REACTIVE FORMATION GO! [M]

[Seijūrō]

SPOILER: Click to show

Name: Reactive Formation Go!
Rank: C
Mission Info: What’s a good offensive if our ninja don’t know how to go into defensive mode when outgunned? That’s gonna be your job today. We need you to meet up with one of our Genin teams and give them a crash course in how to adapt during battle.
Reward: 50 EXP, 1000 Ryō.
Minimum Shinobi: One.
Mission Status: Interminable.

---

As the sun rose above the horizon, Seijūrō yawned sitting on a tree stump. There was no one in sight at the training ground, but it didn't come as a surprise to the shinobi. Most Genin cells have been assigned on missions nonstop in an attempt to increase revenue for the village. In most cases, the cells would perform missions back to back without rest making it a rare sight for teams to be seen with their instructors here. Sei was among the handful of Genin who were never sorted into a team and had a lot of time on his hand as a result. He had decided to take a swing at teaching young Genin teams in order to help foster his leadership abilities.

"Where are these kids?" mumbled Seijūrō. While it was a known fact that he was fond of younger children, he was less kind when others were preventing him from accomplishing his mission or not pulling their weight. He was a strict teacher and that was a well-known fact even back in the Academy when he would berate others for their incompetence during team practice drills. Time has tempered his attitude to a degree, but he still a bit cold when it came to teaching others. Sometimes he wonder where he had inherited this trait from considering that his Kenjutsu sensei, Kondo-san, was never mean and treated Sei like his little brother.

He continued to ponder on the thought until he noticed three figures approaching the training grounds. Seijūrō knew who the three were when he saw the hitai-ate on their being. There was little doubt in his mind that these three were the Genin he was assigned to give a course on defensive formations for. Interestingly enough, none of them seemed all that interested in being here despite being an hour late to the designated rendezvous.

The three of them stopped in front of the tree stump where Seijūrō was sitting on. He counted two males and one female in his mind: a normal setup for a Genin team.

"What the hell is this? Is this dude supposed to be our instructor? He looks about the same age as us!" yelled one of males before getting knocked in the head.

"Quiet, you idiot." said the female said before directing his attention to Sei.

"I apologize for my teammate's behavior and our lateness. We got held up with a matter before arriving." She seemed polite enough, taking the blame for her comrade. It was quite obvious who was the leader in this cell, but if it was such an efficient unit then the Genin would not have been tasked with helping them develop their ability to work as a team.

"Your excuse is duly noted, now I have some questions to ask of you before we begin."

[Seijūrō]

The confused look on the three Genin's face showed that they were wondering what the older shinobi hoped to achieve after asking them the questions. Seijūrō had not been given much information to go on for this mission, even the names of the people he was going to teach was unknown to him until a few minutes ago.

While he had believed this was a normal Genin cell, there was one apparent factor that was missing from it: there was no Jōnin or even Chūnin assigned to the team. On paper, the girl, Senna, had the most potential out of the three, having graduated from the Academy at the tender age of nine whereas the other two males, Takeo and Kenta, were both twelve. Despite the age difference, Senna had managed to convince her teammates in allowing her to take charge thus becoming the de factor leader of the unit. She must have beaten into submission until the two of them allowed her to take charge.

"Quite an interesting team we have here." Sei thought as he looked at each member of the cell. He was still holding out on expecting too much from them. If their tardiness was any indication about the team, it was that it could be better and he was going to do just that.

"Now that we're done with introductions it's time for me to see how you function as a team." said the shinobi before pulling out a pair of bells from his kimono. It jingled in the palm of his hands before he tied it to the hilt of his katana.

"Before I teach you on how to improve upon your defense, show me what you can do when you're on offense. Your goal is to get these bells from me before the timer rings. The one who is able to retrieve the bell from me will be able to sit out from the rest of the training session." said the shinobi, placing a mechanical timer on the platform.

"Don't underestimate us just because you're older! I'm going to give you a beating like no other!" Takeo said before giving a fist bump to his friend Kenta. Senna gave Seijūrō a nod showing that she understood the terms of the practice.

"Good, I'll see you all in a minute then." said the Genin before vanishing from his position on the stump and into the dense forest near the training ground. He didn't know what to expect from them, but he would remain on guard just in case one of the three got close to getting the bell from him.

[Seijūrō]

The Genin had taken to the forest in an attempt to make it harder for the three to find him. He could hear the rustle of the tree branches and leaves meaning that the team had now entered the forest as well. He slowed his breathing in order to mask his presence from the others. He had more techniques up his sleeves to elude the Genin but what fun would there be if he did that? He could see two members of the team pop from the bushes and into an open clearing in the forest.

"Did you find him yet?" asked Takeno, scratching his head in frustration. Kenta shook his head showing that he hasn't found the older shinobi yet. The team had split up in order to cover more ground, it was a good tactic but there was still a lack of teamwork. Without telling each other where to look and what to look for, it would be pointless to wander around and attempt to find Seijūrō.

"Wait, where's Senna?" Just as the child had mentioned the girl's name, Sei turned around to see the kunoichi was perched on a tree branch a few meters behind him. Forming a few handseals, Senna took a deep breath in before announcing her technique.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!^{(Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)}" A massive inferno rushed out from the Genin's mouth and washed all over the tree where Sei had been. Landing on the ground, the shinobi had managed to escape from getting burnt to a crisp. That girl was not messing around like the other two now that the game was on.

"There he is!" said Taeko as he came out from the bushes and jumped at Seijūrō. But the kid's movements were a lot slower than what he was used to fighting. Sending a surge of chakra into his hand, he avoided the unrefined attack and struck him once in the head which caused him to drop on the floor unconscious. Senna noticed that her target in the clearing and redirecting her technique in the older shinobi's direction. Kenta drew out his giant folding fan he was carrying before forming a few handseals as well when he saw that Takeo was down.

"Fūton: Fūsajin no Jutsu!^{(Wind Release: Dust Wind)}" Whipping his fan once, a large gust of wind blew across the clearing just as Senna's wave of fire had almost reached Seijūrō who had planted his katana into the ground in order to remain on his feet. The bells continue to jingle despite the loudness of the two jutsu the Genin were using. What Kenta didn't know was that he had created a current which reflected Senna's technique right back at her.

Realizing that her Gōkakyū no Jutsu was being used against her, the kunoichi stopped pumping chakra into the firethrower and leaped out of the incoming backlash of flames. She fell to the ground on her stomach, barely avoiding getting caught in her own jutsu. Kenta looked up at the tree where Senna had been in shock. He had not expected his plan to backfire and end up hurting his teammate instead.

The timer outside of the forest rang. The game was over. There was no winner.

[Seijūrō]

Dragging their semiconscious teammate out from the bushes and back into the training grounds, Kenta and Senna hung their heads low in shame. Seijūrō had a look of disappointment in them as he followed the three out of the forest. He had hoped that even if their defense was terrible, their offense was still on par, but that was not the case at all. Senna and Kenta tried to overpower the Genin with their jutsu but their plans ended up backfiring instead and Takeo had charged in alone believing he was capable of taking on a seasoned shinobi such as himself. The team, at this point, seemed like a lost cause to him.

With a splash of cold water, Takeo woke up from his state and looks at his teammates and understood that their team had failed at retrieving the bell from Sei.

"You performed as well as I thought you would. Poorly." He had no reason to hide the truth from the Genin cell. The shinobi was not here to babysit these kids; he was here to train them into an efficient fighting force for the village to use. A tool for war and if he filled them with false hope, he might as well have told them to dig their own graves.

"If this had been a real battle, then you would have lost the moment you decided to not work together. Remember this; you are only as strong as the weakest link on your team." said Seijūrō looking at Takeo and singling him out.

"You can talk the talk but once you're in the field, your selfish actions will not only jeopardize the mission, but you risk the lives of your teammates as well." His harsh tone pierced through each of the Genin with a sharpness that none of them had ever felt before. The team's morale had hit rock-bottom at this point as even the loudmouth Takeo had kept his mouth shut the entire time.

"But this is why I'm here to train you so that the worse-case scenario never comes to pass." said Seijūrō who had finally decided to use a calmer tone to instill hope in them. If they had no motivation to continue, then he could yell at them all he wanted but his points will never get through to them.

"Now then, we'll continue with the training session in a short bit, until then rest up." said Seijūrō before leaving the Genin to their own devices. The three of them looked at each other before nodding to each other.

[Seijūrō]

After returning from a thirty minute break, Seijūrō saw that the three shinobi were waiting for him at the tree stump from earlier.

"We're ready for the next part of our training." said Senna with a stern voice. She seemed emboldened despite the defeat she had suffered before. It must not happen often for a genius, but if she was one, then she will learn twice as fast from your mistakes.

"Very well, the next part of the training will be focused on refining the defensive formations you have been trained. The life of a shinobi is one filled with uncertainty and to that end, not all of our missions will turn out in our favor. In those cases, we have to learn to watch each other's backs and ensure that the mission objective is complete."

Untying the bells from his katana, he tossed them over to Takeo who caught them with one hand.

"This time around, I'm going to be one attacking while you three try to keep that bell within your possession until the timer rings once again. The punishment this time is that if you allow the bells to be taken, then all three of you will be sent back to the Academy. Do I make myself clear?" said Seijūrō, to which all three of them gave him a silent nod. He looked at the three Genin only to find that none of them seemed shaken from what he had said. It was a good sign, showing that the three had a renewed vigor that Sei had awakened.

"Very well, now disperse!" With a single hand motion, the three Genin disappeared in a flash. He liked their new spirit, perhaps there was hope for the team. Twisting the switch on the timer, Seijūrō looked at the forest where the team had gone into.

"I better not keep them waiting on me." And in the blink of an eye, Sei had also vanished from the training grounds in pursuit of the three Genin.

[Seijūrō]

A few minutes have passed since the beginning of this new session, but Seijūrō was having more difficulty finding them than he had anticipated. They had done well in covering each other's tracks in the forest. He was never going to find them if he just scoured the area alone. Going through a number of handseals, the Genin mumbled the technique under his breath.

"Raiton Bunshin no Jutsu.^{(Lighting Release Clone Technique)}" Five solid Bunshin appeared around the lone shinobi who made a motion for them to move out and find the Genin team.

---

The three shinobi from the cell had been careful in hiding, sticking to what the basics. Two of them were hiding atop on the branches while Senna was in the bushes waiting for their signal to strike around a clearing. It wasn't long before the three had spotted Seijūrō walking into the vacant space in the forest and exposing himself to them. With a tug, a gigantic log crashed through the trees.

Before the shinobi could even respond, the log had slammed into him with enough force to break his rib cage. But the moment of triumph was short-lived as the injured Sei had dissipated into a cloud of smoke. Several more replicas of the shinobi came out from the bushes as Taeko finished the last of his handseals.

"Suiton: Mizuame Nabara!^{(Starch Syrup Capture Field)}" Expelling a large volume of translucent liquid down onto the Bunshin below, the chakra-imbued liquid began to take effect on the mob of clones. All four of them were unable to move due to the effects of the syrup, preventing them from escaping as well.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!^{(Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)}" Senna came out from hiding and unleashed her flamethrower upon the unsuspecting crowd of shinobi. The Bunshin cried out in pain as the blazes engulfed them within seconds, dispelling each and every one of them. Now that their position was known to the real Seijūrō, the three shinobi gathered together and stood back to back in order to prevent him from sneaking up on them.

Another good plan on their part, but he has something even better.

"Raiton: Karasuhebi no Jutsu.^{(Lightning Release: Shocking Snake Technique)}" A long Raiton charged construct began to rush towards the team in an attempt to constrain them long enough for Sei to take the bell. But that was not was going to happen as

"Six o'clock!" yelled Taeko as Kenta shifted positions, completing a number of handseals beforehand.

"Fūton:Kami Oroshi!(Wind Release: Godly Winds From the Mountain)" Waving his giant war fan once again, a drill of wind formed from his motion and was headed for the snake that the older Genin had created. A bright flash enveloped the area when the two techniques collided with each other and then an explosion almost knocked the team off their feet due to their proximity to the blast.

As the debris cleared, the three heard a ringing sound in the distance signifying that it was the end of the exercise and that they had succeeded in repelling the Genin from taking the bell. The three of them got into a group hug, commenting on how amazing the three of them were.

"Not bad." said Seijūrō as he remained on his tree branch; leaning against the trunk and watching the three celebrate.

---

【MISSION COMPLETE】

[~Kohana <3]

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