"You look tired." Sakura observed conversationally as I arrived in the training field. She'd taken to trying to befriend me these past few weeks, and since Iruka-sensei was clearly running late today, it seems like I was going to have to talk to her.
"A little, I didn't really sleep well last night." I gave her a wry grin and continued to my spot. Apparently she took this as an invitation to follow.
"So what jutsus do you think we're learning today? I heard sensei talking about some summoning jutsus a few days ago!" The pinkette glimmered with excitement. I frowned internally; she knew I wasn't good at jutsus, everyone knew. What we were learning that day wasn't particularly important to me, I was sure I'd do just as well as every other day. I hate to admit it, but honestly most of the kids in this class were far better at ninjutsu than I was, despite then being younger than me.
Does it annoy me?
Every time I think about it.
"That would be cool, I've never seen a summoning before." I replied with a nod.
"Well I have and it is pretty cool. I hope I can make friends with the animals I summon!" She paused. "And summoning weapons or other stuff would be useful too! That way you'd always have a surprise attack!" She declared as if she had just enlightened me of a heaving burden. "And yo-"
"Hey guys, where do you think Iruka-sensei is?" A voice pipped up from behind. I turned to see Naruto dropping to sit next to me.
Sakura's smile quickly faded into poorly masked annoyance.
"I don't know but I'm sure he'll be here soon." Her tone was as polite as she could make it, probably vexed at having her epiphany interrupted. The blonde, however, seemed to take no notice.
"He's not usually late. I hope he forgot we have class!" He tittered gleefully. Unfortunately, his hopes were quickly snuffed as a puff of smoke appeared in front of the chattering students.
"Sorry everyone! The Hokage wanted a word with me and it took a little longer than I thought. But anyways, let's not waste any more time, please stand in your spots." He directed and we all shuffled into formation. "The first part of today will be a weapons training. You will all get to practice with different long and short range weapons and we'll be using those dummies as opponents." He gestured a recently added patch of wooden people with targets on their chests.
As a unit, we migrated over to the dummies and Iruka-sensei summoned an array of weapons from thin air, instructing us to all pick up a kunai.
"I know a-, er, most of you are very familiar with this first weapon but it never hurts to go over the basics." He plucked a blade from the pile and flicked it at a target; it zipped through the air and embedded itself in the red dot at the center. "Accuracy is an important thing for all shinobi to master. Everyone take a target and give it a try."
We all hurried to claim a target and stood about ten feet in front of it. I gripped my kunai tightly and brought it up near my ear before hurling it at my inanimate enemy.
Well, I mean, it hit...
The ground behind the dummy.
I felt my cheeks redden as I saw all the other kunai striking at or near the bullseye. Even Naruto's ended up in the second red ring.
A snicker came from behind me and I turned to see Sasuke smirking at my flopped attempt of a throw. Of course he just happened to be next to me. I sent him a glare and turned back towards my dummy, jogging towards it to retrieve my kunai. Fortunately, some other students were going to retrieve theirs as well so I was able to blend in to some degree as I casually bent down and scooped up the weapon.
When I got back to my spot, I did my best to ignore the thuds of metal hitting wood and focused on my target. Slowly, I lifted the kunai again and aimed carefully, only hesitating for a second before closing my eyes and flinging it at the painted board.
I swear I sighed all the air out of my body when I heard the thud. It was identical to the dozens of others sounding around me and I couldn't be more grateful for it.
I looked up at the dummy and paused.
Then I looked to my left, where Sasuke's target stood with a kunai stuck in its outer ring.
Then I looked at Sasuke who was staring at me questioningly, probably because his kunai still in his hand.
Thankfully, we soon moved on to a different weapon: a pair of sai. The good news was that I had used weapons like it before and I was actually pretty good at it. The bad news was that we were throwing them today, something I definitely had no experience with.
And it went just as well as I'd thought it would.
By now it was glaringly obvious that perhaps these projectile weapons weren't my strong point. The world seemed to be feeling particularly generous regarding my misfortune today.
Halfway through the class, however, the powers above began to take pity on me.
"Go ahead and set the quivers next to the bows and pick up a sword to your left." My ears immediately perked at the word 'sword' and I sprung to life, dropping the bundle of disobedient arrows and swiping up one of the long, shiny blades from the standing rack.
I was overjoyed to have my hands on something familiar, so much so that I didn't care how strangely light it was or how it clanked precariously. Unlike my own sword, this one was not a katana, instead it seemed to be more like a poorly made ninjato. The thin, straight blade was clearly not made of the usual iron or steel since it was much too light for that, which made me wonder what it was made of, though I didn't get much time to contemplate as Iruka-sensei spoke up again.
"Everyone find a partner. And be careful with your swords!" He added sharply, frowning at a girl who apparently wanted to know how sharp the blade was by poking herself in the hand.
"Sakura-chan!" An enthusiastic shout came from my right and I turned to see Naruto dashing towards Sakura. "You wanna be partners?" He grinned hopefully, and the pinkette, much to my surprise, accepted with just a little bit of reluctance.
"Hey, Mutsuko right?" I turned to face a pretty blonde girl who had one eye hidden behind her hair. "Need a partner?" She offered with a small smile. If I recall correctly, she had been one of the people who'd hit the bullseye on every try with all the weapons so far. If it was the same with a sword then I'd definitely like to spar her.
"Sure." I smiled politely and we moved so that we were a good distance away from the other pairs.
"Now remember, I don't want anyone getting hurt today!" Iruka reminded pointedly. "I only want you practicing simple attacks and blocks. You may begin!"
We all turned towards our partners and I took a few steps back, positioning the sword by the left hip and hovering my hand over the hilt. Ino quickly drew the blade and discarded the sheath, clutching the handle with both hands. I would have frowned at her technique were she a samurai.
She stepped towards me and I did the same. She took another step and I did the same. We were just a foot away from each other when she suddenly swung her sword down at me. In the blink of an eye, mine was drawn and clashed with hers overhead. Her eyes widened and her grip weakened, giving me the chance to circle my blade around hers and twist it out of her hands. I flicked my sword to the right and hers was sent clattering to the ground.
Ino looked between me and the now discarded blade, shock evident on her pale features.
"H-how did..."
"I'm a samurai, remember?" I shrugged, sliding my sword back into its dented sheath and picking up its counterpart. "It's kind of what we do." I offered her the grip and she hesitantly took the sword, her eyes staying fixed on it like she'd never seen one before.
I'd quickly realized that she'd assumed I was just a particularly untalented student, which was partially true but only due to the fact that I wasn't taught the way they were.
Ino nodded slowly and looked back up at me. "How about another go?" Her smile was back in place and I nodded instinctively.
The second round wasn't much different from the first: quickly ending with Ino's sword stuck in the ground. We were able to get in three more, similarly brief, rounds after that, all of which ended the same way, before we were instructed to "change partners!" by Iruka-sensei.
I bid goodbye to the blonde girl and glanced around, looking for any of the few people I knew in the class: Naruto had decided to challenge a grey haired boy, Sakura paired up with Ino, and Shikamaru, whom I'd spoken to a few times before, was still partnerless. I started towards him, deciding that he was the best option, before being promptly stopped by a voice.
"Hey." Someone called from behind me. I say 'somebody' but I, unfortunately, knew exactly who the irritating monotone belonged to. "We're partners." Sasuke stated authoritatively. I resisted the urge to sigh as I saw Shikamaru pair up with a redhead boy.
"Fine." I grinded my teeth and turned to face him. I was about an inch taller so it was pleasantly easy to glare down at him.
"You may begin once you've found a partner!" Iruka called.
We both stepped back so that there was about five feet between us. I assumed my stance, and surprisingly, Sasuke seemed to be mirroring it. My eyes narrowed instantly. My fingers twitched as they hovered a hair's length away from the grip of my sword: a position which he copied as well.
In a burst of anger, I took a step forward and, next thing anyone knew, I was in front of him, my sword drawn and pointed at his neck. He was mid-step and had he caught himself just a second later, things wouldn't have ended quite so well for him.
My irritation was well hidden as I watched his jaw clench, a bead of sweat sliding down his forehead.
Did he really think he could draw a sword like I could? Or had he assumed IaidÅ was something that could learned with a glance?
I'm not sure what it was about his actions that had ticked me off so easily and I don't know why I was so upset, but I could ponder that later. Right now I needed to compose myself. I squashed the angry thoughts and stood up straight. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and sheathed my blade before stalking back to my starting spot.
I turned sharply and stared at the boy, who looked a mix between unnerved and confused. Luckily, neither of us had to be first to break the tension since Iruka immediately came running towards us.
"Mutsuko! Please don't do that! Sasuke could've gotten seriously hurt." He chided, giving me a disapproving frown. I huffed an apology and he hesitantly left with a "be careful."
There was a momentary silence where neither of us said a word.
He was the one to speak first, muttering a simple "again" and lowering into an attack stance.
So he was persistent, I'll give him that.
This time, he was smart enough to draw his sword before charging at me. I knew he was fast from our previous spars so I had no trouble meeting his blade. Unfortunately for him, his one-armed swing wasn't quite strong enough; I shoved him back and twisted his sword away in the same motion, causing him to stumble and his arm to fly to the side. His chest was left wide open to attack and, had I been an enemy, he would have been in a world of hurt. He must have realized this too as he recovered his stance as quickly as he could, a scowl now stamped on his face.
An tingling sensation spread through my hands as he took a step towards me. Though it was partially hidden by his hard expression, his movements were noticeably wary. It was always good to keep your opponents on their toes, to scare them just a little bit.
I motionlessly shook my head, I shouldn't be proud about winning against him; he was younger than me after all. I gave myself a mental slap on the wrist and returned my attention to the battle on hand.
I watched carefully as he stepped forward again, there was a sudden shift in his weight as he lunged at me, faster than last time. He feinted a swing at my left shoulder while aiming a kick at my right, and if I were any dimmer I might not have noticed it. I flicked my wrist and the pommel of my sword struck his calf, earning a pained hiss.
Sasuke stumbled backwards, almost tripping when he put pressure on the injured limb. He held his weight on his right leg and glared daggers at me. "Alright everyone, that's enough practice with the swords." Iruka announced with impeccable timing. Judging by his tone, he must not have noticed my wounded friend. "Put them back on the racks and get to your spots." We obligingly set our swords back onto their stands and shuffled to get to our positions in the square.
Iruka-sensei smiled at us and swiftly made all the weapons disappear. "That was good! I hope you all have a feel for the different kinds of tools you might want to use later on. And we'll be continuing to work with them tomorrow so be prepared." He skimmed over us, grin still in place. "Well that's all I have for you today, I need to run so I'll see you tomorrow." He waved before puffing away with a burst of smoke.
A collective sigh went through the class as our neat formation dissolved into small blobs of chatter.
I sat against one of the target dummies and winced as my back popped. It's been a while since I'd spared with a sword. It felt good, no matter how terrible the sword itself was. It reminded me that I had to find some time to practice with Atoyamai now that he was here. Just as I began brainstorming when and where I could do so, a pair of voices caught my attention.
"What's wrong with your leg?" A male voice questioned suspiciously.
"Nothing." The distinctly flat sound belonging to none other than Sasuke replied. I looked up to see him and his brother walking a distance in front of me.
"Are you hurt? You're not usually very clumsy." Itachi stated. Sasuke was walking with just a whisper of a limp, and frankly I was impressed by his tolerance. I didn't clip him too hard but it had to hurt; I always bruised pretty bad when I got hits like that.
"I'm fine." He asserted, clearly not in the best mood. He shot me a glare out of the corner of his eye and I waved cheerfully back at him.
"Shiromori-san." I almost jumped at the voice. I looked up and saw a familiar mask looming right above me.
"Jeez, quit sneaking up on people." I huffed and pushed myself off the ground.
"My apologies." He was anyways so formal.
"And I told you to call me Mutsuko." I reminded as we started back towards the village center. It was cold today and the wind only added to that, I pulled my jacket collar over my nose in an effort to shield myself from the biting chill.
"Protocol." He shrugged.
"Same reason my you won't tell me your name?"
"Correct."
"You're no fun."
"So I've been told."
I chuckled, despite my statement, he was actually pretty interesting. He could hold a decent conversation, just couldn't talk about anything too personal. That didn't stop me from blabbing on about myself, though. I would complain about how my orientation class was always such a bore, about how terrible I was at jutsus, about how complicated the shinobi mission system was. He would tell me little fun facts every now and then and I would laugh for one reason or another. I would gush about how excited I was to have Atoyamai with me, how terrible it was that shinobi didn't all have unique weapons. He would subtly poke fun at me and how fond I was off a sword.
It was nice to have a kind-of-friend.
As usual, we stopped by the edge of the marketplace.
"One o'clock." He said simply before puffing away.
I turned on my heels and, instead of heading for the lake, I started towards my 'apartment' building, as I'd taken to calling it.
Slipping past the heavy front door, I eagerly tugged my precious sword off the wall and let a bit of chakra flow into it. The blade began to fade until only a slight distortion of space remained. Like old man Mifune had said, people probably wouldn't appreciate seeing the foreign kid walking around with a sword at her hip. Right before I left, he had taught me how to create a shell that hid the sword by blending the light around it, and though it still left an odd ripple in the air where the weapon should be, it would work well enough that I could sneak it past the villagers without anyone noticing.
I made it to the lake in no time and lifted the protective shell. I hadn't passed anyone in the field on my way here and there wasn't anyone in sight, so I wasted no time in getting started.
I chose a tree and marked it with a small, shallow cut about four feet above the base. I stepped back so I was no less than ten feet away from my target and shifted into an offensive position: left hand holding the scabbard, right hand barely touching the grip, one leg drawn back, and standing tall. I fixed my eyes on the tree, not looking at the mark, and stared it down for a moment. My mind was barely aware as I launched myself forwards and made a swift slash.
I closed my eyes and listened carefully, incredibly pleased at the lack of noise. I dropped my battle stance and turned around, sheathing my precious sword.
As I crouched down by the tree, I examined the mark I'd made earlier. Just skimming the top of the of the cut was a thin line that wrapped all the way around the trunk; it was practically invisible unless you were looking for it.
I gave a satisfactory sigh, proud that I had retained my training in my time here.
But, if I wanted that to continue to hold true, I had to keep practicing. So I picked another tree a few feet away. Then another. Then another. And by the time my lunch break was over, I'd gone through nearly two dozen.
Of course, I knew that I had destabilized these trees and that they could fall over once they started dying, meaning they might hurt someone on their way down, so I walked over to the nearest one and pushed it off balance. The top half of the tree, which was about seven feet tall, tilted slowly before giving into gravity and crashing to the ground, a loud thud sounding as it hit. I found the other trees and sent them down as well, thanking myself for having the foresight to choose targets that were decently scattered, making it much less obvious that the area had been used for training.
"You always manage to make it just on time." The anbu mused as I puffed, doubled over and trying to catch my breath.
"I'd never... make you wait." I grinned, still slightly lightheaded. "Anyways! Take me to the torture chamber!" I commanded with a finger pointed to the sky.
"Clever." He said halfheartedly. I knew he was smiling under that mask.
"That's what they call me!"
A knock came at the Hokage's office door.
"Come in." He called, his smoking habits painfully evident in his voice.
The door squeaked open and Iruka stepped out from behind it. Sarutobi motioned for him to sit, setting his pipe down on a raised wooden square.
"How did she do?" He questioned, leaning back in his chair with elbows resting on either side.
"Even better than I'd expected. I don't think I've seen anyone so young handle a sword like that." Iruka nodded thoughtfully. "She used it as naturally as we use hand signs, it was really quite impressive."
The Hokage chuckled humorlessly, a light smile lingering behind. "As expected from Mifune's student. And how is her ninjutsu coming along?"
"Not much improvement, unfortunately. She doesn't seem to be able to direct her chakra correctly..." Iruka trailed as he saw the older man shake his head. "Sir?" Sarutobi turned his chair to face the window, staring silently for a moment before answering.
"It's not her chakra control that's the problem." He stated gruffly. "Samurai have an excellent understanding of the nature of chakra, perhaps even better than we do. They're a very spiritualistic people, you know." He added mildly. Iruka hesitated.
"Then... what do you think she's having trouble with?" He asked uncertainly. Sarutobi hummed, as if carefully contemplating his answer.
"That... I am unsure of." He said finally. "We will need more time to find out. And maybe it won't matter at all. Time will tell." It was clear he wasn't going to continue on the topic, so Iruka simply nodded and remained silent. "Anyways, your reports are very helpful. Please continue to keep an eye on the girl." Sarutobi turned back around to face him.
"Of course, sir. Please excuse me then." The young man bowed respectfully and made his way out of the room.
Hello hello! I hope you enjoyed this new installment of Mutsuko's adventures! I really had fun writing in a first person POV and I plan to do quite a few more in this style. As always, I love all your reviews and I really hope you'll take the time to leave one.
Thank you all for reading!