I caught everyone's scent then and grabbed Sakura's hand just as she reached for Sai's neck.

"He is not the enemy here." I said, just as Sasuke spoke up.

"Ah, is it Sakura?"

I loosened my grip as her arm went slack and she looked up at him. "S-Sasuke?"

Naruto came over then, stumbling once, before staring up at Sasuke in shock. "Sasuke…"

"Naruto… So you came too. Does that mean Kakashi and Shi are here as well?"

Yamato stepped forward. "Unfortunately, Kakashi couldn't be here, but I'm here in his place. Shi was here before but had another mission. We, Team Kakashi, are going to be taking you back to Konoha."

"Team Kakashi, huh?"

Sai pulled out a sword then, holding it up and surprising Sakura.

"Sai! I knew it!"

"So he's my replacement then, is he?" Sasuke questioned. "He was spouting some kind of nonsense about protecting bonds between Naruto and me. One more pansy for the group, quite the fit I'm sure."

"Huh?"

Everyone seemed confused, but I understood.

"It is true, my top-secret mission was indeed the assassination of Sasuke, but those orders don't matter anymore. Now I want to think and act for myself. Because of Naruto, I feel like I might be able to remember something. Remember how I used to feel. Something which I can't help but feeling was very important to me. I may not know you all that well, but there's a reason why Naruto and Sakura chase after you with so much passion. In order to prevent their bonds with you from breaking… In order to keep them intact, they're doing everything they can. I still don't have a very good understanding of it myself but you, Sasuke, you should know why."

"Sure, I did know and that's why I severed them. I have other bonds I carry. Fraternal bonds, forged through hate. Having too many bonds causes one to lose focus, weakening their strongest wish, their greatest desire."

"If that's true…" Naruto said quietly. "If that's true, then why… why didn't you kill me back then?! Is that what you call severing bonds?! Sasuke?!"

I don't like this. I thought, eyeing Sasuke carefully. I doubt he's just been sitting on his backside for these couple of years. He had to have been training. What did Kakashi say his chakra natures were? Fire and… lightning. So he would be improving his speed most likely and that sword on his back… I doubt it's just for show. Sasuke suddenly moved, something I barely caught, only because I had been looking for it. I hadn't seen anything threatening about his movement just yet, so I left him be as he stood next to Naruto, but I was prepared to fight, a hand just inside my cloak on the hilt of my sword.

"Come to think of it, isn't becoming Hokage a dream of yours? If you had the time to go around looking for me, you would have been better off training, don't you think, Naruto?"

"S-Sasuke…" Sakura whispered out.

"And that's why this time, you're going to end up losing your life, all at a whim of mine." I saw Sasuke draw his sword, but I saw Sai move to stop it and kept still for the moment as Sai grabbed Sasuke's wrist.

"Your choice of defense… quite correct."

Naruto kicked up then, twisting Sasuke's arm as Yamato went to bind him with wood, but Sasuke did something unexpected and charged himself with lightning. Unexpected, but that gives me a hint about what he's been working on. If he can charge himself with lightning then—I cut my thoughts off, seeing Sakura go in and Yamato go in to defend her, but I knew Yamato couldn't defend with just a measly kunai and jumped in as well, sword drawn and also charged with lightning. The sword cut through the top of my shoulder, my block having just barely worked to deflect the sword upward at the last second.

"Your choice of defense… also quite correct… You see, this sword of Kusanagi I hold here is a little special. It's the kind that can't be blocked…But you're right side's wide open."

Sasuke went to stab me in the side with a kunai, but I blocked that as well, a second sword charged with electricity catching the small blade as I added wind to that sword, creating a magnetic property. And hopefully it won't give me away. Sasuke though, seemed to have enough talking and glanced over at Naruto, who was already having issues with the Kyuubi. Not good. Hopefully he can control it for a bit more. Yamato used that opportunity to launch a sneak attack, a wood pillar shooting up from the ground and aiming for Sasuke's chest. He tried to pull away, realizing that his kunai was stuck and dropping it, but Yamato was prepared for this and went to capture him in a wood dome. Something that Sasuke's sword easily cut through and he landed above us once more.

"Sasuke." Naruto said, arms shaking as he tried to push himself up. "Why don't you get it?! You're body's going to be stolen by Orochimaru anytime now!"

"If that happens, then it happens." Sasuke replied. "You're still quite the kid, Naruto. Revenge means everything to me. As long as I can have my revenge, I could care less what happens to me or the whole world for that matter. Let me make it clear for you. For both me and Orochimaru, right now, killing Itachi would be impossible. But if I am able to accomplish my goals through nothing more than offering Orochimaru this body of mine, then he can have my life and my afterlife for that matter."

"That's enough talk." Yamato said. "Naruto and Sakura, with you two here, I had hoped not to have to resort to any of my cruder methods, but unfortunately, it's time I get serious."

Sasuke too, seemed to be done with talking, but it was my turn to intervene and I stood between the two of them just as Orochimaru showed up with Kabuto, stopping Sasuke as I stopped Yamato. Yamato glared at me, but I glared back in return.

"It's my call." I reminded him and he reluctantly lowered his hands as Orochimaru and Kabuto convinced Sasuke to do the same.

They soon disappeared, deciding to let us live if only for us to take out the Akatsuki, and Naruto curled up on the ground, weeping.

"Crying isn't going to bring Sasuke back, you know." Sakura said, though tears fell down her face as well. "I'm here too. We'll both get stronger together."

"There's almost another half year left." Sai said, catching their attention. "And three's better than two, obviously. Besides, I'm pretty strong myself, you know. And Shi will help as well, I'm sure."

Naruto and Sakura wiped their eyes and got up, Sai helping Naruto walk as I sighed.

"You gave me far too much work to do, Yamato." I complained, earning a chuckle.

"Apologies, Fox. Is there anything left?"

I lifted my head, sniffing and shook it. "No. Orochimaru seemed to have been cleaning up before he left. Not even a snake."

Yamato nodded and turned to the others before turning back. "Will you be joining us then?"

I shook my head. "I have contact with another who will be joining you soon."

He smiled a bit and I headed off, jumping into the forest and landing on a branch, removing my mask and cloak, stowing it away for now as I looked over the damage on my shoulder. It wasn't too bad and after a few minutes I had it healed right up, but I needed to grab my other cloak to wear in order to cover the tear in my shirt. Not only that, but I'll need to make sure I keep it on even while sleeping. A pain, but I can deal with it. I sighed, putting on my scarf and earrings and heading back to the others, making it look as though I was in a hurry. When I got there and landed, I looked around in a slight panic—playing my part—when I spotted Naruto and sighed. He chuckled a bit, though the usual cheer in his voice was gone.

"Heh, you're late, Shi."

I headed over and bopped him and Sakura upside the head.

"Ow!"

"Shi!"

I walked past them and looked back. "Cheer up."

They both slowly began to smile a little and Naruto shook his fist at me. "Says you! You always have that grumpy face on! You didn't have to hit us!"

I turned around, walking backwards with my hands in my pockets, with an actual grumpy face. "What grumpy face?"

They chuckled and I gave them a small closed eye smile in return, before we headed back to Konoha. There were times when Naruto and Sakura would get tense or depressed, but Sai and myself kept them on their toes. He and I actually got along quite well and, now that I knew he wasn't going to end up betraying us or anything, I was growing attached to him as well. We sort of understood each other and I helped him with his studies of human emotions, recommending he check out some books when we return to Konoha to see if they might help. And it was often that Sakura or Naruto would catch us painting together. He was good company and I didn't mind being around him.

When we returned to Konoha, things began to return to normal. I reported what I had to Tsunade, getting a good amount of payment in return and the promise of future missions of such caliber. I let out a sigh, currently heading to meet up with Naruto, Sai, and Sakura to go and visit Kakashi. I was reading my Icha Icha book for the fifth time since I got the book, and had a bag with dumplings at my side, the delicious smell coming from them teasing me. I could just eat one, but then one would turn into ten and I wouldn't have any for Kakashi… I frowned under my scarf, giving the bag a glance, when a cheerful voice called out ahead of me.

"Shi! Did you bring me food?!"

I held the bag up out of Naruto's reach, continuing to read my book as Sai and Sakura stood off to the side.

"No. This is for Kakashi."

"Eh?" Naruto whined, but Sakura gave me a smirk.

"For Kakashi, huh? Any special reason behind that, Shi?"

I gave her an odd look. "The food sucks."

She deadpanned and sighed. "Never mind."

"Naruto, Sakura, Shi? Would you mind if I join the conversation as well?"

I glanced at Sai, who was scratching his cheek looking a bit nervous.

"Ah!… Er… I read this book about getting to know people and stuff, and it said that I should drop name suffixes or use nicknames and such. By doing so it creates a feeling of closeness allowing people to become friends quickly." He said with a nervous smile.

"Heh, Sai. I didn't think you actually cared about that stuff." Naruto said with a large grin, hands behind his head.

"So that's why you were reading those books."

Sai nodded. "Shi recommended them."

Sakura and Naruto turned to me with matching grins and I looked away, embarrassed.

"I-I thought they might help. I had a hard time as well and they helped a bit."

They both chuckled as Sai spoke more.

"But, while I thought about it for a bit, I couldn't think of any good nicknames for you two. So for now I just drop the suffixes and…"

"Nicknames aren't something you think about, they just happen naturally." Naruto said.

Sakura nodded. "If you're going to make a nickname then you can, for instance, use someone's characteristics. Like here, take Naruto. He'd be 'stupid Naruto' or 'idiot Naruto'."

I sweat dropped as Naruto complained. Bad idea, Sakura. Sai takes things like that seriously.

"Thanks, I think I got the hang of it, ugly-dog."

Needless to say, when we got to the hospital—me disguising the dumplings as something from the bookstore (they didn't like people bringing good food in the hospital)—Naruto and Sai both had rather large bruises on their faces.

"I see. So this is the new team member." Kakashi said. "Sai, was it? Nice to meet you."

"Thank you."

Kakashi then waved Sakura over. "Sakura, come here a sec."

With my hearing, I could just barely pick up what Kakashi was saying as he whispered to her behind his book.

"Both of them are hurt. Did they get in a fight or something? Naruto's a bit short tempered so it doesn't surprise me, but…"

I felt my lips twitch up in a smirk and turned away with a snort as Sakura waved her hand about.

"Oh… No, it's nothing really. We're all really good friends!"

"Oh… Really… Well, then things are okay, I suppose."

Kakashi gave me a look and I gave him a look that said I'd inform him later, to which he nodded. Sakura though, turned to Naruto then, who began speaking.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei… our last mission, it—"

"I've already heard everything from Yamato. He told me about Sasuke as well." Kakashi replied, looking down at his book.

"We don't have any time left." Naruto went on. "At this rate, in just a bit longer, he'll… and with where we're at right now, we aren't strong enough to bring Sasuke back. He's gotten way too strong."

"Well, in that case, you only need to become stronger than him, right?"

"Even as I looked at him, it was clear that the speed at which he's gotten stronger isn't normal at all." Sakura said. "After consulting Tsunade, she told me it was possible he's been using forbidden jutsu or has been given drugs during his training. With someone like Kabuto working with him, well…" Sakura gave me a glance, before looking back down. "And while I probably can't hope to learn anything from books like these about how people who experiment on humans think, well…"

"In that case, you'll just need to get even stronger than him, at a faster rate." Kakashi replied.

"Yeah, but how?"

"You don't think I've just been sleeping here without thinking, do you? I was thinking the whole time and… something came to me. Still, this particular method is best for someone like Naruto. Or rather… I should say, that it's really something that only he is capable of doing. With this training, Naruto, you might even surpass me, in a way of speaking."

"Surpass you?"

Kakashi looked up from his book. "That's right. I'll be at your side through all of this training. Shi as well."

I turned to him and raised a brow, but he just gave me a closed-eye grin and went on.

"And it's completely different from any training you've ever done."

"W-What'll we be doing?"

"Making you a unique ultimate ninjutsu. That is to say, you'll get a ninjutsu more powerful than the Rasengan. But to get a power like that, requires a massive amount of time and work. You won't get super strong in a few days like someone out of a book. And it's not like jutsu that you've learned before, like the Rasengan, where you were steered through it slowly so you could get it."

"You say we need a massive amount of time, but we don't have any!" Naruto shouted. "Sasuke's already—"

"That's why I've come up with a way to minimize the time."

"H-How? How can you do that?"

"Well—"

Kakashi was cut off as the door suddenly opened and Asuma and his team came in.

"Asuma-sensei! At least knock!" Ino whined though Asuma ignored her.

"How're you doing, Kakashi?"

Choji and Shikamaru came in as well, waving to me and going on to have their own conversations with Naruto and Sakura. I yawned, mouth wide, as Asuma took a seat by Kakashi and turned to everyone else.

"You guys go on ahead to Yakiniku Q. Team Kakashi, you three go with them."

Choji and Ino cheered, and Asuma smirked.

"I've something to talk about with Kakashi. So the Yakiniku's on me."

"Hey, hang on!" Naruto shouted. "Hey, hey! Kakashi-sensei, what about our training talk?!"

"Oh yeah. Hm… Right! Talk about it later."

"What?" Naruto whined. "You really had me all fired up."

They reluctantly left and I began to leave too, but Asuma stopped me.

"You're welcome to stay, Shi. You might want to hear it too."

I raised a brow, but nodded, coming over and reaching into the bag I had set down, pulling out a dumpling and handing it to Kakashi before taking one myself and offering another to Asuma, who took it.

"So what'd you want to talk about?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, you see—" Asuma was cut off then by a knock on the door.

Kurenai came in. "There you are."

"Oh, it's just Kurenai." Kakashi said. "You need something?"

"Well, I heard Asuma was here and so…" She left her sentence hanging and Kakashi and I turned to Asuma.

"Hm… Asuma, what'd you have to say?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh nothing. I'll just catch you when we have more time. Sorry."

Him and Kurenai left and we watched them go with sweatdrops.

"I want to know now." I muttered, taking a bite out of the dumpling.

"No kidding." Kakashi agreed, before turning to me as I sat in a chair nearby. "So what happened with Naruto and Sai earlier?"

"Sai is… not good with expressing himself."

"He's a lot like you first were, from what I heard."

I nodded. "He was not immediately accepted and had a… harsh mouth. Naruto was not as accepting as Sakura and I."

He nodded as well, book set down on his lap as he listened.

"He was soon accepted after their mission and today…" I smirked a bit. "He wished to come up with nicknames. Sakura teased Naruto, saying it should be based on characteristics and called him 'idiot Naruto'. Sai took this literally and called her 'ugly-dog'. Sakura was the one who hit them."

Kakashi nodded with a chuckle. "Sounds about right. And how are you? I heard you went on a mission as well?"

I nodded. "I cannot say much, but I was gathering information about Orochimaru."

"I see." He didn't push the issue, probably knowing that some information about missions were confidential. "Any problems with… you know."

I shook my head, placing a hand on my seal. "No. There was limited fighting on this mission. I last used it while fighting Sasori."

He sighed. "That's good."

"The nightmares though…" I trailed off, unsure why I was sharing this with him, turning away and scratching my slightly red cheek. "They've gotten worse."

"About Orochimaru?"

I nodded. "Him taking me back… and—"

"I won't let him take you again, Shi."

I looked over at Kakashi as he stared back seriously at me and felt… safe. Something I hadn't felt in a long while, even in my own apartment.

"K-Kakashi?"

"Hm?"

"Why do I… feel safe around you?" I asked, genuinely curious as to the feelings I had been experiencing around Kakashi.

He gave me a closed-eye grin. "Well… maybe you like me."

I felt heat flood to my cheeks and turned away, pulling my scarf up to try and hide my blush, but a hand pulled it down away from my face, making to turn to see a smiling Kakashi.

"Is that a yes?"

I grew redder in the face, practically climbing over the back of my chair. "I-I don't—I mean, I can't—I understand but—I'm not good with these sorts of things!"

He chuckled, sitting back onto the bed. "That's obvious. I won't force you to though. If you don't want to that's fine."

I slowly sank back down into my chair, looking down at my lap, face still red. "I-I, um… I'm not very good with emotions and with everything that's going on…"

I could feel my stomach flip and nervousness crept in, but there was another emotion I felt stronger than the others and I realized it wasn't mine. It was Kakashi's and it was a deep heart wrenching sadness, one that made me sad and worried. And it was then that I understood, if only a little bit, of what Kakashi felt for me and how I felt for him.

"…but…I-I would like to, um, try it." I looked up, face still a bit red and a nervous closed-eye grin on my face. "If that's a-alright with you."

Kakashi chuckled and I felt the atmosphere lift, an overwhelming sense of relief washing over the both of us.

"Of course it's alright."

We both laughed and spent the rest of the afternoon just talking to one another about different things and enjoying ourselves. After a while though, I could feel myself wearing down; the multitude of missions and little amount of sleep getting to me. Kakashi was quick to notice though and, before I knew it, I had fallen asleep beside him.

Once Kakashi had woken me, it was already sometime into the next day and we just quickly stopped by our homes to change and head over to where we were supposed to meet Naruto for this special training Kakashi had promised. Once there, I was too tired to really pay attention to what Kakashi was explaining to Naruto. Something about physical and spatial recomposition, and using kage-bunshin to shorten the amount of time spent learning a technique… doesn't have anything to do with me though.

"Shi!"

I cringed, feeling as though Kakashi had somehow read my thoughts, and glanced at him.

"You weren't listening, were you?"

I chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of my neck. "I got the gist of it, but what does it have to do with me?"

He sighed, dropping his head into his hand, before looking back up at me. "You are going to do a similar type of training, but with something different. Catch."

He tossed something at me and I caught it, looking at the three pronged kunai in confusion.

"Your training is going to be a bit different though." Kakashi said with a smile. "Because, while Naruto is coming up with a new jutsu, you are going to be learning an old one."

I raised a brow, tilting my head in confusion.

"No fair!" Naruto shouted, pointing at me. "How come Shi gets the easy job?!"

"She's not." Kakashi replied. "While this is an old jutsu, there is no one to teach it to her. Even I only have limited knowledge on it and it's possible she won't even be able to do it."

If I wasn't confused enough before, I was now. "Why take that risk?"

Kakashi smiled a closed-eye smile. "Because I'm not the only one who believes that it's possible for you to figure it out. Jiraiya was the one who originally suggested it. That, and you'll also be coming up with a new jutsu as well."

I sighed, dropping my head at the amount of work I was going to have to do, while Naruto snickered next to me, stopping only when I hit him upside the head.

"Mah, well, I'm sure getting the hang of a new jutsu won't be as hard for you as it will be for Naruto." Kakashi said.

"Hey!"

It was my turn to snicker as Naruto frowned at me, as Kakashi went on.

"Though this it will be a problem should the kyuubi or your beast get out of control."

"That's why you're the only two who can do this kind of training, Naruto, Shi."

"Yamato-taichou!" Naruto called out as the man walked towards us.

"Kakashi asked me to help out with your training. You may need me to control their chakra, after all."

"I'm counting on you!" Naruto called out, whereas I nodded.

"Osu."

Yamato chuckled a bit with a sweatdrop and Kakashi went on to explain 'chakra manipulation' to Naruto. Upon discovering that his chakra nature was wind, Naruto grew confused about a few things.

"Then what sort of quality control is used in Yamato-taichou's wood techniques? And Shi's, uh… metal thingy?"

Kakashi whispered something to Yamato and he suddenly did some hand signs, making us look up as he built a rather large rock wall. He then created a waterfall and I nodded in understanding. Wood is made by combining earth and water chakra natures.

"What?! Yamato-taichou has two too?!"

"Those in the jounin class usually have at least two. I can also control elements other than 'thunder'. Shi's a special case though. Shi?"

I looked at him and sighed, understanding what he wanted me to do. I pulled out two kunai, channeling electricity through one before adding wind, thus making it magnetic and dropping the other to show that it went to the magnetized one.

"Combining lightning and wind makes magnetic abilities." I muttered. "I can also use fire and water."

"Four?!"

Kakashi then went on to explain how the combining of the two chakra natures was considered a kekkei-genkai and that only certain people born into a bloodline could use them, making Naruto even more confused.

"Shi's got this too?!"

I turned my head away, not really liking where this conversation was heading, as my past was still something uncomfortable for me to talk about. Kakashi seemed to notice this and replied for me, trying to change the topic more near the end.

"Well, because of Shi's background, she's been given more than one of these abilities. Things that not even my sharingan could copy. I guess I should start explaining the training—"

"Then how about Shikamaru's kagemane and Choji's baika no jutsu? And how about medical ninjutsu and genjutsu?" Naruto questioned.

"Hm, it'll take a long time to explain those and if I explain it all at once, it'll confuse you so…"

Yamato also mentioned moving along to the training and soon Naruto had a bunch of clones out trying to cut a leaf. With him taken care of, Kakashi brought me over by Yamato who was already set up to keep the kyuubi's chakra under control.

"Now, you're training is different from Naruto's though you'll still be doing the kagebunshin training."

I nodded, looking back at the kunai Kakashi had given me.

"That," He said. "…is something that was given to me by my sensei, the fourth Hokage."

I looked up at him in surprise, looking back down at the kunai with a new perspective.

"Well, don't tell that to Naruto, or we'll have a problem on our hands."

He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck and I nodded with my own little smile, before noticing the odd markings on the handle of the kunai. It looks like a seal of some sort… A summoning one, from the looks of it.

"You're going to teach me how to summon something?" I questioned, pointing out the markings on the handle. "It looks similar to a summoning seal used for summoning animals and people."

Kakashi looked surprised before giving me a closed-eye grin. "Seems we were right about telling you about this technique. Good knowledge of sealing was something that the fourth was known for and Jiraiya and I assumed it was the basis for this jutsu."

I was beginning to get annoyed at how Kakashi kept jumping around the topic of what this jutsu actually was and announced my annoyance.

"And what exactly is this jutsu?"

Kakashi smirked. "It's known as the Flying Thunder God technique. From what I know, it's a space-time jutsu that allows you to enter a dimensional void that will transport you to the location of that seal."

My brows furrowed, looking down at the seal on the kunai in my hand, mind already racing. I'll have to compare it to the summoning seal markings and see what differences they have. I'll also need to know how much chakra this requires, if I can transport other things with me, and if the seal can be physically placed on something by chakra or if it has to be written out. Not to mention all the technical details that will need to be worked out due to sealing being so detail oriented. It certainly is going to be a lot of book work.

"Hello?~"

I glanced up, finding Kakashi right in front of me, my cheeks turning red as he grinned again.

"I lost you for a minute there."

I nodded slowly. "Thinking."

He chuckled. "I figured as much. Though I'm sure you can multi-task, right?"

I sighed, nodding and summoning a good number of kagebunshin, already having an idea of what kind of new jutsu I could try out and as they set to work, I sent a clone to grab my notes on sealing from home and I headed off to see what I could find in the library. Needless to say, it was going to be a long while and a lot of brainwork before I even began to understand what I was getting myself into.

My clone soon returned with my notes and I moved off to another area not too far away and buried myself in them, trying to figure out how this technique worked, whereas my other clones went about trying to form something similar to the Rasengan that Naruto created. I had been around with him during his training, after all, and it had given me the idea of adding another chakra element to it. I figured a magnet one wouldn't do much as far as damage goes, so adding lightning to it would be pointless, as would adding water. So the only option left would be adding wind or fire. Since Naruto was working on wind and I wasn't too keen on stealing his jutsu, I decided to see what I could do with fire. Though trying to figure out the specifics of the regular Rasengan came first.

It should be just chakra control. From what I remember about Naruto's training, one needs to use dense chakra and move it in different directions while keeping it in a ball form. Naruto used a balloon and rubber ball, but it's similar to what I did to make the magnet rod… except instead of making the rod, I need to make a sphere and instead of lightning inside and wind outside, it needs to be chakra inside and out. My clones all collectively sighed, earning a chuckle from Kakashi and Yamato, but they all went to work trying to form the Rasengan.

Hours past and with them doing that, I felt one step closer to figuring out how the Fourth Hokage's jutsu worked. I was right in thinking that it was similar to the summoning technique and found that the seals used in both were very similar, other than the shape of the seals. Summon seals were created by chakra, just as this one was, but the summon seal appeared in a circle and lines coming out of said circle. This seal though, was a small line of text. Both though, were able to transport things through a dimensional void to the seal, but this one did not require blood like the summon did. And all of this I figured out just by the writing in the seal and the shape of it. A real pain, but it was all I could come up with without anything to work with.

"Alright!" Kakashi called, the sun already beginning to set. "This would be a good time to regain the experience from your kagebunshins. Release your jutsu and reflect on your training."

Naruto dispersed his clones and I did the same, immediately feeling the back lash and collapsing backwards into my mountain of books and data. Both Naruto and I ended up passing out from the exertion, but I learned that my clones had just managed to get the Rasengan going, though they found it easier to do it with one hand versus Naruto, who needed a clone. His chakra control is poor though, so it's to be expected. I've been working on chakra control my whole life here and my Beast Runner techniques requires a precise amount of different chakra elements, so I understand how chakra flows and moves better than he does. Though his probably has more power than mine.

When we both woke up, it was back to training and my clones were making sure that the Rasengan I created, though different from Naruto's, worked. One destroyed tree later, and they set about trying to add fire to it. Now, my Rasengan is far different than Naruto's. His is made out of pure chakra whereas mine is made out of wind with a bit of chakra, just to help it keep shape. It's basically just controlling my chakra enough to keep sharp, violent wind currents in a ball formation. Hence, why Naruto's Rasengan does far more damage. When he hit a tree with his Rasengan, he created a circular crater. When I hit a tree, I created a crater about a third of Naruto's but I also managed to knock the tree down due to the sheer violence of the wind contained in the sphere. These winds managed to slice through the tree, creating an 'X' that stretched out from the center of the crater. Definitely an improvement. I thought, going back to my research when Kakashi came over.

"How you doing?"

"Alright. I think I understand the basics, but applying them is going to be difficult." I muttered, flipping through one of the library books before closing it and tossing it to the side, a clone taking them to return them.

"And your other training?"

I gestured over to a clone that had just slammed, what I call, a Cross Sphere into a tree, knocking it down.

"It's not a Rasengan, but it's close. I'm going to add the next element soon."

Kakashi hummed before leaning down and pressing his cloth covered lips to my temple, making me stop and turn beet red as I looked up at his grinning face.

"A kiss for good luck."

He walked away then, me still staring at him with wide eyes, before one of my clones hit me on the back of my head.

"Come on. We've got work to do." It grumbled, though its face was slightly red as well.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts deciding that I, myself, needed some exercise and something to take my mind off things and switched with a clone to try and work on this new jutsu. The process of making the Cross Rasengan was fairly simple, though it did require a bit of time—something I'd need to work on—but I knew I was going to need to be careful when adding the fire. Wind, after all, increases the intensity of the flames, so getting burned in the process was something expected. Though hopefully it won't be anything too bad. I'll start off with a small amount of flame and work my way up. That should keep the damage down to minimal.

Nodding to myself, I went ahead and created the Cross Rasengan in my hand and made flames in my other, moving to put them together when something unexpected happened. All I had was a split second to curse before the fire flared, scalding a good portion of my body before some of the clones around me doused me with water, one clone rushing off to get help as a good number disappeared due to also being hit by the blast and I got rid of the others to conserve energy. Although my clones had put out the flames fairly quickly, I knew that I wasn't in good shape. My whole body hurt, feeling as though those flames were still licking at my skin, and even a simple movement of my fingers sent waves of pain up my body. I begged my clone to hurry, already feeling myself beginning to slip into unconsciousness as I laid on the charred grass. I felt my clone disappear then, but was glad to know that Kakashi and Yamato were on their way.

I must have momentarily blacked out, because the next thing I knew, someone was calling out to me, and I opened an eye to see Kakashi and Yamato hurrying to my side. Kakashi immediately turned to Yamato telling him to get Tsunade to the hospital before reaching towards me, hands hovering over me as he hesitated. He was worried, that much I could tell, but he steeled himself and picked me up, sending more waves of pain as my body protested to the abrupt movement. I let out a whimper unconsciously, feeling the wind aggravate my burns as Kakashi carried me and hurried to the hospital, completely silent. I vaguely recall being brought into the hospital and Kakashi fighting with the nurses about only handing me over when Tsunade arrived. The last thing I remember after that, was Tsunade shaking her head at me.

"You're always getting into trouble. Looks like you outdid yourself this time."

I woke up feeling far better than before, but the moment I tried to move, I regretted it. Looking down at myself, I realized that both my arms were covered in bandages, as was the right side of my face, neck, chest and abdomen. Seems the burns were worse than I thought, since not even Tsunade was able to heal me completely. I winced, forcing myself to sit up and got up, moving over to where my clothes were and putting them on. Just as I finished, the door opened and I cringed as I recognized their scent and their burning gaze on the back of my head.

"And where do you think you're going?"

I turned to look at the angry Sakura with a nervous closed-eye grin. "Out?"

Sakura frowned, stomping forward and getting in my face. "You just woke up and have at least 35% of your body covered in burns and you're leaving?! I expected this from someone like Naruto!"

"Sorry." I muttered, when the door opened again and a grinning Kakashi and Tsunade entered, though Tsunade was rolling her eyes instead of grinning.

"Mah, don't be too hard on her, Sakura."

Sakura backed off a bit, bowing and greeting Tsunade before leaving, giving me a small glare, though I could see the worry lacing her face. I made her upset… I'll have to make it up to her later… I let out a small sigh and wandered back to the bed, sitting on the edge of it as Tsunade gave me a serious look.

"So do you care to explain what you were doing that caused this much damage, Shi?"

I nodded, pulling a bandaged hand through my hair. "I miscalculated. I made something similar to Rasengan only it was made out of wind instead of chakra. I went to progress it further by adding a small amount of flame, but it took to the wind more than I expected and when it reached the center, it expanded too quickly for me to react. I believe I understand what I need to do now, and wish to return to training… if I could."

Tsunade sighed, muttering about how I was far too much like Naruto, and narrowed her eyes at me. "I'll allow you to for now, however, the damage you've done to your body is still very severe. You're lucky that you put out the fire so quickly, but you still managed to get third degree burns on your arms, face, and torso. I've done what I could for now and you'll have to come back every day for the next few days for me to check on the burns and heal them up more to prevent scarring, but I already know that there will be scarring on your hands, as they took the brunt of the damage." She reached into her pocket and handed Kakashi a small bottle. "Make sure she puts this on her hands every day until the bottle runs out. I doubt she'll actually do it if I just give the salve to her."

Tsunade gave me a look and I chuckled nervously, before pointing to my face. "And this?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're lucky your face only got second degree burns. It'll heal up in a few days."

I nodded, getting up as she left, and turned to Kakashi, only for him to shove me up against the wall suddenly, making my heart race out of control out of fear and confusion.

"K-Kakashi?"

He had me pinned, my panic rising as my eyes desperately searched for an escape, when he suddenly let out a deep breath, dropping his head on my shoulder.

"Don't scare me like that…" He said quietly.

The panic I had slowly began to fade, but I was still on edge and my voice caught up with me before my mind did.

"S-Says you! Kami…"

I felt my body shake, in the aftermath of the adrenaline rush, and didn't expect Kakashi to pull me into a hug, pressing his cloth-covered lips to my temple once more. At this point, I didn't mind it, I was still in the process of calming down as Kakashi muttered quiet apologies, but it still hurt a bit. We soon pulled apart, me a nice red shade and Kakashi with a small grin, before we headed out. But right before we left the hospital, I reached to pull my scarf up only to remember that I hadn't found it with my clothes. Kakashi saw this and reached into his vest, pulling out my scarf, or… what was left of it.

"I'm sorry, Shi. There wasn't much I could do."

He held it out to me and I took it, a hand brushing over the cloth that was now not much longer than half a foot, the edges singed and frayed. My chest hurt, a deep sadness welling up in me upon seeing what had happened to my most prized possession and knowing that it couldn't be replaced.

"I, uh, brought you one of my masks though." Kakashi said, passing me a folded bundle that I didn't realize he had.

I nodded my thanks, using one of the hospital bathrooms to put it on, and coming back out. I was still pretty upset about the whole thing and Kakashi didn't push it, instead choosing to tell me about Naruto's progress to try and get my mind off it. I appreciated the gesture, but said nothing the whole way there, quickly absorbing myself back into my studies, planning on letting my clones deal with the explosive nature of the Flaming Rasengan. As I worked on figuring out the Flying Thunder God technique, I could feel clones disappearing from the intensity of the other jutsu and the information and stress they had began to gather up until I had an idea.

"A spark… If using actual fire is too much, no matter how much I use, then a spark should be the only other option."

I called one of my clones over, explaining this to them and sending it off to tell the others. As it went and did that, I stood up and held the kunai Kakashi had given me and holding up two others that were unmarked. I had a clone get them for me while it was out, on the assumption that the seal on the one I currently had only reacted to the fourth's chakra and wouldn't work for me. Holding the two and setting the other one on a stack of books nearby, I focused my chakra, making a new seal on the two kunai and checking to make sure it was written correctly. Satisfied so far, I tossed the kunai into a tree a few feet away and held the other marked one, taking a deep breath. Hopefully, this works. If not… then back to square one.

I focused my chakra and suddenly, I was in front of the tree where the kunai was, though my stomach was churning and I was on the ground on my backside, feeling like I had been pulled off the back of Shoji while he was galloping full speed. I couldn't help but smile though, falling onto my back laughing. I had done it. Not perfectly, but I could do it. I could figure out the specifics, find out what I did wrong. I could improve and that… that was all I needed at the moment. Something to brighten my day.

"You slacking off already?"

I glanced up and was met by Kakashi, grinning and holding out a hand to help me up. I took his hand and once back up on my feet, I shook my head and gave him a grin.

"I did it."

His eyes widened. "You… did?"

I nodded, pointing at the kunai behind me. "It needs some tweaking, but I went from my stack of books to here. Too much chakra though, I think. I feel like someone punched me in the stomach while running full speed."

I felt a little sick now that I was standing and felt myself pale, alerting Kakashi, who had me sit down on the grass in front of him.

"I'm actually just surprised you got it this fast. Let alone managed to actually do it."

I gave him a look and he chuckled.

"I didn't mean it like that. It's just that Jiraiya and I both haven't been able to figure it out, so you must have figured out something me didn't."

"Hm." I hummed, a hand over my stomach that still complained. "I suppose. The specifics are a pain to figure out. Like I said, it needs some tweaking. Maybe to the seal itself?"

"Well I'm sure you'll figure it out, Shi."

I let out a soft sigh and glanced towards the trees that he'd come from. "How's Naruto doing?"

"He's still working on trying to cut the waterfall. Although, we did allow him to add a lot more clones so I expect he'll figure it out soon. How's your other jutsu?"

"Let me see." I said, dispersing one of my clones to get the information and smirking. "Looks like I was right."

Kakashi tilted his head in confusion and curiosity. "About?"

"I couldn't figure out why my clones kept being blown away no matter how little fire I used, so I thought about the smallest amount possible. A spark."

Kakashi started to smile as I gave him a closed-eye grin. "So you've got it then?"

I nodded, standing up and concentrating, forming the Cross Rasengan first and then snapping my fingers with the other hand, creating a spark that caught fire to the ball and I slammed it into a nearby tree, watching as it not only created a scorching crater in it, but also exploded into the tree, knocking it down and leaving it smoldering. I looked down at my hand, flexing it with a slight wince, the burns from earlier complaining at the movement, but my hand overall was okay other than the soot covering the bandages after that last move.

"Good work." Kakashi said, coming over and wrapping his arms around my waist, making me tense and glance back at him with a small glare.

"Stop it."

"Stop what?" He asked, innocently.

I pushed his arms off me, trying and failing to ignore the sad look he had. "Stop… trapping me." I murmured, quietly.

"Shi, I'm not trapping you." Kakashi said, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"I-I know. It's… affection, but…" I closed my eyes, memories of Kabuto and Orochimaru holding me down flashing in my skull. "It's not easy after… after what happened."

"Okay. We'll take it slow." Kakashi said, reassuring me. "I'm in no rush."

I nodded when we suddenly hear cheering coming from where Naruto and Yamato were at and Kakashi sighed.

"Sounds like Naruto's finally done it. You can go ahead and release your clones, Shi."

I raised a brow. "Are you sure? You're going to have to help me back."

Kakashi gave me a small smile. "Yeah. Go ahead. I'm sure Naruto will need a break too and I don't mind."

I nodded, dispersing my clones and almost immediately feeling the strain, Kakashi draping my arm over his shoulder and helping me out to the open where Naruto and Yamato were. He sat me down on the grass by Yamato before telling Naruto about moving on with his training, when Naruto suddenly collapsed, making Kakashi appear at his side in worry. Turns out, Naruto collapsed because he was hungry and, with those words spoken, my own stomach decided to make itself known and it was unanimously decided that food was our next trip. I was helped most of the way by Kakashi, having been far more exhausted than Naruto, who was known for his stamina. When we arrived at Ichiraku's place though, we all got a not so pleasant surprise.

"What? Where's Ayame?" Kakashi asked, looking at the two guys before us, missing the usual waitress.

And I kind of did too, to be honest.

"She's on vacation. These guys are new hires."

"I'm Nishi!"

"I'm Matsu!"

Naruto could care less, as did I. Both of us slumped over on our stools just begging for food. Naruto got his first, mine taking a bit longer, but when the man set the bowl down, I noticed he put his finger in it and frowned. Naruto got excited and went to eat it, but the boss took it away and scolded the man for putting his finger in it. He then made the other hire make another one, only for him to trip and spill it all over the place. They were scolded again, the two taking cover behind Kakashi, before Ichiraku finally got around to making our food, Naruto and I digging in with vigor. When we finished it though, Kakashi said he had some things to explain to Naruto and we returned to the training ground for him to do that.

While he told Naruto about the Rasengan being incomplete and such, I made a few more clones—once Yamato was set up—and began working on fixing what I had done wrong with the fourth's technique. I had made sure to grab a few more kunai on the way back and my clones tried everything I could think of to reduce the amount of strain that using this jutsu caused. Less chakra released the burden a little, but there was still something off and I picked up one of the kunai and looked over the seal carefully. What did I mess up on? The seal has to be slightly different in order to work with my chakra, but did that effect the formula somehow? I narrowed my eyes, going over every character before I found it.

"You've got to be kidding me." I muttered, a sweatdrop forming.

"Something wrong, Shi?" Kakashi said, having gotten away from Naruto now that he had his clones set up and was trying to add wind to his Rasengan.

I held up the kunai, pointing a finger at one of the characters. "What do you see here?"

He looked closer and put a hand to his chin. "The kanji for 'collect'?"

I shook my head with a frown. "No. That is the kanji for 'small'. It's supposed to be the kanji for 'collect'."

He too sweatdropped and glanced up at me, wincing when he saw how angry I was. I could feel the frustration building, grey chakra forming over me and Kakashi quickly backed off as Yamato went to contain me. His wooden pillars launched forward, grabbing my limbs in their mouth and slamming me into the ground, slowly stopping my aggressive chakra from forming, before I passed out from chakra exhaustion; my last thought being… Such a stupid mistake…