A few days passed since they were formally accepted into Team 4, and they began gathering at the same training ground for basic instruction. Some of it was really helpful, like tips on how to aim shuriken, some of it was less helpful, like Shin's personal opinions on how to wear a belt, but on the whole the gatherings were fairly productive.
One day, Shin gathered the three together and began, "I have two bits of news for you. First, take these"
She handed each of them a tiny piece of paper.
"These are chakra nature strips. Inject some of your chakra into them, and it will show what your elemental affinities are. If it cuts in half, you have Wind affinity; if it burns up, it's Fire; if it gets soggy, it's Water; if it crumples up, it's Lightning; and if it crumbles into dirt, you have Earth affinity. Here, let me show you."
She took one out herself and injected chakra into it and the paper crumpled up.
"See, I have an affinity with Lightning, which is good against earth, but Wind tends to defeat it." Handing them out to the kids, she said "Give it a try."
The three of them injected a little chakra into their litmus paper and got their results. Kannin saw in the corner of his eye that Warai's paper burned to a crisp, while Tetsu's paper turned to dirt. Kannin saw his own paper first split in two, and then become drenched. Kannin looked up at Harakaze-sensei with an inquisitory expression.
Shin saw this and said, "While most people only have one affinity, some people are born with two, or even three affinities. And while that does seem like quite the blessing, I've seen it turn into a curse when those who have multiple affinities can't manage to master any of them, they end up worse than if they just had one. It seems like you have Wind and Water affinities, Kannin, I would recommend increasing how much you train to make sure you master them both." She smiled and added, "That does, however, make us quite the well rounded team, doesn't it? I have Lightning, Warai has Fire, Tetsu has Earth, and Kannin has the rest."
Tetsu raised his hand and asked Shin, "So what does that really mean, sensei?"
Shin responded, "Chakra natures are a good way of guessing how well you'll be able to learn certain types of jutsu. Jutsu with natures that aren't your affinity will usually be harder to learn, and less powerful than a jutsu of equal level in your affinity. I've even seen some people who never managed to learn any jutsu that was outside of their affinity. Also, there is a rough schematic about how these natures interact: Fire is good against Wind, which is good against Lightning, which is good against Earth, which is good against Water, which is good against Fire. Understand?"
Tetsu seemed a little lost, but Warai nodded her head and Kannin already knew this so it was old news.
Shin continued, "Now that you know your chakra natures, it's time for us to go on our first mission."
Warai's face brightened at the sound, and excitedly asked, "Really! I can't believe it!" She turned to Kannin with a grin and said "We're going on our first mission!"
Kannin smiled at the thought, but his mother's words rang in his ears again, and suddenly he doubted if that was the best news to get today, either for him or for his mom. He looked back at Shin with a more sober expression and asked, "Are we going to the border?"
Shin shook her head, "Not yet. The Hokage wants new genin teams to have at least a month of low-level missions before jumping to anything serious. With the training we've been doing that's down to about 3 weeks, which should be just the right amount of time for our mission."
Tetsu jumped in and asked, "So what is our mission, then?"
Shin looked at them all and said, "We're going to Uzushiogakure, the Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides. It was destroyed 3 years ago, and our task is to collect any survivors we can and uncover any information left there. Uzushiogakure and Konohagakure had a close relationship for a long time, anything left there may be of importance for the village."
Kannin gathered himself, trying to remember what he could about Uzushiogakure, and all he could come up with was that it was destroyed, so his memory wasn't any help. He finally cut through Warai and Tetsu's questions with his own, "So when do we leave?"
Shin turned to him and said, "In two days. Gather your soldier pills, sharpen your kunai, and get a good long sleep. Your first mission is always your most important one."
-
When Kannin got home, he told his mother, "We got our first mission today."
He could hear the cup she was washing hit the counter with a clink, as she meekly asked, "Where?"
"Uzushiogakure"
His mother turned to him with a curious look on her face. She muttered to herself "Uzushiogakure? What could The Hokage want from that place?"
Kannin looked at his mother come into the living room. Since Kannin came to this world, she had aged--gracefully at first, the lines on her face deepened a little, and her orange hair had faded a bit. But the war seemed to be taking a toll on her. She was working at the hospital more and more to make ends meet, and her constant worrying seemed to weigh on her body as much as it did on her mind. The last few years saw the lines beneath her eyes deepen a lot. Her eyes always seemed tired and down; her skin was starting to sag.
She sat down next to Kannin and asked him, "What do you know about Uzushiogakure, honey?"
"Not much. It was destroyed in the war a few years ago. Harakaze-sensei said Konoha had a close relationship with the Village."
His mom sighed and said, "There's more to it than that, at least for us. Uzushiogakure is the homeland of the Uzumaki clan. All the Uzumakis in the world come from there, one way or another. Some people even poked fun at us and called us 'The Ginger Village' since there was so much red hair."
Kannin had a confused look on his face and said, "But mom, your hair is orange. And my hair is almost white!"
She put on a bitter smile and said, "Well on my part, my hair was always lighter than my brothers' hair. As for your hair, you get that from your father."
Kannin knew he had asked a bad question when she mentioned his dad. He had asked her about him many times in the past, and each time she told him she'd tell him 'when he was ready,' which Kannin thought really meant 'when I'm ready.'
She asked Kannin, "What is the mission for?"
He filled her in on the details, and once she absorbed the information, she gave Kannin a big hug before giving him his dinner.