Chapter Two: A New Hidden Leaf Ninja
Mitsukai woke up the next day sore from the previous day of training. She never complained until she tried to get out of bed...
"Oww..." She moaned as she tried to move her arms. After several minutes of trying to get up, she gave up and just laid in the bed. She was on her way back to sleep when she heard loud banging on the door.
"HEY, MITSUKAI, ARE YOU UP YET? COME ON, WE HAVE A WHOLE 'NOTHER DAY OF TRAINING TO DO! YOU HAVE TO SHOW ME HOW TO MOVE THAT FAST!" Naruto yelled through the door, banging on it relentlessly. She groaned and rolled over again.
"Naruto, please go away." She mumbled. Of course, he didn't hear this nor did he go away. It took her nearly fifteen minutes to get out of bed, shower, and get dressed. When she finally opened the door, she wasn't a very pleasant person...
"Well, it's about time you got up. Do you know how long I've been out here?"
"Precisely eighteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds." Mitsukai locked the door behind her and followed an all too hyper Naruto. Naruto talked every single second until they met up with Sasuke and Sakura.
"Hey guys! Either of you seen Kakashi-sensei, yet?" Naruto asked.
"No." Sakura shook her head. Sasuke didn't even bother to answer.
"Ya know, we all probably could have stayed in bed and he still wouldn't have shown up on time." Naruto scratched his head with a thoughtful look. Up until this point, Mitsukai had been practically sleepwalking because her eyes were millimeters away from being closed and she was dangerously close to falling asleep. Her eyes shot open and she grabbed Naruto by the collar.
"You mean to tell me that you woke me up early for nothing?!" Her eyes were slightly red and her sleepy voice only made it seem worse.
"I-I'm sorry Mitsukai, it's just that I was so excited about training with you that I kinda got carried away..." He rubbed the back of his head and gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry."
Mitsukai may have hit him at that moment if Kakashi hadn't have shown up and pried her fingers off of him. "Easy now, Mitsukai. I'm here now."
She let go and folded her arms across her chest, extremely pissed.
"How about I buy you some coffee, eh Mitsukai? That's sure to wake you up." Naruto gave a mile wide smile but Mitsukai ignored him, scratching her head and looking up at the sky. "Mitsukai, did you hear me? What do you say?"
She scratched her head and frowned. "I really must be hearing things."
---------------------------
On their way to the training field, they ran into a tall man with white hair and red markings on his face. Mitsukai studied him as he talked to Kakashi, and concluded that Konoha was filled with strange people. The man suddenly turned his attention to her and bent down a bit to look her in the eye.
"So you must be Mitsukai. I've heard a lot about you and your amazing abilities as a ninja." He stuck out his hand for her to shake and she eyed it for a moment, and then touched it gingerly, placing her hand in his grasp. "My name's Jiraya."
Mitsukai stared at Jiraya, and he stared at her. When he finally let go, he stood and looked at Kakashi. "You and I will have a little chat about her and Naruto later. There's something you'll need to know if you plan to keep those two on your team."
"Okay then." Kakashi nodded slightly then turned to his team. "Let's go."They followed in silence as Jiraya disappeared and Kakashi led the way to the training grounds. Naruto fell in step beside Mitsukai and whispered to her, "I wonder what the Pervey Sage has to talk to Kakashi-sensei about, don't you?"
Mitsukai, who was still a bit peeved about the early wake up call, continued to ignore him by pretending she was hearing things. This time she dug a finger into her ear and pretended to pull earwax out and flick it on Naruto.
"HEY!" Naruto dusted himself off. "Why aren't you answering me?"
Mitsukai proceeded to "clean" out her other ear.
"I know you can hear me." Naruto waited but she didn't give the indication that she was listening. This ticked him off because it reminded him of the cocky Sasuke who was apparently enjoying Naruto's frustration with the girl. "HEY, COULD YOU AT LEAST LOOK AT ME AND LET ME KNOW THAT YOU EVEN HEAR ME?!"
By then they had reached the field and Mitsukai was now studying her nails and the (lack of) dirt underneath them.
"HEY IF YOU DON'T STOP IGNORING ME AND TALK TO ME, MITSUKAI! I'M TALKING TO YOU! QUIT PRETENDING YOU DON'T HEAR ME! THERE'S NOTHING IN YOUR EARS, OR ANYTHING UNDER YOUR NAILS, OR IN YOUR HAIR, OR IN YOUR EYES. THERE'S NO IMAGINARY BUG BUZZING AROUND YOU---I'M OVER HERE!!!!!"
Poor Naruto was almost at pass out point from screaming and getting himself worked up. Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura watched this one-sided exchange with amusement--very few people could get under Naruto's skin without even making an effort. In fact, Sasuke was the only one. As Sasuke watched Mitsukai, he began to accept her as a potential teammate. She fit in with them almost perfectly and she was skilled. Of course, he resented her for being much more talented than he when he had something important he needed to do and therefore needed the skills and talents she possessed. She, on the other hand, had no real use for them. He had spent the previous evening studying her and memorizing her jutsus unconsciously with his Sharingan (he needed it to keep up with her movements) just in case Kakashi ever thought it would be fun to watch them train against each other. He realized that, like Naruto, if she stayed with the team, she would be another competitor for him to measure himself against. Someone to compare his growth to so that one day, he would be able to kill his brother. Besides...she had passed the bell test within twenty minutes and was currently making Naruto angrier than he himself had in a whole week.
Sasuke let out an annoyed sigh, "Naruto, save your breath. She's too stuck up to want to talk to you."
This stopped everyone and effectively angered Mitsukai. She tilted her head to the side in surprise. "'Stuck up'?"
Naruto completely forgot that he was angry at Mitsukai. "Ya know, Sasuke, just because you actually talk to people doesn't mean that you're still not stuck up."
Before Kakashi could step in, everyone had jumped in and began screaming their heads off. Mitsukai covered her ears and jumped up into a tree, found a wide branch, and fell asleep.
Sasuke saw this and immediately walked away and found his own tree to lean up against while Naruto and Sakura continued to battle it out. Sasuke looked up at Mitsukai and scoffed.
"Dwarf." He mumbled.
Mitsukai sat up and looked down at him. "Sauce-gay."
For the first time in a few months, Sasuke actually got angry enough to want to hit a girl. She had insulted him in a way that Naruto had never dared to touch. "Gay?"
"You can't hear, Sauce-gay?" She sneered then put her head back down. Sasuke pulled a kunai and turned, ready to jump onto her branch when he felt a hand grab his wrist and the kunai was snatched from him.
"Sasuke, you know better than to pull a weapon on your own teammate." Kakashi scolded. He turned to the now quiet Naruto and Sakura. "You all really need to work on your attitudes. Now pair up for training."
No one moved. Kakashi looked around and sighed.
"Fine. Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto and Mitsukai." He looked up at her. "Come down here and face your partner."
Mitsukai opened one eye and, by the way her shoulders moved, it seemed as if she was sighing. She jumped down and stood in front of Naruto. She rolled her eyes when she remembered that it was Naruto who had started it all.
"Okay, everyone is going to practice taijutsu. The girls need it more than anything else." Kakashi sat down and pulled out his Make Out Paradise book. The boys nodded and got in their fighting stances. Sakura freaked out not wanting to fight Sasuke while Mitsukai spotted a spider in the grass and picked it up. It was a daddy long-legs, crawling slowly over the palm of her hand. Mitsukai had been around plenty of boys so she knew that they would like it, however, she hadn't spent a lot of time with girls to know exactly how girls act...
"Hey, Sakura. Look what I found." Mitsukai shoved her hand in Sakura's face and opened it.
"EEEEEEK!" Sakura screamed and ran in the opposite direction. Mitsukai watched her run away, utterly confused by her reaction. Naruto fell into the grass laughing while Sasuke simply shook his head. Kakashi put his face in his hands and mumbled something to himself before standing.
"Fine. Naruto and Mitsukai, start training. Sasuke, come with me." Kakashi said before he and Sasuke took off running. Standing alone with Naruto, Mitsukai felt this strange energy pulse through her. Naruto looked at Mitsukai and had the same feeling. Both of their inner demons could sense the other's presence and it was only because a long time ago, Kyuubi and Houkou had fought each other, and therefore knew the other's chakra well.
"Well, let's get started." Naruto said before throwing a punch that Mitsukai dodged. "Oh come on, Mitsukai. You're supposed to fight back!"
"Why? It takes less energy to simply avoid you. I can wait until you tire yourself out then attack with a Genjutsu." Mitsukai explained, unconsciously repeating the words of her former sensei.
"But one day, you'll have no choice but to use taijutsu." Naruto grunted as his kicked missed her. Mitsukai continued to dodge him, jumping from place to place using her speed to her advantage.
"No, I won't. Besides, isn't my speed technically considered taijutsu?"
"No." Kakashi answered. "And that's because you use your chakra to help you move."
Her eyes narrowed. So he thought he had her figured out? She ignored Naruto for the time being and moved towards Kakashi. In the blink of an eye, it seemed as if she merely teleported over to him instead of running like she really did. When she chose not to use her chakra, she was practically undetectable.
Kakashi only nodded. "I see. When done without the aid of your chakra, it is considered taijutsu."
Sasuke and Sakura glowered, both consumed with silent rage. Mitsukai went back to Naruto and resumed "training", still choosing to dodge his attacks. Sasuke and Sakura began to train as well.
At the end of the day, everyone was tired and hungry.
"Alright, alright." Kakashi told the cranky group. "You can go home now. But first," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a headband with the Hidden Leaf village plate on it. "Here, Mitsukai. I talked to Jiraya about you yesterday and he believes it's best that you were made a citizen and ninja of Konoha."
Mitsukai only looked at it. "Why?"
"He knows that you officially don't belong to a village, and that you had a rough past. It's best that you stay here with us."
Mitsukai felt strange upon hearing his words. No one had ever extended an invitation like this to her. "Why would he care if I belonged to a village or not?"
Kakashi just looked at her. Unfortunately, Jiraya had the answers for all the questions the girl had. "You'd have to ask him that yourself."
"Just take it. You can't say that you don't like it here." Naruto nudged her forward. Mitsukai smiled behind her mask. It was true. She felt at home in the Hidden Leaf village. Granted it would take a while for her to become completely on comfortable, to completely be relaxed instead of constantly on guard, but she knew that as long as she tried, it would happen.
"I'll take it under one condition." Mitsukai looked up at Kakashi.
"Yes?" He tilted his head to the side.
"I want to talk to...Master Jiraya tomorrow. He says he knows about my past...I need to know what happened to me...I can't remember." She whispered. Everyone looked at her. Kakashi simply nodded.
He decided to take a chance and reached out to pat her head, gently ruffling her hair. "Consider it done."
Mitsukai nodded. "Thank you...Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto and Sakura's eyes widened with love. "Aw!" They threw themselves at Mitsukai and hugged her. Mitsukai's eye twitched from the sudden invasion of her space. 'You can do this. Just relax...' Sasuke watched her with interest as she held her composure with awe. The last time they tried to hug him, he'd spent the rest of the day avoiding them all.
---------------------------
As agreed, Kakashi took Mitsukai to see Jiraya. Along the way, Mitsukai stared at her headband trying to figure out how she wanted to put it on.
"It doesn't matter where you put it on, as long as it's clearly visible." He seemed to be reading her mind. She looked at him then back at the headband. Finally, she settled on tying it on her head. It rested on her forehead but was nearly hidden by her bangs. Kakashi looked down at her and smiled. "That's a great place to put it."
Mitsukai didn't say anything but did roll her eyes. Sometimes it seemed that Kakashi was being overly sarcastic. They came to a little bridge that crossed a small stream in the village. The tall white-haired man was leaned against the rail with his arms folded across his chest. "Kakashi, you still know nothing of being on time, do you?"
"Oh, well, you know--"
Jiraya held up his hand. "Save it. I need to speak to you about something." He looked down at Mitsukai. "Hello, Mitsukai."
"Hi." Mitsukai side-stepped behind Kakashi a bit. There was something about the man that creeped her out a bit.
"Don't tell me you're shy." Jiraya chuckled. Mitsukai shook her head and returned to her spot beside Kakashi, standing up a little straighter. "So I hear that you'd only take the invitation and headband if I talked to you."
"You said that you know about my past." Mitsukai looked down. "I wanted to know if you would tell me what happened."
"Why would you need me to tell you?" Jiraya looked at her questioningly.
Mitsukai took a deep breath. "As far as I know, my life begins with me waking up in a field of flowers somewhere in Grass Country." She slowly brought her eyes back up to Jiraya. "For whatever reason, I felt so happy and free, as if a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I can't remember anything before that."
"Hm." Jiraya closed his eyes. 'She doesn't remember being with the Akatsuki...yet she still retained her training. She's in as much danger as Naruto's in.' "Well, I know that it would be more dangerous to tell you instead of letting you remember on your own."
"What?" Mitsukai stared blankly. "You won't tell me?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. It would better for your mind to heal itself as it's been doing all of this time."
"What do you mean? My mind's been healing itself?" Mitsukai was beyond confused.
"I can tell you that five years ago you weren't speaking at all. In fact, you were devoid of all emotion. Completely mute. In my opinion, you've come a long way...and you still have quite a way to go." Jiraya opened his eyes and looked at her. "I know this isn't exactly what you wanted to hear, but at this time it's best that you don't know more than you already know."
"How can knowing more about who I am possibly harm me?" Mitsukai was getting frustrated.
He sighed then turned to her, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking directly into her eyes. "Unfortunately, someone made a mistake that greatly affected you. By rights, you belong to an organization that has intents that I won't share with you right now. Look, kid. If you ever gain your memories back, then you'll know what I mean when I say it's dangerous for you to know. Right now, you're safe from these people because you don't know anything. I know I'm not making any sense but you just have to trust me and stay here in Konoha."
Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. "You can say that again. I'm lost and I started out knowing more than she did."
Mitsukai stared at the ground. 'An organization...' A fuzzy image began to reveal itself in her mind. Jiraya began talking to Kakashi, ignoring the look on Mitsukai's face. The image kept becoming clearer with silence but would get fuzzy again whenever one of them spoke. She put her hands over her ears to block out the sound and clamped her eyes shut to concentrate.
"Take her. She's all yours." A deep voice said.
Mitsukai felt herself falling towards the boy. In a blur of black and red, her fall immediately stopped. She looked up to see the blonde boy holding her by her shoulders, keeping her from falling.
"Watch it, Little One." He smiled. His sea green eye looked at her warmly and Mitsukai felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment.
"...black and red..." Mitsukai whispered.
Jiraya and Kakashi continued to talk."...black cloaks...red clouds...organization..." Mitsukai whispered louder, trying to drown out her voices. It hurt to remember but the memory was right there. The name...what was the name?
They finally noticed Mitsukai beginning to hunch over holding her head as she tried to force her mind to remember the name. Kakashi put his hand on her shoulder. "Mitsukai, what's wrong?"
"Black cloaks...red clouds...I-I can't remember the name of the organization." She panted as tears came to her eyes.
Jiraya's eyes widened then narrowed. 'I can see this was a mistake. I may have jump started her memory.'
He knelt down in front of her and tilted her head back up by her chin with his finger. "Mitsukai, easy. Don't force it."
She ignored him as the word flashed into her mind.
"They went by the name Boshoku..." She muttered before passing out. She fell back into Kakashi's arms.
"Well?" Kakashi looked up at Jiraya.
"Like I said, you and I need to talk. You now have two students that could be in danger if we don't be careful." He looked at Mitsukai. "Take her home first then come back and we'll talk."
Kakashi nodded then disappeared.
---------------------------
The next day Kakashi made them train some more. This time he put Sakura and Naruto up against each other and told Mitsukai and Sasuke watch."Why are we always fighting each other?" Mitsukai asked.
"To help us in battle. You never know when the enemy will take on the form of a teammate so you need to learn their movements and become familiar with their chakra so you'll be able to effectively fight and keep from attacking your ally." Sasuke explained with his eyes closed.
"If that's the case, then why aren't you watching?"
"We do this all the time...and besides, all they ever do is get in my way. It's difficult to not know whether or not it's the real person."
Mitsukai looked at him then out at Naruto and Sakura. "Hm. And all you do is get in their way." Sasuke looked at her, outraged. "It's called teamwork, stupid."
"What would you know about teamwork? If I'm not mistaken, this is the first team you've ever been on...and you've only been here for four days." He sneered then looked Naruto and Sakura.
Mitsukai looked down at her feet for a few seconds then over at him. "That's true...So I'll just make my own definition of teamwork based on what I've seen with you three." She smirked and watched as Sakura tripped Naruto and he slid across the ground. "Teamwork with team seven means being so arrogant about being better than each other...with the exception of Sakura sometimes...that one person rushes out into battle determined to prove that they can handle the situation. Of course, they never can, and in the end, the other two have to step in to try to help that one person out. Even then, Kakashi-sensei has to come save the day. Teamwork means getting in each other's way then helping each other get out of the way." She hugged her knees. "It's amazing how well it works."
Sasuke thought about they had acted during the bell test, during their battles with Zabuza and Haku...especially during the Chuunin Exams. Although she had not been there during those times, and was only basing this off of four days of being around them nearly all day, she was right. In the end, they had always been there to help and save each other...even putting their life on the line for one another despite how much they argued. Sasuke looked at his teammates and froze. He honestly saw them as teammates. He, on several occasions, had shown that he cared about their well-being, doing everything in his power to protect them.
Kakashi ended Naruto and Sakura's fight and called Mitsukai and Sasuke out."Go, Mitsy!" Naruto yelled rooting for her, causing Sakura to root for Sasuke.
Both Mitsukai and Sasuke looked back at them in disbelief."Did he just call you 'Mitsy'?" Sasuke frowned. She shrugged and took her fighting stance. Sasuke was the only one that Mitsukai liked to train with because he used logic. If she refused to make the first move, he would actually stand there for nearly an hour and wait for her to attack. Kakashi often had to assign someone to be offensive. Also, she recognized that Sasuke was as skilled as she was and every time they trained together, she noticed that he had improved.
"Mitsukai, offensive." Kakashi turned a page in his book. She nodded and held up her hands to make the tiger sign. Thirty minutes later, Kakashi stopped the battle (they were getting dangerously close to torching the environment) and sent out Sakura to train with Mitsukai.
"No." Mitsukai shook her head.
"Huh?" They looked at her.
"I refuse to train with her. It's unfair to fight someone when you have more than one major advantage. Naruto's just gotten to the point where he can try to keep up with my movements. Let her train with Sasuke." Mitsukai jumped up into a tree and sat down. Kakashi didn't bother to argue; he just waved Sasuke back onto the field.
---------------------------
The next day Kakashi let the team take a break from training while he finished his book. The team met up at the ramen shop for lunch.
"So what are we gonna do today?" Naruto asked, stuffing his face with food.
"I don't know but I'm bored." Sasuke played in his food.
"We could go try new jutsus." Sakura offered. She looked at Sasuke and blushed. "Or whatever Sasuke wants to do."
Mitsukai gagged then coughed making them looked at her. "I'm fine." She waved away their concerned looks.
"Hey! I know!" Naruto stood suddenly. "How about we take Kakashi-sensei's book before he gets to the end?" He smiled wickedly.
"Naruto, that is so stu--,"
"I'm in. It's so boring around here." Sasuke laid his chopsticks next to his bowl.
"Me, too." Sakura smiled. Everyone looked down at Mitsukai. She put her chopsticks down as well.
"When did you eat your food?!" Naruto yelled. "I've been watching you this whole time! I wanted to see you take your mask off."
Mitsukai looked at him like he had suddenly grown another head. "Then why didn't you just ask?"
He blinked several times then rubbed the back of his head with a sigh. "I dunno. I figured you'd say no."
Mitsukai turned around and hopped off of the stool, leaving her money on the counter. "I'm in." She started to walk away but stopped and looked at Naruto over her shoulder. "Oh, and you were right figuring that out."
"Aw, come on!" Naruto whined and they all got up to go find Kakashi.
---------------------------
They spotted him walking down Main Street, reading and walking with groceries in his arm.
"Okay, are you ready?" Sakura whispered as they watched him while peeking out from behind a building.
"If this actually works, I'm going to ask if I can get put with a different team." Sasuke mumbled. He walked up to Kakashi and started asking questions about Mitsukai that Kakashi had to stop and think about. Sasuke waited for the perfect opportunity. Kakashi made the mistake of closing his eyes and Sasuke made the grab.
"Hey! Give that back! I only have three pages left!" Kakashi called after him still holding his groceries. Sasuke ran and handed the book off to Naruto. They all ran for it. Kakashi was still holding his groceries when he managed to catch up to Naruto. Naruto threw the book and Sakura caught it and ran for her life. Fire lit in Kakashi's visible eye as he tossed the groceries to the side and charged. They turned a corner and Sakura screamed when Kakashi was already standing there.
"Mitsy, grab the book!" Naruto yelled and Mitsukai snatched the book from Sakura. "Go, go, go! Just go!"
Mitsukai nodded and added a little chakra to her step and sped off.
"No!" Kakashi dropped Sakura and ran after the silver haired girl. Mitsukai looked behind her and smirked. 'Ha ha...he'll never catch--'
Mitsukai ran into something so hard she fell onto her back. Kakashi stood over her. "H-how?"
"Give me the book..." He said it menacingly then dropped to his knees and put his hands together. "Please?! I'm right at the end! Please, I beg you!"
The rest of the team caught up and they all witnessed as their sensei was ready to cry his eyes out over a book. They were so stunned by this that they didn't argue. Mitsukai handed the book to Kakashi and he kissed the cover over the book and hugged it, lost in his bliss.
"So, Kakashi, where's your team?"
They looked up to see Asuma walking next to Kakashi who was holding a bag of groceries in one hand and his book in the other. Their eyes slowly looked back at the Kakashi in front of him and he waved then disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"A CLONE?!!!" Naruto screamed, eyes as big as tea cup saucers.
"All of that hard work...for nothing." Sakura whined through her chibi tears.
Sasuke covered his eyes and shook his eyes. "How did we not see that coming?"
Mitsukai looked around at her teammates then their sensei and did the only thing she could think of to do...For the first time ever, she laughed.
"Ha ha ha ha!" She slapped her knee as she leaned over, laughing hard.
The other three looked at each other with big eyes then Naruto and Sakura latched onto Sasuke in fear. Sasuke's eyes bugged out with renewed annoyance. "Please let go of me."
"A-are you okay, Mitsy?" Naruto approached her cautiously. She stood and nodded wiping away tears.
"Yes." She turned and began to walk away. "I'm going to go lie down...and laugh some more."
She disappeared, leaving her teammates to worry about her mental health.
---------------------------
The leader looked at the members of the Akatsuki. "It's time that we moved on with my plan and began finding the tailed demons. Hidan and Kazuku, you two are responsible for finding Nekomata. Sasori and Deidara, Shukaku...Itachi and Kisame, I've been trying to decide which Bijuu to send you two after."
"May I make a suggestion?" Itachi interjected. The leader only looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "Kisame and I could go after the Kyuubi. It's no secret that the Hidden Leaf village would be glad to be rid of him."
"...Fine. Itachi and Kisame, the Kyuubi." He dismissed them all. Itachi and Kisame headed for Konoha. After an hour of walking in silence, Kisame spoke up.
"Why did you volunteer for Kyuubi? He's the strongest of all of the Bijuu. Logically speaking, he'll be the hardest to catch and it would probably take all of us to catch him."
Itachi didn't say anything as he adjusted his straw hat, the bells chiming gently in the wind.
"You hardly talk. The least you could do is let me know what's going on." Kisame complained gruffly. Even though Itachi was the youngest (and shortest) member of the Akatsuki, everyone respected him for his talents.
After nearly an hour, Itachi spoke. "The Kyuubi would be the greatest challenge...and besides, there's someone I hope to see in Konoha. It's been four years."
Kisame nodded satisfied that Itachi had said anything at all, yet wondered who Itachi would want to see.