Chapter Ten: Nostalgia and Training on the Road

"We reach the Village Hidden in the Stones tomorrow," Kakashi said, shaking Naruto wake. "As we're only retrieving documents from their Kage, I doubt that we'll come across any trouble. However, I think that we should be prepared, just in case."

"What do you mean, 'prepared?'" Sasuke asked.

"Since Sayuri-san has never fought with us before, we're going to train together today in two-man groups. After a while, we'll trade partners, until all five of us have worked together for at least an hour."

Naruto nodded.

"Uh-huh…so, who trains with who?"

"You'll train first with Sakura-chan, while I go over our gear and sharpen weapons. Sasuke, Sayuri-san…you two work together."

Sayuri scowled; so did Sasuke. Kakashi sighed and beckoned for both Sasuke and Sayuri to walk with him, as Naruto and Sakura immediately began to practice her Genjutsu and his chakra control.

"Sayuri-san, I've already told Sasuke you became a genin four years before everyone else your age."

"Anything else, Sempai?"

"Why do you call Kakashi 'sempai'?" Sasuke asked.

"He's not my sensei, he's a fellow shinobi."

"Whatever."

Kakashi cleared his throat loudly. "To answer your question, Sayuri-san, I also told him how you were another victim of the Mangekyo Sharingan, how long you were in the hospital, and where you were after that."

"The Fire Temple?"

"Yes. And I'm sure that Sasuke has quite a few questions to bomb you with. Question each other all you like, but Sasuke?"

"What?"

"Don't get too personal about the past."

"Hn."

"And I told you not to make that noise."

"Tch."

"That's better."

"So…what did you want to ask me, Sasuke-kun?" Sayuri asked, after Kakashi had taken half their weapons to inspect, leaving them the other half to train with.

"What's the real reason you use Water Clones instead of Shadow Clones?" Sasuke asked, making hand signs for his Fire Style Jutsu.

"I already told Naruto-kun, my Water Clones are stronger. Do you want me to show you?"

"It might convince me that it's the only reason."

"Fine, Water Clone Jutsu!" Sayuri said, producing a single clone, which looked at her expectantly. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"I don't see any difference," Sasuke said.

"Fight them."

"What?"

"Fight them," Sayuri repeated. "Then you'll see what I mean."

"Okay…"

"Use your Sharingan," Sayuri said. "You'll see it faster."

"Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!"

Both Water and Shadow Clones jumped out of the way, but one slightly faster than the other, Sasuke noted, looking closely with his Sharingan.

"Throw weapons!" Sayuri commanded, joining her clones in the "fight." "We can train while I prove my point. You know which is which, right?"

"Yeah, I can tell!" Sasuke said, running ahead on the path while drawing his shuriken.

"Duck!" Sayuri's Shadow Clone yelled at her, while her Water Clone threw a kunai at Sasuke.

"Here!" Sayuri dug into her bag and threw a shuriken at Sasuke; he actually smiled.

"Demon Wind Shuriken!" He threw it straight between both Clones, who dodged. There was a puff of smoke, but no water.

"You hit the Shadow Clone," Sayuri panted. "My Water Clones are always faster. And they can take more than one hit before vanishing. You got my Water Clone too, see."

She pointed to her double's ankle. Looking closely, Sasuke could see a cut; but water, instead of blood, dribbled down the Clone's foot. Sayuri dismissed her clone, which fell into a puddle before soaking into the road.

"I see," Sasuke said.

"My turn to ask a question," Sayuri said, pulling out her water flask.

"What?"

"What's with glaring at me all the time? It's annoying."

"I'm not glaring."

"Not now, but you were."

"Tch."

"I can't help what happened in the past, Sasuke-kun. The Hokage thought that I needed special training, and that your brother would be the best to teach me."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Special training... What could the Third possibly have seen in you that he didn't see in anyone else in our class?"

"I was more advanced in some areas," Sayuri shrugged, pulling Sasuke's shuriken from the ground.

"What areas?"

"Chakra control, Ninjutsu... Genjutsu isn't required to pass the Genin graduation exam… Accuracy with weapons..."

"And what were you taught during your training?"

"How to think on a battlefield, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, what my chakra element was and how to control it…"

"Basically everything we had to learn."

"Yes."

"How fast did you learn it?"

"As fast as you would have, I guess," Sayuri shrugged, aiming a kunai at Sasuke's stomach; he caught it easily. "Just…faster…"

"That makes no sense."

"I only had one sensei. You had several. I trained nonstop all day, on everything all at once, and I had to learn it then. You spent weeks on the same subject. So, while you and everyone else were able to take your time learning, I didn't have that luxury. Besides, if I didn't show immense progress, I would have had to join your class again, and I wouldn't have been able to stay where I was."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I would have had to go back to my parents' house," Sayuri muttered bitterly.

"Oh." Sasuke said nothing. He remembered perfectly well how Sayuri had reacted anytime someone had mentioned her family when she was at his house…

"Hello? Sasuke? Do you hear me?"

"Huh?"

"Stay sharp, Pretty Boy, or you're going to end up with a kunai in your head."

"Hn."

Boom!!!

"Or a foot blown off!" Sayuri giggled; Sasuke gaped at her in disbelief.

Sayuri was holding a small box of what looked like paper tags. But when she held one up, Sasuke could see that it was really just a label. The real bomb was tiny, and, upon closer inspection, looked a lot more like…a heart.

"I also learned to find my own specialty!" Sayuri grinned. "I think these are made of spruce. They're really more of a distraction; all they do is make a big bang."
"Are you crazy?!?" Sasuke yelled; Sayuri just broke into hysterics.

"He--here!" she gasped, holding out a bright blue heart. "They're color-coded according to how loud they are, and how much smoke they'll give off. The brighter the blue, the higher pitched the bang. The darker the blue, the deeper the bang, try one!"

Sasuke looked at her skeptically; Sayuri shrugged.

"They're still a work in progress, but they're perfectly safe!"

"It's a bomb."

"Well, as safe as a bomb can be."

"And all it does is make noise?"

"Yup! It's supposed to make a lot more smoke than that one earlier did, but I guess I didn't use enough bar~"

"So, I can throw this at someone, and they won't get hurt?"

"No. It's like I told you, it's just a distraction. If you want a real bomb, then you should try these! Sasuke-kun, wait!"

Sayuri ran after Sasuke, who was clearly headed straight towards Naruto.

"It's still undergoing some work! I haven't perfected it yet! Damn it, Uchiha, get back here!!!"

BANG!

"Argh!" Naruto jumped out of Sasuke's way, just as the Uchiha genin threw the "heart" at him.

"What the hell was that?!?" he yelled at Sasuke; Kakashi glanced up, and then decided to ignore the oncoming argument.

"It's one of Sayuri's, ask her," Sasuke said with a shrug and a smirk, bending down to pick up the spent bomb.

"Wait, Sasuke-kun! It's not--"

BANG!

"--done." Sayuri sighed as Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were all engulfed in a huge puff of purple-grey smoke. Kakashi came to stand beside the ANBU, who crossed her arms, her head in her right hand.

"I told him I was still working on them," she said.

Kakashi sighed as well, saying, "Well, he can be a little rash sometimes, competing with Naruto. Let's just say…This is Sasuke's version of being immature."

"Sounds accurate," Sayuri said, head still in her hand, as she and Kakashi heard Sasuke yelling inside the smoke, "You said you hadn't used enough bark!!!"

"I know I said that!" Sayuri yelled back. "I just didn't say which one!"

"WHAT?!?!" Naruto yelled.

"The dark bombs don't have enough bark!" Sayuri cried. "The lighter bombs do!"
"This is enough!" Sakura screeched. "I can't see anything! Sasuke-kun, do something!"

"I'm trying! You're hugging my throat, Sakura, I can't breathe!"

"That's me!"

"Ugh, get off me, Naruto!" Sasuke yelled at the blond.

Kakashi sighed. "Is there anyway to get rid of all this smoke?" he asked.

"Uh…"

"Sayuri-san?"

"Well, it's really a distraction," she said. "It's meant to slow the enemy down by confusion."

"Well, they're confused alright," Kakashi said as they heard Sasuke continue to yell at Naruto for grabbing him around the waist, only to find out that this time it had been Sakura.

Sayuri sighed. "Maybe a lot of wind would clear the smoke just long enough for them to see and come to us," she said after examining the tag on another bomb, identical to the one Sasuke had thrown. "C2, C1, traces of Spruce…H2...Um, we might want to get them out of there soon…"

"Why? None of what you just said is toxic."

"No, but they are starting to cough really badly…" Sayuri said. Sure enough, all three could be heard coughing. "Breathe through your nose, Naruto-kun!" she yelled; his coughing was the worst.

"Why are they coughing so soon after the explosion?" Kakashi asked. "Most smoke bombs are clean enough that--"

"It's just the color," Sayuri said. "The purple mixing with the grey…it's almost like a Genjutsu. The smoke is thin and clean enough, that a shinobi can breathe it for nearly an hour before it begins to irritate the throat. But I designed the purple smoke to swirl around and in the grey smoke; it tricks the mind into thinking that the smoke is really much, much more dense."

"Ah. I see how that could work," Kakashi said, pulling up his forehead protector and peering at the smoke through his left eye.

"Do you see how it works now, Sempai?" Sayuri asked, before yelling, "Sakura-chan, think of it as a Jutsu!"

Sakura's coughing ceased almost immediately, and both shinobi could soon hear her calming Sasuke and Naruto's coughing.

"Yes…Sasuke!" Kakashi yelled. "Use the Sharingan! Do you see where the two smokes separate?"

"Yeah!"

"Run through the smoke at its thinnest point!" Sayuri yelled; moments later, all three genin were in front of Sayuri and Kakashi, gasping.

Finally, Naruto whacked Sasuke in the back of the head.

"Baka!" he yelled. "Just what the heck were you thinking?"

"Oh, shut up, you loser!" Sasuke yelled.

Sayuri just sighed, uncrossing her arms and handing her water flask to Sakura, who smiled sheepishly.

"It was kind of like a Genjutsu, right, Sayuri-chan?" she said, taking a grateful drink.

"Yeah, that's how it's meant to be," Sayuri said. "My Genjutsu is weak compared to my teammates, so I make up for it in my other abilities."

"Did you make that bomb?"

"Yeah. It's not finished yet, I can't believe Sasuke-kun just took off with it like that!"

Sakura just shrugged. "He's been acting strangely lately, ever since we started this mission."

"It's because of me, isn't it?"

"No!" Sakura said, too quickly; Sayuri raised an eyebrow and the pink-haired kunoichi sighed. "Maybe…"

"Maybe…?"

"Well…Yeah. I mean, you were always at his house when we were all still academy students. Maybe you just remind him of his family too much."

"I guess…" Sayuri glanced over at Sasuke and Naruto, who were deep in an argument, with Kakashi standing between them, on hand holding Icha Icha Paradise, the other on Naruto's shoulder, holding him away from Sasuke, who had his arms crossed.

"You want to train together for now?" Sayuri asked.

"Sure."