I appoligize for late update. I thought this chapter was updated. As a bonus, you watchers still with me (somehow) get the second chapter (which is 95% done right now) much sooner.
Setting: Fire Country. About 100 years before Shippuden
"Senpai, where are we going?"
"To the Jashinist's temples. That is the place the fills alls us with hope."
"What if I'm made fun of again?"
"Pardon?"
"Cause of my height. I'm a freaking dinosaur!"
"Brom-san, here you height might just be your advantage.
Inochi stood outside the house, tapping her foot. The Sloth must have woken up on time for once. Otherwise Shikai won't be running so late.
The house in front of her was entirely made of wood. It was built into the forest behind it, sinking into the trees. The clan symbol of a striped circle hung from a flag by the entrance.
She heard a few choose words being shouted and the sliding door slammed open and shut.
"The Sloth woke up early?"
The girl she asked was sixteen, same age as her almost exact to the date. She wore no shoes, but was clearly unaffected by any splinters in her house or rocks in her path as she walked over. Her hair was down and uncombed, black eyes narrowed more than usual, glaring ahead at nothing.
"I wish!" Shikai Nara snapped, pulling her deerskin jacket on. "He has to get up early but he won't! And he snaps at me for not putting my own hair up..."
As she said this, Inochi was pulling up the black hair and running her fingers through it to get rid of the tangles. Shikai blushed a little. "I just...I like the feeling when someone like you does it."
The girls made the way down the street. A few people glanced their way when they passed past the boarders of clan territory. Inochi couldn't blame them. It wasn't often you saw two people so opposite together. Inochi was blonde and beautiful, her hair back in a neat ponytail, wearing a noble kimono and walking straight, clearly of high rank. Shikai was dirty and boyish, with a flat chest and dark hair, plain clothes and a dark glare. People took double takes when looking at the pair, wondering if perhaps the rules should be switched. It seemed to them like Shikai should be Inochi's servant and doing her hair.
"Can you believe the Naras."
Inochi stopped doing Shikai's hair and both girls looked over at the speaker. Both knew stereotypes well. Shaggy hair, red dagger-like marks on his cheeks, and a dog trailing next to his leg. This young man was a Inuzuka. There was another man next to him, who covered his face completely. Impossible to tell for sure, but almost always an Aburame member if he was a friend who never showed his face.
"Didn't mean any offense, but damn! What's with your leaders?" The Inuzuka said, keeping a smirk on his face as if the whole thing was a joke.
Shikai glared at him. "What's wrong with the leaders?"
"The head clans' Ino-Shika-Cho alliance. The Nara clan screwed up on that one. I understand bad luck, but at least make the best of it."
"Excuse me." Inochi put a hand on a hip and glared as well.
"Oh miss Yakanama-"
"Yanamaka!"
"Yanamaka, your clan has done nothing wrong, lovely. Two girls, it's only wise to put the older one in the alliance. My problem is with the Nara's. Two twins, boy girl. They put the freaking girl in the alliance-"
Shikai rushed forward. All except her blinked and missed it but when they opened their eyes, the Inuzuka was doubled over on the ground, groaning. Inochi smirked picturing what she had down. Shikai whipped around and drove her heal into the young man's head.
His dog snarled and lunged at her. She countered with a punch to stomach before it could bite or claw at her. The Aburame man kept his distance, expression completely unreadable.
"It wasn't a personal insult. You're not in charge. You should go with your girlfriend and get lost kid."
Shit, he did it. Inochi stepped back as Shikai flipped her head around at him. Though she could only see the back of her head, she was sure steam was coming out of the ears.
"My name is Nara Shikai! I'M THE GIRL IN THE ALLIANCE!"
Shikai's shadow shot to life. Dark spikes came out of the ground and pinned the man to the tree behind him.
That was when Inochi decided it was enough. She took her friend's shoulder. "We don't want to kill him. There's enough tension between the clans as it is."
"What's our clan head going to think when he finds out a high ranking Nara assaulted me?" The man said in a flat voice.
Shikai glared and lowered her shadow slowly. "I'll just say the truth. That he highly insulted the Nara clan and she was provoked."
The shadow became flat again. The girls went away as the young man and his dog started to pull themselves up. A safe distance away, Shikai gave Inochi a certain look, the type best friends give when they can know what the other thinks. Inochi gave a small nod and looked back. She put two fingers to the side of her head.
Her vision dulled. She couldn't see the green of the Inuzuka's jacket. Movement became sharper though and her hearing and sense of smell was better than ever. She stretched, shaking her new body from head to tail.
The man looked down at his husky and scratched behind the ears. "Easy boy. She's gone." Inochi looked back at him in her new body, stuck out her long tongue and panted in a very dog like way.
The man tugged on his jacket and turned to the Aburame. His voice echoed strangely in her head. "Can you believe them. Those clans have the worst luck!" The Aburame gave a small nod. "It's thirteen."
"Exactly." The Inuzuka sneered, fangs showing. "Thirteenth generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance. Bad luck showed before birth."
"I've only heard a little...rumors."
"That shit ain't just rumors!" The man growled, looking even more doglike. "You know how the alliance works?"
The Aburame shook his head. "Very little. Just that they are very close and the children are usually on the same team."
"It's not just that. You see..." The man's voice dropped.
"The head of each clan only has one child. The clan will always work together in teams occasionally, but those three children from the heads are the main Ino-Shika-Cho team. They're zealous about it, they fucking name the kids after it.
"Anyway, so the clan heads get together, they're all married, and they discuss the best time to knock up their wifes- cause the kids all have to be the same age for the team you know. So they planed the date about 16- 17 years ago. It was working out fine. Then three months into the pregnancy, the Akimichi woman miscarries. She can't have a kid.
"Half a year later, the Yanamaka and Nara families about to have their kids about the same time. Akimichi's still trying for a baby. Nara mommy's looking bigger then Yanamaka and they can't find out why. They assumed the kid's just big. She goes into labor early and they find out she was carrying twins: A guy and the girl we just saw. Nara's get some serious shame for a while. Yanamaka has a baby girl few days later."
"The one we just saw?"
Inuzuka shrugged. "Maybe.
"Anyway Akimichi still can't get pregnant. Having serious troubles, which spouse had the problem we're not a hundred percent sure. I guess the mom, cause if she did get pregnant, she always managed a miscarriage somehow.
"About two years later, Yanamaka mommy gets pregnant again accidentally. Caused a fuckin' riot. A lot thought she cheated with some guy. In the end, daddy was loyal even under his clan's pressure. So they had another child, girl again. She had the blonde hair, blue eyes, looked very much like her daddy. That ended any questions about an affair.
"Then another two years later Akimichi finally has a kid. Another damn girl. So there's your fucked up family." He counted off his fingers. "16, 16, 16, 14, 12. The number's cursed dude."
"I wanted to bite him." Inochi growled.
"You should have." Shikai laughed. "Bitten by his own puppy." She made her voice high and fearful. "B-buddy! Whaz wong buddy? I'm your fwiend~!"
Inochi laughed harder. A house appeared in front of them. It was about the same size of the Nara's, but the walls were painted pale pink. Outside the front of the house, a garden was stretching out with flowers and herbs and vegetables of all types the girls could name and more.
Sitting in the middle of the garden was a girl with a flowery kimono and long blonde hair. She held a small travel in her hand and was tending to a golden plant that was budding. She looked up and shielded her pale eyes from the sun. Her smile brightened when she saw them.
"Nii-chan!"
"Hey Inonii."
"What's going on?"
"I'm just finishing up." Inonii put the tool into a basket and stood up. "That plant's rare. Please don't step on it or anything."
"We won't." Both girls promised at the same time, as though this was requested a thousand times before.
Shikai looked at the sun. "My meeting should be coming up soon. I gotta go."
"Ok." Inochi hugged her friend tight. "Miss you."
"Bye Shikai."
"Cya girls." Shika hugged back tighter
Shikano Nara twisted the tool around in his hands. He had a great grip on the hand and was flipping it around and stabbing short distances with it.
"It's a tonfa. Some clans in grassy areas use it for grinding grain. A while ago they were captured and the clan they're under took away all their weapons. So they developed these into weapons. It's pretty useful." He flipped it up again and caught it. He jabbed it forward- "You can attack with this end" - And pulled in back with the long end in a defensive position- "Or block like this." He flicked the tool up in the air again.
Shikai snatched out her hand and caught it midair. Then she drove it down into the back of Shikano's head.
"Wow it is a good weapon." She smirked as Shikano rubbed where he was hit.
"Shikai!"
The twins looked at their father and the girl set down her tool. The clan head crossed his arms. "Is that all the report, Shikano?"
"Yes."
"In conclusion we can purchase these weapons from them cheap. The clan's under harsh rule and pretty desperate."
"Dad, that's not what I said."
"It's true isn't it."
"No it's not. I just gave a small first lesson they gave me. They're training with these and they've been using them for years. They'll eventually overpower-"
"This discussion is over." The head said in a louder voice. Shikano stayed silent and his sister looked at him oddly.
"Is there any other topics of this meeting?" Their father asked, scanning through the faces of adults at the meeting. Distant cousins stayed silent. Shikano raised his hand.
"Shikano, your turn is over-"
"I know-"
"There's no more arguing-"
"With all due respect, this is not about that." Shikano said firmly. All eyes were on him now. He cleared his throat and continued.
"Sarutobi has been dead for a while now. There's an elephant in the room no one's really addressing. For years now, the Sarutobi clan has been training up Nara members like my sister. This time the clan refuses to send another. They have their own problems and we understand that they cannot spare a man to play teacher.
"That's why I'd like to elect a new trainer for the Ino-Shika-Cho team. Myself."
All the people in the room started talking at once. Shikai managed to overpower them all.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!"
The room silenced and the head turned his hard glare to her.
"Shikai, leave."
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING WITH THIS! I'M NOT HAVING MY TWIN BROTHER AS MY SENSEI-"
"LEAVE!"
"INOCHI!" Shikai ran around the compound looking for her. "INOCHI!"
Two figures stood on the roof out of her sight.
"She a good recruit?"
"I don't know. She'll attract attention to her brother. He's a lot smarter."
"If he was so smart, he'll join us."
"He's not that smart." The second giggled. "C'mon lovely, we have to find the other one before she does." She disappeared in a flash.
"H-hey wait up!" The other disappeared in another flash.
Shikai turned her head to the roof. Her eyes narrowed at the dents in the rain gutter. Someone was just there. She knew it.