi, the first jonin instructor fully introduced in the series. They might have been young, but they were both bigger legends than the rest of my students, aside from perhaps future Guy.
Before they figured out where I teleported, I formed three hand signs to unleash a custom jutsu. Hands formed out of the water filling the space around me and latched onto Shisui and Kakashi, which turned into monkeys as they pulled away. The water monkeys pulled themselves closer to others like them to form a watery prison, despite Kakashi's and Shisui's efforts to get rid of them. Shisui managed to escape his trap jutsu with his ghosts to replace himself, but the same could not work for Kakashi, and I leapt out of the water then shook the water off my hair.
"You'll need to burn them off, but I haven't seen anyone try electrocuting them, so I'm not sure if that will work. Don't worry, they only last five or so minutes and won't grow any bigger... without more water," I suggested with a smile then formed a few hand signs.
"Retreat!" Shisui yelled immediately as the water began to rise behind me.
Since Kakashi's feet were ensured by my Water Monkey Prison Trap jutsu, Shisui grabbed him by the collar and dragged him. Rin finally broke her cover, where she had been hiding between some rocks and using genjutsu to further assist her with concealing her presence, and ran towards Shisui and Kakashi. The head of the Water Dragon Stream formed, so I jumped up onto its head while its body continued to form. Instead of directing it towards the trio, I took control of the Water Dragon and sent it into the ocean, so that it could grow larger.
Shisui took my advice seriously and attacked the watery globs holding Kakashi's feet with a small fireball once he realized that I was not chasing them. Rin caught up to them, and I could tell they were talking, but their past success had made them cocky since they allowed me to reach the water. When a jonin does not attack directly and instead goes for 'fuel' for their jutsu, it means that they are going into full offensive mode, so with our enemy as the Mist, I decided to teach them this lesson in a way that they would not forget.
I had seen the hand signs enough to learn it for myself, so I used the Hidden Mist justu which, combined with the help from the ocean, became a white carpet that slowly rolled onto the shore with every wave. Kakashi regained his freedom, but the thick fog was crawling towards them at a quickening pace as the natural ocean breeze pushed it faster. Kakashi looked upset that he had been caught up in the trap, Rin looked nervous as she clutched her kunai in front of herself, and Shisui scanned the area for some sort of solution.
"You can take a jonin by surprise, so let's see how you do against one that is completely ready," I chuckled, crossing my arms with a smirk on my face, right before the mist swallowed them.
With my chakra channeling into the Water Dragon through my feet, I had complete control of it, but it was still lacking compared to the size and sheer power of my Lava clone using her Lava Golem technique. Still, it was overkill for the three of them, but I did not let that stop me as the Mist, or Madara, would not go easy on them in the future; I just would make sure they were not hurt permanently. The tail of the Water Dragon swept across the entire field where they had been standing, rippling through the mist without removing it.
About halfway through, the tail was deflected upwards by two earthen walls which were angled. I pulled the tail back while raising the head of the dragon and making a few more hand signs. The Water Dragon made a roaring gesture as it released a volley of Water Senbon Needles all across the mist covered field.
Despite the barrage, Shisui came flying out of the misty area as he sped through hand signs, riding a stone pillar upwards. The pillar reached its peak then started to crumble, but Shisui jumped further without messing up his hand signs. His jutsu drew in the water within the air, the ocean, and even the water from my attacks as the chakra within them weakened, and he released a full power Violent Water Wave at me and the Water Dragon that I was standing on.
I jumped off the Water Dragon after directing it into the direction of Shisui's jutsu. Before I could land, though, I heard it; the 'cry' of a thousand birds. As my feet neared the sand, the white-blue electric chakra of a Chidori broke through the mist as Kakashi rushed at me with every ounce of speed he could mustard. While I did not have the Sharingan, Kakashi's speed still paled in comparison to Minato and Shisui, so I could still react in time.
I flicked a shuriken at his outstretched arm, but with Obito's eye, he managed to defect it with a kunai in his other hand. With a smirk, I teleported to the shuriken that he had just knocked away and then grabbed Kakashi by the back of the neck. Applying a bit of pressure to confirm that it was truly him, I dragged Kakashi in front of me and held a kunai threateningly.
"Alright, enough you two... you've shown proper teamwork. You've got your field commission," I called out after letting Kakashi go.
I summoned my Wind clone, who started to clear the misty battlefield right away, while I checked over Kakashi for wounds. There were a few grazes, but nothing that Rin would have an issue of treating. Shisui and Rin were revealed to also be wounded as the mist was blown away, and they were walking towards us; Shisui's mask hid his expression, but Rin was looking over Kakashi with a medic's eye, searching for all of his wounds.
"You three have enough strength to join the strike team, but don't expect more than nearby patrols. I promised Minato to keep you two out of danger as much as possible, and Shisui, you're still too young to be here," I explained once the other two had joined us.
"Says the four-year-old genin," Shisui grumbled since it was always a sore spot for him when I mentioned his age.
"Records aside... I expect great things from you three. Rin, take Kakashi to medical and get yourselves patched up; I'll take care of Shisui. Kurenai's team will be here this afternoon, and all seven of you will join Fugaku's strike team under the same sub-unit," I continued.
"Kurenai-chan?" Rin asked with a bit of surprise and excitement.
I nodded and replied, "I thought some familiar faces would be nice for you two. Rest and relax while you can; once Asuma and Guy find out that your here, I know that they will be stopping by to say hello."
"Understood, Commander," Kakashi said formally.
"Thank you, Commander," Rin added.
I nodded my head with a light smile then directed the group back towards the camp. The group on the wall was thinning out at a quick pace since the show was over, but there were five figures that did not move and continued to watch me. Shikaku, Inoichi, Choza, and Fugaku... even from a distance, I could feel them sizing me up as they mentally compared their strengths to what I had just shown; it was my clone technique that had built my reputation throughout this war, after all, and I had not used any clones for fighting.
The four of us split as Kakashi and Rin branched off towards the medical building while Shisui and I walked to the command center. I opened the passage to the way down to my personal room and headed down. Sitting Shisui at the table, my hands gave off a green glow as I activated the Mystic Palm technique and then started to treat his minor injuries.
"So, what do you think of your new group?" I asked while I worked.
Shisui took off his mask and placed it on the table before he replied, "Interesting, I guess. Kakashi has the skill, even without the Sharingan, but he is cold and dismissive. It was only with Rin's help that I managed to convince him to listen to my plan against you, but aside from her medical ninjutsu, I don't think the field is the right place for her."
"No, Rin's heart is too pure for the battlefield, but war takes children sadly. As for Kakashi... well, he has his own problems long before Obito died. I won't go too much into detail, but his father's suicide left him with a lot of problems that Minato and the rest of his team were helping him through, intentional and not, but I'm afraid that Obito's death may have pushed him back into old habits, which is what you've seen. Your team will be placed with a Special Jonin of the Shimura Clan to avoid any conflicts over leadership."
"Shimura Clan? Sensei, are you su..."
I grinned evilly, "Oh, I'm sure since you have my personal permission to abandon any orders that you aren't comfortable with and take Kakashi and Rin with you as well. Danzo has been dead for over a year, so if his people think they can still act high and mighty, I plan to make an example out of any of them stupid enough to pick a fight with my personal student. My power in the Village is limited, but out here, my word is law until my father says otherwise."
"I understand, sensei," he replied with an equally dark smile.
I clicked my tongue and poked his head with a finger with a soft chuckle, "Hey, this is my trust being placed in you, and if you break it, the only reason why you'll remain my student is so that I can disciple you properly and make sure that you never can betray my trust again."
"I understand, sensei, and will take this seriously," Shisui said, staring at me directly in the eyes to show his seriousness.
"I know you will," I retorted and messed with his hair like usual. "Go rest, relax, or find something you want to do around camp; you've got the rest of the day off."
"Thanks, sensei!" he said with a smile then stood up and headed for the stairs.
I just chuckled and watched him leave before I walked over to my kitchen area to make myself something to eat. Shisui's personal strength was enough to keep him safe in most situation, and he was even stronger with the help of teammates, so with Kakashi already developing the Chidori already, I had confidence that they could protect themselves, and Rin, from most situations that they would find themselves. Of course, Madara and Zetsu were not common opponents, but neither could act directly and expose their existence to the world currently.