Dark Phoenix of Konoha by White Angel of Auralon

Part 47 - Debriefing

Debriefing

Naruto had just talked to the homeroom teacher of the second-years, which had been sent onto the test about fifteen minutes ago and body flickered into the classroom of the first-years. The children there showed different kinds of looks. Many were disappointed, angry, annoyed or worried. Others looked thoughtful, some satisfied, mainly the two teams that got all pendants, but all eager to find out more about their performance in the test.

"Good morning, class," greeted Naruto, like he always did.

"Good morning, Naruto sensei," replied the students.

"As I told you yesterday, today we will go over the test you did. First things first, this afternoon, your homeroom teacher will address several areas that were repeatedly a problem for the teams that were trying to pass yesterday. Now that you have experienced a mock mission, you have a better base to understand what your teachers have tried to explain to you in classes so far. A ninja's life is never simply following some instructions. You always have to think, you need to investigate, you need to analyse. Otherwise, it can and will end badly.

"I think some of you have realised that this modified capture the flag scenario could also happen once you are genin, chunin or even jonin. If a bandit group, a group of missing ninjas or perhaps even a traitor of the village has stolen something, and you are tasked with retrieving it, you can't simply assume that all that the mission includes will simply be getting to the item and bringing it back. There will be traps, there will be obstacles and often you will have to fight the thieves to retrieve the item. That was the basic idea behind the way I set up the test. Something that can take place on a mission early into your ninja careers," explained Naruto, and he was happy to see that several children nodded along, having understood the reasons.

"Traps are common protections against those trying to get to an item. Thieves of all kinds will seek to either delay your progress or take you out when they intend to keep the item you are after. Never underestimate their trickery. There are many missing ninjas out there. The civil war in Kiri was a major contributor to the situation, but there are always those that feel treated wrong in the villages that decide that leaving would be better for them. Or washouts from the academies of a village that use their limited training to gain money by preying on the weak. There are numerous ways that people with ninja training can be part of criminal groups. Never dismiss the possibility.

"Now, the first part of the mission was actually before you actually got into the action. Something that you should have known but which many groups only did quite late. As you are beginners, it won't bring your grade down, as long as you did it before attempting the actual retrieval of your group's item, but in the future, this won't be treated as lenient anymore. I'm talking about a check of your equipment," pointed Naruto out.

He looked over the class and many frowned, some blushed and several looked at the floor in embarrassment.

"You didn't pack the pouches that were used for the mission yourself, meaning, you didn't have a way to know what you had in there, except you had a look into them. Never forget checking your equipment. It doesn't happen often during a mission that you have to rely on equipment you didn't prepare yourself, or it shouldn't happen, but if time is short, you might be given a standardized pouch from a superior to immediately head out onto a mission. You won't have to deal with that as genin, but once you make chunin, it could happen.

"It doesn't take more than a minute to do a quick check of a pouch. Had you all done that, you would have noticed that there was a mask with filter seals inside each pouch. It was meant to give you a way to deal with the sleeping gas seals that I had placed on each training ground that was the destination for a team to retrieve their own item."