"Enter."The Hokage said.
It was noon and he expected an particular Anbu member. Through the wooden doors came an young woman with sand coloured hair, any sweetness that may have been on her expression disappeared, leaving place to the serious.
"Good day, Lord Hokage. I came in to report over the you-know-which case." She said as she bowed in respect.
"Ah, Asumi, coming at last." The Hokage spoke, curiosity sparkling in his eyes. "I see that you're still as doubtful as ever of my eavesdropping-free doors. Before you report, may I wonder why your mask isn't covering your face, like always?"
"I decided to have a deeper and clearer view into the situation." Asumi explained. "I took cover as an ordinary chuunin ninja named Akari."
"Chuunin ninja? Akari?" The Hokage raised his eyebrows. "But isn't that...?"
"Yes." Asumi lowered her head. She didn't enjoy talking about that subject.
"I see." The Hokage nodded understandingly, very well aware of the situation. "Well, go on with your report."
Asumi sighed in relief. "The girl is just as you described; tall, dark-brown hair, onyx eyes and around the age of fourteen. Her appearance is seemingly normal, but I felt an weird chakra her."
"Weird?" The Hokage raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, it's nothing I remember meeting. It reminds me of the woods. Now that I think about it... I think it's familiar with the Inuzuka's type of chakra, but only by little. Unlike the Inuzuka's, the girl's feels much more... wild."
"I understand." The Hokage nodded, thoughtful. "Anything else?"
"Only one thing. Although I wasn't able to find anything much about her past, I don't think she was any princess or someone important. You may have noticed that her appearance was quite unkempt. She truly seems to be starved. I'm surprised she got this tall, to be honest. Maybe it's in her family."
"Starved, you say?" The Hokage looked at Asumi with concerned eyes.
"She looks quite anorexic if you ask me, and you must've seen her when she smelled some food. Before heading here, I left her at Ichiraku's Ramen. I'm sure you know about that restaurant, it's the one that that jinchuriki boy attends often."
"Yes, Asumi, I know the restaurant. I've actually payed it a visit a few times, actually. Pretty good food and-' the Hokage stopped when seeing the shinobi's look. "Anyway, you should continue keep an eye on her for awhile."
"Lord Hokage, may I ask something?" Asumi hesitantly asked for permission.
"Of course. What is it?'
'Did you find any jounin willing to take her in their team?'
'That's something I wanted to inform you about. Your mission might be... getting a little easier here.'
'How?'
'Listen.' The Hokage scolded. ' Taking from what you said, I think might know an fitting team for her.'
'Really?'
'Yes. I'll inform the Jounin about our... situation, just in case, and they'll take your job from there when on missions. Is there anything else you or I need to know, Asumi?' The Hokage asked, as Asumi shook her head. 'Well, if everything's clear for you and there's nothing else to tell me, you're off.'
The young shinobi nodded and disappeared through thin air.
Kaiya quietly at her table, enjoying an piece of grilled meat that she prepared herself for dinner. Although it only was her first day in Konoha, she barely had time to catch her breath. In the morning, she bumped into Akari who willed to show her Konoha, then met Sakura, who shamelessly asked her some incredibly personal questions, and then had to walk around Konoha for hours on end, dividing her last few ryo to buy some food for the following few days.
As she ate, she suddenly heard an very light sound from her living room's windows.
Thud!
She thought it was just her imagination, so she simply brushed it off, continuing to eat her food without worries.
Thud! Thud!
This has to be a joke, Kaiya thought. She did, in the end, live on the second floor of the building. No normal being should be able to reach her windows. She let her food down on the counter and walked to the window. Much to her relax, there was no person at the window. Instead, it was a pigeon. Why would an pigeon knock on her window? Knock on her window?, Kaiya thought. That's absurd.
That until she noticed something odd about the pigeon. It had something that looked like a small piece of paper attached to one of its legs. Kaiya opened the window and almost regretted it, as the pigeon crazily flapped its wings as it entered the apartment, landing on Kaiya's stretched right hand as she tried to defend herself from the unexpected attack.
Kaiya remained still for a few moments and, seeing that the pigeon wouldn't make any movements, she slowly lowered her hands, making the pigeon now be at the same height as her eyes. The pigeon chirped a few times as it tilted its blue head from a side to another in curiosity.
Kaiya looked at the attachment the bird was wearing, realising that the bird was an messenger pigeon. For a second, Kaiya considered the thought that the pigeon might've just got lost, but she realised that the chance would be very small. She detached the piece of folded paper from the pigeon's leg and, as she planned to walk to the window to set the bird free, she got interrupted.
Crash!
The pigeon flapped it's wings in an panicked manner and blindly found its way to his escape through the open window. Turning around, Kaiya could see the unfinished piece of meat on the ground, surrounded by thousands of small pieces that once formed an white plate.
'What the-' Kaiya exclaimed in surprise.
Kaiya stared at the place where the piece of meat was for a few moments, before beginning to clean up.
'If we continue this way, I'll run out of plates. A set of good plates is quite expensive, and I'm on a tight budget, ya know?' Kaiya said aloud, as she finished cleaning the remaining pieces of plate.
That was when the piece of paper Kaiya left on the table flew off to the ground. It could've been wind, of course, but Kaiya's opinion seemed to differ. Although most people would try and find a reasonable answer to it all, Kaiya always believed that it wasn't something ordinary. After all, she grew with these beliefs.
Kaiya threw the rests of meat and plate pieces and picked up the piece of paper And carefully unfolded it. It turned out to be an square-cutted piece of paper with an generous amount of writing.
Good afternoon, Kaiya-san.
I hope that Kotetsu, our messenger pigeon, came in good health bringing you this message. The point of this message is for you to be in informed over your career as an Konoha shinobi. I've talked to the few Jounins specially assigned for training young shinobi, and I found the right team for you. You're expected tomorrow at 9 a.m. In front of the Main Building to meet with your team.
P.S. You may want to create your ninja ID. If so, talk to your team leader about it.
The Third Hokage
Kaiya leaned on the table, her cheeks twitching. She was fine to do some missions in order to earn her bread, but she lacked teamwork. Growing up mainly on her own, she had to do things on her own most of the time, something that now turned into an lifestyle. Kaiya sighed, as she massaged the muscles next to her eyes. She hoped that, whoever her teammates would be, they'd give her some space, to the very least.
Kaiya hurried down Konoha's streets in agony, bumping into different civilians who'd yell after her in anger. Although it was unusual for it to happen, her body disrupted its biological clock and slept with about two more hours than it normally would. Luckily for Kaiya, although she made it on spot, nobody was there yet. Great, she thought, as she leaned on to the building's wall, catching her breath. It was all quiet for a few minutes, before Kaiya's ears catching something that she identified as footsteps.
'Come on, Lee! We've almost made it!' An voice yelled.
'Yes, sir!' Another voice responded.
Kaiya turned around and her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes widening almost instantly at what she saw. There was an small group formed of two boys and a girl about her age, along with an man somewhere in his 30's. It would actually seem completely normal if the man and one of the boys, the two resembling each other almost painfully, weren't each wearing an green latex suit while racing each other to the Main Building on their hands, leaving the other two behind. As they finally made it to where Kaiya was, the two raised to their feet and high-fived eachother.
'Guy-sensei! I finally made it! Six kilometres using only my arms!' The boy said, excitedly.
Sensei?, Kaiya thought. Then they must be one of those teams that the Hokage talked about.
'Good job, Lee!' The man called Guy congratulated, giving an thumbs up along with an large smile that showed off his enormous teeth.
'Come on, guys! We'll never make it in time if you two walk so slow!' Lee yelled to his teammates, who were not hurrying in any way to get there.
'An smart person would never hurry on their way the way you do, Lee.' The other boy answered while getting some of his long hair out of his face, making Lee frown.
'Neji...' An girl with her hair arranged in two buns and dressed in Chinese-type clothes scoffed.
Neji only shrugged and continued his way where Lee was, unbothered. Kaiya watched the whole situation half-amused. Maybe it was too early for her to assume anything, but she felt an slight rivalry between the two boys. The three kids started talking, but when their sensei said something Kaiya couldn't comprehend, they turned their attention on Kaiya. Seeing all the gazes being on her, she looked away.
'Good morning.' Lee now spoke louder and more reserved. 'Are you Kaiya?'
The girl mumbled something that sounded like Of course she is, while Kaiya turned around at the sound of her name.
'Eh, yes. Can I help you?' Kaiya asked, hesitantly. Most of the time, whenever she was approached by someone, it didn't really end well.
'Well, it's more of how we can help you.' Guy greeted, walking towards Kaiya. 'You're waiting for your team to arrive, am I right?'
Kaiya looked at him wide-eyed. For all she knew, if an stranger most randomly approached and asked you personal questions like your program of plans, you weren't on safe ground. She quickly lied, shaking her head in disapproval, making Guy snort in amusement. Even if he already was curious of who the new kid might be, what the Hokage told him just added more fuel to the fire.
'You don't have to worry, my friend.' Guy said. 'Since we are your team.'
'Uh...' Was all that Kaiya could say. She was still unsure of the whole situation.
'You're not an easy one, are ye?' Guy said, as he started searching through one of his small bags. 'Here.'
He picked an hard piece of paper with an official look and shoved it in under Kaiya's nose. She looked at the paper and looked at the title.
'Team.. Guy?' Kaiya read aloud.
'Mhm, that's us.' The girl with buns confirmed.
Under the title, there were five names, one of each member of the team, along with somewhat information and a photo. Much to Kaiya's surprise, her name appeared there, too. Her name, and that would be it. No photo of her nor any information.
'Did this confirm it to you?' Guy asked, as he took and folded the piece of paper back in one of his pockets.
'I guess.' Kaiya mumbled, almost uncomprehendingly.
'Alright boys.' The sensei called.
'And girls.' The girl added.
'Right. Sorry, girls.' He apologised. 'Anyway, the Hokage demanded to see us, in order to give us another mission. Are you ready, guys?'
'Yes, sir!' The boy named Lee responded enthusiastically, followed by some mumbles coming from the other two.
'Are you guys ready for an mission full of youth and-'
'Sensei...' The girl sighed, exasperated.
Guy almost stopped, but encouraged and joined by Lee, he continued to cheer for his upcoming mission of youth.
'Haven't you learned just yet, Tenten?' The boy named Neji asked. 'He'll never abandon his youthful life.'
'Guess you're right.' Tenten sighed in defeat, before turning to Kaiya. 'Please don't misunderstand Guy-sensei. He isn't stupid, I can promise you, but he has an thing for...'
Tenten couldn't find the right terms for it. How could she explain her sensei's odd behaviour without having any misunderstandings?
'It's fine, I get it.' Kaiya calmed her down. 'It isn't the first time I see someone like him, and I have to say that he's actually decent. At least his son seems to be into it, since, if I am right to assume, nobody else is.'
The three turned for a second to look at Guy and Lee cheering for an eternal life of youth.
'Son? What son?' Neji asked in confusion, narrowing his eyes.
'That boy, I forgot his name...' Kaiya made a sign with her head to where Lee was.
'You mean Lee?' Tenten asked, Kaiya nodding in response. 'Oh, they aren't related.'
'They're not?' Kaiya wondered. 'But they look so...'
'Similar? Yeah, I know, but they aren't related. Not at all.' Neji answered, nodding in understanding.
'Are you sure?' Kaiya double-checked. 'Like, isn't Guy, at least, that annoying uncle or something like that?'
'Not at all. That's just as far as I know, though.' Tenten jokingly said, having Neji escape one of his rare amused puffs.
Guy and his students entered one of the rooms from the Main Building, where the Hokage along with an brown-haired man that had an scar over his nose and upper-cheeks sat at an table full of papers. As she entered, Kaiya was hit by an almost painfully familiar smell. She looked around and noticed that indeed, her team wasn't the only one there. She noticed about three other groups of three kids around her age, each accompanied by an adult who, for sure, was their team leader. She tried to figure out who could hold such an familiar smell, but she couldn't make any familiar faces out. Noticing her presence, all the students began to whisper things, asking their their senseis questions. She scanned them all and, for a second, her eyes locked on something seemingly familiar.
The slim figure of an white-haired man who wore a mask covering most of his face stranded next to an seemingly normal group formed of a blonde boy with three black stripes on both checks and a huge grin, an dark haired boy with blue clothing and an irritated, retained expression and a pink-haired girl in an red dress who stared a her in awe. For a second, she thought that the familiar smell came from them, but it was proved wrong as an rather sharp smell came from their direction. As she studied the group, Kaiya was struck by an thundering headache. She grunted, gaining even more unwanted attention than she ever wanted.
'Are you okay?' Tenten whispered.
'Yeah.' Kaiya answered in the same tone, preferring not to look into Tenten's eyes.
Kaiya looked back at the pink-haired girl, then the man one more moment. She saw her and the man before, didn't she?
'What is it, Sakura-chan~?' The blonde boy asked, noticing the girl's shocked look.
Sakura! Now she remembered! It was the same girl that irritated Kaiya the day before at that ramen restaurant, along with that man who payed her meal since she didn't have enough money. In return, Kaiya narrowed her eyebrows in rejection, before jerking her head away. As she turned her head, she could swear that she saw, with the corner of her eye, that the masked man shot her an look.
'Good morning, Guy. 'The Hokage's voice made everyone snap back to reality. 'I see that you found your student without incident.'
A few teachers began to giggle, but stopped as the Hokage's gaze fell upon them.
'Of course not!' Guy barked, almost making Kaiya jump. 'On the way here, we had an most youthful talk-'
Kaiya bit her tongue in an attempt to prevent anything she might say to her teacher, as Hokage raised his hand, silencing Guy and everyone that began, yet again, to giggle.
'Well, I'm glad to hear that, but I'm afraid that you'll have to tell me about it some other time.' The Hokage explained kindly. 'For now, I have to assign you to an mission.'
'Great! I can't wait-' Lee began in his excited tone, but seeing the gazes of his teammates, he preferred to keep his thoughts quiet for now.
'So, seeing your student's aptitudes, I'll trust you with an C-ranked mission.'
'C-rank?!' Tenten exclaimed, as murmurs of shock were heard from the other teams. 'But we're only mere genins! Even that, only for an bare four months.'
Kaiya looked at the perplexed faces on her teammates. Even though she never really made any plans on it before, she learned about mission and ninja rankings from the shinobi world. She knew that D-ranked missions were the easiest missions, meant for people like her, genins, and A-ranked and S-ranked missions were for the best jounins, or even the ANBU, at times. Seeing that the mission they were given was a C-rank, she didn't worry herself as much as she normally would on such themes.
'Indeed, but I think that since you gained a bit of experience, you may want to gain some more, in order to prepare yourself for the Chuunin exams, if you wish to attend.' The Hokage said, his gaze resting for a second on Kaiya's.
'A-Are you sure, Lord Hokage?' Guy asked, shocked.
'Never been more sure.' An smiled grew on the Hokage's face.
'What's the mission about?' Guy sighed. He wasn't very worried about Neji, TenTen and Lee, as he was sure that they could handle it, but, taking what the Hokage told him the day before, he hoped that his first mission as an five-man cell wouldn't be that hard, giving him more opportunities to see and analyse Kaiya's behaviour.
'Well, you have an scroll here with more details on it,' the Hokage spoke, as he handed Guy an scroll on which sat a few sentences and numbers, most likely symbolising what kind of mission that it was. 'but long story short, I'll need you do an delivery to the Village Hidden in the Sand.'
'Lord Hokage, isn't that-' An male voice could be heard from behind Kaiya.
Kaiya turned around and realised that the owner of the voice was an man in his mid- thirties with dark-brown hair a tanned skin, and a cigarette in his mouth.
'Yes, Asuma, it is that mission.' The Hokage confirmed, looking into the man's eyes.
'But-' the man began, but stopped himself.
'You don't need to worry.' The Hokage assured the man. 'I'm sure that they handle it well. Am I right, Guy?'
'Of course! You won't even realise we were gone!' Guy approved, proud of the praise that the Hokage brought him. He wasn't very sure of why Asuma was so shocked, but if the Hokage chose to give it to his team, it was nothing that they couldn't handle. He took the scroll with the information in his hands. 'Thank you, lord Hokage. Let's go, guys(no pun intended)!'
Neji, Tenten and Lee agreed in an more energic way, while Kaiya preferred to only nod, along with an 'hn'. After the group exited the room, the tensity that grew in the air seemed to die down, but only by little. Asuma looked at the Hokage with his eyes wide open filled with shock, while one of his students, and blond-haired girl with purple clothing, looked at him worryingly.
'What's wrong, Asuma-sensei?' The girl asked. 'You don't have to worry, ya know? I'm sure we'll get an C-rank mission sometime, too!'
'It's not that, Ino.' The man shook his head. 'It's just that what Guy got isn't an C-rank, but rather an B- maybe even A-rank.'
A/N
Heeey, everyone! How's it going?
So, another chapter's out. I'm really excited for this one because it's the beginning of The possessions of the wild's first arc! How crazy's that?
Now, I don't know if any of y'all read my other book, Roses have Thorns, so I'll say it here, too. As many of you know, school started recently, diminishing my free time considerably. You don't have to worry much, as I'll try to pull out an chapter per week, but sometimes it may take a little longer.
Anyway, so I thought of this! For every chapter, I'll give you guys an Naruto-related question.
Question of the Chapter:
If you were to put Kaiya on another team, in which one would you?
See you in the next chapter!
~Avery