Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters aren't mine. This story has been inspired by Vixen Tail's story Deja vu No Jutsu and Hermionechan90's Inoue Shiori. Both authors have given me permission to use ideas and themes from their stories.

A/N: This chapter fought me, and fought me, and fought me! I started this chapter back when I started posting again, after taking a break to get those ten chapters written up, and only finished it maybe two weeks ago.

This is my first attempt at writing a fight scene so feedback is very welcome!

P.S. I fixed the misspelling of 'Jinchuuriki' in the last chapter. Thanks to those who pointed that out =D

Sparring was an important facet of shinobi life. It was tool to keep in shape, learn how new techniques stood up in combat, and a means of socializing. It built familiarity and trust between team mates and offered a quiet way for strangers to get to know each other.

Aioka swore that every time she clashed with another during a spar, she saw into their soul. Maybe it was the way eyes always met and eyes were windows into the soul. Or maybe it was the battle of wills that occurred as opponents struggled to overcome the determination of the other. Whatever it was, Aioka thrived on it.

The spar had started tame enough. Her team went after those who were weaker in their area of expertise. Deidre went after Sakura, who was weak in taijutsu. Noki was the genjutsu expert between the four of them, and clashed with Naruto. Kei favoured ninjutsu but started with weapons because Sasuke was not as fluent with his physical tools as he was with his ninjutsu. Aioka took the jonin because she had the best chance against him.

Kakashi took a few minutes to get a feel for her before abruptly calling out to his team. The following minutes were a blur of react. There was no time for thought. Team 7 did not have years of experienced team work, but their sensei made that flaw negligible as he moved seamlessly into his genin's established formations and strategies.

Aioka hissed as a kunai parted skin and muscle at the bend in her elbow, and allowed a kawarimi to pull her away from the jonin and into the face of an irritated Uchiha. Sharnigan bright eyes widened as Aioka stepped into his guard and drove the hilt of her kunai into the boys' abdomen in a way that—if the blade had been in place of the hilt—the kunai would have pierced his heart.

Folding over the falling boy, Aioka rolled out of the way of a leaping dog.

When did he have time to summon?! She thought, desperately kawariming away from snapping jaws and to assist Noki in taking down Naruto and Sakura. Kei and Deidre were tag teaming Kakashi.

Aioka saw Deidre go down and impulsively grabbed onto Kakashi with her chakra for a forced kawarimi. The jutsu didn't take, but it was enough of a distraction that the jonin took a hit from Kei.

The effort of the botched kawarimi made Aioka's head spin. It had been a long time since she had made the mistake of switching with someone unwilling.

Aioka dropped low, avoiding a slashing kunai. Ignoring the visual distortion still affecting her, Aioka relied on her chakra sense and lashed out with a electrically charged hand to clip Kakashi's knee just as something small and fast rocketed into her back. A surge of chakra sent electricity racing across her body, snapping and hissing over her skin, causing her small attacker to yip in pain and leap away from her.

A flick of her wrist gained her room to get her feet under her but alerted her that she was nearly out of kunai. Distance wasn't helping her. Time to get in close.

Kakashi's eye was intense as he engaged her in taijutsu and Aioka felt a thrill of accomplishment when she saw the sweat dripping down his temple and darkening the cloth covering his throat and underarms.

Time lost meaning but she didn't lose awareness of her teammates or the dogs that flashed in and out of the spar. Deidre, Sakura, and Sasuke were out—being tended by Murai Hinode, a Handyman/Scout who dabbled in iryo-jutsu. Noki and Kei were doing their best to deal with Naruto and offer her assistance from time to time.

Abruptly, Aioka disengaged from Kakashi to get between Kei and a large ninken dog. The creatures massive jaws nearly closed over her face as Aioka slammed a hand to the ground and a fragile wall of earth rose up between the two. As the dog crashed nose first into the wall: Kei disabled Naruto, another dog took out Kei, Kakashi took out Noki with a light brush of his fingers against the Genjutsu users throat, and Aioka spun to throw her last kunai.

The kunai was batted aside and Aioka was dodging three dogs and a jonin. Sweat stung her eyes, her breath rasped from her chest, and her lips were pulled back in a wild grin. She was going to lose.

It had been some time since she lost a one on one fight. Her father and her lieutenants were the only ones to offer her a challenge, and even then wins and losses were pretty even due to sheer familiarity with each others styles.

She had been sparring her father since her Academy days, and she was the one to get her Lieutenants to their current level of proficiency. It was rare for any of them to pull something that surprised her.

Sparring Kakashi was thrilling in a way Aioka rarely got to experience. This was probably the closest she had come to true combat in over a year. She was barely managing to escape fatal blows and she knew it was only a matter of time before the Jonin upped the ante to a degree she couldn't meet. Best to end it while she was ahead. With a feral grin to the Jonin's face, Aioka shucked chakra to her feet, bastardizing the tree walking exercise, and allowing the blast to throw her into the air—spraying Kakashi with shattered earth. Flying through eight hand signs, Aioka breathed out the name of her strongest raiton jutsu at the climax of her flight.

"Raiton: henso sutorando."

Lightning flashed. Blue, yellow, and white bolts of electricity surged from her hands, twisting and braiding into each other, searing the very air as they struck out at its target.

The percussion of the resulting explosion of sound left many observers gasping for breath. Aioka landed awkwardly, not used to using that jutsu in the air, and barely had time to twist away from a water bullet. The dodge was just as awkward as her landing and Aioka found herself pressed against a tree nose to nose with a slightly wide eyed jonin and a hand resting firmly at her throat and a kunai hilt in her ribs. Her own hand rested against the ribs below the arm raised to choke her, pulsing with restrained electricity.

"Well fought, Aioka-san."

Aioka let out a breathless laugh at the rumbled praise, giddy from adrenaline and hyper-aware of the man's control. It would have been very easy for him to have crushed her throat when he had slammed her into the tree, but his touch was light. Aioka doubted she could have avoided bruising someone if she had done the same.

The jonin's eye crinkled and his mask shifted with a small smirk as he slowly moved away from Aioka's still humming hand. "You are full of surprises, Aioka-san."

Aioka pushed off the trunk with her back, brushing her fingers against her pants to be rid of the after tingles restraining lightning left behind.

"Thank you, Kakashi-san. Peace?" she inquired with a smile, offering her no longer sparking hand in reconciliation.

Kakashi clasped her fingers with his, an amused glint in his eye. "I wasn't aware we were at war."

Aioka huffed in good humor, her head tilting to watch their teams talking animatedly with the gathered career genin. The genin talking and listening, learning and being taught. This had been a good morning and it wasn't even nine yet.

"Mmm, a war of wills maybe, but a war nonetheless," she answered, glancing around to take in the damage done to the training ground and missing the curiosity in her companion's gaze before he too began looking around.

Overall, the training ground wasn't in bad shape. There were a few mud puddles and scorch marks from Noki and Sasuke, as well as gouges from Aioka's own doton usage and, of course, the crater left by her raiton.

A crater that Kakashi was examining. The man was facing the hole, leaving her unable to see his face. She wondered what he thought of it.

The jutsu had taken her the better part of two years to create.

Raiton was one of the hardest elements to harness next to fuuton. It was more wild than fire, slipperier than water, more unforgiving than earth, and faster than wind. It took the path of least resistance and rebelled against direction. Raiton was difficult to used at long distances with any sort of accuracy because the very nature of lightning was attracted to the ground, and it would sooner strike a random blade of grass at your feet than weave through the air to strike a less attractive target.

By manipulate three different kinds of lightning, Aioka had managed to minimize Raitons natural desire to ground and was able to lock on a target. It didn't always strike her intended target but the resulting explosion could cause some serious damage to anyone close to the blast range. The percussion alone could cause serious internal damage.

Jutsu creation was not common in the genin corp but jutsu adaptation was. The genin section of Konoha's library was not large and extremely limited. Barely a handful of jutsu from each element were available, and the instructions for those jutsu were not always clear. Genjutsu theory was extensive but, again, actual instruction was limited.

More than one genin had taken the instructions for a jutsu described in the library and twisted it until it worked for them, often resulting in something vastly different than the intended jutsu but very much functional.

Part of the mandatory skills was that a genin must master at least one E-rank elemental jutsu of their choice. Fire Flicker—a jutsu that produced a simple flame at the end of a finger—was the most commonly mastered since Fire was the most common element for a shinobi born in Hi no Kuni to have. Many variations had stemmed from that one jutsu. Aioka had seen genin produce a flame at the end of each finger and use the jutsu to leave burning claw marks on an opponent. Others had managed to make the flame so hot at the tip of their finger they could carve metal engravings.

A handful of Trainers had managed to create an original jutsu of their own, but they were few as creation was much more difficult and required a level of effort adaptation lacked.

"Soutachio?"

"Hmm?" Aioka blinked out of her thoughts and gave her attention to one of her Trainer/Scouts. Sachiro Akio son of Sachiro Komachi, a grocer for a fruit vendor.

"May we listen in on your debrief?" The young man asked, glancing hopefully in Kakashi's direction.

Aioka huffed lightly in amusement. There wasn't likely to be another time that these genin would have the opportunity to have such easy access to a Jonin of Kakashi's calibre and they were eager to make the most of it.

"Sure. I'll asked Hatake-san if he would answer some questions."

The genin grinned and trotted back to tell the others the news. Aioka rolled her eyes in good humor and walked up to where Kakashi was still examining the crater.

"If you stay and answer some questions for my team and the other genin, I'll teach you my jutsu if you haven't already figured it out, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi tilted his head to bring her out of his peripheral and into his line of sight. An odd expression on his face. "Your jutsu?"

Aioka couldn't decide if he was impressed, incredulous, or conflicted. Possibly all three. Though she didn't understand the confliction.

"Hai. Ready for the debrief?" she asked, happily ignoring his attempt at getting her to explain before meeting her requirement.

The man glanced at the gathering of genin—which may have gotten larger at some point—and grimaced. "You're mean, Aioka-san."

Aioka laughed. "Come on, they won't bite," she promised.

The debrief lasted a good deal longer than Aioka had intended but Kakashi didn't seem to mind. He answered questions ranging from how one could get a summoning contract to how he stored his weapons. The Jonin even gave a couple demonstrations on techniques he had used. It was far more than Aioka had expected when she had made her offer to teach him Raiton: henso sutorando.

By the time she dismissed everyone, it was nearing noon. She did not regret the things that were learned today but she mentally cringed at the catching up she would have to do. There were several meetings she needed to hold today. She was going to take the next couple days off to give her Lieutenants a chance to get used to her not being there—with the option of getting to her if they really needed to—before the Exam started on the first.

Five more days. Five more days and two of her genin teams would lay the foundation that would make or break the future of the Genin Corp's participation in further Chunin Exams.

"Starting tomorrow, I'll be available at any time until the Exam starts," Aioka said, catching Kakashi's attention from watching a group of career genin fixing the training ground. "Feel free to find me if you want to cash in on my offer."

She rather hoped he would take her up on the offer. She would have a hard time staying away from the corp during the next couple of days. While her kaa-san would appreciate seeing her for more than a evening, Aioka didn't relish the idea of going stir crazy. Maybe she should find Iruka for a spar. They hadn't made time to train together yet. She'd extend the invitation to Izumo and Kotetsu too.

"Not today?"

Aioka blinked back into focus at the inquiry. "Sorry? Oh, no," she answered when her brain caught up with her. "I have a lot of paperwork and last minute instructions to give. I'll be impressed if I get home before ten tonight."

She had been pushing aside some financial reviews in favor of less tedious work. She loathed money math. Absolutely hated it. It never failed to bring her to tears but she had to look it over and be a responsible leader. Yes, she trusted her Lieutenants, but accountability was a must whenever money was involved.

She had learned that from before coming to Konoha. Money was a temptation that few people could resist in the long term and she did not want to set anyone up for failure.

"Are you okay?"

Aioka blinked at the concern in her companions voice. A glance showed that Kakashi was gazing at her with a narrow eye. Was his nose twitching?

"Yes?" the answer came out a question. Did she miss more than one question? She didn't think she was that out of it.

"You've been foggy since we stopped sparring. Where are you injured?" Kakashi demanded, his eye scanning her more closely.

Aioka twitched toward her left arm and glanced down at it accusingly when it twanged in discomfort. "It's just a scratch."

Kakashi's brow crept to his hitai-ate when he caught sight of her left arm. Her entire elbow area, plus a good portion of her sleeve, was stiff with dried blood. He was surprised he hadn't noticed the scent of blood in the air until now. "A scratch. Right. And I'm a genin," he deadpanned.

Aioka grimaced. She was a little woozy. Great. Now she definitely would be behind on her work.

"I don't suppose you know any iryo-jutsu?" she asked hopefully. She didn't feel like trekking to the hospital and none of her genin were quite advanced enough to deal with something this deep. Plus hospitals were high chakra zones and very uncomfortable on her senses.

Kakashi shook his head as he pulled out a roll of bandages he kept on him. "No. Let me see."

Aioka huffed and eyed the long sleeve of her shirt. She needed to dampen it so she could roll it back without tearing the clotting. "Just wrap it as is. It's not bleeding at the moment so I can make it to the HQ."

"Why didn't you take care of this earlier?" He asked, examining the gash to determine the best way to wrap it. He didn't want to restrict her arm movement if at all possible.

Aioka lifted her right shoulder in a shrug. "I honestly forgot about it. I was more interested in listening to you. It's not often that I'm the one being taught rather than the one teaching."

Kakashi hmmed and deftly wrapped the wound. He should probably order her to go to the hospital; the wound wasn't deep, per se, but it definitely warranted stitches.

Tucking the ends back into the wrap, Kakashi deemed the bandage sufficient as he stepped away from the fatigued woman. It was probably a good thing the woman had the next couple days off. "I'll find you soon, then," he stated.

Aioka mentally shook herself from the pleasant not-quite-doze she had fallen into while the Jonin worked. Maybe she should take a nap before trying to work with numbers. Yeah, a nap sounded good.

"Sounds good," she said, absently flickering a response to the genin who had volunteered to clean up the training field. "Do you want to collect your kunai? They're done cleaning up."

Kakashi was looking at her oddly again. There was a strange intensity in his eye as he looked between her and the retreating genin. It vaguely made her feel like prey. Was he suspicious of her?

"That wasn't Konoha Standard."

'Ah.' She thought. 'The hand signs.' Aioka allowed her internal alertness to fade back to casual as she smiled and started toward the pile of weapons the genin had left by the edge of the field. "It's not. I and the corp formed our own signs so we could talk without the civilians being aware. You'd be surprised at how many civilians know Konoha Standard, even if they can't sign it themselves."

"What."

Aioka knelt next to the pile of her weapons and glanced curiously at Kakashi. "What, what?"

"Civilians know sign?" the man's doubt was obvious.

"Well, yeah. It's not like jonin hide what they're teaching their genin while on D-ranks. Civilians have ears and brains as much as shinobi. It's kind of hard for them not to pick up on it when it's being taught repeatedly in front of them."

The jonin looked genuinely disturbed by that as he restocked his kunai pouch and sheathed a couple specialty kunai. The kuani were on the smaller side and fit perfectly beneath the collar of his jonin vest and at his ankle. Now that she knew they were there, they were still hard to notice.

"Have the civilians picked up on the Corp's signs?" Kakashi asked after a moment.

Aioka wiggled her hand. "So-so. Not as much as Konoha Standard. Mostly little things like 'yes' or 'no'. The Corp sign is subtle and requires eye contact to be read properly. For instance if I wrinkle my nose while looking at you, it means 'now' where as if I'm not looking at you it probably means my nose itches or something." Aioka shrugged at the dubious look she got. "It's subtle and takes a year of consistent practice to learn. Recruits are required to take daily lessons for their first year. Every once in a while squads will go an entire day communicating via sign just 'cause."

Aioka herself had very little involvement in the development of the Corp Sign. That honor went to a kunoichi by the name of Uwasa Aete. Aete wasn't part of Aioka's Lieutenants but she was a prominent teacher in the Education division. The kunoichi was nearing thirty; Aioka should probably ask Nyuki to set something up to acknowledge the woman's service and discretely suggest the woman take on an apprentice.

Shaking her head, Aioka sighed heavily and stood up. "I really need to get going Kakashi-san. Is there anything you need before I go?"

The man still seemed to be having trouble wrapping his head around the fact that civilians knew shinobi sign. It hadn't escaped Aioka's notice that shinobi were prejudice toward their none chakra using counter parts to varying degrees. Some didn't even realize they had said prejudice but it showed up whenever civilians proved they had brains. It was both amusing and highly irritating to Aioka.

Kakashi seemed to mentally shelve his thoughts as he followed her example and got to his feet. "No. I'll see you around."

Aioka had a moment to catch sight of the mischief in his eye before she was abruptly enveloped in smoke. Her amused cry of indignation went unanswered.

A:CG