A few days after returning from Amegakure, I was announced to have become a Jōnin, without any fanfare... So I expected a new mission dropped into my lap or secret training with Fugaku, but instead I was left alone. Huh. I didn't complain, because Mom and Dad were also fussing about me, how I seemed to be ending up in dangerous situations. A bit of time off with Sayuri to celebrate our promotion felt nice. It was almost as if the war wasn't happening.
Then, on the fourth day, reality struck, and I was left with the worst kind of mission: Lots and lots of paperwork. Don't we have people who handle this? Why me? Really? When the War Council called for me, I expected an assignment, but not something like this, so I just stared at the stack of folders placed in front of me, then slowly raised my eyes toward Fugaku.
"No."
"It's an order," Fugaku answered first.
"Jōnin go on important missions," I argued, looking at him with a flat gaze.
"Jōnin-level shinobi are also the ones who lead our teams." Shikudo joined in, explaining calmly, which made me swallow my follow-up protest. Tsk... he got me there.
"I'm just informing you all," I pointed at the mountain of paper. "That this is not my expertise. Can't I switch with someone? I'm not keen on becoming a victim of bureaucracy."
"The Academy's wartime curriculum has already been accelerated." Shikudo continued, ignoring my protest, "And as someone who had been through it, you are the perfect choice to look over and analyze the current situation. The paperwork is just the last part; you don't have to start with it."
"We need more genin." Fugaku added, being super serious, "But we can't promote every child; not everyone matures at the same speed."
"They aren't resources we can replace if lost," Shikudo whispered, making me turn more serious too.
"...Right."
"Which is why we need to be extra careful about this."
"So you want me to evaluate students." I shrugged, opened the first folder, and ran my eyes through it.
"Observe their true capabilities," Inomasa, the Yamanaka patriarch, finally spoke up too, his tone somewhat neutral compared to our past little back-and-forths. "We already know their grades, physical scores, chakra aptitude, theoretical performance, and we have gone over all of the instructors' evaluations and recommendations. What we're asking for is an outside assessment, one that can reaffirm the teachers' views or provide a new angle."
While I listened, my eyes scanned the names, ages, and their grades. There were some promising ones, if you only relied on the numbers here. But... Those can be subjective and not objective, especially as I recalled one specific teacher I had a run-in with... Eh. Maybe I do need to take a look and make sure these are correct.
"We want you to identify students who could safely be moved forward, skipping one or more years," Shikudo continued. "We aren't looking for rare ones like you or Minato were, so we aren't necessarily ready to graduate them by tomorrow. Maybe they could be assigned individual instruction, specify what skills to focus on, and give them more focused training."
"Fine, fine," I said, nodding and waving a hand. "I will take a look at my little brothers and sisters, and pinpoint the next chosen one."
"..." Fugaku's mouth twitched as he listened, and I could see that if he wasn't sitting at the opposite end of the table, he would have slapped the back of my head. "Don't look smug." He said, making some of the others smile. "And you're not doing it alone."
"Oh?" That made me look up, a bit surprised but happy, too. At least I can delegate the paperwork to someone else.
"Another recently promoted Jōnin has been assigned to do his own evaluation; you will work with him." Shikudo explained, "We will also periodically send in people to repeat it; you are just the first to take a look. We will have a wide range of data."
"Okay, okay, but who is it?"
"You don't know him," Inomasa said, and at the same time, the door slid open behind me as someone walked in, stifling a yawn.
"Greetings. My name is Sora Murao." The man said, after stopping next to me, bowing his head to the Council, then glancing at me. His tone was droning, and his expression landed somewhere between bored and asleep. He was either just back from a mission or he was a weirdo. Huh.
"I'm Renji." I said while examining his young face, the messy black hair... He didn't have any standout features, and he could get lost in any crowd, which honestly was a perfect advantage for a shinobi.
"I know." He muttered, stifling another yawn.
"The three of you," Inomasa continued.
"Three?" I asked, and just then, Sayuri stepped through the door, too, and that was a pleasant surprise! Double nice.
"As a War Council decision," Inomasa said, ignoring my interruption, but I knew he had to keep his tone neutral, "She will be assigned as Renjiro's assistant for the evaluation."
"I don't get one?" Sora asked suddenly, but he got no answer, making me fight against my growing smile. I think I was being favored here... it does make you feel good, doesn't it? "Favoritism." He added, realizing what was happening.
"Skill issue," I answered, but then Sayuri elbowed me.
"Khm!" Shikudo tapped the table, drawing our attention back to him. "Your task is simple: Go and observe a few days within the Academy. Don't interfere with instruction and don't announce why you're there. Try to inspire them, instead of making them feel nervous. We will evaluate your reports after. Now... go."
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Walking back into the Academy the next day was actually super weird, in a good way. Of course, the building hadn't changed much, except everything looked smaller.
"Huh." I hummed, stopping at the entrance.
"What? Nostalgic?" Sayuri asked, giggling a little.
"You could say that..." I whispered as I glanced around. "I also remembered it being bigger."
"You were both tiny." Sora chimed in, smacking his lips with half-open eyes as we both stared at him. He was older than us... and taller, but come on. We aren't that short anymore, and we weren't tiny! And don't you feel something similar? You came through here, too, no?
"And you weren't?" I asked as I reached the end of my thoughts.
"Oh, I was." He nodded at once. "Super tiny. I needed a booster seat in my first year, but... It helped me sleep in the back and get through the boring classes."
"I don't even know how you became a Jōnin." I snorted, shaking my head.
"Want to see?" he asked, his eyes finally opening properly and showing genuine excitement.
"Sure." I nodded at once.
"Hit me."
"..."
"Hit me." He repeated, making me raise my brows. Was this a trick? Insurance fraud?
"Boys..." Sayuri groaned, but I already punched out, and the next moment he was gone in a puff of smoke, while my fist landed in a frying pan, denting it and sending it flying, making it disappear into the distance.
"Ow..." I hissed, rubbing my knuckles as I looked around, and Sora stood a few meters away, arms crossed, smiling. "Who uses substitution jutsus in this day and age?!"
"Me." He added, pointing at himself, "That's why it works. Watch me bring it back into style."
"Really?" I snorted, flicking a pebble towards him, but he was gone in a puff of smoke again as my 'attack' hit a stuffed doll.
"See? It works like a charm." Sora added, now standing in the opposite direction again.
"..." I had to agree, yeah. It was interesting... Tsk. I just wonder how frequently he can do it. "Don't you have to prepare stuff to replace yourself with? It's a pain in the ass."
"I solved that issue." He shrugged, starting to yawn again. "People throw away so many knick-knacks; you would be horrified. There are so many of them that you can build a treasure trove, and nobody would realize it."
"Are you a raccoon? Or a possum?" I asked, but he ignored me and continued speaking.
"Then, with all that stored, you have infinite stuff to summon and switch with. Just automate the summoning part of the jutsu, cut down the required signs, and all is well. A perfect protection, active at all times."
"Don't," Sayuri whispered, holding my hand, because I was about to attack him again.
"Okay, okay..." I whispered, smiling, "I won't... But I want to test his limits... Tsk. You are more than what you show, hm?" I grinned, watching him while Sora simply smiled, still showing that lazy, tired expression.
Luckily, before I could start an inevitable competition, someone else also popped up: our old Head Instructor, Shinno-sensei. Looking at him, I could see more gray weaving into his hair, with maybe an even stiffer right leg... Otherwise, he was just the same.
"I was told to expect you three."
"Arakumo-sensei." We all said in perfect sync, something that made his eyebrows move like tiny waves.
"Good to see you all grown up." He nodded, finally showing a smile which was rarer than I remembered. "Congratulations on your ranks; you are making me proud."
"Happy to oblige," I grinned, while Sayuri blushed a little and Sora looked more aware and no longer as sleepy as before.
"Come, classes are already underway, so you can take a look, split up, do whatever you need to do; we aren't going to interfere."
"Thank you," I answered, and thus, we began our little mission, mostly about observing kids.
After the first two hours or so, I had a feeling as if this whole Academy-stuff had gotten more intense than it was before... Tsk. The classes focused more on jutsus, wartime doctrines, some of which were way too... familiar. Are they teaching watered-down guerrilla tactics from my paper? What the...?! I shouldn't have aced that damn test.
Haah... Ignoring that part, at least there were talents in the Academy indeed, and I mean real ones. As our list kept getting adjusted, we talked over the day's events between breaks, and our initial list came out as one would expect. Those from prominent clans ranked higher than those without one. It seemed there were no new Minato-level kids. That was inevitable, because those with a clan had a better starting point. Still, I hadn't seen anyone who I would actually accelerate, but there were people I would put through some specialization training. I had already marked some names to go into more taijutsu-focused lessons, and others to be sent into advanced ninjutsu or genjutsu training... And some that should be held back. Yeah... some names had abysmal performance, and I guessed they wouldn't have been accepted if not for the war.
Like, there was a poor boy named Jin who was barely hanging on. I honestly considered suggesting we excuse him from the Academy if, over the next few days, he kept showing the same results, because if he went into the battlefield like that... he was toast.
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Eventually, we spent four days coming to the Academy, sometimes not even showing ourselves, making personal profiles and categories for the kids. Turns out, Sora is pretty good at catching their true personalities, because he pinpointed who was actually reckless and who was more reserved, and whenever we asked the teachers to set up a test so we could watch them act without supervision... his predictions were on point. Hm... I can now see why he earned the rank; he will be a good field commander, choosing who needs to be chosen for what task. So, based on his evaluations, I rearranged some names on my own list, too.
With our inspection coming to an end, we decided to give the kids the boost they needed and make sure the Council would be happy about the morale within the Academy. So, we decided to host an afternoon event, pretty much entertaining the kids and showing them cool techniques. Honestly, Sora's weird focus on the substitution jutsu produced a proper show, because whatever item he left behind when switching out was then given to the kids.
Although some of them ended up with bent spoons or old stuffed toys from probably the Senju's time... Sorry about that.
"Renjiro-sama!" Someone shouted after one of the demonstrations, making my whole body shiver. Sama? That sounded so wrong! "Can we ask you something?"
"Sure, go ahead." I nodded, smiling.
"How many people have you killed?!"
"..." Jesus Christ! What kind of question was that?! I almost fell over, but then Shinno-sensei saved my ass.
"Next question."
"Did you fight a Kage?!"
"Technically..." I muttered, still dazed from the first question, thinking about Yagura now.
"Can you use the Sharingan?!" Someone else already shouted, making me grin and turn it on.
"Obviously."
"Can you breathe fire?!"
"Yes." I nodded, and the kids got so into it that questions started flying at me one after another. Was I... this well known? I never really stopped and thought about it. Huh... so I'm famous? Weird. But now, I was worried about what kind of rumors were being passed down about me, because some questions were just wrong.
"Can you fight Fugaku-sama? Who would win?"
"..." I paused, looking at the kid who asked it and wore our clan's symbol on his clothes. "No comment."
"So... No?" Sora looked surprised and gave me a questioning look.
"Let's just say, I like living." I waved him away, and another kid asked something else.
"Did you really fight one of the Seven Swordsmen?"
"Yeah, and it wasn't nice. And Sayuri helped." I added quickly, pulling her in front of me and holding her shoulders.
"Did you kill him?!" It was the same kid who started the questioning session... What's wrong with you?! Still...
"We did." I nodded.
"We?"
"My team." I pointed at Sayuri once again. "It was a team effort, not me alone. We aren't solo fighters on the battlefield, and we shouldn't be. That's how you get yourself killed."
"But you could solo them, no?" Multiple people asked, making me twitch my mouth, while Sayuri began giggling, trying to hide it.
"Can you really teleport?" Another one asked, "Show us, please!"
"Fine," I shrugged, holding up a kunai with a smile. "This is one of the special weapons used for Hiraishin." The moment I did that, several children leaned forward, looking at it in awe. "Normally, you'd never see this during a fight," I said as I threw the kunai, and the moment it landed in the training dummy on the other side of the compound, I disappeared from in front of them, reappearing next to it. Naturally, I left one behind before the kids, so I blinked back in an instant, making them yell and clap immediately.
"AGAIN!"
"DO IT AGAIN!"
"THAT WAS SO COOL!"
"I DIDN'T SEE HIM MOVE!"
"THAT'S THE WHOLE REASON BEHIND IT!"
I was enjoying this too much... Sayuri knew, because he elbowed me, noticing my wide grin, but even she was smiling.
"I can do the same," Sora murmured while I just looked at him, with a smirk.
"You switch-summon junk from your hidden stash."
"Substitution is easier than your forbidden technique... and works the same..."
"You want to test the latter part?" I grinned, and although the kids were hoping for something flashy, Sayuri became the voice of reason.
"Not near children." She whispered, but then...
"The formula isn't directing the chakra..."
I stopped at once, before that barely audible murmur hit me like a thunderstrike in my ear. What? I moved my eyes, looking around while the rest of the kids were talking... Who said that?
"The mark..." I caught the same voice once again, still looking at the kunai, and I finally locked onto its owner. My surprise grew again, because it was the kid I was about to suggest getting expelled... Damn.... "Hm... The formula loops back into itself..."
Oh boy... I think my previous evaluation needs to be reworked.
"Renji?" Sayuri whispered, noticing the change in my look and following where I was looking.
"I think I found a gem." I whispered back, "We need an extra day... and an Uzumaki to come with us tomorrow."