The nightmare always finishes at 1.07.

Kita wakes up at 1.07, always gasping for air as her lungs burn from the vile taste of chakra. Chakra- when Kita concentrates to feel it too much, she feels like she's ran at the Academy grounds 10 times- feels like her bed. Warm and always soft to the body. Or at least that's what Umino-sensei said to the class when they learnt about chakra. To Kita it felt like deja vu. Something she knows, but never remembers properly until she interacts with it again.

This chakra she would notice, felt like she was drowning in lava. It would cut into her skin sharply leaving her gasping for what oxygen she had left.

Her sensei's chakra felt polished, smooth and sharp. If you could smell chakra- Kita was sure, someone, could smell chakra- it would smell like the oak trees in the forest where the Shodaime-sama and Uchiha-sama met as children. Fresh and always there. Kinda like nee-san's chakra when she thought about it.

So when Kita asked Umino-sensei pointedly why his chakra felt like her nee-san's, he'd blinked then started laughing loudly. Umino-sensei had explained that he trained his chakra to "feel" like it was a shinobi's chakra. "Easier for fellow shinobi to know who I am. We all have a particular pattern in our chakra senses that feels like it's smooth and sharp. It's like our stamp." He'd explained, scratching his silvery scar- that was always rumoured to be from a nuke-nin- before smiling at her and saying "Don't worry about it Kita-chan, your team's sensei trains you to do this without even thinking about it at all." When she asks about when they'd learn about this, Umino-sensei laughed and ruffled her hair before saying; "You're impatient huh? Don't worry Kita-chan; we'll be doing it soon. Consider it a treat if I say so."

Umino-sensei, she'd decided then, is really, really cool.

She'd then flushed a deep magenta when Umino-sensei glanced sideways to her and asked; "Were you implying that me and Jin-san were dating, Kita-chan?" She'd shaken her head furiously, her palms sweating when he laughed his voice making a couple of students stare at them.

Kita jumped when a calloused hand brushed her skin, goosebumps erupting from the slightly cold touch. She shuffled closer to the body in front of her, sighing in pleasure as the arms loosely held her. Kita blinked as the hand slowly stroked her bangs, before she got pulled into their chest, the familiar chakra entering her body slowly- until her eyes were drifting close each second she tried to stay awake. 'Ah. I woke up nee-san again.'

"Nee-san? 'M sorry I woke you up." she softly mumbled, her words slurring together as she buried her head against nee-san's chest. Kita's eyes drifted shut, barely catching nee-san saying quietly "It's fine imouto. Now sleep, okay?" before she fell into the blanket of warmth.


"Alright listen up, class," Umino-sensei shouts, his tanned hand slamming onto the wooden desk in front of him. The class' laughter faded down leaving the occasional snicker and enthusiastic outburst. "Today we're learning about chakra. About how it came to be a weapon, how we use it, about how we mix spiritual chakra and physical chakra. And how we use it to make it a specific chakra pattern. So any questions you have?"

"Chakra? We already know about that stuff, Iruka-sensei!" Daiki-san shouted, immediately bringing the onslaught of complaints until the class was screaming profanities and curses.

"Really? Well then, how did we discover to use chakra as a weapon?" Umino-sensei shot back, his hands on his hips. His face went blank as the boy fumbled out an "I-I uhm, t-the Warring S-state Era? 'Cause you know. The Shodaime is the God of Shinobi!" the boy finished proudly, his shoulders held straight. Umino-sensei shook his head in exasperation, before turning to the blackboard behind him. He scribbled on the board a human outline before dotting down words on the side, before glancing back at the confused stares of the class. Including Kita- to which he flashed a small smile before looking at the class.

"This," He pointed aggressively at the crown of the head. "Is where all your instinctive chakra commands and chakra usage comes from. It gives the basic idea of how much chakra to use when making a jutsu. If you use too much? You get chakra exhaustion." He sighs when he hears the collective "Really?" echoed the room. "And this." His hand lying atop the solar plexus. "Is where we shinobi train our chakra. Why? Well Kita-chan asked a very good question yesterday about my chakra pattern. And you know what it was?" He looked at Kita, then the class. He sighed darkly when the class stared at her with awe and curiosity burning in their veins. Kita sunk in her chair and spluttered out a broken sentence.

"... can you repeat that Kita-chan? I couldn't hear you." Umino-sensei quietly murmured, his voice making his demand seem like a choice. Kita flushed red- her mouth wobbling the tiniest- before she set her jaw and spoke louder.

"Why was it like my nee-san's chakra?" Umino-sensei looked at her with pride. he turned to the class asking if they noticed his chakra pattern is a lot like their shinobi relatives. The class muttered among themselves before Ishida-san exclaimed yes. Ishida-san looked at her with something like…? Awe she realised, Ishida-san is in awe- because of her!

Kita flushes a deep magenta, her ears burning from her flustered state.

"When you graduate the Academy and your sensei starts training you. There's a part in their training for when you become a Chuunin. Moulding your chakra to always feel like it's smooth and sharp. It's our Konoha stamp. Let's other shinobi know you're a leaf-nin." Umino-sensei smirked when he saw the class perk up at the words "graduate the Academy".

"Sensei!" shouted Daiki-san, his hand stretched up enthusiastically. Umino-sensei rolled his eyes when Daiki-san shouted out, his words slightly slurred together. "How are shinobi able to know who's who in their in battles? 'Cause what happens if they kill their comrade!"

Umino -sensei tilted his head to the side, his eyes closed in concentration. He looked at Daiki-san with curiosity before finally saying; "Well… that's happened to shinobi a lot. Their comrades get killed and then the shinobi trains so he can recognize leaf-nin chakra patterns. But usually a shinobi can train for about a… year or two? Actually three years. Then they can recognize most leaf-nin." Umino-sensei looked around the class before nodding as they stared at him with shock. He flopped down on the chair, his legs kicked up against the stained wooden desk.

"This is the real world, class. You can't just expect to improve drastically in just 3 months. You have to train for decades to be on the Sannin's level. And that's the minimum to reach their level." Umino-sensei looked at their shocked faces and his shoulders slumped.

"I'll see you all tomorrow! And Naruto! You better come to class or else I'll…" Kita watched in interest as Naruto-san's face flushed with anger then paled as he stared at Umino-sensei in exaggerated shock. "Oh! And you all better bring a change of clothes. I hear it's going to rain tomorrow and the track has a lot of dirt on it."

Screeches of horror erupted from Sakura-san and Ino-san, as they both stared at each other's faces in horror. They then wailed in sync; "But now Sasuke-kun will see us dirty! Iruka-sensei how could you!" Kita covered her ears as the screams got followed by the laughter.

"Kita-chan? You do know it's time to go right?" Kita looked at Umino-sensei in confusion. He shook her shoulders, making her frown and wrench away from him. "Wake up-"


"-Kita! Ah. You're awake. I've been next to you for over 5 minutes Kita and its 6.37 already; you need to get ready for the Academy." Kita stared at nee-san in pure shock before she scrambled to their unstable, wooden dresser. 'That lesson,' she thought, pulling her shirt over her body. 'Was one of the best we've ever did. Umino-sensei sure does know his stuff…'. Kita's hands trembled as she abruptly thought 'Umino-sensei is going to make me run laps around the Academy grounds. Again.'

When Kita arrived at the Academy, she's late by 16 minutes. She knows because Umino-sensei had a timer for every student in his class. This seemed idiotic at first to her when she was at the Academy for her transition. But now seemed like a reason to make them run. Her shoulders slumped when he mentioned her minutes- 16.57. He then slyly mentioned that her stamina has been getting a lot better recently. 'Because you've been sending me out to do laps!' she thought indignantly, her lips pursed. At Umino-sensei's pointed stare Kita's shoulders slumped as she turned around and left to run.

Kita stared blankly at the large building, then at the path that Academy students used to run around the Academy. 'Because they thought we would need it.' she thought petulantly.

Kita whined underneath her breath as she ran, complaining viciously about the cruelty of only she was the only one that ran laps. "Is there something I did to Umino-sensei? I'm like 11. How did I do anything to you sensei? I learnt, I've improved mas-s-sively 'cause I ac-actually trained. And-" Kita wheezed pitifully as she ran past the sensei's lounging room with an actual couch. 'They have an actual couch,' she thought jealously, her wheezing turning into gasps. 'I don't wanna run. Running sucks. I don't care that my stamina's gotten better, I just want to slap Umino-sensei! It's not fair at all.'

Kita frowned as she realised that she- of all people! - probably had better stamina than most of the girls in her class. Very pathetic really. They were training to be kunoichi.

'But,' Kita mused, ignoring how her lungs burned from running half of the second lap. 'It is good to have stamina. Otherwise I would be a pathetic kunoichi right now- I'm real lucky that nee-san's a Chuunin.' As soon as she thought it Kita felt her leg twinge as she wheezed out a small "help".

"This was my second lap. How?" Kita spluttered out, her hair sticking to the nape of her neck.

Kita's placed her hands on her knees, as she gratefully accepted the fresh air to cool down her already sweating body. 'But I'm sure that most of the clan kids were trained properly by their parentsthat's not fair at all. I have to train by myself.' Kita stumbled as she rounded the corner on her third lap. Her lungs she dimly noticed were getting better at running through her pain. 'Or maybe my stamina is improving.'

Kita groaned as she remembered that she had 13 laps finish.


Kita stared at Umino-sensei in agitated silence, as he smiled proudly back at her. Kita slumped, fiddling with the corner of her shirt as she examined the empty room. 'There's still a couple of scrolls left out, along with pencils? So either they had an emergency and someone took them somewhere in the Academy. But why would Umino-sensei look so calm then... Oh. Oh.' Kita looked up at Umino-sensei with trepidation, then determination overtook her facial expression. Stepping forward Kita punched his arm, her left arm loose but flowing into her step. Exactly like they taught her.

Umino-sensei caught her her arm, deflecting it to the side. His smiling face radiating his pride.

"U-Umino-sensei- guhk!" Kita whimpered as she was flung back 3 feet- which she decided, was a horrible excuse for the bruise that she'd later see. "Umino-sensei! I hate it when you throw surprise tests for random people! Especially when it's me- especially after I did 16 laps!" She screeched in surprise when Umino-sensei darted forward. 'Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. He's actually really fast, I actually can't see what he's doing! Move, move- Guhk!' Umino-sensei sighed when Kita crashed into the wooden desks, her cry of pain echoing the empty room.

"Kita-chan, an enemy shinobi is not going to wait for you to get ready." Was all he said when he slammed his foot down to her head, breaking through the wooden desk.

Kita rolled to the side, her face turning pale when she saw the 2 feet hole Umino-sensei had left in the desk. She rolled under his legs, shrieking even louder when he whirled around leg in the air- his foot touching the hairs on top of her head. She swallowed- her mouth suddenly dry when she realised she would have to actually fight him. Kita stumbled as she slid into the Academy Stance #2- a style that suited most people who were not flexible enough. Umino-sensei flashed a small smile at her as he darted forward, his arms aiming at her chelidon. 'Is it called the chelidon? I'm pretty sure that's what the inner part of my elbow is called. Wait a second is he-'

"Why're you aiming at my chelidon! That hurts when hit there, Umino-sensei!" She shouted at him, her face paling when he examined her with a critical eye.

Umino-sensei then looked at her face and shrugged nonchalantly. He punched her grazing her bicep before he swung his leg over her head, making her duck down to kick his standing leg. She shrieked loudly when his leg barely moved, and aimed a left hook to his abdomen that hit straight on. 'I hit him?' she thought her face morphing into surprise as she scrambled backwards, away from her sensei. 'I hit him! That's not good, he'll make the test even harder now, I know it.' Kita stared at Umino-sensei when he burst into laughter.

"Umino-sensei? Why're you laughing when I punched you in the abdomen?" She asked tentatively, her back slowly relaxing onto the wooden seats.

"No, no, no I'm fine- it barely even hurt. It's just, Kita-chan, you're one of the only ones with common sense in this class. When you got a hit on me, you didn't stay still in shock or scream "I win!". No, you retreated as soon as you got over the shock of hitting me." He said, scratching his scar, before smiling radiantly at her.

"I… what? What does that have to do with anything? Isn't this a test to see how far I've come?' Kita asked her face scrunching up as she peered at Umino-sensei through squinted eyes.

"Nothing to do with that at all, Kita-chan."

"... what? What does that test even mean then!"

"Well, I suppose it's a part of a different test… but it has nothing to do with this test," Umino-sensei stopped scratching his scar, his eyes peering into hers. Kita looked at him with a small frown as he searched for an answer to a question he had.

"What does that mean, sensei?" Kita asked, her neck hurting from craning her neck to look up at him. "I'm not really getting if you meant that I'm a sensible kunoichi? Or that I've done something that most people don't, cause their reaction is to act like a toddler?"

"Well I suppose I mean-" Umino-sensei looked at the door in exasperation when Kita's classmate's screamed out a loud "IRUKA-SENSEI!".

"Naoki-kun! Aoi-chan! Keep the noise down, I'm trying to have a conversation with your classmate." Umino-sensei shouted, glaring at Aoi-san as she screamed with laughter when Naoki-san pulled a face at her. They looked at Umino-sensei and chimed together; "Yes, Iruka-sensei. Sorry, Iruka-sensei."

"Well, your answer Kita-chan to that is. Just that you've go- KIBA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Umino-sensei roared at him his face scowling heavily, before stalking to grab Kiba-san's furred hood. 'You didn't even tell me what you meant!' Kita thought despairingly, before she was shoved off of the desk by Sora-san. 'Ughhk- That hurt a lot… I think I'm going to have to go to the Academy Nurse soon.' She mused her face scrunching at the thought of unwanted prodding and poking.


A.N: This is the first chapter of "the wind that blows through battlefields"! I said in the summary "angst/dark themes etc". But the dark themes don't come until Kita graduates the Academy. Which might take a few chapters to happen, so you'll see a lot of the learning materials that the Academy in my story teach them.

Some stuff to consider helping me continue write this? Please review if you have any questions about the story so far, and I'll try to answer with out giving away the stories plot or crucial details. (I'm new here, so I have no idea how to use . So publishing and editing stories will take some time to do.)

Also, I have no idea how to write fight/action scenes. At all. So be warned that future chapters with fighting will definitely be stilted.