In the Kazekage’s office, Taryn watched her brother standing at the window. A warm smile was on her face. She knew she had made the right decision last year. He was better suited to be Kazekage then she would ever have been.
Of course the council had objected, saying Gaara was too young. That the One Tail was too unpredictable. Taryn had answered them that age had noting to do with strength, there were enough shinobi that were appointed Jounin at an early age, herself included. Hadn’t they accepted her as Kazekage too? Besides, that same One Tailed beast they feared now, had originally been fused with Gaara to protect the village. Gaara had shown he could control it. He had protected her and brought Matsuri back. He was valuable to the village and a good leader. Yes, he was young, but he could learn. Didn’t the council exist to advise the Kazekage?
In the end they had given in and that decision had proven to benefit the village.
“You wanted to see me?” she asked.
Gaara turned around and nodded. He walked to his desk and pulled out a file. “I’ve decided to assign a team to you,” he said, "Genin fresh from the Academy.“
Taryn stared at him and gave a nervous laugh. “You had me there for a moment,” she said, “very funny.”
Gaara sat down and pushed the file in her direction. “I’ve been told all three of them are very promising. They only need guidance.”
Taryn’s laugh died out. “You’re not joking,” she stated.
Gaara looked at her calmly. “All Genin will meet their sensei tomorrow morning. You should study this file before then. It holds all their grades from the Academy. Their strong and weak points.” He sighed and folded his arms. “I’ve seen the document of all the students that graduated this year. I’ve studied them carefully and I believe these three will be the right team for you. Meet with them tomorrow, Taryn, and tell me what you think afterwards, but I know I made the right choice.”
Taryn picked up the file. “Are you sure you want me to train these children?”
“It might be good for you too to try something new,” Gaara told her.
“There is no way I can get out of this, is there,” Taryn sighed.
“No,” her brother said, “now leave. I have work to do.”
Taryn looked at the three boys that sat in front of her in the middle of the training grounds. She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do with this new responsibility. Genin indeed, and they didn’t seem to take this very seriously.
Two of the boys were obviously friends. They were joking and laughing together. ‘Great,’ she thought, ‘he put two troublemakers in my watch. I should have known.’ Her eyes landed on the third boy who sat a little aside. He had black hair and dark eyes with a serious expression. He was watching his teammates silently, but when he felt her eyes on him, he turned to her with a calm look.
Taryn returned his look with the same calmness and turned to the other boys again who were still poking eachother. She sighed. ‘Well, here goes nothing,’
“If you are done,” she spoke, “can we get started then?”
The boys turned their attention to her. “Sorry sensei,” one of them said with a sheepish grin and scratched hi head.
“Right,” Taryn said, “let’s start with something simple. I want each of you to tell me something about your teammates. You start.” She looked at the boy that had grinned.
He looked at her confused. “About our teammates? Not about ourselves?”
“You heard me,” Taryn answered.
“Okay,” the boy shrugged. He pointed to the brown haired boy next to him. “This is Daro Kamori. We’ve been friends for years. We pull a lot of pranks together. He lives three streets away from mine. His parents own the pottery next to the marketplace. Oh… and he’s in love with Casey Miller from the bakery.”
“I am not!” Daro protested.
“Are too,” his friend smirked.
“Shut up!” Daro growled and was about to smack him.
“That’s enough!” Taryn interrupted. Both of them tensed. “Continue,” Taryn said.
“Right,” the boy answered. He looked past his friend at the black-haired boy. “His name is Kuro Shiraki… he doesn’t talk much, but he’s alright… you like birds, right?”
Kuro only stared at him.
“Well, I guess that’s it, the first boy ended the introductions. “Your turn,” he said to Daro, “make me look good.”
Daro rolled his eyes. “This idiot is Hiroshi Tomoda. His father served the special guard until he got badly injured. Now he’s at home full time, but he often trains with us and teaches us techniques. Hiro’s sister is Yuna and she was made Jounin not long ago… and Kuro…” he hesitated for a moment and looked at the boy. “Didn’t you have a brother?”
Kuro stiffened for a moment and gave a quiet nod. It stayed silent a moment longer.
Kuro eyed Taryn warily and saw her somewhat annoyed expression when she was looking at her team. He felt nervous. When he had heard who was going to be their team leader, he had been both excited and scared. He knew her reputation, his father had told him about her. He could learn a lot from her, because she was very skilled. But also… she didn’t seem to like people very much. He had heard she was demanding and he feared he couldn’t live up to her expectations.
He glanced at Hiro and Daro. They were so confident. He had been in class with them for three years so he knew they were good fighters. Taryn must know that too. She must have read the files before coming here this morning. So why did she look at them as if they had just insulted her? He glanced at Taryn again.
“You are assigned to Taryn Desertstorm? You can learn a lot from that one, Kuro. But she’s not the easiest person to get along with. Make a good first impression, son. She’ll test you. So think before you answer her. Don’t worry. You’ll do fine.”
He sighed, making Taryn look at him. ‘A test, huh,’ he thought. What could it be? ‘Why would she let us tell her about eachother instead of about ourselves?’
“Kuro?” Taryn asked. He looked at her uncertain. “Your turn,” she said.
Quickly he recalled everything she had said since they had arrived here. Start with something simple, she had said, tell me about your teammates. Perhaps it wasn’t as simple as it had seemed. What would she want to hear about his teammates?... Her… teammates… Then it dawned on him.
“Hey Kuro,” Hiro poked him with his index finger, “wake up.”
Kuro frowned. What did he know about them? Not much about their likes and dislikes that was certain. They hadn’t hung out much at the Academy. Or anywhere else for that matter. He didn’t have too many friends. Not that the other children picked on him. They were nice enough. He just liked being alone.
But he knew other things.
He nodded and straightened up. “Hiroshi Tomoda,” he said, “eleven years old. Family of four. He was in the highest ranks of graduation class. He’s smart and strong and good at calculus. His jutsu are water based and he’s a long distance fighter. His weak point is that he gets distracted easily, but he is loyal to his friends. His father served in the special guard, but was severely injured on a mission which caused permanent damage to his knee.
"Daro Kamori, twelve years old. Family of three. His parents are not ninja, but his uncle is. He was top of his class at graduation and he has a good memory. His jutsu is earth based and he’s both a close combat and a long range fighter. His attacks are good, but his defense needs improvement.” Kuro paused a moment to think what else he could say, but there was nothing. His teammates stared at him confused.
Then Kuro looked at Taryn. “Taryn Desertstorm of Suna. Family of six, but your parents passed away. Sister of the current Kazekage, daughter of the former Kazekage. Jutsu are wind and lightning based. Both close combat and long range fighter. Related to the Hyuuga clan of Konohagakure and in the possession of the Byakugan eye. Youngest contestant ever to participate in the Chuunin Exams, made Jounin at the age of nine…” he hesitated, “they say… they say you betrayed Suna…”
“Shut up!” Hiro said, “she’s our sensei, you can’t say things like that. It can’t be true or she wouldn’t be here!”
“He’s right,” Taryn said calmly.
All three boys looked at her and she continued.
“They do say that. Whether it is true or not you’ll have to decide for yourself. Never let anyone tell you what to think.”
Hiro looked at her confused. “But, what about obeying orders then?”
“Obeying orders is not the same as blindly doing as you’re told. Trust your teammates, but think for yourself.” She turned to Kuro. “Good job,” she nodded at him. She then looked at each of them. “There was a reason I gave you this assignment. You need to know your teammates. When you go on a mission together, you have to rely on eachother. So you need to know eachother’s weak and strong points. You need to be able to help eachother in a tight situation.” She turned to Kuro again. “Since your teammates did such a wonderful job, why don’t you tell us about yourself as well?”
Kuro stiffened. He glanced at his teammates who looked at him curiously.
“Go on Kuro,” Daro said.
“Kuro Shiraki,” he started, “eleven years old. Family of fi… four.” He took a deep breath. “My mother teaches at the Academy. My father takes care of the messenger birds.”
Taryn smiled. “I thought I recognized you,” she said, “I’ve seen you in the tower a few times, helping your father.”
Kuro nodded. “He lets me come sometimes.”
“Cool,” Hiro said, “I’ve never been there before.” He grinned. “Do you think you can take me sometimes?”
“I don’t know,” Kuro said hesitantly.
Taryn cleared her throat. Kuro had been right. Hiro was easily distracted.
The boy looked at her and gave a nervous chuckle. “Sorry.”
“Genjutsu is my specialty,” Kuro continued, “I have an older sister who is a Jounin. She’s currently on a mission. My brother…” Kuro swallowed. Taryn nodded encouraging. “He was… killed in action two years ago…. He was… guarding the Kazekage when…” His lip trembled.
“It’s alright,” Taryn said.
Hiro and Daro looked at him sadly. “Sorry man,” Daro said, “I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay,” Kuro said.
Taryn stood up. “There is another reason why I gave you this assignment. You need to learn how to report. It’s not enough to say where your enemy is from. You need to be able to describe him. Every detail can be important. How he moves, how he talks. Does he have an accent. What are his weak points, what is his fighting style. What is the base of his jutsu.” She turned to Hiro and Daro. “You three have been in class together for three years yet you couldn’t tell me a thing about Kuro. And Kuro, you understood the assignment and you have good knowledge of the statistics, but you keep a distance between you and the others. I want you to work on that. Now, follow me. I want to see you fight. Study eachother carefully and we will try this again tomorrow. When we go on a mission, I don’t want to bring three people that can fight. I want a team.”
***
Night was already falling, but Gaara didn’t return home. He sat on the swing in the now deserted playground and stared at his feet. No one ever wanted to play with him. Why were the other children always so afraid?
Of course he knew the answer. He was a monster.
Sadly he stared at his hands. He had hurt someone again. He hadn’t meant to, but the boy had fallen. If his uncle hadn’t stepped in… He sighed. His father had given him another one of those disapproving looks. He had done that a lot lately.
Gaara didn’t look up when the swing next to him moved. There was only one person that would come this close to him out of free will.
“Why are you sitting here all alone?” Taryn kindly asked.
Gaara shrugged. “I’m hurt,” he said.
Taryn stared at him startled. “What? You’re injured? Where?” She eyed him concerned.
Gaara placed a hand across his chest. “Here.”
Taryn gave a sad sigh. “What happened?”
“He got hurt,” Gaara’s lip trembled, “I didn’t mean to hurt him. Now they’ll never play with me. Why nee-san? Why don’t they want to play with me?”
“I don’t know,” Taryn said sadly. She patted his head. “But no matter what,” she said, “you should always treat people kindly. Sometimes, people are afraid of what they don’t understand. It takes a lot of time to make them change their mind. Don’t worry Gaara. One day someone will see what a great person you are, you’ll see.”
Gaara stared at his feet again. He desperately wanted to believe that. Suddenly he had an idea. “Nee-san? Can I be nice to someone now?”
“What are you thinking of?” Taryn asked curiously.
“That boy I hurt… I want to give him some ointment for his wounds.”
Taryn smiled at him. “That’s a very good idea.”
Gaara hurried through Suna with a pot of ointment. He had a happy smile as he reached the house. Everything would be alright now. In his head he already pictured how he would become friends with this boy. And later he would become friends with the other village kids.
He knocked on the door and it was opened by the boy himself. Gaara reached out and offered the boy the medicine. “Here,” he said, “I’m sorry for hurting you.”
The boy glared at him. “Go away monster,” he said and closed the door.
Gaara stared at it for a long time. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. He had apologized to the boy. He had even brought ointment. He had been kind. So why did the boy hate him so? The bottle of ointment slid from his fingers and shattered against the pavement, but Gaara didn’t even notice.
***
“Man I’m sore all over” Hiro complained. Next to him strolled Kuro and Daro and they looked just as broken. “Taryn-sensei is a real tyrant.”
"She just want you to improve your techniques,” Kuro said, “you’re already a lot better than when we started.”
“I know,” Hiro said, “but I’m tired.”
“We’re all tired,” Daro said, “but you have to admit, she’s an amazing fighter. One day I’m gonna be just as good.”
“It’s a little late for that,” Hiro said.
“What are you talking about?”
“When she was our age, she was already a Jounin, stupid.”
“Who are you calling stupid, stupid? I’d punch you, but I’m too tired!”
Hiro shrugged. “That’s okay. I’m too tired to fight back.”
Kuro chuckled. In the past three weeks they had grown closer and he had to admit, they were good company. It was nice to have friends. He still didn’t mind being alone, but it was good to have other people to talk with. He waved at his teammates when they reached his house. “See you guys tomorrow!”
“Bye Kuro!”
“Don’t forget that my dad invited us to watch him train the new birds this Saturday!” Kuro called. “We’ll be there!” Daro yelled back.
Kuro waved again and entered the house. It had been a rough day. Taryn-sensei was a demanding trainer, but she was fair and never pushed them over their limits. Instead, she let them set their own limits and then helped them surpass them. She knew exactly how to push them so they wanted to impress her. And it worked. All three of them had become stronger.
She had worked him hard too. Since genjutsu had hardly any affect on her, they had sought out ways to make him stronger. There would be more opponents that could resist genjutsu, so they had to find an alternative. It was hard, but he gave it his best. She had promised to bring chakra cards tomorrow to see what element would be right for him. He could hardly wait.
“Hello Kuro,” his mother said, “welcome back. How was training today?”
“Good,” he nodded, “Taryn-sensei has us working hard.”
His mother gave a faint smile. “I thought that might be the case. She hasn’t had it easy herself. She went through rough training when she was a child. Your cousin Kodan was her teammate during their Chuunin Exams. He told us a thing or two.”
Kuro looked at his mother curiously. “What do you mean?”
His mother shook her head. “I shouldn’t talk about those things. Who am I to question the Fourth Kazekage.” She smiled at her son. “No matter what people say, she’s a fine lass. Remember that.”
Kuro nodded. “She’s alright. I like her. We all do.”
“I’m glad,” his mother said, “now go wash up. Dinner is almost ready.”
“Davey said she was only made Jounin because her father was the Kazekage,” Hiro said.
Daro snorted. “Davey is a moron. Taryn-sensei was already doing A-rank missions when she was eight. And I read about those Chuunin Exams. If she didn’t deserve to be promoted, she wouldn’t have survived. My uncle told me about the Exams. They are really tough. People die there. But she made it to the Finals and she was the youngest ever. Davey is just jealous that he doesn’t have a cool teacher like us.”
“I know,” Hiro said, “and he failed the Academy once.” He smirked. “I bet he wouldn’t dare say those things to sensei’s face.”
“Of course he wouldn’t. He’s a big scaredy cat. See you tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow. Bye”
***
“Aren’t you a little hard on your team?” Kankuro asked. He was leaning against the doorframe and smirked amused.
Taryn sighed. “Perhaps,” she said, “I don’t know.”
Kankuro’s yes saddened for a moment. “Father was rally hard on you, huh.”
“Not just me,” Taryn said.
“Yeah,” he brother nodded, “Gaara…”
“I was talking about you,” Taryn said, “he was really hard on you too. And when did he ever even notice Temari?”
“That’s not the same,” Kankuro told her, “he wasn’t interested in us. He only ever looked at you. When he banished you…,” Kankuro sighed, “he was never a loving father. To none of us But he almost trained you to death.”
“I know. I should hate him for it. And I have, many times. Believe me. But it made me who I am. I’m strong because of it.”
“They look up to you, you know,” Kankuro said, “no matter how hard you work them, they always want to do more. I think Gaara made the right choice to make them your team.” He grinned. “Did you really have them break into Gaara’s office and steal a scroll? You didn’t really think they could pull it off, did you?”
Taryn looked at him with a serious expression. “I’d rather find out the limits of their skills here in the village than on a mission where they might die. So Gaara caught them. Good. Let them learn from their mistakes. I’ll have them try again and again until they have figured it out… there are several ways to win this game. There’s deception, distraction, speed and stealth. They have all those traits, but they are missing the most obvious.”
Kankuro looked at her. “Which would be?”
Taryn smirked. “Observation,” she said. She smiled. “Besides, this isn’t about getting caught, though it would be great if they could pull it off. It’s about gathering information. They are no longer school kids. They are in training. I need them to understand that.”
“You’re a great teacher Taryn,” Kankuro said, “I’m sure they’ll turn out great shinobi.”
“I want to go on a real mission,” Hiro complained. The three of them sat on the steps of Daro’s house. “We got caught twice already. I don’t want to do this anymore. All the other teams are already doing missions.”
“Only D-rank,” Kuro said, “they aren’t anything special.”
“Come on guys,” Daro said, “if we don’t pull this off, we’ll never go out on missions. We have to show sensei that we are ready.”
“But we can show that while we’re on a mission,” Hiro pointed out, “Why else have we been training this whole time?”
Kuro frowned in deep thought. “Perhaps we have to think of this as a real mission.”
“What do you mean?” Daro asked.
Kuro looked at his teammates. “All this time we’ve been thinking that Taryn-sensei believes we are not ready. That this is just training.”
“Yeah so?” Hiro asked.
“She has us breaking into the Kazekage’s office,” Daro said, “he’s her brother. It’s not like he’ll kill us if we get caught. Again.”
“Sensei knows what we’re capable of,” Kuro said, “she’s preparing us. When we go on a real mission, we might have to steal information too. If we get caught then, we will get killed.”
The boys looked at eachother and all thought the same thing. ‘If we can’t even do it here, how can we survive in the field?’
“Maybe he’s in on it,” Hiro said annoyed, “maybe Gaara-sama and sensei thought this up together so we would fail.”
Daro and Kuro looked at him surprised. “You know,” Daro said, “sometimes you can be really brilliant.”
Hiro blinked at him confused. “Huh?”
“What if he is in on it? Sometimes an enemy can be tipped that we are coming. You have to be careful not to get caught and strike when they’re not expecting you.”
Kuro nodded. “You’re right. We should go tonight.”
“But sensei didn’t give us a new assignment,” Hiro said, “what if we’re caught and weren’t following orders? We’ll be in so much trouble.”
“Then we can’t get caught this time,” Daro grinned.
“No,” Kuro said, “there’s always risk of getting caught. If this were a real mission, it wouldn’t matter whether we are caught or not. We’d have to get the necessary information back to the village.”
“We also have to protect our teammates,” Hiro said, “Taryn sensei always tells us how important that is.”
“So what is more important then?” Kuro wondered, “the mission or our teammates?”
“Sensei always says we have to think for ourselves,” Hiro answered, “she’d want us to fight as hard as we could and find another way of getting out the information.”
“What if we used a messenger bird?” Kuro suddenly asked.
The other two looked at him stunned. “That could actually work,” Daro said, “so tonight then?” Kuro and Hiro nodded “Where are we meeting?” Daro asked.
“How about the training grounds?” Hiro suggested. He turned to Kuro. “How will you get a messenger bird out?”
Kuro smiled. “Leave that up to me.”
“Here,” Daro handed his teammates a black bandana, “to cover your face.” He looked at the bird on Kuro’s shoulder.
Kuro shrugged. “He’s used to me”
“Cool,” Hiro smiled.
“Alright, we don’t have much time. We have to be as quick as possible.”
They hurried across town and stopped in front of the Kazekage’s office. “Are you sure there were no guards?” Daro asked.
Kuro nodded. “I’m sure.”
“Let’s go then.”
Moving like shadows, they found their way to Gaara’s office and entered.
“So where is the document?” Daro asked, “it was right here last time.”
Hiro sorted. “Like they’d leave it in the same place. We got caught last time, remember?”
“Shh. Be quiet,” Kuro whispered as he looked through the drawers of Gaara’s desk.
“Hey, is this it?” Hiro asked. He took a scroll from behind some books.
The others walked up to him and Kuro nodded. “That’s the one.” He took it from his friend and tied it to the messenger bird. He walked to the window and opened it.
The bird flew off in the direction of his home.
“Great job, guys,” Daro said, “now…”
“Not so fast,” a new voice said.
Before the boys could react, sand locked around their legs.
“Gaara-sama,” the boys gasped.
Gaara lifted Daro in the air with his sand. “What do I have here?” he said, “three little brats. What are you doing in my office?”
“Nothing,” Daro said.
Kuro formed a quick handseal and cast a genjutsu at Gaara. For a moment, Gaara lost focus and dropped Daro, but Hiro was still trapped by the sand.
Gaara broke the genjutsu and glared at Kuro.
Daro threw a shuriken at Gaara, which was blocked by the sand immediately.
The boys looked at eachother uncertain. They could hardly attack. Gaara was their Kazekage after all.
Meanwhile Hiro had formed a handseal and cast a waterjutsu at the sand, freeing himself. He landed on the floor with a thud and groaned.
“I’ll ask you again,” Gaara said, “what are you doing in my office?”
“We wanted a mission,” Hiro said, “so we were trying to see which ones were available.”
“Is that so?” Gaara said.
There was a knock on the door and Kuro’s father entered the office. “Lord Kazekage. We…” he stopped when he noticed the three boys. He took a better look and gasped stunned. “Kuro?” he asked shocked, “what…?”
Kuro pulled down his bandana and gave his father a sheepish smile. “Hi,” he muttered.
Hiro and Daro pulled down their masks as well. “Hello mister Shiraki,” Daro said softly.
“Hey,” Hiro mumbled.
“What is going on here?” Souta Shiraki asked, “you three should be home in your beds, not breaking into Lord Kazekage’s office! My apologies, Kazekage-sama. I will make sure they are properly punished.”
Gaara looked at the trembling boys and turned to Souta. “You came to tell me something?” he asked.
Souta looked at Gaara and blinked. “Ah… yes, of course. A messenger bird just arrived, carrying a rather strange message. I’m not sure what to make of it, so I thought it best to bring it to you right away.”
Gaara took the scroll and read it. Then he sighed. “Souta,” he said, “please be so kind and call my sister Taryn in. I need to speak with her.”
Souta looked at him hesitantly. He glanced at the boys. “What about…”
“I’ll deal with them, don’t worry.”
The boys gulped and looked at eachother nervously. “I told you,” Hiro hissed at Daro.
They didn’t have to wait long for a sleepy Taryn to arrive with Souta. When she saw the boys, she raised an eyebrow. They were doing their best not to look at her and Daro was drawing circles with his toes. She looked at Gaara and smirked.
He had his arms crossed, but gave an amused smile. “You were right,” he said, “they are quite resourceful.” He tossed her the scroll. “They used a messenger bird.”
Taryn grinned. “I told you they’d figure it out.”
“Too bad they didn’t know I don’t sleep,” Gaara said.
The boys looked from Taryn to Gaara confused.
Gaara walked to his desk and opened a drawer. “You think it is time then?”
Taryn nodded.
Gaara took out a file and put it on the desk. “Very well then. Make sure you are ready to go within the hour. Congratulations. You’ve just been assigned to your first C-rank mission.”