"Yo," Kakashi greeted upon appearing in the training area.
"YOU'RE LATE!" screamed the louder of his two students. He had to admit that none of his other teams had the courage to yell at him for something that was, honestly, unacceptable. That was a point in their favor.
"Sorry," he replied in as insincere a tone as he could manage, "I got lost on the road to life."
His complete disregard for his own tardiness shut them up, but he could see they were still seething.
"Let's get this test out of the way," he said in a false chipper voice. He pulled out his alarm clock, "This clock is set for noon. You have until then to get a bell."
He showed them the two bells.
"But there are only two..." Naruto said, scratching his head in confusion.
"Glad to see you can count," Kakashi shot back with undisguised sarcasm, "If you get a bell you pass. If not, I tie you to the post and you get no lunch. I'm also going to send you back to the academy."
"WHAT!?" again Sakura and Naruto synced up. He honestly wondered if the girl knew she was just as annoying as the blonde.
"Most likely none of you will even get a bell," he told them as he tied the bells to a belt loop, "Out of the ten teams I've tested, not a single one has passed."
Oh how he savored the looks of horror. Even the broody Uchiha's eyes widened slightly. He set the clock down on the post and smiled at them, "You might want to come at me with the intent to kill... otherwise you'll never get a bell."
XxXxXxX
Ino burst into her family's flower shop muttering about stupid tests and lazy team members. She knew it had been a forlorn hope to be placed with Sasuke, considering the way her father and his team had been. The higher-ups were probably looking for a repeat of that dream team. Too bad Shikimaru was too lazy to be bothered with anything, and Choji was more interested in stuffing his face than being productive.
The sight of her father speaking with a pretty young woman with a black cat curled in his arms caused many of her complaints to fall right out of her head. Her mother was gone on a business trip, and here he was chatting up the first pretty thing to walk into the shop.
Before she could figure a way to butt into the conversation he saw he and beckoned her over, "Ino-chan, I want you to meet Sakibou Ren."
Ino approached, eying the woman her father had been talking to. It wasn't until Ren turned to look at her that she realized exactly who this was.
"You're the woman who cons superstitious people out of money," she blurted without thinking.
Her father frowned disapprovingly at her, but the cat-eyed woman just smirked in amusement, "Nice to meet you, too," she said with a bit of sarcasm, "My otouto warned me you weren't afraid to speak your mind."
The feline in her father's arms stirred and leapt from his grasp. After a short stretch he padded over to Ino and sniffed at her legs.
"Mrow," he called, looking up at her with deep green eyes.
She considered him warily. The other cat that followed a member of this family had a habit of stealing things from her. She bent down to stroke his fur, and he began to purr contentedly.
"Is it still there, Ren-san?" her father suddenly asked rather cryptically.
"It is," Ren answered in a similar fashion, "I can get rid of it..."
"Actually," Inoichi said with a mischievous glint in his eye, "Maybe she should see it. Perhaps then she won't give so much credence to rumor and hearsay."
"Get rid of what?" Ino asked a bit nervously. Her father had always liked ironic punishments, "See what?"
"Very well..." Ren replied to Inoichi hesitantly, "We should go somewhere that few people will see, though. I would prefer not to cause a panic."
"P-panic?" now she was getting really nervous.
"There is a garden out back with high walls," her father offered amicably, "Come, Ino-chan."
She followed him reluctantly as a bemused Ren brought up the rear of the procession. The black cat kept pace with her as she exited back into the sunshine of the beautiful garden she helped maintain. She couldn't quite appreciate the various aromas wafting off the selection of early autumn flowers since she felt like she was being marched to an execution.
They came to a stop in a rough triangle, and Ren smiled reassuringly at her. As if to strengthen the message of goodwill, her black cat was rubbing his soft flanks against her legs.
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Ino finally burst. Her agitation made the question come out clipped and angry.
"You have an oni following you around, Ino-chan," Ren told her simply, "The creature is feeding on your negative emotions... particularly jealousy."
Ino couldn't help it. She began to laugh a bit hysterically. The absurdity of this whole situation was getting to her.
"You can't be serious!" she finally managed to choke out between guffaws, "How did you let this woman con you, Tou-san?"
She didn't catch the specific seals, but she did realize that Ren was performing some sort of jutsu. She missed the name at the end, but the results were immediate and terrifying.
"Why you interfere, Spirit Talker?" a deep throaty voice asked from behind her. She froze in terror at the otherworldly presence she could feel.
"At least it isn't as ugly as the last one..." her father commented idly.
"W-what is b-behind m-me?" Ino stuttered out.
"An oni, dear," Ren offered helpfully, "Just like I said."
Ino worked up her courage and peeked behind her. The first thing she noticed was a trail of a vaporous green substance leaking off of her. The monster she saw through that haze was terrifying to behold.
It was head and shoulders taller than her, maybe seven or eight feet, but its extremely knobbly knuckles dragged the ground. The legs weren't much longer than her own, giving the demon a grotesquely disproportional body. Its mostly bare skin looked like a giant bruise with a purplish hue and sickly yellow splotching. A large crooked nose dominated the other features on the demon's face. Two beady, blood-red eyes stared back down at her from below a mop of lank black hair.
Ino somewhat disliked the girly-girl reputation she had. She was just as willing to get her hands dirty as the next shinobi, and on her team she was the most driven. She also wasn't really afraid of much. Stories from her father and other clan members about the horrors one could encounter in the mindscape had been a companion since she had decided to be a kunoichi. All of this did not stop her from releasing a high-pitched scream and jumping into her father's arms like a frightened child.
"Mmm, fear. Thank, Spirit Talker," the beast rumbled out from between too big lips. She saw the now darker green vapor swirl into its mouth, and she could see rows of sharp teeth.
"I didn't come here to feed you, oni," Ren told it coldly. Ino was suddenly thankful for the woman's presence. Her reputation might have been halfway dubious, but it did say she was an expert on these creatures.
"Name, Kentan," the oni said proudly, slapping a meaty and wickedly clawed hand into its bare chest.
"I could care less, Kentan," Ren shot back, "You will leave this girl be."
"Kentan just hungry," Ino's eyes goggled at the pleading tone. This tiny woman was reducing a large demon to whining like a child.
"There are others in this village you can leach from," Ren explained to it, crossing her arms like an annoyed mother, "This girl and others with auras similar to her's are off limits."
Now the demon pouted. Ino began to giggle uncontrollably at the sight. It was too much to see such a vicious looking monster try to pull off such a childish ploy.
"Fine..." it finally spat in disgust, "Kentan leave girl."
"Good..." Ren said with authority, "I would hate to have to sic Hitoare on you."
She saw it brighten suddenly, "You Spirit Talker that bind Hitoare?" it asked.
"She controls one of these things?" Ino whispered to her father in surprise.
"Shh..." he ordered.
"I am," Ren gave it a measuring look, "You wish to bind yourself to me?"
"Kentan want fight and eat little shadow warrior," the demon began to bounce up and down excitedly, "Missed great fox. Need Spirit Talker to get through veil."
Ren considered the monster carefully, and Ino wondered just what this strange, not-so-fraudulent exorcist was capable of.
"Very well, Kentan," she finally told it. She suddenly had a kunai in hand, and was putting a small nick on her thumb. Ino looked on in fascination as a woman she had thought a fraud bound a creature she had thought a myth to her will.
When all was said and done, Ren waved her hand dismissively at her new warrior, "Begone, Kentan. I will call if I have need of you."
The monster sketched a comical bow and vanished from sight.
Ino stared at the spot it had vanished from, then shifted her disbelieving gaze to Ren. A look of worry flashed over the dark-haired woman's face.
"Are you okay, Ino-chan?" there was genuine concern in her voice.
"Are you kidding!?" Ino exclaimed, disentangling herself from her father's protective embrace, "That was so awesome!"
"Eh..." Ren scratched the side of her face, "What?"
"You were all like, 'You can't feed off this girl,'" she mimicked Ren's soft but authoritative voice as best she could, "and it just fell apart. You are so cool!"
"Eheh..." Ren seemed to not know how to handle the sudden hero worship, "To be fair, my clan is somewhat infamous in the Spirit Realm. Smaller demons flee from me on sight just because of the reputation."
Ino was about to gush more to this strange and amazing woman, but her father stopped her by resting a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sure Ren-san has other things to get to today," he dropped the polite hint for his daughter to stop bothering her, "What do I owe you for the service?"
Ren stopped to consider the question, "Hmm... I usually charge 50,000 ryo for a business location and 10,000 for a residence... This is only my second personal exorcism, and to be fair the demon was no real danger to the subject."
She considered the problem silently for a few more moments, then nodded to herself, "Let's call it even for attracting an oni for me to bind. They don't crop up in Konoha as much as you think."
Inoichi frowned at the mention of binding the creature, "Are you sure it's wise to try controlling such a being?"
Ren just smiled at him, "Tou-san once told me long ago that demons were the least dangerous kind of spirit to interact with. They are infinitely predictable because they're always driven by one or two desires."
She gave a quick and shallow bow as a farewell and turned to leave with Zuki hot on her heels.
"What are the most dangerous?" Ino called after her, unable to contain her curiosity.
"We are, Ino-chan," Ren shouted back from inside the flower shop, "We are."
XxXxXxX
Hotaka took in the whole structure with intense curiosity. That it was a prison had been fairly obvious, but the reason why his test would take place here was lost on him. Whatever the test was, he hoped it would be practical in nature. He was terrible with any theory that didn't involve human anatomy.
The unusual ninja with the hidden eyes was a tad disconcerting to him. One way he read his opponents was to watch their eyes. A foe might feint with his body, but his eyes would invariably be looking towards the intended opening.
He began to stretch almost automatically. It was something of a nervous habit, especially when he didn't know what his challenge would be. Never hurt to be ready for something physically demanding anyway. Perhaps he would have to...
"HOTAKA!"
He started in surprise and looked up at his Sensei. He had been zoning again, "Yes, Sensei?"
"Do you always do that?" Hiroto asked in exasperation.
"Yea, sorry," he ran a hand through his hair nervously, "I don't mean to, but I zone out sometimes."
"That's not exactly something you want to do in the field," the jonin warned seriously, "That could get you killed very easily."
Hotaka nodded his understanding and focused himself on what the man was talking about.
"As I was saying," Hiroto went on in an annoyed tone, "This prison plays host to a number of non-shinobi criminals guilty of some particularly heinous crimes."
Hotaka nodded his understanding and to signal he was listening this time.
"Your test is to perform an execution," Hiroto said gravely.
Hotaka blinked a couple of times, "What?"
"You will perform an execution," Hiroto repeated.
"You want me to kill someone?" the genin asked incredulously.
Hiroto nodded in confirmation.
"Why?" it was an effort, but Hotaka managed to keep his voice level. He hadn't been through seven years of grueling training to lose his self-discipline now.
Hiroto seemed slightly taken aback by his calm, "How long before you must kill for a mission, Hotaka-kun?"
He considered that question very carefully. It hadn't really occurred to him until his Sensei had just posed it. Judging by the stories from Anko, Natsumi, and his own mother, it wouldn't take very long before he was taking on C-rank missions for the village. They often had some element of danger to them, and eventually they would be in a life-threatening situation.
"Will you do it?" Hiroto asked him.
Hotaka squared his shoulders. There were plenty of other career options out there. He didn't doubt his Sensei would call for his dismissal if he couldn't perform this one task. As far as Hotaka was concerned, however, there was no other job he wanted. Being a shinobi like his father and mother was his dream. So what if it was darker than he had first thought back at the age of five?
"Yes, Sensei," Hotaka's gray-blue eyes met Hiroto's hazel, "I'll do it."
XxXxXxX
Mayu sighed as she came to the apex of the steep staircase that led to the top of the Hokage Monument. While she had a habit of offering up a scathing remark or two to anyone who tried to treat her differently due to her condition, she would have appreciated Gai actually changing the location of his training on the day he invited her to observe. The climb was negotiable for her, but still difficult to perform with two legs frozen in place.
She made her way across the bare portion near the carved faces towards the woods that marked Training Area Twenty-three. She could hear the tale-tell sounds of physical combat that was Team Gai's specialty. Making her way through the trees, she could see flashes of green, black, brown, and white as Gai's two male students went at each other.
Lee was doing a marvelous job of dodging Neji's chakra charged hands, but she could see it was an uphill battle for him. He rarely got the chance to go on the offensive, and even when he tried, he would pull up short as Neji was prepared to punish him for the attack. Finally Neji managed to land a solid touch on Lee's shoulder, causing the appendage to fall limp.
Lee backed up and held his good hand up, "This spar is yours, my Most Youthful Rival."
Neji's only answer was a snort of disgust as he dropped his stance and walked towards his gear to drink some water from a canteen. Lee went to their Sensei, who was to the side of the small clearing with Tenten, to have his arm inspected but pulled up short when he saw his old taijutsu tutor come into the clearing.
"Mayu-Sensei!" he cried out in joy, "It is wonderful to see you on this Glorious Day!"
"I see you made an impression on him," Mayu remarked to Gai dryly as she approached.
"It's worse than you think," Tenten lamented to her one time teacher, "They have their own intro."
"We sure do!" Lee said excitedly, trying to take the traditional Nice Guy pose. His arm flopped about uselessly instead of giving her a thumbs up, though.
"Be still, My Wonderful Student," Gai ordered his mini-clone as he went to work on the teen's arm.
"What brings you, Sensei?" Tenten asked while the Green Beast and his cub were occupied.
"Gai-san invited me out to see how you three were doing," she explained with a smile, "Its good to see my past students still growing after I'm done with them."
A quiet scoff came from Neji's direction and Mayu saw Tenten's face go red.
"You got something to say?" she snapped at the Hyuga.
"I just fail to see why Lee is even here," Neji replied in a neutral voice, "His inability to utilize chakra is a liability."
"You weren't saying that when you got surrounded by those bandits on our last mission," Tenten shot back darkly, "As I recall, it was Lee-kun who pulled your ungrateful ass out of the fire you got yourself into."
Neji's face tightened in anger, but before he could reply, Gai interjected.
"Come now, My Cute Little Students," he said loudly, "What is done is done. There is no need to place blame."
Neji seemed to cool off a bit, albeit with some effort.
"Come by my place sometime, Lee-kun," Mayu offered, "I know a couple of tricks that can get you inside a Hyuga's guard."
"That would be Most Appreciated!" Lee cried in gratitude.
"What do you know about Jyuken?" She was sure Neji was just curious, but his naturally dour demeanor made the question come out in a slightly mocking tone.
"I recall correcting your stance in your second year at the academy," she replied mildly.
"And where did you learn these tricks?" he asked with a bit more heat.
"From Hizashi-Sensei," she replied with a hint of melancholy.
Perhaps it was her sad tone or the fact that she claimed to know Hizashi, but something set Neji off.
"What would a cripple like you know of Tou-san?" he asked in a dangerous whisper.
"Neji!" Tenten cried out in surprise.
"Shut up, Tenten," he ground out just as quietly.
"Don't you tell me to shut up, youprick," she narrowed her eyes dangerously at him, "I'll fill you so full of metal compasses will go haywire around your corpse."
The two genin squared off, and the look on Gai's and Lee's faces, somewhere between exasperation and annoyance, showed that this was not an unusual occurrence. Mayu hobbled her way in between the angry teens.
"You two calm down now," she ordered in a chipper tone, "There's no need to get so worked up on my account, Ten-chan."
"As for you," she turned to face Neji directly, "I think you need a personal lesson."
"Ah, Mayu-san," Gai interjected nervously and dropping his odd speech patterns, "Perhaps that is not such a good idea..."
"Yes, Sensei," Neji put quite a bit of sarcastic emphasis on the title, "You might get hurt."
"Actually, Neji-kun," Gai said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice, "I'm more worried about you getting hurt."
Neji scoffed at the notion, "Please. She can't even move around without those crutches."
A sharp laugh was heard from Mayu as she manhandled her legs into a wide fighting stance, "I don't need to hop about to whip a little fool like you."
A look of calm fury worked its way over Neji's face, "If you're so determined to be shown up by a genin, so be it."
He fell into the loose stance of Jyuken a few paces away from her. He noted that she had discarded her crutches off to the side. Her hands were held out in front of her with open palms facing him. He wondered what strange condition she had that her paralyzed legs could support her weight like they were.
"I'll give you one last chance to back down and apologize," Mayu offered amicably, "No need for you to get hurt."
"Pfah," Neji scoffed, "You're just a cripple who refuses to face her condition. It is no use to rail against fate."
"Oh for Kami's sake," Tenten's face dropped into her hands, "Not this again."
"That's cute," Mayu said lightly, "The little boy thinks himself wise."
That was the taunt that started the exchange. Neji rushed in quickly and landed a soft touch on Mayu's shoulder. An odd sensation traveled back up his arm, and to his great surprise the limb did not go limp. Instead her hand grabbed his lower arm. Her other hand snaked between them and gripped his side. She used the leverage to twist his arm viciously. With a sickening pop and a great deal of pain, he felt his shoulder come out of its socket.
He leaped back and knelt down clutching his limp arm. He had to force down the bile that was coming up his throat.
"How did you do that?" he gritted out from between clenched teeth. He forced his shoulder back in place and nearly swooned from the pain.
"Well... with enough torsion and pressure, you can pop someones shoulder quite easily..."
"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT!" he yelled back in fury.
"Oh..." Mayu placed a finger to her chin in thought, then brightened as if coming to a realization, "You mean countering your Jyuken strike? Let's just say Eiji's style requires the ability to expel chakra from any point on your body. Turns out if you time it right, you can block foreign chakra from entering your tenketsu."
He growled in annoyance. She had caught him by surprise with that counter, but he wasn't going to let himself be fooled twice. He tested his injured arm's range of movement and found it satisfactory.
"You get points for determination," Mayu offered jovially as he assumed his stance again, "but you stand no chance against me, Neji-kun."
His only answer was to come at her again. He feinted high, then used his other hand to strike for her core. In a normal spar he wouldn't have dared such a deadly strike, but it was clear to him he had somewhat underestimated the crippled taijutsu expert. It wouldn't save her, though. He would win here and show her that she couldn't overcome her condition.
His feint managed to tie up one of her hands as she again chose to grab his arm, but his actual strike was stopped in a similar fashion. She held both his arms out wide, and he suddenly got an excellent look at her forehead as she dragged him into a powerful headbutt. He saw stars and attempted to stagger away, but she wasn't done with him. She struck him twice more with her hard-as-rock skull, breaking his nose and causing one eye to swell up. Finally she released him to fall to the ground were he blacked out.
"Was that necessary, Mayu-san?" Gai asked her seriously.
She dusted herself off, "He needs to learn respect for his peers and elders."
She picked up her crutches and worked her legs back into a more normal position with a grimace.
"Does that hurt?" Tenten asked with worry clear on her face.
"All the time," Mayu whispered quietly. She then smiled and pointed a crutch at the unconscious Hyuga, "Better get him to the hospital. Pretty sure I tore a few tendons and maybe even a ligament in his shoulder."
"He deserves it," Tenten crossed her arms in a huff, "This bastard has done nothing but been a problem since we graduated."
"Now, now, my Adorable Disciple," Gai had gone back to himself finally, "Neji-kun has been through Difficult Hardships we can only imagine."
"That doesn't give him the right to be an ass all the time," she argued back. She did go over to Neji and sling one of his arms over her shoulder, though, "Help me out Lee-kun."
It wasn't long before the two genin had their teammate, his head lolling about, between them, and they were off to the hospital.
Mayu looked over to Gai, "You asked me out here to do just that, didn't you?" she accused.
A lopsided smirked worked its way onto Gai's face, "I would never do anything to harm my Precious Students."
He frowned shortly after, "But sometimes to save them, we must hurt them a little."
Mayu nodded her understanding, "C'mon. You owe me a drink for this."
XxXxXxX
The pit that was used as a yard for the prisoners was a whole lot more imposing from the bottom, Hotaka decided. His target looked about as imposing, too. He was a full adult and large of build. The man, Hotaka hadn't caught his name, had discarded his beige button down shirt and wore only his pants and sandals. One thing that Hotaka found odd was his complete lack of hair. Not a single strand anywhere on his dusky skin; not even his neanderthal-like brows sported any fuzz.
There was a seriously disturbing look in the man's red eyes, and Hotaka figured the lack of chains to hold him down meant this wasn't just a test of mental fortitude.
"Are you ready to burn?" the prisoner asked in a hoarse whisper. It sounded as if he had been smoking all of his life or damaged his respiratory system in some other way.
"What?" Hotaka asked him, curious as to what he meant.
"I said," the voice was louder now, but just as hoarse, "Are your ready to...BURN!?"
Like it was a trigger, on the last word the man's arms were suddenly surrounded by bright orange flames. Despite the waves of heat rising from the fires, Hotaka could see that the man was not being consumed.
"Sensei..." he called up to his mentor nervously, "He's on fire, Sensei."
"I see that," Hiroto said down to him, "Maybe if you had been paying attention earlier you would have caught my hints about chakra savants."
Before Hotaka could come up with a reply, his target charged in recklessly. The genin was suddenly very busy dodging flaming punches.
"Burn, burn, burnburnburn... BURN!" Every punch was accompanied by the word, and the lunatic was getting more crazed with every failed strike. The last blow came in the form of a double hammer fist coming straight for Hotaka's face. The nimble teen dodged it by simply rolling through his target's legs.
He used a bit of chakra in his legs to leap far away from the fire obsessed fool. He needed some space to figure out how to fight this guy. Koodorikaze was generally a defensive style in the early stages of learning; you waited for someone to attack, then punished them for it. That was made difficult by the fact that his foe had flames covering his arms up to the elbows. Just parrying his strikes would leave Hotaka with terrible burns.
In came the pyro again, recklessly striking out with his flaming arms. Hotaka could have doled out serious pain to the fool on more than one occasion, but the heat coming from those hands forced him to hold back.
"Burn you little shit!" the lunatic cried, "BURN!"
"That word is getting really old," Hotaka muttered. He could tell he was being herded into a corner, so he leapt high and far back. He did a back flip to orient himself properly and as soon as his feet touched the stone wall, he used his chakra to launch himself to the other side of the pit. This wasn't working.
The flaming arms ruled out using Bifuu, the first dance of his style. It made use of too many throws. Kyoufuu was out too, since it called for blocking and parrying. No... he would need to make use of the third dance, Boufuu. The problem there was he had far from mastered it, since more than a few of its attack patterns required he be able to step on the air. He could perform all of its grounded maneuvers, though.
That settled it, then. He hadn't even gotten a chance to try out Boufuu in a spar, and he was about to use it in real combat. He set his feet shoulder width apart and raised his fists to guard his face and waited for the pyro to come at him again.
"Finally ready to stand and burn?" the maniac asked.
"Won't be burning today," Hotaka countered.
The prisoner came back in just as recklessly as before. It was obvious his flames made him feel invincible, but Hotaka was about to shatter that silly little dream.
In he came with a powerful jab that was well beyond over-extension. Hotaka pivoted around his rear foot and dropped low. He could feel the heat of the flames passing overhead, but his maneuver worked as his now extended leg caught his foe in the shins. As soon as he felt contact, Hotaka forced his leg back and up, tripping the fiery idiot.
He wasted no time rising and lining up a strike for the base of his target's skull. Just as his blow was about to connect, fire burst forth from the spot and pulled away with a yelp of pain and surprise. He hopped away as the maniac rose, laughing.
"Did you really think I couldn't ignite other parts of my body?" he asked in that disturbingly scratchy voice of his.
"One can hope," Hotaka answered sarcastically. He stole a glance at his hand and found it to be bright red. It was his right hand, too. He was partially ambidextrous, but his right hand had more striking power.
He sighed dejectedly. He had hoped to end the man's life with a quick blow, but it seemed he would need to get... creative. He spent the next minute dodging out of the way of reckless charges as he put a plan together.
"STOP DANCING AROUND AND JUST BURN ALREADY!" the fires on the prisoner's arms flared brightly with his anger.
Hotaka, finally sure he had a decent plan, resumed his stance. As soon as his enemy was close, he again dodged between his legs. While he was in the man's blind spot, he reached into his equipment pouch and palmed a small flask in each hand and sent silent thanks to his large friend for equipping him with trapping supplies. His right hand hurt something fierce, but he could still use it. His only lament was how much more burnt it was about to get.
"BURN DAMNIT!"
He managed to reset himself just as the pyro came barreling in. He ducked under the attempted bear hug, and slammed his right hand up into the man's chest flask first while pivoting on his rear foot. The maneuver brought him out of line with his enemy, and the reckless idiot went past. Hotaka slapped the other flask onto his back. The force of the blows caused the glass to break and cut into both of them.
Just as he expected, the lunatic reacted to the pain of being struck with a burst of chakra fire. His hands were suddenly a pair of white hot points of pain, but the heat ignited the highly flammable oil from the now broken flasks. Hotaka quickly dove to the ground and, despite the pain, began coating his burning hands with loose dirt. The dirt absorbed the unburnt oil and helped smother the flames trying eat away his flesh.
His foe didn't have the same presence of mind, though. His own chakra powered fire had been his undoing as Hotaka's oil caught from the heat. Immune to his own unnatural flames, the pyromaniac didn't have the know-how to control fire he hadn't produced. It wasn't long before he was a human torch, running about the pit screaming before the fire reached into his lungs and silenced him for good.
Hotaka sat in a daze staring at the heap of immolated flesh that had once been a man. His hands throbbed from their burns, but they couldn't quite distract him from the thought that he had just burned a man alive.
Suddenly his view was obstructed by his Sensei, whose hands were glowing green as he began to slowly heal Hotaka's own. Nothing could cover up the terrible stink of the burned husk, though.
"I did it," Hotaka said dully, "I killed him, Sensei."
"Yes," Hiroto agreed neutrally as he continued to work, "You did."
"I passed?" he asked in the same dull voice.
"Yes, you pass," the jonin replied. His hands were no longer glowing, and he was applying a salve that carried a wonderfully cool sensation to Hotaka's tortured hands. He finished by wrapping them in bandages.
Hotaka finally worked up the courage to meet his Sensei's eye. He found not the judgment he expected but only understanding, "Is it always this hard?"
Hiroto frowned at the question, "It gets easier as time goes on."
"I killed him in such an awful way, though," he began to shudder uncontrollably.
"No worse than how he killed his own victims," the jonin replied, "Let's get you to the hospital for those hands. There's someone there you should meet anyway."
XxXxXxX
"Maaaan," Naruto whined shrilly, "Why'd he have to tie me to this stump?"
"Cause you tried to cheat and get at the food," Sakura chided him as she opened the bento provided by their batty Sensei. She sniffed it cautiously, unsure if the cyclops would drug the meal.
"Pfft," the blonde scoffed, "Ninja cheat all the time."
"True," Sasuke agreed in a neutral tone, as he opened his own lunch, "But you got caught. That's not something shinobi do."
Naruto began to grumble about stupid Uchiha and their stupid logic when a bento was place in front of his face.
"Here," it was Sasuke of all people, "I don't want you dragging us down later. We only get one more chance."
Naruto brightened at the prospect of food, but Sakura interjected before he could bury his face in the meal like a pig.
"Kakashi-Sensei said we would automatically fail if we fed him, though," she warned.
Sasuke shrugged, "I don't sense him nearby. Like Naruto said, 'Ninja cheat.'"
Sakura bit her lip and worried it a bit as she considered the risk she might be taking. Perhaps it was worth it. Naruto was spastic and unorthodox, but his clones had been real. With some tactics, he could be a one man army. He would need to eat, though. She sighed and picked up a rice ball with her chopsticks and moved to feed it to her teammate, much to his delight.
A sudden presence stopped her dead.
"YOU THREE..." the dreadful tone and level of anger in her Sensei's voice was enough to raise the hairs on the back of her neck. Sasuke was frozen in place where he sat, and Naruto was trying to push himself into the post he was tied to.
"Pass!" the intimidating demeanor dropped away just as quickly as their Sensei had appeared.
The sudden change thoroughly confused the genin as they stared stupidly at the man.
"W-wha..." was all Sakura managed to get out.
"You... pass," Kakashi repeated slowly.
"But we broke the rules," Sakura protested, "We defied your orders."
"But you did so to help a comrade," he countered with a veiled smile, "Those that break the rules are trash, true, but those that abandon their comrades are lower than trash."
"Teamwork," Naruto said as he began to bang his head against the post, "It was always about teamwork. Stupid... stupid."
"Genin teams are almost always cells of three with a single jonin as a commander," Sasuke added, "I let you make me second-guess that, though."
"So we really pass?" Sakura asked in disbelief.
"Sure do," Kakashi confirmed, "You are dismissed until tomorrow at seven hundred hours."
With that the jonin disappeared leaving the genin in stunned silence. Naruto recovered first.
"Wanna get some ramen to celebrate, Sakura-chan?" he asked with a big smile.
"NO, YOU ASS!" she yelled, socking him once in the face and storming off.
"Naruto," Sasuke looked at the swelling bruise on the blonde's cheek, "Do you know what the definition of insanity is?"
"Shut-up and untie me," the other boy replied sourly.
XxXxXxX
Hotaka marveled at his hands. The new skin was still a bit too pink, but otherwise it was as if they had never been burned. His gi was in a sorry state, though. The sleeves were a burnt mess, but he was alive and unhurt.
He was following his Sensei through the halls of the hospital. He had been treated for his relatively minor injuries in the emergency room, but were now in the burn ward. Most of the rooms were empty, but he could hear the life sustaining machines the medics used beeping and whirring a steady rhythm from a nearby room.
They came up to it as an older nurse was exiting. Her hair, pulled into a tight bun, was going gray, and she looked Hiroto over with suspicious green eyes.
"Can I help you?" she asked in clipped tones.
"Aito's execution has been carried out," Hiroto told her in a serious voice, "I thought she would like to hear."
The nurses eyes softened a bit, "I'm sure she would like to know that monster is gone. Go on in."
So that was his name... Aito. It heaped a bit more guilt onto Hotaka, knowing his victim had a name. It was silly, he knew. Of course he had a name. Hotaka would have been happier not knowing it, though.
Hiroto held the door for him, and he entered the hospital room cautiously. In the bed, surrounded by numerous machines was a person. They had called it a 'she', but it was difficult to tell since she was covered in terrible burns with a thick salve and loose bandages. One of her eyes was sealed shut, and the other was covered.
"Who's there?" she wheezed pitifully.
"Fuchi-san," Hiroto greeted in a businesslike manner, "I am Ryoukou Hiroto, Jonin of Konoha, and this is Shoudou Hotaka, Genin."
"What do you want?" her voice was hard to differentiate from the respirator, but they managed to make out her words.
"I came to inform you that, Sasuga Aito is dead," he told her.
A tenseness seamed to drain away from the burned woman, "Thank Kami. How did..."
"The execution was performed about an hour ago," he explained, "He was burned to death."
"Serves the bastard right," she sobbed out, "My husband... my children..."
"What did he do?" Hotaka was aghast at the sight of this poor woman.
"Sasuga Aito was an arsonist for a while," Hiroto told him, "We captured him shortly after burning down the Fuchi residence."
"Until Fuchi Hazuki here regained consciousness it was unsure whether he intended to kill the family or just burn their home," he went on, "Her testimony upgraded his crime from manslaughter to murder in the first degree."
"He walked into my house and beat my husband half to death," Hazuki whispered in a hoarse and tortured voice, "He locked us in a bedroom and lit the house on fire."
"We're sorry for your loss, Fuchi-san," Hiroto offered her sincerely, "We've more business to attend to, today."
"Of course," she agreed, "Please pass my thanks to whoever gave him the death he deserved."
The jonin's eyes met Hotaka's, "I'll make sure he knows."
Two down, one to go. I'm finally getting to a point where I can involve the other genin as well. As characters go, I always felt Tenten got no love in canon. That just means I get to treat her almost like a character of my own, and oh the ideas that swirl through the twisted passages of my mind.
I'm starting to get reviews at least as often as I post, and that makes me happy. Especially since they are almost all solid critiques of my work. I have Zerojackson giving me his thoughts chapter by chapter as he reads, which is giving me some good insight. Then there is Freedsama, who is trying to unravel my plots before I am ready to reveal them. He gave me then impression that I might be hinting and foreshadowing a bit too strongly, but after rereading a few things, I decided I am happy with what's going on.
This story remains a great source of entertainment for me, and I hope you all are enjoying as much as I am.
Shoudou Hotaka
Rank: Genin
Gender: Male
Birth Date: June 30
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Gray-blue
Height: 5' 4" (162.5 cm)
Weight: 110 (50 kg)
Shoudou Hotaka is the only son of Eiji and Mayu. Both of his parents sacrificed much against the Kyuubi; his father gave his life, and his mother the use of her legs. Hotaka is determined to follow in their footsteps and get his father's unique style of taijutsu officially recognized.
Koodorikaze (Dancing Wind)
Type: Taijutsu (Style)
Rank: Varies
Effect: This style of taijutsu was developed as an alternative to Goken. Mastering Koodorikaze requires speed, flexibility, and fine chakra control. The style is split into five 'dances' that ramp up in offensiveness. Mastery of the last three dances requires a special chakra manipulation technique that allows the user to step on air. A master of the style could theoretically beat their opponent without ever touching the ground.