There was something of a singur animus that drove Tobio, as he jogged across the vilge to the meeting pce for team eleven. Just the knowledge that they'd somehow managed to pull out a victory, and rise above just being no-name mob characters was…inspiring. It gave him hope that somehow, he'd actually manage to make a difference in this world.

  Now came the hard part, though. Being a shinobi.

  Everything that came before was, in some respects, the easy part—his prior training and the evaluations took pce in a safe, controlled environment. From here on out, any missions he took in the world outside wouldn't have those same parameters. Nor would they have the same guard rails against their own tomfoolery, misfortune, or poor choices.

  If he screwed up from here on out, it wouldn't just fall on his own head. He had Ami and Hibachi to worry about as well. Perhaps even Tekuno, though, if they were in a situation where the Jōnin relied on Tobio to save him, things would already be reasonably FUBAR.

  This time around, he wasn't even the first or second one who arrived. Hibachi and Ami had beaten him. Not that he was surprised the purple-haired girl had done her best to do so, but it was a little unusual to see the typically sedate Hibachi as animated as he was.

  Apparently the excitement was getting to everyone.

  "Tobio," Hibachi greeted, inclining his head toward the approaching Oni. "You ready for the day?"

  "I'm ready for my expectations to be subverted," he shrugged in return. Not that he expected either of them to know or remember, but the disappointment of D-rank missions was bound to hit them eventually. Though, depending on the mission, they might be decent physical conditioning training.

  Ami scoffed, crossing her arms. "You think Tekuno-sensei would waste time with something trivial?"

  He hummed, shrugging. "Depends on what you'd consider trivial. We're probably not going to be rescuing any princesses anytime soon, or guarding the daimyo."

  "True, but it isn't like we won't be doing something meaningful," she added. "Do you think they'd use up perfectly good Genin on something as banal as sorting files, or babysitting? Of course not!"

  Tobio just didn't have the heart to tell her that, yes, they would, in fact, be doing things that minor to start with. He could even imagine why they started off Genin with jobs like this. It allowed them to cut their teeth on mission structure and simple tasks, being twelve, without being in any real danger. Even C-rank missions weren't supposed to be as complicated as they were shown in the show.

  At most, to his understanding, they weren't even supposed to involve other ninja as a threat. A normal bandit, maybe, but a graduated Genin should theoretically be able to take on a few mundane bandits. Provided they didn't have any real training with weapons, or chakra. The reality tended to be different, though no Genin would normally be sent out by their lonesome to handle that kind of mission anyway.

  They'd have maybe a few different Genin, and a Chūnin or above on their mission. It'd likely be some time before they managed to get that opportunity, though. While Tobio felt confident that he could at least survive against a Chūnin-tier threat, and buy time for Tekuno to come and help…he wasn't comfortable saying the same about his companions.

  Not that they weren't capable, or didn't have potential hidden talents they could exploit. Just that it was tough to compete with people with specific hiden jutsu, like most of the Cn kids.

  "I'm with Ami on this one," Hibachi added, looking a little surprised that he was even agreeing with the girl. "Be a little more optimistic."

  Was he being a pessimist? Maybe a little.

  By this point, they could see the figure of their sensei walking up, his big, welcoming smile as friendly as ever. He cut a pretty prominent silhouette with his bulk, though this was the first time he hadn't just snuck up on them.

  "How are my little Genin doing today?" Tekuno asked, looking between the three of them. "Are you excited to take on your first mission?"

  "Yeah!" Ami beamed, nodding happily. "Did you already pick one out?"

  "No, but we're going to head down to the Mission Assignment Desk. It's in a part of the academy I doubt you'll have seen before," he confirmed, already walking off.

  The three Genin naturally followed in his wake, as they headed back into town proper. One short walk ter, and they were all entering into the rge, open space, with a single long desk with a bunch shinobi already rifling through pages and documents.

  The man they were walking up to had the look of a Nara to him. Mostly in the way his hair seemed insistent on sticking up, not entirely unlike Tobio's. Though, there was just something else in the cast of his expression and features that just instantly made him recognizable as a member of that Cn.

  Most people from Cns tended to have the same look, in a way that was hard to describe. Almost like they were from the same ethnic group, admittedly, though Tobio knew it was more likely because of a certain amount of controlled inbreeding. Especially for those with bloodline limits, eager to keep those powers within their lineages.

  Looking up from his desk, he smiled at Tekuno as he approached. "Those your brats, Kanden?"

  "They're mine," Tekuno smirked. "But they're a little too polite to be called brats…mostly."

  "Hey!" Ami protested. "I'm the height of civility!"

  The Nara could only snort at those words, shaking his head slowly. "I imagine you're coming for some D-ranks for them?"

  "Top of the morning's the best time to get them started."

  Turning to the three Genin, the Nara behind the desk jerked a thumb toward their Jōnin. "Listen to this man, kiddos. The best D-ranks go up at the start of the day, and trust me when I say the quality only decreases as the day goes on. Something some poor Genin is going to discover for themselves shortly."

  "So what do you have for us?" Hibachi asked, river stone-colored eyes gleaming with anticipation.

  "Hmm…"

  The man rifled through the stack of papers at his sides, before nodding sagely at whatever he'd found. Gncing back up at them, he lifted up a sheet and handed it to Tekuno. "The brewery near the edge of town needs some help moving barrels around. Should be pretty simple for a starting mission."

  It was impossible to miss the crestfallen expression on the children's faces. Tobio knew it was coming was still disappointed. More so, because he just knew he wouldn't be allowed to have a drink.

  This was cruel and unusual punishment for an Oni.

  "But that's just so…normal!" Ami compined.

  Tekuno couldn't even bother holding back his chuckles as he took the paper, shaking his head slowly. "That's your average D-rank, kiddo. Look at it this way. We've got to make sure you've got your head on straight before we throw you out there to fight bandits, or catch thieves."

  Which was true, it just wasn't what Ami and Hibachi wanted to hear. Though Tobio didn't hold the same opinion. "I'm just happy to get paid. Good food is expensive."

  Especially when someone could eat as much as him. If there was an upper limit to how much he could devour since receiving Mixed Blood, Tobio hadn't found it yet. He was excited for the first feat or banquet he went to that'd allow him to chow down as much as he wanted.

  "See, that's the attitude to have!" Tekuno smiled, gesturing over at the spiky-headed Genin. "Now, let's get over there. Nothing like hard work to warm the muscles up for the rest of the day."

  Tobio's two companions groaned, and they all filed out of the office, and into Konoha proper. The next few hours were spent doing the drudgery that anyone could have expected from paid borers and porters. Lifting up barrels that'd been aged and brought into the brewery to be used in whatever concoctions the brewers made.

  Or, more interestingly, lifting the finished products into carts to be carried elsewhere into the city. This was a job that, objectively, he had the least amount of trouble with. The weight they were having him lift wouldn't have been troublesome before his skeleton was reinforced. Now, it was just incrementally easier.

  If there was any difficulty for him, it came from the fact that the barrels felt like they were almost bigger than him. That and the fact that the aromatic scent of the sake that they were making was enough to make his mouth water. When he had the ryo to spare, he was going to use the Transformation Technique to get his hands on something to wet his whistle.

  This unwilling sobriety could not stand.

  Ami and Hibachi, though, were not as strong as Tobio. So the process of lifting up barrels filled to the brim with booze was not something that easy for those two. Let alone Ami's compining about the scent, and poor Hibachi's dead-eyed stare after the first hour of it. For his part, Tekuno 'supervised'…and got to taste a sample of the sake, that bastard.

  He didn't even bother to try and share it with them! There'd be a reckoning for this in his future, whenever Tobio was skilled enough to practically get back at him. Eventually, though, they wrapped up the task and brought it to a close.

  By the time they were finished, it was the early afternoon. Heading back to the training grounds, Ami and Hibachi's moods were a little dimmed, though the st Genin of their team was pleased to have made some money.

  No one was too physically exhausted from the tedium of the D-rank mission, but it was a special mental exertion. Not everyone was cut out for that sort of monotonous, repetitive work.

  In the te afternoon, the group of them were sitting in the shade of a tree, as Tekuno gnced around at his seated Genin. "The D-ranks aren't the most exciting, but they're good, honest work. Though at a certain point, especially when you make Chūnin, you'll likely leave them behind entirely."

  "Is that just because we'll be busy, or…?" Hibachi asked, cocking his head to the side.

  Tekuno nodded. "Somewhat. When you get to that rank, it's the point where the departments tend to look into recruiting you. T&I, Intel, the Barrier Corps…Anbu. Though most of it is that it's customary to leave those jobs for Genin, so they can make a living."

  Conspicuously, no one looked at Tobio. He could feel like they wanted to look at him, though. Maybe he was just too used to being scrutinized for being poor.

  Chūnin couldn't come fast enough so he could begin to make some real money.

  "Moving on," Tekuno continued. "I wanted to begin to outline some training regimens for the three of you. Before we do that, though, we'll need to test some things."

  "Another test?" Ami groaned, exasperated.

  Chuckling, Tekuno shook his head. "Not a difficult one, mind you. It should be pretty easy." Reaching into his fk jacket, he pulled forth three different slips of paper. "Do any of you know what these are?"

  Hibachi and Tobio squinted at the slips, but neither seemed to recognize them. Ami on the other hand perked up immediately. "Oh! That's Chakra Induction Paper!"

  "Got it in one," the Jōnin confirmed. "There's a special kind of tree that's grown and fed with chakra, very different from the Mokuton, which produces a type of paper that reacts based on the type of chakra pushed into it. We can use it to determine your primary affinity in the nature transformations."

  "Is that standard practice?" Tobio inquired. He wondered if Asuma and Kurenai ended up doing this for their Genin.

  "It is if you're going to be smart about teaching your students," Tekuno shrugged. "Knowing from the outset will inform a lot about your options moving forward. It isn't as if you won't be able to master multiple, but it does make the process of your antithetical element a little trickier to pick up."

  Holding out the paper to each Genin, they all took a slip, while their sensei turned to Ami. "You first. Just push a little chakra into the paper, and it'll react instantly."

  Looking down at the slip carefully, she furrowed her brow before slowly beginning to push some chakra into the paper. Almost instantly, it turned damp.

  "That's a water affinity. Not the most common in the Land of Fire, admittedly, but strong against fire and weak against earth." He looked at her consideringly. "Admittedly, we only have a few water jutsu in our archives, but I'll ask if anyone knows more."

  A thoughtful expression was on Ami's face as she looked down at her slip. Hibachi was up next, and pushed chakra into his own slip of paper. Instead of becoming wet like her own, it turned to dirt and crumpled to pieces.

  "That's…Earth, right?" Tobio guessed.

  "It is indeed. Strong against water, but weak against Lightning." How the hell did that work? Whatever, it was based on Asian principles, Tobio wasn't going to question it too much. "More typical in our nds than Water, and we've got a bit more resources in terms of jutsu there."

  Then, their sensei turned to Tobio, nodding his way. "You're up next."

  In all honesty, the specific elemental affinity he might have didn't matter to Tobio. Ninjutsu was a tool, but until now, it wasn't something he had any real opportunity to turn his attention toward. Though, it wasn't as if he couldn't see the value in learning some.

  Who didn't want to turn the vast elements of the world onto their enemies? When he was a kid, pretending to throw out those hand signs back in his old world, and utterly mangling them was a joy. Being able to do the same here, and produce tangible results…?

  Well, it was an enticing feeling. Who could bme him for feeling like that?

  Not that it was surprising, though, the paper ultimately lit up like a firecracker when he pushed his chakra into it. Crumbling like ash, Tekuno snorted at the little jump all of the Genin gave. "And that's fire. Unsurprisingly, the most common in the Land of Fire."

  "Is that good or bad?" Tobio asked, a little worried.

  "There's no particur best element, no matter what anyone says," Tekuno confirmed. "Even the advanced elemental releases from certain bloodlines, while capable of things that are uncommon, are not so broken as to be insurmountable to the right ninja."

  Ami did have the good grace to chip in with her own knowledge. "Unless it was something like the Mokuton."

  The Jōnin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, unless it was something like the Mokuton. Anyway, fire has the benefit of being the element the vilge has the most resources for. It's also the element other vilges are the most prepared for in turn, when facing a Konoha-nin."

  Food for thought.

  Fire seemed the most fitting, given his Origin. Did choosing Ignition do this to Tobio, or was he always predestined to have a fire affinity? Thinking too much about it likely wasn't going to be good for him either way.

  "Moving on, we can discuss training properly now that we know your affinities." Adjusting himself so that his back was to a tree, Tekuno gnced over the three Genin carefully. "First and foremost, we'll be doing D-rank missions daily, but that'll usually only take up a bit of the day. Otherwise, we'll be focusing on individualized development for each of you."

  Gesturing to his chest, he shot them a smile. "I've said it before, but my specialties are bukijutsu, trapmaking, and fūinjutsu. However, you don't reach Jōnin without being capable of other things as well. I'm a deft hand at taijutsu, and while my own affinity is fire, I know some air and earth jutsu as well."

  "What about water?" Ami asked.

  He grimaced, before raising a hand and tilting it from side to side. "It's not my specialty, I'll freely admit. I can count how many I know on one hand, so it's something we might have to farm out to other people for you. Something to cross that bridge when we get to it."

  "Here and now, let's discuss what our training goals are for the month, and what each of you are interested in learning. Whether that be from me, or someone I can set you up with as a tutor."

  "So…" Tekuno grinned, leaning forward. "Who wants to go first?"

  January 29thWhen it came to the shinobi arts, taijutsu was one of the foundational branches of techniques. Nearly every ninja, at one point in their life or another trained in it. While they might not have made it the core of their combat style, their general competency in hand to hand tended to scale up the higher ranking a shinobi was.

  That sort of statement was retive for someone like Tekuno, who perhaps was not the most skilled at the art. Tobio had made the falcy of comparing him to someone like Might Guy, who was at the top of his field. It was an unreasonable thing to do, something he realized now, as his sensei took on the three without breaking a sweat.

  Ami, Hibachi, and Tobio were practically unanimous in their desire to improve their taijutsu. They recognized it as a deficiency in their skills, something they could always have if they were disarmed of any weapons. Even more critical was the need to work as a team.

  Tekuno agreed and put their training into action. Tobio just wished it was a little less embarrassing.

  "Stop dodging!" The mixed-blood yelled, teeth bared to his sensei as he threw a flurry of punches his way, as the older man merely bobbed and weaved, ducking back with frustrating ease.

  Tekuno's smile wasn't making the situation any more patable, either. "It'd defeat the purpose of training if I made it too easy for you, wouldn't it?"

  "It'd make us feel better!" Hibachi excimed, coming in from behind Tekuno with a leaping kick directed toward the man's head.

  Making it all the more worrisome, their sensei whipped around and grabbed Hibachi's ankle out of the air without missing a beat. Tobio had the distinct displeasure to see the way his teammate's eyes threatened to bug out of his skull at the swift movement. Right before Tekuno swung the boy by the ankle, and whipped him through the air at Tobio.

  It was impossible for him to dodge, not with such a speedy, heavy projectile coming his way. The two of them went ass over teakettle, tumbling to the ground into a groaning pile of limbs. With how brusque their sensei was being, this was just the newest in a growing pile of bruises the Genin were bound to have.

  "Y'know, if you hadn't yelled, you might have taken me by surprise there," Tekuno advised, eyes half-lidded and amused as he gnced over to Hibachi. "And Tobio, make focus a little less on the aggression and more on being mindful of your defense. Dodging is always better than needlessly taking a hit."

  "And Ami-"

  He didn't get to finish that sentence, before Ami dropped down from a tree. Their pn had been very tentative, trying to make the right opportunity for her to attack by distracting him. She, unlike Hibachi, was meant to elbow-drop their sensei.

  Lightly.

  It was even a good pn by their reckoning, given that they were limited to stealth and pure taijutsu. The problem was that Tekuno wouldn't let them nd a hit that easily. Instead, his hands whipped up and grabbed her waist, before throwing her bodily toward the two Genin already on the ground.

  The only warning they got was a squawk of outrage from the purple-haired girl, before she smmed into their pile and made the entire problem all the worse.

  "Get off me!" Ami whined.

  "Off you?! You're on me!" Tobio yelled back.

  "Stop it, you idiots, you're only getting us more tangled up!" Hibachi compined.

  Amused, Tekuno allowed his charges to return to their feet, rolling his eyes at their antics. "Let's call the active sparring there for today, and look at what we did right, and what we did wrong." Gncing between the three of them, back to their feet and bashfully looking anywhere but him, he pointed at Ami first. "Ami! What's one thing you did right?"

  "…Wait for an opportunity to ambush you?"

  "Yep!" he agreed heartily, smiling broadly. "But the big thing I'd say that you could have done while Tobio and Hibachi were trying to take me down, was make probing attacks. Or, try to create opportunities for their heavier blows to nd."

  That wasn't an unfair criticism. The heaviest hitter of the team was unequivocally Tobio, but Hibachi hit harder than Ami. When it came to their sole girl on the team, she tended to be the knife in most of their pns. Which wasn't to say she couldn't have made other chances for her teammates to come in.

  Pointing to Hibachi next, he snapped to the boy before Ami could say anything else. "Hibachi?"

  "…Uh…" The beanie-wearing Genin bit his bottom lip, gnawing absentmindedly. "I made the initial pn?"

  Tekuno nodded in agreement. "You did. But if the situation needed to evolve on the fly, like it did in the prior bouts, you might want to try and adapt your pns on the fly. That's something you'll only improve on with time."

  Lastly, he turned to point at Tobio. That made the boy frown, as he tried to think of one thing he did better than his teammates. Or, just good in the bout as a whole. "…I'm coming up empty," he admitted, shrugging softly.

  "You're by far the most durable and strong of your teammates. Drawing attention is good, but like I said, you need to work on being able to survive that attention."

  In many respects, that was what Tobio was already doing with his existing perks. Every upgrade he'd received so far was mostly centered around improving his survivability and ability to take punishment. Maybe it was time to start doling it out, or dodging it.

  "Either way, the three of you have been making progress," their sensei reassured them.

  "It doesn't feel that way," Ami grumbled.

  "I'm a Jōnin. It's my job to make my Genin feel inadequate when they fight me, so they can trounce the real threats in the field." Was that right? It felt kind of right, but Tobio didn't know for sure. "You are all improving, though. Compared to where you were when we first started, you've been making a ton of progress."

  "Right now, just keep on as you're doing, and your style will coalesce," their sensei reassured them.

  Hibachi frowned. "Our personal style? Isn't using something more notable better?"

  Tekuno returned that frown, tilting his head from side to side. "Something like the Gentle Fist is good for a foundation for a shinobi, but if you want to hit the big leagues, you have to turn that foundation into something sturdier. It'll be something that adapts and grows as you do. Then, one day, you'll be chaining together kunai strikes, ninja wire, or whatever makes your combat style cohesive."

  "This is usually a process of years, though," he continued. "It's not something that could or should happen overnight without many external stressors."

  "It'll be nice when we stop getting our asses kicked…" Tobio huffed, scratching his chin idly.

  A little chortle escaped Tekuno. "Oh, Tobio. I'm your sensei, I'll always be able to kick your ass up and down the training grounds."

  The three Genin huffed in amusement, as the group began to slip back into their basic kata and stretches for a cooldown. Though not before Tekuno caught Tobio's eyes and gently tilted his head back, gesturing for the boy to follow. He wasn't sure what for, but he did so anyway.

  Walking until the two of them were out of earshot of his teammates, Tekuno turned to face him fully. "I didn't want to say this close enough for them to hear this."

  "Hear what?" Tobio asked.

  "Physically, I'm not sure if the two of them will ever catch up to you," his sensei began, raising a hand to forestall the protestations that Tobio was about to bring up. "I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Your strength and speed are well above what a normal Genin should be capable of. The only thing holding you back is your skill level."

  "…I'm not sure what you mean, sensei."

  The ft look Tekuno gave him spoke volumes about his thoughts about that deflection. "I was born at night, Tobio, but I wasn't born st night."

  Abashed, he gnced away from the older man, huffing softly. "Yeah, that's fair."

  "Let me assure you, unless you've been doing something outrageous for that strength, it's none of my business how you got it. Every ninja has their own secret trick, and given that it wasn't in your file, you've earned the right to keep that a secret."

  In an instant, Tobio felt his paranoia spike high. "I have a FILE?!"

  "You all have files," Tekuno shamelessly admitted. "With detailed psychological evaluations as well. If you rise high enough, you'll graduate from having a file to having a folder. Snazzy, right?"

  It was a serious topic, but the smile on his sensei's face kept him from having a full-on panic attack. "Right…"

  Up to this point, the mixed-blood had thought he'd been hiding his given abilities better. That was something of an erroneous presumption on his part. Then again, hiding his capabilities from high-ranking shinobi could be a pleasant, polite fiction they allowed to exist.

  Clearing his throat, Tobio focused on Tekuno once more. "So what are you saying?"

  "We'll have to get creative to improve your strength, speed, and stamina. What Ami and Hibachi do for conditioning will have rapidly diminishing returns for you. You're just too strong."

  Somewhere deep inside, Tobio knew he was telling the truth. If he was already strong enough to punch through a brick wall or run as fast as a horse, the hard training he'd need was absurd. The only applicable Genin with capabilities even remotely close to him was Rock Lee. Which was rather fttering but indicative of a more significant concern. He was, effectively, suffering from success.

  "What does that sort of thing look like? Advanced conditioning?" Tobio asked, genuinely curious.

  To that, his Jōnin-sensei only shrugged. "We've got a few different options. The old standby is finding heavier things to use as weights, some weighted seals, or increasing your ps to ludicrous levels for cardio. It depends on what you can take."

  …Of course, he could tell his sensei a little about what was up with him—expining the broad strokes about his 'bloodline limit', not the nature of the system itself. It might even clear some things up or open doors to further resources. There'd be scrutiny, but having someone high-ranking aware of his nature would be better than having Danzo or Orochimaru discover it in secret.

  Neither of them would have any reason just not to kidnap him at that point. Or maybe he was being genuinely too uncharitable to the levers of power and security within the Hidden Leaf.

  For days, ever since he'd gotten dropped into the original Tobio's body, keeping his secrets had been tough. It was lonely in a way that was hard to put into words, knowing that the deception of pretending to be the boy was wearing on him. Day in and day out, knowing he was actively keeping a part of himself from the people around him.

  It was, in many respects, objectively the right thing to do. That didn't make it any easier for him. Or help the singur feeling of loneliness that came on him from time to time.

  He hadn't known Tekuno for very long, but Tobio would have liked to think he was a good judge of character. There was a risk of the man being some kind of ROOT pnt, or just otherwise nefarious…but he was willing to take that risk. At least for now.

  "A few weeks before I graduated, I…" The boy paused, working carefully through his words. "Something happened to me. Inside, and out. I'm not sure how to say it, but…"

  "Take your time," Tekuno reassured him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "If you're uncomfortable sharing, I'm not expecting you to."

  He shook his head. "No, it's been on my chest for a while. At that time, I got a lot stronger, faster, and I started having these weird cravings."

  "Cravings? Like, for what?"

  "Alcohol, mostly," Tobio shamelessly said. "The smell of it is heavenly to me now."

  "That's…" Tekuno paused, jaw working back and forth. "We'll come back to the alcohol craving ter. How much stronger would you say you are now? Or faster?"

  The original perk was very helpful in providing a baseline for him to work from. Otherwise, his estimates would have been all over the pce.

  "I could punch through a brick wall if I wanted, and outspeed a light cavalry horse." Neither of them were immodest feats for a Genin.

  It was enough to make Tekuno's eyebrows raise, as he slowly nodded. "Alright. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I do appreciate you telling me this, Tobio. If this is a bloodline limit, a lot of things are going to change for you. Is it fine if I ask around, very subtly, for people who can give you a proper medical evaluation?"

  "Nothing that'll get out to anyone, will it?"

  He quickly shook his head. "No. No records will go onto any papers. And if your bloodline is real, and geared toward physical abilities, I'll see about getting you some proper weighted seals to push your limits. Bloodline limits need special resources to develop, that normally a Cn would provide. But if you're the first, you're going to be setting a trail for everyone else that comes after you."

  That was a daunting thought. It hadn't hit him at that point, but this was the rest of Tobio's life. Even if he didn't get a single other perk from the System from that point on, his blood would pass on. His children would inherit that share of the Oni's blood, for better or worse.

  If he lived long enough to have any.

  Swallowing thickly, Tobio nodded at his sensei. "A-Alright. Thank you."

  "Thank you for sharing that trust in me," Tekuno said again. "I know it couldn't have been easy to hold onto that secret. Now, let's get back to the others before they get too nosy."

  While he hadn't divulged everything to his sensei, it was still nice to have that weight lifted off of his shoulders. And the knowledge that eventually, he'd have someone in his corner properly, up there in the administration of the vilge.

  Well, that was the hope, anyway...