Moments Earlier.
Murakami had finally come to a conclusion.
After considering every possible ways he hoped his relationship with this group would take, he finally decided on the image to project.
A stranger's perception of you depends on the mask you had on when you first met.
That was the principle of First impressions.
It was all an illusion of perception
Murakami let out a sharp breath as he wiped the bead of sweat that was creasing his forehead. "I'll be back with more hands to help get all these moving."
He said to Daichi who was moving through the kitchen at a speed uncharacteristic of a normal person.
His movements didn't stop to acknowledge Murakami's words, but Murakami didn't bother to repeat himself and picked up the tray and walked out of the kitchen, took a turn and slid the door to the backyard open.
Setting his tone, he said, "Dinner is ready."
"YES!"
Murakami nearly jumped in fright but held himself and turned his gaze to the source of the voice.
Upon seeing who generated it, he could only sigh and shake his head.
'Who else could it have been?' he thought to himself as he walked over and placed the tray on the table before sliding each plate in front of the hungry children.
"This smells really delicious!" Miko exclaimed in amazement as the aroma of the dishes wafted into her nose. "You cooked this?"
She turned and looked at Murakami with an intensity, but before Murakami could respond, Aiko chuckled.
"I told you right? Murakami's food is the most delicious."
Bonk.
"OUCH!"
Before Aiko could continue bragging, Murakami had appeared behind her, lightly chopping her head, but only she knew the amount of force behind that 'light chop'.
"Don't go running your mouth as you please." He said, then turned to Miko and smiled. "This was cooked by both Daichi and I."
"Eh!? Dai-chan is here?" Aiko, who was rubbing her head, paused and looked up at Murakami resentfully. "Hey! I didn't know that."
"I know. That's why I hit you. If you had just kept silent, you wouldn't have had to say anything in the first place." Murakami replied and turned to the girls. "If you girls don't mind, could you be of some help in serving the dishes?"
"Oh? Huh? Oh!" Miko, who after going through whatever she went through in her head finally nodded.
Murakami smiled and turned to Yui who nodded before he turned to Hiyori.
Hiyori locked gaze with him for a short while before nodding. "Sure, why not?"
With that, he picked up the tray. "Follow me."
The four girls stood and followed closely behind, with Aiko trailing behind and grumbling to herself on how unfair Murakami was being, and soon, they arrived at the kitchen and were amazed at the quantity of food and the finesse at which they had been dished into the plate.
"Impressive, right?" Murakami asked. "That's Daichi's handwork. The best partner anyone could ask for in the kitchen."
Just then Daichi came into view scratching his head with a sheepish smile. "Don't praise me like that Murakami. You were already halfway through when I joined."
"Yeah, Dai-chan! Don't be modest. This smells like heaven. And I didn't even know you were here!" Aiko annoyedly rebuked from the back.
"Eh?" Daichi looked behind the girls and sighted Aiko who was pouting behind the group, then grinned wider. "Aiko-chan? You're here too?"
"Obviously," she shot back, though her pout had softened. "Murakami invited me. And I invited my team. Surprise."
Miko didn't seem to care about their exchange and stepped forward, tray in both hands, eyes flicking between the dishes and Daichi. "You really made all this?" she asked.
Daichi nodded, rubbing his neck nervously. He wasn't used to being complimented in this way, especially by a stranger.
Yui, standing slightly behind Miko, had her eyes on the tamagoyaki. "It looks… beautiful," she said softly.
Hiyori didn't say anything, but her expression did all the talking for her.
Murakami glanced at them, "If you girls don't mind, instead of admiring it, could you help carry them out? We'll need more hands for the soup bowls and side dishes."
"Of course." Miko nodded immediately, already reaching for a stack of small bowls.
"I'll take these." Yui stepped up beside her, carefully lifting a tray of grilled fish.
Hiyori moved in without a word, picking up a large serving bowl of vegetables and followed behind Miko and Yui.
Aiko lingered a second longer, arms crossed, looking between Murakami and Daichi.
"You two got something to tell me?" she asked, though her tone was more playful than angry.
Murakami gave her a confused look which only irritated her. "Murakami, you invited Daichi and you didn't tell me you invited him and Daichi, you were invited and you didn't bother to tell me when we met earlier this morning."
"Is there a particular reason why I must tell you that?" Murakami asked, genuinely confused and curious. "Last I checked, I am the one doing the inviting...which so happens to make me the host. Not you."
Aiko gasped dramatically, hand on her chest. "Rude!"
Daichi chuckled, already handing her a tray of rice bowls. "Here. Make yourself useful."
"Humph." Aiko harrumphed but took it with mock indignation, then turned and followed behind the other girls. Behind them, Murakami and Daichi exchanged a look.
"Think everything will be alright?" Daichi whispered under his breath.
Murakami picked up the last tray, soup bowls steaming gently. "What could possibly go wrong." he said simply and walked out.
Daichi chuckled softly. "Yeah, you're right."
He followed Murakami out, the kitchen falling silent behind them save for the soft hiss of dying coals under the pots.
Outside, the voices of the waiting genin rose in anticipation as dinner was served.
…
…
The initial excitement of the deliciousness of the food had passed and the group were just stuffing their mouths with whatever they could get their chopsticks on.
Murakami observed all these calmly as he built a profile on the boys and girls around him. Twelve in total.
It wasn't anything deep, but he felt comfortable enough to navigate a conversation between each of them, but at the end of the day, they were still kids, so other than chiming in every once in a while, he didn't speak much and just listened.
While doing so, he assessed their level of intelligence.
There were so many way to determine one's level of intelligence, and to Murakami, intelligence was the ability to think independently, and entertain a thought without being affected by it.
His closest friends; Aiko, Daichi and Katsuro aside, the rest were barely passable in regards to intelligence.
That was a high standard but he wasn't about to lower it.
Especially not in a system built to indoctrinate children from the moment they could process thought. It would be a stroke of luck to find an independent thinker in such a system.
In terms of intelligence, Katsuro took the lead, then came Aiko and Hiyori.
Daichi had always been single minded which made him a volatile element so Murakami didn't bother with him. He was good the way he was.
Hiyori was from the Yamanaka clan and they had an entire system their clan operated on, one Murakami was unaware of, but he was glad they did.
From the way she talked and responded to questions, he was assured of her ability to think for herself to an extent.
Aiko was on the same level as her, adaptation-wise.
Murakami didn't have a sure way of measuring but he was confident that Aiko would not lose to Hiyori in that regard considering she had grown under his influence.
While she may not have had a systemic upbringing like the Yamanaka, she was quite knowledgeable and aware of herself which is an important trait.
Knowing oneself curbs arrogance.
As for the others, Murakami could only hope they improve with time and experience. He was also prepared to play the role of guiding them.
"You've been weirdly silent, Murakami." Kenji gave a pointed look at Murakami who had just placed a piece of fish in his mouth.
Murakami chewed slowly as his gaze met Kenji. 'Then there is this guy.'
Kenji was a nice guy and stronger than most, but he always sought external validation which made him appear troublesome and arrogant.
Smiling outwardly, Murakami said. "It's not every time I have this number of unfamiliar faces visit my home." Then sweeping his gaze around the table, his smile grew wider. "I'm just overwhelmed that I do not know what to say."
"Gasp!" A loud gasp followed as Murakami finished speaking, and turning to the person responsible, Murakami's eye couldn't help but twitch.
"Is something the issue, Aiko-chan?" he asked with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Of course there is." Aiko immediately replied, not noticing the change in him. "You and being overwhelmed in the same sentence just doesn't make sense to me. How can I not be shocked?"
"Right? It'd be like putting Katsuro and excitement in the same sentence." Kenji added with a nod. "That doesn't make sense."
Murakami looked between the two and didn't know where to start.
Kenji's quest for validation made him overly competitive and clingy in the wrong way.
'No matter the level of dissatisfaction you have about me, at least have some propriety.' Murakami thought inwardly.
Aiko on the other hand… Sigh~
"It's true that we are all familiar faces here, but as you all know, I was never one to engage in conversation." Murakami said with a chuckle.
"You bet, I can count on one hand how many times I heard you talk in the academy." Sora said in agreement.
"Oh? You were paying that much attention to me?" Murakami asked in surprise. He had always prided himself with being the one observing others, he didn't expect to have been observed by someone in his class without him knowing.
"Humph. I make it a duty to have a general knowledge of the people around me." Sora harrumphed smugly and turned back to his food.
"That's impressive." Murakami said genuinely. "You'd make a wonderful spy for the village, right Katsuro?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Katsuro, who was calmly eating, was initially startled at being drawn into the conversation, but nodded. "One's observational skills plays a major role, another is your analytical ability."
He placed a piece of meat in his mouth and chewed slowly, uncaring for the eyes on him. Shortly after, he swallowed and continued.
"Anyone can be observant, but not everyone can make a rational analysis of an observed event."
"Hmm, so it takes more than just observation to make for a good spy." Murakami said and rubbed his chin with his left hand as though he only just got to know this.
"That's right.".
Hiyori set her chopsticks down neatly on the edge of her bowl, her gaze rising to meet Murakami's.
"Observation is just the first step. Anyone can watch, afterall, we all have eyes, but a spy, or even a decent shinobi, has to be able to filter what they see. Separate signal from noise, understand motive, analyze and predict the next move before it happens."
She paused, letting her words settle.
"Most people see what they expect to see. A good analyst sees what's actually there… even when it doesn't fit what they want to believe."
Katsuro gave a small, almost imperceptible nod, the corner of his mouth lifting just enough to show he approved.
Murakami on the other hand had a smile as Hiyori finished. 'As expected. My judgement was not wrong.'
"Exactly." he added. "But while that makes one a good analyst, it doesn't make one a good spy. A spy should be able to see what could be there even when it doesn't fit their observed reality."
Hiyori froze for a moment, then nodded in understanding. "I see. That makes much more sense."
Katsuro too seemed to agree as he had a reflective look in his eyes.
Aiko on the hand tilted her head, looking between the two of them with mock suspicion.
"You two sound like you've done this before. Are you secretly training to be ANBU or something?"
Katsuro groaned but didn't bother to reply while Hiyori turned to Aiko with a smile and a glint of amusement.
"These are fundamental knowledge the clan teaches. The Yamanaka don't fight with blades first, but information." She said then pointed to her jead. "We fight with what's up here."
"Your mind." Murakami said, then turned to Sora. "You heard what they said. So? Do you think you have what it takes to make a good spy?"
Sora shrugged. "I wouldn't know for sure, but I'm confident enough in my observational abilities."
"Interesting, then I have a question for you, as both a friend and a teammate." Murakami said and slowly placed his chopsticks on his plate.