A/N: Uh...has anyone been reading this story lately? Kono kotae wa 'hai', onegai omatase shimashita (If the answer is 'yes', then I'm terribly sorry to have kept you waiting)...
Aki: Gee...for once, I'm impressed. You managed to put together a whole sentence -
Me: Hey! Watch the implied insults!
Aki: - without having to think too much about it...
Me: Oh.
Disclaimer - Mei: Sorry, Kari-chan owns neither Naruto nor Bakuten Shoot Beyblade G-Revolution. They belong to their respective owners, Aoki-sensei and Kishimoto-sensei.
Me: Who happens to share my birthday! XD Wheee!
oOo
Chapter 7: Training
"Takao…Takao? It's time to get up…Takao, are you listening to me?"
"Mmm…" the stormy-eyed teen mumbled, turning onto his side and snuggling into his pillow. "Go away…"
For a while, it seemed that the annoying voice had indeed gone, and Takao relaxed. The voice had been bothering him for around five minutes now.
"TAKAO!" Hiromi's voice was little less than a shriek, and it sounded a lot closer to his left ear than was comfortable. The dark blue-haired teen shot up in bed.
"Hiromi, will you cut it out?" he whined, rubbing the affected ear. "I'm trying to sleep here!"
"I think that's enough sleeping for now," Yuriko said as she came in, dressed in dark blue shorts, a black short-sleeved top and the shoes Takao had seen most of the ninjas wore. Apparently she had heard the short conversation. "You know, Kai, Max, and Rei are outside all ready, and we're just about to leave for the Forest of Death. That's where we're going to train."
"We're starting this early in the morning?" Takao blurted, his jaw hanging open.
"It's not exactly early, Kinomiya…" Hiromi cut in, pointing at the bedside clock. "It's already half past nine."
"Oh."
It was barely even a week after Takao and his teammates discovered their inherent abilities. For a while, Yuriko had postponed the start of the training, saying that she wasn't ready to teach anyone yet. But it seemed that she had finally gotten over that.
Takao groaned. There was no getting out of it if it wasn't as early as though. "Fine, fine...I'm up now. Happy?" He got up, looking none too pleased about it.
Yuriko grinned. "Well, you'd better get dressed then. Five minutes, okay?" With that, the amethyst-eyed teen turned and left the room.
Hiromi made to follow the other girl out of the room, but then turned to the stormy-eyed teen and smirked. "Better change quick, Takao. You know how Kai gets when someone isn't punctual..."
"Yeah, yeah...now could you get out?" Takao said irritably. "I can't change when a girl's in the room!"
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"So, you're finally awake." Kai noted, glancing up as Takao came through the bushes and into the clearing where his teammates had been waiting.
"Hey, at least I got here fairly early..." Takao grumbled.
"Well, now that we're all here," Yuriko interrupted, anxious not to start a fight between the two, "how about we start with some of the basics? What I mean is how to use the various weapons available to a ninja, and then after that, we'll move to basic chakra control."
"Aw, do we have to start with the basic weapons stuff?" Takao interrupted. "I mean, that's so easy; anyone could throw a shuriken or kunai."
The amethyst-eyed teen cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, really? All right, then..." she walked over to the stormy-eyed teen and handed him a small pouch.
"What's this for?" Takao held up the small cloth bag, eyeing it suspiciously. Yuriko didn't reply, but handed similar bags to Rei, Max, and Kai. Then she walked towards the opposite edge of the clearing, chose a tree, and then attached a portable target to it, around halfway up the trunk.
"Okay, everyone, in those bags I just gave you are several shuriken and kunai." Yuriko began, standing next to the target. "I want you to try and hit as close to the center of the target as possible. Even just hitting the black outer circle will do, since you're still learning. Let's start with the shuriken, shall we?"
Takao guffawed. "Ha! We'll be done in no time!" Still chuckling, he brought out two shuriken from the pouch in his hand. Beside him, his teammates took shuriken out of their bags, too.
Yuriko smiled. "Ready?" At a collective nod from the four teens, she took several steps to the side, and then said, "Takao, you go first."
The dark blue-haired teen smirked and moved so that he was standing several feet in front of the target. "Watch and learn..." he mumbled. Taking a left fighting stance, he held one of the shuriken in his right hand. He slowly under his breath, releasing the small weapon on the third count.
"WHAT?" he exclaimed, horrified, when the shuriken embedded itself in the tree to the right of targeted one. Noticing the smug look on Yuriko's face, he frowned and then took up the stance once more, holding the second shuriken in his right. He repeated what he had done earlier, only with a less angled launch. It did little to improve the outcome, though; his second attempt found its way into the wood roughly a foot and a half above the target.
Yuriko cocked her head to the side, amused. "Nice try, Takao. Your stance is fine, but it's your launch technique that needs work. Okay, Max, you're next."
The blonde nodded, looking nervous. This was not lost on the auburn-haired girl, and she smiled at the blue-eyed teen. "Don't worry; you'll manage."
Once more, Max nodded, a bit more confident now, and took Takao's place. He took a front preparatory stance and held one shuriken in his right hand, the other in his left. The right hand was in place slightly above the left shoulder. After a moment's pause, he threw his arm forward, releasing the shuriken when his forearm was at a forty-five degree angle with his upper arm.
Thnk! The weapon embedded itself a few centimeters above the target. Yuriko nodded, pleased. "Nice. Try again. This time, try to lower the height at which you release the shuriken."
Max complied, and was rewarded with the shk! of the blade piercing the cloth covering of the target. Takao looked flabbergasted; Rei looked proud of his friend; Kai was...well, he looked uninterested; and Yuriko was grinning broadly.
"Very good! Max, you're closer to mastering this than you realize."
Ocean blue orbs lit up. "Really?"
Yuriko nodded, still smiling. "Really. Rei," she continued, turning the the neko-jin, "why don't you have a go. After you, Kai will take his turn."
"All right," the amber-eyed teen acquiesced, standing in the same spot Max and Takao had occupied. He copied the blonde's stance and launch technique, both shuriken successfully embedding themselves in the target, but not as near to the bull's eye as Yuriko would have liked. The amethyst-eyed girl kept it in mind, however, that the four were beginners in this aspect of their training, and she would have to lower her standards somewhat, and complimented the Chinese teen accordingly.
"Kai, you're up."
Without a word, the slate-haired teen took his place. He stood quite still, a shuriken in each hand. And then, suddenly, he let both of them fly through the air, one after the other, towards the target. Seconds later...
Shk! Shk!
Both of Kai's shuriken had found their way to the target were embedded in the bull's eye, practically side-by-side.
Max and Rei were wide-eyed with awe, while Takao just looked more flabbergasted than usual. Yuriko was impressed, to say the least.
"Kai...that was...amazing..." she said, somewhat breathlessly. "How did you-"
"Practice." The crimson-eyed teen replied, somehow knowing her question before she could finish asking it. "Only I'm more accustomed to throwing pocket knives."
"That would explain your prowess..." Yuriko murmured. And then she glanced up excitedly. "Perhaps you could help Takao with his projectile training; he needs a lot of help. I'll take Rei and Max since their technique just needs a few adjustments, and then when they've got it, they can work on their own and I'll come help you help Takao. Is that all right with you?"Kai looked thoughtful for a few minutes, and then, at last, gave a small smile and nodded his head slightly. "But you'd better be quick about it," he added, looking a little bit annoyed. "I don't think I could stand having to deal with the numbskull for very long..."
Yuriko chuckled and agreed, walking over to Rei and Max after doing so, while Kai approached Takao to tell the dark blue-haired teen what had decided.
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"Don't you think Tsunade-baasan was joking?" Naruto said suddenly. The blonde chuunin had managed to persuade Kakashi into treating him to a meal (at the Ichiraku Ramenya, of course). Though it had been nearly a week since he and the silver-haired man had been told of their - for lack of a better term - newfound relatives, he still hadn't been able to put the doubt out of his mind. What if there'd been some sort of mistake?
The masked jounin's eye crinkled, indicating that he was smiling. "Still on about that, I see...Well, I have to admit that I was surprised, and I thought it was a joke. You should know, Naruto, it isn't like Tsunade to make things up. I could see it in her eyes; she was serious about it." He paused for a while, picked up his bowl, and held it to his lips, swallowing the last of the savory soup. "I suspect that we'll soon be called to explain things to Sasuke, and then later on to assist Yuriko-chan in training those four."
"Hmm..." Naruto replied, also draining the last of his soup. He didn't know what else to say. It had been shocking, to say the least, to learn that he had relatives. In the past, he'd often wondered what it would be like to have some semblance of family by his side, and now here it was, in the form of a boy fifteen years old - one who was his age, yet knew nothing of the world of ninja - and he, Uzumaki Naruto, had no idea how to react to such an occurence.
"Kakashi-sensei, why did you bring them here?" the blonde asked suddenly. He remembered only then that he had no idea what the group was doing in Konohagakure.
Kakashi sighed. "Well, do you remember those times when I or the other jounin team leaders would be gone for days at a time, yet spoke not of any missions?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I remember. What does that have to do with their being here?"
"Plenty. As Yuriko said, she was a student of mine-"
"Then what was she doing in that other dimension, or wherever she came from?"
"Because if she had stayed here, she wouldn't even be alive. Like Sasuke, she is the only survivor of her clan's massacre."
The azure orbs grew wide. "What? Yuriko's clan was massacred, too?" Kakashi nodded slowly. "But why?"
"It was because of their bloodline limit."
"That's the reason?" Naruto looked skeptical. "What was so special about it?"
"In essence, their bloodline limit made them the most versatile and most skilled - and, in effect, most deadly and feared - ninja clan in Konohagakure. The other villagers, excluding other more prominent clans, regarded them warily, but that gradually changed. Their assistance proved great in ending the Ninja War. It was also this that led to the massacre.
"Another clan, one that disaffiliated itself from Konohagakure long ago, became jealous of Yuriko's clan, so they sought to kill all its members. There was to be no discrimanation; even the youngest was to be killed. This clan - the Shikino - are probably the only clan of darkness-based jutsu users."
"Doesn't being able to use darkness already make you the deadliest?" Naruto was confused. "I don't think there's any element that can defeat darkness on its own."
"That's what made the Shikino jealous of Yuriko's clan. I'm sorry if I've been beating around the bush. Anyway, Yuriko's kekkei genkai allows her to control all five elements. That's something like Haku's bloodline limit - recall that he can control wind and water simultaneously - only on a larger scale. So, in effect, Yuriko's clan were the only ones who could hope to defeat the Shikino if ever they decided to attack the village.
"This clan was rather ambitious; they all dream of usurping the power over the Fire Nation, but they can't do it while one of Yuriko's clan is still alive."
"You said she's the only one left, right?" Naruto asked quietly. At another nod from his mentor, he clenched his fist tightly. "Then that means...those guys we fought in the northeastern sector were-"
"Yes. Shikino assassins sent to kill her. Of course, they met with more than a little trouble. Anyway, back to your question. Kai and his friends are here because they witnessed her fighting several assassins, and they know of her background. More likely than not, they'd know where she lived, too. Kurenai, Asuma and I brought all of them here as a safety precaution. If we had brought only Yuriko here and left her friends in Tokyo, the Shikino would have tried to get information out of those six young people. Judging from their general attitude, they would never give their friend away, and would have been killed for their loyalty.
"The same thing happened to Yuriko-chan's adoptive parents when she was only five. The year later, she began her training as a ninja. At the rate she learned things, she would have given Sasuke a run for his money!"
Naruto chortled. "Then its a good thing she didn't train here; if not, Sasuke would be competing with her, and then what would happen if he lost to her?"
"Better keep your thoughts to yourself, especially if you're not sure the one concerned isn't around, Naruto."
The blonde chuunin almost leapt straight through the roof of the ramen shop in surprise. "S-SASUKE!" he sat up, rubbing his head where it had grazed the counter. He narrowed his eyes at the Uchiha. "How long have you been standing there, anyway?"
"Long enough to learn the whole story." Sasuke approached and took a seat, resting his elbows on the counter. "So...Yuriko possesses that unique bloodline limit, huh? I've heard about it, but I never knew it actually existed."
"Well, now you do," Kakashi smiled.
"Yeah, I do. And it turns out that Hiwatari Kai is my long-lost cousin. It's been one surprise after another..."
"Yes, Kai is your-" The silver-haired jounin stopped short, and then blanched. "Wait...You already know about that?"
Sasuke nodded. "I had my suspicions, and Tsunade-sama proved them right."
"But, Sasuke-" Naruto began, but the raven-haired teen beat him to the punch. "I know, Naruto. After hearing about Yuriko's skill as a ninja, I should be steaming with anger and determination, or going off to train, and you're wondering why I'm not doing any of those.
"Well, being strong enough to defeat Itachi is the least of my worries now; that man is looking like the most compassionate ninja compared to them. After hearing about the Shikino, Akatsuki is the least of our worries. Remember, they've already discovered where Yuriko is staying and they've been wanting power for who knows how long. We should be preparing for when - and if - they decide to launch an all-out attack against her and the village, not worrying about being able to defeat only one guy."
Naruto and Kakashi were speechless.
"Wow..." the latter remarked, after what seemed like hours. "Sasuke...that was...a very mature thing you said just now..."
"Well, it's the truth." The Uchiha said, practically waving away his mentor's compliment. Let's just say you guys taught me a lot when trying to persuade me to leave Orochimaru and return to Konohagakure."
Naruto blinked, and then launched himself at his teammate, knocking him to the ground.
"Uwah! Naruto, what the hell are you doing?" Sasuke exclaimed, struggling to disentangle himself from the 'embrace', if you could call it that. Naruto's response was to grab the dark-haired teen's shirt collar and bring their faces closer together.
"What did you do with the real Sasuke, you impostor?" he asked, trying to look as intimidating as possible. "The Sasuke I know would never say things like that, not so directly,"
Sasuke reached up and smacked him on the head, sending him to the ground. "I am Sasuke, you usuratonkachi," he remarked, scowling. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and gave a small smile. "The ease in which I sent you to the ground just now proves it,"
Naruto leapt back up, his fists clenched. "Yeah, you're Sasuke all right...and are you implying that I'm an easy opponent?" He added, incensed by the other's remark.
"You said it, not me," the dark-eyed teen smirked, and then began to walk off.
"What did you-" Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously, and then he began to run after Sasuke. "Get back here, teme! You're going to pay for that!"
Kakashi chuckled as he watched the scene unfolding. "Those two..." he muttered, shaking his head good-naturedly. "Never a dull moment when they're together..."
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Shk!
"Yatta!" Yuriko exclaimed, clapping her hands in delight. "Max, Rei, that was great!"
The neko-jin grinned uneasily, and the blonde looked embarrassed. "It's not that good..."
"Well, you and Rei improved so quickly in just a matter of hours! It takes rookies more than a year to be able to throw shuriken properly and have it hit the target just milimeters from the exact center of the bull's eye," Yuriko grinned broadly. "Well, that takes care of the hard part; you guys should have no trouble using the kunai." The auburn-haired girl positioned herself several feet in front of the target and took out the weapon from her bag. "It uses the same principle as throwing the shuriken, only you hold it differently and you have to apply a bit more force." She went into a back stance, ready to give them an example, but before she could demonstrate, a shrill scream cut through the relative silence surrounding them.
Within seconds, she, Rei, and Max were joined by Takao and Kai, and then the five of them were running through the forest and back towards the clan compound, where they were sure the scream had come from.
I hope it's not what I think it is... Yuriko thought, glancing at her friends out of her peripheral vision. Please...
o0o
A/N: So, what did you think? Onegai dakara, oshiete (Please tell me,)...I'd really like to know.
Dewa mata! Peace out and God bless!