a.n just warning you, this one is incredibly long...enjoy...
Chapter Two--Fights
---
"One, two, th--" Sakai cut off mid-count as Mutsuko-sensei rounded the corner, smiling in her breathless way. Behind her was Hato. He nodded absently in the direction of his two teammates, earning a wave from Sakai and a glare and a "humph" from Seiko.
Hato cocked an eyebrow in the direction of the other male in the group, but Sakai merely shrugged. It was a rare thing for him to understand what was going on in his sister's head.
Sakai observed as Hato sat down beside his sister and she turned her head away.
"Konichiwa, Seiko-chan!" Hato perkily greeted, leaning towards her so as to see her face; in response to this she grunted again and turned her head around even more, making it impossible for Hato to possibly look her in the eye.
"Well it's a good thing you two won't be working together today!" Mutsuko cheerily commented.
"What?! Mutsuko-sensei! You promised that today we'd be going on a mission!" Seiko angrily exclaimed, her head snapping forward so that her golden ponytail whipped her face.
"Aha!" Hato triumphantly exclaimed for he was able to see her face; Seiko scowled at him but didn't turn away again. Instead she stared hard at her sensei's young face as the woman grinned sheepishly at her pupils.
"Yes, well, when I went to go get a mission from Hokage-sama, there were none left. But I secured one for tomorrow. Hokage-sama promised he'd save one for me."
"Well it better not be a stupid D-ranked mission," Sakai said.
"Yeah!" Hato agreed "Those are so below our level!"
"Yes, yes, I know!" Sensei passively said. "But you'll just have to wait and see. Tomorrow."
"Fine," the three teammates simultaneously sighed. Immediately afterwards they exchanged odd looks and scooted away from one another.
A silence passed over after this; Sakai looked from Hato, to his sister, and then at his sensei before finally breaking the silence that the others didn't seem to mind.
"So Mutsuko-sensei! You and Hato got here earlier than I expected! I thought I'd at least get to count to thirty before you got here but I barely got to three!"
Sensei laughed for a moment before replying. "Yes, well Hato was ready early today, surprisingly. I guess he's looking forward to his spy-mission today?" Mutsuko inquiringly raised her eyebrows at her subordinate who returned the look with a cocked eyebrow of his own.
"What?"
Sensei laughed and dismissed the subject with a wave of her hand; Hato scowled at this, but did not pursue the subject and instead just forgot about all of it.
"So since we aren't doing missions today...what will we be doing?" Seiko sounded afraid to even ask.
"Why the usual, of course! My, I'm surprised you three even bother to ask anymore!"
Each of the three sighed loudly. Surprisingly, though, Hato's wasn't the loudest. No, Sakai's was. Everyone turned toward him with wide eyes and waited for him to explain himself. Hato seemed a little offended that his teammate had out-sighed him.
"What?!" Sakai asked, dull blue eyes flickering from one face to the next. "Is a guy not allowed to want some real action? I mean sparring with Seiko is well...boring."
And of course, Seiko being Seiko, she immediately took this as an insult, which it pretty much was, and indignantly shot up from the wall on which she sat. "What are you trying to say, Sakai?! You know, you aren't all that fun to practice with either. In fact, it would be more difficult to defeat a monkey than it would be to defeat you!"
"How would you know? After all, you haven't beaten me once in all the time we've been practicing together and Hato's been off spying on this year's graduates," Sakai replied smugly; Hato and Mutsuko-sensei, who had both stepped back a bit and were watching the argument with interest, both thought that Sakai won there with that, but Seiko was not one to give up so easily.
"Well you havent exactly defeated me either, have you?"
"Oh please! If I had really wanted to beat you during any of the times we've sparred, which isn't every day, I remind you, then I could have. I just wanted to make you feel good about yourself. As your brother, that is my duty."
Seiko's jaw set and she glared at her twin through narrowed eyes--she looked even angrier than she had when Hato had first arrived at the spot, which was very scary considering she had been fuming slightly then, for reasons Hato was still curious about, as were Sakai and Sensei, although neither said anything about it or acted at all curious.
"Okay--that's it. Today, we're going to spar, got it Sakai? And I want you to give me everything you've got--ya hear me?!"
Sakai nodded, a smug smirk playing on his face. "It's on," he simply stated and turned to walk away.
"Be prepared to be defeated by a girl. And your sister, no less."
"I wouldn't get too confident, Seiko. It might explode your already gigantic head."
"Right back atcha!" Seiko snapped; she jogged to catch up with her brother who had excused himself from the meeting with his sensei and was strolling away.
"Hey! You two get right back over here!" Mutsuko-sensei called after them. The two siblings halted and turned their heads to look back at the woman.
"Is this really necessary?" she continued. "I mean both of you are very strong and are still growing. After all you're all still Genins, so there's plenty of time for you to get better."
"But we want to know who's better out of the two of us," Sakai replied calmly in a way that was easy to tell he was hiding his irritation about the hold-up.
"Yes, yes. That's all fine and dandy, but I really don't think it's necessary that you do it now. After all, I never finished explaining what we'd be doing today."
"Fine, fine. Just make it quick," Seiko ordered as she and her brother absently walked back towards their sensei and teammate.
Mutsuko raised her eyebrows so high that they were liable to fall right off her head. She stared at the golden-haired girl incredulously.
"Oh yes. Will do mistress," the woman replied sarcastically. "Now sit down--both of you. You know I have half a mind to make you two do separate things now that you're getting so excited about battling each other."
"No! Don't do that Mutsuko-sensei!" Hato pleaded, shocking his Sensei and Seiko.
"Why not?"
"Because...I could get some fun out of this!"
Mutsuko smirked at this comment while Seiko inaudibly grunted, "Jerk."
And if you thought Sakai was going to go without saying anything, you were wrong. "Really? You could? I thought all you got any enjoyment out of was harassing girls."
"Hey! Now that isn't fair! I don't harass them, I flirt with them--there's a difference! And as you undoubtedly know, they fall head-over-heels in love with me after just one charming comment."
To this, Seiko snorted. " Whatever you say, Hato. You don't see me in love with you, do you?"
To which Hato replied, "Have I never flirted with you, really?"
Seiko opened her mouth to say a snarky comment, but quickly closed her mouth once receiving a glare from Sensei.
"Will you three please just allow me to finish speaking? Please? I understand that I'm not exactly a very strict sensei, but could you please just not take me for granted?" And it was obvious that Mutsuko was ticked off.
"Yeah you two. Stop arguing," Sakai added.
"Wha-what?! You're the one who started it!" Seiko and Hato complained in unison.
"QUIET!" Sensei bellowed, immediately catching everyone's attention. "Now Hato--once you are done spying I want you to go train with Seiko and Sakai. Don't report to me until next time we meet, okay? Now that may be tomorrow morning or later this evening--most likely the latter. Now as for Seiko and Sakai--I want you two to practice your special techniques--I don't want you two messing up on them tomorrow. If you can spar and do that at the same time, that's fine. But if the sparring interferes with training--forget about it. Understood?"
"Hai!" the three simultaneously responded.
"Good. Now you may go," Mutsuko-sensei said tiredly as she dropped down to the bench.
Seiko and Sakai immediately set off, no doubt heading towards their favorite training grounds inside a patch of trees.
Hato, on the other hand, decided to wait if for but a moment and plopped down beside his trainer.
After a long silence, he finally said, "You know they're going to battle anyway, right?"
"Oh yes, I know. I just thought I should be tougher than usual."
Another pause.
"I bet you one-hundred yen that Sakai will win."
"No way! Seiko will totally kick his butt!" Hato excitedly countered. "But yeah, I'm totally in for a good bet."
"Good."
"So you think they fell for it?" Sakai loudly inquired. It was necessary for him to speak this way if he was to be heard over the wind he and Seiko were making as the sped along.
"Oh totally!" Seiko replied just as loudly, if not louder. "Did you see their faces while we were arguing?! It was priceless!"
Sakai let out a laugh. "Yeah. It was," he agreed.
"Yeah..." Seiko's voice briefly drifted off. However, it was soon back and she asked her twin, "But don't you think some of the things you said to me were a bit...I don't know...cold?"
Sakai laughed at this. "The things I said?! You said a monkey would be more difficult to defeat than me. We never planned on you saying that!"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Sakai. Like ' I just wanted to make you feel good about yourself. As your brother, that is my duty.' and 'I wouldn't get too confident, Seiko. It might explode your already gigantic head.' weren't just as mean."
But I said those after you made your comment."
"Hows about we just stop arguing now--before we actually get angry at each other and fight."
"But I want to fight," Sakai whimpered; he looked so pathetically cute as he gave his sister the puppy-eye look that she just barely managed to see under his bangs, and the thrust-out lower lip didn't help him look any more mature.
"Yeah, I kind of do, too, actually," Seiko said with a chuckle.
Side-by-side the two jumped up onto a tree branch and continued on into the forest where they would eventually stop and train/ spar as they had said to Mutsuko-sensei they'd do.
"Do you even remember why we decided to do that last night?" Seiko asked after she and her brother had hopped a few trees.
"I think we thought it would be funny and we'd enjoy doing it?" Saki replied, but it sounded more like a question than a statement.
"Yeah that must have been why..."
"Yeah..." Sakai looked back ahead only to turn his attention back to his sister and saying, "I feel sort of bad for Hato."
"Why?"
"Because we sort of stole his job, making that kind of joke and all. You know...a prank."
"I don't," Seiko irritably snorted. "Besides, Hato's job is to flirt with every girl in the universe before he turns sixteen."
"Well I'd say he's off to a good start," Sakai laughed; the question he, his sensei, and Hato had all been asking themselves since when they all first met that morning popped into Sakai's head again, but he decided to wait until later to ask his sister about it.
"Yeah, I'd say he is," Seiko mumbled. And with that, there was complete silence again but for the rustling of leaves as they hurried past.
Once Hato arrived at the Academy he saw a man whom he could only assume was 'Iruka-sensei' as his own Mutsuko-sensei called him (Hato's class was under the guidance of another Chuunin) leading a bunch of people around twelve years of age away from the school.
Hato recognized some of the heads as those from the class which he had been spying on and immediately began following.
Only when they stopped at a large piece of flat land with nothing but trees coming after it did Hato understand what they were doing--field practice. His own class had only done these a few these the entire time they were at the Academy--all but two of which had been during their last year.
It's about time Hato thought to himself with a smirk.
Getting closer to the crowd but still hiding the large shrubs that surrounded the perimeter of the field, Hato could see the faces of the students./ And by the expression on most of those faces, Hato--correctly--guessed that it was their first time.
"Okay, everyone! Find yourself a partner so we can get started!" the man known as Iruka-sensei instructed after turning to face the mob of students.
After just a couple simple words uttered by the man the whole scene went wild. The students shoved about in search of their friends and calling out their names. Hato couldn't make out a single one since everyone was all making so much noise, so he was surprised that the students actually could. Or, he assumed they could ,considering people replied to the slurred calls.
And within seconds, only a few people were left without partners. Most of these were girls. but there Were three guys left. But the boys didn't interest Hato, and neither did the girls.
A girl with bright blue eyes and a blonde ponytail stood there in the field--alone and with no partner.
"I'd pair up with her in a heartbeat," Hato whispered to himself, craning his neck just a bit so he could get a better look at her and yet still concealing himself behind the bush.
"Cho-chan!! Over here!" Hato heard someone call after all the noise had died down. The bright-eyed girl whom Hato so intently watched looked over at the one who had called her--a "Chubby" boy holding a bag of some snack and standing beside a thinner boy who seemed completely bored--and smiled.
"Okay! Hang on a moment!" she called back and tightened her ponytail; it was then that Hato remembered it was a blonde girl who wore her hair up in a ponytail that had caught him just three days earlier, but after a moment he knew that it wasn't this girl. Hato had already seen the one who had caught him earlier, although he wasn't sure then where he recognized her from--he was now--and she was paired up with another girl.
When Hato cleared his thoughts again and continued looking on, the girl had already walked towards the snacking boy and his friend. And as much as Hato strained his ears to hear what was going on over there, he couldn't hear anything--and the twitters coming from a group of girls nearby didn't help at all.
For the first time in his life Hato felt himself glaring at all of those girls, willing for them to just shut up so he could listen to the pony-tail girl whom he had just figured out was named 'Cho', despite the fact the snacking-boy had called to her several minutes ago. Hato actually wished that all of those girls, many of which were pretty, would just disappear. And all so he could just pay better attention to the girl named Cho.
A couple of minutes later Cho stepped back into ear range; Hato unknowingly broke into a grin. It was as if she had been listening to his thoughts and was trying to make it easier for him.
After quickly looking around again, Cho took a couple steps towards one of the remaining girls who Hato noticed looked very disappointed, but before she could suggest them being partners, a boy hopped in front of her.
Is she as popular with the boys as I am with the girls? Hato wondered. He hoped she wasn't--there'd be more competition for him if he actually decided he wanted to be serious with her.
"Konichiwa Cho-san!" the boy, who wore a ridiculously large, floppy hat, exclaimed.
Quickly Hato moved to a bush closer in so he could get a better view of everything. This bush was much larger, and was definitely big enough for him to hide in--so he did.
Hato got settled just in time to hear Cho, who was still scoping the area and not paying the boy much attention at all, say, "Eh."
And for some reason, she shuddered.
"Oh are you cold? I could give you my jacket?" the floppy-hat boy had a very childish voice, Hato noted.
"What? Oh, no. Just...never mind. Was there something you needed?"
Okay...this is getting really boring Hato sighed. He wanted to see how these Academy students fought, but the Iruka man was just standing there watching as the wannabe-ninjas socialized.
"Oh yeah! Want to be my partner?"
Cho began to object and was trying to slowly get away from him, and her eyes were wildly looking about. Only two people were left.
"Sure. I have no one else to be with."
Does she like him?! Hato wondered for one brief moment, but quickly decided against it. He didn't sense there was a likeable bone in that boy's body. And besides, Cho didn't seem too thrilled to be partnered with him.
"Great!"
"Yeah...super!" she forced a microscopic smile and looked away, her eyes catching on something. Hato followed her gaze and spotted an orange jumpsuit worn by a boy with vibrant yellow hair.
"Does everyone have a partner?" Iruka-sensei asked, his eyes flickering back and forth. "If not then please raise your hand!"
"Okay then! Now let me explain what we're going to be doing today! The reason I had you all bring some weapons is because we're doing some field practice today! You'll be battling against your partner with simple techniques. Obviously weapon usage is allowed. But I want no serious damage done, understood? That means no killing and no headshots!"
The man ordained Iruka looked from face to face. This took several minutes, but once he had finally looked at each pair of people, he clapped his hands together and called out, "Okay so does everybody get what we're doing?"
When nobody said anything the man took this as a qualified 'yes' and continued on to say, "Everyone, find a spot for you and your partner to spar in and then start! I'll be observing!"
Cho and her partner stayed where they were, and Hato was tempted to do the same, but he had a job to do, even if he wasn't exactly sure what it was for. If he just observed one group then he wouldn't be following orders and Mutsuko-sensei would most likely not be pleased.
So, inwardly moaning, Hato crawled out from under the bush and jumped to one of the few trees that lines the sides. After jumping up a few times, he finally settled on a branch towards the lower middle settled there. From that height he could observe every single battle at once. And, if necessary, he could look closer using his binoculars.
Smiling to himself, Hato made himself as comfortable as one can be while crouching on a tree branch and watched as the Academy students began to spar.
"Sakai!" Seiko whined, dropping her arms at her side and looking over at her brother who was practicing techniques only a few feet away. "I'm tired of doing this. Can we please battle now?"
Sakai gaze his sister a blank stare and remained silent; at first Seiko thought the rusty-haired boy wasn't going to say anything, but finally, he said quietly, You heard what Mutsuko-sensei said."
"Yes, she said to perfect our techniques for tomorrow before we even think about sparring. But she won't know!"
Sakai, still concentrating on his jutsus, hesitated before saying, "She will if we mess up completely, now won't she?"
"I guess...but won't we be too tired to fight after we practice so much?"
Sakai shrugged. "It could go either way, couldn't it?"
"I suppose..."Seiko was silent for a long time before looking back at her brother with one finely arched eyebrow raised. "Didn't you just say before that you wanted to fight."
Sakai bent over, touching his toes with his fingertips to get himself stretched for whatever reason it was. "Things change," he grunted as he straightened himself again and began doing quads. "Or maybe I just want to wait until my techniques are better before I use them against you."
The male grinned widely at his sister, pushing aside his bangs so that his fingertips brushed against the cold metal of his forehead protector; his dull blue eyes didn't look so dull for once for they were sparkling with a hint of excitement that Seiko rarely saw. She grinned back at her twin, did a few quick stretches and then continued practicing as well.
Suddenly she was eager to perfect the jutsus as well.
Most of the Academy students were barely managing to touch their partners, let alone hurt them. That was the problem with being paired with someone you liked--it was difficult for you to find the willpower to actually hit them. That was why partners were always chosen by the sensei in Hato's class.
Once again, Hato found his eyes--or rather, binoculars--wandering toward blonde girl and floppy-hat boy's fight. He couldn't help it. Not only was she former attractive, but she was one good fighter. And the boy wasn't half bad either, when he actually tried. By far, their fight was the most interesting.
In place of where the two Hato watched most stood was a giant pink/ash smoke cloud. Cho stood half a foot away, looking hesitant on stepping inside. Even from the height Hato was watching from he could hear her opponents coughing--and it didn't sound good.
Deciding to look away for a few moments Hato scanned the scene until he found the two boys Cho had been speaking with earlier--bored boy and snacking boy.
"Bingo!" Hato whispered to himself as he zoomed the binoculars in closer since the two partners had decided to go pretty far away from the others.
Snacking boy had tripled in size, but bored boy didn't seem to care. Quickly he formed a few handseals and then had the larger boy trapped in a shadow. Hato had heard of that technique before--the shadow bind. The Nara clan was famous for it. No ninja outside of that family seemed to be able to use it as well as them.
He must be a Nara... Hato thought to himself. And by the looks of the other guy...that looks like a technique from the Akimichi family, if I remember correctly.
Mutsuko-sensei had made Hato and his teammates study the different clans and their techniques many times over and over until they finally had all the ones in the books memorized.
But that had been a year ago, and when Hato didnt care about something too much he tended to forget completely about it.
Losing interest quickly in the two, Hato turned his binoculars back to Cho and her partner. The cloud of smoke had mostly dissipated by this point, and if Hato strained his eyes he could see exactly what was going on down there.
Cho had thrown a shuriken at her partner and it had lodged itself into his back. The boy's scream was blood-curdling and Hato winced when he heard even its echoes.
The boy fell to his knees, pulled the weapon that had caused blood to spurt out of his back--but thankfully not as much as the kunai thrown earlier had--out of his skin, leaving a stain the same color as another lower in his back. After this floppy-hat boy writhed about in pain.
Cho watched with obvious terror as her partner massaged his damp, sore shoulder. And once the smoke was completely gone she let out the lung-shattering cough she had been holding in.
After the two exchanged a few words the boy's eyes locked with Cho's. The boy's had at some point turned blood shot. At first Hato had thought that it was from possible crying but after a while he changed his mind, maybe a technique he had done earlier caused it? Hato remembered reading something about a jutsu like that.
After the boy mouthed a few words that looked very much like "say yes, nod your head." Cho nodded her head.
Seemingly no battling was going on so, as the two talked back and forth, Hato allowed himself to turn his attention to another sparring group, only to find that they had all surrounded the two who he had been watching for such a long time.
"I guess this is about to get interesting. They obviously all think so," Hato muttered to himself. After inching forward on his stomach and pushing a cluster of leaves aside, he got an even better view and continued watching the blonde and the hat-boy.
Sakai quickly finished up a move, took a deep breath, and turned to his sister who was resting on the ground after having perfected her special jutsus as much as she could a couple minutes ago.
Let's do it soon?" Sakai suggested, collapsing on the ground beside his twin; she merely nodded, liking this idea, and fell onto her back, allowing her heavy lids to close over her tired eyes.
Sakai took one look at her and instantly felt even sleepier. Turning onto his side and resting his head on his hands, he allowed sleep to overtake him.
Who knew practicing jutsus could be so draining?
It had only been a couple minutes, and nothing really had happened. Hato was annoyed that he couldn't hear what was going on. Taking into account all the bodies surrounding the--what could once be called--battle, Hato decided he wouldn't be noticed.
Jumping from branch to branch until he finally reached the ground, he quickly scampered to the side of the crowd which was closer to Cho and her partner and hovered near the back.
"It's a hypnosis jutsu. My ancestors created it to get through tough battles. You see my family isn't too strong. We get tired easily. And with this jutsu, we easily defeat opponents. This way it doesnt drag on too long--if we use it right away. It takes up almost all our chakra to use," Hato heard the boy saying, to which Cho replied:
"Didn't you use it on that Keiko girl yesterday?"
"Oh so you saw that? Checking me out were you?"
After a slight pause Cho gave an airy laugh. Such a noise didn't sound natural coming from the girl. For some reason, Hato pictured her more of the type of girl who had loud hearty laughs and tiny, cute giggles.
Quickly thinking of the words which the boy with the floppy hat had said just moments before--since Hato was sure that somewhere in there he had said what kind of jutsu it was--Hato found what he was looking for.
"It's a hypnosis jutsu."
So he was controlling what Cho was doing, hm? How nice.
"What did you tell her to do?" Cho inquired with a strained voice.
"Oh nothing. Just made her get really sick is all. You see, my hypnosis jutsu surpasses any of those before me. I can do more than merely make a person say 'moo' or bark like a dog. I perfected this at the age of five, and then went on to build at it. I can make a person do anything. Not only them but also the germs inside them, as well as other things. I can do anything with my move--even change emotions and feelings. Towards another person or being, or even just a mood. I'm that good."
"Why...did you...do that...to her?"
"The other day she insulted me. Called me a freak, a pervert, and annoying. I'm sure there was more but--"
"So you made her sick?! How sick exactly?!"
Out of the corner of his eye Hato somehow managed to see the boy in this match mouthing something in a menacing way; his red eyes flashed.
Cho said nothing but instead pressed her lips together--hard. So hard, in fact that they formed a perfectly straight, white line.
"Fine. I'll tell you. She's very sick. Deadly even. I'm not even sure there's a cure for what I gave her," floppy boy said indifferently after giving a sigh.
Just because she called you a few names?! You know you could have ignored her! Or if you had to get revenge on her you could have humiliated her or...beat her up! Something I don't suggest but...it's better than possible killing her!" Clearly, the girl speaking was dumbfounded; Hato himself was as well.
"Maybe you think so but not me. I have had enough of the teasing and name calling. I've had nothing but that for years. Anyone who dares do anything to me from now on--they're going down! YOU ALL HEAR THAT?!!! YOU'RE GOING DOWN!"
The boy was positively fuming as he looked around at the crowd that had formed; Cho also looked up and immediately blushed. It was obvious she hadn't known that they had drawn a crowd.
"Now back to you..." Seiichi mumbled, turning back towards his partner; Hato's heart began to race in panic. He was worried about this girl who he didn't even know--something that he had never felt before. He didnt particularly like it either.
"NO YOU...MONSTER!!!" Cho screamed after a brief pause; Hato wondered what it was that her partner had ordered her to do.
The floppy boy was too surprised that Cho had escaped his hypnosis jutsu to avoid Cho as she ran at him full speed with a balled fist. First she rammed into his stomach, and then his jaw.
Hato winced at this. That had to hurt.
"How could you kill a girl? Or even think of it?! You know what could happen to you? No that would be selfish--think about the grief her family and friends will go to. And then the guilt that will be put on you! It will all be your fault! Now if you don't get rid of that...disease I'll make you! And trust me--I don't need some dumb Hypnosis Jutsu!"
The boy out of the two had been knocked to the ground during the punches. Angrily, he stood up, grabbed a kunai, and spat, "Make me!"
"Believe me--I WILL! And it isn't going to be some nice skip down the forest path!"
The two opponents ran at each other. Hato thought that it was rather unfair that the boy had a kunai while Cho had only her fist, but she didnt seem to care all that much. She narrowly avoided the sharp weapon by curving her back as her partner ran past her.
"Come on and fight, Lady," Cho's partner sneered.
"Two steps ahead of you, Seiichi-kun," the blonde spat venomously at the boy with light brown hair.
So that's his name, Hato thought to himself, for he had been wondering for a while.
Suddenly the girl in the field was behind Seiichi, about to attack, when he came spinning around, whacking his in the nose with his elbow. Cho staggered back with blood flowing rapidly from her nose.
"Seiichi, Cho! I think this is enough! You two are obviously skilled but you have taken it too far!" Iruka-sensei shouted, but they both ignored him.
Seiichi lowered himself a but and whispered something that Hato had failed to catch. But it was impossible to miss hearing Cho's loud retort of, "Fat chance of that happening."
Again the boy spoke in a voice so low that the blonde thirteen-year-old spectator was unable to make out what it was being said. However he had managed to figure out that it was menacing.
"What else can you do besides the Hypnosis?" Cho asked of Seiichi; her voice sounded clogged due to her undoubtedly broken nose which was still flowing like a waterfall.
Seiichi smirked, eyes flashing. "You'll see; you'll see."
So quickly that no one could possibly manage to comprehend what they were, Seiichi formed hand seals. But whatever the jutsu was it made a swarm of razor-sharp leaves mixed with kunai and shuriken fly at Cho as they glimmered in the sunlight.
It was a secret attack of Konoha, obviously. Why else would it have leaves? Not many people could do it though, that Hato knew.
All of those weapons and leaves had in some way or another made their target without hitting any of the surrounding people; Cho fell to the ground for barely a moment before scrambling back to her feet and running as far as she dared.
"You're scared, are you?" Seiichi shouted darkly. "And with good reason! These aren't just any weapons..."
Hato was barely listening to the boy's shouted; he was too concerned about Cho. Was she alright? Did she need help? Never before had Hato ever been so willing to help anyone--especially a stranger. He was usually only compelled to help Seiko or Sakai--who he knew were very capable ninjas--because he wanted pass the mission. It wasn't raw concern that forced him to do it--ever
With her hands slapped over her ears, Cho screamed, ""What are you?!Do you have some sort of problem?! Are you trying to KILL me! This is training! You've taken this much too far! FREAK!"
Seiichi's eyes sharpened, but he pulled back the kunai, shuriken, and leaves nonetheless. They fell to the ground all around, most landing right in front of the girl with her hands clapped over her ears.
"Happy? Now let's continue this--close combat. You're a good opponent, Cho-san."
"Thanks," Cho panted.
Hato tugged at the bottom of his dirty white t-shirt and wondered how she could possible find the willpower to thank that guy, even if it was common courtesy.
Maybe she's just nicer than you a wicked voice hissed inside Hato's head; the boy frowned. He wasn't trying to be vain, but he was a pretty nice guy, which would make Cho...
Hato looked intently at her, head tilted to the side, and smiled softly. Yes, she looked genuinely nice. He could see it hidden--for the moment--in her eyes.
Hato turned his attention back to the match and noticed that Seiichi was running towards Cho, taking shots. The girl avoided most, but some of his attacks skimmed her ears.
"And you thought I was weak," Seiichi said disdainfully. "I've showed you, haven't I?"
"Sure. But You keep falling for the same dumb tricks!" Cho said from behind him with a smirk on her face. He spun around; Cho wasn't there. She was back in front of him and punched him in the stomach, sending him flying.
"Why you little..." The boy ran at Cho with a tightly clenched fist. He seemed to be flying as the wind pulled back his cheeks and his trademark hat slowly slid from his head.
His fist made impact on Cho's stomach which she covered with her orange shirt. The girl cringed noticeable, fell to her knees with a 'thud' and then to her chest.
"Ha! I've won!" He declared after bending close to me to inspect. Triumphant, he walked away towards the crowd.
Hato was so busy watching Seiichi with scorn that he didn't notice Cho silently and skillfully get up from the ground. Only when Hato noticed the girl approaching her opponent from behind did he smirk and notice that she was only pretending to be unconscious.
Grabbing Seiichi by the shoulders, Cho spun him around and kicked him in the jaw. That one hit sent the boy flying through the air. It would be a miracle if he didn't break his neck after landing head-first on the ground.
"How can they fight like this? We're all just beginners. Cho hasn't even been in the Academy before..." Someone from in front of Hato whispered.
"She hasn't? Wow, she must have gotten private training," Hato muttered to himself in amazement. He only knew of a few people who actually did that.
Hato returned to observing Cho, who was staring upward at the sky. As he saw Seiichi--who seemed to be perfectly fine after his hit with the ground--then sneaking up on Cho, Hato wanted to scream out to the girl, but he knew he couldn't. His job was to remain undetected as he watched.
With a sigh Cho brought her attention back to the task at hand--just in time for Seiichi's fist to slam into the side of her head.
It sent her staggering.
"Somebody catch her!" a girl shrieked.
"Oh what a drag...how come I had to be stuck right by her?" the Nara boy groaned after having caught her; Hato stared enviously at the guy. He'd have gladly caught the stranger.
"I could have caught her you know," the Akimichi boy informed his friend.
"Yes but you were too busy snacking, and your hands were full..."
Sounds like he's glad he had the opportunity to catch her to me, Hato thought to himself as he turned his attention to a smug-looking Seiichi who didn't seem at all fazed by the numerous glares he was receiving.
And then, the orange-clad boy Cho had earlier been watching came running into the field, doing something Hato very much felt like doing as well--he socked Seiichi in the face which, once again, made the boy fly backwards.
And after that the class was over. Hato stayed around until Cho was sent to the medical center and the students began to disperse. Then, with one final, disdainful look at the blood-covered face of Seiichi, he ran off to find his teammates.
A kunai was thrown from somewhere in the trees, narrowly missing the sleeping Seiko's head.
But Sakai, who was only half-asleep, saw it.
Immediately he shot up and absently shook his sisters shoulder with one hand as he leaned over her to grab the kunai with another. All the while he scanned the area, looking for the offender.
But he didn't see the person.
"Seiko wake up!" Sakai hissed; he had never known his twin to be such a deep sleeper, so why now all of a sudden?
Seiko grumbled something in her sleep and turned over just as another kunai came slicing through the air; Sakai failed to manage to see where it had come from. Cursing himself, he quickly threw his body on top of his unconscious sister to shield her from the attack.
Who was this?
"SEIKO!" Sakai screamed, sitting up straight so that, just in case she suddenly sat up, he wasnt on top of her. "Come on! This isn't funny! WAKE UP!" Sakai wasn't one to yell, but this was a dangerous situation. He was tired, practically drained of all his chakra, and his sister was laying unconscious in the grass--while someone was attacking them, no less.
Who would be doing that, anyway? Certainly not Hato. Even he wasn't so stupid as to pull such a dangerous prank.
Another kunai.
This one, unlike the other, didn't miss Sakai when he threw his body over his sister. He winced as the blade went into his back and stayed there. Sakai didn't like the feeling of warm blood staining his black shirt and beige jacket.
Trembling as he straightened himself, Sakai took his chance and slapped his twin across the face; this instantly awakened her. And, unfortunately, she was in a rage as soon as she shot upwards.
"Sakai! Wh-what the heck was that for?! Do you know how well I was sleeping?! DO YOU?!" she screamed so loudly Sakai thought his ears would bleed.
"Well sorry! Should I have just let you lay there unconscious while kunai were being thrown at us?" Sakai sarcastically inquired, earning a snort from the blonde of the two.
"No one was throwing kunai at us, Sakai, of that Im sure--even if I was just asleep. You must have been dreaming."
"Oh yeah? Is this a dream?" Sakai turned around and smirked when his sister gasped.
Seiko's hand hovered above the handle of the kunai; her fingertips brushed against the warm metal, and her hand retreated.
"Wh-who?" she stuttered as her brother turned back around.
"I don't know--I haven't gotten to see them yet," Sakai replied. As another weapon--this time a shuriken--came flying out from a tree, Sakai, who was on the alert, grabbed Seiko and ducked.
"It came from there!" he whispered, pointing to a tree in front of the to the left; Seiko nodded and, as if reading each other's minds, the two grabbed weapons from out of their pouches.
Simultaneously they threw the weapons to the tree where Sakai had pointed to. The two shuriken ripped through the leaves and, it was obvious by the noise made, hit a body.
Or two, rather, as Seiko and Sakai discovered when two men clad in all black with faces covered by white masks hopped down from the tree. Each man bore a shuriken sticking out of their right upper arm.
"Congratulations--you found us," one of them, a man with tan skin and dark hair, growled.
"Too bad we found you first," the other added smugly, brushing his light brown hair from his brown eyes.
Seiko snorted and, in an overly confident way, retorted, "Yeah, too bad for you. You guys have to fight us--the TWINJAS!!"
The two black-clad men exchanged an amused glance before the first one gently inquired, "Twinjas?"
"Yes! Got a problem with that?!" Seiko snapped, her dull blue eyes flashing dangerously as she looked from one man to the other; Sakai gently grabbed her shoulder and forcefully pulled her back.
"Are you stupider than Hato?" he growled. "These are grown men, and we're practically drained of all our Chakra. They could easily defeat us!"
"I doubt it!" Seiko replied with a snort. "They aren't even ninjas!"
"There are other things just as dangerous as ninjas," Sakai said grimly; Seiko didn't get a chance to say anything to that because the second man had opened his mouth and was speaking.
"Um, excuse me, little girl?"
"What?!" Seiko snapped, eyes flashing again, as she whirled around the face the man who dared call her a 'little girl'
"Sorry to interrupt you and your brother's argument, but we just had to correct you on one thing..."
"And that would be ?"
"We are ninjas," the first nonchalantly stated.
Seiko paled and suddenly, she had no more to say. Instead she opened and closed her mouth like a fish before turning to face Sakai who merely shrugged.
Taking a step forward, the rusty-haired boy cleared his throat. "What do you want with us?"
"Well, I guess we should tell them, shouldn't we?" the second asked of the first.
The first nodded and gruffly said, "We're here to kill you."
Seiko's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Ex-cuse me?!"
"You heard me." And before Seiko or Sakai could do anything, the second man made hand seals while the first ran towards them with kunai sticking out between each finger.
Sakai fell to his stomach in order to dodge it; the man tread on his arm, but missed him otherwise.
"You deal with him--I'll take care of the girl!" the man who had been making hand seals called as Seiko came stampeding towards him.
"Right!"
Sakai hopped to his feet and quickly made some quick hand seals before the man he was supposed to be dealing with could come back at him; his arm was sore after having been crushed by the man's full weight, but he ignored it and focused on fighting.
And then two dozen giant (two-three foot long) gerbils surrounded Sakai. The boy knew this wasn't much of a defense, so he quickly made more hand seals. Individually each gerbil began to spin quickly, making dirt and grass fly through the air, hitting the man in the face--this wasn't the attack, just a perk.
Some of the gerbils went under ground and shot up again, attacking the black-clad man while others jumped high up using the chakra Sakai had lent to them and attacked the man with extended claws and sharp teeth.
While they did that Sakai grabbed a string of kunai, wrapped it around his body, and then took a handful of shuriken and one simple smoke bomb, being careful not to poke himself with the shuriken.
And then, like the gerbils, he began to spin wildly. While he was doing this, he first threw out the smoke bomb which, fortunately, came in contact with the man being attacked be gerbils and he became blinded for then--Sakai noticed that he didn't cough, and he didn't think it was because of the mask.
After the smoke bomb part was done Sakai began to move in circles around the man, coming and closer and closer all the time. Every few seconds he'd throw a shuriken, not sure if it was hitting the man or not, although since the man grunted every once in a while Sakai was sure some did.
And then, Sakai was circling the man so close that the kunai ripped through his clothes, and more than likely his skin, too.
The man made no noise but he did push Sakai away, sending the boy spinning into a tree where he slid to the ground, dizzy.
Out of the corner of her eye Seiko watched as her brother very skillfully fought the man, but she couldn't put too much concentration on her brother, because she too had to fight a man.
"I find it rude that you think you can take time to pay attention to Sakai," the man said after deflecting another one of Seiko's kunai--she wasn't yet ready to use any jutsus.
"Yes well, I find it rude that you want to kill us."
The man grunted and then jumped into the protection of a tree. When he jumped back out a minute later, just as Seiko was preparing herself to jump up there with him so that he couldn't escape, there were two of him.
Seiko knew that she could no longer just use kunai and shuriken--it was time to use some jutsus.
Hamsters piled on top of her, all the same size as Sakai's gerbils, and hid her as she made more hand seals.
The amount of hamsters tripled, only 2/3 of them were faded, just ghosts of the original. Seiko jumped out from the heap of hamsters with two ghosts of her following behind.
The two faded images of the real thing slowly came out from behind Seiko and stood at her sides. The man she faced and his clone stood in front of them; no one made a move until Seiko kicked upward, making contact with the man--or was it his clone?
Her ghosts did just as she did, and their kick was just as hard as hers. The man flew backwards and hit the ground, only to disappear.
So it was his clone.
Seiko took a step toward the real man she faced, and her ghosts did along with her, and she summoned for all the hamsters to come; they surrounded their master, snarling viciously at the man she face. And then, with a snap of her fingers, they attacked, latching onto him and not letting go, as much as he writhed.
And in the midst of all the confusion, Seiko and her ghost-clones spread out to attack him at three angles.
Just as their kunai they held were about to go into the man, a voice cut through all of the battle, a familiar voice, and Seiko dropped her weapons.
"HEY! THAT'S ENOUGH!"
Seiko caught sight of her brother, collapsed against a tree with his opponent creping towards him, as she spun around to see who the owner of the voice was.
Mutsuko-sensei.
As usual Hato was following behind her. The smile he constantly wore was there, but it wasn't the same as usual. It was wistful.
"You can all stop fighting here. The sun's about to set and I want to go home and rest, and I can't do so while there are two Jounin ninjas playing around with me subordinates!"
"But Mutsuko--' the man who was fighting Sakai before began to protest, but the woman held up her hand and he was silenced.
"Asuma, help Sakai up and keep him up since you obviously did that to him. Seiko--drop all weapons and call the hamsters off of Genma."
Seiko reluctantly did as she was told, and also called away all the ghost replications.
Why was her sensei on first name basis with these people who planned on killing her and her brother?
Seiko wandered over to Sakai and forcefully took him from the black-clad man, slapping his face until he woke up. Immediately the rusty-haired boy looked over at the man he had been fighting and smiled triumphantly when he saw the man wounds he had given him.
"I was watching the entire fight," Mutsuko-sensei began to say as she approached the man she called Genma, "and I have to say--"
"That I saw two Academy students fight better than you," Hato humorously interrupted; even though he was only joking, this made Seiko fume. If she hadn't been holding up her brother who was taking his sweet old time putting his feet on the ground she would have gone over and beat him up. She hadn't yet forgiven him for a comment he had made three days ago.
"Yes, Hato was watching as well, but that wasn't what I was going to say," Mutsuko said with a smile as she began to wipe dirt from Genma's black clothing.
Seiko pretended not to notice that the Asuma guy was watching with an obvious scowl.
"I was going, to say that, even though the fight didn't really last long, you two fought well."
Sakai grinned weakly as he pressed a hand to his head while Seiko smirked.
And then Mutsuko went to address Asuma and Genma, smiling playfully. "And you two!' she exclaimed, placing both hands on her hips and looking back and forth between the attackers. "You guys are grown men--Jounins. I send you guys to--"
"Wait, wait, wait a minute!" Seiko interrupted. "You sent them?!"
Annoyed by the interruption--again--Mutsuko irritably and indifferently replied, Yes, yes, I sent them. Now let me finish, okay? So I send you guys to surprise attack my subordinates so that they get some really good practice and you guys totally get beat up! Genma--did you even hit Seiko?!"
The one ordained Genma shook his head and shrugged. "It's against my nature to hit an innocent girl--especially a Genin--even a cheeky one like her. But I did get Sakai in the back with a kunai."
"Yeah that was a good shot. But poor Sakai got beat up--I guess it's payback for getting Asuma so much, hm?" Mutsuko-sensei winked at the man Asuma.
The man blushed and grumbled something inaudibly as he pulled his face mask down and grabbed a cigarette, quickly lighting it and putting it to his lips.
"Anyway! Thanks again Asuma, Genma! You showed the two a nice surprise attack--something they've been needing."
"Not a problem," Asuma replied and let a puff of smoke escape his mouth.
"I guess we should be going now?" Genma suggested, looking over at the slightly younger smoking man, who nodded.
"Okay. I'll see you two around...are you sure you don't want me to pay you?" Mutsuko put one slender hand into her pocket as an act to pull out money, but Genma grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand back out before she could.
"That won't be necessary. It was...fun. I don't think I've ever been attacked by hamsters before." And the light-haired man winked at Seiko.
"Yeah. And it certainly was an experience being mauled by gerbils," Asuma added with a chuckle. "But you guys were good, no doubt about it. You certainly live up to the title as the best Genin team..."
"But you didnt see me fight!" Hato protested.
Seiko's head shot up. Hato had been so silent she had forgotten he was there.
Asuma chuckled. "Not this time, no. But I've seen you practicing, and I'm sure Genma has, too. Plus, I saw you spying on the Academy kids today, good job."
Hato beamed. "Arigato."
Asuma nodded and the, in the blink of an eye, he and Genma were gone.
Mutsuko-sensei ushered Seiko and Sakai to where she and Hato stood.
"So did you two every have that fight?" she inquired, running a hand through her short hair.
Sakai shook his head. "No. Genma-sensei and Asuma-sensei came before we could."
"Oh. Then I guess you'll have to do it some other time," Mutsuko said airily in order to hide the disappointment from her voice.
"Wait just a minute!" Hato exclaimed. "I say Seiko won since she managed not to get majorly injured during that battle!"
"Yeah!" Seiko agreed; Mutsuko looked over at Sakai to see if he agreed as well, and he gave a half-hearted nod.
"YES! Score!" Seiko gleefully exclaimed, punching the air. "Come on, we should go, Sakai."
"Yeah. Sayonara Hato and Mutsuko-sensei!"
"Sayonara!" Seiko said as well and then, with Seiko supporting her still dizzy brother, they went off.
As soon as she was sure they were gone Mutsuko turned towards the blonde boy with narrowed eyes. "You only said that because of the bet," she accused.
Hato shrugged. "Yeah. You heard for yourself--Genma-sensei doesn't hit girls." Shrugging again he went to walk off, but halted and looked over his shoulder at the young woman. "But you still owe me that money."
Mutsuko scowled but nodded nonetheless, and then, quickly catching up to her pupil, they headed back home together--since they lived in the same apartment building.
"So...Seiko?" Sakai began unsurely several hours later. The two were sitting out on their front porch, swinging back and forth on the porch bench.
"Hm?" Seiko looked at her twin with raised eyebrows.
"Why are you so mad at Hato?" It felt good to finally ask the question after waiting all day.
Seiko hesitated before answering into her lap, "It's because of something he said a couple days ago. And then his comment about those Academy students fighting better than us didn't help any."
"But he was just joking!"
Seiko shrugged. "Yeah but...you know me. I'm snippy..."
"Yeah, you are..." Sakai agreed, looking up at the midnight-blue sky.
"Yeah I--hey! You weren't supposed to agree!"
Sakai shrugged, a wicked grin on his face. "Would you rather I lie than offend you?"
Seiko shook her head and began twiddling with her fingers.
"So...what was the thing he said a couple days ago that got you 'steamed'?"
Seiko hesitated before answering in a whisper, "The thing where he said 'be happy you aren't one of the girls I'm always thinking about.'"
"Why'd that make you upset?"
Seiko shrugged again. "It just did."
Sakai didn't say anything else although he though he might know why she felt that way. But since he couldn't be sure and he didn't want her sister to get any angrier, he kept his mouth shut.
a/n first off, Hato's scenes were from Chapter four of BP, only him viewing it. also the powers for Seiko and Sakai are (basically) from the mind of Legendarytrio, their creator. I just added stuff off of the gerbil, hamster thingy. now I have something else to say
yay! I finally got up chapter two! happiness! ha ha! it took up eighteen pages on word. EIGHTEEN!!! that's a heck of a lota pages!! when I came back from church and clicked 'Load Into Editor' I actually got a message saying WOAH! this is getting long. if it gets any longer it will...blah blah blah. it was pretty funny. but that was on quizilla...
hope you like please review and look out for the next chapter!
