Kyohei walked into the police department just as he did any other day he was on duty, coffee in hand, uniform on and crisp, and his usual morning scowl sitting upon his face. Needless to say, Kyohei was not a morning person, which is why he generally requested later shifts, but today was non-negotiable for whatever reason. Kyohei was not happy. Sipping from the paper coffee cup in his left hand and right hand buried in his pants’ front pocket he walked through the department, passing all of the paper-pushers shuffling their files in their morning routine and the random officers who had not yet begun their patrol standing around and making small talk. His destination? The captain’s office.

Knock. Knock.

Kyohei awaited a response from the other side before entering. As he stepped inside the office, walls coated in the many achievements the captain had earned throughout his life he would see the captain seated behind the desk, and the back of another person’s head in one of the two seats at the desk’s front. “You asked for me?” he stated calmly, fighting away his morning sleepiness as he took another sip of his coffee.

“I did,” replied the captain, lacing his hands together in front of him and resting his forearms on the desk, “As you know, we had a recent graduating class from the Police Academy join our ranks. As upholders of peace and justice in Konohagakure it is also our responsibility to ensure that our values are passed on to the next generation. The age difference may not be very large between the two of you, but I’m sure that he’ll have a lot to learn from you. And who knows, you might even learn a thing or two yourself. Meet Ichiro, he shad the highest overall test scores amongst all graduates.”

“N-nice t-to meet y-you,” a meek voice struggled to speak nervously, coming from the person in the chair who had now stood and turned to face Kyohei, “It’s an h-honor to work w-with you.”

Kyohei raised an eyebrow and young man down intently, wondering how this person had managed to earn such high praise. He was short, small, frail-looking, pale white, didn’t even stand up straight, avoided direct eye contact, and couldn’t even get a sentence out without shaking he was so nervous. This person embodied everything that Kyohei didn’t believe would make for a good officer. He looked weak.

“You can’t be serious,” Kyohei said as he gave the captain an empty and disappointed stare.

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An hour later Kyohei would find himself on duty with Ichiro following him around like a lost puppy. It turned out the captain was indeed serious. Apparently this kid was supposed to shadow Kyohei and experience a real life patrol to learn how to deal with situations on the fly. According to the captain, more complaints surround Kyohei than any other officer so there was no better place for a graduate to learn how to deal with adversity, whatever that meant.

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521/1000

Kyohei stared at the frail-looking graduate, partially disgusted by how submissive he made himself appear. “You’re not going to make it,” Kyohei stated bluntly, “Not if you don’t get yourself together. You’ve been shaking like a leaf since I met you. Why are you so nervous? Nobody is judging you. You’re here to learn. But if you want to be an officer, you need to be more confident in yourself. As you are now, people will walk all over you. And not just criminals. The spineless don’t make it far in the ranks. Being a good worker bee and sucking up to your superiors will only get you so far. If this is what you really want to do, we’re doing it my way, and you’re facing your fears.”

The Uchiha did not allow Ichiro to get a word in edgewise and wasted no time in taking him out to the street and purposefully looking for confrontations to throw him into. Honestly this would have been better if the captain allowed him to do it on a night patrol. You get late enough into the night and there’s ALWAYS something going on. Even if it’s just an unruly drunk in a bar that needs to be removed, the confrontation would have been good for building this kid’s confidence.

For now however, he would have to settle for small things. At first it was a purse snatcher… that outran Ichiro and forced Kyohei to come in and handle it himself. Next it was a noise complaint… which outright ignored Ichiro’s disgusting politeness, laughed at him, and slammed the door in his face, forcing Kyohei to kick the door in and melt his speakers. Then there was a fire that they responded to in order to evacuate the area for the fire department to put out… and the smoke triggered his asthma from more than 30 feet away and forced one of the ambulances to provide him an oxygen mask.

Frustrated and out of ideas, Kyohei sent Ichiro to go get him coffee while he figured out what to do with him. His physical condition was extremely poor, which made things difficult as he needed to be saved more often than he was helping others. The Uchiha just really didn’t see him having a future in this career path. When he returned with the coffee however, they were given notice of an ongoing hostage situation and ordered to provide backup.

When they arrived the officers were stuck, unable to locate the hostages or the man keeping them. That is when Ichiro decided to shine. He had withheld the information that he was a sensory ninja. Within a few moments he was able to map the entire inside of the building and pinpoint the locations of the hostages and the man. With that information the officers were able to use a window of opportunity to secure the hostage location without suffering any casualties, making subduing the criminal a simple task. He needed to work on his conditioning, but maybe this kid had a place on the force after all.

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529 | 1050/1000 Complete.