Chapter: 9

I smirked and bowed my head as Madara glared at me with his arms crossed. "Prince of all darkness, I've asked you here to show you something very spectacular!" I bellowed out. I raised my head and saw that Madara still had that glare on his face.

"If it isn't something great then I'm drowning you in the water," Madara threatened as he nodded his head towards the body of water behind me. I smiled and grabbed at Madara's hands, he made a face and tried to pull away, but I was stubborn and held on. "Are you a moron?" he asked as he fought back. I shook my head, and pulled him with me as I walked backwards.

"Just watch me for a second, please," I sighed. I looked over my shoulder and saw my feet touched the water. I puffed out my cheeks and did the same thing I did with Tobirama. I focused a little and soon I had chakra on my feet.

Tobirama practiced with me all day so that I wouldn't have to rely on someone to do something as easy as this. I immediately released Madara's hands and continued walking backwards, the gorilla surprisingly followed after me as well. I smiled and spun around so my back was facing him now. I stuck my arms out and raced around the water.

I felt so great, so on top of the world. Was I finally making progress?

I turned around to face Madara.

Would mom be proud of me?

Would my clan be?

At that moment I didn't care whether not I was making the cut to stay here with the Uchiha, even though I should be. I was just happy I made a real first step, not just some wobbles here and there. I was breathing heavy now, I was out of breath, but I felt like I could run for miles more. I couldn't get ahead of myself now though.

"What do you think? I'm running and before I could barely even walk," I breathed. Madara approached me slowly, he reached his hand out and I flinched. Was he gonna do those surprise punches? But he ruffled my hair… instead. He moved my hair away from my forehead and nodded his head.

"Good job."

I couldn't help but blush and swat his hand away from my hair. "You remind me of a dad congratulating his son, creep…" I whispered.

Madara made a face and immediately shoved his hand into his pocket. "You idiot, I was trying to be nice!" He argued. I shrugged, "shows you don't do it often since it came out so weird," I sighed. I shook my head and brushed past him. I was done frolicking on the water now. Tobirama was going to show up in an hour and Madara had to beat it.

"Don't walk past me!" Madara shouted.

"Don't you have a meeting to go to? I would hate to keep you waiting," I smiled. Madara blinked his eye and walked back to shore with me. "You're right, I can't be wasting my time on you," he sighed as he kicked the water from his shoes as we made to back to land. I rolled my eyes.

"We have a very important battle coming up. I need time to plan it," he muttered. My eyes widened, "a battle?" I questioned. Madara nodded his head, "not that you'll be going. You're still too weak to be of any use," he said with a mean grin.

"Will you… be okay?" I asked. My face heated up again.

Madara froze, I guess he wasn't expecting me to care either. He blinked his eyes and turned away from me. He was close enough to have his long hair whack me in the face. "Of course I will. Don't be stupid. I have to go now…" he said stiffly and stormed off. I stood there watching him until he disappeared into the woods. I wouldn't be lying if I said my heart beated a little fast at the moment.

I pressed my hand against my heart and counted the beats. My cheeks were still warm and I mentally cursed myself for feeling such a way. Why was I so flustered? Madara is mean, strict, unfashionable, basically a demon! So I shouldn't be worried about some stupid battle he's going to. He's so stubborn that he'll refuse to die even with a killing blow. I laughed at the thought. I imagined a zombie Madara coming back and still trying to train me and argue with me and call me an idiot.

"Takeo."

I squeaked and turned around quickly to see Tobirama. "Y-you scared me!" I complained. My heart was racing again, but for a whole different reason. Tobirama had his usual emotionless face and ignored my complaint. "We are starting early today," he said with his deep voice. I tilted my head and smirked. "Just couldn't wait to see me, huh?" I joked. Tobirama ignored me and dug into his pocket. I watched as he pulled out a thin piece of paper.

"Do you know your chakra nature?"

Was I supposed to?

I shook my head.

"I thought so. Here take this and focus your chakra into it." Tobirama said as he handed me the paper. "Is this a joke? This is a piece of paper…" I mumbled as I waved it in the air. Tobirama grabbed my wrist to stop me. "Cut it out and focus," he scolded. I rolled my eyes and took back my wrist. "Y-yeah, fine… let me just…" I trailed off as I stared at the paper between my fingers. Just focus chakra? I squinted my eyes and puffed out my cheeks as I focused on my fingertips.

The paper suddenly became soggy and crippled. My eyes widened and I quickly pressed my hand against my chest. "W-what the hell was that? What just happened?" I asked as I looked up at Tobirama. "The paper helps tell you what chakra nature you are. The paper showed that you are a water release user," he explained. I raised an eyebrow, "Seriously? That's so awesome," I gushed. A grin made it's way to my face as I imagined all the different things I could do with water.

I could boil my ramen or something.

"This just makes things easier for us," he stated with a slight a smile. I blinked my eyes and stared at him, I've never seen him smile. "How so?" I asked.

"I am a water release user as well."

I smiled. "I always knew you were cool," I snickered as I playfully shoved Tobirama. He didn't really move and was just stiff. I slowly took my hand back and ignored the dead stare he gave me. "Um, so… what kind of things are you gonna teach me? Are you going to teach me to control the seas and call upon the sea monster to kill all my enemies?" I asked with a grin. Tobirama raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Don't get ahead of yourself," he sighed. I shrugged, "I'm just excited, okay? I never even considered this type of thing possible for me!" I defended. Tobirama nodded his head.

"You're still weak-"

"Gee thanks."

Tobirama glared and continued. "If you were to be caught up in a fight you would most likely lose, so you need to learn how to get away."

"Get away? Can't you just teach me a sick ass jutsu that I can use to crush my enemies?" I asked smashing my hands together. "Maybe drown them or something," I smirked. Tobirama ignored me and pressed his fingers together to form a cross. A chuckle escaped my lips, "Are you trying to cast demons out of my body or something?" I joked. Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and I was temporarily blinded. I coughed and waved the smoke away. "Hey, what the hell, Tobirama? Are you trying to choke me?" I asked. The smoke dispersed and I saw two Tobiramas. I tilted my head and walked over to them.

"Hey, what's going on?" I mumbled as I tugged on one of the Tobirama's clothes. "You're not fake… did you poison me with the smoke and make me delusional?" I asked looking up at the Tobirama. He stared down at me.

"No, this is a jutsu I created. It's the Shadow Clone Technique, a more advanced version of the Clone Technique" he stated as he waved my hand away from his clothes. "Clone Technique?" I questioned with a smile. The Tobiramas both groaned from my simple question as I continued smiling.

Was I supposed to already know of this so called Clone Technique?


"So it's Tiger, Boar, Dog, Ox?" I asked performing the signs. Tobirama shook his head and snapped his fingers at me so I could watch him. "I'll tell you once more, it's Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog," he said while doing the signs. I nodded my head and followed the signs. "Then… I focus?" I mumbled as I looked up at him. Tobirama nodded solemnly.

I shut my eyes tight and focused. I felt my stomach burn up and soon I was warm all over. I felt a course of energy running through my veins. Finally, I heard a poof and I opened my eyes to look at my handywork. A clone of myself was standing pretty lame right next to me. I sighed and dropped my hands to my sides.

"It's getting better," Tobirama stated as he walked over to it to inspect. He pushed back the hair from my clone's shoulders. "It has ears now," he said as I giggled. "Is that a really big improvement? I've done this at least four times now and all my clones still look ugly," I sighed. I stayed quiet and turned to my clone.

"Maybe this is my true self…" I whispered horrified. Was I actually ugly?

"You're getting ahead of yourself now," Tobirama said as he shook his head. "It's getting late now and practicing the Clone Technique can have a toll on your body so let's end it here," he said. I smirked, "I'm okay. I can go for at least an hour more!" I declared as Tobirama stuck out his hand.

"Maybe for someone who was stronger. Give me your hand."

I slowly placed my hand on Tobirama's and he stared down at it. I was starting to feel self conscious. He began to point at red splotches on my palm. "My hands get red when they're sweaty…" I mumbled, finding a reason for my hands looking worn out. Tobirama flipped my hand over and inspected my knuckles. He used his thumb to point out the blisters. I stayed quiet.

"You may want to continue on, but your body is telling you different," he stated as he pulled out a small case. He took away his other hand from mine to open it, revealing a clear gel. he motioned for my hand and I stuck it out. He dug his fingers into the gel and smeared it gently onto my knuckles. It was cold and didn't burn at all. I felt a little embarrassed though.

He then took out bandages and wrapped my hand. "Got a whole hospital in your pockets, Tobirama?" I joked as I looked up at him. He motioned for my other hand and I gave it to him as he did the same treatment. "I only have what's necessary,"

When he was done he put away his things.

"I'll be gone for awhile. I won't be able to train you in the meantime," Tobirama said in his deep voice. I pursed my lips. Tobirama was going away too? Just like Madara? I looked away, trying my best not to put two and two together.

"Alright, be safe. I'll wait for you," I promised. Tobirama scoffed quietly.

"Don't say such embarrassing things," he scolded.

The walk back to the compound was quiet. Today was supposed to be a day full of training, but it didn't feel that long. It was probably a little past noon.

I approached the gates and saw that Morina was waiting for me. My cheeks flushed and I quickly rushed to her, she grabbed my hands and raised them. "Training hard today?" she asked touching my knuckles slightly. I shrugged and pulled away from her. "Not really," I sighed.

"Madara is off in some big important meeting. I'm all alone and bored," she pouted slightly. I raised an eyebrow at her, she never really talked about Madara before. I was unsure of how to respond so I just nodded my head. It felt uncomfortable to talk about him with her for some reason.

"Are you okay?" Morina asked suddenly. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at her, "yeah, just a little tired…" I muttered. There was this sudden burning need to know what Morina and Madara's relationship was. Is this just some toot and boot kind of thing? Or… are they actually dating?

I puffed out my lips and ignored the urge to ask. "I have to go do something, I'll talk to you later," I mumbled as I took Morina's hand to held it before letting it go. She looked at me questionably and nodded her head.

"Okay, Takeo. I'll see you later," she said softly.

I avoided eye contact and slowly turned around and walked away.