Author's Note: Training is starting to go much faster now that characters and character relationships are more established. With that said, not all chapters will be as "go, go, go" as this. I will try to alternate chapters which focus on one big issue, and chapters which focus on a long line of smaller issues in something like a series of drabbles.
Hinata is not featured heavily in this chapter, but she will be in the next one.
I hope you enjoy.
Second Author's Note: Someone reminded me, I forgot to put this in.
I made a few changes to the Uzumaki massacre.
I don't think any Hidden Village, even Konoha or Uzu, could survive four major powers hitting them at once. So in my idea of the Third War, there's Suna and Iwa, then Konoha and its allies. I just think that's more realistic.
I also want Suna to have been involved in the Uzumaki massacre for part 2 plot related reasons.
10.
"Your next academic lesson will be in history and geography. We will do a complete study of the geography of the Elemental Countries, and the history of the Elemental Countries - of course, with a special emphasis on Konoha and Fire Country," said Koharu. Kama was sitting below her at the kitchen table. "You will label a map, write essays, and take tests. You will learn about wars, alliances, and everything in between. Yes?"
Kama had raised her hand.
"Can I also learn about the history of the Uzumaki and Uzu?" she asked.
Koharu looked saddened for a moment. "Of course," she said quietly.
From there, Kama really struggled with history. Not with geography - visually memorizing and labeling a map was easy for her. She didn't really have a problem with the lectures or note taking either - Koharu had taught her note taking skills, and Koharu-sensei always kept the lectures really interesting and easy for a child to understand. They went from the chaotic Warring States period, through the formation of countries and Hidden Village military bases, and into the Great Ninja wars. Alliances were broken and formed. Interesting stuff.
No, what Kama struggled with was memorizing history and regurgitating it back on a test.
She didn't do well memorizing auditory, non-visual information, and this went way beyond stamping in a certain pattern to remember a code. She studied hard, and still failed. It was extremely frustrating. Especially because, particularly with the information about her parents and clan, she did really want to do well on this.
Finally, after she failed the first two tests, Koharu sat her down and taught her about flowcharts. "You can make different dates flow into each other with arrows, and then memorize that visual chart," she said. "Kind of like you memorized the map for geography."
Kama proved good at memorizing even the most visually complex flow charts, and so this helped her history memorizing skills significantly.
She learned more and more about the Uzumaki and the history of her own people - for example, she learned their swirl symbol, and started seeing it around on Konoha ninja Chuunin vests, an emblem of the Senjuu's friendship with the Uzumaki and Konoha's closeness to the former Uzu. She also learned that the Uchiha clan, and the Senjuu-Uzumaki, shared a bitter rivalry - and she learned about the great Uchiha massacre that had wiped out most of that clan. Uchiha were now as scarce as Uzumaki themselves.
She didn't want to risk people speculating by seeing her wear the Uzumaki clan symbol openly around on her clothes - she wanted to avoid outing her parentage to the entire world unless she absolutely had to, as she had learned through her history lessons just how many enemies her parents and clan had made during the Third War. (Her father, the mythical Golden Flash, had decimated entire Suna and Iwa armies single handedly, her mother had become known as the Red Hot Habanero because of her viciousness and short temper and her whirl of red hair, and her clan of course had been seen as so dangerous that they were purposefully slaughtered by two combined armies - and they'd taken a lot of Suna and Iwa ninja down along with them.) However, she did add her Uzumaki ancestors and relatives to the Buddhist shrine in her home, and she draped an Uzumaki clan symbol tapestry on one of her bedroom walls.
Hinata never asked about this, though she must have guessed - just like she never asked about the way Kama was sometimes whispered about in the streets. Kama was grateful for that. Hinata knew when not to push an issue, and she accepted Kama just as she was, secrets and all.
"Granny, I don't know about this." Kama was perched on a rooftop, about to try to jump to the opposite rooftop. She was also going to have to learn to jump between trees. There was a mattress in the alley between the two buildings.
Kama perched on the red swirl roof above the small white stucco building and stared down at the ground far below her dubiously.
"You have to be able to jump," Koharu mandated from the ground, hands on her hips. "A true and expert ninja could jump from the top of the huge wooden wall surrounding the village, and all the way to the ground."
"A true and expert ninja is insane," said Kama flatly.
"It's not like you to be so cautious and afraid, Kama," said Koharu curiously, half-mocking.
Kama took a deep, Zen-like breath, and sighed. "Alright," she said, faux bored, rolling her eyes. "Here I go to my death."
And she jumped.
"Your next kunoichi art is in calligraphy, or shodo. You will learn the perfect, creative writing of characters, as well as zengo and haiku," said Koharu at the table.
"Creative? Zengo? Haiku?" Kama was puzzled. She wasn't even sure where to start.
"I say creative because, although the characters do have to be perfect, a shodo piece should also be creative. The words should all flow out at once, and it is considered sacrilege to back and touch up the work later. You can use any combination of all three kinds of characters - kanji, hiragana, and katana. Just make sure they're meaningful and say what you want them to say.
"Zengo and haiku will be the particular things you write using shodo. Zengo are Zen Buddhist sayings - 'Nyoze', for example, or 'to take life as it is, not as we want it or don't want it to be.'
"Haiku is poetry. The syllable structure is five for the first line, seven for the middle, five for the last. The idea of the seven should act as a bridge between the idea of the two fives. You may see haiku written in three lines to make it look simpler, but true haiku should all be in one line.
"The other kind of hanging scroll involves ink painting. You are a painter, so we will go through a brief lesson as well in how to paint using ink."
So Kama learned about the various kinds of ink, brushes, and calligraphic paper, and then she got to practicing techniques. Her handwriting was messy, she got ink all over herself all the time, and she made countless errors. Koharu would keep barking and barking at her until she got better and better.
This was one of the hardest things for Kama, because in mastering the art of hanging scrolls she also had to master perfectionism, something she wasn't too terribly good at. Once she had started to get the hang of it though, many weeks later, it became kind of fun. Kama enjoyed puzzles and being creative, and the art of hanging scrolls involved both.
"There is another kind of lesson only kunoichi learn, and I want you to guess what it is," said Koharu.
Kama straightened. "Okay."
"So, learning the techniques of romantic seduction is important. Looking beautiful and alluring on an infiltration mission is important. But if you're going to seduce a foreign man, what's also important?"
"... Researching him," Kama realized, "and his culture."
"Exactly," said Koharu, nodding. "Researching the individual man and his personality, you will have to do yourself, though you will get lessons later in how to act depending on what kind of man you are dealing with. But for now, we can teach you about the cultures of other countries and Hidden Villages - and that is exactly what I plan to do.
"Take our current closest ally, Suna, for example. Suna is in Wind. It is a desert place, with a very strict spirituality. The Kazekage are seen as minor gods and the current Kazekage even insists on only being addressed while the person is kneeling, from behind a screen and a veil. This strictness means the people of Suna are more serious, value tradition highly, and have a strict code of hierarchy and a complex system of honor. They do not always agree with our more… idealistic view of ninja life.
"They value water greatly, because water is very limited there. Their traditional clothes involve more sashes, soft cloth, and rich colors. Their buildings are rounded adobe. Sandstorms happen there often. Their village is protected in a valley by great walls of rock on all sides. Their country's signature food are Sand dumplings, available only in the country of Wind.
"Not all of this will come up during an infiltration mission, of course, but you don't know which parts might be. So it's best to be prepared for all of it.
"You will also learn how to interact with other foreigners as a Konoha ninja. For example, if an enemy ninja ever invades Konoha wearing a foreign hitai-ate, it is your job to ask them their purpose in the village or else make defensive maneuvers against them - even if they are from an allied village. That's why ambassadors from foreign villages wear their pass badge somewhere on their clothes."
Kama nodded seriously, taking this in. She was curious, she would admit - particularly morbidly curious about Suna and Iwa.
"Your next clan training will be in ninjutsu," said Granny Koharu out in a training field near a river. "The Uzumaki, whirlpool people, specialize in wind and water ninjutsu. You should be exceptional in both - your mother's specialty was water, your father's was wind. Uzumaki have the unique ability to pull water from the air, but before that we'll have you master taking water from this river.
"So here's how the training will go. First you will learn water and wind separately. Then you will learn to pull water from the air.
"And finally, you will learn how to use water and wind together in the infamous Uzumaki Whirlpool technique, an ability only your clan will be able to grasp. A gigantic whirlpool of water is smashed into the victim from the air, drowning them."
Kama smirked - looked down at the hand seals on the scroll, and went through them.
They learned something important. In small techniques that required lots of control, Kama sucked.
The big techniques she could get in a matter of hours. If it weren't for her bad chakra control, she would be what traditional ninja called genius.
"For the weaponry section, you will use a variety of different weapons, keeping them inside your sealing scrolls in your weapons pouches," said Koharu. "Traditional modern Academy teachings involve you learning kunai and shuriken, as well as some other basic tools and maybe one or two special weapons.
"I do not agree with this. In Warring State times, you would have had to be a master of several both close and long range weapons. That is what I intend for you."
So they went through chains and cords, sticks and staffs, swords, kunai knives, shuriken, senbon needles, ninja wire, and explosive tags. Kama went through aiming at long distances for the face and arms, and fighting at close distance, light, speedy, and strong. She mastered swinging ninja wire to wrap around a target, prepped explosive tags and ran in series after series of explosions. She sparred with Koharu herself, which was again painful, but helped her improve quickly.
She also practiced unsealing weapons from sealing scrolls and swinging them upward to hit all in one quick, clean movement.