Chapter 7: Sensory Training (1,851 words)
Sasuke was sulking, Kakashi noted absently.
Though the littlest Uchiha had shown the initiative of a leader and potential aptitude for teamwork in the bell test by giving his food to Naruto, perhaps in hindsight that was more arrogance in his ability not to get caught and desire to keep his teammate from being a burden. And now that Sasuke was absolutely convinced that both his teammates were a burden… Well who knows? Kakashi had done all that he could, or rather, all that he was willing to do: ignore Sasuke more than he ignored the others until the brat gave in.
Kakashi currently sat comfortably in a tree, nose buried between the pages of his beloved book as Roka attempted to teach Naruto chakra sensing through some modified version of Marco-Polo, in which they each took turns pulsing their chakra and Naruto tried finding Roka while wearing a blindfold and earmuffs. Kakashi smirked, remembering Sasuke's petulant demand of 'why does the dobe get to go first?' After so many days of mindless d-ranks and getting teamed up on by Naruto and Roka, Sasuke was no doubt eager to start what he'd consider 'real training'. But Kakashi had calmly replied that historically, Uzumaki were good chakra sensors- the Uchiha less so because of their reliance on their eyes. Something had flashed across Sasuke's face at that, a thought perhaps, and he wondered if it had anything to do with something Ryu said in his confrontation of the Uchiha a while ago. Anyway, Kakashi was just a little relieved that whatever it was Sasuke was brooding on had kept him from asking why Kakashi only brought one set of blindfold and earmuffs. He told Sasuke that he could only get his turn once Naruto had learned some of the skill, hoping that his impatience would persuade him to help his teammate out.
Kakashi sighed wistfully. Manipulating children was fun and all, but he longed for the distraction of the chase, to escape behind a bone-white mask. He missed his days as nothing but a faceless shadow in ANBU. He'd spent so long in the black-ops that Kakashi felt a bit naked without his Inu-taicho-persona. His book was a nice barrier between himself and the world, but he couldn't have it out all the time. Just one fabric mask wasn't enough anymore. Maybe he should start wearing two…
Kakashi snapped out of his musings as he felt Sasuke's chakra flash in annoyance below him. Naruto's head turned in his direction, a subtle frown of concentration marring his usually cheerful face. Roka flared her chakra loudly in the exact opposite direction and Naruto whirled around again. Frustrated, he shouted, "Gah! I'll get you Roka! Shadow clone Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, three clones stood before him. "Now where is she?" Naruto asked.
"Straight ahead boss!" Clone number one told him.
"And teme's at your back." Said clone number two.
Naruto paused, "…Hello?" he eventually called. "You guys there?"
Kakashi watched bemused as Naruto's clones tried yelling loud enough to be heard past the earmuffs and Naruto's frustrated assumption that the jutsu didn't work.
"Ahh! Shadow clone jutsu! Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto shouted again and again, causing more and more clones to appear in the field. Some of them, Kakashi noted in amazement, even had their own cloned earmuffs and blindfolds, and he wondered if Naruto was even consciously doing that.
"Oh for the love of Ichiraku Ramen!" One of them shouted, grabbing for Naruto's hand. "They're right over there!"
Naruto however screeched at the unexpected touch and lashed out with a sloppy kick that his clone dodged easily. "I'm only trying to help you, man, no need to get defensive." The clone sniffed. It backed away from Naruto's frenzied jabs, bumping into another clone in the process. "Oh, Sorry-,"
"Watch where you're going!" The other clone snapped back.
"Well excuuuuse me!"
Then one of Naruto's random flailing limbs managed to whap a clone in the face and everything devolved into a brawl. Roka watched Naruto proceed to beat himself up for a few seconds until eventually she just shrugged and joined the fray, pulsing her chakra every now and then to confuse the blindfolded Narutos. Sasuke, eager for an escape from his boredom ran in too. It was a free-for-all and Kakashi was very entertained.
An hour and a half later, both his unimpaired students looked exhausted and sweaty, while the very last Naruto was very banged up and bruised from all the hits he had given himself but looked much less winded than his teammates. His lips pressed together in concentration and with a sudden burst of speed he threw himself at Sasuke and Roka. Sasuke dodged back, Roka went on the offensive. She launched at Naruto's feet in an unusual attempt to bowl him over. Ninja typically weren't very fond of grappling for some reason, but this Kunoichi seemed to know her way around it, and would have successfully knocked her teammate over had he not dodged out of the way just in time. Kakashi smiled to himself. It seemed this training exercise had been a success, and he didn't even have to lift a finger. Naruto learned best in battle it seemed, and it gave the others some exercise and experience in melee type fights as well. His smile faded however when he saw that Roka didn't get up from where she had fallen in her failed attempt to tackle Naruto. With quivering slowness she pulled her arms back toward her body as Naruto and Sasuke traded blows further off. Sasuke was clearly winning, raining tired hits on the temporarily blind and deaf boy, but that wasn't what Kakashi was concerned about. Pocketing his book, Kakashi hopped out of his tree and slowly walked over to his team's kunoichi, face still planted in the dirt. Her hands were pinned underneath her and her arms shook as she tried to push herself up.
"Need help?" He asked awkwardly, knowing that though she probably couldn't see him from her position of face on the ground, she'd definitely be able to sense him.
"No." was her vehement response. It sounded like it was said through gritted teeth. Kakashi stared at her for a moment, then shrugged and turned back to the boys' fight. "You don't have to feel bad about collapsing, you know. Lasting ninety minutes straight in a taijutsu based melee fight is almost unheard of for a genin."
"Don't patronize me!" Roka muttered angrily, and to his surprise, heaved herself over with one smooth motion and flopped onto her back. Kakashi stared down incredulously at the girl panting on the ground. He wasn't being patronizing, that was true! He couldn't glean anything from her features, her face entirely obscured by the mask, goggles, forehead protector combo. It was quite unnerving and Kakashi wondered if this is what people felt like when looking at him. Lying on the ground he didn't have much body language to go on either, other than utterly exhausted. His attention was taken by a loud groan emanating from Naruto a few yards away.
"Owwwww!" He now lay face down in the dirt as Roka had been just a few moments ago. Sasuke stood over him, wobbling on his feet, a tiny triumphant smirk gracing his sweaty face. With a stifled moan of her own, Roka slowly managed to get to her feet and limp her way over to her teammate. She fell to her knees by his side and gently hovered her shaking hands over his form. A flicker of green light surrounded her red gloves for a moment but faded away just as quickly. She tch'ed softly and pushed herself to her feet. "Can you move to the shade?" She asked him tiredly.
"Uh-huuuuh…" Naruto mumbled incoherently as he painfully got up, Roka stumbling by his side. Once they reached the shade she pulled off her gloves to reveal rice-white hands tipped in blue nail polish to match her toes, and she carefully helped Naruto remove his jacket. Sasuke came over to observe what was going on out of curiosity and was surprised when Roka pushed her tinted goggles up to get a better look at Naruto's wounds. Her eyes were a hazy purple and eyebrows so light they melted into her skin. Then his gaze flashed to her pale hands as she assessed Naruto's damage. So she could use medical chakra… that could be useful, Sasuke thought. He'd actually been a bit surprised to find out that he almost liked fighting with her. This was the first time they'd done so, as all the other times were her and Naruto against him. Her style was fluid and unpredictable compared to his perfect Uchiha form. It seemed like she didn't have any basis in taijutsu at all. She just… moved, and it worked. Roka focused on evasion, tripping, and using her agility to maneuver her opponents (the clones) into running into each other and dispelling. She also had a peculiar fondness for wrestling which Sasuke thought more than a little odd. But she somehow always managed to tackle the real Naruto so she never fell over from dispelling the clone she charged. She hadn't fallen at all, turning every stumble into a step, and lurch into a roll, until that last time when she missed the tackle. It was part of what made her style so unpredictable; it was full of mistakes that she used her quick reflexes and recovery time to turn into unexpected movements. In a real battle though, each of those mistakes could mean death and then she'd never get the chance to turn it to her advantage. Sasuke was willing to admit, Roka wasn't weak, but she wasn't good either. She was the first of them to give out, after all. But maybe… if she could really heal Naruto's injuries, Sasuke would be willing to reconsider his assessment. After all, if she was a medic, then she could heal herself from all her mistakes and Sasuke wouldn't have to worry about her dying. He'd had enough of people he knew dying.
Roka's hands flickered again.
"Good, nothin' bones broke. Bruises are small internal bleedings under the skin… so like, timy, micro-, uh, micro-cosmic cuts?" She mumbled to herself.
She was slurring her words slightly, Kakashi noted. Maybe using healing jutsu isn't such a good idea when she's that tired… oh well, Rin did that loads of times. It's fine.
Medical chakra flared to life in her hands and her brows scrunched up in concentration. "Ugh, don't have enough entrol or conergy to fix every cell one by one! Come on, think! How does chou-tan do it?" Eventually she slumped in defeat, passing her glowing hands over the worst of Naruto's bruises. "I can't remember how to heal bruises but that should numb it for a while… sorry."
Naruto beamed in amazement. "Hey, This is great! It doesn't hurt at all now!" He clasped her roughly on the back, eliciting a strangled hurk! From his teammate before Roka fell forward in a faint.
Notes:
No one left any reviews last chapter, I'm so sad! Oh well, there's always next time. You know, it's funny, this is the story that I've put the most of myself into but gets less response than some of the ones I posted on a whim. C'est la vie. Maybe I'll try changing up the summary. Any suggestions?
Acronyms to remember:
SAF= Special Accommodations Force
MAD= Medical Anomalies Division
PID= Physical Impairment Division, sometimes shortened to Physical Division or Physical
SID= Sensory Impairment Division, sometimes shortened to Sensory Division or Sensory
NMP= New Military Police
KonStan= Konoha Standard (referring to sign language)
Next time on, Welcome to the MAD House: Welcome to the MAD House!