"Kyaa!"
The clang of kunai striking katana rang out across the courtyard as Sayomi and Leiko ensued their daily training. Sparks flew as the girls hacked and slashed at each other in an effort to win their sparring match. Whoever won would break the tie and become the leader. The wins so far were tied; Leiko and Sayomi had both won thirty-eight matches against each other, and this one was probably one of the most intense ones they'd fought in a while.
"What'sa matter, Lei-chan?" Sayomi sneered, her face contorted in contempt and teasing, and her voice scattered from being out of breath. "Tired already? Or… do you think you can… take me on?"
"Tired?" Leiko replied with a sweaty grin. "I don't even… know what that means… Sayo-chan…"
"Bet you're having a hard time… keeping up… with those short legs of yours," Sayomi replied provocatively. "You sure you don't wanna… call it quits?"
"Are you kidding me?" Leiko replied, wiping her brow before she lunged at Sayomi, who darted out of the way quickly. "At least I don't… let the whole world… see what's under my skirt."
"You take that back, shrimp!" Sayomi screamed as they lunged for each other. Their weapons clashed and they sprang in opposite directions.
"Forget it, trollop!" Leiko answered, rearing her fists back in a punch. Sayomi blocked the blow easily, flipping out of the way rather than reciprocating with a kick. She folded her hands together in front of her.
"Wind Style: Flat Wind Jutsu!" she shouted, holding her hands up with her palms facing out, as though she were leaning her weight against something solid and heavy. Immediately, a wind erupted from her palms. It was enormous, strong, flat, and radiated to the sides in the shape of a triangle.
"Woah~!" Leiko yelped as she was blown off the edge of the cliff. Ramming her katana into the rock face, she screeched to a halt, sparks raining down onto her forehead protector. She hung there, attempting to get a foothold, when Sayomi appeared at the top of the cliff and grinned, her silhouette blocking the sunlight as she looked down.
"I win," she said simply, and began to walk off.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Leiko protested. "I helped you with that jutsu. Hey… get back here! You can't just leave me here! Sayomi? SAYOMI!"
Sayomi chuckled to herself. Leiko was a good ninja. She'd find a way to get back up by herself.
"Oh, come on, Lady Tsunade!" I said disbelievingly. "What kind of question is that? Sachi's not an Uchiha! I mean, look at her!"
"Naruto has a point, M'Lady," Sakura said pleasantly. I grinned. Finally, someone was agreeing with me! I mean, this whole interrogation thing was starting to get on my nerves!
"You're both correct. Still, as a matter of procedure, I have to ask her that question. It's just too close a call," Lady Tsunade answered. I pouted.
"Trust me, I would know if a girl walked in looking like Sasu-"
"No," Sachi answered firmly, throwing me a weird look. "I've never been affiliated with them."
"And yet, you share a strange resemblance with the single Uchiha we are the most familiar, and the most occupied with. Don't you find that strange?"
"It may be strange," Sachi answered, "But I can assure you that it's nothing more than a coincidence. How could I be an Uchiha? Unless I'm mistaken, only two survived the Great Massacre… two brothers. No one has seen them in a while. It's said that one of them remained here… but as a general rule, I and those I work with try to stay out of international matters that are not of our concern."
"I think she's alright," Iruka-sensei said. I smiled. He liked her, I could tell. Tsunade glared at each of us for a moment before finally closing her eyes and resting her face behind her eyes in defeat.
"Then we will let her stay," she replied quietly. "But if I hear anybad reports, any complaints, if I catch even so much as a hint of suspicious activity, you're out. Got it?"
Sachi nodded obediently. "Yes, Lord Hokage. I will do my best to obey all rules."
"You'd better," she replied firmly. "This isn't exactly something that happens every day. Now, Kakashi… since she is to be on your team, you will test her tonight and see how much she knows, then report back to me. But… for now… you four best take a break. Dismissed."
I spun around quickly and headed towards the door the minute that she let us out.
"Come on you guys!" I said, hustling them out. Why were they moving so slowly? Didn't they know that Amaguriama closes at sundown?
"What is it with you?" Sakura asked, yipping like one of those tiny, annoying dogs. "Why can't you stay in one place for longer than…"
Blah blah blah, I thought. Her nagging began to fade as I took a closer look at Sachi. She was smiling a little, her cheekbones raised happily. I was surprised Sakura didn't hate her yet. Sachi was definitely prettier, but I would never say it to Sakura's face. Sakura was too muscle-y. Sachi actually looked like a girl. Not to mention that she talked with a high-pitched voice that made her sound like a little kid…
The first thing I did when I got to my room was sleep. I had a weird dream, where cups of Instant Ramen were dancing around my room, but I woke up just as they were about to eat me alive. The sun was setting, and I was going to be late to the "exam", where Sachi had to prove her skills as a chūnin. But first…
… candy!
[-]
Sakura had left a note on the door telling us where we'd be fighting. It was in the forest by the river, where Sakura and I had met up to be tested the last time.
I arrived, panting and sweating.
"You're late," Sakura commented. "What's your excuse?"
"I overslept…" I replied, my face red from embarrassment.
"Wow. That's original," Sachi said from the tree behind me. I yelped, jumping backwards and ramming right into Sakura's head.
"Watch it, you dweeb!" she yelled, rubbing her enormous forehead.
"Well, excuse me, billboard brow!" I retorted angrily.
"If you weren't so damn clumsy…!"
"And if you weren't so damn touchy…!"
Sachi jumped down from her perch and walked over.
"A little maturity, please?" she interjected, pushing between us. "You're acting like five year-olds."
Well, no one asked you! I thought, angry that she had stopped me.
"I don't get why I always have to be the mature one!" I argued. Sachi stopped walking and stretched her arms towards the sky, her white wrist bindings shining in the moonlight.
She was wearing a beige sleeveless flack vest over a burgundy boat neck shirt with billowing sleeves. The vest was button-down, and it had a scroll pocket on the front that looked big enough for two scrolls. Her shirt looked like it was made from some kind of silky stuff, but it was too far away to tell. It seemed a little fancy for fighting, though. Then again, her beige and black miniskirt offered a… nice view.
At first glance, it looked like she was barefooted, but I looked closer and realized that she had on teeny little things that could barely be called sandals. The sole looked thin as paper, and fragile leather straps (tied together in various places) held the whole shoe together. But everything aside, her long, slender legs made up for everything else. In other words, Sachi was what I would call a perfect template for my infamous Sexy no-Jutsu…
"What are you talking about, Naruto?" Sakura asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Everyone knows that I'm the mature one in this relationship."
"So now you two have a relationship? This is getting better and better," Sachi said smugly, bending down to touch her toes, her skirt riding up to a very… un-ladylike place.
"Don't you have a pair of shorts or something…?" I mumbled, turning away. Sakura grinned at my embarrassment.
"Hey, Sachi!" she said. I willed her to shut up. I was betting on this being payback for the comment I had made about her forehead.
"Yeah?" she asked, bending backwards in some perverted kind of bridge. She grinned at my horrified face, then stood straight again.
"Why's your skirt so short?" Sakura asked innocently. I scowled at her, and I knew she was laughing at me somewhere, deep inside that evil soul of hers.
"Oh, that's easy," she replied, bending over to touch her right foot. "Since I lived in the desert, I preferred a short skirt… but only because I'm always hot."
"You can say that again…" I mumbled.
"Huh?" she asked, switching to her right leg.
Damn me and my big mouth! I thought exasperatedly. Why can't I ever shut up?
Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes behind us. Sachi whirled around, kunai in hand, ready to defend before I could even react. I just stared at her, analyzing the determined, fearless expression on her face, and wondering how the hell she was able to reach into her pack, pull out a kunai, turn around, and put on a face in less than half a second.
She's fast… I thought. Faster than Sasuke, even…
Suddenly, she stood right again and smiled, folding her hands in front of her and bowing to something I couldn't see.
"Konbanwa, Kakashi-sensei," she said graciously. "You're late."
"You'll get used to it," Sakura commented as Kakashi-sensei walked past, holding his favorite book.
"What, no bells today, Sensei?" I asked. "Or are you already up to the last chapter?"
Kakashi slammed his book shut and looked at me in the same calm, nonchalant way he looked at everyone else.
"I assumed you two already figured out the jist of it. And, since the point of this is for you to learn from each other," he answered, staring pointedly at Sachi, "I figured I should switch it up and make you fight against our new teammate while I… er… watch."
"But… Kakashi-sensei… isn't two against one a little unfair?" Sakura asked.
"Shut up, Sakura. No one asked you about what you thought was fair," I huffed.
"Why you little-"
"Fine," he said, cutting her off. "Now that you two are done making Sachi do a peep show, I wouldn't mind getting started."
Sachi looked at me in dismay. I immediately began defending myself, even though I knew it only made me look guiltier than I already did.
"I didn't! I was… and then Sakura, she… but I never…and I-I couldn't I just…" I stammered.
"Whatever," Sachi answered, cutting me off.
"Great going, genius," Sakura commented, and walked past me. I glared at her, but followed her lead anyway.
"Now then," Kakashi continued, turning towards Sachi. "I have to fill out this stupid report about you, and it would really help if you knew what I was looking for, so that we can all go home and sleep as quickly as possible. What I'm actually supposed to look for while you battle my students is whether or not you're able to…"
As Kakashi-sensei rattled off all the things that Sachi had to do, I took the chance to get a closer look at her. I wasn't really able to focus on anything while we were leaving Lady Tsunade, considering that Sakura was talking my ears off.
Sachi had a pale, porcelain skin tone with a gentle, rosy undertone, and her face was sharp and angular. Her cheeks rose a little when she smiled, and she had elegantly soft, long eyelashes. Her hair was light brown (almost blond, actually), and it hung down a little past her shoulders. Her bangs were cut so that her left eye was completely covered, but her right eye was out in the open. It fell over her headband, where she proudly displayed the symbol of the Sand Village. But her eyes in particular were eccentric. They reflected in the darkness, like the eyes of a cat. I knew they were gray from what I saw in the daylight, but I didn't notice just how gray they were until now. They were pretty… in a… weird… kind of… way… They didn't seem to match the rest of her, though. Everything about her screamed cuteness. But those eyes… they were just as cute as everything else when the sun was out. But at night… they were creepy.
She stared at us intently, brushing a strand of hair out of her open eye. Her hand was slender and pointed at the tip, almost as if she didn't use her hands to fight.
"Do you understand?" Kakashi-sensei asked. Sachi nodded, smiling.
"I don't think you'll need that," I said as she picked up her bag.
"I like having it with me," she replied, slinging it over her shoulder and almost hitting me in the face with it. I ducked, standing back up angrily.
"Hey, watch it! Be careful with that thing!" I yelled angrily.
She rolled her eyes. "You're such a baby."
"Yeah, Naruto. Not everyone has to carry their weapons around in their pockets like you do," Sakura said matter-of-factly. I glared at her. Who did she think she was? Acting like she was the queen of high intelligence or something! Just because she was good at medicine didn't give her the right to act like she was all that. I mean, she was always jerky to me, even after I came back from training away from home. But now that Sachi was on our team, it's gotten worse! This Sachi person wasn't even on the team for a day, and Sakura's already acting all weird… not to mention that Sachi seemed weirdly attracted to me, heh…
"Pay attention, Naruto!" Sakura hissed as Kakashi stepped behind us.
"Alright then," he said. "Let's begin."