Chapter 3

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Aaaaand Chapter 3 is here! For those of you who have made it this far, thank you for putting up with this slow-burn fic. Please leave a review, or follow/favourite this story if you've enjoyed it so you know when I upload the next chapter!

Until next time!

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"We know what we are, but know not what we may be."

~ William Shakespeare ~

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I felt my face collide with the ground as Kushina was able to once again, quite literally, beat me into submission. The sound of punches and curses had been echoing around the empty training field for the better part of the morning. But as I looked up, the sun reaching its peak had signified that to be a few hours ago. I let out a long groan, already feeling a purple bruise joining my other souvenirs that my jounin-sensei seemed to enjoy dishing out in spadefuls.

"Alright, that's enough tai-jutsu for today!" Kushina chirped as if she didn't just beat up her student in the name of 'training'.

"I think that's enough tai-jutsu for the rest of my life," sighing, I turned so that I was flat on my back, "what's next in this day of torture sensei?"

"Well, looks like they've just arrived."

Turning, I saw two figures approaching. The shorter one whom I presumed was Obito, from the bright orange goggles around his forehead, waved energetically whilst a woman who appeared to be the same age as Kushina walked calmly beside the hyperactive ninja.

"You must be Tsubaki, it's a pleasure to meet you." The woman smiled and nodded. "My name is Mikoto, I'm an old friend of your sensei's, who's asked me here to help check out your Iron Sand technique."

My mouth opened in an 'o' as I hastily got up to bow before the newcomer. "Nice to meet you Mikoto-san, and thank you for lending your expertise."

"You're so lucky~ You get to train with Mikoto-san," Obito sighed, "She's the best kunoichi in the Uchiha clan!"

'No pressure I guess'. I thought, which was obviously a lie, there was a lot of pressure alright.

Kushina waved, as a way to signal for me to start and everyone else took a step back. Nodding, I took a deep breath and felt my eyes flutter shut. The white noise faded away until the only sound I could hear was the steady beat of my heart. Constant, powerful and sure. Inhale. Exhale. Thump. Thump. On the next inhale I relaxed my fingers, letting them stretch so that my palms were facing flat down, parallel to the ground.

A comforting warmth built in the centre of my chest. As I focused, I could feel the warmth spread down my arms, to culminate in pools at my fingertips. I waited until I could feel a sufficient stream of chakra flowing throughout my body before I started searching. Turning further inwards, I imagined what I was after. When I opened my eyes, I was in the middle of a deep desert valley. Golden particles floated in the air, tangible, yet I might as well have been trying to catch smoke with my bare hands. Turning my head to one side, I saw a small crack in the deep valleys, and I knew that I needed to get the particles through that crack if I wanted to use iron-sand.

'Easy. It's just like controlling the wind with your mind… piece of cake.'

Taking a deep breath, I turned back to face the particles. "Alright you specks of dust, just do as I say this time and we won't have a problem, sound good?"

The dust, expectedly, did nothing. But I forced my mind to connect with every single particle as I willed my presence, and chakra, into every speck. With that same intensity, I pushed the particles in the direction of the crack, forcing them out of the safety of this valley. By some miracle, some particles flitted through the cracks but it was not enough.

I frowned when I realised I didn't have a lot of time left. 'My control is't going to last much longer.' And as I thought that, the ground beneath my feet started to rumble as the barren desert came to life.

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On the battlefield the three ninja looked as a small storm of iron particles started swirling at the feet of the kunoichi.

"She's doing it." Obito grinned excitedly.

But Kushina shook her head. "No. She's never been able to control anything past this point. Mikoto, you better get ready ya know."

Mikoto nodded, eyes still showing the sharingan as she kept note of how the chakra was flowing through the little girl's body. She kept her posture poised and ready, in anticipation of the breaking point that Kushina spoke of.

Tsubaki let out a groan, and the particle of sand swirled faster. More sand poured out, with some encasing her in a vice-like grip, but the rest flitted about like bees.

"Kushina, her chakra control is slipping." Mikoto warned as her red-headed companion prepared a seal.

"Not yet." But the jounin-instructor pulled out several sealing scrolls and passed one to Mikoto.

Not another moment passed before a sudden outpour of iron sand exploded in a tidal wave. The three ninja locked themselves to the ground by coating their feet with chakra, but that was barely enough to not drown in the iron sand that had flooded the training grounds.

"Now Mikoto!" Kushina shouted.

With a level of synchronicity attained through years of working in tandem, Mikoto threw the scroll at Tsubaki, just as Kushina disappeared and reappeared in a poof of smoke where the scroll was.

"Desert Flower Sealing!" Kushina shouted as she concentrated the seal on a point in Tsubaki's neck.

The particles halted in mid-air before disappearing in a swirl of grey smoke. Kushina swooped to catch the now unconscious body of her student, intercepting her descent to the ground.

"Wow." Mikoto said. "She's got absolutely no control."

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Turning the pebble in my hand, I sat atop the head of the First Hokage. The evening sunset painted Konoha in a warm orange glow, with families and villagers going about their final tasks for the day. It was the picture of serenity and tranquility, and despite the ongoing war, the tensions and discord with the other nations, it felt safe.

I turned the stone over in my hands and watched as my fingers danced through the motions. Steady, assuredly, without hesitation.

"What's wrong with me?" I groaned out loud, falling back to stare up at the clear sky that was a vision of orange and pink.

The Iron Sand, a technique that was essentially a kekkei genkai, should not be this hard. I was stuck in a cycle of defeated, and comparison. It didn't help that I was using dad as an evaluation, especially because he was a kage.

Holding the rock up against the sky, I concentrated on channeling my chakra into it. I watched as the chakra broke the rock down into specks, particles that were suspended in the air.

'My chakra works, so that's not the issue. But what's wrong?'

In a fit of frustration I slammed my hands on the ground beside me, which brought the particles down on top of me, and into my nose and eyes.

After clearing myself from the resulting debris I took a few moments to calm myself down and entered a light meditation. I'd get it eventually, I was certain. Failure was not an option.