A long time ago, they existed together. Together, as friends. Is it real? Or are they simply images that he wants to exist? Now they lay in forgotten ruins. Slowly, they began to disappear, but to where? And how long will it take to retrieve them? What will it take to bring them back? Why would she disappear after so many promises…What tore them apart?
fumikomu ze akuseru kakehiki wa nai sa sou dayo
yoru wo nukeru
nejikomu sa saigo ni sashihiki zero sa sou dayo
hibi wo kezuru
kokoro wo sotto hiraite gyutto hiki yosetara
todoku yo kitto tsutau yo motto sa aa!
iki isoide shiboritotte
motsureru ashi dakedo mae yori zutto sou tooku he
ubaitotte tsukandatte
kimi janai nara imi wa nai no sa
dakara haruka kanata
Naruto
Beyond What You See
Chapter Two
Team
"Alright, we should start practice soon." Kakashi commented.
Khatereh nodded, "Agreed. That's enough goofing around, all of you."
"Yes Khatereh Sensei." They voiced.
They were in Team 7's usual training area. They'd been enjoying the afternoon sun without doing anything in particular.
"How shall we start practice?" Khatereh asked Kakashi.
"Ooh I have a suggestion!" Naruto shouted.
"And what would that be?" Khatereh asked.
"You can have the two new Genin do what we had to!" Naruto said, "You know, run up trees!"
"Run…? Up…Trees?" Ryunosuke said, before smirking, "That's a rather dumb thing to say."
"No, really Ryunosuke." Sakura said. "Kakashi had us practice our control on our own chakra by walking up trees."
"I see the usefulness of that sort of training." Kachuu agreed.
Ryunosuke rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Fine, let's do it then."
Kachuu and Ryunosuke stood from where they were sitting. "Which tree?" They asked in unison
Kakashi looked around and found the two largest trees, "Those two over there. Try them."
Kachuu and Ryunosuke lined themselves with a tree, readying them.
"This takes a lot of concentration." Kakashi stated, "And if you don't be careful, you could wind up hurting yourself, so be careful. Oh, and mark where you stopped."
"Yes, Kakashi Sensei." Kachuu answered.
Kakashi smiled, "Good girl."
"Ready Ryunosuke?" Kachuu questioned.
"Ready."
"Go!" Khatereh shouted.
Pulling kunai out, the two took off towards the tree. Amazingly, the two were perfectly in sync with one another. And when one did go faster than the other, either the other would quicken their pace or the first would slow down.
"That's so cool!" Naruto shouted.
"At least we won't have a problem with them two not being in sync." Kakashi said cheerfully.
"Yes, but we're looking at how well they do with climbing trees with chakra." Khatereh said.
The two reached their respective trees at the same time. They began to run up the trees. At first, they both did alright, reaching up the tall trees about eight feet. But then Kachuu began to slip, until her grip on the tree slipped all together. She marked where she'd last stepped just in time to fall backwards.
Ryunosuke suddenly stopped halfway up the rest of the tree. Turning while still on the tree, he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a roll of trick wires. Ryunosuke thrust the wire forwards, it unreeling. If you looked close enough, you'd have seen a forest green sheen come over the rope and bend to Ryunosuke's will. The wire flew down to Kachuu, wrapping lightly around her. Ryunosuke turned and marked his spot, then he was pulled down with the falling Kachuu. Ryunosuke pulled Kachuu above him, turning in the air so that he landed on his feet. Sliding backwards with the force slightly, Ryunosuke walked a bit forward, arms out, catching Kachuu before lightly setting her down on the ground. Ryunosuke expertly tugged on the wire holder, and the wires reeled back into it. He replaced it into his pocket.
"That was awesome!!" Naruto shouted.
"A bit hyperactive aren't we?" Ryunosuke raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well done." Kakashi said.
Ryunosuke shrugged, "I didn't make it to the top. I hear the second time's a charm."
"You didn't have to do that Shou." Kachuu said to Ryunosuke. "You could've made it to the top easily."
"Don't worry about it." Ryunosuke answered.
"Try again." Khatereh said. The two nodded, turning back to their consecutive trees. "As for you three, Naruto and Sakura, spar. Sasuke, you wait."
"Fine…" Naruto whined.
Ryunosuke walked up the tree, giving Kachuu a head start. Kachuu made it a foot higher than where she'd been at before falling back to the ground.
"Don't, Ryunosuke!" Kachuu told him.
Ryunosuke sighed, "Alright."
Kachuu flipped in midair, landing on her feet.
Ryunosuke continued up, walking the length of the tree as if it were a sidewalk. He turned around, looking down at Kachuu, "Are you sure you don't need help?"
"We're supposed to do this by ourselves, remember?" Kachuu shouted up to him.
"Oh, right." Ryunosuke turned and continued up.
"Of all the people to get paired up with." Umika glared at Yukika.
"Okay, that's enough death glares this afternoon." Tetsuya commented.
"Tell that to her." Yukika said, "She's the one who's doing it."
"Do you two always argue like this?" Kiba questioned.
"Usually it's a lot worse." Yukika stated, "Usually we're trying to kill each other, rather than just argue."
"Training, now." Tetsuya interrupted. "Yukika, spar with Kiba. Umika, spar with Shino."
"Um, what should I do?" Hinata asked timidly.
"I understand you know how to heal?" Hinata nodded, "Good, cause if I'm correct, these two girls are going to end up fighting more of each other than their assigned opponents. I've heard of these two before; they have fights periodically, and they're always big. It's a combination of too much chakra, anger, and dislike. Would you mind getting your medicines ready?"
Akamaru barked at Yukika. "You have a cute dog." Yukika commented.
"Thanks." Kiba answered.
"Ready, go!"
The wind blew by, and Yukika began to disappear in a flurry of snowish fire. Kiba looked shocked, but kept his guard up.
"Ready, boy?" Kiba asked. Akamaru answered with a quiet bark.
Kiba pulled shuriken from his pouch, tossing at where he supposed she was. He was right; Yukika moved in the shadows, only to collide with Akamaru. He attacked her. Yukika flipped backwards, landing in a tree. Akamaru attacked again, jumping after her. Yukika reached for kunai, tossing the objects at Akamaru, who dodged. But, this gave Yukika time to escape. She appeared in front of Kiba, kicking at his head. He raised his arms in an x shape, blocking. Yukika quickly pulled back, this time kicking at his stomach. He jumped backwards this time. A moment later, Akamaru came up at Yukika's face. She dodged to the side just in time. Kiba was behind her in an instant, wrapping her in a headlock. Yukika elbowed Kiba in the stomach, pulling away from him.
"Those two sure are going at it." Kurenai commented.
"I wonder how much further each is going to go. If they attack each other any harder, they may wind up actually injuring one another." Tetsuya agreed.
In the mean time, Umika and Shino had also begun their fight. Umika ran forward, throwing a punch at Shino, who stopped her with a hand. She tried the other, only to find it blocked as well. She kicked upwards, successfully hitting him in the chin, before flipping backwards. Shino rubbed his chin lightly before continuing. He ran forward, zigzagging here and there, trying to confuse Umika as to which side he was going to strike from. He suddenly veered to the right, disappearing into the shadows.
'Great…' Umika thought. She calmed herself down, slowing her heartbeat down as much as she could. She searched for him, closing her eyes. She heard the whir in the air. The kunai flew at her, impaling her all over. A puff of smoke, and a log replaced where Umika had been.
"Replacement Jutsu." Shino commented lightly.
"Above you!" Umika kicked down, her heel going right through his head. Shocked, Umika flipped in the air, looking at Shino, who had part of his head missing. "What on earth!?"
Black bugs began to come together, reforming the head. "What-What is that?"
"Bug Clone." Shino said from behind Umika. Umika turned, her arms raised in defense just before Shino punched her. She slid several feet back, a red spot appearing on her arms.
She ran forwards, throwing senbon at him. He dodged, saying, "What good will that do?"
"It does well with being a diversion." Umika said, appearing at his side. She grabbed him by the arm, spinning him around, and then letting him fly.
"How come you never told me you were graduating this year?" Shikamaru asked Yuuha.
"You didn't expect me to graduate?" Yuuha asked. She, unlike her sister, had an extremely small and gentle voice, giving you the image that she was a glass flower that if you touched would break.
"And what's wrong with her." Choji beckoned towards Takara, who continued to face forward, without caring who was talking to her.
"That's Takara. She doesn't speak to many humans." Yuuha answered.
"What?" Choji asked.
"Who does she talk to, then?" Shikamaru asked, "Rocks?"
Takara glared at the two, a low growl emitting from her. The two pulled back in fear.
"No, sillies." Yuuha didn't seem affected by it; it was normal, seeing how Takara spoke in a growlish voice. "She talks to animals mostly. She feels the energies from rocks, the ground, and even plants."
"Well if that's not interesting." Asuma commented.
"Yes!" Ino shouted.
"What's up with you, huh Ino?" Shikamaru questioned.
"My sister's on our team!"
"We established that two hours ago." Shikamaru said dryly.
"SO!?" Ino looked as if she were about to kill him.
"Okay, okay, geez."
"Maybe we should start practicing." Amaterasu suggested, "We need to start as soon as possible."
"Choji, I want you to spar with Takara." Asuma said, "Yuuha, spar with Ino."
"Well, at least that means I can sleep." Shikamaru said happily.
"Not quite, Shikamaru." Asuma winked, "You're going to help Amaterasu and I see their abilities."
"Oh, man, this is a drag…" Shikamaru said with a sigh.
"Begin." Amaterasu stated.
Takara made some complicated hand signs, and in a puff of smoke turned to a dingo. She growled at Choji.
"Aah!" Choji screeched, "I get enough of that from Kiba!"
Takara chased after Choji as he ran around and around.
Asuma sighed, "Choji…"
Ino kicked her sister in the stomach. Yuuha, wincing at the pain, flipped in the air, and landed upright. The two ran at each other, striking at one another. Rarely did one hit, unless it was Ino, who was able to hit her younger sister more than Yuuha.
"No fair, Neji…" Yanagi panted. Neji hadn't even broken a sweat, and he was holding Yanagi's katana, twirling it in his hand. "You have the Byakugan!"
Neji smiled at his little sister, "Now, now Yanagi, no complaining."
"Hmph." Yanagi pouted, "Fine."
"What does she mean by: "You have the Byakugan."?" Tenten asked.
"Yanagi wasn't able to teach herself the Byakugan just yet." Marise answered.
Yanagi let her legs slide, left leg forward, the right one back. Her left arm was behind and slightly lower than her right one. Neji slid into a similar position.
"Is that –?" Lee asked.
Marise nodded, "The Gentle Fist Style."
"But I thought it was imperative that you have the Byakugan to use it effectively." Tenten said.
"It is, unless you memorize the whole anatomy of a human, including pressure points." Marise said. "She studied really hard, and that's how come she can use this style, but she still misses sometimes. Going to a target that you are blind to is hard to get at 100."
"But what if they hurt each other?" Lee asked
"They can manage without hurting one another." Marise said, "Besides, they wouldn't purposely hurt someone in a sparring match."
Umika landed on the ground. Bugs began to climb up her legs and body. She tried to move, but found that they were restraining her.
"I never knew bugs could be so useful." Umika commented offhandedly
She closed her eyes, and a moment later the bugs were blasted off of her.
"A release of chakra?" Tetsuya observed.
Umika quickly got to her feet, jumping upwards to avoid getting caught by the bugs again. She resorted to having to jump on trees, trying to get away from them. She jumped backwards, high into midair to escape them.
Yukika flipped backwards, gaining a lot of momentum, before shooting upwards, throwing kunai at Kiba. He dodged them easily. His eyes widened as he followed her path.
A moment later, and Yukika and Umika collided together. Catching them off guard, the two crashed to the earth below.
"Are you okay?" Kiba asked the two girls, who were yards apart.
"What do you thing you're doing!?" Yukika shouted.
"Me!? It was your fault!"
Simultaneously, the two made hand signs.
"Silver Fire!" Yukika shouted as Umika shouted, "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
Silvery fire erupted into Yukika's hands as water began to gather itself. Putting her palms together, Yukika fired a beam of the hot flames as a beam of water shot at her as well.
"Get out of the way!" Tetsuya reacted instantly, grabbing Shino and Kiba aside before the attacks collided.
The force of the blast threw them forward as hot steam rushed through the area.
"Incredible." Shino said in his quiet voice.
"How are mere students able to perform such powerful techniques!?" Kurenai asked as Tetsuya was able to bring Kiba and Shino to safety.
"You're looking at me? I haven't a clue myself. I've never even seen the technique Yukika used, but it seems to be very powerful. And the one Umika used; it's an A-Rank attack!"
Clangs and crashes could be heard in the mist that shrouded their vision, and even muffled how loud they really were.
"They can't possible be still fighting, can they?" Kurenai asked, shocked.
"By the sounds of it, I'd say yes." Tetsuya answered. "Damn…It's going to be like back at the Academy…Why did I even bother to sign up for mentoring a team? Alas, I'm destined to always come into contact with those two. We might as well leave; they won't kill each other. They'll have this portion of the forest leveled in a few hours."
A sudden explosion alerted him. A surge of powerful energy flowed forwards, blowing most of the mist away. The wind was strong; it blew Hinata off the ground. She was about to fly away when Tetsuya grabbed her arm, pulling her to him so she wouldn't fly away.
"What is going on!?" Kurenai shouted to Tetsuya, "You seem to know more about them than I do!"
"Beats me! That's never happened before!" Tetsuya stated. "They've never actually tried to blow each other up! Here, take Hinata! I'll go get those two."
Tetsuya placed a confused Hinata near Kurenai. He made hand signs and his shadow extended to every shadow within a mile's radius, looking for Yukika and Umika. Once they were found, the suddenly sank into the shadows, only to reappear in front of Tetsuya.
"You two have some explaining to do." Tetsuya said.
Naruto sighed, tired from the training. "Can we stop now!?"
Khatereh looked to Kakashi before saying, "I suppose. But be here by eight tomorrow morning. We need to cram as much practice together in before we get missions."
"Come along then, Kachuu." Kakashi said.
"Coming." Kachuu followed Kakashi as they left for home.
"Well if that wasn't weird." Sakura commented.
"Kakashi's her adopted dad." Ryunosuke explained. "They live in the same house."
"What!?" Sakura and Naruto said in shock.
"It's true."
"I didn't know Kakashi Sensei was a dad!" Naruto grinned.
"Well, I'm going home." Sakura told them. Looking at Naruto she said, "I suggest you do the same."
"Fine." Naruto followed Sakura back to the village.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Ryunosuke told Sasuke and Khatereh.
He was about to leave when he suddenly pulled kunai on them. He threw the kunai at them, but instead of hitting them they flew behind them.
"I see Konoha is getting sharper." A lade appeared from the shadows. She was eighteen, and a mask covered her face so you couldn't tell who she was. Two others appeared along with her, a fourteen year old boy and a twelve year old girl, both wearing masks also. Because of the mask, you couldn't see the boy's hair, but the girl's was long and in cute pigtails. Her hair was black with natural pink-purple, mostly purple, streaks in it. "Now where's Gaara!?"
"Gaara?" Khatereh questioned, "Who's Gaara?"
"He had something to do with last year's invasion." Ryunosuke commented.
"Smart little boy." The lady said. The Lady opened a fan frame, but there was nothing else but the frame. A bluish purple light suddenly emitted from the frame, and the rest of the fan was created with a luminescent glow of energy. It lit the entire clearing up, the wind beginning to pick up.
"Chakra?" Khatereh said. "Prepare yourselves." She told Sasuke and Ryunosuke.
"Where's Gaara!?" The girl repeated the lady's words.
"He's not here!" Ryunosuke shouted. "Why would you even think he was here?"
"He wasn't with the party going back to Suna." The lady answered. "Where else could he be?"
Ryunosuke and Sasuke froze. If Gaara wasn't with those going back to Suna, then he could be anywhere, even still in Konoha!
"Lies!" The girl shouted. She raised a kunai, throwing it at them.
Khatereh reacted first. She moved out of the way and expertly sent a flurry of kunai at the girl. The boy grabbed her and pulled her out of the way.
"Ryunosuke, take the girl. Sasuke, you take the boy. I'll take care of the woman."
Ryunosuke and Sasuke agreed with a nod.
"Go!" The three took off, Khatereh running forwards while Sasuke went slightly left, and Ryunosuke who went slightly right.
"Don't hurt them." The lady told the girl and boy. "Our objective is to get them to tell us where they have Gaara."
"Right." The two answered.
The girl reached to her own pouch, throwing two shuriken at Ryunosuke. He ducked right before the shuriken were about to hit him. He launched himself forward, a kunai drawn. The girl flipped backwards, narrowly dodging being sliced by the kunai.
"I don't want to hurt you!" The girl told Ryunosuke.
"Then leave our village!" Ryunosuke said back.
The girl stopped, looking at him with a serious expression, "Not without Gaara first!"
She kicked at him. Ryunosuke caught her foot, throwing her, shouting back, "And I told you: Gaara's not here!"
"So, what's this fascination with Gaara?" Sasuke asked the boy, kunai to kunai, smirking.
The boy smirked right back, "I don't know. Ask my sister."
"Who?"
The boy beckoned to the girl.
"I see. So what's with the masks? Why don't you try taking them off!" Sasuke punched at his face.
Flexibly, the boy bent backwards, dodging the blow. When he retracted up, he said, "Sorry, regulations. Can't let you know what my face looks like."
"Then I'll just have to take it off for you!" Sasuke kicked at him.
The boy raised his arm, blocking. "Come on, I know you can do better than that, Sasuke."
"How do you know my name!?"
"From where I live, it's common knowledge." The boy answered.
The woman threw her fan at Khatereh. It spun around and around. Khatereh drew a two kunai, deflecting the sharp fan whenever it came at her. It deflected in angles, spinning around and around the trees in confusing arcs and spins. Khatereh swirled around, avoiding being hit and following the path of the Tessen fan. The fan came back at Khatereh. She deflected it, but it was strange. It didn't go off in angles, like before, but continued to spin around and around her. With a sudden spin, everything became tight, and Khatereh's entire body pressed together. She felt like being strangled and she could barely breathe.
"What the hell –?"
"Don't waste your breath." The lady said. "It wouldn't be good for you to faint from air loss."
The Tessen kept spinning, around and around the woods, disappearing into the shadows and then coming back.
"Wh-what did you do?" Khatereh asked weakly, caught in a very rare moment when her age truly shined through. "Ho-how did you do this?"
"Take a closer look." The lady said.
"Khatereh Sensei!" Ryunosuke ran towards them, a kunai ready to attack the lady.
Just then, the fan flew past Khatereh's face, the shine illuminating something shiny and thin. Khatereh's eyes widened.
"Ryunosuke, no, wait!" Khatereh warned him. Too late.
Ryunosuke crashed into them, restrained. Confusedly, he looked at what had caught him.
"Wires!?" Ryunosuke said.
Suddenly, more wires fell, entangling him.
"Ryunosuke!" Sasuke threw a kunai to him before going to Khatereh.
Ryunosuke caught the kunai, cutting the wires. The wires came loose, and he was in the midst of getting away when the girl kicked him in the head, sending him flying.
Sasuke slashed across the wires that held Khatereh tightly. She collapsed into her friend's arms, her lungs finally able to gain air.
"It's okay, Khatereh." Sasuke told her, "Rest now."
"But…" Khatereh's head was already spinning.
"Khatereh Sensei?" Ryunosuke looked at her. "I…"
'She's only twelve…' Ryunosuke thought, just now really realizing her true age. 'She seemed so much more serious, like an adult. But in reality, she's still twelve. I hope she's alright…'
Ryunosuke turned to the three intruders, "Stay away from Khatereh Sensei!"
"Not until you give us Gaara!" The girl swung her leg at him again. He raised his arms, blocking.
"He's not here!"
While still trying to hold Khatereh, who'd fainted by now, Sasuke kicked the kunai flying at him away. The boy stopped suddenly, giving Sasuke a chance to place Khatereh down. This puzzled Sasuke, but it didn't seem to matter anymore.
Together, both made hand signs, different of course.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique!"
Out of nowhere, a giant water dragon veered up as the fire shot from Sasuke's mouth. The release of chakra and energy, it seemed as if the forest were to be blown down.
"Brother, don't!" The girl cried.
The boy snapped out of his readiness to attack. The dragon fell, cascading to the floor as harmless water. But Sasuke's attack kept going. The girl ran so that she was in front of her brother, raising her arms. Something obscured by the light of his fire came in the path of the fireball. Sasuke watched in shock as the fireball disappeared, burning whatever it was.
"That's enough." The lady said. "To me." The two jumped backwards until they were at her side. "It's clear to me that you really don't have Gaara. Let's go."
A second later, and they were gone.
Ryunosuke fell to his knees, exhausted, "What in the world was that about?"
"Khatereh," Sasuke went to her.
"I'm fine." She answered, looking away from them.
"Are you alright?" Ryunosuke asked.
"I said I'm fine!" Khatereh shouted.
Ryunosuke fell silent.
"I'll see you two tomorrow." Khatereh said her goodbye and disappeared into the shadows.
"Khatereh…" Sasuke said.
"Is it because she was incapacitated during our battle?" Ryunosuke asked. "She feels ashamed because she fell on her duties as a Jounin. Despite the fact that she's only twelve, she's a great Jounin, and she shouldn't over work herself. She must've been exhausted from something previous to when she joined Team 7."
Sasuke nodded. It was then that he noticed them. All over the entire area pink Primrose flowers had bloomed. In front of Sasuke a few yards away was where there were the most.
"Were those there this afternoon?" Ryunosuke asked.
Sasuke shook his head, "No, they weren't."
"Damn!" Khatereh shouted, "How could I have not seen those wires!? What will Ryunosuke think of me now? A weak twelve year old!? I worked so hard for so long to gain the respect of those older than me, to show them that I can be who I say I can be! And now this…"
To Be Continued...