Leading a team of students is no easy task, it requires patience, skill, and an unshakable temperament.
Takeshi liked to think he had a good temper. After all, hadn't he been a troublemaker himself back in the day? A little mutual understanding should go a long way, right?
Wrong. Now that he was in this position, he found himself completely at a loss.
Just the thought of taking charge of Might Guy and his team tomorrow sent a wave of hopelessness crashing over him.
'This world... is without hope...' Sighing, the black cat curled up in his bed, feeling utterly dejected. 'Oh well, whatever happens, happens tomorrow.'
After being riled up by those idiots along with Nekomata, he was completely drained. He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. He might as well take advantage of the drowsiness and get a decent night's sleep.
---
Meanwhile,Guy and his squad were completely unaware that they were about to get a new team leader. Their previous Jonin, Furukawa Makoto, had left without much explanation, merely telling them that he had another mission and that they should report to the Third Hokage for their assignments.
"What's on the agenda today?" Genma Shiranui asked lazily, nearly dropping the toothpick from his mouth.
"Fetching water? Farming?" Ebisu pondered aloud.
Without a Jonin leading them, they had no chance of getting high-rank missions. At best, they'd be assigned another cat-catching job-if they were lucky.
People often underestimated cat-catching missions. Sure, they were low-rank, but they required finesse. You had to catch the cat without hurting it, or you'd have to answer to a very angry noblewoman. And unlike farming or fetching water, cat-catching missions actually took them outside the village.
"Alright! A new day, a new mission! We must be brimming with Youth!" Guy declared, clenching his fists, radiating enthusiasm.
His teammates, however, were far less enthusiastic. Genma exchanged a glance with Ebisu, though he couldn't see his teammate's eyes behind those dark sunglasses, he could sense the shared exasperation.
'What kind of Jonin abandons their squad like this?'
Even Asuma and the others had already been deployed to the front lines, yet here they were, still stuck with menial village tasks. Was this really how an ambitious ninja squad was supposed to operate?
---
Arriving at the mission desk, Guy rushed forward. "Sir! We're here to accept today's mission! Will it be fetching water or farming?"
He didn't seem the least bit bothered by the low-tier assignments. After all, his father, Might Duy, had done these same tasks for over twenty years in service to Konoha with pride.
The Chunin overseeing the mission board glanced at his ledger, then looked up with a confused expression.
"Uh... Might Guy your squad has a new Jonin assigned. If you want to accept a mission, you'll need your squad leader to come forward."
"Squad leader?" Genma and Ebisu's heads snapped up in unison. Then, as the realization hit them, they turned to each other with wide grins and high-fived.
"Wait, our squad has a leader now?" Guy blinked, still processing the information.
After being left to fend for themselves for so long, had the village finally remembered that Furukawa Makoto had left? It had taken them long enough.
"That's right," the Chunin confirmed. "However..."
"Awesome! Let's go find our new Jonin!" Guy shouted, grabbing his teammates and dashing out of the Hokage Building before the Chunin could finish.
Left behind, the Chunin on mission desksighed. 'Should I have told them who their new Jonin is?' He glanced back at the ledger, his gaze landing on the name of their new leader.
Takeshi. Recently promoted from Tokubetsu Jonin to full-fledged Jonin.
The Chunin shook his head. 'Never mind.' Let them figure it out themselves. 'After all, Guy had met Takeshi before, during the Chunin Exams, in fact. This wouldn't be too much of a shock... right?'
He chuckled to himself. 'Those poor souls.'
Anyone unfamiliar with Takeshi had no idea what kind of misery awaited them under his leadership.
Chunin quickly forgot about the whole thing and went back to assigning missions to other teams.
---
"Guy, slow down! We don't even know who the new Jonin is!" Ebisu shouted as they ran.
"Yeah! Where exactly are you planning to find him?" Genma added taking a sip of water.
Guy skidded to a halt, blinking. "Oh. Right. Hehehe... forgot to ask. I guess my Youth overcame me!"
Ebisu sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's go back and ask. Otherwise, we'll be searching all day."
Having Guy as a teammate was great when you needed someone to do the heavy lifting. You didn't even have to ask, he'd finish his own work and then come help you and the others. But when you needed someone to use their brain...
Don't even bother. It was best to just pray that Guy wouldn't get in the way and would let you think in peace.
Just as they turned around walking towards Hokage Building, a sharp "Meow!" sounded from above. A sleek black cat looked down at them from a rooftop.
Genma frowned. "A cat?"
Before he could think much of it, Guy's face lit up. "Takeshi? You're back! When did you get back?"
Genma and Ebisu exchanged confused glances.
'Wait... Takeshi? As in that black cat?'
"I returned yesterday," Takeshi said with a lazy flick of his tail. "New mission." As he jumped down, blocking their path.
"Hehe, we have a new Jonin now, and we're going back to ask for his name. Don't block the way, we'll catch up with you later," Guy said with a smile, not even considering that the cat might be their Squad Leader.
The other two were equally oblivious.
Takeshi was silent for a moment.
'No wonder they didn't recognize me. They don't know I'm a Jonin.' He wondered if it would be better to wait for them to go back and ask before revealing himself...
But then he reconsidered.
By then, too much of their reaction would be filtered through the person telling them, which might reduce the amount of points he could get from them. It was better to just explain it himself.
"If you're looking for the Squad Leader, then that's me, meow!" The black cat scratched its neck with its paw and calmly dropped the bombshell.
"Oh, it's you," Guy replied casually.
Genma and Ebisu, on the other hand, were frozen in shock, pointing at Takeshi with wide eyes, mouths opening and closing wordlessly.
'Squad Leader? You?' Of course, they were equally shocked by their teammate's nonchalant reaction to this rare occurrence. 'What's with Guy's reaction?! How was Guy taking this so well?!'
Even after being teammates with Guy for six months, Genma still couldn't develop that kind of thick skin.
Takeshi stretched lazily. "If there are no objections, let's go. No mission today, I want to see what I'm working with first."
"No way. Are you really our Jonin?" Genma finally found his voice.
"Aren't you just a ninja cat?!" Ebisu asked, pushing up his glasses, echoing Genma's thoughts.
Takeshi shot him a cold glare, then snapped, "Who said ninja cats can't be ninjas? I was a Tokubetsu Jonin over a month ago, and I just got promoted to Full Jonin yesterday. Any more questions?"
"No, no more," Genma said, bowing his head and pushing Ebisu down as well, to show their sincere apology.
But Takeshi wasn't done. He stared at Ebisu for a few long, silent seconds.
'I'll deal with you later,' he thought to himself.'
The group started moving again, but just as they neared the village gates, Guy suddenly leaped into the air, pointing at Takeshi. "Wait a second! Even if you're a Jonin, how did you become our squad leader?!"
"..."
Genma and Ebisu sighed in unison.
So it wasn't calmness, but a delayed reaction in these areas? Including Takeshi, he just took so long to process it.
*Smack!* Takeshi didn't even bother answering. Instead, he simply raised a paw and smacked Guy upside the head.
*Thud.*
"Just get moving," he muttered.
"...Yes, Sensei." Genma and Ebisu swallowed hard, suddenly feeling very, very uneasy.
Ebisu, in particular, had a sinking feeling. 'He was doomed.'
-------------------
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