I was heartbroken. Only one person reviewed for last chapter. Pained my heart, it did. But I still decided to update for you all.
When a certain raven-haired boy arrived at the training ground they were meant to be meeting at, his eyes went to his two teammates who seemed to have beat him.
Shiru was leaning against a tree, one hand in her pocket and the other holding a book that she was reading. Naruto was sleeping on the ground a metre or so away.
He said nothing as he sat about two metres away from Shiru, his thoughts becoming clouded with questions for the girl.
'I ate breakfast...' He thought, but would never admit it out loud. 'I want to know how she knows it's a teamwork test.'
Sasuke looked to the redhead, who apparently didn't even bother to acknowledge his presence. Somehow, that irked him; but he tried to not let it show.
"Shiru." Saying her name was awkward on his tongue, and he looked away as if to hide that fact.
His teammate glanced at him, closing her book and placing it in one of her pockets. "Yes?"
Shiru knew what he wanted to talk about, but it was amusing to have the stoic Uchiha speak when he was clearly uncomfortable.
Sasuke frowned, taking his time to get his words right. "How...do you suggest we beat him?" He cleared his throat, coughing into his hand as naturally as possible. The Uchiha hated having to rely on others, and if Shiru's plan didn't work out, he could just push her aside to do it his own way.
The redhead flicked her hand in the direction of Naruto, onyx eyes just barely catching the glint of metal that left her hand and into the blonde's thigh.
"Agh! Ow!" Naruto jumped up at the sudden pain, flailing dramatically before looking at his thigh and narrowing his eyes at his cousin. "What the hell, Shiru-chan?!"
The Uchiha smirked. 'Serves the idiot right for sleeping.'
"It's time for battle strategy." Was all she had, pushing off the tree and sitting across Sasuke nonchalantly. Her cousin groaned before pulling out the senbon and crawling towards them to make an informal triangle.
"So how are we going to beat Kakashi-sensei?" The blonde yawned, scratching his head as he blinked multiple times to wake up properly.
"Teamwork." Shiru stated with a dull expression, feeling like she said it too many times already. "Whilst I'd much rather do this solo," Sasuke silently agreed with that, "I can't. Up against a jounin, individually fighting him would be stupid and if you believe that you were stronger than him, then you're idiots."
The raven-haired boy scowled at her. "He doesn't seem that reliable." He retorted.
Shiru blinked at him, her gaze unnerving him. "And you seem like you have a stick up your ass. Am I correct?" His eyes widened at her blunt mockery towards him.
Naruto couldn't help but snicker at both his cousin's blunt nature and teme's dumbfounded face. His laughter brought Sasuke out of his stupor and the raven-haired boy glared fiercely at the two Uzumaki cousins.
"Don't underestimate your opponent. Don't underestimate your team. You will get killed." She advised, sighing at the way his glare was now solely on her. "If you can't handle the truth, then you've got some growing up to do."
'This woman!' Sasuke gritted his teeth, glaring up a storm but not exactly doing anything. He knew she was right, even if he didn't want to admit it. It was a trait of his to underestimate his opponents and even his teammates.
Currently, he couldn't tell whether or not he preferred one of those girls infatuated with him or the redhead who blatantly did not care for him and seemed to find it amusing when she mocked him.
"Now, let's get back to what we were discussing before."
The three of them made battle strategies in the time it took for Kakashi to arrive. Because he was late, that gave them much more planning time than they would've had if he was early.
"Morning guys." He greeted, blinking at the various reactions he received.
The blonde jumped up and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You're late!"
Sasuke and Shiru merely stood up, both remaining impassive. Kakashi noted that the Uchiha seemed to be annoyed with the redhead, as the way he kept glowering and glancing irritably at the girl who didn't seem to give a shit at all and was lost in her own thoughts.
He placed a clock on the tree stump, setting it for noon and announcing that to his team.
The copy-nin reached into his pocket and took out a pair of bells, holding them up clearly for the graduates to see.
"Here are two bells," He stated the obvious, "your task is to take them from me before noon."
The Uchiha narrowed his eyes at the bells. 'She was right about the bells...'
"Those who cannot get a bell by noon...get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to a stump, I'll eat right in front of you."
Naruto dramatically whimpered, as Shiru asked to make it seem like they hadn't had breakfast; when they actually did.
"You only need to get one bell, there are two...so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump." Kakashi made a slightly dark expression as he explained. "And...a person who doesn't take a bell...fails. So at least one of you will be sent back to the academy."
'This doesn't sound like we need teamwork at all...' Sasuke clenched his fists, glancing at the taller girl beside him with more than a little annoyance. She shifted her eyes to him, and he was about to look away when she made a small, secretive smile. His eyes widened slightly at that. 'She knew...!'
"You can even use your shuriken, because you won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill."
The silver-haired ninja gauged all of their reactions.
He was mildly surprised of their reserved demeanour, especially Naruto, who merely had his hands behind his back and squinting his eyes.
'Shiru-chan said to not underestimate our opponent, otherwise we'll get killed.' The blonde recited, taking his cousin's advice to heart.
'How boring...' Kakashi sighed. "Alright...ready? Start!"
The two boys jumped up immediately whilst Shiru body flickered away in a puff of smoke.
Whilst Sasuke and Shiru hid, Naruto took the time to face the jounin by himself. The copy-nin noted that he couldn't sense the girl's chakra signature.
'She must be hiding it...but a genin shouldn't be able to do that.' He mentally noted as the blonde challenged him. 'Perhaps she had a different quota in Kusagakure.'
Shiru crouched beside the Uchiha, startling the latter. She merely glanced at him with a gaze that made him feel like an idiot.
'I couldn't feel her coming at all...'
They both watched as Naruto distracted Kakashi. Just as the jounin was about to do his 'A thousand years of pain' technique, the redhead signaled that Sasuke was to intercept now.
Gritting his teeth, he complied and pushed off the branch and towards Kakashi. He threw several shuriken, which surprisingly hit the copy-nin.
'He switched out...' The Uchiha noted just as 'Kakashi' popped into a log with his weapons imbedded in the wood. He realised too late that the silver-haired ninja had appeared behind him, but was reluctantly grateful that Naruto had come to his aide before he was hit, despite how sloppy he was.
Kakashi jumped back, book still in his hand but facing away from him as his only visible eye looked at the two boys who appeared to be working together.
He was forced to put away his book when the two would come at him simultaneously, surprisingly working well together. They were unable to land a hit, and instead Sasuke aimed for the bells hanging off his vest whilst Naruto attempted to distract him with a combo of punches and kicks.
The copy-nin body flickered away within the trees, leaving the two boys looking around in alarm.
'Where is Shiru?' He wondered, his inability to sense her making him a little anxious. Even he couldn't smell her scent. Did she have one?
As if on cue, Shiru appeared beside him, aiming for the bells. He moved away from her hand, but then figured out it was a clone; again moving away from the Shiru behind him that went for the bells.
"I found you!" Naruto's voice from below gained his attention, but the split-second distraction cost him the bells.
The Shiru clones disappeared with a pop, the real redhead now sitting on a nearby branch with the bells in her hand and the same impassive expression she seemed to always have. Her chakra signature came out of hiding once the goal had been done.
Kakashi looked at the girl, before crinkling his eye as he smiled under his mask.
"Well done." He praised her, and she nodded; both of them body flickering back to the tree stumps.
Naruto and Sasuke appeared not too long after, both panting lightly. They looked to Shiru, and when she held up the bells; Naruto cheered enthusiastically whilst the Uchiha smirked in triumph.
The silver-haired nin had to admit, he wasn't expecting such teamwork from them. There was always some kind of tension within the trio. Naruto and Sasuke had already begun their rivalry, but the jounin was beginning to suspect a one-sided rivalry with the redhead.
His eye shifted to Shiru.
'I have a feeling it wouldn't have gone this way if she wasn't here.'
He coughed into his hand, earning their attention.
"First of all, well done. I underestimated you, and that was my downfall." He began. The bell began to ring, but he silenced it with his hand. "Did any of you know the answer to this test?"
'Interesting...' He commented mentally when the two boys looked to their female teammate, who leaned against the stump leisurely with her arms folded.
"Teamwork." She answered with a monotone. "Why would you put ninjas in teams if you aren't going to work together?"
The girl received a dark glare from the Uchiha, but she simply avoided his gaze.
'She's mocking me...' Sasuke internally growled.
"Correct." Their sensei confirmed. "I'm surprised that you figured it out, though." He rubbed the back of his head. "The test was designed to purposefully make you all fight amongst yourselves, but because you didn't and you all worked together, it was a lot easier to obtain the bells from me."
Shiru got lost in her thoughts as Kakashi went on, unintentionally ignoring her teammates as they conversed.
On reflex, she punched the blonde in the face when he attempted to hug her in celebration of their success to becoming a ninja. The redhead blinked as she returned to the real world, her eyes looking blankly at her cousin who was rolling around on the ground and holding his bleeding nose.
"Oh." Was all she said, an apology not following after.
Kakashi and Sasuke felt like face palming at the interactions of the Uzumaki cousins.
Despite how she mocked him, Sasuke had to admit that he had a reluctant respect for the girl, and only a little for her cousin.
The jounin kept a watchful eye on the redhead, who seemed to be quite the enigma. She had a sense of maturity far superior to any in her age group, and he couldn't fully judge her skills when she barely showed him anything.
But like her raven-haired teammate, she distanced herself. Even from her cousin.
Sighing, her sensei decided that he'd just have to keep an eye on her.
Emerald eyes glinted with an unknown emotion as she watched the cat known as Tora suffer in the hands of its owner, Madam Shijimi.
"Oh, my cute little Tora-chan! I was so worried!" She crooned, smothering the cat with her cheek.
A dark sense of humour within Shiru caused her to crack an amused smirk.
After the woman left, Hiruzen looked at the next available missions for team seven.
"NO! NO! NO! No thank you!" Naruto declared, using his arms to create a cross. "I want to do, you know, a more incredible mission! Find us a better one." He demanded.
Though Sasuke didn't say it aloud, he agreed whilst the two other ninja of team seven sighed.
Iruka stood up, leaning over the desk and proceeded with lecturing the blonde. "You idiot! You're just a rookie! Everyone starts with the simple duties and works their way up!"
"But! But! We keep getting the crappiest missions possible!" Naruto retorted, earning himself a whack to the head from his sensei.
"Be quiet, you."
"Naruto!" The Hokage spoke up. "It seems that I have to explain to you what all these duties are about."
At first, Shiru had begun listening to Naruto's talk about ramen as her fellow teammates did; but soon began to think about fruit.
Her eyes shifted to the door where she felt an unfamiliar chakra signature coming from. The moment the door opened, her face scrunched up with disgust as the smell of alcohol invaded her nose.
"What's this?" The old bridge builder looked at them skeptically. "They're all a bunch of super brats."
"How shallow." She muttered, the Uchiha beside her nodding slightly in agreement.
"Especially the shortest one with the stupid-looking face. Are you really a ninja? Hey?"
Naruto immediately radiated weak killing intent, already knowing that he was the shortest with Shiru being the tallest.
"I'll kill you!"
Kakashi easily held the small bundle of energy by the collar.
"What's the point in killing someone we're supposed to protect? Idiot." He chided.
"I am the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna." The drunk introduced himself. "I expect you to provide me with super protection until I get back to my country and finish the bridge."
"Super." Sasuke muttered sarcastically.
The next day, the team and Tazuna met up. Whilst everyone brought backpacks, Shiru simply brought a sealing scroll that had all the necessary equipment she needed for the mission.
Extra baggage was not recommended with her profession.
The redhead blocked out her cousin's obnoxious voice, instead focusing on the two chakra signatures who had been tailing them for quite a while.
Her eyes immediately fell on the single puddle on the ground in front of them.
'I'm surrounded by idiots.' She cringed slightly.
When the group had their backs to the puddle, that was when the mist nin had emerged.
Shiru's instinct was to instantly go behind them and simply get them off guard and kill them, but then she had to remember she needed to limit the skills she showed around the leaf nin.
Instead, she stopped; merely turning around to witness the mist brothers wrap their weaponized chain around the jounin.
"One down."
They pulled.
No one noticed how she remained calm when her companions' eyes widened with shock. Sasuke instantly steeled himself a moment after regaining his composure.
He glanced to Shiru, but was momentarily surprised to find her missing from her previous spot.
"Two down."
Onyx eyes darted to the direction of the voice, eyes narrowing at the two behind the blonde.
He pushed himself off the ground and towards the two enemy nin, not letting the fact that Shiru had suddenly appeared beside the one with the singular horn and kicked him in the stomach with enough force to send him into a nearby tree bother him.
The one she hadn't hit released the chain that connected to both their metal gauntlets, claws aiming for the Uchiha.
He moved with speed and grace, dodging the gauntlet and kicking the nin in the face.
That was when Kakashi blurred into sight behind the mist nin and caught him in a headlock.
Shiru grabbed the head of the nin she had kicked, and smashed his against the tree with just enough force to knock him out and possibly give him a concussion.
The redhead sighed. 'Holding back is harder than I thought.'
Naruto stared in shock as Kakashi praised both Shiru and Sasuke, the two appearing as if nothing had happened.
'They...they saved me. Were they not scared at all?'
The Uchiha glanced at the blonde, a smug smirk on his face as he called to him. "Hey! You alright...scaredy cat?"
The blonde was ready to jump at his rival, but froze when he realised Shiru was staring at him. He gulped at the intensity of her stare, before breaking eye contact and looking away in shame.
"Tazuna-san." Kakashi addressed their client.
"Yes!" The bridge builder jumped, obviously nervous. "What is it?"
"These look like hidden mist chuunin," The jounin commented after tying the two to the tree, "these shinobi are known to continue fighting no matter what."
The conscious one glared at the copy-nin. "How did you read our movements?" He asked, as if it wasn't totally obvious.
Shiru snorted a little too loudly, earning all the attention. "I'm not sure if that was just a simple mistake or you're naturally this stupid, but the fact that it hasn't rained in a few days should indicate that puddles wouldn't be around." She explained with blunt mockery, which gauged various reactions.
Kakashi nodded. "Indeed, I could've killed you two instantly...but I wanted to find something out."
Tazuna glanced at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Meaning...were they after you or us?" He responded. "We haven't heard that there are shinobi after you, our mission was simply protect you from thieves and gangs."
The copy-nin sighed. "This has at least become a B-rank mission. This was supposed to be a simple protection until you completed the bridge."
The old bridge builder looked down with a hard frown.
The redhead ignored the interactions of her team and their client, closing her eyes and opening her mind's eye to see if they were actually alone.
'I want to leave, dammit.'
The redhead slapped the blonde upside his head when he randomly threw shuriken in the bushes and played it off 'coolly'.
"Ow, Shiru-chan!"
Sasuke scoffed. "Stop being such an idiot and maybe you won't get hit, loser."
"What'd you say?!"
Shiru snapped to attention at the nearby hostile chakra signature.
"Shut up." She ordered, causing the two boys to giving questioning looks at her.
Kakashi narrowed his eye at her. 'She must be a sensor type...' He thought, before his eyes widened in alarm.
"Everyone get down!"
Sasuke brought Tazuna down with him whilst Shiru brought down Naruto, unintentionally smashing his face into the dirt.
Or was it really unintentional?
The spinning sword Shiru could identify as the Kubikiribocho passed over their heads and embedded itself in the nearby tree.
She could feel Zabuza's chakra signature quickly move from his place in the bushes to on top of his blade.
"Well, well." Kakashi started as his team all stood up, "if it isn't the hidden Mist's missing-nin, Momochi Zabuza-kun."
Naruto was about to charge at the badly-dressed missing-nin, but was stopped by his sensei's hand.
"Everybody get back." The copy-nin warned. "This one's on a whole other level."
"It'll be a little tough, unless I use this..." Shiru watched as the leaf jounin revealed his sharingan eye.
"You appear to be sharingan Kakashi.." Zabuza commented. "Sorry, but...the old man is mine."
The redhead already turned, passing a shocked Uchiha and moving into a protective formation around Tazuna.
"Surround and protect Tazuna-san. Do not enter the fight, that's the teamwork here." Their sensei ordered the genin.
The girl ignored their obnoxious amount of talking.
'Seriously, who talks this much when you're meant to be fighting?'
Something clicked in her mind, startling her. 'Wait, I remember his chakra signature.' She remembered in alarm, her eyes darting to the missing-nin who was too busy talking with the copy-nin.
'Shit. I crossed paths with him once, years ago with Orochimaru. When the Kaguya clan attacked Kirigakure and the snake recruited Kimimaro.'
She could only hope that the mist nin didn't remember her. She also wondered if he possessed the bingo book with her in it.
The girl was definitely in there, as her master had shown her a few years ago. It was outdated and it was a picture of her when she was under a henge though. Her alias was 'Fumei', which meant unknown. Creative, indeed.
Shiru was thrown out of her thoughts when the two jounin began to fight, Sasuke and Naruto instantly forming a protective triangle around Tazuna, with her in the front.
Her eyes landed on the form standing upon the surface of the water, eyes narrowing at the fact that he was about to use the 'Hidden Mist' jutsu.
As they were surrounded by the mist filled with chakra, Shiru moved into a defensive position; using the time the missing-nin was using to intimidate them to open her mind's eye.
The familiar chakra of Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi was a greenish-hue whilst Tazuna's was blue. The mist was a light blue, and she had to concentrate on finding the actual person.
A sudden killing intent caused Sasuke to freeze up, his body shaking in fear. His fearful eyes shakily glanced to the girl in front of him, who appeared to be unphased.
'W-What the hell is wrong with her? I feel like my life is being squeezed..'
"Sasuke..." Kakashi's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Don't worry. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me."
The Uchiha felt the blood rush to his cheeks in embarrassment.
"I don't...let my comrades die."
Shiru's eyes opened, her hand grabbing the black hilt of her blade and unsheathing it with such speed that the two genin beside her hadn't seen the movement. In one swift movement, she turned and swung the blade, effectively severing the head of Zabuza's water clone.
The movement broke their protective formation, the water clone returning to its liquid nature and watering the dirt below them.
Kakashi held a kunai against the other Zabuza's neck before he had a chance to swing his blade at his genin team.
"Don't move!"
The redhead clicked her tongue as she turned to face her sensei and the Zabuza that she knew was another water clone, flicking the water off her tachi and looking at the adults with a blank stare.
'What is wrong with these people? 'Don't move!', why don't you just kill him? He's obviously the enemy, and there'd be nothing to gain from keeping him alive.' Shiru frowned, disapproving of the way they just seemed to talk and talk and give the missing-nin more chances to kill them.
The girl breathed deeply, attempting to calm her irked nerves. 'Calm down...have to hold back.' She let out a deep breath, pushing down the urge to just kill the mist nin and save them all from the unnecessary fight about to ensue.
Her eyes were dark with thought when Kakashi was thrown into the river, allowing himself to be caught in the water prison Zabuza created. 'I should just cut his hand off. Or his head. This is a waste of time.'
The three genin watched as a water clone formed in front of them, the water clone now beginning to taunt them.
"Hehe...wearing forehead protectors and acting like real ninja. But you know what? A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death." He stated, something Shiru had to reluctantly agree with.
"Basically...once you're good enough to be listed in my handbook...then you can start calling yourself ninja. You guys should not be referred to as ninjas."
'I suppose it's safe to say that he doesn't remember me.' She commented dryly within her head, moving to intercept the missing-nin's attack on Naruto.
She appeared in time to push her cousin out of the water, just dodging Zabuza's foot. The missin-nin's eyes widened at the girl who unexpectedly saved her teammate. "What?"
The girl's eyes instantly attracted his attention. 'Heh...looks like this one isn't like her teammates.' He chuckled internally, finding amusement in the barely suppressed killing intent radiating off the girl and the way she looked him dead in the eye with detached emotions.
'So this one is a true ninja.'
"Shiru!" Kakashi called the redhead's name in worry. "Get away from him! Take Tazuna and run away!"
Zabuza noticed the way the young teen in front of him clicked her tongue in displeasure. "So that's your name." His water clone spoke up, causing her to raise an eyebrow. "Shiru, is it? Well, then. Do they know of your real nature?"
The mist-nin grinned behind the bandages on his face when her killing intent hit him like a wave.
"You talk too much." She merely stated, decapitating the water clone in a swift movement and landed silently on the ground.
Her teammates stared at her in shock, unable to comprehend her strange nature.
Naruto shook. 'How can she be so calm!? She's cool and composed, not even breaking a sweat and here I am being saved by her!' The blonde grit his teeth in frustration, moving to stand up after finding some motivation to stop being such a damn coward. 'I'm never going to be Hokage at this rate!'
"Hey! You eyebrowless freak!" He yelled, the real Zabuza turning his attention to the small Uzumaki. "Put this in your handbook! The man who will one day become Hokage...the leaf village ninja...Uzumaki Naruto!"
His declaration earned him various reactions from all that were present, his cousin just sighing and moving to his side.
"Hey, idiot." Shiru called to Sasuke, who glared at her. "It's time for strategy."
Kakashi watched with a sense of pride as the genin made strategy with Tazuna nearby, but worry was quickly overwhelming him. He was about to yell for them to leave, but his jailer spoke up.
"That girl..." He muttered, currently in thought and furrowing his brow muscles as he analysed the redhead. "she's familiar."
The silver-haired ninja's eyes widened in shock. 'How?!' His gaze shifted to the girl of her team, her demeanour calm and collected; causing him to narrow his eyes in suspicion. 'She definitely looks experienced.'
Shiru had to resist the unimaginable urge to just face palm. She let the two boys use their strategy, but by god they had to be delayed by listening to the mist nin's goddamn past.
'Who honestly gives a shit?' She sighed. This fight wouldn't drag out nearly as long if they would just shut up and fight. But no, they just had to converse mid-battle about how devilish the horrible-looking ninja holding their sensei prisoner was. 'I can't do anything more, now. Kakashi's already suspicious about me.' If the way the jounin was staring at her wasn't an indication. 'Maybe I should've just pretended to be useless. Agh. I'm getting impatient.' The girl shook her head, displeased with her impatient attitude.
When Zabuza created another clone, Shiru let Naruto and Sasuke deal with it; standing in front of Tazuna lazily. 'It's not even about him, anymore.'
It wasn't too long before Kakashi was free, and now they were wasting chakra on each other whilst the genin and Tazuna watched.
She had to admit that water dragons were badass, though, but used the body replacement technique to dodge the wave of water that was a side effect of their jutsu.
'I'd rather not get my clothes wet. Unnecessary weight.'
Shiru came back down when realising that Haku's chakra signature was coming closer now, her feet touching the ground the moment senbon pierced the missing-nin's neck.
"Hehe, you're right. He's dead." Haku commented from a nearby branch, shocking the group.
Kakashi checked Zabuza's pulse, confirming that his pulse had stopped.
Temporarily.
"Thank you very much." Haku appeared on the ground in front of the group, bowing slightly. "I've been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time."
"That mask...you're a mist hunter-nin." The copy-nin stated.
"Impressive, you are correct."
"Hunter-nin?" Naruto repeated, confused.
"Yes, my duty is to hunt down missing-nin. I'm a member of the hidden Mist's hunter-nin team." Haku explained.
Naruto looked panicked, looking from Zabuza's body to Haku and repeating that movement for a few seconds.
"What the hell?! Who are you?" The blonde demanded, pointing a finger at the boy not much older than him.
"Don't worry, Naruto. He's not an enemy." Kakashi reassured the small boy.
"I'm not asking that!"
Shiru's eye twitched slightly. "Naruto, shut up."
Her cousin reeled back in shock at her intimidating tone, the rest of her team also surprised at the the uncharacteristic irritation lacing her voice.
"Everyone has varying levels of skill. Quit whining about it." Her cold tone hurt the younger Uzumaki, but he obediently remained silent.
When the 'hunter-nin' kneeled in front of Zabuza, he tensed at the touch of the cold blade pressing lightly against his neck; Haku's eyes darting to the girl with unreadable emerald eyes and wild red hair.
'She's fast!'
"Shiru! What are you doing? He's not the enemy." Kakashi explained hurriedly to the girl.
"He reeks of Zabuza." She stated briefly, as if that explained everything.
Haku's fingers twitched as Kakashi seemed to be seeing if she was correct.
'I have to leave, now.' The masked boy thought, about to grab Zabuza's body when he was suddenly knocked out by Kakashi.
The redhead resheathed her tachi, her annoyance radiating off her like steam.
'Bunch of incompetents.' She sneered.
The copy-nin kneeled down, smelling the scent of the mist-nin all over the boy posing as a hunter-nin. The boy hadn't even touched the missing-nin and he was already smothered in his scent?
"They were working together." The jounin breathed.
"So, what do we do?" Sasuke asked, casually walking towards the two bodies.
"I suppose we take Zabuza's head and sword, and burn their bodies. Can you wait over there while I do that?" The silver-haired nin stood up as his two genin walked away obediently. His eyes was glued to the back of the Uzumaki girl's head.
'She's not at the level of a genin.' He noted with a frown. She was fast, caught onto the scent of Zabuza on Haku before he did, her skill with a sword and her taijutsu were above average from what he had seen. Her demeanour to battle situations told him that she was experienced in these kind of events. Yes, the girl was definitely not a genin. He'd have to ask the Hokage more about her when they got back.
Whilst Kakashi burnt the bodies, Shiru leaned against a tree; her arms folded and her brows furrowed.
'Shit. My impatience revealed too much of my skill for it to look like I was a genin. Kakashi isn't an idiot. Dammit.' The redhead chided herself for her idiocy, ignoring the way her two teammates stared at her.
The Uchiha gave the girl a hard stare, his irritation barely hidden. She was stronger than him. That was unacceptable. He wasn't as oblivious as Naruto to not see that she thought little of them, what with the way she spoke to them.
Naruto sulked. He had tried to help her, but she gave him the cold shoulder. 'What's up with her?'
He was about to ask her outright, but was interrupted when they heard a thump and turned to see that their sensei had collapse, smoke from the burning bodies rising up a few metres behind him.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Tsunami placed her hands on her hips as she looked down to the bed-ridden copy-nin. "Are you alright, sensei?" She asked, frowning in worry.
"Yeah..." Kakashi replied softly. "I just can't move for about a week or so."
The three genin and Tazuna sat about around the room, Shiru leaning against a wall and reading a book whilst Sasuke sat about a metre away from her. Naruto sat on the near Kakashi's feet and Tazuna laid about on the other side of the room.
An hour or so past, and Shiru was still reading her book until she noticed something, and raised her head from her book to make eye contact with the onyx eyes of the Uchiha.
'Girls find that gaze attractive?'
"Do you often stare at people you know are stronger than you?" She asked leisurely, closing her book and raising her eyebrow at the younger boy.
His eyes narrowed into a glare, before he clicked his tongue and looked away. "Tch. You sure are full of yourself."
"Perhaps if you were worthy of being my equal, I wouldn't seem as such." The redhead retorted, purposefully taunting the raven-haired ninja.
Frankly, it was working.
"You..." Sasuke tensed his fist.
"If you want me to acknowledge you, you have a long way to go." She sighed, opening her book again and returning her attention to the words in it.
The Uchiha disregarded her with a click of his tongue, looking away from the infuriating girl once again.
That was the moment the one-sided rivalry between Sasuke and Shiru had begun.
'I won't lose to her.'
Little did he know that Naruto was thinking the same thing about him.
The redheaded Uzumaki felt even more tired being around these people. 'Damn you, Orochimaru. Why couldn't you get someone else to do this?' She silently cursed, making sure to keep her spite off her face. 'I have to think up of a way to make sure I don't raise anymore suspicion against me.'
Kakashi later revealed that they would be receiving training, at the convenient time Inari had decided to show up.
"Ohh! Inari! How are you?!" Tazuna greeted his grandson, his arms open to embrace the tiny child.
"Welcome back, grandpa..."
"Inari, say hello to these people." His mother told him as he clung to the bridge builder. "These are the ninja who protected grandpa."
The two male genin gave the kid a blank stare whilst Shiru ignored his presence.
"Mum...they're going to die." He looked to his mother with a blank stare.
"What did you say, you little brat!" Naruto jumped up. His cousin sighed at the energy he possessed.
"There's no way you can win against Gatou..." Inari replied.
"You brat! I'll-ow!" The blonde's hand instantly went to his head, his eyes looking at the rock that landed on the floor beside him. "What the hell! Who threw that?!" He demanded, looking between his two impassive teammates fiercely.
"You should probably shut up, dobe." Sasuke drawled, obviously unamused.
"You should leave if you don't want to die..." The little kid with the bucket hat interrupted as he was about to leave.
"Where are you going, Inari?" Tazuna questioned his grandson.
"To look at the ocean from my room." He replied, disappearing behind the door.
The blonde ninja snorted, following after the little brat.
'Idiot.' Was the thought that both the Uchiha and female Uzumaki had after the shortest member of team seven left.
Now, I'm off to revise some maths for my exam in a few hours. Yay.