"Don't be afraid, it's me."
Hearing this, Mikoto Uchiha and Nonou turned their heads and finally saw their troublesome teacher.
"Goodness, you almost made me drop the fruit cake I just bought! How are you planning to make this up to me?"
"Exactly!"
"There's a mission, C-rank. Is that enough?" Folken asked quietly, only loud enough for the two girls to hear.
"Really?!" both exclaimed.
The hallway wasn't a place to chat, so Folken gestured with his eyes for them to discuss at Nonou's house. Both agreed without objection. At the doorstep, Mikoto, who treated Nonou's home as her second home, acted like a hostess and handed Folken a pair of clean slippers.
"Sensei, what kind of mission is it? Why so mysterious?"
Thud!
"Ouch!"
As Folken changed shoes, he gave Mikoto a playful chop on the head. She held her head and groaned, "One of the ninja rules is to keep missions confidential. You've studied that, right?"
"More like keeping your mouth shut," Mikoto retorted.
"Same difference," Folken replied, stepping past her and sitting on the sofa. He glanced at the small cakes Nonou and Mikoto had bought and politely asked, "May I?"
"No!" Mikoto immediately blocked her strawberry cake. "Don't even look at it, you stingy thing!"
Folken, however, found Mikoto in this state much livelier and cuter. Unlike the gentle, considerate version in the original story, this one had seen too many missions to retain a soft-hearted nature. Any lingering tenderness had long died.
"The C-rank mission has been communicated to Dai. We depart tomorrow at noon. Make sure to eat well beforehand. If we die, at least we'll be full," Folken said.
"Ew! Don't say such ominous things for our first C-rank mission!" Nonou said, pouring a glass of milk and placing it in front of Folken.
"Sorry," Folken admitted gloomily. "I'm easily discouraged. Maybe that's why I never became a Chunin or learned higher-level ninjutsu…"
Mikoto glanced at him silently. She had the uneasy feeling Folken was acting, but his expression of quiet despair seemed genuine.
In truth, stepping into a world filled with zombies and being reduced from superhuman to normal, one could genuinely feel hopeless.
"Fine, have the cake," Mikoto said, placing her three-thousand-ryo strawberry cake in front of Folken and thoughtfully putting a spoon on top.
"I won't waste this. Time to dig in," Folken said.
In an instant, his expression shifted from dejected to calm, catching Mikoto off guard. When she realized it, she understood she had been tricked. But it was too late the cake was already gone.
Within seconds, Folken devoured the palm-sized strawberry cake. Normally, he would have treasured such a rare and expensive treat, but free food was a different matter.
"Alright, Mikoto, you can have half of my cake," he said.
"You're the best, Nonou," Mikoto replied.
The two girls hugged, and Folken's mind briefly wandered to thoughts better left unspoken: the proud black-haired heiress and the gentle golden-haired maid. He quickly shook his head and moved on to discussing mission precautions. He went through the mission scroll with them normally, an experienced Jonin would handle this but he wasn't a Jonin, and this was his first time leading a C-rank mission. He felt the pressure.
After ten minutes, all details were explained.
"That's about it. Before tomorrow's assembly, make sure you buy all necessary supplies tonight or early morning. This mission isn't a few hours or even a single day. A round trip will take at least ten days."
"Then, you'll only have a few days left to prepare for the Chunin exam. If someone gets injured…"
"We'll take the exam next time," Folken said, unwilling to see his long-time students and friends die on a mission.
Would this butterfly effect end up causing Dai to die prematurely, years before the original story?
"No way! I'll pass on the first try!" Mikoto clenched her small fists confidently. "A mere C-rank mission and the Chunin exam? I've got this!"
"You can do it," Nonou encouraged, silently boosting her own confidence as well.
Seeing both girls in good spirits, Folken nodded slightly. Before leaving, he casually asked, "By the way, Mikoto, do you know the Shadow Clone Technique?"
"Of course. Isn't it just a matter of hand signs?" Mikoto waved her hand casually.
"Can you show me? I'm trying to develop a new technique and want to see if I can borrow from it."
"Another weak D-rank ninjutsu you're trying to make…" Mikoto grumbled, but without guarding herself, she quickly formed the signs: Serpent–Goat–Tiger.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Boom! A perfect duplicate of Mikoto appeared, mimicking her hand signs. Folken memorized the formation and nodded. "How many can you summon at most?"
"Two."
He wasn't surprised. The Shadow Clone Technique consumes a lot of chakra. For her level, producing two clones was already impressive. She wasn't a Naruto.
Folken had his clones as well. Using just a fifth of his chakra, he could summon three shadow clones; using full power, he could summon fifteen.
The living room was modest: a modern TV, sofa, coffee table, two casual paintings on the wall, and a single brown fur tail hung up. The team had asked about it before; Folken explained he found it during a mission and kept it as a memento it was actually his.
He wasn't about to transform into a giant gorilla during a full moon and ruin six years of hard work.
"This mission isn't easy. I feel like we'll run into a horned one," Folken muttered.
"Then get rid of the feeling," one clone quipped.
"This kind of trash mission should be refused," another said.
"I didn't call you out here for whining," Folken said, staring at his three clones acting like it was their home. "Think of an identity. That way, if we need to handle sensitive matters, it's simpler."
"A substitute, huh? Interesting."
"Or, call us 'Asen'?"
"We could register the name with the Akatsuki organization in advance! Then we can ask Yahiko and the others for copyright!"
"Good idea!"
Folken sighed. These three were definitely not his true clones.
After some discussion, they settled on the name Surgeons. Folken didn't know medical ninjutsu yet, but he had studied human anatomy in the library. With some field experience, performing surgeries or treating injuries should be easy.
He had also developed a minor variation of the Transformation Technique, allowing slight changes to height, appearance, hair, or body shape.
However, using it, like a Devil Fruit power, would consume stamina. In the past, he could instantly defeat a single Jonin with minimal chakra consumption, but taking out a group of ninjas was impossible. Now, perhaps it might be feasible.
"Let's eat first," Folken decided, starting to cook dinner. That small cake wasn't enough, and after eating, they still needed training.
Being a teacher was exhausting. Watching the team on missions during the day left training time mostly in the evening.