Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I do own Kumi, though.
Warning: child abuse and bullying (mostly mentions of it), some dark themes, too much fluffiness sometimes, DRAMA!, unbeta'ed. A real rollercoaster (or, at least, it's supposed to be.)
Author's note:
So... Another long break between each chapter. I don't even have an excuse this time, to my eternal shame. I guess it's going to take this long each time? I don't know, sorry.
Onto another subject, I started Law School/university/college/whatever it's calle in your country. It's pretty amazing. Some things are nice to discover, but some just fly over my head... Yeah.
Anyway, have a good reading!
(Sorry for the crap fighting scenes, I guess?)
(Too much Shikaku references during the chapter. Only noticed it when I finished it. Not that you guys mind, eh?)
All Things Are Difficult Before They Are Easy
By Amaryllis D. Namikaze
Chapter XVII:
The Third Part
"The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both."
- Death, The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
"Aniki? The hell?" was the first thing Shikaku heard.
The Nara heir smirked at the three confused faces. Oh, waiting for his younger brother's team was worth it if only to see their wide eyes. He had always been amused by people's reactions, after all.
"Well, a superior is supposed to greet you upon your arrival," Shikaku said as if it was an everyday occurrence, disinterestedly looking at his blunt nails.
Ren laughed. An expected response, if anything. Shikaku didn't think that the younger Yamanaka would be put out for more than a couple of minutes. His friend's little brother was much like his older sibling - too damn accepting of everything.
"Sakumo-sensei gave you permission to greet us in his place?" Ah, he went right for the throat. "Man, you've got balls of metal under these pants."
Shikaku's smirk got wider as innocent, tiny Kumi blushed to the roots of his hair. He had been quietly observing with a confused frown, but his expression looked much better with his cheeks red in embarrassment.
"Idiot," Chitarō reprimanded his teammate with an elbow to the gut. Ren grunted, but remained otherwise fine and grinning. His younger brother's hand patted the smallest Genin with a care that Shikaku had seen his sibling offer to few people.
Ren turned to the blond, "Sorry, Kumi-chan. Was that too crude for you?"
Kumi looked away. His eyes were a pretty interesting color, much like those kaleidoscopes sold as toys, mused Shikaku. Then again, his favorite puzzle was interesting in itself.
While Chitarō chided Ren for his incorrigible attitude and Kumi looked on seeming amused, Shikaku took his time to assess the younger teens. For a rookie Genin coming out of the Forest of Death, they seemed quite fine. Chitarō had a thin cut on his cheek and Ren was covered in dust and dirt. Kumi didn't seem to notice the slight burns on the tips of his fingers - most likely a lightning technique as the Nara heir was aware of the blonde's elemental affinities.
"C'mon," Shikaku called, motioning with his hand to the door on the far back. "You have time to rest before being called for the next part."
Shikaku wasn't the least surprised when Ren let out a whoop in celebration. Much less when his brother rolled his eyes at the childish action. Kumi's excited hops, as if the blond was the baby rabbit he was holding, did manage to make him smirk.
Puzzle, indeed.
The third part of the Exam was exactly as I envisioned. Konoha would be hosting a tournament one month from now, which supposedly gave us enough time to train and get to know our enemies.
"Mii-chan!" My brother shouted when I got home this evening. His arms wounded their way around my waist.
"Nii-san," I managed to gasp, feeling my feet dangling over the ground.
"Oh, sorry," he smiled at me innocently. I rolled my eyes at him.
I took my shoes off, glad to finally be home. Quickly testing the area around me, my chakra senses told me of no visitant. I had become more tolerant of Kushina's presence, but her face wasn't the one I wanted to see after spending five days in a tower in the Forest of Death.
"How was it? Are you hurt? Do you need food? Want me to get some bandages? I'll be right back."
I held the back of Minato's shirt before he could slink away. Typical reaction.
"I'm fine, Minato-nii." And, as I said it, I realized how true this statement was. I'd been anxious and nervous about these two parts for weeks now, but I was finally free of it. There was the third part, of course, and I'd be sweating bullets in a month, but at least Ren and Chitarō's safety wouldn't depend on my uselessly thin arms.
My older brother gave me one of his soft smiles, his arms once again making their way around my figure. He sighed against the crown of my head with utter relief. I wondered how much sleep he'd managed these past days.
"Welcome home, Kumi."
"I'm home."
The month went on quicker than I wished.
I didn't have a fixed schedule, working on a little bit of everything. My first opponent was from Kumo, which made the probability of him having a lightning affinity very high. I insisted on having Sakumo-sensei train Ren and Chitarō instead of me, because he could teach my all lightning techniques he wanted, but what I really needed to do was to expand my Wind repertoire.
On Tuesdays and Thursday I read through detailed scrolls on elemental manipulation, aiming toward a better understanding of my dual affinity. I usually stayed over a flat rock, soaking in the sun's rays and sometimes looking up to see Ren and Chita's progress. While both had gotten the hang of their affinities for a few weeks now, only the former managed to make it battle-effective.
"I don't care about my Earth affinity, sensei," he'd argue every other day. "My hands are busy with my katana."
In a way, Chita was right. He was the best of us with weaponry. I couldn't even swing a sword without poking someone in the eye. But as a First-Response Team, it was expected of us to be all-rounded - which undoubtedly included knowing elemental techniques. I didn't mind one bit - Ninjutsu was one of my specialties, after all.
(I admit dreading the day Sakumo-sensei decided to focus on Kenjutsu.)
Other than reading about chakra and learning a couple of Wind jutsus, I spend my time with Suzaku-sensei at his home. We busied ourselves going through most battle seals and perfecting the usage of my original seal, grasshopper. Shikaku's frequent visits came in handy. He was better at controlling shadows than his brother, who didn't care much for it despite knowing as every good Nara should. Avoiding his shadow-binding technique made me an expert with grasshopper and I was pretty confident in my dodging abilities.
Minato dragged me to an empty training ground at least once a day to give me new tips of chakra sensing. Apparently he'd been bothering Jiraiya-sensei when the man got a break on training Hizashi, Fugaku and another Genin whose name I didn't know. My brother didn't seem to mind being substituted for the Exam too much, but then again, he was already a Chūnin. Shikaku complained about Umino Tetsuo every time we met up, though. It was quite funny to see the fifteen-year-old upset over being left out.
"You'd be going through the Exam all over again if you hadn't passed last year," I had told him one day. It had become increasingly harder not to laugh at his disgruntled face.
He had looked at me without his usual smirk. I hadn't been able to contain the little upturn of my lips at his expression. Ever since then, Shikaku had reverted to how we were before our frequent meeting at Suzaku-sensei's home - quiet and observing. I often wondered if I had said something wrong - obviously - but with the end of the Exam quickly approaching, I didn't have much time to ponder about it.
It was with a sinking feeling in my stomach that I woke up to the fated day.
"My name is Akimichi Chū and I'll the proctor of the third part of the Chūnin Exam."
The man in front of us looked every bit of his Akimichi heritage. His muscles were highly developed, bulging under his clothes. I'd bet my money that he'd been a chubby kid. No one from that clan was average-sized when younger, but you could always expect them to become scarily built when grown up. Their salvation from being viewed as Konoha's intimidation guard was their friendly expression and belly-deep laughs.
"Everything is allowed. The fight ends one of the participants is incapable of continuing or when I say so. Without further ado, let's begin. First fight: Inuzuka Tsume versus Shinji Aiko!"
We all moved up to the waiting area above. I was surprised by how many of us there were. Why hadn't they thought of making a preliminary round as in the Naruto series? There were four teams from Konoha, one from Iwa and one from Kumo. There hadn't been many foreigners in first place, but this was unexpectedly strange.
"Here, the order of the fights," Ren offered a sheet of paper.
I glanced at it. I'd seen it before, of course, to have an idea of who I was going to fight should I win the first one. The order was a little unconventional. I was almost sure it wouldn't go the way it was written down.
I looked at the arena to see Tsume and Kuromaru growling furiously at Shinji Aiko. She was the kunoichi who entered my brother's team in his place for this exam. I heard from Shikaku - before he decided to become silent, anyway - that she used to be in the same Genin team as Umino Tetsuo, but both had been separated due to Exam regulations. Their third teammate's end remained a mystery to me.
It soon became obvious that Tsume and Aiko were evenly matched. Both specialized in hand-to-hand combat, even if Tsume fought with her canine partner. Sakumo-sensei had drilled into us that we were supposed to show the best of our abilities. The proctors and the Hokage - who ultimately decided which one of us would become Chūnin - wouldn't be very impressed with bull heading against one another.
"C'mon, Tsume," Kihito murmured beside me. He had grown another good five centimeters this past weeks and I stood under his shoulder. With disappointment, I realized that I was shorter everyone in the waiting booth.
Chitarō clicked his tongue, "She should give up."
"Why?" Mikoto questioned, tilting her head sideways. I could see the subtle differences in her demeanor due to Utatane-sensei's harsh training methods. Her previously delicate hands were covered in callouses and her eyes had a hard edge that hadn't been there before.
"They're too evenly matched. Unless one of them gives way to the other, they won't be able to demonstrate their full capabilities," my black-haired teammate explained, not taking his analytical eyes off the fight occurring below us.
True to his word, the first combat ended in a draw with both contestants knocked out.
"Second fight: Namikaze Kumi versus Kita Shui!" The proctor called.
A dark-skinned boy jumped from the railing, not bothering with the stairs. I felt Chita's hand patting my head and heard Ren's cheerfull "Good luck, Kumi-chan!" before I went down the arena.
My heart was beating wildly in my chest as I looked up at the spectators in the stands. Even the Hokage was paying utmost attention. I tried to find brother's blond head in the sea of brunettes, but it was impossible.
Calm down, I told myself. I had been a meek coward during my first life, but there was no reason to cower in this second one. Many people had spent their time making sure of my strength. The least I could do was win.
It was easier said than done. My heart still felt as if it could explode out of my chest.
"Scared?" The boy in front of me asked. His face looked strangely familiar and he must've seen me frowning, for he kept on saying, "Ya gonna call your brother, baby?"
With a startle I realized two things. The first one was that it had been his voice to mock me before the first part of the Exam, calling me a she and a baby. The second thing was This had been my brother's opponent during his own Chūnin Exam.
Great. I was about to fight a Kumo shinobi out for revenge.
"Begin," Akimichi Chū said, jumping back a few meters.
Kita Shui wasted no time. He hadn't changed much, I noticed, grateful for my memory. His fighting form was the same as last year at Suna, though his arms and legs had gotten noticeably more powerful. He no longer was the youngest participant, which no doubt gave him a boost of confidence.
I dodged one of his kicks without much difficulty. Shikaku's shadow chasing had been a good form of training as I didn't even need to use my grasshopper seal to avoid Kita Shui's attacks.
I observed as his frustration grew.
"Attack me, goddamnit!"
Taunts never made me act recklessly. Huh. One good thing about having been bullied all my other life, I guess. I'd rather be depressed with the insults, believing than to be true, than get angry with them. Who'd have thought.
His hands flew through a set of hand-seals, but I had been expecting that. I was no Uchiha, so nothing was ever in slow motion to me, but I knew enough about chakra theory and my own elemental affinities to recognize most jutsus used by Genin and Chūnin.
When Kita Shui ended his set of hand-seals, I was finished with mine.
"Raiton: Raikyū (Lightning Ball)!"
"Fūton: Daitoppā (Great Breakthrough)!"
His expression alone was worth the effort to get at this level of Ninjutsu. Both jutsus collided, but mine had elemental advantage and was ten times bigger. He was thrown meters away until his back hit the wall of the arena.
"Shit," I heard him curse. "Shit!"
And as he ran toward me with not plan in mind, it became clear why he hadn't managed to become a Chūnin despite being clearly skilled. He was too immature and too hotheaded, which could cost his life in a real fight.
Kita Shui would be feeling ashamed for awhile longer, because I dodged his furious punch with a simple head movement and knocked him out with a kick to his chin.
"Winner: Namikaze Kumi."
I was taken by an unexpected wave of contentment in spite of all the violence. Probably this world's influence. It had made me nuts.
The Exam kept on going just as exciting.
Hyūga Hiashi easily won against a Iwa-nin name Abe Ittan and his twin brother managed to defeat Kihito in one of the longest Taijutsu fights I'd ever seen. Mikoto fought against Chōza, but lost after putting on a good pyrotechnical show (Uchiha and their fire jutsus). Chitarō chopped Iwusuki Nonoshi's hand off, showing no remorse on his face beside his eyes, and Inoichi broke his wrist while fighting the other Iwa-nin, Watanabe Tsuchiko.
"At least you won," Ren had tried to cheer his older brother while a medic-nin mended the broken bones. He was shoved away toward his fight against a Kumo shinobi named Abumi Kurui. Like his name suggested, Kurui (a Japanese word for confusion, my English mind supplied) seemed confused with pretty much everything and Ren won with no delays.
The last fight of the first bracket was Umino Tetsuo against the last Kumo-nin, Yotsuki Kiyoi. Umino-san lost spectacularly against Yotsuki's Kenjutsu and had to be taken off the arena by paramedics.
"We'll begin the second bracket of fights," the proctor said, seemingly animated. Even people in the stands, half civilian half shinobi, hadn't lost their excitement despite the sheer number of fights this afternoon promised. "First fight: Hyūga Hiashi versus Akimichi Chōza!"
I had been cheering for Chōza, who was always gentle when we met, but the Hyūga heir managed to win after closing the Akimichi's tenketsu points. At least Chōza had shown his abilities during both combats, making a promotion possible.
Chitarō, who hadn't spent too much energy in his first fight, left the arena sweating and panting in his second one against Hyūga Hizashi. His ability with his katana was phenomenal after a year under Sakumo-sensei teaching, but Hizashi-san had been trained since birth in hand-to-hand combat and found more opening than Chita would care to admit later. All of us had much to improve yet, after all.
Ren and Inoichi's fight was introduced with uproars from the crowd. The brothers were alike and not. They were known as talkative and friendly yet perfect in deception. But while Inoichi - much like everyone in the Ino-Shika-Chō - specialized in his clan's techniques, Ren distinguished himself in Genjutsu and the few Earth-based techniques he knew for direct combat. I clapped when the fight ended with a sense of disappointed for it ended in double knock-out.
And I finally went down to my second combat.
"Third fight: Namikaze Kumi versus Yotsuki Kiyoi."
When I looked up at the stands this time, I did find my brother waving madly at me. A redhead sat beside him, but I didn't ponder over it too much. It wasn't exactly the time to get upset. Although my mind supplied something or another about Kushina being taken out of the third part of the Exam for outside reasons.
(I wonder if her seal had been acting up.)
(Figures she'd be sitting beside my brother.)
My nerves were much better controlled, but I had seen Yotsuki's superior abilities when compared against his teammate. It became clear as soon as the proctor said "Start" that Yotsuki Kiyoi was different from Kita Shui. For one, he was one of the few white-skinned Kumo-nin, which usually indicated a different affinity. As I had only seen his Kenjutsu in the first fight, I couldn't be sure of my hunch.
I didn't want to spend too much energy in this fight, given that I would fight one the Hyūga twins if I won. My best plan of action would be to avoid his sword's slashes with grasshopper like I spent the month training to do and send a mid-ranged technique toward him in a moment of surprise.
It went better in my head.
Yotsuki managed to distract me by sending a stray kunai in my direction in the middle of his usual katas. I predictably avoided it, but a sword had been expecting me in the way I dodged. Pain exploded in my right forearm, but at least I still had when compared with Chitarō's opponent. The only thing that kept my head over my shoulders next was my thinking to use grasshopper and jump five meters back.
Thank God for Suzaku-sensei and his insistence in creating a new seal, I said to myself, gasping for air. I f this dragged on for too long, I would lose blood and faint, which would be my loss either way. I needed to end this as soon as possible.
Problem was: Yotsuki was well aware of that and was in no hurry.
"Feeling it yet?" Yotsuki asked me with his face carefully blank. He wasn't like his hotheaded teammate or even the perpetually confused one. His fighting wasn't dirty, but effective. He reminded me of Chitarō in a way.
"Feeling what?"
It was getting harder and harder to keep standing. My arms weren't the most essential thing in my hand-to-hand fighting. My style used my legs as the base, but my arms were in some katas and gave me the sense of balance I required. With my right forearm currently out of commission, Taijutsu was no longer a viable option.
"The poison in your system, of course," his voice finally acquired a mocking edge.
I didn't fall prey to his words. Sakumo-sensei had taught us not to get desperate in the face of possible poisoning. Most quick acting poisons were felt within the minute, which meant that either Yotsuki was bluffing or his poison would take awhile longer to take me down.
A small part of my mind was panicking, though. The idea of dying from poisoning in the Chūnin Exam left me breathless for exact three seconds.
I thought about what Chita would do in this situation. He was our strategist, so it'd be logical to think like him. Shikaku's voice telling me to keep it simple and not over think went through my mind.
Keep it simple.
I made a show of buckling my knees, as if fainting. Yotsuki bit my bait and run forward like most would, prepared to end this fight. I activated the grasshopper seal stuck to the soles of my feet and jumped toward him faster than he'd reach me. His surprised face was only a blur as I flew through two hand-seals- ox, then dragon - and pointed my fingers at his neck.
"Raiton: Raihan no Jutsu (Lightning Blades)."
Electric currents snapped toward his neck, immediately rendering him unconscious. I had made it weak enough to only knock him out and my control was practically perfect, but I took my time to check if his chest was rising still before dropping to my knees. I didn't want to be a murderer.
(Not yet.)
"Winner: Namikaze Kumi."
The crowd went crazy, though it became nothing but silent after a couple of silence. The world around me dimmed and I felt the vague pain of hitting my face on the ground.
My last thought before blacking out was that There probably had been poison on that blade, after all.
I woke up to Minato's worried face, which shouldn't surprise me.
"Mii-chan," he said, surprisingly tame. I had tensed in anticipation of his usually strangling-worth hugs. My brother simply put his hand over mine. "How are you feeling?"
I took a second to think about it. My mouth was dry like a Suna desert and my forearm ached under the bandages, but I felt otherwise fine.
"Tired," I ended up saying. My voice confirmed my status.
Minato smiled, "I'd think so."
I looked around. I was in a white room with other empty cots. An infirmary, then.
"I'm so proud of you," he told me, a wicked smile starting to turn his lips up. "You kicked ass out there."
I felt my cheeks getting hot, but a smile formed on my lips to show my contentment at being praised.
"Your teammates are at the closing ceremony," Minato said, "But they'll be here soon. They wanted to congratulate you."
I nodded in understanding, before realizing, "Oh, who won, then?"
"Hiashi did," he said, sounding pleased and annoyed at the same time if that was possible.
"Uh, ok?" I made, confused.
He palmed his face, sighing.
"Sorry, it's just... Hizashi is my teammate, but he needed to confront his brother one more time. I thought it would be good for both of them. Fugaku said I should just mind my own business."
"Ah, where was Fugaku-san today? He did participate in the second part, didn't he? And I haven't seen him around for awhile now." Safer to change subject.
Minato nodded, also relieved at not focusing on the entire Hyūga twin-rivalry.
"An Ame-nin poisoned him in the Forest. It destroyed some muscles tissues and no medic-nin managed to re-grow them with Iryo-ninjutsu, so he's been hospitalized the entire month. He's going crazy stuck in the bed for such a long time."
"Poor Fugaku-san," I said, barely containing my smile at the mental image of him disturbing each nurse who entered the room.
Minato clapped his hands, "Well, why don't you sleep a little? To your luck, your poison was designed to give you fatigue and deplete you of your chakra. It's been taken out your system, so you won't die of chakra deficiency, but you should still be tired."
He looked at me with a stern expression and I giggled.
Trust Minato to be overprotective even when I was fine already. Well, with an aching forearm, fatigued muscles and blinking in drowsiness, but otherwise fine.
I had the vague impression of hearing Ren's voice in the hallway, shouting one thing or another in that loud voice of his, but my eyes had already closed to be sure.
Dear Kumi,
Congratulations on your promotion, sweetie. I'm sure you'll be an excellent Chūnin.
Do try to be careful, though. Your brother would die of heart attack should anything happen to you.
With love,
Mom