I live near a military base so the fourth of July is heavily celebrated here…I'm going to be hearing fireworks until September with how many people buy them, I also live in a desert so there's the slight worry of a fire. I'm not too concerned since this happens every year on the fourth and on new years (though new year's lasts until early March). With that said, I hope everyone had a wonderful fourth! I also changed the cover…again…I do like this last one more than the other and I believe this one is here to stay. Hopefully.
24
"I don't think that's right, Ino," Yuzuki sighed.
Ino pouted slightly at that before fixing her posture and trying again. She was trying to get one of the mind jutsu's down, but it was difficult. She was using Yuzuki, who was glad to have something to do that got her out of the apartment and library for a while, to test the jutsu she was learning. She wanted to expand her abilities with her clan's jutsus.
"Try to gather your chakra in the frontal lobe," Yuzuki explained, "It's safer to use less than more."
"How do you do this so effortlessly?" Ino asked with a frown as she slowly gathered up a small amount of chakra to the frontal lobe of her brain.
"Practice, believe me you'll get it down," She answered.
Ino relaxed a bit after that and focused on releasing the chakra in her lobe with the proper hand signs. She was welcomed to a soft sound before it died out. It had worked, but not as long as it should've. She opened her eyes and saw Yuzuki giving her a smile. Kaede was sitting next to her, watching her tails twitching. Yuzuki's nose twitched and her head tilted in thought.
"I think we've done enough for today, let me try to formulate what went wrong before trying again," Ino said with a slight frown before a small smile appeared on her face, "Besides, I think Genma want's to talk to you."
Yuzuki nodded at that and turned towards the scent that belonged to Genma. The man somehow smelled of pumpkin and the ocean. It was a weird combination that was completely him. He had a grim look on his face, but there was a spark in his eyes that got her attention. That was a good sign.
"Come with me, kiddo," He said as he chewed on his senbon.
"Right," She nodded at him before turning to Ino, "Same time tomorrow?"
"No, I think it might take me longer than that, I'll see if dad has any advice," Ino shook her head, "Try to enjoy your time off, you ume."
"See you, Bellflower," She grinned in response.
Genma shook his head in slight amusement as Yuzuki walked up to him with Kaede in her arm. She followed him as they began to head towards the Hokage monument. She didn't know what was going on and she wasn't about to ask. She had a feeling it was important.
"You're not even going to ask?" Genma questioned her.
"Would you tell me if I did?" She shot back.
"Yeah," He raised a brow at her and watched as her expression became one of surprise before a tiny smile appeared on her face.
"Okay, why did you need me?" She questioned, "Wherever your needed, you probably don't need me."
"Let's just say that someone wanted to say hi to you."
The glare she gave him was worth messing with her. He brought a hand up and ruffled her hair, she was so used to the affectionate action that she barely reacted to it negatively anymore. There wasn't any annoyance or teenage angst showing at receiving affection from a parent, he knew that not all kids were like that.
"If I didn't know any better I'd think you enjoyed having your hair ruffled," He informed her and he watched as her shoulders tensed as a surprised expression appeared on her face.
"I probably do," She muttered, "Weird, I don't get annoyed any more do I."
She hadn't even noticed it. He sighed in amusement at that fact. Leave it to her to not even be aware of a changing behavior in herself. She brought a hand through Kaede's fur and a smile appeared on her face. He could see the small nubs of growing teeth on her gums. At least she'd soon have her canines back.
"Oh, Tsunade-hime finally came back," Yuzuki said as they finally made it to the monument, "Did they send Naruto?"
"Why'd you automatically assume Naruto had something to do with it?" Genma questioned as he frowned.
"Naruto has the ability to talk someone into changing their beliefs," She said with a shrug, "Like I said, he's charismatic but no one should ever tell him least he loses that ability."
"That's fair," He muttered in agreement as he held a hand up to stop her.
She paused in her tracks and watched as he went to take a stance next to a man with spikey black hair and glasses. She noted Naruto in the area and the blonde looked at her with a surprised expression. She sent him a smile and he grinned back in response. He then glared at something that Jiraiya said. She didn't want to know what was said.
"Well, then let's gather the local lords and celebrate the inauguration of the Godaime," Koharu Utatae announced before turning towards Genma and the man he was standing next to, "Genma, Aoba, announce this to the village."
"Right!" Both men said in unison.
"Wait, Tsunade-Obaa-san has some stuff to take care of first," Naruto told them and Genma barely held back his smirk at the kid's audacity.
"That's right, I did promise," Tsunade sighed, "So, who were they again?"
"I already told you during the trip home," Jiraiya sighed, "That brat Kakashi, the Uchiha kid, and Gai's student Lee."
"Oh, and add Yuzuki-chan to that list!" Naruto piped up and Tsunade looked to see the girl she had met a month ago.
"Always pushing yourself too far," Tsunade sighed as she stepped up to the shorter girl, "What'd you do this time?"
"Fought during the oto and suna invasion," Yuzuki replied as the woman's hands began to glow green due to the chakra she was using.
Tsunade didn't say anything, but the slight downwards turn of her lips said enough. The blonde Senju seemed to care about the genin in front of her, Yuzuki did have that affect on people. She was a bit like Naruto in that aspect where they could both worm themselves into good relationships with people that weren't their rivals.
"You did a number on this arm," Tsunade informed the girl, "Why hasn't this been healed yet?"
"I kept going to the hospital and asking if they would, but as a genin I wasn't deemed as vital as one of the chuunin and jonin," Yuzuki replied as she winced at the stiff feeling in her arm as it was healed, "It's all right, I get it, they are understaffed."
Oh, Genma adored his kid. She was able to push blame onto the hospital and still make it easy on them. If that wasn't manipulation he didn't know what was. He watched as Tsunade gained a tick to her forehead at the girl's words and put her hand on her shoulder. She moved the arm out of its sling and gently rotated it to make sure everything was as it should be.
"Please tell me I can finally use chakra again," Yuzuki quietly said, "I'd like to be able to help when training with my cousins."
"You can use our chakra again," Tsunade told her and she got a large smile in response.
This was the same kid that had been so sullen back when she met her. That girl had been confused and this girl was lighter and happier. Honey colored eyes slowly moved to the side as the older woman eyed the jonin that was responsible for that change. Her father, she'd make sure that man always had guardianship over her while she was hokage. No way in hell was she going to allow the council to get their hands on the kid.
"Can I ask you a few questions about iryo-jutsus?" Yuzuki asked her and she blinked in surprise.
"Ask away," Tsunade smiled.
"When performing the mystic palm technique do you keep a steady flow of chakra or is it a bit like water walking and you need to make it inconsistent for different points of the body?" Yuzuki questioned, "The scroll I read didn't go into depths about that."
"You read all the scrolls in the library, didn't you?" Tsunade sighed in amusement and she got a nod in response, "You keep it consistent unless you need the extra chakra to quickly heal the wounds."
"Oh, that makes sense," Yuzuki said as she scratched her cheek in thought, "The worser the wound the more chakra that's needed."
"You thinking about becoming a medical-nin?" Tsunade asked.
"I'd like to help out at the hospital when needed," Yuzuki answered and Tsunade could hear the but, "But I've been working towards torture and interrogation for so long that it would make everything I've done meaningless, so I would still like to intern as an interrogator and put my genjutsu skills to the test."
"You can still learn iryo-jutsu from a fellow shinobi," Tsunade said with a slight smirk.
"Maybe in the future," Yuzuki shook her head.
Tsunade seemed surprised at that before a genuine smile appeared on her face. She might be looking at a prospective apprentice in the future. Hell, if there was another girl with the aptitude for chakra control she might take on two. It had been so long since she had taught a fresh mind in the art of medicine, Shizune had quickly grown under her teachings and she somewhat missed having a young student to terrorize.
"Right, I want to see you in my office," Tsunade said and Yuzuki blinked in confusion while Tsunade turned to Naruto, "Before I heal those I promised to heal, I need to do something."
"Will it take long?" Naruto questioned.
"Less than half an hour," Tsunade informed him, "In the meantime go and get something to eat."
Naruto gave her a look and Tsunade knew that she wouldn't get out of healing those she promise, not that she would go back on her word to help them, and she turned towards the still confused Yamanaka. It was taking the girl a while to digest what she had been told and why. She put a hand on the girl's shoulder and began to steer her towards the office, while Genma followed behind with a slight grin on his face. They came across Shikamaru on their way to the Hokage's office, Naruto following behind them.
"Oh, Yuzuki, Naruto, what are you two doing here?" Shikamaru asked as he slouched slightly.
"Genma brought me here, but Tsunade-sama asked me to go to her office," Yuzuki quietly replied.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Naruto informed the taller boy, "The only building around here is ninja administration."
"I'm just here taking care of some annoying business," Shikamaru replied and he saw the understanding look in Yuzuki's eyes.
"Oh, Shikamaru!" Ino's voice rang out and Naruto blinked in surprise.
"You too, huh?" Shikamaru muttered as Yuzuki brightened at the sight of her cousin.
Inoichi stood behind his daughter and he was standing straight with pride. He looked over to see Yuzuki and gave her a nod as well. He noticed Genma standing behind the taller preteen and raised a brow. He didn't know if the rumors about the man taking in one of his clan had been true or not, but he now had proof. He wasn't going to stop the man anytime soon, he trusted Genma not to mess up with her.
"Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama," Shikaku Naru greeted the two Sannin with a slight bow.
"Oh, you must be the Nara clan head," Tsunade said as she put a hand on her hip, "Are you taking care of your deer? Their antlers make good medicine."
"Yes, Ma'am," Shikaku nodded.
"So, who's the young woman with a big attitude?" Shikamaru asked Naruto and Yuzuki as Ino joined them.
"Thats Senju Tsunade, the Godaime," Yuzuki replied.
"Oh, she's one of the best medics in the world," Ino added, "Weren't you interested in learning iryo-jutsu, Yuzuki?"
"Yeah, but I wouldn't want to take the spot of apprentice from someone else who needs it," Yuzuki quietly said.
Ino blinked and instantly knew the other girl was talking about Sakura. She would stand down from such an opportunity for a girl who thought she was a monster; she didn't get her cousin sometimes. The other girl had nothing to prove and should go for it. She was about to tell her so when she saw the look that Shikamaru was giving the taller girl, he looked as though her understood what she was doing.
"Sometimes you don't get enough credit," Shikamaru told the other girl as Naruto was shooed away by Tsunade.
"I don't crave credit," She shrugged, "So why should I need it?"
There it was, the same Yuzuki he was used to. As much as he enjoyed the more emotional and conversational Yuzuki he could deal with the shinobi Yuzuki who knew how to mess with people and push them to do things that changed them for the better. If she could push Sakura into an apprenticeship with the sannin then there would be no need for a rival. She was showing an interest in iryo, not just to make sure she could heal her teammates, but to push Sakura towards a career that she would flourish in.
"You just don't want her around in torture and interrogation," Shikamaru commented.
"Ah, I am guilty of that as well," She chuckled, "But I have time where she won't be able to join and thus she'll seek out the strongest kunoichi to teach her."
"You read her like a book, didn't you," He sighed, and she winked at him.
They entered the Hokage's office and Tsunade took a seat behind the desk as the three genin stood at attention with their guardians behind them. They all looked the battle-ready soldiers that they had shown themselves to be during the invasion. She opened a folder before her and quickly read through it.
"Since the chuunin exams ended with an invasion I would usually tell everyone to try again next time and declare it null," Tsunade informed them, "But several lords and fellow shinobi came forward to recommend all three of you for advancement."
She stared them all down and they didn't even flinch. They had a taste of battle and knew when to show fear and when to show their opponent nothing. She connected her hands together in front of her and continued her staring at them.
"Yamanaka Ino, Yamanaka Yuzuki, Nara Shikamaru," Tsunade said their names, "You not only showed initiative to find an officer of higher rank than you for orders, you helped to evacuate citizens, wake fellow shinobi, and stayed to fight to make sure the invaders wouldn't win. For that Konoha recognizes you as Chuunin. You are now permitted to take B-rank missions as squad leaders and A-rank missions as squad members. Congratulations."
They bowed in respect to her and accepted their flak jackets from their guardians. Genma ruffled Yuzuki's hair and she grinned up at him. Tsunade almost wanted to keep the girl back to show her how to perform an Iryo-jutsu so she could gage the girls aptitude, but noted the way she interacted with Genma. The two wanted to go out and celebrate her promotion, and she understood that.
"You are all dismissed, go and celebrate before your first missions as chuunin," She told them.
"Understood, Hokage-sama," The three Chuunin said in unison.
She could get used to that. She watched as they all broke off to go celebrate in their own way. Genma was going to take Yuzuki for dango before she went to turn in her application for torture and interrogation. Inoichi was going to go celebrate with Shikaku while his daughter and son went to celebrate with their team.
"Congratulations on your promotion," Hayate informed the preteen as he met up with Genma and Yuzuki at her favorite dango stand.
She simply gave him a closed mouth smile before turning back to the paper in front of her. It was obvious that she was filling out an application form for one of the careers that chuunin could go into. She chewed in a senbon in her mouth as she reread something before writing something down. He sat down and Kaede looked at him from her spot inside the chuunin's flack jacket. She had already found space for the pup in her new clothing, which was just like her.
"I'd go and turn in your application before three," Genma informed Yuzuki, "They don't like paperwork after that time."
"I can't blame them," She chuckled, "Well, then I'm off."
She hurried off to go and turn in the finished application. Genma shook his head in amusement before paying for the dango the two had eaten and the drinks they had. Hayate took note that it was the dango with strawberries in it and a cup of iced matcha, her favorites. He remembered his time as a chuunin, things got hectic. You got busy, and it only slowed down after he became a jonin. She was going to juggle torture and interrogation while under Anko's tutelage, they weren't going to see her that much. If she ended up apprenticing under Tsunade then they would see her even less.
No wonder Genma had treated her to her favorite snack and drink.
"Hey there, brat," Anko greeted the panting chuunin, "I see you finally became a chuunin."
"Hello, Anko-senpai," Yuzuki greeted as she gave her application to the chuunin that ran the counter for the department, "You doing all right?"
Anko gave the kid a grin and turned to the chuunin behind the counter. She held a hand out for the form. The moment the paper was in her hand she had grabbed the newly promoted chuunin by her flak jacket and dragged her through the building. They went down as they moved through the corridors. Yuzuki had no clue where she was being dragged, but she was just enjoying the ride. Anko was fond of her, at least she hoped she was, and wouldn't do anything outside of maiming her. She blinked in surprise when the purple haired Kunoichi kicked a door open.
"Ibiki, she's here," Anko announced.
"Must you kick my door?" Ibiki questioned without looking up from his paperwork.
"I need my kohai," Anko informed him with a manic grin, "She can start working right away, we have plenty of prisoners for newbies."
Ibiki finally looked up at that and he saw a slightly hassled Yuzuki wave at him. He sighed in response and he almost felt bad for the girl, almost. She shouldn't have caught Anko's attention if she didn't want to be dragged around like she had.
"I see," He said as he took the application from Anko and read over it, "You specialized in genjutsu and kenjutsu, you'd be a fine fit for the hunting corps."
"I'd get bored," She admitted, "The same thing each and every time does not appeal to me, sir."
"What makes you think this'll be different?" he questioned.
"Well, the human mind can be fucked with in so many different ways," She said and he looked at her as Anko's grin grew, "Let's say that I go into the room with the prisoner, a genjutsu already active and masking the fact that someone was inside, and start to take away his hearing and make the walls grow closer. How long do you think someone can handle mental torture like that?"
"Anko, you went and found a miniature you," Ibiki stated in slight annoyance, "Fine, welcome aboard kid, you'll need to be outfitted for a uniform but as Anko said you can start immediately. Take her to the chuunin level prisoners and see what she can get out of them."
"Right," Anko said before turning on her heel and leading the chuunin out of the room and through the departments tunnels, "Keep thinking the way you do Kohai and make them panic until they squeal."
"No problem," Yuzuki nodded.
Anko didn't even react to her response and simply stopped in front of a cell. The door had one-way glass where the department could look in, but the prisoner couldn't look out. Yuzuki tilted her head at the oto chuunin, a kunoichi, and looked at Anko for the signal that she could start. She got a nod, Kaede jumped from out of her flak jacket and sat next to the snake summoner, and she began to weave a genjutsu. The false surroundings jutsu covered the opening of the door and muffled the sound while a genjutsu over her person hid her from sight.
She truly had missed using her chakra.
She was getting ready to unleash a side of her that Genma and Hayate had never seen, but Anko had. Anko was more aware of her sadistic side then anyone. Not even Connor knew how sadistic she could get. She ignored those thoughts as she was quietly reminded that she needed to let go of the past.
The oto chuunin began to hyperventilate when her hearing went away, and the walls began to close in on her. She was close to a panic attack but held her tongue. Yuzuki didn't need to hear anything, she could sneak into the mind and obtain the information that was seeing as the natural shields were torn down due to the panic. She shifted into a clan jutsu and she was glad for all the training she had done with them; she was able to keep her genjutsu up.
She pulled out of the kunoichi's mind when she got the information she was looking for, or lack of. She went out the door and amped up the genjutsu of the walls closing in, she was petty. In the original timeline, their invasion had caused Hayate his life. She could never forgive them for that. A scream rang out as she exited the room and Anko's sadistic grin was the first thing she saw.
"Machi Hisako, a chuunin of Otogakure," She reported, "The whereabouts of the village were already discerned, and she wasn't close enough to Orochimaru to know anything of importance."
"I feel like that's going to be like that for every chuunin, but now I know how you work and can train you accordingly," Anko smirked.
Yuzuki wasn't the biggest fan of that. As she dodged snake after snake it cemented that feeling. Anko would train her and then send her to interrogate a prisoner. She would switch up how she approached the prisoner. The one after Hisako was a male so she used the auditory genjutsu to make it sound as though someone was in the room with him, whispering in his ears. The one after him was another woman, it was easy to mess with her mind as she was a newly appointed chuunin that had gone through the ringer with Orochimaru.
He was bloodline hunting, but seemed particularly hung up on the sharingan. When she reported that tidbit of information, Anko hadn't looked surprised. She supposed that it was common knowledge in the jonin circle. She wasn't privy to classified information, though she knew that she would soon find things that she couldn't talk about to anyone.
"Good work, now I get to teach you how to fill out paperwork on what you've learned," Anko informed her.
"Oh fun," Yuzuki muttered and Anko smirked at the slightly sarcastic tone.
Yes, she was going to have fun with her new Kohai. Hopefully, the kid can keep up better than the last one. An hour later found all the information correctly filled out and handed into Ibiki, who was pleasantly surprised that she had gotten any information out of the shinobi she had tortured. Then again, what else was he expecting from a Yamanaka. Well, he wasn't expecting the surprisingly sadistic methods she used to get the information she wanted.
"You will be in the department every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to learn how to interrogate torture and train with Anko," Ibiki informed the Chuunin, who stood up straighter and gave him her full attention, "You will be here at six in the morning until six at night, if you are late without a proper excuse you will be subjected to whatever punishment that Anko deems necessary. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," Yuzuki nodded.
"Then dismissed," Ibiki said.
Yuzuki gave a slight bow and left the room. Anko turned towards the scared man and he sighed. Those two were going to cause him to drink more than he already did. He would really like to know how the hell Anko was able to make a mini her without anyone knowing, the methods the girl used were like the snake summoners. The fact that she could get inside a person's mind without using a clan jutsu until the mind was broken told of someone who was sadistic. That girl didn't seem the type, but he supposed that quite a few kunoichi were like that.
Uchiha Mikoto had been like that when she was active duty.
That woman had become the perfect housewife, but no one in their right mind would forget the way she could decimate the battlefield. So many enemy nin's last sight had been sharingan eyes staring down at them. Now several enemy nin would see byakugan staring them down as their minds broke into pieces. They were creating a monster of sorts, but Genma would be there to make sure the girl never delved too deep into her sadistic nature.
Few Shinobi had a support system like that. Too many became like Anko due to the fact that they were pushed away for their sadistic nature that made them perfect to be torturers. If someone had accepted Anko, and that person wasn't Orochimaru, she would have ended up a bit happier than she was. As it was, one couldn't change the past. He returned his attention to the reports that the kid had written.
At least he finally had a shinobi that had legible writing.
Genma stared down at Yuzuki as she laid face down on the couch. He didn't even want to know what fresh hell she had been through. He scratched the back of his neck and chewed on his senbon.
"What'd she have you do?" He finally asked.
"She had me torture people and then trained me," Her answer was muffled due to the couch, "It wasn't even the torture that bothered me, it's the fact that she sent snakes that way."
"Just remember not to go too far on a comrade," He warned her, "Unless you need to stop them from doing something stupid, if so then don't break their mind…and don't do that during training either."
"I won't," She confirmed, and he felt better at that.
His sadistic kid was going to rock the world. The world wasn't ready for it, but fuck it she was going to do it anyway. He reached down and poked the back of her head. She slowly turned it to look at him and he gave her a lazy grin.
"You hungry?" He asked her.
"Famished."
He grinned at that response. He watched as she got up and moved to help him make something to eat. He was going to do sushi for dinner, something that'd be easy for her to make in the morning with the left overs. She made the rice and he cut the ingredients up. They both enjoyed spicy tuna, which sometimes causes Hayate some grief when they made sushi. One time he ate one that he thought was normal tuna and was left coughing for a good hour after.
"What do you have planned for tomorrow?" He asked her as they sat down at the table with their food.
"It's the weekend so I was planning on training," She answered, "I won't be going on missions for a month so that most of my attention is on the department."
He nodded his understanding at that. Once she could start going on missions she'd be gone more often than not. He was going to rarely see her and he would make sure to use all the time he had to train with her. He flicked a piece of rice at her and she dodged it before flicking one back.
Well, hopefully Kaede wouldn't get sick from eating them.
Yuzuki lounged around while Genma wrote up reports for the new Hokage. He needed to make sure that she knew everything that was happening within the village. Which included a specific S-Class secret. It might change the woman's opinion on his kid, but it probably wouldn't matter. She was a shinobi of Konohagakure and had proven where her loyalties lied.
As long as those she cared about were in the village then she would remain loyal. Good thing he wasn't planning on dying or leaving anything soon. She'd only have three people holding her to the village.
"What happened to Yuna?" He questioned.
"He's working on something secret in the Hyuuga compound," She answered with a slight frown, "I'm not privy to what exactly."
Ah, clan secrets. How they made things more difficult then they need to be. He ran a hand through his bandana free hair. He brought it down to a slowly nodding off Yuzuki and gave her a pat on the head.
She could sleep anywhere if the need arose. He didn't know how she did it sometimes, but he was glad for it. At least she didn't snore. She curled up into a ball around Kaede and slept like she had no worries.
He smiled before turning towards his reports. He needed to finish them before tomorrow.