Dez: I apologize for the long ass delay. I had a rough as hell last two monthswith college and a lot of family drama. So i apologizefor this being late. I hope you enjoy. I aldo don't own any of these fandoms.
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Team 7 sat at the counter of Icharuka's with large bowls of celebratory ramen. The team was cheerful and smiling as they rejoiced their victory when Naruto stood silently with a solemn expression and removed his headband. The team quieted down in confusion and slight worry.
"I'd like to have a moment of silence," he said, " for all the precious time we lost with that pinky on our team." Naruto dramatically mimed a toast, the rest of the team laughing and joining in on the joke. Afterwards they finished their meals and soaked up the happy atmosphere.
Kakashi watched his genin with pride as they watched Naruto downed a twelfth bowl of ramen ( it was a good thing the Taisho's opened a tab with the ramen stand ). Pulling some papers out of his pouch, he cleared his throat to catch the genins attention and held up the papers.
"Congratulations, Team 7. You completed an A-Rank mission and returned with more experience than the normal rookie team. Your team has cut its rusted link and is now ready for the next step." He fanned the papers back and forth a bit before continuing. " These are application forms for the Chunin Exams. I have no doubt that you guys want to take part so I hope to see all of you day after tomorrow with these filled out. Use tomorrow wisely because the exam is the day after. If by any chance you don't want to take part however, I completely understand. See you guys two days."
With that, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, five sets of hands each snatching a form out of the air.
"Do you realize what this means?" Naruto cheered, his companions saying nothing, signalling for him to continue.
"We're gonna be real ninjas! They cant tell us that we're a bunch of baby genins anymore." He yelled, bouncing around the small space. He stopped after a minute to put his hand up to his face, an evil smile on his face. "And ," Naruto crowed " we can rub this in those jerk teachers at the academy that we're the same rank as them. Fufufu!"
They all laughed at this before saying their goodbyes. The Taisho kids and the Uchiha twins waved as their paths parted, making their way to their designated compound.
As Kagome, Jack and Naruto walked home, they each thought about the forms tucked safely away in their pouches. As the wall around the compound drew closer, they thought on how the exams might change their team for the better.
"Well," Jack broke the silence as they walked passed the guards, " at least our team has a serious edge. We can ask Sesshomaru and Inuyasha how their exams went."
Kagome nodded in agreement as they walked through the quiet compound. They were out pretty late, almost everyone had already turned in.
"Yeah,and the temes can ask Shisui. I mean, how much could the Exams have changed since they took it. " Naruto said quietly as they walked around the side of the main house, completely ignoring the front doors.
They calmly walked up the side of their home to Jack's window. They didn't have to wait as the window was unlocked and pushed open from the inside by a lone plant on the sill. Climbing in, they said good night, leaving Jack alone as Kagome and Naruto left for their rooms. Stripping down to his boxers, Jack climbed into bed and went straight to sleep, his mind empty of the dreams that plauged him as of late.
Jack watched as Zero splashed about the bath. It was early in the morning, leaving him alone in the private bath house. Jack leaned back against the smooth stones as his body sank comfortably in the heated waters. He stared boredly at the smooth surface, his nose just above water level.
"What a strong son you have Taisho-sama!"
Steam rose lazily around him, black hair with white tips hanging in his face.
"I know that Taisho's are supposed to have silver hair but Jack-kun looks so handsome and mysterious with his black hair!"
The steam mixed with the scent of the cherry blossoms that he carefully grew around the bath, creating a soothing aroma.
"Ah! You can use the Mokuoton! You truly are a blessing in your clan!"
His eyes briefly trailed over the hitai-ate tied around Zero's neck.
"A perfect henge at such a young age! As expected of a son of the Taisho main family but... why doesn't he just jump ranks like his brothers?"
A sigh escaped his nose, creating tiny ripples. Sitting up, Jack gave a sharp whistle. Zero stopped playing and quickly appeared before his master. Jack merely rubbed the wet "fur" of the dog, seeing past the illusion and looking at the skeleton beneath.
Zero was a rather strange summon. His father's old summon, Kyoko, had a premature labor when he was younger. Kyoko had jumped in to protect Naruto from a villager's attack a week after he was adopted. The summon, despite being larger than the assailant, was no match for poison of the knife in her stomach . He wasn't sure what happened after, he wasn't there. But one minute, he is reading with his father in his study, the next, the two of the are sprinting to Kyoko's nesting room. Several Inuzuka vets were there trying to save Kyoko and her pups.
All the pups had made it but one. The knife had stabbed him in the womb. Jack felt for the small pup. He had been crying so much that he'd had actually grabbed the little thing and yelled for someone to save it. To save the already dead pup. Its truly a mystery what happened after but somehow the dog was "revived". There wasn't a pulse but the dog was moving and very much animated. After that, Jack created a summons with the Zero ( When asked why Zero, he said that because they had zero hope in him.).
It was still obvious the dog wasn't normal. Zero's skin became transparent as time went by and the dog seemed to become a ghost. He walked through walls, disappeared and flew. He was much more unique than the other dogs. If you looked close enough, you could see through Zero's and watch his skeleton and even that was translucent.
With another sigh, Jack rose from the water and stepped out onto the warm stone. Zero yapped happily from his master's arms as Jack walked to his clothes. Setting the dog on the ground, he began to dry his skin and dress, pausing briefly at his raven locks before shaking them out. He turned to the now dry Zero and put a white poncho on the dog. The material seemed to float around him, making him look like a bed sheet ghost.
Smiling at the dog, he took the hitai-ate off his neck and tied it to his belt loop. He then put a leaf shaped tag on the loop of the dog's collar and asked,
"You wanna go with me to training?"
This was one of the few days that Jack spent without his siblings. He leaped from rooftop to rooftop as he made his way to the weapons shop, Zero keeping pace easily. He was low on kunai and shuriken after Wave and he wanted to be prepared for anything. Landing infront the shop, he rapped lightly on the shop's door. He came early in hopes of reaching before any of his fangirls could spot him in the morning rush. Waiting a few minutes, he rapped his knuckles on the door again. The shop should be open by now. He gave a small, irritated huff before knocking on the door fully.
"I don't think they're gonna open up so early. This particular shop is civilian run, so they don't always open at their supposed time." A light voice said behind him.
Jack turned to see a female with waist length red hair and black battle dress with red stitches. The young shinobi smiled at her, not even bothered by the numerous stitches on her body. The girl returned the smile, the stitches on her cheeks giving her a surprisingly cute glasgow smile.
"Hello, Sally. I didn't expect to see you here. Where's your brother? Oogie's usually hovering like a bug. Or was he swatted like the locust he is?" Jack said cordially with the smallest bits of venom.
Sally smiled apologetically at her friend. "I see you're still mad at him? It was six months ago Jack, can't you forgive him? You know he didn't mean any real harm." She pleaded on her half-siblings behalf.
She watched as his brow ticked in a carefully controlled mask of calm. "Nope." Jack said, popping the p for emphasis. " He destroyed my entire garden with his damned bugs. And I had finally gotten some Red Moon Lilies to bloom. Mother gave me those after her visit to our homeland. They are very difficult to grow, especially outside of the Land of the Moon."
Sally just sweatdropped at the fake calm and geniality he exuded. He was really mad still. How those two were once friends was beyond her. She sighed in relief when the door opened behind Jack and a short, irritable looking old woman came out.
"Do you know what time it is you brats? Can a lady get some sleep around here? Hmn, you ninjas got no respect for us working folk." She snapped at them. Sally watched in amazement at what happened next.
A kind smile graced Jack's face as he spoke evenly and politely towards the owner. " I apologize ma'am, but i saw the sign said that you were to open an hour ago. I was merely trying to make a purchase from your establishment but no one responded. The other shops around here don't open so early and id hoped to get an early start on my day. I will just be leaving now." Jack took a small step as if to leave. "I can wait for another shop to open. Have a pleasant day ma'am." With a quick turn of his feet, Jack turned his back on the woman, his clan crest on full display on his back.
The old woman took a quick intake of breather before calling out a "Wait sonny!".
Jack looked over his shoulder as the woman flipped the sign to open turned on the shop's lights. "I was coming to open up any way. Im happy to know that a Taisho would want to visit my humble store. Come in, come in dear."
Jack gave her a close eyed smile and walked into the shop, Sally following him in with a slack jaw. She never seen the woman be so polite in all the years she'd come to this shop.
Was this the power of a founding clan?
Half an hour later, Jack had three new Demon Windmill shurikens and several regular kunais and shuriken.
Just as the two were walking out the shop, some dropped to the ground from an adjacent building in front of them. A young male roughly the same height as Jack stood before, his messy brown hair hanging in yellow eyes. The boy wore a baggy, tan colored hoodie with messy stitching that was obviously home done. Black pants were taped down with bandages and tucked into black shinobi sandals. The male smiled, the stitches on his cheeks sinister looking in the shadow cast by his hood.
"Hello, Jack. Any reason you're near Sally?" The boy drawled. He immediately went from intimidating to goofy as he bounced over to the duo and slung his arms over their shoulders. "Are you guys hiding from meeeeeeeee…" He fake cried.
Jack neatly stepped his side, throwing off the boys balance.
"Oogie, I distinctly remember telling you not to touch me with your filthy bugs ever again." Jack said calmly as he flicked a beetle off his shoulder.
"Aw! Jack, are you still mad 'bout your flowers?" Oogie said, hanging off Sally's shoulder as though he were drunk. He recieved a blank stare in response.
"Huh? I guess so."
Jack turned and whistled for Zero. The dog popped out from behind a pile of paint cans before bounding over to his master.
"I'll see you around, Sally."
Sally waved while keeping a tight grip on her brother as he reached out to Jack.
"WHAT ABOUT ME JACK?!
Jack laid on his back on the roof of the Hokage Tower, watching the stone faces of the previous Kage. He munched lazily on a stick of dango he bought earlier henged as Shippo.
It was kinda nice being alone. He and Kagome were usually bound at the hip. But today he just felt like being alone, sans Zero of course. He dropped his head back to watch the clouds before pushing off the tower. He was falling for less than a minute before he attached his feet to the tower's side. He began to leap across rooftops, dodging imaginary enemies and attacks.
"KYAAAAAA! IT'S JACK-KUN!"
Putting actual effort into his movements, Jack picked up speed as her ran across a power line.
And here he was having such a peaceful day.
Jack ducked deftly below a clothes line as an arm reached out to grab him. Zero was already gone, hiding until called upon. Jack raced between alleys as his fan club made chase. The hairs on the back of his neck raising, he grabbed a kunai from his weapons pouch and deflected several senbon. Jack kept running as the girl who threw them yelled in rage. Leaping upwards between buildings, Jack grabbed onto a pole and swung himself into a crouch on it. The civilian girls kept running below him while the genins started to jump from clothes lines in order to reach him.
Wasting no time, Jack dashed across the side of the buildings. His pursuers leapt from any perch they could as he continued his vertical run. But as he continued, he noticed he was running out of "road". Speeding up, he pushed off with as much force as he could at the edge. He flipped in the air and tossed several dull kunai with weak paper bombs attached.
The ground quickly approaching, Jack braced for impact. Landing in a crouch, he rolled to absorb the shock and continued to run. He could hear the more determined fans still chasing him. Looking at his surroundings, Jack rushed into a crowd of civilians, dodging between citizens as he attempted to shake his stalkers. He continued this for a few minutes before he spotted a drainage grate. Power sliding below a someone's arm, he slid cleanly into the sewers. As soon as he was in, he attached himself to the roof of the sewers. He stopped to catch his breath, looking down at the murky waters below.
"Yeesh. It's times like these I'm happy to be a ninja." He whispered to himself. Giving a quiet whistle, he smiled as Zero appeared, his body giving off enough light to see.
"It's been a long day. Let's head home."
Zero followed Jack as he walked home along the top of the sewers.)
Jack smiled warmly at his twin and mother when he saw them in the kitchen as he walked through the house.
"Hey Jack. Where were you all day?" Kagome asked him as she set the table. Jack smiled innocently as the rest of the family walked in.
"Training."
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I know this can look fillerish but this was a very important chapter. I promise. I hope you guys have good night ( its almost midnight here) or morning or whatever time of day you're reading this.
Till next time