Taiichi followed a chunin through the underground sections of the Barrier Team, getting the full rundown on daily operations.
The chunin explained that most of their work involved maintaining and repairing the village's many barriers. When something triggered an alarm, someone had to check it immediately. The harder jobs—fixing conflicts between old and new barriers—usually fell to the jonin.
Halfway through the explanation the chunin suddenly remembered who he was talking to and apologized for treating Taiichi like a newbie.
Taiichi waved it off. "It's fine. You can go. I've got the basics now. I'll figure out the rest myself."
Once the chunin left, Taiichi created a shadow clone to handle the actual work and sent his real body straight into the archives.
The moment he stepped inside, he felt like a mouse that had found its way into a giant rice jar. Rows and rows of sealing scrolls and barrier manuals filled the room. He started with the basics—Fundamentals of Sealing Techniques, Barrier Compendium, Rune Foundations—then moved on to more specialized texts about defensive barriers, detection arrays, and maintenance notes.
He read fast, absorbing everything. The clone handled the routine tasks outside while his real body stayed buried in the archives the entire day, only stepping out for a quick lunch.
By late afternoon he was still going strong when Yamanaka Seiji found him and said an ANBU was waiting upstairs. Taiichi reluctantly put down the scroll he was holding and followed.
The ANBU led him straight to the Hokage's office. Hiruzen was still signing papers when Taiichi arrived.
"Give me a minute," the Hokage said without looking up.
Ten minutes later Hiruzen finally set his brush down and smiled at him.
"How was your first day at the Barrier Team?"
Taiichi scratched his cheek. "Really good. I kind of got lost in the archives. The ANBU had to drag me out."
Hiruzen chuckled, then leaned back in his chair. "I heard you started training the girl from the Yuhi clan."
"Yeah. Started yesterday. Kurenai's got real talent for genjutsu. She's a natural."
Hiruzen nodded, then got to the point. "I was wondering if you could take on one more student. Asuma. Let him train with you and the Yuhi girl for a while."
Taiichi blinked. The Hokage wanted him to teach his own son?
Hiruzen continued before he could answer. "You're a jonin. You're strong in both Fire and Wind Release. And you're already teaching one genin. One more won't make much difference."
Taiichi thought about Asuma's obvious crush on Kurenai and almost smiled. So that was the real reason.
"If Asuma's willing, I don't mind," he said. "They're both my friends. I can handle teaching both of them."
Hiruzen looked genuinely relieved. "Good. I'll send him over tomorrow."
He stood up and walked over to a hidden compartment in the wall. After a short search he pulled out a scroll and handed it to Taiichi.
"You've been doing a lot for the village lately. Consider this a thank-you. It's my personal technique—Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu. The scroll has my notes on it too."
Taiichi's eyes widened. He hadn't expected an actual reward.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"Take it and go. And don't slack on Asuma's training."
Taiichi bowed and left with the scroll in hand.
Back home he wasted no time. He unrolled the scroll and read it three times—first to understand the theory, then with Hiruzen's notes, and finally while comparing it to his own knowledge of Shadow Clone Jutsu.
The technique was brilliant. Taking something meant for living targets and adapting it to weapons required both creativity and deep understanding of chakra theory.
After an hour of study he stepped into the training ground with three shuriken.
His first attempt failed—the timing on the seals was off and the shuriken hit the target before the jutsu could activate.
The second try worked better. One shuriken became two, then four, then eight. Twenty-four shuriken slammed into the target in a tight cluster.
Still far from the Hokage's level, but already a solid start.
Taiichi wiped the sweat from his forehead and reset his stance. He had a long way to go, but at least now he had the right direction.