Chapter 10

Hayate-shishou pushed me. Hard.

He'd even had me practice more flexibility and agility, more than even the clan techniques demanded. The thing about the Inuzuka clan techniques was that, for all the destruction they could cause, it demanded a great deal of flexibility, and even then there was the possibility of tearing muscles and ligaments. Nothing a little healing Chakra couldn't fix, but there was a reason Inuzuka under the age of 10 didn't get to try clan techniques other than Tsuga.

It would take another 3 years before I'd even be considered moderately capable of attempting anything other than standard attacks with her nin-dogs. For all the good that did me whenever I had to spar against Hayate-shishou.

My bruises had bruises. Admittedly, the Kenjutsu that Hayate-shishou had insisted every student of his was going to learn was really cool.

The second day of training *coughcoughgettingtheshitbeatenoutofhercoughcough* he'd measured my arm length and asked my opinion on what range I'd prefer fighting with.

"Uh… close combat? I don't want it getting in the way of my other Taijutsu attacks…?"

"Hmm, so a Wakizashi or a Shaku…? I can work with that, come along my cute little Genin."

The store Hayate-shishou led me to was one I hadn't visited before. Glancing up at the lettering above the door, Watarase's Weapons, it read.

As we entered the door gave a quiet 'ting' to alert the owner that someone had entered.

"Just a minute!"

Taking the opportunity to glance around the store I approached the kunai and shuriken, all sharpened to an edge. Gently picking a kunai up I tested the weight, perfectly balanced. I threw it up once, twice, "Cut that out, Mariko." Thoroughly chastised I put the kunai back and returned to my Shishou's side.

A burly copper-haired man showed himself shortly after, "Ah, Hayate-kun! You're back, what can I do for you?" Hayate-shishou returned the greeting before gesturing towards me, "Hello to you as well, Kaito-san. I'm actually here for your assistance with a student of mine."

A practiced eye looked over my short form, before a considering hum pierced the silence, "She's short for her age, so something small, do you have any preferences?" Shishou answered the question for me, "Something that doesn't interfere with her taijutsu, she's an inuzuka so she needs something she can drop."

Another hum and the man turned away, picking some swords off the wall and handing them to me, "Test their weight, is it comfortable" A few minutes of shaking and nodding my head periodically as I was asked questions about the comfort of the blades in my hand, as well as numerous corrections to my grasp of the blade, and we were gone. Hayate-shishou payed for the blade but he told me that I'd be buying it myself if I broke it.

There was also the fact that he'd told me that I wouldn't be carrying it around at all until he deemed me ready for the responsibility that came with carrying around a blade.

And that's how I'd ended up with a Bokken strapped to my back. Thankfully the outfit that Obaa-san had helped me with didn't need to be changed, the Bokken simply made me seem more ready, prepared for the world than anything else.

The Wakizashi that Hayate-shishou had bought me would remain in my home, until the time came that Hayate-shishou deemed me ready. Which would probably be a while yet. But I was in no rush, nothing big would happen until Naruto graduated which would be at least 6 years more. Plenty of time to become at least proficient in wielding a sword.

The next morning the suicide of Shunshin no Shisui was announced.

Not even a week later the Uchiha massacre took place. A clan of over 300 people were massacred in one night by Uchiha Itachi. He'd cracked, gone insane, they said, had murdered his clan and left none but his little brother alive.

'Course that was the official story. I knew that Shisui had been murdered. Killed by Danzo, not Itachi. Sure Shisui had died in front of Itachi to help him gain the Mangekyō Sharingan, but ultimately, it wasn't Itachi's fault that Shisui had died.

I… I wasn't sure what to feel about what had happened. Obviously I was horrified, but… I'd never really talked to an Uchiha in Konoha… they were very insular and the only sight I'd ever seen of them was the Police officers who patrolled the markets.

I'd never connected with them.

I wasn't like Naruto. I couldn't look at a group and decide that I would protect them within 5 minutes of knowing one member. I was… I guess more practical with who I would and wouldn't protect. Konoha was my home and I would defend it like I was supposed to, but… the people I cared about. They would always come first. No matter what.

I guess that's why I'd never be able to be Hokage… or much of a leader to a large group where I didn't know them, I wouldn't be able to sacrifice the people I loved for the sake of people I didn't know.

Baa-chan held me tightly that night.

Itachi's little murder fest had consequences.

I mean of course they had consequences, for one the murder of an entire clan that put the village on edge for months. But I'm talking about the consequences that directly affected me. All those who'd graduated early were to have a mandatory psych evaluation.

I suppose I should be grateful that if I failed I'd only be sent back to the Academy for a few more years. At least I hoped that's what would happen.

Surprisingly… or I guess unsurprisingly for my Baa-chan and Shishou, I passed with flying colours, though apparently I should try to be less anti-social. I guess the fact that I tried at all to make friends in my short tenure at the Academy spoke for itself.

Speaking of which, because of the sudden lack of many capable Chūnin, Tokubetsu Jōnin and Jōnin, Hayate-shishou had been called out to make up for the loss of manpower. So I'd been pulled into doing several D-ranks with members of the Genin corps, who were placed in charge of Academy students.

Great.

I'd been paired with one Kaora Tsubaki and Takeshi Akiyama in charge of class 3A. Both of them were civilian-born, and seemed very friendly. Unfortunately with the latest reminder of a prodigy going insane, they were, understandably wary.

Of course things got worse when I actually had to corral the kids into doing D-ranks.

Let me tell you now. D-ranks absolutely suck. It's all the chores that people don't want to do, weeding gardens, picking up trash, finding miscellaneous items and everything else that you could possibly imagine being the most boring thing on this planet.

Not to mention the fact that I had to give orders to people, children, who didn't respect me on the basis of my age. Goddamn I must of pissed off a god to have to deal with this.

Thankfully I only had to deal with a third of the class, the rest under the command of the much older Genin. Class 3A had 21 students in it, so we were separated into 3 groups at the start of the day by a Chūnin before said Chūnin left for a seperate mission.

"Minazuki-sensei! Why do we have to listen to a kid?!" Geez. Like he could say much. He was only a few years older than me! The sensei, a bright-eyed brunette glared down at the offending student, "How many times have I told you, Tamaki! Inuzuka-san is already a Genin! She'll be watching over you as you complete these missions!" Said offended student was one Tamaki Yamamoto, an 11 year old Academy student who didn't seem to understand how me, a short 6 year old was already a Genin when he wasn't.

"But, she's a kid!" Tamaki couldn't seem to understand that Minazuki-sensei could really do without his cheek right now, "Tamaki!" Her voice was sharp and quietly furious, deciding to nip this in the bud, I interjected, "Tamaki-san, I understand that it must be grating to be in this position, but it is best if we complete the mission," I glanced at the small stack of tasks assigned to the class and amended, "Missions as quickly as possible."

Tamaki frowned, but he couldn't exactly afford to be seen as the immature side of this fiasco, more so than he already was, that is. A short nod before he stormed back to his friend's side, who, of course immediately started glaring at me.

This was going to be a long day.

Minazuki-sensei turned to me, her eyes conveying her relief at my mediation, "Thank you Inuzuka-san, I have to go now, but do be careful." And oh, how strange it was that I was referred to as 'Inuzuka-san' instead of 'Inuzuka-chan,' or even 'Mariko-chan.' It really put into perspective what my life was going to be like now, no longer was I 'child-chan' now I was 'fellow shinobi-san.'

Another, not so subtle reminder that this world was very, very different from my last world.

Nodding seriously, I bid her farewell before turning to the small group of 11 year olds. All 7 of them stared at me and I could feel the judgemental stares coming from them, and the silent questions so similar to the ones I'd heard the last time I'd been here.

I grabbed the fear that was building in my stomach and shoved it down. I was a shinobi, a genin. I would not be intimidated by a bunch of Academy students. I refused. I had some pride in myself, thank you very much.

"Team C, you will be coming with me to," I read through the first mission scroll, "To weed Moriyaki-san's garden, then we will babysit Tanaka-san's children, and then we will go on to collect trash near the naka river." I glanced up at the older children, "After that we will be helping out in the hospital, and finally we will be walking the Inuzuka's dogs." A quiet murmur of assent and we were off.

As said before, D-ranks were the worst.

What was even worse was the complete disrespect being shown to me by one Tamaki Yamamoto. I could understand that it rankled his ego to be ordered around by a 6 year old, however, what I couldn't accept was his complete refusal to even attempt to speak to me in a civil tone.

He continuously disregarded the orders I gave him, the simplest instructions and he found a way to turn it against me. It was tiring to say the least.

Being an Inuzuka gave me extraordinarily sharp senses, my sense of smell being far stronger than a regular human, even a fellow shinobi. Tamaki, for some reason or another, decided to use this against me in an attempt to ease his bruised ego. He'd very, very deliberately tried to lead us through the worst-smelling parts of Konoha.

For example, the fish-market. I. Hated. The. Smell. Of. Fish.

Now, cooked fish I could deal with, it even tasted nice on occasion. But freshly gutted and scaled fish. No thank you. Just, no.

Of course, what also didn't help was his very clear declaration after we'd finished babysitting, "I'm not going to do what you tell me to, anymore." I blinked. Did he just? My gaze flattened, and I smiled with too many teeth to be friendly, "Tamaki-san. You seem to labouring under the misconception that because of your age you hold superiority over me." I stepped forward and was gratified to see that my words had given him pause.

"Right now, I am team-leader. Do you know what that means?" I paused, "That means that for the duration of our time together, you will be doing what I tell you to do. The village cannot afford for a team to be…" Again I paused, looking for the words to make the idea I wanted to get across make sense, "Incompatible, at the moment. Therefore I would appreciate you to stop deliberately sabotaging the missions that we have."

I looked at him in the eye, Silver meeting his green, "So… Truce?" God, how lame, "Truce." He grunted back at me, looking away. It seemed he'd at least try to stop being so antagonising.

Success!

The rest of the week passed in quick succession. Tamaki and I would never get along, it seemed. Though, thankfully the outright resentment he'd shown was hidden. Obvious if you looked for, but hidden at least.

Finishing the last mission of the day, I bid them all farewell and jumped onto the nearest roof. Roof hopping was amazing, the wind in my ears and the sheer freedom I felt was breathtaking, I assumed that the awe would fade with time, but for now I just enjoyed it.

Arriving back at the compound, I dropped to the ground and nodded at the on-duty clansmen, Kouga Inuzuka was a laid-back guy, a career Chūnin he was assigned to guard the compound, no one wanted an Itachi from their clan.

"How was your day, Mariko-chan?" I startled. No one really talked to me in the clan, and I ended up staring at him in shock a few seconds too long to be polite before I pulled myself back together.

"It… was alright, Kouga-san," I trailed off awkwardly, and was so thankful when he didn't point out my incompetence with social interaction, "Maa, Mariko-chan, no need to call me 'san,' just call me Kouga." A toothy grin took up half his face, and his nin-ken barked in agreement.

I tentatively smiled back, "Alright, Kouga." He ruffled my hair as I walked past, "If you need some help with anything Mariko-chan, don't hesitate to ask, alright? We're clan, so we help each other, got it?" I nodded, a much bashful grin lighting up my face, "Got it."

My chest felt warm, and it… it was nice, to be acknowledged as part of the clan. To so clearly be claimed as one of theirs.

As I walked into my house, the feeling was quick to leech away, leaving an eerily familiar cold in my chest. The house was practically silent. That wasn't right. The house was never silent, there was always noise here, either Akimaru and Harumaru whining and barking, or Obaa-san walking around cooking at this hour. It was silent.

There was a note on the dining table and I padded over to take a look, 'Brat, away on a mission. Kouga and co will look after you while I'm gone. Take care. - Obaa-san. P.S. Akimaru and Harumaru are with Kouga and co.' Well, that explained why Kouga had told me to ask him for help if I needed it.

I gazed around the empty room for a while, it was… very different to what it was usually like, and I… I didn't like it. It wasn't home without Obaa-san, without Tou-san. With their presence missing, the house wasn't a home.

A knock on the front of the door alerted me to another person on the property. Opening the door, it was Kouga, "Hey, Mariko-chan," Nodding to the note in my hand, "I guess you got your Obaa-san's note, you'll be living with me and my sibling for a bit, till things cool down." I glanced back into the darkened hallway, "I'll… get my things then."

I walked back into the house, "You can come in, if you want," Kouga nodded, following me inside. Walked into the living room, "I'll wait here, you go grab your stuff." Nodding I went and did just that. I hesitated for a moment, before leaving with him.

Dinner was a quiet affair, it was only me and Kouga in a too-big house. I guess it had to be big if it kept Kouga and his siblings together. While we ate, Kouga told me about his siblings, there was Arashi, who was, as the name implied, a very volatile person who loved his family, Tsumiko, who was far more gentle in her love, and finally himself. All 3 of them had lived together since their parents had passed in the Third Shinobi War.

Just before I went to bed, he'd squeezed my shoulder, a serious look crossing his features, "Don't worry too much about your family, Mariko-chan," He'd told me, "You Tou-san and Obaa-san are strong, they'll come back," He grinned then, "After all, they've got you to come back to you."

Kouga was nice. Far nicer than I'd first given him credit for.

I still missed Tou-san and Obaa-san.

Kouga was good company, he drew me into conversation about certain things and helped me learn to communicate better with my Ninken. Akimaru and Harumaru were incorporated into my attacks and he helped me understand the basics of the techniques I'd learn once my body grew enough to handle them properly.

He understood that I had trouble connecting with people my own age, and he helped me with social interactions. He... he never made me feel judged by my incompetence with actually speaking to people outside of missions, he helped me differentiate Inuzuka body language and normal Shinobi body language so that I'd be able to not completely misread a room because I'd mistaken X for Y.

Without fail we'd eat together each night, and each night I'd grow a little bit closer to the clan that I had previously dismissed as uncaring towards me. He showed me how they did care, and he helped me learn how to react to their care in a way they'd understand from one of their own.

Because I was, one of their own that is. Inuzuka were different from the other clans, they were far more entwined with their canine side and thus had different ways of reacting to certain things, I hadn't known that and my previous misconceptions were corrected and my terms with the clan improved incredibly.

It was on a lazy day, the first in about a month that I'd realised, relaxing in the sun, with Akimaru, Harumaru, and a few other members of the clan, that I realised why they were acting in the way they were.

They didn't want another Itachi. The village didn't want another Itachi. So of course they would try to connect with the latest Prodigy, the latest genius. A way to keep a leash on somebody. A way to keep a leash on me.

After all, why would a prodigy go insane if they had friends, solid ties that would bind them ever closer to the village?

It was a method, a way to see if their newest prodigy was going to go insane.

It hurt to realise this... but I really should have seen it coming. Konoha, for all it put up the front of being the nicest Shinobi village, was still, at heart, a Shinobi Village. Why else would the people who had always called me different, strange, separate have a complete change in attitude towards me?
Everything was so clear when you put it into perspective.

I didn't turn them away, but I became noticeably colder. My smiles became less... real, and more fake.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all. I wanted to shout about how, how cruel they were being, how hypocritical. But I couldn't.

Konoha wasn't a nice place.

And as I held in the screams and bore the quiet accusations, I thought, 'Lesson learned, Konoha. Lesson Learned.'

So, new chapter, sorry it took longer than usual, I had a bit of trouble remembering who was who so I had to re-read the previous chapters a bit.

Anyway! The story has finally hit a little bit of Canon that affects Mariko in a way we can see her react to!
Sorry to those of you who wanted her to do something about the massacre! But Mariko is only a newly-minted genin, she can't exactly do much about something that has been years in the making!

As always, Have a great day! ~ Sytry

(I don't own Naruto, it's the property of Masashi Kishimoto.)