Yo, here's me with chapter 6. Thanks to anyone who left a fav or follow. Also yay, I can see the reviews on-site again! So here are my replies to them:

Kennamon Roll- Wow, I didn't realize I got the name wrong. I use Google Translate for words in other languages because it's readily available and I'm lazy. I didn't think of using websites-I will do that from now on if I need help with japanese names. Yoku's name will remain unchanged, but I will probably go back and edit that first chapter to fix the inaccuracy.

sal-bun-Heheheh... nice to see people can notice my plotting.

lizy2000-I know ;_; the poor thing didn't know what it was getting into. Thanks, whether she will use it/adjust to liking it remains to be seen.

Tanner Clark-I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! The review problem has been fixed now :P

In this chapter we see Yoku investigate her newly gained ability, face off against Guy again with some new skills and get up to some mischief. She'll also acknowledge that second thorn in her side after a little time skip.

I approached my father with apprehension. It had been three days since the "Shuriken Incident", and I'd finally relented to tell Father what had happened. He wasn't quite the same man anymore-my mind conjured up frightening scenarios based on his reaction. He was currently eating lunch on the dining table quietly, one of the few times we were both in the house.

"Father..?" I began tentatively

He grunted in acknowledgement but didn't move.

"You know what you told me a while ago... about the jutsu?" Father's chopsticks froze halfway to his mouth and his eyes swerved to me

"I think I might have it!" I blurted out, causing Father to get up abruptly

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes. A few days ago, I got cut pretty bad. When I was laying on the ground a cat came and nuzzled my hand. After a couple seconds I felt better and my cut was gone, b-but the cat was... dead." I shivered, the idea I'd sucked the very life out of the creature without even noticing still filling me with revulsion

"...shit." I was surprised to hear Father curse-he did so rarely

"F-father, how did I absorb the c-cat's chakra? I wasn't focusing on it.."

"Sometimes, the Chakra Leech jutsu can be activated unconsciously if the body is in a bad state. Also, because you've never used it before, you don't have full control of it. Yoku, I'm going to need to train you. This jutsu can be very dangerous if not used with extreme caution-and I hope you'll never have to use it on anyone. Come with me." Father's voice was serious and commanding-I did so with little hesitation.

Father took me to the same clearing where I'd once trained my chakra control-and still visited on occasion. I cast a withering glance at the climbing trees as we passed them.

"Now, I'm going to cut you. After I have, place your hand on me and focus on absorbing my chakra. Be careful not to absorb too much-chakra is used up for healing almost as soon as you absorb it, and after the wound has healed any chakra absorbed will just be wasted." Father instructed; I nodded for him to begin

'This doesn't sound even remotely sane, but I can't stand the thought of accidentally killing something again...'

I gulped as Father pulled out a kunai-I knew what was going to happen but was nonetheless afraid. Who wouldn't be, knowing your own father was about to wound you?

I shivered as I felt the cold steel slice into my arm, leaving a stinging cut. Taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the pain, I placed a hand on Father's arm and felt his chakra. Concentrating, a familiar warm feeling grew within me as his chakra began flowing out of his body and into mine.

Despite it's warmth, I didn't like this feeling. All it did was remind me I was literally sucking the life out of someone. I noticed my cut was healed and my hand jerked away as if it had been burnt.

'Crap... I need to stay focused. I absorbed some excess because I got distracted!'

Father didn't look too worse for wear, but he was a little pale and puffing slightly. It was disturbing to think I had weakened him.

"Not bad... you need to remember to concentrate better though, Yoku. I said before that you're wasting chakra if the wound has healed, but I didn't tell you of the other danger..." I looked at him with surprise as he said this

His eyes became downcast in a melancholy expression, and he continued.

"There were some of my clan who... who sucked everyone they fought dry, whether they had to or not. This practice twisted and distorted them. They did this so frequently that they became addicted to the feeling of leeching someone's chakra. They became insatiable inhuman beasts, driven by the desire to suck the life out of everything they could. We.. eventually had to put them down." Father's eyes closed and a look of pain flitted across his face for a second

"Oh.." I mumbled

'Did he have to kill his own family?'

Father recovered his composure and finished his explanation.

"So Yoku, please be very careful when you use this jutsu. It is useful, but can be extremely volatile if not treated with caution. Remember that."

"Yes, Father. Thank you..."

For the first time in a few months, Father smiled. I basked in this brief moment of happiness, before Father ruffled my hair and said it was time to go home.

Shortly after we returned to the house, someone knocked on the door. Father grabbed a kunai quickly-since Mother's death he was almost always on his guard. I was eating ramen, noodles dangling from my mouth as I paused at the knock. Internally I prayed for the visitor to be non-hostile.

Father opened the door, revealing familiar faces I'd not seen much of for a while.

"Whoa, Torei, it's just us!" Kushina waved her hands in surrender when she saw her brother-in-law wielding a kunai

Minato stood behind her, sweating nervously. Both were wearing their civilian clothes.

Father lowered his kunai and ushered them in "Oh, Kushina, Minato. Come in, there's some ramen in the fridge. Yoku should be pleased to see you as well..."

Inhaling the last of my ramen with speed that could put Naruto to shame, I ran to greet my aunt. We met in a hug, laughing with joy.

"Wow, you've gotten bigger!" exclaimed Kushina as she took in my larger stature

"Yep, I'm growing like a weed. Who knows, I might be taller than you one day!" I replied, standing on my tip-toes to emphasize

Kushina poked her tongue out in jest, then ruffled my head.

"Pfft, you wish!"

"Hey, what am I, chopped liver?" said Minato from the background

"Sorry, uncle Minato. Hi!"

I held my hand up in a fist, waiting for Minato to bump it with his own. When I glanced at him after a few seconds he seemed to be frozen.

"I'm not-Kushina and I aren't m-married-" he began to stutter nervously, to my confusion

'I've called him uncle before. Why is now... oh. Oh. I see.'

A crafty smile stretched across my face. I'd suspected Minato would propose soon-he and Kushina had been dating for four years at that point. Deciding to test my speculation, I whispered a question while Kushina and Father talked.

"So... when are you gonna ask her?"

Minato reddened and began to sweat.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

I decided to be blunt "You know... when are you gonna ask aunt Kushina to marry you?"

Minato practically dissolved into a pile of anxious embarrassment.

'Poor guy. He's really worried about this.'

Deciding to give my unofficial uncle a confidence boost, I spoke up.

"Hey, I think you'll be okay. Aunt Kushina likes you a lot, no matter what. She probably even loves you. Just try not to worry too much about when or how you propose-just do."

Minato blinked, surprised to be getting advice about his love life from a seven year old.

The rest of the visit progressed nicely-Father wasn't much of a conversationalist though. Most of the talking was between me and Kushina-I'd missed my aunt a lot. Minato just stood thinking, probably about his wife-to-be.

"I learned a new ninjutsu. I haven't tried it on anyone yet though-I'm gonna tomorrow when I spar with Guy."

"Try not to go overboard, tiger! Hey, how're you doing with friends at the moment?" asked Kushina

"Well, I have three: Obito, Guy and Rin. They're all cool, and nice. Guy's kinda goofy, but he's really optimistic, determined and pretty strong. Rin's shy, but she's smart and a good person to talk to. Obito is..." I paused

'What am I supposed to say? There are so many words to describe him..'

"Well?" Kushina asked-she had a suspiciously scheming smirk on her face

"He's... goofy, but not as much as Guy. He's got as much determination as him though. He's really nice to others, he's always late, he's understanding, he likes to spar with me, he always tries hard to be strong, he's endearing, he wears silly goggles, he has nice hair, he likes Rin..."

Suddenly realizing how much I'd said, I stopped with an "Eep!"

Kushina's smirk was now a full-blown grin that just screamed mischief.

"Ohhh... I see. You seem to like your friends-that's good..." Kushina tented her fingers in a Mr Burns fashion

I eyed her nervously "Uhh... aunty Kushina, you're scaring me."

"Oh, am I? Sorry. Hey, why don't you go find one of your friends now, huh? I've gotta talk to your dad about something..." Kushina dropped the grin and ruffled my hair again

While I was being shooed out of the door, I swore I heard Kushina giggle.

I wandered around, mentally scolding myself for rambling earlier. Deciding to take my mind off it, I went to the training field. Grabbing some shuriken from the pouch on my trousers, I began throwing them at a log. I smiled as my accuracy began to improve gradually-I was really getting to like throwing projectiles.

Moving on to throwing a kunai, I noticed someone out of the corner of my eye. When I saw their fuzzy grey hair, I could tell who it was.

'Wait, why is Kakashi coming towards me?'

No doubt about it-his gaze was focused in my direction. He'd been a genin for some time now-a ninja headband was wrapped around his arm. Since he'd graduated at such a young age, he was not yet in a genin squad. Instead he was apprenticed to Minato until he was able to be placed in a squad.

"Hey."

I heard the word as I was retrieving my kunai from the log. Tugging at it, I replied.

"What?"

"Spar with me."

I pulled the kunai out of the wood, losing my balance and falling over from surprise.

"...why do you want to spar with me?" I asked, getting up and brushing myself off. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to spar with him-don't get me wrong, I did want to fight him to see his skill, but odds were that he'd kick my ass.

"I want to see how skilled you are." he replied in a monotone

'Hm. Well... it had to happen someday.'

"Okay. Let's do it."

Kakashi and I got into battle stances.

'It won't hurt to try and beat him..'

I was wrong. It did hurt. A lot.

Kakashi was fast-faster than Guy. It took all my taijutsu skill not to be knocked over by his speed. After pushing me back he began throwing shuriken with deadly accuracy-I deflected most with a kunai, but some cut across my skin. Angry, I decided to try out a new strategy. When Kakashi came up close again, I acted as if I was kicking-then threw shuriken at the same time. I was satisfied to see some graze him, using the moment of pain to land a kick.

That was as far as I got though-I was soon lying on the ground, covered in bruises.

"You're better than I expected. But ultimately, you're still weak." was Kakashi's reply-I took it as a compliment

"Ehh. At least in several years time, I can say I fought the legendary Kakashi Hatake and lived." the comment was sincere-sharingan or not he probably would grow up to have a big reputation

The grey-haired genin looked at me quizzically, unable to determine whether I was being sarcastic.

"Uh.. thanks for the battle is what I mean."

Kakashi shrugged and walked off. I didn't bother getting up-I just lay looking at the sky.

'Shikamaru would totally dig this.'

Watching clouds pass by, I thought about recent events in my life. A frown contorted my face as I recalled Genma. We'd formed a mutual dislike of each other from our time in the Academy. We shot each other glares now and then-Genma even spat his senbon at me once. Much as I hated to admit it, he had a good aim. It'd whizzed by my face, a centimeter away from hitting my skin.

'He's still a jerk.. I should get him back someday.'

I poked out my tongue, as if tasting the bitterness of my thoughts. I shifted my mind to something else-something more positive.

'I love it here.. everything is so interesting and full of life. The people seem more real, more connected than the ones I used to know long ago. The world that came before.. I can no longer call it my world. This is my world now.'

Looking up at the trees, I took in the peaceful atmosphere. The leaves for which the village was named rustled quietly in the afternoon breeze, some falling to the ground occasionally. I vaguely remembered something Guy had said a long time ago, when he was still just a manifestation of imagination to me.

'Old leaves fall from the tree.. but they provide the nutrients for new leaves to grow. Ain't that the truth...'

The village really did remind me of trees-anchoring roots, a strong trunk, and young leaves that strengthened the tree overall. I sighed softly, wondering where I fit in the grand scheme of things.

'..I feel old.'

The next day I prepared myself for a sparring session with Guy. I was pumped to try out my new jutsu and see if it would work, using my spare time to run around on the surface of a small pond. Water-walking brought a smile to my face, because it always felt like I was performing the impossible. Even if it was a common technique, it was still pretty awesome.

After splashing around for a bit, I saw a familiar blur racing in my direction. When Guy screeched to a halt, I noticed something-he had got himself a green sleeveless suit.

'Ah, looks like Guy's found his signature color.'

The walking fashion statement approached with his regular sparkly grin. As I was stretching and preparing for combat, Guy greeted me.

"Greetings once again, my eternal rival! After painstakingly searching every clothing store in the village, I have found a color that truly reflects my youthful spirit!" Guy posed dramatically, anime sparkles surrounding his suit.

"It looks good Guy, but... why green?" I asked, curious of his reasoning

"I'm glad you asked. Green is the color of the fresh grass beneath our feet! Green is the color of the leaves our beloved village is named for! Green is the color of life! Green is the color... of YOUTH!" Guy finished his speech with anime tears streaming down his face

'Guy would be a good politician. All he talked about was the color green and I already feel inspired.'

"Youth? So, I guess that means you'll be even tougher now." I replied, getting into a battle stance

"You bet, my spirit is blazing brighter than ever! If I fail this battle, I shall run 200 laps around Konoha backwards as punishment!"

That was another thing Guy had taken to recently-giving himself ridiculous punishments for the slightest failure. He really did seem to have an infinite amount of stamina-the other theory was that he was always chugging coffee like a maniac.

"Guy, you shouldn't strain yourself."

"I must strain myself, how else can I improve?"

"Now come on, let's go!" I grinned, and we pushed off towards each other

Guy flew at me with a kick, which I barely dodged. I responded by throwing a kunai after him-it grazed his shoulder. He spun around with another kick, which I blocked with my arm. Pushing him off, I tried to hit Guy with a kick. We continued with this back-and-forth taijutsu for a bit, each of us landing a hit or two. Eventually I began to strafe, throwing shuriken as a distraction to prepare for my final move.

Taking a deep breath, I readied myself-I was going to perform two jutsus consecutively for the first time. I gathered chakra in my stomach and spat out a small but fast droplet of water towards Guy.

'Water Style: Mouth Shot!'

The water droplet hit Guy and burst, momentarily stunning him. Moving my hands as fast as I could, I performed the second jutsu.

'Water Style: Raging Waves!'

Water gushed out of my mouth in a large stream, slamming into Guy and washing him away. After a few seconds I stopped the stream, sweating and panting from exertion. I wiped my mouth and glanced around, looking for Guy. I saw the green-clad boy laying in a puddle of water-he gave me a thumbs up followed by a congratulations.

"You have... bested me this time, my eternal rival! After I have recovered, I shall do my punishment!"

I shook my head with a smile-that was Guy for you.

Later that day I came home with a bottle of special glue. I'd bought it from a craft store-it only became sticky when wet. An idea had struck me that morning-a way to get back at Genma, subtly. Every now and then at the Academy, Genma would leave his senbon on his desk at the end of class-something to do with Imarai thinking it was a hazard. I was going to use the glue on his senbon so that he'd have the thing stuck in his mouth for days.

As I placed the glue down, I idly wondered of a prank to pull on the teacher. The Academy had been particularly boring of late, and I'd been wanting to do a prank someday. Preparing some instant ramen, I hummed to myself as I thought. Then, it came to me.

'Why not try one of the classics?'

I got up early the next morning, packing my bag for the Academy and racing off towards it. I passed Guy, who was jogging-on his hands. I would've stopped to ask him why he was doing it, but I had to get moving-plus, it was Guy. He could be hopping on one leg balancing a cup of water on his nose and it wouldn't be unusual for him.

I made it to the Academy and was stopped by a teacher.

"Hey, students aren't supposed to be here this early." he said, holding up a hand and blocking my way

"Oh, Imarai-sensei told me to leave this on his desk before class." I replied, holding up a test sheet. My answer was true, for once

"Okay, but don't be long."

I entered the room via the teacher's door and walked up to the big blackboard. Scanning my eyes below it, I spotted what I was looking for.

'Aha, bingo!'

I grabbed the blackboard eraser, which was still dusty with chalk. I got out my glue and squirted some on the erasing end. After that I grabbed one of the stools from behind the desks and moved it next to the teacher's door.

Standing up on the stool, I carefully positioned the eraser on top of the slightly ajar door. Satisfied my job was done, I got down and put the stool back. Next, I walked to Genma's desk-sure enough, his senbon still sat there. A look of disgust twisted my face as I realized it probably had spit on it. Nonetheless, I got out my glue and carefully covered the senbon in it. After rubbing my hands together fiendishly, I left the building with an impish grin on my face.

'Thanks for the inspiration, Naruto.'

I wandered around the village for a bit, waiting for time to pass. I bumped into Obito talking to Rin, which was an uncommon occurrence.

"...yeah, I'm gonna train to become a medic-nin when I graduate." Rin said

"So.. that means you'll be able to heal people, right?" Obito asked-a light blush dusted his cheeks as it always did when he talked to Rin

"Yeah, I want to be able to help the village by making people better!" Rin smiled and Obito's blush darkened

A warm feeling spread within me as I approached. I was looking forward to letting my friends in on my schemes-but not all of the warmth stemmed from that. I was just happy to be around them-Obito especially. I'd been feeling happier than usual when I talked to him-I'd assumed it was because we were such good friends at the time. Perhaps I was just hoping it wasn't what I suspected.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I interjected

The pair turned to me and Obito tried to shake off his flustered embarrassment.

"Hi, Yoku. We were just talking about what we're gonna do when we become shinobi." said Rin

"Speaking of becoming shinobi... today's gonna be preeetty interesting at the Academy," I hinted, impish grin returning to my face

"What do you mean? Are we gonna go on a class trip or something?" wondered Obito obliviously

"Nope... *snigger* When Imarai-sensei comes in, just sit back and watch the magic unfold."

"Yoku, are you doing something that'd get you in trouble?" Rin asked with concern

"Mmm, no... because I won't get in trouble if I don't get caught." I replied with a wink

"So... what did you do?" asked Obito curiously

"Hey, don't encourage her Obito!" scolded Rin, causing Obito to blush and rub his neck sheepishly

Watching the exchange, my eyelid twitched in a fleeting moment of annoyance.

'...?'

As we filed into the classroom and sat down, I jiggled at my desk in anticipation. My eyes followed Genma as he sat down, then, as I guessed, stuck the senbon in his mouth. I did my best to suppress a laugh and a grin.

'Let's see how you like having that stupid senbon hanging out of your mouth when you can't take it out...'

Genma glared at me, wondering what I was sniggering about. I didn't return it for once, sure I would give myself away. Obito was glancing at me with a raised eyebrow-Rin was biting her lip and twiddling her thumbs nervously.

After a few minutes, the moment of truth came. I calmed myself and tried to act inconspicuous as I heard Imarai's footsteps along the corridor.

-creak-

*Thump*

Silence filled the air as the gluey eraser slowly slid down Imarai's head to land with a small splat on the floor. The teacher had an expression of suppressed anger on his face-his mouth was a flat line and his tired eyelids twitched. He took a deep breath, then let it out. Imarai picked up the eraser and walked to the blackboard, the eyes of most students following his movements. He placed it in the usual spot, then walked to the podium and began the lesson as if nothing had happened.

'I'm impressed. Hats off to you, Imarai-sensei. Hopefully he doesn't look into who did it. I wonder when Genma's gonna notice his senbon...'

Imarai went through the curriculum as normal-first some history (we were talking about current events-the Third Great Ninja War was looming) then literature (we were writing essays on the Five Great Nations). It was in the last lesson, math, that Genma finally realized his senbon was stuck.

We were writing down equations involving shinobi formations. I was glancing around as I often did when bored, and was amused to see Genma tugging at his senbon. It was stuck to his lower lip by the looks of it. Genma pulled at it with both hands, a vein of anger on his forehead.

Unable to resist it, I met his eyes and poked my tongue out at him. He gave me such a withering look in return that I was a little afraid for my life.

It was the new year, the month of January. I'd be turning 9 in a few months' time. I was running to the training field alongside Obito, a grin plastered on my face as was now the norm when I was in his presence.

"I'm gonna beat you, Obito!" I taunted as we ran past a few other kids

"No way, not this time!" he replied, picking up the pace

I did the same-I could see the gate of the training fields coming up.

'Yes, I'm gonna-'

My thoughts of triumph were cut short as I tripped, sending up a cloud of dust and causing me to face-plant. I grazed my cheek as I slid along the ground, stopping just short of the gate.

"Ouch." I said into the earth

I pushed myself up and rubbed my cheek, walking towards a grinning Obito.

"Told ya I'd win!" he said triumphantly

"Pfft, you wouldn't have if I hadn't tripped!" I replied jokingly. Despite my loss, I couldn't help but mirror Obito's expression

"I would-I'm too awesome to lose!" he pointed to himself in a cocky pose-normally I'd have responded with a friendly insult, but something else came out of my mouth instead

"Yeah..."

Both of us froze. I faked a cough and hurriedly diverted the conversation.

"U-uh, yeah no. Cmon', let's go!" I ran towards the sparring area, Obito following after me

'It's getting worse...'

We stood facing each other in a typical battle stance. I had a few shuriken in one hand, while Obito had a kunai.

I nodded and we began.

I jumped backwards, throwing my shuriken in an arc. Obito deflected two of them, but one cut across his sleeve. He flipped back and threw his kunai, which whizzed by my shoulder. I realized too late that it was a distraction-Obito shot a fireball at me.

I managed to doge the full impact, but my jacket got singed and was lit on fire on the left arm. I quickly smothered the small flame and formed a jutsu of my own, taking advantage of Obito's depleted stamina.

'Water Style: Mouth shot!'

The projectile hit Obito in the face, giving me time to run up with a punch. I was aiming for his cheek, but he shook his head to clear off the water and my fist hit something else.

-CRACK-

I winced as my fist impacted Obito's goggles. The force of it caused cracks to spiderweb across the visor-a shard of it fell out onto the ground. Obito was knocked backwards, while I stumbled and clutched my wrist.

'Split knuckles.. damn.'

Hissing with pain, I ran over to Obito to see if he was okay. His goggles were busted-the visor was badly cracked and pieces of it were already missing. He got up and pulled them off along with his ear protectors.

"Aww man..." he sighed with a pout as he examined his goggles

"Are you alright? I'm sorry about the goggles..." I apologized sheepishly, trying to ignore the bleeding of my hand

"It's fine, I can-whoa, are you okay? Look at your hand!" he exclaimed, pointing to it

"Ehh, I'll just bandage it.." I waved him off

I was distracted from the pain-by his face. Even though it was a bit dirty and scuffed, looking at it gave me a feeling of familiarity and happiness. I subconsciously decided it then-I really liked his face.

'The round shape, that spiky hair, those big eyes with such a plethora of emotions behind them...'

A smile stretched itself across my face and I blushed-blushed.

I guess Obito thought I was dazed from my injury, as his concern grew and he frowned.

"Hey, you're not going to faint are you?"

"From this? Nah, I'll be fine. Anyway, you win. That fireball you got me with was pretty good." I waved him off and tried to suppress the blood flowing to my face

"You think so? I'm trying to make it better..."

"Yeah, for sure. If you keep improving it, it'll get twice as powerful!" a radiant grin lit up Obito's face, and I failed to get rid of my blush. I liked making him happy.

Later at home, my head thudded onto the dinner table with a sigh as I thought about my feelings towards Obito. I'd been hoping it wasn't what I'd thought, but the signs were becoming too obvious to ignore. The happiness and nervousness I felt around him, the odd words, the blushing, how I liked his face, his voice and everything about him-no doubt about it, I was crushing on him. The thought made me feel melancholy, and I pounded a fist on the table. My hurt fist.

"Ow!" I shot up and hissed in pain, shaking the bandaged hand. Thinking again, I settled for leaning back on my chair and looking up at the ceiling.

'I'm supposed to save Obito. A crush could be a bad distraction... besides, he likes Rin anyway. It's not like it could go anywhere..'

Grumbling, I grabbed some instant noodles. I wasn't feeling up to making them properly, so I settled for just spreading butter on the rectangular chunk. I thought about my future as I munched on the semi-dry snack.

'I'm so screwed...'

Hey, end of another long-ass chapter. Sorry for taking so long with this one. I apologize if my writing of a crush is awkward-I'm still new to it. Looks like the second genre is finally beginning, plus some more character development. Next chapter sees Yoku being given something by her father, Academy graduation and more emotional antics. Happy stuff aside, there's another depressing occurrence too. Leave a fav, follow or review if you want and see you next chapter!