'I can't believe that little shit beat me,' Namie grumbled as she skived out of the rest of the day's lessons and took to blowing off steam around the village. 'Him, a faceless nobody. A stock character, at best!' No matter how petty she was being at the small loss, it was a huge blow to her ego. She, a near-thirty-year-old woman, was beaten by some child that popped up out of the woodwork.
'I wanted to go home and brag to Minato that I won…'
"Well, whatever!" She scoffed outwardly, stuffing her hands into her dress pockets as she stalked down the street. "If playing dirty is allowed, then I'll have a whole slew of new moves to bring in…"
"Who plays dirty?"
Namie quite openly choked and immediately spun on her heel to confront the speaker. "Ku—Kushina-nee-chan!" The bitterness of her bad mood dissipated, replaced by shock. She wasn't set to meet with the older girl again until the day after next, and she'd never encountered her in the village aside from their training sessions, so she could do little to stifle the reaction. Her cheeks colored when she finally regained hold of her senses and she crossed her arms.
"Hey, wait—aren't you supposed to be in school right now?" The redhead muttered with a raised brow before a cunning smirk overtook her face. "Ha, don't tell me you're playing hooky? You're such a goody-goody, I never would have thought you'd try that, Namie-brat!" There was a hint of approval in her tone.
'Little do you know that I've skipped out plenty of times on boring lessons in the past.' Namie huffed inwardly, grinning a little. "Well…yeah. I guess it happens."
"For sure, dattebane! So, so, what were you talking about earlier?" Kushina continued to grin, setting her hands on her hips as she looked over the younger girl.
It seemed she wasn't as surprised by the sudden run-in as the blonde was. But Namie had since figured that Kushina was the type to just roll with the tide and take things in stride. If she didn't know any better, she'd say the girl looked a little excited to see a familiar face.
Namie remained silent until the girl's deep violet gaze met her own. "We had sparring matches in class today, and—" a light sneer pulled at the edges of her lips, "I…lost." She admitted grudgingly. "But it was foul play, I tell you! That jerk, that total bozo, he—he pulled my hair just to get in a hit! Can you believe it, Kushina-nee-chan?!"
An angry tick surfaced near the other girl's cheek as she stared in disbelief. Boys who teased girls about their hair and touched it and pulled at it with ill intention were enemies to the female race. Now that she looked closer, she could see that one of the blonde's braids was mussed and uneven compared to its twin.
The younger Namikaze hadn't meant to erupt in an all-out rant, and snapped her mouth shut once she'd said her piece. Kushina's reaction was a bit unexpected, however—especially when her vibrant hair began to waver as if it had a life of its own. Namie had the notion to step back, but the redhead spoke before she could make a move.
"NO WAY! Boys like that are total scum! Your hair is so pretty, Namie-chan, I can't believe someone would just—just yank on it to get the upper hand! That's so low…beat him up good next time, 'ttebane!"
'Namie-chan, eh?' Namie wasn't sure what was more shocking: Kushina using an honorific instead of calling her a brat, or Kushina getting worked up for her sake (her response was so intense, even, that it attracted a few strange stares from passersby). Not to mention, she complimented her hair so openly. A pleasantly mild heat rose to her cheeks as she fiddled uncertainly with the end of one of her braids.
In her past life, her color scheme had been plain—a boring brown for both her hair and eyes. She'd never once been a beautiful blue-eyed blonde, and so her current appearance had always seemed somewhat…unreal. The teasing and childish insults of "strawhead" and "hay-for-bangs" never bothered her greatly because she took her appearance for granted, but when someone said something kind towards it, acknowledged it…she felt a little speechless.
The girl's eyes drifted towards Kushina's long red locks and a small grin slowly lifted the edges of her lips. "No way, your hair's way prettier than mine, Kushina-nee-chan. But I guess kunoichi have to deal with things like that, right?" She expected a seamless, upbeat response from the older girl, but when her question was met with silence, she glanced at the redhead's face curiously.
Kushina looked to be nonplussed, mouth hanging slightly agape as if she'd halted mid-sentence.
Namie's grin wavered, but before she could second-guess her choice of words, the redhead's face split into a wide smile as she rubbed at her nose. And unless it was just a trick of the light, there was also a tint of red gracing the girl's cheeks, nearly bright enough to rival her hair color.
Before the blonde could react to the shift in situation, a heavy arm was slung around her shoulders and she was swept along with the older girl's pace when she began to walk. "Come on, I know just what'll cheer you up, Namie-chan!"
'Oh no, don't tell me—'
The redheaded firecracker dragged her to a nearby food stand.
'Ramen. Of course.'
Was there ever any doubt this woman was Naruto's mother?
Kushina nearly spat out the mouthful of noodles she'd bit into—but managed to avoid wasting her precious ramen and instead made an undignified and garbled snort—when her understudy admitted to having prematurely tried to perform the very move she'd been teaching her. The girl swallowed her food harshly before frowning and pointing an accusatory finger in the other's face, nearly bopping her in the nose. "I told you you're not ready!"
Namie leaned away from her (tentative) friend to avoid the slight spray of noodle juice that came about due to her shouting, as well as the potential broken nose. 'Now, now, that's not polite.' "I know. But if I could do it by now, there's no way I would've lost that match."
Kushina's brows drew together in worry as she glanced sideways in thought. "Totally, but…who exactly did you try that move on, anyways?"
"…My older brother."
Namie was sure the redhead would have spit out her soup if she'd been eating. "J-just how much older, here?!"
"Hmm. Six years?"
"Brat!" Namie found herself pulled into a headlock and sputtered feebly while letting go of her bowl to avoid spilling her own ramen. No doubt that would only make the firecracker angrier. "You're pretty small, you know? Why do you think I'm putting you through all this training? Definitely not to go after bigger opponents yet, 'ttebane!" Knuckles ground painfully against the top of her skull.
"But," Namie winced, holding onto the older girl's arms in a futile attempt to ease her hold, "you did say I should be able to throw you by the time I learn the move properly, Kushina-nee-chan…!"
"Are you calling me fat?!" Her knuckles pressed harder and the small blonde frantically floundered for an escape, flailing her arms.
"N-no!"
Half a year passed, though Namie was able to master the German suplex under Kushina's watchful eye in only a third of that time. She wasn't able to overthrow a larger opponent like Kushina yet, but she knew that in time she would reach that level (and, at the very least, she'd been able to get her revenge on that Inuzuka boy when they were set to spar against each other again).
The relationship between her and the Red-hot Habanero had grown stronger, to the point where they sometimes met up to socialize (and to Namie's dismay, eat ramen) when they weren't training. Kushina proved to be a valuable asset in learning taijutsu, Namie had learned, and even after she'd mastered the initial move their training was purposed for, the older girl continued to instruct her on various aspects of kunoichi life.
It was similar to Minato's guidance, but Minato was not a girl and thus could only cover certain aspects of shinobi training.
In a way, Kushina was the female presence that her surrogate mother could not be.
Namie was reluctant to admit it, but she was already beginning to view the redhead as a part of her family.
The only thing that worried her was the fact that her friend hadn't yet been spirited away by the Kumo nin—she wasn't naïve enough to believe she may have changed something and circumvented the event completely, no, she was certain it was pending.
It could have happened already, during the second war, she supposed, but what enemy ninja would be stupid enough to invade the Fire Country's territory during times of conflict? Even if it was to try and gain leverage with an Uzumaki's power, it was an incredibly high risk with low rewards (because, in her mind, they were complete fools to even think they could subjugate the fiery child).
It was easier sneaking a small group into a powerful country during the peacetimes.
That meant they would be planning their move any day now.
She wasn't clear on the details, but she hadn't remembered an entire platoon sneaking in to whisk the redhead away. At most, there were only as many as a typical cell of four shinobi involved. They hadn't been particularly strong, either, if a young Minato had been able to easily handle them—and he definitely would handle them, she was certain.
It was only a matter of when they would strike.
Not only that, but after this event, and she wasn't sure when, Kushina would become the host of Kurama. It couldn't have happened yet, because by all means, Konoha should be guarding its jinchuuriki to such an extent that a kidnapping was nigh impossible.
She concluded that the exchange between Mito and Kushina was yet to come.
Once one domino fell, more were sure to follow.
"That's the wrong flower. We're not looking for everlasting sweet peas."
Namie glanced up from the patch of flora-specked grass she was digging through and narrowed her eyes when a familiar face—or rather, a familiar head of bushy hair—greeted her. "Ah, Ultra Perm. What, you actually have time to socialize?"
"Don't call me that." Suzume's facial features pinched together in distaste. "Sensei sent me to…help the less fortunate. We're looking for regular sweat peas." She held out her own pink flower a little prissily as she stepped further into the shade of the nearby tree hanging overhead.
Namie glanced down at the purplish flower in her hand, then at the posy grasped in the other girl's stubby fingers. They looked similar, but the petals were different.
Even after perusing the field guides Taji had lent her, identifying flora was still one of her weak areas. It wasn't that she was terrible at memorizing their defining traits, but the subject of floriculture was just so boring that she cared very little. She just didn't see the importance behind it. Plus, they made her sneeze.
In her past life, she'd admired the pretty flowers from afar and had a passing fancy to engage in the science, but now there were other things to occupy her time—like taijutsu.
In truth, she wasn't entirely concerned with grooming herself to be a proper kunoichi. Her grade in the class was far from stellar. In comparison, Suzume was the top student. Whether it was because her mother was teaching the class, or because she was trained in that specific area, she wasn't certain. Nor did she really care.
"If you wanna be friends, just say so?" Namie lilted with a smile, straightening from her squat and dusting off her clothes. She held the incorrectly-identified flower out to the girl—who was forced to accept it when it was thrust so carelessly towards her, lest it drop to the ground forgotten—and turned on her heel to escape.
"Strawhead!" The curly-haired girl hissed, hurrying after her blonde classmate. "It's not like I want to help you, but you're holding the class back!"
Namie turned, curious, and briefly surveyed the area to see that no one was within immediate earshot. 'This is when the beast comes out,' she observed with a small smile, waiting for the frizzy-haired girl to catch up. It seemed her awful nickname had stuck, despite the fact her bangs had already grown out normally. Even the irritating Inuzuka (and, regrettably, a good portion of the class) continued to address her that way. She'd be damned if she didn't get Suzume's nickname of Ultra Perm, or Toboe's nickname of Toto to catch on the same way someday as payback.
Suzume panted slightly, looking frazzled, as she smoothed her yukata and leered at her peer. "We cannot move on to the next unit until everyone shows decent progress in identification. We're a whole week behind."
"Oh, what's next? More flowery stuff?" The blonde scoffed, setting her hands on her hips and stretching her back idly.
"Have a little pride in yourself, at least." Suzume grumbled. "It doesn't make sense that your grades are good in pretty much everything else, but then they really suck in one class." She glanced down at the flowers clutched in her hands and pursed her lips. "As a kunoichi, you should take to heart what you're taught in these lessons."
Namie breathed a small laugh. "Wow. Didn't know you cared so much."
"I—" The girl sputtered, interestingly enough. Even when she was being snooty, she usually kept her cool. Namie observed her with questioning eyes. "In truth, I have a request…Namie-s…san."
"Oh?" Calling her by her actual name, with an honorific no less, meant the girl was serious. 'But, still, it's so rigid. She's uptight.' "And?"
Suzume fidgeted, gently wringing the sweet-pea stems between her fingers. Her dark eyes briefly connected with Namie's before she glanced away again. "Your taijutsu is…decent."
"I know! Right?"
The girl's eyebrow twitched. "That is, it's certainly better than my own. If," she faltered. "If you…were to give me guidance, then—then it would only be fair that I help you out with these lessons."
"Oh."
'I didn't expect that.'
"Is that a fair trade?" Suzume pressed, looking slightly—grudgingly—hopeful.
Namie pursed her lips and studied the other girl with little interest. "Only if you call me 'shishou.'" She smirked, though the smug expression was short-lived. Upon hearing that, the brunette stormed away without another word. "Huh. No dice." Once the girl was out of sight, the blonde sank to the ground again and began to fiddle with a few blades of grass for lack of anything better to do.
Aside from her curly-haired "friend," none of the other girls in the class paid her any mind. Along with the two, there were three more in their year, all from their sister class. They were somewhat of a clique that mostly ignored the brunette and blonde. At first, the teacher—a pretty woman who was clearly the mother of Suzume and the daughter of Chieko by similarity—had hounded her and pushed her to perform better in the class, but after a couple of months passed with no outward progress, she'd taken to letting the girl do as she wished, while complaining to her guardian. Taji had also attempted to motivate Namie, but when even that didn't provide the desired results, she reasoned with the teacher to allow the girl a little extra time.
Namie hoped they would just kick her out of the class if she showed enough disinterest, but as Taji had said, she could not become a full-fledged kunoichi without passing the lessons. It didn't bother her, really. If push came to shove, she would pull herself up to a passing mark to get the other adults off her back. She didn't need help.
'I think I know how Shikamaru felt, now. Some things really are just too troublesome.'
"Namie-chan?"
Namie glanced upwards when a cool voice called her name, and was only vaguely surprised to see her teacher standing over her. She was a severe woman with tame dark hair pulled neatly into a bun, just above the knot of her hitai-ate, a prettily-painted pale face, and practical but elegant kunoichi costume. Probably, Namie thought, the epitome of what a kunoichi was supposed to be.
'But people like Taji and Kushina are more my ideal kunoichi types.'
Her name slipped her mind. "Sensei?" She pulled her hands free from the reeds and rose to her feet. Briefly, she noted, Suzume was hanging back a few feet away, looking somewhat victorious.
"Starting today, you will be attending extra kunoichi lessons after your scheduled classes have ended. I feel it prudent to inform you that your poor performance in my class will only serve to hold back your peers, as well as yourself. Your guardian has given permission for these extra lessons."
'Well, Ultra Perm's a real chip off the ol' block, isn't she? No wonder she's so stiff. For such a pretty woman, this lady's a stick in the mud.' Namie pressed her lips together, but nodded soberly. "Yes…ma'am."
This was going to interfere with Kushina's training.
It was nearly dusk by the time Namie's extra lessons ended. She supposed it was too late to bring her performance up to standard expectations and immediately escape this annoying situation, but sooner or later the kunoichi teacher would have to release her back to her normal routine.
Namie did her best to hurry towards the training ground she and Kushina had taken to practicing at before the redhead could get any more upset over her tardiness, but it seemed the blonde had been graced with one of those days where obstacles consistently stood in her way.
"No way, Strawhead, you actually got extra lessons?"
Or rather, behind her.
Tagging along like a lost puppy at her heels was her Inuzuka classmate and his ninken—the furry one of which she didn't mind at all, though he had peed on her leg once during a history lesson and consequently nearly caused a brawl between her and his owner. Luckily, it hadn't erupted into anything past a fierce lecture on properly training puppies and an equally intense argument about keeping her feet out of other people's spaces, which resulted in their chuunin instructor separating them to opposite sides of the classroom.
"You know, for a brat who talks big and looks so studious, you're actually a moron, ain't ya? One of those brawn instead of brain types. You're better at fighting, so come spar with me." Toboe drawled.
"I don't have time to play. I have somewhere to be." Namie deterred the messy-haired boy with bland dismissal and only a cursory glance over her shoulder. Ever since she managed to beat him—consecutive times—after his initial victory in taijutsu class, he'd developed the annoyingly constant habit of challenging her and trying to correct his losses. Naturally, she declined every challenge unless their teachers pitted them against each other officially.
Kurocha yipped and circled around to stop directly in the blonde's path before she could continue on, and promptly rolled over. It seemed a sin to ignore such an adorable sight, so Namie automatically bent down and catered to the canine despite her initial intentions, sinking her fingertips into his velvet fur without complaint.
"Oi, Kurocha!" Toboe protested, sighing. It was beyond him why the small brown dog was so partial to the blonde girl. When they sat or stood near each other in classes, more often than not the ninken had taken to hovering around her. It was a low blow to his ego, that his own partner preferred someone else to him. All the more reason to give her a hard time.
The Inuzuka clicked his tongue and side-eyed the small girl. "You're always 'busy this' and 'busy that,' even during recess when we all play ninja. No kids our age have lives that demanding." He balled his hands into fists and repeated in a demanding—bratty—tone, "Come on! Fight me, stupid boring Strawhead!"
"Nope." Namie replied dully to the whining while she scratched the pup behind its pointed ears.
She couldn't be stirred. Not only that, but any time Toboe made fun of the girl, his jeers rolled off of her as easily as water from a duck's feathers.
"Dumbass." He spat childishly, "You're just afraid you'll lose, right? 'Cause now I know you're not so smart as you seem."
"If I recall, you're the one who comes up dead last in everything, Toto." A certain glee shone through her tone as a smile pulled at her lips. As days passed and she was forced to put up with the annoying desk mate's teasing, she'd come to discover that he wasn't difficult to rile up at all. In a verbal sniping battle against a child, her adult mentality couldn't be defeated—though she did question the maturity of bickering with a kid at times. "In fact, I'd say you were dumb as a dog, but since Kurochan here is pretty smart, well, you're dumber."
"You—" Toboe moved one hand aggressively towards the girl, but at the same time she stood up and turned to face him with a severe frown. He froze, wondering briefly if she would finally respond to his persistence and give in to his challenge. Kurocha slowly returned to his partner and glanced curiously between the two children as the tension pulled the air around them taught.
Instead of retaliating or reacting, she only glanced down the road before looking back to the duo, one eye squinting in irritation. Time was wasting. "Fighting you is no fun." Namie didn't show a trace of humor on her face—only boredom—as she spoke bluntly. "You're bad at taijutsu, and you're no good against me so there's no point. Quit asking to fight me when you don't even know how to improve yourself against an opponent. You suck!"
The boy's face turned an interesting shade of reddish-purple, and he quite literally choked.
Seeing that he was speechless, she repeated, "I don't have time to play."
Toboe regained control of himself and scowled, though if she wasn't mistaken, his lip began to tremble. "Whatever, Strawhead, you're so stuck-up! I'm outta here!" He quickly bent to pick up his ninken before pushing past the blonde and hurrying on his way.
That was the quickest she'd ever managed to shake off his nagging, and she suspected her harsh words had caused him to cry.
Namie shrugged it off and turned onto a side street that led directly to her desired training ground. The sun was well past the horizon, and it would be a wonder if Kushina was even still waiting for her. They couldn't get any training done in the dark, either way, but she didn't want to just abandon the girl if she had, in fact, decided to wait.
This was one of the few times that Namie deeply missed the advanced technology she'd been familiar with. If they had cellphones, there wouldn't be annoying situations like this.
However, that was the least of her worries.
The smaller problems of her day paled in comparison to what she stumbled upon when she reached the outskirts of the training field.
There, sitting innocently at her feet, just faintly glinting in the fading sunlight, was a very familiar strand of crimson hair.
A/N: Updated quickly because it's officially been one month since I've started Laterality.
Hey, guess what. This story is approaching a canon event! It's happening next update (probably next week) and it's going to be the longest chapter to date. I'm really terribly excited and I hope you readers are too! And also, look at that—I decided to start naming chapters.
Thanks to everyone for reading/faving/following and to SilverRider09, KisaragiMarru, xenocanaan, Sethera, Kasuke. Hagase, moon so bright and coronadomontesfor reviewing!
As for replies:
Kasuke. Hagase—Yep! Namie is a little younger than Sasori, actually, by around a year or so. I'll have to double-check on that, but in any case she'll be 18 during the Kyuubi's attack if you'd rather do the math yourself.
coronadomontes—I always have to use google translate on your reviews because my Spanish is verrryyyy basic (but I don't mind it, really! I appreciate your reviews), so I hope I understood this properly. You asked if Namie will be a part of canon or go off and do her own thing without affecting it, right? The answer to that is she will become deeply involved with the story after a certain event occurs, but that's still quite a few chapters ahead, when she's older.
Happy early 4th of July to those who celebrate it. See you next update!
