A/N: Huzzah, I'm back! Not for long. Maybe longer. Who knows? Nothing to say here.

Chapter 5: What Bell Is This?

"Hairwash, we've got the target cornered, prepare to capture."

"Roger that, Fire. Commander, what's your status?"

"Approaching destination. Commence capture of the target in T minus 6 seconds."

Anko just sat there, eating some dango while watching the attempts of her team to catch Tora, the runaway cat. The striped cat was somewhat a rite of passage for Konoha genin, as every team had to capture it sooner or later as a D-rank mission. Just for fun, however, she had given them codenames and instructed them to use military speak, with the threat of the 'death penalty' if they forgot. So far, she hadn't had the opportunity to give the sentence.

"3, 2, 1. Commence operation!"

The three genin dived in to capture the elusive cat. Tora, sensing hostility, leapt away to escape, only to be blocked by Akuma. The cat immediately turned around.

"Hairwash, to your left, block out Escape Route 2! Fire, remain in position to block Escape Route 1." Shin followed Mizu's instructions and blocked off Tora's other escape route. With nowhere to run, the cat decided to attempt a breakthrough and leapt at the bluenette, claws extended.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Shin yelled when the striped cat attacked him ferociously. Fending him off, unto the ground, the bluenette drew one of his swords.

"Hairwash, remember the objective!" Mizu reminded him urgently. "This is NOT an assassination, we are to capture the target unharmed!"

"He won't be harmed, don't worry about that." Shin flipped his blade so the dull edge would be used instead of the sharp one. "Let's just make sure he's scared enough to come without any resistance."

"Hairwash, do not engage the target in a battle of arms. I repeat, do not engage the target in a battle of arms."

"Too late." Was all the blue-haired genin said before slashing at the cat. Tora jumped neatly over the slash and landed on the blade, running up the sword to attack Shin.

Surprised by the extra weight, the blue-haired genin let go of the sword, allowing both weapon and cat to fall to the floor. Tora, however, had plenty of experience in this particular situation, so he smartly used the sword as a platform to jump and continue his attack.

He landed in the arms of a girl, where he quietly accepted his capture and stopped struggling after a while. Mizu had come in between Shin and the feline compatriot before the blue-haired genin could draw his other blade and run the cat through or something.

"Last time I'm saving you from a cat, Hairwash." Mizu told the bluenette, who was bending to retrieve his sword, muttering about cat demons and the like. "Anyway, mission accomplished, sensei."

"Alright. Not bad, I guess. Since no one earned the death penalty, we'd better get back to the Hokage's office before Tora here decides to assassinate old Hairwash here."

Shin opened his mouth to protest, but seeing that Anko didn't exactly come across as a tolerant sensei, he wisely bit back his retort and walked towards the Hokage tower with his mouth shut.

"This is nice. We went through some nerve-wrecking exam only to get the privilege of pulling weeds." Shin commented sarcastically as he uprooted a few of the garden devils. "And get paid less than odd jobs, too."

"As much I hate to agree with you, I do." Mizu said as she bent over to weed out a corner of the garden. "I mean, seriously, sensei?"

Anko just smirked evilly at them. "You know, the best part is that I don't even have to do anything and still get a share of the pay."

Akuma paid no heed to the conversation as he continued to soundlessly weed the garden. He looked like he was in a foul mood, so his teammates didn't bother him.

"How is that fair?" Shin protested. "We do all the work and you get paid?"

"Life isn't fair, kid." Anko said with a shrug. "At least it's just weeding. Last D-rank mission I went on, I had to clean the sewers of Konoha. Seriously, you have no idea how many people flush the wrong things down the toi-"

"Katon: Grand Fireball!"

All three heads whipped around in alarm to see Akuma burning down the garden with his fire jutsu.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Shin exclaimed as he jumped up to pull Akuma back.

Akuma turned to him. "I'm getting rid of the weeds." He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You're also getting rid of the flowers, you dumbass!" Shin yelled.

"Small matter. Makes the job faster." He shrugged, made a few hand seals and went back to torching the garden.

"STOP THAT!"

"You missed a spot." Anko pointed out, halfway chewing some dango.

"Where?" Shin asked, looking at the fence for a spot he missed.

"Gotcha." Anko went back to chewing.

"…" Shin went back to painting the fence while Anko walked over to one of her other students.

"You missed a spot." Anko pointed out to a red-headed genin.

"Where?" Akuma searched for a missing spot as well.

"Gotcha." Anko walked away.

"Very funny, sensei." Akuma said, and went back to painting the fence.

Mizu painted her corner with a smile tugging at her lips. The other two genin did miss a few spots, but their teacher played it as a joke.

Now the two boys would never suspect that they had actually slipped up… quite a few times, actually.

Fifteen minutes later, their employer came out to inspect the paint job. Mizu was proven right.

"You guys aren't thorough enough. The girl did a good job but you two boys missed quite a few spots. Get back to painting!"

Anko could barely contain her laughter as the boys shot her murderous looks as they went to retrieve the paintbrushes again.

The Sandaime Hokage stared at the members of Team 9, plus sensei, in his office. "Twelve D-ranked missions. Twelveof them and you failed seven. That's more than a 50% fail rate. Would you care to explain yourselves?"

Team 9 collectively found the floor to be an object of interest.

"D-ranked missions. How is it possible to fail D-ranked missions?" The Hokage grumbled. He picked up a folio and opened it.

"Mission: Find Tora the cat." The Hokage read. "Report: The target was retrieved, but seems to have developed a traumatic fear of sharp things. Mission success questionable."

Mizu looked pointedly at Shin, who looked elsewhere. The Sandaime turned the page.

"Mission: Weed my garden. Report: The garden was burnt down. Mission failed. Extra charges will be sent."

Mizu and Shin both looked at Akuma, who was still interested in the floor pattern.

"Mission: Milk my cows. Report: The cow went on a rampage and the crops were trampled on. Mission failed."

The Hokage went on to read the other nine missions that Team 9 had been assigned to. With each mission report, the genin shrunk lower and lower.

"This is unbelievable. No team has failed this many D-ranked missions in such a short time since the Sannin." Sarutobi shook his head and heaved a big sigh.

Anko looked surprised. "Your students sucked at D-ranked missions?"

The Hokage nodded with a slight smile. "Like you wouldn't believe. More than half the D-ranked missions they were assigned to ended in failure." He closed the folio. "Is there any reason you're not performing the way you should be?"

Akuma nodded. "D-rank missions are boring as hell. It kinda turns my good mood into a bad one."

"I kind of agree with him, Hokage-sama. It's a bit of a let down after Anko-sensei's test." Shin agreed.

The Hokage nodded and turned to Mizu. "And you?"

The girl shrugged. "I've been doing the missions without any trouble. The failures come from them."

"Hey, that's…" Akuma started, before breaking off his protest. "…true."

A sudden loud childish yell distracted everyone from the conversation. "I've gotten better, you old geezer! Fight me!"

Mizu looked to the right to see a familiar figure charging through the doorway. Spherical helmet, long blue scarf… it's that kid that 'fought' Naruto the other day.

"Hyahh!" He swung his arm to throw a shuriken at the Hokage. Or at least, he tried to.

"OW OW OW! Let me go!" Konohamaru demanded, flailing his arms as he was suspended in the air by his hair by a certain blue-haired genin.

"Hokage-sama, do you want me to put him down?" Shin asked politely with a false smile.

"If you don't mind, yes." Sarutobi replied. Shin obliged and set the boy down. Konohamaru turned to him and growled.

"Damn you! I'll get you someday." He shook his fist at Shin, before noticing Mizu. "Eh, I remember you! What are you doing here?"

"Why can't I be here?" Mizu asked the boy with a smile.

"Because you're annoying!" He retorted.

"Am I now?" Mizu asked.

"Yes!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Reeeaaally?"

"Yes! You're annoying!" He huffed and crossed his arms. Mizu laughed lightly at his reaction. Her teammates just looked at her with strange expressions.

"Young master! You're supposed to be learning Shinobi History! Come along, and don't bother the Hokage." A tall man with sunglasses entered the room and dragged Konohamaru away. "My apologies, Hokage-sama." He bowed before leaving the room.

Sarutobi sighed. That's the third time today. At least he's cutting down on it since he met Naruto. He thought. "Well, back to business."

The other occupants in the room was reminded of the matter at hand and snapped to attention. The Hokage continued. "There's nothing much we can do about the failure rate. Go take the rest of the day off. At this rate, you'll become a liability, so take your missions seriously from now on. You three are dismissed; Anko, you stay."

Anko nodded and turned to her students. "Wait at Training Ground Nine. Since we aren't doing any more missions for today, I'll give you guys some training."

The three genin had hopeful expressions on their face as they bowed and filed out of the room to head for their destination. After a grueling series of boring D-ranks, their jounin-sensei had finally decided to train them, which was, depending on how you looked at it, either really good or really bad.

The Sandaime waited for the three to leave before turning to Anko, who had immediately switched to a more serious persona, something most jounin developed after years of undertaking missions. "They are your first students, are they not?"

Anko nodded with a measure of pride. "None of the other genin passed my test before them."

"Yes, it is undoubtedly the hardest test among the other Jounin. Even Kakashi's test seems easy in comparison."

The jounin shrugged. "What can I say? I'm picky about my students. Besides, I'm not really all that into teaching, what with the whole incident with that man." A dark shadow passed over her eyes for a moment before it disappeared. "But since they passed the test, I'm going to be giving it my all."

"Does this team satisfy you?" Sarutobi asked, with a soft smile. For years, the third Hokage had been trying to saddle Anko with a genin team in order to return her to the person she was before Orochimaru's betrayal, but as the entrance test was completely up to the Jounin, she had managed to avoid it until now. He only hoped that Anko would rediscover her softer side now that she had students.

"Yes, they do. You've read my reports. Akuma Enkou is beyond what a fresh academy graduate should be. I have seen him use two fire jutsu consecutively without tiring, which is quite impressive for his age. The other boy, Shin Minamoto, is exceptionally fast for a genin and he seems to be proficient with the sword. Of course, being one of the few remaining Minamoto, it stands to reason."

"Mizu, on the other hand, is the one to pay attention to. At our first meeting, she dismantled a couple of traps that I had set with the joint-complexity of mid-chuunin without any prior warning. Later, she saw through my means of distracting her team along with several other ploys that I set up. She hasn't shown any exceptional combat capabilities as of yet, but her perception is about jounin-level. A refreshing one compared to the other fangirls out there."

The Hokage nodded, acknowledging her assessment of the three genin. He too was surprised at their abilities when he had read the reports. "Do you believe they are ready for a C-ranked mission?"

The jounin paused to consider her team with a calculating mind before replying. "Yes, I think they are. They have the teamwork required along with a competent leader, and I can bail them out if worse comes to worst."

"Very well." The Hokage said. "Expect a C-ranked mission within a week. Keep the news to yourself, however. After all, Team 9 will be the first rookie team to be assigned with a C-rank, and their classmates might get a little impatient if they heard. You may go."

Anko bowed and departed from the Hokage's office before switching back to her normal persona barely suppressing her glee. Finally, the D-ranks are over! I was about to die of boredom stuck in the damn village.

She exited the tower and began to walk toward the Training Grounds. Now, I told them to wait for me at Training Ground Nine,… but some dango sounds really good about now…

She paused in midstep. Well, I could just say that the meeting with the Hokage took longer than I expected. In any case, dango comes first!

The jounin turned and walked in the opposite direction to her favourite dango store, humming to herself. Her students could learn to wait. After all, patience was a virtue, especially for a ninja.

Team 9 was waiting at Training Ground Nine, the training ground designated to their team. The centre of the grounds was littered with rocks and the occasional log, while a stream ran across one end. On the other end, tall trees and other plants served as a natural barricade. Although Team 9 had seen the area before, this was their first time actually using the grounds. For the past week, Anko had made them perform D-rank after D-rank out of sadistic pleasure.

"Sensei's taking forever." Akuma complained.

"Knowing her, she probably went to get some dango." Shin said. None of them could understand her teacher's addiction to said food, but it was as clear as day that Anko was obsessed by it.

The three genin were sitting under one of the gigantic trees for shade. No point in getting a heat stroke waiting for their teacher, after all.

"Most likely." Mizu agreed, content with the comfortable silence that surrounded the team. She decided to occupy herself by staring at a fallen leaf which she had picked up from the ground. Closing her eyes to focus, she levitated the leaf above her palm using chakra.

A strong breeze blew across the training ground, rustling the trees in the area and blowing away Mizu's leaf. She watched it swirl away with the wind as it joined a myriad of leaves before picking up another one from the ground.

"I'm bored." Akuma huffed and stood up. "Anyone wanna spar?"

"I'll go for a round." Shin said, standing up as well. "It's better than sitting around doing nothing, at least."

The two genin made their way across to the centre of the training ground.

"Rules?" Shin asked.

"Anything goes." Akuma smirked. "We don't stop until one of us gives up, or until Mizu-chan calls the match." He turned to the girl in question who was still sitting under the tree. "You don't mind, right?"

Mizu shrugged in response.

"Fair enough." Shin replied, and immediately rushed the red-haired genin with a smirk on his face. "Iaijutsu: Shockwave." The bluenette drew his katana so quickly that it appeared like it was flying into his hand. At the same time, he flowed a little chakra into the tip of the blade.

As a result of the sheer speed of the draw, the chakra manifested into a wide yellow wave that flew at incredible speeds at Akuma.

The red-haired genin wasn't caught off guard at the suddenness of Shin's attack, but he was surprised to see a yellow projectile soaring towards him. Without missing a beat he rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the chakra wave which continued to soar until it sliced into half a tree.

Akuma appeared quite impressed with the attack until he realized that Shin had managed to close quite a bit of distance between them. With a grin, he turned to his opponent and performed a few hand seals rapidly. "Katon: Grand Fireball!"

A fireball erupted from his mouth at point blank range toward the bluenette. Shin, having recognized the hand seals, backtracked, leaped to the side and continued his charge, his sword in the lead. He engaged Akuma with a diagonal upwards slash, which the other boy ducked under while drawing a kunai. Akuma retaliated with a slash of his own, which Shin dodged easily.

Mizu watched their training session with mixed emotions. On one hand, she was impressed that her teammates were as strong as they were. On the other, she realized with a sinking feeling that she was no match for either of them in combat. As she levitated the leaf on her palm, she paid close attention to the boys' movement.

The first mistake she saw as the boys continued their spar was that Akuma left obvious openings whenever he attacked with the kunai. Although he had managed to avoid injury so far, it was only due to his quick reflexes. Most of the time, Shin missed by a hair's breadth.

As the spar continued, it became apparent that Akuma was no match for Shin in close-combat, and the redhead seemed to have noticed the fact himself. He disengaged from Shin and leapt away, hands speeding through seals.

"Katon: Phoenix Flower." A volley of small fireballs shot out of his mouth, aiming towards Shin. The bluenette flipped back in response, narrowly avoiding the first fireball. As the remaining fireballs descended, he danced around them as he continued his advance towards Akuma, who had let fly a couple of kunai at him.

Shin simply deflected the kunai without stopping his charge, although he had to draw his wakizashi with his other hand to do so.

Mizu watched as they engaged once again with close combat. Akuma had drawn two kunai in order to combat Shin on equal footing, but it was glaringly obvious that he wasn't used to dual-wielding kunai. His form was sloppy, and Mizu caught at least four openings whenever he used his left-hand to block. However, Shin didn't seem to have noticed the openings but instead capitalized on the next attack without bothering to exploit them.

That was Shin's weakness in a nutshell. He wasn't accustomed to improvising; if he didn't hit his original target, he counted the attack as a failure regardless of how many openings the attack left. In a way, it was a bigger weakness than Akuma's.

In spite of that, however, Akuma was slowly giving ground. A grimace appeared on his face when Shin managed to land an attack on his arm.

"Alright, it's Shin's win." Mizu called the match. Said genin leapt away and sheathed his swords with a smirk on his face, even though he was breathing heavily.

"Good match." Akuma said with a grin as he strolled back to the tree Mizu was sitting under. "I'll get you next time."

Mizu frowned. Akuma wasn't even sweating from the exertion, while Shin was out of breath. If the lack of exhaustion was any indicator, Akuma would have won in a drawn-out battle, hands-down, whereas Shin would've won in a direct confrontation, if only barely.

"Alright, brats. That wasn't too bad, but now I want to hear about what Mizu thought about the battle." A familiar voice said right next to her, surprising the three genin.

All three genin started as Anko appeared right beside Mizu with a smirk and a dango box in hand. She was completely hidden! There was no sign of her whatsoever…

"Well, girl?" Anko prompted.

Mizu looked at her sensei, nodded and stood up. "Well, for one, Akuma left plenty of openings, especially during close-combat. Also, to take out a second kunai when you have no idea how to use it efficiently wasn't the best idea. You would've done better if you had stuck to one kunai." She said to the red-haired genin, who nodded.

"To continue, Akuma had decent positioning when he used his jutsu, but it could've been better if he made use of the surroundings. For example, if you had used Phoenix Flower with more awareness, you could've maneuvered Shin into a tree, where it would've been harder to avoid the fireballs without being able to move in a particular direction."

Akuma nodded again, but Mizu wasn't done just yet.

"Also, if you had continued to keep your distance from Shin, you would've won just by wearing him out. You're hardly even breathing hard, while Shin over there is still panting."

Akuma nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. So I could've won, but I didn't use my strengths properly. Mizu sure is smart!

"Shin, on the other hand, was even worse." Mizu said dryly, turning to said blue-haired genin.

"What're you talking about?" Shin asked, half curious and half insulted. "I won, didn't I?"

"That's not the point." She shook her head. "There were so many openings that he left, and yet you didn't even exploit any of them." Mizu explained. "It looked like you were performing a kata, all form without flexibility."

"What're you-" Shin started, but was cut off by Anko.

"She's right. You don't know how to improvise, you just follow the textbook without bothering to use your head." Anko shook her head. "It's bad form. Against a slower opponent, you can scrape through, but if you're up against a faster opponent, you're basically dead the moment you engage. I'll show you what I mean."

The jounin turned to Akuma. "Brat, attack me, and freeze when I tell you."

He nodded, launched a simple punch, and froze the moment Anko told him to.

"Now, girl, how many openings can you spot?" Anko asked.

Mizu frowned. "I spot five openings."

"Show me where." Anko moved away, allowing Mizu to take her place.

"Under the elbow, behind the forearm, the stomach, the right shoulder, and the throat." She stated, indicating the respective areas.

"Not bad. I spot nine. In addition to the five you mentioned, the right knee, the back of the neck, the temple, and the left shoulder. Of course, that's because my taijutsu style can hit those areas without much hassle, but they're openings all the same." She then turned to Shin.

"Tell me honestly, how many did you spot?" She asked.

"Only one, the chest." He said, his tone oddly humbled.

"And how would you have gone about exploiting it in a real battle?" Anko said, her eyes unreadable.

"I wouldn't have. I would've just continued attacking following the sequence of the sword dance." He answered, embarrassed.

Anko just sighed in response. "Well, it seems your luck doesn't suck as much as your eyes. The chest opening was an extended opening, or rather, a false opening. Punch him in the chest and see what I mean."

Shin did, and immediately found himself on the ground, courtesy of Akuma's throw. Anko motioned for the red-haired genin to return to the same position as before as Shin stood up, massaging his bruised back.

"It's a taijutsu trap, to put it simply. A false opening whereby if you take the bait, you'll be on the receiving end of a counterattack." Anko explained. "Of course, if you're fast enough…" She continued.

Anko attacked Akuma's chest, and before the three genin could blink, the hit had connected, though it was simply a light tap. "The opponent won't have time to counterattack."

Shin's eyes lit up in understanding, and he nodded.

"Alright, unofficial lesson's over. Time to start the official one. Gather in front of me and sit down."

Team 9 did as they were told, and their sensei sat on a log behind her.

"Now, I haven't done this sensei bit before, so you're gonna have to keep up with me." Anko began. "Raise your hand and ask if you don't understand."

"Now, you're all ninja. Although most of the missions you've done so far are grunt work, someday you'll be getting some serious missions, one that will actually require real skills. If you've paid any attention in the Academy, then you should know that they aren't exactly child's play. There are eight common types of real missions: Protect, Rescue, Assassination, Combat, Takedown, Intel, Collect, and Escort. We jounin call it P.R.A.C.T.I.C.E.. With me so far?"

Akuma's hand flew into the air. "What's Takedown?"

"Takedown encompasses Sabotage and Demolition." Anko answered. "It's a raid of sorts on a particular building, such as supply depots or warehouses. Sometimes you have to blow them up."

"Oh. Sounds fun."

Anko nodded before continuing. "I'm just going to skip the boring parts for now. I don't have the patience for explaining things, so I hope you've paid enough attention in the Academy. We're just going to focus on your training."

She took out two small bells from her pocket and showed it to the three genin. "This is a test I borrowed from another sensei. They were supposed to get the bells from their sensei." She tied the bells to her pouch strap. "Likewise, you're to take the bells from me when I tell you to start."

"Before we begin, I'd better get this out of the way." Anko smirked. "Come at me with the intent to kill. If you fail to impress me, you will face punishment. Secondly, anyone without a bell before sundown will be punished as well. That gives you approximately two hours."

Mizu frowned. "So one of us will be punished regardless of how we perform? That's harsh, sensei."

Anko laughed evilly. "No, it's fun." Her sadistic tone sent shivers down their spines. "Hmm, I think I'll add another rule to the original. If I proclaim you dead, you're out of play and cannot talk or move until you get 'revived'. To 'revive' a dead person, you have to defeat the shadow clone guarding them. If you cheat while you're 'dead' and my clones disappear, consider yourselves really dead. If all three of you die, then it's game over. You have one 'continue', where all three of you will be revived on the spot."

Mizu was thinking rapidly. It adds another element of strategy into the mix. Time and energy management as well as teamwork is crucial.

"Any questions? No? Alright then, start!" With that, Anko vanished and reappeared in the middle of the field lying down on a large boulder with a big box of dango by her side. From her coat pocket she retrieved an orange book, which she began to read, giggling every now and then.

The three genin sweatdropped at her antics before turning to one another. "Any ideas?" Shin asked, looking at Mizu.

"I'm working on it." Mizu answered, her brows furrowed with thought. "Akuma, how long can you hold your Grand Fireball?"

"About ten seconds."

"Alright. Do either of you have any flammable liquids?"

They both shook their heads.

"Damn, that's one plan out of the window. Shin, what other jutsu do you know besides Shockwave?"

He shook his head. "That's the only one I know at the moment."

"Alright, so we have the Academy Jutsu, Shockwave, Grand Fireball, Phoenix Flower, and Dragon Fire, since Akuma's other two jutsu shouldn't be used on friendlies, correct?"

They both nodded. Akuma had a self-imposed ruling to not use the other two fire jutsu he knew on allies.

"Alright, it's not the best plan, but it might work…"

Anko read her book, or rather, Kakashi's book, with a stick of dango in her mouth as she waited for her kids to strike. For smut, it was surprisingly good, with exciting action scenes, well-timed jokes and arousing… well, you know what. It was the latest installment in the Icha Icha series she recently 'borrowed' from Kakashi, Icha Icha Violence. Man, Kakashi's probably pissed right now.

She giggled at an adult joke. So dirty…

Out of the corner of her vision she noticed Shin running to her with his hand on his sword, and sighed as she snapped the book shut and pocketed it. It was just getting good, too.

"Iaijutsu: Shockwave!" The yellow projectile flew towards her, and she pushed herself into the air along with her box of dango, narrowly avoiding the attack.

"Katon: Phoenix Flower!"

Anko smirked. Not a bad plan, considering most people didn't have the reflexes to dodge mid-air. But then again, Anko wasn't most people, and proved it by performing a series of impossible aerial dodges, twisting and flipping to avoid the fireballs as they sailed past her harmlessly… until she caught a metallic glint from inside one of the fireballs.

Her eyes widened. Shuriken! That means…

"Pull!"

Anko found herself surrounded by incoming ninja wire. Using her honed speed, she drew a kunai and quickly spun in the air, cutting the wires.

"Shin, now!"

Anko was suddenly engaged in aerial combat against the said bluenette. She was quite impressed at his learning rate; he seemed to have learned to take advantage of openings in such a short time, but his skill suffered and he seemed a bit too slow… Her eyes widened for the umpteenth time during the battle.

It's a Henge!

"Iaijutsu: Shockwave!" The chakra wave flew towards her from her left, and she quickly kicked off the fake Shin and backflipped, causing the shockwave to miss, but barely.

Anko was impressed at the tactical depth and the sheer amount of steps and predictions. She glanced at the where the fake Shin was before and saw it transform back to Mizu in a cloud of smoke. She fell on her back and rolled to her feet, giving signals to her teammates. She really is talented.

"Katon: Grand Fireball!" She heard Akuma's voice coming from directly below her.

She quickly performed a handseal to Kawarimi herself with the nearest visible log just before the fireball hit. The log turned into charcoal from the sheer heat produced by the jutsu.

"Improvise!" Mizu yelled. Anko smirked, the attacks would be much sloppier now. The planned assault had failed, forcing the genin to improvise, and Shin and Akuma weren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed.

…Or so she thought. She found herself bombarded by kunai and shuriken from all directions, each tied to a string of ninja wire. As she twisted and dodged the projectiles, she saw Akuma speeding through seals.

"Katon: Dragon Fire!" He roared, sending fire rapidly across the ninja wire.

Anko leapt into the sky, watching with some measure of awe as the net of ninja wires turned into a sea of flames. I am so stealing that.

She looked down only to see the web of flames rise upwards towards her. Wire manipulation while the damn things are on fire? Okay, now that's just plain impressive. Not to mention stupidly masochistic. Those hands have got to hurt.

She flicked two kunai downwards to cut an opening through the fiery net before diving down headfirst through the net. She executed a quick flip and landed neatly on her feet in a crouch before spitting out the dango stick in her mouth at her nearest target, Mizu.

Anko's eyes widened as the stick completely passed through the genin as if she wasn't even there. A clone? How many moves is she predicting ahead?

She quickly threw three kunai at the three figures surrounding her, with no effect whatsoever. The kunai simply passed through the figures. Anko frowned. If I were them… The Cloaking technique!

Sure enough, the three genin were right in front of her under camouflage cloaks. In a flash, Anko threw three kunai at each minor distortion, forcing them to reveal themselves.

Before any of them could blink, she disappeared and reappeared behind Shin, giving him a light tap on his neck. "Dead."

She then vanished from the spot and appeared right in front of Akuma, lightly tapping his stomach. "Dead." Only to see him grin.

Before she knew it, Mizu gave a shout. "Continue!"

Instantly the two 'revived' genin shot towards her. Akuma's kick forced her to duck while Shin slashed at her waist, forcing her to maneuver into a spin.

"Game, set and match, sensei." Mizu's voice came from right next to her. Wait, what? She turned to look at the genin.

Mizu was holding up two bells. Anko's eyes widened. She had completely forgotten about the bells in the heat of battle. So when I twisted in mid-air, Shin was precise enough to cut the strings for the bells, and Mizu caught them… I'll never underestimate them ever again.

"Alright, alright, you win." She grudgingly admitted. At this, Akuma let out a whoop as the other two genin grinned.

"I have to say, that was some impressive teamwork, especially when you started improvising." She remarked.

"Ne, sensei? It wasn't improvising." Shin replied with a smile.

"Whaddya mean, kid? I clearly heard Mizu telling you guys to improvise." Anko replied, confused.

"Well, sensei." Mizu replied with a grin. "'Improvise' is one of the contingency plans in case you managed to outmaneuver the original plan."

Anko's jaw dropped. She had been played, royally, for the first time in a long time and by a genin no less! "Psychological effect. I can't believe I fell for that!"

Before, when Anko heard that they were improvising, she had let her guard down subconsciously, expecting sloppier attacks and messier teamwork. It was an effective psychological attack, cleverly masked and executed.

"Yep. 'Continue' was another backup plan in case you decided to abuse your speed." Mizu stated.

"Wait, how many backups did you have?" Anko asked, curious and somewhat frustrated that she had been manipulated to such an extent. She was Mitarashi Anko, Tokubetsu Jounin and T&I Specialist, dammit!

"Six. 'Improvise', 'Continue', 'Retreat', 'Run', 'Wing It', and 'One More Try." Mizu said. "They're mostly false phrases to confuse you, and they're all planned movements. The initial plan ended after Akuma's Grand Fireball, because you would either kawarimi or vanish in a burst of speed if it didn't succeed."

"So how many moves did you actually predict in advance?" Anko asked, hardly able to believe the sheer amount of brilliance and foresight her student had.

"Well, it wasn't so much as prediction as it was limiting you to only one move." She explained. "For example, in 'Improvise', the net of ninja wires gave you only one opening, upwards, because the net blocked your vision for a proper kawarimi so it's only natural that you would jump." Anko nodded, seeing the logic behind it.

"So when Akuma used Dragon Fire on the whole network, the rising wires had three purposes. One, to force you to make a hole in the net and limiting where you could land, two, to obscure your vision for a kawarimi, and three, to block your vision from the creation of the clones and the Cloaking technique."

Anko was definitely impressed. Mizu had basically closed every other option available to her and placed her in check every step along the way. And from what she knew of her student from the short span of a week, all of her other plans were probably just as detailed. All thought up in about fifteen minutes no less!

"I am never underestimating you again." Anko muttered, shaking her head. "Who manipulated the wires for the flame net?"

"Akuma." Mizu answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Didn't it hurt? I could feel the heat from fifteen feet above it." Anko asked.

"Nope, I'm conditioned to heat. I'm an Enkou, remember?" Akuma reminded her.

"Right." Anko nodded, recalling the fire-wielding clan. "Well, since you've all honestly impressed me, there won't be any punishments given out for that." Anko said. "But who's the one who's not getting the bell?"

The boys pointed to Mizu while the girl raised her hand with a grimace. Anko raised an eyebrow.

"We settled it earlier with Jan-Ken-Pon." Mizu explained, rather dejectedly. "I lost."

Anko gave an unbelieving chuckle at that. Although she didn't really expect them to fight for the bells, she also didn't expect them to decide beforehand with such a simple method.

"Alright, then I guess it's time for another lesson, since the sun's not down yet. I'll decide your punishment later. Gather around and sit down."

The genin did so once again, with Akuma on the left, Mizu in the middle and Shin on the right. Anko sat down on a small rock behind her.

"The next lesson after the whole mission thing is Combat." Anko began. "Ninja combat is different from other forms of combat, unlike what you were taught in the academy. Most people think that ninjas are dependent on the amount of jutsu and chakra levels. While those are important, they're only secondary."

"Ninja combat has five primary elements. Skill, Tactics, Endurance, Power, and Speed, or S.T.E.P.S.. These four are the most essential qualities in pure combat. Of course, there are other factors that determine the outcome of a battle, such as determination, surprise, and morale, but they're external factors and not directly related to one's abilities. Still with me, brat?" She checked when she noticed Akuma's lost expression.

Akuma looked a little confused, but he nodded.

"Between you three, you have an extremely well-rounded team, with Shin excelling in Speed and Skill, Akuma in Power and Endurance, and Mizu in Tactics." Anko continued. "Of course, it would be better if all three of you were well-rounded so you can stand on your own, but you're only genin, so it's expected." She fixed them with a stern glare. "Even so, I expect improvements from all areas. Starting tomorrow, we have a set schedule. We do missions from eight to twelve, have lunch, do more missions, and train from three onwards. Understood?"

Shin raised his hand. "Anko-sensei, what time do we finish?"

"When I say you're finished, then you're released." Anko responded. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes, sensei. I have a part-time job at eight on alternate days." Shin replied worriedly. "Is it possible to end before that? I need the money for my family, sensei."

Anko looked at him for a moment and her eyes softened as she remembered his background.

The Tokubetsu Jounin was sitting on a desk in the Konoha Academy, waiting impatiently and wishing she had brought some dango.

"A-Anko-san, these are the academy files you requested." A teacher handed her three files. Anko nodded her thanks and opened the top file.

"Enkou Akuma, age twelve, male, parents, one older sibling, blood type O, 146 cm, 42 kg… heir to the Enkou clan, prone to moods, okay… mhmm…" Anko read the red-haired genin's details out loud, not really finding anything of interest and continued on to the next file.

"Mizu, age twelve, female, no parents, no siblings, blood type AB, 148 cm, 37 kg… orphan, lives alone, yadda yadda…" An orphan. That was interesting, considering she…. Anko thought about the girl for a while longer before moving on the the last file.

"Minamoto Shin, age twelve, male, single parent, one younger sibling, blood type AB, 151 cm, 43 kg… works multiple jobs, single-handedly feeds the family… blah blah blah…" Anko went through Shin's file. She was surprised that he carried the heavy responsibility of putting bread on the family table at such a young age. She sighed and closed the file.

Two of her genin needed financial help. She left the room, deposited the files with the secretary, and exited the building.

She had a Hokage to see.

"It won't be necessary." Anko replied, with such a gentle smile that her students could hardly believe it was real. "I've already made arrangements with the Hokage for the both of you and Mizu. You'll both receive a monthly stipend from my account, enough to feed yourself and any family you may have. You can repay the loan when you make enough money on your own. Just make sure I don't regret it."

The two genin could hardly believe their ears. Anko had basically resolved all their financial issues, without a set date for repayment. Shin immediately bowed low, his eyes moist. "Thank you, sensei!"

Mizu followed suit a second later. "Yes, thank you, Anko-sensei!"

"Alright, alright, enough of that. Stop bowing already." Anko said, returning to her usual self. "By the way, speak of this to anyone and I will kill you. Whatever happens in the team stays in the team. Got it?"

"Hai, sensei!" The three genin replied. Akuma smiled. Despite her harsh and flippant behaviour, their teacher was actually a kind person when it counted.

"Fine then, we're done for the day. You're dismissed. I'll see you all at the usual spot tomorrow at the usual time. Don't be late." Anko told them, and Shunshin'd away, only to reappear in front of them a few seconds later.

"Oh, I nearly forgot. Mizu, your punishment is to come up with a playbook of sorts for team tactics. I want it by the end of the week, alright? Seeya." She said, before disappearing again.

In his office, the Sandaime smiled to himself as he looked away from his crystal ball. These were the moments that made the paperwork that came with his job worthwhile. With a grimace, he returned to the mountain of documents in front of him, his mind still occupied with the thoughts of Team 9.

He had been pleasantly surprised when Anko had requested for the financial arrangements, and had agreed to it almost immediately. The concern that she had shown towards her new students was unexpected and sudden. Another smile made its way to his face.

Maybe, just maybe, Team 9 would succeed in bringing back the past Anko before Orochimaru came along. The gentle, kind, and caring girl that she used to be before the snake's betrayal.

Maybe, just maybe.

A/N: Another wrap. Chapter closed and all that. Whoop-de-doo? Perhaps.

Reviews are cool. Rawr.