章 119: Naruto Chapter 119
Konohamaru and his classmates stood at the edge of the training field closest to the academy. They didn't know which of the specialist teachers would take the class today, but so far, these lessons had been fairly interesting.
When it was time for the class to begin, Naruto appeared in front of them in a body flicker.
"Good morning, everybody. Today we will see if you have actually practiced what I taught you over the past six months," Naruto started, looking serious.
"I have arranged with all your other teachers that you are excused from all other classes for today, as you will be doing a training exercise, which doubles as a test for my subject, fuinjutsu."
The students looked at each other torn between elation of not having boring classes like history, and having an unannounced test sprung on them.
"You will be put into teams of three students, similar to how you will be put onto genin teams. This is also a simulation of your ability to work with your classmates on a common goal.
Seals can be used by you or against you on any kind of mission. Your homeroom teacher has helped me with putting together basic equipment sets that are standard for D-rank missions, which this will be similar to.
Each team will get one set of those and you aren't allowed to use more than that, except you can get it without having to buy it in a store. Those won't be around on missions either after all.
The main area for the mission simulation will be the forest and the training grounds around Konoha, but it can happen that other places are included as well," Naruto explained.
"I won't give you more information, as part of this simulation is to gather information. To determine the teams, we will let coincidence decide.
As you can see, I have spread coloured balls all over the training field. You will pick one. They can be screwed open and the same numbers are one team."
This would ensure that nobody could cheat and create a team with just his friends. He wanted them mixed up to not have any advantages. This was after all one of the younger classes and team set-ups were still years away.
"Each team will get a mission objective from me, once the teams are determined. How you go about the task, is fully up to you. Just know that you have to be at the top of your game to get a passing grade for this. And it will be influencing your overall grade for the year," Naruto revealed, which made some frown.
"But why wasn't this test announced, if it is that important for us?" A boy asked annoyed.
"A ninja has to be ready for a mission at all times. You are training to become ninjas, so you should get used to that mentality early on. Not to mention that surprise tests aren't uncommon in any subject.
If they didn't happen so far, the other teachers were coddling you, which will be dangerous for your development. Being a ninja is no walk in the park, it's hard work and never being content with what you have already achieved.
There will always be somebody that is stronger, smarter, faster or trickier than you. If you want to survive and become good at this job, you better take it serious," Naruto declared sternly, "Alright, line up and on my signal, go and get yourselves a ball. You have thirty seconds."
The children scrambled to get a good spot at the border of the field and when Naruto whistled on his fingers, they ran forward, snatching up the closest balls. The smarter ones ran to the back, where there wasn't as much crowding for the balls.
"Okay, time's up," Naruto announced and thankfully the children had all collected the balls, "Now open them up and when I call out your number, step forward and collect your mission objective and equipment."
Naruto started from one and handed out sealed envelopes with the tasks for the children next to three pouches with equipment for each team. They all held different things, but they would find that part our on their own, he wouldn't inform them.
He also wouldn't tell them that he had a small army of transformed shadow clones all over the village to observe the behaviour and progress of the teams. Once the tasks were handed out, he had the teams line up, similar to how it had been done after the second round of the chunin exams.
"Now, you will open your envelopes once you have separated from the other members of your class, and are on your own. After all, only your team is allowed to be privy to the mission you have got. That is a common occurrence with higher-ranking missions.
It might even happen that you will be in direct competition with other teams for a mission objective. You have until three in the afternoon to fulfil your task and return to your classroom at the academy. I will be there, waiting for you, taking your reports about the task.
"One bit of warning, you might be confronted with the need to do first aid if one of your teammates is injured a little.
In case something really bad happens and you need to go to the hospital, the mission is considered failed and you will receive a zero for the test. Exception is the very unlikely case of outside interference, but that is something I will deal with, should it actually happen."
The children nodded, understanding how serious this test was.
"Okay, it's eight thirty now and you will want as much time as you can get. You may go to a place to read your instructions. Oh, any you might want to take your lunch boxes with you, as buying lunch at a shop would also be considered failing the mission. If you happen to find some edible plants or fruits in the forest, they are fair game."
Naruto vanished from his spot and the children separated from the other groups to get their task started.
...
Naruto reappeared next to the homeroom teacher of the class, Atakuro, who had watched the meeting between Naruto and his students hidden from the classroom window. Atakuro wore the standard Konoha uniform, had short brown hair and wore rectangular glasses.
"You think they are ready for this, Naruto?" He asked.
"Not really, most haven't taken the class as serious as they should, but they will realise their mistake today.
Some know their seals and are also doing well in the general classes, so they should be able to direct their teammates into the right direction. It will also allow me to put some of them onto studying the intermediate material, if they show good results today.
But I believe in confronting children with a simulated, downgraded version of what expects ninjas outside of the village on missions from an early point in their studies on. This way, they won't have to learn things they slacked on the painful way, by being injured on missions, or lose a teammate.
"Better they see how much work they still have to do while they still have the safety of the village to fall back on, instead of when they don't have the time to correct their mistakes. It was one thing my own year lacked greatly.
I know that during peace times the requirements of the academy are lowered, but you don't help the children that the council, the instigator of the previous curriculum, supposedly wanted to allow a profession as a ninja. It isn't a job for everybody," Naruto answered.
"Very true. I'm much happier now that the new curriculum has been implemented than before. I always feared that we were sending out children that were simply not ready by far to survive in the field.
And honestly, while there is nothing wrong with a team staying genin for two to three years, simply because the training beyond the academy curriculum takes time, and some things need more individualised teaching, on average, a team stayed genin for five years, which is really long," Atakuro commented.
"I especially like that we now have the option of keeping the children that try for the ninja path in mixed classes for two years, before we make the first cut. Those that clearly can't make the training work, because they don't have enough chakra, will be redirected into different paths.
The idea of Lady Tsunade to train those with very small chakra reserves up to become employees at the hospital for low-level injuries and help mixing common medicine, next to other jobs that don't need much chakra was very good.
This way, the children don't get their hopes up too much about being a ninja, but still doing something valuable for the village."
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