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) - The Countdown

Teams are being formed, but how will this affect the freshly minted genin? And what are we counting down to? Well, regardless the action is getting kicked up a notch!

All underlined terms are explained at the end of the chapter.

~? POV~

It feels strange to be here. The onsen, an open aired public bath where you dress down to your birthday suit to 'bond' with other people. Truth be told, the history of an onsen is riddled with having nothing to hide, therefore it makes it easier to bond – no secrets, no problem, right?

A shame the history didn't include trained assassins and hired blades to its initial planning. Well, you can't please everyone.
It was especially a shame seeing that ninja mixed in with civilians in these settings, so once the boarders of clothing had been shed there was no telling who was who. This place is in fact the ideal hiding grounds of Konoha's best and brightest, because you simply couldn't tell who was who without knowing their face.
Though even then there was no real guarantee. Seeing that most people wore different expressions here, the ultimate mask if you used it well enough. And it was in this very setting that one of my new teammates wanted to bond with me.

'A new team, huh? I wonder how Rin-chan would feel about this?' As soon as the thought hit me, I could feel my stomach revolt almost violently. An iron will is all that kept my meal where it belonged.
Flashback after flashback, memory after memory, a lifetime of pain and loneliness assaulted at all at once. The ones that stung most were of my last real team. Their ANBU masks seem to haunt me whenever I closed my eyes, but it was better than never seeing them again.
Slowly I lowered myself into the hot water, having successfully scrubbed most of the bad memories away and rinsed it off with the soap – nary a word had yet passed my lips. The onsen was usually a peaceful place to be, heedless of the amount of people usually present at this time of day. No, they actually served to veil me with a blanket of anonymity – strange considering how well known I'd become in recent years, and yet there it was.

The scalding water felt good, better than thinking at least. Slowly sinking deeper, I let the water claim me... calm me. Water was always this soothing. Always. Somehow the more I thought about the way the liquid hugged and kissed every inch of me, the less I cared about anything else – I was in my element here, and no one could take that away from me.
Even with my ears filled, drowning out most of the sounds around me, I could make out just enough to know that no one really noticed me there. That was good. No hate, no pity... nothing. Just white noise.

After coming up for air, I wiped the water from my face and looked around. My sole companion's face held a neutral expression, but I saw a million questions playing across those eyes. My current attitude contrasted too greatly with the carefree nature I'd been known for – it was far darker than it had been a mere hour ago, anyone could tell that much.
Attempt after failed attempt of strumming up a menial conversation were starting to grate on both of us. Still, I appreciated the gesture that someone cared enough to worry. I just wasn't much of a talker when I was like this – too many memories to keep me company.
"...do y-you think... w-will happen..." Between the water dripping out of my ear and the matinee of flashbacks I had to stave off, focusing on any one thing was a task. Sadly, even paying attention to good company fell into that category. Eventually they all gave up, but this one held out longer than anyone else would have. I think I apologized, but that fell on deaf ears as I found myself alone... another one had left without word – for the best, I guess. The last thing I needed was another teammate to get close to just so that they could die on me... or worse, be used against me.

'She reminds me of you, Rin-chan.' The tear that escaped was quickly washed away in during my next dip into the welcoming abyss. 'I guess the best I can do to repent is take care of her... ne?'

~Narrator's POV~

'My team will be here any minute.' Aoba thought, not bothering to blotch out the pride in the thought. He knew without a doubt that they would pass the test he had thought up, it was after all similar to the test his sensei had put him through, but different. 'To think I have sensei's daughter on my team, I'll have to think of a way to thank the old man for this privilege.'

Hinata was the first to show up, with her yojinbo bowing to her new sensei reverently before disappearing. She was nervous, if the slight twitch in her eyebrow was any indication, or the two digits pressing together, or the shy body language, or the... Okay, she was nervous. Period.
"O-ohaiyou." She sat down on the grass didn't utter another word.

Soon after Kiba showed up, still yawning in protest to the early hour. Even Akamaru seemed half asleep. 'I'll have to work on his work ethic.' The jounin thought, smirking.

Eventually – as in two minutes after the appointed time – the Senju princess decided to grace the gathering with her presence. "Are you sure you don't want to be on Kakashi-san's team? Because I do not and will not tolerate tardiness." Came the one and only warning anyone on Team 9 would ever receive.

She mumbled and stood casually, obviously waiting for something. Aoba stared at the young blond for a long moment, almost as if seeing her for the first time; in truth, he kinda was. She held herself completely different than any other time he'd seen her, her clothes were slightly different too – it hugged her frame a little more, and two tanto hilts seemed to be jutting out of her hips. The shades he made for her were firmly in place and her hitai-ate was being worn like a mask, covering everything from the nose downward, with what looked like a scarf wrapped around and covering every inch of hair he had never seen. The only thing he can honestly say he recognized was her chakra signature – and even that was just barely, seeing that it was fluctuating wildly.
The girl seemed to be anxious, almost fearful of something. It simply made no sense.
"Well, let's get started then." Aoba held out two bells for all to see. "This test is all about getting the bells. You each need a bell to pass, but there is a catch..." There was a sickly sweet smile on his face. "You need to fight me to get it."
"Hold up, there are only two bells!" Kiba shouted, but Aoba only smirk wider – it was now bordering a manic smile.
"Oh?" All shocked innocence. "I must have forgotten the other one at home." Somehow no one believed him, which was becoming a pattern. "Well, I guess we'll just have to make due with what we have."
"What the hell! How-" Kiba's rant was cut short by the – presumably – blond that decided to unsheathe her twin tantos.
"The point is more than just a physical test." She cooed. "It's an all in one test. With this he can gauge our personalities and our teamwork during battle, figure out our strategies and test us one on one." Aoba's smirk-turned-smile only got wider... and more disturbing. He was obviously enjoying this for all it was worth.
"Can't get much passed you." It was hard to tell if that was praise or sarcasm in his tone, but it wouldn't matter either way. "You have until noon to get the bells..."

"Go." Three genin disappeared with little effort.

'Tradition is stronger than logic sometimes.' Tatsuko thought to herself. She already had a strategy to pass this latest test – knowing all the while this was more of a formality than anything else. Aoba was testing them, yes... but it was more to get a handle on their skills than to test their ability to be genin.
'He probably already thinks of us as his team.' Though her face soured slightly, there was still a glimmer of hope to it. 'If there was ever a team I wanted to be a part of, this is it. We just need to work together now.'
She reached into her right thigh-pouch and pulled out a plastic tube and twisted off the top with a slight pop. 'Well, the die is cast... only one way left to go.'

Meanwhile, a short distance away, Kiba and Akamaru -who could pass for Kiba's twin, complimentary of the juujin bunshin no jutsu- were trying their luck in head on combat. It was hard to tell which was which, being half of the intimidation factor with this particular jutsu. But more importantly it was the symbol of the ultimate teamwork.
Without any signals whatsoever, both Kibas knew what to do, and both did it flawlessly. Kiba-1 launched a sweep – which Aoba answered by simply raising his right knee, letting the strike pass harmlessly under the sole of his sandal. Kiba-2 however, used Kiba-1's attack as an opening and dashed through the once occupied space with a Tsuuga.
Not wanting to breathe through a whole in his chest, Aoba bent over backwards and balanced his weight on his right hand. Kiba-1 spund around for another -and slightly higher- sweep. Kiba-2 in the mean time, stopped the Tsuuga's spinning and landed on all fours, charging for another attack. Yes, he noticed that Aoba was staring right at him, but he followed through anyway.

At the last second, the jounin pushed himself up into a handstand, rendering the second sweep useless, and used the momentum to drive his left leg down onto Kiba-2's skull. Not hard enough to kill, but it left a nice Kiba sized crater in the ground. Which, after a puff of smoke, was occupied by a now sleeping Akamaru.
"You know," Aoba began – smirking and now standing at his full height and facing the original Kiba once again. "as good as you think you are, you're not getting any closer to getting a bell."
"Who ever said I was trying to get a bell?" Even while hiding from view, Tatsuko could still see that toothy smile. She had to focus extra hard to ignore the butterflies in her stomach while maintaining her jutsu.

Then, Hinata jumped into action. A volley of kunai flew in a wide arc towards the unsuspecting jounin. "Oh, then what were you tryi-"
Before he could even finish the word, let alone the sentence, he was sandwiched between two layers of three kunai and an odd shuriken thrown in for extra spice.
Tatsuko mentally counted down, knowing without a doubt that the tell-tale signs of a kawarimi would show up any second – that would be her cue.

"SENSEI!" Hinata screamed, tears already streaming down her face. She started running toward Aoba, hoping to help him in whatever way she could.
'She's gentle-spirited. That is not likely welcomed in her clan – probably the reason she is so shy.' Aoba thought, smirking as the bunshin he left to take the hit burst into smoke. He already found the perfect position in the team for her... His smile only widened further with that.

So far Aoba had been impressed. Sure, not much had happened yet, but he was happy with what he had seen. Kiba was at least as good as he had expected. A bit cryptic, which he had not anticipated, but that could be explained after some more observation.
Hinata was at least competent with throwing kunai and shuriken, which surprised him somewhat. Usually Hyuuga shinobi were good at their family taijutsu, but little else. They over specialized their members at too young an age, leaving them wide open to a lot of trouble in the long run.

The trouble was the last member of the team. Senju Tatsuko. What the hell was she waiting on? He could easily keep track of her, seeing that she hadn't moved during the exchange with Kiba and Hinata. She seemed to enjoy standing behind a tree – out of everyone's direct line of sight, but still close enough that she could track everyone's movements. Hell, he could even sense her heart skip a beat when Kiba smirked – clearly someone had a crush, and a huge one at that.
Yet she never moved – fiddling with something in her right leg-pouch didn't really count. 'Now that I think about it, why does she have two leg-pouches? Hmm...Well, only one way to find out.' It was time to go dragon hunting.

'What is he thinking? Trying to take out the strategist early?' Tatsuko laughed at her own thoughts. 'Nope, he couldn't possibly have figured out that I can communicate with the others. He is trying to figure out why I haven't moved.' That sucked almost as much as him trying to take her out. Not because she couldn't send any messages to the others, she still could do pretty much anything. No, it meant he was going to push her until he figured out her limit. That sucked.
With little warning, Tatsuko was under attack. Apparently Aoba thought it was smart to flick a kunai an inch above her head – apparently his way of saying 'heads up'.
Like the eternal sensei he was to her, he would start gauging her skills from scratch to avoid an inaccurate assessment. That meant a lot, because she knew he would wouldn't miss anything that way... and she wasn't sure how much to show.
'I planned to take him out with just Kiba and Hinata... I didn't think he would have gotten away from my trap before I sprung it. I guess he has improved since our last scuffle.' She couldn't really call what they did sparring – he never took it serious enough for that. But then again, she was supposed to be under cover, so she didn't blame him for that.
'Well, if I'm going to be stuck with this team, I might as well have some fun then, ne?'

"Taijutsu, the primary skill any shinobi needs." Aoba announced, clearly telling her what he expected to test her in.
"Wrong, sensei... the primary skill for every shinobi is deception." She smiled, then put the small bottle back in her leg pouch. She wasn't going to need those just yet.
"There's that too." He laughed, then launched a kick at the left side of her rib cage. She wasn't within striking range, so he had to jump towards her a bit – which meant he softened his kick even further to cause no harm. Well, not 'no harm'... more like, not much.
Almost as if in slow motion Aoba's foot crept towards the young blond. 'What will you do, imouto-chan? Will you finally open up? Will you trust me?'

Then it happened. With a soft thud, the kick landed – no it didn't land, it was blocked. Almost immediately Aoba was analysing her block. It was a dual arm block – left forearm bend down like an upside down 'L' to absorb the actual blow, right palm opened and just behind the actual block to launch the counterattack. 'That's not academy style taijutsu. Hell, I can't even say I've seen that style of a block.'
"Satisfied, sensei?" Aoba found himself at a loss. She knew what he was doing? Well, if that was the case, he would take it as far as she could. Immediately he retracted his leg and re-chambered his kick, this time at her head.
The same styled block awaited him. "From D-class speed, to C-class speed. You're planning isn't your weakness." This time, before he could react, her counterattack was sprung. Her right hand grabbed his leg by the shin, then she used her left forearm to help spin him three times and launched him in the direction of the lake.
'What the...!'

Not just in the direction of the lake, but the whole seventy-six metres to its shore and then still an additional twenty metres to a spot where he could splash down without harm.
Of course he landed on his feet, and with a little chakra support giving him a relatively dry landing on the wet surface. Still, Aoba figured that she calculated that trajectory down to the centimetre, seeing that he wasn't dragged back much farther from extra inertia.
"Someone's been holding out on me." Yamashiro Aoba was not surprised often. He spent most of his life studying everything around him to know what to expect at any given time. He smiled; this was the first time he can honestly say that he was pleasantly surprised.
The jounin focused to stretch his vision out farther, so that he could keep an eye on the kunoichi he was fighting. She was walking towards him, and she was clearly planning something.
She had unsheathed both of her tantos, holding them inverted – though she held the grips properly, the points were held near her elbows – with the back held less than an inch from her skin. Her fists were held at chest level, obviously ready for any surprise attack Aoba could concoct. 'She was trained to be an real kunoichi, not just a soldier of Konoha.'
Just as the kunoichi – Aoba quickly found he couldn't think of her as a genin for obvious reason – made it to the shore, he found himself wondering how things would proceed. Part of him hoped she would dash onto the water surface and show him what she was made of... the other part was trying to to get his hopes up. Just to be safe though, he put together a plan for both possibilities.
"Excellent chakra control, but can you use that for more than just enhancing your muscles?" With his Kokorogan he couldn't directly see chakra, but there were much more interesting things to see.

Things like intention.

Well, that is a bit vague. It's more like he can see what his target sees. With that comes a plethora of possibilities when tied together with genjutsu and a vivid imagination. Basically, if he times it right, the wielder of the kokorogan can hijack another person's vision and twist it any way that wielder wants to.
Anyway, the point being, Aoba knew she was not daunted by a stronger opponent. In fact, if he guessed right, she enjoyed reminding stronger opponents why they should never become boastful or prideful. 'A kunai through the heart will kill both a kage and a complete idiot.' That motto was impressed onto the stylishly bespectacled jounin quite early in his career, with a kunai blade pressed against his throat no less.

Slowly, almost as if teasing her opponent, Tatskuko placed one foot on the water surface. Aoba decided to play it safe and took out two kunai of his own and assumed a casually masked defensive stance. What he saw from her was something he was not used to seeing from his opponents: steadfast confidence. This wasn't the arrogance he was used to, the cocky assurance that one usually would have. There was no absolute with her vision. There was planning.
Her eyes were darting back and forth at an alarming rate, taking in every possibility even while studying every nuance in her sensei. What was more interesting was her actual field of view. Yes, she could 'see' behind her, but that was only through making a map with the sounds around her – and therefore fallible. But with her eyes she seemed to see in a near 180 degree arc from left to right and a near 140 degree up to down, with the majority of the blocked vision above dead centre. So she was technically more likely to get hit from an attack from above than bellow.

Then she stopped. Everything stopped. She had analysed everything, he guessed. Slowly, a smirk peaked out from behind the clouds, and even slower, it blossomed into a smile. She finally had her plan in place.
'She likes taking it slow, figure everything out before acting on it.' Just as he was about to taunt her a bit, she took another step forward – letting both of her sandal soles sink below the water surface.

Then it hit him. Hard. Almost like a physical blow.

Information.

Aoba had felt, seen... sensed a lot of things before through his doujutsu. He had crawled into the sensory receptors of hundreds, if not thousands of shinobi before. Never once had he seen his own skills broken down into neatly ordered statistics.
He didn't see it in the sense where you could read it off a page. No, it was more like short bursts of memories – his memories. She was playing his memories like old home videos.
What was worse, was that these were not just any random memories the could embarrass him, or the ones that most parents talk about when you bring a girl home the first time... These were the references he was most likely to use in a fight! She was scouring his memory banks for an edge to use against him before taking the fight to him!
'What the-'
"Fuck is she doing?" She finished for him. "I thought you knew me well enough to know I go an eye for an eye."
"What are-"
"I mean you hijacked my senses to see what I see, feel what I feel. You are trying to gauge my planning, my sensory intake to see what it says about my skills and my battle tactics before exchanging blows to see how well I can translate that into action. I am merely returning the favour in my own way."
'Hmm interesting.'
"Interesting indeed. Most get antsy when they figure that out, but you are – as you have so often claimed – different."
He smiled at her. "I thought you-"
"You never know someone."
'That's kinda unnerving. Why not let me finish a sentence?'
"Not all battles are won with a fist or an S-class jutsu. Some are won simply by making one's opponent doubt themselves." Aoba's smile widened further. "I agree, you've seen enough. Now it's time to experience."

She dashed forward as if the water was just another solid surface, showing that she had mastered water walking years earlier. Sure her speed was laughable compared to her other skills, but that could easily be another trick. 'She likes to make you doubt yourself, but more importantly she likes to make you doubt her. She uses her age, her slight frame, her skills... 'Everything is a weapon if used correctly.''
With more than enough time to get ready, Aoba saw the punch being thrown at him. It wasn't hard to figure out that it was bait to sink her tanto into him if he messed up, so he avoided the strike altogether. He ducked and eased to her left to test her flank defences.
The younger of the pair answered him with a kick aimed at his knee, which he stepped out of range from. Then another punch-kick combo followed.
She was constantly dashing into range, launching an attack and leaving no opening for a counter-attack. She also made sure she always kept a route open to escape.

'Time to switch things up.' The kunai in his left hand was thrown – perfectly aimed to split her face open. She batted it away like it was a bug, but they both knew there was a nastier trick involved.
The kunai dropped below the water surface, where most would stop considering it a threat, but six kunai popped up like dragonflies – all with the tips pointing it straight at their target.
"So you've taken Nanami-sama's training to heart." Her words were light, but the kunai almost dropped out the sky when she said them.
'You knew?'
"You've just shown me, haven't you?"
'This jutsu?'
"Yes. But you only use a base technique. Would you like to see what it can really do?" It would have completely thrown anyone else off their game to have what seemed like half a conversation. But what really would have messed them up, was when Tatsuko re-sheathed her tantos and reached into both legpouches.

"Tessen." The word escaped his lips before he noticed it. 'Nanami-sensei's favoured weapon. I never would have guessed you learned to wield them.'
"You want to know how well I can defend myself?"

Kiba and Hinata just made it to the lakeshore, wondering how the hell Aoba-sensei and Tatsuko were standing on the water surface. They were now too far away to actually hear what was being said, but it wasn't like they would have made sense of it anyhow.
"What the... hell?" Kiba wondered. "She uses batons? What's up with the tantos then?" Hinata was just as lost, letting the silence answer for her.

The six kunai that were hovering around their teammate decided to fly at her – all at the same time! Normally people would throw kunai in quick succession, so if you deflected them in the same order they were thrown you wouldn't get hit. Standard procedure was keeping an eye on what was thrown first. But when multiple projectiles were going to hit you are the same time, you had to figure out a way to block them all at once – not an easy feat.
To complicate matters more, the kunai were precisely spaced out in a perfect circle around her. It would take a miracle to get out of that unharmed, at least that was what both genin were thinking.

A fraction of a second before the kunai should have landed Tatsuko launched both hands straight out to her sides and bent over forward to duck under the blades. Continuing with her forward momentum, she tucked her head between her ankles then shot her legs forward with the same arc, but did a mid air split – with the tips of her toes barely not touching the surface – to not get nicked by the blades above her. To finish off the unconventional dodge/somersault, she shot both batons at the blades and knocked them all back at the jounin in one clean motion. Two of the six damn dear drew blood too!

Well, to be fair, it was far enough for Aoba to feel comfortable with the distance, but Kiba and Hinata didn't know that.

Two genin were left to reel in their chins, still trying to figure out what she had done. What's more, the blond managed to land on her shins in a kneeling position; both batons forming an 'X' in front of her. Aoba just stood there, reeling the kunai back into attack formation for another go.
Wave after wave of the same six kunai came at the girl. Every angle was tested, every blindspot tried – both above and below water. Aoba seemed to be pacing himself to get the most of the situation; no one can keep up a high velocity fight forever.
More importantly, Tatsuko seemed much less inclined to hold back.

Once Tatsuko had gotten bored with this style of attack, she did something that Aoba hadn't planned for: she struck one kunai with both batons. Shocking, right? Well, it would be shocking to anyone after all six projectiles exploded along with the sole kunai that was struck!
Aoba, obviously not having expected that, actually laughed.

"What the hell was that?" Kiba asked Hinata. They looked at each other for a long moment, but both shrugged and just continued watching. What else could they do? Hinata decided to activate her doujutsu, hoping to actually find some answers.

Tatsuko stopped for a moment, seemingly telling Aoba something that the others couldn't hear.
"You still wondering if I can defend myself?" Aoba laughed again.
'If I thought you couldn't, I'm sure you would know.' It was actually starting to get comfortable for Aoba to not have to say what was on his mind. Strange what you can get used to, ne?
"True. So, did you still want to see what that jutsu can do?"
'There's more?' Tatsuko laughed as she flicked her fans open, holding one behind her in her left hand and one in front to fan herself with with her right.

Aoba's chin almost dropped on his sandals when he realised that they weren't standard tessen... they were flat blades coupled together to resemble fans. 'Twenty-seven blades spread over two tessen. That's odd.'
"Say that after you see what they can do." It was hard to say for sure, but it looked like she was smiling ear to ear as she said that. Tatsuko flicked the front fan closed and drew it to her left shoulder then made a motion like she was going to throw it at her opponent. Only, she didn't release her weapon.
In stead of a chakra based attack – like Aoba had actually been expecting – a long, flat metal... thing... flew at its awaiting target. If he had to liken it to something, it looked most like a whip because it was so flexible... yet it was something else altogether. 'No, not a whip... it's more like a ribbon. A demon possessed ribbon, but still very ribbon like.'
Jumping out of the way, Aoba continued studying the attack, wondering what the hell was going on! Luckily the attack's range wasn't all the impressive, but the sharp edges certainly were.

'Sharp edges!' Aoba leered a little closer at the... weapon. 'That is the tessen! The blades come loose and she is probably tying them together with the same technique I was using with the kunai earlier! But this is on a whole other level!'
'Each individual blade is about nine inches long.' The analysis continued. 'With her only using the fourteen blades from one tessen she gets an maximum reach of on or about twenty-nine metres. Not all that bad, but the attacks get sluggish when ranged outside of the fifteen metre mark – just under half the range. Now if I calculate that same ratio that would mean that with using all the blades she would have on or about fifty-five metres total range with the optimum range being about twenty-seven metres.' He almost laughed at his own calculations.
"You really like the number three huh?" Somehow he didn't mind asking out loud this time. "Everything about your attacks somehow can be calculated back to that base number, so I doubt this is all a coincidence." He had to duck under a few extra swiped for his trouble. "Three multiplied by three, multiplied by three. It's kinda cute really."
"Oh ha ha. Yuck it up Yamashiro." She was obviously not impressed by his analysis.
It was a shame there was no skin visible, because paling skin was always the first sign of low chakra reserves. Luckily Tatsuko knew her own body well enough to know that she was starting to wear down, but it was highly unlikely her sensei would see the signs like this.
She was never a chakra powerhouse like Naruto, so using her tessen was always a last resort – they burned through her reserves quicker than Chouji went through a bag of chips. Still, she wouldn't go down without putting everything she had into this!
Tatsuko flipped her reserve tessen into her right hand, then with her left hand she poked into her right thigh-pouch. She quickly found the item she was searching for and popped it open with little veneration and threw its contents into the air.

"What the hell is that?" Kiba asked again. It was becoming a theme, and that was actually getting on his nerves! He had never seen anything like what he was seeing from the same girl he had been sparring with for years! Why didn't she ever do any of that when they fought?
"Sewing needles." Hinata answered, before deactivating her Byakugan. She knew it was likely they would be back to square one when Tatsuko finally ran out of steam. She she was going good, but she wasn't gaining any ground with their sensei, and Hinata could see that she would likely pass out within a minute the way she was going.
"Sewing needles? What is she going to-" Kiba was about to ask something stupid, it wasn't hard to tell. But seeing that Aoba was suddenly dodging and weaving like his left testicle depended on it shut the boy up.

'What the fuck!' Aoba had officially lost his cool. It wasn't every day that you see it raining sewing needles!
Intellectually Aoba knew that there was a lot about Kunaibuyo no-jutsu that Nanami-sensei hadn't been able to teach him. It wasn't that hard to figure out really, seeing that she died when he was like thirteen years old, just over a year after becoming a genin. Still, seeing a twelve year old use the technique to a degree that he was certain Hokage-sama would be proud of made him nervous.

Dodging a ribbon made up of loose – and razor sharp – custom kunai was one thing. But dodging that same ribbon while trying to dance around a hail storm of needles that probably had some nasty trick to them was not making his day any better.
'What the hell was Tatsuhi-san thinking when he trained this girl!' Sadly though, the jounin had to admit he was impressed. He didn't just have to dodge, he had to back off until she eased up. 'Nothing short of knocking her out would get me anywhere close to her right now.'
Another – and profoundly more disturbing – fact was that Tatsuko had openly admitted to being a suiton user, while she had yet to use a single suiton jutsu. That meant she was still holding back!
He didn't even know if she could still read his thoughts at that point, but he still decided to ask the old man what the hell was going on with her! Nothing in her portfolio suggested in any way, shape or form that she had this kind of potential, let alone skill!
'Thank Kami-sama the lake is large enough to not risk collateral damage, but this really is getting ridiculous!' The needle shower had a larger range of attack than the kunai ribbon, which wasn't all that unexpected. What was unexpected though, was that (just like the kunaibuyo) the needles were being reused the whole time! That meant that the jutsu was limited by the amount of chakra the user had available.
'She is definitely something else!'

Then, it all stopped.

Seeming of their own accord, all the needles flew back into their bottle, the tessen reformed and split back into two and all the weapons were neatly tucked into the pouches on her thighs.
Aoba watched his charge for a long moment, seeing her stagger slightly as she tried to take a few steps. "Too... much... trouble..." She huffed out. "... if I... gotta... get 'em... later..."
With one word, Yamashiro Aoba of the Ii clan summarized his thoughts: "Damn."

Aoba took his time making it back to the shore. He had half considered calling it a day, seeing that he didn't want any more unexpected twists like he had just been through. Still, this was a test of three students so there was no backing out. 'Well, the strategist is down. Now to go for the eyes.'

On the shore, and more than a little leery, two genin hopefuls were waiting. Kiba tensed immediately when he noticed the jounin was still in battle mode.
"Yo, sensei, shouldn't we be takin' her ta the hospital?" He asked.
"She's sleeping, not injurred. Besides, she won't be too pleased if the two of you messed up this opportunity to grab the bells." He reminded them. All three of them tensed at those words.
"Rrrrrrrrrrr!" Yup, even Akamaru was pissed off at the moment.
"Byakugan!" Surprisingly it was Hinata that jumped into action first.

Even with Tatsuko on his shoulder – he knew he couldn't put her anywhere without risking a 'rescue' – Aoba was able to deflect all of Hinata's attacks. Sure, he had to be careful to not let her close off his tenketsu, but that was less of a problem with her inexperience. The poor girl was clearly under-trained in her family taijutsu.
'A crying shame.' Was all he allowed himself to think about that. Her stamina would also need a lot of work, she was sweating up a storm trying to rescue her teammate. Luckily she knew their sensei wouldn't hurt anyone, but it was still obvious the girl was one step away from freaking out.
'Hm, there is a story behind that. Has Tatsuko been playing mother hen to her too?' It didn't seem logical, but it wouldn't surprise him much either. 'I guess she is giving what she wants most in her life. Well, I think I know how to handle that...'
How one confused and angry girl could positively affect so many seemingly unrelated peers was a marvel to see, but Hinata still fell easily because of her lack of concentration. A single pressed nerve, and she too was captured. He grabbed her, slung her over his free shoulder and shunshinned out of sight.
To say that Kiba and Akamaru were upset by this turn of events wouldn't do their rage justice at that point.

In no time at all, Aoba made it to a clearing that was obscured by trees. He placed the two sleeping beauties next to each other and cast a genjutsu to hide their location from everyone.
'Good, now that the strategist and the eyes are down for the count, I can deal with the body guard.' It wasn't that Aoba was making fun of Kiba, it was simply a psychological fact: guys are wired to protect girls. That is not sexist, a symptom of a superiority complex, chauvinistic... or any other crap that those feminists like to spout at the drop of a hat.
Put any guy in a gathering of girls and set off a fire alarm and see what happens. Even without a direct threat, a guy is naturally inclined to lead the pack to safety – save room for the guy who simply pees his pants and runs away screaming. And most females are inclined to listen. Most, because a feminist would go the opposite direction the guy pointed him in, just to spite him.
Back to the situation at hand, Aoba had one last charge to mess with! So he made his way to Kiba's last known location, already making a training schedule for the kunoichi he just left behind.

"What'd you do with 'em?" Kiba in bodyguard mode was a little intimidating, but nothing worse than what the newly minted jounin hadn't already been through. Even before today.
"Well, that depends on how you want to look at it..." Aoba was purposefully leaving that vague, it served to set the boy even more on edge. Sure, he was put out at the thought that he was being accused of kidnapping – or worse – but there was no logical thought process in the sub- and unconscious, there were only facts. And the fact was that two girls were just whisked away with no clear sign of returning.

Aoba thanked his training in T & I, and Inoichi in particular who had taught him so much. It was much easier to mess with people when you knew how they could react in any given situation. Besides, it was just plain fun in most cases.

"You're gonna regret that!" Kiba attacked blindly. His anger and his desire to protect his teammates completely shut down his ability to think, to plan. Although, to the boy's credit, he was still doing fairly well. Even without using his signature jutsu, his taijutsu was way above average for an academy student, even for the average genin.
"Akamaru! Juujin Bunshin no-jutsu!" When did he release that jutsu anyway? What followed was an sad attempt at an old school beat down. Kiba and the Kiba look-a-like were throwing punches and kicks as fast and as hard as they could. The only clear intention was to break something and play the hero rescuing two damsels in distress, but that was just more obvious proof that the boy wasn't thinking clearly.
"You know, the way this is going, they could be grandmothers before you rescue them." It was an odd mix of 'I'm not going to hurt them, baka!' and another barb to set him further on edge. But it worked rather well – to what end Aoba would never know.
Kiba took out all the stops almost immediately, which Aoba was grateful for – he was actually kind of tired from having to avoid playing 'pin the tail on the jounin'.

"Tsuuga!" Kiba-1 decided to do the obvious, while Kiba-2 held hesitated for a second. Seeing that Aoba had both seen this tactic, and easily defeated it before, he simply knocked them both out.
"You know, this is going to be an interesting team."

"Total elapsed time, one hour, thirty-two minutes and nine seconds. You guys made me work for it." Aoba laughed at his own words. Tatsuko, Kiba and Hinata were all hogtied and glaring at him menacingly. "Not one of you got a bell, but who can tell me why?"
"Because you're stronger than we are, duh!" Kiba griped, even as Akamaru was nibbling on his robes to set him free.
"True, but that was never a question. I made jounin for a reason, after all."
"You picked us off one by one." Tatsuko said. "You picked me off first, knowing that I was the one with the plan, then you took Hinata out because she could sense you best... leaving Kiba and Akamaru seeing that you could trick their sense of smell better than the Byakugan or a doujutsu you don't fully understand."
"True, but-"
"But you were wrong when you said we didn't get any of the bells." Aoba laughed, but he laughed hardest when Tatsuko jingled one of the bells in her hand.
"I know, I was waiting for these two to figure that out." The disbelieving stare he got didn't affect him the least. "Now as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted..." Tatsuko was rewarded with a dull glance.
"You pass." His words were so calm, so dull, that three pairs of eyes – one pair still hidden behind a pair of shades – blinked.
"Aroo?" That must have been Akamaru's only way of saying 'WTF?' Though the tilting of his head and the clearly confused look in his eyes could have said it too.

"The bells were just an objective, the test was more about seeing how far you could take it and how hard you would make me work." Aoba said. Was he looking paler than usual?
"And this gave you the perfect way of testing our strengths and weaknesses." Tatsuko intoned
"As well as your teamwork and tactical prowess, yes."
"You could have just asked!" Kiba was obviously no a happy camper – then again, he was bent at a painful angle and tied that way. Not the most comfortable way to spend the morning.
"Where's the fun in that?" The grin those three genin saw, curdled their blood. It was somewhere between a mad scientist's 'It is alive' smile and cat's 'I've got you cornered, little mouse' smirk. It wasn't friendly, in any way. And it was the first of the many... many times they would see that smile...
"I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship!" That was the first time the three of them understood – truly understood – why Aoba was still active in T & I. He belonged there!

The sadist.

A/N: Well there you have it. Tatsuko's more out in the open. And for those of you who were not paying attention Nanami is the name of Hinata's mother, Tatsuko's aunt.

Anyway, I'm sure you are wondering why this took so long to publish, since I said it was already half done after the last chapter was sent out. Well, this is my B-day present to you! Yes, Feb 15th is my special day. Thank you, and keep reading.

Also, I will be putting up the beginnings to two other stories soon. One is from Pokemon titled A Promise Worth Keeping, the other is from Escape Velocity titled Starlight. If you like my writing and are curious how it would play out in another setting, check em out!

Kunaibuyo no jutsu - Dance of Kunai technique. Come on, admit it, you didn't need me to tell you that!