I do not own Naruto as a game, Manga, Anime series or a character. All original characters are mine though :P

Hi no Ishi (The will of Fire) - Five Ninja Academy Students

It's been a week since the Ninja-tag games. Class is back in full swing. However, it seems that certain students are holding back some painful secrets. What are they hiding? And why?

All underlinedterms are explained at the end of the chapter.

"Please don't leave me..." She cried. "Don't go!" She was covered in his blood, gazing in absolute horror into his eyes. How could this happen? Who could do this? Wasn't he the strongest person alive? Why?

The answers never came. What made it worse, was that the life was quickly fading from his eyes... He was dying in her arms.

"Please, you said you would always be there! You said that you would dance with me on my birthday! YOU PROMISED!" He was no longer responding, not even with a twinkle in his eyes. She passed her hand across his cheek, and briefly through his silver hair. "It's okay... he's just sleeping." She told herself, feeling the warmth of life within him. She looked worriedly into his eyes again, which stared back lifelessly. She didn't understand it.

Suddenly the night faded and the sun rose. She stood in a black kimono, staring at his still sleeping form. Everyone around her was crying. Only, she didn't know any of them. Strangers, all of them. Having never spent any time away from her family's temple, she knew almost no one she was not related to.

"Senju-sama, please accept out deepest condolences." They kept telling her. She didn't understand why they were saying that, he was only sleeping. He would open his eyes any minute now and tell them to stop fawning over her. Everything would be fine, but these people should really leave. He didn't like a lot of people around him while he was sleeping.

"Senju-sama, are you all right?" They asked her again. She was getting tired of the same questions being repeated over and over.

Everything was annoying her, but it was all right. 'They won't be here long.' She told herself over and over again. She continued to tell them to leave because he was resting, but no one listened. They only looked at her, their gaze full of sadness. Then they put him to lay down in a funny looking bed, which had walls on all sides. He fit snugly, but only just. 'How can he breath like that? He'll wake up even more tired than he has been these last nights.'

"Stop that! He doesn't like being closed in like that! How will he breathe!" She shouted, but they wouldn't listen. "Are you people stupid? You're going to kill him!" She was now visibly upset. She ran at the two putting a wooden cover over his odd bed, she was going to force them to back away!

She never got the chance. Two pairs of arms grabbed her gently, but firmly, holding her at bay. "STOP IT!" She cried, tears finally spilling out. She realised now that he was not in a bed, but a box. And they were hammering it shut, placing funny scribblings all around it. "STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP!" She begged, she screamed, she kicked, she bit... Anything she could try, she did.

Then they picked up the box and brought it to a hole in the ground. She now recognised the place, it was where she came to visit her mommy and her granddaddy. He always talked about them, always told her to believe in them, to talk to them. So she did. "Mommy! Make them stop! They want to trap daddy here just like they trapped you! Make them stop!" The two men started throwing dirt on the box, slowly covering her daddy. She called to him, begged for him. But they just wouldn't stop.

Eventually the hole was filled, making it hard to believe that a hole was there at all. They put a stone to mark the spot. On that stone she saw her family crest, the Yukikami crest. Sure, she was born a Senju... but that was just a name to her; in her heart, she would always be a Yukikami.

Finally, most of them left. Only an old man, who she knew as a friend of her daddy's, a boy with silvery white hair, just like daddy, and a girl with bright red hair. She was glad they were gone! Now she could get him out of there! She jumped on the spot and started tearing away the grass, trying to get to him before it was too late.

"Tatsuko..." A voice called to her. She ignored it, clawing her blond hair away from her eyer to see what she was doing. "He's gone, Tatsuko-chan."

"Don't say that! Don't you dare say that!" She cried loudly. She was frantic now, her breathing was beyond ragged. Even her voice seemed mutated; it was far too high pitched to really be hers. No matter how hard she tried though, the ground wouldn't give way.

"Kami-sama! HELP ME!" She cried out. Her heart was in her throat, throbbing away painfully, while her stomach was doing laps in her gut. She was going to be sick, and she didn't care. If it brought him back, she would endure anything. He was all she had left. Then another pair of arms grabbed her, not trying to stop her... just to hold her. She fought back again, not wanting anyone but her daddy to hold her like that. But he wouldn't let her go.

"It's all right, child. Just let it out." He instructed her. Before she could even argue, tears blurred her vision. She cried, long drawn out sobs. It was hard to tell the end of one and the beginning of the next. Her chest hurt, burned even. Slowly, the scene dimmed from its deformed shapes and Gothic colours... to pure, unending darkness.

Slowly, the darkness faded. Too bad the burning in her chest and eyes didn't fade with it. Even after fourteen months and eight days, her heart still ached every time she thought about that day. Senju Tatsuko opened her eyes to see her bedroom, if dimmed due to the late (or early) hour.

"Bad dream?" A calming voice asked her, over to her left. There he sat, exactly where he always sat at this hour.

"Is there any other kind?" She asked dejectedly. Even in the low light, she could see his eyes soften at her words.

"Wanna talk about it?" Came the famous question.

"Can you bring him back?" Their eyes met.

"If I could you kn-"

"But you can't." She stated blankly. Her voice was void of any emotion, but her eyes were haunted.

'She's used to the dreams... too used to them.' Hikaru reminded himself morosely.

"Do you ever get tired of dreaming about his death?" He asked, knowing what she was going through all too well.

"At least I get to see him again." She choked back a sob, refusing to cry again.

"It'll be light soon, might as well try to get some sleep." What else was there to say? I'm sorry you had to watch Tou-chan die? I'm sorry about your clan? If only they weren't slaughtered? No, words would help no one at this point.

Morning came eventually, it always does. However, as three students made their way to the academy, the one thing that they hated about their morning 'jaunts' arrived...

The mobs.

"What do we do?" Hikaru asked, taking a defensive position in front of Yuuna. Without blinking, Tatsuko put her left hand up, her palm facing away from him. Her thumb was tucked neatly against her palm, hidden from view, her other fingers spread apart with her middle finger bent comfortably and pointing at the crowd.

Hikaru nodded, needing no further instruction. Yuuna climbed onto his back and the trio split into two alleys, about twenty metres away from the crowd.

Naturally, all present saw their targets split up, and they followed suit. They ran as fast as they could, trying to catch up with the three youths. However, by the time they even reached the entrance to the alleys, there was already no sign of anyone ever having recently passed through.

Disappointed, but not deterred, they simply switched targets. The Uzumaki-gaki was usually late, so they always tried to get the trio first.

As the three chronic early birds arrived in their homeroom, they noticed Iruka was already correcting yesterday's test on 'the history of kunai'. They took their usual seats - front row, all the way to the left of the class, near the window.

'As always, they're the first to arrive, and they never utter a word until spoken to.' Iruka mused, barely looking up from the papers he had just finished correcting. 'I half hoped that they would be a bit more sociable after the Ninja-tag games last week. I mean, sure, they utterly dominated their class. Well, Hikaru did, but he seems to be on friendlier terms with Kiba.'

"Good morning." Iruka finally greeted them, having given up hope that they would greet him first.

"Ohaiyou, sensei." The trio replied in perfect unison.

"Are you guys ready for the electives that start today?" He - once again - tried to start a conversation with them, only to have two of them turn to Tatsuko to answer.

"Hai, sensei. I am really looking forward to the basic medical class. I'm sure they are looking forward to their respective classes as well."

"What classes will you two be taking?" The instructor asked again, hoping to get them to open their mouths for something other than a yawn in his class, or one of Hikaru's opportunities to mouth off.

"Hikaru decided to go for the extra taijutsu class, and Yuuna opted for the 'cooking on missions' class."

'The three classes that offer a jutsu to all participants? Interesting.' He figured they would not choose something that wasn't absolutely beneficial to them. Or, Tatsuko wouldn't let them, who knew. "Impressive choices. To be honest, I half expected the three of you to take the same class together."

Silence. The only evidence that she'd heard him at all was a patient smile. Iruka was slightly taken back once again. 'If they were seasoned shinobi I would understand what they are doing. Ninja tactic 32: never reveal more than you want the enemy to know.' Even allies could inadvertently reveal sensitive information, so the less they knew, the better.

Again, that would make sense if they were seasoned shinobi. These were academy students! All around eleven years old. Iruka knew they were well informed of the Shinobi Rules of Conduct and the Ninja Tactics, he'd given the lectures and corrected their tests on them. Interestingly, their scores were never the best, or the worst. They were always somewhere in the middle.

One by one, the rest of the class were arriving. With the last being Uzumaki Naruto. He always looked like he had just run a mile, and usually had some kind of scuff marks on his clothes. The other instructors never cared enough to really ask, but Iruka was different. Too bad Naruto never gave him a straight answer. There was always a story about a cat, or some such nonsense.

'I guess I'll ask him about it later, at IchiRaku's. He probably doesn't want to talk about it in front of others.'

At any rate, it was time to collect the homework and to begin his first lecture. They all had electives coming up within the hour.

"I swear, if guys ever figure out what we have to do in this class, they'll flock to it!" Ino griped. She was blushing from head to toe, and was obviously flustered.

"A-ano... I'm k-kind of h-happy th-they don't kn-know." Hinata was just as flustered, but was much less troubled by it, for some reason.

"If you two don't start practicing, then you will have to stay after school to make up for it!" The nurse announced, chastising the two girls. They both looked down at their objectives: a classmate had 'fainted', and they had to check for a pulse, breathing and administer CPR. Everything was already done... now came the awkward part...

"I guess it doesn't count as k-kissing, right Hinata?" It was getting hard to tell what was going through the girl's head, but she was clearly nervous about something.

Hinata didn't answer. She was focusing on her patient, Tatsuko. Although it was weird, it was simply part of the class to Hinata. Someday she might well need to save a teammate's life with this technique, so she put considerable effort into not thinking about what it looked like... though she was glad there was a plastic placed against the girl's lips to at least try to make it less... intimate.

True to the agreement they made, Tatsuko played the part of the victim flawlessly. She didn't make any sudden movements, or open her eyes in the least. No pranks or jokes whatsoever. Hinata couldn't be happier the situation was not made even more awkward by any of that.

Ino, on the other hand, was fidgeting. It was clear that she was wondering why they had done so well with the practice dummies earlier. The nurse was so impressed that they were graduated to live practice partners on the first day!

Naturally, the Yamanaka asked - well, begged really - to just move onto cleaning and dressing wounds, but the nurse would hear none of it. They had to complete things in the proper order. It would have been more awkward if it was a boy they didn't like, the mysterious nurse had said.

Ino took the plunge! Her lips placed against Sakura's and she blew gently before pulling back far too quickly. She was clearly not comfortable with this.

"Very good, now let's trade roles. Quickly please, there isn't a lot of time left."

This time things were even more awkward, if at all possible. Sakura couldn't stop blushing. She still maintained a very professional flow of actions taken, but the blush seemed to get more and more intense the further along she got.

About a metre away, Tatsuko was also flowing through her actions - with what could only be perceived as practised ease. She had clearly either seen this done before, or had to do it herself. Probably the latter. She wasn't nervous, blushing or bothered in the least... until she noticed something.

"Nurse, could we have a new Rescue Rebreather? We already used this one." With a nod, the nurse handed her a new one, but didn't offer one to the other pair practising. Which was odd in and of itself, but why would they have a class with only four female students? It wasn't exactly cost effective, but at least it offered a lot of one on one attention. Or was that the point?

Well, either way, Tatsuko was just following the class for the jutsu scroll and the access to the Konoha Jutsu Library that came along with it. Sure, she would be limited to E and D-class jutsu, but she would be able to research ANYTHING in that library she had access to!

The exact reason she advised Hikaru and Yuuna to take the classes they took. Not only was it valuable information and skills, but it opened the door to even more! And the only thing better than a kick ass jutsu, was more kick ass jutsu in the Yukikami hybrid's opinion.

"All right, girls, that's about all for one day. Now, since this class is actually shorter than the other electives, you have the rest of the day off." Tatsuko decided it was best to study who this nurse was, seeing that she was actually too exited about getting into the library to care about the details before.

'Okay, she's no nurse. Not a chance in hell! Wearing that she must be a kunoichi though. She seems knowledgeable enough about what we had to learn...' Tatsuko studied the woman from head to toe.

There was no name to work with, but the details we all unique enough. Full body mesh undergarment, pretty standard for Konoha shinobi. Beige miniskirt... okay, totally not standard! No shirt, no shorts under the skirt. The only other article of clothing the kunoichiwore was an army-green trench coat... Seriously! No bra either, which was pretty obvious since the mesh undergarment was meant to save you from kunai, not prying eyes. And purple hair, roughly pulled into a high, sloppy ponytail... This kunoichiwas definitely not into caring what people thought about her sense of style!

'If she studied medicine on any level, then I'm a three legged monkey!'

"Ino, Sakura, may I have a word with you two before you go?" Since the other two were not asked, they simply took their leave, along with their things.

Just as Tatsuko and Hinata got outside, they noticed Yamashiro Aoba sitting on the swing under a tree not far away.

"Hey, Aoba-sensei!" Tatsuko called out to the man. He was either expecting them to get out at that time, or really had nothing better to do.

"Hey Tatsuko, Hinata-sama. Listen, Imouto-chan, I was wondering if you wanted to go into town with me. There was something I wanted to discuss with you, but I'm kinda hungry. Hinata-sama and her yojinbo are more than welcome to join us if they want." The patient smile smoke volumes to Tatsuko. She still hadn't gotten used to Aoba calling her by such a familial name, but guessed it was to show there was no interest in her in that way; which she was openly glad for. She still wasn't sure how much she should trust the man, but she certainly wasn't going to abandon Kiba for him!

She blushed at the thought.

"As tempting as the offer is, Yamashiro-san, I'm afraid that Hinata-sama is due back at the compound already. Hiashi-dono instructed me to bring her home as soon as possible."

After some pleasantries were exchanged and Tatsuko reminded her classmate that she would pass by later to practice - as per instruction of the... instructor - Aoba and Tatsuko were on their way. They mostly took their time, with Aoba doing all of the talking.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Tatsuko asked when they finally sat down to eat. It wasn't that she minded the small talk, or even so much talking to him... she just hated secrets. In the world of the shinobi, secrets were all to often lethal.

"Two things." Aoba began, seemingly reading the menu. "First off, I spoke to the head of Interrogation about allowing you an introductory tour. He was pretty hesitant at first, but I managed to convince him."

"By telling him all about me, right?" She asked bitterly. It was a sin already committed in her head, but the betrayal that had yet to come already stung.

"No, by refusing to tell him anything at all actually. If there's one thing we hate in our department, it's not knowing something." He partly joked. "Why else would any of us train so hard to find out everything we could while offering nothing in return?" If he noticed anything about her lack of trust, he didn't let it show.

Tatsuko suddenly found her menu so interesting that it was hard to keep her eyes off it; which was unfortunately upside down.

"So anyway, he agreed that you could come by sometime this week, if you're up for it. But, before we even get into that more, there is a more important thing I needed to discuss with you." The waitress came by asking if they were ready to order. He seemed to mumble something, according to Tatsuko at least.

She couldn't even figure out her own thoughts anymore. She had been fighting back as hard as she could to keep him at a comfortable emotional distance, but he was always gaining ground. The ironic part was that she often refused to acknowledge that at best! At worst, she would try to force him back with insults, accusations... and at one point a kunai!

Even then he remained unfazed! He just dodged and parried, patiently waiting for her to run out of steam. When she finally did, he smiled at her. Not a lecherous smile, like some men loved giving her when they thought she wasn't looking. Not a boastful smile because she failed to hurt him even once. Nothing like that.

He smile like a sensei would smile when he was proud of his student's progress. Then, he took his time and pointed out where she could improve even more. And in reply to her disbelieving gaze, he even asked her to do it again, but this time thinking about the pointers he had given her.

He never seemed to get mad at her. No matter how unreasonably she reacted, he would just smile that little smile of his and act like it didn't happen at all. Or worse yet, praise her, if she had shown anything that involved skill.

She just didn't understand it at all, and she hated that! People were vile, untrustworthy and traitorous. So why was he acting differently? There was no logical explanation that satisfied that question. Answered it, yes... but never satisfied it.

"Earth to Tatsuko!" Aoba waved his hand in front her face, trying to get her to snap out of... whatever had her so far away. Her eyes snapped back into focus and she jerked her head back, trying to assess the situation she found herself in.

'Kuso! Now I'm losing focus! Keep it together; losing your focus can get you killed!'

"Ah, there you are. Your tea will get cold if you keep spacing out like that." He explained. She didn't order tea. Or anything really. She didn't even notice the waitress leave, let alone come back with the order...

"So anyway, I was trying to tell you that I wanted to make a pair of shades for you. I know you've been shopping around to get a good pair, but the shades I make are simply a cut above the rest. Yuuna and Hikaru should be getting out from school in about an hour. So I figured we could take our time, maybe start looking for a new weapon for Yuuna too. Her fighting style really clashes with sharp edges."

"Why are you doing this?" Tasuko finally asked.

"Well, we've had lunch and dinner together since the games last week, so I knew what you were most likely to order. I figured you wouldn't mind since-"

"I mean helping us."

"Is there something wrong with that?" He asked innocently. She stared at him for a long moment. What was his game plan? What was he trying to achieve? Why was he... so nice? People aren't nice. People don't try to help you for just any reason, so there must have been something to gain for him! The question was, what?

"Don't play dumb, because we both know you aren't!" Tatsuko suddenly shouted.

"Perhaps you should ask me specific questions then. It might help us both to understand why we seem to have these fall outs so often." He spoke evenly again, seeming to make no effort at all to remain calm with her. Chikushou, he was frustrating her with that calm attitude!

"What are you trying to gain by playing friendly to three demons?" Her voice was cold, both in tone and in formality. Aoba knew this was the time to word his response carefully.

"Dunno about demons, can't say I'm too fond of them." He thought a bit longer. "But as for Hikaru, Yuuna and their Nee-chan... Well, I'm just being selfish by trying to being the adult I always hoped would save me."

Again she just sat there. She made no indication she was going to reply, or do much of anything, really. She just sat there, staring into her already cool tea.

"I doubt you would remember me, but I was in the Alley of Broken Dreams too for a while. Aunt Reimi had Raidou and me do most of the work around the place while she tended to the younger kids. At least, up until I made chuunin; then I was no longer allowed to stay."

"So you lost your parents that night?" Only those who were orphaned by the Kyuubi attack, or those traumatized by the attack and were already orphaned, were housed in the hole in the wall everyone call the Alley of Broken Dreams.

"No, I was one of the really unlucky ones that got drafted into the fight." He paused as a troubled look settled on his features. "When the Kyuubi attacked, he crushed the 'group home' I was in. Of the fifty-seven of us there that night, only two survived. Me... and Raidou."

Aoba took a long sip from the cup of cappuccino he ordered, shaking off the memories as they came. "So I understand more or less what you are going through."

/ "So I understand more or less what you are going through." /

'Could he? Could he really understand?' Doubtful. She turned the page in the oversized book she was reading. 'Aha! There it is! I knew the release was that simple, but it was never described before. It's sad that no matter how complicated the seal, the release is always two classes lower.'

Before her was a very intricately explained release for her seal, or any complex seal really. Most people overlooked the sky blue slit tattoo on the lower portion of her face, and that's just how she liked it. The history behind it though was a long one.

Well, actually, not that long compared to some jutsus and seals. Tobirama asked Hashirama's wife Mito to help him design a seal that would act as a spare chakra tank. Seeing that she was a fuuinjutsu specialist, even by Uzumaki standards, he knew she would not disappoint.

Nor did she! In fact, the seal worked too well! Seeing that Tobirama didn't really care if it hid the cleft in his chin, he had made the seal a good deal wider than the original sketch, and he let it trail down to just above his Adam's apple. The result was a damn near bottomless pit for a tank!

The only drawback was that you had to fill it! Then there was monitoring how full it was - even though it ran deep, bottomless does not exist. So the seal would change colours based on not only the chakra type it was filled with, but the volume of it as well. Being the paranoid bastard he was, Kami-sama bless his heart, he always kept it at 95% full, which turns it red. Then, as his need of it rose, so did the number of seals he placed on himself. In the end, he had three on his face - which would later become his trait markings, like the fang tattoos of the Inuzuka clan - four on his chest, and another two on each shoulder blade.

The drawback was that it burned like hell when it was nearly full, which was very distracting. And each seal took almost a week to fill properly! The results spoke for themselves though.

'Well, I may not have the clan to guide me, but at least I have your writings to help me along the way, Great-grandfather.'

Truly, this is why she wanted access to the Library: the privacy. Well, that and the easy explanation as to where she learned something new. Even though her seal was an S-class fuuinjutsu- a parting gift her Okaa-sama had given her before her tragic passing - no one really thought it was anything special. Some asked if it was a tattoo, most thought it was a birthmark. So asking someone about it was likely to draw unwanted attention to the situation.

Which, unfortunately lead to the fix she found herself in. If she trained herself in the release mechanism of her seal, then the colour of her mark will fluctuate. Still, it would give her a major edge over anyone that tries something stupid... but seeing she was still stuck in the Academy, would it be worth it?

'Well, I could always see how long it takes for me to regain this exact shade of blue. I could maybe blame it on being sick?' That would never work. Everyone that knew her, knew she was never sick...

'No point in knowing how to use this then. What about-' She paused, reading something seemingly vital. 'No, this says specifically that each seal can only contain one element or completely neutral chakra. Any mixtures might cause the whole seal to explode. Let's avoid that, shall we?'

Well, the only thing left to do is wait now. Something was bound to happen soon; and given how well she knew the citizens of Konoha, it wasn't going to be nice.

End Chapter 11

A/N: My sincerest apologies that I am so late with this chapter. Life has just been hectic, I guess. Anyway, Chapter 12 will not likely take this long to post. I was planning on posting this Arc in double chapters - which is still mostly the case - but I don't want to deprive my loyal readers if I can avoid it.

Next time: First Student, Haunted Past.

Gaki- Brat

Rescue Rebreather - An aid in CPR. It is basically a piece of plastic that covers the victim's lips and goes partway into their mouth. It is designed to only allow one-way traffic, so the victim cannot breathe, spit or vomit into your mouth. Very handy to have!

Fuuinjutsu- Sealing jutsu.

If I need to explain that Hinata's 'ano' is like 'um', 'well' or 'that is to say' – so just a way to stall from actually saying anything - then you people need to watch Hinata more closely!