Ichika had been waiting at the entrance of Konoha for quite some time as she had arrived significantly ahead of schedule; as she usually would. The recent revelation that the Uchiha would be joining Mizuraki Senju and the boy from Kumogakure on a mission with an undisclosed objective. Ichika brushed aside a thick lock of her ebony hair and recalled the events of the Nine-Tails' assault on the village, and how that had been the first time she had encountered Mizu, and from that day; Ichika had held a sincere respect for the Senju clan. Due almost entirely to the bravery the brunette had displayed.

One by one, the various students whom had been assigned to the mission began to arrive, a particular individual eventually showed up, one who had caught Ichika's eye in the academy quite some time ago. Yue Nara. This was shaping out to become quite the interesting affair.

Last night had almost felt like an alcohol fueled dream...After all Mizuraki? Leading a squadron into battle? Of genin no less! she was a fighter...And a healer but a leader? That, was something she was sure she would never be able to be. It still didn't feel real, surely Seiiji knew what a terrible plan that would be, so why would he do it. Like it or not Mizuraki had to accept her orders but it certainly didn't stop her from drinking the responsibility away...The idea of leading children into battle never sat right with the Senju woman, not after the horrors she witnessed during the third war.

Regardless of her feelings on the matter the morning still arrived and Mizuraki opened her tired eyes. "Mmnm..." she let out a soft sound before shaking her head and trying to deal with the threat of an oncoming hangover. The Jounin rose from her bed and rubbed at her tired eyes before the realization had hit her like a sack of concrete. "I'M LATE!". Mizuraki stumbled out of her bed and quickly got dressed to approach the gates, she probably looked like an utter mess, but that's nothing some primpng wouldn't fix. "I'm late anyway, might as well look presentable I guess."

Affter her primping was done and her gear was collected. Mizuraki made her way to the gates with a slightly terse expression on her face, the Senju woman was lost in thought, about the mission...About the secrecy surrounding the objective. Something wasn't right about all of this and she could feel it in her gut. Mizuraki was brought out of her thoughts when she saw a familiar face as well as the genin around the gate. Her squad and the Uchiha's own. Mizuraki stopped but before she acknowledged her squad of Genin...A warm smile broke out onto her face as she raised her hand to wave it at Ichika. "[color=#C04848]Ichi-Chaaan. Long time no see. How've you been?[/color\"

Had it been anybody else using that nickname but Mizuraki, Ichika may well have sneered in disgust and become highly conversationally combative from that point onwards. However, it was the Senju clan's very own socialite that had done so, and because of that she allowed it to slide. Only her brother Rukito ever, [i][b]ever[/i][/b] called her that. However, the Uchiha had certainly heard the Senju woman refer to others as worse. On more than one occasion, the pale skinned woman, who had been stood leaning against a tree for the better part of forty minutes before Mizuraki's arrival; had heard Mizu refer to the Lord Hokage as 'Seiji-kun'.

Clad in her signature crimson armour, the colour palette of Ichika's garments bore a stark contrast to those of the woodland behind her, jet black underclothes with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Revealing snow white skin set beneath the blood red metal plate of her tengu plate. Ichika took pause before responding to her acquaintance, momentarily seeming to dismiss the woman. "I am well, Mizuraki-san. Thank you for asking, although unsurprisingly I do believe feel better than you currently appear... You look as though you have barely awoken." She had said with a smirk. Truth be told, Ichika believed that Mizuraki Senju was a being of particular beauty among the village, though she understood that was a fairly common opinion. Even still, this did not prevent the Uchihs from poking fun back at the one whom she had fought alongside during the Nine-Tails attack.

Mizuraki had to do her best to stifle her yawn, it felt like she easily could have slept about...Seven more hours? give or take a couple more. The nerves inside of her were practically buzzing as she started to realize just what was going to happen today. Leading a squadron of genin, a squadron under her own command, into a mission and trying to bring them out alive. It felt like the war all over again, but she refused to let history repeat itself, NO ONE was going to die on her watch. Never again. Her greeting for Ichika was almost met with dismissal and if she hadn't interacted at all with the woman beforehand? she would feel offended but she knew it was just her way. Although when Ichika had ended up calling her out for barely being awake the poor woman's eyes widened as she began to laugh and rub the back of her head. "Haha...Hah...Nothing gets past you huh, Ichi-Chan?" she pursed her lips a little bit and brought her hand up to her chin, prompting a brief smirk to appear on the Uchiha's face as more of the Genin began to gather at the rendezvous point. "Still though is it that obvious? I thought I mostly hid the baggy eyes." she mostly murmured that last part while running her fingers underneath her eyels.

The Senju woman turned around and looked towards the two squads of Genin. One of them her own and the other belonging to Ichika, it was always sobering to see young ninja. It was like looking into a mirror. She smiled towards the group and lifted up her hand. "Mizuraki Senju. I'm going to be looking after you lot for today...Don't worry I know what I'm doing. At least that's what everyone tells me." she said with a smile still clear on her face. Her smile held a naive charm to it, she truly believed what she was saying. "OH." "Ichi-Chan. I wasn't the last one here right?" She was desperately hoping that she wasn't dead last...Oh gods the embarrassment.

After Mizuraki had finished her introduction to the children, Ichika surveyed the surrounding ninja; accounting for all of them as they finished their arrivals. "Not quite, although I would have preferred it had you arrived a tad sooner." She responded, before also turning her attention to the Genin whom had mustered before them. "And I am Ichika Uchiha. Yue, Natsuo and Tomoyuki. The three of you shall be under my command, this may be your first operation, but I expect nothing but the best from you. Nonsense and tomfoolery of any kind, and by extention failure will not be tolerated. Do I make myself clear?" Ichika suddenly barked, issuing orders to those in her charge in a significantly colder, harsher tone than her compatriot had done so. The Uchiha had lead teams before of course, but never one compromising of Genin fresh out of the academy. The abyssal black eyes of the woman seemed to stare into the very souls of her subordinates. Remembering the trauma she endured during the third great war.

---

It had been an... interesting week.

Taka's troubles had begun, of course, on the day of his team's assignment, what with the cocky bastard from cloud jumping in to ruin his afternoon. It had put him into something of a foul mood for the remainder of the day, despite how cute his kids had seemed. Truthfully, he couldn't wait to meet them properly today! He wondered if they'd liked his ducks...

The next day had taken his mood from bad to worse. He'd woken up to find a reassignment notice for one of his genin setting at his windowsill, utterly trashing the test he'd been planning to give his team, and it'd sent him into an uncharacteristically acerbic haze. He'd even snapped at the old lady next door! (He made a mental note to send her some flowers and an apology card.)

The week had, sadly, only really got worse. His father had cancelled their dinner date, citing an urgent board meeting in the Fire Capital, Sensei had only laughed at him when he'd asked for teaching tips, and his old nervous twitch had come back to his arm with a vengeance yesterday, raining hot tea over his kitchenette and ruining the delicate folding mechanism of one of his nearby birthday cards.

Still, he supposed, he'd spent an enjoyable few hours catching up with Ichika during the week, which had gone a long way towards cheering him up, and his new Genin test, although notably less complex than his original plans, was fit for purpose and ready to go!

"Speaking of which..." He stood up from the stool at his breakfast bar and took one last look around his apartment. It was noticeably tidier than usual, and he'd made sure to arrange everything so as to be as welcoming as possible. He frowned, then, recalling once again that the young Senju they'd found to fill out his team was only 10 years old. A scowl crossed his face, though it quickly faded.

He double checked everything, ensuring that the plain white vase was in full display on the coffee table and that the handful of traps he'd scattered around the apartment were properly armed. That done, he grabbed three apples from his fruit bowl, retrieved a kunai, and slowly set about carving miniature shuriken from them, ready to hand to his students when they arrived. He grinned.

This was going to be great!

"You're late!"

"Egh?!? Like five minutes!"

"You're always five minutes late! Every year! Do you not tell time?!?"

"Eeeeh?!? Well, it's tradition then! Get off my back!"

Before Hana had a chance to lunge at Kuroki, Genjin stood and bowed, "We are honored to have you hear again, Kuroki-san."

Genjin's politeness seemed to take the wind out of Hana's sails and she sunk cross-legged onto the ground. It was their tradition every year to climb to the top of the monument and celebrate the next generation. Hana and Kuroki fighting over Kuroki's tardiness was just the same, a tradition from when they were all very young and new, from when they were together, and not Hana, nor Genjin, nor Kuroki would ever relinquish what they had left.

"Ts. I brought the booze. Best stuff that Ichiraku had. Real expensive. Cost a lot", said Kuroki, one hand in his pocket, the other taking out a bottle of what looked like a bottle of unfiltered sake that Kuroki would have never been able to afford. From his pocket, he removed six small shot glasses, three of which he threw in the air. In an instant, Hana had shattered them with pebbles from the ground.

"Sloooow. What? Ain't got enough naughty kids to throw stuff a-" something hit Kuroki in the back of the head. One of the pebbles had ricocheted off a tree right into his skull. He gave a smirk and so did Hana and he took a seat next to Genjin. As he passed out the remaining shot glasses, Genjin and Hana looked out over the whole village. Kuroki popped open the bottle and poured generously into the glasses and raised his own to the sky.

"To the kids", he proclaimed, "May they learn real strength" and drank his shot. Now it was Genjin's turn.

"May they honor their way", and he downed his shot. He did not drink often and cleared his throat a little as the burning liquid made its way down it. It was Hana's turn now.

"May they never know war", she said happily and, not to be outdone, swallowed the drink whole. Hana, unfortunately, never drank at all and almost instantly felt the liquor going to her head. She didn't even notice how tense Genjin became after her wish for peace. But Kuroki did and he refilled all their glasses.

"KANPAI", Kuroki yelled and raised his glass!

"KANPAI", Hana followed with a shakier, "K-kanpai", from Genjin at the end. The second glass went down a little easier than the first, but Hana had lost her balance and was lying on her back looking at the sky. And yet Genjin didn't seem loose enough for Kuroki's liking. He threw an arm over Genjin's shoulder and said quite loudly, "So, you hooking up with any cute girls?"

Genjin looked as if he'd been struck by lightning, he was a solid metal rod, "N-no, K-kuroki-san. I am n-not... hhh... I am not hooo... I am not seeing anybody."

"You're too cute" said Hana from the ground towards the air, "You should have a girlfriend!"

This did not seem to help Genjin's state at all and he poured himself a glass of sake this time and , "ahem"ed.

"I know! I should introduce you to some girls I-"

"N-no! No... that's... quite-"

"Yeah! Do it Hana! This guy needs to get laid!"

Kuroki's crude comments did little to endear him to the now quite tipsy Hana, who pushed herself a little more upright and gave him a hazy side-eye, "He NEEDS to have someone to take CARE of him! He needs a girlfriend, you... unsavory character!"

Genjin was rapidly turning a bright red and Kuroki loudly laughing wasn't helping any. Hana didn't seem to enjoy being laughed at either and the two fell to arguing. It was a little like old times, but as the sun shown down on them so too did the wind blow. And with that wind there was so much change.

The first lunch with his teammates had gone well for the most part. Shiori was far more well-mannered than he'd expected, and Ken's mother appeared to either not know or care about the rivalry between the Hyuuga and Burai's clan. It made sense for her to not notice, or care, as she clearly had the Hyuuga name through marriage, and not by blood. The gyoza snacks she'd prepared were both delicious and surprisingly filling, even if less 'proper' than what would often be found in a Hyuuga home. Rather, that seemed to extend to the rest of the atmosphere in Kenshiro's abode. Pleasant, clean, polite, but lacking in the usual stuffiness the main branch households would often coat themselves in. Despite the single incident with Burai pretending to summon the Oni upon the household when Ken's mother was in another room, things had gone incredibly smoothly. Almost too much so. Shiori in particular put on the nicest face he'd ever seen her do, the girl acting rather flawless. If it were someone else, he'd wonder which 'face' was meant real, if the one who enjoyed the web of school politics was just for gaining popularity. If it were someone else. Ken could tell which of the girls was the imposter.

A week later, Kenshiro was in the town square for the meeting between the team and their jounin instructor. Admittedly he was rather nervous about the future. Burai only had one issue in their cooperation, which likely already had been solved. But the thought of being on a team with Shiori for an extended time filled Kenshiro with dread. How would be able to work with her when he could only trust her to be just as likely to stab him in the leg as the enemy if it was to her advantage. Luckily it would only be for a year. After the chunnin exams he would be free. Still, it would be a year of constantly looking over his own shoulder, and keeping her within sight.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

A week had gone by since graduation, and Akira had received a letter the evening proor informing him of his reassignment from Ichika Uchiha's Team 5, to Takayuki Mekakushi's Team 2. The young Senju boy pondered whether this revelation would bode well or not. But none of that currently mattered to Akira. What mattered was that today was the day that the would be future Hokage of Konoha was to meet his Jounin instructor. "I wonder what kind of man he is?" he said aloud as he wandered the streets of his native village. Cutting through the crowds with a fluidity one would not expect from a boy of his age. Leaving little disturbance among the leaf's populace as he eventually found his way to the exterior of Takayuki-sensei's apartment.

"Well, this is it!" Akira vibrantly declared, desperately attempting to hype himself up. After a few tense moments, which had felt like an eternity to the white haired ten year old; Akira pushed open the door, to be instantly pelted in the face by what had apparently been a rigged shuriken, made specifically out of wood to avoid injuries. Nevertheless, the shock of the unexpected impact forced Akira to promptly fall to his buttocks, rubbing his headband up and down to soothe the pain.
Almost instantaneously the Jounin had moved to check upin his student, almost fussing over the young boy as he aided him to his feet.

"Welcome, Welcome! You're Senju-kun, correct? I'm so glad to meet you! I do hope my little joke there didn't hurt too badly! Come in, come in, follow me! You're the first one to arrive!" Takayuki said, his tone warm and welcoming; shortly thereafter he began to guide his new pupil through what was soon to be revealed to be a labyrinth of assorted traps of a similar fashion to the one Akira had fallen victim to. So I'm already being tested...this doesn't look good. the Senju thought as he become lost in his thoughts and absolutely mesmerised by the intricacies of the network of traps his instructor had laid out; he was completely unaware that he had been passed an apple, which he had begun to eat.

"Please, Takayuki-sensei call me Akira."

---

Burai's week had, at least in his eyes, been a fun one.

Lunch at Ken's family home was... an experience, certainly. His mother had been surprisingly pleasant, (which perhaps made sense, given that she was clearly no Hyuuga by blood), and had reacted positively, if a little stiffly, to his occasional probing. Equally, his male teammate seemed to have utterly missed his subtle attempts to flirt with the woman (again, she hadn't really reacted, but Shiori's chakra had brightened with amusement, so he considered it a success), which he considered as fortuitous as it was utterly hilarious. He and his Uncle Jou had been in fits when he'd got home. Oddly, Shiori had seemed genuinely content for most of the time they'd spent there, a little of her aura's general malice appearing to fade beneath the surface. It had been... Pleasant, he supposed. It helped, of course, that Kenshiro's response to his summoning spoof was utterly perfect. His panicked hissing to stop, and the accompanying quickening of his chakra to a frenzied pace had sent him breaking down into peals of laughter. Amusingly, the Yokai he'd been invoking wasn't even a malicious one; Rather, it was one of the clan's guardian spirits, who would purportedly ward off any attacks on defenceless Kasei by vengeful demons.

The remaining days had passed in something of a blur, between his frantic work to familiarise himself with his Water element and Jou's constant needling about the presence of both a Hyuuga and a (supposedly) very attractive young woman on his team. Truthfully, he wouldn't say he was particularly interested in such things at present. In his own opinion, there was far too much in his life as it was to waste time on boyish romances. (That wasn't to say he'd necessarily be opposed to the idea, of course...)

His focus flitted between his teammates, zoning out their busy surroundings, but quickly drifted again. He wouldn't deny that he was anxious. He'd been waiting for a week to meet his teacher, and, although he'd never admit it, had placed rather too much pressure on himself as of late. With any luck, he wouldn't fail too spectacularly at the water bullet technique today...

Frankly, he thought with some humour, he just hoped the teacher wasn't a Hyuuga.

He would patently deny that he'd snorted out loud at that.