Special thanks to my first reviewer ever, FlashDragon! Thanks for the encouragement, I worried my story would suck.
4. Training!
Yuri was still stubborn. "Academy? Don't wanna go!"
"But, Yuri, don't you want to become a strong shinobi?" Naruto asked gently. (accompanied by the usual pat on the head.)
"NO!" Yuri said stubbornly. She stomped her foot on the floor. "I wanna stay with Naruto!"
Naruto sighed. The girl was so stubborn! But he had to get her to the Ninja Academy. Tsunade herself had said so.
"We'll just go there to visit then, all right? Visit." Naruto said, trying to sound innocent.
"How stupid do you think I am?" Yuri snarled.
Naruto felt like dying. How would he get the four-year-old to the Academy? She was sort of young, but a few simple tests had revealed she had to at least be on the level of the graduating class.
"Fine, just try it out for one day? Please?" Naruto wheedled.
Yuri thought for a minute and then decided. "Fine. But if I don't like it, I'm never going there again!"
Was this how he was when he was a little kid? If he was, he would apologize to everyone. That's what Naruto thought. Starting with Iruka, all the way to Ero-sennin.
"Hurry up and change out of your pajamas." Naruto told her.
Both of them had eaten breakfast in sleepwear. They always did. Breakfast was pretty much the first thing that they did in the morning. Naruto taught Yuri about "nutrition" Which meant three meals a day, usually ramen. He made sure that half the time ramen for Yuri had some leeks or some type of veggie in it, she needed it.
Kakashi and Sakura told him not to feed her ramen everyday. She'll never grow, they said. Naruto didn't believe that; just look how tall he was now! He liked his new growth spurt over the time with ero-sennin, and was positive that Yuri would sprout up one day.
"Naruto?" Yuri asked, tugging on his arm. "Do I have to?"
"Yes, you do." he told her. She was ready now, hair brushed, clothes changed, shower taken, teeth cleaned.
"Nani says NO!" Yuri shouted. She stomped her foot yet again and shook Nani to emphasize her point.
"Nani wants to go." Naruto told her. "So you hustle on over there this instant."
Yuri's face looked sour and angry. It looked familiar, yet again. She stomped her foot a few more times to express her anger, grabbed Nani and her backpack, and ran outside towards the direction of the Academy.
Naruto heard a faint "Liar! Nani doesn't wanna go!" after a few minutes.
Naruto sighed. Taking care of the stubborn, loud, pig-headed girl was a full-time job. He was glad that she was going to the Ninja Academy now, that would keep her busy for a while.
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"So, Christo, how much do you know about being a ninja?" Sasuke asked one day.
The group was walking toward the direction Christo had been leading them for the past few days. They had made good progress, and were getting farther away from the Village Hidden in the Flowers. (Which still isn't a good name.)
"Only how much Mother and Father taught me." Christo answered.
Christo felt a little troubled. Should he have left Amie? Was it all worth it all for some revenge?
"It's worth it." Sasuke said quietly.
Christo looked up, startled. "How did you know what I was thinking about." he accused.
Sasuke's eyes glazed over slightly. "I went through some of the same things that you did. But let assure it'll be worth it in the end."
"You left someone, too?" Christo asked.
"Yes. Yes, I did."
The other members of Team Hebi were a little bit confused. What on Earth were they talking about? But of course, they didn't say anything.
"So, how much did your parents teach you?" Sasuke asked curtly.
"Dunno. A little, I always thinks, but I thinks I was better than the other genins."
"You are good for such a young age." Sasuke continued. "And I think that I'll personally oversee your training. You can be useful to me."
"Okay."
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"You graduated." Naruto repeated in that same strained voice.
Yuri nodded. "Yes, I told you! Me and Nani were so good that we graduated!"
Nani's head drooped slightly when Yuri said that.
"No one is that good." Naruto shook his head, as if that could deny the statement. "No one can graduate after one day, especially a little four-year-old."
"But I did! 'Ruka-sensei said that I was the best student he'd ever seen! He gave me a headband. Look!"
Yuri waved a Leaf headband in front of Naruto's nose.
"So…you're a…genin?" Naruto pronounced the words slowly and carefully.
"Yup! But I don't want to be put in a three-man squad. Wanna be with Naruto!"
"Yuri, I'll be really busy." Naruto started to say, but tears started leaking out of her eyes.
"I-I just wanna-" a big sniff, "be with Naruto." another sob.
"Aw, don't cry." Naruto murmured awkwardly, and patted her gently on the head again. But then again, he didn't see the big smirk Yuki had on her face when she turned around.
"So? Be with Naruto?" Yuri asked.
Naruto thought for a minute. The gears in his brain were moving. ("Finally!" Sakura would say.) In other words, he had an idea.
"Hey, Yuri. Would you like me to teach you a few tricks?" Naruto asked.
Yuri's eyes widened even more, and she nodded.
"Good. Let's go in the forest." Naruto opened the door to his apartment for Yuri. They both went out.
"What you gonna teach me?" Yuri squealed in an excited voice.
"Well, it's called the Kage Bushin…"
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Jooeyon cried out in pain. It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt!
Suddenly, the pain stopped. Jooyeon was sweat-stricken and was on the floor. She flexed her fingers they were all right. Her entire body was all right. Relief.
"You are still weak. You must learn to resist Tsukiyomi." Itachi said.
Jooyeon was still breathing hard. "Please, I don't want to. Please, no more."
"Do you not want to become a good ninja? You must learn to resist! Not only to strengthen your sharingan, but also to counter all other attacks and withstand pain."
"Uh." Jooyeon's hand slid down to her stomach. Still intact. Good.
Itachi frowned. "Are you really that pitifully weak? I wish I had one of your other siblings. They would be far more valuable."
"I-I thought that we were here to search for them. If they got here at all." Jooeyeon managed to say. She glanced fearfully at her father for a quick second, but he didn't seem angry at all.
"Yes. But I think I should leave them alone for the time being. I want to see them make their own progress, and then take them back. Also, we have no guarantee of them being here." Itachi answered coolly. "Right now, what is more important is your progress."
"I don't want to make progress." Jooyeon squeaked. "I'd rather be in Konoha, living an ordinary life."
It was a single, swift movement of the hand, too fast for the ordinary eye to see. A hard slap that sent the little girl flying into a tall tree.
"Such weak thoughts." Itachi sneered, approaching Jooyeon.
Jooyeon was scared of what her father would do now. She rubbed the red spot on her cheek. A trickle of blood started dripping from it. When she pulled her hand away, it was red and sticky with the blood.
And she hated blood.
"You are nothing more than my slave. An extension of my flesh. One of my arms, who shall faithfully serve me, even if it means death." Itachi hissed.
"Please. Please, no." Jooyeon whispered. She tried to back away.
"Tsukiyomi!"
And now she was back, back in the creepy world her father had made just for her. Where her mother was alive again, and cutting her into tiny bits. Her fingers first, and then her arms and legs. Jooyeon knew what would happen next. Her mother would stab a hole into her stomach and chop off her head. Then she would wake up. And then Father would do it over and over and over until she could finally resist. But that would take a very, very long time.
Itachi calmly listened to the poor girl's screams.
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"So you wanted to talk with me?" Yuri asked.
"Yes. Please sit." Kakashi motioned to the chair in front of him. They were both in a darkish room at night. There were not windows. It was an interrogation room, meant to scare people. Yuri wasn't scared, only excited. She wanted to try out her newest jutsu, but Kakashi had told her not to.
Yuri sat.
"I need to ask you a few questions. Can you answer them for me as best as possible?" Kakashi said in an attempted nice voice, but it still sounded the same.
"Yes." Yuri replied cheerfully. She hugged Nani even closer.
"What do you know about your father? I mean his secrets?" Kakashi shot off the first question. Maybe this girl had hard to get information on the famous S-ranked criminal.
"Um, Daddy's name was Itachi Uchiha. He had a partner, Kisame-sama. Kisame-sama was a fishy, though. I never told him that because his sword was a little scary." Yuri told him proudly.
"Uh-huh." Damn, this a lot harder than Kakashi thought it would be. Interrogating four-year-old REALLY sucked. Shouldn't Ibiki be doing this? Oh yeah, he would psychologically torture and mentally scar her. "Can you tell me about your siblings? Their names, where they're from, when you last saw them, where you think they are. That kind of stuff?"
"Their names are Yuki, Christo, Jooyeon, and Jongo. I'm the oldest. Christo is from the Village Hidden in the Flowers, but that's all I know. Jooyeon's mom wasn't a ninja, though. And I last saw them a long time ago, don't remember when. I used to think they were here, but not anymore, because they're not. Can I show you my clones now?" Yuri said this all in a very fast voice.
Kakashi wanted to tear his hair out. Then a new idea occurred to him.
"Can you use sharingan?"
"Yup. All five of us can. Daddy forced it out. Why?" Yuri noticed the chair was too big for her and Nani, and so she swung her feet back and forth very fast.
"Good. Now, I want you to bring it out." Kakashi said.
Yuri lifted up her head. There certainly was the sharingan, but with two curvy pupils instead of the three he had. She could use some sharingan training.
But not right now.
"Would you die to protect the village?" Kakashi asked bluntly. It would do no good to have another Sasuke on his hands.
Yuri lifted up her big red orbs at Kakashi's own. "You know what? I don't know. Father always said we were extensions of his flesh, and we should serve him faithfully even if it meant our deaths. But this place isn't like that. And…" Yuri trailed off.
Finally, after a long pause, she said, "Did anyone close to you ever die?
Kakashi was taken aback at this question. "Yes."
"My mommy died. And it was the saddest day of my entire life. But I like this village as much as I loved my mommy." Yuri lifted her blazing eyes down and deactivated her sharingan. "And Naruto-sensei says that if you want to protect a precious person, that's what makes you strong."
Kakashi smiled. This girl was different from her father and uncle.
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Sasuke was surprised by Christo's big jumps. He had proved he already knew certain jutsus like the Great Fireball, which was what many members of the Uchiha clan had known. Right now, Christo was learning about chakra control.
"Sasuke, it's really hard." Christo complained. He had already mastered the walking on trees technique. It was walking on water he had trouble with it.
"Try again. Concentrate on gathering your chakra." Sasuke said in a mild, amused voice.
Christo nodded and went back in the water. After ten shaky steps, he fell into the water. Gasping, he popped back up and announced, "Ten! A new record!"
Sasuke had taken a liking to Christo. Not only was he an excellent ninja (and maybe a faithful servant one day), but an adorable little boy who reminded him of his own childhood.
"Good job." Sasuke semi-smiled. "Now try harder. If you don't get twenty steps by the end of the hour, you will have no dinner."
Christo glared at Sasuke and mumbled something like, "Slave driver."
"What was that?"
"Oh. Nothing." Christo gave a fake, brittle smile. "Hey, you want revenge, too, right? Against who? And why?"
Sasuke sighed. "Fine, very well. My brother. Without any sign of remorse, he murdered our entire family in cold blood."
Christo didn't know what "remorse" meant, but he understood the rest. "Me, too, Sasuke! My father killed everyone! My mother, aunts, uncles, and cousins!"
Sasuke looked at the endless, blue sky. Then he stared at Christo for a few moments.
"We are alike then." Sasuke said.
"Revenge is all!" Christo shouted. It was his new slogan, and Sasuke full-heartedly agreed with him.
"Continue walking on the water. Five of your minutes have passed." Sasuke said abruptly.
Christo frowned and grumbled, but started taking a few, careful steps on the water.
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Itachi, Kisame, and Jooyeon were all sitting around a campfire. Kisame looked back and forth between the other two for a while. Something seemed wrong, but in the end, he just ignored it. Itachi had the same cool face on. His "extension of flesh" was visibly shaken and traumatized.
Jooyeon checked her fingers again. She wiggled each of them again. They were all okay, but she couldn't help but worry. Her father's ultimate punishment had been tested on her so that she could get stronger. Finally, several hours and many tries later, she managed to resist for a few minutes. After even more time, she finally managed to resist all the way to half an hour.
"The brat's improved. Eh, Itachi?" Kisame grunted.
"Yes. I suppose so." Itachi replied in an expressionless voice. He stole a quick glance at his daughter, who was shivering uncontrollably, despite the fact they were next to a fire. "Ye, she has improved."
"Why do you want your kids so bad, Itachi? Why did you have them in the first place? And why five?" Kisame had finally mustered up the courage to ask.
Itachi frowned. "Family reasons. I didn't want the clan to die out. I left my brother alive so that he could revive the clan, but it is now obvious now that fool of my brother is only fixated on revenge. And there also is another reason."
"What is that?" Kisame asked.
Itachi told him. Jooyeon listened closely. After Itachi was finished and Kisame was satisfied, a hot rage burned in the pit of Jooyeon's heart.
He is right. I am just an extension of his flesh. But one who will turn against him! Jooyeon vowed.