For Akihane the month they had been given to train was far too little time for what she had planned. Already she had been pushed a week behind because of the dilemma with Hayate. She did not want to fall even further behind than she was. If she wanted to excel and make the mark to become a Chunin, she had to give it her all, especially when one considered training to become a Chunin. Those watching took in your experience, your management, and your skills.
Akihane was hardly lacking in the skill department, but she had only been a Genin edging on four months if even that. Her experience wasn't the only drawback, but it was the greatest. When it came to managing training between missions Akihane tended to do too much, but with her impressive reserves and stamina, she felt she had to. She also had developed a schedule for practicing her chakra control exercises while also integrating them into her daily life so that she could keep her ever-expanding reserves from messing things up.
With a month free to herself, Akihane found she had a million things that she wanted to try out all at once. Of course, she couldn't do that, or at least she hadn't thought so. That was until she had gone to her Sensei and asked for help.
Hatake Kakashi was many things. He was a Jonin, one of the best in the village. He was the student of the late Yondaime and held the title of Kakashi of the Sharingan, or Sharingan no Kakashi. Despite all this, Kakashi was also perceived as one of the laziest in the village and he displayed himself as an avid porn-reader. From the very beginning he had irked Sasuke and now, when Akihane was looking to him for advice, he was being stubborn.
I~~~~I
"I want you to tell me about your 'brothers'. If you do I will help you with anything you need Aki-Hime."
Kakashi stated, glancing over his book at her from his position sitting in a tree above her.
Akihane sighed heavily, her teeth meshing with each other. Carefully she breathed in and out, measuring her emotions before she sorted through determination and eagerness. Like always, those emotions came easier than all of the others besides anger.
The albino steadied her gaze upon her teacher, taking in the way he had diverted all of his attention to her while also appearing to care less. Hatake Kakashi was truly a remarkable sight, edging on legendary in his mastery of simple concepts and advanced areas of the Shinobi Lifestyle. In all truth, Naru had to admit that her Jonin Sensei happened to be one of the greatest prodigies next to the Nidaime based on being a Ninja. When it came to his mastery of the Sharingan, Itachi and Shisui were perhaps the only ones that stood above him.
"Aki~"
Kakashi drawled, her short hair standing on end as she felt his breath ghost her neck. The Kakashi positioned in the tree vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving her to glare at her Sensei's previous location.
Silently she contemplated whether Genma could bail her out if she killed Kakashi and strung him up onto her father's head for everyone to see. Weighing the pro's and cons took a little too long, however, and so the Kunoichi filed her thoughts away for further consideration at a time when she was not in danger of being kidnapped by her Sensei and tortured for answers. Well, Kakashi might not actually torture her, but Aki had long since stopped expecting certain levels of decency from shinobi-
"If you keep thinking and you don't answer me, I'm just gonna tie you up and go find Anko. Surely, she has some useful info. On the other hand, perhaps I could ask Iruka-San. If I mentioned doing my paperwork he might actually give me some answers."
Naru sucked in a breath and turned sharply, her right hand dragging across her pouch so that she drew several kunai. Three blades glinted in her palm and Kakashi leaned back to avoid his face being cut into.
Looking calmly at the Jonin, Akihane began to speak.
"If I'm gonna be telling you about them, then we need to go someplace safe."
She finished by tucking her kunai safely into her pouch, ignoring the gaze her sensei now had directed to her hands.
Akihane turned and began her march to her home, never glancing back to check whether or not Kakashi was following.
Considering Akihane's ability to sense things around her to a hypersensitive degree, she most likely knew he was right behind her.
I~~~~I
The two of them arrived at Naru's house in relative peace, the Kunoichi waiting until Kakashi stepped inside her flat before she turned and sealed the door, warding the room with some hand signs that then activated silence seals across the walls.
A visible amount of violet chakra flooded the area, warming it while the hue slowly became gold.
Kakashi took in the relaxed visual of his student as she set about making tea, allowing him to wander once more. This time Kakashi wasn't hindered by other guests, and so he took his time with every small detail.
A new door sat at the end of the living room, opening up into another hall. If Kakashi remembered the layout of the building from his time as Naru's guard in ANBU, then the newly-connected hall most likely led from Naru's living space into another larger flat and several larger bathrooms.
Naru walked toward the coffee table in her living room, setting down a kettle of tea and two cups, along with a block of sugar for him and a little bit of ice for her.
Akihane gestured to the table, Kakashi walking over to sit opposite to his student. They faced one another as the albino pulled a pillow to her side, tucked her feet under her body in the smaller chair she sat on before she reached for her drink. Carefully the Kunoichi took a sip and waved her hand as a sign for him to start.
Kakashi closed his eye and prayed he was doing the right thing before he opened the lone gray orb and asked his first question.
"How long have you known the Hokage Guard Platoon Members?"
Akihane paused, taking another sip before she swallowed and answered.
"I'd say a little before the massacre. It was only after Shi-Karasu died that I truly got to know them, however."
Kakashi hummed, taking in her mention of Uchiha Shisui and his demise for he continued to question her.
"When did the Sandaime find out?"
Akihane paused and sighed gently before she closed her eyes and recalled what had happened. As she did, the words left her lips and enlightened her Sensei so her younger days.
I~~~~I
When Akihane had first come to Kakashi for help, she did so thinking that the man would be the most sensible person and the best choice for moving away from who she had become into who she wanted to be.
What she hadn't expected, or what she had at least forgotten, was that Kakashi had a tendency to make training into hell.
First, in an effort to up her physical form and adapt her style into something much more brutal than the mixture she currently had, Kakashi had her spar against him.
Naru's Jonin Sensei was an utter bastard in the meanest form possible. Still, Naru appreciated and respected the way the man continued to improve how she fought.
For two entire weeks, Naru trained under her sadistic Sensei. She pushed her body past its normal limits while she developed muscle and brute strength.
Rather simply Naru had wanted to change course from the rather swift and precise style she had created with the aid of her friends into something a little more surprising from her. The tactic fell in line with the fact that people would never expect the analytical Akihane to resort to brute tactics, despite her forever-expanding reserves.
With the help of Shadow Clones, Kakashi managed to work her through much more exercises than what would have normally been possible.
Despite that, Kakashi also took a rather insane amount of glee in targeting her with various Taijutsu forms he knew in order to make her work through her newer style faster.
I~~~~I
"Dodge!" A gleeful cry had Akihane ducking to avoid a large fireball, her body shifting into a heavier stance while she summoned chakra up from the depths of her body. The seal on her stomach pulsed, but Akihane tugged and spread the chakra to her limbs in a rather odd flow, pulsing the chakra near her tenketsu before she twisted on her right heal and stretched her body backward. She narrowly avoided the fireball aimed at her face, her eyes narrowing on the object as it passed overhead.
As she rose she had to quickly block a sharp blow aimed at her forehead. Her right arm turned with her righted body to slam an elbow into her Sensei's larger form. The man folded over her body before he vanished in a puff of smoke. Akihane's eyes narrowed on the surrounding area as she tried to sense her Sensei's location.
She channeled chakra again and forced the wind around her lips to funnel away from her. She paused and then fired the sharper air bullet, the power far more concentrated than what she was used to. A sizable drop in her reserves had her letting out a small gasp under her breath.
Augmenting Jutsu for her special reserves was a bit of a hassle, but by training her elements to react better to other circumstances and adapt them to situations she could make the jutsu either widespread or sharp and contained. She could turn a wind bullet into a thin gale or even a swirling vortex.
The wind tore right through a row of trees. A flicker of surprise surfaced in the chakra signature she had pinpointed to the area before it vanished quickly. Logs shattered into hundreds of splinters, raining down on the scarred landscape.
A heat pricked at her neck as the soft hairs rose. Akihane quickly followed her instincts and changed her weight so that she dropped back again, only this time she flipped right over the torrent. She floated above the ball of fire as it seemed to halt in its path. The inferno began to grow, causing her eyes to widen.
Quickly, so as not to end up burned, Akihane summoned water chakra instead of wind, pulsing it in a different manner as it began to spew from her lips. "Water Style, Water Trumpet Jutsu!"
She shouted. The new technique slammed into the fireball and forced steam to generate. Akihane landed and backed away from the two Jutsus, huffing softly. She had been mere inches from being caught in the damn thing.
Her eyes flitted around her, trying to decide what to do as well as locate Kakashi. Two clones spawned at her sides while she worked chakra through her system. If Kakashi wasn't above or around her, that meant he could only be one other place.
Taking a note from Sasuke's book the last time Kakashi tried to pull the same technique on the Genin, Akihane attacked the ground with her specialties.
Two wind bullets and a water trumpet pelted the ground just as a hand shot out from the earth.
Adding to the onslaught, Akihane shifted her chakra and balanced it below her while she called forth her rather testy specialty, hardening the ground with a pulse.
Kakashi's hand stopped before it reached her, allowing her feet to push back and take her away from the outstretched limb. There was a roar as the jutsu struck, Akihane's body a safe distance away from the collision site.
All of a sudden, weapons flew at her from the surrounding copse of trees. Akihane's balance hadn't yet shifted. She was not in a position of power, in fact, she was still a little winded after that last attack. She wasn't about to admit defeat to Kakashi of all people, however. There was no way that Akihane would give in when she was only getting started.
The Uzumaki's gaze darkened as she pulled at her energy again. Water rose up around her in a tide while the coils straightened and pulled themselves taught. The water began to swirl, forming a massive shape.
Soon, a very large and serpentine creature was hitting the weapons away with a slick of its long tail while sharp and thin wings rose from the coiled body. A roar broke the grounds, the water building further as Akihane flashed through more signs.
The dragon began to split, more water funneling around her body as the smaller dragons formed from the larger. The dragons shot from the field in the direction of the weapons, each one crying out as trees were cut into, leaves falling down around the kunoichi.
Akihane bit on her lip as she felt the deeper dent in her chakra reserves, nevertheless, she pushed forward by grabbing for her easiest element again.
Wind came willingly, as it always had and always would. Sharp gusts piled around her body before she spun, breathing through her cupped right hand to push the wind chakra around her.
Without any signs or further prompting, the sharp gales surge out behind the crying dragons, the long whip gathered around Akihane's body dissipating.
More destruction befell the land, Akihane's teeth gritting as she looked out for any sign of her Sensei. Already she had either witnessed or heard the sound of popping. Kakashi wasn't able to make more than three clones, which meant that the original was all that was left.
Earth chakra pulsed under her, taking the earth at her feet into her control as Akihane forced it to harden while it jutted down, spikes forming on the ground around her.
There was a flicker of exhaustion from her reserves regarding the combined manipulation. A few more seconds of the workout and her pathways would begin to burn.
Akihane closed her eyes and wished for the best, taking another moment to release the chakra in her tenketsu and let loose the seal that kept her from witnessing the world, just before light surrounded her.
I~~~~I
Akihane walked silently down the road. The soft steps of her Sensei echoed behind her. Kakashi eyed her with an unreadable expression as water dripped from his sodden white hair.
Their training sessions had left Akihane both sore and rather exhausted. Her reserves had never been so thoroughly spent in her life. Of course, Aki wasn't the only one suffering.
Kakashi hadn't been able to escape her water quite enough, which led to him being soaked to the bone by the end of the day.
Kind as she was, Akihane had felt bad over her sensei's current predicament and had offered him a spot at Genma's dinner table. The man said he didn't mind her inviting people. Though she wondered if that included the recent target of the Tokujo's ire.
Either way, she was shooting for Kakashi to get along with her brothers. Aki had already decided to induct Kakashi into the circle of people she cared for, and that meant he just had to deal with the others she was around.
In the beginning, Akihane had decided to adopt Kakashi because she felt similarities between him and those she cared for. After getting to know the Jonin a little better, Akihane only wished to do so even more. She often looked for Kakashi when they weren't training or when she hadn't the need to. Adding to that she worried every time the man vanished or when he didn't bounce back from her attacks right away. Over the course of a few months, Kakashi had wormed his way into her graces and was starting to become one of her precious people.
Kakashi had no idea what was in store for him now that Akihane had latched onto his presence. When she cared for someone she did so without thinking. She dove into bonds headfirst after deciding that a person was worth her attention. Aki loved with every piece of her soul and more. She gave all she could for those that held a place in her heart, and that only made it hurt more when she lost them. Shisui's loss had changed her forever, and even before that Aki had been losing people far too quickly.
She could vaguely remember those ANBU who would watch her, and how a lot of them didn't come back when she was assigned, new guards. She remembered how her heart had twisted every time that Shisui left because before him there were at least three others that she remembered who she held in high regard.
After Shisui died there had been Inu's squad, the one consisting of Inu, Neko, Itatski, and Kame. Once Itachi left no one filled his place and Inu's smaller squad continued their work.
"Mah, Aki-Hime, what's holding your thoughts so tightly?" Kakashi drawled, his voice sounding far closer than where he had been standing what had to be seconds ago.
Aki turned her head, pausing as she took in her Sensei's masked face nearly pressed at her cheek. The man was leaning over her right shoulder, his visible eyes closed in his damning smile.
A gentle smile worked its way over her lips.
Akihane decided that she wouldn't allow Kakashi to die like those before he did. She wouldn't allow his legacy to be made a mockery of and she wouldn't let him become a martyr like Shisui and Itachi had.
She would save Kakashi from what she could, exactly like she had done and would continue to do for Hinata and Sasuke. She would act as a support and when the man finally wanted to die, he would do so without any regrets. She swore to it.
I~~~~I
Thank you for reading! I liked typing this chapter up while adding in what I could write during school. I was a little lost for a bit, but then I remembered that Akihane still has quite a bit of training to do. Next chapter should possibly work in some 'forgotten' characters and set some ground for more bonding. Also, I believe writing Sasuke's training with Mitarashi Anko shall excite and humor me for a while. I'm hoping to finish up the months training in two-three chapters, but I give no promises. At most I'd say four chapters until the Third Exam begins. I have quite a lot of storyline to work toward and develop before I can get there.
On another note, School is becoming harder. English isn't bad, but our teacher has her second-year English honors kids doing Simple Subject, Complete Subject, and the same for Predicates. She keeps saying we'll need them, but I've tested with PARCC and we don't use Grammar that much unless you mention context clues and deciphering meanings. I fear for my testing scores, especially since I hardly passed my English PARCC last year. Also, Physical Science continues to confuse me. Our teacher rants for hours on subjects, or barely summarizes them in confusing ways. Most of my class is lost as to what we are doing too. Well, I don't mean to rant and all but I wanted to let the readers of this story and A Different Path know so that any missed or late updates would be understood.
Drabble-Hiruzen's Reaction
The first time that Genma had decided to teach her how to use his famed Senbon, Hiruzen had come across them.
Of course, the Hokage hadn't happened across them training by chance.
Hiruzen was a wise and strong leader for many reasons, one of them including his cunning mind.
Naru hadn't thought much about the older man's presence, having witnessed the current situation often only with Shisui instead of Genma or any of her new teachers.
Genma, in contrast, had stiffened at the newest Sentinel posted only a few meters away.
That training session ended with Naru nearly stabbing Genma with his own Senbon while Hiruzen waved the two over to his office.
Much like the talk Akihane had been subjected to when she had revealed her knowledge of the Kyuubi to Itachi, Hiruzen settled the two of them in while silence seals spread across the room.
The time was so clear in her mind, each word that left her Jiji's lips sticking to her unlike anyone else.
The man that had spoken was worried and worn, someone that had done too much for his village and its people.
"You know that this puts me in a difficult position-" Hiruzen had started out, glancing between the two as Genma met his gaze with fierce determination.
The following sentences had outlined why the entire situation was a bad idea. Naru had found herself swimming in different emotions as his words washed over her.
Then, right as she thought he was going to forbid Genma, Raidou, Iwashi, and all the others they had started to introduce her to from ever seeing or talking to her again, Hiruzen had surprised her.
"That the reason why from now on you will be her tutors. Her parents are the ones that sparked something new, the ones that left a heavy legacy on Akihane's shoulders…"
Hiruzen had looked her in the eye and smiled, tension easing from his shoulders as he spoke.
"I want you to prepare her in the ways I can't. Teach her to be a weapon, to be a friend, and to be a protector. Give her the tools she needs in order to one day take what is rightfully hers without anyone having any say in the matter."
Those brown eyes, ones that always had love, adoration, worry, all for her sake, whose eyes kept her own entranced as Hiruzen spoke the words that always kept him close to her, the words that told her where her path would lead.
"Akihane, take this training and become the woman that makes your parents proud, the woman that throws out all of those false assumptions and takes back who she is. Become the Kunoichi you strive to be, the one that Shisui knew you could be, the one that Asuma saw and the one that I will pass on my own legacy to when I pass on."
Hiruzen had nodded to her even as she sat, eyes wide, staring into his gaze with such surprise and absolute happiness.
Genma was speechless beside her, right up until the moment that Akihane launched over the Hokage's desk, her arms wrapping around the aged man that had always strived to protect her with her best interest always at heart.
