Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Hmmm... I feel weird being home alone. I mean, yeah, I'm nineteen so I could take care of myself and everything... but it's still weird. :\ Doesn't help that I live out in the woods and have an over active imagination...
Anyway, this is a pure fun chapter because I want it to be! ^^ I promise this is the last chapter before we go back to canon-ish fun. I think ya'll got a good grasp on Yanagi's personality and her relationships with others, so now ON TO THE TRUE STORY... in the next chapter... XD
YO! Semi-important thing for you to read! ^^ On my profile there is a list of stories and their summaries that are a work in progress. I'm curious of which one you want to read, SO if you could be a wonderful person and go read the choices then either vote on the poll I put up on my profile, or you can leave a review saying which one you want me to focus on! Thank you, now ONWARDS!
vvv
"Damnit Yanagi, have you seen my goggles?" Obito asked frantically as he shunshined all over the house looking for those stupid things. I rolled my eyes and ignored him as I guzzled down my morning tea. I didn't need ruckus this early in the morning, especially not when I was going to have to deal with Naruto later on in the day. It was always the same. Obito was always able to find his goggles on any normal day, but the rare days that his team got called for missions was when he lost the things.
I spoke, "Why does it matter? Rin knows you and Kakashi are going to be late. That's why she set the meeting at Godforsaken four in the morning." If there was anyone who knew how to manipulate the Copy-nin and the Uchiha Prankster, it was Rin.
"Stop making snarky comments and help me, woman!" Was all my brother responded with.
Sighing I looked directly at the object he was looking for. Obito's battle goggles were laying on the kitchen table, where he always tossed them after his police squad finished for the day. I contemplated in telling Obito, but then that would take away the fun it would be to watch him tear apart the house looking for his goggles.
"Why do you even wear them anymore? It's not like you still have that eye problem." I called. Obito had been born with some kind of defect that made his eyesight weak. When we were younger, his eyes would constantly dry out, forcing my brother to carry around an eyedropper and wear goggles to protect his sensitive eyes. When Obito finally activated his sharingan, the eye problem disappeared but he didn't stop wearing those stupid goggles.
Obito made some remark about his goggles being part of him or whatever. It's not like I ever understood what he was talking about half the time anyway. I knocked back the rest of my tea and turned around to set the cup by the full sink. My eye twitched at the sight. Reason Number 27 why Obito and I didn't get along: I was a clean freak and he wasn't.
"You forgot to do the dishes again!" I yelled as I made my way towards the door.
Obito poked his head out of my room, "That's not important right now, Yanagi. I need to find those goggles!"
I glared at him as I sat down to put on my sandals, "Well they're definitely not in my room. Have you even looked in the kitchen yet?" I heard Obito grumbling about something, but I chose to ignore it. Whatever he was saying would only piss me off anyway.
There was a spike of chakra that told me Obito was shunshining into the kitchen, followed by his exclaims of delight. I stood and retrieved my weapons pouch from the small table by the door where I had set it last night, trying to ignore the cheering coming from the kitchen. I was tempted to tell Obito to find a room, but that would only start another yelling match. It was too early in the morning for fighting.
"Bye! Have fun on your mission!" I called as I ran out the door and into the foggy predawn morning. For some odd reason I felt as if I were a genin again, eagerly running to meet my team and show off the cool new jutsu my brother had taught me the night before.
Not that I wanted to be around Team 7, of course.
Training ground six, where I trained my genin, was one of the lesser used training grounds that the Uchiha clan owned. Obito and I were normally the only ones who actually used it since it was the closest to our house, so making Team 7 meet there wouldn't be a hassle to anyone. I didn't need more of a headache than what I got by just standing in those brats' presence. Anyway, I liked training ground six. When it wasn't being used, the area was very quiet and peaceful. If one ignored the burn marks and notches in the woods from stray weapons, one could say it was very beautiful.
Settling myself in the crook of my favorite tree, I pulled out my book and opened it to the well-worn bookmark and began reading. I only had an hour of this peace before a certain knucklehead blonde came and ruined it with his loud mouth.
It wasn't long after I arrived that my first genin did. I had maybe read ten pages when I felt the presence of a puny amount of chakra. Well... puny to me. For a genin, that amount of chakra was quite a bit; but considering that I had two clan kids on the team it wasn't surprising they'd be more advance.
"Come out, come out." I called softly, like the antagonist in children tales. Like I expected Hinata shuffled into my view, her cheeks dark with a blush and twiddling her fingers in anxiety. I easily leapt from the tree and landed in front of her, "You know we still have an hour until the team meets right?" I questioned.
Hinata just fidgeted nervously, "I-I..." She started then stopped, her throat working as she tried to spit out words and failed.
I raised an eyebrow, "I'm not going to bite." I pointed out, feeling that I probably should. This poor kid was obviously terrified of me. I wondered what I did to make her so nervous, I hadn't been that bad... hadn't I? I waited for a little longer, but when it was obvious she wasn't going to make a peep, I rolled my eyes, "Well, it's a good thing you are here early, now we have an hour to get rid of that shyness. Sit." I put a hand on her slight shoulder and pressed down, making the girl sit on the dewy grass.
"Here." I said and shoved a book into her hands. Hinata looked down at the cover and immediately blanched, so she recognized it. I laughed, "Best way to get over shyness, read that book." I said.
Hinata swayed, looking faint. I rolled my eyes again and snatched my brother's copy of Icha Icha from her hands, "Alright, maybe not." I said and tossed the book over my shoulder, not caring where it landed. I had planned to rip the pages it out and make wallpaper for Obito's room, but I didn't want to touch the book longer than necessary. Sitting down in front of the shy Hyuuga heiress I tried a different route, "Did you know when I was in the police force I had a teammate who talked less than you?"
Pearl colored eyes glanced up at me nervously, as if I were some type of monster luring her into a false sense of security. I decided to ignore her look and continued talking like she wasn't there, "Yep, his name is Uchiha Ibo. He's extremely shy, more so than you. He uses hand signs to communicate." Hinata seemed surprised that, for whatever reason. I guess it was surprising to hear that someone was worse than she was.
I clapped my hands loudly, making Hinata jump, "Right then. You're a kunoichi, so you're going to have to get over that shyness one day. Best start early before you're stuck in a jam because you put this off. Any questions before we begin?"
"D-did y-y-you h-ha-have p-p-prob-problems?" Hinata asked shakily.
"Are you kidding? Obito-nii would have beaten any shyness out of me before I was five." I deadpanned. It was probably true. I'd never know since I grew up assertive and stubborn, being an Uchiha branded that personality into me at an early age. I honestly didn't know how Ibo had managed to keep on to his timid nature for so long. The clan saw timidity as a weakness, so to find a twenty year old man who rarely spoke and blushed almost constantly was a rare find. "Now, first lesson of the day..."
vvv
"S-sensei?" Hinata asked later that day, while we, or rather they, were cleaning out the dumpsters behind one of the Akimichi restaurants.
I ignored her and continued to read my book.
"S-sensei...?" Oh great, she was even more hesitate now. I kept my eyes firmly glued to my book, taking note that Sasuke and Naruto were pausing in their work to watch Hinata. I had told Hinata that I wouldn't speak to her unless she addressed me without stuttering. Until she said 'sensei' without stuttering I wasn't going to look up from my book.
"S-s-sensei?" Nope. Ignore.
"Hey! Hinata-chan is talking to you!" Argh, I should have known Naruto would butt in. It would be uncharacteristic of him not to. He wouldn't be Naruto without messing up something. Still I wasn't going to say a word until I got what I wanted. These kids would soon learn that no one could break my silence treatments.
"Sss...ensei?" That was better, but not perfect. I licked my thumb and flipped a page of my book. I flicked my eyes briefly towards Hinata, enough to show that I was listening but not enough to acknowledge she was actually speaking. Hinata would know what I meant. The girl took a deep shaking breath and said, slowly, "Sensei?"
I finally turned my full attention on her, "Yes, Hinata?"
"C-can," My eyes narrowed and she blushed red before starting over, "Can I... ask you a q...estion?" The Hyuuga heiress managed. I rolled my eyes at her almost mistake and waved my hand for her to continue, "W...hy do we... h-ave to... to do mi...ssions? Won't y-ou t...each us some-something?" I frowned at the stuttering towards the end.
I stood from my seat on a pile of wood pushed up against the back fence, "Tired of D-rank missions already?" I asked amused.
Sasuke and Hinata said nothing, but their expressions said 'yes'. Naruto was more vocal about his opinion, "Yeah! These don't teach us anything! I want to get out there and fight some bad guys!" He said pumping his fist to show his eagerness.
Sighing, I pressed my fingers to my forehead and shook my head sadly. Woe to those who has to deal with Naruto. "Slow down, brat, you'll get killed that way."
"But if you teach us, then we won't get killed!" Naruto snapped back.
"No matter how much I teach you, that kind of recklessness can get you killed."
"Won't! I'm going to be the Hokage!" Naruto yelled childishly. And just was did that have to do with getting killed on a mission? I could tell him that there were thousands of people who wanted to become Hokage and they all died before their first B-rank mission because they had the same reckless behavior Naruto did. But I didn't since I wasn't that cruel.
I gave up on the argument, since it was futile to argue with stupidity, "Keep telling yourself that, kid. I'm going to enjoy laughing at your failure at tree walking."
"Hey! I won't fail at... wait, are you going to teach us something?!" Man, if anyone needed to have something announce, they should just hire the Kyuubi brat. I swear the people in Kumogakure could hear him.
"That's what I said, didn't I?" I questioned dryly with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto leapt into the air with joy, whooping and cheering that he was going to learn an awesome new jutsu while Hinata and Sasuke looked mildly excited. I guess doing chores all day was really getting to them.
"Alright, finish up this mission then I'll teach you tree walking." I should have known disaster would strike then. What would Team 7 be if a mission went without incident?
vvv
"Tree walking is one of the hardest but most common chakra controlling exercise. It's also the first step to water walking, which is an essential tool in many fights." I started, glaring at Naruto when he opened his mouth to interrupt me. The boy immediately quelled under my harsh gaze and didn't speak. I waited a moment to be sure that he didn't go ahead and interrupt before I continued, "To walk up a tree, you must use the right amount of chakra to stick your foot to the tree; too much and the tree explodes underneath you, too little and you slip and fall. Observe." I turned and walked up the tree I was leaning on with ease. Though tree walking wasn't as commonly used in combat as water walking, it was still useful–mostly as a way of traveling through trees. Especially in Konoha. I turned to face my team with I was a good two meters up the tree trunk, "Any questions?"
"Yeah, what the heck does this have to do with learning kickass jutsus?!" Of course it was Naruto.
I leapt off the tree and landed in front of the three genin again, "Simple. In battle, ninja fight with jutsus. Jutsus require chakra to perform. Having good chakra control enables the user to perform jutsus to their maximum efficiency without wasting any chakra. Thus it also gives the user more chakra to use in a battle. Understand?" All three shook their head 'no'. I sighed, well damn it. Why did I get stuck with the stupid kids?
"Look think of it this way, say a person can use about twenty different jutsus with medium damage in a battle without learning to control their chakra. If that person does learn chakra control, they can boost the number of jutsus they perform from twenty to say... thirty as well as boosting the power of their jutsus. Learning chakra control also is essential to learning medical ninjutsu and Konoha has a rule that there must be a medic nin on each team. One of you will be learning medical ninjutsu as well." I stared right at Hinata when I said that. The kunoichi was usually the one who learned medical ninjutsu since women have better control than most men.
Naruto, being the dramatic brat that he was, groaned exaggeratedly and fell back on his back, "But why?" He persisted.
My eyebrow started twitching in irritation. Up until now I had been almost civil to the brats, they were highly amusing after all, but my patience was starting to wear thin... not that I had that much to begin with anyway. In a sharp voice I started counting off the benefits to tree walking, "Increases chakra control, gives you better balance, can be used in battle, is the first stepping stone in walking on water..."
There was a slight breeze that suddenly shot past me. Being a jounin I immediately flinched to the right, automatically thinking that I was being attacked. I spun around, hand already going for my kunai pouch in preparation for whatever came at me. Instead all I got was the sight of Naruto's blazing orange back racing towards the tree I had walked up.
He got three steps before falling flat on his back. I didn't even feel a spike of chakra coming from the untrained genin. By the time someone reached my level of experience, even lower actually, there was hardly a sign that they were focusing chakra to their feet. A genin however, especially a dead last like Naruto, needed time to focus their chakra.
"You didn't even use chakra, did you?" I questioned dryly, already knowing the answer.
Naruto went from rubbing the back of his head and grimacing in pain to shouting at me, "That was just a practice run!"
This kid was just like Denryoku...
"Sure it was, brat. Now why don't you try for real this time. Focus your chakra first, then run for the tree. You'll get better results." I said before glancing at Sasuke and Hinata. They hadn't moved from where they were. As a Hyuuga and an Uchiha they should have already been introduced to exercises similar to tree walking, especially Hinata whose clan fighting style relied on strong chakra control. "Alright you two, practice even if you already know it." I said and the two kids strode after Naruto.
I sat down where I stood and pulled out my book. Now that the brats were occupied with training, I could finish it.
vvv 3rd POV~ Sasuke vvv
"Hey..." Naruto said in a creepy mysterious voice. Both Hinata and Sasuke stopped practicing their tree walking to look at the blonde. Of all three of them, Naruto was the most bruised since he had no prior training. Sasuke fared a little better, his clan focused more on ninjutsu than building stamina; while Hinata remained unscathed.
Naruto looked to the right then left in a shifty manner, "What do you think Frizzy-sensei reads? She's always reading that book." He whispered, jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards their oblivious sensei.
Sasuke had to admit that he was curious. He hardly knew anything about either of his cousins, other than that they were related to him through Kaa-chan and that both were extremely ill tempered. For some reason, Obito and Yanagi didn't get along with Otou-san; but why exactly, Sasuke didn't know.
"Shisui says that Obito-itoko reads perverted books." Sasuke said, mostly to himself. The navy haired Uchiha glanced at his sensei/cousin, could she...?
"Eh? Who's Obito?" Naruto asked, his eyes squinting in confusion.
Surprisingly it was Hinata who answered, "O-O-Obito i-i-i-is S-sen-sensei's b-b-b-b-b-bro-broth-brother." She managed to wring out, blushing red. Sasuke was tempted to tell her not to try and talk to Naruto. Hinata risked fainting every time she even looked at her crush. How Naruto hadn't noticed their teammates affection yet was beyond Sasuke.
"Oh... then who's Shisui?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Shisui is my Aniki's best friend. He is close to Obito-itoko. Shisui says that Obito and Kakashi-san read Icha Icha all the time. It's their favorite book series."
Hinata was turning even more red. Sasuke glanced at his female teammate curiously. Normally she only blushed when she was thinking about Naruto, or speaking to him, or looking at him, or hearing his voice... basically anytime Naruto was within ten feet of her. So why was she blushing now when all Sasuke did was mention a book series?
Shrugging it off as strange girl behavior, Sasuke continued, "Do you think that sensei might read the same thing?"
Naruto started snickering, "I knew there was something weird about her!" He said between snorts. Then he suddenly lit up with an idea. Sasuke had learned already that that usually didn't bode well for the team's health or sanity. "Hey, what if we..." More shifty looks, "found out if she does read those smutty books?"
Sasuke had a mild panic attack. Trying to go against Yanagi would be like trying to prank Obito: suicidal. Sasuke had already learned his lessons about messing with his cousins and he didn't wish to repeat either of them.
Bamf!
Hinata fainted, of course. Luckily Sasuke managed to catch her before she hit her head on the ground. He glared at Naruto, "Do you have a death wish?" It wasn't that he feared Yanagi; but he had noticed that everyone in the clan, save very few people, usually took steps to avoid her when Yanagi was pissed. Caution was always a good trait to have when you're a shinobi.
"Of course not! Frizzy-sensei can't be that bad." Naruto defended hotly. Then he immediately went back into his 'scheming mode' "Now... here is what I was thinking we should do."
Why Sasuke even listened, he'd never know. But the young Uchiha had to admit that his blonde teammate did have a talent for pranking. Though... it was no where near as good as Obito's talent.
vvv Normal POV vvv
"Sensei?" I glanced up at Naruto and raised an eyebrow. The kid's expression was uncharacteristically serious. I automatically suspected something.
"There's no way you're finished with the exercise." I said, my voice carefully void of all suspicion. I had learned from growing up with Obito that you never let the prankster know that you know they're up to something. Besides, with Naruto's one track mind, I might be able to distract him.
No dice.
Naturally, being an Uchiha and a powerful jounin, I refuse to admit to anyone what happened next. One minute the Kyuubi brat was standing in front of me, almost frowning, and the next he was tearing across the training grounds with my book in his hands. It took me a second for it to click that some damn newly made genin just stole something right out from under my nose.
Someone was going to die.
"UZUMAKI NARUTO!" I roared as I shot to my feet. I was delicate for both my height and age–I barely looked like a proper jounin let alone a chunnin–but I had a pair of lungs courtesy of having a fire chakra nature. All shinobi with Katon ninjutsu had to have a healthy set of lungs, especially to pull of the Uchiha style Grand Fireball technique.
Plus growing up with Nii-san helped too.
I had nearly caught the damned brat when he tossed the book across the clearing to Sasuke. If I wasn't so pissed I'd be impressed by his arm strength. My cousin caught the book easily and leapt up into the trees, taking off to a destination unknown. I shunshined twice to narrow the gap between us and reached out to grab the brat by his Uchiha collar. I'd never understand why most of my kinsmen liked those stupid high collar shirts.
Sasuke stopped abruptly and dropped the book, letting it fall towards the ground, before evading my grip. Great. Now I had to change trajectory and free fall to grab my book.
I was going to murder whoever thought this was a good idea.
Three Narutos passed in below me, one nabbing the book out of the air while the other two stalled me for a brief moment, allowing the first Naruto to gain distance. What made matters even worse, they started jeering at me. I glared and grabbed the Naruto to my right and swung him into his partner. They both disappeared in a puff of smoke. That took me by surprise. I hadn't known that Naruto could create shadow clones.
Maybe he wasn't such a dead last after all...
But he was still dead.
Shunshining closer to the culprit who had my book I yelled out, "Stop right there or else!"
Naruto grinned at me over his shoulder, "What will you do? You can't even catch me!" He teased. I stopped on the branch I had just landed on and watched with a flat expression as the still mocking Naruto slammed into a tree.
I take it back. He was a dead last for sure, he just had a very unexpected high ranked jutsu in his arsenal. And probably the only one too.
"You gonna hand the book over now? Or do I have to get serious?" I asked boredly, my arms crossed over my chest, when Naruto finally caught his bearings.
The kid squinted at me, "What is this book, anyway?" He asked curiously. I was surprised he didn't think to open it and look for himself; but he was dumb enough that I doubted he knew how to even open a book.
"Hand it over and we'll forget this stupidity on your part." I said, holding out my hand for my book, "You won't ever bring it up and I won't make your life hell, alright?"
He tried to open the book.
I snatched it from him before he could read the characters on the page. For extra precaution I stuffed the thin volume down my flak vest, not trusting my genin to try and sneak into my weapons pouch where I normally kept it. Without a word I turned away from Naruto, who was blinking dumbly at his suddenly empty hands.
I was so signing them up for the 'Retrieve Tora' mission tomorrow. I deserved some damn entertainment after this stupid stunt!
^o^
Well, ya'll know what's coming next! ^^ And what does Yanagi possibly read that she doesn't want anyone to find out about? Hmmmmmmm? lol
And the thing about Obito's goggles and the eye problem. I swear I saw him using an eyedropper in the anime once, I can't remember where but I am positive it was there! Just thought I'd inform you.
BTW: The honorific '-itoko' means cousin. Don't know if you understood it from context or not...
~When you get caught looking at him/her, just remember, they were looking back.
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