(A/N) Seriously guys, we are still 11 chapters, not counting this one, away from the end of this fic. It is going to be so long.
Hayate paled at what he heard. The mist, in alliance with the sand, to destroy Konoha. Hayate moved forward, pausing when he heard the mist jounin say something further.
"And one more thing. Who'll take care of the little spy?"
Hayate froze. They'd seen him. Or heard him, but it didn't matter now. He recovered, taking in a deep breath and feeling the wind chakra in the air mixing into his lungs. He leaped, racing for Hokage tower. If he made it there, he'd be safe. It was night, no one would be awake.
...Except for that one red-headed genin that apparently was getting home from practice and was now jumping rooftops towards him.
Hayate paused to try and warn them off, but was tackled, then stabbed right through the chest. He could tell he was pinned in place, and would likely bleed out in minutes if he didn't get medical attention. His lungs were stabbed straight through, but they were still functioning fine, so Hayate was fine there.
The genin lunged at the mist jounin, and Hayate heard bones crack like the man's ribs were some bubble wrap getting popped. The genin, Hayate could now tell was female, paused as she spotted the sword impaled through his chest. "Ouch."
"You don't say," Hayate commented sarcastically.
"I do say," she replied, smirking. "Oh hey, he's running away. Great."
She knelt down next to him, hands glowing green. "I'm going to heal it some, pull out the sword, and heal the rest. I have been training with Tsunade all month, I can manage this. Umi, by the way."
Hayate assumed it was her name. "Hayate."
"Oooh, you're that one guy with the prosthetic lungs. Nice," she healed for a moment longer, then pulled out the sword.
Hayate coughed as the holes in his lung filled with blood. Umi quickly sealed up the wound, and Hayate could feel the deeper tissues knitting themselves together. He still had blood in his lungs however, but knew he should wait until she was finished healing the deeper tissue before he hacked it up.
"Alright, you're good to cough up that blood." She sat back on her heels.
Hayate sat up, leaned over a bit and started coughing, blood splattering the tiles next to him.
Once he was fairly sure it was all out, he glanced back at her. "Thanks."
"No problem. You uh, might want to actually go to the hospital, I know there'll be a few Iyashino adults arriving tomorrow that should be able to repair your lung, but I'd wait in the hospital, it'll probably be better."
Hayate could agree with that, but he had to get to Hokage tower. "I have to tell the Hokage something."
She eyed him for a long moment, then nodded in agreement. "Fine. Let's go. Then we go to the hospital."
Hayate couldn't argue with that, so he just nodded.
"Umihebiro Uzumaki, by the way," she offered her hand. "You can call me Umi."
Hayate nodded, taking the offered hand. She pulled him up and they headed for the Hokage tower.
Kamisori always loved training with Hirata, it was always so much fun. Already, 2/3rds through the month, and they had two more illusions ready for his trumpet. It was a lot easier when Hoshiko-sensei was only focusing on them. They hadn't really learned from her before, as neither of them were on her team.
Hoshiko's entire team were all training with other people, Miyo training with Eidoko from Shisui's team, Tamako with Sakura, the girl she'd beaten in the prelims and Jinbei with Naruto and Jiraiya of all people. Hirata and Kamisori's third teammate, Fuji, was with one of the Konoha teams, the girl they'd fought in the prelims, the slightly pyro weapon's user.
Kamisori had passed their field a few times, and it was littered with scorch marks and holes, plus the entrails of many many training dummies. Kamisori mourned each one with the appropriate seriousness, which was none.
"So, I borrowed Suga, since they're in town and don't have anything better to do," Hoshiko said, waving her arms at the fairly short redhead next to her. Kamisori was pretty sure Suga was on Semari's ship, or at least one of the flagships.
"My pronouns are she/they today if you don't mind," Suga replied, grinning. "Either is good."
Kamisori nodded, storing that information. They were wearing a very nice skirt, it had orcas on it, and he thought that was awesome.
"She'll help you two with how easily your things break, as an outside perspective, alright?" Hoshiko stepped back slightly. "Have fun, I'm going to watch and see if I can spot anything as an outsider."
Honestly, Asuma was proud of the two he was currently overseeing. While his team generally didn't get along very well, it seemed like Kiba and Choji were having fun beating each other up. Kiba was helping Choji not hesitate and pull his blows, and Choji was helping Kiba with accuracy and sheer power of his clan jutsu. They were being good for each other. Asuma was mostly calling advice to them and sometimes taking them to dinner. Not very often, as Choji ate a lot and it was kind of painful for his poor wallet.
Plus, he got to see Kurenai more often, since Choji was her student and she often came to check up on him when she wasn't busy with Ino and Hinata.
He'd take the extra strain on his wallet if it meant he could spend more time with his girlfriend. Taking care of two genin squads limited options for time spent together. So he'd take what he could get.
While Shino had originally been training somewhat with Kakashi, mostly learning a couple of jutsu to use in conjunction with his insects, a couple of earth and a single water jutsu, a curious Uzushio jounin had since wandered in.
"So," the jounin said, grinning in a way that would have made Shino more concerned had he not pretty much grown up with Naruto. "You're an Aburame, right?"
Shino inclined his head. "I am."
"Cool, always wanted to meet one," the jounin walked closer, waving to Kakashi. "I'm Yuichi Uzumaki, I specialize in genjutsu."
Shino didn't recognize him, but it wasn't surprising really. "Shino Aburame," Shino returned.
"So kid, can I see the famous Aburame kikai in action if I teach you a few genjutsu?" Yuichi looked almost excited.
An owl, weird that it was out in daylight, screeched over head, and Shino glanced up at it. Silver and white barred horned owl, although the streaks looked more vertical then horizontal. Shino raised a judgemental eyebrow at it. Shouldn't it be asleep?
Yuichi seemed unbothered, waving to the owl. "Hey Bokuto! Did my wife send you?"
The owl screeched again, coming down and landing on his arm.
Shino hadn't been aware that Uzushio used owls as messenger birds, he could've sworn they used species of swifts, which weren't birds of prey like most of the world used, but were instead small birds that spent almost their entire lives in the air.
Yuichi read a message that was attached to the birds leg, then tucked the paper in his pocket. "Ah, she just wanted me to know she found a place to stay. Wonderful. Thanks Bokuto."
The owl screeched proudly then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Oh, it was a summon?
"I didn't think Uzumaki could summon owls," Shino noted.
"Not usually, that's just my wife's summoning contract." Yuichi shrugged. "Sometimes people have other summoning contracts. I know someone with an orca contract."
"Interesting," Shino settled on. "You mentioned genjutsu?"
Yuichi grinned, and Kakashi shifted uncomfortably. "I think we'll get along great!"
"So that's how my jutsu thingy works!" Tamako finished her elaborate description, of which Sakura understood maybe a third of. If that. It sounded very cool though. "So what can you do?"
"Not much," Sakura admitted sheepishly. "No one's really taught me."
"Well, if you're up for it, I'm totally down for training with you!" Tamako said, grinning. "But you gotta at least try and keep up, alright?"
Sakura hesitated for just a second, then nodded. "Alright! I got it! Let's go."
"Onward!" Tamako shouted, lunging at Sakura. "Let's spar for a while!"
"Could've told me after you started attacking!" Sakura squawked, just barely parrying the first blow.
"Where's the fun in that?" Tamako asked in reply, smirking and attacking again.
(A/N) And finally, we have the end of the Month Between! Next time is half the third round, because I am doing the same thing I did with the prelims, and trying to fit in every fight as best I can do. This should be fun. Ignore the owl named Bokuto. You cannot stop me from referencing Haikyuu, especially when I'm this deep in the fandom. Don't worry, none of the fics will be abandoned if I have anything to say about it.