And another chapter for anyone actually reading this.
Chapter 2 - Of Academy Days - Part 2
The morning dawned brightly and, for a rare change, the pair of girls bounced out of bed, excitement for the plan finally being put into action over-riding their usual caffeine-deprived sluggishness. To prevent suspicion from Morikawa, who was planning on taking them out for lunch, they stuck to their schedule, tea, run, gossip and breakfast. They met the Jōnin outside their house at just after ten so they could get some extra shopping done while someone else was paying.
Thus, the plan was put into motion. Miku spotted Jiraiya snoozing on an out-of-the-way rooftop and signalled 'Kuko to get 'lost' in the crowds. The older girl snuck through the back alleys towards Tsunade's usual haunts for a Saturday morning, and struck gold on the second possibility. She hoisted herself into a densely-leaved tree and quickly activated her Henge, removing a water balloon on a string from her bag and dangling it over a low branch. As the target approached the drop site, Miku appeared from a side street, appearing to be searching quite desperately for her wayward friend and caused enough of a distraction to make Tsunade pause at the perfect moment.
Splat!
The balloon struck home, breaking easily and spilling a vibrant orange dye all over her, accompanied by a perfect Jiraiya cackle as the Henge'd 'Kuko fled the scene, aiming roughly towards the spot the pair had seen Jiraiya. Ducking down an empty street, she released the Jutsu and turned around, regulating her breathing and plastering a perfectly innocent look of surprise onto her face, just in time for Tsunade to appear 'round the corner.
"Where did he go?" The older woman practically growled out the question, an enraged aura crackling around her.
"He just disappeared into smoke Tsunade-hime. I don't know where…" A perfect act of an innocent child, intimidated by a far stronger and older kunoichi's rage.
"'Kuko-chan, there you are. I've been looking everywhere for you." Miku ran to her friend from the other end of the street, worry creeping through her usually neutral expression. She gasped upon seeing the dripping, orange Tsunade.
"Tsunade-hime, what happened? Should we get someone?" The kunoichi shook her head, hopping onto the roof and running off as she caught sight of a glimpse of white hair on a distant roof..
Once certain the woman was far enough away, the pair collapsed into giggles, leaning on each other to prevent themselves from falling to the floor. They eventually managed to reign in their laughter and ran back to Morikawa, 'Kuko babbling on about a really pretty kimono she had seen the other week that 'would have suited Miku perfectly but someone else must have bought it already, 'cos it's not there anymore.'
A strangled scream drifted over the rooftops, drawing the attention of the morning crowd. The white blur if Jiraiya flashed overhead, fleeing from the enraged Tsunade. The adults in the crowd shook their heads and moved on, well used to ignoring the antics of the village's shinobi, while their children stared in awe and other shinobi rolled their eyes, wondering why Jiraiya hadn't learnt his lesson about not pissing Tsunade off yet.
'Kuko grabbed Morikawa's hand and dragged him along to a different clothes shop, determined to get Miku something pretty instead of the practical, but very bland, clothes she usually wore.
Ten shops later, the older girl finally decided she'd found enough, much to her companions' relief, the younger girl glad not to be forced into anymore dresses, while the older man mentally whined over the lightening of his wallet.
In sympathy for the man's funds, Miku suggested the, relatively, cheap option of Ichiraku's Ramen for lunch, 'Kuko's love of the food preventing any complaints from her.
*o*o*o*
"It's about time we hit the Academy, isn't it?" Oh, how simple a phrase it is, that could lead to such chaos.
'Kuko stared at her younger companion for a moment, before the mother of all grins spread over her face. The 'Secret Lair' beneath the girls' house became a flurry of activity for several nights as plans were made, discarded and refined in preparation for their grand scheme, as the opportune moment drew closer.
*o*o*o*
"And so it was, at the Valley of the End that Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara fought…" 'Kuko's head dropped to the desk in front of her with a thunk, muffled slightly by the notebook Miku slid into position at the first sign of movement.
"Urgh, why does Toshio-sensei have to teach this stuff? It could be an awesome story, if only it was told by someone with a more interesting voice." The older girl complained, almost silently, to Miku, knowing, despite the lack of obvious response, that the younger girl agreed.
"Just take a nap 'Kuko-chan, we'll have a long night tonight and you're not paying attention anyway." The mahogany haired girl did just that, smiling in anticipation.
The pair took their time leaving that afternoon, listening closely to the gossip of who had graduated this time.
"Another Uchiha graduated early..."
"It's not like there was any doubt about that one..."
"I'm surprised that troublemaker made it through..."
"His sensei must be glad to be rid of that one..."
"Another one of our lot failed, they're all jealous of how young Hatake-san graduated..."
"Looks like we have our scapegoat Ku-chan." Miku nodded and pulled herself up onto the nearest roof, to begin the trip home, making a couple of stops along the way for a few last supplies, 'Kuko took care of the bottles of sake with her Jiraiya imitation.
"You're not planning on annoying Tsunade-hime, are you, Jiraiya-san? To need this much sake..." The shopkeeper looked a little worried at the number of bottles but left it alone when 'Kuko laughed it off as 'nothing like that'.
Time seemed to drag on as the pair tried to occupy themselves while waiting for nightfall, but finally, their patience was rewarded and the grabbed their backpacks before slipping away through the shadows. The worked through the night, both Henge'd as the newly graduated prankster, just in case they were caught in the act.
Eventually dawn started creeping in as the last paint pot from the supply they'd stashed nearby was emptied and Miku returned from distributing the sake - a bottle was left by the door of every sensei with a note that said 'You'll need this', written in Toshio-sensei's handwriting.
The girls made use of an old shed to quickly change into their normal attire for the morning run and sped away, leaving no evidence of their involvement, their backpacks stashed on their tree-platform for later retrieval.
*o*o*o*
It was barely 7:30 when the first enraged yell emerged from the academy, and the first sensei of the day swore vengeance for the pot of paint tipped over his head. And for the horribly clashing paint splashed over the walls. And the waxing of all the floors which had forced him to attach himself to the ground with chakra to even reach said classroom.
Unfortunately for the Sensei, there wasn't enough time for them to do much to fix the damage before their students started to arrive. There were those who thanked Kami-sama for the sake and pre-emptively began to drown their sorrows together. There were those who took the futile path of trying to at least fix their own classrooms in time. Then there were the ones with enough of a sense of humour to run or shunshin home to grab their cameras before sitting back to enjoy the show. The Chūnin who were working the mission desk that day either joined the latter group whenever they got a break, or counted themselves lucky that the admministrative division had been left untouched. The various ninja coming and going for missions, took one look at the ribbons and glitter decorating the trees outside and thought it better not to ask and simply move on.
Chaos. No, perhaps Pandemonium would be better. That was what greeted 'Kuko and Miku upon their arrival, as the latest batch of students went sliding down the corridor and through the trapdoor they'd installed at the end of it. Thus, they turned around and decided to enter their class through the window, climbing one of the be-glittered trees to reach it, and laughing at the classmate who'd done the same but (un)fortunately picked a window they'd rigged with a paint pot.
Miku settled at her desk with a book, expecting it to take a while for either class to start or a sensei to announce classes were cancelled. 'Kuko amused herself with peeking her head out the door and watching the students slide down the halls, attempting to grab the doorframes of their classrooms to swing themselves in. There were varying degrees of success.
Option 1 - Failure, miss the door frame completely and keep sliding 'til they hit the wall at the end of the corridor or another student sliding the other way.
Option 2 - Half-Fail, succeed in catching door frame but can't swing themselves sharply enough, thus smack face-first into the shut half of the door.
Option 3 - Almost Success, succeed in swinging but the transition from slippery floor to normal floor causes face-planting, or swing too sharply and smack face-first into wall within the room.
Option 4 - Success, it worked without incident, this option was a rather rare occurrence but any who did manage it got a good laugh at the victims of options 1-3.
Eventually that source of entertainment exhausted itself and 'Kuko dropped herself next to Izumo and Kotetsu to join in their discussion over the possible culprit(s).
The academy ended up closing for the rest of the week to sort out the clean-up - most of which was set as D-rank missions which the new Genin were stuck with - and by the end of that day the rumour mill had somewhat agreed that the culprits were a group of 4-5 people, most likely recent graduates, though the specific identities varied greatly, from the recently graduated prankster with some friends to a group of bored ANBU. However, despite all efforts, no certain culprit was found and proven guilty.
An added bonus to their venture, was 'Kuko's discovery of Izumo and Kotetsu's habit of gossiping, giving her an extra source of rumours and someone to chat with when she thought Miku was being too boring by studying.
*o*o*o*
Tada, after this we get to the proper plot and more interesting things and the chapters will most likely start getting longer.
Reviews feed the hungry muse, she really needs something to keep her from wandering.
Your Knackered-From-Lack-of-Sleep-Last-Night-But-Determined-Not-to-be-Late-Posting Author
Kouseki