"This is so exciting!"

Aisa was acting like an overexcited toddler in a toy store. I let out a long suffering sigh but said nothing. It was their first "real" mission, after all.

"Aisa, we haven't even left yet," Kento muttered, trying to pull off a "I'm so cool I've done this a thousand times and I'm too bothered to get excited about it" persona.

It was failing miserably, I noted, seeing as he was practically vibrating on the spot.

"Cmon," Aisa wheedled. "You have to be a little excited!"

"We are helping out the Land of Air," Michiko pointed out. "Recovering their 'ancient historical artifact' has been entrusted to us. That's pretty exciting."

"If it's been entrusted to us," Kento retorted. "Then obviously it's not all that important. And the men can't be all too skilled."

I clicked my tongue disapprovingly. "Always plan for the worst," I chided.

They nodded distractedly, clearly having already dismissed my words. I rolled my eyes as I stepped out of the gate, setting off on a slow enough run that the genin could keep up fairly easily.

No troubles occurred during the travel, and soon we were camped out in the middle of the woods. It was only the genin's complaints that reminded me that they would be unable to run through the night.

And then I had nearly  sat on a tree branch and leaned against the trunk to sleep, before remembering the rolled sleeping bags that we had packed.

Right. Because normal people didn't sleep on rocky terrain without cushioning. Right. Right.

"Before you sleep, go over the mission objectives again," I ordered the three genin.

"The thieves stole an artifact from Sunagakure," Michiko began. "Um, it was... A..."

"Teapot," Kento cut in boredly. "They've crossed the border into our land and are currently hiding inside of a village that is just past border. We've had trouble with this particular village before; this is because the village doesn't care who trespasses with ill intentions so long as they have money. Village sounds like scum," he muttered towards the end of his mini lecture.

"Our objective," Aisa jumped in, "Is to infiltrate the village and steal the teapot back without being caught. Avoid detection at all costs!"

I nodded. "And if you're caught..." I trailed off, making sure that I had their attention before I continued on to the graver side of this conversation. "Kill them before the alarm can be raised, and do your best to quickly hide the body. Or we'll have to fight our way out of there, tooth and nail. You hear me?"

Aisa is the only one of the genin to nod, easily agreeing with me. I realized in a split second that despite Aiden's vigilant protection and constant sacrifice, Aisa was simply less innocent and naive than the other genin.

I turned and glared at Michiko and Kento. "I mean it," I growled. "If you hesitate and die, I'll bring you back to life and have you running around konoha until you die again! And if you compromise the mission... I'll have you hold those precious stress positions until it really is torture."

They're eyes widened in fear and they nodded desperately, and I can't help but wonder if I went about that completely wrong.

I never should have been made a sensei.

***

"Careful when you enter the village," I ordered. "They don't know you, and someone may try to take advantage. I'll be nearby if anything really gets out of hand. But I'm not going in with you. Four's a crowd."

"Have you ever been here before, sensei?" Michiko asked curiously.

I internally cursed. Damn Tsunade for giving me the smart ones... though I wouldn't have been able to stand the stupid ones. "No," I lied expertly. "But this isn't exactly the best village, and I'm not exactly unknown. I don't want to  compromise the mission just because some scum recognizes me."

Michiko nodded , obviously accepting the lie. "Alright."

"Why do we have to stay in this shithole for two days? Why can't we complete the mission on the first night?" Kento complained.

I opened my mouth to insult him, but Aisa beat me to it. "Don't be stupid," he replied snarkily. "If we try to infiltrate the moment we arrive we'll be caught. If we let the novelty of new people arriving wear off then we'll have a better chance of pulling this off."

Aisa was smart, I suddenly realized all over again. Just like Aiden. Maybe Kento was smarter in the academy, maybe Michiko could strategize as a team better, but Aisa was street smart. He knew how to survive. He would have to be the leader in this infiltration. He knew how to survive in an environment like this one.

He'd done it before, after all.

"Both of you," I snapped at Michiko and Kento. "Follow Aisa's lead out there. If he says to do something, do it. Understand?" Michiko nodded, but Kento's face twisted into a slight sneer. I turned towards him. "Do you understand?" I asked dangerously, daring him to voice his complaints.

Like an idiot, he does.

"I get that Aisa's your favorite sensei's-pet, but shouldn't the mission take precedent over your favoritism?" Kento complained, clearly put off at not having been chosen as the lead.

Aisa opened his mouth to angrily retort, but I held up a hand. No matter what he said, this would clearly always be a sore spot for Kento and Aisa.

"Are you questioning my judgement?" I questioned.

"I'm questioning your clear favoritism of Aisa!"

"Use common sense and logic. Do you really believe that I'd jeopardize a mission with petty favoritism?" I laughed derisively. "No, redhead. You would be eaten alive out there," I mocked. "A mommy's boy who's had everything handed to him and never been in real trouble his entire life. What a joke."

"Hey!" he protested. "I've been in trouble before! It's not like I've never been punished, or never had detention, or--"

"That's not trouble," I replied condescendingly.  "That's just cute. Trouble is when you don't know if you're going to live through the night."

"And you think Aisa knows more about that then me? He doesn't get in any trouble; no parents to punish him, a brother who doesn't care about what he does..."

"If you know what's good for you, you'll shut the fuck up," I raised my eyebrow, knowing what would happen next and not bothering to cease the situation before it even came to existence.

"I mean, c'mon, if he doesn't even have parents to punish him that basically means he's never been in trouble before! At least I've had to deal with that much," Kento finished triumphantly, clearly believing that I would be swayed by his oh, so persuasive argument.

And then he was decked across the face.

"I did warn you, you know," I shook my head at him. Aisa stood over Kento, shaking his now-stinging knuckles.

"Try never knowing where your next meal would be coming from," Aisa hissed. "Try not knowing when your next meal would be coming. Try having a switchblade pressed into your hand at four years old because your older brother was going to go out and try to earn something, anything. Try being the little ignorant, terrified kid brother who didn't know when he would be coming back, if he would be coming back. Or if he would be ganked in the streets and left to die in the gutter. If they would come for me to try and get to him. Try not knowing if you would live through the night."

I stayed back. Sharing secrets cemented friendships and relationships. This would only further strengthen this team.

"I, uh," Kento started, but Aisa didn't let him finish.

"So if you have a problem with me leading this mission, go right on ahead. Just know that you'll have a knife between your ribs and your shoes stolen in your sleep. You wouldn't make it through that town in one piece on the best of days," Aisa finished bitterly.

I nodded to myself. Impressive. Aisa had just kept on attacking, and had given no room for a counterattack. Not half bad.

"As I said," I reasserted myself. "Aisa will be leading. You do anything he tells you to, got it?"

All three genin nodded.

"Alright. Go on, then. I'll be watching, and I'll be overseeing the infiltration and recovery. If anything goes wrong in your quadrant, tell me through the radio ear pieces. Otherwise, in and out as quickly a possible in two days time. Go."

They did as I said.

And I settled down to watch.

***

It happened almost immediately.

Someone bumped into Kento, and Aisa immediately realized what had happened. He turned. I could see his lips from the treeline, but couldn't quite hear him.

"Stop," Aisa ordered. At Elat, I'm fairly certain that's what he said. I wasn't 100% perfect at reading lips, and they hadn't activated their ear pieces.

The man kept walking as though Aisa couldn't possibly be referring to him.

Aisa threw a kunai, which barely whistled past the man's ear. "I said," Aisa spoke out patiently. "Stop."

"Is there a problem?" the man turned and asked.

"You took my... friend's...wallet," Aisa replied easily. Kento froze and surreptitiously patted his pocket.

"Hey! Give it back!" Kento shouted. Aisa gave him a warning look.

Several people started watching the scene by now. "Your friend there slammed into me," the man growled. "So I took compensation for it."

Aisa's hand hovered near his pocket threateningly--they had removed their ninja pouches so as not to cause suspicion.  "I would like it back," Aisa warned.

A couple of men wandered forward, standing behind the original man in clear support against the outsiders. Michiko and Kento both fall into slightly more battle ready stances, but the man's gaze is drawn to Aisa's easy and relaxed poise, sensing the danger of a kindred spirit there. "Well, I would at least like and apology for him bowling into me," the man spat, going for Kento's humiliation to draw away from the fact that he would be giving the money back.

Aisa nodded once, turning to Kento. "Apologize to this fine gentleman," he ordered.

"Sorry," Kento muttered insincerely after an obvious hesitation.

"I think I want it to be a little more heartfelt than that," the man sniggered. "Bow."

Kento glares. "No way, I--"

"Bow," Aisa ordered.

Kento made a little twitch with the upper half of his body.

"C'mon boy, make it seem like you really mean it!"

But Aisa was already moving. He kicked the back of Kento's knees, forcing him into a kneeling position then placing his foot on top of his head and grinding it down into the ground. "He's terribly sorry," Aisas apologized, sounding utterly bored with the entire proceeding.

When he takes his foot away Kento bursts up, spitting dirt and insults. "I can't believe you made me bow to scum like this stupid, dirty--"

"I'll teach you the respect that this boy obviously hasn't!" The man snarled. My eyes widened as the knife flashed towards Kento's throat. I certainly wouldn't arrive in time to stop it, and Kento wasn't reacting. But things were getting ugly. My identity would be revealed, and my location would no doubt be compromised.

But...

I sprung forward, and seconds after Aisa grabbed the man's wrist and stopped him from tearing into Kento's throat I appeared in front of the entire crowd, using my body as a shallow divider between the man and my three genin.

The man's eyes widened as he took in my appearance, and he tugged his hand violently away from Aisa's grip, in order to distance himself as he stumbled away from me.

Murmurs resonated from the crowd until one very loud, very clear voice stood out. He yelled in a frightened tone, much more clearly than the others, as he formally introduced my presence.

"Claw!"

__________________________

An update!

A nice, quick update!

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We only got this out so fast cause last one was basically a transition into this and stuff but we seriously need LOTS of comments to motivate us for the next chapter!

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gaara119

Hey guys!! As J said, we really need lots of motivation for the upcoming chapter because we'll be doing lots of work on our original piece (which is time consuming and a lot more harsh than writing a fanfic) so if you guys want the next chapter, comment! If we have motivation then it'll be easier for us to get it all out while we suffer over our original hahah... XD

OK ANYWAYS!

Team ten's first mission! How exciting!

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