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Chapter 6: When Leaves Rally
It was dark. No, that wasn't right. It wasn't dark per se, but there was definitely no light.
Well that's stupid. By definition darkness is the absence of light.
Heavy footsteps seemed to mysteriously echo, despite the fact that there were no boundaries in this emptiness-but-solidness to be seen. No end. No beginning. No forward no backward no up no down.
Wait. Over there…was that? Feet moved quickly to a vague spot. It wasn't necessarily bright, or even not-dark, but it was different…
A gasp. The sky suddenly opened, revealing a canvas that was definitely inky black, splashed with little points of brightness. Something roared, terribly and deafeningly, and in the next moment, a ball of not-darkness-but-not-light-either tore through Earth, who moaned and cried until the orb crashed into a glittering pool, sending waves of cool mist into the ethereal sky.
The pool's contents began to trickle along the scar that the destructive sphere of presence-yet-absence had made, attempting to heal its Mother Nature as much as it could. Eyes followed the path, unable to look away, even though they knew something horrible waited at its end.
The world was suddenly filled with moving, flickering red and massive, oppressive force that pushed all away from it.
But even that fell away to a sharp, cold disk with three tomoe that spun around its center.
Kushina yelped, shooting up in her futon. Sweat matted her hair and stuck her clothes to her skin. Her chest rose and fell sharply in an unsteady rhythm. Sheets wrinkled and scrunched under her hands' death grip. Her whole body shook, as if it was attempting to shake off the disturbing feeling of the mixture of irresistible nothingness and irrepressible force that remained from the dream – no, nightmare.
She forced her fingers to stiffly break their grasp on the poor linen, only to have her arms automatically wrap around herself, trying to contain the shivers. What was that? Those red eyes…she'd never seen them before. Were they…were they the Kyuubi's eyes? Although that would make logical sense – they had sure seemed demonic – her instinct was telling her no. In fact, those eyes were kind of familiar…but she couldn't place where she had seen them before.
There had been no face. Actually, she technically couldn't even be sure that they were eyes. But deep down, she was certain, just as she was certain about the pure, unadulterated hatred that emanated from the harsh red disks.
Slowly, her breathing calmed down, and the trembles faded. The night air that wafted in through her open window was soothingly cool again her flushed skin, and the chirping of the crickets and the rhythmic sounds from the shishi odoshi (1) outside lulled her heart into a more even beat. Still, Kushina knew without a doubt that she would not be able to go back to sleep that night. As soon as she regained control of her stiff muscles, she flung the covers back and hopped from her futon, shivering slightly as her bare feet touched the cold wood. Fumbling a little in the dark, she quietly dressed and grabbed her hitai-ate. Her steps were noiseless against the floor as she made her way to the entrance of her room and slid the screen back, revealing the picturesque gardens and comforting dark night sky to her hungry eyes. Slipping on her shoes, she took a step forward before leaping to the roof and quickly bounding away from the compound, tying her headband to her forehead as she went.
When Tsunade reached the training grounds to set up her little…exercise for the team that day, she was greeted by an unexpected sight. Chunks of earth ripped from the ground were lying haphazardly across the grass, the training posts were scratched and splintered almost past recognition, and a small girl lay in the middle of it all, fiery red hair splayed around her like a pillow. Tsunade checked the sun – it was barely dawn.
"Well, look who got an early start to the day. Rough night?" Tsunade remarked casually, arching a brow.
The young kunoichi barely even acknowledged the voice, turning her head minutely so that she could see the tall blonde from the corner of her eye. Her breath flew from her lungs in harsh pants, and sweat rolled along the edges of her face. "Oh, it's you."
Tsunade's second brow rose up to join its mate – that wasn't a greeting she was used to getting. "No need for such enthusiasm. Now what did the poor training ground do to you?"
The red head's nose wrinkled. "None of your business."
"It is when you were planning a field exercise in a now currently-unusable field."
Kushina's expression turned a little guilty. "Oh, sorry about that then. I just had some…excess energy this morning 'ttebane."
"Uh-huh." Tsunade bent to mildly examine an abused training post more closely. Deep gouges riddled the wood, and in some places, whole chunks were missing. However, the sole female sannin noticed that there were no kunai or shuriken lying around, and judging from the young ninja's current apparent state, Tsunade doubted she had had the energy to pick up after herself. Besides, genin that young normally couldn't put that much force behind a blade. "What did you use to make these?" she couldn't help but ask curiously. Wind justu could make the marks, but it was very unlikely for an eleven year old to have even started elemental training, let alone whip up a jutsu strong enough to do damage.
Kushina groaned as she slowly sat up so that she could see what the older woman was referring to. "Uhh weapons?"
"What weapons?"
The genin eyed her suspiciously. "Why do you want to know?"
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Come off of it, brat. I'm just curious."
Kushina pursed her lips, before struggling onto her feet to face the posts. She lifted an arm straight in front of her, palm out, her other hand stabilizing the elbow. Suddenly, a glowing, slightly ethereal chain, tipped with a deadly point, shot out from her open palm, whizzing by Tsunade's cheek to strike the log with explosive force, sending large splinters flying into the air.
Tsunade looked at her with surprise. "That wasn't a jutsu, was it?"
Apparently that had been the last of the younger girl's energy reserves, and she plopped back onto the grass to resume her cloud gazing. "Nope. Just my chakra."
The blonde let out a low whistle. "That's some chakra."
The girl on the ground shrugged. "Thanks?"
"It looks like you can't control it all that well, though," she remarked.
Kushina lifted her head to gaze sharply at her with narrowed eyes. "What makes you say that 'ttebane?" she snapped defensively.
"You were aiming for the post next to this one, weren't you?"
The girl grimaced, but said nothing.
"Well, I guess that's to be expected, since no one can really work with you on it," Tsunade continued, coming over to sit by the genin on the lush grass, leaning back on her arms to enjoy the early morning weather. She didn't know why she was sticking around. She wasn't a kid-person. Nawaki had been the only brat she had had any affection for. But although the girl tried to hide it, Kushina was obviously disturbed by something, and had come to the training grounds to try and put whatever had stressed her out of her mind. And Tsunade felt a sort of kinship with the tomboy. Well, maybe that was just because they were distant relatives.
"And how would you know that?" The genin was back to suspicion.
"My grandmother's an Uzumaki. I know the clan. Chakra chains are definitely not in their repertoire."
That shocked the young red head, making her lift herself up to her elbows to look at the older kunoichi better. "You're grandmother is an Uzumaki?" she repeated incredulously.
Tsunade nodded. "Uzumaki Mito."
Kushina's jaw dropped. "Mito-sama is your grandmother?!"
"Yep."
The red head gazed up at her with wide, disbelieving violet eyes, her brows so far up her forehead that Tsunade had to suppress an amused chuckle. Kushina noticed though, and quickly snapped out of it and looked away, lips pulled into an embarrassed scowl. She shifted her weight and sat up fully, bringing her knees to her chest to stare hard at the grass in front of her. A long moment of neutral silence passed between them, with one watching the clouds while the other picked at weeds with her fingers, before the younger of the two asked quietly, "What was she like?"
Tsunade turned her head back to look at her. "'Was?' She's still alive, you know."
"I know that!" Kushina retorted, before returning to her more demure posture, "I meant, what was she like, you know, when she was younger?"
The blonde arched a brow. "Why do you want to know?"
"I met her a couple of days ago, and she was really nice. Really grandmother-like. It just got me wondering about what she was like before she was a grandma," Kushina replied smoothly, but her eyes wouldn't meet Tsunade's, who knew there was more to it.
She decided to give her a break though. "Well, keep in mind that I've only known her as a grandmother, too. But when I was little, she was still pretty spry, I guess. Kind of intimidating, actually."
"Intimidating?" the red head repeated.
Tsunade nodded, looking back up at the sky pensively. "Yeah. She had this air about her – very poised, very confident in her abilities. My younger brother," she ignored the pang that shot through her heart, "thought she was boring because she was always so put together, though he was a toddler at the time. Still, she was very different from my grandfather, who was a goofball and used to spoil us rotten." Tsunade chuckled at the nostalgic memories. "You could tell his antics really grated on her nerves sometimes."
"Your grandfather? The Shodai Hokage?...A goofball?" Kushina looked mildly aghast.
"Oh yes. An utter child, up to the day he died. He taught me, his first grandchild, how to gamble, you know." Tsunade watched with an amuse smirk as the girl's expression became utterly scandalized.
"Uh no offense, but then why the hell was Mito-sama with him?"
The Senju's smirk turned into a genuine smile. Her eyes turned soft and unfocused as she remembered when Mito had caught her and Hashirama with some money and cards. The woman had been furious, and little Tsunade had been quite shocked at the discovery that her elegant, poised grandmother possessed a temper that was reminiscent of a tsunami. But then Hashirama had stood, groveled, flattered, and acted altogether completely silly until Mito eventually forgave him with twitching lips. Then he had kissed her cheek, and Tsunade recalled being even more shocked when her grandmother had actually giggled. "Because she loved him. And he adored her. They were quite the pair. Complete opposites, but they brought out the best in each other. The only time I ever saw my grandmother be anything other than proper was when she was with him."
Kushina watched Tsunade reminisce with wide, thoughtful eyes as she chewed her lip. Wrapping her arms around her legs, the red head rested her chin on her knees. "So…she was happy?"
The back of Tsunade's mind started to put pieces together, but for the time being, the sannin ignored it, focusing on the girl next to her. Grinning down at her, she replied, "I'd say so."
A small, but sincere smile finally stretched the girl's lips before she said, "Thanks for telling me, Tsunade-sama."
"You're welcome," the sannin replied simply.
A more comfortable silence washed over them as a playful breeze rustled through the grass, bringing with it the cheerful sound of birds just emerging from their nests with the rising sun. The day was going to be warm and sunny, and with such pleasant weather sweeping over the landscape, one could almost forget the destruction that riddled the training ground.
Almost.
Kushina chewed her lip before letting it go to say, "Uh…what are you going to do about that field exercise?"
Tsunade shrugged. "We'll do a different exercise, I guess. Or I'll make them clean this place up before training."
The pre-teen sunk her head down her shoulders in sheepishness, making Tsunade smirk as she said, "Don't feel guilty. If I do have them clean up, you're helping."
Kushina pouted. "What if I have team training, too dattebane?"
Tsunade called her bluff. "Too bad. That's your problem."
The red head huffed, lips turning down into some cross between a scowl and a pout. Tsunade watched her contemplatively, mouth quirked with amusement before finally coming to a decision that she had been tossing around in her head throughout their entire conversation. "Come back here tomorrow morning, same time. I might not be able to help with you chakra chains specifically, but I could definitely do something about your chakra control."
Kushina's gaze whipped up to her, eyes wide in surprise and hopeful excitement. "Really? Would you teach me to punch like Namikaze did yesterday 'ttebane?"
Tsunade snorted. "We'll see. Don't push your luck, kid." Jiraiya, when you get back, I'm going to give you a good whack on the head for saddling me with these brats. Kids are supposed to be your thing, not mine.
A loud, deep roar of laughter reverberated throughout the tavern as large man dressed in old-fashion garb lounged back in a cushioned booth, cheeks flushed pink, breath saturated with the smell of alcohol, and a pretty, giggling young woman under each arm.
"—and the next thing he knew," the man continued, slurring slightly, "he was in a room with three, gorgeous, practically naked women. Kid had crashed through the roof of a brothel!" The women gasped in exaggerated shock before breaking into harder giggles, while the man bellowed another boisterous laugh. One of the girls refilled his sake dish and he immediately drained it, sighing in contentment. "I swear, I didn't even know a person could turn that shade of red. And what's more, he didn't want to stay! Even though I offered to pay for him! Ungrateful brat."
"Aww," a girl cooed, "but you wouldn't leave us, would you?" She smoothed a hand over his broad chest. "We're having so much fun!" she shifted her weight to give him a better look at her generous cleavage, which the man seemed to eye appreciatively. Over her shoulder, a hooded figure stepped in to the building, out from the pouring rain.
"Why, what man in his right mind would want to leave you m'dear?" he replied, grinning goofily. The cloaked figure pushed back his hood, revealing an ordinary face with dark hair, dark eyes, and an average looking nose. A completely forgettable face.
"Oh, you! Such a charmer," the other girl admonished, though the effect was ruined as she winked and poured him another refill of sake.
"But that's what makes me such excellent company, isn't it?" the man gave the woman's rear a light squeeze, making her squeal and lightly slap him on the shoulder. Behind her, the dark haired fellow approached the bar and ordered something. The bartender disappeared under the counter for a moment before reappearing with an empty glass and a dark bottle.
"Oh yes, the best we've had in weeks! You're stories are amazing," the girl on his right admired, leaning her cheek against an open palm. The bartender had poured the contents of the bottle into the glass, the dark umber liquid sloshing against the crystal. The man reached for it, and misjudged the distance, knocking the cup over and spilling its contents over the countertop. He seemed to apologize profusely, picking the glass up quickly to minimize the spill, and the bartender shook his head, waving his apology off, before reaching to take the cup from the man's hand.
"Only weeks? Not ever?" he pouted, his words slurring just a little more after his last shot of sake.
"Well," the girl on the left said mischievously, voice dipping low, "exquisite story-telling is all you've done, so far." She lean forward to rest her well-endowed chest on his, and his pout disappeared to turn into a sloppy smirk. The bartender grasped the practically empty glass and pulled it from the man's hand, whose arm moved forward just slightly with the motion, making his long, loose sleeve drop forward about a centimeter. The movement was used to skillfully cover the flash of white that disappeared up said sleeve, going unnoticed by everyone except the keenest eye. The glass was refilled, and the man drained the cup in one gulp.
"Oh ho? So then, ladies, shall we get out of here so that I can demonstrate some of my other talents?" The females giggled simultaneously, before smoothly standing and exiting the booth, then waiting for their companion to do the same. He smoothed his large hand over each of their waists, just as the man by the bar made a show of checking his watching, starting, and tossing some money onto the counter. As he made his hasty exit, though, he literally bumped into the two scantily clad women and their companion at the door, making the larger man stumble back and struggle to regain his alcohol-affected balance.
"Watch where you're going," the man snapped.
The girls glared at him as they steadied the taller male, who held up his hands apologetically. "Sorry man. Just enjoying the night," he said, words slow as if they fought to roll off his tongue.
The other man glared and otherwise ignored him, pulling his hood back up to step through the exit. After waiting a moment, seemingly befuddled by the man's off-putting behavior, the guy shrugged before ushering his two female friends through the door.
The night was just ending, the sun only barely peaking over the distant horizon and easily covered by the buildings that lined the mostly empty street. Folk slowly started to wake with the rising sun, taking their time getting ready and enjoying their morning coffee or tea. Some started to trickle out of their houses and open their stores or stands, preparing for another day of business.
No one paid any mind to the man dressed in an old-fashioned outfit cheerfully whistling down the street, his steps sure and graceful despite his large stature as he entered the only inn in town, completely alone.
"What happened?!" Kahoko had her eyes on the training field, mouth agape, as she surveyed the destruction that had apparently taken place between yesterday and today. Beside her, Borome and Minato were in similar states of surprise, though the blond hid it just a little better.
Her remark, though, made Kushina stop what she had been doing for the past half hour and look at the area around her. It did look bad. Worse than before actually. After Tsunade had offered to train her tomorrow morning, Kushina had wheedle and pleaded to start right away. The woman had tried to refuse, pointing out her exhaustion from her little vent session before, but the red head had insisted she felt fine – all she had needed was a little rest to catch her breath. She then successfully annoyed the sannin until she gave in, if only to shut her up and torture her a bit.
First she had told her to deplete her chakra supplies as much as she could, and that had been the cause of the added destruction that surrounded the young genin now. Kushina had basically shot out as many chakra chains as she could in all different directions, stretching them as long as she was able to. This continued for almost half an hour before Tsunade had stopped her, judging her to have low enough chakra to start the next stage. She had then given her a kunai, making Kushina look up at her with confusion.
"I have my own kunai, thanks," the red head deadpanned, clearly perplexed.
"I just sharpened that," Tsunade told her. She took the kunai back and brushed it lightly against a sleeve. The blade cut through the fabric like butter.
The genin still wore a puzzled expression on her face. "Cool?"
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You're going to balance that kunai, point down, on a finger without cutting yourself."
Kushina's eyes widened. "How the hell am I supposed to do that?!"
The older woman demonstrated for her, tossing the kunai lightly in the air before catching its point with her index finger. The blade stood straight up, not quivering in the slightest, even when the blond moved her hand to the side. Not a single drop of blood fell from her finger.
"Most ninja only learn enough fine chakra control to attract objects to them. This is the basis of tree-climbing, which I'm sure you've learned," Tsunade explained. Kushina nodded in affirmative. "And water walking?" Another nod. "Good. For most shinobi, those skills are all they need. Some ninja work on specific aspects of chakra control. The Inuzuka clan is a good example – they work on channeling chakra to their noses to enhance their sense of smell. Usually, they get so good at it they can do it without thinking. Medical ninja are different. Medics have absolute control over their chakra in every way possible, for even the smallest slip could cost someone his life. I won't be training you to be a medical ninja – you have far too much chakra to even hope to achieve the level of fine tune control necessary to be one. But because I am a medical ninja, I know many exercises that will help you, not just with chakra control, but even in combat too, if you get good enough."
Kushina's face began to light up in excitement, making the sannin's lip turn up in amusement before continuing, "The trick to this exercise is to use your chakra to repel, like with water walking." She brought her hand back in front of her, where the kunai still rested, perfectly vertical and still. "Bring your chakra to the spot you need it and imagine pushing it through your skin to keep the point from contacting it. But, you have to find just the right amount, like with the tree-climbing exercise. Use too little, and the blade with pierce your chakra and cut you. Use too much, and you'll push the blade so much that it will fall." Tsunade flicked her finger up, sending the kunai spinning into the air, before grabbing it by the handle and presenting it to the young kunoichi. "Master this, and not only will your control be better, you'll also be able to use this technique to help your defenses in combat. Think you can do it?"
Kushina nodded eagerly and took the weapon from the sannin's hand. "You betcha! Just watch, I'll have this down in no time!"
Needless to say, the exercise was not going how she imagined it would. Every finger sported multiple cuts, even after Tsunade had periodically stepped in to heal them so she could continue the exercise. She still hadn't completely figured out how much chakra she needed to keep the kunai away from her skin without sending it flying, and on the few tries she got lucky and managed to keep it resting on her finger, the kunai wobbled and fell after a few scant seconds. Her mind was starting to get frustrated, and her body was seriously exhausted. What was worse was, thanks to her incredible stamina and endurance, her chakra reserves were replenishing themselves even as she sat there, and as they grew, Kushina found it harder and harder to control exactly how much chakra she channeled to her finger.
"Did you do this?" Kahoko's accusing voice jolted her out of her musing. "No," she answered herself, "you couldn't have."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kushina scowled.
"You couldn't have the power to make such a mess. Tsunade-sama must have done this."
"How would you know?! You don't know anything about my abilities!"
"Hmph," Kahoko dismissed, before eyeing the kunai between her bloody fingers. "Still playing with kunai? What kind of ninja are you if you can't handle a blade without cutting yourself?"
Kushina felt anger boil beneath her skin, her muscles tensing they prepared for the inevitable explosion of temper.
Minato saw this, though, and quickly intervened. "It's a chakra control exercise, isn't it, Kushina?"
His teammate turned to look at him curiously. "Chakra control exercise?"
Minato nodded, pulling out one of his kunai and, to Kushina's deep consternation, balancing it perfectly on a finger, point down. "You have to use chakra to keep the kunai from cutting you while, at the same time, keeping it balanced."
Tsunade, who had been watching the genin interact with amusement, arched a brow at seeing the eleven year-old's perfect demonstration of the exercise. "Where'd you learn to do that, kid?"
Minato put the kunai away and shrugged. "I read about the exercise in a book once."
Kushina snorted, trying to hide her depression and feelings of inadequacy. "Bookworm."
The blond smiled sheepishly. Tsunade, however, still wasn't completely buying it. "It's one thing to read about it, another to actually do it. Chuunin have trouble with this drill."
He shrugged again. "I did have to ask Jiraiya-sensei for some tips."
His red headed friend rolled her eyes. Damn genius. She suppressed a sigh, looking at her mangled fingers. Minato followed her gaze, and frowned at her injuries. Quickly making his way over to her, he knelt and gently grabbed her wrists, pulling them so that he could inspect her hands. "Don't these hurt?"
Kushina grimaced, taking her hands back. "You're not my mother, Namikaze. They're fine. Weren't you the one practically bed ridden yesterday 'ttebane?"
The boy stuck his hand into one of his pouches and rummaged around. "I'm fine now. Maybe a little sore and stiff. But I slept straight through the rest of the day and last night after you left, so I'm much better now." Finding what he was looking for, he pulled out a roll of bandages and a tube of ointment and reached for one of her hands.
"Wh-what do you think you're doing?!" Kushina spluttered, pulling her hands further back. Minato snapped his arm forward, putting his speed to work, and grabbed her wrist again, bringing it back toward him. Keeping his surprisingly firm grip on her, he opened the tube of ointment with his other hand and began gently smoothing it over her cuts.
"Treating your injuries," he said simply, oblivious to Tsunade's wide amused smirk and Kahoko's growing anger. The girl actually made to step forward and interfere, but Borome held her back.
"You don't need to do that dattebane!" To her frustration, Kushina couldn't keep a blush from coloring her face as her friend continued to apply ointment, despite her protests.
"Of course I do. You helped me yesterday," he said. Finished with the one hand, he put the ointment down and grabbed the bandages. Skillfully, he began to wrap each individual finger, making sure the gauze was smooth and snug around her appendages, but not too tight.
"That's different!"
He tilted his head. "How?"
This is too embarrassing! Aloud, she said nothing, unable to come up with a legitimate retort. Minato thus continued to work, quickly finishing one hand before doing the same to the other. His touch was soft and gentle, but sure, sending tingles up Kushina's arm that she stubbornly ignored. As soon as his fingers loosened their grip when he was done, she yanked her hands away and crossed her arms, glowering at Minato with what was supposed to be a scowl on her face but actually just looked like a pout.
Minato smiled widely before standing and extending a hand. Kushina glared at it for a moment, before sighing and accepting, causing his grin to grow even larger. He gently pulled her up and she brushed herself off.
"Thanks," she mumbled.
"Anytime," the blond replied sincerely. She pouted again, lips jutting out cutely.
"If you're done, Minato-kun," called Kahoko, rage barely restrained in her voice, "We have team practice, remember?"
Kushina rolled her eyes, but said, "She's right. Hop to it, blondie. I'll see you later." She waved and turned.
"Hold it!" Tsunade's voice stopped her. "And where do you think you're going brat?"
The red head looked at her in confusion.
"You're going to help these three clean the mess you made," she stated, and grinned as she watched the girl's shoulders droop.
"The mess she made?"
Tsunade ignored her.
"In the mean time," she continued, "While you all put this place back together, I'm going to go set up a little exercise I had in mind." She turned, called over her shoulder, "Get to it!" and disappeared.
Kushina sighed and started lifting chunks of earth that were packed in enough to stay together. The others did the same. Working from one end of the clearing to the other, the four of them slowly put the grounds back to a somewhat respectable field again, filling in craters, smoothing out loose dirt, chucking aside rocks that had emerged from the fractured earth. It was a dull and tiresome project, and with everyone still somewhat in their morning moods, they were for the most part quiet.
At one point, Kushina found herself next to Borome, who decided to actually make some small talk. "So, how do you and Minato know each other?"
"He was in the same academy class when as I was when I transferred from Whirlpool."
"Oh? When was that?"
"Uh, about two years ago, I guess."
"Cool. Why did you move here from Whirlpool?"
The red head flinched, and almost dropped the small boulder (or large rock, depending on how you looked at it) on her foot. "Err—"
"Amazing, Minato-kun! How are you so strong?" a loud voice reverberated throughout the clearing, making both Kushina and Borome turn their attention to the source. Next to Kahoko, Minato was carrying a boulder about half as tall as he was (mind you, though, he was sort of on the short side) with ease to the edge of the field, where he gently placed it down by the tree line.
"Oh, uh – I learned how to use chakra to enhance my muscle activity."
"That's so impressive," she cooed, making Minato wince, "Would you teach me how?"
"Sure?"
Kahoko gave a little squeal in delight. "Thank you!"
Kushina watched the interaction with a grimace, and made a show of rubbing her abused ears. "Is she always like this?"
Borome shook his head. "You should see her when she gets angry. Although, it's a little worse around you, I think."
"Hey, that's not my fault dattebane. She's the one who acted like a she had just swallowed a bee or something when we met. If she has a problem with me, she should just say so and we can fight it out." Kushina cracked her knuckles menacingly.
The ashen haired boy started to sweat a little. "Aha…It's not that she has a problem with you, personally. She's just…jealous?"
The kunoichi snorted. "Why the hell would she be jealous of me? Namikaze and I are just friends."
Borome gave her a blank look. "You're a girl. You tell me."
Kushina sighed. "Just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I understand my own kind."
He pointed a triumphant finger at her. "Ha! You admit it – girls are a whole different species!"
She stuck up her tongue in response. "So are boys."
"Boys are what?" Minato piped in, walking over with Kahoko. The clearing was just about down now.
"A different species," the red head responded.
"Hey, we're a simple bunch," Borome interjected. "We're not catty or play weird mind games with each other. Right, Minato?"
"Err…"
"Humph," Kahoko said, crossing her arms, "Boys are simple, alright. Simpleminded. Dangle some food in front of you and you're done, hook, line, and sinker."
"Hey, I'm a growing boy!"
"Growing which way?" both girls of the group uttered simultaneously. They caught each other's eyes before quickly turning away with a huff.
"See?!"
"Do you guys normally chit chat this much during training?" Tsunade was back, hands on her hips. Immediately, the four genin straightened, standing at attention. "Well, at least you got this field fixed."
"Can I go?"
"Well, I suppose. If you've got nothing to do, though, you might as well stick around. Never hurts to train some more."
Kushina hesitated.
"Why don't you stay, Kushina?" Minato encouraged. "Then after this you can show me that new idea for the seal you had."
"Let her go, Minato-kun. She probably just doesn't want to slow us down."
Kushina's cheeks grew red with anger as she glowered at the smug, raven-haired girl. "Fine. I'll stay."
Tsunade rolled her eyes at their antics. "Well, now that that's decided, we can start. Starting today, I'm going to teach you guys a bit about tracking. Now, when you're assigned squads for missions, most times they'll try to put a tracking specialist on your team. Sometimes they can't, though, so every shinobi should know the basics of how to track."
The four children nodded in understanding.
"About fifteen minutes ago, while you all were cleaning up, I sent Katsuyu out into the forest."
"Katsuyu?" Borome questioned.
"My summon. A slug," Tsunade clarified.
Kahoko made a face. "A slug?"
"Yes." Tsunade eyed her coolly. "Got a problem with that?"
She shrank under the heavy gaze. "Uh, no!"
The sannin looked away from her. "Anyway, your job is to find her."
Sounded simple enough, except… "How do we know when we have? It's not like we know what she looks like," Kushina brought up.
"And how can we track her if we don't know where her trail starts?" Minato added.
Tsunade shrugged. "That's your problem," she said smugly.
The four gaped at her. "That's ridiculous!" Kahoko insisted.
The experience ninja arched a brow. "Is it? There will be missions where you have to find someone or something in another country with less intel than I'm giving you now."
"What intel?!"
"I told you she's a slug, didn't I? Now you all better start. If you don't find her by noon, you guys are buying me lunch."
"You'd make kids pay for your food?!" Borome spluttered, incredulously. Beside him, Kushina and Kahoko looked equally aghast. Only Minato appeared unsurprised.
"Hey, in the eyes of the village, you all are adults. Or are you not ninja?" Tsunade retorted. "Now instead of wasting time negotiating the terms of your punishment, should you fail, shouldn't you be focusing on completing the mission? You only have three and a half hours after all."
The genin scrambled away.
"So, how do we even start?"
The question hung in the air, and none of the four genin seemed to want to reply. It was Minato who broke the silence.
"Well, here's what we know about her – she's a slug."
"And she's a summon," Kushina piped up.
"How's that supposed to help us?" Kahoko snapped at her, making Kushina scowl. The red head opened her mouth to retort, but before an argument could break out, Minato quickly intervened.
"Very true, Kushina," he placated, "So what can we garner from that information that might help us figure out where to look?"
"If she's a slug, she probably wants to avoid dry, hot places," Borome mused, finger on his chin.
"But she's not a normal slug," Kushina pointed out.
"Er…"
"I agree with Borome," Minato said, "Even though she's not a normal slug, and could probably do just fine in any climate, she still a slug, and has natural instincts. I'd wager that Tsunade-sama didn't really give her specific orders where to go, so she probably wandered to somewhere comfortable to her."
The others didn't seem to have any protest to that. "So where do we look?" Kahoko asked.
"Some place wet?" the blond pondered, "We're not exactly a swampy place, but maybe somewhere in the forest by a creek or small river?"
"Where do we find that? The training ground forests are huge," Borome pointed out.
"We can start by going this way," Minato pointed east. "I know there's a large river there – I train by it sometimes. If we don't run into a creek along the way, we can at least start there, since a lot of streams empty into bigger rivers."
"Sounds like a plan dattebane," Kushina remarked, hopping up from her perch on a boulder. "Let's go. We can also look for trails and stuff too – slugs leave slime trails don't they?"
Kahoko made a face. "Ew."
Kushina rolled her eyes. "How can you be a ninja if you get grossed out by stuff like that?"
Kahoko crossed her arms defensively. "It's not like I'm letting it get in the way of my duties! I'm just uncomfortable with it! Even though we're ninja, there's nothing wrong with keeping a little femininity, you know."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kushina growled, approaching the girl menacingly.
"I thought it was fairly obvious. Or are you as stupid as you look?"
Letting loose an outraged cry, Kushina launched herself at the girl, but was caught by Minato's strong arm around her midsection. Borome had a grip on Kahoko too, keeping them apart.
"Let's keep things calm, shall we?" Minato suggested, a little nervously. "I mean, we're all friends here, right?"
Two pairs of eyes shot glares at him.
"Okay, comrades? We're on the same side – we shouldn't be fighting," Minato pleaded.
"Yeah," his male teammate agreed, "We have a mission to do, too – I for one don't want to be paying for that crazy lady's meal."
The two girls relaxed their stances, making their captors cautiously step back. "Fine," Kahoko said, brushing some imaginary dust from her clothes.
"Yeah. Fine, dattebane," Kushina grumbled, before stalking off.
Minato sighed, and followed with his teammates. Borome's got a point. I can't understand girls at all, no matter what Jiraiya-sensei tries to tell me.
They walked for a while, keeping their eyes and ears out for distinctive marks or the tell-tale sound of running water. Eventually, they made it to the river Minato was talking about, but all of them agreed the Katsuyu was not likely there, since the river bank was very rocky – an unfriendly environment from a slug. They picked a creek that trickled into the larger body of water and made their way into the forests again. The air was cool under the shade of the trees, and a pleasant breeze would occasionally whistle by them, making the branches over their heads shake a pleasing sound. However, as over an hour passed by, with no sign of the slug, the group was starting to get frustrated again.
It was Minato who, thankfully, finally saw something.
"Look!"
"Look at what?" Borome said, squinting in the direction of his pointed finger.
Minato walked a few steps away from the river, and knelt. "See? The ground here is a little damper."
Looking carefully, his teammates could see what he was talking about - a narrow strip of the dirt was a little darker than the rest, and, when they touched it, a little moist.
"It's kind of ridiculous that you noticed that," Kushina sighed. Borome and even Kahoko nodded slowly in agreement. Minato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, before standing.
"Come on, let's follow the trail."
The group moved more quickly than before, a little more excited and eager now that it seemed like they were finally getting somewhere. They lost the wet trail periodically over bits of grass, but would quickly relocate it. Eventually, though, the trail stopped cold. The grass here was lush and tall, making it impossible for the genin to discern any moist markings.
Kahoko and Borome sighed in depression – almost three hours had passed. They didn't have much time left. Minato thought hard, looking around carefully for anything that might help them out. He didn't particularly mind paying for Tsunade's lunch, but he saw the value in being able to track, and wanted to finish the training exercise with a success.
"She can't have been here too long ago. The trail just before here still had some slime – meaning she was here recently enough that not enough time has passed for the ground to soak up the moisture too much," he thought aloud.
Kushina stepped forward. "If that's the case, this might work." Minato watched curiously as she made a series of hand signs before slamming her palm down on the ground. To Minato's fascination, an intricate array of ink markings shot out from underneath her hand. Kushina closed her eyes, concentrating.
"…I think she's in a tree – about ten meters….that way." She pointed to her right.
Team 4's jaws dropped. "How do you know that?!" Kahoko spluttered.
"It's the seal," Minato said, somewhat in awe. He scrutinized it – Kushina had been teaching him some basics of the art over the past month, and he could recognize some bits of it. "A detection seal?"
Kushina nodded. She lifted her hand away, and the ink faded. "It detects chakra. I figured that since she's a summon, and Tsunade-sama's summon to boot, she must have an active chakra network."
Minato grinned at her, impressed.
"How do you know how to do that?" Borome wondered. "The only seal we learned in the Academy was the one for explosive tags."
The red head shrugged. "My clan, the Uzumaki, is really good at seals. My mother's one of the best seal masters in Whirlpool. She's been tutoring me. This is a pretty basic seal, though. A lot of older ninja know it."
"Wow," Borome remarked, obviously unable to really think of anything to say past that. Even Kahoko seemed to look at her with a reluctant new amount of respect. Minato's smile grew wider. He'd always known she was skilled, and he was happy that others were beginning to see it, too.
"Come on, let's see if I'm right," Kushina said, motioning to them to get moving. "It should be her. But if it's some academy student napping, or an Inuzuka puppy or something, I'm going to be very pissed 'ttebane."
The four quickly moved in the direction she had pointed to, eager to finish with the exercise. Kushina had to perform the seal one more time, but they shortly found the exact tree housing the chakra signature. It wasn't a particularly thick tree, so Minato walked up it alone to investigate while the others waited below.
About five meters up – since that was how high Kushina had told him the chakra was – he began to carefully search the branches. His teammates down below held their breath, but after a couple of minutes, the blonds head poked out from the foliage with a wide grin. "Found her!"
He dropped down, a white and blue slug tucked carefully into the cradle of his arm.
Kushina and Borome whooped in celebration, pumping their fists in the air.
"It's huge!" Kahoko exclaimed. Katsuyu was about the length of Minato's forearm.
"Congratulations on completing the exercise," the slug said. The genin (sans Minato, who had seen Jiraiya's summons before) jumped at the voice, obviously not expecting it to talk. "I will inform Tsunade-sama of your success."
The group watched with various expressions as a bulge started to form on the slug's back, slowly taking a distinct shape, before it separated from Katsuyu and dropped to the ground, making the four children leap back. "I suggest you go back to the training field and wait for her there," the new slug said with the same voice as the slug still in Minato's arms, before disappearing with a poof.
Kahoko belatedly screamed.
After scolding them on how long it took them to find the slug, and then giving them a carefully covered compliment on their success, Tsunade declared that day's training session over, to the genin's delight. Tsunade warned them, though, that the next day would be much more physically intensive, the make up for the current day's relatively relaxed ("You call sending us out into the woods after some talking slug 'relaxing'?" Borome murmured under his breath) exercise. Kahoko and Borome sighed at that, but then quickly left before Tsunade could give them grief about their whining. Kushina and Minato stuck around, the former to confirm Tsunade's promise to train her the next morning, the latter under the pretext of tightening his leg wrappings.
Kushina stood over him, watching his actions skeptically. "Why do you keep trying to hide that you've been practicing extra with Tsunade-sama?"
Standing up, he shook his head. "I'm not hiding it – they sort of know I train with Jiraiya-sensei outside of practice. But there's no need to rub it in their faces."
The red head scowled. "I know you're Mr. Humble and all, but you should be careful dattebane. Treating them like their some pansies that can't take it when their comrade's more advanced than them can hurt their ego's more than you getting a little extra personal training."
Tsunade watched their interaction with a small smile on her face. The girl was cleverer than she let on. And it was nice to see someone their age not afraid to scold the prodigy.
Minato only rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged, obviously not really sure what to say to that. "I don't want to hurt their feelings."
To Tsunade's immense surprise and amusement the girl whacked his head with her fist, grinding her knuckles into the blonde's skull. He double over in pain, and raised both hands to rub his abused head with a pout on his lips. "Don't be an idiot 'ttebane. We're ninja. We can take a little healthy competition. You're already younger than them. What are you going to do when you're a captain younger than your team? Cuz let's face it, Namikaze, you're going to move up ranks fast. You can't keep tip toeing around your comrades just because of it 'ttebane. If they're any sort of decent person, they'll be happy for your accomplishments. If they're good people, they'll use you success to motivate them to work harder. If they just get jealous, then obviously they've got a rotten apple for a heart and aren't worth your time or concern anyway."
Minato straightened, still rubbing his sore cranium. "But—" The girl threateningly raised her fists once more. He held his hands up in surrender. "Okay! I'll think about it," he told the red head before asking, "Are you going to stay?" somewhat hopefully.
Kushina shook her head. "I have my own team practice to get to, dattebane. But I'll come back after I'm done. Don't think I've forgotten our plans for today."
"…Er, I don't know our plans anyway."
She patted his shoulder. Weirdly, the gesture was more ominous than comforting. "And you don't need to. Yet, anyway. Don't worry it'll be fun." She started to walk away. "Bye Tsunade ba-san!"
"'Ba-san (2)'?" the sannin repeated, faintly amused, "Cheeky brat." She raised her voice to call after her, "You should be calling me 'sensei'!"
Minato laughed, making the kunoichi switch her attentions to him. "What are you laughing about, kid? Seems like you've got your own problems."
"What do you mean?" the boy asked innocently.
"You're not worried about these so called 'plans' of hers?"
Cerulean eyes blinked. "No, should I be?"
Tsunade snorted. "I don't know – I'd be suspicious if I were you."
Minato shrugged. "She said it'd be fun. I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"
"This is your idea of 'fun'?!" Minato shouted at her, his voice sounding uncharacteristically panicked. Wind rushed through his blonde locks as they flew over rooftops. He looked over his shoulder to see the three figures chasing them pick up speed.
"I told you I didn't want you flaking out on me yesterday for a reason dattebane!" Kushina replied over her shoulder, voice raised. There was a large, smug grin on her face, like the cat that had gotten the canary. "I can't believe we pulled it off!" She was on high, the exhilarating adrenaline rush making her feet lighter and her muscles push harder.
"I don't think being caught and chased by three ANBU exactly constitutes 'pulling it off'!" Minato shouted back.
"Well you should have done a better job being look-out!" the girl cheerfully replied, long hair streaming behind her like vibrant flames.
"I was shocked when I realized what you were doing!"
"You still let your guard down!"
Instead of responding, Minato chanced another glance behind him. Kushina followed his gaze. The ANBU were definitely closer now, but she was okay with that. She had done what she came here to do, and the thrill of her success wouldn't die even if they did catch them.
Suddenly though, a strong pair of hands grabbed her waist and threw her high. She shrieked, closing her eyes on the descent, but landed on a warm back, legs hanging over a pair of arms on either side of a waist.
"Namikaze!" she exclaimed. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"
"I'm not interested in being caught by ANBU today, thanks!" he told her. "Now hold on tight!"
With that, he shot forward like a bullet, easily doubling their previous pace. She yelped and quickly grabbed his shoulders to keep herself from flying backwards. So fast! The distance between them and their chasers grew and grew as Minato dashed over buildings with insane speed. In front of them, the sun began to casually set, washing a warm orange glow over the village and throwing light directly onto the Hokage mountainside. The chiseled faces were made more severe with the angled light, but the effect was marred by the words that now decorated the façade, gleaming proudly in red paint.
Uzumaki Kushina will be the Strongest 'ttebane!
(1) shishi odoshi = often a feature in Japanese water gardens. A sort of hollow bamboo container on a pivot, it collects water before tipping forward to release it, creating a rhythmic thumping sound.
(2) ba-san = means 'aunt'.
A/N: I got the chapter up eventually, right? And is anyone else super curious about Minato's Rasen Senkou Chou somethingorother?
Leave a review! Pretty please with a cherry on top? :D
