Because I Met You

Chapter 21: Team Otokaze

"I am here for Gaara."

The first jounin who comes into the classroom is Baki. I see him a lot around the Kazekage's mansion. He's the jounin in charge of Temari and Kankuro. Now he'll also be in charge of Gaara. Gaara gets up and I can only look at him while he leaves with Baki.

"Don't worry, Kiu. You'll see him when you guys are back home."

I look at Yukari and sigh.

"I guess... At least you two are together in the same team."

Someone else comes in the classroom. Is that a jounin? He looks pretty young... He has spiky brown hair and his eyes look like they're constantly squinting.

"Hello everyone! I am Otokaze! I am in charge of..."

He takes out a notepad from his pocket and squints even harder while flipping the pages. Wait, Otokaze? Isn't he in charge of our squad?

"Ah! Kiu, Maru, and Koji."

I didn't expect him to be that early! I was actually hoping to see what the other jounin looked like. Oh well, I'll just ask Ikki and Yukari when I see them. Maru, Koji, and I get up and follow Otokaze-sensei.

Otokaze-sensei led us to the training field.

"Alright, I'm sure your sensei told you that we were going to be going on a mission today."

We all nodded.

"Well, before the mission, I think it is important to get to know each other, since we will be working together for a while."

Makes sense. I'd love to know more about sensei. As for the other two, well... I'm not really that interested

"So, I'll start by introducing myself. My name is Otokaze. I just recently got promoted to jounin, so you guys are my first team. One of my hobbies is to collect whistles with which I communicate with teammates."

He then takes out three whistles from his pocket. They're very small and seem to be made in some sort of metal. He hands one to each of us.

"If ever you need me or you're in trouble during a mission we're on together, feel free to use these. I don't think it'll happen anytime soon, though, since we're only going to be doing D rank missions for a while."

I take the whistle he hands me and I can't help myself but to blow in it. No sound comes out.

"Wait! How does this thing even work?"

"Oh I'm actually the only one who can hear it. It's a special jutsu I've developed so that any enemy ninja doesn't get alerted by the whistles."

"That's so cool!"

I really can't hide my excitement when I'm faced with new jutsu.

"Haha, I'm guessing that you're the energetic one of the group. Why don't you introduce yourself next?"

"Oh!"

That totally caught me off guard... Way to go, Kiu... Next time keep your mouth shut!

"Well, um... My name is Kiu... and..."

"Nice to meet you, Kiu. Why did you choose to become a ninja?"

Otokaze-sensei is so nice. He sees that I'm having trouble finding what to say next so he helped me out.

"It started out because I wanted to always be with Gaara..."

At Gaara's name, everybody flinches a little, even sensei.

"But now, I also thought it'd help me discover who I am and where I came from."

"You don't remember?"

"Yeah, all I remember is that Mari's family took care of me until I became Gaara's friend."

"Interesting... I hope you can find yourself during your journey as a ninja, Kiu. Who wants to go next?"

His eyes meet Maru's.

"Why don't you go next?"

"Alright then. My name is Maru. I specialize in fire jutsu and, I don't like to brag, but I'm the best at it."

Liar... you LOVE to brag.

"Alright, Maru, why did you become a ninja?"

"Isn't it obvious? I want everyone to know how great I am."

Listening to him always pisses me off... Sensei lets out a forced laugh and moves on to Koji.

"Hello, my name is Koji. I became a ninja because I want to surpass my father."

"Your father?"

"Yes. He's considered one of the greatest ninja of our clan. I need to step out of his shadow and prove myself as a stronger shinobi."

Koji looks really motivated and passionate about being a ninja. I guess I was quick to judge him. I just still don't get why he would go out with Mari. There are so many girls after him, so why her? I want to ask him, but I don't think I have the guts to do that.

"Now that we know each other a little better, let me fill you in on what our first mission is going to be."

Finally some action! I can't wait!

"Our first mission come from a farmer nearby. His wheat field has been infested with crickets and he wants us to get rid of them."

Grasshoppers...

"What kind of mission is that? I didn't become a ninja to help out some useless farmers!"

As always, Maru has to go a bit too far.

"Useless you say?"

We all get surprised by Otokaze-sensei's tone. His voice is vibrating with anger.

"Without these farmers you wouldn't have food on your table! The whole economy would crash and we would be a very poor village that would disappear sooner or later! You should be thanking them for feeding your ungrateful self and providing fresh and healthy ingredients for the population! Do you dare say that they're useless now?!"

Woaaah! Sensei is so cool! I turn to Koji and whisper to him.

"Otokaze-sensei is so cool isn't he?"

Koji turns to me and whispers back.

"Anyone who can shut Maru up is cool in my book."

"I-I'm sorry, sir!"

Maru really got shaken up didn't he. Otokaze-sensei then clears his throat and reverts back to his nice joyful self.

"Alright, let's go then! We're going to take care of this cricket infestation for our client."

Even thought it's getting rid of crickets, I'm still kind of excited for this mission.