Shizuka was walking towards her home as quickly as she could, but the training weights slowed her down greatly. After nearly all day of training, Shizuka started managing to walk a little faster than the break-neck speed of a snail.
That day had been… interesting, to say the least. But a good kind of interesting.
Sensei had been genuinely kind to her, which was something she wasn't used to. Her teammates had ignored her for the bulk of the day, preferring to chatter amongst themselves excitedly.
Suddenly, Shizuka felt a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she quickly turned to see the mask of her Sensei.
"Hello!"
Breathing slowly to calm herself down, Shizuka hesitantly waved back in reply.
"Part of my job is to inspect the homes of my students to make sure the environments they are growing up in aren't harmful. I just finished checking on the other two, so yours is the only one left." Sensei said as they walked along.
Shizuka nodded nervously. She was scared of what he would find.
Sensei looked around, noticing that Shizuka had started walking into the slums portion of Kirigakure. The veil of nightfall, the mist, and the poor condition of the buildings around them struck Sensei as creepy and a little scary. Not that he'd ever admit that to anybody.
Looking back down at Shizuka, who seemed to be barely keeping it together, Sensei spoke up again. "You ok? You look like you might have another panic attack."
Shizuka nodded quickly. Sensei sighed and kept walking.
15 minutes later, Shizuka stopped in front of a building and stared at the stairs leading to the second floor. She wasn't sure if she could lift her feet that high with the training weights yet. Deciding to try to get up the steps anyways, Shizuka lifted her foot only to find that it was higher than she could reach for now.
Trying again, Shizuka decided to push small amounts of chakra into her legs to do so. If the training weights had only been a few pounds, it would've been easier to move. Much easier. But the training weights felt like they were both one ton of concrete in weight.
Sensei followed behind her, making sure she didn't fall backwards. He mentally scolded himself for using those training weights on mere Genin, but it was a bit late to go back on it now. He followed Shizuka to the door as she opened it quietly and gently.
As she walked in, Sensei was hit with the heavy scent of alcohol in the air, even under his mask he could smell it easily. Taking one last deep breath of outside air, he walked in.
The apartment was comprised of three main sections: the "living room", which was the first room that you walked into from the front door, a narrow hallway off to the left, and a kitchen area a little ahead. The living room had a wooden chair and bottles of alcohol lying all over the place. The walls of the room looked worn down, parts of the wall ripped away in some places to reveal the wooden beams behind them.
The kitchen had a concrete floor, scratches and dents scattered all over it. A small white beaten up mini-fridge sat in the corner of the small room; a dry red substance splattered on one side of it. The counters were made of beaten up and slowly withering wood, dents and scratches covering them. There was a simple metal sink with dirty dishes piled up in it waiting to be washed. Finally, there was a small black stove in the other corner of the kitchen.
Looking down the hallway, where Shizuka had vanished into, Sensei decided to follow. His sandals making a light slapping noise against the concrete floor.
He noted that there were three doors, two on one side and the final on the other, farther away from the main living area than the other two doors. The walls were scratched in some places, little red flecks scattered around the lower portions of the walls and the floor.
Sensei had gotten to the second door in the hallway before he decided to take a look. Quietly, he opened the door.
The room was dark, barely revealing the bed in it or the man sleeping in it. Sensei quietly closed the door so as to not wake the man. He didn't need that man awake yet. The Jounin walked farther down the hall and knocked gently on the door before opening it.
The room was also dark, but not as dark as the other rooms so far. He could've sword that if he stood in the middle of the room and held out his arms to both sides, he could touch both walls at the same time. There were two ragged blankets and a beaten up pillow covering the ground on one side of the room while countless notebooks and drawing pads were stacked neatly on the other side of the room.
"This must be Shizuka's room…" Sensei said quietly. Loud violent coughs got his attention.
He turned around and looked in the direction they came from before recalling that the coughs were muffled.
Sensei realized he hadn't checked the first door. He walked towards it and gently opened it before sighing quietly.
There, kneeling and leaning over, Shizuka violently coughed into the toilet. She held onto it to make sure she didn't fall as she coughed up bits of blood into the toilet, her entire form trembling and shuddering. She knelt there for a minute, panting, before starting to cough violently again.
The day of training had taken more out of her than she had expected it to. Yes, she coughed like this every now and then, but never as bad as this…
Sensei turned his head to look at the nearest door when he heard movement from it and the thuds of heavy footsteps.
The door opened and out walked a dark brown haired man with black eyes. He was slightly overweight, and he reeked of alcohol. Apparently though, he hadn't noticed the Jounin yet.
"What's with all the noise?! I told you to keep it quiet you little shit!" The man shouted as he rubbed his eyes.
Sensei growled. "I suggest that you not speak to my student that way. Doing so will be hazardous for your health."
The man jumped when he heard the new voice. Then he glared at Sensei and started getting ready to shout.
"By hazardous for your health… I mean I will end you, personally, for treating my student poorly. Due to failing the inspection, by order of the Mizukage, this environment has been deemed unsafe and Shizuka will be put in a healthy environment." Sensei's voice was cold and harsh, but Shizuka barely even noticed.
Her vision was swimming while wave after wave of pain hit her head as she coughed up more blood into the toilet.
The man, Shizuka's adoptive father, started shouting.
"You can't do that! That's illegal, you motherfu-"
The man was cut off when Sensei raised his voice in reply. "This is a ninja village run by the Mizukage. The Mizukage is the most powerful shinobi of the village, and so, has been given the title 'Mizukage', the role of leadership in this village. What the Mizukage says is LAW and that is final. According to normal protocol, however, child abusers are often executed because they can hinder the progress of developing shinobi and kunoichi."
The man audibly gulped, backing up. "H-Hey now, no need to get violent, Shinobi-san! I'm sure we can work something out!"
Sensei walked towards the man, releasing killing intent along the way.
"Mizukage-sama has given me permission to… 'remove' you from the equation. Do you know what that means?"
The man began to stutter violently as he kept backing up.
"It means I get to do whatever I please to you. What you get to do is have a nice little visit to T&I before execution. You have hindered both the physical potential and the mental state of Genin Shizuka, which is illegal and is punishable by death in wartime." With that, Sensei quickly appeared behind the man and knocked him out, tying the hands of the man behind his back.
Then, stepping over the body, Sensei walked by into the bathroom to see Shizuka part-way through yet another violent coughing fit. Quietly, he made a clone to take care of the unconscious man in the hallway while he took care of things here.
Sensei crouched next to Shizuka, patting her on the back. Shizuka didn't even flinch like she normally would, instead opting to breathe heavily as she tried to hold back another fit of coughing. Then her arms gave out shortly afterwards.
With nothing to support her anymore, Shizuka fell to the side, coughing up increasingly alarming amounts of blood. Sensei quickly picked her up and left the apartment, sprinting straight for the hospital.
He didn't know if coughing up blood was serious or not but coughing up that much blood in such a short amount of time had to be unhealthy. As he sprinted, Shizuka's eyes were slightly glazed over, slowly closing and opening. Her breathe was shallow and rapid.
Thinking back on it, Sensei had recalled how Shizuka had been favoring the left side of her torso throughout training today, as if too much movement would hurt somehow. As he sprinted, he quickly checked.
He was sad to say he wasn't surprised with what he found. Firstly, Shizuka was malnourished. You could tell just by looking at her face, but that didn't convey nearly how big of an issue it actually was. Sensei clearly felt her ribs, and one of them was twisted in a way it wasn't supposed to be. He briefly wondered how long it had been like that.
Sensei figured he'd ask Shizuka when she was feeling better, if he made it to the hospital on time.
.-._.-._.-._-.
Slowly, Shizuka became very aware of a loud beeping noise as she woke up. Her torso ached horribly, her throat was sore, and her head was pounding. Opening her eyes, she was blinded by bright lights.
She tried to block the light with her hands, but the light seemed to go around her fingers and still hit her in the eyes. Then she became aware of voices. The voices of two… no, three different people in the room.
Blinking rapidly, she got used to the light and sat up slowly, looking around.
Sensei sat in a chair nearby while her other two teammates stood on the other side of the room, talking to each other. Then she noticed that she was in a large, white hospital bed. She payed attention to the room she was in – a simple room, a muted blue in color. There was a large window off to the left side of the room showing the rest of the village down below. But, for whatever reason, she just couldn't register where she was.
"Good to see you're awake."
The voice startled her as she quickly turned to look at Sensei, who was now sitting up instead of leaning back in his chair. The comment got her two other teammates to stop talking and look over.
Shizuka tried to speak but found herself unable to. She rubbed her throat gently, just then looking down. She was in a hospital gown with white sheets pulled over her to cover up to her waist. Then, for no reason at all, Shizuka felt very self-conscious and folded her arms over her chest before looking back at Sensei, face flushed.
"How're you feeling?" Sensei asked.
Shizuka tried, and failed, to speak again, so instead she made a writing motion with her hand.
Getting the hint, Sensei pulled a pad of paper and a pen off a nearby table and handed it to Shizuka, who pulled her knees up a little bit.
After a moment of writing, she turned the pad around and showed Sensei.
"What happened?"
Sensei sighed, running a hand through his hair despite having a large oval mask on.
"Custody of you has been taken away from your adoptive father. You'll never have to see him again, don't worry. For now, you'll be staying with me, I guess. Mizukage-sama says I have full responsibility over you, and you're still technically a kid, so can't have you living by yourself. Plus, who knows, what if you have another accident like… that, again?" Sensei said, his voice worried.
Shizuka gave him a strange look.
"The doctors said your rib was broken, and in the process, had apparently pierced your lung. The training that day apparently moved it around too much, since it started causing more damage. If I hadn't gotten you here as soon as I did, you might've died you know. If you live by yourself, if that sort of thing happens again, nobody will be around to take notice and get you here."
Shizuka nodded slowly, tears starting to form.
Taking the writing pad back, she wrote something else down.
"Why didn't you let me die?"
Her question startled Sensei, who sighed before answering. "You're my student and I can't let you die. Sensei have the job of protecting and ensuring the growth of their students. That includes you."
Shizuka nodded slowly and looked up. The twins were staring at her in shock from what they just read. She looked between them and Sensei and then to the door, silently asking if they could go.
"Alright you two, Shizuka needs to rest. Why don't you guys go to the training grounds and have at it? I'll send a clone along to make sure you guys don't hurt each other and maybe, just maybe, teach you a jutsu. How's that sound?" Sensei said, as he stood up.
The twins looked at each other and then back to Sensei, grinning.
"Hell yeah!" Once again, they freaked Shizuka out by speaking at the exact same time. She'd never figure out how they managed to speak at the exact same time and say the exact same thing.
Sensei nodded and created a clone, who quickly ushered the boys out of the room. Once he was sure they were alone, Sensei pulled his mask off. He had onyx black eyes and a line under each eye. All in all, he looked a tinge older than he sounded.
"I'm… going to give you a quick run-down of things. You've been out of it for a little over two days, which leaves me with… 5 weeks to get you and your teammates ready for the Chuunin exams. The Chuunin exams are being held in Konohagakure… if I remember correctly, my little cousin will be participating in it. Now, before you ask anything, tell me what you know about Konoha." Sensei said, his voice becoming more serious at the end, but somehow, he still sounded… gentle? Calming? Shizuka couldn't tell.
Quickly, Shizuka wrote down her answer. "Konoha is in the Land of Fire and is famous for their teamwork and the ability to produce S-Ranked ninja faster than any of the other ninja villages."
Sensei nodded.
"While yes, that is true… Konoha is also known to be the nicest of the ninja villages. Life there is often quite nice. The ideals of teamwork and that Konoha is essentially on giant family allows ninja to create bonds with their fellow shinobi, bonds stronger than those often found in other villages. Plus, unlike here in Kirigakure, they won't kill you or shame you for having a bloodline. Instead, they rather encourage clans with kekkei genkai to join the Hidden Leaf."
His voice was hopeful, as if Konoha itself was the representation of joy.
Shizuka tilted her head to the side, wondering why Sensei was telling her all of this. Sensei started talking again.
"Listen, even though you've only been my student for… 3, almost 4 days now, and you've been unconscious for over half of that, I can still tell you're a good kid. You'd do well in Konoha. Tell me – if you had the chance to join Konoha, would you take it?"
Shizuka looked down at her lap, thinking.
Was Sensei telling the truth? Or would people there hurt her? She didn't want to go anywhere that would hurt her. All Shizuka wanted to do was either be left alone or make people happy, so they wouldn't hurt her.
Sensei stood up, waving his hand a little. "Never mind, you don't have to answer that now. The Doc said that you could go when you woke up, just that you need to not participate in too much physical activity. So, when you are done getting dressed, I can take you home."
Shizuka stared at him, wondering if he was joking or not. Last she knew, Father was still at home. He was probably angry with her for being gone so long. Sensei seemed to understand why Shizuka hesitated.
"Ah, don't worry. Not to that place. That isn't your home anymore." Sensei said, trying to reassure her as he put his mask back on.
Shizuka nodded slowly, still not registering that she'd never have to see Father again. That he couldn't hurt her anymore. Sensei grabbed a bundle of clothes and put it on Shizuka's lap.
"Hope you don't mind – I washed your clothes to get the blood off of them. I'll… uh… wait outside. Should I tell a nurse or something to help you or can you do it?" Sensei's voice was a little strange, as if he was afraid that he had just stepped on a landmine.
"Please do… I don't think I can stand by myself just yet." Shizuka handed the note to Sensei, who nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him quietly.
Only a moment later the door opened again and a woman in a white lab coat and black shorts walked in.
"Hello, Shizuka. Your sensei told me that you may need help getting dressed, so I came to help you out and do a last minute check." Her voice was a little low and professional, almost stern. Shizuka nodded slowly.
.-._.-._.-._.-.
Sensei sighed as he waited. It felt like they had been in the room for ages.
Then, of course, the door opened and out walked Shizuka and the nurse. The nurse had her hands on Shizuka's shoulders to make sure she didn't fall as she shuffled forwards.
"All set to go. Just remember, no physical activities other than what you need. So, no running around, no exercising, and so on. Think you can do that?" The nurse asked while Shizuka nodded.
The nurse then turned to Sensei and bowed slightly before turning and walking away.
Shizuka put her hands on the wall to stabilize herself. She was, once again, dressed in a short-sleeved pale blue hoodie and a skin-tight black long-sleeved shirt underneath with the Kiri headband tied loosely around her neck. She wore light tan shorts that reached just below her knees. What surprised Sensei was that Shizuka was wearing the training weights again.
Before she could fall from taking a mis-step, Sensei pulled her back up and twisted around so she was on his back.
Shizuka's face flushed yet again at being so close to Sensei, who just grinned and started walking.
"How are you feeling?" Sensei asked as he carried Shizuka out of the hospital.
The answer came in the form of a whisper, "F-Fine."
Nodding a little, Sensei decided to take Shizuka to the training grounds anyways. It's not like he was going to have her run around or do push-ups or anything like that. There were other ways of training besides physical activity.
A while later the duo arrived in the slightly misty clearing. Sensei shifted so that he could set Shizuka down gently. Then, Sensei sat down and motioned for Shizuka to do the same.
Once seated, Sensei pulled out a small black stone and handed it to Shizuka, who took it and examined it curiously.
"That is a chakra-repelling stone. As the name suggests, they repel chakra. That, however, makes a great chakra control exercise. Too much chakra and it'll be launched away. Too little chakra and it'll fall back into your hand. The trick is to try to get it to float about an inch above your hand. Think you can do it?" Sensei asked, his voice cheerful.
Shizuka nodded and pushed a little chakra into her hand.
Nothing happened.
She pushed a little more chakra, and the rock started to move a little, but it didn't float at all. Then, she pushed more than double the chakra into it and it flew out of her hand. Luckily, Sensei caught it before it could fly away and placed it back in Shizuka's hands.
"You can do it." He said, trying to encourage her.
Determined to do it right, she went at it again.
.-._.-._.-._.-.
The day quickly drew to a close, almost too soon for Shizuka. She had gotten it to float a few times, but never for long. Nonetheless, Sensei still said that she could do it and that it just takes some practice. The twins had come over about two hours before training ended and chatted a bit with Sensei.
Shizuka could easily say that she didn't want to be around them. They were very loud and made a lot of sudden movements.
Sensei had picked Shizuka up again and moved around a bit so she would be on his back.
"You did good. Hell, you progressed a lot faster than I did when I tried it at first." Sensei said while walking. Shizuka smiled a little.
"Did you know it took me a full week to make it float at all? I kept using too much chakra and the little rocks kept flying off, never to be seen again."
Shizuka smiled a little more while Sensei chuckled. Shizuka could say that Sensei was a lot nicer than most people she had met… ever. Thinking back, Shizuka couldn't recall a single person who had ever been this nice.
Maybe she could trust him… she hoped she could.
Sensei walked up to an apartment building, a rather well-kept one if the outside was anything to go by. The building was wooden, but the wood looked like it had some protective substance painted over it to stop the mist from damaging the wood over time. The windows weren't broken, unlike Shizuka's old home, and most of the windows had warm light coming out of them.
Sensei walked up to a door and opened it before stepping inside. Gently, he shifted to let Shizuka down.
Closing the door behind him, Sensei walked to a nearby shelf that was maybe a foot tall. He took off his sandals, jumping around a little to stop himself from falling over. "Sorry about the small amount of space, I only used what worked."
Shizuka looked around, amazed. Right at the front door there was the little shelf with sandals in it. Then there was a large open space with a small couch and wooden table, shelves full of books all around them. A little beyond that was a small but clean kitchen area.
Off to the right of the open space were two doors, both closed. But what amazed Shizuka was the cleanliness and the walls. None of the walls were beaten up or had holes in them.
Sensei helped Shizuka over to the couch and had her sit down.
"I guess I didn't think that far ahead… You know what, you can take my room and I'll crash on the couch. This room…" Sensei walked over to one of the closed doors and opened it, a small bedroom inside. It was clean and organized. There was a simple bed with a black blanket and white pillows on it. On one side of the bed was a nightstand with a little alarm clock on it and some books next to it. There was also a simple wooden dresser on the other side of the room.
"That's the only bedroom in the apartment… sorry about that. Anyways, and this one is the bathroom." Sensei pointed over at the other door with his thumb.
Shizuka nodded, still not thinking clearly. For almost all her life she was used to a cramped living space that wasn't taken care of. She wasn't used to this place, warm and inviting, clean.
Then it hit Shizuka.
"W-Where are they…?" She asked, voice only barely above a whisper. Sensei tilted his head to this side before a small glowing lightbulb appeared above his head.
"Oh! Your notebooks and drawing pads?" Sensei asked. Shizuka nodded again.
Sensei walked over to Shizuka and sat down, opening a small bag and looking through it. After a minute, he pulled his hand out holding a small piece of paper. He then got up and lifted one end of his table before dragging it away from the couch a little. Then he put the paper on the ground.
Shizuka saw a strange black pattern on it, a little like the ones found on explosive tags.
Then, in a poof of smoke, all her notebooks and drawing pads appeared.
"There we go. Damn though, how many of these do you have?" Sensei asked, impressed at the pile.
Shizuka leaned forwards and grabbed the nearest one, which happened to be a drawing pad. "31 notebooks… 52 drawing pads." She whispered.
Sensei did a double take and then deadpanned.
"Lot's of free time, huh?" He asked. He took off his mask and placed it on the table before going to sit by Shizuka.
She flipped through the drawing pad, looking at numerous drawings of all sorts of things. Some drawings of homes, some of random people, some of inanimate objects, some animals, and much more. Shizuka didn't realize that there were tears flowing down her cheeks until Sensei wiped them away.
"What's wrong?" He asked, concern clear in his voice.
Shizuka hugged her drawing pad and brought her knees to her chest. "T-Thank you."
Sensei rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I figured this stuff must've been important to you, so I decided to grab them."
He, however, had underestimated exactly how important these were. To Shizuka, these notebooks and drawing pads were her only escape from reality. These books filled with seemingly countless drawings were her world. They were also the only friends she had ever had.
Notebooks and drawing pads don't hurt people. They were quiet. They listened to your troubles and problems. They never stabbed you in the back in your time of need. They listened, and in return, Shizuka made them full of beautiful drawings, trying to return the favor.
She turned to Sensei; eyes watery. "Thank you." She whispered again.
"No problem."
For the next while, Shizuka showed Sensei most of her drawings. They ranged from random people, to houses, to animals, to strange creatures, to beautiful drawings of nature, like large waterfalls or mountains.
Sensei noted that each drawing had no color whatsoever. He normally only liked art with color, but Shizuka did a good job with just a normal pencil.
"How many drawings are there?" He asked. Shizuka turned to him again.
"There are 52 drawing pads… w-with 80 pages in each."
Doing some quick math, Sensei deadpanned. "Over 4,000 drawings... damn. You draw a lot, don't you?"
Shizuka nodded.
"Every day i-if I can… usually two drawings per day… every day… since I-I was 3." Shizuka answered, still whispering. Sensei, once again, decided to do some quick math. He even resorted to using his fingers to help him.
"But… wouldn't that make you about… 15-ish?" Sensei asked. He was sure he did something wrong in the math somewhere. He was surprised when Shizuka nodded. "I-I joined the academy late…"
Sensei just stared. 'I'll be damned' he thought. Shizuka was short, so she fit in among the 12/13 year old class. But when he looked closer, he realized that, while short, Shizuka did have the body of a 15-year-old. It was just covered up by the big hoodie.
Then, Sensei suddenly stood up, slapping both hands onto his cheeks. "Clean thoughts! Clean thoughts! Nope not thinking of any of that stuff! Not at all!" He ranted to himself. Shizuka, a little startled by the sudden movement, smiled a little at Sensei's reaction.
When he stopped, he sat back down, inhaling deeply. "Ok I am better now. Anyways, have you thought about what I asked earlier? If you would join Konoha if you were given the chance to?"
Shizuka looked down at the drawing pad in her hands, thinking.
"Would… w-would you be there?" She asked, finally breaking the silence. Sensei shrugged and then nodded.
"Sure." He said.
Shizuka kept looking down at her drawing pad. "I-I guess I would."
Sensei nodded.
"Nice." Was all he said. Shizuka looked up at him, only to see him with his hand on his chin, thinking.
"Should I… or do I wait? Hm… it might go against mission parameters… but…" Sensei said to himself, mumbling quietly. He walked over to the kitchen and began pacing, still mumbling to himself. His reaction confused Shizuka, and it started to scare her.
Sensei quickly noticed when he saw Shizuka inching towards the end of the couch farthest away from the kitchen, pulling her knees up to her chest and slowly moving her arms into a position where she could quickly throw them over her head just in case.
"Oh, don't worry – don't be scared. I'm just thinking about something work-related." Sensei said, having stopped his pacing. Shizuka nodded slowly and lowered her arms.
Sensei walked over to her and sat down on the couch, looking up at the ceiling.
"I guess I'll ask next time when I report next… I could wait a whole 5 weeks to do it, since it'd be pretty easy then, but… I kind of want to know before then… ah, well, I'll think about it some other time. Right now, though, it's time to go to bed. It's already 9 PM and we get to wake up at 5:30 in the morning if we want to arrive on time." Sensei said.
Shizuka nodded slowly. Sensei then turned to her, stood up, and then picked her up. Shizuka gave him a confused look.
"Told you, you can sleep in my room. I'll take the couch." Sensei said, walking into his room and setting Shizuka down on the bed.
"Well, uh… do you need anything before you go to bed or…?" Sensei asked. Shizuka shook her head.
Nodding, Sensei turned to leave. Then he stopped by the door. "By the way, if you need anything, I'll be right out here on the couch." He said before he left the room and closed the door behind him.
Nodding, Shizuka looked at the bed. It was a nice change from a hard concrete floor. The bed was a little larger than her old one, and it was warm and squishy. Shizuka pressed her hand into the bed, feeling her palm sink into the mattress a little. She stared at her hand for a bit before moving it again.
The bed was soft too.
Then she turned and poked one of the pillows on the bed. It didn't have any holes in it, and it was… fluffy. It wasn't actually fluffy, but fluffy was the only word that Shizuka could think of to describe the feeling. The pillow was a little large and soft.
Quickly, Shizuka unwrapped the bandages around her shins and took of the training weights, gently placing them on the floor. Then, she decided to lay down on the bed.
It was…
Heaven.
The bed seemingly let her sink into it a little bit. The pillow felt a lot better than the one she used to have. The one she used to have had small amounts of stuffing and hay in it, which constantly made it feel like it was trying to stab you in the head. But not this pillow. This one was warm and fluffy, holding her head up a little bit. This one must've had actual stuffing in it.
Before she could do anything, not even pulling a blanket over her, Shizuka fell into a deep, comfortable sleep.
.-._.-._.-._.-.
Sensei opened the door slightly and peered in. It had only been half an hour since Shizuka had gone to bed. He was a little surprised to find she was already asleep. He closed the door quietly and went back to the couch and sat down.
As far as he could tell, the drawing pads only had drawings in them. He hadn't looked through the notebooks yet.
He grabbed a few notebooks and noticed something.
Each notebook was labeled – a black marker was most likely used to label them.
The nearest one said, "Uses of Chakra". He flipped through it, quickly scanning the pages. It was full of things like where chakra comes from, what it could be used to do, different theories for what it might be able to be used for, and so on.
He chuckled. He was impressed, he'd admit that. A mere Genin had all of this information about something that most Chuunin struggled to understand.
Then, he looked through the next two notebooks. "Shurikenjutsu" and "Battle Medic Basics" were the labels for the two notebooks.
"Shurikenjutsu" was obviously one still in use. It wasn't full yet, and some of the ink looked semi-fresh. Maybe used within the last week or so. At first, it had basic drawings of the position for throwing kunai, then shuriken, and then other various blades weapons. About halfway through, it started to talk about the introduction of metal wires. Then how the wires could be applied to the weapons and put into use. He quickly flipped through the rest of it, becoming more and more interested in it as he got farther in. He was saddened when he reached the end.
There was no doubt in his mind. Shizuka would be a battle medic with medium to long range support abilities. Shurikenjutsu wasn't common to find in most shinobi or kunoichi, but it could be very deadly in the right hands.
Then he flipped through the other book, which contained things like basic first-aid, what to do for certain broken bones, what different plants could do to help the healing process, and theories of how chakra could be used to heal.
Sensei grinned. He knew he had one hell of a smart student.
Then he looked at the next notebook.
"Diary". Well, no secrets there, he guessed. He looked at the first page, noting the date. 5 years ago.
Sensei quickly learned that Shizuka listed the date and then the day of the week before actually writing the entry for that day. Sensei grimaced as he flipped through the pages. They always contained the events for that day, sometimes including some other writing. On one of the pages, Shizuka had asked the question, "what would life be like without me?"
Then she proceeded to try and go into detail about it.
Honestly, it scared the man. It was a cry for help, and anybody who read it could realize that.
Quickly, he scanned through the rest of the notebooks.
There were ones for various topics: How to use chakra, taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu, shurikenjutsu, weapon techniques, first-aid, and so on. Then there were the ones labeled "Diary" that Sensei payed extra attention to.
As it turned out, there were five labeled "Diary" – it covered from a year before entering the academy up through a few days ago. Each diary entry had amazing amounts of detail, listing every little thing that Shizuka did or noticed during the day. The bulk of the entries were really quite depressing though. He found a total of three entries that scared him the most.
These three were all right before a day that was left blank, the blank page always had a few dark spots, as if water had dripped onto them. Then the day right after always said "I failed". The words were written in the middle of the page, nothing else on the page except those two words and a few water marks.
The three entries that scared him were about suicide.
One was labeled from a week before she started the academy. The next was from about a month into the academy. The final was from three weeks ago.
Sensei quickly glanced at the door to the room Shizuka was sleeping in and then back down to the notebook in his hands.
Her file didn't mention any of this.
He sighed and rubbed his fingers against his forehead.
The team he was the leader of had two very energetic and loud boys, both quite impulsive and a little dull in the mind, and then there was a depressed and scared girl who was easily smarter than both boys combined, and she was easily startled and could get terrified quickly.
Leaning into the couch, Sensei stared up at the ceiling.
"Is it just me or is every ninja team in existence seriously fucked up in some way?" He asked himself, careful to be quiet so as to not wake Shizuka.
He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already midnight, just barely 3 minutes into the hour.
"Well, I've had less sleep before. I can do this."
.-._.-._.-._.-.
Rolling off the couch and landing on your face was a fast way to wake up, apparently. Sensei grumbled as he got up, rubbing his nose a little to ease the pain of face-planting into a wooden floor. He looked at the clock. Eh, it was already time to get up anyways.
He walked over to his room and knocked on the door gently before opening it. He chuckled at the sight.
Shizuka was curled up with her knees up to her chest on the middle of the bed. She wasn't even using a pillow.
"Shizuka, it's time to get up." He said. No reaction.
He sighed and walked over and sat on the bed. Then he tapped Shizuka's shoulder.
"You need to wake up." He said, once again trying to wake her up. The tap on the shoulder seemed to do it when she suddenly sat upright, accidentally headbutting Sensei in the nose.
"Gah, again. The nose. Everything just wants to hit me in the nose." Sensei cradled his face, rocking back in forth.
Shizuka stared at him and then started to panic. "S-Sorry! I didn't mean to!" She whispered, her voice cracked and hoarse. Sensei shook his head and inhaled.
"I'll be fine, it's ok. Don't panic. I've been stabbed in the gut before and I walked it off like a champ, I can deal with this." Sensei said, trying to calm down the panicking girl. "Anyways, it's time to get up. Wouldn't want to be late to training, would we?"
Sensei stood up and rubbed his nose a little. His, now red, nose looked very strange against his pale skin. Not that Shizuka noticed. Sensei left the room to let her get ready.
She sat on the edge of the bed and stretched before putting on the training weights and bandages again. She still felt like she was missing something though.
Shizuka looked down and realized why. She wasn't wearing her hoodie and her skin-tight long-sleeve shirt made certain… features, on her, more pronounced. Her face flushed as she looked around for her hoodie. Somehow, it had ended up on the floor, under the bed.
Quickly putting it on, Shizuka left the room slowly. She still wasn't fast at all with the weights on. Hell, she could barely move.
When she opened the door, she was greeted to the sight of Sensei hoping around on one foot trying to put on one of his sandals before he bumped into a wall and fell.
"Damn it, my nose again! How many damn times am I gonna get hit in the nose?!"
Shizuka giggled quietly before moving over, using the wall to support her.
Sensei lay on the floor, groaning and cupping his nose. Then he noticed Shizuka and quickly got up, trying to act as if nothing happened.
"A-Are you ok?" Shizuka asked. Sensei just nodded.
"Yeah, I'll be fine… I just need my mask before we can go." Sensei said, walking over to the table and picking up his mask. He turned and put it on, slightly adjusting it. "There we go."
Walking back over, Sensei crouched down again and had Shizuka grab on. Then they left to go to the training grounds.
While they walked, Sensei decided to pass the time by asking some questions.
"So… you like Shurikenjutsu?"
He felt Shizuka nod as she rested her head on his shoulder.
He whistled. "Nice. What techniques can you use?"
"I-I can make a web o-of wires and…" Shizuka paused, rubbing her throat. "…and I c-can make mid-air direction c-changes."
Sensei thought about it for a moment.
"So, like, you can throw a weapon and then another one to deflect it into a new direction? Or are we talking about wires here?"
"Wires."
Sensei nodded. "Cool. Any other techniques?"
Shizuka shook her head.
"Damn. That first one, the web of wires, that one sounded cool. I'm good at Shurikenjutsu too, if I do say so myself. Who knows, I might be able to teach you a thing or two. Can you show me the wire web thing when we get to the training grounds?" Sensei asked, his voice cheery.
Shizuka felt her face flush again and nodded.
"Nice. If you show me, I might be able to help you with a few things that might improve it." Sensei paused for a brief moment. "Hey, have you ever considered using any kind of pulley system?"
"N-No… sorry." Shizuka said, already getting a bit depressed.
"No, no, don't be sorry! It's fine. Most people don't consider using a pulley system. But, you see, some of them can allow you to do all sorts of cool stuff, you know? You could even create a throwing buzz-saw thing made of two kunai with it or be able to retract weapons with wires attached to them from a distance."
The rest of the walk went on like this. Sensei did the bulk of the talking while Shizuka answered with short answers. Once they arrived at the training grounds, only a few minutes early, they waited and chatted a little bit about Shurikenjutsu.
At 6 AM sharp, the final two members of the team sprinted into view, clearly out of breath.
"If we're late I'm gonna kick your ass, Hiro!" One of the two said. The other one flipped his twin off.
"It's not my fault that the alarm wasn't working! Who knew it would blow up like that?!" The other shouted.
Both boys stopped in front of Shizuka and Sensei, both out of breath and panting.
"You were doing something to the alarm clock last night damn it! Don't think I didn't see you with the screwdriver and bubble soap!"
Sensei quietly asked, "Bubble soap…?" However, neither boy seemed to have heard the Jounin.
"You did not! I didn't even touch the alarm clock last night! Plus, wasn't it you that glued all those rubber duckies to Dad's shoes?"
The other boy growled. "If you tell Dad that I'm the one who did that, I'm gonna kick your ass and then tell Dad how you were the one who put the water bucket above the door!"
The other stared in shock. "You wouldn't."
Grinning, the other said, "Yes I would."
Sensei decided to clear up the situation.
"Boys! Boys! Calm down damn it! You're both here on time." Sensei said, getting the attention of both boys.
One of them grinned and punched the other in the shoulder. "I told you." The other grumbled and proceeded to mumble something about goldfish, salt, and a bucket. Shizuka gave both boys an odd look before dismissing it.
"ANYWAYS, seeing as all three of you are my students, and I am good at Shurikenjutsu if I do say so myself, I will teach all three of you the basics, at least." Sensei said, his voice cheery again.
Shizuka smiled.
"What's Shurikenjutsu?" One boy asked the other.
"I don't know, but it's something to do with shuriken and jutsu."
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Takes one to know one, buster."
A red mark appeared on the outside of Sensei's mask, just where his forehead would be. "Would you two stop fighting for one second? God, you two need to learn how to calm down for once."
The two boys looked at each other, shrugged, and looked back at Sensei.
"Nevertheless, I'll be teaching you two the basics. Shizuka here already knows that part, so I'll be teaching her a little more advanced stuff." Sensei patted Shizuka on the head when he mentioned her.
"Damn it! Why does she get to skip?" Both boys asked at the same time.
Sensei deadpanned. "I just told you. She already knows the basics. I'm going to teach her a little more advanced stuff. Also, you two need to wear something that distinguishes you from the other, so I can tell which one of you is Hiro or which one is Nishio."
"I'm Hiro." One of the boys said. "I'm Nishio." The other one said. Then both deadpanned. "Can't you tell the difference?"
"No. Both of you look the exact same, you two wear the exact same clothes, you sound exactly the same, so on and so on." Sensei said.
"God damn it." One whispered.
"Every bloody time." The other whispered.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now sit down and shut up." Sensei said, sitting down on the grass. Shizuka sat down next to him while the two boys sat down and then scooted a little closer.
"Shurikenjutsu… how do I describe it… well, Shurikenjutsu is the manipulation of thrown weapons, mostly shuriken, and the various techniques involved in it. Usually, it requires little to no chakra depending on the technique. There are also various stages to Shurikenjutsu." Sensei stood up and pointed at the two boys.
"You two are at 'Level 1' in Shurikenjutsu. That's the basics of the basics. Level 1 is where you only throw around shuriken and kunai. You'll find that pretty much any shinobi can do that. Then, there is level 2, where you start to get a little farther into it. Levels 3 through 7 are learning the use of wires, then levels 8 and 9 are about learning how to use pulley systems. Finally, level 10 is Shurikenjutsu mastery."
Both boys pouted. Then one pointed to Shizuka. "What about her? What level is she?"
"Shizuka here is somewhere between levels 3 and 7. I'm actually going to find out in a little bit. Anyways, by the time I'm done with all three of you, you will all be better at it than you were before. You two should be getting into the use of wires whereas Shizuka should be getting into pulley systems."
Sensei summoned a clone and sent the two boys off to the other side of the clearing with the clone to teach them. Then Sensei turned to Shizuka and pulled her up.
"Let me make sure that this won't hurt you first." Sensei performed a few hand-signs and then held out his right palm. A soft green glow emitted from his gloved palm as he quickly ran it over Shizuka's injured side. She winced but held still anyways.
Shizuka felt something being knit back together in her chest, as if it was healing at an extremely fast pace.
Taking his hand away, Sensei let it drop to his side while the glow died out.
"Feel better?" He asked, almost smugly.
Shizuka touched the area her rib had been broken only a few days before, expecting it to hurt when she touched it. She was surprised to find that it didn't hurt. Shizuka twisted around a little, testing. It still didn't hurt.
"I-It doesn't hurt… not a-anymore." Shizuka whispered.
Sensei nodded. "Do you think you could show me your wire web thing?"
Shizuka nodded and then pulled out a bunch of kunai and shuriken out of her weapons pouch. Then she walked towards the trees at the edge of the clearing, Sensei hurriedly followed. Shizuka stopped when she had trees all around her.
"B-Back up." She warned. Sensei nodded and walked away a little bit before stopping.
Then Shizuka started. She threw kunai and shuriken in seemingly every direction, most of the weapons hitting the trees while a few buried themselves into the ground. Sensei fought the urge to deadpan.
Then he walked forwards, looking for the wires. It took him a moment to realize it.
There were wires everywhere. Wires connected to each weapon lead back to Shizuka. But many of the wires overlapped with each other, some even changing the direction of the wires they pulled against. All in all, it really was a giant web of metal wires.
Shizuka held up her finger to stop Sensei from walking forwards. Then he noticed the kunai in her hands. She slashed at a nearby wire, which set off everything at else. Wires snapped and weapons flew through the air all around Shizuka. But not a single one hit her.
Sensei clapped. "Nice, nice. That took you about… half a minute to set up and then three seconds to set off the trap. When I'm done with you, it'll take 5, maybe 10 seconds and it will be set off instantly, among a few other things."
.-._.-._.-._.-.
Author's Note section
This… has got to be the longest chapter I have ever written. Not including this author's note section, the chapter is 8,300 words long. My wrists, fingers, and eyes are now in pain from sitting still for roughly 5 to 6 hours typing and staring at a bright screen nonstop.
But, hopefully, a few of you like it. Please, if you have any questions, send me a message or leave a review and I will respond as fast as I can. Thank you for your time, have a good day.
-SilentKanji