The Leaf's fire gem /|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\ Disclaimer -
Have had this done before chapter done long before Christmas, but I didn't quite like it, still don't. Wanted more Kakashi and Tsunade, but upload it now because I can't see how make it better, even if I'm still not completely satisfied with it.
Update 20017-03-05: Fix some things and rewrote others.
Update 2018-02-05: Fixed some things, and changed some others, nothing really major.
/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\
Chapter 4 – Test & Training
Fū had always been an early riser, however given the hour, she was still only dressed in her underwear. White panties hugged her hips, and her chest was bare while she waited patiently for the sun to rise over the horizon. The sky had begun to take on a fiery rainbow of colours, a show only scheduled twice a day. When she had been younger, she'd decided that the earlier show was the better of the two. The soft chirping of birds recently awake and the rare, restful silence of the island made it leagues more enjoyable than its later counterpart. As she watched sun slowly raise, and illuminate the sky, she thought back on the happenings of the evening before.
While Tsunade and Jiraiya had started to drink while they playing catch up, Haku and the girls were chatting with Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune. That was until the Sannin had for some reason started to talk about the Hokages. Tsunade, who which by now were quite drunk, had started to insult them and calling them all idiots for throwing away their life's so easily. This had continued until started to about the third Hokage, that had been when Enju had snapped, and had started to attack Tsunade verbally, to which Tsunade retaliated. It had then snowballed quite from there, ending in a showdown between the two of them of the streets outside the tavern.
As expected of a sannin versus a genin battle, Tsunade was the one that was clearly superior in their little bout. Even though she was clearly drunk, and having spent several years doing nothing but gambling and drinking, she was still quite formidable. But that didn't mean Enju got in some hits herself. While Enju possessed an abnormal amount of strength and durability for someone of her age and size, but it mostly thanks to Tsunade underestimated her, and her unpredictable and risky fighting style. Along with her being at good at thinking on her feet, along her persistent if nothing else, that lasted as long as she did.
Fū was drawn from her thoughts by a quick knock on the door, which left her both confused and curious as to the identity of the knocker. She quickly threw on some clothes and went to open the door. On the was Haku, who accompanied by Shizune, Fū raised an questioning eyebrow, which Haku immediately answered. "I was wondering if you were awake and up for a training session, Shizune-san here, has agreed supervise and help us both a bit."
"Sure, why not. I have nothing better to do at moment, in any case," Fū replied after moments thought. "Shizune-san, do you happened to know how Enju is? She took quite a beating yesterday."
"Yes, Fū-san. Enju-san, is actually quite okay, despite beating she took. She is mostly heavily battered and bruised, with a few fractures in some of her bones," Shizune informed Fū with a small polite smile. "And while nothing it's nothing too serious, she will still need complete bed rest for a while, whether she will like it or not."
"That's great to hear," Fū then said relived, switching over small talk as they head out to small glen outside of the village.
/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\
The bright light shone down on the peaceful village Konoha. Birds were chirping and the sky a full blue. Naruto arrived at Training Ground 7 at eight, only to find Sakura and Sasuke, whose faces looked like zombies, glaring at him.
"Where the heck have you been, you idiot?" Sakura growled irritatingly.
"Ichiraku's, of course," Naruto answered disarmingly. "You don't expect me to go to fight with an empty stomach, unless I couldn't help it, do you?"
"Kakashi-sensei told us not to have breakfast!" she screeched angrily.
"Well, the 'no breakfast' part was only a suggestion, now wasn't it? At lest that's what I remember." Naruto shrugged. "Besides, he also said this training was a test. I don't know about you, but I need my body at the top level before taking any test."
Hearing that, Sakura didn't ask anymore. She just sat down and rubbed her growling stomach, trying her best to calm it down. Not only had she skipped breakfast today, but she had also skipped dinner yesterday.
"Here."
She raised her head and widened her eyes when she saw a meat bun in front of her face.
"Eat up. I don't have much money, so I could only buy these. It's not much, but still better than an empty stomach, right?" Naruto grinned while throwing another one to Sasuke. "You didn't have breakfast too, did you? Eat up!"
Sasuke scowled. "I don't need your pity."
"You got me wrong, this is not pity. It's selfishness, because I want pass this test," Naruto snorted. "If Kakashi-sensei is anything like I've heard about him, I wouldn't able pass this all by myself. But would need your help. For if he is as strong as rumours says he is, then we must throw everything we have at him, if we even want to have a slightest chance against him."
Those words finally got Sasuke's attention. "What do you know about him?" he demanded.
"Well," Naruto started, "Kakashi-sensei is well known all over the Elemental Countries as 'Kakashi of the Sharingan' or 'Copy ninja Kakashi', due to the fact that he has a Sharingan hidden under his forehead protector," Sasuke's body stiffened against this information, "and he is said to have used it to copy over a thousand jutsu from his enemies. He is one of the very famous shinobi who brought victory to the Leaf in the Third Great Shinobi World War, together with the Fourth Hokage himself, which was his Jōnin-sensei. I have also heard he is an ex-ANBU."
"No way," Sakura gasped. "Our sensei is that strong?"
"But how did he have the Sharingan? He's not an Uchiha," Sasuke questioned.
"Dunno," Naruto shrugged. "But we if just a part of this is true, it is clear that Kakashi-sensei is not someone we can afford to underestimate. Especially if we want pass this test."
Sasuke didn't say anything for a while. Then, he grabbed the bun and devoured it in one gulp.
Over an hour passed before Kakashi in a plume of smoke arrived, much to the genins dismay.
"Sorry guys, I got lost on the road of life."
"A very problematic that road can be, or so I have heard. It seemed to take a well-educated mind and a finely tuned body to traverse it with ease," Naruto quipped as their teacher arrived.
"You know, that was the lamest excuse I've ever heard in my life, sensei," Sakura deadpanned, already quite irritated with their Jōnin-sensei's laid attitude.
"Is that so? Hmm..." Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Then I promise next time you won't hear it anymore from me."
"You're not gonna be late again?" Sakura asked hopefully.
"No, I'll just make a different excuse," the cyclops eyesmiled.
The three genin groaned.
"You have until noon to take these bells from me," Kakashi started while pulling out an alarm clock and two small bells. "Those who cannot get a bell by noon get no lunch, and will be tied to one of those stumps while I and your teammates eat right in front of you. And the one who doesn't have a bell fails, and will be sent back to the Academy."
"But sensei, you said that we're allowed to use weapons, didn't you. Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Sakura asked clearly quite worried.
"Oh, you won't be able to touch me if you don't come at me with intent to kill," the Jōnin waved her off with a shrug. "Now, start when I say…"
With a flick of his hand, five shuriken flew from Naruto's place towards Kakashi. Then without any pause, Naruto pulled a kunai out from his shuriken pouch…
…only for his arm to be bent around, the point of the kunai aimed at his neck.
"Hasty, eh?" the voice of Kakashi rose behind him. "I haven't said 'start' yet."
Too fast, Sasuke and Sakura couldn't help sharing the same thought. I can't even see him moving.
"I thought it was worth a try, you know. But I was apparently not even some place near."
"Good attempt, but you were right, you were far from near. Well then, now it's time to start."
He then burst into smoke, and the genin leaped away from the clearing.
/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\
Back at the inn in an room across from Fū's, a particular white haired and brown skinned girl, had managed to work her way back to consciousness, and was moving to figure out exactly what was occurring. A gentle fragrance wafted by, filling her nose with its soothing scent. It smelled so familiar, but she found herself unable to discern what it was. A dull, throbbing pain registered, breaking off her train of thought. She opened her eyes one at a time and then blinked, trying to figure out where she was and how long she'd been asleep. She found herself starring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, Enju groggily looked around.
She seemed to be lying in a bed in a room she did not recognize, which should have rang several alarms in her head, but she was oddly unable to bring herself to mind.
"O-oww…" she winced, reaching for her back. "Uhn… huh? Blankets… Bandages? Where is this…? What happened?" Enju groaned softly to whoever was around to listen.
The moment she brought those questions up, several scenes flooded into her mind, brutally reminding her of how she had picked a fight with one of the legendary sannin. And while Tsunade had been quite drunk, Enju had still badly lost the fight. Proving that even with her rusty skills and drunk as a judge, she still had no problem with dealing with Enju. Although Enju still had managed to land some hits on the Slug Princess. As despite Enju's fighting style being somewhat rough and unrefined, it worked surprisingly well for white haired girl. The young girl's fighting style was so chaotic that made it hard for Tsunade to predict any of her actions.
Enju attempted to sit up, straining her neck to get a better view, but before she could roll into a sitting position a man's voice interrupted her, "Don't try to get up. You've been out for a couple of hours. But that is kind of expected when picking a fight with someone of Tsunade's calibre."
Enju tried sit up anyway, but to no avail. And s she fell back, she felt all of her muscles protest, she then noticed a small bit of movement in the corner of her vision. With a groan she looked around to see a at first unknown blond with a quite large bosom.
"Well I guess you survived, if you were smart I would suggest you stay down for the time being, before you manage to make me want to change that diagnosis" Advised Tsunade in a tone that made it clear that this was not a kind suggestion. "You're in no condition for to move at the moment."
Enju whether due to the drugs or her own stubbornness chose tried instead to push herself to her up again, but was held down firmly by Tsunade with a frown. "OK, let me put it a different way, you leave this bed when I tell you to, or I tie you to it."
*sigh* "Aahhh... But I would have nothing to do..." Enju whimpered, sounding like the most adorable wounded puppy ever. She looked up at Tsunade with big, sweet, doe-like eyes. That was watery and pleading like that a wrongfully kicked puppy would have. Knees drawn up and bottom lip stuck out in an adorable puppy-dog pout, that makes it hard for the most, to not to cave and give her whatever she wants whenever she wants it.
"Cute, but no dice, so deal with it." Tsunade said slight amused and seemingly completely unaffected by Enju's puppy dog pout.
"That would be so boring... I would die of boredom..." Enju whined, letting out the tiniest of heartfelt whimpers, jutting that bottom lip out even further. The pout and kicked puppy eyes, coupled with the tears threatening to spill from her eyes, kicked up the adorableness radiating off of the girl. It would have sent shivers down her god father's spine, but Tsunade still seem unaffected.
"I said no," Tsunade said more sternly, emphasising the last word.
Enju groaned in defeat and disappointment that her best puppy eye dog techniques didn't seemed to have worked at all. So all she really could was slump together grumpily, while Tsunade began to check her over again.
/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\
Soft shafts of morning sunlight illuminated the forest. Pieces of blue sky could be seen through the boughs of the tall pines. From the treetops, a burst of sparkling yellow powder flew towards young black haired boy that walked through the forest glen. The boy quickly shut his eyes, but he accidentally inhaled some of it, giving himself a heavy cough. And while his eyes were still closed and he was still preoccupied by coughing, his instincts suddenly screamed danger at him and to get out of the way. Just as a young girl with mint coloured hair and yellowish orange insect wings sprouting out of her hips flew towards him from the treetops, trying to tackle him to the ground.
Haku grunted as he blocked the charge from Fū, with said girl immediately following up with a kick which he which he dodged. Lashing out with a of his own kick at her knees, followed by a haymaker with the aim to stagger her enough to lose focus. Fū managed to twist around his attack before sending a elbow at his exposed face. Just as he was about to retaliate, Fū's knee was suddenly coming towards his face. Seeing no other way to block it, he quickly leaped backwards and away from Fū, her fist sailing mere inches from his nose as he did. They both looked at each for a moment until Fū once again lunged at him and begin spinning toward the left side of Haku.
As he dodged Haku kept track of her body movements just in case she decided pull a feint as she threw another punch. So he was fully ready for the quick jab she threw at his jaw and ducked, launching a punch of his own right into her stomach. Fū turned her fall into a spin kick, making him jump back to avoid. He threw himself at her again, this time aiming a heavy blow to her right shoulder. Fū dodges the attack and elbow Haku in the side of his ribs. Haku dove at Fū, his body a lithe blur, ebony tresses streaming out behind him as he tried to embed his fist into her gut a sucker punch. But Fū saw it coming a mile away; what she didn't see was his hand emerging from the pouch at her back-the blow had been a feint!
Fū's head quickly snapped to the right as something screamed past her face at breakneck speed, a thin slice opened upon the green-haired girl cheek. But the black-haired boy gave her no time to try and process the small wound however, his hand scything towards her neck in a devastating arc that, if successful, would surely leave an awful bruise if it connected. With a hiss her head arched backward, her hand snared his wrist in a vicious vice.
"Not bad, Fū," Haku said. "But..."
"But?" Fū challenged.
"But I can do better!" Haku scissored his legs beneath Fū, depriving them both of their balance. Fū then saw his heel come sweeping towards her an instant before Haku even began the motion. And in the blink of an eye, she launched herself upright, planting her knee into his stomach, all the while she pulling back her fist as the black haired boy doubled over.
Haku avoided the overhand chop and drove his elbow into Fū's side. Fū recoiled from the attack and worked through the pain of it as she went for another attack. The androgynous boy looked down just in time to see Fū spin from her back into a low sweep that would've knocked him off of his feet again. Haku jumped up over the sweep kick, but before he was able to anything else Fū quickly twisted around on her hands and delivered a powerful mule kick that sent Haku into the air like a rocket. And while Haku was still recovering she began weaving through several hand seals, followed by slamming her hands on the ground.
"Doton: Tobi Tsubute," she said as a multitude of rocks was sent from the ground to fly at Haku, but Fū wasn't done yet, as she had already began another set of hand seals.
"Doton: Dosekiryū," Fū called as a large dragon made from the ground rose to attack Haku.
"Fūton: Daitoppa ," Haku cried after doing his own set of seals, blowing away all the rocks amied at him. And after landing on ground again, he ran through another set of hand seals.
"Hyōton: Hyōgan Dōmu," quickly freezing the surrounding air and creating an sturdy ice dome around him just as the dragon made of earth reached him.
"You almost had me there," Haku said with a grin. "It was close but not close enough."
"That just means I have try harder doesn't it," Fū replied with grin of her own.
The two charged at each other again, punches and kicks flew. Some blows struck, some were blocked, and others were countered or dodged. Haku's strikes were fast and precise, while Fū's blows were heavy and wild. The forest glen was filled with the sounds of the two fighting for the next half hour. When it was over Haku was on one knee breathing heavily, covered in scratches and bruises. Fū had a few small wounds, but was still relatively fresh compared to Haku.
In a tree nearby overlooking glen, Shizune had been watching the children sparring. From what Shizune could tell they about equal to each other. But still in a way, Haku was stronger then Fū, at least that was what Shizune thought. Haku had better control over the ability to gather chakra from every part of the body and use it at the right time. Although Fū made up for her lack of control with her immense amount of chakra and stamina, she just need to learn to harness it better. While Haku on the other hand, what he was lacking in stamina and chakra reserves, he more then enough made up for it with skill and control. And what he lacked in raw power he more then made it up with finesse. Which made them both of them were pretty much equal in power, at least in Shizune's eyes.
/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\
Haruno Sakura just sat and stared at her rice.
Of course – of course, that orange-clad idiot had gotten himself tied up. Still, privately, she felt that she had done worse. Like always, even in the academy, no matter who did the worst, Naruto was always the one made an example of. And this time, she really felt guilty about it.
After all, Naruto had actually fought Kakashi. Heck, Naruto had actually touched Kakashi-sensei, and nearly touched a bell. But she hadn't lifted a finger. She hadn't even seen their teacher. She'd just fallen for some pitiful genjutsu. Sasuke would never look at her at this rate! She sneaked a glance at Sasuke, but her eyes were drawn instead to the orange form of her other teammate.
If only Kakashi-sensei had tied her to the stump. Then she wouldn't feel so bad right now.
Sakura looked down sadly on the lunch box their sensei had given her again, she wasn't feeling all that hungry. She was on a diet in any case. That chicken didn't look so appealing, either. And the vegetables were simply covered with oil. That Naruto... He sure looked like he could use the food.
It was in times like these that Sakura realized, most harshly, that she was a follower, not a leader. She did not dare initiate things, as she rather flowed the masses. Even in her one most defining pastime, that of loving Sasuke, she had only been part of a crowd of girls who'd done the same.
If Sasuke offers Naruto his food, I will too, she decided resolutely, and only then. She didn't want to ruin any chances she had. So Haruno Sakura forced the guilt back down and glared at her rice. All the while hoping that Sasuke would say something.
/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\
While his teammate was running medical checks over his god daughter, Jiraiya was thinking back to Enju's fight with Tsunade, as well as pondering about the missive he had just received from the Hokage. It was a request from him to officially be his god daughter and her friends Jōnin-sensei, and once again creating a Team Jiraiya. The missive had pointed out that it really wouldn't change anything, as they were already unofficially his team anyway. And while he agreed with old sensei that he would know their abilities best, he was still somewhat unsure...
Jiraiya had never really quite liked the fighting style his god daughter had developed, he couldn't deny that it seemed to fit her quite well, and that her chosen fighting style worked for her, especially since she had decided to specialize in CQC. While he personally only someone without any concern to their own self preservation would use a style, as the fighting style was bizarre at best, suicidal at worst. As it left such obvious and fatal openings in her stance as a way to fight. And yet, when challenged, there was a strange sort of sense in it. The openings she left would attract an experienced shinobi to it like flies to honey, even the more bloodthirsty ones. And they would fall completely into the trap that those openings created. Even an Uchiha would have a hard time combating that, if she could fully master it that is.
Enju, while a brawler at the core, had early found out that against stronger and more experienced fighters, just being really strong and durable didn't help as much as she had first thought. So she had instead began incorporating her natural flexibility of her body, along with training up her reflexes and and reaction speed to help with this. This in turn had grew into fighting style that would best be described as being a counter hitter.
It was mostly built around the strategy to dodge incoming attacks using high reflexes, while then delivering a fast counter attack towards the opponent, a high risk fighting style that relied heavily on her reaction speed. Along with confusing the enemy with seemingly pointless movements, and striking during the distraction. It was suicidal. It was sneaky. It had the potential to be amongst one of the most terrifyingly effective fighting styles Jiraiya had ever seen, as it played on the fact shinobi had a habit of going in for the kill when they needed to.
Fū had similar fighting style to Enju, but she was more of a mid-range fighter. Her style being relying more on overwhelming or ambushing her opponents with her ability to fly incorporated. While on the other hand Haku, preferred long range combat. In close, his fighting style relied more on hit and run, based mostly on agility, precision and high speeds. Since he knew he couldn't hope to compete with his friends in either raw strength, stamina, or endurance. He had therefore focused high speed combat, delivering precise strikes on vital areas.
When Jiraiya had trained the girls and Haku, he had mostly focused on the basics, concentrating more on hammering the basics into them, to give them a solid foundation with firm grounding to stand on, which they could build on later. This meant he mostly taught them, physical conditioning, taijutsu and chakra control. He had taught them hand seals, and made them practice them over and over again, until they could do them without much thinking. He had also checked their chakra natures some time ago, although he had yet started to train them in any type of nature manipulation, but it was always good to know ones affinity.
Fū seemed have earth as main affinity, along with a quite minor lightning one. While Haku's Ice element, was equal measures of water and wind. Enju on the other hand, had a strong wind affinity, but the experiments Orochimaru had done on her changed that slightly. It had to do with the pieces of Kesshōseki that been implanted into her chakra system. While they hadn't changed her chakra nature, they were constantly transforming any chakra around to fire natured chakra. That over the years had increased her aptitude for fire based jutsu, and nurtured a growing affinity for fire. It had also raised her normal internal body temperature, making her, incidentally, was a walking, talking furnace. She had also gained some slight resistance to fire and heat, making her being able to shrug most of the damage done by fire jutsus up to D-rank.
Jiraiya had also taught them the importance of meditation, and it explained how it would help clear and sharp mind their. He also told them that one can make decisions quicker and notice their surroundings better as they have no distractions in their thoughts, which Enju thought to be advantageous, even if the meditation part was boring. Even though Jiraiya had admitted that he hadn't taken up meditation until he was forced to while he was learning Senjutsu, which in time had become a hobby and a habit which he still possessed till this day.
Another thing he taught them was calligraphy. As he had told them that, not only would it make anything they wrote neater and more legible. But it would also be so ever useful, if they had ever wanted to learn fuinjutsu. Another benefit of learning calligraphy was that their fingers had grown more nimble. Which not only helped helped them use most blades and handheld weapons, but also the practice of precise finger movements makes for better accuracy.
Jiraiya had also tried get them to master the basic three academy, along with the shunshin no jutsu. All ninjutsu required vocalisation and hand seals to help focus ones energies into that particular attack or defence. While non vocalized techniques were possible, the risk of a single distracted thought causing the jutsu to go haywire was often far too dangerous, especially under stress and the heat of battle. Only a ninja with a disciplined of mind, would be able pull it of without any risk. And only when you could do a jutsu without the need of any seals or vocalisation, could you truly claim having mastering a jutsu Jiraiya told them.
Haku managed to completely master kawaramari no jutsu, and the rest he could do without vocalisation and with just a one-handed sign. Neither Enju nor Fū had managed yet to create a bunshin, but they could do a basic shunshin without vocalisation and only a hand sign. They could also do the kawarami no jutsu with just a hand sign, but they still need vocalisation. And while Haku was way superior in chakra control then the girls, they beat him easily in terms of reserves. The girls even beat him in just raw chakra capacity, but as they were they jinchūriki, it was kind of expected. As were there horrible control over their massive reserves, which mostly why he had mostly focused on training their chakra control.
/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\
The clone that was Uzumaki Naruto was sitting on top of the Hokage Monument, on top of carved stone head of the Fourth Hokage to be exact. It often came here to think. It was a secluded place and had a wonderful view of the village. As sometimes it needed to be reminded why it did what it did. It was currently contemplating these latest events in its life, it had just recently became a genin and a part of Team 7, under the seasoned Jōnin Hatake Kakashi.
The clone was still quite unsure about if it really was alright, and if really it should be in a team at all. And while it was a very advanced and complex type of clone, it was still just a clone, and it was well aware of it. It thought it was quite a miracle that no one had discovered their rouse yet. Not even that it was under a henge, had yet been discovered yet. But it still thought as it had to disappear one day soon, if their plan would continued as it had. But the Hokage had assured the clone, that it was no problem at all. As ninjas had short life expectancy either way, so it was really no problem at all.
It always didn't like pretending to be some one it was not. Not to mention it had been quite awkward for it to pretend to have a crush on another girl, especially her own teammate, even if it had been for a short while. It may not be book smart like Sakura, but it was street smart, and that had kept it alive growing up when it counted. It didn't know why, but it was kind of disappointed somehow, that no one had seen through at least the henge that it was constantly wearing. Which was making it feel kind of lonely too. But as things were it couldn't be helped either way.
/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\
TBC
/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\