Our Own House
"Into my soul you stared, and broke down every fear."
Sakumo-sensei released us after our quick meet and greet with instructions to find him at training ground fifteen first thing the following morning. He didn't tell us to skip breakfast. He didn't use any intimidation tactics. He just gave us a friendly "good-bye, see you tomorrow!" and called it a day.
Needless to say, I was quickly finding that my experience with Kakashi's father was going to be something wholly different from what I saw with Kakashi himself, and I can't say that I was disappointed about it. As entertaining as the mind games were when I was a reader, I could do without them in person.
Anyways, because essentially the only official ninja activity we had scheduled for the day was our meeting with our sensei, Asuma, Shisui and I were free to spend the rest of the evening however we wanted to. I had anticipated this, of course, and scheduled out the rest of my day accordingly. I was never one to waste quality free time. As it was, Hiruzen and I were going to try and sneak in a quick hour long staff training session now before lunch.
It appeared, however, that the boys hadn't thought so far ahead.
"Hey, wait up," Shisui leaped up from the stairs a few moments after Sakumo-sensei disappeared. I had been trying to make a hasty exit, but apparently I hadn't quite been quick enough.
"Mm?" I grunted unceremoniously, annoyed that he'd caught me before I could run away.
"Did you two have anything planned for the rest of the day? It's not even noon, I didn't think we'd get out so early. I figured we could, you know, hang out or something," he smiled. "Sensei said it was good to be friends right?"
I shifted uncomfortably on the balls of my feet. Shisui looked horribly sincere as he stared at us with his big black eyes. I couldn't find it in me to be short with him in response.
"Oh, well actually I have lessons," I muttered guiltily, reaching back to touch the staff strapped to my back.
"My Dad is teaching her bojutsu," Asuma explained, voice mildly strained as it always was when we talked about this.
Shisui leaned back onto his heels, and his eyebrows went up in surprise. "The Hokage is your sensei?" He blinked. "That's pretty cool."
I shrugged.
"I guess I'm not doing anything then," Asuma muttered aloud as he looked at me. "I can hang out if you want Shisui-kun."
Our third teammate grinned widely. "Great!" he beamed.
"See you later then," I said lamely to the boys. Shisui nodded, and Asuma gave me a lazy wave.
Not needing any more excuse to leave, I disappeared down the steps, heading to the room Hiruzen always reserved for the two of us. When I arrived, the room was empty, not that I was expecting otherwise. Hiruzen was usually a little late to our training sessions. It was difficult for him to pull away from his Hokage duties, even for just a little while.
Honestly though, after such a whirlwind of a morning, I was grateful for a few moments of alone time. With a deep sigh, I shrunk down onto the floor beside the wall, releasing a deep pent up breath.
The last twenty four hours had been huge, but it was all over now. Team assignments were finalized; there were no more curveballs lurking around the corner. I could finally begin to process everything. My first few days as a ninja had been an emotional roller coaster, and it was clear enough too that I wasn't handling the peaks and drops well. The sooner I could situate myself with all this, the sooner I could start reworking whatever wisp of a plan I had made before.
Sakumo Hatake was my sensei and Shisui Uchiha was my teammate. How was I going to use that to my advantage?
I was just getting my heart beat level again when I heard the door squeak open.
"Good morning Natsuki-chan," Hiruzen's deep gritty voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up to see him stepping through the door in his black off-duty robes, using his own training staff as a walking stick.
"Morning Hiruzen-san," I chimed back, as I reached back and pulled my staff from it's holster.
The staff was a bit of an unwieldy thing to be carrying around on my back. I had to keep it in a sort of sling that would shift the weapon horizontal when I sat down. I'd accidentally hit more than a few people with it while maneuvering around the village back when I first started training.
The staff felt right in my hands though. One day, I knew I'd be unstoppable with it.
Without much more of an introduction, Hiruzen twirled his staff around in his fingers, bringing the end that had been touching the floor in a full arc behind him before slamming it down towards my head. I brought up my own weapon, completely on instinct, blocking his attack. The two wooden poles made a thunking sound as they collided, and Hiruzen's lips twitched into a small smile.
I had learned a long time ago that every minute that Hiruzen and I were in the training room together was an opportunity for a lesson. Often I even had the bruises to prove it.
"Hm, I would have thought your reflexes might have been hurting today," Hiruzen commented, almost innocently. "You didn't get much sleep last night."
I felt my cheeks flush red. Last night I had gotten up to pace around after I'd given up on sleeping. It must've been about three in the morning though, and I hadn't heard Hiruzen come home. I thought I had been alone.
"A good ninja probably should be able to function on a little sleep deprivation," I replied wearily.
Hiruzen withdrew his staff to the side, and sent another quick swing towards my stomach. When I moved to block it, he let our staffs collide, sliding his pole fluidly back along the length of mine. He took swift advantage of our tangled weapons and pivoted underneath the mess of wood to hit me in the gut with his elbow.
"Maybe," Hiruzen agreed with me, as I tumbled into the ground. "But it's always much better to be well-rested." I frowned, rubbing the painful spot on my rib cage where Hiruzen had gotten me. I could feel the bruise blooming there already.
"It's just been a busy few days, I was nervous about my team assignment, and about passing the second test from our sensei," I sighed. "I still am, I guess."
Hiruzen lowered his staff so the end was touching the floor and put his weight into it.
"Nervous hm?" he eyed me carefully.
"Yeah, nervous," I swallowed, feeling my palms start to get sweaty. See, despite my better judgement, sometimes it just felt like Hiruzen knew. Of course, that was ridiculous. The man couldn't read minds. Nevertheless, I was positive he suspected something.
Hiruzen had a special look that he reserved just for me. One that seemed to ask: Do I push her farther? Or should I let her keep her secrets another day? He liked to wear it especially at times like these, when we were alone together and I was half in turmoil. It was always a balancing act for me when he was like this. I was worried that one day he'd press in just the wrong place, and I'd say something that I'd regret.
"Hopefully you're feeling better now then?" Hiruzen mused. His gritty voice sounded deep and wise as his eyes continued to bore into me. I felt like he could sense it every time I so much as twitched. "Genin teams aren't chosen lightly. Have you ever noticed that powerful ninja in Konoha seem to rise in groups? Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju and Madara Uchiha; my friend Danzo and I; Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and your Tsunade. Do you think it's an accident that they call all three my students the Legendary Sanin? Hm?"
I swallowed, thinking of Team Seven. Would Naruto and Sasuke have become so brutally strong if they weren't motivated by their rivalry? Or even better, would Sakura have ever asked Tsunade to teach her if she didn't feel left behind by the boys? Maybe... Or maybe not. How come, out of the twelve ninja from Naruto's generation, were only three of them so profoundly powerful? Were they placed on the same team because they were strong, or were they strong because they were on the same team?
I'd never considered shinobi society from this angle before.
"You could be a good shinobi on your own Natsuki-chan, " Hiruzen continued softly. "You can go train in the woods and read books and run mission after mission. You'll grow up to be a fine soldier. But in order to take that extra step, to be like the heroes that you love reading about, you need something extra. You need comrades who are going to push you farther than you'll push yourself.
"Now, you've been put on a team with Asuma, your brother and best friend; with Shisui Uchiha, who I've heard is the most promising young man to come out of the Uchiha clan in a decade; and you've been put under the tutelage of one of the most renowned Jonin in the village. Perhaps you don't see it, but there's potential in the four of you to be something amazing. Hm? You worry more than any other child I've ever met. Sometimes a little perspective will be good for you."
I felt my cheeks burn red, and I looked down at my lap. Only Hiruzen could ever make me feel so... ungrateful. He'd hand picked these teams. Even when it might've been better to spread out the three of us to keep the graduating class even, he'd chosen to put one of the last Senju, with an Uchiha, the Hokage's son. Then on top of that, he'd thrown us under the tutelage of the White freaking Fang.
It was true, our team was stacked on paper. He'd put me in the spot where I'd have the best potential for growth.
"I thought the Hokage wasn't supposed to play favorites," I sighed cheekily, trying to come to terms with my fate.
"Favorites?" Hiruzen hummed back, eyes crinkling with humor. "The decisions I make are always in the best interest of the village. I've given your classmates the same consideration that I gave you. Enough talk. Get up, we've wasted enough training time for one day."
"Sorry Hiruzen-san," I groaned, pulling myself to my feet. The atmosphere in the room had changed abruptly, and the prying look in his eyes had vanished. We were done talking about this. For now at least.
I slept better that night. Although, I wasn't sure whether it was because of my discussion with Hiruzen or the leftover exhaustion from team assignments and training. Either way, I woke up the following morning feeling refreshed, and it was a good thing too. Lord knows, I was going to need to be alert today.
Our morning routine flew by quickly enough, and before I knew it, Asuma and I were trotting out the door towards the meeting point for today's training exercise. It was the first time I'd ever left the house fully equipped for a mission, even though our task today was going to be staged. My pockets felt strangely full from all the supplies I was carrying, and I felt ready. Whatever Sakumo-sensei threw at us today, we'd handle it.
Needless to say, I was armed and dangerous and ready to role. Ha.
As we walked, Asuma and I played a little bit of catch up. He hadn't returned home until just before bed-time the previous night. Apparently he'd been pretty busy with Shisui yesterday after I'd left them. From what I could tell the two of them had hit it off well enough.
"We went back to his house after you left," Asuma was saying. "His sister made us lunch -she works for the Konoha Police- and then we went out to a target range they have in their back yard and played with some kunai. He's got some pretty cool throwing tricks. I think he's probably even better than Genma."
"Well that's kind of the Uchiha clan's specialty, and Shisui's supposed to be good even for one of them," I pointed out, with a shrug. Asuma glanced at me with a slight frown. "What?" I asked, sensing what was coming.
"You're not going to be weird around him again today, are you? 'Cause you haven't been right since we got our team assignments," Asuma asked pointedly, crossing his arms.
"I've just been kind of stressed the past few days," I replied wearily. "You know I didn't sleep well before yesterday, and I was just kind of grumpy. I'll be better now. I promise."
"Alright," he nodded, although he didn't look convinced. "Well, Shisui's pretty cool, and you heard Jin-sensei. We're stuck with our teams now whether we like them or not. So just... like him."
"I'll try," I sighed with a nod.
Asuma and I ended up arriving at the designated training grounds fifteen minutes early, wide-eyed and anxious to start. The location that Sakumo-sensei had chosen for us was pretty ordinary. Just a big grassy field lined with trees, maybe twenty five meters long in either direction. Immediately, I thought it was a peculiar choice of location for our genin test. It just seemed too small to have a proper fight here; although I suppose that you didn't get to choose where to start a fight while on a mission. Maybe he was trying to make things difficult for us?
"You're here early!" a cheerful voice called from our left. I turned to see Shisui sitting with his legs crossed underneath one of the trees that bordered the field. He waved happily when he saw we were looking, and I did my best to give him a friendly wave back. I had meant what I said to Asuma. After all the drama the last two days, it was abundantly clear that I needed to try to make this work.
"Not earlier than you," Asuma smirked, as the two of us trotted over to join Shisui underneath the tree.
"Oh, well I didn't want to accidentally miss anything," Shisui said sheepishly, his cheeks turning a rosy red. "I've only been here for a little bit. Sensei's not here yet either though, so maybe I overdid it a little."
"Did you get a chance to look around at all at least," I asked, glancing around. It seemed smart to peruse the area while we were here alone. Sensei had picked this location, which essentially meant he had the home field advantage. He could have been here last night setting traps for all we knew.
"A little, but there's not much to see. It's just a field," Shisui told us lightly.
"Hm," I hummed thoughtfully, glancing around. Maybe the bell test might've been on the table still. That was really the best case scenario for the day, I think.
Before we could really get situated underneath the tree, our conversation was interrupted by a subtle popping noise and the rustling of leaves above our heads. I looked up in surprise to see Sakumo-sensei crouching down on a branch almost directly above our heads. He looked so big up there that I almost thought the branch was going to snap underneath his weight. Of course, he seemed to be carrying some extra baggage this morning. Strapped to his back was a large green scroll, probably about as tall as me.
"Oh, look, you're all here," he said nonchalantly, peering down at us. His lips were turned into the smallest of smiles, and he seemed utterly relaxed. I wondered vaguely how long he'd been hanging around here watching us. Probably longer than Shisui, I bet.
"You know, it's rude to sneak up on people like that," I commented lightly.
Sukamo dropped to the ground, somehow landing without making any noise. "Excuse me Natsuki-chan," he chuckled. "I didn't mean to startle you. Are the three of you ready to begin?"
"We're ready for anything sensei," Shisui beamed, hopping to his feet.
"Good," Sakumo-sensei nodded. He pulled the scroll off his back and set it on the ground beside him. Then he brought his hands together to start some sort of jutsu. For a moment, I was worried that he was literally kicking things off with a bang, but before I could fully process that concern, he bit his thumb and threw his palm onto the grass.
We coughed as a cloud of chakra smoke appeared.
When the dust settled, a white wolfish dog came into view, sitting in the very spot Sensei's palm had been a moment ago. He had a ratty looking headband tied around his neck, like a collar, and seemed to be completely unamused by the three children that were staring at him.
"These three don't look like enemies Sakumo-sama," the dog barked gruffly.
"Did he just talk?" I blinked. You'd think that after eight years, we'd all be used to talking animals. Somehow though, this was the sort of thing that always seemed to catch me off guard.
Sakumo-sensei let out a light laugh. "Kids, this is Benkei, my ninken dog. He's here to help with your test today. Benkei, this is Shisui, Asuma, and Natsuki. They might be my future students, if they do well today."
"They don't look like much," Benkei deadpanned.
"Says the talking dog," Asuma gritted his teeth immediately.
"Save your bark for later, pup," Benkei rolled his eyes.
I shifted on my feet, gently bumping into Asuma before he really decided to start a fight. "He's right, not now," I muttered under my breath. He looked at me, and let out an annoyed huff. That seemed to be the end of it though.
Off to the side, I caught Shisui watching the two of us briefly before he looked away.
"Well, now that you've been introduced, let me explain your test," Sakumo-sensei said, when it was clear we were done bickering. "I think the best way to see if you're worthy of being ninja, is to give you a sort of test mission. It'll be just like one you might get from the Hokage. You'll meet your customer, be given instructions, and then you'll have to follow them. There might be some bumps along the way, but if you run into any problems, you'll just have to decide how to deal with them as things come up. Understand?"
We nodded.
"Are you our customer then, sensei?" Shisui asked.
"No, Benkei will be," Sakumo-sensei shook his head.
"But he's a dog!" Asuma immediately started protesting.
"I was given a mission from a giant sea-lizard once," Sensei smiled. Benkei barked out what must have been a laugh. "You never know what you're going to get when it comes to customers."
I stared at him, but he seemed dead serious. One day, I was going to make him tell me that story.
"Alright fine, what's the mission then," Asuma frowned.
"This scroll belongs to Benkei. For the sake of the test, let's assume he's a powerful associate of the Daimyo, and that the contents of the scroll are crucial to a national political procedure that's taking place. It's very important that you are able to complete this mission, or else there might be bad consequences for lots of people all over the Land of Fire," he tapped the top of the scroll with his left hand. "Your mission will be to deliver it to a drop off point in Training Ground 11 on the other side of the village. Of course, like a lot of clients, Benkei is being a little difficult, and is insisting that he accompany you during your travels. You have to deliver the scroll by the time the sun sets, or else you will have failed your mission. For our purposes, that means you will have also failed this exam, and you'll be sent back to the Academy effective immediately."
"We worked too hard to get here," Shisui frowned, eyes flashing with determination. I stood a little bit straighter, feeling the anticipation growing in the air. Asuma seemed to be shifting on his feet as well. This was it. This was our time to shine.
"Then I guess you can't afford to fail. It's a simple enough mission. I'm sure there's nothing for you to worry about." Sakumo-sensei shrugged. He had a kind expression on his face, and inexplicably I felt calmer than I had in days. This is what Hiruzen had been telling me yesterday, I suppose. The village put us together for a reason, and we had to trust the process.
"What about you? What will you be doing this whole time," I asked, not missing the fact that he'd excluded himself from the mission explanation.
"Oh," Sakumo-sensei blinked, like this was the first time he'd thought about this. "I suppose I have some grocery shopping to be doing, maybe I'll swing by the market." I narrowed my eyes at him. Everything about that sentence was suspicious.
"Ready to get started?" he went on, putting a hand on his hip. We nodded. "Great, well on the count of three, you're free to go. One. Two. Three!"
Sakumo chopped a hand through the air, and vanished. Then, just like that, we were alone. There was a beat of silence before we realized it was time to start moving.
"Asuma, you should probably carry the scroll. It'll be kind of bulky for me and Shisui," I broke the tension. Pulling my staff off my back, I decided it'd be best to use it as a walking stick for the day. After all, we needed to be ready for a fight at any moments notice.
"Sure," he nodded easily, walking over to fidget with the strap Sensei had been using to carry it around.
"The quickest way to Training Ground Seven will be through the village," Shisui piped up. "If we cut through next to the Hyuuga complex, we'll be there in no time."
"Perfect, that way it'll be harder for someone to ambush us too," I agreed.
"I'll take point," Asuma volunteered. He had the scroll on his back now, and his eyes were shining with a raw kind of excitement. All that was left then was hitting the road...
"I don't think so," Benkei interrupted our little pow-wow.
"What?" Asuma whirled around. "Hey listen, we're the ninja here. We're the ones who get to come up with the plan."
"I am an advisor to the Daimyo, pup," Benkei replied, sounding utterly offended. "I can't just go chasing three rowdy ninja children half way across the village. Do I look like a babysitter to you?"
I sighed. Great. Of course, Sakumo-sensei wasn't joking when he told us our client was going to be difficult. Why in the world would it be that simple?
"Don't you want this stupid scroll to be delivered as soon as possible?" Asuma retorted, looking more aggravated than before. I sent a sharp elbow into his gut, giving him a look that said: get it together.
"The insolence!' Benkei was starting to mutter. We needed to nip this in the bud before it got out of hand. Every minute we spent arguing was just a waste to us.
"He didn't mean that," I interrupted him.
"How would you like to travel Benkei-san?" Shisui followed up, apparently having the same thought process as me.
"Well I haven't been on a walk through Konoha's woods in a long time," Benkei said, glancing towards the trail that led to the next training field over. Asuma looked at me in silent exasperation - the path Benkei wanted to take was the long way round. We'd be adding at least two hours to our trip, maybe more, if we walked the perimeter at a civilian's pace.
If we got ambushed, it certainly wouldn't give us much time for mistakes.
"Of course, we'll take the scenic route then," Shisui agreed suddenly, giving Benkei a polite bow. Asuma audibly groaned, as Benkei perked up and started trotting forwards victoriously. I just frowned. Some discussion about this might've been nice first.
"He's the customer, right?" Shisui shrugged at us, blushing slightly.
"Well, let's hurry then," I said. "I have a feeling Sakumo-sensei isn't actually going shopping today."
And with that the four of us set out.
Chapter quote and arc title from song Our Own House by the MisterWives
A/N
Hi everyone! Sorry for the long wait, life's gotten hectic again. The next chapter will be a long time coming probably as well (schools starting up for me again and who knows what my schedule is going to be like). Anyways I hoped you liked this chapter.
Thanks to all of those who left a review, remember to leave another one :)
Until next time,
Aule
