Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Training Begins:
Day One
Naru was awakened abruptly the morning after Lady K's visit. Cheetah pulled her roughly out of bed, where she was then thrown a white T-shirt and red sweat pants. Cheetah glared at her through her mask. "You're old enough to dress by yourself now. So get to it and meet me in the dining quarters. We have a long day ahead," she said.
Naru trembled a little at her guardian's haughty tone. The childlike instinct that alerted her she was in danger told her not to argue with Cheetah. So she did as she was told and dressed as quickly as possible. She then hurried into the mess hall where Shikamaru and Sasuke were already sitting. The two boys were dressed in similar clothing to what she was wearing.
Taking a seat, a plate with an omelet and scrambled eggs were placed in front of her by Bull. "Eat up, as this will be the only food you'll be getting for a while," he said. As much as Naru disliked omelets, she didn't complain and began eating without a fuss. Sasuke and Shikamaru followed her lead. She guessed they felt the change in the atmosphere, too.
The children finished eating quickly and then they were ushered into a changing room where a coyote and rabbit masked anbu were waiting for them. The rabbit masked anbu was holding a deal of ink and paintbrush. Shikamaru was the first one to be ordered to stand on a stool where Coyote began painting weird symbols on his body. While they worked on Shikamaru, Cheetah took that time to explain to the children what was happening. "Today starts the first day of training. So to build stamina, Coyote and Rabbit are painting weights on your body, which will be activated later once you've awakened your chakra," she said.
The children listened as she spoke. They knew what chakra was because Chameleon and Bull had explained it to them during one of their many lessons. So they knew how important it was that they awakened their chakra as soon as possible.
Cheetah eyed them through her mask. "Today, we will only focus on building stamina. In a few days, though, we will try to awaken your chakra so you can activate your weights," she said.
The children didn't speak, but they did nod to show that they acknowledged what their guardian was saying. Cheetah nodded back, satisfied with their response. "Coyote, once Rabbit and you are done with them, bring them to the training room," she said.
Coyote saluted her, and then she left to go set up.
Once all three of the children were through being adorned with weights, Coyote led them to a large room that turned out to be a gymnasium. The room was enormous and was decked out with all kinds of training equipment. However, the three were led to an open space that was big enough that they could run laps in.
Cheetah, Chameleon, and Bull were waiting for them when they arrived. Bull stepped forward. "As Cheetah has already stated, you will run laps today, so here's the plan. All three of you will run a set of five laps around this room, then you will take a water break and then begin again, got it?" he said.
The three nodded. "Hai!" they said.
Bull nodded. "Then begin!" he said.
Naru began by taking the lead, followed by Sasuke and then Shikamaru. You would think five laps would be easy for energetic three-year-olds, but considering that they had never run outside before, this wasn't the case. Plus, the room was vast, so by the time they had finished their first set of laps, they were very thirsty and their hearts were racing.
The water break didn't last very long, only a minute, and then the three were running laps again. This process continued until lunchtime, where the tired children were served pork sandwiches, chicken soup. As soon as they were done eating, they were right back to running laps again. By the time dinner rolled around, the children were so tired that they almost had no energy to eat; however, they scarfed down their meal and then they retired to bed.
Naru was out before her head hit the pillow.
Day Two
The next day was like the day before, except inside of five laps per set they now had to run ten laps a set. Naru took the lead again like she had yesterday; however, after the first ten laps, the poor child was worried if she could keep up.
Despite the discomfort of running several sets of laps, the little girl forced herself to push through. She didn't want to disappoint her guardians, which was one of her biggest fears. Occasionally, when they could take a water break, she would glance at Sasuke and Shikamaru to see how they were doing.
The two boys looked like tomatoes because of how red their faces were. Shikamaru was actually shaking a bit and looked like he was about to claps. Naru wasn't too worried. After all, surely if something was wrong, their guardians would stop training, right?
Fortunately, Shikamaru didn't claps and finished the last set of laps needed to break for lunch. Although they didn't say it, all three children were relieved when they got to sit down during lunch so they could rest their legs.
Naru's lungs hurt, and she gulped down the glass of water that was served with her pork sandwich. Lunch sadly didn't last long, and like the day before, the three were back to running laps until dinner time. One difference from last night though was that tonight Naru really was too tired to eat. Sadly for her, Cheetah refused to let her go to be and instead forced her to eat her supper, claiming she would wake up hungry later if she didn't.
To Naru, this seemed like punishment, and she sniffled a bit, despite knowing she would probably get into trouble. Cheetah, however, ignored the child's tears. "You have to eat Naru, or you'll wake up hungry later tonight. Need I remind you we don't do midnight snacks here?" she said.
Naru continued to sniffle, but she took a bite of her chicken, despite wanting to just crawl into bed and sleep. She took three big bites before putting down her chopsticks. Cheetah made a disapproving noise. "Naru, eat a few more bites," she said.
The redhead pouted for a minute before remembering what happened the last time she'd thrown a fit. Tiredly, she picked up her chopsticks again and began eating until she really couldn't eat anymore. Cheetah seemed satisfied and finally let her go, where she was then taken to the washroom by a Dove masked anbu. "You have to wash off, Naru san," she said.
Much to Naru's relief, the bath was quick and once she was dressed for the night; she could finally crawl into bed and pass out. She didn't even stir when Shikamaru and Sasuke came crawling in.
Day Three
The next day was like the preceding two, except instead of ten laps per set. The children now had to run fifteen laps per set. Naru mentally cringed once she heard. Unfortunately, she didn't have a say in the matter.
One thing changed in their routine, however, instead of going back to running laps after lunch. The children instead began doing push-ups and sit-ups. Naru wasn't sure if she enjoyed doing those any better than having to run laps.
Naru's body ached as she forced herself to keep going, but like before, she feared letting her guardians down. Also, she was worried about falling behind Sasuke and Shikamaru. From her perspective, the two boys seemed to be doing well, much better than her.
Funnily enough, that wasn't how her guardians were viewing the situation. From their perspective, Naru far exceeding her two comrades. It was a fact they would later report to Lady K.
To Shikamaru, it was obvious that Naru had more stamina and better endurance than him. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, he was glad one of his teammates seemed to survive this punishment. On the other hand, it made him worry about falling behind. What could he do, though? He was doing the best he could, but he still felt like his guardians were disappointed in him. Right now, he could only pray that he improved before Lady K's next visit, or who knows what would happen to him.
Sasuke could also tell that Naru had more endurance than either he or Shikamaru. It didn't really bother him except for the fact that his guardians didn't seem happy with either him or Shikamaru. He was trying his best, but it still felt like it wasn't enough. Truthfully, he was scared that if he didn't get better, what would happen to him? He knew Lady K had expectations because he heard Bull say so. What if he couldn't meet those expectations? What would happen to him then? The thought scared him.
Dinner time was a tense event and none of the children said a word in fear of the guardians snapping at them. Cheetah wouldn't lie to herself. The children needed a lot of work; I mean a lot of work. She had to give them some credit. They had kept up with the ever-changing routine. Nevertheless, if she wanted to begin chakra training in a week or two, then she was going to have to work them harder than she had been.
For now, though, she would continue the training regimen she had planned out until ordered otherwise. Right now, though, she needed to make sure the brats ate their supper. "Shikamaru, stop picking at your food and eat. If you think today is tough, then tomorrow will be even tougher," she said.
The Nara winced at her tone and quickly began eating to avoid being punished later. He really wanted to go to bed though. His muscles were so sore from the last three days. Beside him, Naru and Sasuke weren't much better, but like him, they knew better than to argue.
To say bedtime was quickly becoming blissful heaven to these children was an understatement.
Day Four
The next day, the laps were up from fifteen per set to twenty per set. The children were sure they were going to fail this time. Like the last few days, Naru took the lead, followed by Sasuke, and then Shikamaru. It was not a joyful experience for them.
For one thing, their bodies were killing them since they hadn't had one day off to rest since Sunday. It wasn't too bad for Naru since unbeknownst to her, the Kyubi no Kitsune was healing her. For Shikamaru and Sasuke, however, they were finding it increasingly harder to move by the day.
This didn't go unnoticed by Cheetah and her crew, however, they had orders to follow and a schedule to keep. So, sadly for the children, they had to push through the pain.
So training continued as it had been with the children, first running four sets of twenty laps around the room, and then two sets of fifteen push-ups and sit-ups each. The children were still out on what exercises they hated the most.
Day Five
Out of all the days of that first week. Naru would have to say Friday was the worse of them all.
The day started like all the days before. The children ran twenty-five laps per set like they'd been doing every morning, and then after lunch, they began the tortured task of completing two sets of twenty push-ups and sit-ups, but then Cheetah revealed a surprise.
The Cheetah masked anbu clapped her hands together. "Alright, today's test day. That means today I will evaluate where you're at in your training. To do that, you guys will have to complete this obstacle course," she said, pointing to the now set up death trap.
Naru wanted to groan when she saw what she was going to have to climb but thought better of it. Instead, she focused on just getting the task done and over with. Cheetah taking the children's silence as a positive continued. "Alright, Naru, since you've been taking the lead in everything else. Why don't you begin," she said.
Naru nodded and walked to the front. Cheetah gave her a minute to get ready. "Alright, get ready, get set, go!" she said. The redhead took off and jumped onto the wooden wheels and began hopping from one to the other. She successfully completed that part, and she managed to climb the high rope and touch the bell, but she ran into trouble when she had to jump over the roadblocks.
The first high jump she cleared, but the second one she hit her foot against the hard pine wood, causing her to topple over and land on her head. The girl let out a shriek of pain as she hit the ground. Cheetah jumped in front of her and checked her over. "Don't cry, Namikaze. It's just a fall," she said.
The tears continued to fall despite herself, although she tried to hide her sobbing. The anbu ignored her, deciding she needed to get over it on her own. Instead, they continued on the training exercise.
Shikamaru was the next one to go. He did better than he thought he would and could even clear the high jumps that Naru missed. However, his downfall came when he had to climb the grease-covered wall. He took two steps and fell, ending his turn.
Sasuke was last. Fortunately, he did alright, but like Naru, he hit his knee on the hard wooden post on the second high jump, causing him to land on his neck as Naru had.
The test ended after that, and the children were dismissed for the day. Naru ran as soon as she could to the bedroom and hid under the covers. She was so embarrassed by what happened, and she knew she was going to pay for it later. Right now, though, she just wanted to disappear.
Author's note: So here's chapter ten of "The Black Widow of the Leaf," Nerdzone6.
