Cascade Chapter 8 edited: May2019, a naruto fanfic

Chapter 8:

Hi, I'm back! there was a lot of reasons for why this took so long, but rather than complain about them lets just get to the story.

Don't own Naruto etc, etc.

The light in Takigakure was always a little funny no matter what time of day it was, thanks to the canopy that covered the whole village. And the very early morning light was no different.

"Hey Shou… do you ever wonder if clouds are really a thing or are all the adults just playing a joke on us?"

"Brace your legs and place one hand on the scabbard, the other on the hilt. Good. Now keep your eyes on the spot you're aiming for." Even if by then I could have repeated every part of the process in my sleep, having been working on this technique for months now, the reminder kept my form clean.

Take for example the little secret garden-park with the giant root in it for the weirdness that was lighting in Hidden Waterfall. We didn't have a slow trickle of light breaking over the horizon. We didn't have a sky with a warm glow that grow stronger over time as the sky moved from black to gold to blue without you even noticing. Instead, we got long stretches of gloomy greys, and the increase in the light came in stutters and bursts, visibility increasing a hundredfold only as the sun found itself a new position that allowed more light to penetrate the leaves overhead. Sometimes shafts of light shined down into that garden onto a boy with a short sword, and sometimes they decided they liked better a girl sitting cross-legged nearby instead.

"I don't think Shibuki-sama would lie to me about something like that, and Senji-jiji said they are real too. But I've never seen little white balls of floating water. Water doesn't float, it falls! Everyone knows that," the girl continued. She kicked her legs up and out before returning to crossing them, put her hands on her knees and chin, and tried to look thoughtful. "And ninja are supposed to be good at lying, and Shibuki-sama is a ninja, so I can't always trust what he is saying, right?"

"Control your breath and fill the sheath of the sword with chakra, let it pool around the blade until it feels like there is no more space. Until the sheath starts to feel stretched across the surface of the sword. Press your thumb up against the handguard and focus." I readied myself just like always. Iaijutsu was not about just knowing about or being able to perform the technique. Rather, it was about the perfection of the technique through repetition.

In that way, it might be the fairest skill of them all: something everyone can learn to do but only those who are willing to commit the time will get real benefit from, or so I was told as I was taught it.

Outside of being a time-sink, the quick-draw was the type of disciplined skill that appealed to me; effective and cost-efficient, just like the poison mist technique. I may not be hurting when it comes to chakra, but I'm nothing special either, so I've grown to like the stuff that can at least potentially do the work of a rawer Jutsu at a leaner price tag.

Which was why I was willing to get up at five in the bloody morning to practice it every day. The early morning was really the only time of the day you can guarantee nothing else will get in the way, even as a child.

Though to be fair, getting up early is a lot easier when you go to bed not long after village turns off the light generator instead of staying up late using a computer.

In the end, I was glad my mother had taught me this chakra trick. It made it worthwhile to sheathe your sword in the middle of a fight.

"Maybe they are just an illusion! Like a Genjutsu! One big Genjutsu that's been placed on everyone to hide what's really going on…"

The girl hadn't changed much, a bit younger than me, around a year, and still in a pair of black knee shorts and a white t-shirt that had a little bit of dirt and stains on the sleeves, probably from all the time spent outside messing around. Still small and thin, not from malnourishment, just as someone who was meant to be built that way. As she sat there on the ground she stared at me in concentration. Her eyes still her most distinctive feature; Wide on her small, round head with orange, pupil-less eyes. They made her appear to always have a look of innocent wonder on her deep bronze-tanned face. The expression was framed by her short, layered mint green hair that was kept out of her face by an orange hair-clip, the only half-attempt at femininity that was on her.

"Once you're ready...dash forward and draw the sword." I moved and drew. A flash of steel—my ō-wakizashi bisected the foe through the middle.

"Better, or at least it's faster now than just swinging,"I thought to myself. The physical energy in the chakra would shoot the sword out of the scabbard with more force and acceleration, and the mental energy would carry along my intent...or at least, that's how the trick would work when I'd mastered it. If my first attempts felt like dragging an oar through solid dirt, then today would be dragging through water.

I dropped and rolled my arm back down and sheathed my sword. Even without cutting anything other than air, my shoulder was a little sore.

Now if I could just get the build-up to a reasonable time, it might become good to use in a fight. I smiled a little, looking down at the weapon in my hands.

If I had to thank mother for the technique, then I really had to thank Kono-sensei for the tool and the skill to use it. The ō-wakizashi, even if it was just a low-quality nameless blade, was still a better fit for me than the larger katana that he preferred. The smaller blade was more easily wielded one handed so that I could mix my Kenjutsu into my longer trained Taijutsu. I didn't really want to trade off one for the other, like I would have needed to do with the larger two-handed weapon.

I'd already made a few other trades, after all.

With the addition of the sword, my wardrobe had needed to change up a lot over the years. I finally did concede that my mother had a good point that what you are wearing is as much a weapon as anything else. There are just some things you can and cannot wear with a sheathe hanging off your hip, and if I was going to wear an actual weapon around the village, then pairing it with cheap hoodies and shorts was basically going unarmed in social combat.

In the end, with some prodding from her, I had settled into what might become my Genin 'uniform'.

At some point she had commissioned a loose-fitting blue silk kimono shirt with billowing, but not overlong sleeves. It had a vibrant green, purple, and brown print of a tree being strangled by the vines and flowers of the wisteria that my clan was named after. In comparison, the pair of black pants were a bit plain looking but made of the same materials and care. My weapons pouch sat on the left hip and my scabbard on my right. I had some calf-length shinobi sandals finishing off the look. Maybe I should say something about the light chain-mail with plates that all ninja wear? But you couldn't see it under all the rest, so...

My mother had said that the style was to subconsciously remind people of what was worn by members of the courts and upper nobility and give me an air of authority that I would not actually be owed. I thought that it was just her taste in clothes shining through.

"Maybe Kumogakure is really a village full of Genjutsu experts! And they're secretly using ninja in giant kites disguised as white blobs of water to spy on everyone and cast Genjutsu on them to slowly take over the world…"

I exhaled a little before turning back around. I wanted to look at her with as straight a face as possible. "Clouds are vapour, like mist, but high up instead of on the ground, that's why it floats until it condenses enough to be water again and falls. That's where the water that drips off the leaves comes from."

"Quickly Shou!" Fū shouted at me, having bolted up from her spot and grabbed me by the front of my kimono tightly. she was practically on the tips of her toes with her face was closer than was comfortable. Lips trembling, eyes teary, breath pretty bad. "We have to warn everyone about the Cloud conspiracy before it's too late!"

We stood there and stared at each other in silence for a bit, my face completely blank and hers in distress as seconds ticked by until…

"Pfft!" Like noise from a tea kettle coming to boil, a little snort of amusement escaped from my mouth. I gave her a little shake of my head and the smallest glance at a smirk before brushing her hands off me and turning away.

At the corner of my eye, I saw her trembling frown turn into a face-splitting grin. Pure mischief entered her eyes, and she gave herself a little fist pump in success before sitting back down and starting off on a new tangent.

I spent a little more time practising as the early morning moved to the regular morning, but now that Fū had 'won' our little game I didn't feel like letting her just sit there as I ignored her. So, I chose to finish up a bit early this time.

I cleaned off the sweat on my face and hands with a small fold-up towel from my pouch (and thanked The-whatever-there-is-up-there that ninja under-armour was great at locking in body smells) before heading off into the village. Fū was quick to jump up off the ground and walk beside me as we left the garden and back into the concrete around it. I started to listen properly only when she started making the transition from talking at me into talking to me.

"Finally! So, what are we doing now?", Fū asked as she falls into step, hands behind her head as she grins into the air, "You better not say 'to class' after I had to get up so early for you, and it's sooo boring having to wait for you guys to finish at class, wish I could go. Are the rest of the guys going to hang out today? Do you have train so early? Like seriously!"

"I do self-training early so it doesn't get in way of other stuff. And you don't have to come, you know, I've literally never asked you to." We made it onto the main road that cut though the centre of the village. Then I started shooting out answers at her. "Everyone is going to hang out at Josuke's today, like I told you, and there is no class today so, no, you don't have to wait. And don't let Saori-chan hear you complain about getting nothing but private training, you'll get strangled, especially as it sounds like you're skipping private training… And breakfast is my next stop, yes, you may come. Thanks for waiting for me to invite you before inviting yourself." Only the bare minimum of whining.

"Awesome! I like his place, His dad is cool, and I already had breakfast, but I guess I'll wait with you so you don't get lonely. It's no problem, that's what friends do!" She beamed me a moronic grin and thrust her fist in the air, nearly hitting a Chunin in the face. The man's face scrunched up like he was about to start yelling before he realised who she was and instead just moved on with a huff.

"…So those are the only parts you're not going to ignore huh?" I asked with no real hope, already knowing the truth.

"What do you mean, Shou?" Her head tilted like a dog trying to figure out where a sound was coming from.

"…Nothing," I replied with a sigh and a shake of my head, knowing that it wasn't worth the trouble. Instead I just looked around at some of the stalls that were starting up on the side of the road. After a moment my nose found what my eyes could not, and I hurried my pace, "I think old lady Kaya is making Bahn-mi-op-la, quick! Before she runs out!"

"You barely react when shown a new jutsu or given a present, but a sandwich can get you worked up enough to start running? You can be a bit of a weirdo sometimes Shou."

"…Just… stop talking and move it. I can't accept hearing that from you, it hurts my soul."

It started on that day in that secret garden where Fū had, literally, fallen into my lap.

After I had cooled down a little from nearly dying of bodily harm by a flying body, we had ended up talking for a while under the giant root about all the usual things kids who just meet ended up chatting about; favourite colour, what's your favourite game to play, how far can you throw pointy knives while maintaining academy-grade standard, etc.

Mostly it was just small talk, motivated on my part with the impulse to be polite combined with social training never to let go of an opportunity to manipulate someone so obviously lonely. She had latched on to the interaction like a starved animal, and I let it go on for few hours before trying to go home. When I finally got to leave Fū stopped me for a second to make sure that I know that we were now 'friends forever' before running off with a smile and a skip, which was about expected for what I'd seen of her type.

Still, only after I made it home and met Mother — waiting at a living room table set with cold tea and a smile rare enough that its number was huge: No. 89, with eyes crescents, cheeks tense, teeth bared like fangs — after I met her and explained why exactly I was so late...only after that, did I learn exactly which Fū it was that I had just let become emotionally attached to me.

"..."

Give me a break! How was I supposed to recognise the real version of a drawn character? Who, I might add, was not only younger then she was in the story, but also was a character that just had, like, six lines in the manga and an appearance in a filler-arc that I only watched bits of on YouTube when I was bored?

(That arc had something to do with a Chunin exam, right? It's been a while.)

To give credit where it was due, the only part of the meeting that Mother cared about was that I made a good impression on the ward of Hisen-sama and Shibuki-sama. Though like always with her, it was up in the air whether her nonchalance was from an enlightened understanding of the nature of Jinchūriki, or she just didn't see anything wrong with being on good terms with a child possessing demon.

I, on the other hand, had started to freak out. Privately. Later, in my room, after I got sent to bed with no supper except a sample of Taki prison food.

Of course, after deciding to avoid the story like the plague, I met the one person in the village that could drag me into it head first and screaming.

Oh, no. Fate was an actual thing in this world, isn't it? And it was trying to kill me.

One day I was going to be minding my own business when Fū walks up to me and then bam, suddenly Akatsuki! And I get killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Is that why there wasn't a Fujimori Shou in that story? Because he got killed off screen with the seven-tails? What were the names of those two guys looking after her? Was I one of them? I can't remember what they looked like, would I even know what I looked like as a drawing? What if…

And so my thoughts went, until I finally managed to stop and push down my panicking emotions and think about it with a clear mind.

Breath in, breath out.

This situation was fixable. We were both around the same age and lived in a small village; we were bound to meet at some point, it just happened to be then. Could have easily been in a playground earlier or on a mission later. Blaming fate for something statistically likely was just stupid. And I couldn't be on the same team as her as l was at least a year older than her and already had some idea who I was going to be spending my Genin days with. This was not some 'call to destiny' or some shit like that.

I still had a choice.

(Was it statistically likely? What was Taki's population? How many people our age is there, what was the probability...)

Well, anyway, I chose the logical path to keep my distance from a girl marked for death, even if I had to be a bit mean about it.

The delicious sandwiches were bought and eaten. Mission accomplished we once again were on the road and on the way to the Nijimura compound. Now with full stomachs and contentment in our souls. Or at least my soul, Fū complained about it being a little too greasy, but she was a proven heretic who liked things like canned meat, kale-juice and dry noodles, so her opinion was of no value.

When I had told Fū today's plan, I had forgotten something and had to ask her to wait one minute for me. Explaining that I just had to pick up something before running over to a small apartment building we had passed on the way when I noticed that a certain widow had its lights on. Jumping up onto the walkway for the second floor, I knocked on the door three times before I stood back and waited. It was not long before nondescript man, probably a Chunin, in plain clothes and with still slightly wet hair opened to door and muttering a quick hello before giving me the 'what is it kid?" look.

"Hi, you're Abe-san right?" I asked, basic smile number 5 quickly plastered on my face, and pulled out of my pocket a slip of paper I've had been keeping on me for a while, "This was the place the mission-slip said you were staying. I'm here for pick up No: IV-443-02?"

"Oh, right, yes, I have it," The man muttered as he grabbed the paper out of my hand and looked over it, "just give me one sec," he said before closing the door and leaving me there to wait, again.

That was one of the problems with living in a village without active trade. If you wanted something that was not part of the basic stock in the supply deposits or the one convenience shop near the lake, then you had to get it yourself, or you had to pay someone to get it for you.

This system was created to deal with the problem. Rather than pay for a full mission for what was essentially just a shopping trip, you would tell the mission desk what you wanted and hand over the money needed to buy it plus pay a small fee. Then when a Chunin is next assigned a mission near where they could find what you asked for, a little sub-mission to get it will be added to their job. Only after they were on their way back home and done with their real mission, obviously. You got what you wanted, and the Chunin gets a little pocket change.

It was too bad you might be waiting forever for someone to be sent to the right place. And for them to finish their mission and come back, not to mention that they might not be able to find what you were looking for or just not bother and pretended that they couldn't find it and if this was the case... Then the whole process would just start all over again.

It was a shit system, but it was still better than having to pay for a full C ranked mission to do a bit of shopping, even if what I had gotten myself this time was a bit special.

A moment later the man was back and passed me a package. And after the expected polite words and semi-bows he wasted no time in closing the door and going back to whatever it was he was doing. I quickly made my way back with the package resting under my arm to where Fū was waiting for me with questioning, but slightly excited look on her face. With practically sparkling eyes she asked the expected, "what's in the box?"

"Stuff", was my simple reply as I calmly walked passed her, face carefully blank as I picked a little bit of fluff on my shoulder.

"What stuff?" Was her quick reply as she re-joined me, leaning towards me to get a better look at the box I was holding, like always wholly ignoring little things like personal space. I push her face out of mine before replying.

"My stuff," I said, doing my best not to smirk.

"No, I meant what is it."

"A box. Just like you said."

"Herr…," Fū lets out a little sound as she pouts at me before looking me dead in the eye, "Shou… tell me what's in the box."

"What is in the box is for me and not anything that you need to worry about," I replied calmly, still fighting to not show my amusement at her growing irritation. Karma needed to be savoured; I already got so few chances to be the one who was ticking her off as it was.

"Oh, but I think I do need to worry about it." She shot back still eyeing the box with a hungry look, "See, as long as I don't know what it is then it could be anything! What if it is a bomb, huh? That means that a friend of mine might or might not be about to blow up. As long as we don't know what's in the box, then there might or might be a chance, so if you think about it, the only way to be safe is to open the box!" she nodded at this with her hands on her hips, the logical, to her mind, undeniable.

"Small problem with that theory," I replied with the same calm tone I've been using, "I do know what's in the box, and it's not a bomb." I was smirking now, no longer able to hold it back.

"… Please, Shou, pretty, please? Aren't we friends?" And now she was just resorting to whining and puppy dog eyes, "We've known each other for years now, you can trust me to be quite right? And it's not like it's something embarrassing like….," She trailed off as some underused light bulb goes off in her head. A shocked look plastered itself across her face as her head kind of twisted back and forth to look at the box and then at my face in quick secession. A little confused but still amused I just raise a questioning eyebrow and wait for her to explain.

A fatal mistake.

Slowly, judgingly, she raised her hand and pointed at me, eyes wide in pure shock and absolute conviction as she screams out in that sharp but clear way only young girls can, "There is a Naughty Book in there!"

Silence. Not just between Fū and myself, but the whole street goes quite as everyone turns towards the loud sound. Halve a dozen people staring at us, at me, and the box in my hands. Judging and condemning with their eyes in the way only a group of people from a conservative culture could do.

For fuck's sake.

Glaring at the finger pointed at me, I grabbed it and twisted it with a growl while pulling her by the index swiftly down the road and away from the crowd.

"Ow, ow, owy! Let go!"

"Dammit Fū, if that spreads then I'm going to use you as target practice," I grumbled but did let go, once again the one ticked off, "you can't just yell stuff in the middle of the street like that, I keep telling you my mom has a thing with how people see you. If she heard people say I made a spectacle of myself, she'll double my etiquette training." After a moment I remembered to add "And no, it's not a 'Naughty Book'. It's something for training and I'm not telling you more."

"Sorry, Shou. I didn't mean to embarrass you." She said as she nursed her finger, giving me sad, wide eyes and a trembling lip when I shot her another glare.

"You absolutely meant to embarrass me." I cut off her bullshit straight away. Fū may have been similar to how Naruto was shown to be in that story, with a bit of genuine Cloudcuckoolander mixed in. But don't let that fool you, she is not in any way dim. when Fū causes a scene, she knows exactly what she is doing more often than not.

"… Ya, I did." She admitted as her smile returned and that flash of mischief shines in her eyes before it was hidden away again.

After that, we continued down the road again silently for a bit. But I know that is was only a matter of time before…

"So… Seriously, what is in the box?" Fū started up once more without missing a beat.

I just signed at her, but an amused smile did tug at my lips, it was not like I didn't know more than anyone that Fū just does not just give up when she gets going.

It was late the next day that I next saw Fū. It was the first evening training session with Kono-sensei, just some basic stuff for him to see where I was at, so he could decide what to start teaching me when she made it to the field we were using.

Apparently, she had spent the whole day running around the village looking for me if the slightly tired look she had was anything to go by, a look that disappeared and was replaced with a bright smile the moment she saw me. The girl quickly run up and shouted a greeting, a greeting Kono-sensei responded to with a hesitant half-wave and a raised eyebrow in slight confusion at the sudden increase in small children.

I ignored her and kept on practising with the bamboo stick I was given.

The silence treatment should near be underestimated when it comes to ways get young children to go away. Not only do they hate it and want to leave when it happens, but they are not experienced enough to know that it was not their fault that people won't talk to them. So, the child tends to get mad or upset at themselves more than the one who is ignoring them. An important distinction when it comes to chasing away a Jinchūriki.

… Don't look at me like that. I… I just couldn't you know? Are you telling me you never walked past a homeless person or didn't help someone getting bullied before? Now imagine if you know that there was a chance, you don't know how big of a one, that giving that homeless person a coin or confronting that bully will get you killed.

I'm not that good of a guy. Just because I know Fū was a sweet kid and lonely and had a sympathetic backstory, that did not mean I was going to get involved with someone I know had the meanest group of criminals in the elemental nations after her head.

I did still feel like a scumbag as that bright smile slowly faded and was replaced with a new look after a minute of trying to get me to respond she realised what I was doing. It was something very bitter and lost in her eyes and fragile in the smile she forced on her face like jagged glass.

Ya… It made feel like a scumbag. But I should have gotten what I wanted, a little girl who was given a cold-shoulder by her new 'friend' should, in theory, have run off in sadness and never what to talk to that 'friend' again. She should have gotten over it, or at least forget about it like most kids. And if not? Well, it wouldn't be my problem afterwards.

At least that was the theory.

In practice, that was the day I learned two things about Fū; One, for her saying your 'friends forever' was the same as signing a contract in blood and was non-negotiable. And two, she should have been given the eight tails beast instead of the seven tails… Because she was an impossibly stubborn little brat.

After a moment of thinking, she just nodded to herself and instead of yelling at me or crying or just leaving like I hoped she would. The green haired girl just walked over to a spot on the side not too far away and sat herself down on the warm grass.

Then she started talking.

The Nijimura compound was… large, I guess? It was bigger than most things in the village anyways. Being a traditional walled in area with a house in the centre for the head family and a bunch of smaller homes for a bunch of different "families" (related servants and guards mostly, the Nijimura seem to be cool with most of the clan living where they want.) with a stone garden and pond in the middle. If you're wondering why I am questioning its size. It was because while it was the largest space giving to just one group I had been to in Waterfall up to that point, it was still tiny compared to what my memories of this type of place is supposed to look like. In comparison, the Nijimura compound always felt a bit squished, like a lion in a too small cage. Though that might have just been me projecting the personality of its owner on to the place.

Standing in front of the door after giving it a good knock, I looked around to see if there was any sign of the guards that were definitely there, but once again found nothing. Only Fū fidgeting on her spot in impatience and mild anxiety that I pretended to not have noticed, but still stepped a little closer and in front of her, so she had the option of going behind me and letting me deal with whoever answered the door by myself if she wanted.

After a few seconds I heard the pitter patter of soft slippers on the hardwood before the door opened and Josukes mother, Nijimura Ichiko, appeared and offered me a friendly, but thin and oh so weak smile. The great black bags under her eyes undermining but not banishing that proud, regal glint in her eye that was always there since that day on the lake.

Time changes people and not always for the better, I did not know what exactly it was that was wrong with her, it's not something Josuke wanted to talk about and not my place to ask anyone else, but the woman has over the years slowly but steadily wasting away. Long, healthy blonde hair now thin and straw-like and her pretty if hawkish features were now just hawkish. Though a bit more of a kind look in her eyes when she sees me now compared to the cool looks she used to send my way when I first started visiting her son, even with the bags. But the frost quickly returned when she spotted Fū, though hard to spot if you didn't know it was there.

"Oh Shou-chan, lovely to see you," She said as she stepped to the side to let us in, "The rest of the children are out back."

Giving her a big grin and a thank you, I grabbed Fū by her hand from behind me and walked quickly passed, a little rude, but not unusual for a boy who was excited to see his friends. Truthfully, I just didn't see any point in making small talk while Ichiko-san was sending Fū awkward and chilly looks and Fū in return would be just standing there uncomfortable in the hall as she dealt with those looks.

To be clear, Ichiko-san is someone I liked, she had always been good to me even if bit aloft, so I do think that she was a good person at heart, it's just… everyone has their faults, and not having a good opinion of a certain green-haired girl was not exactly an uncommon one in this village. Picking that fight with a stranger would have done little good, let alone a family friend, particularly one far more powerful than myself. Not that I think she would use that power to punish a pre-ninja, but it's just good practice.

The backyard was mostly empty save for the small group of eleven and twelve-year-olds sitting in the middle of it. Josuke, Saori, Rokuro and the new addition of Taura were all in a circle around a bunch of scrolls, some big and some small. Josuke was reading from an unusually large one while taking notes as Saori and Rokuro crowding another, here and there miming out hand-seals as they went through it. Finally, Taura was on her own, staring at a small disk of metal in her hands in frustration, looking like she was not far from chucking it across the garden.

"Hey, guys! What's up?" Fū said as she runs over in a flash, already peering down at the scroll over the shoulders of the two friends. I just walk over to Josuke, bump fists, and laid down next to him and tried to enjoy a moment of rest as I had been moving all day.

"Just going over some stuff for a test we are doing tomorrow," Saori replied with a bored tint in her voice, whatever it was that they were looking at must have already become stale to the young clan heir.

"ahah! Again?" Fū cried out in exasperation "What is with everyone and training or studying right now? It's like, the only thing you guys do these days! Come on, let's play or watch a show or something?" the young girl pleaded to the older one as she basically hung of her, once again showing that she does not understand the concept of 'personal space' if the twitch in Saori's eye is any indicator.

"We all have the bloody graduation exam at the end of the year," Saori said in her signature rough way, brushing Fū off of her, "It's going to be the same for you next year, and then you will know our fucking pain. Just wait a bit and we will do something else later" She then looked over to me, "You want to join us, Shou-kun?"

I eyed the scrolls for a bit before replying, "Na… Was doing stuff this morning and have plans for later, I'm just going to take a break for now."

"You were training already?" Taura asked in surprise as she looked up from what she is doing, I could see her eyes dart a little as she did some counting in her head, not having a watch or a visible sun to help her, "but it's still really early? You couldn't have been at it very long?"

"He gets up at around 5 am to start," Josuke muttered over he's scroll as he idly turns a page, "He says it's more convenient to do it then, but me and Fū are pretty sure he's just training when no one is up to see him sweat and ruin the 'cool' guy thing he tries so hard but fails at." He smirked at the end before grunting when I gave him a little kick from where I'm laying and then sent one back at me.

"Oh… I guess that makes sense, someone like you would have to," she stopped suddenly as she realises what she was about to say, blushing in embarrassment, "I mean it makes sense that your one of the top students if you're doing stuff like that."

Taira Taura had started hanging out with this group, and not just with Saori and her little group of girl-minions, not long after that fight in the woods we had. Like she felt she earn the right by showing how strong she had gotten, though I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who knows that she thought of it that way. And for the most part, she got along with everyone here, little moments like this notwithstanding.

It wasn't that she disliked me, and she really does try to get along, but at heart she was a noble clan kid and so believed that there was a certain way things were meant to be. Josuke and Saori were clan heirs and so obviously deserved to be in the top two spots. Josuke, the Nijimura heir being above the noble clan heir that was Makioka Saori was a bit off, but understandable. I, However, as one of the last two members of a minor family, one that was never big enough to really be a 'Clan', was sitting in what should be her spot as a member of a noble clan that had an active bloodline at third place.

Luckily, she doesn't hate me for it from what I can tell. She was just a bit confused and curious at how I got to the spot. Like a lady of the court bemused by the story of how some peasant might have gotten the ear of councilman.

Amused by the mental image, I turned my head in her direction and smiled, asking, "so what's with the mini frisbee?"

"Stupid thing is lead," she replied with a pout and a glare at the bit of metal, "I'm supposed to use my bloodline to make it larger by 'spreading out its mass', whatever that means, then move on to the opposite with cardboard, but it's not working at all, throwing boulders is so much easier."

We sat there for a while, me laying down and trying to nap on the surprisingly comfortable pebbles as Josuke quietly took notes next to me. Fū attempted to read the scroll with Saori and Rokuro but spent more energy in complaining about being bored and trying to poke them into doing something else. Rokuro was dealing with it with the stock patience of a monk, but I could practically see Saori's 'Fū's bullshit meter' filling up rapidly, I was looking forward to seeing what was going to happen when it exploded. It was always an amusing show… as long as I could avoid being in the zone of the explosion. Taura was still staring at the piece of lead, the piece of lead choosing not to respond to her heartfelt glances.

"So how did the meeting with your future team go?" I asked Josuke after realising that I was probably not going to get to sleep with the noises coming from the other group. Saori had started to get more snappy and loud in her replies to the younger girl, Rokuro was doing his best to calm her down, but it was apparent that the fuse to the bomb was already lit.

It seems like the Jounin had slowed down the trading and bartering at this stage, enough that some future teams have started the 'get to know everybody' meetings anyways.

"Was alright…" he muttered back, still at his notes, "Apparently my sensei is going to be Eguchi Yuina-san, "the fact that he didn't know who was going to teach him showing that he had not needed to look himself, typical clan heir. "You know, that young Jounin who used to get assigned to teach the younger classes as a punishment every once in a while?"

"Her? hmm... I remember wondering if it was her or Hiraoka-sensei who was being punished with those classes, "I replied, both of us chuckling at the memories. The fight between him and myself not being the only case of Eguchi-san proving to be a less than stellar influence. "She wasn't bad at teaching if I remember right, just a bit 'kick them in the deep end' about it. You could have gotten worst."

"Definitely could have got worse than someone who made Jounin only a couple of years after becoming a Genin." He confirmed.

"How about your teammates? Who are you going to be with?"

"Me!" Taura interrupted happily, puffing up like a pigeon in pride, "She even wanted me enough to convince the Jounin who my clan got for me to trade!" To think that I would ever see someone so happy to be treated like a trading card, "and we are going to be teammates with Misumi-hime! I get to be on a team important enough to have two clan heirs!"

"…Who?" I replied in bewilderment, having never heard of this person before in my life, and considering that I thought I know everyone around my age in the village, that was saying something.

"You can't be serious?" Taura asked in shock, eyes wide open, "you don't know who the Hōjō clan heir is?"

"She is a bit younger, like, we had to go to her ninth birthday just last month," Josuke, the bro, said weakly in an attempt to defend me.

"I know who the Hōjō heir is," I replied irritability, not used to being the one to make the faux pas in this group, "I've just never known her name before, I've only heard people call her…," I stop myself here realising that Taura was probably not a good person to use the 'Corpse-princess' nickname around, "… Hōjō-hime. It's not like she trained with us. Is she really going to be a Genin already? At nine?" If I remember right, that was always a bad sign in that story.

"Looks like it" Josuke replied with a shrug, "It makes sense with 'you know what' and everything." He grimaces at the thought.

I was about to reply when a loud shout draws the groups attention back to the other bunch of children.

"You know fucking what? Fine! Let's do something else," Saori said with a too broad smile, eye twitching.

"Really?" Fū yelled back in joy.

"Yes! Really! How about we do some sparing? That sounds fun! You can be my partner."

"Oh... that's… that's ok, but maybe we should finish reading the scroll" Fū replied hastily, finally sensing danger, "it was just getting good! Haha… or if you really what to spar, then I should go with Rokuro? I haven't fought him in a while… you should partner with Shou instead!" she exclaimed suddenly before faking a whisper, "I heard he was working on something to use against you the next time you get tested together."

"Oy!" I quickly interject from my spot, "don't drag me down with you."

"No fucking holds as long as it's not lethal" Saori continued, ignoring the exchange. "Everything you know, clan techniques, personal skills etc. It would be good practice for the real stuff, right?" she states with a demented smile pulling her lips wide.

"b-But Shibuki-sama didn't teach me anything but the basics yet, I need to be a Genin before I start learning the Scale Powder technique and I'm forbidden from using Nanabi's chakra in the village! And you have those scary hand things, that's not fair!"

Saori just leant forward and close to Fū face, eyes shadowed and smile stretching even more, "Well that's just too bad isn't it?" she said happily, showing without a doubt that she knew all that when she made the rules. Then she grabbed the younger girl by the collar of her shirt and dragged her to the other side of the garden, Fū struggling and yelling the whole time.

"What! No! I'm sorry! Guys help!" save meeee," her cries going unanswered, everyone knowing better than to get in the way of the inevitable when all that would happen would be to join her in her doom.

"You know," Josuke said, cracking his neck and sighing a bit, "I wouldn't mind a spar, staring at this scroll is making my mind go numb," he said this as he stared at me intently.

"… Fine, 20 minutes? I really do have something I want to do latter and being beaten and tired for it would suck."

After stretching and loosening up we both stood across from each other in a space on the other side of the field from where the desperate cries of Fū were coming from and got into our stances, I crouched a little and began to shift back and forth on my toes, rising my hands to waist height in front of me and to the sides a little, ready to grab my wakizashi or kunai for my pouch while keeping a steady track of his eyes and where he was looking.

Josuke, on the other hand, stood straight and still, stance wide and feet planted, the front foot facing me and the other to the side and at an angle, his hands up and lead arm extended while the back arm tight to his chest, ready to snap out. His fists were balled tight and his eyes, rather than on mine, were steady on my shoulders and hips, centre mass tracking, following the source of the attack rather than the attack itself. If I looked like a cat ready to jump in or run off, he was a bow with its string drawn tight, calm and steady but prepared to go at the right moment.

Rokuro and Taura had moved to sit by the door and were watching us in slight interest, though it was not like this was a matchup they had not seen a thousand times before. Once we both looked ready, Rokuro cleared his throat and loudly called out "Start!"

We both just stood there for a moment waiting for the other to make the first move, in movies these standoffs could take minutes, but at the end of the day, someone had to go first. After a split second I saw that Josuke was about to take a step forward I stole the initiative and shot forward to close-in with a burst, releasing the energy that I was readying with my consent shifting, hand going into my pouch and out to send Shuriken flying ahead of me.

Josuke simply took a steady step to the side and titled he body around the flying stars, but even just that gave me the time I needed to get right up to him, sending a straight punch right at his face. Naturally, he blocked it with his arm, but now he had both of our limbs blocking his vision… stretch my leg to the side and forward, gripe with chakra and pull myself to the spot, twisting at the ankle… and now I was at his flank rather than in front of him rising my other leg to send a side kick right into his neck.

With the tiniest surprised look on his face, He twists at the waist and again blocks the attack, this time with his right elbow, making me wince a little as the bony point of it hits my shin, and joins both his free hands to form a seal all in one movement. Then after pushing my leg back, he throws his own kick right back at me, a stomping straight right at my abdomen.

Taking one step back and gripping the ground once again with chakra I sway to the side in a dodge that had an unnatural angle, far past the point where I should have fallen over, I then swing up again to turn the momentum of the sway into an uppercut that rocketed up from below.

Josuke in response stamps down hard with the leg he just kicked with to regain balance before bringing up the other to guard his middle section, my fist hitting his knee. He once again used his chance to make another seal.

Not willing to let up the pressure I jumped and whirled around quickly drawing (but not quick draw, not quite there yet.) my wakizashi and brought it around for a downward slash. Careful not to kill but still having to bite back the worry and trust that my sparring partner to not let himself get too hurt, something you just have to learn to do when it comes to ninja training.

This time Josuke doesn't even bother to block and just moves straight into the next, and last seal. I heard him muster the words hidden technique at the same time my blade came down on his collarbone.

The edge is stopped as it hits a spot of now darkened skin that was peeking out from under the collar of his shirt, only a sliver of superficial blood coming out of what is no more than a paper cut, at that moment his eyes flash and his fist slams into my chest with brute force. Blowing me slightly back as pain flares. Finding it hard to breathe in, I go with it and exhale, not just air but also a stream of poisoned gas right at the other boy just as he was getting ready to pounce on my opening, making him abort the attack to jump back to safety. I also take the chance to create some distance, breathing heavily and reanalysing things for the next exchange.

Hidden technique: Skin Armament. The signature jutsu of the Nijimura Clan and a technique that does what it says on the tin. Hardening the users' skin and muscles to protect from attacks, it was not a very flashy jutsu, but simplicity can be its own strength, and it was the type of jutsu that got stronger with the users' ability with it. Apparently, Josuke's dad was known as Nijimura 'Unbreakable Diamond' Noriaki, with his whole body covered in skin as hard as… well, diamond. Though obviously, Josuke was still within the 'breakable' range. 'Stone' skin? 'Bronze'?... Whatever, it still can keep him from being cut up, I think that the only reason the Nijimura was not finding themselves in a higher position in the village hierarchy was the fact that it was still technically an earth jutsu, and so had problems with Lightning techniques of similar class.

As he stood there, I could see the patch of darkened skin move down from his collar and converge in his arms from his hands to his elbows, creating some sort of organic gauntlets. Setting himself back into his stance he sent me a smirk and did the dreaded 'come at me bro' hand seal. Smiling at this I crouched down and perform a basic clone jutsu to create a copy and shoot forward into the slight mist of poison still hanging between us, sword reared back and ready to slash and crisscrossing with the clone to confuse him.

We continued like this for the next while, myself darting around him as I tried to create or take advantage of blind spots to sneak into his guard as he calmly waits to block and then counter attack, where I would then have to sway around, dodge or even substituted to get away. The clone did not last long, but it distracted him enough for another small nick on his right upper arm and back, though I got a bruise on my left leg and nosebleed for the trouble. As it went on, he started to gain a collection of crossing, thin cuts all along his arms as well as a few punches and a kick to the gut.

If someone who didn't know better were watching, they would think I was dominating the fight, only taking about eight or so hits by the 15-minute mark. But really it was just the typical in-fighter vs out-fighter match. With me getting a lot of small, light hits in and not taking many in return while using up a lot of energy moving around at a high pace. In comparison, while Josuke has taken a lot more hits and landed a lot fewer, he hits are the ones with real power, trying to take me down with each one, all while conserving his stamina by only moving when necessary. So yeah, maybe he was the one that was bleeding little, but I was the one going out of breath and slowing down as we went. When it comes to an out-fight vs an in-fight, it was just a contest of whether the out-fighter could chip away the in-fighter before the in-fighter could get that one perfect hit on the tiring opponent.

Looking at it that way the fight was overall pretty even, which in its own way was relatively new, but over the last year I have been catching up with the other boy, in a straight fight at least, he was still above me at everything else. I would be happier at this development but getting better myself was not the only factor in catching up with him.

I was just about to dive back in when I heard a "Time!" coming from the sideline and let myself relax and put my weapon away, taking the chance to catch my breath and nurse the bruises on my ribcage. Looking up I noticed that Josuke was starting to make his way over, breath more even than mine but still laboured, looking at some of the cuts on his arm with an appraising eye. Giving himself a small nod, he made another set of hand seals before placing his other, now slightly glowing hand over the cuts.

About a year ago one of the main medics from the hospital had let it be known that she was looking for a new student to train and the Nijimura boy had jumped on the chance like a rabid dog, devoting the most significant share of his focus and talent onto the new skill. He never said why he had developed such an interest in Medical Ninjutsu, especially when I remembered him saying that it was a 'girl thing' when we were smaller, but I would have to be an idiot not to guess what he wanted to figure out and maybe fix, so I never forced him to say his reasons out loud.

"So, I guess that was a draw," Josuke said, the cuts slowly starting to close, "Kind of wish that we gave it another 10 minutes, I total would have got you with how you were slowing down."

"Meh, I doubt it seeing as it was not a draw, I kicked your ass," I replied with my best Cheshire cat grin.

"Come off it! It was a tie. There was no way…" he stopped as I started chuckling haughtily at him. Scrunching his eyes, he asked, "Ok… What? What did you do? Cause I don't remember you doing anything that would mean it was my loss."

"Well…" I started, faking an innocent tone, "I'm not supposed to reveal my tricks to my opponent. But I guess as we are such good friends, I can do you a favour…" at this point, I could see a tick developing in his eye and decided to get on with it before he restarts the spar right there. Reaching into a hidden pocket, I pull out a small vial filled with a clear, slightly yellow liquid and held it up for him to look at.

"… What is that."

"This", I stated, "is a mild toxin that I could have covered my sword with at any point during that spar. Granted none of those cuts were very deep, but a few of them did draw a drop or two of blood. So, a trace amount of it should have gotten into the bloodstream. I reckon … 8 minutes before you started having problems and 15 before you would be on the ground pissing yourself from a lack of muscle control."

"But you didn't, and I would have noticed if you had something dripping off your sword and would have been way more careful."

"Oh, maybe… but I could of, and you didn't." I replied, "We are nearly Genin Josuke. Shits going to be real soon and you have to assume that your enemy is going to do stuff like poison their weapons. Your armour is great, but you aren't your dad. You still need to dodge if you can, just to be on the safe side if nothing else." Sure, telling him this now instead of after a graded match where I did use the toxin might… probably will lose me a grade. But like I just said, things are going to be real soon, stuff like grades don't matter.

"Ok, fine I'll give it to you," he replied with a look that said the exact opposite, "but I still think I would have noticed you putting it on your sword."

"Sure, sure" I replied, "what do you guys think?" looking over to the two bystanders to back me up.

"O-Oh! Uh," Taura replied, looking put on the spot, before nervously replying, "Josuke is really good, so I think he would have noticed and fought differently."

"Ha!" Josuke yelled triumphantly.

"Ok… Rokuro-kun?"

"Peeing yourself would not have been very dignified." Was his reply and an excellent way of summing up his opinion without actually answering.

"Ok, Ok, I get it! Dodge more." Josuke said, "so has the other side finish yet…"

As a group, we all turned to look at where Saori and Fū were having their own 'spar' only to see the expected sight. A triumphant Saori with her arms crossed standing tall and proud over the crumpled, defeated form of the younger green haired girl, one foot planted on her back just to send the message home. From her spot on the ground, Fū managed to raise her weary head and look over to the group with pleading eyes, mouthing the words 'save me' over and over.

Looking at her pitiable state, I made the only choice I could. Staring her straight in the eye a small, real smile manages to pull at my lips for just a moment as I gently whisper back.

"No."

For the rest of the training lessons she just kept going; Making comments, telling me what she did the previous day, what she learned from her tutors, how funny it was when Shibuki-sama tripped over the rug. And then there were questions after questions, about everything and anything, where, after waiting for an answer that was not coming, she tried to work out the answers herself aloud and ended coming up with some outlandish results.

Kono-sensei meanwhile just watched the whole thing play out with slight interest but didn't do anything one way or the other. Just continued with the lesson as if nothing was going on.

It shouldn't have mattered if she was talking or not. All I had needed to do was to keep my mouth shut and not interact with her. Except there was a slight problem with that, and why ignoring her was in hindsight a lousy strategic chose on my end.

You see, my training in the Fujimori clan's speciality was useful in a lot of ways, especially in the arts of lying and (mis)communication. However, that same training made it a little tricky not replying when I'm being talked too. As being completely silent when someone is talking directly at you was as bad for staying unnoticed in a group as screaming your head off would be.

Or more simply, while I'm was still happy to be quiet when left alone, I couldn't really keep my mouth shut anymore if someone was talking to me.

"Do you know who made the first tools?" the girl asked into the air, "Like, how did they make their tools without their tools? She got a confused look on her face as she went on, "Does that make sense? Is there other stuff like that?"

"Did the chicken or the egg come first," I replied distractedly as I swung the wooden-sword in the kata that Kono-sensei just showed me. Then Froze for a moment when I realised, I just failed in the one job that I had given myself, before going back to swing the sword like nothing had happened. Kono-sensei gave a huff of amusement at the action and the slip before correcting my movements.

Fū stopped in her own rambling at the sound in slight surprise and looked at me for a second, then blew-up in what was the sunniest grin yet. "Oh, yea! That's a good one Shou!... Can you think of any others? Like, oh, oh! Maybe…

After the lesson ended, I quickly escaped home. Only for her to find me the next day training on my own and start chattering away again.

After the rest of us had finally taken pity on Fū and convinced Saori to let the younger girl go, the group ended up just spending the rest of the day watching movies on the Nijimura's family television. A giant box of a thing with a comparatively smaller screen, and tubs, lots of tubs. It seemed that the world had gotten up to the fifth movie in the Princess Fūn series.

It's weird that those corny movies and the recent funeral of Hisen-sama (apparently there was a large attack outside the village walls that we kids were not told about until our side had already won, kind of scary to think about.) were my best measurements on how close things in the outside world where to kicking off. As I could not for the life of me remember if Fū was the same age or younger then Naruto when she died. If I assume she was younger, between her age right now and the tentative belief that the land of snow thing happened in the filming of the seventh Movie? I think the range of the timeline is one to two years ahead of the start of the story, give or take.

Getting back on track. We ended up watching movies until it was around seven before everyone started to make their way home, Fū wandered off to her own place before we made it back to mine. Despite what you would think about our… thing… she did not come to my apartment very often, and only when she was at her most bored or lonely. Her surprisingly powerful sixth sense keeping her from wanting to be around places my mother could be very often.

I was just about to open the door to the said apartment when It was pushed from the other side. Kono-sensei flashing me a lazy smirk as he took a step out.

"Good evening Sensei, I didn't know you were coming around today." I quickly greeted him with a warm smile; deep and round, warm but without it being sunny, happy to see them but not surprised they are there (No:53), to hide my unease at realising that he was in my apartment.

"Hey kid, I was just having a chat with Ayaka-san, I was just leaving now." He replied with a smile, one different than his usual lazy smirk, a little more content than most of his expressions, it made me nauseated. While our rapport never really got closer than teacher and student I still liked and had a lot of respect for the surprisingly deep man. He was far too good of a person for me to approve of him dating my mom.

"Oh, Ok, will see you later then," I replied hastily, far too hastily, my desire to end the dialogue leaking into my voice, a stupid mistake. Kono-sensei noticed, and his body language quickly became far more awkward as his eyes started to dart around slightly for an escape, the typical 'I just did something that got my girlfriend's kid upset and doesn't know what it was' look plastered on his face.

"Right, right, tomorrow yes? We will go over things with the other two as well, make sure everyone is happy to work together and is up to standard." He said distractedly, "See ya." He finished as he disappeared off to wherever it was that he goes in his own time.

I closed the door behind me.

Sitting at the short table in the living area with what looked like dinner spread across it, simple green curry with rice, was my mother. Calmly sitting down at the head of the table in one of her beautiful silk robes, sipping at a cup of tea. She flashed me one of her smiles, lips tugged up and back down quickly and sharply, the upturn of the eyebrows where the intent lay (hello) when I walk into the room before nodding to the spot beside her. I send her the same smile back (hello) as I sat where she wanted me to, I think I see something like pride ghost behind her eyes before it is gone. As I get comfortable, I began to scoop out some of the curry onto my plate.

"So… how long was sensei here today? I don't think he said anything about it at training yesterday," I asked with a small, weak smile (showing unease)

"Oh, not long. We were just talking and catching up since we both haven't been around the village at the same time lately." She replied with a bright smile of her own, except for the slightly raised eyebrow. (questioning, asking)

"That's nice… any dates planned? Sensei should have a bit more time now, I'm at a stage in my Kenjustu that there isn't really anything new to learn for now." I offered her my cup to pour some tea for me as was her job as the host and continued, "Now it's just going to be me hammering what I know into my muscles or making my own little tricks for the next year or two." I end the remark with a smug smirk, twisting the corner of my lip up (satisfied), "So he won't need to watch over me that much until I'm a Genin, so he should have a bit more time to do things with you!... if you want to?" This time I sent her back the same questioning smile she just gave me, confident that she got what I really asked; I got his teachings, and he is going to be my Genin squad captain so you can stop stringing the poor man alone for my sake if she wanted. It was important that I made it seem like I was saying it for her sake and not sensei's, she would be unimpressed if she thought I was sympathising with a 'mark'.

"…" Surprisingly she didn't reply right away and instead stopped to think about it for a moment, gears turning behind her eyes as she looked off into space at something only she could see, before giving me a demure look and cupped her face in her hands like a shy schoolgirl "You know… I think you're right, I should go on more dates with him, lots more."

I nearly choked on my food as I heard that, and I'm unable to hide the genuine disbelief on my face. Mother actually wanted to continue with this on her own even when I've got what I wanted from him, which means that she was doing it for herself. "Does she actually…"

My train of thought stops as she continued, her eyes looking bored as she explains her thoughts mechanically, "The old crones in the upper circles have gotten off my back about marrying and pumping out more children so our clan doesn't die out since he started courting me." She stops to take a dainty bit of her curry before continuing, "And because he is a Jounin he is always working in or out of the village so it's not like he is taking up that much of my time… Add in the benefits social and material I get from or through him and overall I have been finding this relationship stuff worth a few annoying hours a week." The next smile has a full body aspect, as she straightens out her back and puffs out her chest, (content, plan-working) "I'm confident that with his own issues I should be able to keep this going for a few years before he starts with the marriage proposals."

"….. Ok, that's a lot closer to what I should have expected." I think with exasperation and a bit of disappointment. But I decided to leave it and put it out of my mind, there was nothing more I could do about this, so there was no point in getting more involved, sorry Sensei.

Instead, I moved the conversation on to a more comfortable topic, "So how is the theater club going? I think I saw a poster for something on a wall today. You got a part?"

"Amazing!" she replies in an outburst, a twinkle in her eye and real sunshine on her lips for a moment before catching herself, instantly she is back to elegant and calm, the standard gentle lip tug back in place as if nothing had happened, but it still pulled my own mouth into a big grin. "Everyone has been working quite impressively for this play, and there are already a few tickets sold." She moved a bit closer for the next part as if telling a secret, "and I should not be bragging but director Kishimoto has given me the role of the Lords Konoki guard and mistress who is posing as a…oh!" here she gives a little laugh and cups one of her checks in her hand again, "I really shouldn't spoil things. But you can guess that I have one of the most important roles, so I'm quite excited." Mother stopped to look me in the eye, "It is on this time next week, would you like to go Shou-chan?" that smile was closer to a she-wolf baring her fangs then it was an expression of joy, the message clear as day (you're going)

"Sounds fun" I replied quickly, I did not really like Kabuki and Noh. My sensibility's more in line with Shingeki as it had more in common with the western plays in my memory in pace and structure to. But I would still go as this was one of the few things I one-hundred percent sure she actually cared about.

Despite my early reluctance when it came to Fujimori Ayaka, you can't live with and rely on someone for years without growing some affection for them. This was especially true when I finally figured out that she did, in fact, care about me in her own way. So, in the same way, I did care about her in my own way even if I acknowledge that she is by most measures a twisted, twisted individual.

Family was weird like that I guess.

Still, moments like this just helped in finding that fondness for her, these small cracks in her mask. If I had to watch hours upon hours of people in too much makeup talking, sing and dancing too slowly, too loudly and too jerkily then it was worth it.

I did at one point try to find out what made her act this way, but everyone I asked who know her in the past just said that she was a terrifying child that had mellowed over the years. That she was even worse before.

We talked for a bit more as we drank tea, I tried to get the mask to crack again as we went, but it seemed I was only going to get the one this week. Sadly, there was still more thing I wanted to do before the lights went out, so I excused myself and got up to go to my room with the package that I still had under my arm from this morning.

"Oh, Shou-chan" Mother called me just before I was out the door. Turning back, I saw that she had kept herself turned away from me and looking at her cup of tea, one of the few times I've seen her actually use body language to cover up her facial features, this sent off all the alarm bells in my mind.

"Yes?" I replied, face and body as relaxed and neutral as I could make them.

"I think I was fond of my teachers too," she started, voice somewhat whimsical, "and I did enjoy my time with my genin teammates while it lasted, so your concern for Keiki-san was cute." Here a hard edge started to creep in, "But the worst taboo for the likes of us is to get attached to the people the village sends us to manipulate … empathy on a mission will just create pain when you do what you have to… Or make you walk down the path of betrayal, and of course, there is the worst outcome of death." At this point she finally turns to look at me, the gentlest and kindest smile I have ever seen on her pointing at me under eyes that had nothing in them, "For your sake my little Actor, if I ever catch you getting attached to a mark that is not of the village… I'll hold you by the wrist and force you to slit their throat myself, to make sure you learn. Have I been clear?"

The only thing I could do was give her a shallow nod and get out of the room as fast as I could, being careful to not show my shaking hands as I closed the door.

It was stuff like that made myself remember that while she had the best intentions for me, it was only in her own twisted view of things.

And that Fujimori Ayaka, no matter what her past might have been, was not at any point the victim or heroine of the story.

She was just the monster that learned how to act.

The little monster would just, not, give, the fuck, up!

It went the same way nearly every day. No matter when or where I changed my training plans she would show up at some point, sit down nearby and talk at me the whole time. And it was not like I could just skip training to avoid her, there is a bare minimum expected from students, so I just had to stay there and deal with it.

It shouldn't have mattered if she was talking or not. All I needed to do was keep my mouth shut and not interact with her like I should have done the first day, but it seemed that the first mistake was all the blood in the water this shark needed, and it was getting harder and harder not to respond, even if only to yell at her.

My bedroom was nothing special. A small square box with just enough room for a bed, some drawers and a desk with a chair and space to walk around it all if you moved sideways. The desk was probably the only thing with a bit of character, nicks and scratch marks from a kunai and a few doodles from over the years half hidden under the books, papers and pencils scattered across it. They were the only signs of life in the minimalist room.

It was at this desk that I found myself at the end of this long day, finally ready to rip open the package that I had gotten that morning. The brown paper tearing away easily to reveal the two books that I was waiting for.

The first was a relatively fat purple book by the title of "The fundamentals of Illusions and deceptions" by Kurama Shiho, The beginners' book on low-level Genjutsu on this side of the world. Counterintuitively, the Fujimori never had much interest in the art of Genjutsu, the few we did collect currently locked away in the villages main archive and only accessible by a clan Chunin or any village Jounin as part of the deal when they Joined Waterfall in the distant past. The clan had thought of them as just short-term solutions and both unreliable and noticeable in the roles and jobs they specialised in. A 'henge' popping or servant walking through a wall that was not there being only a matter of 'when' not 'if' on a year-long infiltration as examples.

"However," I thought to myself as I tapped on the hilt of my sword "I'm a little bit more combat orientated than most Fujimori" and so needed a few shorter-term solutions than most. And Genjutsu is right up my ally, I have reasonably decent control, and Genjutsu is possibly the most chakra efficient of techniques… and if I was honest, books on Genjutsu are just cheaper and less restricted then ones on Ninjutsu, especially if you had to buy them from a different village because your village doesn't really have that thing called a dynamic economy.

The reason for this was that Genjutsu had a higher mastery to usability threshold, once you could spit a fireball it was field usable, you could always spit fireballs better, but it would work. A Genjutsu, on the other hand, needs to be tweaked a little depending on where you were or who you were using it on, so an illusionist always required to be a bit more familiar with their tricks than their Ninjutsu counterparts before they brought them to the field. But this is a tangent, moving on.

The other book, an ugly brown thing, was only a little smaller than the first but ten times the expense. The Leaf probably only allowed to be sent off because it was going to a long-time ally village and has been in circulation in the elemental nations for longer than could be remembered, 'The art of seals vol 1', by a monk long lost to time. I think anyone with my (admittedly somewhat foggy now) memories should be able to figure out why I would be interested in seals. Franky, knowing what they had the potential to do I couldn't figure out why the hidden villages didn't force it down their ninjas' throats.

Looking out the window, I judged that there was probably another two hours of light and then maybe another three before the generators stopped of the night. So… One hour for each book should be enough to read a chapter of each and a break before bed, just to see what I'm dealing with before fitting them into my schedule.

Opening the purple book, I began to skim the first page… then frowned as I sat up and tried to trace the words with my finger and concentrated.

Halfway down the third page, I resorted to sounding out every word by syllable before going back over the sentence a second time to make better sense of it. By the end of the next page, I threw the book on the ground in a tantrum. Laying my head on the desk and yelling into the side of my arm to muffle the sound as I tried to work out the bout of anger and frustration, emotions bringing just a little bit of tears to the corner of my eyes.

The level of reading comprehension needed for the book was too high. Like, it was probably too hard for some of my classmates let alone for someone like me. It was ridiculous, back before with English I could read fucking law papers when I had to for both college and work! And I had read for enjoyment, was even thinking of trying to start writing, and now here I am not even able to use what is essentially a beginner 'do it yourself' guide.

After a little bit of breathing exercises to calm myself, taking deep breaths before exhaling slowly for sets of ten, I sat back up and tried to be a bit more rational about it. I was probably being a bit unfair with myself, even in that world of specialised help and accommodation for disability's in a country known for an excellent education system, it still took until I was sixteen before things really started clicking enough for me to read somewhat comfortably.

Staring at the book and forcing down the disappointment I continued along the same thought path; if it's really this hard to do I should just leave it until it's more manageable, it was not like the books were going anywhere. Nodding to myself and coming to a decision I got up from my spot and walked over to my drawers to take out a small pile of word dictionaries before going back to my seat and plopping them down next to the purple book, from there I gave the book a glare before telling it two simple words.

"Fuck you."

And then I want right back into reading the damned thing… In life, there are fights you can easily walk away from and fights you just can't, even if they seem small or petty to others. Frankly, I think the small and petty fights are the ones that matter the most to a person.

It was about two hours and half of the first chapter later that I decided I was done for the day, it looks like this was going to be not a battle but a siege and closed the book. In more curiosity than actually planning to get much done in the half-an-hour left, I opened the book on sealing.

Skimming through the first page it was actually a good bit easier to read compared to the other book, the monk who wrote it clearly worked hard to explain everything in the most straightforward way they could manage. And I got passed the little bit on explaining what seals where reasonably happily and was just starting to look over the first example…

"uhh, math," I grunted to myself, frowning in displeasure if not surprise. However, that frown quickly morphs into a shocked and panic mask as I went on, and ten minutes later, my lips were in a thin line as a closed the book and stared off into space with what I assumed was a hazy look in my eye.

"I… understand none of that," I thought overwhelmed, not 'I could not read it' or 'did not understand the terms'. Now I know why even most Jounin did not know much about making seals. Racking my brain, the closest thing I could compare it to would be some unholy mix of Coding and Non-Euclidean Geometry… I could not even remember how to do Coding or Non-Euclidean Geometry, I just remembered being bad at both.

It did not take long for the book to find its way deep in the back of a drawer, not to be touched again for six months except during a clean out of the room before going right back in. Some battles you can't give up on, but some you needed to accept that you lost before you even started.

Two months later and it was the same as two months before. I was standing in the training field, swinging a practice sword as the girl sat nearby and talked at me. It was only at the end, as it got close to dinner time that something changed.

"You know what? I am getting hungry… I wonder what shibuki-sama asked the servants to make for dinner? I hope its curry, "Fū said as she rubbed her stomach, "what do you think you're going to get Shou?"

Still not looking at her as I started to finish up, putting my sword down and picking up a towel to wipe off the sweat, I replied casually, "I'm going to go get noodles today." Before beginning to walk away.

Smiling with a glint of victory she usually gets when I break my silence the green haired girl quickly responded, "Noodles are great too! I hope you have a good time." She got up herself and started to move off in the direction of the Village Head's residence, "See you tomorrow!" at that I stopped and turned to look at her.

"… You want to come?" was all I said.

Her eyes widened so much at that simple question that I nearly laughed, and her stupid grin was replaced with something panicked and hesitant, the sunny confidence she had shattering into something shy and unsure at the change in the routine, the break in the rules of the game. Her body curling into itself in defence as she fidgeted with the end of her too large shirt as she looked at me.

Still, despite her sudden hesitation, I could see her lean forward in hope as she found her voice again, "y-Ya, ok… great! Let's go…" and with only one more moment of uncertainty, she followed after me as I went to find someone who was selling their cooking on the street.

The meal was awkward as hell, she kept on going from uncontrollably excited to be hanging out with someone to acting like I was going to bite her as she waited for the other shoe to drop. A worry that I admitted to myself with a grimace was reasonable with how I was acting until now. Still, once Fū realised that I really wasn't trying something funny she relaxed, and the rest of the meal went fine.

And that became the new normal. Fū would still come to training sessions, not every day now as she lowered the pressure of her assault, and I would continue trying to ignore her as I worked, then we would go and do something for a bit after. Rinse and repeat.

I didn't break if that is what you are thinking; not from annoyance and definitely not from guilt, I stopped feeling guilty after a week of her nagging thank you very much. But… how do I put it…

I don't really have anything that I care about in this new life that I would put my all into, no real goals, dreams or ambitions, even my stated desire to become a retainer for some lord that sponsors the village was more about the convenience and cushiness of that type of post than anything. Simply put, I don't feel passionate about anything.

So even as she was driving me up the wall, I was also finding her dedication to the whole thing… interesting? I could see in Fū eyes the level of commitment to winning this little standoff between us that I had never had for anything, this life or the last.

I once heard that people respected in others the things that they feel that they lack themselves. So, I guess I started to admire Fū for her determination, to the point that I started feeling that I wanted her to win… even though that logically meant that I would lose.

That doesn't make any sense at all does it? But fuck it, the whole point of calling something a feeling was that it doesn't have to make sense.

So yea, I gave her the win and started being friendly with the younger girl out of respect of her drive. Though I'm not sure I even actually liked the brat outside of the above-mentioned drive, she was a bit of an airhead and low-key smartass.

Don't get the wrong idea though, it's a fair-weather friendship at best. The moment something like the Akatsuki comes along I'm jumping ship faster than you could blink, respect only goes so far.

To me, she is not someone worth playing the villain, to risk the world. Just a kid that being nice to should not hurt too much…

Crawling into the bed, I laid down and gave a sigh of relief, overall happy with how the day went. Outside of the door-slam that were seals, everything else I was interested in doing at the time was at least making some progress. And while I was still a bit apprehensive over becoming a Genin, less than one month away by this point, the excitement of finally reaching a multi-year long goal and moving on with life had now surpassed that apprehension.

So, it was thinking that things were looking as good as they could be expected to be that I went to sleep that night, not knowing that tomorrow would be my first real brush with death in this world.

I would never find out exactly who or what caused it, or whether it was an accident or something malicious. That information would never find its way into my hands.

All I would know was that the next day would be the first time Fū lost control.

So, the reason why this chapter was so large and took me so long is simple… it's to fix up my fuck ups.

Chapter eight was made to tie up all the loose ends and to end the learning arc because with the pacing I had before we would be here forever. I can't say I super happy about it. Particularly when it comes to Fū, instead of showing the development of her and Shou's rocky friendship over a couple of chapters I did it in one… and half through flashbacks. And this would not have needed to happen if I had just added her earlier in the story. But yea, no point crying over spilt milk, let's just move on and try to pace things better next time.

Now to the other big thing I know people are going to get mad about… Seals.

In-universe Shou is not going to learn much about seals because it's the narutoveses equivalent of quantum mechanics and make his head spin at the best of times.

Out of universe… Seals are used as a Deus ex machina even in canon, and fandom is even worse, they have become basically a 'solve all'. If your character has a problem and you as the writer don't want to figure out a clever way for them to get out of it but make it look like it was clever? Seals.

I'm not saying you have to use Seals as a Deus ex machina, but I am saying that they are super tempting and I think even the good writers overuse seals when they have characters who use them.

I don't…. Hate Deus ex machina as a writing tool, sometimes you just can't think of something and need it to just move things along, but I like to limit it and mix it up if I must use it.

So I am making the choice to limit Shou's (the characters) to use of seals to limit my(the writers) options to use of them as a 'solve all'. Think of it as a writing challenge.