Then There Were Two

Summary: Naruto Uzumaki...Katsumi Uzumaki...are the twin children of the Honorable, Late Fourth Hokage...both outcasted by Konoha, the two find strength in one another that is incomparable and irreplaceable. The Teams...are quite different now, and the future...is looking more than a little bit brighter…or is that but the calm, before the storm?

Anime/Manga: Naruto

Genre: Romance/Humor/Adventure

Pairing: I... know who will be with who. I'll let you guys fidget and wonder.

Rated: M for Mature

-x-x-x-

It's been a long journey, a long road
Filled with potholes and obstacles
I've fallen so many times
It forged character though

-Push On (Surreal the Sound Providers)

-x-x-x-

Sasuke had two shadow clones in a tree, spread out and ready to move in. Katsumi was on the other side of the field and both could clearly see Kakashi. His other two clones were somewhere on the ground out of sight. He couldn't see Katsumi or her clones, but he trusted she'd act as soon as he made his move.

The wind slowly came to a stop, not in any way was it unnatural, but they'd already discussed the fact that Kakashi was probably on guard and would be more so once the wind and rain ceased. The rain was the last thing to halt in it's final few droplets. Once it was calm, his first clone made a move, with two shuriken flying at Kakashi who moved out of the way with relative ease. In the air, his second clone moved in from the tree tops and dived at their Sensei. Throwing a barrage of kicks and punches, but ultimately, he was caught and thrown against the tree he'd been hiding in.

Poof!

That was the first clone to get destroyed. He watched as two of Katsumi's clones shot towards Kakashi from different directions, another of his clones joined the fray, and the three made a pattern out of trading blows, Kakashi blocking them with ease as he twisted and maneuvered out of the way of all the on coming attacks.

Sasuke watched as suddenly their sensei's eyes widened, his foot halted when his foot sank into a puddle of muddy water. It was only a moment of pause, but it was enough! Sasuke shot out and caught Kakashi in the back with a foot as Katsumi jumped from the tree she'd been stationed in and delivered a twist kick to the Jounin's gut.

Kakashi grunted as he flipped back and landed with a hand on the ground. His eyes on all five figures before him. He watched as one of the Katsumi's pulled out a kunai before rushing towards him, an elbow in his back knocked him forward, and he frowned as he turned and grabbed the Katsumi behind him and pulled her before him. As the one running towards him continued, he figured quickly that it was a clone as she made to go through the clone to get to him. What he didn't expect was the clone in his hand to take the kunai and twist downward in his arms and thrust towards him with the Kunai. He grabbed the kunai and wrestled it out of her hand before throwing it towards the one that had ran towards him.

It disappeared as the Kunai struck it down and he sighed. "...so...you are the real Katsumi...I'm certain of that, at least." She struggled in his grip, her long hair, despite the ponytail she had it in, was flared out over the arm wrapped around her waist. A delicate, sweet and floral scent drifted up from the girl's hair and despite the situation, he found himself relaxing a bit. "You are quite the energetic one...now that we are in this position, I don't see how this will end well for you."

"Sasuke, do it!"

Sasuke threw a set of Kunai and Kakashi avoided most of them with ease but he missed the one that Sasuke had thrown in the shadow of another. This one...hit Katsumi right in the stomach.

"Wha-"

Poof!

He looked at the Kunai that had struck him, though...not too deeply...still. He chuckled, 'I did tell them to come at me with the intent to kill me.' He pulled the kunai out and frowned, "you two... are quite impressive. Sasuke...how did you know that was a clone?" These kids were shocking in how they were fighting together.

"He didn't! AH!" Katsumi kicked him forward.

Poof!

She scoffed, "feeling a little nervous, Sensei?" She jumped to the center of the field with Sasuke and her side by side.

Kakashi stood before them and frowned as he stumbled a bit.

"...after all of that, you are finally fighting like we are enemies...it's too bad that it's too late now."

Looking up at her, Kakashi looked curiously at her before shaking his head suddenly, "what was on the kunai?" He felt dizzy, and his steps were sluggish at best.

"That Kunai I gave Sasuke to throw...was sharpened very recently with an Opium Poppy Seed soaked sharpening stone."

Sasuke's head snapped in her direction as he took in what she was saying. "What does that mean?!"

"It means...Sensei is probably feeling very relaxed and at ease...right now. His movements will be sluggish at best." She sighed, "I've recently become interested in plant toxins and the many symptoms that you can retain with the banes." She smiled, shooting forward, she raised a brow when he still managed to jump out of her way. "You are...kind of cool, Sensei." She laughed, "how long can you continue for though?" She swung a leg forward and knocked him backwards, he glared and pulled out a familiar kunai.

He moved forward and she vaguely noticed the shadow chasing after him as he moved in to strike her down. The kunai stopped a mere inch from her body, her eyes staring into his.

"...did I make you nervous? It was just a joke...Sensei. I would never use anything that could cause chronic problems, not when I throw these very Kunai at Kiba. It was just aromatherapy...nothing too bad, just a mix I made that causes slight loss in motor functions for a moment in time. Not long lasting..." she pulled a clip that had been attached to the underside of her ponytail and placed it in a plastic container.

"Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Shikamaru's shadow receding as Katsumi distanced herself from the kunai in front of her. Kakashi suddenly started moving and held out the bells to her. "How's that for teamwork?" Ino grinned from inside their sensei's body.

Smiling, she caught the bells as Ino tossed them her way, then released Kakashi from her mind transfer Jutsu. This whole ploy had been hers and Shikamaru's idea. As few moves with as little time as they had. Kakashi lifted his eyes and his hand with the Kunai gripped tightly in it, lowered as he sighed a bit.

Tossing the bells in the air, she tossed them backwards and listened as Shikamaru caught them. "How do you feel, Sensei?"

"..." Kakashi tightened his hand into a fist and looked at her. "a bit disoriented and somewhat perturbed if I'm being honest. Don't get me wrong...I'm impressed...still."

Shikamaru stretched and yawned as he made his way next to his friend. He looked up at the clear sky up ahead, "it's cleared up a lot..."

Rolling her eyes, Katsumi looked back at Shikamaru, "..." he shrugged.

"So, Sensei..." Ino frowned, standing beside her was Sasuke who was waiting to hear from their sensei as well, "who...are you sending back to the Academy."

Raising a brow, Kakashi chuckled, "did you really work together like that...thinking that you might go home?"

Ino blushed, "I don't think we did much...besides that, what else were we supposed to do?"

Shaking his head, he could feel his motor skills returning to their normal responses but there was still a slight buzz in his step. "You all passed...go home and rest, I'll see you each again at seven tomorrow morning, training ground seven. You can keep the bells..." he said before walking off.

Katsumi watched him and smiled as she listened to Ino yell out in her excitement. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," she grinned, walking off in the same direction of their new team leader.

-x-x-x-

Kakashi tried to shake off the effects of the aromatherapy. He was disinclined to call it aromatherapy. "It's supposed to relax me, I thought...not make me feel intoxicated."

"Like I thought,"

Kakashi turned and met Katsumi's bright blue eyes. "Are you not finished with your assault on my senses?"

"Well..." she tossed a small clear box at him and watched him catch it. "Thought I could help with your sudden vertigo." She smiled, "it's just lavender, you can relax with it while laying down and you'll be back to your normal self before the end of the night. Just take it easy, Sensei."

"What was it you used on me during the fight?"

Looking at the ground, she thought back to when she'd gotten in place with her clones. She hadn't really cared for trying the aroma out on her Sensei, but... to be on the safe side, she'd attached the lightly scented clip in her hair. "Dicentra Formosa...or, Bleeding Heart. I had only extracted the base liquid from the petals...to be honest, it's highly toxic and can cause a whole slew of problems if used in large quantities. Heck, I learned the hard way about a few of the side effects...trembling, staggering, vomiting, convulsions, labored breathing. That's only to name a few...but it's not lethal...just toxic." She waved before leaving him in front of the Memorial statue he'd stopped at.

"Just toxic...she says." Kakashi followed her with his eyes before he looked at the clear box in his hand that had a clear salve in it. "...an herbalist on the team...interesting."

-x-x-x-

"I hope it doesn't have any negative side effects. It shouldn't, being that it's only a mild measure of Alhucema...worst case scenario...he'll be really drowsy when he goes to use it, but...I said to do so at home..." Katsumi released her hair from the tie it was held in, the long blond locks fell all around her shoulders, still damp and wildly messy from the rain and wind she'd conjured up. "I did too much. Shikamaru suggested luring him into a trap and letting him take procedures towards capturing him...but...I wanted to be of use.

Talking out loud to herself was a strange oddity of Katsumi's, if the civilians of Konoha ever saw one. She would completely drown out her surroundings as she went over the events prior to her discussion with herself and wouldn't even notice the people around her. Muscle reflex and sensitivity to sound helped her to avoid walking into anyone, but they usually just got out of her way.

"Hey,"

She looked up and grinned at the familiar caramel brown eyes that stared into her blue ocean wide eyes. "Genma!"

"I talked to someone about your earlier inquiry concerning bane." He shoved his hands in his pockets as he fell into step next to her. The direction they were walking in wasn't towards her home. "He wants you to stop by tomorrow when you are available."

"He had no specified time?"

Shaking his head, he pulled a folded piece of paper out, "this is his address."

"...um...where am I meeting him?"

"His place, and don't worry...I'll be there too." He commented as they stopped in front of the ever-familiar bookstore she frequented. Holding open the door for her, he followed her inside, "just curious, but when did you start dipping your fingers into toxins?"

Katsumi shrugged, "I read a book on it a few months ago, and when I realized that a good number of those plants grew out in the forest and around Konoha, I got kind of enthralled at the idea of making a liquid base out of these toxins to use on my weapons and then to learn about antidotes, salves and creams to ease pains and help with wounds...it's a lot of different ways to take botany. There's a beautiful flower that is sold in one of the neighboring villages...I want to go there and buy one..."

"A flower?" Genma raised a brow, watching as she perused the books before pulling a few out that were side by side one another. "What kind?" He didn't expect her to flip through the pages of one of the books and turn it to face him. "The Sacred Darura...is a vigorous herbaceous perennial that grows thirty centimeters to one point five meters tall and wide. The leaves are broad and rounded at the base, tapering to a point, often with wavy margins. The flowers are the most striking feature, being sweetly fragrant white trumpets up to twenty centimeters long, sometimes tinted purple, especially at the margin." He glanced at the flower beside the description.

"Ingestion of the plant material can induce auditory and visual hallucinations and has potentially lethal side effects when used in excess."

"Good to know..." Genma handed her back the book and she placed it back on the shelf where she'd pulled it from. "Why do you want it?"

"Well...aside from the side effects I mentioned...it can also cause dry mouth, hyperthermia, profuse sweating, decreased sweating, impairment, drowsiness, restlessness, lethargy, psychosis, and anterograde amnesia..." she watched his eyes widen slightly and smiled, "not to mention...hallucinations and sensory distortions. These compounds also induce a profound dilatation of the pupils and suppress eye saccades, resulting in considerable degradation of visual acuity, often to the point of functional blindness. However, that's not all it can be used for. The powdered root can be used as an anesthetic and a narcotic for surgery and applying a poultice of root and flower meal to lesions helps promote healing on open wounds." She grinned, "just because something is classified as dangerous...doesn't mean it doesn't have the potential to do help someone."

He understood why she wanted the flower now; it was somehow a representation of herself. How the people of Konoha viewed her...and how she wanted to be viewed... he sighed, "have you eaten?"

"Not yet, Kakashi-Sensei told us not to eat breakfast so...no...and I didn't care to eat the lunch he brought since there were only three anyways. So...I left them for the others, if they decided to eat them at all or not, I don't know." Placing four books on the counter, she pulled her money out and paid for them, a smile on the little old mans face as he took the money and bagged her books for her. "Thank you!" She bowed and left the store, catching the door for Genma who walked after her. "Were you hungry?" She asked, her eyes trailing around the streets as she took in the kids, parents, shopkeepers and everyday civilians.

"I was thinking I could use a bite. You like Yakiniku, right?"

Nodding, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see her brother standing behind her, "oh...Naruto!"

Naruto grinned as he held a hand up, "hey! We are heading to Mikado Ryotei to celebrate passing, wanna join us?"

"I..." she looked up as Genma walked over to Asuma, "I guess so. I think Genma and I were gonna grab a bite there anyways. Oh, here!" Katsumi diverted her brothers attention as she knew he was gonna question Genma. She opened her bag from the bookstore and rummaged through it for one of the titles she'd purchased. "I thought of you when I saw it,"

Naruto took the book and read the front, "Essence of Ninjutsu, awesome...say...I was looking for the book on the different Elements of Chakra. Do you know where it is?"

"Oh, that..." she blushed, "I lent it to Sasuke."

"What!? Sasuke? Tell me you aren't falling for such a miserable kind of guy. He's...always so...ugh."

Katsumi laughed, "no...he asked if he could read it."

"...oh. Well, heck. I'll read this until he finishes then."

"Guys!" Chouji came between the twins and took them both by the arm. "Food! Now!" Dragging them off to Mikado Ryotei steakhouse to eat with a shy Hinata shuffling behind them and Asuma walking next to Genma. "I'm so hungry!"

-x-x-x-

Me: Here is the fifth chapter of this story. I must double, and triple check each chapter to make sure I don't make a mistake with then names. I use Kagome so often I sometimes slip and write Kagome instead of Katsumi. If you guys come across any other mistakes, let me know! Review, and tell me what you all think!