Author's Note: Ello luvies, another pretty fast update if I do say so myself :) Yay to productiveness! ^.^ Anyways, this is kind of a filler chapter that is intended to show Yumi's relationship with Kakashi as well as show her personality some more so just bare with me, okay? So, without further ado...

AsheXChan


"Can you see it?" He inquired.

"Hai." A girl's voice replied confidently with a curt nod of her head.

"And what is it that you see exactly?"

"I see…myself. The ground is cracking under my anxious feet and the air is vibrating around my entire body. I lust for battle."

"Okay, what else?"

"My skin, it's glowing; I look like a star or something. What's more, my body seems to have an electric current to it – I can feel the sparks dancing around on my skin."

"And?"

"….and…" The girl grew quiet. "…uhh…" The girl's eyebrow furrowed and her petit face scrunched up as she clearly racked her brain for the answer he wanted to hear.

"Uh?"

"Uh, I mean, umm…..grr forget it!" The girl shouted angrily as she opened her eyes and glared at the man in front of her, her Sensei. "Kakashi, enough of this visualization crap!" She shouted.

Kakashi sighed, clearly annoyed, before continuing "Now Yumi, we've been through this before; you need to see a Jutsu in your head before you can actually perform it, otherwise you will be unsuccessful."

"Enough of your boring lectures too!" Yumi shouted.

"If you don't start listening to me and my boring", he put a heavy emphasis on the word, earning an eye roll from his perturbed student, "lectures then you won't be able to learn Lightning Release before our first mission."

"Oh, yea, because being able to see myself use Lightning Style Jutsu is going to be oh so helpful for whatever our first mission is." Yumi scoffed.

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed again, trying to ignore his pounding headache that she so graciously gave him. "Now listen Yumi-"

"No! I'm done listening! It's high time I start doing!" Kakashi dropped his hand and whipped his head up at this.

"Matte!" Kakashi protested, but it was too late. Yumi had already finished her signs and her hands were in the ram seal, with her eyes closed tightly in concentration, by the time his voice reached her ears.

"Okay, concentrate Yumi." Yumi muttered as she visualized herself glowing with Lightning chakra, as she had beforehand. "I can see it….I can see it…" She mumbled over and over again as she felt her bangs leave her forehead and her long braid begin to swing around wildly like she was caught in a strong wind current.

But she didn't break her concentration. She remained in the same position, all the while mumbling silently, until she felt a strong power surge from within. Keeping her hands in the ram seal, she tentatively opened her eyes.

Yumi's mouth nearly dropped to the floor in surprise; her hands were glowing brilliantly, covered with electric sparks and surrounded by a small gust of wind which pushed her hair away from her face. It was even more beautiful than she had imagined.

Yumi grinned as she realized she was successful in bringing out her Lightning chakra for the first time. "Hey Kakashi! Check this out! I told you I could do it!"

Kakashi just stared at her in disbelief; his eye wide with shock and his body and mind frozen. She had actually done it.

"Now, let's see just how good I am." Yumi muttered before increasing her chakra.

The small gust of wind generated by the Lightning chakra in her hands suddenly grew more powerful as the chakra in her hands began to grow. Yumi just watched as the chakra became more and more intense until it left her hands and started moving up her arms.

She was at a loss for words as the beautiful chakra consumed her arms. Kakashi, however, was instantly snapped out of his trance and shot his eyes up to meet Yumi's. "Yumi! Yamato-yo!"

Yumi, who now had Lightning chakra from the tips of her fingers to just above her elbows, gave him a confused look. Stop? Why would she stop? She was doing so well!

Her eyes suddenly widened as the consequence Kakashi had feared took effect. She instantly released her hands from the sign and stopped the flow of chakra, causing her arms to slowly start to fade back to their original hue.

Yumi bit her lip to prevent from screaming out in pain as she dropped to her knees. She hadn't been expecting this but now that she thought about it, it made perfect sense.

"Yumi!" Kakashi yelled as her ran to her side and knelt down beside her. As her arms began to lose their beautiful glow, they changed to an ugly, blackish color. Yumi suddenly felt very fatigued, and despite trying her hardest to fight it, her eyes slowly began to flutter shut as she fell into Kakashi's arms, unconscious.


Yumi's eyes slowly opened as she took in the scene around her: she was lying in a soft bed in a well-lit room which she presumed to be Konoha's hospital. Her arms were bandaged in white tape from her fingertips to half-way up her biceps (everywhere the Lightning Chakra had touched) and someone had removed her shirt, leaving her simply in her mesh armour.

"You're awake."

Yumi turned her head to the right and fixed them on her sensei who was sitting on a small chair in the corner of the room, reading a small, bright orange book.

"…yea I guess…" Yumi mumbled quietly. To be honest, she felt kind of guilty. If she had listened to Kakashi in the first place he wouldn't have had to bring her to the hospital and wait Kami knows how long for her to awaken.

"How do you feel?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly as he flipped a page in his book.

"I-I'm fine…" Yumi said quietly.

"Don't lie to me; you're exhausted. You used up too much chakra and that's why you passed out." He spoke calmly, all the while his eyes glued on his book.

Yumi sighed. "…You're right…" She mumbled.

"Hm?"

Yumi cleared her throat and spoke again, this time forcing her voice louder despite her exhaustion. "I said: you're right. I have been pushing myself too hard lately and I guess it all caught up with me. Gomenasai..."

Kakashi snapped his book shut and walked over to her. "It's okay. I understand you are a hard worker and all, but you need to remember to give yourself a break once in a while. Like it or not, you are only human – and a kid at that! You need to make sure to take care of yourself or you will end up making yourself even more vulnerable from exhaustion."

Yumi averted her eyes as she quietly agreed "I know I push myself way to hard sometimes, but I just can't help myself. I really want to – have to – become a strong Kunoichi; there are just so many things I have to do…" Her voice trailed off.

"Either way, I'm very impressed with your progress." Kakashi said after a few moments of silence.

"Na-nani?" She stuttered as her head flew around to face her sensei.

"You were able to pull out your Lightning Chakra to the point where it consumed almost all of your arms – that's rather advanced."

"But I failed!" She protested. "After I pulled it out I couldn't control it and it scorched my arms, forcing me to stop the flow of chakra! That's why my arms are all bandaged up right now! I bet my skin is all black and gross from the Lightning chakra!" Yumi exclaimed as she pulled down the tops of her bandages on her right arm.

As she suspected, the skin was seriously singed from the chakra and her usual pale skin was a dark hue. "Look, I was right! How in the hell can you call this progress!" She shouted at Kakashi as she moved her arm towards him to show him her skin. As she did, Yumi grimaced slightly from the pain; after all, she managed to burn her entire outer layer of skin for both arms; needless to say, it was very painful.

"The fact that you were able to pull it out and control it, even if only for a short period of time, that is proof of your progress." Yumi opened her mouth to object, but Kakashi continued without letting her. "Yumi, you have to remember that I only started training you in Lightning Release two weeks ago. The fact that you were able to pull out that much chakra after only two weeks is truly amazing!"

Kakashi meant it when he said he was very impressed with Yumi's progress. In fact, to be more specific, he was utterly in awe of how fast she was picking it up. Two weeks ago today, Kakashi first began to train Yumi in Lightning Release. After the Team was done for the day, at roughly six pm, Yumi and Kakashi remained on the training grounds until ten pm, every night, working on her Lightning Release.

On the second night, she was able to shock him. True it had been a small shock that caused him no real pain, but the fact that she was able to use even a little of her Lightning Chakra after a mere eight hours of training – thatin itself was amazing. It took Kakashi, a man who had always been regarded as a pure genius with anything related to Ninjutsu, weeks of practice before he was able to produce even the slightest shock.

Something Yumi did in two days.

Then after only two weeks of training here and there she was able to pull out a large amount of Lightning chakra on command. Sure she couldn't control it for long, but it was still a very impressive feat; Kakashi himself couldn't have done something like that until months after practicing Lightning Release!

Kakashi thought this girl a true genius with the potential of surpassing him and countless other Jounin in due time. He just wished she could see how amazing she really was and would stop killing herself all the time. Despite his initial mixed feeling towards the girl, she was starting to grow on him the more time they spent together….

"Yea, but still…I just thought I would have better control by now, I guess." She muttered.

"Hey, you are making incredible progress! Don't worry so much kiddo." Kakashi said with a smile. Yumi half shrugged as Kakashi turned to leave. "You should get some rest; it's almost midnight."

"MIDNIGHT!?" Yumi exclaimed as she sprang up into a sitting position, her eyes wide in disbelief. "NONONO! This is throwing off my schedule COMPLETELY!"

"Yumi." Kakashi said warningly. "You need to get your rest; we just talked about this, remember?"

"But I should be practicing Taijutsu right now! NOT lying in some stupid hospital bed resting." She emphasized the word with a certain amount of disgust.

Kakashi sweat dropped as he sighed "Does she listen to me at all?" He mumbled.

Yumi jumped out of her bed and started putting her shirt on, mumbling all the while about how this was throwing her off and what she would have to move to tomorrow when Kakashi yelled her name again. "Yumi!"

"Huh?" Yumi had just slipped on her left glove over the bandages and was in the middle of putting on her right.

"Sleep."

"But-"

"Now." Yumi finished putting on her glove and walked over to the bed, muttering curse words.

Plopping down on the comfy bed she glared at Kakashi and crossed her arms "Happy now that you ruined my entire fucking evening workout?"

Kakashi chuckled as he walked to the door. "Oyasumi, Yumi-san." Yumi just huffed as he stopped at the door and turned to face her again. "Oh, and just to be sure you won't be tempted to go train, I'll be taking these with me." Kakashi said as he showed his right hand which held her bow and quiver full of arrows along with her two weapon pouches.

Yumi's mouth dropped as quickly glanced to the table on her left, the now empty table where her weapons used to be. Yumi's glare intensified; after all that was her plan to wait until Kakashi left and then sneak out to go practice her archery and weapons usage for a couple of hours.

"Ja ne." Kakashi said cheerily as he left with another chuckle.

"Baka yarou!" Yumi shouted after him.

Yumi, arms still crossed, leaned against the wall of the bed. She left out an irritated sigh as a nurse came in.

"Is everything alright, dear?" She asked in a sweet tone.

"Oh yes, everything is wonderful." Her reply was drenched in sarcasm but the nurse either didn't notice or chose to ignore her snide remark as she began to check Yumi's vital signs while talking about the weather or some other trivial matter.

"Alright, everything seems to be in check…" She began with a big smile that made Yumi want to gag. "Now, I'll just fix the bandages and-"

"NO!" Yumi shouted as she jumped out of bed. The nurse gave her a confused yet concerned look, so Yumi took a breath and continued in a calmer tone "What I meant to say is that won't be necessary seeing as how I am on my way out." She said with a huge smile plastered on her face.

"But my child, it says here that your arms are singed rather bad…" The nurse replied as she flipped through the papers of her clipboard.

Yumi, who was now struggling to put on her sandals, replied a little too quickly "Oh, that was just my sensei who said that; see he worries a lot and can be kind of dramatic. Anyways, he still expects me to train tomorrow so I better go home and rest up."

"But still, your arms, at least I can bandage them before you depart." She said with a smile as she looked at Yumi again.

"Sorry, but I really need to go; if I break curfew again mom'll be pissed!" Yumi said jokingly with a slight chuckle. She could be quite the charming actress when she needed to be, and right now she desperately needed to if she wanted to get any training done before the sun rose.

The nurse had a torn expression on her face as she glanced at the clipboard again "It also says your hands are-"

"Are fine!" Yumi snarled venomously as she ripped the clipboard from the woman who gasped in surprise. The charming façade she exhibited moments ago vanishing instantly as she shot a death glare at the nurse.

"It does not say that! It says that they are severely scarred and – hey give me that back!" The nurse cried as Yumi ripped off the sheet describing her 'condition' and crumpled it into a ball that she placed into her pocket before tossing the clipboard on the bed haphazardly.

"I'm leaving now." Yumi said in a serious tone as she walked past the confused, and slightly scared, nurse. Stopping in the door frame she shifted her eyes to meet hers. "If you ever tell ANYONE about my 'condition', you'll wish you hadn't." Yumi whispered the last part in a dangerous tone that paralyzed the nurse with fear; she was positively frightening.

Yumi walked out of the hospital calmly and then started running once she reached outside. The night air was cool against her skin and had a soothing effect on her sore arms even thru the bandages. She navigated the village with ease, but did not stop once she reached the front gates.

Yumi left Konoha and started running through the dark forest. She ran for about twenty minutes and stopped right in front of two large trees that stood about ten feet apart. There was nothing particularly special about the trees trees at first glance; they were neither bigger nor prettier than the others that plagued the forest floor, however they were different.

Yumi, ignoring the soreness of her arms, began rapidly forming hand signs and pretty soon the rectangular opening in between the two trees began to glow a soft blue color. She ceased her signs and allowed her body to travel through the wall of blue light that she had created. The second she entered, the wall disappeared and Yumi found herself in a certain spot – her spot, or so it was ever since she stumbled upon it as a child.

There was a decent sized waterfall with a pretty lake in front of her. On the banks, dozens of rare flowers grew, most glowing brilliantly from the intense light of the moon. To the left of the lake was a small clearing where she practiced her Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. The trees outlining the clearing all had targets engraved into them that were worn down and were so hard to see they could easily be overlooked.

Yumi strolled over to the waterfall and ducked behind it, revealing a small cave. She strode to the center of the room and reached up to light the lantern that hung from the ceiling, illuminating the rest of the room. The cave was small and slightly damp but she had everything in it that she needed to survive: to her left was a small cot equipped with numerous blankets and a small three legged nightstand next to it; to her right was a large desk with various scrolls, weapons, pens and books sprawled out on it; in front of her was a bookcase overflowing with, you guessed it, more books and scrolls. On the ground to the left of her bookcase was a small trunk that held towels, wash clothes and some toiletries while on the right, a decent sized box she made out of ice acted as a makeshift refrigerator home to water bottles, sushi, some frozen fish and other food items.

Yumi smiled and let out a relaxed sigh; she hadn't been to her spot for a couple of weeks and it felt good to return. Sometimes she would swear this place was her true home – it was the only place she could escape reality and rejoice in solitude. But one could only escape reality for so long before they were dragged back in, and so this was more of a getaway than a home to her. But she still loved it and protected it ferociously with a special seal that requires her chakra to deactivate (the hand signs she made in front of the two trees) and invisible chakra strings surrounding the border that alert her if anyone breaches them.

She walked over to the desk and grabbed a handful of kunai as well as her spare archery bow and some arrows, then left the cave and went to the clearing. She did some target practice with the kunai knives, the moon acting as her sole source of light. No matter how many times she threw them while in the air; with one hand; upside down; eyes closed; spinning sideways – every single one was a perfect bulls eye.

Yumi yanked the kunai out of the tree for what felt like the millionth time that night and then walked back over to the spot from where she threw them. Setting the kunai knives on the ground, Yumi picked up her bow and shot a series of arrows, all bulls eyes as well. She then picked up an arrow and lightly closed her hand around the tip. She closed her eyes and her hand began to glow with a beautiful white chakra and when she removed her hand, the arrowhead was pure ice.

Wasting no time admiring her handiwork, Yumi shot the arrow at one of the targets. The area around where the arrow hit turned white as if it had turned to ice as well. Yumi formed a one-handed ram seal with her right hand and the white area on the tree spread slightly.

She frowned as she looked at the tree with disappointment "Hm, still not good enough…" She mumbled as she walked over to the tree and ripped out the arrow then put her right hand on the ice and had it absorb into her body, restoring the tree back to its original state. "it was supposed to freeze the entire tree; I guess I still need to work on that…" Yumi mused as she collected the other arrows from their respective targets.

Yumi then grabbed her kunai knives and entered the small cave behind the waterfall to deposit her weapons on the desk and exchange them for a small box. She then took off her headband and black gloves and placed them on her nightstand next to her bed and knelt down to the left of her bookcase to retrieve a towel and grabbed water and some sushi before returning outside.

Yumi plopped down on the soft grass of the bank with a light 'thud' as she began to cautiously take the bandages off her arms, trying her best to ignore the pain that followed suit. Once she removed all the bandages, Yumi grimaced slightly at the sight of her arms all scorched and singed. She then proceeded to take off all of her clothes and sandals and undid her braid, allowing her unruly blue hair to run free.

She walked over to the waterfall and jumped to the top with ease before doing an elegant swan dive off the rocks and into the lake below her. The water was cool but had an incredibly soothing effect on her arms. As she surfaced, Yumi allowed herself to float on her back and stare at the moon while soaking her arms. She closed her eyes and began to hum a song quietly, allowing the tranquility of the night to consume her.

Once she felt as though she had properly cleansed herself from the troubles of her day, Yumi swam over to the bank and pulled herself out of the lake. She reached for the towel but hesitated when a better idea struck her. She formed the signs: rat, tiger, snake, hare, rat, ram, dragon, tiger, ox. A smirk stole Yumi's face as something miraculous happened – the water on her body turned to ice flakes on top of her skin which she brushed off with ease, leaving her body completely dry.

Yumi grabbed the towel and hand dried her hair, deciding not to test her luck by trying to freeze the water on her hair for fear that she might freeze her hair along with the water on top of it, thus leaving her bald when she broke off the ice. Once her hair was dry enough, she put it in a messy bun on top of her head and wrapped the towel around her body.

She lit a small fire on the bank of the lake next to her discarded clothes and the other items she brought out earlier. Yumi opened the box to reveal a medical kit with healing balm, band aids, disinfectant, white tape and several other items. She removed a small vile of clear liquid from the box and cautiously poured a single drop on her left hand and another on her left forearm. She watched as the blackish hue began to fade and her arms nearly returned to their normal color with just a little bit of a grey tint to them. She them removed a small jar of balm and applied a liberal amount to her entire left arm and wrapped it in white tape.

After doing the same thing to her right arm, Yumi ate her sushi and drank the water. While eating, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the crumbled piece of paper she had ripped off the nurse's clipboard. Out of boredom and slight curiosity, she decided to read what it said.

"Name: Yumi, Surname: not given, Sex: Female, Age: 14, Height: approximately 5'2", Weight: 85 pounds (underweight), Blood Type: O, Occupation: Ninja….blah blah blah where's the good stuff?" Yumi said in a bored tone as she ate another mouthful of sushi and searched for the page. "Ah here it is, diagnosis: brought in by her sensei Hatake Kakashi. Lost consciousness after exhausting too much of her chakra in training. Arms moderately to severely scorched from exposure to Lightning chakra. Entire outer layer of skin singed to the point where it turned black. Surgery not required however the condition of her arms should be monitored and it is not advisable to perform any Lightning style jutsu or to overexert her arms for at least three weeks…che, as if!"

Yumi scoffed as she read the last part. "Okay what else….side note: hands appear to have more damage than just being burnt. Both hands show old scars that appear to have been inflicted months or even years before admittance. Cause of injury is unknown at this time. Several different types of scars point to several different instruments and methods used to disfigure her hands…grr like they know anything!" Yumi shouted the last part in annoyance as she tossed the paper into the fire.

She finished her sushi and then sighed in annoyance before she lay down on her back and stared up at the moon again. There was something about the moon – she felt as though she could stare at it for hours on end without boredom. Yumi let out a yawn; by the position of the moon she deduced it must be around two thirty in the morning.

Before she could even yawn again, Yumi had already drifted into a deep slumber.


Yumi slowly opened her eyes to the sound of birds chirping. She blinked a couple of times and then frowned when she realized by the morning glow in the sky that it was almost six thirty, meaning she had overslept. She sat up and stretched her arms up in the air with a big yawn before standing up and dragging her feet all the way to the cave.

Once inside, Yumi sat in front of the ice box and had some sushi for breakfast along with water. She ate rather quickly and then crawled over to her trunk and grabbed a fresh towel, washcloth, hairbrush and her toothbrush. She stepped out of the cave and used the waterfall to wash her face and brush her teeth.

Once she had freshened up some, Yumi brushed her long hair and expertly braided it before returning to the bank where she had fallen asleep last night. She sat down with her legs crossed and undid the bandages on her arms to reveal that they were as good as new, minus her hands. Like the hospital said, her hands were disfigured a long time ago and were covered in ugly scars of all shapes and sizes. Although they no longer hurt, she did find the matter particularly embarrassing which was why she always wore gloves and acted very hostile towards anyone who tried to take them off or who knew the 'condition' her hands were really in.

Yumi sighed at her hands in disgust before getting dressed and going back into the cave to put on her gloves and tie her headband around her waist loosely. She put out the lantern and exited the cave and began her morning yoga ritual, now cut in half since she slept too long. She then walked thru the spot where she had entered her spot last night and bid a silent farewell to her peaceful escape (and her sanity) as she reset the Genjutsu used to protect her hideaway and ran off to meet her team. She desperately hoped Naruto wouldn't be an annoying, hyperactive brat today and Sasuke wouldn't act like a conceited bastard either. For the first time in a long time she felt calm and at peace, and she didn't want that feeling to end with her asshole teammates.

But Yumi was never that lucky.


1. That wasn't too bad now, was it? :P Fillers suck, but unfortunately they are a necessary evil. Anyways, you might be a little confused as to what happened so I'll explain quick. Yumi was trying to pull out her Lightning chakra so that she could mold it into an attack (i.e. Chidori), only she ended up pulling out too much and couldn't control it so it burned her skin and she fainted shortly after from using too much chakra throughout the day. As for her hands, they were burnt from the chakra however they are also scarred from something else that happened years ago. Yumi is very sensitive about the matter which is why she snapped at the nurse and threatened her if she told anyone about her hands.

The hand thing will be explained later on because it has to do with her past...andddd that's basically it. Don't forget to review! Reviews=motivation! Next chapter or two will show Yumi's relationship with her teammates and after that I'm gunna jump right into the Zabuza saga! Yeaaaaaa :DD

2. Dictionary

Baka Yarou: stupid bastard; stupid fool; dumb bastard

Che: more of a grunt than an actual word; translated to 'hn' or 'hmpf'

Gomenasai: sorry

Hai: yes

Ja ne: see you later; later

Matte: wait

Nani: what?

Oyasumi: good night

Yamato-yo: stop!; stop it!

3. Jutsu

Electric Current
Hand Sign(s): Hare → Dog → Boar → Ram
Description: A basic form of Lightning Release involving drawing out Lightning chakra and using it for attack. This jutsu has many variations; the most common of which is simply concentrating one's Lightning chakra in their hands and using it to shock someone. Skilled users can emit Lightning chakra from every point in their body at once, causing their body to glow white and shock/paralyze anyone close to them (similar to Sasuke's Chidori Current only weaker). The attack can also be used to channel an electric current through conductive weapons (i.e. sword, katana) or a body of water.
Rank: C
Range: All ranges

Ice Spreading Technique
Hand Sign(s): One-handed Ram Seal
Description: The user forms the seal to spread pre-existing ice. Only works on things that have water on or inside of them; plants, trees, humans, animals, a wet rock, etc.

Water Freeze Technique
Hand Sign(s): Rat → Tiger → Snake → Hare → Rat → Ram → Dragon → Tiger → Ox
Description: The user freezes an object or person to its core after they are soaked in water. Can be undone by the user performing the same seals in reverse.