Iroko POV

Hisao-sensei's voice penetrated through our conversation. "Iroko Nakata, Asami Senju and Yuura Kairi."

We responded to him as he called out our names.

He put his hands to his waist and towered over us. "I hereby officially sanction the three of you as full-fledged shinobi. Welcome to the Ninja Course."

I swallowed a hard gulp. "S- Seriously?"

Hisao-sensei made a face as though he was going to laugh but all he said was: "Indeed, all three of you passed."

I bowed my head as relief washed over me.

I did it.

This time I really did it.

Beside me, Yuura collapsed onto the ground.

"Oh crap!" I gasped. "Are you okay, Yuura?!"

"That Water Dragon Jutsu completely drained me of chakra," he huffed, his face still on the ground. "I can only perform it once a day."

"You're all very tired," said Hisao-sensei. "Go home and rest up as much as you can, for tomorrow is our first mission."

"Woah, for real?" I beamed.

Hisao-sensei nodded. "We meet at the Academy at five o'clock sharp! Don't be late!"

I turned white as a ghost and stood rooted to the spot. "Did you say five o'clock sharp? You - uh - you mean in the afternoon, right?"

His shades shone again. "No."

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"So... tired," I half-whispered, half-said aloud on my way to the Academy.

The four of us had met outside the Academy at the front gate. It was a chilly morning so I had my jacket wrapped around me like a blanket.

"Why are we outside the Academy so early?" I asked, yawning at the same time.

"We're here to get the information on our first mission, and the Hokage is usually the one that gives them," Yuura explained.

"The Hokage is a very busy person," Hisao-sensei pointed out. "They're always on a fixed schedule, so I had booked for a meeting as early as possible."

Why would you do that? I sobbed.

We went towards the gate where the security had admitted us in. On our way through I began to wonder what the Hokage would be like. Is he nice? Is he cool? How powerful is he? What did he have to achieve to make it this far? I thought about asking Hisao-sensei but decided to hold out as I would find out soon enough myself.

We walked through a hallway and then up several stairs that I found hard to climb partly because I was tired and partly because I was lazy.

When we came to the top we were in a long, winding corridor.

As we approached the door to the Hokage's office it suddenly swung open and out came someone that was the last person I wanted to see:

Kazue Katsumi.

He walked out of the office with his hands in his pockets and his laidback attitude brimming with confidence through his posture. He seemed not to notice Hisao-sensei, Asami or Yuura when he passed by them but I could feel all the force of his anger when his eyes drew their gaze towards me.

The corridor felt incredibly tense for the one second that we almost rubbed shoulders. He said nothing at all and just continued to walk away.

Behind him followed Tensho Hyuga, Jin Mitarashi and a woman with really long black hair I didn't recognize who nodded at Hisao-sensei and he nodded back.

She must be Kaz's sensei. I thought, then I smirked to myself. Wow, all of his teammates really are girls.

After that, another woman stepped out of the office. She wore a white-trimmed bluish-black kimono and had shoulder-length hair. Overall, nothing about her stuck out to me except for one thing...

What's with the pig?

"The Hokage will see you now," she said, rocking the pig in her arms.

"Thank you, Shizune," said Hisao-sensei.

The woman nodded and stepped out of the way to let us pass through.

The first thing I noticed about the Hokage was the mask he wore over a third of his face which kind of weirded me out. The second thing I noticed about him was his white-silver hair, oriented to the left, that kind of reminded me of Baku. The third thing I noticed about him was his sluggish-looking eyes, a scar that went over the left one.

What I realized was that those weren't the eyes of a lazy person but of a man who had seen, experienced and done more things than I had been alive. A man who had lost so much and yet here he was still pushing. A man who had gone through hell and back.

So this is who I have to surpass along with Naruto-sensei. I could feel a bead of sweat running down my face. This is the Sixth Hokage!

He looked at Asami, Yuura and me for a moment before turning to Hisao-sensei.

"Team 12, if I have it right?" he asked.

Hisao-sensei nodded. "Yes, Lord Sixth."

He turned his attention back to the three of us. "Now I'm sure the three of you are aware that there are five mission ranks," he said. "Do you know what they are?"

I was about to answer when Asami spoke over me. "Yes, the five mission ranks are D-rank, C-rank, B-rank, A-rank and the highest S-rank."

I grumbled under my breath.

"Very good," said the Hokage. "Now normally the Hokage has to assign fresh-out-of-the-Academy genin such as yourselves D-rank missions: odd jobs like babysitting and farm chores." He looked especially at me, which made me feel like there was a stain on my face again. "But I get the feeling most kids your age these days would like a bit of a challenge."

I had no words to reply with.

Then he picked up a file from his desk and handed it to Hisao-sensei. "The details of the mission are all within that file, but the gist of it is that Lady Hotaru of the Tsuchigumo clan must be escorted from the Tsuchigumo Village to the Stone Village where she is meeting with their Tsuchikage to discuss an alliance with the Shinobi Union. She's being sent as a representative of the Tsuchigumo chief, her uncle." Lord Sixth rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I realize I'm saying Tsuchi a lot."

Another note about him sunk into my mind. The Sixth Hokage is a lot more laidback than I thought...

"Keep in mind that this is an important mission and it is absolutely essential Lady Hotaru makes it to the Stone Village," said the Hokage. "That's all from me. I'm counting on the four of you."

Hisao-sensei, Asami, Yuura and I bowed. When I rose my head again I suddenly found myself spouting words out of my mouth.

"Thank you, Lord Sixth, for gracing us with a C-rank mission! I swear I won't let you down!!" Then I bowed again.

There were three seconds of intense awkward silence. I kept my head bowed, wishing I hadn't done what I just did.

"Iroko, was it?" came the Hokage's voice.

I looked up in surprise. Even if he was wearing a mask I could tell he was giving me a closed-eye smile. "Just do your best, alright?"

And I couldn't help myself but smile as well. "Yes, sir!"

After we had received our mission from the Hokage, Hisao-sensei had allowed us to return home and prepare ourselves for the mission, instructing us to meet at the Entrance Gate of the village at "twelve o'clock sharp".

When I got home I spent the first five hours sleeping to make up for the lost time. Then I spent the sixth-hour packing for the mission and the seventh and final hour eating sushi.

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The clock on the wall read twelve o'clock when I was finally ready to go.

I'm sure it's fine if I'm just a few minutes late, I thought.

When I had reached the door I said: "All right, I'm off!"

Oneechan came out from the hallway and stood in the dining room with a smile on her face. "Your very first mission, huh? I'm happy for you."

I turned to leave, waving. "Thanks, Oneechan!"

"And," she continued. "I know our parents would be, too."

I stopped, taken aback by her words, but I didn't let it show. I waved again and proceeded to leave.

Upon reaching the Entrance Gate to the Leaf, I spotted Asami and Yuura in the distance. Asami had the exact same look on her face while Yuura looked scared about something. I wondered what that was about.

And I had soon discovered.

I felt an enormous weight, far more than I could handle, fall on my back and I was on the ground, the air taken right out of me.

"From now on, this is what will happen to you every time you are late," came Hisao-sensei's voice from on top of me.

"It was only six minutes," I wheezed.

At the Registration booth, they identified us via our ninja ID and cleared us off.

"Alright, you're good to go," said one of them.

Walking out the gate, I realized that this was my first time out of Konoha for something other than gathering wood logs.

Those were the good ol' days, though...

Before me was the familiar pathway, that led from here to who knows where, surrounded by tall and bushy trees from which Konoha got its name.

"Alright," announced Hisao-sensei, "we're headed to the Tsuchigumo Village! Team 12's first mission begins now!!"