She's at Rin's place, drinking tea and eating snacks in the shop behind the counter with Obito while Rin helps her father reorganize the displays.
"Ah! This is so not fair! I almost had it!" Obito complains. "Next year for sure!"
Rin grimaces. Her control is great—and no one else in class even comes close to Honōka's one-to-one ratio—except for Rin. It's just taking her some time to build up her chakra reserves. She also understands that while Honōka and Kakashi make the Academy curriculum look fluffy, it most certainly is not.
"Take your time, Obito." Honōka says. "You could stand to learn from Guy, you know?"
"Hah?!"
"'There's no such things as being over prepared—only under prepared.'"
He huffs, because he can't refute her—or Guy.
She finishes her tea and takes out her octopus shaped coin purse. She counts bills and coins.
Sōji raises a brow at her.
"You're apprenticing to a Sannin and you're still paying for your own clothes?" Sōji asks.
She shrugs.
"I get the feeling Orochimaru-sama is strict about diet and stuff. I don't think I'll need to worry about getting enough protein anymore." Not enough to worry about emergency snack funds, at least. "He already said he'd do something about my shinobi kit. I figured I could supplement it with something familiar."
Sōji preens.
"You've just about outgrown all of your old stuff. Don't hold back, kid. I'll cut you a good deal."
She sends a grateful bow his way, which he waves off, and picks out the same style shoes again. Black and over the ankle.
While she loves her floppy, pleated shorts, they just aren't practical. She gets them caught on everything, and there was that one time Obito accidentally pantsed her. He still gets embarrassed about it, sometimes for no reason—at random times, too. She goes with grey ankle length pants similar to her monpe pants from home instead. They're lightweight, durable, and water resistant.
She used to hate showing her arms, but no one will question it now that she's officially a shinobi. She goes with high neck tank tops in that familiar navy material instead of her usual long sleeves.
"I'll throw in compression bandages and socks for free." Sōji says. "No one buys stirrup socks anyhow."
"Their loss. I like not having blisters."
"Blisters turn into callouses, eventually."
"I like my feet to not have cracks."
He shakes his head at her and laughs.
She's browsing the coats when Rin asks her about her hair. She doesn't need a new coat anyhow—her lemon yellow tent is still sizes too big.
"My hair?" she asks.
"Ah, well, it's getting kind of—long—isn't it?"
"It's so long we can actually see your eyes," Obito teases. Rin elbows him.
She rolls a few strands between her fingers. Her bangs used to be somewhat neat, if long, but she hasn't had a haircut since she joined the Academy. Manaka used to cut them like blinders—she could barely see through them, but no one else could either.
"Can you cut hair, Rin?"
"Yeah! I cut Otō-san's hair all the time."
Sōji's hair looks pretty neat, from what she can see of it in his usual low ponytail.
"Okay. Do you mind cutting mine?"
"Not at all! I'll go grab the scissors—be right back!"
Sōji takes her money in the meantime and starts packing up her stuff—he probably thinks she doesn't notice him putting in a tool belt and thigh holster.
Rin is back and laying out a tarp and chair, finding a crate to stand on for herself.
"Ready, Honōka-chan?"
She sits in the chair and shakes her hair out. She never quite figured out how to take care of it, and now it's a tangled, matted mess.
Come to think of it, her grandfather used to berate her for never taking a comb to her hair. It didn't matter back then—Tomoe's hair was straight.
Rin attempts to draw a comb through it and aborts when she lets out an undignified squawk.
"Ah, sorry, Honōka-chan… How short should I cut it?"
She considers.
"Chop it all off. You can leave this bit," she says, grabbing a handful of her bangs. "Ah. Maybe trim this a bit too?"
"Are you sure, Honōka-chan?" Rin asks.
"Yeah. Cut the back as short as Obito's, if you like."
Rin hesitates but ultimately agrees.
Clip… clip… snip…
"You have so much hair, Honōka-chan! It's so thick—ah, I'm jealous."
And frustrated by the sound of it, Honōka thinks.
She grips the chair as Rin snips at the hair around her ears, attempting to even out the layers. The prickly hair sticking to her neck is driving her nuts.
"Okay… okay! Enough. I'm done!"
"Hold still, Honōka-chan! I'm almost done—"
"I'm done!" she insists. Rin stops what she's doing and backs away.
"Uh, Honōka, I think you should let Rin finish. I mean, there's a long piece in your bangs and you got some sticking up in the back still."
"It's fine," she says, vigorously scraping the cut hair off her neck. Ew. She wants to clip her nails now.
Rin hovers, concerned.
"I'm fine.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"…it's itchy. I hate it. It's fine."
"Oh, okay… Do you want to take a break and try again later?"
She twirls the surviving lock of hair on the left side, near her temple, and pats the rest down. It is sticking up in the back, but it's not prickly or even that uneven. In fact, cut short as it is, the slight kink in her hair disguises any of the really uneven parts.
"It's fine. I like it."
Rin lets out a breath of relief. "Yeah? I think it looks cute!"
Obito looks at them like they've both lost their minds.
"If you guys say so…"
"Did you lose a fight?" Orochimaru asks. He's feigning casual interest, but there's a more genuine curiosity bubbling just beneath the surface.
"No?"
"Then what happened to your hair?"
"I got it cut?"
"…" a hint of frustration climbs into his tone. "With what? Wire cutters?"
"Scissors, actually."
It's an off key interaction, and Orochimaru doesn't like being caught wrong-footed in anything. He talks himself down from his exasperation quickly, though. It's not worth questioning, apparently.
"You are an odd child, aren't you."
She thinks he's pretty odd himself.
"Very well. We've wasted enough time. Follow me."
He leads her to the training grounds, the Third Training Ground specifically. It's a large training ground with access to a river, the forest, and close to the mountainside. It's the most diverse training ground in Konoha.
Honōka is therefore unsurprised that it's in use.
Orochimaru frowns at the tall blond-haired man (unexpectedly) in the clearing.
"Minato, you have not booked the Third Training Ground for this period."
"Oh, I must have forgotten. My apologies, Orochimaru-san." He's not actually the least bit apologetic, Honōka thinks. "What brings you to the Third Training Ground today? Testing out a new jutsu?" He's suddenly eager, churning with excitement. Orochimaru has a reputation for inventing new and interesting techniques, after all.
Orochimaru crosses his arms. He doesn't have much patience for this stranger; she thinks.
The man, Minato, finally notices her standing three paces behind Orochimaru.
"Ara? Who's this young lady?" A brief, unnamed suspicion flickers across his face, then clears. "Is it possible you've taken on a student, Orochimaru-san?"
Orochimaru sniffs at him. "Sarutobi-sensei's handiwork, I assure you."
Minato laughs, and it's a pleasant sound, if a tad awkward. Orochimaru is not the only one inconvenienced by the Hokage's scheming, it seems.
"So, does the little lady have a name?" he asks again, and leans down in front of her, resting his hands on his knees. She resists the urge to give him the look and wishes she didn't feel so exposed by her trimmed bangs.
"Tsunemori Honōka-desu."
"Namikaze Minato-desu," he offers a hand out for her to shake. "I have a student about your age. You might have heard of him, his name is—"
There's movement to her left, and there's that familiar staticky head of silver.
"Kakashi!" she waves. He's watching from the edge of the clearing, so she blows off Orochimaru and Minato in favor of greeting her former classmate. "It's been a while. How are you?"
Kakashi, having been spotted, reluctantly comes forward.
"Yo, Honōka. What happened to your hair?"
"Rin cut it."
"With what? A blunt shuriken?"
She frowns. Why does everyone keep asking?
"No. She used scissors."
She hears an exasperated chuff from Orochimaru and Kakashi raises a dubious brow at her, but doesn't pursue the matter.
"Your sensei is funny," she blurts. "Does he talk to you like that too?"
Kakashi sighs, long since accustomed to her out of the blue questions.
"Like what?" he asks.
"Like a child."
She can practically feel Minato taking damage behind her, and knows Orochimaru isn't bothering to curb his amusement in the least. Kakashi just shakes his head at her. Ah—he doesn't get it either. Not even Jūn-sensei was quite so… Well, he didn't talk to them like they were actual babies.
Minato breaks the pause with a slight cough.
"So, Orochimaru-san, you must be here to test Honōka-chan—"
"An astute observation."
"Do you mind if I watch? I'm running out of ideas to keep Kakashi entertained with."
"Looking to take notes, Minato?"
It's another dig, but the younger man shrugs it off.
"Yeah, of course, if it's no trouble."
Orochimaru sighs and puts up like Minato is wasting his time, but he's already spinning Kakashi's convenient presence into his existing plans.
"Very well. Having another genin present simplifies things, no?"
Minato frowns, not liking where Orochimaru is leading with that.
"Is that a good idea, Orochimaru-san? Kakashi has already experienced his first battle… he might be a bit much for Honōka-chan's current ability."
Orochimaru just refolds his arms, giving her an expectant look. She glances at Minato's concerned frown and back at Kakashi, who shrugs at her.
She squares her stance and faces Kakashi.
"Weapons?" he asks.
"I have none." She raises her open hands. "Orochimaru-sama is taking me to get outfitted later."
"Ah, I see," Minato mumbles. "This training session is to see what disciplines will suit Honōka-chan."
"…" Kakashi is probably remembering how bad she was (is) at shurikenjutsu.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Orochimaru prompts, impatience growing.
She shrugs and shunshin's behind Kakashi. Shunshin is just one step removed from kawarimi, and technically a higher rank skill… but she thinks it's easier. Less fiddly.
Kakashi expects her to attack from behind (obviously) and she slide tackles his planted foot as he goes to catch her with a hook kick.
He hits the ground in a roll and she wastes no time and spares no feelings aiming an axe kick at his spine.
It hits, but not Kakashi. Her heel splinters a log as the real Kakashi flickers next to her. He punches her in the head and she sees stars. But she, like all shinobi, has a thick skull.
As she falls, she latches onto his wrist and pulls herself upright, inserting a foot into his stance and flipping him to the ground—hard. He makes brief contact with the ground, and just as quickly replaces himself with the same log again.
"You've been training with Guy." An accusation or a simple observation? Hard to tell with Kakashi.
She locates him to her right, where he's flipping through hand seals unfairly fast.
He ends with snake though, and she knows what that usually means.
She flickers behind Minato, who is forced to deflect the earth walls used as an improvised battering ram. When the technique ends, she hops right back in. Kakashi clicks his tongue at her.
"I don't know any elemental ninjutsu," she reminds him between punches.
"Do you want me to stop using them, then?" Kakashi asks.
"Hmm… it's fine."
He ducks behind a tree and pops out with three clones, all making seals for the Doton jutsu again. She aims for the only one that feels like the real Kakashi, breaking his jutsu sequence with a front kick. His eyes widen a fraction before breaking away quickly. He puts considerable distance between them.
They're both panting hard.
"That is sufficient, Honōka-kun." Orochimaru even allows a note of delight to color his tone.
Minato is looking stumped. "She knew which one was real without hesitating—and before that, she knew when the technique's area of effect ended… this kid, she's a sensor type?"
"So it would seem." Orochimaru agrees. His excitement is ratcheting up, bordering on gleeful.
"But, how is it possible? She didn't use any seals, or focus her chakra in any visible way…?"
"It would seem that Honōka-kun is an intuitive sensor."
Is she, though? She's not doing anything different, she thinks.
"Come along, Honōka-kun," Orochimaru practically purrs. "We have many options to discuss for your future studies."