Two Homies Ain't Just Homies Anymore Bc They Teammates

Finally, the glorious moment is here!

Shojin leapt out of bed, excitement on such full blast that he didn't even bother slowing down for breakfast. On his way out he grabbed his belt that had some pouches attached, and Hebunriomori inside. His shoes went on as he hurdled out the door, and the only reason he didn't forget deodorant was because his mother tossed some to him on his way out. He jammed it into his shirt and spread it in his arm pits and tossed it back to her; and that was his entire morning routine, already finished. He didn't know who his teammates would be, just that his Jounin mentor was a lady named Jun Hagoromo.

Though he'd made it in record time, it felt like it took him ages to arrive at the training fields. He made the trip regularly, and at this point had the route mapped out to such an extent that he even knew what back yards were and were not alright to cut through. Truly something of a hooligan, that didn't matter to him. He was enthusiastic about his job, and for now, that could be nothing but good. He was over a full hour early, so he took a few minutes to get good stretches in. He didn't know what missions or trainings they were gonna do today, but he did want to make a good impression.

On that note, he checked his belt. He had some basic first aide supplies, some kunai and shuriken, and of course, Hebunriomori in handled form on him. Good, he thought, everything I need. Now, it was just time to wait, and see what would be thrown his way by this Jun Hagoromo character that he knew nothing about. He hoped she was strong, though. She had to teach him, after all!

TWC: 308

Mission:

Kosuke woke and stretched, tapping the headband he had left tied around his neck overnight. He still couldn’t believe he had made it to being a Genin. He was beyond pumped by the fact that today he was supposed to meet his sensei and team to truly begin his first real ninja experience. Dropping down from the tree, he would wash himself off quickly in the fountain nearby before heading quickly to the meeting area, he found Shojin already waiting, which was crazy to think he had not only been assigned to the same team but that he got there so early because Kosuke himself was thirty minutes early. But that didn’t matter to him much as he approached his friend, “Yo! Are you here for the team 3 meeting as well, Shojin?” He was pretty excited because he already knew the answer, given that this WAS training ground three after all. He would grin to his friend, “I wonder what our sensei is going to be like?” He was just excited to be working with his new team, especially now that he knew one of his Teammates was Shojin. He wondered what their other teammate would be like, and how their sensei was. He hoped they were strong anyways.

---

Jun Hagoromo had been standing in the middle of the training ground since just before Shojin arrived. She had cast a rather simplistic Genjutsu to mask her presence, it would also give her some time to observe her two new students to learn how they operated. So far she knew that the red head was at least somewhat serious about his career as he showed up just after she had gotten set up. He also seemed to be well prepared for anything, if the things she saw in his belt were anything to go by. The second boy seemed to be just as he had been described to her… average. He didn’t look strong or skilled, and the way he was dressed made it all too obvious that he had been living off the streets for a long time. After they both arrived and had some time to talk amongst themselves she would release the Genjutsu, revealing herself to be standing right behind them. “Alright, you two must be team three. I’m your sensei Jun Hagoromo, I’ll be handling your training from this point forward. Your first task is to capture one of these two bells here.” With that she would hold up two bells that would jingle before she tied them into her belt loop. “You need to come at me with the intent to kill or I’ll steamroll right over you.” With that, she deactivated the Genjutsu and vanished once more.

Sensei Jutsu :

Shojin physically leapt in excitement when he saw Kosuke. Having previously been sitting, having just finished up his stretching, he was suddenly airborne; and when he landed, he ran over to Kosuke, offering a high-five. "Wait, you're on Team 3 too?! Ah, this is gonna be the best Genin team in the village!" Shojin exclaimed happily. He knew that in the Genin exams, in all three villages that participated, Kosuke was the only one that even came close to his own score. He had watched everyone for at least the Shurikenjutsu portion, and Kosuke was also the only one outside of Shojin who had hit all five shuriken. And for Kosuke, Shojin could tell, this was purely natural skill; it was obvious by his form that he'd had no formal training.

When, moments later, Jun-Sensei revealed herself to the duo, Shojin nearly leapt again. It took all of his professional bearing to keep himself planted firmly on the ground. Wow, he thought, So a Jounin can just... that easily... hide from me! I've been here for an hour! It was true. He'd been there; stretching, warming up, rehearsing how he'd introduce himself. And she was watching him the entire time! He silently thanked whatever god there was that he didn't do anything wildly embarrassing.

When Jun gave Shojin his instructions to take the bells from her, he smiled. "So, a fight to kick things off?" And just like that, she'd vanished. Her prowess in stealth, at the very least, left nothing to be desired. Shojin spoke quickly to Kosuke. "Alright, I don't know where our third team member is, but take what she said seriously. I've been here quite awhile, and didn't even know she was here. She's got the skill to take our full force, so hold nothing back!" And then, just like that, Shojin would also make a bee-line toward the trees, changing direction once he entered them such that it would not be easy to predict where he ended up. He'd wait. He'd survey the area, attempting to form some inkling of an idea for where Jun had ended up. He'd also keep tabs on Kosuke's position. Wouldn't want to lose track of him.

TWC: 676

Kosuke nearly jumped out of his skin as the very woman he had been speaking of appeared right behind the two of them. Turning to see her, she seemed to be looking at them with something of a cross between annoyance and some other thing that he couldn’t quite place, but he knew he didn’t really like it. As she spoke he realized just what she was saying, that they’d be tested in real combat and this would be his first true battle… well.. ever. As soon as she vanished again, he did a similar maneuver to Shojin only to move the other direction, in the end planting himself on the opposite side of the clearing to where Shojin had ended up, he could just barely make out where the other Genin was situated in the trees right across from him. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure about where their sensei had gone, but he knew one thing, Shojin had been right about her skill level, she had basically totally vanished. Deciding to give it some time, he would simply wait and see what happens while keeping a keen eye on both the training grounds as well as the location he knew Shojin to be hiding. If need be, he would be the backup to protect Shojin.

---

Jun was mildly impressed at the speed they were able to process the situation they were in, though she was somewhat disappointed at the same time that they ran instead of realizing she hadn’t even moved. Deciding to truly test how good they were at detecting Genjutsu, she would recast the same Jutsu that masked her appearance, except this time, it made it seem as though she had reappeared around three meters to the left, and made it seem as though she was looking directly at Kosuke. She would then wait for them to make the first move, to learn what level of tactical thinking they had between the two of them. She wondered which of the two would fall for this trap first.

Shojin kept his eyes out, scanning the playing field for players. His eyes were on Kosuke when Jun materialized in front of him. He was suspicious that she'd immediately reveal herself after having gone through the trouble of hiding, but that gamble wasn't worth not making a move. Shojin would immediately start his movement over to Kosuke, but he'd take an indirect route. If he revealed himself too obviously, he could be sprinting into a trap, and he knew from Hisomu Uchiha that it was entirely possible not everything was what it seemed. Instead, he'd flank through the trees. He'd move quickly, but be slightly delayed by the roundabout movement.

Once he arrived at Kosuke's position, he'd hide about thirty meters away. He would discreetly withdraw Hebunriomori, and use a bit of chakra to equip the Chakra Blade and Catalytic Pommel in the left hand, as well as the Repeating Crossbow and Pathfinding Bowstring in the right. He'd lie in wait, in order to attack at the most precise moment, or to identify the trap if there was one. He silently thanked Hisomu for messing with his head, as it made him far less trusting of his eyes on the battlefield. In the end, he'd be a better ninja for it, and hoped that sometime soon he could come up with a way to defend himself better from such illusions. Not that he realized this was actually an illusion, just that it could be some sort of trick. Besides, even if it weren't, charging right in would be useless.

TWC: 935

Chakra: 90/100

Spoiler:

Kosuke was pretty shocked when their sensei just appeared in front of him. It was one thing for her to vanish, but when she reappeared she seemed to be looking right at him with a blank expression on her face. He glanced up and noticed Shojin making his way towards his position, meaning he would be nearby shortly, but he figured that with their sensei being a jonin, she already knew both of their positions, meaning that ‘hiding’ was a fruitless endeavor. Their main goal should be to simply try to take her down with something she wouldn’t expect, and so he would attempt to do just that. Biting his thumb and running through some hand signs quickly, he would slam his hand on the ground, summoning forth a rather large owl from a puff of smoke, that would fly off through the forests before most would take note of it to get into position. That was a perk of having trained with his summon a bit, they had some idea of why they were called forth as they arrived. Now, it was time to set the stage, forming some more hand seals he would breathe out three rather large dragon heads made of fire that would make their way to make contact with their sensei’s location, however, when they exploded, their sensei didn’t even move outside of the slightest little flicker, that let him know that something was afoot.

---

Jun was relatively bored at first, all the kids were doing was hiding, that made it all that much more annoying, but finally she sensed movements from both Shojin and Kosuke. Shojin was moving to get closer to Kosuke’s location while the other seemed to be doing… something else. She felt some chakra build up but didn’t sense anything other than that one burst for a moment before three fireball dragon heads burst from the treeline heading straight towards her genjutsu self. But the explosion would surely catch her in it, so she leapt back some more to avoid it as her Genjutsu lost concentration. She had to admit, he caught her a bit off guard with that one, but she was ready for their next attack, “Come on, is that really the best you two have to offer? And here I had heard one of you was supposed to be the rookie of the year? What a disappointment.” She smirked as she spoke, hoping to rile them up some.

Kosuke stuff:

Shojin saw Kosuke perform hand seals, and he was already in action. So that's the plan, he thought. Of course he couldn't tell exactly what Kosuke was about to do, but he could tell it was an attack. Shojin smirked. Kosuke. Was. Strong. He remembered it wasn't all that long ago when Kosuke had been practicing one of his first fire techniques at Shojin's own house, when all he could really manifest was a bit of smoke. If he had time to think, he would wonder if Kosuke credited himself with how remarkable he was as a ninja.

Shojin readied his Repeating Crossbow, as well as some explosive bolts. His Hebunriamori was truly something to behold as he pointed it. Just before he pulled the trigger, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. So it was a trick, he thought, proud of his decision to wait and learn more. He saw his sensei, whether it was the real one this time or another mirage, airborne and hurtling backward, having leapt out of the way of Kosuke's massive fire attack. That was his window. It would be hard for her to react if she were in the air.

If there was anything Shojin was good at, it was reacting. He didn't have the raw speed of one, but his reflexes were on the same level as most Special Jounin; or so he'd been told by a Special Jounin he'd met in the training field one day. Shojin pulled the trigger. Instant Repeating Hand Blaster Technique. He had to get better at naming things. Regardless, he'd pull the trigger and twelve crossbow bolts would meet the ground in the same place Jun was destined to land by her trajectory, but a split second before she did. Shojin's C-Rank jutsu here was faster than other C-Rank jutsu; in fact, it was the same speed as most others' A-Rank jutsu.

The crossbow bolts were explosive. If Jun even had time to react to the extremely fast crossbow bolts, she might not bother if she couldn't tell there was something different about them, since none were going to hit her. If she didn't, however, she'd be toast; for these dozen explosive crossbow bolts were even stronger than the ones you could typically buy from the Konohagakure Ninja armory. Surely she could take it... she was a Jounin after all. But, there was the small chance that she'd at least get a booboo.

[TWC: 1348]

Chakra: 75/100 (Costs reduced via Catalytic Pommel)

Same items used as above

Kosuke watched as she dodged out of the way of his fireball, seeming to vanish and reappear in mid air, it was at that point that he saw Shojin moving to attack their sensei as she dodged. He would shout out in support, “Alright Fukuroichi, now’s our chance! Do it!” The snowy colored owl would swing down from the sky and deliver a powerful gust of wind with the flapping of his wings sending out a tornado-like mass of wind chakra at where their sensei was in the air. Kosuke for his part would move locations since his current location had obviously been exposed. He would leap several branches over to a totally different spot than he had been at before. Looking over to where Shojin was, closer now than he had been before. “Do you think we can even beat her?” Was all he could even think about, “But we need to get those bells. My summon can distract her for a while, but I don’t really have the chakra to be throwing out a lot of jutsu so we will need some kind of strategy!” He spoke only loud enough for Shojin to hear him from nearby, but hopefully ot loud enough for Jun to pick up on it.

---

Jun was somewhat surprised at the power that was put out by the dark haired genin, while keeping tabs on the other genin who seemed to be working on putting some weapon together before firing what appeared to be several bolts from a crossbow. Forming a quick hand sign, her hair would spike up and move to form something of a dark dome of spiky, hardened hair around her to protect her from the bolts which struck the ground near where she landed. She was pretty lucky that she put up this defense as she was able to take the hit of the arrows pretty well, though the explosion caught her off guard. She would smirk, though they wouldn’t be able to see it as the owl’s wind technique also beat against the hair shield. The two of them seemed to be full of surprises now after all this time, she was starting to get excited about this little team she had been assigned, maybe they wouldn’t be too boring for her after all.

Kosuke Stuff:

Jun Sensei's stuff:

Shojin smirked as Kosuke managed to impress him yet again. It was one thing that he was just summoning owls at will, but it impressed him that this owl made use of a jutsu with the same kind of firepower that Shojin's own Hebunriamori was capable of. He smirked at Kosuke's question when it was asked, as he already had an answer prepared. "Transform into an owl feather right now, and catch the bells when I drop you!" Shojin's entire plan revolved around whether Kosuke had enough trust in him to listen blindly. They didn't have time to discuss it if they were going to use this window to strike.

He'd made a few key observations with his unique reaction speed. First was that his explosives had made a rather large dent in his sensei's defensive jutsu; the second was that the owl's jutsu had essentially finished off his Sensei's defensive one, leaving nothing but a thin shell. He could bust through with a solid sword attack. Leaping Strike. It was a technique that he could use through the Chakra Blade attachment to Hebunriamori, and it allowed him to move extremely fast. If Kosuke had listened and transformed into a feather, he'd catch it and then attack. If not, he'd still attack and attempt to pull this off on his own. He'd strike at his sensei's defensive technique with his blade empowered by chakra, but specifically at where he approximated the bells to be. Ideally, he'd slice directly through the hardened hair, which would be a surprise to Jun, and she wouldn't have time to move from the remaining distance, which was point blank; the follow through of his attack would slice the bells just as he dropped Kosuke. All Kosuke would have to do, if Shojin's plan went off, was to transform into himself and land on the ground, on top of the bells. If Kosuke had not transformed, Shojin would make an attempt to hurriedly drop to the ground ion top of the bells before his sensei managed to recover them.

TWC: 1690
Chakra: 65

[OOC Explanation] Needle Jizo is a B-Rank technique that has, so far, withstood some C+1 (B) Ranked Explosives and the Owl's B-Rank Wind Jutsu. So theoretically it should be like destroyed by now. So Shojin just capitalizes on that with his Leaping Strike which is C+1 Leaping Strike (+1 Technique Speed as well) so that she hopefully cannot react quickly enough. (And yeah that stacking mechanic is gonna be fixed, I asked about it in #Questions but I'm gonna take advantage of it for now lol!)

Kosuke listened to Shojins plan and realized they didn’t have a lot of time to debate it, so he would form three seals. Transforming into a feather that appeared to be in the same type as Fukuroichi’s coloration. He would then allow whatever Shojin had schemed up to come to fruition. He didn’t really have a lot going for him at this point in means of things he could do. He would need to do more training before he could do anything like that.

---

Jun at this point had seen all she needed to know that these two were skilled. Not only had one of them managed to summon an owl and use pretty advanced ninjutsu, but the other one had showed keen strategic thinking and an ability to use some damned powerful weapons in creative ways. She realized that they were prepping what would likely be their final strikes. Deciding that as she had seen enough, she would end it now, she began to release her technique as Shojin took part in his own attack. Slicing the bells off her waist as she leapt back out the way. He was certainly an unpredictable one. As soon as the bells hit the ground a rather unsuspecting feather poofed into Kosuke and grabbed the bells up.

---

As soon as Kosuke in feather form saw the bells hit the ground, he would release his transformation and grab them. Holding them up and tossing one towards Shojin he would grin, “Good plan, Shojin!” He would then release the summoning on Fukuroichi, he would be sure to thank him properly later on. “We managed to get the bells, what now, sensei?”

---

Jun would grin at her two students, “You managed to get the bells and displayed several redeeming qualities. However, I’m here to help you improve, not blow sunshine up your asses. Shojin, you are pretty reckless, which served you well today but could have just as easily ended in not only your own death but the death of Kosuke as well.” she would then turn her gaze to Kosuke, “You are too insecure about your actions, waiting for Shojin to make the first move or the plan was what you wanted to do, wasn’t it? But being unable to rely on communications as much as you wanted caused you to be forced from your comfort zone. Get used to it.” She would then turn to face them both with a smirk forming on her face, “All in all, I say well done. Get some rest, you’ve earned it. Be here at 0300 tomorrow morning for the first official training day as Squad 3.” With that, Jun would burst into smoke, off to find the nearest open bar.

TWC: 2,045

A goofy smile was plastered across Shojin's face as he couldn't help but to celebrate.  He'd run up to Kosuke, offering a high five, and call out in excitement; "Haha!  Team 3 is HERE BABYY!!  Great job!"  His smile would fade only slightly at Jun-Sensei's words to him.  She was right in her assessment; he was reckless.  If there had been a trap in her mess of hair jutsu, he easily could have gotten both himself and Kosuke killed.  Of course, he knew that now, in retrospect; but in the moment, he thought there was nothing he could do to fail.  

Still, that did not take away from the pure joy of working so well with his new teammate.  He'd respond to Jun's criticism constructively.  He wanted to say something like "Well yeah but we got the bells, didn't we?!"  Instead, however, what came out of his mouth was, "Understood.  I can see how you're right about that, yeah.  It worked out this time, but there could absolutely have been a trap waiting for me."  It was the mention of his actions being detrimental to Kosuke that caused him to stifle his pride and relax a bit.  

When he was dismissed, he'd wave goodbye to Kosuke, and walk home rather slowly.  He had to be back early in the morning, but he wanted to reflect on what Jun had said to him before he got home and was bombarded by questions from his well-intentioned parents as they asked about his first day.  So, he needed to sit back, and he needed to analyze the situation more carefully.  He could do that.  Why couldn't he do that?  He just... had to not react as quickly as he was used to. But... but I'm so used to just... see an opening, exploit the opening.  Don't think.  It was a long walk home.

TWC: 2002

[EXIT]