"Lesson one: my name is Kosari. You will refer to me only as Kosari-sensei," Kosari says and picks at her very, very dusty Jounin vest. "I will be your Jounin sensei for a little over a year, until the Chuunin Exams. Was information on the Exams part of your Academy curriculum?"
"No," a boy with startlingly blue eyes says. "Chuunin?"
"There are three ranks in the shinobi system: Genin, Chuunin, and Jounin. You three are Genin, shinobi who do not currently have knowledge of the world's social, economic, and political aspects, limited jutsu repertoire, and, most importantly, have not killed. In some respect, having killed a person is what draws the line between a Genin and Chuunin," Kosari studies her students' reactions.
"So, which are you?" the girl with white eyes asks.
"Jounin," Kosari replies tonelessly. "In the time before the Exams, my job is solely this: to keep you alive until the Chuunin Exams. Keeping you alive entails teaching you basic ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, and other skills you'll need as Chuunin. To prepare you for not only the Exams but for later shinobi life, we'll be going on missions to allow you to apply the skills you learn. Missions may or may not require you to go out of the village and range in difficulty from non-life-threatening, D-Rank, to very difficult and risky, A-Rank. In the end, as Chuunin, you will be expected to perform C-Rank and B-Rank missions, and learn C-Rank and B-Rank techniques on your own. And, of course, your pay is raised."
"How much?" the same boy from earlier asks with a grin.
"Depends on the mission you take. C-Rank and B-Rank missions pay a few thousand ryo. It's enough to get by on, especially with the constant replacement of clothes ruined and torn and replacement of weapons and taxes and rent. However, don't get ahead of yourselves. You're still a Genin; you will take only D-Rank missions, which are missions that build your stamina, patience, and focus—three things you'll need as Chuunin. After all, what's a Chuunin who can't outrun his opponent, outwait a stalemate, or outwit an opponent in a battle of jutsu?"
"In addition, the Exams also serve as war between the five shinobi countries. The Chuunin Exams are a battle, a blood bath, between shinobi as representatives of their respective countries' strength. In other words, it's a way to show that Konoha, for example, still has strong shinobi. Most of the legends, like the Kiiroi Senko, are gone. You are the next generation to reestablish Konoha as the strongest. In the Final round, domestic and foreign dignitaries will come to watch and will have a word in who gets the title of Chuunin," Kosari continues and inhales deeply. Never thought I'd have to give that speech.
"Kosari-sensei, is there anything else we should be aware of when it comes to things about being a Chuunin and our path to get there?" the white-eyed girl asks.
Kosari isn't expecting that question. She had expected the conversation to flow into something else she'd need to explain, have them demand things about her, and then finish up the meeting with the second lesson. Her obsidian eyes glint. No, this was no ordinary team. She looks at a point in the distance and nostalgia hits her before she remembers she has a question to answer, "Yeah, one thing I can think of right now. Over the course of this year, you will get only a fraction of a taste of hell, if at all. Hell isn't necessary the place you go to after you die. Hell exists, and it exists on this plane," Kosari says seriously, "War is only one kind of hell. In hindsight, if you want to keep the people around you for as long as possible, it's prudent not to keep secrets. I'm sure the three of you have an array of secrets and keep them for all sorts of reasons, but in the midst of a battle when lives are on the line, those reasons will pale in comparison to a life," Kosari runs a hand through her silver hair, "That was a little dark."
The blue-eyed boy looks curiously at his teacher, "Do you have secrets?"
"Of course," Kosari says, "But I'm not about to tell you just because I said not to. Only if I actually have to, like if I'm about to die and the world might come crashing down or if one of you will die if I keep it undisclosed. But it won't."
"What about the scar on the side of your face?" the girl asks, peering at the pure white line on Kosari's face. Kosari feels it with an icy finger and shakes her head, "Birthmark," she clasps her hands together, "Tomorrow, on training ground 4, we'll meet up. Dismissed."
The circadian biological clock is responsible for this, she reminds herself. And five years of ANBU is responsible for this, she reminds herself. Kosari leans against a branch in a tree, unable to sleep for more than two hours last night. ANBU duties, of which she'd been serving up until at least two weeks ago, made her entire body in a position ready to tackle and kill the enemy. Her legs were bent like a frog's, ready to spring into action. Waking up after getting only an hour of sleep had become the norm that she'd gotten used to rather quickly in ANBU, and the thought of getting even five hours was unheard of.
All she could think last night was: That's enough time for the entire village to be lit ablaze.
She knew it wasn't going to happen, with all of her ANBU she'd personally trained into competent shinobi about, but the anxiety of sleeping for long enough to slip into a deep sleep where one wouldn't even hear the enemy's breath or sense a kunai coming near to one's throat and a million other scenarios that were quite possible kept her awake for most of the night.
Even her apartment made her uneasy. It was at least twice the size of her ANBU room and therefore had way too many places for the enemy to hide. By anyone else's standards, her apartment was too small to live in.
To some extent, the thing that made her most uneasy was that it hadn't been rented to anyone else during her time in ANBU or before. It was just as she'd left it before she entered ANBU. If it hadn't been rented to anyone else, someone paid the rent monthly. Kosari felt a wave of nausea when she realized that the night before; Hiruzen had planned to take her out of ANBU. He calculated it all. She wasn't sure if Danzo knew, but it was too late. She regretted not taking a match and burning the apartment when she'd first been accepted into ANBU.
Kosari looks up and sees the three Genin approaching from three different directions. Her hands blur as she summons chakra and after a few moments, jumps down to her Genin. Her cold eyes look from one Genin to the other before she says, "Unless you can land a hit on me, I will revoke your Genin status and bar you from ever becoming a shinobi…" she feels a grin try to sabotage her expressionless face, "And I will kill you. Before you deny my authority to stop your heart from beating, let it be known that as Genin, the state owns you. The definition of 'state' changes from village to village, but here in Konoha, the state is defined by anyone with a clearance level of 12 or above. I have a level 15. If the Hokage or I order you to destroy an entire town, you destroy an entire town. There is no room for disobedience. A shinobi is one who takes orders and endures anything and everything to carry out those orders to the letter. Your lives are tools for the state to wield, nothing more and nothing less. So, if I order you to fight me with the intent to kill, you will charge at me with the intent to kill," Kosari sees shock and surprise, but no fear in their eyes.
Once again, she reminds herself, this is no ordinary team. They have endured through years and years of pain. Someone threatening them is nothing.
But, it does have the desired effect.
"Right now, it is 8am. At 10am, if you have not landed a hit on me using any weapon or means you would like, then I will kill you," Kosari says, "Begin!"
The three Genin sprint at her and Kosari backflips several times until she grabs onto a branch and disappears completely into the foliage. The three don't pursue her; it's obvious they're out of her league.
"What do we do?" Hinata mutters, "She's too fast."
"Isn't the Hyuuga clan special?" Naruto asks, "Your eyes…I think…"
"Yes," Hinata says and feels a flame of pride warm her chest, "I can see her chakra points, similar to veins," Hinata wastes no time activating her kekkei genkai and Naruto watches in fascination and curiosity as veins bulge around her white eyes. "It's called the byakugan."
"Ah," Naruto says, grinning out of excitement. "Do you see her?"
"Watch out!" Sasuke yells and lets a few shuriken loose, hurling them at incoming shuriken. The shuriken clatter to the ground and Sasuke is fuming. His glare nearly sets the trees around him on fire. Hinata makes a face, about to say that she was about to block them, but says nothing. It's not nearly as important as living.
"Over there," Sasuke hisses at Naruto, "Come on!" the Uchiha throws kunai and shuriken where the first wave of shuriken had come from, only for the ground underneath Naruto to explode, sending the Uzumaki boy at least thirty feet up in the air.
Panic sets in and he hastily summons chakra up to his hands and forms a single seal. Twenty copies of himself, complete with shadows, twist themselves and grab onto the original and hold him up, ready to take the impact that would've landed the boy in the hospital if he were alone. They all fall and in a puff of smoke, Naruto reveals himself more or less unharmed. Grimacing, he rubs a sore behind.
"Are you okay?" Hinata asks, wide-eyed.
"Y-yeah," Naruto winces, "Really."
"Stop wasting time and look for her, Hinata!" Sasuke roars, "We don't have time to waste on small-talk!"
Hinata's lips press into a thin line and she notes the deer-caught-in-headlights glint in his eyes, "Calm down, Sasuke-san. We'll land a hit, no matter what."
Naruto frowns. I thought I summoned at least thirty or forty…but ended up with so few. I trained yesterday, but not hard enough to have chakra exhaustion. Well, I never get chakra exhaustion. I always wake up without a scratch or bruise and with my chakra reserves at 100%. There should be no reason I was able to only summon twenty clones.
Naruto stares at his hands until Sasuke snaps his fingers in front of his face, "Hinata can't see Kosari-sensei's chakra. Send out your clones as scouts in all directions!"
"Y-yeah," Naruto says and summons a hundred. Again, only eighty appear. The Uzumaki boy frowns. What's going on?
Hinata's bulging eyes look at him in concern, "What's that face for?"
"I thought I summoned a hundred. But there's only eighty," Naruto says as his clones run off into the forest.
Hinata's eyes drift from Naruto to Sasuke and then to her own hands in growing shock, "Genjutsu."
"What?" Sasuke growls.
"Yes. Kosari-sensei had us in her trap from the start," Hinata places her hands together, "Kai!"
The fog she feels lifts and she turns to Naruto, "Naruto-san, I…"
He isn't there. Hinata whirls around, looking for Sasuke. Sitting atop a post is Kosari peeling an apple with a kunai. A long and even and growing strip of green peel extends from the apple. Kosari puts the end of the peel into her mouth and slices up the apple, "You want a slice?"
"No," Hinata says coldly, "Where are Naruto-san and Sasuke-san?"
Kosari slowly chews and feeds the peel into her mouth. The strip is slowly getting shorter and Kosari holds the slices in a cloth tied at the top to create a pouch. She doesn't answer the girl, instead settling on analyzing the girl's every facial muscle and enjoys the slight anger on the clan girl's face, "Your mother died in a fire, right?"
Hinata's eyes go wide. Then they narrow and she glares before charging at the woman with hands that glow with blue chakra. Kosari jumps high in the air and lands gracefully on the soft grass. She chews some more and the long peel grows shorter. Hinata's attack hits the post and splinters it in perhaps a thousand pieces. Kosari, despite not really being partial to the clans of Konoha, is glad that the girl isn't a weakling that would've run and hid behind Sasuke. From what I've heard, Sasuke was quite popular.
Kosari shakes her head. Just like him…
Hinata turns around with hate exuding from her face and rushes at Kosari once more, this time inputting chakra into her feet and increasing her speed doubly. Kosari sidesteps and the girl swings her leg perpendicularly to catch Kosari between her outstretched fist and foot, only for the Jounin to duck and sucker punch her in the gut. Hinata goes flying towards the splintered post and hits the ground hard. She rolls multiple times before coming to a stop and blood begins to stain the green grass. Kosari walks over, taking her time, and rolls the girl over with a foot. Hinata looks hatefully at Kosari with one eye shut tight and the other a mere slit. The veins around Hinata's eyes threaten to recede. Hinata pants and wheezes and she can taste blood in the back of her mouth, "Y-your chakra…"
Kosari tilts her head and her tongue grabs more of the peel into her mouth. Hinata swallows hard and winces as Kosari's foot keeps her down, "Your chakra…the color…is the same as that man's…"
"Man?" Kosari frowns, "I'm female. I'm not some cross-dresser," and she kicks Hinata into the forest and slips a slice of sweet crisp apple into her mouth and the sweetness burns her throat. Kosari spits it out and looks at the white mush with sadness. I thought I liked sweet things. That pastry I saw and smelled when I was given that mission to the Land of Iron was what I've been dreaming of. Maybe it's just this kind of apple…?
She holds the pouch with two fingers, closes her eyes, and clasps the other hand to her other three fingers in a prayer. "Forgive my waste."
In a flash, a kunai rips the cloth from her hand and carries the slices away to be pinned to the base of a tree. She opens her eyes after a moment and her obsidian eyes slide over to look at the source. Sasuke glares at the kneeling former ANBU and she can almost see the smoke coming from his ears, "I'll kill you!"
"So you got loose, huh? I didn't think you'd make it, even with the paper bombs I'd attached to you," Kosari stands and pulls a little bit more peel into her mouth. Only about a foot remains now. "Well? Are you going to fight your murderer or what?"
Sasuke can't help a smirk from forming and Kosari's guard goes up. What's he planning? The boy launches kunai and shuriken and forms a single seal with a hand and bombs go off. Kosari's visibility reduces to zero in the fog of purple smoke and her eyes water. He's laced this with some sort of irritant. Damn kid probably put this in as a special order to the weaponry shop. Kosari knows she can easily escape or at least get rid of the smoke, but his plan intrigues her. After all, this is their first and last evaluation. This is his one chance to show her that he's worth being alive.
Kosari puts a finger to the ground and senses around a two hundred feet racing towards her. A gust of wind disperses the smoke and Kosari sees clones of a blue-eyed, red-haired boy racing towards her with kunai and…something thin and glinting.
Wire.
Kosari eye-smiles at Naruto as he releases the wire. Kosari readies her spring-like legs to jump and evade the wire, but a sudden heat causes her to hesitate. She looks up and sees a huge fireball that is close. Too close. She smells the stench of hair burning and feels a hair close to her scalp being singed. Kosari pumps chakra through her body and jumps into the earth. None of the clones notice her disappearance; they're too busy dispersing into smoke from Sasuke's fiery jutsu. Neither does Sasuke notice; he's above the fireball and can't see her disappear. The fire creates a crater and destroys any evidence of her escape.
The woman quickly resurfaces, jumps into the air, and flings Sasuke into the forest. A startled yell escapes the Uchiha boy. Kosari lands smoothly and bites off the peel, now covered in dirt from her escape. She wipes the gross taste of dirt from her mouth and turns to see Naruto racing at her with another clone. The one wields a fūton jutsu while the other flings an-almost exploding paper tag. It explodes and increases in temperature and ferocity from the wind and races towards the woman. Her eyes glaze over in boredom; was fire all they could think of?
Kosari dodges easily and in a split second has Naruto's throat in her hand. His clone disappears after Kosari snaps his neck and she stares unrelentingly into his bright blue eyes, "Do you think this is a joke? Do you think the world is just a game?"
"L-let…" Naruto can't breathe.
"You're weak," she spits, "Come on, Uzumaki-san. Show me you have the potential to kill me!" Kosari slams him into the ground. He gasps and coughs and wheezes. For a split second, his father's glare catches Kosari off guard. Her eyes widen a fraction and Naruto throw himself at her. Kosari blinks and dodges, very narrowly. She puts a hand to her chest and glares, "Answer me!"
"Why would I?!" Naruto replies, "The entire village hates me! All the glares and hateful words are all too real!" then he smiles bitterly, "I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand, though."
Kosari narrows her eyes. In less than a blink of an eye, she towers over him and kicks him high up in the air. He gasps before her leg arcs down and he is sent spiraling towards the ground. The boy lets out a silent scream as his body crashes into the hard-packed soil. Kosari turns to see…nothing.
After five years, she reminds herself. Her nerves were still on edge…but…she narrows her eyes. Never wrong. She turns on a heel and steps into the forest. She hears a snap and her eyes go wide as wire wraps around her. She can't move. She sees Sasuke and Hinata charging at her from opposite directions. Kosari's eyes dart from one to the other until she can see the whites of their eyes. Sasuke cocks back a fist and lets it soar into a soft, female face.
Hinata is blown back by Sasuke's punch. She drops to one knee and holds her cheek with a hand, "Hey! Sasuke-san!"
Sasuke looks at her in confusion before he connects the dots and curses loudly, "Kawarimi," Sasuke kicks a tree and makes a sizeable indent and exposes lightly colored bark, "Fuck."
Hinata looks away when the vulgar language assaults her ears and stands, "What time is it?"
"Ten," a voice says calmly. The two Genin turn around and see Kosari standing without a scratch. She dumps a hissing and groaning and bleeding Naruto on the ground between them and she flicks her wrist. Wire wraps around them tightly and grazes their necks, keeping them from moving a muscle. Naruto's blue eyes glare daggers at the silver-haired woman.
"Now," Kosari twirls a kunai, the same color as her eyes and definitely not of Konoha origin, on her finger, "Whom shall I kill first?"
Her eyes flick from Genin to Genin. She forms a few seals and lets out a wave of suffocating killer intent. Their pupils retract to mere pinpoints and Sasuke's entire body shakes. He turns and sees Hinata's neck snapped by Kosari's thin fingers. Drops of blood hit his face and he can't stop from looking beside him where a kunai sinks into Naruto's chest and wire begins to cut his head off. The Uchiha lets out a bloodcurdling scream when Naruto's head hits the ground. "STOP! LEAVE HIM—!"
A burning and unspeakably painful kunai sinks into Sasuke's legs and cuts off his cries. Then Kosari stabs his arms with two more kunai before slitting his throat.
"Hey!" a white-eyed pale shinobi jumps down from a tree and slams Kosari against a tree, "What do you think you're doing?!"
Kosari's face goes blank, "Who are you?"
The Hyuuga man grits his teeth and grabs Hinata's warm body. "Hinata-sama!"
"You're interrupting my evaluation," Kosari says coldly, "Leave."
"Like hell I will!" he screams, "What you've done is…"
Kosari shakes her head, "It had to be done."
Hinata opens her eyes in the man's lap. A scream escapes her throat before she realizes who is peering down at her. Her whole body quivers and she sits up and wipes away tears. She grits her teeth and looks at Kosari, "I hate you!"
The shrill scream of Hinata awakens Sasuke. Sasuke blinks and a flinch racks through his entire body. He turns to Naruto frantically and shakes him, "Naruto! Naruto!"
Naruto stirs and opens his blue eyes. Fear pounds through Naruto's head and the next thing he sees is Kosari taking a man with the same eyes as Hinata and shoving him against a tree and hissing, "I thought I told you to leave. Go."
The man growls, but complies. The Genin flinch at the sight of the woman, who takes a seat on the soft grass. She doesn't smile at them and Naruto shakes his head in denial, "I…I died…you killed me…"
"Genjutsu," Kosari says, "I said I'd kill you if you didn't land a hit on me. And I did. I never had to actually spill your blood. But," Kosari runs a hand through her slightly singed hair, "I guess burning my hair does count," she glances at Sasuke with genuine approval. Sasuke's eyes widen for a moment. Kosari continues, "If none of you were able to land a hit on me, I would've failed you and sent you back to the Academy. But, in my mind, a 'hit' is defined by an attack. It doesn't have to be your hands. And Uchiha-san's fire kinda got a few strands, so," Kosari gives them a smile, "You pass the evaluation," Kosari's smile fades instantly into seriousness, "Lesson two: teamwork is of utmost importance. Alone none of you were able to do anything. Lesson three: don't trust your surroundings, or any preconception, or anyone, really. For example, you thought that this would be easy and were caught off-guard and took a rather long time to realize the genjutsu, Also, Uchiha-san should've realized that killing a Jounin would take more than a simple katon jutsu and if he'd kept his guard up he wouldn't have been flung into the forest," Kosari sighs, "But, good job."
Relief isn't immediate. It takes them a good five seconds to comprehend that not only would they not die and not lose their Genin rank, but also remain as shinobi of Konoha. Naruto can't help himself and breaks into Minato's heartwarming grin. Kosari looks away and Hinata frowns at Kosari's reaction. Maybe she's just that heartless that she can't even bring herself to smile with Naruto and I.
Hinata sighs and finds her smile morphing into a grin and then a laugh of relief. Kosari's kunai cuts the wire, "Are any of you hungry for lunch? My treat."
"Yeah!" Naruto's eyes shine with brilliance. He jumps up and hauls Sasuke and Hinata up each with a hand. Sasuke shakes his head in dismay at his friend's (one-sided rival, he reminds himself) sudden change in attitude, especially around the woman who'd just 'killed' them.
"Um…" Kosari scratches the side of her face, "Uzumaki-san, you like ramen, don't you? I can buy takeout and we can have a picnic of sorts somewhere…" Kosari looks at the other two, "Hyuuga-san, Uchiha-san, what would you two like? I can send a clone to retrieve it."
"I'll have pan-fried dumplings," Hinata says.
"Onigiri," Sasuke says.
Kosari nods and the four walk into Konoha, looking bloody, bruised, and beaten up. Eyes follow the three Genin and one Jounin. Two clones appear and the three Kosari's split and go to three different vendors. Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata lean against the wall of a building and observe Kosari. Hinata looks at the woman, "She's terrifying."
"But strong," Sasuke quips. I didn't even notice her genjutsu at first.
Naruto nods in agreement.
Kosari motions with a jerk of her head for them to join her. The three scamper over and follow the silver-haired Jounin to an embankment by a stream in the shade of a large oak tree. Kosari produces a large cloth from a scroll and places the bags down. Naruto's eyes glimmer when she unseals the cloth, "How'd you do that?"
"You apply a certain amount of chakra to the seal matrix," Kosari says simply. She hands them their food and pours bottled tea.
A few minutes into their peaceful lunch, Kosari blanches when she hears familiar voices calling out her name. She takes another bite of her food and hopes they'll go away.
They don't.
"Well, what do we have here?" a tall and strong-looking smoking man smirks. "Looks like a picnic. Mind if we join?"
Kosari doesn't respond. Not here. Not here. Not here. Doesn't exist. He's not here.
"Kosari-chan," a female voice with matching red eyes that bore into the back of her head, "Come on. Please?"
Kosari doesn't give in. But, she doesn't object when their Genin sit beside her Genin and the two Jounin sit beside her and the eight uninvited shinobi take the food. Kurenai studies Kosari's Genin, "What happened to you three?"
"Evaluation," Hinata says sheepishly, "We passed by the skin of our teeth."
Kurenai's eyes widen, "Really? How?"
"I singed her hair," Sasuke says.
"You must be getting rusty," Asuma chuckles, "For you not to be dodging a Genin's attack."
Kosari shrugs. Uchiha-san isn't a normal Genin. None of them are. If they were anything like normal Genin, I'd have actually killed them. After all, she hadn't dodged because she'd been intrigued by what Sasuke was planning. The idea was worth rewarding and she gave it to them. But, she knows it isn't going to be as easy as this.
The faintest glimmer of a smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. Let's keep that a secret for now.
"Right, so," Kosari pulls out a nail filer and examines her nails, "Clean up that river, from here until the waterfall."
Naruto steps towards her to argue, but Hinata grabs his shoulder, "Naruto-san, this is only the ninth D-Rank. Have a little more patience. It's what she said, after all. You should have a little more faith in her judgment," then she purses her lips, "We'll get something more interesting soon," Hinata sighs and if Naruto weren't so close, he wouldn't have heard 'I hope' from her.
Naruto nods, mainly for her sake, and slowly begins to stab empty cans and soggy paper with a rod and taps it into the basket on his back. He glances at Kosari every so often and confidence roars in his ears. She doesn't even notice. He giggles before summoning ten clones. The clones quickly zip around the river and pick at each piece of trash.
"Uzumaki-san," Kosari calls out.
Naruto pales. All of the clones rush over to him to dump the trash in his basket. Before he can jump away, something explodes a foot away from him and he skips on the surface of the water and the current carries all of the trash away. Naruto scrambles to his feet. Terror pushes him to run faster and throws himself with his basket in his fingers at the floating trash. He succeeds in getting the trash in his basket, but finds himself staring down at calmer waters seventy feet away. It shortens to sixty feet and a shocked scream sounds from the boy. He shuts his eyes, ready to plunge painfully into the unwelcoming water. Something grabs his ankles and he cautiously opens his eyes and looks up.
"Idiot," Sasuke growls, holding one ankle. Hinata gives him a humored look while holding his other ankle.
Hinata and Sasuke catapult Naruto and he lands with a large splash. Kosari squats on the surface of the water and looks down at Naruto, who floats with his basket in his arms. The Jounin makes a face, "Uzumaki-san, please think things through. Uzumaki are known to be a little extreme, but try not to do that again. I don't like explaining in gruesome detail how and why you lost limbs."
"Uzumaki…" Naruto furrows his brows, "Huh?"
Kosari hauls him up, "Good job, all of you. The river is clean from here to the waterfall, not a single hair or hide of trash. Let's go back and deliver our report and—"
A man appears in front of Kosari. He crosses his arms in a smug manner and Kosari's face drains of any emotion, even though she hadn't shown any on her face when she'd hauled Naruto up, "State your name and purpose."
The man grins behind his mask, "Aw, Hound, don't be like that," he glances at the Genin, "These your Genin? Man, you've fallen low. Who woulda thought the great and terrifying Hound would be saddled with Genin, right?" he snickers, "I can't wait to tell all of those recruits about you. Also, that boy with the broken foot died of infection and the second boy you threw over the railing survived. So much for being absolute."
Hound's fingers itch to kill him. Kosari keeps calm; he'd just be more pleased if she broke his arms. Kosari repeats herself, "State your name and purpose."
"Hey, leave Kosari-sensei alone," Naruto stomps towards the ANBU. The ANBU takes the boy and slams him against a tree and steps on him, cracking a rib and squeezing all of the air from him. Kosari doesn't move.
"Naruto-san!" Hinata cries and runs towards the ANBU with hate in her eyes. Veins bulge around her eyes and he sinks a punch in her stomach and sends her flying to the other side of the river.
Sasuke glares at the two holes and shakes with rage, but doesn't move.
"So you can do something right!" the man exclaims with faux admiration, "At least the brat behind you isn't stupid. I just hope you don't make him stupid."
"Please state your name and purpose," Kosari says calmly, but Sasuke can hear the murderous edge in her voice. He stays back.
"Right, right," the man steps down harder on Naruto, "Second-in-command of ANBU Black Ops: Hawk. I came just to tell you about how the Hokage wants to talk to you about something really really dull," the man drawls and examines his nails despite the glove covering them with a sigh, "And how this one guy with, like, silver hair and one eye covered got dragged away by a Sannin with white hair for some reconnaissance thing on, like, criminals."
Kosari sees the entire world in various shades of red and I'm going to kill him! Her muscles tense and her nails dig into her palms and blood drips out. The ANBU enjoys the fiery, hateful anger right beneath her calm exterior. "Thank you, Hawk-san, for informing me of Hokage-sama's summons. I will arrive in his office momentarily," Kosari bows deeply. Hawk scowls at her respectful tone and gesture and flickers away.
Kosari keeps herself from shaking with rage and orders, "Uchiha-san, please retrieve Hyuuga-san and follow me to the hospital," she picks up Naruto and ignores his demands to be let down. She walks into the hospital and catches the head of the hospital's eye. "Nohara-san, please take care of Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata; they have overexerted themselves during training. I will come back later," Kosari flickers away. Rin doesn't like the furious glint in the Hatake's eyes, but Naruto's yelp in pain as he tries to sit up distracts her.
"Hokage-sama!" Kosari bursts through the door and sees Kurenai and Asuma standing there. Kosari ignores their surprised looks and seethes, "Where is Hatake Kakashi?"
Hiruzen leans forward in his chair, "In the village. Why do you ask?"
"Please don't lie to me, Hokage-sama," Kosari says, barely containing her anger, "Where is Hatake Kakashi?"
The old man sighs, "Kosari, Kakashi is fine. Who implied otherwise?"
"That doesn't matter," Kosari says, "What matters," she slams a hand on his desk, "Is that you tell me exactly where Hatake Kakashi is."
"Kosari-chan, calm down. I saw Kakashi walking around the market before I came up here," Kurenai says, "Just—"
"I do not trust information without solid proof behind it," Kosari cuts her off, "Hokage-sama, why did Jiraiya-sama take Hatake Kakashi on a reconnaissance mission?" Do you want to kill him that badly?
Hiruzen doesn't respond. A 'tch' leaves Kosari's mouth and she turns and grabs the handle of the door and runs out of the Hokage tower. She darts through streets and over buildings and her heart sinks when she sees the green gates guarded by a layer of ANBU. By the time she lands, electricity is crackling around her and murder is clear in her eyes, "Move."
The ANBU are silent and unmoving. Kosari flickers and breaks several ANBUs' arms and shatters several masks. ANBU writhe on the floor in pain, but the ones still standing unleash waves of fire and earth at her. Insolence! She pushes chakra to her feet and dodges the earth and dispels the fire with a hand glowing with chakra. She races towards the doton user and spins on her heels to knock down the others like pins.
A blinding pain rips through her body and she falls to her hands and knees and sees a familiar cane in her line of sight, "Raise your head."
Kosari obeys and sees Danzo, "D-Danzo-sama…"
Danzo looks at her. Hawk has already informed her, then. "What is wrong?"
"Hokage-sama authorized for Jiraiya-sama to take Hatake Kakashi out of the village on a dangerous reconnaissance mission, ranked higher than S-Rank," Kosari pushes down nausea, "Permission to speak freely, Danzo-sama?"
"Yes," Danzo says.
"How dare he take Hatake Kakashi out on a mission like this! Hatake Kakashi has not been in ANBU for years and his skills for high-risk missions are rusty. Hatake Kakashi is one of our most important shinobi and for Hokage-sama to authorize such a lethal thing is horrendous! I…I cannot understand his reasoning," Kosari says, venom dripping from her voice. "Why didn't he send me? I have more recent experience and have a lower chance of dying than Hatake Kakashi. Hatake Kakashi could've temporarily taken over the duty of instructing Team 7 while I was out on reconnaissance. Instead, Hokage-sama insists on obstructing the village's peace and order and insists that things work backwards and make it harder for both Hatake Kakashi and I to work under optimum conditions and use our abilities to the fullest."
Danzo can't help but relish in her words. She may not be under his close supervision anymore, but her loyalty is just as strong as ever. He knows for a fact that if she'd been sent on the recon mission instead of Kakashi, both Uchiha murderers would be dead and Konoha would have a more assured peace. In that regard, Danzo can't agree with her more.
"I didn't send you because your Genin would be in danger," a voice responds, "You may deny this, but the bond that is strengthening day by day with them is much, much more powerful than anything Kakashi could've done to protect them if you had gone. Have faith in Jiraiya; he is more than capable to protect Kakashi," white robes rustle in the breeze. Kosari doesn't look at her Kage.
Something snaps in Kosari and she simply pushes herself to stand, bows at Danzo, and flickers away. She enters the hospital and Rin is waiting. "Kosari-chan, that was quick…" the medic feels chills of dread go down her spine.
"Please forgive my lateness," Kosari bows. She doesn't hear Rin's words or her own words. Rin nods uneasily and leads the woman to a room where two men are already in. Before Rin can explain that both of her Genin will be fine, Hiashi slams Kosari against a wall, "How could you let this happen?!"
One part of Kosari wishes he just squeezed her neck harder and killed her, but another part feels a strange warmth. Her entire body heats up and Kosari hears herself responding, "I pushed them too hard during training today. You have my sincerest apologies."
"Let go of Kosari-sensei!" a boy says.
Rin pries the man off with a shout. Hiashi lets go and Kosari's eyes sweep across the room as she hears coughing and wheezing. A man with kind black eyes and greying hair and wrinkles that adds twenty years to his age places a hand on her shoulder and gives her a smile. Kosari regards him with no expression. Sasuke gets up from his chair and looks at his instructor, who looks as if she'd awoken from a nightmare of unimaginable horror. "Kosari-sensei," he says. She doesn't look at him. Her eyes are fixed on a monitor. "Kosari-sensei," he repeats. Silence.
"Kosari-sensei," he grits his teeth, "Hey!"
Silence.
Anger pulses through the boy and before he knows it, he sinks a kunai into her leg and she falls. Blood seeps into her pant leg and she winces, "That hurt."
"What's with you?" Sasuke demands, squatting to her eye-level. He flinches when he sees the same empty look he had when he awoke in the hospital and learned that apart from a man he wasn't really related to, he was alone. Not even his childhood friend, three years his junior, had survived. Sasuke knew that; he'd seen Uchiha Shisui stab his friend, five at the time, over and over and over again, but the realization that it wasn't some horrible genjutsu took away any sort of glimmer of joy from him. "What happened?" Sasuke asks, a hint of panic in his voice.
"Nothing," Kosari says, mainly to convince herself. It's not real. Not real.
Kosari blinks and finds herself sitting on a chair and seeing Rin rip her pant leg, exposing the large gash. Alcohol is poured on her wound and she cringes in pain. She rubs salve in gently before wrapping the woman's leg in white bandages. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Kosari responds, mainly to convince herself.
"Maybe I should call Kakashi to—"
"No!" Kosari snaps. Rin furrows her brows and opens her mouth to say something, but Kosari quickly adds, "N-no. That won't be necessary. I'm fine. Thank you, Nohara-san."
Kosari tries to stand, but hisses as pain shoots through her. Rin shakes her head, "Really, I can call Kakashi. It won't be a bother to me."
"It's fine," Kosari says, "Wouldn't want to interrupt him and his books," Kosari forces out a light laugh and eye-smiles.
Rin sighs, "You don't look so good. I'll go get him, okay? Just stay here," Rin leaves.
The Hyuuga man crosses his arms, "What did you do to my daughter? It looks like she was punched and kicked across a training ground."
"Taijutsu practice. Her taijutsu skill is higher than her teammates, so I decided to give Uchiha-san and Uzumaki-san a demonstration. It seems that I took it a little too far," Kosari says, lying through her teeth. The man is easily swayed and puffs out his chest a little when she praises Hinata's skill, which equates to all his hard work training his daughter.
"You did, obviously," the man says.
"Forgive me," Kosari says.
"But, I'm glad that Sasuke wasn't injured," the man continues.
"I see the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans' relations are improving," Kosari says hollowly, "I'm glad."
The Hyuuga man pulls the curtains around his daughter's bed for privacy and Kosari is left to stare at Sasuke, since Naruto is the farthest and out of her vision from Hinata's curtains. The black-eyed man smiles again at her and Kosari returns the smile out of politeness. 'What is your name?'
"Kosari," Kosari replies, reading the ANBU signs.
Sasuke eyes her warily, "How'd you understand that?"
"I used to be an ANBU. It seems Uchiha-sama here may have been one as well," Kosari replies.
"Were you?" Sasuke asks Kagami.
'My son was,' Kagami signs.
Kosari feels a lump well up in her throat, "He says his son was."
"Shisui…" Sasuke mutters darkly under his breath. "The bastard."
'Did something happen to Kakashi?' Kagami asks.
'No,' Kosari replies, 'He's just a little under the weather. Just a mild fever. He'll be fine, but right now he's in no condition to carry me.'
"What did he say?" Sasuke asks eagerly.
"He says that he learned ANBU sign language during the Second War for security purposes and I responded that I learned it after the Third War," Kosari lies.
'I highly doubt you'll be able to walk up twenty flights of stairs with that wound. I trained Sasuke a little too well and it looks like he reached down all the way to your bone. There's plenty of room at the Uchiha compound, just a little ways away from here. I have a spare room I keep clean, in case Sasuke ever has company,' Kagami offers, 'I insist.'
Kosari wants to say no, but he has a point. "It's amazing that you were able to learn both Iwagakure's and Sunagakure's ANBU sign language without them knowing. No wonder we won the war. If you don't mind, I'd like to learn their ANBU sign language as well."
Sasuke looks at his 'grandfather' in surprise. "You were able to learn both of them?"
Kagami nods, going along with Kosari's lie. Kagami nods at Kosari, agreeing, 'You can sling your arm around my shoulder if you need it.'
"Oh, really? I'd be honored," Kosari says, "Thank you for the offer, Uchiha-sama. I certainly hope I won't be a burden tonight."
"You're staying at the compound?" Sasuke asks.
"Uchiha-sama is graciously letting me," Kosari says, "Plus, it doesn't look like Hyuuga-san or Uzumaki-san will be let out today, so it's just as well."