A/N: Araa~ so, school is back, siiigh. I'm always wildly excited about it for the first month or so (yes, I am a nerd), but this year I have ALL my least favourite teachers save one. Plus, Caro is away for the first week (the traitor). Now I will probably be having homework piled on me like so much rancid jelly, but don't worry, I'll still have time to add to the fanfic! Like, when the teacher is talking.
Disclaimer: I own Naruto, and I make millions every year because of it!...*wakes up*... OwO ... I do not own Naruto.
CHAPTER 7
"Good morning, group and guests!"
"You're late!" chorused Bailey and Naruto.
"Yes, well, over breakfast I began to ask myself what exactly my purpose in life was, and I got a bit carried up in it, so…"
"Your purpose in life is to teach us ninja stuff!" yelled Abigail. Kakashi's eye twitched. Bailey waved and smiled.
"Oookay," Kakashi carried on, looking a little peeved, "your training today –"
"Ne, Kakashi!" interrupted Abigail, still dishonoring him with the absence of an honorific suffix, "Do you want to know how your book ended?" She seemed to have gotten over her 'eww' disposition and embraced her new knowledge fully instead. "I think Rodriguez –"
"No!" yelled Kakashi, putting his gloved hands over his ears. "Stop!"
"IIIIiiiii think he dies. But not before he –"
"Iya!"
"Quit being distracting," said Sakura.
"Yeah, not to mention we don't wanna hear the details," said Naruto.
"Ok, ok."
Kakashi hesitantly uncovered one ear, then the other. "That could have cost a life," he fumed. "Now, today's training. Please focus on the topic at hand."
He drew his kunai and twirled it idly while he spoke. Bailey stared at it in fascination. Did he just call his kunai 'the topic'?
"Team 7, you have already learned to focus your chakra into a concentrated area of your body in order to gain strength or speed. Today you will learn how to expand that concentration of chakra, so it exudes out past your own body and manifests around it, somewhat like an air bubble in water."
"Huh," said Naruto, his eyes in uncomprehending slits.
"Hand seals?" asked Sakura. Kakashi shook his head.
"You don't use hand seals, which makes it more difficult. I'll show you a demonstration. Naruto, take my kunai." He tossed 'the topic' over to the blonde, who caught it by the handle. Bailey could practically see the words written on his forehead that today he would beat Sasuke.
Kakashi held his arm out, his hand clenched. "Throw the kunai at my fist, as hard as you can!"
Naruto wound up and lunged forward; at the same time Abigail coughed loudly and Bailey yelled "GOOOOOAL!". Naruto flinched as he released. Everyone gasped as the kunai flew towards Kakashi's neck.
An inch away, the knife simply bounced backwards and clattered on the ground. Bailey gasped. "Whoa, Matrix style," she said. Then she screamed as Sakura clobbered her over the head.
"BAKA! You could have hurt Kakashi-sensei! And you too!" she turned to Abigail, who was ready for her. Sakura pummeled and Abigail grabbed her and flipped her onto the ground.
"GOOOOAL!" howled Bailey, leaping up and punching the air.
"It's okay, Sakura," Kakashi said, picking up the kunai and sticking it back in its pouch. "Nobody's hurt."
"That's what you think," mumbled Bailey, rubbing her head and squinting at the pink haired kunoichi.
"Maa, you you see what I have done. Focus your chakra in a small, concentrated area by blocking its other paths within you. It's easiest to start in the hand area. Try to aim with precision. Okay, then, group!" He clapped his hands together. "Depending on how badly you want to learn and how much of a wimp you are, you can start throwing knives right away, or, start by throwing small pebbles! You know, if someone is being intentionally distracting and you don't want to get hurt. See you, have fun!" He waved once and leapt into the air.
"Hey! Hey! Was that long rant a safety non-disclosure agreement?" Bailey and Abigail called, but he was gone. Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto had already gone to work taking turns throwing rocks at each others fists.
"Him and his little Superman thing," grumbled Bailey, supremely jealous.
"We can't try this when we've never done any of the previous chakra focusing activities!" cried Abigail, crossing her arms grumpily.
"Hey…" said Bailey comfortingly, slinging an arm around her friend's shoulder. "Cheer up. We can throw the rocks." Abigail shook herself free and stuck her nose in the air at Bailey's suggestion.
"Well, gee, I didn't think you'd be demanding, but okay you win, we can throw knives instead." Bailey shrugged.
"No, no, I want to catch up in their training!" Abigail said. "Let's start with what they've already done! -IN THE ANIME," she finished in a stage-whisper. "We can do that running up trees thing!"
"What running up trees thing?"
"What do you mean what running up trees thing?"
"What do you mean, what what running up trees thing?"
"Oh no, I've gone cross-eyed."
SLAP! Bailey smacked Abigail's head. Her eyes straightened out. "Thanks! What were we talking about? Oh, what what what running up trees thing."
"I believe it was two 'what's."
"Just shut up, you'll make me go cross-eyed again. Anyway. I guess you didn't see that episode yet."
"I guess not."
"Well. They like, focus their chakra into their feet and then they can run up trees."
"Sweet!" Bailey charged.
"No!" Abigail held her back to prevent injury.
"What, do we have to meditate first?"
"Pretty much. You have to concentrate, at any rate, not just go all kamikaze."
"I had a cat named Kamikaze once," said Bailey offhandedly.
"Wonderful. ...Please don't tell me why."
"Why not?"
Abigail ignored her and closed her eyes, frowning slightly. Bailey tried to distract her by whispering, "poooo...pooooo," in her ear, but after a few minutes of no reaction, she gave up and decided to do some concentrating as well. She closed her eyes and looked down. I feel like I'm praying, she thought. The "poooooo" chant was now stuck in her head as well, and whenever she tried to find some inner force inside her to gather into her feet, her meditations would suddenly be broken by "poooooo"s in the background.
Eventually, she subconsciously started making a tune to go along with the chant. It was quite catchy, and soothing…
She woke up, staring at a dark blue sky scattered with stars. She was lying curled up on the ground. "Abby?" She called. Shadowy outlines of trees moaned and swayed in a light wind.
"Wow, perfect murder scene," commented Bailey to herself. She looked around at the empty clearing. "Those bastitches left me! I will get you for this, Abigail! I will hunt you down and slit your throat! Unfortunately, I am lost." She looked around some more. She had terrible bearings even in daylight, and at night there was utterly no hope in finding her way anywhere.
"I need some light, and then maybe I could find a trail. Oh Mr. Sun, sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on meeeee," she sang, walking around in a crooked circle. She flopped down on the grass. "Guess I'll spend the night here," she said simply. She sighed and rolled onto her side. In her path of vision she could see the base of the tree she had been planning on running up before. She sat up.
"Hey, wait a minute and a half!" She said to no one in particular, "I wonder if Abby managed to run up a tree! It's late now, and we were here at noon… she'll have had lots of time to practice. No fair! I can't let her get ahead of me!" She jumped to her feet and sized the tree up. "This should be easy shmeezy for a professional uh, tree runner upper like me. Now, how do I focus chakra into my feet anyways? Maybe there's a hand seal that makes it easier." She locked her hands into some random position that she thought looked cool, and yelled: "sticky feet no jutsu!"
She ran towards the tree at top speed, sprinted two feet up the trunk, and fell over backwards. Instinctively she twisted sideways so that she wouldn't land on her neck, but her foot caught on a small stunted branch on the tree trunk, and her leg twisted weirdly as she fell, and she landed in a crumpled heap.
Oooh... alone...at night... in the woods... injured... woooooh! Does weird hand swishy movement thingy.
