This coming from the guy who left then came back." Masatake groaned softly still annoyed with kuro for leaving them alone. Even if Masatake charged at least he left openings for his team mates to go in. Out of everyone here he gets it, please he doesn't even know the meaning of team work and he acts like he gets it. "Next time you pull some crap like that again I'll punch you" Masatake told him as he got up and dusted himself off "mind if we get something to eat sensei I'd rather rest a little before I try climbing up the tree again"

"Well when you put it that way sensei." Fukusho said in agreement. Then he heard Kuro's comment about how he understood this lesson better thn everyone else. Well at least we got our team work formula down a bit. But Kuro had to learn how to communicate his plan or at least say you guys run in there and I'll take it down with your opening. Either way Fukusho was not going to complain right now and just enjoy the moment. "Sensei can we get rice?" Fukusho asked like a little kid requesting ice cream.

"Because you're such a friendly and lovable too aren't you Masatake you asinine fool." Kuro bluntly commented back as Akihiko whistled sharply. "First off: Both of you shut up. Second off you're genin not children so man the fuck up. Three: Stop antagonizing each other. I won't pick on either one of you since you've both done some hard things to each other today but I have had enough of it. You want to be on this team? Grow up? If you want to bitch go back to the academy for another five years to learn how to build a bridge and get over it." Akihiko said making it very clear in his tone that he was not going to tolerate the back and forth nature between the two ninja or any of them for that matter. He calmed down after a moment and looked to Fukusho. "If you want to get rice or whatever fine but we're going to a barbecue shop near the gate. Food is good there. It's cheap and filling and for that matter each of you only get one plate on me. Anything else you pay for yourself. I'm your sensei not your daddy. Not many other kids are out right now. Some others are probably back home doing a stupid bell exercise that has little to no point behind it other than to wipe the genin's face in the mud. How would you feel if I sent you home immediately after I met you and then told you not to eat for the rest of the day then come back and put you in a training exercise with only two bells out of the four of you. The two who gets the bells also get to eat. Sounds like crap right? Well that's what I just spared you guys doing. I hated it so I spared you guys that stupid tradition."

Fukusho looked down a bit. He really did love rice but free food was free food after all. Masa and Kuro over there seeemed to be arguing more. Well they may have a method that does work but that doesn't mean it will be effective as it could be. Well that could come in time. Then Fukusho heard his sensei's story about the traditional exercise. "Sensei, do you not like the traditional method because you were the one tied to the stump?" Fukusho asked his master.

ah come on sensei aren't you supposed to help inspire rivalry? wont that mean we will work harder just to beat each other? Masatake asked him laughing a little, in all honestly Masatake don't know what got into him maybe it was the idea that he was finally going to get something to eat after this ordeal that he wasn't going to pay for, maybe it was the fact that sensei might have been the one to be tied up to the stump that seemed kind of funny, or it could be that Masatake had a mild concussion when he got thrown like a rag doll into a tree when sensei threw him. Either way Masatake hasn't felt happy in a while and right now he wanted to eat and try to nurse his sprained ankle for a while...

"That sounds really harsh.. but I guess.. not so harsh when you think about missions we might have to do one day." Mikone wanted to stay positive but the truth was that she was feeling bad about how she only managed to stay out of the way of the others, except for the part where someone landed on her. "A lot has happened today. I'm ready for food, even if its Barbecue! Thank you sensei."

"No I was not tied to a stump Fukusho. Where you got the idea that people get tied to stumps is beyond me. What happened to my group is no one worked together properly. I'm the only one who get the bell out of all of us. It was because I used my head and didn't try to outdo our sensei. I tried to out think him and be tricky. I made myself seem less intimidating and cunning as I was back then and our sensei didn't completely believe it but he believed it just enough to let me barely snatch a bell. I got my hand broken in the process but it was a learning skill that helped me out later. My team ended up tied to each other's backs and left out in the middle of the field until they could figure out how to untie themselves or someone came along. I left them there and our sensei wasn't proud of me. I didn't care I didn't need weak shinobi to guard my back. Having an incompetent partner is worse than having no partner kids. And rivalry can work two ways: You either force each other to improve or one is left in the dust to look insignificant. You want a rivalry with someone start it on your own. It's not my job to force competition it's my job to make you better ninja. Now come on let's get moving. Also you're welcome Mikone." Akihiko said as he began to head out of the forest. Kuro said nothing but he nodded and went to follow their sensei. His sharingan was now inactive as there was no longer need for it. He just wanted to eat and go home.

dark eyes Masatake whispered as his dark eyes turn back to their normal color. Masatake smiled a little and he looked at kruo, he could be the best ninja in the village for all he cared but Masatake will beat him in skill where he lacks and will work on being more aggressive in his strikes to catch up to him in that respect, it seemed like he and Masatake were night and day. Masatake looked over at Mikone and smiled a little " I got faith in you Masatake said as he got moving and slightly limped after Sensei and Kuro thanks for the free meal sensei by the way Masatake said thinking it was only right to thank the person giving him a free meal...

Hearing her sensei talk made her rethink just who he was. Their first encounter was much less.. how would she describe her sensei... intimidating? She couldn't think of the right word so she would probably ask someone else what they thought. Then Masatake said something.. incredibly kind. Did that mean he forgave her for not trying anything? She had no idea but no was the time to act, maybe she'd be able to get his opinion on their sensei.

"Thanks, he do you wanna sit next to me at the restaurant?" Mikone asked, hoping he'd be ok with that. She wasn't sure if she'd have luck making friends out of her teammates.

sure why not. In all honesty is rather sit next to you then the two greatest ninjas Masatake told her as he waddled with her thinking out of the group she wasn't the one with an impossibly high goal to head towards and she wasn't an ass like kuro or overly energetic like fukosho

Fukusho was quite happy with the result of today's training. He woke up this morning thinking he was going to meet his sensei and become introduced to the life of a ninja. To sum it up perfectly that is what he went through today. To be honest it was a little rough but it was not quite as rough as he expected. He remembered his dad telling him of stories about ninja getting beat down on their introduction into the ninja world. Well there was the crazy pain in his leg but it was nothing that unbearable. Was Akihiko-sensei being more forgiving than his parents teachers or was it simply that he was not as good. From the way his sensei talked he must have been the cream of the crop back in his day. He soon saw that Masatake and Mikone were hanging out so it was a perfect chance to find out what made Kuro tick. "Hey Kuro that was a cool move you pulled off. Is that the only Fire Style technique you can use?" He energetically inquired to his teammate.

Kuro wasn't all too amused with the day in general. But it could've been far worse and when Fukusho came over to try and be his friend he wanted to groan. How cliche...friends...whatever he may as well humor him. "I suppose that was but it was just a misdirection ruse. He was getting mad at you guys charging him and I just thought it'd be worth a shot to go and use the clone and substitution jutsu to trick him. The one place no one ever expects people to show up from is the sky. He probably would have killed us all easily if he was really going out. The only reason I thought of that is because I LIVE to fight other shinobi Fukusho. But to actually answer your question I have one jutsu other than my fireball jutsu that I use but it is much less destructive that my fireball jutsu. For what it's worth fire is only as good as the person who uses it. Idiots who use fire get burnt bad." Kuro commented as he kicked a can along the path back towards the village. He talked calmly and smoothly and he just simply wanted to get something in his belly and head back home.

Fukusho listened to his team mates explanation of the battle they had just had. So Kuro could use more than one Fire Style which was interesting. "Your Fire Styles do look pretty cool but my clan likes to use Water Style moves. My mother says she hates fighting Fire Style ninjas because their jutsu could almost used easier than our Water Style moves. But my Pop on the other and prefers his Water moves because when he does have body of water he says his jutsu would pack more of a punch than if he had been using Fire Style moves." Fukusho said as he remembered his parents argument when he was younger.

"Water Ninjutsu is utterly unreliable without bodies of water Fukusho surely even you can see that. The majority of my clan are all fire based ninjutsu specialists. My fireball jutsu is a ritual we used as a passing into adulthood test. And your old man doesn't understand is that while fire is weaker to water it also is just as effective as water. Water and fire can go in holes, destroy documents, and cause mayhem. However unlike fire water doesn't spread passively. Something has to trigger. Fire burns until there is nothing left or it's put out. Water can be redirected or turned into mist if super heated. Or even frozen. There's a lot of benefits and styles. If anything Earth Style Ninjutsu is the best. Earth style is abundant and earth can be used as a shield, it can be used as a wall, it can crush people, it can be made into armor, it can be sharp, it can't completely vanish, and it is overall the best style of ninjutsu in my opinion. Not that I'm sure you even understand half of what I just said." Kuro said bluntly as he looked over at Fukusho with little interest in what he had to say quite frankly. And saying that his mother hated fire style ninjutsu just gave away how she probably felt about him being on a team with Kuro.

"Uh hey, Masatake-san, what do you think of our teacher? I wasn't sure what to expect when we met him but now I've got mixed feelings of him. Like... he seems to care but he's also a little intimidating with all those dark bits of being a shinobi." Mikone tried to keep their conversation between the two of them but had the suspicious her teacher could hear them anyway.

Masatake scratched the back of his head, it was a tell of him that he was thinking of a good answer to give. In all honesty Masatake didn't really hate sensei but it wasn't like he was going to cling to him because he basically grew up without a family. After a moment of thought Masatake thought he had a good answer to her question in all honesty I think he is kind of a hard ass, but he has a good heart and he is looking out for us. Kind of like the father who seems distant but only so he can watch you climb to the mountain by yourself. Masatake said thinking it was good way of describing their sensei in just a few short words and considering they have only known him for a few hours its all he really can say without working under him longer...

Fukusho listened to what Kuro was trying to tell him. He apparently did share the opinion of Fire style being a bit more useful than water style. He may have a point but his dad told him that only a fool would rely on their elemental ninjutsu because there was always going to be ninja who that had no effect on. either way it didn't matter and Kuro was going off about something else but Fukusho paid him no attention right now. After Kuro was done talking Fukusho thought it was time to get to know him even more. "Hey what do you think our first mission will be like."

"How should I know? I'm not physic or anything. Probably something somebody wanted to get done but was too lazy to do or maybe construction work. Genin don't get action filled missions." Kuro said faintly annoyed by the random change of subjects as Akihiko whistled loudly. "Come on pick up the pace I don't want to get in trouble because I kept you kids out too long." Akihiko grumbled as he kept moving along. Kuro nodded and picked up his pace determined not to let his sensei talk down to him. No one got to talk down to him. He may not be a jonin but he wanted to become one more than anyone else here.

===

Akihiko eventually led them near the front gate to the promised restaurant. It wasn't glamorous but it was homely and it was clean without much noise. In the corner two chunin ninja were conversing and there were a couple of older folks around. The older lady came up to them and bowed and asked for their orders before leaving the group to their own devices. She however came back shortly with some glasses of water and said it was free before leaving to go make their meals. The group sat around in a square booth with two people on each side and their sensei sitting by himself in the back half of the booth. Kuro sat on the left hand side next to their sensei and Mikone while Fukusho and Masatake sat on the other side. Kuro tapped his fingers on the booth as he drank his water and their sensei rolled his shoulders around in circles. "So I hope you don't mind the place. It's where I usually come to eat out. TThe food is decent and the place is quiet. It lets me think and it let's me just chill out. You guys get it?" Akihiko said plainly as he looked at his students trying to be casual after just having beaten them down in the middle of the forest.

Yeah I got it sensei, its a nice place. its been a while since ive been out to a restaurant Masatake said as he waited for the food in all honesty Masatake just didn't like to go to restaurants since he always felt alone eating by himself without his family it was something they did every year on their birthdays to go to their favorite restaurant and enjoy ourselves. Masatake was always given home cooked meals from the elders that he was living with but still he made sure to be polite and all but it wasn't the same.

At the moment Masatake wasn't sure if Sensei was trying to be friendly for the sake of being friendly or if it was because he felt a little bad for basically beating them down to the dirt. Masatake didn't care like he said to Fukusho he was like a distant father who wanted them to do well in all honesty it felt like a good fit for him to be the way he is...

"It is peaceful and I kinda like barbecue so it's a win for me!" Mikone said. Graduation, teammates, sensei, missions, death.. the list of things pressuring her was building but for now she could only focus on one thing, filling her stomach after a long day. If her teacher was going to treat them then she expected her teacher to also expect thing from them. Spoiling genin obviously wasn't his goal. She wondered if he had a motive behind they gentle yet firm way of teaching them.

I know I said I'd practice throwing. So that's what I'm going to do tonight and tomorrow morning if I can... wait did sensei say anything about meeting each other again? She thought to herself.

"Akihiko-sensei, when will we be meeting again? Should we expect to train on that day too?" Trying to avoid asking about missions, Mikone was sure that he'd probably hold them back until they were ready to execute basic team work exorcises. It seemed sorta obvious to her at least, there's now way their previously display of fighting him was going to hold any good reputation for clients.