-White Plum Hidden in the Leaves-
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, only the OCs that I created.
Chapter 20:
Traitorous Friendship
Ume had just made it to the edge of Training Ground 7, when an orange blur tackled her, knocking her flat on her back. Naruto had wrapped his arms and legs around his sister's middle, making it hard for her to breath.
"I did it, Nee-chan! I'm a Genin now, believe it!" Naruto cheered happily, hugging Ume so tightly, she thought her ribs would crack.
"A-air!" wheezed Ume.
"Huh?"
"Air!"
"Oh, sorry!" Naruto quickly loosened his hold, but his grin never left his face; it was so big, Ume was afraid that it would split his face in two, "But, I passed!"
Naruto's mood was contagious and Ume couldn't help but feel his excitement. Ume hugged him back with just as much force as Naruto had.
"That's awesome, Ototo!" she squealed, "I knew you could do it!"
"Eh-hum," Somebody cleared their throat.
The two Uzumakis looked up from their sibling snuggling at an amused Kakashi and the rest of team 7. The two of them picked themselves off the ground; Ume rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, and Naruto still grinning like a fool.
"Ain't life grand?" Ume and Naruto nearly jumped out of their skins when Anko suddenly appeared behind them from out of nowhere.
"Anko?" Kakashi raised a curious eyebrow at her, "Where did you come from?"
The snake mistress grinned as she grabbed both of the siblings into headlocks, "What a coincidence that I ran into all of you at once!-"
"Coincidence my ass!" growled Ume, "You were just spying on us, again."
Anko ignored her apprentice, "Well, since we're all here, we are all going out to eat!"
"Huh?"
"Don't try and talk your way out of it, Hatake," said Anko, leaving no room for negotiation, "We're going, and that's that."
Anko ended up dragging Ume, Naruto, and the rest of Team 7 to one of her favorite restaurant/bars, 'The Flying Kunai', which, coincidently, was the same establishment that Lee had destroyed when Ume had first met him and his team. Ume admitted that it was a nice place, and was a bit relieved that it wasn't just another dango joint again.
All six of the shinobi crammed themselves into the biggest booth the restaurant had to offer; Ume sat in between her brother and her sensei on one side, while Sakura sat between Kakashi and Sasuke on the other side.
In Ume's opinion, Naruto's new squad wasn't the most dynamic team she'd ever come across. First, there was Sasuke Uchiha: the only survivor of when his entire clan was destroyed by his own brother, the Rookie of the Year in Ototo's class, the civilians kiss the very ground he walks on…. But, he's a complete ass (more so than Neji).
Then there was Sakura Haruno: Top Kunoichi of her class, book-smart and by the book… but, she's shrill fan girl, through and through. Ume then examined Naruto's new Jonin sensei, Kakashi Hatake; the famed Copycat Shinobi and wielder of the Uchiha Clan's dojutsu, the Sharingan (even though he himself wasn't an Uchiha), and son of Konoha's past White Fang… also a chronic tardy-person, and obsessed with reading porn...
Yeah, this is gonna be some team. It was times like this that Ume was glad that she was Psycho-sensei's only apprentice.
A waitress soon arrived and took the group's order. Ume laughed at Naruto's pouting face when he found out that the restaurant didn't serve ramen; Ume suggested that he follow Anko's example and have some red bean soup. She herself order a large plate of karaage-fried chicken, yum.
"-and then it was like: Bam! I got sensei good, he never saw it coming!" Naruto dominated most of the conversation, ignoring Kakashi's exasperated look, and retold every detail of his team's test. Whenever she could get a word in, Ume told of her "fun" with Team Guy.
"So, do you work with Guy's team often?" asked Kakashi.
"Every now in then," answered Ume after swallowing a bite of chicken, "They're great to train with, but Guy scares me more than Sensei does." Ume earned a smack to the head for that comment.
"By the way, Anko," the Jonin turned towards the violet-haired kunoichi, "I'm starting to get the feeling that you're being a bad influence on your apprentice."
"Heh?"
"I know that there are missions that only kunoichi are able to do, and even though Ume-chan did well in your mock-mission, there was one moment were-" Kakashi was cut off when Ume slammed her fist hard on the tabletop.
"Man, this is good meat!" said Ume, stabbing a piece of chicken with her chopsticks and holding it eyelevel, "It sure would be a shame if anything happened to it…" Ume locked her eyes on the silver-haired Jonin and ripped off a piece of the chicken with her teeth, "A real shame."
Translation: if you say anything about what I did today, I'll hunt you down and gut you like a fish!
Everyone (minus Kakashi) gave Ume a weird look for her out burst. Anko raised an amused eyebrow at her antics before turning back to Kakashi.
"I don't really care about Snowflake practicing her seducing skills on you," Anko said casually, "I just-"
Both siblings choked on their drinks and sprayed Naruto's team members after hearing Anko's statement.
"Naruto!" shrieked Sakura.
"Sensei!" Ume sputtered, blushing from embarrassment, "Shut up! Besides, you're one to talk, when you're the one who tried to molest Iruka the other day!"
"All I did was hug him!" snapped Anko, glaring over Naruto's spiky head at her apprentice.
"You shoved his face in your boobs!" sneered Ume, "He was so traumatized that couldn't look at another woman for days without flinching."
"Are you implying something, gaki?" growled Anko, rising a bit from her seat and leaning over a very nervous Naruto.
Ume rose up to meet her, "Just that you shouldn't dish out what you can't take."
"Why you!"
Sakura looked scared out of her wits by the to fighting kunoichi and began clinging to Sasuke's arm for comfort. Sasuke himself looked to be trying to mask his own fear, while tactically trying to shift himself as far away from Ume and Anko as possible, while also trying to dislodge Sakura from his arm.
Naruto looked pleadingly at his sensei from between the two bickering kunoichi. "Help me!" he mouthed desperately.
A bead of sweat ran down Kakashi's temple has he watched the raging Chunin and Tokubetsu Jonin; sometimes he forgot how scary the female species could really be. But, the Jonin decided that he should probably save his loudmouthed student and break up the appending bloodbath before they got kicked out of the restaurant.
"Umm, the two of you might want to settle down until after we finish eating?" suggested Kakashi warily, "This is a public place, after all…"
The two kunoichi stopped their bickering long enough to glare at the silver-haired Jonin. After all, he was the reason they had gone off on each other. Nevertheless, student and teacher slid back into their seats and went back to their food without another word.
Naruto sighed in relief, now that he was no longer sandwiched in between the two kunoichi's killer intent. 'Ume-nee-chan and Crazy-sensei can be really scary. But, I wonder what Kakashi-sensei meant…?'
The rest of the meal went on without much incident, except for the occasional light insult from either Anko or Ume… although, Anko was consuming an excessive amount of sake (more than what Ume was comfortable with).
Before long, a drunken blush had stretched its way across Anko's cheeks and nose, and she became even more irrational and incoherent than usual.
"I shwear, gakis these days.. Hic.. Don't have any reshpect for their.. Hic.. Shlerpieriors these days.. Hic.." slurred Anko, waving a half-empty bottle of sake around, splashing the table with its contents, "And another thing-!"
Kakashi watched in bemusement as the Uzumaki siblings squashed themselves against the far wall of the booth, as far away from the drunken Anko as they could (trapped in the booth as they were). If this went on much longer, Kakashi had a feeling that it would lead to a very large headache for him. Perhaps he should just cut his losses now and leave…. No, he just got through lecturing his team about never abandoning your comrades. Sigh.
"Um, Anko, I think you've had enough for today," said Kakashi, quickly snatching the bottle away from the snake mistress, "Besides, it's only just past noon, and already you're like this. It's a little shameful."
"Hey.. Hic.. Give that back!" Anko rose from her seat in an attempt to retrieve her stolen beverage.
But, the moment Anko staggered out of her seat, her legs gave out from under her. Kakashi managed to catch her before she hit the ground.
"Ugh… room won't stop spinning…" Anko moaned pitifully.
Kakashi sighed, "Well, I guess the party's over." He looked over at an exasperated-looking Ume, "I'll take Anko home, so I guess you're free to do whatever until she's sober again."
After throwing down enough money to pay for everyone's meal, Kakashi turned to his Genin, "As for the rest of you, you'll start you're shinobi duties tomorrow morning.
Meet me at the North Bridge at six a.m. Chow!"
With that, the silver-haired Jonin and the Tokubetsu Jonin disappeared in a puff of smoke. Ume gazed at the spot that the two senseis had been standing a second earlier and sighed heavily. Sometimes Psycho-sensei could really be embarrassing.
"Hnn," after a few more seconds of awkward silence (and after prying Sakura off of his arm), Sasuke stood from his seat and left without another word.
"Sasuke-kun, wait up!" the pink-haired girl scrambled after the broody Uchiha.
Left alone, the Uzumaki siblings sat in silence; it looked like they had been ditched. Well, Ume was never one for parties anyway. But, she wished Naruto's teammates didn't just ignore her brother the way they did…
"Well, Ototo, it looks like it's just you and me," said Ume, lightly ruffling his hair, "How bought we go and train some more? Since we're both free for the rest of the day."
"You bet, Ume-nee-chan!" cheered Naruto.
But, suddenly, Naruto grimaced and held his stomach in pain when it made a disturbing gurgling sound, "Urgh, my stomach doesn't feel so hot…. Bathroom!"
Naruto shot out of his seat and made a hasty beeline to the men's restroom. Ume winced in sympathy, 'Poor Ototo. Maybe that soup wasn't a good idea?' She was about to get up and wait near the restrooms for Naruto to come out, when a familiar voice stopped her.
"Well, well, it seems Misumi was wrong. You did make Chunin after all."
Ume looked up to see a familiar silver-haired, glasses-wearing Genin, "Hey, Kabuto! How ya been?"
"Quite well, thank you," Said the Genin, smiling as he sat down opposite of Ume, "You seem to be doing fine, too, Ume-chan." He looked at the empty glasses and dishes, "Don't tell me this was all for you."
Ume gave a light scowl, and sipped at her water, "No, sensei and I ate with Ototo and his team. They just now left, and Ototo's having a bit of a stomach problem." She gestured towards the restrooms.
"Ah," was all that Kabuto said. The silver-haired Genin glanced over Ume's shoulder at something behind her.
Curious, Ume turned in her seat to see what Kabuto was looking at, but saw nothing of real interest. She turned back around to face him, "What is it?"
Kabuto just shook his head, "I thought I saw someone I knew, but it wasn't them."
"Hmm," Ume took another sip of water, smacking her lips at the taste. Huh, there was a very slight tang to it. Did someone add lemon to it?
"So, besides making Chunin, what's new?" asked Kabuto, leaning back in his seat.
"Ototo passed his Genin Test and is now on Team 7 under Kakashi Hatake," said Ume, taking another drink, and trying to ignore the weird tingling in the back of her skull.
"Kakashi Hatake, huh? I'm sure he'll be an excellent sensei for your brother," said Kabuto, adjusting his glasses.
"He better be," frowned Ume, swallowing the last of her drink. Her seat felt a bit like it was swaying, and the weird tingling in the back of her skull had now spread throughout her entire body… and she felt strangely tipsy.
"How is training going?" Kabuto asked casually.
'Man, that was good water!' thought Ume giddily, folding her arms on the table, "Eh, I kinda feel like I'm at a bit of a plateau right now… why do the call it a plateau anyway?"
Kabuto ignored her question and adjusted his glasses again, "So, there isn't anything new going on with you or your training?"
"Why do they call it that?" asked Ume, her brain had finally gone numb and rational thought was now out the window.
"…Call what, what, Ume-chan?"
"Mizurappa," grinned Ume, flopping her head down on her folded arms, "The technique, why do they call it that? I mean, they call it the Violent Water Wave, and it doesn't look anything like a wave. It's more like a…. what were we talking about?" Ume frowned, remembering was really hard right now.
Kabuto placed his elbows on the table and treaded his fingers together, "You were explaining your training regimen to me."
Ume's brow wrinkled in confusion, "Really?.. Huh… Pffsh, I swear, don't ya ever get that feelin' that no matter how hard you train… you're always taking one step forward and…and… how does that saying go again?"
"I believe it's "one step forward and two steps back"," said Kabuto, resting his chin on his interlaced fingers.
"Yeah, that's the one," chirped Ume giddily, "No matter hhoooow hard you try, it takes completely forever to make a stupid acorn sprout. It's all Tora-sensei's fault that I hate acorns, ya know?"
"… I'm afraid I don't understand, Ume-chan," Kabuto pushed his glasses further up his nose, "Who is Tora-sensei, and what's all this about an acorn?"
"Tora-sensei is Tora-sensei," answered Ume, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "and acorns are stupid. Why does it have to be soooo hard to make wood, anyway?"
"What do you mean, "wood"?" pressed Kabuto.
Ume didn't answer, but instead sunk further into her seat, "Ugh, so tired…" her eyes drooped shut, and soon the white-haired kunoichi was softly snoring with her face flat against the table.
Kabuto stared at her sleeping form for a few minutes, before standing and leaving her alone in the booth.
Naruto groaned when he finally exited the men's restroom. He had been in there forever, and had quickly cleared out the facility while there.
"I guess I shoulda' listened to Nee-chan and not have drank that milk that was in the back of the fridge," Naruto grumbled to himself, as he made his way over to where he had left Ume. He surprised to find his sister fast asleep in the booth.
'Was I really in there that long?' wonder Naruto. He reached over and lightly shook Ume's shoulder, "Nee-chan. Hey, Nee-chan, wake up!"
The kunoichi groaned in response but continued to snooze on.
'Huh, I guess she was tired from training with Crazy Lady. A full stomach after training sometimes makes me tired," thought Naruto, 'Oh, well, I guess we can train later…'
With only a little trouble, Naruto managed to pull Ume out of the booth and arrange her on his back, piggy-back style. The sight was slightly comical, considering Ume was taller than Naruto, but he managed.
Shoving the restaurant's front door open with his foot, Naruto made it outside and went on his way back towards their apartment, "Let's go home, Nee-chan."
Kabuto Yakushi considered himself an intelligent and clever individual; it was usually always easy for him to get the information he wanted without directly asking for it... But, he'd never expected his most recent info hunt to be that easy.
The silver-haired shinobi had originally gone to the 'Flying Kunai' for the same reason everybody else did: to eat. But then, he spotted Ume Uzumaki there with a group of other shinobi. The opportunity for eavesdropping had been too good to pass up. Maybe finally he would learn about the secretive kunoichi.
Kabuto kept himself out of sight from the group as he listened in on their multiple (not to mention: colorful) conversations, and for a time, he thought he would never hear anything of value. But, when the Jonin, Kakashi Hatake took the drunken Anko Mitarashi away, Kabuto's luck changed. Only moments after the two elder shinobi had left, the Uchiha and the pink-haired girl left as well, and when Ume's younger brother rushed off to the bathroom… well, that was it then; Kabuto doubted that he would get a chance to speak with Ume alone like this again anytime soon; best to take what he could now.
With a polite smile and friendly greeting, approaching the girl and taking a seat at her booth had been easy enough. It was sad how even easier it was to get Ume to look behind her as Kabuto slipped a drug into the kunoichi's drink.
The drug wouldn't harm her, just make her rationality go away for a while. The only bad affect that it would have (for her) would be a nasty headache whenever she woke up, as well as inability to remember the events that took place while she was under the influence of the drug. A very useful agent.
But, just to be one the safe side, Kabuto refrained from asking too direct questions; only those that might trigger a memory or response that had to do with the information he was looking for.
When Kabuto had first began his little interrogation, the white-haired kunoichi had only babbled on about useless (if not amusing) trivia. But, finally, Ume had spilled something that somewhat hinted at what Kabuto suspected of the kunoichi: that she possessed a Kekkei Genkai that revolved around flora.
The only bloodline limit that Kabuto knew about that resembled that was one that had been extinct for decades; the Mokuton. As impossible as it sounded (and with the little real proof that he had), Kabuto was certain that his master would once again have a chance to acquire the ancient bloodline limit.
A/N: I hope you liked =^.^= Plez review! And remember: ideas, questions, and suggestions for future events and plot devices are welcome and encouraged! And remember: Art (reviews) are an explosion! ^.\)
Japanese/ Jutsu List:
- Sharingan: the bloodline limit of the Uchiha Clan
- sake: a Japanese alcoholic beverage usually served warm