[Right][h3][color=darkgray]Minoru[/color][/h3]
[sub][i]A year later // Land of Fire: Konohagakure[/i][/sub][/right]
[hr]

It was just a few days before the start of the Chunin exams and he couldn't believe it. It felt unreal, and he wasn't ready to let his kids go. The past year had been interesting to say the least. Azumi had given birth to a baby boy last fall. They'd named the child Haru, keeping the theme they had unintentionally started. Haru looked like a small but cute potato, like all babies did. He, like his sister, had the typical pale violet eyes of their mother's clan but where Kazuha's hair was inky black, Haru's was a dull purple-black like Azumi's was. Minoru loved his growing family. His children were beautiful and his wife was happy. He'd considered retiring from being a sensei after his current team passed their exams. He had a family to focus on and it wasn't fair to Azumi if he'd pushed all the parenting onto her. It wasn't like he could just jump into a new team right after the exams. He'd taught these kids for the past few years and had seen them grow. They'd become a part of his family and he would always think of them as his.

Minoru had decided to meet his team for a bit of training and maybe a nice lunch since they'd be busy after the exams. It would be good to let them go on a good note. Minoru had no doubt that they would succeed in this endeavor. They'd all grown their skills, even Natsuko. He was proud of them. Okay, he was a bit more proud of Natsuko than the other two because Kazuhiko and Koharu had always been good at whatever they put their minds to...Natsuko had struggled with her ninjutsu. 
They'd be meeting in their usual spot and he tried not to think too much about their first meeting in this very spot. He could clearly remember the way they looked as fresh-faced genin. 

Over the years he'd changed too. Minoru had cut his once waist length hair to about his shoulder blades. He'd learned that young children loved to grab ahold of long hair and not let go. He had become more fit as well. Training with his genin had improved his physique (something that he knew his wife quite liked) and he'd gained a few new scars on the backs of his hands and one pale line on his chin that wasn't all that noticeable. Luckily he hadn't developed wrinkles yet, as it was common for men in his clan to have crows feet before they reached forty. Minoru was barely pushing thirty. 

It was springtime, the snow had barely melted and he realized that a year ago they'd taken their team portraits around this time. He'd hung the photo of his team in his living room in a large frame that bore the names of his team burned into the wood in neat kanji. Looking at the sky, he began to mull over everything. They were surely ready to take on the exams and grow as individuals. In the past year he'd loosened his grip on the reins and let their other mentors have more wiggle room. It had left him more room to focus on his family. His son and daughter were important to him and he had asked his genin to always be a part of their lives. Koharu had taken it much more seriously than he'd expected her to. While he didn't expect any of them to brush it off, she'd taken it to heart and had promised that she would. The girl was definitely a big sister and it showed. 
Minoru's fingers fiddled with the plain wedding band around his left ring finger. He always fiddled with things but it was getting more common as his anxiety about the exams grew.

[hr]
[Right][h3][color=8882be]Koharu[/color][/h3]
[I][sub]A year later // Land of Fire: Konohagakure[/sub][/i][/right]

While their sensei was nervous, Koharu was excited. This would mark a new chapter in her life and it would mean that she was one step closer to being the head of her clan one day. Her father had been a harsh teacher, pushing and pushing her until she got the techniques down. It had left her with rough palms and a multitude of bruises ranging from black to bright yellow. 
She couldn't wait to put his teachings to use. Perhaps it would also squash any wariness regarding her clan. The Wakahisa may have left their homeland with their tails between their legs but they were not useless. 

She arrived early, like she always did, but had chosen to hang back and watch her sensei. He seemed worried and maybe a little sad. During their less frequent team meetings he'd always had sad eyes despite the smiles he always put on. After a few minutes of watching him look at the cloudless blue sky and fiddling around with his ring, Koharu made her presence known. [Color=8882be]"Sensei…."[/color] 

He looked over at her and smiled, although it made her frown. [Color=8882be]"You don't have to be so sad. You'll still be our sensei, you know."[/color] Koharu walked over to him, hand resting on her sword. He shrugged. 

[Color=darkgray]"You kids have grown up too fast."[/color] He reached out and pat her head. Koharu hadn't grown much physically. Just a half inch taller, if he was being truthful. She'd started to wear her hair differently though; one braid coiled into a bun and secured with a hairpin. It made her look a little bit more grown up. Koharu swatted his hand away from her head, giving him a glare. Minoru chuckled. He was glad that she hadn't changed much in the way of personality. It was clear that once her shell was broken through that she was the middle between her teammates. She could be rowdy like Natsuko but at times quiet like Kazuhiko. He'd noticed that she no longer cared quite so much about accidentally offending her teammates as they'd all known each other long enough to understand what they meant. That also meant that he'd had to adjust to the way the girl spoke. She was very much like Osamu when it came to being unapologetic. 

Koharu sighed, [color=8882be]"Yeah, but it's still unfair that Susu and Kazu are both so tall."[/color] Wait, when had she stopped using any honorifics when addressing the boy? That caught Minoru by surprise. She'd never really used them with Natsuko, likely because the other girl wasn't heir to her clan, but she'd always used them with Kazuhiko.

[Color=darkgray]"Since when did you stop calling him Kazu-kun?"[/color] 

Perhaps the snow shoved up his shirt was called for for that one. She'd advanced enough in her use of her nature release to have made the snow stick to the inside of his shirt better. It wasn't as powdery as it once had been. 
[Color=8882be]"Dumb Sensei reading too far into things."[/color] Koharu said, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked away from the struggling man. He still couldn't get the snow from his shirt. 
She hadn't known when she dropped her teammates nickname and it didn't really matter. When they were adults and leaders of their respective clans it would have been wrong for her to address him with such a childish nickname. They were fourteen already, halfway to becoming adults. They didn't need nicknames like that. Except for when it came to Natsuko. Koharu would always call her Susu. 

[Color=darkgray]"You're getting better with the snow. Osamu-san has taught you well.[/color] Minoru didn't hide his pride as he finally got the snow out of his shirt. Her cheeks colored slightly and she nodded. Having someone to push her more than she already pushed herself had been a big advantage. 
There was a lot riding on her shoulders. Sometimes it was a heavy burden to bear but she reminded herself that Osamu had chosen her for a reason when he could have taken her sister or even broke tradition and named his sons as his heirs. She owed it to him to be the best. [color=darkgray]"When the others get here we'll spar and I'll get to see how much you guys have improved.[/color]

Koharu was rather proud over a few little combo moves they'd managed to come up with over the past year. Not only had the three of them worked on their team move, but they'd developed a few other moves that played on their strengths. The Wakahisa had a type of kekkei genkai that used to chakra natures to make a new one, meaning that with enough practice they could use both independently as well as combine them to make ice and snow. Their ice was always the strongest of the three natures but it wasn't uncommon for them to use wind or water independently. 
With Natsuko they'd tried to use her wind to propel Koharu's ice but it didn't work out very well yet. Instead they'd learned that they could both uae the same type of wind based attack in tandem to create a larger scaled attack. And with Kazuhiko she learned that her water based attack aided his lightning. Of course with these independent natures she wasn't quite so skilled so she was limited to one move that she could do. Still it was impressive, given that she was fairly rigid in her ways. Kazuhiko definitely was much more rigid than Koahru. It was Natsuko that was the flexible one. She wasn't quite so set in her ways.

[@Typical]