Ino dashed through the third training field looking for Metsuki. Asuma was looking elsewhere for her by now, probably having found Chouji already. They had a meeting to attend today, and Ino hadn't been able to find Metsuki at her apartment. Something strange was going on. A moment ago it had been pouring rain, then it had disappeared. But now a large dark cloud was gathering overhead again. Strange.
When she came across the next training field, she found Metsuki. But she also found Neji and Tenten. Tenten was crouched on the edge of the field, looking on at the two gennin who were facing eachother. Neji had taken up his fighting stance, and so had Metsuki. Ino slipped over to Tenten, crouching beside her.
"What's going on? What the hell is she doing? She can't beat him, he's too powerful," she said, coming up beside Tenten.
"I wouldn't be so sure. She has that bloodline. Why are you here?"
"She's the replacement for Shikamaru on our team and all the gennin were called to a meeting... what did you say? Bloodline?" Ino looked out to where Metsuki stood facing Neji, noticing her bandana was off. She gasped when she saw her eyes, pink and blue, and her grinning face.
"You use mainly taijutsu, right? Hyuuga taijutsu, the jyuken. Unfortunately, I use ninjutsu. Let's get this over with," said Metsuki, still grinning. She shifted slightly and Neji moved also, shifting just in time as a bolt of lightning hit less than an inch from his left foot.
But before he could move again, the earth around him shot up in spikes of rock and clay, sending grass and dirt flying eyerywhere. "Kaiten!" came Neji's muffled voice just in time, shattering the spikes of earth as he began the spin. Metsuki ran to the left, grabbing a handful of kunai off the ground that had been from when he and Tenten were training.
Just as the Kaiten stopped, she sent the kunai at him, almost catching him off guard, but he noticed them with his Byakuugan just in time, knocking them out of the air easily. Just then, Asuma and Chouji arrived, appearing beside Ino and Tenten.
Asuma, seeing the battle, was about to step in, but Metsuki called out to him.
"Please wait, Asuma-sensei. The battle is almost over"
But Asuma did not listen and kept coming forward from her left. As he reached the edge of the training field, flames suddenly burst to life a few feet in front of him, quickly spreading around the entire clearing, but not actually burning anything as they hung a few inches off the ground.
"This will only take a moment."
The branches of the surrounding trees suddenly shot out, towards Neji as he jumped, making the mistake of landing on top of them. Just as he was going to attack, the smaller branches wrapped around his ankles freezing him on the spot.
The branches moved up his body, and although he did not cry out as Metsuki had hoped, the pain was written across his face. There was a few cracks and his body slumped over. She had broken his wrists and ankles, causing him great pain.
The branches retreated, gently placing his body on the ground before resuming their original shape and positions. The clouds vanished as did the remaining spikes of earth, and as Metsuki replaced her bandana, the fires disappeared. She replaced her bandana.
Asuma ran forward towards Neji's body along with Tenten.
"Don't worry, he's fine, just unconcious," said Metsuki, making to step forward, but stopping.
"I think you went too far, Metsuki. He doesn't look so good," said Ino, stepping past Metsuki, but Metsuki didn't hear her.
She slumped to the ground, clutching at her head. She began coughing violently and Ino stopped, turning around to face her. Damnit, too much. But it isn't a serious attack, at least I don't think it is...
But she couldn't stop the coughing, it just kept coming along with bursts of pain throughout her chest and head. She couldn't hold it in. Blood dripped from her mouth and she squeezed her eyes shut under the cloth, trying not to look at it. Seeing others blood was fine, but seeing her own made her feel horrible.
She felt Ino at her side, with a hand on her back. I'm not gonna show weakness here, not to these people. Get UP!
Wiping the blood with the back of her hand, she forced herself up, sucking the air away from her lungs for a few seconds to stop the coughing. She was gasping for air as she shook her head, causing black strands of hair to fall into her face. She brushed them away, taking one more deep breath before her body resumed its normal functions.
Asuma had lifted Neji off the ground, still unconcious. "You four, Chouji, Tenten, Ino and Metsuki, get to the meeting, I'll meet you there."
He vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the four gennin alone. The silence was broken by Ino.
"Uhh... I take you to the meeting, I guess you guys don't know where it is."
Before they could leave, however, two green blurry forms appeared before them. Metsuki looked up at them, noticing the same bowl hair-cuts and bushy eyebrows.
"There you are, Tenten! Me and Gai-sensei looked all over for you! Are you already on your way to the meeting?"
Tenten cringed for a second before nodding.
"Where's Neji?" asked the taller one, Gai.
"Probably in the hospital, he lost a battle," replied Ino, walking past him followed by the other three.
"He what? Lost? Neji? Who beat him?" asked Lee, looking from Chouji to Tenten and then to Ino. He didn't notice Metsuki who was in the back, behind Chouji.
"Metsuki beat him in about three minutes or less. She made it look easy," said Ino, smiling towards Metsuki who grinned back.
"Who?"
"Metsuki. She's the new gennin on our team."
"Oh... well let's get to the meeting. See you there!" said Lee, disappearing along with his sensei.
"Those two are kinda scary," whispered Metsuki to Ino as they dashed back to the village.
"Well... I suppose you get used to it after awhile, they are both very strong and fast," said Ino. "I wonder what the meeting is for, Asuma-sensei never told us..."
Metsuki felt something tug on her left shoulder, and when she looked she noticed Shikon hanging there. Ino looked over and almost fell.
"Eep! What's that!?"
Two more heads turned and looked over. "Her name is Shikon, she my fruit bat. A flying fox. Don't worry, she's not gonna eat you."
Ino continued forward after a moment, at a slightly further distance, not completely convinced. They were almost there.
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The four gennin entered the room as around twenty heads spun around to look at the new arrivals. They were late, even Lee and Gai were already here. But the meeting had not started yet, apperently.
Ino went off to sit by some other girls, chouji went off by himself and Tenten went to go sit with Lee and he sensei. Metsuki went to the edge of the room by herself and sat down. I hope I didn't have too much fun with that Hyuuga boy.
But they weren't the last people to arrive. One more team of gennin, with a white-haired sensei, arrived. The team consisted of a pink-haired girl, a blonde boy in an orange outfit, and a black-haired boy who was being bothered by both of them at the same time.
The onlt seats left were beside Metsuki, so she moved down to the last one, making room for the team to sit down. The dark-haired boy sat next to her, and the pink-haired girl, still bothering him, sat next to him. The blonde boy, who according to Shikons information, Metsuki guessed to be Naruto, sat down beside the annoying girl.
"You are... annoying, Sakura," said the dark haired boy quietly.
"But Sasuke-" Sakura.
"Hey, hey and then we can-" Naruto.
"Shut up Naruto! Me and Sasuke are talking-" Sakura.
"You're both annoying." Sasuke.
"Yeah Naruto-" Sakura.
"Kakashi-sensei, don't you agree with me that-" Naruto.
"He doesn't care Naruto! Just-" Sakura.
This is getting annoying. Metsuki rubbed her temples. But before she could tell all of them to shut up, she was hit with another attack. Covering her mouth and hunching forward, she coughed hard for about a minute, resulting in looks from the team beside her.
"Are you okay?" asked Sasuke.
Metsuki couldn't answer, as she was still coughing. When it stopped she took away her hand, which was covered in blood.
"Ugh... Shit..." she stood and ran to the door holding her head still. Once outside, she went to one of the washrooms down the hall, washing off the blood with her eyes squeezed shut. She took off her bandana and wiped her eyes with a wet paper towel, before moving to the rest of her face, cleaning up the blood.
Tying her bandana back on, she grabbed one more paper towel to take with her before heading back to the meeting room. Holding it over her mouth to soak up the blood, she entered the room and everybody turned to look at her again. Her sensei was here now also, making that everyone.
"Why are you late, Metsuki?" asked Asuma, breaking the silence.
She coughed a few more times, wiping a bit more blood away and clearing her throat. "I'm sorry, Asuma-sensei. I had another attack," she said, moving back to her seat and covering her mouth as she sat down. She knew her sensei knew nothing of her attacks, but she didn't feel like making up a long explaination.
She felt a steady flow of blood leaking from her body, and the paper towel was slowly growing heavier. It was a bad attack that she had only momentarily managed to put off. The boy beside her, Sasuke, was looking at her strangely, but turned back to the front of the room as one of the jounin began speaking.
"We apologize for the delay. There were some last minute changes made to the list, and some re-arranging.
"Due to lack of shinobi, we will be promoting most of you to a chuunin level. For the last month, we have been closely watching you and deciding which gennin deserve the new title. The ones remaining at the gennin level will be assigned to a new sensei. The list of chuunin is as follows
"Hyuuga Neji who is currently absent due to injury, Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and the last minute addition of Metsuki."
Metsuki looked up in shock. They place so much trust in me even though I've only been here for two weeks. They must be really desperate... Ouch. Damnit... She coughed a few more times, pressing the paper towel to her mouth as a new flow of blood slowly dripped from her lips.
There was a loud groan from Naruto, only elevated to an angry yell when he saw Sasuke grinning at him.
"The new gennin teams are as follows: Under the Sensei Hatake Kakashi on the new team seven will be Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Akimichi Chouji. Under the Sensei Maito Gai on the new team eight will be Rock Lee, Tenten, and Yamanaka Ino.
"The meeting is dismissed, will the sensei please take their gennin. The chuunin are free to leave, you will receive your jackets tomorrow. And will Uchiha Sasuke and Metsuki please report to me."
Metsuki groaned inwardly, turning over the paper towel and pressing the dry side to her lips before standing shakily and stumbling towards the front of the room. Damnit, why me?
"You two, you know, bloodlines are useful tools for shinobi. Along with Hyuuga Neji, you, Uchiha Sasuke and Metsuki, have been chosen to make up a special team. You have been chosen because of your skill and your blood-" Sasuke glanced at Metsuki, who had just collapsed into a nearby chair. "Are you alright, Metsuki?" asked the jounin, stopping in mid-speech.
Metsuki struggled for a moment, her paper towel was completely drenched with red. It seemed as if no one noticed her struggling until now, but she hadn't minded. The pain was burning her head, stinging her eyes and her lungs as well.
"I-I'm fine," she whispered. "Just finish quickly..."
The jounin turned back and went on explaining. "Although you have just become chuunin, you now qualify for making the Anbu. In order to do this, you need to, as a team, complete a mission to be accepted into the Anbu. You are all very promising cantidates, and were chosen to try for the title. You will receive your mission as soon as Hyuuga Neji recovers from his battle with you, Metsuki. Dismissed."
Metsuki stood shakily before taking the paper towel away from her mouth. "Get over here, Shikon!" Her bat dropped from the ceiling and landed on her shoulder. She glanced at Sasuke and waved goodbye, before replacing the paper towel and running to the bathroom.
She quickly threw away the soaked paper towel, her stomach feeling even worse at the sight of blood, and grabbed a fresh one, covering her mouth and running out. She barrelled down the hallway, almost knocking over Sasuke, and dashed outside where she stopped and whispered to Shikon. "Go find Zenji and Itachi and get them to meet me in the northern forest. Hurry."
As Shikon flew off, Metsuki quickly dashed towards the forests, making sure she wasn't followed, and crouched in the middle of the northern forest, breathing heavily. The bleeding had slowed, but she knew it would not stop unless she got medical attention.
There was a rush of air, followed by a snap of wings as Shikon landed on a nearby branch. A second later there were two puffs of smoke as two Akatsuki appeared before her, bowing before standing. One was Uchiha Itachi and the other was the medical specialist, Zenji. Zenji had dark brown hair and a fully developed Hyuuga bloodline, although he had not come from Konoha. He was also a member of the main family, and therefore had no troublesome curse seal to worry about. On his forehead was a snowflake headband with a deep gash running through it.
"Metsuki-sama, you've had another attack?" asked Zenji, moving forward.
"Hmm..." replied Metsuki, standing and stumbling forward. She tripped and fell, but Itachi caught her with lightning fast movements, laying her on her back and removing the paper towel from over her mouth. "Close your eyes, Metsuki-sama."
Metsuki did as she was told as Itachi removed the bandana. Zenji whispered something to him and she felt her black vest come off as well. She felt Zenji's hands lift up her necklace, which she kept hidden in her vest, and examine it closely before dropping it back onto her chest. Metsuki was annoyed with not being able to see anything, so she forced her chakra to the back of her eyes, looking through her eyelids and seeing the blue outlines of the two Akatsuki.
"Copy me," said Zenji simply. Itachi nodded and activated his sharingan. Zenji began bringing chakra to his hands, passing them over Metsuki's body along with Itachi's in the exact same movements. Her body went numb and cold. "Okay," said Zenji.
The Hyuuga lifted her left arm and pushed up the sleeve, revealing an odd mark, a seal, that had been burned into her at birth. The marks had bled messily into eachother, but as the Akatsuki passed a chakra laden hand over it, tracing the burn marks with two fingers, they began to change.
The seal burned black as the lines reformed themselves in a design that wrapped itself around her forearm in a pattern of storm clouds. Her father had made everything according to her. The Akatsuki robes had been designed like her seal which in turn had been designed to portray the ability of her bloodline.
She felt the feeling return to her body, along with the warmth as Zenji finished his work. The sun was going down by now, turning the summer leaves a blood red colour. Itachi replaced her bandana and her vest and moved away, bowing once before disappearing.
"Be more careful, Metsuki-sama," said Zenji as he, too, disappeared. Metsuki sighed and rubbed her arm. That was painful, she thought.