News spread rapidly down the genin grapevine that the Raikage had returned and begun assigning squads again.Hiromasa was both pleased and anxious at the news. One the one hand, it was good to know that they weren't alone. One the other, it was the end of what he'd taken to jokingly calling Team Hiro, consisting of just about everyone he'd met in his brief time as a ninja. As various peers swarmed the board where the squad listings were, cheers and groans echoed through the streets in equal amounts. Hiromasa smiled. The Reign of the Genin had ended.

Patiently waiting until the sea of ninja had ebbed, he walked up, his curiosity finally getting the better of him. Skye was listed under "Raijin," a name he wasn't familiar with, Hikaru was going to someone named Luca. Near the bottom of the page he finally found Sanosuke, under the Raikage himself! Not too surprising given that they were in the same clan, he supposed. Looking slightly down, Hiro's eyes bulged. Right beneath his partner's was his own name! Barking out laughter, he shook his head. He hadn't even been sure if he'd get a squad, so recent was his graduation, but here he was assigned to the best of the best. He briefly pondered whether this was a good sign or not, before deciding it was unimportant. The fact was, the Raikage himself was going to be his teacher.

The paper had been partially torn by overzealous ninja and thus he could not make out what exactly they were supposed to do after being assigned. With no one else around, Hiro decided to simply go introduce himself. After leaning against a wall for over an hour as he waited, his legs could use the stretch anyway. After some internal debate, he began heading to the administration building. As he neared his destination he felt more than a twinge of nervousness. The only time he'd seen so many guards at once was a tour through Anthos Keep in his academy days. Seeming to sense his apprehension, more than one of them smiled ever-so-slightly as he passed, making no move to impede him. Arriving at the door marked with his sensei's name, he knocked carefully, hoping to be not loud enough to sound demanding, but not so quiet as to be unheard.

Midnight hadn't been back for very long, but that didn't stop people from flooding his office. This was to be expected of course, but even so that didn't make it any less abrasive. Midnight had a routine of things by now, so one little absence was hardly reason for people to be bothering him while he was trying to work. There were people bothering him about his trip, where he'd gone, why he had left, the Akako incident, paperwork he had to fill out, missions he had to approve, really it was all just so bothersome. That is, if it were anyone else.

Midnight actually enjoyed these kinds of things so dealing with all of them swiftly and politely was incredibly easy for him. The first thing he did was create order by telling them to make a line based on the priority of importance, and then had them set down all of the paperwork that needed to be done on his huge desk. Thanks to its size, it was able to house all of the necessary papers that were to be dealt with. After this was done, he told everyone but the people that needed to speak with him to leave. Immediately after doing so he quickly looked over everything in front of him and did what was necessary, be that an approval or sign off, or simply information that he needed to read. Once this was done he called the people back in, asked them to take their papers with them, and leave. This left the people that needed to speak with him.

He didn't particularly want to speak with boring people at the moment, as he'd just finished with technically boring paperwork. It would be the same thing all over again. So as such he told them to just leave him alone for now. They did so. This left him alone with little else but the office supplies around him. Pondering about what to do next he kicked his feet and rolled to the back of his circular table, continuing to face the door to the room. He then threw a dagger at the door out of sheer amusement with himself. It was not actually the dagger that was in its sheath at his side, but a mere ghost of it. Midnight loved this about his dagger, as evidenced by the smile on his face once the dagger and embedded itself in the door. However, it seemed that his play time would be cut short when a knock came from the door.

Odd, didn't he just tell everyone to leave him alone for now? Logically it couldn't have been them, they would never disobey a direct order. So who could it have been? Midnight thought about it for a moment. On his mind was his dagger and training after he was done here, certainly not politics or village matters. He couldn't think of who it could be. It probably won't matter anyway, he considered. "Come in," he said aloud, no longer interested in just thinking of who it could be, since the answer would be a given once the stranger had made themselves known.

On hearing the summons, Hiromasa paused a moment to adjust his head protector before entering. The office was large and about as fancy as he'd expected, but the desk was just excessively huge. His eyes shifting to his new teacher, he bowed. "Greetings, Lord Raikage..." A wide grin crossed his face. "Sensei," he finished before rising from the bow, his hair flipping over his shoulders. He wasn't sure if pictures or descriptions of any kind had been given to the kage when he was assigning people, so he had no idea if he'd been immediately recognized or not.

Maintaining a respectful distance, he introduced himself. "My name is Hiromasa Kurama. I graduated not too long ago from the academy and I specialize in pretty much the only thing I had any talent for, Genjutsu. Oh, I'm also pretty good at manipulating my own chakra," he said, demonstrating his chakra flow skill by channeling some into his hand, which soon formed into a small, pale green bird. With a flick of his wrist, the bird flew into the air circling around him a few times before fading. "That's...pretty much it. I don't have a whole lot of experience outside of the academy yet."

Midnight smiled at seeing a young face, though he wasn't much younger than himself. This was a good starting sign; there wouldn't be any stuffy old person telling him that he needed to get something done. Plus, he might actually be fun to talk to. However, most important of all, the person that came in was male. Midnight shifted his attention to the appearance of the person before him, his one eye sizing up the teen. He was rather attractive physically, but nothing seemed to particularly stick out about him. Well, other than his hair, which was rather long for a male. Midnight had no preference for such a thing, so he paid no mind. Now that something interesting stood before him, he paid closer attention to what was being said.

Sensei...? Oh, that's right, I just assigned new squads, Midnight quickly remembered at being called such. Then there was the bow. How formal. Midnight didn't care for formalities, as they prevented him from using the time lost for other more fun things. Midnight tried to think for a moment; did he already have information about this kid? He probably did being the Raikage, but as far as squads went, he couldn't recall if there was any specific information regarding this person. Midnight was worried about being rude for not knowing him, but it seemed that would be unnecessary as the sixteen year old Genin before him began to introduce himself.

Midnight was rather amused with Hiro's display of abilities, though he wondered for a moment why Hiromasa didn't try to show his genjutsu ability. Being an introduction, it was probably far too aggressive to force a person into a genjutsu simply to display their power. Of course if it were an enemy, it would be a great introduction, but a little Genin would hardly want to make an enemy out of their sensei, especially if that sensei is the Raikage.

"So Genjutsu and Chakra Flow, eh?" Midnight asked rhetorically, still smiling as he leaned back in is chair. As he did so he quickly threw a phantom dagger at Hiromasa and returned his hand to where it was previously in one swift motion that would be entirely unnoticed by the Genin. The dagger would merely graze Hiro's right cheek and embed itself in the door behind him, leaving a tiny cut where it would graze his cheek, provided that Hiro didn't move. Not only this, but if it did succeed in grazing the Genin, which going at eighty five meters per second was incredibly likely, a seal would be placed on his cheek as well.

"I have to be honest, I don't know anything about either of those, though I am rather interested in Chakra Flow." Since Midnight's expression hadn't changed after the movement of his arm to throw the dagger, it now did. He turned his head slightly as if to get a better look at the cheek that had been grazed by his dagger. With a look of concern he told the boy, "I suggest that you don't bleed on my floor if possible." Of course, this was a joke. If the boy hadn't noticed the graze then he certainly would with that comment.

Midnight then spun his chair clockwise so that his left side was facing Hiro, which made it appear to be a move to put the blind side of his body away from the Genin. "I am skilled in Iaido, as you may have just now noticed, so I'll be sure to prevent you from slacking off on your physique, though by the looks of you you seem to be doing alright," Midnight explained, giving him another once over to show that he had been paying attention. Midnight wondered what his squad member would do now in reaction to what had happened. It probably didn't much matter, Midnight was having ever so much fun playing with this guy.

Spoiler:

Hearing the thud behind him, Hiro turned his head before he felt the sting on his cheek. Running a finger along the cut, he was unsurprised to feel a small amount of blood running across the line. More importantly however, he was almost certain something else had happened, though he couldn't tell what exactly, just a small fluctuation in his own chakra around the wound. As he tried to figure out what had happened, everything went dark.

Taking a step back, his heel bumped against the end of the door. Raising an arm, he channeled chakra through it. Strange that the lights would go out in such an important building, but he could easily generate light at will anywhere on his body. Rather, he should have been able to, but he still couldn't see anything at all. Increasing the chakra, he could practically feel his arm humming with it. Nothing.

In disbelief, he brought his hand in towards his face and was suddenly blinded for a moment as he could finally see the pale green light. Toning the flow down, he realized he could see, though there was a fairly hard curtain of darkness blocking light in a small radius around his head. He could see down just past his waist and a few feet ahead and, turning his head, behind him. Thinking a moment, he wondered if it was some kind of test. The Raikage had mentioned chakra flow just before Hiro had been cut and whatever technique had been placed upon him, after all.

Moving forward slowly, he walked in the direction he remembered the Raikage's desk being and stopped when he could just make out the edge of it. Remembering the last thing his sensei had said, he nodded in the general direction of where the kage had been before the darkness. "Aye, Sensei, I've worked hard to stay in shape. I was hoping to eventually have a sort of breakthrough with Taijutsu like Rock Lee in the histories, though I think I might be even worse off than him as far as natural aptitude goes. As I've learned recently, my clan is poorly suited for just about anything but genjutsu, but I try regardless." With this last line he smiled. "I may never become world-renowned for it, but I will eventually become a skilled hand to hand combatant or waste years of my life trying." With that, he released his little chakra torch and waited. No sense wasting chakra when he was where he thought he should be and there was nothing he needed to see.

Midnight smiled at his student's reaction. Sudden darkness was certainly reason enough to think that the power went out, but the reaction to light up his arm was a good one. It showed that he depended on the light, which wasn't so good, but he did figure out that using light within the sphere allowed him a bit of vision. Although outside light couldn't enter the sphere, the light from inside was clearly seen from the outside.

Then came the explanation. It didn't make sense to Midnight that Hiro would try to train in taijutsu considering his aptitude in genjutsu and clear skill in Chakra Flow. Midnight was a bit bias because of his inclination towards kenjutsu, though. Really, it made plenty of sense since with chakra flow and taijutsu he could use his body well. Then it hit Midnight. With the combination of taijutsu and chakra flow he would have a powerful body and with genjutsu --especially since he was so good at it because of his clan-- he would have a powerful mind. It seemed Midnight had a great student after all, though that still left the question of his other student.

Midnight continued to smile at the Genin, though this wasn't able to be seen by him. "I think you'll be a exceptional ninja regardless, especially if properly get you trained," he explained. Though this was a reaction to what he was told, a proper explanation about what had happened was never mentioned. Fixing this, Midnight went on, "and dealing with fuuinjutsu and my Iaido might be a good way to help with that." Midnight wondered what they should do now that they were properly acquainted with each other. He hoped that he could begin training right away, especially if his other student was as good as this one, but there was no telling for the moment. Still pondering this, Midnight continued to eye his student, checking him out, really. He couldn't help it, the Genin was good looking and wasn't much younger than him. He knew that he probably didn't have a chance, nor did he particularly want one, but at least his student was easy on the eyes.

265/280

Iaido and fuinjutsu. Well, that explained things to a degree. A kage focused on speed would certainly be able to attack without him noticing and that oddity with his chakra must've been a seal, which also likely explained the darkness around him. It would be an interesting life training under this kage, he thought. They didn't share any specialties, but practicing evading a blade would assist with his reaction times if nothing else.

Fuinjutsu, well, Hiro had no idea, really. Aside from seeing the generic sealing technique performed he had little idea of the potential of the skill. At any rate, he'd have to practice genjutsu elsewhere but that made little difference. Some of the techniques he had in mind weren't the best for making friends anyway. Crossing his arms over his chest, he smiled at the kage's approval. Opening his eyes, he saw that the technique Midnight had used was still in effect. Strong, that.

'Well Sensei," he spoke out into the nothing, "I'm ready whenever you are to show you what you're dealing with. I have a lot of weaknesses, but, given time, my genjutsu will be terrifying to the enemies of Kumogakure or, really, anyone I feel deserves it," he continued, a mischievous grin appearing on his face as the shadows finally faded.

"Before that we should get your other squad mate acquainted with the both of us," Midnight explained. Now that he had time to properly think about what he needed to be doing, he was able to remember that he had a squad of two to take care of. It would've been much easier for him if the other student had been with Hiromasa, but that didn't seem to be the case. Ah well, nothing could be done about that fact, it was past them now. By now the seal should have wore off, so it was about time that the two of them left.

"Shall we go get him now?" Midnight asked his student. He continued to sit in his chair, meaning to actually give Hiro the option of getting him or not. It wasn't a test or anything, but Midnight didn't really care either way for finding the other student. This student alone was amusing. Besides, Midnight could always find him later on. It's not like he was in a hurry for anything.

Midnight knew that it would be more efficient for the two to train together, both with each other and with him, but for his own ends it was more efficient to train them separately. That is, in total there would be more time spent while he was having fun if they were trained at separate times. Once one training session was done with one student he could go train the other, increasing the amount of time he would be enjoying himself. Midnight didn't bother to consider this as a viable option though, it made no sense to anyone but him. Plus, he trusted that Hiromasa would want to find his teammate so that they could train together. After all, training with genjutsu would be rather difficult if Midnight was the only one he was with.

265/280

Sanosuke had just finished his training in chakra flow at the top of the Durian Tree of knowledge, Guru Pathik had just awakened his chakra system's full potential. He was radiating with chakra as he walked down the mountain trail. Sanosuke took time to calm down the chakra that was around him by meditating and trying to repress the pool of chakra that was building around him. Once it was repressed, Sanosuke could continue walking down the mountain trail. As he walked, he looked through the window of the Raikage and could see that the Raikage was talking to his friend Hiromasa. If Sanosuke remembered correctly, he was assigned to a squad consisting of him and Hiromasa and the Raikage himself.

It was the perfect opportunity for him to keep the to the promise he made to Baki, before the thug was captured by him. Sanosuke walked into the building and passed the receptionist of the Raikage so he could walk towards the staircase. Thoughts about why he was doing this began to search through Sanosuke's mind, then he told himself it was a promise that he made to Baki. If Baki's family wasn't so poor, then someone as kind as him wouldn't have to need to resort to crime. Baki's familiy must really be in a significant amount of financial problems if Baki had to resort to a life of crime.

Once reaching the door, Sanosuke took a deep breath in to prepare himself. He can do this, he just had to ask the Raikage his sensei to send relief to the poor family. After getting himself ready, he knocked on the door politely but loud enough for the people in the Raikage's room to hear Sanosuke's knocking. "Hello, may I come in?" Sanosuke asked as he knocked on the door with the back of his fist.

Spoiler:

Hearing the familiar voice, Hiromasa turned around. "Hey Sano! We were just wondering if we should come and find you, come on in!" Honestly, Hiro felt somewhat relieved. Searching the whole village for one person wasn't high on his list of fun things to do, much less with a Kage in tow.

As his friend entered the room he pondered whether it was appropriate to invite someone into an office that wasn't his, but given the circumstances it should be fine. Turning back around to face Midnight, he took it upon himself to do the introductions. " Sensei, this is Sanosuke. Sano, this is the Lord Raikage, our sensei." Facing Sanosuke again, he eyed him up and down. "So, how's the leg, friend?"

Looking at Midnight, he explained. "We took a mission together with a couple other people we knew to simply lay out the lightning rods at the Thunder Grounds. Seemed easy and boring so we each grabbed a couple of the rods and split up. However, a bunch of punks thought it was their territory now and we all got ambushed by a thug, Sano here being lucky enough to get two, leading to a rather nasty injury on his leg. All was well in the end though and we couldn't say it was as boring a mission as it first looked," He continued, his smile fading somewhat as he remembered the young woman bleeding out at his feet. "Anyway, here we are, Sensei!"

OOC:

A knock at the door at such a time? Must be someone important--apparently upon recognizing the voice coming from behind the door, Hiromasa decided it would be best to just allow them in. How forward. In any case though, Midnight didn't mind. Less work on his part, more fun once more people came into play. How fortunate for him. And then, of course, there was an introduction.

Midnight listened intently, though it did seem like Hiro was talking for quite some time. It couldn't be helped, Midnight needed some background on the kid after all. He didn't exactly remember requesting that particular mission, but he dismissed the thought as he figured someone put it up while he was gone. That was beside the point though, the important information from that spiel was that his student was injured at the moment and wouldn't be at his best.

"Hmmmmmm," Midnight mumbled, looking his other new student over. He seemed... taller than Midnight was... and maybe even older. He was also certainly darker than Hiromasa. Midnight stopped himself from chuckling. Long, tan, and handsome as they say. Instead, he simply smiled at the pair. "Glad you have you now. All I need to know is what your specialties are and then we can get right into training you two!" He exclaimed happily. He then thought for a moment. With the injury and all, maybe they didn't want to train just yet. Well, maybe not Sanosuke... but at the same time, he was their sensei and he could be as strict as he wanted. He pondered over it for a brief moment. "That is, unless you think recovering from your injury has a higher priority," he finished. An explanation like that was a bit passive aggressive, as it would put the importance of training into question for Sanosuke, but at the same time gave him an option to get out of training if he needed it. Midnight would prefer him to be present for the training, as he didn't know of his specialties yet, but he would understand not wanting to exacerbate the wound.


265/280

"The leg is a lot better, in fact I came up to the Durian tree to get some fruit. You won't believe how it helps with numbing the pain down in my leg" Sanosuke replied to his friend Hiromasa. He fished in his back pocket to get one of the Durian fruits that picked from the Durian Fruit of Knowledge. When he picked it from the fruit, he made sure that he plucked all of the spikes from the fruit before placing it in his back pocket so he can eat it later. Now that his sensei wanted to him and Hiromasa to train, it was probably time for Sanosuke to eat the fruit in hopes that it will numb the small pains in his leg so he can walk on his leg properly. He took bites from the fruit and felt the heavenly flavors from the fruit as he took in each bite. The fruit was so good that he felt the pains in his legs subside. "I bet you wish that you can eat this fruit don't you Hiro?"

Sanosuke chuckled at the memory of Hiromasa eating the Durian fruit and facing intense stomach pains after eating it. Once he was sure that the pains were gone from his legs, he took another bite of the fruit just to finish the fruit. This demon fruit was delicious, it was hard for him to put it down at times. He kept eating the fruit until it was all gone; Sanosuke dusted his hands and let out sigh. Nothing like demon fruit in the morning, Sanosuke thought. "I feel much better though sensei we can start. I specialize in kenjutsu, my foster father taught me the ways of battojutsu. And I'm pretty good at chakra flow as well."

Hiromasa's nose wrinkled at the horrific smell of the fruit and he frowned. The fruit he'd eaten had been good, but memory of the aftereffects and lacking his previous excitement at the idea of trying something new, the odor was quite unpleasant to say the least, to the point where he could almost taste it. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his ever-present Hiro Sauce and twisted off the cap. Immediately, the spicy, delicious aroma began fighting over control over the area and blocked out the Durian's foulness, at least immediately around him.

Taking a deep whiff, Hiro then stuck out his tongue and let a single drop fall onto it, his eyes immediately watering slightly as the heat spread around his mouth. With a satisfied sigh, he put the sauce away. "Nope. Think I'll take a pass on eating any of those again. Not bad, but not bad isn't worth the aftereffects. At any rate, I'm ready, Sano's ready. Did you have a third member of the squad in mind, Sensei, or is it to be just the three of us? Either way, we're ready to go."

Midnight listened to the dialogue between the two of them. Mostly paying attention to only the important bits that were related to him. It was interesting that Sanosuke brought that stinking fruit in here. Midnight was at least considerate enough not to victimize all the people in the building by bringing in a such a vile smelling fruit. Didn't it occur to Sano that all the working people here wouldn't appreciate it? Whatever. Midnight loved the fruit, and so apparently did Sano. ... and it seemed Sano loved being ignorant of others as well. Then Hiromasa brought out some kind of sauce and smelled it. That was... odd. It was understandable to do something to fight off the wretched stench of the demon fruit, but carrying around sauce all the time was... weird. Jeez, these were his students? Then Hiro tasted a single drop of the sauce. Nice.

A third member? Midnight already remembered that his squad had only two others than himself. For the time being, this hadn't changed. Ignoring the rest of what happened really, Midnight replied, "No, it'll just be the three of us for now. Now that we're all here and acquainted, let's go to the Battle Plateau..." he paused to keep the tension high. "tomorrow after I get done here." He really wanted to train right away with his squad, but he still had things to do here, and a few things that he needed to get before he could properly train them. Besides, these guys were far too eager for their own good, it would be good to tease them a bit before he trained them. With that said, he wouldn't be taking any arguments. He sat back in his chair and waved for them to leave now.


265/280

Sanosuke's frame slackened as he looked at Midnight, flabbergasted about what he heard. A tick mark suddenly grew on the side of his head in irritation. His sensei was already dismissing them without a seconds hesitation. This guy was unbelievable! His leg had just gotten to the point of recovery where he can actually begin his training, he had met up with Hiromasa as teammates, and Sanosuke had found out that the one and only Raikage was to be his instructor. All the things he needed to be a great shinobi was right in front of him and he had to wait until tomorrow?! No he had to calm it down, before he lost his cool right in front of his teacher and teammate.

Gaining his composure Sanosuke, he turned around to leave the office "Fine then, you better make this training worth while sensei. I'm rearing to go" Sanosuke said confidently before leaving. He might need to do some training in order to work off this excess energy he was getting. Maybe training his elements more might be interesting to train order. Either way the training would be worthwhile; who knows maybe he might learn a jutsu that will show his sensei his true power.

-Exit Thread-

With a nod to their sensei, Hiromasa left the building. Tomorrow at the battle plateau, huh? He was curious as to how the training would go given their differing specializations, but the answer would have to wait until tomorrow.

Thinking back on Sanosuke's parting words, he smiled. His partner would test the waters of their teacher's patience for him, quite useful, if overly bold. With a yawn, he briefly debated some shuriken tossing before deciding to get some rest and head to sleep. Arriving at home, he poured himself a glass of milk which he then set in a mug of hot water until it heated, and drank it, his pre-sleep ritual. With a combination of nervousness and excitement, he fell asleep atop his blankets with a smile on his face.

-Exit thread-