Howdy! Well, that was a pretty big hiatus. Sorry 'bout that but my interest was caught by other things, including school. Sadly I lost some interest in this fic but I regained it after reading through Food for Thought by RakeeshJ4. Good fic if not too action packed. Gave me an idea for the Neji fight this time around that I rather like and believe is rather original.
People seem to like this fic much more than the Barking Trickster and I have always been a pleaser. I actually had this chapter 3/4 done for a month now but I just couldn't really bring myself to round out the end.
First fight real fight scene I have written, but the next chapter will have a few more. Sort of a warm up.
Note: If you are wondering how to tell the difference between Harumi/Yuugao and others, they both tend to be more proper speaking and don't use contractions. I'm not sure why but I always imagined proper speaking not using contractions.
This chapter is 10k words which is my longest chapter ever. Enjoy.
Diclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I do own Aya and Harumi.
Cutting the Deck
Chapter 3
"Trials and Tribulations"
Two pair.
Two pairs of feet pattered along the hall way. Only the slightest sound betrayed that they were actually walking at all.
The first, a purple haired woman, looked the strangest combination of pleased and unpleased that would ever mar her face. It was unnoticeable to most, but to those who had gotten use to the statuesque women it was clear. Her arms were crossed as she strode down the stone hall way that was lined by a wooden door with a letter and number on it.
The mortification hung in the air like a stench.
"Start from the beginning as your messenger was not very clear what happened." A monotone familiar to most ANBU.
The ANBU member walking right behind Yuugao Uzuki wished with all his might to be someone else or at least somewhere else.
"One of our rookie ANBU spotted Naruto Uzumaki sneaking out of the Hokage estate."
"That much was made clear."
The man let out a nervous laugh that was more of a wheeze than anything.
"Yes yes, well. Like I was saying, the Hokage said that Uzumaki is always welcome in his house but the boy looked particularly suspicious at the time."
"How so?" intoned the seemingly rigid women.
"I believe the rookie who spotted him said he was wearing an ANBU-grade cloak, complete with the Leaf symbol on the bottom left edge."
Yuugao's eyebrow went up a notch.
"So the rookie went to question Uzumaki, but when Uzumaki became aware of his presence he bolted."
Yuugao stopped and turned to the man slightly.
"And how long was the chase?"
"Well Uzuki-dono, it was a rookie…" The man had stopped as well.
"How long was the chase, Rizu?" Yuugao's voice was still monotone but it adopted an air of authority.
"Approximately thirty-seven minutes, ma'm." A sharp, crisp answer.
Yuugao turned back and began walking again. The ANBU now know solely as Rizu noted that her gat seemed to hide a little bit of pride.
"What happened during the course of the chase?"
"Uzumaki showed skillful use of evasive tactics and misdirection, and that's not mentioning his… strange card skills..."
"Elaborate." Yuugao had an idea of what Naruto's skill set included, but not details.
"One card he used seemed to make a blinding light, which was rather impressive to quote the pursuing ANBU. " Yuugao noted that particular bit of info was missing from the villages files. "How exactly did he do that?"
"Seals I would surmise." The ANBU's head perked up slightly at that. "Anything else?"
She made a sharp left, and began walking up a set of stairs that seemed to be hidden by the architect between the walls.
"Well, he also utilized cards that made a weird Bunshin no Jutsu. It was easy to by pass though, as they couldn't go very far away from where the card placed." That wasn't new, but the weakness was previously unknown.
"How was Uzumaki apprehended?"
"Well," The man with the squirrely mask scratched the back of his head. "He sort of… stumbled…"
He let out his nervous laugh once again, "… into his team mates."
"So they were labeled as accomplices and taken in as well?"
"Yes Yuugao-sama and we then followed Uzumaki-standard-procedure." After he said the last part he seemed to seize up much in the same way a person would after saying something they shouldn't.
Yuugao came to an abrupt halt.
"There's an Uzumaki-standard-procedure?"
Nervous laughter for a third time.
"Put him in a civilian cell with the key in plain sight."
Yuugao turned and leveled an intense stare at him.
"Well… when we do actually get him for a prank or something, we always just do that as a sort of…" The man was shrinking back from stern women.
"Joke." He nearly whispered it out.
Yuugao immediately shot back, "And you didn't think of him using Kawarmi?"
"We don't have anti-Shushin seals there, but there are anti-Kawarmi. Those have been activated since the kid learned it."
The only thing to show the purple-haired women's displeasure was the slight thinning of the lips. She began walking once again.
"And their possessions were placed outside the cell as the case with most simple civilian detainment, correct?"
"Yes, right."
She came up to a simple wooden door and swung it open.
"Then why exactly…"
She walked through the doorway and past several one-window, metal cells on one wall. They were enough a civilian that was usually staying one night. The single window in each had sun shining through and led right out into the open city.
Most were empty but the occasional one had a drunk or a hooligan occupying it.
On the other side of the hallway, several long shelves were lined up parallel to the cells. Each person currently held had several items outside their cell, obviously their possessions taken from them.
Yuugao's voice rose a little
"…did you leave…"
She came to the last cell and made an abrupt turn. Her hair was pushed back by a slight breeze and the
sun was rising in front of her.
Yuugao's voice was as loud as most would ever hear.
"…a budding Seal master with a brush then?"
She indicated to the wall which was currently missing a large portion of itself. A hole had been blow clear through and nearly ventured into the adjacent cell.
"We didn-"
"-and where are these so-called possessions?"
"Huh?"
She gestured to the section of the shelf in front of cell that was now minus one wall. The man swiveled his head.
Yuugao didn't need to see behind Rizu's mask to know he was blushing with embarrassment.
All that lay there was a single key.
Earlier…
Naruto let out a sigh as he stared at the key that lay just beyond the bars. He was slightly disappointed a newbie caught him.
It was an unspoken goal of his to force an ANBU Captain to chase him. Sadly, he wasn't very close to that goal, as the most he had gotten was some guy that had tree roots grab his legs.
As weird as it may sound, Naruto had always seen the "white-maskey-faced-guys" as play mates. It wasn't like he had many friends, and they always were up for a good chase. It was kind of like hide and seek of sorts. They weren't mean to him, mostly indifferent, but they would occasionally make a joke or compliment him for a particularly maneuver.
He frowned when he realized he had been neglecting them lately. That was probably why he was
caught. Then again the guy that got him was new, so it was possible that he was using a weird patrol.
The guy wasn't much of a pursuer (Mid-chuunin tops) and Naruto was confident he would have lost him if not for accidently running straight to the pre-assigned meeting spot for Team 3. Then again he did break out nearly every trick he had before hand, including his Flash Cards (patent pending). That's not even mentioning him using his cloak as a distraction and losing it.
He knew they were either sadistic or at least had a sense of humor. They always left the key just right there in his view. It taunted him.
He also couldn't help but notice the seals etched into the bars. He had no doubt that they were for negating Kawarmi, a seal he was unfamiliar with. The method used acid, a form of inkless sealing that he hadn't even reached yet and was newer than "Idiot's Guide to Sealing" as the only time it's mentioned was in changes added.
His mood turned even sourer when he thought about the test. They had failed… sort of.
He had gotten his two targets down, even though the last caused complications.
One of Aya's apparently moved apartments though, and nobody knew where to.
"We were so close too…" mumbled out the whiskered boy, leaning his head against the cool bars.
"Technically Naruto-san, we are stilling taking the test."
Naruto looked over at the two girls seated on the cot set up on the other side of the cell.
Aya threw in a (not-so) little (bit) of sarcasm, "And don't worry, we can easily blow ourselves out of here!"
Naruto stared at her for a moment. You could almost hear the gears grinding before something clicked into place.
"I mean I guess I could… I never really thought about it before." Naruto mumbled thoughtfully and looked down, rubbing his chin.
Aya gave him an incredulous look and Harumi had a small smirk forming on her face.
"You've gotta be kidding me?"
Naruto looked her right in the eyes with a confused expression before shrugging. He began rolling up his right sleeve.
"If it's just explosions you want, that's no problem."
Harumi took a good look around the cell and then turned to Naruto who had just bitten his finger and ran it across what they both originally thought was a weird tattoo.
A moment later a brush appeared with a poof of smoke.
"So…" He looked turned to them both. "Where do you want that explosion?"
"Hold that thought Naruto-kun…" Naruto showed a little bit of surprise with Harumi's sudden familiarity, but Harumi had firmly turned her attention to Aya.
"The last target works for ANBU right?"
Aya scratched her chin and mumbled out, "Yes I guess he does. Mom did mention something about him being one of those ANBU interrogators." Aya's comment was added with the slight widening of her eyes.
"And we are currently in the upper floors of the ANBU Holding and Interrogation block…"
Aya's lit up with comprehension.
"He's in this building probably! He was deep ANBU, so there's no way he just bailed on the village."
A frown spread across her face.
"But, if we do blow our way out like blondie says he can, it would be hard as hell to get back in..."
Harumi showed an honest-to-Kami grin. It wasn't of Naruto-caliber but it was as much as one as she would ever show.
"And that's exactly why we are not leaving…"
"So you want me to blow up the bars?" Naruto interjected.
"Nope!" she chimed with a smile.
"Then what am I blowing up?!"
"This wall of course." She gestured to the wall the cot was set up against with a little flourish, as if showing off some item for sale.
"But…" Naruto started. "How are we going to not leave, if the only way we have to leave makes us …leave?"
"Nice one, Mr.Eloquent." Aya cut in, to which Naruto stuck out his tongue to.
"Leave that to me Naruto-kun." Harumi stepped right up the bars that the key lay behind and took a meditation position.
She took in a calming breath before saying, "Get to work on that explosion, Naruto-kun."
Naruto and Aya could only blink with an inquisitive look for a few moments before Naruto nodded dumbly.
Naruto sat crossed leg on the cot and set about making an explosive seal on the wall infront of him. A small explosion would be enough. These cells weren't meant for heavy stress.
Naruto always liked explosions. As he bit his thumb and dabbled his paint brush in his freshly drawn blood, he couldn't help but feel a little excitement. It took a while but he finally managed to be able to make an explosive seal from pure memory.
It was a testament to the awesomeness of sealing that he could place the seal on anything and make an explosion. It was commonly believed that an explosive note actually made the paper explode, but Naruto knew better. It was actually the ink directing the chakra in a certain way to make it well… a pop for a lack of a better word. Of course this pop happened to be a lot like an explosion. It wasn't the paper exploding, it was the seal itself.
Naruto likened it a balloon being filled with too much air, until it exploded. Then again, balloons popping didn't mutilate and send people flying through the air.
As Naruto made a few gentle strokes (which added in a delay to the explosion) he could help but think about his recent project.
Exploding cards. Easy in theory, hard as fuck in practice.
It wasn't so much he couldn't get a card to explode. It was more the fact that when seals were meant to work together, they had to be connected and mesh much like a jigsaw puzzle. The standard seal for explosion notes did not work well with hardening and weighting seals that Naruto used on his cards.
Truthfully, making seals was nowhere near as hard as making seals that could work together properly. That's why exploding notes were easy to make even by Chuunin. One seal equals one boom.
Naruto needed more from his Exploding Cards though. He needed to be able to get some distance with
a throw, make it stick, AND then explode in a fountain of explody greatness.
He had to admit though, his experiments yielded interesting results. His Flash Cards were an utter accident. He got the bright light of an explosion, dozens fold. He just wasn't exactly sure how. Seals were fickle and he was no master. Yet.
He put the finishing touches on the main seal, but quickly started adding another one for direction. It wouldn't do well for the blast to come right at them, if they were still in the cell that is.
That was another awesome thing. Seals could always get better. They could always just be better.
He mused to himself as he added the lines that would forcefully redirect the explosion, 'Didn't the old man say something about the sky being the limit?'
Naruto wasn't sure about that. The sky was awfully low limitation to set for himself.
He took a step back and looked at his finished product but he couldn't help but cock his head to the side.
Something was... wrong.
But what was it…
'Crap…'
The seals were red. He had, completely without thought, made them with chakra infused blood.
It's another common misconception that seals are just thrown together and you shoot some chakra in. Most people who make their own tags at least know that its chakra infused ink that needs to be used. The material you use to make a seal is much more important than most people realize.
What happens with ink doesn't necessarily mean you will get the same results with blood. He wouldn't say blood seals were more brutal, but they usually carried a certain… edge. Rougher in a sense.
He had never actually made an explosive seal with blood before. It would, by law, do the same thing. The chakra would spin, and the explosion, if there was one, would be directed away from them. Then again, they could also fizzle out and make a poof of smoke that happened to be spinning.
His thoughts were interrupted by a sound and a rather loud one at that.
"Hurry the fuck up Whiskers! We got a deadline!" Aya hollered out, half enthusiastic and half angry.
Naruto spun around and found himself looking at his team mates standing outside the cell, putting on
their gear.
"How did you…?"
"Stop gawking! Set the explosion up and let's roll! Chop chop!"
Naruto found his weapon pouch, cards and all, flying at his face. Harumi was already taking careful strides down the corridor. She had the required items in hand, but something seemed a bit off about her. He just couldn't place it.
'Was her hair always…'
He shook his head rapidly to clear his thoughts.
'Damn, stop wasting time. Gotta be a Genin and reach Hokage!'
He swiped his hand along the bottom of the seal, sending chakra into motion. In a minute or two he would have an explosion and his team would be on their way to the final objective.
He would later reflect and reason that it was a mistake to forget about his little mishap with the blood seal.
He raced down the hall way, trailing slightly behind to latch on his pouch.
He would then reason that some mistakes were better off made, as they can often produce some of the most interesting results. This would happen far too often in his life.
It was one thing to put three ninja, and they were as far as she was concerned, in a civilian cell. It was, on the other hand, a whole different thing to actually overlook such evidence as their equipment being gone when they supposedly left through the wall and supposedly never got the door open.
She was feeling a migraine starting. If Yuugao Uzuki hated anything more than karaoke, it was plain, outright stupidity. ANBU were professionals, above all else. This day had been disappointing to say the least when it came to her former colleagues.
Uzumaki wasn't even questioned on why he was at the Hokage's estate! For all they knew it could have
been a spy taking advantage of the boy's privileges. Then again, it could be chalked up to them actually chasing and speaking to the boy. Naruto wasn't the easiest person in the world to imitate when it came to certain things.
As much as she was frustrated with ANBU, she couldn't help but swell with pride about her team. Even though she had taught basically nothing, she still felt somewhat proud of them. They had passed the part of her test that she honestly hadn't expected them to.
Well… they might have passed. She was actually going to go check right now.
They had to have a reason to escape, so she deduced they must have not passed the test. It was also reasonable that the reason they stayed inside the building was that they knew that the one target or one of the targets they missed worked here.
So with little doubt, Yuugao walked far-too-casually through the Interrogation and Torture Unit's main facilities. She hoped they found their way to his office, it wasn't like his name was displayed in big shiny letters on his door. This was ANBU.
She hoped, slightly, that he wouldn't start torturing them. They most likely broke into his office and just…
"Vesti la guibba!" A loud soprano voice reached her ears. It was singing, but with this line of thinking the screeching of a thousand cats in a sack being beaten with brooms is very similar to the sweet singing of birds on a Sunday morning.
'Damn…' was her only thought as she rushed to her student's aid.
"La faccia infarina!"
She took a sharp left and ran right by a man holding his ears on the ground.
"La gente paga e rid-" Her thrown kunai ended the man's impromptu concert.
His hand held the kunai an inch from connecting with his face. He slowly made a dramatic turn to her.
This revealed a scarred man wearing a bandanna.
Her three students were all strapped into chairs, mouths gagged and looking in varying degrees of disarray. Naruto was on the ground and judging from his face she would say he had been banging it on the floor. Aya's eyes were closed tight and she was mumbling something that sounded through the gag like "my happy place."
Harumi seemed to be doing the best though as she was frowning through her gag with… disappointment. Yuugao Uzuki cut that branch of thought off the moment it began. This way lead to madness.
The man slowly lifted a weird hand that a large disk spun under. This somehow produced music out a funnel on top, which the man loved and many others in ANBU... well some words are better left unsaid.
It was one of the reasons the scarred interrogator had a sound proof room, but a certain team thought breaking down the door would be a wonderful idea.
"People don't always have to throw a weapon at me to get me to stop, you know," the scarred man said.
"People do not always throw a weapon at you, Ibiki-san." Yuugao calmly said as she smoothed back her hair and regained her composure.
"Some people are tied down."
"Point." Yuugao seceded.
"I'm guessing these little hellions are yours?"
"Yes, I assume that they did not succeed in their objective?"
Ibiki gestured to his desk right behind him where very clearly lay an unmarked Icha-Icha (Volume 3: Paradise Bonanza Edition) and a dagger with a small tag that displayed the words "You have been warned Perverts of the Leaf" very clearly. Yuugao never did fancy herself as a wonderful linguist.
"No?" Ibiki ventured a guess. The dagger was not piercing the book, so sadly…
"No." admitted Yuugao. Suddenly all three of the students looked depressed, well less so Naruto seeing as he was still dazzed from forcefully ejecting Ibiki's singing (if one could call it that) from his head. "But never the less, they did pass my exam."
Two pairs of bewildered eyes looked back at her. Those gags did wonders to muffle Aya's following outrage. Though the rocking back and forth on the legs of her chair did nearly make her follow Naruto's example.
The blond haired boy seemed to finally have collected himself and she had a moment to speak with them incapacitated.
"Now that you are officially my team, it is a good time to see what I have to work with."
Ibiki loved messing with people far too much for his own good though.
"Ahh, a combat test. I think that deserves a song!" Ibiki said with a bit too much cheer injected into it. He was already reaching for his strange contraption.
Yuugao barely stopped Naruto from relieving himself of consciousness thought.
Grass, as it was decided by a one Naruto Uzumaki, was the comfiest thing in the world. Well, this grass was. It might have helped that he hadn't exactly slept much in the past twenty-four hours. A little.
Training ground #42 was familiar to Naruto. He had actually used it several times since he tested his first "battle card" here. It was a pretty simple training ground. It was right next to the left side of the Hokage Monument, so to his right a cliff rose up. He supposed with a good enough grip you could climb up the side, which would be pretty cool. Like nearly every other Training Ground, trees were abundant here. A small shack was located right up against the cliff face and Naruto could only guess what was held in there. Maybe the several of the strange blocks of wood beside it had something to do with it. A small pond was adjacent to the shack and clear across the other side of the field Naruto and his team currently lay in.
Yuugao wasn't lying down of course, but the three youths were rather tired. Yuugao in her infinite generosity let them all sleep after she got them out of ANBU custody. A total of 4 hours though, which in the long run was surprisingly little.
Yuugao also made a bit of a wardrobe change. She changed out of her standard ANBU gear and had adopted a Jouning vest modified to hold a sword strapped to the back more easily.. The rest was non-descriptive Shinobi gear, though she still had on her ANBU forearm guards.
So three sleepy pre-teens stared at their teacher, even if she hadn't taught them much of anything.
"You did well."
Well that perked them up a little bit.
"Much better than I expected, in fact."
They didn't know they were in for a treat as Yuugao Uzuki didn't regularly give praise.
"Though, you still failed the assigned mission."
"But you didn't expect us to pass!"
Aya, such a youthful individual, always making her opinion known.
"That does not mean you were supposed to not try and succeed. ANBU are occasionally given missions they are not expected to succeed in but it is still their duty."
Naruto stifled a yawn before speaking, "And what's those ANBU guy's gotta do with us?"
"A lot more than you would think." A small smirk formed across Yuugao's face. A smirk that Naruto knew well and Harumi used often. A smirk that almost screamed "I know something you don't!".
"What do you mean by that sensei?"
"Well, to put it simply: You three are going to be training specifically for ANBU duty."
That was actually a bit of a wakeup call.
Aya was quickly on her feet doing a little jig that no respectable women would be caught doing in public.
"Hell yea!" She cheered. ANBU was as ninja as it got, and as far as she was concern this was the best thing since… well… ever!
Naruto's head was cocked to the side and his mouth agape before his brain started processing this. A grin soon found it's way to his face though.
'Awesome! I can get a cool mask and I don't even need to swipe the cloaks from the drunken ANBU at the Koi! Free cloaks, cool masks, and...' Naruto's brain went into over drive. '...And free cloaks!'
"And why exactly are we being trained for ANBU?" Trust Harumi to ask the questions that need to be asked. The girl didn't look exactly opposed to it. More curious than anything.
"Excellent question. Aya-san has already expressed a great deal of interest in ANBU life, so she is an obvious choice." She motioned to the still dancing girl.
"Hell yea I am!"
"You and Naruto-san on the other hand offer a skill set highly prized in ANBU."
"I/We do?" Were the two responses, from Naruto/Harumi respectively.
"Yes, in fact." She addressed the raven-haired girl first. "Harumi-san, your chakra control surpasses most of your Kunoichi peers and show a great deal of promise as a combat medic. You have commendable skills in evasion and misdirection, which are both very important to medics in the field."
Her attention turned to Naruto as the girl digested the info. "Your skills are actually quite sought after. Your skill in seals would be incredibly useful to ANBU in general as they have lacked a proficient Seal Master since Jiraiya of the Sannin left his post as ANBU Commander several years ago." Which was true. There were several people proficient in sealing, such as the 4th Hokage and Kakashi Hatake but no true Masters.
Naruto's eyes were comically wide. "But…" Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Seals aren't that hard…" He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Even Harumi and Aya (mid dance mind you) turned to look at the boy. If they hadn't seen him show his skills in sealing earlier they would have been skeptical of the boy's talent, but as it stands it's actually rather irrefutable.
Yuugao was blinking, eye brow now arched. 'This boy…' She resisted the urge to sigh.
"Actually Naruto-kun, seals are quite hard to craft or even understand."
The whiskered boy turned to Harumi who had just spoken. He gave her a blank look.
"No they aren't." He seemed very serious.
"Yes, yes they are."
"Oh come on, you just haven't been shown how to do them right!" Naruto said, rather matter of factly. He even nodded his head, assured of his rightness.
"Naruto, trust me. Aya or me could not have made that explosion seal back there in the cell, especially from memory. I doubt we could even have made the storage seal you kept the brush in."
Naruto's head cocked to the other side. "But I messed that seal up! The explosion seal reacted violently with the direction seal. I could have blown up half the building just cause I made it with blood instead of ink!"
Aya, Harumi and even Yuugao went a little wide eyed.
Naruto began mumbling under his breath and scratching his chin. "Then again, I didn't put enough chakra into them for that. They still shouldn't have reacted so violently though…" Naruto Uzumaki, deep in thought, was not a sight that many got to see. The rest of Team 3 was oblivious to this. "Maybe if I had used a three point seal instead of a…" Naruto seemed to pause before he seemed to seize up.
He let out a breath that sounded far too pleasurable, a crazy, joyful glint flashed in his eyes. "I think… I have an idea."
"Well you can hold it." Naruto rounded on Yuugao who was seemed to all of a sudden tower over them. "We have an important matter that needs to be gotten to."
The women seemed to be counting them off, as she bobbed her head while looking from one to the other. She also could be possibly saying something. She finally stopped on Aya, the girl who suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"Your combat test begins now."
Yuugao's image flicked and Aya found herself with a viscous kick to the gut from where she was seated. Aya recovered in an instant and sped towards her sensei. The women remained unmoving though she did hold her hand up a little, towards the oncoming fiery girl.
She had to jump back though as several cards passed right by where she was but a moment ago. Yuugao noted that the cards embedded themselves in a tree. Aya was already a few feet away from her by the time she focused back.
Aya went for a low punch, as her other hand fell into her Kunai pouch. Yuugao sidestepped the punch and as the other hand came up with a Kunai intent to hit her abdomen, she grabbed the wrist and wrenched the blade from the smaller girl's hand.
"You need to come at me with the intent to kill. If you do not, you will fail this test as well." It never hurt to bait a little.
Aya's knee rose to the occasion, but Yuugao chose to pivot to the left and fling her student over head. Aya tumbled to the ground, but managed to gain her footing. Aya's obvious look up in the air alerted Yuugao to rain. A rain of metal and paper that is.
She used Shushin to move sideways, faster than the genin's eyes could follow.
"Aya you gave away their attack far too easily. That might have won you the fight." Might have.
She bent low as several more cards came flying right through where her body was a moment ago. She was actually rather reluctant to clash kunai and card. She wasn't so sure her kunai would win.
She stood up straight and dusted herself off in a very non-chilante way. 'Kakashi-dono rubbed off on me more than I thought.' She though with a small smirk. Nothing agitated ninja more than not being taken seriously. Especially ones like Aya and Naruto
The latter was surprisingly on top of her first and was rearing back with a punch.
As she caught it barehanded, she couldn't help but notice that his taijutsu was abysmal even if he did have noticeable strength for a boy his age. His right hook would be mean in a few years.
"You should punch with your whole body, not just with your arm and shoulder." She casually kicked the young boy to the side, but didn't have a second to rest. Aya was on her again, this time attempting to sweep her legs out from under her.
Yuugao wasn't proud of many things. Not because she had little to be proud of, but she just didn't see much use in it. She was however, very proud of her legs. If someone were to ask Hayate the thing he liked most about Yuugao's body, she of course wouldn't be around at the time, he would answer almost immediately "Her legs". She has very nice legs. Very strong legs. She liked to think of kicking as a way of showing off her legs.
She showed off her legs to Aya at that moment by sending a kick to the girls chest. The girl blocked with her arms crossed over her chest in an X. The girl cursed as she tumbled backwards.
"I would advise blocking a strike from a physically superior opponent, especially a kick."
"Fuck you!"
As Naruto and Aya recovered, Yuugao's eyes swept the area. She was looking for the last member of the trio who had so far only thrown several shuriken.
She tumbled to the left, narrowly avoiding several kunai from said girl. The purple headed women rounded and flicked to behind her last student.
The women grabbed a handful of midnight colored hair and brought the younger one of the duo to her knees.
"Your hair is too long, though stuffing it down your collar does help." Yuugao commented as she held up her hand stopping her other two students in their tracks. "You will have to wait till I am finished."
"You have long hair as well…" The girl struggled for a second, causing Yuugao's grip to tighten. "Sensei."
She begrudgingly added... though something at the fringes of the voice seemed off.
"I usually put it up in a pony tail, or just cut it off if a mission is long enough." Yuugao's internal thoughts picked up on something. 'Her hair is much longer than I thought. How far is it tucked into her…'
"But didn't you say…" The girl stopped struggling and Naruto looked rather confused. Yuugao could only guess it was because of the look on Harumi's face which Naruto was staring at. Aya on the other hand was grinning as if someone around her just didn't get an inside joke.
"That I was just suppose to be the medic-nin in the back, hoping I do not get targeted?" The voice carried venom very uncharacteristic of the girl. That was the first tip to Yuugao that something was wrong. The second was...
Yuugao's eyes widened as black hair just seemed to flow over her arm and latch on. The girls hair was MUCH longer than Yuugao originally thought. It even gave enough room for the girl to spring forward on her hands and thrust a kick straight into Yuugao's gut, and she did just that.
Yuugao let out un-effeminate grunt as she jumped back and ignored the hit. The hair ceased its hold luckily.
"That was…" Yuugao started as everyone in the field watched as the elegant young girl's hair seemed to braid itself into two different strands. "Unexpected."
The girls chakra control, if anything, was understated. She doubted she could make the hair move in such a way even though she had better control than the girl, most due to her time spent on it.
Her hair was down to her knees easily and was dipping into her kunai pouch. A kunai came out with each braid and she worked her hair around the handles until only the blades protruded.
"You want intent to kill?" The calm girl asked.
Aya's grin got a bit more maniacal as the raven braids rose and wielded the kunai like some demented snakes. An interesting development indeed.
Aya chose to express her feelings for the other young girl on her team, "I knew I liked you for a reason Harumi-chan!"
Naruto, after recovering from his team mates strange display, had a card positions between each finger. He grinned a foxy grin that reminded Yuugao of the reason those whiskers were there.
"That kick hurt sensei." Naruto faked outrage and went as far as to pout.
Yuugao stared at her three students for a moment before coming to a conclusion.
They were getting cocky.
Pride, ok.
Confidence, alright.
Cockiness? No. That wouldn't do.
Yuugao reached over her shoulder, and with a click she unsheathed her blade.
That wouldn't do at all.
Naruto let himself fall back on the bed. He would be the first to admit that he didn't live in the lap of luxury. Most of the things he owned were second hand or just plain crappy. His bed was pretty plain at best. It wasn't exactly bad though, but he wouldn't say it was insanely comfortable.
That didn't matter much at the moment because a bed of rocks would feel heavenly.
He had decided that Yuugao-sensei (as he shall refer to her from now on and forever) was strong. It's one thing to take on all three of them at the same time and working up a slight sweat. It's another thing entirely to do it while verbally (and physically once in Aya's case, which was quite funny) correcting everything they were doing.
The woman was relentless and definitely earned her Jounin rank. Then again, it was the only time he had went up against a ninja of that caliber. She didn't use a sword in a flashy manner but he couldn't deny the prowess she showed.
His team mates weren't slouches either though, that became apparent. He didn't know how Harumi did that crazy stuff with her hair but he'd be damned if some of it was awesome. Flinging kunai with your hair is pretty cool. Yuugao-sensei didn't seem to appreciate it though, which was plain to see after she cut the girls hair down to half its original size. Aya got a sucker punch in right after that so it couldn't really be counted as a loss.
Speaking of Aya, she was probably the scariest girl on the team. She was just pissed and viscous the entire fight, even if outmatched by her sensei when it came to Taijutsu.
Naruto's eyes snapped open.
"What tha…?"
Naruto stared up at the ceiling and made a realization. It was as if dawn had just come and showed him a path that wasn't apparent before.
He was on a team with ALL girls. All of them. As in, every single one.
Naruto was a bit young for romance, but he knew he found girls attractive sure. They just tended to… be… he wouldn't say scary. Just… unpredictable.
Sort of like a new seal.
"Like…a…" He sat straight up in his bed.
He had nearly forgotten. Nearly.
The floor board under the side of his bed was gone in a moment. The next an old, familiar book was uncovered and was being leafed through.
"It…" His eyes were narrowed and staring at the corner where the page number was. "is…" He bite his lip a moment.
"Right here!"
He stared down at a seal. It was pretty simple, basic seal. It was actually a part of the original book which in of itself is surprising. Most example seals had been scribbled out and replaced with newer ones that were better. It was left for a simple reason though.
It was an example of a seal that utterly and totally didn't work with any other seals. It simply screwed the other seals up in same way or another. It was pretty much the asshole of seals. It just didn't work well with others.
One might ask, what possible use would this seal be? Could it maybe make a vortex of some sort. Made for sealing a specific item of great importance perhaps? Not really.
It dried cloths. It is actually used for disrupting other seals even more though. Most of the time it made the other seal fizzle out or simple not work. Then there were other times where it could react rather
…Violently.
Naruto was quickly sketching out the seal on a piece of paper.
He scratched his chin. "Now…?"
He shrugged and put began putting down a small locking seal. The other seal wasn't of real consequence at the moment. He just had a hunch.
Crack!
His window shouldn't exactly crack like that but it wasn't exactly like he opened it much. Open windows invited rocks or stink bombs. Hell, his windows open or not invited rocks.
The paper, now in the shape of a shuriken, was sailing through the air. The next moment a small pop was heard and it seemed to fizzle. It fell to the ground, smoke trailing behind it.
"Close." Naruto murmured out with a grin.
"Soon my pretties." He cooed the next second as he rubbed his face on a blank deck of cards that appeared if by magic. "Soon…" His grin got a bit mad.
"Explosions everywhere!" Several people across the village felt a shiver go down their spine.
Aya and Harumi could only stare at the strange spectacle before them. Well, Aya was laughing her ass off.
They had been given possibly the most wonderful first mission in the history of first missions. Find Tora, the Fire Daimyo's cat. Pretty simple, right?
NOT!
Yuugao-sensei had called it a "tactical tracking exercise". She also had decided that with each D-Rank mission a secondary object or task would need to be completed. For instance they were required to find Tora within three hours or they would be having another fun little sparring session with their Sensei.
So, at 7 o'clock in the morning Team 3 set off. At approximately 9:43 contact with the target was made,
even though it was rather unorthodox.
There aren't many D-Ranks that require one to flee but Team 3 was making it a habit of unorthodox methodology.
So Naruto dashed out from the alley and into view of his two team mates who we scouring the area from above. The cat was in hand so Aya cheered at first. Harumi would as well if she hadn't taken note of the small bag held in the cat's mouth.
Then the other cat's came.
Cat nip to cats, is a joyous little substance. It seemed that Tora had gotten his hands on some prime cut too. Well, the other cats obviously felt it was his obligation to share.
A meowing mass of cats poured out of the alley right after Naruto. This is the moment when Aya would start laughing.
So Naruto ran, and the cats chased, and Tora was happy and Aya laughed.
Then Naruto threw the exploding note.
Several veteran (and also quite senile) ninjas made attacks on random people that day. They thought they were under attack.
Later, the same day.
"Wait, can you say that again. I must have misheard you…" Aya made an attempt at a small chuckle after her statement.
Yuugao unlocked the tall shed in training ground #42 and began dragging out… a blade?
"You will be…" She huffed and showed obvious signs of intense effort as she hefted one of several large blades out of the shed. It was easily twice as long as she was tall and just as thick. They were straight as an arrow and a hole was at each end. "Blade-walking." She smoothed back a strand or two of hair that had fallen over into her line of sight.
"Blade walking?" Aya and Naruto asked in confusion.
"Yes." She answered back as she, with a decent amount of strain fitted the blade into two of many wooden blocks rooted to the ground. The holes fitted up neatly and it obvious it was a locking mechanism as she fitted a plug like piece of metal.
"Now that you know how, get two more and put them in place." She stood back with her arms crossed, waiting expectantly.
She stared straight at them, her eyes not giving an inch up to their dumbfounded looks.
They quickly began heaving two more similar blades. They found out rather quickly that these blades were heavy and that when pressured Yuugao-sensei was apparently pretty strong.
When they were done with that task.
"Now take off your shoes."
The three just stood there staring at their sensei.
"It is not nearly as bad as it sounds." She made a dismissive gesture. This was their queue to take off their shoes. "And I doubt you would want to cut your shoes to pieces, either." This caused some pause.
"Now listen and listen carefully, as I will say this once and only once." This caused the barefooted Genin to stand at attention.
"Blade walking is not an often used method of chakra training, but it is without a doubt effective. People tend to think of it as dangerous but it is no more dangerous than tree walking and even safer with the proper equipment."
"Tree walking?" Naruto interrupted.
"Worry about that at a later time." She let out a small amount of killing intent. "And don't interrupt again."
She withdrew six pads that seemed just about the right size to be placed under a foot. A small strap was attached to each pad.
"Now these little objects are important to beginners of Blade walking, as they are a very sturdy material that is very, very easy to push chakra through. This will prevent you from being cut from your foot
upwards for now." Her team's eyes bugged out a little.
"I do not expect perfection on first attempts." This relieved some of the Genin's anxiety. "…Yet."
They skeptically began placing the pads on.
"Now, blade walking is a chakra control exercise that affects two things. One, precision. The foot is theoretically the hardest place to channel chakra so in a sense if you master control over chakra in your foot you could master it anywhere. Two, quantity. Blade walking is very chakra intensive, even for those with good chakra control. So those with low chakra reserves will deplete their own fast and begin building up more."
She motioned to Naruto. "You represent one side of the spectrum that this exercise benefits." She then indicated to Harumi. "And you the other."
"And I fall somewhere in the middle." Aya threw in as she strapped the other pad like thing on.
"Correct and the same that goes for Naruto, goes for you." Aya sweat a little under Yuugao's glare.
"Now the premise is simple." She casually strolled over to one of the propped up blades. She then stepped up on the blade. It wasn't exactly sharp but that's not to say it was dull. And she stood on it like it was nothing.
"Simply expel chakra from your foot, or you could go so far as to place a layer of chakra over your foot."
She forgot to mention that they will be more motivated to do well for no other reason than they don't want to have their foot sliced off. That was actually one of the several reason it fell into disuse… in Konoha at least.
They all stared intently at the display and began working through it in their own way.
A few moments later they were all positioned at what could be called the starting point.
"Begin." Called out their sensei as she sharpened a Kunai from a tree she was leaning on several feet away.
They all slid a foot slowly onto the blades edge. In a good show of intelligence (or survival instinct), they took their time with the first step.
Naruto showed initiative, or stupidity, when he took a whole step onto the blade and brought his feet side by side. He grinned for an instance before his feet just seemed to slide off the blade. Off OPPOSITE sides of the blade.
As the three female women starred at Naruto holding himself up with his arms and his legs very close to a split they couldn't help but wonder that maybe the reason this exercise fell into such disdain in Konoha was simply because every Hokage was male. They, like all red-blooded males, were rather attached to their balls.
"Ok ok ok, and why the hell would that work to begin with?" A loud, female voice all but hollered out.
"Because it makes perfect-freakin-sense!" An equally loud, only male and younger voice answered back.
The four other members of a table seemed to have scooted as far away from the two as possible, giving them both ample table room at the small tea shop that had become progressively empty.
Yuugao had decided to introduce her team to her friends. Yuugao wasn't much for friends but there were a select few people whose company she genuinely enjoyed. Two such people were Anko Mitarashi and Kurenai Yuhi. They had tea often and one such get together happened the same week she took her team.
Seemed pretty simple. Team, friends. Friends, team.
She had made a miscalculation it appeared. Anko plus Naruto plus enclosed space equals… well…
"I'm not listening to this crap! What you're saying makes no sense!" Did you add in that both had a healthy dose of theoretical and practical seal knowledge? Naruto had mentioned something to her about sealing and that lead to a little shouting which led to a lot of shouting.
"Ok, shut it! Just shut up!" Naruto produced a brush and some ink.
Anko, as in the loud and brash Anko, crossed her legs and quietly listened to an 11-year-old boy explain something. If the sky was in clear view, both Kurenai and Yuugao would be checking for four guys on horses riding around up there.
Naruto began laying a seal right down on the table. "Now this, standard seven point seal right?"
"Yea yea, hurry the fuck up brat."
"I'm getting to it!" He shot back while rising a little bit. Anko had a way with children it seemed as Naruto immediately became obedient the moment one of Anko's kunais began spinning around her finger.
"Ummm…" He gulped. "Yea." He quickly began to lay out a second seal beside it.
"HA! See!" Anko jumped up from the table and pointed down at it. "Six point seals don't work right with seven!"
"Exactly!"
"Ok you lost me."
"They don't work well together, as in they don't play nice together." He grinned as he stated this and began adding a few more lines that seemed to surround the two seals.
Anko looked as if she just had a revelation. "No fucking way."
"Yes fucking way!" Yuugao began wondering if Anko had just corrupted one of her students.
Aya it seemed had enough. "OK, what the hell are you two talking about!?"
It seemed to have just occurred to the two that they weren't the only people in the world.
"Errr…" He looked down at the two seals.
He motioned towards the seals. "It's kinda an unspoken rule that when two or more seals work together their points cannot add up to thirteen."
"It's not that they don't work specifically, they just don't work right." He nodded to himself.
"Alright, but what does that mean they do exactly? And what do the other lines you added mean?" asked Kurenai.
"Well…" Naruto started but was stopped by Anko Mitarashi's hand.
"Allow me." She stated almost formally. Naruto shrugged before leaning back in his chair. Anko stood and took the floor.
"Let's say that seals are like women." Anko's voice took on a lecturing tone as she brought her hands
together in a clasping manner.
"Now these two seals." She made a sweeping motion towards the seals. "Are both crazy bitches."
Everyone felt the strange need to slam their heads into the floor at that moment.
"Now, these two crazy bitches hate each other." Naruto seemed to catch on to the picture Anko was trying to explain, as he began nodding… or he just wanted to look like he knew what was going on.
"They have so much hate that they don't work together and even go so far as to react violently." She smiled in a knowing manner.
"Let's say that these lines here…" She began tracing the lines with one hand and the other reached up to stroke her chin in an overly dramatic manner. "Are a hallway or corridor of sorts." She let out a small smirk.
"Two women and an enclosed space." Her smirk turned into a grin.
After a moment of digesting the info the four women showed various signs of understanding.
"But what does it do? What use is it?" Harumi spoke up.
A flicker and a card embedded itself in the middle of the table.
Anko eyebrows shot up, her grin not going down a notch.
"Two words." Naruto grinned.
"Exploding cards." Naruto said the words out slowly, tasting the words. From the look on his face that tasted quite good.
Anko's grin reached the level that it began to scare small children and animals. If they were honest with themselves at the table, it scarred them a bit to.
"I love this kid Yuu-chan!" and Anko glomped Naruto.
"Oh Uzuki-san. You are a bit late, but you are in luck."
A purple brow quirked.
"Someone directly asked for Team 3 for a mission." A non-descriptive Chuunin shuffled through several folders on his desk.
Most Chuunin spent one time or another working at the missions office. It was hazing of sorts for anyone wanting the title of Elite Chuunin.
"Really now?" The Jounin showed some surprise. She didn't have much of an idea who would directly ask for them.
"Yea I know, who could ever ask for those little punks must be mental." The chuunin noted as he still looked through his scattered desked.
"We are right here you jerkwad." Aya scowled. "And it's obvious the client knows quality when they see it!"
Yuugao decided not to even touch that one.
"Ah-ha!" A folder was produced and handed over to the resident Jounin. With a cheeky smile the chuunin waved them off. "Have fun."
"Well sensei, what awesome task does are talents require?" Aya flexed a little with the statement.
Naruto felt a strange shiver go down his spine, drawing him away from staring at one of his cards. He glanced over just into to hear Yuugao speak.
"It just asks for help with a business for a few hours, nothing overly difficult… though it is strange." She was still reading with narrowed eyes, that is before her head came back and she turned to Harumi. "A relative of yours?" She said giving the girl a glance at the document.
Harumi seemed to seize up in a very uncharacteristic way and Naruto once again felt that shiver. This time he felt something familiar in it.
Dread.
"Yes I do." Harumi's lips thinned out to the point non-existence. "She is my mother."
"No." The three female members of Team 3 starred at their male cohort as he seemed to have a small break down at the site of their mission.
"You know this place, Naruto?" Yuugao asked with a quirked eyebrow.
He utterly ignored his sensei in favor of turning to Harumi. "Y-y-your moms-"
"NARU-CHAN!" His mouth stood agape as he turned to a source a much ire for him.
"You!" He pointed an accusing finger at the woman that appeared infront of him. "But-"
He spun around to point at Harumi, then looked back at the woman. "H-how?"
"Well, when a man and a woman-"
"I KNOW HOW!!"
"Then what's the problem, my dear little Rei-chan?" Even Yuugao's mouth opened a little as the strange woman who was apparently Harumi's mother and their client, Sumairu Kuro, pulled her daughter to her side. It also became apparent to her that this woman had some strange connection with her other student and referred to him as Rei. "Come now, I haven't seen much of you two for months!"
Said blonde boy stumbled back as he realized that Harumi indeed looked like a smaller, much more proper and tamed version of Sumairu.
"B-but…" The boy seemed exasperated, trying to wrap his head around the idea. "YOU'RE A LESBIAN!"
It had been a strange time for the members of Team 3, they learned a bit more about certain members than they really wanted to. One such thing being that Harumi's mother was a die-hard lesbian and her father was one of the prettiest men that Sumairu had ever laid eyes on. One of those 'see how green the neighbor's grass is' kind of things.
Another was that apparently Naruto could apparently turn into a woman, or atleast Sumairu believed he could.
"I'm not doing it!"
"You have no choice my dear little Rei-chan," The woman put on an evil grin that villains wished for. "I hired you for help and help you shall!"
"I don't give a crap! I'm a ninja now, I don't need the money anymore!" Harumi and her team mates all got the wrong impressions of that statement.
Sumairu grinned triumphantly and pulled out her trump card. "But wouldn't a failed D-rank look bad on a future Hokage's record?"
"Oh that's was a good one." Aya commented expertly to Yuugao, who nodded in agreement.
"He is definitely cornered." Yuugao mumbled back. She nodded her head sagely. "Look at the defeated posture."
And defeated Naruto was. His shoulders slumped as he scowled and held out his hand.
"Glad you see it my way." She handed him his old uniform. "Oh yea I made a few… modifications."
The grin on her face promised that these modifications were in no way going to be beneficial to him, he grudgingly went to change though as Sumairu made her way to sit on several cushions in her homey office.
"Please take a seat ladies." She said with a sweeping motion towards several cushions infront of a small tea table.
After the four woman were situated and handed cups and awkward silence ensued.
Until.
"Mother."
"Yes?" Sumairu said from behind her tea with a smile
"What exactly does Naruto do for you?" Harumi seemed perturbed by this whole sequence of events. She originally thought her mother had hired her team because of her for some reason, but it became apparent it was for Naruto. She had no problem with that, but it still left her very curious of her teammates relationship with her mother.
"Well," She placed her tea down. "It could be for the fact that he is one of the best dealers I have ever had."
She didn't know it, but she just ridded Team 3 of a lot of awkward assumptions that they had made. Except for Harumi that is.
"Mother, do not play with me." The girl scowled. "You only hire female dealers and Naruto, I can say with some certainty, is not female."
"Oh my." A fan made it's way into the casino owners hands and fanned out to hide a grin that couldn't be held back. "You haven't seen her yet."
"Her?" Yuugao took over the interrogation.
"Yes, one of Naru-chan's little tattoo techniques."
"You mean seals?" Yuugao took a moment to recall everything she knew of sealing, not much admittedly. There was one thing though. "Seals that turn him into a woman?"
A seal that turned a male into a female would have to be incredibly complex and only someone insanely skilled could even make it. Even then, the chakra control needed to directly control chakra in such a way to make it a proper female would be well beyond what Naruto is capable of.
" Yes, fully female I can say with absolute certainty." She let out a small giggle that wasn't entirely un-perverse.
'Then perhaps the Kyuubi has something to do with it.' Yuugao thought with a little dread. If he was already tapping into the Kyuubi's chakra, even unknowingly, he would need to be informed ASAP of the whole story.
"Well speaking of the vixen." The only thing keeping Yuugao from jumping up at the terminology Sumairu used was her will power born over years as a ninja.
They all craned their heads to find a blonde "girl" around 18 years old with impressive assets. "She" was wearing a standard outfit that they recognized from the dealers outside but with a few added… attractions. There were several slits in it, revealing more skin, and the usual tight pants were cut off much higher than usual.
"Whiskers?" Aya mumbled out the nickname with an upwards, questioning inflection.
"Yea, but no whiskers here." Which was true though the "girl" retained the blonde hair and blue eyes.
Even the "girl's" voice was… bouncy. Even though "she" sounded pissed it still was strangely cute.
The Naruto-turned-girl sat down with them with a scowl drank some of the tea.
"See now doesn't that look better?" Sumairu asked Team 3 while waving towards Naruto, as if showcasing him-now-her. The "girl" scowled, still seeming cute. "Oh now that's not to say you aren't cute as little boy too."
A blonde eyebrow started twitching.
"Now, now Rei-chan we have business to take care of. We've got an event and you are going to be the prime dealer." The fan waved excitedly.
"Let me guess…" The "girl" mumbled out sourly. "A bunch of high rollers for a small event and you want me to milk them for all they got?"
"Correct except for the small part. You're going to be taking a lot of money from a lot of people."
And the evening from then on just got weirder for the rest of Team 3.
"Well, another mission well done." Aya acted as if she was brushing her hands off.
"What the hell are you talking about!? I did all the work." Naruto yelled with indignation.
"Yea, we should take missions like that more often. Harumi's mom is pretty awesome."
"I must admit." They turned to their sensei who was sipping something out of a glass with a small umbrella in it. "This was a nice little vacation mission, much better than my last."
"What are you drinking?" Naruto said with narrowed eyes.
"What?" The purple haired woman asked innocently. "They had an open bar."
Naruto felt the urge to slam his head up against the wall but settled for freaking out.
"I'm glad you guy's had fun while I worked!"
"You call that work?" Harumi asked honestly. "You just passed out cards and took their money."
"Well…"
"Speaking of that, how the hell did you cheat?" Aya interjected.
"He didn't." Yuugao pointed out while still sipping on the straw. "I would have caught him if he did. He must just be extremely lucky."
"And able to turn into a distracting woman." Harumi added.
"With double D's and who went bra-less." Aya pointed out.
"What does it matter if I went bra-less anyway?" Three sets of eyes just stared.
"Moving on." Yuugao said the moment before they resumed their trek back to the Mission's Office to report in.
"Hey! Don't ignore me! Tell me! I'm never taking a mission with you guy's again!"
"Funny, I was about to ask for our first C-rank. Oh well." Yuugao inserted that comment discreetly. At the three wide eyes she smiled with success on the inside. 'Topic change maneuver #37 complete. Evasion of highly awkward explanation to an 11-year-old boy successful.'
"Wait no! Ple-" Aya's hand clamped over Naruto's mouth.
"What he means sensei is that your hair looks especially nice today. New shampoo?" Aya offered with a complacent smile. The beginning of puppy dog eyes could be seen.
Yuugao kept sipping her drink.
AN: And there that is. Anko is not a seal expert but she is adept at them. Orochimaru, an evil fucker no doubt, but I don't think you could ask for a better teacher. Anko ended up with a very good education.
This is the first few real glimpses into how the team works.
Harumi comes from strange back ground with her mother as crazy as she is. Her mother is a lesbian yes, but I would think a few homosexuals would have a small interest in the opposite sex if the circumstances fit together correctly.Harumi's not excactly sane but it's always the quiet ones. I also think kunai wielding hair is awesome! She can't "grow" it at the moment, she can stretch it sort of with chakra but requires her to sit down and concentrate. She will how ever get better with it as she learns more about the body when learning medical things. She means to put the Combat in Combat Medic-nin. Guess who she is gonna fight in the Chuunin exams. Irony at it's best.
Aya ended up with a rather raw deal in the fight scene as Yuugao primarly uses taijutsu or Kenjutsu. I've come to realize she is a strange SI, just with an temperamental amazon and Kenpachi's grin added into the mix. She used several lines this chapter that after the fact I realized I actually used in real life. She's funnily enough the most normal one of the team, which I find funny as she seems the weirdest at a glance.
Naruto isn't exactly smarter overall in this fic, though his skills in fuinjutsu will lead you believe otherwise. He's gonna become rather brilliant later on. Team 3 is gonna be good for him. He's gonna be a bit more cunning and think a little bit more before jumping into something. No master strategist though. Did I mention the flair for dramatics? Yuugao is gonna try to beat that out of all three and fail much to her shame.
Next Chapter: The first C-Rank mission.