𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒ

ɪɪɪ

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CHAPTER THREE

✧

𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐒 had passed since Eri and her team had officially become genin. Just as Tsubaki had promised, the trio had started working on missions as Team Six the day after they passed their test. However, these 'missions' ranged from planting flowers to babysitting the daimyo's moody cat. They were definitely a far cry from the thrilling missions the trio had imagined, but Tsubaki swore that it was for the sake of teamwork and camaraderie.

Whatever that meant.

On top of that, they had begun training with Tsubaki as well. Their schedule started off light, taking a day at a time to gauge each person's individual strengths and weaknesses. Once she had an idea of where they were at, she trained with them one-on-one for the rest of the day and made the other two watch. Then, Tsubaki started making them spar against each other by using what the other person was weak at. After that came basic strength and agility training. Sooner or later they were doing all of that at once.

As the sun shined with a particularly scorching vigor, Team Six ascended the steps leading to the top floor of the Academy — chattering between themselves as Tsubaki trailed behind them with a smile. 

"Can you believe it's almost been two months already?" Daichi exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with excitement as he turned to the two of them with his usual grin. His two teammates were on his right, walking in a synchronized manner. "Time really flies when you're a ninja!"

Eri huffed and crossed her arms in annoyance, "Yeah, but we haven't been doing anything worthy of that title. I mean, how many times have we had to fetch that stupid cat?! These missions seem more like chores than anything else." 

Daichi looked up with a thoughtful expression. "I don't know, I kinda liked helping the villagers out. They gave me candies sometimes." Eri furrowed her brows.

"They gave you candy??" 

The brunette looked at her in confusion. "You didn't get any?"

Ryuu smiled teasingly at the bewildered girl. "Yeah, Eri. You didn't get any?" In truth, he had also gotten candy from their clients — the only reason Eri didn't was because she left before they were given out. But he decided she didn't need to know that. 

"No, I didn't! What the hell?!"

"Alright, settle down now, kids. We're here." The trio looked at their sensei, who stood in front of the large red doors with a fixed posture, her hand raised as she started to knock. The three were quick to stand behind her in an orderly fashion, straightening their backs.

"Lord Hokage, it's Tsubaki. I've brought the members of Team Six; Ryuu Hirabayashi, Daichi Akamine, and Eri Minamoto with me. May we enter?" She asked respectfully. There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before a muffled "You may." resonated through their ears. Tsubaki nodded and opened the door, revealing the Hokage and a few other ninjas sitting behind a long table.