My missions had all be complete for now and I had experienced quite a turn of events. After defeating the troll and turning in the mission I had found out I had become a leader of a squad. I didn't look at any of their files, I simply asked the Raikage's secretary to send a bird to each of them and tell them to meet me on the High Battle Plateau.

I had arrived earlier than I stated and I waited patiently for my other two students to arrive. It was quite early in the morning so I suspected that they would mostly be asleep or eating.

It was a good time though because this early in the day no one else should be up on the High Battle Plateau, making it a very secluded spot for our first meeting. I put my hands behind my head and looked up at the sky.

It wouldn’t take long for Kita to arrive at the base of the Plateau after receiving Tatsuya’s message. The entire time walking up to the Plateau, Kita couldn’t help but to be slightly surprised to have gotten the message, and it had come into full realization that she was no longer an Academy student… no, she was a full-fledged Gennin now. It felt weird to think about it. She wondered how her sensei would be and who they would be, who her future teammates were, and most importantly, what they’d be doing on the first official meeting.

As she finally arrived, Kita could see Tatsuya – a face that she didn’t quite recognize. He looked handsome, but not the type that Kita would go after, not that she had any love interests in the first place. She wondered what he would think – a short, frumpy girl on his team. Kita wasn’t known for much, she managed to maintain average grades throughout her Academy year, excelling mainly in Taijutsu; she was, and often still is looked down upon due to her size, not that it mattered to her anymore; and she was a member of the Akumasureiya clan, meaning her chakra wasn’t actually within her body – it was inside of the gold chain around her neck, though by now the chain was starting to look more like a choker.

She bowed respectfully to Tatsuya before introducing herself. ”Akumasureiya, Kita… I got your message, Tatsuya-sensei.” She said, her voice slightly shaky which was a tell-tale sign of her nervousness. She didn’t like meeting new people that much, so being around Tatsuya was making her somewhat nervous.

This morning signalled a new start for Rui. As of today, his three yearlong probation was over and he could finally pursue becoming a shinobi. Though he did not attend the academy like all other genin, he underwent a specialized exam, built for Rui himself, in order to identify his skills as a shinobi a year prior. The messenger bird this early in the morning characterized both good and bad signs. The good sign was his allowance within the shinobi ranks of Kumogakure no Sato, while the bad symbol was that of having to wake up.

The plateau that they were assigned to meet up was one place he didn’t visit often, and he just hoped that the sun wouldn’t be out for too long. After stepping out of his apartment, his hopes were dashed, so he chose the best option available to him, sticking to the shadows and avoiding the sunlight. He’d have to deal with not being able to see for the rest of the day, as he had nothing to cover his eyes with to block out the sunlight.

He could see the plateau from this final shadow. What he saw were two distant figures, none that he could make out exactly, though one was significantly taller than the second. Taking a deep breath, Rui stepped out of the final shade of cover and started to feel for the chakra of those, whom he assumed were members of his squad. He could feel the chakra signatures getting closer to his, using that as a measuring gap for how many steps he needed.

Once he deemed he was close enough, roughly stopping a meter and a half away from both members Rui introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Abe, Rui. I received a message saying to meet here with a Taosu, Tatsuya.” He tried to look in the general direction of the figure whom he assumed was male from a distance, though he still hated his state of blindness due to the circumstances.

Shimayo was thrilled when she got the message. First, she would finally be assigned to a squad and secondly, just guess who her squad leader was! She couldn't believe her luck. So while she was skipping around her room to express her happiness, Calibo snapped at the messenger bird, obviously wanting to have it for breakfast.
"Oh-oh-oh, no Calibo! No!" Shimayo flailed, rushing to her wolfdog and holding him back. The bird let out a scared screech before making its way out of the open window again.
The young girl glanced at the scroll in her hand once more. They were supposed to meet at half past eight on the High Battle Plateau. She spent the next fifteen minutes in the bathroom to get ready for the first squad in her life (she chose the training outfit she thought looked best on her) and afterwards, told Calibo to hurry up.
Her family was still asleep at that time of day. Only one of their three dogs, Sheila, got up and approached them with wagging tail.
"Bye, Sheila, I'll be back soon! Come on, Calibo!"

And off they went. A few minutes later, they were already approaching their meeting place, Shimayo riding on top of Calibo in an incredible speed.
"We're almost there!" She called out excitedly. Just then, her wolfdog came to a halt, raising a big cloud of dust. Shimayo's face lit up at the sight of Tatsuya, the handsome guy she had met the other day and who resembled an Uchiha with his black hair and red eyes.
She was about to call out his name when Calibo threw her off his back - right into the dust they had raised. "Save it," he simply snarled. "It's for your own good so you won't make a fool out of yourself."

Shimayo could have smacked her partner at that point - hadn't she just made a fool out of herself by falling off her dog? Embarrassed, she stood up and decided to act as though nothing had happened.
"Good morning!" One of her usual big smiles spread out on her lips as her eyes darted between her teammates and sensei. There was one small girl and a blonde boy who made her stare a second longer. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about him.
"He's blind, at least for now," Calibo said beside her, sniffing in his direction.
Her gaze went to her four-legged friend, surprised. It only took her an instant, though, to straighten and wipe the astounded look off her face.
If her teammates hadn't already assumed she was an Inuzuka by her furry companion, they would know now by the way she spoke to him.

As I watched the sky I saw in the corner of my eye how the students slowly appeared. The last one surprised me the most. I hadn't really seen her but the voice was very famailar, and the dog's snarling was only a reminder, it seemed Shimayo was in my squad. As they all came I simply smiled kindly as I looked up at the sky. A lighting cloud was approaching, beginning to cover the sun.

As I realized the three of them arrived I put my hands to my side and looked at the three of them. "Hey there, I'm Tatsuya Taosu, the leader of this here crew." I rapped out to them. I did it mainly to add a little fun to the area. The cloud overhead covered the sun and released a large shadow over the area.

"All right so as you all had read the message from the bird..." I paused for a second and looked at Cailbo. "Where you hopefully let the bird alone so that we could use it in the future." I then turned back to everyone else. "I am the leader of this squad. I simply called you here so we could all meet each other and discuss our skills and who we are." I said kindly with a smile to the group. They were all strange in their own little way it seemed.

I remembered how the other male in the squad looked like he couldn't really see me, was he blind or was it just weary eyes? I shrugged off the idea and began to listen to the others.

Kita was curious to see who her teammates would be – from what her father had told her, a three man cell was something sacred, and the bond that its members shared would be long lasting even after the team is disbanded. Her gaze fell upon the boy that came after her – judging from his way of looking at everyone, something was a little off about him, but Kita wasn’t one to point fingers or make a big fuss about it. She figured it would be revealed in due time, anyways. His name was Rui, a member of the Abe clan – one that she wasn’t particularly familiar with.

She then turned her attention to the last member to arrive – a girl who had an animal companion. She recalled from the books at the Academy that there was a clan that specialized in canine ninjutsu, though she couldn’t quite recall what the clan was called. Kita couldn’t help but to focus more on Shimayo’s animal companion, immediately turning towards it and crouching down. ”Awww! He’s so cute~!!!” She remained in her crouched position as Tatsuya spoke, though she had turned to face him when he explained the purpose of the meeting for today. He was an interesting character indeed – their sensei seemed to like rapping.

”I guess I’ll start...” Kita said as she got up and waved her arms in the air to catch everyone’s attention. “My name is Kita, Kita Asumasureiya. I… don’t really do much, I guess the Academy said I would be best suited for physical combat, so you could say I’m a taijutsu specialist. I like to run around… and yeah! I’m glad to meet all of you, I hope we can make a great team!”

As of this moment, he didn't know what the faces of his teammates looked like. He tried to picture them by their voice, but surely that wouldn't be as great as actually seeing them. As the one named Tatsuya spoke, his vision started clearing up a bit. He looked up towards the sky, his vision a bit bleary, to spot a cloud in the sky that was moving to cover the sun.

His vision was back, and his eye's did not look blank, as Tatsuya finished speaking. He looked at Tatsuya first, sizing him up. He seemed to come off as rather friendly, and a quick glance at the two females in his squad gave him the same feeling. Due to his circumstances, he probably wouldn't have seen any of them before hand. Tatsuya's rapping seemed to irk Rui just a bit, but passed it off as something he wasn't used to as of yet. He read of the Taosu clan and other aspects of the village within his spare time.

He turned his attention to his short, dark-skinned teammate. Within his three years in Kumogakure he tried to learn as much as he could of the village, but the family name 'Akumasureiya' was one he wasn't familiar with, but heard of certain details here and there. The girl herself, Kita, was rather - more like greatly - below the average for both height and weight for females of her age, but this wasn't his place to comment, nor judge, another. After all, he was still considered an outsider to many villagers.

The other girl who arrived, along with her canine companion, seemed a bit clumsy, even if he wasn't able to see it, he definitely heard the sounds. A member of the Inuzuka clan. With his vision regained, he looked at the canine who seemed intimidating. Based off first impressions, Rui thought he could finally make his first group of friends, that is if he didn't screw it up somehow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Rui did a small bow. "My name is Abe, Rui. I've only been in Kumogakure for a bit over three years. I specialize in genjutsu and I know a bit about medical ninjutsu." Rui really didn't want to specify anymore details in hopes of not destroying a chance at friendship this early on.

Shimayo was rather astounded by their sensei's rapping, which, to be honest, could use a bit more practise. She giggled before turning her attention back to her teammates, still with a big smile. There was a tiny surge of anxiousness inside her, going along with questions like "What if they don't like me?", but her optimism made up for it perfectly. All adults had told her that your first team will always stay dear to your heart. For example, her father would still meet with his old teammates every now and then; sometimes they would even take on a mission together again.
Shimayo was eager to become best friends with both Kita and Rui and didn't want to ruin anything right from the start. They seemed like nice people and no-one of them seemed to mind Calibo. The young Inuzuka had been worried that she might get teammates who didn't get along with canines or animals in general.

"Aww! He's so cute~" A female voice made Shimayo tilt her head in the girl's direction. Kita was crouching before Calibo, now resembling a mouse compared to a cat since the wolfdog was pretty tall.
Shimayo tensed up nervously, hoping that Calibo had understood what she'd been trying to tell him in the morning. She knew that he was not too keen on meeting new people, but she didn't want him to hold a grudge against her teammates.

The canine took a step back at first, unsure of what to do.
"Please. It's okay," Shimayo muttered under her breath, watching the scene carefully. And then, to her relief, Calibo bowed his head down, allowing the little girl to pet him.

For a short while, Shimayo was just too proud and kept her eyes on Kita and Calibo, but soon enough, she figured that it was her time to introduce herself. She didn't want to make a bad impression.
Quickly, she straightened and told them cheerfully,"My name is Shimayo! Inuzuka Shimayo. As typical of my clan, I've got my furry, four-legged friend accompanying me!" She pointed at Calibo. "This is Calibo! He is not a pure ninja dog, though, but part wolf. Anyway, I specialise in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu and I like fruits and swimming and running and nature and animals of course and," She paused for a deep breath when she realized that she was close to her ranting mode again. Okay, slower and less talking now. "I don't like bullies, I hate it when someone makes fun of others, you know, in a mean way. Uum.. I'm sure we all get along and Kita, don't worry, we will make the best team ever!"
She laughed, scratching the back of her head nervously. For a moment, her eyes went to Tatsuya and a slight blush crept up her cheeks. Quickly, she looked away and instead refocused on her teammates. She noticed that something about Rui had changed, something about his eyesight. What did Calibo mean by "He's blind, at least for now" ? Was there a way to be only temporarily blind?
Despite the questions popping up in her mind, she was careful not to say out anything loud. Rui should get the chance to tell them when he was ready for it.
All she knew was that she definitely didn't judge him for his weakness. What counted to her was someone's personality and so far, she liked his.

I listened to each of the students and smiled. It looked like they all wanted to excel into greatness, perfect. This squad all had the same motivation to excel as shinobi. Whether they realize it or not this was a trait that was going to help them all, even create some healthy competition.

"Well now, I guess it's my turn now." I said with a little chuckle. "I am Tatsuya Taosu,as I said before, and I am the heir to the Taosu clan. I, like all other Taosu clan members, amd an excelled shinobi in the arts of using Katon Ninjutsu.I also study the arts of taijutsu." I told them a quick story of my place in the clan and the ats under which I fought.

It was funny now that I thought about it. Most of them said barely anything but Shimayo gave every piece of information about herself. She really did talk a lot, I could only guess what Cailbo was saying. It seemed as if he was an older brother figure.

I then did a mental note on each of their names. Kita Asumasureiya, Rui Abe and Shimayo Inuzuka with Cailbo Inuzuka. I smiled at the kids. I was still a teenager but it didn't truly change the fact that I was older than the rest of them, well maybe not in dog years but I couldn't be sure of that. "So what questions do you all have?" I asked the group, curious of what they wanted to know, and I didn't really know what to say as a new sensei.

Kita gently petted Calibo as the others introduced themselves. She had a bright and cheerful smile on her face that made her look even that much younger in comparison to the others, even though she was thirteen. It wasn’t often that Kita could play with animals. Her mother was allergic to most of them, so Kita was never allowed to own one herself even though it had been something the girl wanted to do ever since she could remember. She was already slightly envious of Shimayo for being in a clan that involved canine companions, though there was no indication of it on the girl’s face or body posture.

After Rui introduced himself as a recent inhabitant of Kumo, Kita turned to him, a look of curiousity on her face as she asked. ”You’re not from Kumogakure? Did you used to live far away?” She asked, genuinely interested to know a little more about her teammate. He was perhaps the first user of genjutsu that Kita had ever encountered outside of the Academy – it had always been one of the ninja arts that Kita could never fully get a grasp on. Being a member of the Akumasureiya clan, Kita could not be affected by genjutsu due to the bulk of her chakra being sealed outside of her body and into the golden necklace around her neck.

After Shimayo introduced herself, Kita smiled, rising from her crouched position. It turned out that the two were quite similar in some ways – both were specialists in Taijutsu, and both of them liked animals and hated bullies. ”Yeah~! We’re going to be the best team in Kumo! We have a wide range of specialists… I’m sure we’ll kick butt when the time comes.” She said before giggling softly. Kita was really warming up to her teammates now – they were people Kita felt she could really relate to, and as she got to know them more, the words of her father kept coming back into her mind that the bond they would soon share as a team would be forever unbreakable.

After Tatsuya asked if any of the members had any questions, Kita immediately raised her hand. ”When will we get to train..? Together? As a team? And when will we get to go on big missions?” She asked, clearly excited and anxious to begin.

Rui, out of the corner of his eye, watched Kita, Shimayo and Calibo. Noticing how Shimayo seemed to blush when interacting with their sensei, he turned his glance towards Tatsuya. It seemed like Tatsuya had already met Shimayo and Calibo beforehand. Adding in how Kita was more open than himself, he felt on the outside, probably due to his hesitance to open up, after all, the past three years within Kumogakure weren't the greatest, and it was the first time he was truly alone. Before all this happened, before they came again, everything was relatively perfect, even if they didn't have a home. There's no point in hoping for such a thing again.

His thoughts of hoping for a brighter future than the nomadic path he was on previously were cut short when Kita asked him a question. He had to take a moment to think due to the internal distractions. "Umm, you could say that. I used to live in a small village a long time ago." The second that Rui spoke his last few words, he quickly shut his mouth. It wouldn't help to relive and retell past memories, or at least for now. Besides, he just met these people. It wasn't a question of trust, though that certainly could be the case, it was mainly upon Rui who did not feel sharing such details, yet. With all his secretiveness, they may begin to hate him.

So Tatsuya wanted them to ask questions. Well, that drew up a problem as Rui's mind went blank. Thinking to himself, he began to overthink the entire situation. It just questions, nothing serious. So when presented with such a situation, Rui blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "How long does it take to become a Jonin?!" Well, that was a question that Rui was particularly interested in. With higher ranks came greater responsibility, but also more freedom. The one goal he had on his mind was to visit to the village he was born in. Even though he left at a young age, his parents told him about the village and where it was located to please his curiosity as a young boy. When he was able to get a map, he marked the general location of the village with the help of his parents. Anyways, his main priority for going to the village was to pay respect to his parents. His birthplace was the ideal location to do so.

Shimayo listened to Tatsuya's introduction with awe. When they had first met in the Sky Bar, she had never believed he would be someone so important as the heir of his clan. At the same time, this piece of information seemed to push him even farther out of her reach. There was no way he could ever return the feelings of some immature brat. Calibo was right: Hopefully, this crush would go away very soon.
Apart from that, she also picked up on the fact that all of them specialised in Taijutsu, well except for Rui. Still, he made the perfect medic-nin then. Curiously, she threw a glance at her male teammate, right when Kita asked him a question. Rui seemed to take a moment to consider it before he replied. A small village, he said... A map started to form in her mind, the one they used to have them study in the academy. There were the Five Great Shinobi Countries with the five main villages, but beyond that she had no clue which other hometown he could mean.

When both of her teammates had asked her questions (and she was really interested in the answers), she felt it was her turn to say something. Problem was that she had first to decide on which question she should pick. Needless to say, there were some very inappropriate ones lingering in her mind as well.
'Do you have a girlfriend?' 'What do you like in girls?' 'Or are you only interested in training?'
She could hear Calibo chuckle quietly when he turned his glance towards her.
Sometimes, there was no need for words between them as they knew perfectly what the other one was thinking right now. As for Calibo, Shimayo had no doubt that he was teasing her.
Pretending to take it by offense, she puffed up her cheeks, to which Calibo stayed unimpressed, though, his flews still stretched out into a smirk. They were always joking around like that.

When Shimayo noticed that Tatsuya opened his mouth already to reply to the questions, she quickly called out herself, "Um, I have a question, too!" In a split second, she had decided on something - anything; if she kept silent now, he would think she wasn't paying attention. "How do you come up with your rhymes? Is rapping a hobby of yours? How often do you do it in your free-time?"

Hell, these were certainly not the brightest questions she'd had in mind. They didn't even have anything to do with shinobis or training or something like that! It was more like she interviewed an artist.
Her cheeks flushed with embarrassement whereas Calibo lay down with another chuckle, obviously beginning to find this very amusing.