Gender Bender Naruto, the Series

by kiotsukatanna

We all know Naruto, the #1 knucklehead, loudmouth ninja, right? Well, what if He had been a She? What if the whole Naruto world had been flipped around? Join us on the adventure of a lifetime with Uzumaki Nariko, Konoha's #1 knuckle-headed kunoichi!

16. Help Not Wanted

Gender Bender Naruto: The Series

By: KioKat

Summary: We all know Naruto, the #1 knucklehead, loudmouth ninja, right? Well, what if He had been a She? What if the whole Naruto world had been flipped around – the kunoichi now shinobi and vice versa? Join us on the adventure of a lifetime with Uzumaki Nariko, Konoha's #1, knuckleheaded kunoichi!

xox

Chapter 16: Help Not Wanted

(Completed: 08-10-10)

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It was on the morning after their arrival that Kairi finally opened her eyes.

"Hey, she's awake!" Nariko exclaimed, grinning as she leaned over the incapacitated jounin.

The silver-haired woman blinked sluggishly, still feeling relatively tired, as she slid her gaze to the three genin suddenly crowding around her.

Toshirou grinned from the doorway. "Right on time. We were just about to have breakfast."

"For once..." Seiichi muttered in response to Toshirou's first statement, referring to the jounin's normal habit of being late.

Kairi felt a smile tug at her lips, and she heaved herself into a sitting position with a grunt. "Ah, I'd forgotten how much the Sharingan really takes out of me..." she murmured to herself.

She ignored the sharp look from Sakaye and instead tilted her head towards their client.

"You said something about breakfast?" the older kunoichi inquired lightly.

After attaining a set of crutches and having finished her own meal at the table, remarkably without anyone seeing her face, Kairi finally spoke again.

"I believe Yuzuna's still alive," she informed those at the table casually.

Seiichi choked on his last mouthful, Sakaye's eyes snapped towards her, and Nariko gaped.

"...Huh?" the blonde finally said, stunned by her teacher's sudden statement.

The jounin quirked a single eyebrow. "I'm sorry. Did I stutter?"

Seiichi, having regained his breath and dislodged the food that had caught in his throat, whipped his head towards her. "No, but... What? How can she still be alive, Sensei? You checked her pulse yourself, didn't you? And that masked kid took care of her, remember?"

The silver-haired woman sighed and crossed her arms. "I'm really not in the mood to draw this out, so let's cut to the chase, shall we?" She observed the group before her. "That boy took Yuzuna down with needles, which, while they can be used for more fatal purposes, are also used for medicinal practices such as acupuncture, as well. The needles even could, if aimed properly, place someone in a near-death state. That boy was a Hunter nin, which already gives him incredible in and out knowledge of the human body. Hunter nin are those called upon to hunt down rogue nin like Yuzuna, kill them, and dispose of the body. They dispose of the body on sight and destroy all but the head, which they will take with them if needed to prove they have indeed taken care of their target.

"That being said, he targeted one of the less muscular points on the body when taking down Yuzuna and then took her body with him. Now then," Kairi said, finally concluding her mini-lecture, "don't you find that to be a little strange?"

Sakaye's eyes widened with the realization, and Seiichi slowly fell back into his seat with shock.

"N-no way..." the male genin mumbled. "That masked kid was... working for her?"

The older kunoichi nodded. "Exactly, or so I suspect."

"So... what then?" Nariko spoke up, looking intently at their teacher. "Yuzuna's going to come back?"

"If I'm correct in my suspicions, then most likely," Kairi replied.

The blonde bit her lip, the corners of her mouth quirking up at the thought. The silver-haired jounin observed the action, but said nothing of it.

"...What are we going to do now?" Seiichi questioned, eyebrows furrowed and expression tight.

Kairi merely grinned beneath her mask. "Why, I'm going to have you three train in preparation, of course."

Seiichi blinked and his eyebrows knitted together. "What? But, sensei... how is a little training going to help us against an opponent like Yuzuna? Even you managed to get taken down, and you're a jounin!" He eyed her dubiously. "So, how are we, who've only been genin for only a little more than a month, supposed to even be a match for her?"

The masked kunoichi tilted her head. "True, very true, but you forget who came to the rescue when Yuzuna took me captive." She smiled. "You three have greatly improved from the newbie little ninja you were when I first tested you for the title of genin. Don't cut yourself so short."

The pinket, while still a little skeptical, couldn't help but sit up a little straighter at the comment. He supposed their rescue attempt had been pretty cool...

Nariko grinned. "Alright, so when do we start?"

"Why bother?"

The blonde blinked and turned her eyes towards Isano, surprised to hear the little girl speak when she had been so silent the night before. The child didn't acknowledge the stares of the others as she picked at her food, eyebrows turned down slightly.

"Isano..." Toshirou said with a reluctant frown.

"What?" the girl questioned sullenly, looking at him. "It's true, Daddy. They're gonna die."

"Excuse me?" Nariko exclaimed, baring her teeth angrily. "What's that supposed to mean!"

Isano narrowed her eyes. "You don't stand a chance against Gatou, or whoever that lady is if she works for him. Nobody does. He'll just have you killed and you'll die. That's it." Then, without waiting for a response, she pushed herself to her feet, turning to walk off.

"Isano, you haven't finished your breakfast!" Toshirou called after her, dark eyebrows knitted together with worry.

"I'm not hungry," she replied before slipping down the hall and into her room, shutting the door with a loud snap.

The dark-haired man's frown deepened, and he sighed heavily.

Nariko felt her face flush with fury as she glared after the girl and growled. "That little... brat! I should go down there and–!"

As she went to stalk after the girl, Kairi grabbed her jacket collar, halting her from following after their client's daughter.

"Now, now," the woman said. "If we want to be prepared, we need to begin training as soon as possible, you understand? I want to make sure you three have this exercise I have planned down."

The pigtailed girl glanced up at her teacher and then back at the hall where Isano had disappeared. After a moment, she finally crossed her arms with a scowl. "Fine..." Nariko muttered, trailing after her team as they left to begin said training. "I still think she's a brat though..."

The remaining two men watched as the four disappeared through the door, Kairi only pausing to grab her crutches.

After they had gone, Tazuna slid his gaze to his son. "Toshirou..."

The younger male abruptly stood and grabbed the bowls their guests had left behind, disregarding the warning that hid within his father's voice as he left without a word.

The elderly man only sighed and, letting the matter go, heaved himself from the table so that he might head off and continue with the construction of his bridge.

oxoxo

"So, Sensei, what exactly do you have in mind for our training?" Seiichi asked curiously.

After leaving the house, Kairi had led them away from the village and into the forest behind Toshirou's home. From there, they had walked until she had halted at a small clearing a short distance in. It was there that the male genin puzzled over what the aforementioned training involved exactly as he shifted his gaze to observe their surroundings, only to see trees, bushes, and the occasional forest animal or two. He then frowned slightly and eyed the jounin herself.

Nariko craned her head back to squint her eyes at the leafy boughs in search of their tops, and Sakaye simply watched the older kunoichi silently, waiting for her to explain.

The woman smiled. "Tree climbing."

The three stared at her.

Nariko spoke first, face twisting with disbelief. "What? Are you serious?" She pouted with disappointment, crossing her arms before her. "I know how to do that..."

"Not this kind," Kairi went on to elaborate. "You see, this exercise involves climbing trees without the use of your hands."

Seiichi furrowed his eyebrows at the woman's explanation as he attempted to determine how such a feat would be accomplished.

An image of himself, with his hands tied behind his back and his legs wrapped around the trunk as he strained to shimmy his way up, appeared in his mind's eye. The oh-so-cheerful Kairi encouraging him from the background of the mental picture did little to make the exercise seem any less difficult, and the pink-haired boy swallowed, glancing nervously up at the fairly large trees before them. It also didn't help that Kairi suddenly looked unusually amused as she observed him, seemingly in response to his thoughts.

He frowned at that, it reminding him too much of his initial meeting with the woman, and he suppressed the urge to demand the jounin stop reading his mind.

The silver-haired kunoichi grinned slightly beneath her mask and slid her gaze over the three before her. "Don't worry. It's not as difficult as it sounds," she reassured them, hobbling her way over to a tree on her left. She paused for a brief moment to gather chakra into her feet before stepping up to the trunk before her. "Unless you have absolutely terrible chakra control, of course."

The three watched with amazement as the woman scaled the wooden giant with unbelievable ease, walking along with her crutches as if she were still perpendicular to the ground and not parallel to it.

After making her way about twenty or thirty feet up the trunk, Kairi halted and eyed the underside of the branch beside her, as if contemplating whether to go ahead and awe them in that aspect as well. However, taking into account the pull of gravity, which was already tugging at her, and how drained she still was from her battle with Yuzuna, the jounin instead turned around and peered down at her gaping students, rather pleased to see that even Sakaye's mouth had fallen open slightly and that her eyes had grown wide.

"How did...? You..." Seiichi began, mouth finally closing and eyebrows furrowing as the jounin limped back down the tree. "...mentioned something about chakra control?"

"Good ears," Kairi grunted as she stepped gingerly off the trunk and on to the ground. "Yes, I did in fact mention chakra control." She lifted her head to glance over the three puzzled genin before her. "Like I said, it's really not as difficult as it sounds. In fact, it's actually quite simple.

"You see, this exercise is designed to perfect your chakra control. I'm sure they taught you about that in the Academy, so I certainly hope no one needs it explained..." The silver-haired kunoichi eyed her orange-clad pupil as she said this.

The blonde blushed slightly, but instantly grinned and straightened. "Uh, yeah! Sure, of course!" She waved a hand dismissively. "Psh! Who doesn't know what that is? I mean, come on, that'd be... er... bad..."

Nariko's pink-haired teammate groaned and clapped a hand to his forehead, neither him nor the other two buying into her claim.

"Really, Nariko?" he moaned. "Are you serious?"

". . ."

Seiichi sighed and, with an annoyed glare, quickly spouted off the information the girl was so completely deprived of.

"Chakra is the energy required of a shinobi in order to use jutsu," he recited quickly and agitatedly, the explanation appearing within his mind. "To be created, one must combine both mental and physical energy. The amount of chakra one contains within them depends on how much of each of these energies one holds. Therefore, the more one trains in his or her mental and physical capacities, the more chakra one will have to create and use jutsu—in theory, at least.

"Chakra control is the ability to combine those mental and physical energies and mold them into the energy required to begin a jutsu. If one can perfect that, then his or her chakra will never be wasted and will always be put to good use, so that he or she may be better able to complete jutsu than they would with less than perfect control," Seiichi finished with a scowl.

"You know," Kairi said lightly, her visible dark orb shining with amusement, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd read that word for word from the Academy text book..."

The boy's eyes widened and he sputtered for a moment. "Well– I just– I said I was good at memorizing things!" the male genin protested, faintly embarrassed.

The jounin simply grinned. "All the same, that's absolutely correct. That being said, chakra control is what allowed me to 'stick' to the tree, in a sense. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to make it up there at all."

"So, how do we do it?" Sakaye questioned for the first time that day, gaze locked intently on their sensei.

Kairi glanced at the dark-haired girl for a brief moment. Then, the older kunoichi gently tapped one of her own feet with a crutch. "Easy. You gather your chakra into your feet and then make your way up. As I just said, the chakra will allow you to stick to the trunk so you can climb like I did."

The woman slid a kunai from her weapons' pouch and swung it on her finger before them. "You three will use kunai to mark how far you reach up the tree with each attempt. I want you to try and get higher than your last mark each time until you reach as high as you can and have successfully gained control over your chakra." She slipped the weapon back into her pouch and went to move out of their way. "However, I'd be careful about the amount of chakra I focus into my feet if I were you. You might not be too happy with the results."

Kairi then settled herself at the base of a tree nearby, so that she might rest her weary body and observe them as well. "A running start would also be best!" she called.

With a nod, the three drew their kunai and picked a tree, before closing their eyes and silently gathering their chakra into their feet.

Seiichi inhaled deeply, feeling the rush of energy to his soles, and then, once the necessary chakra had been collected, he snapped his eyes open and charged his chosen wooden target. His foot stuck fast to the bark, as hoped, and step by step, Seiichi raced his way up the tree.

The pink-haired boy only vaguely registered the crunch of wood as Sakaye forced too much chakra and a loud thud followed by Nariko's wails of pain as she completely slipped from her trunk. Seiichi instead focused intently on the almost-mesmerizing tap of his feet as they hit the bark, and on keeping the proper and consistent flow of chakra necessary for him to stick to the wood.

'This isn't so hard,' the pinket thought with an elated grin, pumping his legs.

Unfortunately, after a few moments, gravity began to slow him down, and finally, after finding a good branch to use for a stopping point, Seiichi hopped from the trunk and settled himself on the limb with an exhale of breath.

"Well, well, well, it would seem we have an expert here."

The male genin grinned broadly down at the silver-haired jounin.

"Piece of cake!" he called.

"Whoa!" Nariko cried excitedly, hopping up from her place on the ground to fist her hands before her. "That's so cool, Seiichi-kun! You're amazing!"

The pink-haired boy ignored his blonde admirer as he glanced at his crush for her own reaction. However, instead of the admiration and respect he had hoped to gain from her, a cold, frustrated look met his eyes. He frowned as she instantly snapped her gaze back to her own trunk, quickly gathering her chakra and charging it once more.

Seiichi's shoulders slumped as he flicked his gaze back and forth between his two female teammates, unhappy with the response he had attained.

'Let'ss ee... Sakaye-chan: Annoyed. Nariko: Adoring.'

"Story of my life..." the male groaned softly.

Kairi observed the boy with interest. 'Impressive. It would be one thing for him to have such incredible chakra control, but to have it and be male? Very impressive, indeed...'

It was common knowledge and a well-known fact amongst the ninja community that women were naturally more adept at chakra control than men. The reason for it was unknown—though it was theorized that it had something to do with the structure of women's chakra coils in comparison to men, their biological makeup, or even simply the wiring of their brains—but even so, it had been proven that excellent chakra control was a trait more likely to be found in kunoichi than their male counterparts. That wasn't to say that a man couldn't have outstanding or even perfect chakra control, only that it was less common.

Therefore, to have a squad where the male member outmatched his female teammates in that aspect was quite the rarity and really rather an accomplishment for said male member.

Kairi grinned wryly beneath her mask, wondering if their little "walking textbook" was aware of that, as she continued to watch her students progress from wet-nosed little newbies to growing ninja. It was with a faintly softer smile that the silver-haired jounin pulled out her book and began reading.

'However will you get through this one, Inoue-san?...'

The woman chuckled quietly at the thought and continued on.

oxoxo

At a different location and an earlier time, two nin faced their own dilemma.

"God, Haru, could you be any more brutal?"

Yuzuna jerked the needles from her neck almost-carelessly, only grunting slightly at the sensation. The woman scowled behind the bandages that concealed her nose and mouth as she rubbed her throat.

"Now, now, Yuzuna-sama," the teen chided lightly, "you should be more careful. You wouldn't want to leave scars, now would you? Not after all that trouble I went to make sure I didn't mar that perfect body of yours..."

The Ex-Mist nin rolled her eyes. "You word things the strangest ways, you know that?"

The dark-haired woman could almost feel the smile of the younger concealed behind its porcelain white cover.

"Take off that awful ghoul mask already," the spiky-haired kunoichi growled, with a narrow of her eyes. "You know I hate looking at that thing..."

"My apologies," her charge responded, immediately lifting a hand to obey the command given.

Yuzuna slid her gaze towards the younger, observing the nin silently for a long moment. The kid was nothing special at first glance: short dark hair reaching to the nape of the neck with longer bangs up front; pale skin; and a slim build concealed by a long-sleeved, high collar shirt, a baggy, dark vest tucked into a long scarf wrapped around the thin waist, and equally-baggy, striped high-waters. Other than the thick-soled sandals and bandages around the shins, the child wasn't especially note-worthy.

But Yuzuna knew the real secret hidden beneath the thick layer of clothes and cropped hair, knew it very well as she slid her gaze up to the revealed face with its bright eyes, long eyelashes hidden behind the bangs, and lips that were perhaps just a little too full for the gender normally assumed.

Haru winced slightly, placing a hand gently against the heavily-clothed chest.

The older woman scowled again. "Let me guess: bandages too tight?"

The dark-haired teen nodded. "Just a bit, Yuzuna-sama. I wanted to be a little more careful since there was the possibility I would have to step in as I did."

"Go ahead and fix it then," Yuzuna huffed. "I don't want you collapsing on the way to Gatou's because you can't breathe."

"…Outside?"

"Yes. Problem?"

"Well," the smaller nin went on to explain, "I wouldn't want anyone to see, now would I? It would ruin the charade a bit, don't you think?"

Yuzuna sighed and heaved herself to her feet, her subordinate promptly rising with her.

"I will never understand why you feel the need to disguise yourself as a boy," the woman grunted, hefting her sword up onto her shoulder and frowning at the weight.

Haru only smiled again and followed after her master so that they might greet the soon-to-be angry Gatou.

oxoxo

The tap of running feet echoed throughout the clearing, the consistency of the sound broken only by the slice of a kunai through the bark and a soft thud as one of the three students landed on the ground and examined their handiwork.

Sakaye gritted her teeth in frustration, her grip tightening on her kunai as she compared her progress to Seiichi's first attempt. She was slowly catching up, yes, but not by near as much as she would have liked. The observation spoke volumes more to her than it did anyone else, and she certainly didn't like what it told her. The girl hunched her shoulders, jaw clenching, as she glared darkly up at the tree, before tensing for another run.

"Hey, Sakaye-chan."

The Uchiha halted and glanced at her pink-haired teammate impatiently, silently waiting for him to speak.

Seiichi hesitated for but a second, before inhaling deeply and shifting towards her. "Uh, I was just wondering... you know, if you'd like some help." He smiled anxiously at her. "I mean, I think I've got this down, so if you want, I could... give you some pointers."

The dark-haired genin's entire body went stiff at the suggestion.

...What? What had he just said? Had he really just offered...? Did he really think...? Who... Who did he think she was? Some helpless little girl? She was an Uchiha, damn it!

However, she paused briefly and glanced up at the tree, dark eyes flickering uncertainly as she compared their progress once more.

Did she really seem that... that weak?

Trembly limbs. A child's sob. Intimidating, intimidating, never pleased…

Red lips pulled tight, and dark eyes turned darker still.

"Pathetic."

Sakaye felt a sudden, indignant fury swell inside her, and she glared venomously at the male genin, a part of her relishing in the surprised look and backward step he took in response. To imply such a thing... He didn't deserve any less.

"I can handle it myself," she bit out, expression dark with rage.

"Ah, right! Of course!" the pinket replied, hands held up in a placating gesture, with a nervous laugh. "What was I thinking? Uh, I'll just... let you get back to that then."

He spared her one last reluctant glance and an uneasy smile before returning to his own tree and letting her be. However, he couldn't help but wonder exactly what he had done wrong.

Sakaye immediately shifted her gaze back to her own leafy giant. She narrowed her eyes, focused her chakra, and charged the tree again.

She was not weak; she did not need his help. The pale girl insisted the same thing when she managed only a step or two past her last mark, and she insisted it again when Nariko went to question Seiichi about those tips he had attempted to offer the Uchiha earlier.

Said Uchiha quietly scoffed at the interaction, dashing at the trunk for yet another time that day.

She was not weak, she didn't need any help, and she most certainly could improve just fine on her own.

oxoxo

Nevertheless, Sakaye began to have second thoughts later that afternoon when she realized that not only was Nariko progressing much more rapidly than before, but the whiskered girl was actually catching up to her.

The dark-haired genin frowned and furrowed her eyebrows, eying her rival uncertainly. She compared their trees with a displeased purse of her lips, not liking what she found or the doubts swelling within her. Then, she carefully eyed the blonde, attempting to discern the secret to her improvement, but simply became frustrated yet again that day when she could determine no difference in her teammate's routine.

Sakaye turned away again with a soft swallow.

Whatever Seiichi had said had certainly helped. It had done wonders for Nariko, after all. Seiichi was already gone by that point—he had left with Kairi earlier when the exercise had caused him to drain his smaller chakra store—so there was no way she could have seen if the offer for advice was still open.

Not that she could have brought herself to ask anyway after their previous interaction. Her fists tightened by her sides at the thought. However, there was one other person she could go to...

The Uchiha's jaw instantly clenched in response as her mind vehemently rebelled against and fiercely rejected the idea, seemingly appalled by the very suggestion. This was the girl who had taken the bottom rank of their class, the dead last ditz and trouble-making prankster! To think that she would have fallen to... such a low...

Yet, Sakaye couldn't deny that, given the blonde's rapid improvement and Seiichi's absence, the move made a great deal of sense. To dismiss it completely would have been silly, impractical, and... really rather childish, she hated to admit. That in itself was enough of an insult for her to steel her resolve.

Sakaye glanced about the clearing to again confirm no one was around to hear. On confirming that there was, in fact, no one within earshot but the loudmouth prankster herself, the Uchiha inhaled and, once Nariko had both feet planted on the ground once more, spoke up.

"Hey... Nariko!" Sakaye called with a frown.

The orange-clad girl blinked at the call of her name and she turned her head to determine the source of the sound. She scowled on realizing that it was her dark-haired rival that had done so.

"What do you want?" Nariko growled with a dark glare, arms crossed before her.

Oh, she had seen perfectly well how the Uchiha had treated their male teammate earlier. All Seiichi had done was kindly offer some help to the dark-haired genin, and what had that stupid brat done? She had completely snapped at him for no reason whatsoever! Just thinking about it made the short genin's blood boil, and she ground her teeth together. What had poor Seiichi done to deserve that?All he ever did was try to be nice to her and that stupid Uchiha repaid him with glares, sharp words, and cold shoulders.

'I mean, really!' Nariko fumed. 'Would it kill her to be a little grateful? I would love to have Seiichi-kun treat me like that, and she just acts like it's an– an insult or something stupid like that! What the hell?' The girl snorted to herself. 'I bet she wouldn't know how to accept a little help even if it–'

"Wh-what did Seiichi... say... to you?"

The blonde gaped at her dark-haired rival, eyes bugging out of her head with shock. Said rival, whose cheeks were already pink with embarrassment, forced herself to look anywhere but at her orange-clad teammate as she cursed her pale complexion for showing color so easily.

For a long moment, they stood like that, Nariko with her mouth open and eyes wide, and Sakaye feeling increasingly more embarrassed and awkward.

Then, the blonde couldn't help it; she laughed.

"Oh my god, are you blushing?" Nariko guffawed, clutching her middle as she gasped for breath between fits of hysterical giggles.

The girl really couldn't be blamed for her reaction. It was Uchiha Sakaye she was referring to, after all, Konoha's very own little "Ice Queen," who Nariko had never really seen as anything but annoyed, let alone flustered or embarrassed. To see the normally stoic Uchiha, the former top of their class, so obviously uncomfortable with her cheeks flushed, while asking the orange-clad genin, former worst-ranked student in their grade, about something she had so readily rejected earlier? It was no wonder the blonde was laughing so hard. The irony alone was amusing enough in itself.

The aforementioned Uchiha, much to her annoyance and chagrin, felt her face immediately go aflame, and she was furiously certain that the so-called blush her teammate had mentioned had moved from a light dusting across her nose and cheeks to an awful red that consumed her entire face and showed far too well.

Sakaye instantly whipped her head away, too humiliated and angry by her rival's reaction to bother even considering attaining an actual answer to her question. She instead, almost-viciously, forced her chakra into her feet and sprinted towards the tree before her. Near-instantaneously, she spring-boarded off the bark, her foot cracking through about the very instant it met wood.

The dark-haired girl landed in a crouch, repressing the urge to growl loudly in frustration, not wanting to give her still chortling teammate another reason to laugh any harder than she already was.

'Never again,' Sakaye swore fiercely, with another gather of chakra and savage charge. 'That's the last time I ask that stupid, dead-last ditz for anything!'

Nariko simply continued laughing.

o

o

Fun Facts:

– Title, of course, refers to Sakaye's refusal for help and desire not to have it, but can also refer to Isano's attitude towards the squad.

– There is a reason Haru disguises herself as a boy, but it won't be revealed until a later chapter. However, I will say that her reasoning for doing so involves someone close to her. As you may have noticed, I have purposely kept Haru's gender ambiguous up until this point. I hoped to make it a bit of a surprise that she would disguise herself in such a manner. You would think a female Haku would look even more like a girl, wouldn't you? However, as I said, Haru has her reasons for masquerading as a boy.

– Sakaye could possibly be considered as somewhat of a feminist. She despises anyone to think her weak because of her gender and works hard to prove that she is just as capable and powerful as any male shinobi. This partly explains her fierce reaction towards Seiichi's offer of help, though not completely.

– Kairi's "reading of Seiichi's mind" will probably remain a bit of a running gag. Grins. It was a bit fun to bring it up again.

– I really struggled over whether I should keep the tree exercise or not, or how I could alter it and so on and so on. However, the exercise somehow seemed necessary to me, and so, I kept it. I did try to change it up a bit so that it still felt somewhat original, though. I like it, at least.

– Inoue-san refers to Kakashi's Japanese voice actor, Kazuhiko Inoue.

– All three members of Sakaye's family have finally been referenced to, though no names have been mentioned and they've only been glimpses. However, with each glimpse, you have gotten a good look at the relationship Sakaye shared with each member.

– Toshirou's hair awakened Sakaye's memory of her father's own, the thick tension between the jounin brought Sakaye to recall the thick syrup on the dango her sister loved so much, and Seiichi's offer of help, which Sakaye interpreted as a question of her abilities and an implication of weakness, reminded her of her mother's perception of her.