Squad Reassignment

[yasuomasaki]

0927 hours

Yasuo assumed his reassigned squad would want to sleep in. It was only natural to give them some time to readjust to this change. As such, he had hoped the notices sent out had reached their homes just the day before, and that 0930 hours would be an acceptable time to meet. As it was, it gave him time to further review their files in full detail. The psychological profiles were particularly... intriguing.

Leaning up against a tree, Masaki clenched and juggled one of his serrated knives over and over. It felt oddly comfortable handling the weapons again. As soon as the thought crossed his mind and an odd smirk crossed his face, however, the jounin froze. Placing the knife slowly away into its frog, he pulled the trenchcoat tightly around himself, staring off into the distance.

Along the edge of the training grounds, he saw a young boy approaching. Working through his memory, and the profile description, it had to be Teijo Higuchi. He was impressed, the boy arriving earlier than the others. Yasuo was rather relieved, he had to admit, when reading the boy's psych profile. It would be easier to work with him than the others, at least, assuming "that Yasuo" never made another appearance.

Still, as the boy approached him, he could not bring himself to speak. It took everything in him just to have his one-word conversations with Katsura, and still, he could not work up the courage to introduce himself to Rai. Fortunately, the boy was the first to speak.

"Yeah, I'm the new jounin," Yasuo answered. Pulling the trenchcoat closer, he sat down, leaning against the tree, and felt for the metal wire. Waiting for the boy to speak again, he glanced occasionally at Teijo, but returned quickly to the rusted metal wire from his coat pocket.

Why did he always have to be the one to speak? Yasuo didn't want to be there. He wanted to go back to intelligence work, and stay as far away from combat as possible. He'd done enough over the years.

Then the boy asked the question he did not want to hear.

"...Yeah," Masaki answered. "I was there in the Ame campaign." He hoped that was all there was to it, but Teijo seemed to have other plans. Why would anyone ask him about what he did? Masaki clenched the wire, and rose to his feet. "I don't remember much... I drank a lot during the missions..."

[teijo]

Teijo still just couldn’t believe it. Their sensei, his squad’s sensei, had been a traitor to Sunagakure all along and no one had even known about it. So now the genin and the two other genin on his squad had to be assigned to a new sensei.

As he walked to the designated meeting area that he had received a notice telling him to go to, the boy wondered how different this new jounin would be from their old one. A sudden feeling of anxiety came over him and he slowed down to a halt. He felt a bit... nervous about meeting this man. The only thing he knew of him was that his name was Yasuo Masaki.

Would the new sensei be more strict than their previous one was? Ugh, most likely, considering his squad had probably had one of the most laidback instructors of all time up until now. Well, Teijo just hoped that he would be able to hack it either way. Because, despite his efforts, he was still rather weak as a shinobi and didn’t seem to have any real talent, at least no talent that he could figure out.

The boy began to walk again, sighing at first and then starting to pick up the pace. Even if he was slightly nervous about the whole situation, he still didn’t want to miss the first meeting with their new sensei as he had when he and his teammates had first become genin. Hmm, looking ahead to the designated meeting spot, Teijo only saw one person waiting there. It appeared he had managed to arrive before the other two genin, which was rather surprising.

Walking up to the tall and... kind of old, man, the boy gave a slight wave and expected the jounin to say something first. When he didn’t, however, Teijo quickly spoke up to avoid an awkward silence. ”My name’s Teijo... I think you’re the squad I’m on’s new sensei...?” he asked the man timidly.

As the man responded to him, confirming that he was in fact the jounin that had been assigned to lead their squad, a small smile appeared on the genin’s face. When Yasuo sat down, Teijo glanced around the area, keeping an eye out to see if his teammates were on their way. What was taking them so long?

Because he looked like a jounin who must be experienced from all his years as a shinobi, the boy thought that if he asked him a personal question, there might be an interesting story to go along with it. ”So you must’ve fought in the Second Shinobi War... What was it like?” he asked with childlike curiosity. It was odd though, his new sensei’s responses seemed to be short and somewhat vague. ”Oh,” his eyes following the jounin as he rose to his feet, Teijo decided not to question him on it any further.

Scanning the area once again, there was still no sign of either genin. ”Umm, Raiya and Koishii will probably be here soon,” Teijo stated in a way that was a bit sheepish. At least, he hoped they would show up soon. The genin’s gaze slowly drifted down and he focused his eyes on his own feet, despite the fact that they weren’t all that interesting to look at. ”I’m not really skilled, sir, but I promise I’ll try to do my best against whatever you throw at us,” he looked over at Yasuo now as he spoke, only a small amount of confidence in his voice. He just figured it would be better to tell the jounin now so that he wouldn’t be disappointed in his lack of skills later.

[/blockquote]

[yasuomasaki]

Yasuo turned to the boy, looking at him cautiously. He was definitely not what Masaki had expected. Teijo seemed more timid than what he would have guessed for a genin with one year's experience under his belt. Then again, he heard stories about the jounin he was replacing. Treason was not the best way to go out.

He had a sneaking suspicion why the Kage had placed him in this role, especially as the hunter-nins were unable to find the former instructor. But, if that were true, these kids would learn to hate him more than anyone else. Yasuo just hoped he was wrong.

As Teijo started to talk again, Masaki's mind froze. He would have to start talking, and more than five words a day to them. Taking a short breath, he knew he could do it. If he could face down some of the best ANBU forces the enemy had to throw at him, he could at least handle talking to a small group of kids. At least, he thought he could.

"I thought it would be best to take things slow today, figure out where we are, and go from there," he started. Looking the boy straight in the eye, he loosened his grip on his trenchcoat, pulling it off, and setting it aside, folded neatly under the tree. "We can give them a little more time." However, when the boy started doubting his abilities, the man could not help but grimace. "Well, what have you done so far?"

As he listened to the boy, he could understand how the situation played out on their last mission. The jounin had purposefully neglected the training regimen to keep his students weak, and make his operation all that more effective. Yasuo found himself clenching his fists, instinctively feeling for the serrated knife he previously put away.

"Killing is a permanent thing... You take everything away from a man he could ever have, and you lose something in yourself you can never get back." He paused, looking off in the distance. He could sense the boy shudder beside him. "Teijo, don't worry about it. I won't expect anything out of you I wouldn't do."

Reaching for the knife, he handed it to the boy, handle first. "You hang on to this," he muttered.

[teijo]

”Okay,” the boy nodded when his sensei told him they were going to take things slow today and that they could give the other two genin some more time to show up. ... What had he done so far? He had some experience but he probably hadn’t done too much to be completely honest. ”Umm, well he taught us how to climb up the sides of trees by only using our feet. And I’ve been on a good amount of low-ranked missions and kinda a B-ranked one, but that’s about it...” he stated as he considered everything he had done since he’d graduated from the academy. He wasn’t sure though, he could’ve missed something.

The jounin more than likely already knew about the events that had happened on their highest ranked mission with their previous sensei. However, Teijo mentioned it to him anyway. As he told the older shinobi, the genin saw that the man had started to clench his fists as he listened to his words about the traitor of a jounin. He feared he was making his sensei angry, talking about such things, so he quickly finished his retelling of what had happened and snapped his mouth shut.

At the jounin’s next comment about the idea of killing people, Teijo felt himself shudder a bit. He had never actually killed someone before, nor had he ever come close to doing such a thing. Even after having been a genin for practically a year, the boy had yet to have to face that. Truthfully he didn’t think he’d be able to kill someone if the time came, he was too soft of a shinobi for that, not to mention he had aspirations to be more of a healer than a fighter.

Teijo took the knife from the jounin with a confused look plastered on his face. A knife? Why was he giving him a knife to hold onto? Still with a puzzled look in his eye, the boy just stood there, holding the knife in his hand and staring at it. ”Okay, Sensei...” he said but then he looked over at the jounin only a second later. ”I have kunai though, you know. So you don’t need to give me your knife, Sensei...” the genin told him, hoping he wasn’t being disrespectful.

[yasuomasaki]

0931 hours

Teijo was trying to hand him back the knife, but Yasuo just held the boy's gaze. "Trust me, you'll want something more substantial than kunai," he muttered. "Kunai are too dull for some work, and things get... sloppy."

He winched as the boy seemed to cringe at that. Maybe it was too much information, even for a veteran genin.

Instead, he drew another one of the serrated knives from his tactical belt, holding it out in front of him, blade aimed directly ahead. "This kind of knife will get you through anything," he stated. He started twirling the blade around his index finger, juggling it as he twisted it back into his hand in an ice-pick grip. Old age had apparently been kind to him. "While we're waiting for the others, let's practice some drills."

Searching the grounds, he found a suitable man-shaped training dummy tied to a wooden post driven deep into the ground. Signalling Teijo to follow, he approached from behind the practice dummy, knife still held in an ice-pick hold. "You don't want to kill, right? Will disabling without fatal wounds do?"

[teijo]

”Erm... I'll hang onto it then. Thankyou, Sensei,” the boy nodded to show that he understood and would accept the knife that the jounin had previously told him to hold onto for him. It was actually kind of nice... it wasn’t as if his old sensei had ever given him anything like that, even if it was just to hang onto it and probably give it back to him at some later point in time. Though... he really hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with a situation where things get sloppy like he said... He didn’t know if he’d be able to handle it in all honesty.

Practice some drills, huh? That was okay, he could do that. He probably wouldn’t be good at anything he wanted him to drill but he could still try nonetheless. ”Okay, Sensei,” Teijo simply said, nodding a bit once again.

The genin followed along behind Yasuo as he signaled him to do so. He was ready for whatever he wanted him to do... at least, he hoped so! Eyeing the practice dummy as he got closer to it, Teijo wondered what he was going to ask him to do. When his sensei came to a halt by the dummy, the boy did as well, looking up at the man as he spoke. ”Yessir, I think that’d be okay,” a smile started to show on his face as he answered. He was surprised that the jounin understood that he didn’t actually want to kill anyone, and was happy that he seemed to be giving him a second option.

[yasuomasaki]

0933 hours

Nodding at the boy, Yasuo gripped the knife in the downward ice-pick hold, taking a forward stance two steps behind the training dummy. "Until I say otherwise, I want you to always, always, ALWAYS approach a target from behind just like this, got it? Maneuver however you have to so you aren't detected, but if you have to get up close and personal with someone, I expect you to always approach from the rear." He hoped the boy would understand the reasoning for this, but still, Yasuo was expected to teach. "All these fancy techniques... you can worry about those later when you have more experience under your belt. For now, you'll be facing other shinobi of varying ranks and individual skills. If you have to take them down, stay silent, stay hidden, and do not hesitate to take them down."

Moving in close to the target in a single, silent leap, Yasuo's left arm went around the training dummy's neck, his hand over the crudely carved face, as the knife slashed first over the right wrist, then the back of the right knee, followed by the front of the left thigh, and finally, cutting cleanly over the left wrist. He moved through this action like lightning, instantly pulling the dummy down to the ground, and rolling on top of it, pinning it to the ground. "I'll go through it slow twice for you, and then you can try," he stated.

Teijo, however, did not look as though he could register what happened, or believe he could learn it.

"Here, like I said, we'll go slow and easy." Putting the training dummy back on the training post and the quick-release slip knot at the base, Masaki made a slow, exaggerated leap to the target. "We have to cover the ground fast to the target, and we don't want noise, so jump to the target. It's more quiet than you'd imagine. If you have the option, and you can get to higher ground easily, you can also try rappelling down on a line to the target."

For a moment, the boy started to ask about surface walking with chakra. "Again, it makes too much noise, and you have to consider what obstacles your target has in place to prevent an attack from behind. I know in my case, I would first lay down some makibishi, stay away from any vertical surfaces, out on an open hillside, or rig anything near me with tripwires. Also, consider how many sensor types are out on reconnaissance missions, or the various bloodline limits that allow their users to detect chakra. All in all, crude, basic techniques are often the most effective."

Turning to watch the boy for a moment, he nodded his head, listening to Teijo's response. While Higuchi did bring up some good points, Masaki was generally frustrated. Was that how all the shinobi were being taught by their jounin and the academy these days? They were to learn as many specialized, show-stopping techniques as possible, rather than focus on the fundamentals, and save wild, exaggerated methods for needed situations?

"How many genin do you know who passed the chuunin exam last year, though, managed to get through just with flashy techniques?" he asked simply. "I'm not chewing you out, Teijo, but if you're on a mission, conserving your chakra, thinking, and doing things simply, effectively will get you through more situations than any soldier pill, flashy technique, or specialized weapon."

Returning to the training dummy, Yasuo worked through the rest of the motions slowly. With each slash, he indicated the angles. "By cutting diagonally or perpendicular to the limbs, you're slashing the tendons, while avoiding severe bleed-out of the target. They'll still suffer blood loss, but they can be patched up, and our focus is to take as many medic nins out of the fight as possible."

Working through the entire routine again, bringing the target all the way to the ground, Yasuo stood up, reset the training dummy, and motioned for Teijo to join him. "Now it's your turn."