Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! If I did, the Triplets are so in it and I'll create all the crossovers I want! KYA-KYA-KYA!


Chapter 13: Zakuro, the Substitute Sensei!

The next morning came quickly for the citizens of Konoha. Especially for Rock Lee, who was already up at at'em just minutes before the sun rose and was already making his way through the forest where Zakuro had told his and her teams to meet. He was really eager to start training even though the meeting time was in the afternoon. As he neared the training spot he began to hear the sounds of large boulders breaking and sounds of cougar roaring. 'Zakuro-sensei?' thought Lee as he ran ahead towards the clearing where the lake was.

...

"HIYA!" "CHA!" "HAH!" were the grunts Lee heard as he emerged from the forest. Suddenly, there was a loud boom and large boulder came flying his way. Lee quickly jumped out of the way to avoid it, hitting the ground rolling before getting back onto his feet.

Lee looked up to see Zakuro fighting an unfamiliar woman, with long dark blond hair. She wore a bright yellow fighting kimono with a brown sash. Like Zakuro, she wore similar black pants with golden cuffs along with geta sandals and white socks. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" cried Zakuro as she ran forward and jumped at her opponent, sending kicks with such speed and technique, it looked as if Zakuro was dancing in mid air.

Then again, her opponent was no novice as well. She blocked and dodged Zakuro's attacks just as fast as Zakuro was kicking. The blond woman finally managed to get a hold of Zakuro's foot and throw her. Zakuro was quick enough to twist her body and land on her feet, dashing at her opponent again. This time the blond woman charged as well. Both woman jumped into the air while spinning and began delivering a barrage of kicks at each other while blocking with their legs at the same time. Their movements were so fast that they almost appeared like they were hovering in the air. With one final kick both women were repelled in separate ways and hit the ground hard, forming two small trenches.

Zakuro's opponent got up quickly, only to find that Zakuro herself had disappeared. Suddenly, the blondie felt herself getting pushed to the ground as Zakuro appeared from behind and pounced on her. "Give up yet?" asked Zakuro as she sat on her opponent's waist and pinned the blond woman's arms behind her back.

"Sugoi..." Rock Lee finally managed to say.

The blond turned her head to glance at Zakuro and smiled sneakily. "Not yet..." she said.

Suddenly, Zakuro felt a strong push as her opponent curved her legs and kicked Zakuro so hard that the teenager was sent into a forward roll and landed on her face. Lee gasped as he saw the blond woman quickly leap forward and jumped on Zakuro, this time pinning Zakuro's wrists spread out by her side with her palm's facing up. The blond woman also had used her own legs to clamp the teenager's legs together so that Zakuro is unable to pull the same trick on her. "Now, do you give up?" asked the woman with a smile.

Before Zakuro could give her answer, both women heard the sounds of running feet coming in their direction.

"You leave Zakuro-sensei alone!" yelled Lee as he came charging towards them. "HIYA!" he yelled as he launched a flying kick at the blond woman.

"W-wait!" the blond woman was about to say before jumping off Zakuro to dodge Lee's foot.

The blondie back flipped a few times to regain her footing and put some distance between her and Lee, who was beginning to charge at her again. "Would you hold it?" she yelled again as she started dodging Lee's punches and kicks. 'He's really starting to piss me off...'she thought in annoyance as she ducked in time to avoid Lee's punch.

Suddenly, Lee disappeared from her line of vision. "He's fast!" she exclaimed.

"Take this, stranger!" Lee yelled appearing from behind the blond woman, preparing to do a drop kick on her.

The blondie flinched, unable to defend herself in time. The woman heard a crash and felt bits of rock bouncing of her skin. She looked up to see Zakuro standing in front of her with her hands in her pockets standing there nonchalantly. The blonde looked to the right to see a very surprised Lee some distance away in a small trench as a result from hitting the ground hard.

"Zakuro-sensei? Why did you stop my attack? Isn't she supposed to be your enemy?" the boy asked in confusion.

"Lee-kun, you should really stop jumping to conclusions on the spot, it's gonna get you in trouble one day," said the blond woman, smiling as she got up and walked with Zakuro towards the boy. Lee got even more surprised when a pair of rounded cougar ears and tail popped out from the woman's hair and skirt.

"Ring any bells?" Zakuro asked, jerking a thumb at the other woman.

"No way! Tsuchi?" exclaimed Lee.

Tsuchi twitched her tail as she smiled at the boy. "Bingo!" she said as she went 'poof'. The smoke cleared to reveal Tsuchi back in her cougar form. "And for the record," Tsuchi began to say, suddenly sticking out her large paw, striking Lee in the chest, pushing him over. "Do that again, and I will bite you..." she said threateningly standing over Lee looking at him straight in the eye. "Am I clear?" Tsuchi whispered.

Lee looked at Tsuchi with his huge round eyes full of fear. "Yes, ma'am!" he squeaked.

Zakuro chuckled as Tsuchi got off the boy. "You really are an interesting kid, Junior!" she said in amusement.

"Junior?" asked Lee.

"Since you're here, why don't you come and sit with me," Zakuro said as she and Tsuchi walked towards the lake.

Lee simply nodded and stood up. "Junior?" he asked himself as he trotted after the two, pondering over various reasons on why Zakuro would call him that.


(Elsewhere near the Hyuuga compound)

"I'll be leaving now, Hinata-sama," Neji said to Hinata who was practicing her moves on a wooden stump.

"Hai, Onii-san," replied the girl, bowing to her cousin and smiling.

Neji gave Hinata a small smile as he left the Hyuuga house. Ever since the Chuunin exams, Neji had grown to become a little fond of his cousin who he used deem weak. He had even noticed a change in Hinata as well, such as a rise in confidence and improvement in technique. The moment he neared the corner, he heard a familiar female voice talking to someone. Curious, Neji increased his pace until he finally turned the corner to see a large tree that grew over the Hyuuga wall. A small chuckle drew his attention to the branches where he saw the silhouette of a girl with long tied up in a ponytail siting on one of the branches. She appeared to be having a conversation with someone, only Neji couldn't see who is it. As he neared the tree he began to pick up bits of the conversation from the girl.

"Actually, I'm new here, so I'm not thoroughly familiar with the area," the girl said.

Suddenly, she grew quiet and stared in to space as if she was listening to a reply.

"Oh, no wonder I became lost, I took the wrong road," the girl said in reply before chuckling.

Neji squinted his eyes to get a better look. "Kaori-san?" he called unsure.

Suddenly the girl looked down. "Senpai!" she said in surprise before jumping down and landing gracefully on her feet with a small pack strapped to her back. "What are you doing here?"

Neji quirked and eyebrow."I should be asking you that, this tree just happens to be growing right next to the Hyuuga compound," he said. "Who were you talking to anyway?"

Kaori simply ignored the boy and looked up at the tree. "Ja ne! Thanks for the directions! I'll come and visit soon!" she called to her unseen friend, waving before turning and walking away with her hands behind her back.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" yelled Neji in annoyance.

Just before running after Kaori, the boy looked up at the branches and saw nothing. "Byakugan!" he said, activating his bloodline ability. Through his eyes, Neji scanned the tree to catch a glimpse of a second person but saw nothing. He tried widening his vision of the area but he couldn't even see so much as a fly moving away from the tree. Neji turned of his Byakugan with a confused look on his face. "Just who was she talking too?" Neji asked himself as he watched Kaori, who had by then come to a crossroad, was trying to decide which way to go.

Now, had Neji only looked more carefully with his Byakugan, he would have captured a medium size mass of energy on the branch Kaori was sitting on. Unaware, was the boy as a medium size male figure with long green hair and lightly tanned skin wearing a long dark brown robe watched the boy catch up with Kaori. At that moment, a sparrow came down and landed on the figure's shoulder. "It's been a long time since I had spoken with another human who could see me and did not fear me," said the figure, stroking the sparrow's feathery breast as he averted his gaze to a certain girl who was training in the Hyuuga compound.

At that moment, Hinata felt someone's eyes on her and stopped her training momentarily. 'What was that?' she thought shifting her eyes in the direction of the tree.


(Elsewhere)

"Man, who would have thought I out grew my swim suit already," muttered Tenten as she browsed through various styles of swimsuits in a shop. She lifted up a black bikini of the rack and looked at it with wide eyes. "I wouldn't be caught dead in this..." she said to herself.

"Really? I think it's cute," said a female voice from behind Tenten.

"Ino!" exclaimed Tenten in surprise as she whipped around to see the blond pony tailed girl smiling at her. (R.F:Betcha' thought it was Hikari or Cori didn't ya?)

"Watcha' doin' Tenten?"

"What does it look like?" replied Tenten as she placed back the bikini and continued browsing. "My team is having training this afternoon with the Nekojiwa sisters, and Zakuro-sensei said I needed to bring my swimsuit. Problem is, I out grew my old one so I'm looking for a new one."

Ino looked at her friend in confusion. "What happened to Gai-sensei?"

"He got pulverized...don't ask..." the girl said as she recalled seeing her sensei as a bloody pulp.

Ino raised her eyebrows but said nothing. Instead she reached out and picked up a swimsuit from the rack behind her. "What about this one?" suggested Ino, holding it up.

Tenten looked at it and held against her body. Without saying anything, she rushed into an empty changing room, surprising Ino.


"Do you see the lake, Akane?" asked Hikari as she flew on a transformed Akane's back.

"Not yet, Hikari-sama," replied the winged panther, flapping her wings to gain some speed.

"Wait for us Onee-sama!" called Cori from behind, riding on Jubei's back.

Both girls carried small back packs. Jubei flapped her wings a little more until she flying beside Akane. "I can smell the water and Zakuro-sama just ahead," said Jubei all of a sudden.

"Understood, let's go!" the two sisters said in unison.

The winged panther and tiger looked at each other and nodded. Folding their wings a little, the two big cats, slowly descended until they saw the large body of water sparkling in the sun.

"It's beautiful!" they all said in delight.

Just as they were landing, they saw Kaori, along with Neji and Tenten coming through the clearing. Hikari's eyes began to grow bright and shiny. "TENTEN-SENPAAAAAAAAAAIIIIII~~~!" she cried out happily as she jumped from Akane's back (when they were still a few feet of the ground no less!) and came shooting in Tenten's direction, catching the girl off guard.

"OOF!" went Tenten as Hikari successfully managed to glomp her with such force that the two girls rolled head over heels a few times.

"SENPAI~NYA-NYUUUU~!" mewed Hikari hugging her senior tightly.

"GET OFF OF ME! KAORI-SAN, HELP!" yelled Tenten as she tried to wriggle out of Hikari's grip.

'Hikari-neesama...' thought Kaori in exasperation heaving a big sigh. She raised one hand in front of her as blue electricity began to static around her shackle and gather in her palm in the form of a small ball. "Raiton: Kodama no Rai..." (R.F: Literally translated as Lightning Style: Small Lightning Ball ...)

Kaori lightly blew on it, causing the ball of lightning to float from her hand like a bubble and slowly let it drop on to her sister.

"NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...!" "IIIIIIYYAAAAAAAAAAA...!" both Hikari and Tenten screamed as they got electrocuted by the the ball.

Painful as it was, it got Hikari to let go of Tenten. When the electricity wore off, the two girls lay on the grass blackened and twitching from getting shocked. "T-thank you..." strained Tenten.

"Your welcome," said Kaori, not even looking the least bit sorry for electrocuting them.

Neji simply sweat-dropped at the girl's nonchalant reaction. Meanwhile, after finally transforming back into their original forms, Cori, along with Akane and Jubei riding on each one of her shoulders, walked up to the edge of the lake where they saw Lee sitting next to Tsuchi, who for some reason had her tail covering his eyes.

"Tsuchi! Lee-senpai!" called Cori cheerfully.

"CORI-CHAN!" exclaimed Lee in surprise, jumping to his feet in delight. "W-what brings you here?" he asked all of a sudden.

Cori looked at the boy and giggled in amusement. "Well that's a silly question, we're supposed to be training together today aren't we?" she replied, smiling at the boy in amusement, causing Lee to turn beet red as steam erupted from his head.

Jubei and Akane looked at each other incredulously. "Idiot..." they both said at the same time.

Cori looked at the two cats on her shoulders. "Did you two say something?"

"Not a word!" the two cats said looking away. It was about then, Akane realized something.

"Ne, Tsuchi-neesan, where's Zakuro-sama?" she asked.

At that moment, a splash was heard as Zakuro-sama came propelling out of the lake like a dolphin. She flipped once in the air and landed gracefully on her feet. Zakuro wore a one piece violet swimsuit that looked exactly like tank top she wore everyday. (Check Zakuro Nekojiwa on my profile and imagine her without the black pants or gauntlets.) All three members of team Gai blushed greatly at Zakuro's appearance. Tenten appeared fascinated as she checked out Zakuro's lovely figure. Kaori and all the cats plus Tsuchi just looked at her impassively.

"Oh my!" said Cori giggling as she covered her mouth to hide the amused smile she was getting from seeing the boys faces.

Hikari on the other hand, blushed greatly as her jaw dropped open in shock. "ONEE-SAMA! HAVE YOU NO SHAME APPEARING LIKE THAT?" she cried out jabbing a finger at her sister.

Zakuro rolled her eyes as she pushed strands of wet hair from her face. "Whatever... anyway it's about you guys got here, it was getting boring..." said Zakuro.

"DON'T IGNORE ME!"

"Thanks Tsuchi," said Zakuro as the cougar walked up to her master with a saffron colored towel. Zakuro quickly dried her long hair with it and placed it around her shoulders like a shawl. "Now that you guys are here, let's get down to business shall we?" she said rubbing her hands together as she walked about 10 metres from the lake. Zakuro quickly began forming a few hand seals before stopping with the ox seal. "Nekojiwa style: Earth Manipulation Jutsu!" the woman said slamming both hands on the ground.

Suddenly, about 12 stone columns about Zakuro's height sprung from the ground in pairs of two. Both lines were placed a few feet from each other, but the columns were lined closely together. Zakuro then dusted her hands and jabbed her fingers at the two boys. "You two, in front of the pillars now!" she commanded.

"HAI!" the two boys replied and stood in front of the pillars quickly, looking at their substitute teacher expectantly. The girls looked on curiously.

"I want you boys to break the pillar at the end from where you are," she said.

"Huh?" everybody asked in confusion.

"You heard me, I want you two to try and break the pillar at the end from exactly where your standing."

The two boys looked at each other and shrugged before taking their stances. Tenten noticed Neji's stance was different from the basic Jyuuken stance than usual.

"That stance is for-" she began to mutter.

"BEGIN!" yelled Zakuro.

"KAITEN!" yelled Neji as he dispelled chakra from his body and began to spin like a top, destroying his line of pillars in seconds.

Rock Lee on the other hand punched and kicked his way through the pillars towards the end. Both boys finished at the same time as they stood at the end of the rubble they created. The triplets and cats looked at the boys in wonder. "Wow..." they all said.

Suddenly, two loud slaps were heard followed by yelps of pain from the boys as Zakuro slapped them upside their heads. "ITAI!" they yelled again as Zakuro pinched their earlobes and pulled hard, not letting go. She had a pissed off look at on her face that made the girls shiver in fright.

"Weren't you two listening?" she demanded. "I said destroy the end pillar from where you guys were standing! Did I say you guys can break the other pillars?"

"But you never said they couldn't," said Hikari.

In a flash, Zakuro was in front of the girl, pulling her cheeks hard. "Don't you dare smart-mouth me, Missy!" she growled.

Hikari squealed in pain as she felt her cheeks being pulled hard. Neji and Lee looked at the teenager while rubbing their sore ears. "But isn't it common sense to break the other pillars to get to the end?" asked Neji in annoyance.

Zakuro whipped around and looked at them. "There's a time for common sense and a time for nonsense," said Zakuro sternly. "Yes, it's important to think before you act but sometimes when in battle there won't be time to think things through! You have to move on impulse and put your trust in luck!"

Everybody looked at the woman with wide eyes feeling enlightened by her is until she said "But that's not the point of this training."

"GAH!" everybody went falling over anime style.

The woman nodded to Tsuchi, who returned the nod and slammed a large paw on the ground, causing three rows of pillars to grow out from the ground. Zakuro then walked up to the center row and took up a stance. "The main point of this training controlling your chakra."

Team Gai looked at the woman as if she was crazy. "Why are we going through such basic training?" demanded Neji in annoyance. "We already have excellent chakra control!"

"Oh?" asked Zakuro raising her eyebrows at the boy's confidence. "Alright then Princey, if you think your control is so good, can you this?" she asked as she spun around once one foot.

"HIIIIIYAA!" she yelled as she kicked the pillar as hard as she could. Her bare foot went smack against the surface of the pillar, the impact so hard that it vibrated in the air. For about 30 secs there was no reaction. None of the pillars broke despite Zakuro's seemingly strong kick. Team Gai raised eyebrows at her skeptically. "HAH!" yelled Zakuro.

All of a sudden, the two teams felt a strong wave of force slamming in to them as the pillar right at the end of the row exploded into rubble. Strangely enough, all the the other pillars, even the one Zakuro kicked, were still perfectly intact. Everybody quickly shielded their eyes from the flying bits of rock. Zakuro put down her leg and smiled at the boys. "And that's how you do it, if you can control your chakra perfectly, you can even do this," Zakuro said, snapping her fingers.

The kids quickly shielded themselves again as they saw Zakuro's row of pillars exploded simultaneously at random. Team Gai stared in shock as their jaws dropped right open. "Leaves ya' kinda speechless, don't it?" asked Kaori who looked obviously pleased at their reactions despite her trying her best to hide her smile.

"Now why don't you go ahead and try it while I handle girls," said Zakuro as she simply picked up Neji and Rock Lee, who were still stiff with shock, and placed them in front of the two remaining rows of pillars. Gesturing to the girls, Zakuro made her way to lake's edge and handed her towel to Tsuchi. "I'll right back."

This prompted the girls to change into their swimsuits. Tenten and the girls began to remove their head bands and other jewelry. Tenten watched in interest as the triplets proceeded to take of their shackles. The triplets placed their hands on either shackle which immediately glowed with chakra and expanded large enough for them to slip off their shackles. The triplets then took off their chokers and placed them on the ground with their other stuff before proceeding to take off their jackets. Boys quickly turned their heads to look. Lee's eyes widened as his face turned red watching Cori take of her jacket. "Pretty..." he muttered not before yelping in pain as he felt a sharp sting in his leg. He looked down to see Jubei retracting her claws.

"Please don't look at Cori-sama with such perverted eyes, Lee-dono," said Jubei.

Lee looked the cat with a dramatic grief-stricken face before leaning his head on the pillar in depression. 'Perverted she calls me...'

Neji on the other hand noticed something else. Peeking from under Hikari's top were three visible pinkish red scars slashed diagonally to the left. On both Kaori's shoulders were old burn scars shaped like hands and Cori's arms were covered visible with cuts that have long since healed. Finally his eyes rested on Zakuro herself. It was only fleeting, but he saw that the jonin herself had nasty jagged scars on her left wrist. You probably wouldn't noticed at all considering how the scars were usually covered with shackles and jackets.


"Wake up Yue," said Kaori.

Suddenly, a bulge in Kaori's hood shifted and out poked a gray fluffy head. 'So that's where Yue's been hiding...' thought Tenten as the kitten gave a great big yawn and jumped out of Kaori's hood to the grass.

Kaori quickly took off her jacket and folded it neatly on the ground. Yue didn't even hesitate to circle about on the jacket before kneading it with her paws before sleeping. The sisters then took of their sashes and proceeded to take of their shorts revealing them to be wearing bikini bottoms before taking off their shoes. Tenten undid her hair buns and braided them into two pigtails before she too took off her Chinese shirt, pants and shoes. The sisters looked at Tenten with wide eyes.

"What a cute swimsuit senpai!" exclaimed Hikari and Cori.

(flashback)

Inside the changing room, it only took Tenten a few minutes to put on the swimsuit. She looked at herself in the mirror from the front and back. "This is..."

"Hey Tenten! Hurry up, I wanna see!" called Ino impatiently.

The curtain of the dressing room drew back to reveal Tenten wearing a snow white Oriental-styled one piece swimsuit with a Chinese styled neckline complete with Chinese buttons. It had crimson trimmings with a small patch of floral patterns on her left shoulder. Needless to say, she looked good.

Ino whistled in surprise. "I thought you'd look good in it but this is just gorgeous! I think Neji-kun is going to go gaga when he see's you in that!" she exclaimed.

Tenten quickly rushed forward and covered Ino's mouth while glaring at the girl with a red face. "I'm only getting a swimsuit because I need one, Hyuuga Neji has nothing to do with this...am I clear?" hissed Tenten. "Now, if I let you breathe, promise me you would not say anything embarrassing?"

Ino quickly nodded her head since she was beginning to feel smothered by Tenten's hand over her breathing nodded in satisfaction before releasing her hand, letting Ino take in a deep breath.

"Alright girls enough with the flashbacks," said Zakuro sharply as she stood at the edge of the lake. In a small pile next to her on the ground were four weight belts. (The kind used for diving) Zakuro gestured to the girls to follow her into the lake, which they did. Kaori re-tied her hair into a low ponytail while Hikari tied her hair into a pair of low ponytails.

The girls began to wade after Zakuro deeper and deeper until they were up to their necks and were forced to dog paddle since they can't feel the bottom any more. Zakuro however, remained only half submerged in the water with her upper torso still remaining nice and dry until the waist. This confused Tenten as they were practically in the middle of the lake, which is extremely deep. "Excuse me," said Tenten briefly as she held her breath and stuck her head under water. Even though it was slightly blurry, Tenten could make out Zakuro's legs moving at an incredibly fast rate. Suddenly an air bubble was released from Tenten's mouth as she quickly popped up for air. "Sugoi!" she spluttered wiping the water from her face.

Zakuro smiled at the girl. "If you haven't guessed by now, our training is going to focus particularly on leg strength because believe it or not, our legs are our greatest weapon," she said as she swam back to shore with the girls following closely behind.

"I thought it was a woman's tears?" asked Tenten the moment the girls got back to shore.

Zakuro turned around sharply and stared at the girl so intensely that Tenten shrank. "A woman's tears maybe a strongest weapon, but trust me, a woman's legs are the deadliest of them all!" she said jabbing a finger at an intimidated Tenten.

The triplets all looked at their sister with large eyes and applauded. "That's Zakuro-oneesama for you!"

Tenten looked at the girls in disbelief and sweat-dropped. 'I think there's something wrong with these girls...'

"Anyway, put these belts on and get back in the water!" commanded the older woman.

The girls quickly did so with Zakuro putting on her own. Once again, the girls swam out into the lake but this time to a level where the water came up to their necks but they could still feel the bottom. "Listen up, right now each of are wearing at least 20 kg of weights on your waists. I want you to tread water until you can keep at least your upper body above the surface, like this," explained Zakuro as she began to demonstrate by kicking her legs vigorously at such a face pace that she began to rise out of the water until her waistline. "You got it?"

"HAI!" replied all the girls as they began to paddle their legs furiously. It proved to be a lot harder since the weights were dragging them down making it difficult to keep even their heads above the water.

Zakuro nodded as she swam back to shore to check on the guys. Meanwhile, Tsuchi had gotten a hold of the kittens and was making them push large rocks up an inclined slope (Tsuchi's doing) with their hind legs. "NYOH! Tsuchi-san! Couldn't you have made the rocks just a little smaller?" asked Akane in protest as she struggled with her rock.

"No," the cougar replied flat out. "Now quit complaining and start pushing kitten!"

"You suck, cougar!"

"Piss off, brat!" retorted Tsuchi as the cougar and kitten glared into each other's eyes until sparks were produced.

"Tsuchi-san! Akane-chan! Please stop-nyanyu!" cried out Jubei, frantically waving her paws while Yue simply took the opportunity to close her eyes and sleep.


Neji struck the pillar crying out in frustration. Over and over, he and Lee had been striking the pillars only to have them so much as crack. "So how's it going boys?" asked Zakuro as she walked up to the guys, squeezing water out of her wet hair.

"Fine, just fine..." Neji replied through gritted teeth as he struck the pillar again.

Zakuro raised her eyebrows at the curt reply but said nothing. She just stood, silently watching the guys trying to break the pillars. "You guys haven't figured it out yet have you?"

A vein pulsed in Neji's forehead while Lee nodded his head in shame. Zakuro heaved a huge sigh. "Alright, I'll show the move again, this time pay attention. Neji, Byakugan, now."

"Hai," said the boy as Neji and Rock Lee stood some distance behind. "Byakugan!" exclaimed Neji activating his kekkei genkai.

(Byakugan Vision)

Through Neji's eyes, the boy could see Zakuro gathering large amounts of chakra in her right leg. He watched as the woman spun around on one foot and struck the pillar in front of her with her right foot. What happened next was fascinating; as hard as Zakuro struck the pillar, the large amount of chakra shot out of her leg and into the pillar but it didn't stop there. Apparently, the force Zakuro used was strong enough to push her chakra into the next three following pillars evenly. The boy's eyes grew wider as he saw the chakra bouncing about inside the stone pillars like crazy.

"HAH!" he heard Zakuro scream. Instantly as if on cue, the spontaneous movement of the chakra expanded and literally caused pillars to explode in random order.


"Sugoi!" both boys exclaimed as they shielded their faces from the blast.

"You saw it right?" asked Zakuro flipping her hair out of her face.

"Yeah, it looked like the chakra was released in such a way that it continued to move rapidly to the point it becomes combustible," related Neji.

"Well... you could say that Princey..." said Zakuro brushing dirt of her swim suit.

"Please stop calling me that..."

"With that as your clue, please carry on! Zakuro-chan signing out! Peace!" she said pirouetting away, ignoring Neji's words.

"Zakuro-sensei, you're the coolest!" cried out Lee in admiration.

"You betcha' Junior!" Zakuro voice came sailing back from a distance.

'What a weird woman...' thought Neji in exasperation.


R.F: Ja-ja! I'm finally done with this chapter! I apologize if some of you found it boring but don't worry! Tomorrow is going to mission day for the triplets! But what's this? They're not doing it together?

Tune in for the next chapter! Chapter 14: We're not doing the same mission? See you then- desu!

Kaori: What's with the perky 'desu!' all of a sudden?

Yue: Sugar Rush from chocolate...

R.F: * Spins rapidly on one foot* WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~!