Akanishi-san: Welcome to Gai and Lee tour. Following that, we will have Kiba and Shino Tour.. Please keep your arms and legs inside and enjoy your ride. --
Ch5.
"Izaki-san! Over here!" Lee called out as he spotted Izaki looking for them in the market area.
Izaki spotted them, and waved back, and trotted over. "Hello!" She greeted, bowing. Today, in addition to her outfit, she had her new weapons on her as well, including the claws which was strapped on to a hip belt.
"How's your youthful days?" Gai asked, giving her a thumb up.
"Erm…" Izaki sweat dropped. "Fine, it's going great." She said.
'Good! Now, where would you like to go?" Gai asked, his hands on his hips. "Anywhere you want to go, we'll take you!"
Izaki nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking about this last night, and well…" She trailed off. "I heard that you and Lee-san here are one of the best taijutsu ninjas in Konoha." She looked at them.
Lee nodded. "Yes, Gai-san's the best!" He grinned.
"No, Lee here is also the best!" Gai said, wrapping his arm around his student's shoulder.
Lee's eyes swelled up. "Gai-sensei…"
Gai gave him his sparkle smile. "You've grown, Lee! I'm proud of you!"
"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee yelled, as he ran into his teacher's arms.
"Lee!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
Izaki stood there for a moment, until she could not hold her laughter down. "HAHAHA!" She laughed out loud, tears of laughter coming out. "Lee-san and Gai-san, you two are the best!" She laughed, whipping a tear off, still laughing.
Gai and Lee looked at each other, and smiled. "So, why did you want to know if we were the taijutsu masters?" Gai asked.
'Oh, well…I was wondering if you could train me." Izaki said. "I mean, I wanted to see the training grounds anyway, and wanted to know…if you two would like to teach me some taijutsu."
"Of course!" Lee said, smiling at her. "Right, Gai-sensei?" He asked, turning to his teacher.
"Of course!" Gai said. "Now follow me!" With that, the 3 walked to the training grounds.
"This is it, the training grounds." He said, as they entered the training ground, where Lee's tree stump was.
Lee walked over to the stump. "All right, how about this?" He asked. "Try to catch me, Izaki-san, I'm going to try to run away from you. Rules are no jutsu or genjutsu allowed. What you are allowed to do is to use any taijutsu to catch me."
Izaki nodded. "All right." With that said, she took off her claws, leaning it against a tree next to Gai.
Gai stepped in. "Ok then, I'll tell you when to go…three…two…one…go!"
Soon as Gai said 'go' Izaki shot towards him, at her full speed. She smiled, as she thought that he had caught her in her arms, but Lee was already jumping away from her, onto a tree. Izaki looked up at him, and smiled. So he is good at taijutsu. She then ran to the tree where he stood on, and kicked at the tree at her full strength.
"Ha!" She yelled, as she kicked at it. The tree shook violently as Lee lost his balance, and had to jump to another. Izaki was already at his side, smiling, as she tried to punch him.
Lee, surprised, lost his balance once more, but for a good cause. Izaki's punch missed him, as Lee fell off the tree branch, landing gracefully onto the ground. Izaki taking this as another chance, hopped off the tree, again, trying to catch him, but this time, she tried kicking him.
As soon as Lee jumped out of her way, where he stood was now in crumbles, Izaki taking her foot out of the ground.
Gai whistled. "The next Tsunade." He smiled. "Well, maybe the third?" He asked, thinking of Sakura. While he pondered on that thought, the fight continued.
Lee smiled. "You got that right, Gai-sensei!" He said as he dodged another kick. "Izaki-san and Sakura-san, the next Tsunade." He said, as he dodged another kick.
Izaki threw him another punch and a kick, missing him, again. "Urg!" She yelled out her frustration as she jumped backwards, onto a tree, and jumped away, so she was hidden from them. There, she looked around, looking at her surroundings.
"Izaki-san, just to remind you, no ninjutsu!" Lee called out, looking for her. "Including the claws you have!"
Izaki smiled at her plan. "I know! Besides, it's next to Gai-san!" She called out, as she jumped off the tree. Then, again, she darted for Lee, who dodged, his back few feet away from the tree stump, this time, she did not stop running, but ran straight for the tree, ran up the tree, onto the tree branch. Without a break, she jumped off of it, her fist in a tight ball, trying to get at Lee. Again, Lee dodged, and again, the ground was in crumbles. Izaki pulled her hand out fast and darted for him once more. Lee dodged, and as soon as he turned, he saw that Izaki bouncing off the practice tree stump, her fist aimed right at him.
Lee gasped, as he ducked. "Whoa!" He yelled.
Izaki missed Lee by few millimeters, her eyes unreadable as she bounced off another tree, right at him again. Lee barely nicked that punch, as he rolled out of harm's way. When he jumped onto his feet, he saw Izaki bouncing off another, coming at him. Lee then fell onto his back when she came closer, and with his feet, he threw her into a tree.
Izaki gasped as she ran into the tree with her back, grunting in pain. She raised her hand as she sat her back to the tree that just she ran into. "I give up." She said, panting.
Lee panted, and he too, sat down, sighing in relief. Gai walked over to Izaki, and tried to examine her back, but Izaki protested, as she panted. "I'm all right, Gai-san. Lee-san, you got quite a speed!"
Lee smiled, still tired. "So do you, Izaki-san." He looked around the grounds. "You know, I never noticed how these trees were in a pattern. You could jump from that tree to that, then to the stump, then to that one, then that, and it goes back to the beginning." He nodded to each tree.
Izaki nodded. "Yeah, I saw that soon as we came to this training ground. I don't know why, but my instinct told me to examine this place first. It always told me to examine for anything I could use."
Guess that's what you lean when you are always on a run…Gai thought, as he patted her shoulder. "Good work, Izaki!" He complimented her. "I have never seen anything like this before!"
Izaki smiled, her breath almost level now. "Thank you, Gai-san!"
Gai smiled back at her, examining her. And her recovery rate…she'll grow to be a great ninja, as long as you give her the right path to follow. "Well Lee, how did she do?" He asked.
Lee was still panting as he turned to Gai. "Well, she's really good at speed and such; I think we should teach her…Konoha gourikisennpuu." Lee said. (AN: yes, this is a REAL taijutsu. I even saw it in the official Naruto ninjutsu guide book thingie I bought the other day in Torrance.)
Gai nodded. "Right, I was thinking about that too." He turned to Izaki. "What you need to focus now is your leg speed. Use the stump there to improve your leg speed anytime you would like to." He pointed to the tree stump. "Your speed overall is very good, but I think you could go faster."
"A lot." Lee added. "Soon I probably won't be able to catch her, or dodge any of her attacks." He shrugged.
Izaki smiled at them. "Thank you." She said with all her heart. "So what's this Konoha gourikisennpuu?" She asked, curious. "I never heard anything like that."
Gai gave her a thumb up. "Well…This taijutsu's user needs good skills in speed and power. Once I even got to kick an Akatsuki member…" He closed his mouth, looking at Izaki who was looking at him questioningly.
Izaki looked back at Gai, confused on why he stopped talking all of a sudden. "Erm…" She looked at him. "Wait, what is an Akatsuki member?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing.
Both Gai and Lee let out a relieved sigh, as Gai continued. "Well, they are a group of missing-nins who made a team. They are rumored to be the best ninja. Anyway, when Kisame and Itachi…" He closed his mouth again, looking at Izaki, scared. Why did he keep slipping like this!
"Gai-san?" She asked, looking at him. "Why do you keep stopping?" She asked.
Again, both of the Konoha ninja sighed in relief. "Well anyway, they came after something that is here, and when Kakashi, Azuma, and Kurenai were in trouble, I came in and BANG! I saved the day." He finished. "With my Konoha gourikisennpuu."
Izaki's face brightened. "And you want to teach me that?" She asked. "This Konoha gourikisennpuu?"
Gai nodded. "I was about to teach Lee here too, so you two can learn together." He then looked at the sky. "Looks like it's almost noon, let's get lunch first, and then we can train."
Izaki nodded, as she jumped onto her feet. "All right!" She punched the air.
Lee stood up as well, as he dusted himself. "Wow Izaki-san, your recovery rate is very fast." He commented, rubbing swear off his face. His breathing level was about normal, but still, he was still panting.
Izaki nodded. "Yeah, I noticed too!" She smiled. "So, where to?"
-End of the day-
"Thank you, Gai-sensei and Lee-san!" Izaki said, as she bowed to them in front of her home. Gai had made sure to have Izaki say "sensei" instead of "san" because he was teaching her. "I had lots of fun today!"
Gai gave her a thumb up with his Gai smile. "No problem! Now, as I said before, you can keep coming to that training ground anytime you want to practice." He said. "We'll be glad to help you."
Lee nodded. "Izaki-san, if you are in trouble, please ask me. I'll try my best. Right now, though, we are rivals." He said.
"Ri…vals?" Izaki asked, looking at him.
Lee grinned. "Well, a race, between rivals on who completes this taijutsu first."
Izaki smiled. "You're on!" She retorted as she raised her fist.
With that, both Lee and Gai left. When Izaki turned, she saw that it was about 6 PM, she went inside, humming. "I'm home!" She called out.
"Welcome home!" A voice called back, surprising Izaki.
"Naruto-san?" Izaki asked uncertain. No way was Sasuke saying 'welcome home' across the house. "Naruto-san?" She asked again. "Why are you here?" She asked as Naruto bounded towards her from the dining room.
Naruto shrugged. "Sasuke invited me for dinner."
At that point, Sasuke came into view. "Today is your turn to cook." He pointed out, avoiding the fact that he invited Naruto.
Izaki's lips curved into a smile, as she nodded. "Rightio!" She replied as she walked into the kitchen.
"Can I help?" Naruto asked as Izaki got ingredients out of the refrigerator.
Izaki thought about it for a while, and nodded. "Yeah, if you keep eating ramen everyday, you'll die…So you need to learn a new recipe. You can help me."
"All right!" Naruto replied to her, as he came into the kitchen. "What do you want me to do?" He asked, rolling up his sleeves.
Izaki pointed to the potatoes she took out. "Can you peel those?" She asked.
Naruto cocked his head, looking at her. "Peel?" He asked.
Izaki frowned, turning over to Naruto. "Don't tell me you don't know how. Never mind…don't answer that." She said as he saw him opening his mouth. Instead, she got out a peeler in her hand, walking over to the sink. "You go like this." She then started to peel the skin off; occasionally she would use the edge to pick out the dull spots. "Here, do that to the rest."
In two seconds, Naruto was screaming. "ARG! The thing almost KILLED me!"
Izaki groaned. "How could a peeler almost kill you…?" This was going to be a long night.
NEXT DAY
"Hello!" Izaki greeted the two.
Kiba looked over to where he heard the voice, and waved. "Yo." He replied. As usual, Shino said nothing. "So, what do you want to do today?" Kiba asked as Izaki came to stand in front of him.
Izaki shrugged. "I don't know, what do you usually do?" She asked, petting Akamaru.
Kiba crossed his arms as he thought about it. "Hmm…well…we usually just go on a walk…well, me and Akamaru that is."
Izaki nodded. "Oh! Let's do that! I haven't quite memorized this place yet, so it would be nice to walk around!"
Kiba nodded. "All right, let's get going." With that, Akamaru started to lead the 3 around.
As the 3 walked, Izaki was greeted by curious onlookers from the villagers. They still weren't sure of the newcomer. An Uchiha, that just came up from no where of course everyone would be suspicious.
"Look, there she is." A woman whispered to another.
The other nodded. "I think she's just faking this. Just so she can get into Konoha. She's probably a spy."
"What in the world is Tsunade-sama thinking? The whole world knows that all the Uchihas were killed off except for Sasuke." Another whispered. "She could be a spy!"
((Remember! They don't know that she was from Akatsuki, but they know that she was found!))
Izaki looked at the ground, trying to block out the words. Kiba, noticing her gloominess, he spoke up, "Ya know, I thought you were an enemy too, pretending to be an Uchiha." He said loudly, so the whisperers would hear, too. "I always thought that it was only Sasuke, who was the only living member of the Uchiha clan. Until I saw you, you and Sasuke look alike. A LOT." He smiled at her. "There is a great resemblance in you two, but there are differences. One such example is that you don't scowl at everything you see. And you can talk. Also," He raised his voice even louder. "Tsunade-sama said there was a birth certificate on you, so you were born here. Plus, Sasuke recognized you as well." He grinned.
Izaki smiled back at him. "Thank you." She said gratefully.
"Speaking of Uchiha…" Shino spoke up for the first time, looking ahead of where they were walking.
Izaki and Kiba looked to where he was looking, and saw Sasuke coming out of an accessory shop with a small bag in his hand. Kiba's mouth dropped. "What in the world was Sasuke doing in there?" He asked. "Am I seeing things?" He rubbed his eyes.
Izaki shrugged. "Hey Sasuke-Oniichan!" She called out.
To her voice, Sasuke immediately threw the bag into his pockets, and looked at her. "Hey." He said rather hastily.
Kiba eyed him curiously. "What did you buy?" Kiba asked.
"Nothing." Sasuke answered to him, glaring at him silently telling him to shut up.
Kiba shrugged as he placed his hands behind his head. "What ever. Let's go, Izaki, the walk has lots more to go."
Izaki nodded. "Well Sasuke-Oniichan, I'll see you at home!" She said cheerfully as she waved at him, walking away from him with Shino and Kiba. (And Akamaru, of course)
Sasuke said nothing as he walked away from them, towards his…their home, taking out the bag from his pocket. He looked at it as he walked, his lips curved into a small smile that faded in the next 5 seconds.
Towards the end of the day
"Thank you so much, Kiba-san and Shino-san!" Izaki said, as she bowed to them, again, in front of her home. "Oh yes, you too, Akamaru!" She said, petting the dog's head.
Kiba looked at her funnily. "Stop calling me Kiba-san. It gives me the shivers." He told her. "Kiba is just fine." He then jerked a thumb at Shino. "He goes as Shino as well."
Izaki looked up at them, seeing Shino nod. "All right, thank you Kiba and Shino, thank you for today. I had loads of fun. I'm getting used to this place now." She grinned. "Everyone here is so nice."
"No problem, I still can't believe you survived Lee and Gai's day." Kiba said, shaking his head. "I know one thing for sure, if I was you, I probably would have ran away long time ago. And I don't have either of them in my team." He added. "And I still am scared of those two."
Izaki shook her head. "No, they are really really, really, nice people…except sometimes they say things that doesn't really make sense…" She trailed off.
Kiba laughed at that. "Well what ever on that, anyway, let's head home. C'ya around!" With that, Kiba and Shino walked away.
"I'm home!" Izaki called out as she walked into the dining room, taking off her claw on her hip belt, tossing it onto a chair. "Sasuke-Oniichan?" He asked.
"Welcome home." Sasuke answered to her, as he emerged from his room, with the bag he had earlier. "Here, this is for you." He said, tossing it to her.
Izaki caught it, and took out a box out of the bag. 'What is it?" She asked, opening the box carefully, and gasped. "I remember this! This is the necklace Mother used to wear!" She said, taking the necklace off the box. The necklace had a silver chain with a silver circle. Inside the ring were a quarter moon and a star. It glimmered in her hand, shining brightly.
"The clip part was broken so I had to go get it fixed." He said, reflecting on when Izaki and her new friends saw him at the jewelry shop. Before he could say more, he stumbled backwards as Izaki tackled him, her arms wrapping around him.
"Thank you!" She said, as her arms squeezed him tight. "Thank you SO much!"
Sasuke chocked from the sudden attack. "Izaki, if you don't let go…I will take it back from you." He threatened between breaths.
Izaki hastily let go of him, as she put on the necklace. "No way!" She retorted as she stuck out her tongue at him.
Sasuke smiled slightly as he walked over to the dining table, where he already cooked dinner. "Now eat. Tomorrow…I think will be the hardest day of this tour." He said, as he himself sat down.
Izaki tilted her head a bit, confused. "Why? Tomorrow is…Naruto-san and Neji-san."
"Exactly." Sasuke said. 'Trust me, I would know."
Akanishi-san: Hehe….i just noticed, these chapters are so pointless. Nothing happens till next chapter, when Neji finally interacts with Izaki! WEE So read the next chappie for awesomeness…I hope
BTW REVIEWERS
Mizuseishin24: Itachi shows up all in a good time. I have scheduled him to come out in ch 6, though. I donno, maybe even in the next chapter. Soon, I hope though.
JapanAnimeGirl: I'm so glad you are enjoying my fic. Please read on
Uchiha-san-clan: Yup yup. Itachi will come up soon, I promise.