A World Revisited

"You have all done well to get through your training, before me stands the newest batch of Kiri genin. Your village is proud to have you serve amongst them. Train, strengthen yourselves, and you will be ready to defend and protect this village."

There was a lone instructor standing in front of several genin, all of whom had passed the tests and were now officially genin. Every single one of them had their headbands on as they had been passed out only minutes ago. They were wearing them differently, though most ended up just wearing it on their foreheads as was the norm.

Hissori let out a snort as he was standing in the back. He wasn't sure why they had been asked to come here, but he always hated these parts. The genin passed their tests, but until they became stronger this wasn't something to be proud of. They could make a clone, who really gave a shit? "I don't get why they keep inviting us to these things. It's not like we're the trainers," Hissori said quietly.

"And now for the announcements of the teams. Team 1: Saki, Rakdos, and Fu" the announcer said loudly.

"YEAH! That's what I'm talking about," a muscled kid said as he bumped the kid next to him. "Don't worry Rakdos old buddy, I'll make sure to carry you to the Chunin exams," he said.

The boy in dark clothes next to him didn't stumble upon being shoved. Part of him looked like he was about to strike back, but the boy seemed to refrain. "You talk too much," the boy said in an annoyed tone before he glanced a few genin down and saw Saki a decent distance away from them. Once the girl looked over at him, Rakdos was quick to turn his head away, hoping that he hadn't been caught.

A few more teams were named. Eventually, they arrived at team 4. "And Team 4: Kenji, Naya, and Enya."

Enya smiled from his spot in the back of the class. Kenji and Naya weren't anywhere near him, but he already knew the two of them. They were skilled, and Enya had a feeling that they'd balance each other well.

Naya glanced over at Kenji, smiling as her long brown hair fell behind her shoulders. "This is going to be interesting isn't it?" she asked as she looked over at Kenji. She eventually looked up ahead, knowing that their teachers were going to be announced soon, thus allowing the teams to band together and finally meet up to start working.

"And yet you still attend," Sonya said, giving her partner a side glance. Hissori always claimed how much of a waste of time scouting the new genin was, but he always came every year regardless. If she didn't know him better she might think he actually looked forward to it. "These genin are the future of Kiri, you know, so just observe."



Kenji was practically bouncing at his desk. He had studied hard for the final test, and it had totally paid off! His stealth skills he was particularly proud of, for various reasons. Just as he had told his sister, he had passed with ease. Now he was officially a genin, and it was time to assemble his new team.

He looked to Naya with a grin and pumped his fists excitedly. She was always a good looking one, and Enya and he had always gotten along well. "Awesome! We'll make a great team, just you watch!"

Now, who would be their sensei? He only hoped it was a she and that she was hot...that would be awesome.



Saki sat in the back of the room. She had been as quiet and as unnoticed as possible up until then, but when her team was announced, she could feel a pair of eyes on her. Granted, she couldn't actually see...but she sensed it. A feeling in her gut that her other senses didn't detect, but was certain it was there regardless. Instinctively, she shrank back and held her arms around herself, just trying to stay invisible.

"Alright, now to assign you each a sensei," the instructor said. He started passing out little pieces of paper with information on them to each kid. "When you have your assigned sensei, group with your team and go to the location indicated on the card to begin your first team meeting."

Kenji grabbed his card and quickly flipped it over. Maybe it was that jounin with the huge rack who wore the skin right unitard, or maybe even the Mizukage! Both of those choices were-

"Whaaat?" he groaned, staring at the card. It read 'Megumi Hirohata, Training Ground 2'. "My sister?? Ugggh, come on!"

He couldn't have hoped for a worse sensei. Not that his sister wasn't amazing, because she was...but with how prepared she would be for his antics, he'd never get away with anything!

Saki held her card a moment with a frown, then finally lifted her visor off her scarred eyes. The shapes she saw were blurry and colorless, but she could just barely make out the words 'Chiyoko Kaguya, Training Ground 5'. She let out a sigh and replaced her visor before her eyes started to hurt, then waited quietly for everyone else to leave. She was sure her team would come to her.

"Yeah, yeah," Hissori muttered before giving a yawn. He didn't want to admit it, but Sonya knew him better than almost anyone. Things like this did frustrate him, but at the same time he always looked forward to seeing the next batch of genin. Kiri had produced some of the strongest shinobi ever, what if they were among the next Mizukage right now? There was no telling the potential that these genin had, it would make the next several years so much more interesting.

"I do think our year was more impressive though," Hissori said as he looked over at Sonya after pushing himself off the nearby wall. "Not to brag of course."

The instructor continued on with the ceremony as they now assigned the Jounin instructors that would moderate each team. Each one was different, using different motivations and techniques to make their students better. No group of students would be trained the same, and that's what allowed the genin to all grow. This way, several different styles of learning would be employed.

A burst of laughter came from Enya as he walked over to Kenji and smacked his fellow genin on the back. "Dude, I can tell by the look on your face that you're excited about this," the genin teased his friend. It was Kenji's sister, Enya would be a bad friend to not take advantage of this moment to mock him unconditionally. He was still laughing, even when Naya finally suggested that they actually start heading to the training grounds.

"I wonder why they placed you on her team...maybe she requested it?" Naya questioned as she glanced at Kenji.

As the rest of the genin left, Rakdos slowly moved over towards Saki. Fu was right behind him, heading forward to making sure the team assembled. Rakdos moved part of his long black hair out of his face, not wanting his vision obscured. His hair often fell in front of his right eye, something that his chunin instructors often got on his case for. Rakdos never paid them any mind though, he had more serious things on his mind.

"Yo Saki!" Fu said excitedly as the group assembled. "Welcome to the team! I'm sure that we're going to get along fine," he said before smacking Rakdos on the back. "And don't mind Rakdos here. He's a bit quiet and all, but I'm sure he won't hold us back."

Rakdos visibly glared at Fu as the genin wasn't willing to shut up at all. Rakdos hated people like him, they talked too much and thought too highly of themselves. Working on this team seemed like it was going to be a huge pain in the ass.

"Well, our year had me," Sonya commented, lifting her eyebrow at him with a smirk. "So, yeah. No doubt about that."

"Oh yeah, I'm freaking thrilled," Kenji groaned. "I mean, really, my sister already knows all my, uh... moves. I'll never be able to make myself look good...or do other things...with her on me. She did this on purpose, I'm sure of it. Didn't want me having any fun as a genin so she put me on her squad to keep me in line. I swear, she can be such a drag."

He sighed, and slumped forward as they left the academy to the training grounds. He wasn't looking forward to Megumi's training at all; she knew a ton and she was really skilled, but her training could be brutal. "Well, let's get this over with...I hope you all are prepared for bruises."

Saki was still quiet even as her teammate, Fu, called out to her. She turned her head in his direction, even though she couldn't see him, and remained calm and passive while he asserted himself. He seemed very...outgoing. And loud. "Oh... okay," she said, with a simple nod. Rakdos wasn't the only quiet one on their team, Fu just didn't realize it yet. If anything, Fu could do the talking for all three of them.

Hissori chuckled as well as the genin started to disperse to go and find their teachers. They were all going to have quite the day weren't they? Hissori pushed himself off of the wall. "Well, I think that we should send our report to Yuki. She always asks for our opinion on such things."

Naya looked over at Kenji as he spoke about how hard it was going to be, working with his sister. She frowned and gained a curious look. "Is your sister really that bad? I've never met or seen her, I just hear you complaining about her all the time. What is she actually like? I've only heard from others that she's a great shinobi...that part is true right?"

"Glad that we got this settled!" Fu said with a charming grin. "Now come on, let's get going and meet this teacher," he said before turning around completely and heading out the door.

Rakdos rolled his eyes as the boy walked off. Rakdos started to walk before looking over at Saki, observing how she seemed to just be dealing with Fu like Rakdos was. "I have a feeling he's going to cause me more than one headache before this is over," he said in a lightly joking tone.

"Right, she'll definitely want to know that the academy graduations went smoothly," Sonya replied. Especially considering what it meant for Kiri. Giving Hissori a wave, she gave the new genin one more look before darting out of the building with her ANBU mask placed securely over her face. The run to the Administration Building was short with their speed, cutting across rooftops. Within a short few minutes, she flipped up onto the balcony outside the Mizukage's office and gave a knock on the sliding glass door.



Yuki Miura looked up from her desk to see two ANBU standing on the balcony. She had already heard them arrive, but was too busy with paperwork to acknowledge them until they knocked. With a wave, she allowed them inside.

"Sonya, Hissori," she said, in a gentle voice. "I've been expecting you. How did the graduations go today?"

"Smooth as expected," Sonya replied, with a thumb's up. "The new genin are all teamed up and off to meet their senseis."

Yuki uttered a relieved sigh. "That's good... Things are going well, then, now that the new curriculum is in place."

It had only been two Mizukages ago that Kiri had engaged in its academy graduation fights to the death, a way to weed out the weak shinobi. The former Mizukage, Kaito Hirohata, had abolished it, calling the tradition 'barbaric'. It truly had been, and had set Kiri apart from the other villages in the worst way. Since taking power, Yuki had been diligently attempting to maintain and improve upon the new way of things. So far, things were going well.

---

"Well sure, my sister is a great shinobi," Kenji said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Heck, she could totally become the next Mizukage if she wanted. But she can be a real hard ass...and when I say she's a hard ass, I don't mean because she has a toned rear end. I mean training under her is like going to samurai boot camp. The first real jutsu she ever taught me, I was eight, barely had the chakra capacity to perform it, but she still kept me at it five hours a day for a month straight until I got it right."

---

"Um... right, headaches," Saki said, with a small nod. She got up from her desk and sucked in a small breath as she made her way after the others, following their footsteps out of the building to go meet their new sensei. "I do prefer the quiet."

Hissori closed the glass door behind him as he and Sonya entered in to the Mizukage's office. He turned and gave a quick bow to the Mizukage before Sonya began their report on how well everything went. Hissori agreed with everything, though he couldn't help but sneak in a few words himself.

"You ever wonder if you would have made it?" Hissori questioned as he looked over at Sonya. "I mean, my parents were training me thinking that I was going to have to kill other students. It only changed a few weeks before we took our tests," he pointed out before casually looking over at the Mizukage.

"I'm not complaining mind you, but I do wonder how well I would have done if I actually had to have killed at that age."

---

"But you did get it right," Enya chimed in as he moved over to Kenji's other side. "That's the sign of a good teacher....I think," he remarked to himself as he recalled how many times his father would make him lift the same heavy objects until Enya felt like his skin would tear off if he tried again. While he had done it, it royally sucked. Now though, he could feel that he was stronger because of it.

Naya nodded. "Well, I guess we can't really decide until we meet her," she said before looking up and realizing that they were at the training grounds. She must have been around here somewhere....right?

---

Fu, Rakdos, and Saki all made their to the training grounds where they were to meet their own trainer. Fu was content with speaking his mouth off about all the glory they would get as a team, while Saki and Rakdos allowed him to have his dreams and theories. Rakdos felt like the boy was getting far too ahead of himself, but what was the point of bursting his bubble now? Rakdos had no friends as it was.

As they arrived, Rakdos looked around. "I sense that someone with a good amount of chakra is nearby...that or my nerves are getting to me," he said. Rakdos had to acknowledge that the second choice was far more likely.

"No, I don't," Sonya said. "It's something I really, really don't think about. If the tests hadn't changed in time, we could have ended up having to fight each other, and I would much rather not dwell on how that could have turned out."

Yuki looked down at her papers slowly and breathed in deeply. "You two should count yourselves lucky. You never... had to go through that. Being pitted against people you knew, having to kill your friends." Several years older than these two, she had not been so fortunate.

---

"Yeah, when is right," Kenji muttered. He sat down on a nearby rock and held his hands against the back of his head. "She'll probably be late just to make us sweat. Then, once we're good and bored and ticked off, she'll show up and start making us run drills until midnight."

"No, just until ten," a voice said from behind him.

Kenji lurched forward with a yell, falling off the rock and then twisting himself around on the ground to see the person behind him. "Megumi! What the hell?"



"You should probably be more mindful of your surroundings, Ken," she stated, with a small shrug and a subtle smirk. She always did get a kick out of annoying him. "Now what are the rest of you waiting for? Line up and introduce yourselves! I want your name, your goals, and something about yourselves. Hop to!"

Hissori may have been a blunt knife when it came to conversation, but he was smart enough to know that touching a nerve of the Mizukage could be very damaging for himself and his career. Besides, as much of an ass as Hissori was, he really didn't want to know the kind of things that Yuki lived through to get to where she was now.

"We should go," Hissori said quietly as he looked over at Sonya. "Assuming the Mizukage needs us for nothing else?"

---

Enya and Naya both turned in surprise to see Megumi standing right behind Kenji. She was so quiet! How did that even happen!? The two genin looked at each other, neither knowing what to say. They had seen sneaky shinobi before, but nothing like that. It was as if she literally came out of nothing.

"Yes sir! I mean Maam, I mean sensei!" Enya said before quickly moving and getting out to move in to line next to Kenji. "I am Enya Hayabusa. My parents are Selene and Raiko Hayabusa, members of the Seven Swordsmen," Enya said as he had a feeling that Megumi may have already known this information. "My goal is to become strong and eventually work in the Seven alongside them. And something about myself, I wake up every morning and lift weights for an hour so that one day I can hold a zanbato...I still have a way to go though," Enya said as he motioned to the katana that he had on his back.

Naya chuckled. "Try carrying a hundred of those. That will be closer to a zanbato than anything you've lifted," she teased before turning over and looking at Megumi. Naya held the woman's gaze for a moment before clearing her throat. "I'm Naya of the Kane Clan. My goal is just to become a strong shinobi and survive any threat that comes my way. If I can save some lives on the side, I'd be okay with that. I was thinking about becoming a hunter nin, but I haven't quite decided yet."

"No, you're dismissed," Yuki said, with a nod.

Sonya gave a bow, then turned to leave through the balcony. "Have a good day, Mizukage-sama."

---

"A zanbato, ae?" Megumi said. She reached to her back and grabbed the handle of her own massive sword, then swung it around and slammed the end of it into the ground. The earth practically shook at the impact.



"You mean like this? You want to follow in the footsteps of the Seven Swordsmen, then you got a long way to go. Those scrawny arms you got now won't cut it." Not that his arms were that scrawny...but that was her way of being motivational. She looked to Naya then. "As for you, you'd better be sure if you want to be a hunter-nin, because that's one of the most important positions in the village. You need to be a hundred percent dedicated to it, and be prepared to deal with a lot of dark stuff."

With those two done, she turned to Kenji and leaned against her sword. "And you?"

"You know who I am..." he muttered, shifting into a cross-legged position on the ground.

"Yes... I do..." she replied, frowning. "Answer anyway. And stand up!!"

Kenji lurched forward again and stumbled to his feet. His sister could be pretty scary when she wanted to be... "Ahem, uh, name's Kenji Hirohata, and I want to become the best shinobi in the village someday. Oh, and I've almost figured out how to bypass all of the booby traps you set up around your bathroom."

Megumi blinked, then sunk her face into her palm with a groan. "Fantastic..."

"Hey now!" Enya said as he stumbled to stay on his feet when Megumi summoned the Zanbato. Damn, she was way stronger than she looked! For arms that thin they were apparently a lot stronger than they led on. Enya had to admit that he wasn't sure what to say. He had to admit that she had a point, if she could do that Enya was going to have to work harder to get there. "Message received..."

"Believe me, I've seen the dark stuff," Naya muttered under her breath but glanced away when Megumi looked back at her. Apparently, she had been hoping that her comment wouldn't be heard by their instructor.

"So when do we get started sensei?" Enya asked as he tried to hold back his laughter. Apparently having the siblings of Kenji and Megumi on a team was going to make things interesting.

"Training begins right now," Megumi said, returning the sword to her back. "We're going to start with a little exercise. Now, what I have here..." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of ribbons. She then tied one ribbon to her left arm, and the other to her right. "...are two ribbons. Your goal, is to get one of the ribbons; the ones who do get to go home for the day. The one who doesn't gets to spend all afternoon running conditioning drills with me."

Kenji felt his eye twitch. "Okay, no way I am getting left here. I got this!" He immediately flung himself forward, flipping over a rock and making a grab at one of the ribbons. Megumi merely swatted him out of the way with a backhand, sending him skidding across the ground.

"Yeah, that's not going to work," she said.

"Get the ribbons huh?" Enya asked with a smile before watching Kenji go forward. "Well that doesn't seem so-" but he stopped himself as Kenji was flung back with a simple backhand from Megumi. "Hard," Enya finally said before reaching down and grabbing Kenji and lifting him back to his feet. "You alright dude?"

Naya didn't waste any time herself. She quickly reached in to her pouch and threw a kunai at Megumi's arm. They had to get the ribbon, but Megumi didn't say that they had to be in one piece. With the throw, Naya was attempting to cut the ribbon before Megumi suspected such a tactic.

Naya knew better though, Megumi wouldn't fall for such a tactic. She had to try though!

Kenji grabbed his head and grumbled as he got back to his feet. "Oh yeah, peachy." He knew Megumi well enough to know that she had only used a fraction of her strength to send him flying. As rough as that looked, that was her being gentle. "Something tells me a frontal assault isn't going to work."

Megumi simply snatched the kunai thrown by Naya out of the air, then spun it around her finger and sent it flying again, this time directed at Kenji...striking him square in the rear end.

"OW!" he proclaimed, jumped up in the air and pulling the kunai from himself. "Goddamn it, Megumi!"

"Well, maybe if you were paying attention..." she said, with a simple shrug. "Oh, and that's 'Megumi-sensei', by the way."

Enya shrank back when the kunai placed itself in to Kenji's rear. "OW!" Enya said as he could only imagine how much that must of hurt. Naya never carried dull blades after all. Enya looked back at Megumi before pulling out his katana.

"Come on guys, we gotta strike together if we're going to do anything here!" Naya said before pulling out three more kunai and throwing them at Megumi to try and divide her attention.

Megumi took a step to the side, allowing the kunais to pass harmlessly by her. They didn't seem to be understanding that a head on attack wasn't going to work. Very disappointing.

"We'll never get her like that!" Kenji yelled, as he brought his hands together. "We have to take her by surprise!" Almost immediately, a dense, heavy mist rolled into the area, blanketing the training grounds. They could barely see three feet in front of them, but it meant that Megumi couldn't either.

Of course, in Kenji's attempts to block Megumi's vision, he had also blocked his teammates' vision. She was already shaking her head at his ingenious move to not tell them about it and formulate an actual plan.

Enya looked around as the mist formed. He knew the move as well, but he didn't do it. He didn't realize that Kenji was determining to make this attempt by himself. Enya ran forward, sword in hand as he tried to regain vision of where MEgumi was. Since he was running though, he was making a great deal of noise.

Naya was a bit more tactful about it. She made a quick leap and landed on the arm of a nearby tree. She wanted to get elevated in the hopes that it might help her see through the mist. Whether or not Megumi had formed this or not didn't matter, the team wasn't going to do anything if they didn't figure out where she was.

"Okay, I got this," Kenji said to himself, creeping forward as quietly as he could. He had always been good at stealth, given what he used those abilities for, so with Megumi distracted by the others he was certain he could sneak up on her this time. After all, Enya was already announcing himself to the world with how hard he was running through the mist.

Megumi turned her head towards the sound of someone running at her. Probably Kenji, never learning. With a small sigh, she made a couple handsigns and then shot a ball of water from her mouth into the mist, towards the sound.

The ball of water collided with Enya roughly, sending him back several feet and knocking him on to his back. "Ow..." he muttered as it took him a minute to push himself back up. That one had actually hurt. Enya rubbed the back of his head as he forced himself to stand back up.

Naya smiled and started to move from branch to branch. A water ball was large and Naya had been able to see it well enough. She started to move closer, trying to get just a bit closer to Megumi's position. Hopefully she was still distracted by Enya's attack on her.

So far, things were not going quite as well as Megumi had hoped. All three of her students were working rather individually, without even attempting to work together as a cohesive unit. If this kept up, she would really start to be worried. "New rule, if none of you manage to take a ribbon in the next hour, then you all get to stay and run drills."

With her position now given away from her voice, she made a handsign and caused several water clones to form from the moisture in the air. She and the clones then began to spread out, giving the team multiple targets to deal with.

Enya's eyes widened as this new information was given to them. Shit, they only had an hour to try and get a ribbon off of her? So far they hadn't even come close to touching her. How were they supposed to get a ribbon within an hour?

Enya was the closest due to his brazen charge at her. Because of this he saw multiple tall shadows moving about the field. It may have been a genjutus, but Enya hoped Megumi wouldn't be that cruel on the first try. "Clones! She's making multiples of herself!" Enya called out to the team.

Naya saw the movement as well, though had no idea how to tell which one was the real one with the ribbons. She jumped down and quickly moved next to Enya. "Our tactics aren't working," she said in a whisper. "We need Kenji here. We need him to tell us something about her, something we can use against her. A weakness, anything."

Kenji didn't even acknowledge Enya's warning, as he flung himself at the first darkened shape in the mist he came across. It was Megumi, he knew it, he could see the ribbon and made a grab for what he thought was her arm.

"Got it!" he exclaimed, squeezing his hand firmly and bringing his other to get the ribbon off...if he could find the ribbon.

"Two things," Megumi said, glaring down at him. "One...that's not my arm."

Kenji blinked, then took a better look at what he was grabbing. His heart sank when he realized it. "Oh....I wondered why your arm was so soft."

"And two..." The Megumi he was grabbing suddenly melted away into a puddle of water, leaving him grasping at air.

"Ahhh come on," he groaned, pulling at his hair. He was so certain that he had got her that time. Of course, he didn't even notice the second Megumi coming up behind him and giving his injured rear end a powerful kick that sent him flying. Seconds later, he crashed through the mist and slid across the ground to a stop in front of Enya and Naya. "Ugh...hi."

Enya and Naya just blinked as Kenji landed right in front of them. Enya shook his head before grabbing Kenji and pulling the guy to his feet. "We have got to stop meeting like this dude, you're going to scruff up your face too much," Enya said jokingly.

Naya shook her head. "We need to focus guys. This isn't working and we're getting our asses kicked," Naya muttered before looking around. She didn't see any shadows moving, but perhaps Megumi was closer than they thought...

"Kenji. You know your sister better than we do. Is there anything you know about her that we can use against her? I don't know anything about her and our attacks are useless against her. There must be something?"

Kenji grumbled to himself as he brushed himself off. He really was getting annoyed at Megumi kicking him around so much; he already hurt everywhere, most specifically his ass, which is was pretty sure was still bleeding. "Ugh, I don't know, she doesn't really have any weaknesses... I mean, about the only thing that gets to her is how much I piss her off on a daily basis. Not like that can help us."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Naya said to herself with a smile as she thought about it. Megumi may be physically trained as an amazing shinobi, but even Naya knew how much family could still get under your skin sometimes.

"Kenji I need you to do anything you can to piss her off. Talk about her, tell secrets, make fun of her. Do ANYTHING," Naya insisted in a whisper. "We need to at least get her distracted. If you and Enya distract her, maybe I can sneak in and get the ribbons. We have to catch her off guard. I know it's a long shot but honeslty I can't think of what else to do."