Ryu's first mission, here it was. Technically, it was one of the easiest possible missions he could do and he was between glad and disappointed when he received this mission. Glad that it was something easy where he would not have to risk his life or anything as such in order to complete this mission. Disappointed due to the fact that it was a mission that literally any genin could do and that was quite boring, unless Ryu would have the chance to stumble across a prodigy that people see only once in a lifetime, the kind of prodigy that could actually make this mission be worth the time that will be spent on it. But any ways, he could not change the mind of the Mizukage and her advisers and clearly he did not have any mission experience so he should not be surprised to be assigned a mission of such basic level of skill. The only good thing was that it could be completed pretty quickly and that he liked kids, which meant he would only have to spend a couple of minutes there in order to guide a lesson on a basic technique, either transformation or clone technique. With that being said, it was also worth be mentioned that the sensei that requested this mission to be done was one of the few Kirigakure jounin who knew who Ryu was, or had at least heard of him. However, Saka-sensei (the Academy's instructor) was an old man in his late fifties that was patiently waiting for the right moment to step back and who particularly liked Ryu and his unique character, which was in fact why he considered him as one of his favorite students. His determination always has been something Saka never understood, but also something he always wanted to have. This was the main reason why Ryu did not deny the mission (the other being that he needed something to do for the afternoon).

So there he was. The recess bell had just rang and kids were finally moving towards Saka who was waiting for them outside, besides Ryu who just made it there. It was two in the afternoon, Ryu was well awake (at last) and ready to show the demonstration he was supposed to make. Saka raised his hand a few minutes after the ring, shushing all of the academy students at the same time, using his charisma and authority to charm them as he usually did. "Alright, time's over. As I told you this morning, here is the shinobi I was talking about. His name is Ryu Hatake, he is a genin and one of my former students and will show you and give you some tricks on the Transformation Jutsu." The instructor, looked at Ryu, making him sign to finally perform the jutsu, which Ryu did in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, a burst of smoke appeared around Ryu before disappearing and showing a perfect copy of Saka-san, who smiled gently on his right. "As Saka-sensei told you, my name is Ryu and I'm here to help you a bit and give you a quick tip on the Transformation Technique. Now you've got to know that even if it may seem easy, this is still as of today one of the most useful jutsu in the shinobi world and is used all across the Five Great Ninja Countries, performed by many successful jounin including the likes of the Kage, for example. This is a jutsu that most of you should not neglect, however easy it may seem, so take all of this training seriously. I am unfortunately not going to stay here for long as my twin here will be glad to help you as well, but I still have some time to help those of you who have difficulties." Ryu finally stopped speaking for a while, sighing briefly as he saw the face of Saka-san become a little more bright. This was going well, huh? He went back to his normal form, before hearing his sensei whispering a few words in the ears of the Hatake, mostly speaking about a student in his class that seemed promising, but that was kind of a goofball that was the only one that struggled with that jutsu. Ryu chuckled, and nodded before pointing the student. "Hm, Choyu right? Can you come here and show your comrades how it's done please? Ryu said that in the most monotone voice he could possibly say it in, hoping that it would be fine enough to not embarrass the little guy who seemed to still act like if he was the greatest shinobi ever or something.

It will be a piece of cake, now watch me! Suddenly, the little guy disappeared and, hidden behind the smoke was... a perfect copy of Saka! The sensei was incredibly surprised as could be seen based on the look on his face, but was also surprised that someone of the level of Choyu actually knew how to do this jutsu. His first thoughts were things like "where did he learn how to do this?" or "how did he practice without me supervising him?". Nevertheless, for Ryu, this was a total joke. "Well, now that you've shown me your best student, can I finally see the one I'm supposed to help?" He half-smiled. He himself knew that this was the real Choyu, but said the "best student" just to boost the morale of the little kid, who was sweating to the max. He had practiced all day, all night, in the past few weeks, which was the reason as to why he was successful in this jutsu that no one thought he could possibly master (it was a basic jutsu after all, not that big of a surprise). Still, Saka looked at Ryu and laughed for a moment, before taking back his serious. "Trust me, you are done here. This generation is a special one, and the youth of our village really have that guts that everyone needs in this world. But you Choyu, you're a special one! Go on and take a break Ryu, I think that was the quickest D-Rank mission you will ever do... That was true. He did his demonstration, told them that it was an important jutsu and it seemed like the only kid that needed help in that technique managed to master it without the help of anyone. Truly that was a lucky day for the Hatake, who was already smiling at the moment he left the training grounds of the academy. Well, for a D-Rank mission, that was some pretty easy assignment now was it not? The Hatake left the building, laughing on the inside, thinking about that little Choyu guy. He was quite similar to Ryu when he was a lot younger in a certain way; almost insolent and impolite, yet still a hell of a knucklehead that no one expected would do well, whatever it was. This brung back old memories, really old memories, but surely these were good memories.