I walked into the Hokage's office in anticipation, expecting an important mission given the urgent tone of the ANBU messenger. Once I stepped inside, I found Fugaku staring out the window, his desk buried under multiple towering stacks of paperwork and reports. The stacks were so high they almost obscured his face as he gestured for me to take a seat.
He pushed the ridiculous mountain of documents aside to get a better look at me. "I have a critical mission for you," he said, his tone grave. "The Land of Grass Daimyo is planning a visit to the Land of Fire soon for important political and trade talks that will greatly benefit our nation. It would be suicide for anyone, even a hidden village, to attack a Daimyo. Although it will most likely be a safe and uneventful mission, I still want to assign you to the protection detail to show him our goodwill."
I scratched my head, unable to hide my curiosity. "When is Shisui-sensei joining me?"
Fugaku offered a faint, knowing smile. "Although he is supposed to act as my guard, I send him on missions constantly because the village lacks capable jonin, and we are currently operating on multiple fronts. I am assigning this mission to you directly, and I am placing a team of two chunin under your command."
I felt the sudden weight of the responsibility sink in, and Fugaku noticed it with those perceptive eyes. "Do not worry. As I said, no hidden village is foolish enough to attack a Daimyo. Your only real concern would be a group of bandits getting too confident, thinking the wealth of a noble is worth the risk of an attack. You and your team are more than enough to handle such a threat."
I nodded, accepting the gravity of the order. "As you command, Lord Hokage. However, who will be on my team?"
---
Shizuru stood nervously, her posture tense as she looked around. She turned to Genta, who was resting lazily under a tree near the village's main gates, and snapped with an annoyed tone, "Why are you so relaxed? We are about to meet our team's new leader!"
Genta waved his hand dismissively. "You always worry about stuff like that. It's useless. Just relax. We are already taking chunin-level assignments, and our strength reflects that. I'm sure the new team leader won't be harder to handle than Masahide-sensei."
Shizuru grumbled, her frustration spilling over. "First Shota gets reassigned to village security, and then Sensei gets too busy with dangerous missions to take us with him. I feel like we are being left behind."
Genta raised an eyebrow, noticing the gloomy look on her face. He stood up and jokingly bumped his shoulder against hers. "It will be fine, I promise. After all, you have me, the amazing Genta!" He started to flex his arms and chest, causing Shizuru to laugh despite herself at his antics.
I let a warm smile cross my features as I finally dropped the suppression on my chakra signature. The sudden, heavy presence washed over them right as I spoke. "Well, hello there."
Shizuru and Genta jumped, surprise flashing across their faces. My pleasant expression morphed into a massive, shit-eating grin. Genta looked excited to see me for a split second, but the moment he caught my expression, he immediately put his guard up.
"Noa?" Shizuru asked. "What are you doing here?"
My grin stretched so wide it almost tore my cheeks apart. "Well, it is only logical. After all, I am your new team leader."
Shizuru's jaw dropped in shock. Genta mirrored her expression before quickly recovering and pointing an accusing finger at me. "That can't be true! You are just a chunin!"
A prominent tick mark throbbed on my forehead. "Well, I was assigned by the Hokage himself to lead you on an important mission."
Shizuru looked conflicted, trying to process the information, but Genta scoffed. "How can my team leader be weaker than me?"
That did it. "What do you mean, weaker than you?" I yelled, jumping forward. "I beat your ass in ninjutsu and taijutsu all the time!"
"Liar!" Genta roared back.
I tackled him. Instantly, a massive storm of dust rose around us as we threw hands and legs in a chaotic brawl. Shizuru stood on the sidelines, her fists balled tightly by her hips as she tried to control her mounting temper.
Finally, she exploded. "Enough, both of you! We have a job to get done. Let's finish it first, and we can figure this out later!"
Genta and I froze mid-fight. My finger was hooked aggressively up his nose, ready to tear it, while his hand had a death grip on my ear, threatening to yank it completely off. Slowly, we disentangled ourselves, trying to salvage whatever dignity we had left.
Genta crossed his arms and huffed. "Fine. But I won't call you leader. Forget about it."
A sinister grin slowly crept back onto my lips. "Well, you will have to, or your official mission report will reflect just how disrespectful you are to figures of authority."
An evil, vindictive laugh escaped me. Genta bristled, about to jump back in for round two, but Shizuru quickly stepped between us.
"If it was assigned by the Hokage himself, then it must be an important mission, right?" she asked, desperate to change the subject.
I nodded, dropping the joke and getting serious. "It is. We have to escort the Land of Grass Daimyo to the Land of Fire for political talks. So, we better start preparing our supplies and move out as fast as possible."
After a quick round of preparations, we met at the village gates, buzzing with excitement for our new assignment.
We set off immediately, taking to the trees. "What is the rank of this detail, by the way?" Genta asked over the rushing wind.
I replied while pushing more chakra into my legs, slightly increasing my speed. "It's a C-rank. It shouldn't be too dangerous, but we need to keep our guard up."
Shizuru nodded, though her breathing was already growing mildly ragged as she struggled to keep up. Noticing this, I subtly dialed back my momentum, and Genta seamlessly followed suit without making it obvious.
Shizuru noticed anyway. A brief look of sadness flashed across her face, a silent reminder of her fear of being left behind, but she quickly swallowed it, focusing back on the task ahead. "Is it possible for you to keep your chakra sensing active from the moment we meet up with the Daimyo?" she asked.
I nodded. "I will. My chakra reserves and regeneration rate are high enough that I can keep it active almost the entire time."
Shizuru looked pleased.
"What kind of enemies can we expect?" Genta chimed in.
I shrugged. "The Hokage said no hidden village would be stupid enough to attack a Daimyo, so it will most likely just be bandits if they are stupid enough. However..."
I trailed off, staying silent for a few long bounds through the canopy. Shizuru noticed the sudden darkening of my expression. "What is it, Noa?"
I exhaled a slow breath. "It might just be my nerves, since this is the first time I'm leading a team, and I'm directly responsible for my best friends' lives... but I have a bad feeling about this."
Genta and Shizuru tensed immediately. They both knew how terrifyingly accurate my intuition usually was. Their relaxed postures vanished, replaced by high-alert combat readiness. I was actually glad for the shift. I wanted absolutely no harm to come to them, and I needed this operation to go smoothly.
Hopefully, it really is just my nerves.