A great, big THANK YOU! to my Beta-reader, Kibo Oto!

Updated March 10, 2019.

~Tenth Winter: Part V~

Despite leaving for the training ground early, Kokuchou was not the first to arrive. In fact, she wasn't even the second.

Jiraiya-sensei and Minato were bent over a scroll in the center of the clearing with Minato writing something where the older man indicated.

The blond was the only one to glance up at her arrival. "Good morning."

"Pay attention, Minato," Jiraiya-sensei interrupted. He didn't look at Kokuchou as she approached. "Midge, you're gonna get started on some stretches. Once Goldfish arrives we'll hop right into team-building."

She was not in the least taken aback by his curt directions, having worked with Itame-sensei for long enough to be used to it. Kokuchou nodded even though the man couldn't see it. "Yes, sensei."

She walked a little way away from the two and began stretching. Kokuchou bent her body to its limits, never pushing to the point of injury but certainly enough to feel that delicious stretch in her muscles. Every now and then, when she was in the position for it, Kokuchou would watch Jiraiya-sensei and Minato in the center of the clearing. She listened to their conversation. Kokuchou didn't understand most of it, but she knew at the very least that it was about fuinjutsu.

Hibashi arrived several minutes late, but Jiraiya-sensei either didn't notice or didn't care as focused on whatever he was instructing Minato on, so the tan boy joined Kokuchou in her stretching.

Hibashi made his way over to her, whistling slightly at her pose. "Whoa."

"Good morning," Kokuchou greeted.

"Morning," he responded in kind and began to stretch as well. He wasn't nearly as flexible as Kokuchou, but not many of her peers were, and stuck mainly to the Academy calisthenics. Hibashi very quickly became distracted by the extreme give in her muscles.

"That's sick," he said, impressed and tried to copy her shoulder-stand split.

She'd had to name a lot of her stretches herself as there weren't a lot of resources detailing the extreme moves she did. Her shoulders and head rested on the ground with her arms flat behind her. Kokuchou alternated the split, with her feet touching the ground on her left and right sides before pivoting to the front and back of her body.

Hibashi flailed his legs about and fell to his side, failing miserably. He rubbed his neck and made to try again.

"You do the Academy stretches, right?" Kokuchou twisted her head to meet his gaze. Hibashi nodded. "This pose is a little advanced, comparatively."

She brought her hands to the side of her head, pushing up while maintaining her split. "You have to start slow or you risk serious injury." Kokuchou brought her legs together in a steady handstand and held it for several deep breaths before very slowly lowering them to the ground.

"Can you teach me?" Hibashi squinted at Kokuchou as she righted herself, head buzzing in that familiar way after every warm up routine. "I can think of three uses for that kind of flexibility today."

Kokuchou's chin raised a little, confused. "Three?"

"Taijutsu," Hibashi held up his fingers, counting off. "Pranks. Teashop."

Kokuchou figured his frenzied fighting style would benefit from increased flexibility, but the others –she had no idea. And what did he mean by today? Would he think of more uses in the future?

"So, what d'ya say?"

After her discussion with Itame-sensei the night before, Kokuchou knew she had to take her team, and her sensei, seriously. The man had made it abundantly clear. If she neglected them, didn't really try to make it work, he would stop training her. Kokuchou thought of Shou's sensei, Jimei-taichou, and how he barely instructed them. A quick glance at Minato showed how engrossed the two were in whatever it was they were looking at.

She hoped it wouldn't be the same.

Kokuchou nodded. "Yeah, okay. Stand like this."

The next half hour was spent with Kokuchou guiding Hibashi through preliminary stretches. When he struggled to execute or hold certain positions, she would step in to help. Several times she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling at his pained expressions. However, Kokuchou was careful never to push the boy too far. His muscles and tendons weren't able to take the strain just yet and she wasn't confident in her ability to heal more than minor overextensions.

"What happened to you yesterday? I looked everywhere."

"I went to my mentor's shop."

"I know that, but I thought we were going togeth- Ooh! Ouch!" Kokuchou pushed him further into a front fold. That had never been agreed upon –he'd never asked to accompany her but had simply followed.

"Oh," she said for lack of anything else to say.

"I want to meet this guy!" Hibashi exclaimed as Kokuchou led him into the next bend. "Next time we can all go together. You, me, and Minato. And in the future, we can all go to the teashop and you can meet my fam- Ow! Ow!" Hibashi voiced, eyes squinting even smaller against the pain.

A chuckle resounded behind them and a quick glance up showed Minato smiling at the pair. Jiriaya-sensei looked at them for the first time that morning, taking in the sight.

The jonin glanced at Minato. Kokuchou saw his shoulders heave a sigh. "Well, since your focus is wandering elsewhere for now," he addressed the boy. "I guess it's time we begin, tadpoles."

Jiraiya-sensei motioned for her and Hibashi to join them in the center of the clearing while Minato rolled up the scroll and placed it in his bag. The blond moved to stand beside them as they faced their sensei. "Like I said yesterday, we'll be doing team building drills for the foreseeable future."

He took a moment to examine the three genin. His gaze landed on Kokuchou and trailed down to her bracelets and anklets. "Midge, take those off." He nodded to her feet.

To her credit, Kokuchou only hesitated for a moment. She pumped chakra into her weapons, hoping that he wouldn't ask her to give them over. Kokuchou lifted each foot in turn and removed the expanded chakrams in her hands.

When she finished, Jiraiya-sensei continued, "So we're going to do a sort of relay, only you'll all be attached to one another by those rings of hers. You three need to decide who's gonna be in the middle and then we'll get started."

A beat of silence followed his announcement. Kokuchou looked to her left and to her right and when neither Hibashi nor Minato spoke up, she sighed through her nose. "The person in the middle should be the smallest, right? That way if something happens, the other two can work together to carry the weight…"

Hibashi held her gaze and he rubbed his head. "Or the weakest person should be in the middle. What do you think, Minato?"

The blond only shrugged, looking between the two of them. While he qualified as neither the smallest nor, Kokuchou suspected, the weakest, Minato also didn't contribute any ideas to the team.

"Why do you think the weakest should be in between?" Kokuchou was curious to find out who he believed to be the weakest of the three.

"Although you're smaller than us, I feel like you're stronger. Even if you're not, your mentor taught you how to augment your muscles, yeah?"

She nodded and glanced at Jiraiya. He was watching the exchange with his arms crossed over his chest. "He did…"

"And I can already tell your endurance is better than my own. You barely broke a sweat yesterday." Kokuchou had Itame-sensei to thank for that. He'd run her through the gambit over the years. "So I should be in the middle. If I can't keep up, you and Minato will be able to compensate."

Hibashi held out his hands for the rings. Kokuchou looked to Minato one more time. "Do you agree with all of this?"

"Yes," Minato said gently with that high voice of his. She had a feeling he would've agreed with whatever they decided.

"Alright, then." Kokuchou placed the chakrams around Hibashi's wrists and shrunk them down to be snug but not too tight. The boy moved to stand between her and Minato. Kokuchou reached around and placed a chakram from her left wrist onto Minato's and shrunk that down as well. With a pulse of chakra, the ring attached itself to Hibashi's. Kokuchou repeated the process with her own.

"Now," Jiraiya-sensei clapped his hands, "the point of this exercise is to learn each other's limits. Your agility, endurance levels, and speeds –though we'll have to change those each day for the sake of consistency. Today we'll take it easy. Ready?"

"Yes," the responded in unison.

"In that case, let's get movin', tadpoles."

"

When taking into consideration the fact that Kokuchou did not interact with people other than Itame-sensei for extended periods of time, she felt that she was doing quite well. Or, at least, her calm façade hadn't slipped but once in the past three days of being shackled to her teammates.

True to his word, Jiraiya-sensei had them doing all sorts of things. Running through booby-trapped forests, running laps around the village at different speeds, and even a glorified version of hide and seek in which the three of them would have to run around and find Jiraiya-sensei within an allotted amount of time.

Basically, they were running. Lots and lots of running. Kokuchou hated running. Once, he'd even combined all three. That had been the one time she'd lost her cool with her teammates.

Despite Hibashi declaring it a good idea to being in the middle on the first day, Minato and Kokuchou had both taken turns there. She hadn't understood the purpose of having them attached to one another during some of the exercises, especially considering their differing levels. It only ever hindered them.

But then, after a conversation with Itame-sensei, she realized that it was precisely because of their varied capabilities that Jiraiya-sensei had them attached at the wrists. They had to learn where each teammate was weak and strong and plan accordingly, compensating when necessary. In a real-life situation, they would need to be aware of such things.

At least, Kokuchou thought, resting her head on the table in front of her. I've learned more about them.

After training that day, Hibashi had invited her and Minato to his family's tea shop and she was running out of reasons to decline. Kokuchou wished she knew that teleportation jutsu of his as their sensei had disappeared before Hibashi could invite him too.

She sat across from Minato who quietly observed their surroundings. The boy spoke very little and never once took the lead on anything. In fact, she couldn't remember a single opinion he'd voiced in the three days since they began training as a team. If the blond spoke, it was to alert them of one of Jiraiya-sensei's traps or where to turn during agility exercises.

That wasn't to say that Kokuchou doubted his abilities.

Quite the opposite.

She'd learned over the past several days that of the three of them, Minato was easily the strongest with the widest range of abilities. The homeschooling and tutoring he received while not in the Academy must have been excellent because he seemed to excel at everything. That, and he appeared to have a natural talent. He was born to be a shinobi.

The boy's taijutsu and marksmanship were excellent and he was fast to boot. This, when added to his knowledge of ninjutsu, made him a tough opponent during their daily spars.

Every morning, Jiraiya-sensei had them warm up followed by brief spars in taijutsu. Then it was on to team building drills and in the afternoon, they would have free-for-all spars. He told them that at the end of the week, the three of them would work together to try and a defeat him in an all out spar.

Or, all out in their cases, at least.

Where Minato failed in his ability to lead or even contribute, Hibashi compensated. The boy, despite his inability to focus, was creative and a keen observer. Kokuchou had a feeling his tendency towards distractions such as sights and sounds, even smells, only improved his alertness. He was usually the first one to spot a trap and during their spars, and he was hard to predict.

However, what stuck out the most about Hibashi was his eagerness to work together with them. While not necessarily a born leader, he noticed them. Their strengths, weaknesses, even the things they enjoyed. After he'd seen Kokuchou devour her cherry tomatoes, he'd started giving her his at mealtimes.

It made her wonder what else he noticed. Hibashi was honest to the point of over-familiarity at times, but also understood the value of tact.

Without someone like him on their team, Kokuchou wasn't sure how she and Minato would fare. While Kokuchou wasn't quiet like Minato, she was reserved and only spoke up when absolutely necessary.

But she was trying, at least. As Itame-sensei had told her to. She contributed knowledge when it was necessary and wasn't uncomfortable inserting her opinion.

Of the three of them, Minato was faring the best with Kokuchou in second, followed by Hibashi. Kokuchou, for her part, was in better condition than Hibashi but lacked Minato's natural ability and tolerance for physical exercise.

In all her years at the Academy, she'd never learned to love it.

Her ninjutsu was decidedly lacking but after a suggestion from Hibashi, she'd taken to imbuing her chakrams with the numbing jutsu she'd learned from Mokume. By throwing her blunted weapons at her opponent and landing a solid hit, she could numb their limbs to the point where it was difficult for their brains to process what the appendage was doing and give her an opening.

I should pay a visit to Mokume-sensei… Kokuchou gazed out the window. The day was especially cold and she was glad the teashop had kotatsu as part of their design.

And Shou. And Kushina. The only person she'd seen outside of her team was Itame-sensei. She hadn't even gone home to see her mother, opting to sleep on the futon in her mentor's living room instead.

It was her first time being inside a tea shop and Kokuchou was feeling a bit out of place. Thankfully the shop was fairly casual with public seating and simple décor. Even the teacups lacked the perfection she'd expected upon thinking of the other formal tea shops in Konoha.

A comfortable din filled the cozy room and looking around, Kokuchou realized that she and Minato were the only people not talking. That is, until two older girls sat beside both her and the blonde.

Kokuchou's chin tilted up as she looked at the new additions to the table. She noticed that Minato did not appear surprised, he only scooted over to allow the girl more room.

"Hi!" The girl next to Kokuchou greeted, sticking out her hand. "You must be Kokuchou!"

Kokuchou accepted the hand. "Yes-"

"Oh! It's so nice to meet you! Hi-chan was right. You do have some eyes on you." The girl shook it up and down more harshly than she'd expected. "My name's Haboki and that's my younger sister Sumitori!" Haboki jerked her head to the girl sitting beside Minato. If Kokuchou remembered correctly, Haboki was seventeen and the younger sister was fourteen.

Sumitori smiled delicately despite the meaning of her name. In fact, everything about the girl appeared delicate. She had pale, thin skin and curly brown hair that was braided into pigtails down her head. Her eyes, like Hibashi's, were small but beautifully shaped –like the paintings of princesses she'd seen in books at the library.

And Haboki, whose name was more delicate in comparison to Sumitori's, was tan skinned and bright eyed. Her brown hair had been lightened by time spent in the sun. Haboki had a huge smile and even bigger personality. Kokuchou figured that if Hibashi tended towards distraction, his eldest sister leaned towards hyperactivity.

"So," the older girl leaned her elbows on the table with a clang. "How's our cute little brother doing? He says lots of things about you two!"

Kokuchou glanced at Minato, fiddling with her rings below the kotatsu. She hadn't said it was all positive. They definitely had a lot of work to do and two weeks didn't feel like enough before they would begin taking missions. Kokuchou was saved from answering when Hibashi appeared with more tea.

"Leave 'em alone, feather-head," Hibashi demanded with a scowl at his older sister.

The moment he set the tray on the table, Sumitori swatted his forehead with her long sleeve. "Shut up, ash-for-brains. We're just asking them questions."

Kokuchou's fingers drummed against her thigh. She had decidedly not expected such an outburst from the girl. She caught Haboki's eye, who only grinned at her. "Appearances are deceiving! I thought they taught all you shinobi that."

"Yeah," Hibashi agreed, righting himself. He slipped his legs beneath the kotatsu. "Haboki looks crazy, but Sumitori actually is." He leaned back, avoiding both the swatting hands just in time with a laugh.

"Ignore him," Sumitori settled back in.

Haboki poked Kokuchou in the cheek. "He's the crazy one. Say… you want to hear some stories about our littlest brother? We've got plenty," the older girl baited.

"Nope. Nope. None of that."

"Some other time then," Haboki smiled. Across from Kokuchou, Sumitori winked.

Not knowing how to deal with these girls quite yet, Kokuchou reached for a cup of tea. As she took a sip, she saw Sumitori glare at her brother. "You didn't bring any for us."

"I didn't know you'd be here!" the boy defended.

Sumitori scowled. "All you have to do is anticipate our needs! It's not that hard!"

The three bantered on. Kokuchou thought back to other sibling interactions she'd witnessed. The only one she could think of was between Itame-sensei and his own brother and sister. Or strangers at the park.

She glanced at Minato. He was smiling softly, eyes darting back and forth with the volleys of the verbal spar. He'd said he didn't have siblings either, so this interaction was probably just as novel to him as it was to her.

"Anyways," Sumitori turned to Minato. Kokuchou saw the tips of his ears grow red, his eyes shifting around. "You're Minato, then. Hibashi says you're, like, super good at all this shinobi stuff."

"You too, Kokuchou," Haboki piped in, not bothering with honorifics.

"So it shouldn't be a problem for you to keep an eye our little brother for us."

"Right?"

Both sisters looked at her and Minato with pointed gazes. Kokuchou took another sip of tea. If they'd been trained in Killing Intent, Kokuchou had no doubt it would be coming off the two in waves.

To her surprise, Minato spoke up first. "Of course. We're teammates. We look out for each other."

Haboki gasped, reaching across the table to pinch his cheeks. "He is just too cute! And that voice! You sound just like a girl!"

"Can we keep him, Hi-chan?" Sumitori wrapped her arm around his shoulder and tugged him close. Minato's ears were nearly incandescent and his eyes had widened dramatically. He looked almost pleadingly to Kokuchou, who only bit the inside of her cheek.

These girls couldn't be all bad if they managed to get a reaction out of Minato.

"You've always wanted a brother, Chopsticks!" Haboki wiggled her eyebrows at the boy and, whoa. The mobility on those things…

"Say," Sumitori held the blonde away from her, gaze flickering across his form. "You've got a pretty face and your voice is so feminine. How would you feel about-"

"No, no!" Hibashi interrupted his sisters. "We're not doing that to my teammate."

"What are you talking about brother-dearest?"

He only slanted a dry look at Sumitori.

"Fine," she waved her hand in front of her, releasing Minato. Kokuchou noticed he scooted a little further away than before. "But we haven't had fun like that since you joined the Academy."

"It was only fun for you two."

Haboki slammed her hands on the table and leaned forward. The other patrons of the teashop paid their table no mind –they must be regulars and used to the girls' antics. "What are you saying?! You loved it when we dressed you up!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!" Sumitori grinned.

"Dressed him up?" Minato asked.

"Oh yeah," Haboki swiveled to her. "We've even got the pictures to prove it!"

"Ugh! Just leave already!" Hibashi dragged his hands down his face.

Both girls burst out laughing –even Minato chuckled at the scene before them.

Then, Sumitori's mood shifted faster than Kokuchou was prepared for. She stared at Hibashi through even more narrowed eyes. "Is there something embarrassing about female clothing?"

Hibashi looked pleadingly towards his eldest sibling.

"Okay, okay," Haboki laughed. "Now's not the time for a misdirected lecture on the necessity of feminism, Sumi. And I think we've filled our embarrassment quota for one day, anyways!"

"For a lifetime!" Hibashi glared.

"Until next time," Sumitori giggled and followed the other girl to a backroom, both tittering the whole way.

Hibashi sighed once they were out of sight, his chin falling to his chest. "I am so sorry, Minato. I won't let them dress you up as a girl! I promise!"

Kokuchou took a sip to cleanse her mouth of the slight iron taste. She'd really bitten hard to keep from smiling. She considered how hard it was to land a hit on Hibashi. "I'm surprised they were even able to."

The tan boy looked up at her. "It was before I started at the Academy."

"And you liked it," Minato said from behind his cup, eyes bright. "Apparently."

Hibashi stared at the boy, mouth agape. Kokuchou wondered if the blond had made him mad but was proven wrong when Hibashi burst out laughing. He smacked Minato on the shoulder causing the boy to choke on his tea. "I knew you had a sense of humor in there somewhere!" Hibashi jerked his head in her direction. "Now all we've got to do is find hers!"

"

She'd been thinking about what Hibashi had said for nearly two days. She found things funny, but she was coming to realize it was the unexpected, the things that caught her off guard, that she found the funniest. Like when people tripped and fell, or that time Kushina accidentally ate a spoonful mayonnaise because she thought it was yogurt.

So Kokuchou had come up with a plan, but she had to wait for the right timing. She saw her chance during her daily spar with Hibashi. They were working on kenjutsu that day and so he had his kunai clenched tightly in his fist. When Hibashi brought his weapon up to swipe at her hand, she let him take off the empty space above her middle finger and knick the skin.

Kokuchou gave a yelp that she hoped was convincing and clutched her hand to her chest. Both Minato and Jiraiya-sensei, who'd been talking about fuinjutsu off to the side, whipped their heads to look at the center of the clearing.

"What?! What's wrong?!" Hibashi's voice sounded alarmed. Kokuchou struggled to keep up the act.

"My finger!" She maneuvered the fabric around her middle finger down so that only she could see it as she bent over the appendage. Kokuchou squeezed it and smeared the blood around just a little to make it more believable.

Kokucho held up her hand for Hibashi to see and imbued her voice with as much panic as she could. "It's gone!"

Hibashi took one look at the appendage and shrieked. His eyes grew wider than she'd ever seen them and his face became pale. "Oh no! Oh Kami! Jiraiya-sensei!" Hibashi screamed. It was so high and girlish –even more than Minato's speaking voice– that Kokuchou struggled to contain her laughter.

The moment Jiraiya-sensei grabbed her hand and stooped to her level, Kokuchou let it out. Her shouts turned to giggles, which Hibashi apparently didn't register in his horror. He stood before them, bent over and breathing heavily.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Hibashi wheezed.

Kokuchou's giggles became outright laughter and Jiraiya-sensei shoved her hand away. "She's fine, you can relax."

She saw Minato peek over her shoulder, eyes wide. Hibashi must not have heard their sensei because he continued to pant heavily. "Oi, Goldfish!" Jiraiya-sensei patted him on the shoulder. "Really, she's fine."

"Wha-?" the boy wheezed, looking up at her finger.

Kokuchou smiled up at him and held her finger closer. He jerked away at the sight, appearing a little green. "It's an old injury. I'm fine." To illustrate, she stood up and wiped the blood on the fabric of her glove. She would have to buy new one and sew the plates in, but it was worth it to prove to her teammates that she had sense of humor. "I got you."

Hibashi stared, mouth hanging open. "That was a joke?"

Kokuchou nodded.

"You thought that would be funny?"

She glanced to Minato. He watched the exchange with wide eyes as Jiraiya-sensei stood to the side with a raised eyebrow.

"…Yes."

Hibashi looked as if he wanted to either pass out or yell at her, but he held it in and collapsed to his knees. "What the hell, man! I thought I amputated your finger!" He took several calming breaths.

Silence reigned in the clearing and Kokuchou's stomach clenched. She couldn't believe her plan had backfired. It was a prank! A joke! And she was fine, so it should've been funny. Right?

Just as she opened her mouth to apologize, a sound came from her right.
"Pfft," Minato covered his hand with his mouth. She waited to see if it would happen again. "Pf-pfft." The blond seemed to be trying to control himself before he broke into outright laughter. It was, hands down, the loudest she'd ever heard the boy.

"You-" he struggled to breathe. "You made him- pfft. You made him think he'd cut off your finger as a joke!" The blond braced his hands on his knees. "That's a sick sense of humor."

From the ground, she heard sounds of laughter escaping from Hibashi as well. His shoulders shook as he leant back to guffaw, holding his stomach. "Who does that?!"

Kokuchou didn't have to try and hide her emotions because she didn't know what she was feeling.

First they were horrified and now they're laughing?

Hibashi stood to his feet, still chuckling and grabbed her hand. "Let me see this!"

The next several minutes were spent with Minato and Hibashi examining her shortened middle finger in the sort of morbid curiosity she'd only ever seen in boys and asking about how it happened.

Hibashi grinned wide, clapping her on the shoulder. "You got me!"