In hindsight, they should have separated the groups. It's not that the Rookies weren't supposed to learn about teamwork but it was just that Konoha didn't have the budget for extra repairs on top of the ones that were still in progress.
Kakashi reached up to scratch at a persistent itch under his headband as he assessed the redecorated training ground 49. It looked nothing like before. If Kakashi had not personally seen and supervised the destruction, he would have feared rogue-nin attacking Konoha. Again.
There was a crater where there hadn't been one yesterday and several matching ones around it. The sole tree the field boasted looked like a burned matchstick. It only stood upright because of a brand new lump of earth supporting it.
The once green grass was scorched in several places, muddy in others and wrong in one spot. A large part of grass near the wall of mountains that shielded the field on one side, laid upside down. The rock had suffered just as much, showing black smudges and crumbling caves. A horizontal cut, half a meter deep and with sharp edges, spanned a length of two houses across the wall.
"They sure did a number on the field here." Asuma, who felt the need to speak in times where no one else did, said. Kakashi, who tried to limit his speech to moments where it would annoy someone, agreed.
"Lady Tsunade won't be happy." he said and turned to his friend.
Asuma grimaced, "Probably not." He gave the ruined field another look and shrugged, "Maybe we can convince her that this is a much better version? I mean, it's so..." he made some helpless gestures, "diverse."
He had a point.
They walked over to the other teachers, huddled together on the only warm spot in the sun this early in the morning. Kurenai and Guy had that pinched expression of someone hunted by village officials. Ibiki probably had more people looking for him than any of them combined but he carried his burden like Kakashi carried his attitude. Iruka stood on the side, scribbling something on his notepad.
"Who is going to tell Lady Tsunade?" Kurenai said in lieu of greeting, "Not me."
Bummer, Kakashi thought morosely, remembering his own conversation with the Hokage in question the previous night.
Iruka tapped on the notepad, face tight, "I still can't understand how this happened. This was just the first day and they are mostly Genin."
He turned his critical eyes on Kakashi and squinted, "And don't think I can't tell when you're hiding something."
The teachers shared a look. Most of them hadn't slept yet and the ones who had, had done so in uniform. Kakashi sighed, "Well, I guess I should begin."
The day before~
When Iruka made Ninjutsu the first lesson of the week, he was thinking ahead. He let his combined experience as both a teacher and friend of Kakashi guide his path and illuminate it with the foresight that the students would perform best if they knew how good the lessons were. When given by the other teachers.
Kakashi was great, fantastic, a near perfect Shinobi, which is why they only had two options for his solo time slot: the beginning or the end. Putting his lesson in the beginning would temper expectations, putting him at the end would only cause the tired little students to go feral.
Iruka had spent one or two days watching Kakashi teach and he had concluded that the only reason Team 7 worked, was because all four of them missed one or two bolts in their brains. Their friendship held the edges together like duct tape around four boats on fire.
So Ninjutsu first.
The field they had all gathered on had a whole lot of nothing and a hastily constructed building for everything indoors. The very first thing the Genin were sent to do when they arrived was to get inside and put their stuff away without a fight. The last part, punctuated by a lethal glare from Iruka and Ibiki, Sakura repeated several times in various volumes. Her scorching eyes and white-knuckled grip on her teammates' arms followed the Rookies into the building.
The teachers gathered underneath the thin tree – grown by 'redacted' and pointedly ignored the sounds coming from the building. Iruka rubbed his hands, mostly to get some life back in them after a night of last minute revisions.
"Are you guys ready?" he asked because he had nothing else to say.
There were a few nods, some grunts and Kurenai affirming out loud as per protocol. He sighed.
"We need to get them as distracted as possible. In a focused way." he added after a pause, "So make your lessons as crazy as possible without y'know, destroying Konoha."
Kakashi tapped the spine of his book against his temple and frowned, "That's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried that we're encouraging their... research by putting them all together like this."
Kurenai, who had the privilege to get an eye full of the contents of Kakashi's book, tore her gaze from an anatomically incorrect drawing and said, "I'm worried too, but at least now we can learn just how far they've gotten and nip it in the bud."
Kakashi, pretty sure that they were way past 'buds' now, shrugged and said nothing. He was curious to see the theories and half-truth's the Genin had managed to uncover. Ibiki gave him a long look. Before things could get too uncomfortable, however, the doors behind them opened and the first of the Genin stumbled out.
"Aha," Guy bellowed, "of course my brilliant students are first to come out!"
Tenten panted as she pushed Lee outside. Both looked disheveled. Lee had feathers in his hair. Neji walked out as composed as ever but Guy could see the tension in his body, the carefully suppressed urge to sprint away from the source of danger. Whatever had happened inside the building while the teachers had been conversing, Guy was glad he didn't have to face it alone.
Next to come out were Hinata and Shino, both even more subdued than before. Kurenai winced at the red paint streaked across Shino's coat. Hinata looked mildly traumatized but she always did so Kurenai didn't rush over.
One by one the rest exited. Asuma let out a near imperceptible sigh when his (former) team walked out with all their limbs still attached. Ibiki's shoulders relaxed a little when his infamous trio appeared. Chi's eyes were full on yellow, Shinji and Ryuya remained exactly four steps behind her. Shinji's clothes were black and therefore the only sign of something were the red footprints she left behind.
Kakashi's posture lost its easy confidence the longer his team stayed inside. Right as he decided to march in and drag them out, they arrived. Naruto had a head full of feathers, Sasuke stoically didn't acknowledge the paint dripping from his shoulder and Sakura looked like a tired mother of ten.
"Great," Iruka said with remarkable restraint, "let's begin!"
After a meager five minutes, Kakashi looked at the group diligently studying copies of the same, long and boring scroll, and back at Iruka.
"This is not part of my lesson."
Iruka, with the same restraint as earlier, replied, "It is now."
"Iruka, this is dull."
"Kakashi, you can't teach them Ninjutsu without learning the theory behind it."
Kakashi didn't whine, but he did pull out his book and started to read. Iruka's restraint started to slip.
Half an hour later, Naruto's hair was on fire, which Kakashi had expected. Shinji solved it by creating a tiny waterfall above his head and soaking both him and the scroll. Sasuke decided to dry the scroll with a Fireball and long story short, Naruto's hair was on fire.
Another two hours passed and Kakashi didn't get it. All they had to do was create a ball of light with their hands. Nothing special, just a little glowing orb that could come in handy in dark spaces. By far the easiest, most practical Ninjutsu he could come up with that wasn't a complete waste of chakra.
Instead four Genin had reported burns, two reported temporary blindness, two others (unnecessarily) reported explosions and the rest managed a meager blob. Only Sakura, his precious, precious student, had created a sensibly small orb. It gave off a gentle glow and she spent the remaining time manipulating the shape, size and intensity of it.
Ryuya seemed to actively avoid using her chakra whereas Shinji went in too enthusiastically and had subsequently spent more time using her Water-nature dousing techniques than anything else. Hinata and Neji looked miserable but managed a decent example.
Chi's orb kept spawning little orbs. They floated around with little control, collided and exploded. Kakashi hadn't figured that one out yet. He stood with her for a while, scratching his brain for solutions. Chi obediently added more or less chakra in the jutsu, which is to say: the orb fluctuated between little sparks and blinding lights, but nothing reduced the numbers. He sent Sakura to her and hoped for the best.
(Sakura returned five minutes later, led by Ino, with singed hair.)
Naruto's orb started as a nice, firm ball but quickly turned into a small sun. It left the rest of the group blinking and in some cases temporarily blind. Naruto apologized to the Hyuuga's before sitting down cross-legged to sulk. Before Sasuke could make a remark, however, Naruto stuck his hand up in the air and asked if the jutsu wasn't basically a non-violent Rasengan. Kakashi, trying to speak around the sudden lump in his throat, nodded and smiled.
Three minutes later both he and Chi had to put our fires in their clothes. The ground beneath them was a crater. Needless to say, both had to practice further away from the rest.
By far the best of them turned out to be Shikamaru. He studied the rest for a moment, gave Sakura an extra look, and then sauntered up to Kakashi to present a perfect little orb. After receiving Kakashi's nod of approval, he extinguished it and went to take a nap.
Lee ran around the field on his hands.
"Alright," Kakashi decided after another hour, "time for lunch. Take half an hour."
He left before the message could fully sink in. The other teachers were lounging in the shade at the edge of the field, looking none too impressed.
"That went well," Kakashi said and plopped down on a boulder besides Asuma, "Do we have sake?"
"What are you going to do after the break?" Kurenai asked, passing him an unlabeled bottle.
Kakashi shrugged, squinting in the meager sun, "Make them fight me. Test their teamwork and stuff."
The teachers looked at him with incredulous silence. Kakashi huffed, "I did prepare for my part."
Somehow that did not shock them any less.
Present~
Kakashi ended his tale with a look that told his colleagues that he had not forgiven them for that yet. And this time they couldn't buy his forgiveness with a book (since there hadn't been another volume of Icha Icha in long while).
Iruka rolled his eyes, "I knew most of that but at least this explains the burns."
"And the mud." Kakashi pointed out, "Shinji's getting really good at Water-nature jutsu's, by the way."
Ibiki winced, "What did she do?"
Kakashi waved his hand, "She stopped a few wildfires and saved Sakura's hair. Most of it, anyway." he added. Ibiki relaxed.
Iruka nodded slowly. After his impromptu lesson on Ninjutsu theory yesterday, he had been called back to the village to teach at the Academy. One of Kakashi's massive dogs had licked his face this morning and brought him back to the field. How the dog had entered his house, Iruka didn't know and frankly he didn't care. In this geopolitical climate, getting assassinated by a dog would make many a shinobi green with envy.
"Did no one stay with the kids?" Iruka asked, "You know, to stop that."
Asuma shifted and nodded, "Yeah, we got some trusted ANBU stationed around here. We got their reports."
He handed over a map with colorful tabs sticking out. Inside were sheets filled with the same, cramped handwriting. Iruka squinted, "This is very detailed."
He frowned and brought the paper closer, "Very detailed."
Kurenai glanced at Kakashi, "Who the hell did you ask?"
"An old friend. I think he wanted to become an author at some point." Kakashi shrugged.
"What does it say?" Asuma asked curiously. Iruka pursed his lips, "Well..."
–
TRAINING GROUND 49. 1334 – LOGGED BY [REDACTED]
Once s[REDACTED] had left the field, the Genin and Chuunin gathered in a semi-circle to consume their lunch. (Important: CHI KETSUEKI left the premises early but didn't stray too far. Colleague #2 kept an eye and their reports are in the attachment.) They chatted about:
The weather
The ongoing war (Nothing of interest noted)
Their food. (Team 7 in particular drew attention because they only consumed instant ramen. This cannot contain enough nutritions for this stage of their life and I recommend s[REDACTED!] to please take appropriate measures for their diets.)
INO YAMANAKA spent the lunch trying to get SHIKAMARU NARA to move from what she determined was the softest part of the grass. She failed.
Various issues they had with [REDACTED]. (Details are in the attachment)
RYUYA AKAMURA's mission to the Sand (I am not certain. Is this not meant to be classified? It is espionage, if I understand correctly.)
I shall elaborate on the last point because I wish to comment on several parts of the ensuing situation. RYUYA AKAMURA stood in the center of the group. She spoke about her mission in Sand (which I do believe should have been left to a more experienced Chuunin, if I may be so free s[SE[REDACTED!]) She did not speak of many details, so I won't add any here.
Notable interested listeners were:
SAKURA HARUNO
SASUKE UCHIHA (though he attempted to hide it)
INO YAMANAKA
HINATA HYUUGA
NEJI HYUUGA
ROCK LEE (is that his real name?)
SHIKAMARU NARA (asleep but not really)
SHINO ABURAME (unsure, hard to read)
The remaining group was doing the following:
NARUTO UZUMAKI: Still practicing the Glowing orb jutsu
KIBA INAZUKA: Playing with AKAMARU the DOG
CHOJI AKIMICHI: Eating.
SHINJI LEE: Lost in thoughts.
TENTEN (last name not found?): Working on what appeared to be storage seals.
AKAMURA (the Genin. It seems that there are two Akamaru's here, I shall clarify accordingly) appeared satisfied with the attention. In fact, when the conversation turned to her, she sat straight and at ease. The fact that her own teammates were either not paying attention or not present, did bother her a little but not as much as would be considered normal. Recent research done by the YAMAKA clan suggests that this development can and should be addressed in a meeting with a specialist. If required, I can write a letter of recommendation.
INAZUKA started paying attention when AKAMARU (Genin, not dog) mentioned a run-in with a patrol at the border with Sand. (Once again I must say that this mission should at least be a B-grade mission and above the level of AKAMARU at this time). The following is directly transcribed from the conversation:
"Did you have to kill anyone?" INAZUKA asked, leaning back on his hands. AKAMARU (the dog, not the Genin) sat between his legs, devouring the remains of INAZUKA's lunch-box.
AKAMARU (the Genin, not the dog) shook her head and INAZUKA let out a disappointed grunt, laying down completely. (I would recommend the designated teacher to train that out of him.)
YAMANAKA rolled her eyes, "Are you going to do more missions?"
"Probably," AKAMARU's (the Genin, not dog) smile dimmed a little, "things are a little crazy right now."
"I can't imagine being in Sand right now." YAMANAKA shuddered. (I completely agree)
AKAMARU's (Genin again) expression tightened. For a moment it looked like she would say something. Something shocking, completely unexpected. It left as soon as it came. It was a strange moment. The rest of the Rookies, apart from NARA, missed it.
The transcription ends here.
KETSUEKI returned using the Flicker jutsu. She did not seem balanced upon arrival. AKAMARU (the dog) started barking at her. INAZUKA looked like he was about to join. Both HYUUGA's seemed unsettled.
I am familiar with KETSUEKI's feeding habits and-
–
Iruka stopped reading and looked up. The teachers looked concerned.
"I'll finish reading this later and we'll pass the files around. No copies." Iruka stressed, "No one can know."
The teachers nodded. Iruka looked around the training ground once more, "I hate to ask, but what else happened?"
"Well," Kakashi began, "I did as I said I would do."
The field, the day before~
Kakashi returned in an explosion of smoke in which,much to Sakura and Sasuke's mortification, had copious amounts of blue glitter in them. They shared a look and prayed no one else noticed it. When Naruto with his stupidly sharp eyes tried to say something about it, Sasuke slapped his head and Sakura stuffed the remaining rice ball in his mouth.
"Alright, team up!" Kakashi ushered them over with his book. The group gave each other wary looks as they went over to their teams.
"All of you go sit over there," he pointed in the general direction of the building, "and one team will stay for the first round."
Naturally, Naruto jumped up, "Oh, oh, us! Kakashi-sensei, us!" Sakura had the good sense to pull him back down.
Kakashi ignored him. His lone eye went straight to the corner where Team 11 stood. All three stiffened before he even spoke.
"You three, you're first."
Ibiki wouldn't kill him over this. Kakashi was like eighty percent sure of it.
And under the wide eyed stares of their peers, the three shuffled forward. Ryuya and Shinji in that straight-backed manner Ibiki must have drilled into them since the first day. Chi walked behind them like she didn't know whether to run away or attack them. The onlookers tensed in anticipation.
She would make a fine war-time shinobi, Kakashi thought and quickly got rid of it. Team 11 stood before them like prisoners led to the gallows.
"What's the assignment, Sensei?" Shinji asked nervously.
Kakashi smiled and all three tensed even more. He pointed at himself, "Attack me."
All three went wide-eyed.
He held up his book with his free hand, "And try to take my book from me, whole. Not one page, or a scrap. The whole thing without a scratch."
They better remember that, he thought darkly. His own team sure had forgotten it. Kids these days had no respect for the finer arts.
Shinji exchanged a quick look with Ryuya, "Attack? Are you sure, Sensei?"
Cute.
"Come at me like you would at an enemy." he nodded and belatedly remembered that these three were Ibiki's students.
The three looked like they had never even heard of battle formations. Chi kind of bent her knees, as if to get in a stance. Ryuya grimaced and looked away. Shinji scratched her head, "Well, euh, how long have you had that book?"
The snort came definitely from Shikamaru.
Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, "I meant, in a battlefield."
Shinji looked miserable, "But sensei, we haven't practiced battle formations since the Academy."
"You can still fight." Kakashi said, "Get in formation and attack me."
"Alright." Ryuya sighed and stepped aside. Shinji made a half-hearted wave, as if clearing the path for Chi to step forward. Chi looked grim but in a way most students look in front of a particularly hard test they hadn't studied for. She took some steps and halted, waiting for some sort of signal. The rest of the students also seemed to wait for some kind of signal.
Except for his trio.
"You don't have to wait for him to call 'start' or something!" Sakura called from the sidelines, "Kakashi-sensei doesn't do that stuff."
Kakashi nodded in agreement. His patience was running out.
Ryuya moved, much to his surprise. Her arm went to her thigh and up in a fluid, practiced move, and a senbon hit the ground in front of him. He stared at it. She stared at it. Shinji stared at it. Chi looked away.
"That-" Ryuya stammered, "That- I-"
"You know what," Kakashi said, "just attack me and try to get the book."
That couldn't be hard, even for a spy-in-training, an interrogator-in-training, and a whatever-in-training. Team 7 had figured it out. Eventually.
Team 11 gave each other some uncomfortable looks. Ryuya and Shinji disappeared. Chi remained awkwardly on her spot. Her eyes were a muddled orange and large in her gaunt face. She put one foot behind her and took a breath meant to be steadying.
Kakashi began to read. He easily side-stepped Chi's punch and dodged her kick. Chi pulled back and gritted her teeth. For someone just out of the hospital, she held herself remarkably well. She went for a low punch. As in, she aimed for Kakashi's groin and he instinctively twisted out of the way.
"Fighting dirty, huh?" he mused, a bit concerned.
Chi wiped some stray hairs out of her mouth and ground out, "All fights are dirty."
"Well spoken." he said, "but you'll need to hit me-"
Chi made the sign so fast any regular shinobi would have missed it. Kakashi took a step back and blocked the incoming Shadow clone with one hand and threw it against Chi. They landed on a heap, with the clone disappearing once Chi hit the ground. She groaned on the spot.
Kakashi wanted to slap himself. Chi had just gotten out of the hospital after Lady Tsunade had glued most of her nerves and bones back together. He lowered his hands, "Can you get up?"
Chi gritted her teeth and crawled to her feet. Her eyes zeroed in on Kakashi, bright orange and flecked with yellow. Still holding the book up, Kakashi stopped reading.
The ground exploded beneath Chi's feet as she charged. He dodged a punch that would have broken at least two ribs and lightly kicked her foot away. Chi stumbled but managed to Flicker away. Without pausing she turned and attacked again.
Kakashi had no issue avoiding her hits but her growing viciousness concerned him. Her chakra fluctuated at random and he could not find any technique in her fighting style. It was like all the training with the other teams and ANBU had been forgotten.
"Why aren't you using any jutsu?" he couldn't help but ask as he pushed her back. She skidded to a halt a good distance away.
Not even out of breath, Kakashi observed, but she doesn't look healthy.
"Jutsu?" Chi's eyes contrasted with her gray pallor, her old and worn clothes. She looked washed out and sickly, like the junkies in the Capital. Perhaps she had been released too soon.
"Chi," he said, "use Ninjutsu."
"Ninjutsu?" she echoed. Kakashi nodded. It was time to stop hiding the Ketsueki nature. If they were to keep Chi on the light path and treat her right, her closest peers had to realize that the Ketsueki did more than drink blood and terrify people.
Her face went blank before a terrible smile pulled her lips apart, "Okay, sensei-"
For a brief second Kakashi contemplated revealing his Sharingan, but that would open a can of worms the size of Konoha. He waited, ready for anything. Tsunade had told him in no uncertain terms that Chi would be unable to perform any high level jutsu's that didn't amount to 'aim a ton of chakra that way'. Her control was shot.
Chi brought her hands together and took a deep breath. Kakashi wouldn't call himself a true sensor, but sensing her chakra swelling was child's play. It burned and grew. Her eyes turned bright yellow. Kakashi stepped back.
Chi took a breath, drew her favored Kyogetsu-shoge and swung it in a wide circle, "Wind-style: Wind Cutter!"
What followed was definitely not an ordinary Wind-Cutter. Kakashi had half a second to admire it before he replaced himself with one of the abandoned lunchboxes. The poor thing stood no chance.
The jutsu, following the swing of a relatively small blade, manipulated the wind into a scythe the size of which would have made Zabuza weep. It sliced through the air, through the branches from that single three and crashed into the rock wall that shielded the training ground.
"Like a hot knife..." Kakashi murmured, eye trained on the deep cut in solid stone. Thin tendrils of smoke still rose from the grass as he went back.
"Very destructive," he said, "but you'll need to execute it faster than that in an one-on-one."
Chi's eyes zeroed in on him. Her weapon hung limp from the chain in her hand. The blade looked like it would cauterize any cuts it made. "Execute?"
Kakashi grimaced, "Perform-"
"We can execute." Chi said and took one step forward.
Uh oh.
Chi collapsed, one hand pressed against her stomach, "N-no-"
Her head jerked to the side and she curled in on herself. Her muscles tensed, veins pressed against her paper-like skin, swelling and darkening. The air turned sour as she grabbed a fistful of grass with her free hand. Kakashi tried hard not to think of a scene from 'Clan of Parasites' where the parasite tried to separate from the host' body.
"Sensei..." Naruto's quiet voice drifted over. Kakashi could not have reacted more suspiciously when he whipped around and stared at his warhead of a student. Naruto was looking queasy and rubbed at his belly. Both Hyuuga's were too well-trained to react openly, but Neji's was shuffling forward to stand between Hinata and Naruto.
Kakashi decided to end it. He appeared right beside Chi. She reacted faster than he anticipated and shot away. Kakashi chased relentlessly. They crossed the field twice in a wide circle. Several times, Chi tried to form a jutsu which Kakashi stopped using a kunai.
"You told me to use Ninjutsu." Chi panted, even as her face tried to take on two expressions at once. All her previous composure had left.
Kakashi stopped, considering his best options. Chi observed him from a fair distance.
"Alright," Kakashi said, "you have one more chance. Show me what you can do."
Chi nodded warily and tried to shake some of the tension out of her arms. It looked like it hurt. Her arm jerked and she folded over.
"Chi," Kakashi said in a low tone, " you can sit this one out."
Her knee gave in. She violently shook her head.
"Sensei-" Naruto called out from behind him. Kakashi considered Chi's shaking form as she tried to scramble back up and made a decision.
He hit a spot on the back of her head. Her face went slack and her body relaxed. All in all, Chi fainted quite ordinarily. He caught her by the collar of her haori and laid her down on grass, on her back.
That taken care of, he turned to where the other two were hiding. The field was clear. So they had mastered hiding in plain sight. In their future line of work this was the best skill to have.
Now what are they planning?
An instinct so old and paranoid it had to come from being in Danzo's proximity more than once, made Kakashi jump away. Something thin shot right passed his hand, almost making him drop his book. He turned and his eyes zeroed in on the offender.
The senbon.
The one Ryuya had thrown earlier. It hovered in the air like the head of a snake. A thread, only visible because Kakashi looked for it, hung from one end. He followed the trail behind him.
A dozen senbon flew in from behind him. Kakashi jumped in the air, only for the senbon to follow. Again, thin lines of chakra were controlling them. He Flickered out of the way.
"You've learned the Sand's puppeteer-technique." Kakashi said, impressed, "Very well done."
Ryuya stood between Ino and Shikamaru, hidden behind Choji's frame. Her face was pinched in concentration as she moved her fingers. The lines stretched from her place to the senbon. He frowned and cast a cursory glance at Chi's prone form. She seemed undisturbed even though Ryuya had to be using her chakra for this.
"What else can you do?" he murmured more to himself.
The answer came when Ryuya whistled. Shinji's signature finally joined the party. Team 11 kept on surprising him. Not just with their jutsu's, and being able to hide themselves fully, but also that they seemed to be working together after all! Great! Brilliant!
Shinji dropped out of thin air, which was an ANBU show trick, right in front of Kakashi. She threw a kunai at the same time as she shouted, "Which page are you reading!"
Kakashi sighed.
"Shinji the book! Grab the book- he's gone." Ryuya threw her hands up, "You ruined my plan!"
Shinji whirled to her, "I didn't even know about your plan!"
Ryuya turned red, "How could you not see-"
The book pressed against Shinji's nose, making her go cross-eyed. Kakashi tried not to sound too unkind when he said, "Fail."
Ryuya muttered something that made Hinata's knees go weak. Kakashi decided he was fine not knowing.
"Team 11 fail. Go get your teammate and let her wake up on her own. Shouldn't take longer than two minutes now. If it does, come get me." Kakashi ordered and turned to the rest.
"It's almost time for dinner. I assume you know who's on the cooking roster today?" he said sweetly.
All eyes went to Team 8. Shino seemed to sink further behind his collar. Kiba offered what he thought was a confident grin and dragged his teammates in the building.
Slowly, the rest dispersed too. Ryuya and Shinji, both red with embarrassment and residual upset, went to Chi.
"One more minute before she wakes!" Kakashi tried not to snap but his mood wasn't great at the moment. The two jolted.
Present~
The teachers had moved to the roof of the 'Base' as they had dubbed it. Asuma had brought a parasol somewhere during his evening watch and they huddled underneath it for some shelter against the fierce Autumn sun.
"Their failure is mine." Ibiki sighed, "They were apart for too long, trained in different subjects under different teachers... I should break them up."
Kurenai shook her head, "No, Ibiki. There is hope."
Ibiki shook his head, "No, you saw what happened at dinner."
"They were friends once." Iruka said somberly, "I remember seeing them do D-ranks."
"And then they fell apart." Ibiki said, "I'm not even sure when it happened."
Asuma looked over the field. He traced the outline of the largest crater with his finger, "We got two Genin who did that without even trying much."
The rest followed his gaze, "If anyone finds out just how destructive Naruto and Chi are-"
"Don't even start that route." Kurenai wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Iruka leaned forward on his hands, files a heavy weight in his lap, "They fought about Chi leaving right? I missed the beginning."
Asuma nodded, "The details are probably documented by our pal at ANBU, but I think Ryuya and Shinji were still a little sore from failing the test."
He took a sip from his water-bottle and continued, "Chi left to get her... er- dinner, and Ryuya kind of called her out on that."
"Don't they know about...?" Kurenai glanced at Ibiki.
He shrugged, "They know enough. Chi doesn't talk much about her clan and she eats whenever they eat." his brow furrowed, "She didn't used to drink this often. Just a sip every now and then."
Iruka rubbed his hands over his face, "This is turning into a disaster!"
"No, Iruka-" Kurenai patted his back, "it isn't. Promise. This is probably the best thing to have happened."
She nudged Asuma's foot with her own.
"Ah-" he started, "Yes, it is! We eh- we can actually see their progress at once. They're usually all over the place."
Kurenai glared at him. Ibiki stepped in, "Don't forget what's on the horizon."
At their looks he continued, "We're basically in the beginnings of a war and these kids are going to be the ones fighting in it, let's be honest. We need to evaluate them and polish their edges. This is the best opportunity to do that."
Kakashi looked up at the sky, "At least we know they're strong."
It earned him some weak laughs as the teacher remembered the fight they had arrived to.
The day before, dinner~
Asuma's heart was in his throat as he sought out his team. They stood against the wall, with Shikamaru standing further away. His eyes were narrowed and trained on the raging battle just ahead of them. The wind all around him was charged with chakra and it made his skin tingle.
The ground shook when Naruto landed a Rasengan (!?). Chi was just a dark blur as she dodged it. Naruto landed on his feet and sped after her, disappearing outside the ring of light from the building's outdoor lamps.
"What the hell is happening here?" Ibiki's booming voice echoed over the ground as he landed. He immediately turned to the remaining members of Team 11. The two shrank where they stood.
"Speak!" Ibiki spat. On cue, a piece of rock crumbled down the cliff.
The Jonin turned to see Naruto mid-air, falling down to the ground while Chi extracted her fist from the stone.
Ibiki swore under his breath and moved to presumably drag Chi down by her ear. Ryuya clutched his sleeve and let go as if burned when he turned to her.
"Sensei-" she stammered, "Chi attacked..."
Asuma wondered if he would have been able to speak with Ibiki glaring like that as a Genin.
"What's the whole story?" Ibiki demanded.
Shinji shuffled her feet, "We- We were arguing again."
That had to be calculated. The correct one because Ibiki didn't explode. Shinji gulped, and continued under heavy gazes, "I think- This time Chi- She-"
"Speak clearly." Ibiki snapped.
Asuma caught Kurenai's eyes and shook his head minutely. She clenched her jaw and gathered her own team closer.
"You're going down!" Naruto yelled from somewhere up the mountain.
"Oh no, you don't." Kakashi muttered under his breath as he ran to break them apart. Sakura and Sasuke exchanged wary looks.
"She just burst." Shinji finally managed.
In between the sounds of crashing and the wild chakra signatures that made everyone's hair stand on end, the story spilled out.
Chi had indeed 'burst' with anger, unable to control it like she usually did. Perhaps that had shaken her teammates the most. Even the more experienced Rookies from Guy's team looked unsure. Guy himself hadn't been able to respond to the alarm from the ANBU but his team had seen worse before. Asuma kept an eye on them just in case.
"I know we push, but Chi never snaps. She just comes back harder." Ryuya said quietly, "We always fought like that."
Ibiki glared, "You know she's not the same. She just got out of the hospital too."
Ryuya nodded, eyes downcast.
"She actually used her Wind-element instead of her own." Shinji frowned, "Not sure if she knew but she nearly blew everyone down. Naruto stepped up then."
Ino leaned closer to Asuma, "Shika wanted to grab her shadow but I didn't think that was a great idea."
Asuma nodded, trying not to look too relieved. He turned around and ushered Sakura and Sasuke closer. They looked a little lost in the group and the fact that they went quietly said enough.
"They-" Ryuya began, "they just took off."
"It was insane." Kiba agreed and instantly cowered when Ibiki's glare turned to him.
Shino, in a rare moment of joining a conversation, shifted, "We decided to not step in their fight. Why? Because both of them have approximately four times our chakra reserves and they were angry. We chose the rational option."
Ibiki considered him for a moment and nodded. Kurenai let out a near invisible sigh of relief.
All heads snapped up when the sound of birds drifted over.
"No way." Asuma breathed.
High up the wall, a pinprick of blue, electric light showed where Kakashi stood in the darkness of the evening. On either side of the light were two other rapidly approaching pinpricks.
"N-Naruto is using that jutsu, Rasengan, again." Hinata squeaked. Her Byakugan was active. "A-and Chi is using her Kyogetsu-shoge, but it's coated in chakra."
"It didn't seem like a chakra-conduit..." Asuma mused, eyes focused on the impending crash.
"It's not-" Hinata stuttered, "it's cracking."
Just as she said that, the two pinpricks reached Kakashi and the blue light went out. A split second later the wall exploded. Only two seconds later, Kakashi landed in their midst. He dropped out of the air holding a student under each arm like a sack of rice. Neither moved.
Ibiki lifted Chi out of his arms and roughly inspected her face. Kakashi more or less pushed Naruto to his feet and both students ended up side by side, swaying. Chi's haori was gone. Naruto's vest was now a sleeve. Soot and dust covered their faces. Naruto had smears of blood coagulating on his knuckles but his eyes were somewhat clear. Chi's eyes were half-lidded and dark red.
Sakura tentatively stepped forward, eyeing the black scores on Chi's bare arms. Ibiki caught her looking and shook his head.
"Don't worry about those."
Sakura stopped and turned to Naruto. Kakashi gave him one more look and sighed, "He's fine, just tired and dusty."
Chi and Naruto quietly let their teachers and peers stare at them. Both looked like zombies about to crash.
"So," Kakashi said with forced lightness, "let's not do that again. Ever." He had dust covering his shoulders and knees but nothing else. Only Asuma noticed how his headband sat too high.
Naruto took a breath but thankfully decided against speaking. He nodded. Ibiki reached out and swatted Chi on the head. Asuma grimaced.
Chi looked up, more like a petulant child than a murderous demon, and gave a curt nod. The tension lessened by a fraction.
"Good." Ibiki said and it sounded like a promise and a threat all in one.
Kurenai began gathering the students and senting them back inside to finish their dinners and get ready for bed. Most went. Team 11 stood rooted to their spots when Ibiki cleared his throat. Asuma shook his head and began to herd the rest indoors as well.
Sasuke left last, eyes still on Naruto. He probably hadn't noticed how his fists were balled tight. His Sharingan was on full display but thankfully no one commented on it. Asuma stepped in his line of sight and smiled thinly against Sasuke's annoyed look.
When even the Uchiha had entered the door, Asuma turned and caught Kakashi's eye. His friend looked saddened. Naruto sensed the lack of attention and bounced in after Sasuke. Asuma offered a more genuine smile at Kakashi and closed the door. He leaned against it and took out his cigarette case. Kurenai joined him a second later, appearing from thin air. She didn't bother to comment on the smoke and only sighed.
"Chi, come with me." she said and much to everyone's surprise, Chi obeyed. Without so much as a backwards glance she followed Kurenai around the building.
"Ryuya," Ibiki said in a low voice, once they were gone. Ryuya reluctantly straightened her back and went to stand in front of him. Shinji watched from the sidelines.
"What did you say to Chi that set her off like this?"
Ryuya turned red and hunched her shoulders.
"Stand straight." Ibiki ordered and she did so hurriedly.
"I-" Ryuya cleared her throat and wiped her expression clear, "I was acting on emotion, sensei. I challenged her because I- I felt-" she faltered but her expression remained blank.
Kakashi felt his stomach twist unpleasantly.
"How did you challenge her?" Ibiki continued.
Ryuya clenched her jaw briefly before she replied, "I told her to try and blend in more. She always ate with us, so why not now?"
Ibiki didn't reply. The silence stretched far beyond the realm of comfort. Ryuya's eyes reddened with unshed tears. It was almost too cruel to watch.
"I'm sorry sensei." she eventually added. Her voice cracked at the end.
Ibiki let the moment hang in the air before he spoke again, "Shinji, come here."
Shinji looked like she'd rather face the Nine-Tailed-Fox but obeyed. Ibiki looked at them both for a moment before he continued.
"How many times have I told you now to treat your teammates kindly?"
Shinji and Ryuya stiffened even more. Asuma took a deep drag of his cigarette. Interfering in the lessons of other teacher's was a faux pas and he knew Ibiki wouldn't torture them for no reason. For Konoha. He clenched his fists.
"I told you, time and time again, that Chi is your teammate. She's your friend! Why are you treating her like a monster?"
Ryuya swallowed, "It's not that. I mean, after the test in the Forest of Death, I got scared but- Chi needs to-"
Shinji gave her a side-ways glance. Ryuya gathered her strength, lost it and gathered it again. Her fists clenched at her side.
"Sensei, were the Ketsueki's good people?"
The words came out in a single breath and tumbled to the ground to lay there in a messy heap. Sounds of the student's chatting drifted over in the calm breeze. Asuma bit his cigarette in half and spit the end out.
"What are you talking about?" Ibiki said with the tone of an incoming thunderstorm.
Ryuya swallowed, "It's just- I need to know more. I- Who are the Ketsueki? Why were they killed? What can Chi do? What's happening to her-?"
"Ryuya," Kakashi carefully stepped in, "what have you heard?"
Shinji looked openly concerned at her teammate. Fat tears spilled over Ryuya's cheeks and she wiped them away roughly, "I mean, all my life I was told to stay away from them and that they were dangerous. My mum told me that if I didn't go to bed she would sent me to them. But they said the same about Naruto and he's not so bad!"
Kakashi raised his eyebrows.
Ryuya choked on her words but struggled on, "And Chi is- was really nice! She's just a bit different in her habits. Now she's doing strange things but she's been through bad stuff and what if that was what was wrong with the clan and they were just nice people but they got hurt and turned- turned like this? Or maybe they are all just hiding their crazy side and fooled me..."
Kakashi's head whipped up. He saw Ibiki already staring, eyes wide. Ryuya didn't see them, nor did she hear Shinji's gasp. Her voice was coming out in high wheezes,
"Chi doesn't have to be like that. Maybe if she acts like us then people wouldn't chase her and she can just do normal stuff. If she's dangerous then it's already too late anyway since she got our blood-" Ryuya forcefully dragged in another lungful of air.
Ibiki grabbed her shoulders, "Ryuya, what are you saying?"
Ryuya sobbed, "Sensei, are the Ketsueki good? I think they are. But Chi's becoming like the stories and- and-"
Shinji caught her when her knees buckled. Ryuya let her head fall, exhausted by the stress from the last weeks. Every time she saw Chi, she was assaulted with guilt and anxiety. Chi had a family she didn't know about. She was treated like a time-bomb but there was a full group of reasonably stable shinobi hiding in the desert. Did they drive Chi to this? Was her sudden decline their fault?
"I saw them, sensei..." she cried out, "I saw the Ketsueki. They're alive."
Kakashi actually felt lightheaded. Ibiki crouched and pushed Ryuya straight. Shinji sat frozen beside her.
"Where did you see them?" he asked as calm as he could.
Ryuya coughed and said, "I can't tell you- I can't. You'll hurt them. They're nice!"
"We won't." Ibiki insisted, "We have no reason to. They probably managed to flee the massacre, which is good."
It was Sand, Kakashi reasoned. It had to be there.
Ryuya's sobbing grew louder, "Sensei, don't hurt them. Chi doesn't have anyone else. Sensei!"
And just like that, she fell against Ibiki's chest, crying what seemed like a month worth of tears. He gently patted her back. "We won't hurt them, Ryuya. But we need to know why they are hiding-"
"Because you're treating them wrong!" Ryuya snapped up, pushing Ibiki away, "You are! And if they see what happened to Chi they will hate us!"
"Alright, alright-" Ibiki glanced at Kurenai. She wordlessly stepped forward and waved her hand around both Genin. Ryuya still looked at Ibiki as if he had already betrayed her. Their eyes began to droop and before long they were both asleep in Ibiki's arms.
Asuma massaged his temples, "So, who will tell the Hokage about that?"
Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, "Why do I feel like this is just the beginning?"
Kurenai stroked Ryuya's blue strands, "Well, we have at least eleven students who haven't had a breakdown yet, so you might be right."
Asuma made a face, "I'll tell the kids to clean up and get to bed. Where did you put Chi?"
Kurenai nodded towards the house, "There is an extra room that was empty. Put her there in her futon. She's asleep."
Then there was nothing else to do but get them all to sleep and come back in the morning. Ibiki picked up both girls and Kurenai showed him the back-entrance. Asuma went inside to instruct the other Genin. Kakashi belatedly realized that he got nominated as the one to tell Tsunade the great news.
With a deep sigh, he rolled his shoulders and left.
Present~
The Genin had started their stretches about ten minutes too early. Kurenai looked at Iruka and he showed her the cooking roster. Naruto and Sakura were in charge of breakfast.
"Did they make small portions or...?"
Iruka shook his head, "I had a look. Pretty sure we can drop it in the Forest of Death and it would destroy all those nasty snakes."
Kurenai hummed and dropped down to the field below them. The Genin looked up. She gave them all a look and concluded that no fights had started yet. Progress.
"Alright, so today we're studying Genjutsu and Chakra control." she announced and smiled when half the group groaned in despair. Naruto in particular began to whine about how Genjutsu's weren't explosive enough.
Iruka made use of the chaos and signaled Chi. She followed him to the burned out tree and came to a halt four steps behind Iruka.
"How are you feeling?"
Chi blinked slowly. Her eyes were a muddled red with flecks of orange. "I am... alright."
She had to be. Kakashi had brought back medication from Tsunade with instructions to directly inject it into her vein. It supposedly helped with her erratic behavior. So far it worked.
"That's good." Iruka replied. Then, "Do you trust us?"
Again, Chi took her time to respond, "Yes?"
"You know we're here to help, right?" he tried.
Chi paused. She looked back at the group stretching their hamstrings. Iruka studied her face. It looked a lot more ordinary than it did yesterday. Just a kid with a heavy weight on her shoulders. What else was new in this forsaken world they lived in?
"Not everyone can be helped, sensei." Chi said quietly.
Iruka disagreed. "What makes you think that?"
Her arm jerked. She grabbed it with her other hand and held it against her side. "Sometimes, it's too late."
Her eyes were changing in front of him. The red became clearer and lighter. "Have you heard what I did?"
Iruka nodded slowly, "I know bits and pieces."
"I killed my family." she said bluntly, "You can't save someone from that."
"We can try." Iruka smiled kindly. She looked at him for a moment before averting her eyes.
"Besides, " he continued, "I know that's not the whole story."
Chi scratched behind her ear. She was getting restless. Iruka had to let her get back soon before he triggered something.
"My grandfather told me to." she said in a rush, "he saw what had happened to our clan and that we had to start over. And then he- he made me kill them. That's it."
"That's it." Iruka echoed softly. He placed a well telegraphed hand on her shoulder. Chi's skin felt cool and waxy. "Thank you Chi, and I'm sorry."
She shrugged and his hand fell away. "Off you go then," Iruka nodded at the group, "It's time to train your Genjutsu."
The small twitch in her eye was enough for Iruka to silently make a vow. He would never give up on them, no matter how lost they felt. He would be their anchor.
Afternoon~
Sometimes, life was a tightly strung line above a pool of endless suffering. Ino always thought her clan's proclivity for metaphors and speaking in verse would skip her. She simply refused to spent her days communicating with flowers and commenting about the weather when she meant someone's mood. And yet, here they were. All concentrating to balance on that line between war and peace.
No one spoke of what had happened the day before. Kurenai had kept them busy with her lessons but even in the breaks they kept the conversation running about banal things like the weather and their food. Chi sat at the very edge of the group, fiddling with a metal flash in her hands.
The day went by a lot better than the first one. Even dinner, cooked by Sasuke had been edible. More than edible even. He made a great stir fry and his soup was hearty enough to warm them back up. After dinner the weather turned and rain began to clatter down on the roof.
They sat in the living area, which was nothing more than a large table in the center. Their futons laid in a single row along the wall, so each of their heads was facing the wall. The kitchen was on the other end of the room. Toilets were thankfully down a small hallway with another tiny room at the end. All in all, it could have been way worse.
The atmosphere was amicable, as if the fight had released all the tension they had pent up. Narutu was telling a long and improbable tale about his travels with Jiraiya. His gestures were wild and broad, voice loud and raspy as ever. For once, no one stopped him or scolded him. In fact, Lee was in awe.
Ino pulled her scrunchy out and sighed as her hair fell down. "Much better."
Across from her, Tenten agreed. Her hair was already out of her buns and in a simple braid. Sakura nudged her, "It's growing so fast."
Ino nodded, "Yeah, I kind of like it now. It's long enough to style it, but not so heavy."
"Long hair is such a pain." Shinji bemoaned. Her own brown hair was pulled back in a tight bun. She laid her head on the table in misery. Ryuya smiled at her.
"You can cut it." A voice said. They jumped. Chi sat at the end of the table, looking awkward and unsure.
"Ah-" Shinji recovered and went back to bemoaning her faith, "Ah but that would be such a waste."
Chi shrugged but didn't say anything. Her own hair had been braided by someone during the night and she hadn't bothered with taming the escaped curls.
Line. Ino straightened her back, she could do this. She was made for this. "Hey Chi,"
The entire table, plus Chi, looked up in faint alarm. Ino put up her winning smile, "How do your eyes work?"
Chi blinked. Her eyes were red and muddled, as if someone had blurred out the orange flecks in them.
"My eyes?" she asked, "They see?"
Ino waved her hand impatiently, "Yes I know, but how do they change like that?"
Chi's lips parted. Sakura dragged her attention away from Naruto to look at her. Chi's seemed slow today. It had to be some form of medication because even her chakra signature was unnaturally calm. Never, not once since they had learned the beginnings of sensing chakra, had Chi's chakra been anything but an unstable river coursing through her pathways.
"Well," Chi started, "it depends on my emotions."
She scratched her nose and it looked strangely cute on her, "If I'm hungry and tired, my eyes turn darker. Because then my chakra isn't... intense enough. But when I'm angry, or something, my chakra is strong. So my eyes turn light."
She was definitely medicated.
"But why?" Shinji asked and immediately clammed up. Chi either didn't mind or didn't see. She tilted her head, "I don't know."
"It's pretty useful though." Chi continued, "The team knows exactly what's wrong just by looking into my eyes."
"So interesting!" Ino leaned closer, "Does your bloodline have any other things?"
Chi nodded, "Yeah, I can hear your heartbeats."
An awkward silence fell. Ino broke through it with sheer determination, "That sounds useful. Anything else?"
"Well, we're very adaptable." Chi said, "Blood contains many things and we can access them. If I practice more." she added dully.
"When you say adaptable," Shikamaru suddenly said, "does that mean you're body changes depending on the blood?"
Chi paused, clearly thinking hard about this. Sakura wanted a word with whoever had measured out the dose. Clearly they had overestimated Chi's weight.
"I think so. I mean, I think that's why Orochimaru wanted me." Chi nodded. Her knee hit the table in an uncontrolled jerk. She winced and while she looked away, the rest shared a knowing glance. Ryuya felt her hackles rise.
"Orochimaru?" Naruto asked, "That snake lady, right?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. Naruto huffed, "I fought him! At least, the Pervy Sage did. But he's really gross. Why did he want you?"
Chi froze under the verbal assault. Sasuke kicked Naruto down. Sakura grimaced as they watched Chi visibly unpack everything through the heavy layer of medication.
"My guess is that theoretically," Shikamaru began and his teammates cringed, "Orochimaru sees an opportunity to remodel your body for himself. Or to use it as a prototype for a new body."
Ino made a face as if she was going to be sick.
"Where the hell did you hear that?" Kiba yelled, leaning back as far as possible, "That's messed up dude."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "Asuma told me about Orochimaru's obsession with immortality. He's looking for the perfect body, right?"
Chi nodded, not as disturbed as she ought to have been. Sakura's eye caught on the skin around Chi's knuckles. It was one of the few parts of her body uncovered by her clothes.
"Your skin renews itself." she breathed.
Chi nodded again and rolled up her sleeve. Ino gagged again. The skin on her arm was peeling off in black, dry layers. Sakura got up and leaned closer to have a good look in the light. The dead skin curled like burned paper. Underneath it was blushing pink skin, glistening as if someone had spread lotion on it.
"Flex your fingers for me." she told Chi, transfixed. A thousand new theories ran through her head, "This is amazing. Your skin is regenerating right from the base. Look, there is even a layer of fat visible here. I can see your muscles. The skin-cells on top are still building themselves-"
Tenten gently pulled her back, "Alright Sakura, we won't need any further details."
Sakura looked around and saw her friends' faces, "Ah, sorry."
"So that Orochimaru-guy is a creep." Kiba tried again.
Naruto nodded fervently, "He is. Super gross and creepy. He wanted Sasuke's body too."
Ino gasped, "How- What? That's awful!"
"He wants the Sharingan," Sasuke said, whose voice alone shocked most of the people in the room, "my clan's bloodline."
"He won't get it," he continued darkly, "but that won't stop him from trying."
Shinji opened her mouth and spoke before anyone could stop her, "At least we know where the Sharingan are."
Right after she said it, her face flushed red to her ears. Ryuya pinched her under the table Surprisingly, Sasuke didn't kill her. He only stiffened and gave a curt nod. Ryuya looked down at her lap.
"It's kind of strange though." Naruto said in his thinking voice, "Hey Sasuke, was everyone really inside the compound that night?"
Sakura kicked him. Team Guy politely tried to look busy with some storage seals Tenten was drawing.
"Yes." Sasuke replied stiffly.
Naruto squinted, "That's weird. I used to see a lot of them walking outside at night."
After a beat, Ryuya asked, "Why were you outside at night?"
"It's nice." Naruto shrugged, "Anyway, I used to see a lot of Uchiha jumpin' around. I knew they were Uchiha because they all had the same sticker on their clothes."
Sasuke's eye twitched, "That's the symbol of our clan, you idiot."
Naruto stuck his tongue out, "Like I was saying, they were outside-"
The door swung open and all heads turned. Asuma's bear-sized frame, haloed by the light outside, stood in the entrance. "Alright kids, time for bed."
"Ahw, sensei..." Kiba groaned, "It's not even ten!"
Asuma grinned, "Yeah, but you'll be up at six tomorrow. Guy is doing the first half tomorrow. Conditioning."
"Yes!" Lee shouted. His teammates silently apologized to the rest.
Getting ready for bed was a whole event. First the guys took up too much time in the bathrooms. Then the girls argued that they deserved their own time to peacefully brush their teeth. On the first night, everyone had been a little shaken and the arguments were short and quiet. On the second night, Ino had to be restrained from barging in the bathroom to drag Kiba out.
It was Neji who came up with a system to get everyone clean and minty within five minutes. Any additional routines would have to be done once the rest had finished. When they all laid in bed at long last, sleep came easily.
In the middle of the night, Naruto got up and blindly stumbled over to Chi. She didn't flinch when he lightly kicked her. Noiselessly, they escaped through the window and sat against the wall outside. Above their head, a naked bulb shone a yellow light over them.
"Feeling better?" Naruto asked, looking anywhere but her.
Chi pulled at the fraying edges of her bandages, "Yeah. Kurenai-sensei gave me an injection."
"Does it work?"
She shrugged, "I guess. Just feel a bit heavy. But it's quiet."
The 'loudness' had always bothered Chi, even as a child. She said it felt like she had to fight a dozen impulses at any given time. Practicing seals and performing jutsu to waste her chakra used to be the only solutions.
"Glad they got something for it." Naruto glanced at her. Chi nodded.
"Sorry I attacked." he continued, "You looked a bit scary though."
Chi nodded again, slower this time, "I guess I was. I just remember feeling... loud."
They watched the nightlife in silence. Or rather, the lack of nightlife. Dark clouds covered the moon and stars, leaving the ground in the pitch dark. The wind blew over the damaged grounds and created an orchestra of ghostly whistles and rustles.
Naruto rolled his sleeve up and showed her a beaded bracelet, "The Pervy-Sage made me this one."
Chi looked closer and saw seals carved into each colorful bead, "Storage only?"
"Yeah, saves space." he tapped on an orange one, "This one got the cool stuff."
He bit hit thumb and swiped over it. A red notebook fell into his lap. He opened it on a dog-eared page.
"This one is really cool but I haven't figured it out yet. Apparently it's the thing that made the Fourth famous!"
He turned a few pages, "And this one changes the surface into quicksand."
Chi was startled when he grabbed her wrist. Naruto's eyes were wide and glossy, "And I learned how to explode my clones."
But Chi took the notebook and went back to the first page, "This is the famous one?"
Naruto's head nearly fell off with how hard he nodded, "Yes! He could jump from seal to seal, wherever he threw them."
"That's nice." Chi murmured.
It took about an hour for Asuma to find them, huddled together and asleep. He picked up the notebook and scanned the pages.
"The Flying Thunder God technique." he huffed quietly, "What a time to be alive."
Hokage's Office, around midnight~
Tsunade hadn't meant to disappear into a rabbit hole, but she stumbled across some old boxes and five hours later she still hadn't looked over the spreadsheets on village finances. Instead she had her hands full of photographs and notes on the Ketsueki clan.
Regardless of insanity, the clan had kept a meticulous census and documented every important step in their shinobi's life. Tsunade had uncovered whole folders about Chuunin and Jonin who she remembered on the battlefield. Photographs starting from birth to before the last known mission. Copies of letters.
She held a nearly transparent picture up against the light. A group of Chuunin, smiling at the camera, decked out in full uniform. Their eyes like bright dots. Another map contained several photographs of the Head family. Tsunade slowed down and spread them out.
Hanako Ketsueki, from child to adulthood. A beautiful woman who turned heads wherever she went. Her smile had changed over the years, growing wider but emptier. Red lips stretched and curled under blank eyes. One particular headshot, as if made for a magazine, made her look so alive, Tsunade quickly put the photo away. Hanako's eyes had never changed back from orange in her last years, and in this picture the spots of yellow and white were clearly visible.
Perhaps we failed you, Tsunade thought. She sighed and began to gather the documents into a stack. One picture fell to the ground as she lifted them. A family of four stood besides a clown in costume. Tsunade narrowed her eyes and brought the picture closer.
Hanako smiled like any ordinary happy woman in this picture, holding a small child in her arms. The kid had bright red hair. The second one held his father's hand. Chi's father was part Uzumaki, she remembered that. Clearly the red-hair came from him. She turned the photo around and found a date.
Blindly, she reached for the birth-certificates in this folder. Chi's certificate was the most modern one. For about ten minutes, Tsunade compared and calculated. In the end she threw both aside and went to grab a drink.
"Bloody Ketsueki." she hissed at no one. The dates danced in front of her eyes. In all her experience, Tsunade had never seen an eight-month pregnant lady showing not a single sign of pregnancy.