She couldn't even scream. All the breath seemed to have left her body leaving nothing to cry out with. I'm going to die. She thought briefly, convinced that the clan had finally decided that she would die. But, maybe…"Chakrachakrachakrachakra…" she thrust chakra into the bottoms of her feet and twisted, fighting to at least land on empty air on her feet.
Kurai could see Inazuma just watching her, one eyebrow cocked and a smirk on her face. The level side of the canyon was coming up level with her head. She concentrated more chakra into her toes and heels but she didn't slow down at all. She was falling through the mist and soon she couldn't see her sensei. Panic welled up in her throat like blood. She forced all of her chakra into her feet and finally ground to a halt, badly shocking her ankles and knees.
Inazuma was having misgivings. The little twerp should have surfaced by now. The fog dampened all sound and made visibility practically nonexistent. Then, out of the mist, a small dark figure appeared. She shakily climbed as if going up a rickety staircase. Kurai scowled as her aunt cackled, perspiration making her face glisten.
"You are despicable!" she spat, hands on her knees as she fought to catch her breath. "What if Ihadn't gotten the hang of it before I hit the ground?" Inazuma shrugged.
"Then you weren't worthy enough to learn this technique," she responded airily, waving her hand as if brushing off a cloud of midges. Kurai shivered at the careless tone in the older kunoichi's voice. "But you did learn it. You know what it's called?" Kurai just glared at her. "Aruki no Kumo no Jutsu, The Walk of Clouds."
Kurai opened her mouth to say something rude then paused. "Isn't that some family technique or something? I've heard it before…" Inazuma grinned.
"I got it from an old Tsubasa Clan member because I saved his ass. C'mon, kid. Lemme see you do it again."
"Sensei, how come I have to spar with her?" The boy demanded.
"Because she could kick your ass if she wanted to. Now shut up and quit whining." The boy muttered rebelliously and slid into an offensive Taijutsu stance opposite the runty girl.
"Fine. Come on, Runt. Let's go." He growled, lashing out with a fist. The girl ducked, not even bothering to form her own stance.
"I'm faster than you," she pointed out, somewhat unnecessarily.
"Heh. You're putting too much energy into it, Katsuo!" Hikaru jeered, hanging upside from a tree branch and doing crunches.
"Shut up, Hikaru!" The boy, Katsuo, snapped.
"Katsuo, if you want her to shut up, makeher shut up." Inazuma-sensei yawned lazily, lounging on a fallen log as they trained in the pine forest. "Oh dear. Kurai, stop playing with him. That's bad form." Kurai grimaced at her sensei then ducked Katsuo's wild punch. He over-balanced and fell.
"Too much effort," Kurai stated quietly. She yelped when he wrapped his legs around her knees and threw her. She landed on her feet like a true Torakiba, but she was panting from the effort.
"Too little attention," Katsuo retorted, brushing pine-needles out of his stone-colored hair. "C'mon, Hikaru. Wanna spar?"
"Actually, Katsuo, I would like to spar. Just to see if you're all talk." He blanched as Inazuma stood up, ruffled her ponytail and stretching.
"Sure, Sensei," he said with applause-worthy bravado, even though he'd gone paper-white.
"Good. Come at me." In all honesty, he didgo at her. But there is a difference between an obnoxious genin and an AnBu veteran. He was laid out flat in less than three seconds. "You need to try some subtleness," She told him, nudging him with a foot. "Girls don't like it when you're obvious." Hikaru snickered, dropping lightly down from her perch. "You need to learn better control. Go run up that tree for me, would you? You too, Kurai and Hikaru. Mark how far you get up."
"Umm… how are we supposed to walk up a tree?" Hikaru eyed the slick bark dubiously.
"With chakra, dearest," Inazuma answered with strained patience. "Are you a shinobi or not? Concentrate the chakra into the bottoms of your feet. Too much and too little will make you fall off. Mark the bark with kunai. Go!" The three genin all exchanged looks.
I've read about this, Kurai thought as Hikaru and Katsuo went charging up their respective trees. They hadn't even gotten two feet above the ground before they were blasted back by too much chakra. You have to strike the perfect balance. Harmony is the key, they say, for all Jutsus. She placed her foot against the tree, concentrating. She kept upping the levels of chakra until she felt ill and her foot was thrown off. Okay. Too much. Now, RUN!
She took three steps back then charged up the tree, her chakra varying with each step as she felt the crevices in the bark. She didn't stop until she realized that there was no more tree to climb up and the branches were whippy. She squeaked and dropped a few feet to latch onto the trunk. "That's nice, Kurai," Inazuma called up from forty feet below her, Hikaru and Katsuo at her side. "No need to show off."
"How do I get down?" Kurai shouted back. She could just hear Hikaru and Katsuo snickering.
"Lessee here. You have all your limbs, chakra, jutsus, you're a ninja, AND you're a Torakiba. Gee, how doyou getdown?" Kurai winced at the merciless sarcasm.
She clenched her eyes tight and dropped like a stone from her perch, branches whipping past her. When she felt the time was right, she forced chakra into her feet to walk on the water vapor in the air. She opened her eyes slowly. "So you're not a total idiot. Makes my job easier."
"No fair. How come you get to learn cool jutsus?" Katsuo demanded. Kurai had halted her descent about two feet from the ground. She stepped down onto the carpet of pine-needles. "Sensei, will you teach us that?"
"No. You're too heavy. Keep practicing, darlings. Ignorance waits for no one."
"Why this sudden need to train us?" Hikaru demanded, planting her hands on her hips. "Before you just let us do our own thing, occasionally telling us what we were doing wrong."
Inazuma gave her blonde niece a sidelong look. "You… really want to know?"
"Yes!" the three genin chorused. Three slips of paper appeared in the former AnBu's hand.
"Fill these out and hand them back by tomorrow." They each took a slip.
"Wait. Chuunin… exam?" Katsuo read. "You're… you're going to let us become chuunin?"
"ONLY if you can get through without getting killed," Inazuma corrected, bopping him upside the head. "ONLY if you don't embarrass me. ONLY if you get serious with your training. And only, ONLY if you don't disgrace our entire village. Savvy?"
"I'm in," Katsuo said, shoving the entry form into his back pocket. He was grinning like a maniac.
"I am so in," Hikaru, wearing a similar grin, looked the paper over greedily. Kurai had to think. She was weak, under-sized, and got sick easily. What could Inazuma-sensei possible have in mind?
"Hoi, Gaki. You in?" she looked up at her sensei. Inazuma's eyebrows were raised in her usual expression of none-too-kind amusement. But there was something else in her reddish brown eyes. And then Kurai realized what it was: encouragement. Sensei believed she could do. Sensei knew she had it in her to compete in one of the most brutal tests of a shinobi's life. She took a deep breath and clenched her fists.
"I'll do it!" she said. And I'll show them all what I can do. I'll show them all that I'm NOT a waste of time, a waste of effort. I CAN be the best ninja ever. And someday… a dream she had hardly dared to think of popped into her head. …I'll become the best shinobi there is!
"Can it get any hotter?" Katsuo whined, sagging against a tree.
"Quit complaining," Inazuma sensei fanned herself, jacket tied around her waist. "You haven't seen hot until you've been to Sunagakure. Now that is hot."
"It's like… a really humid oven." Kurai said faintly, lying flat-out on the grass beside the road, thin chest rising and falling rapidly.
"It's not that bad," Hikaru scoffed, but she was perspiring. "How far to Konoha?"
"About… three hours' walk. We can cut that down to three minutes, right, chickadees?" Inazuma asked sweetly. Groans met her announcement. "Chop, chop. Break time is over. It starts in a week, you know. You'll want to take the time to really get to know your opponents."
The three genin got to their feet, Kurai somewhat shakily. They were off in a flash, mere blurs through the trees.
A/N: Umm, yeah, sooo… officially off hiatus. :D For how long, I have no idea. I decided Kurai needed some more love. I think she's awesome. I'm rereading the earlier volumes of Naruto, so this is about the timeframe of the ill-fated chuunin exams.