Mission:

Another mission was handed down from the top of the administration ladder in Sunagakure no sato, this one for a troupe of unruly genin that hadn't been assigned to a squad yet. They were young ones, about thirteen years old the lot of them, never seen a day of combat in their lives. They were unused to how cruel and deceiving the ninja world could be and only barely graduated from the academy by the skin on their teeth. None of them showed much prowess in any areas of specializations, trying more to be jacks of all trades instead of mastering one. As such, none of them were any higher than genin level in bukijutsu, taijutsu, or even ninjutsu. There was one of them that was a genjutsu user, but even this was piss poor at best.

They had been told to meet their sensei for the day at the walls near the village gates for a practical lesson, something they desperately needed to improve their skills. The three of them were named Kiko, Nagare, and Hyotan. Kiko was a shy girl of thirteen with a slim build, raven black hair that would go down to her shoulders if they didn't stop at her neck; her hair was braided and put into pig tails. Kiko was the only ninja of the squad who had tried to learn genjutsu, but wasn't attempting to train it, same as the other two. Nagare was a tall, stocky genin of five feet and ten inches. He had sandy brown hair that matched his eyes which always read a bored expression. His favorite specialization was taijutsu, though his speed with his strikes needed a lot of improvement if he were to do anything with it. He was also thirteen, but had his birthday before the other two, effectively making him the oldest. Hyotan was technically the youngest of the group, having his birthday last out of the three of them and his hair was snow white, while he had beautiful sea foam green eyes, which was shared with Kiko. The two of them being from the same clan, this was apparently common. He was shorter than Nagare, but taller than kiko and had a slender, muscular build to him. His favorite specialization was bukijutsu, though like the others, he hadn't done much to train it and could barely hold his sword upright.

All in all, the three weren't the best of ninja that ever graced the rosters. They were almost incompetent, if they didn't work so well together as a team. They'd passed at the same time, working in tandem to perfect a triple transformation jutsu, transforming into a three headed dog together. The proctor was so impressed, he allowed them to pass their test though they'd failed to hold the transformation longer than a minute. The person who'd come up with the idea and gotten the other two to focus was actually the timid one: Kiko. She'd convinced the other two that they'd need to work together so they had a chance of becoming ninja and the three had been together ever since.

"So, Nagare. You know when this guy is supposed to be here?"

"Nah, I don't Hyotan. He's supposed to be some elite Special Jounin. I think he's really the only one who would take the mission so they called him elite for his fortitude to deal with us."

"Isn't the guy they're sending one of the ninja who used to come by the academy and teach us things like transformation and substitution? How to use deception to our advantage in the ninja world?"

"Him? You sure, Kiko? Last time we saw him he was barely a chuunin when we had first joined the academy. He can't have become that strong in so little time, it's impossible!"

"Not exactly all that strong now, but it definitely isn't impossible."

Syekren's form moved from the direction of the gates as he spoke up to the other ninja gathered before him. He was wearing his black shinobi netted shirt with sleeves over his arms, the material not netted to keep his arms covered. He wore a shinobi gi vest over his netted shirt, with matching black shinobi tights and black tabi with black shinobi sandals. All in all, his black clothing was outlined better by his beautiful alabaster skin. He wore his sunagakure no sato Hitai-ate on his forehead with the left side pulled over his left eye, the right eye was scanning the three before him as he strode to meet them. His black clothing must have looked strange to them as Kiko wore a blue sleeveless dress with the wind symbol on the back, Nagare wore a netted shirt and brown shorts, while Hyotan wore sand color shorts and a t-shirt. They seemed dressed for the weather while he did not

"What took you so long, sensei?"

Ah just got held up with something earlier, and I had to shower after going to the door to hell. Nothing too major. Today though, we'll be practicing supernatural walking practice."

"What? Why that? It's such a basic skill!"

Because I was informed you three neglected the practical studies in favor of trying to master everything else. If you don't know the fundamentals of being a ninja, I can not teach you anything more advanced. And to think I tried showing you the way to be strong at the academy"

"But we know the basics of being a ninja we're ready for something better!"

"This will teach you all chakra control, now no more whining. I want each of you to begin practicing. You will take out a kunai and run up this wall, making a slash to indicate how high you've gotten before having to come back down. I want to see how well you can do with this for today."

With that, Syekren watched quietly as they grumbled and pulled out one kunai from their weapon pouches each. He then stood at a distance away from the wall behind where each of them stood staring at it. With a "go" from his lips, the three channeled chakra into their feet and rushed to the wall. And man, was it horrible. Kiko got the highest, at a mere five meters up the tall structure, making her mark before sliding back down. Hyotan made it at three meters, making his mark before he jumped back down, squatting to allow his knees to take most of the momentum and rolled to turn back and look at his mark. While Nagare.. Nagare couldn't make it up more than a foot. He actually didn't even make it up the wall at all, and fell flat on his back. This was looking rather pathetic, and Syekren quietly shook his head at the display.

"Not good enough, keep trying. Especially you, Nagare. Make sure you actually focus the chakra into the bottom of your feet. Otherwise you're not going anywhere."

Nagare gritted his teeth, but didn't retort, trying again, this time making it four meters up the wall before falling, his mark just above where Hyotan's was and just below where Kiko's was. Syekren sighed, and bade them to continue and so they did. It went on for hours, the three running up to mark a tiny bit higher, before falling or sliding back, barely making any progress. There would be no breaks for them and Syekren continued to bark at them to continue again and again. He wouldn't accept anything less than their best and to him they were not even trying yet. He wanted them to succeed because the future of Sunagakure no sato was on their shoulders. If they couldn't get any  better, then the village was doomed and that was something Syekren tried to avoid.

It was almost night time before Syekren called for the three to stop. They were out of breath and panting, looking much worse for wear. They'd used a lot of their chakra and had taken quite a few falls. In the end, Kiko had reached a height of forty-five meters, Hyotan had reached a height of thirty meters, and Nagare, with some encouragement, had reached a height of fifty meters. It was surprising that Nagare had done so well, but Syekren still didn't think they did well enough. After all, at this point in his training he was already able to reach the top of the walls. Which he'd done so often to sneak out at night and train in the harsh wastes surrounding the village. Still, he couldn't fault them for trying and waved for the three to follow him as he walked towards town, the three too exhausted to argue.

"You guys showed improvement today at least. So I suppose I can treat you to dinner at the dragon's tongue before you go home. Get whatever you want, I'm buying you food for a harsh day of training. Just know it doesn't get easier from here on out."

WC: 1,541/1,500
Mission Completed, Exit Thread