"There is no victory at bargain basement prices."

- General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Chapter 8: Perseverance

It was kind of strange just sitting there. When you sat and all was quiet, you couldn't help but think. Sometimes thinking wasn't a good thing. Thinking could be dangerous. Sometimes it was just too dangerous. Naruto stared at the ceiling of his apartment dismally. The high after the successful test was over. Now everything was really beginning to hit home.

"You see this?" Kakashi held up the canister for all the genin to see. The eye floated within the murky liquid. A flash of a cruel smile crossed his face before it disappeared once more. He unscrewed the lid of the container and pulled out the small sphere. The genin inched away from the man as he stroked the eye before him.

"All of you, reacting like this. It's pathetic don't you think?" Kakashi tossed the eye up into the air before catching it again. He repeated the action over and over in front of their disgusted faces. "You are shinobi. Or at least you are supposed to be. I'm not sure how many of you really are." He fingered the ball for a second more before throwing it at the genin. The children scattered away from the eye as it flew past them and into a wall.

"Shinobi have to be used to death, used to pain. As shinobi, you will either be the one dealing the damage, or the one receiving it." Naruto stared at the slop which had previously been an eye as it dripped down the side of the wall. "If all it took to take out our genin was to throw body parts at them, Konoha would be ruined. Keep it in mind."

Naruto bit his lip. He had been one of the genin that had cowered away from the eye. It was cowardly to do that, wasn't it? All he really could say about himself was that he was a genin with delusions of grandeur. How had he imagined defeating his foes anyways? He thought of it as some sort of bloodless slaughter that just ended with everyone fainting. It was pathetic.

How would he be able to protect Shikamaru and Kei like this? All the tales about saving civilians, becoming a hero to save the innocent, they were all rubbish. The only way to really save someone from evil was to get your hands dirty.

"Open it and read it." Asuma stared at Shikamaru as the boy unfolded the letter that he had found at the memorial stone.

"The memorial stone. It's a shinobi's dream that when he dies his name will be inscribed on that rock. They say that it is an honor to be there, but it's just a way to comfort the families who lost their loved ones. Take a good look at the names, every single one of them. Each of them probably had families, friends, just like you and me. Remember that for every enemy you kill, you break the heart of someone else."

"This is a shinobi's duty: To defeat your enemies and make sure that no one can plot against you later. But do not let this make you cold hearted. If at all possible, do not kill. Instead make them your one that dies is never the only one you kill."

Was that true? Naruto had never thought of it much before. Everything and everyone in his world was all relative to himself. The clothing owner that always kicked him out of the store, he probably had a wife and kids to take care of. What if Naruto being in the store meant bad business? Was getting rid of the jinchuuriki the wisest business solution? Naruto couldn't hate the man for that. He was just doing what was best for his kids.

Naruto rolled over to the side of his bed. How much of the hatred he received was really hate? Was there even a portion of it that was a front to protect others? People get along with one another if they have a common interest, whether it is ninjas, flowers, art, or enemies. Naruto wondered if he was the common enemy that helped people come together when they otherwise would never talk to one another.

The blonde sighed dismally. Walking in another's shoes was always something he had put off. It required that he understand how they felt. He didn't want to understand. He just wanted to hate them for it. Naruto clenched his teeth. Why couldn't he just hate them for everything? Understanding people made it so much more difficult!

"Uzumaki-san? You're going to be late unless you hurry up." Naruto looked towards the door at the sound of Kei's voice.

"One minute!" Thinking about this more would have to wait until later. Naruto rolled down to the floor and stood up. The boy stretched for a moment before answering the door. The golden eyed girl was already walking away from the apartment. She turned back for a moment and waved at him to hurry up before continuing her walk down the street.

Recently Shikamaru and Kei had decided to strike a deal. If they had the chance, they'd play shogi with one another once every week. The loser would have to make sure Naruto made it to training on time every day. However, if one person won more than three times in a row, they'd have to go for a week before switching back. The two of them had managed to squeeze in a game after dinner last night and much to her chagrin, Kei had lost.

She swayed back and forth as she slowly made her way down the dirt road. The place Naruto lived in really was a dump. There wasn't any other way to describe the decrepit neighborhood in which he lived. The girl eyed the fragmented clay roofing that had crashed upon the ground. Yes, this place certainly needed drastic remodeling.

She hugged her notebook tightly to her chest as she walked. Yesterday was kind of scary. It wasn't that she had run away from the eyeball, but it was more that she was frozen in fear. Ino had said how amazed she was that Kei hadn't run away. Kei lowered her head. Fear was nothing to be proud of! She had always told herself that she would never panic no matter what the situation, but she just couldn't keep to that rule.

Her nails dug into the leather. It was disappointing how weak she acted when something actually important came up. "Kei-chan? Are you ok?" The girl looked towards Naruto with a glum look on her face before nodding her head. She would be fine soon. There was no reason to bother others with her selfish fears.

Naruto somehow doubted that she was telling the truth, but smiled anyway. If she wanted to keep it to herself then he had no excuse to butt into her secrets. Just like the way she didn't force herself into his. It worked out nicely that way.

"Who do you think you have as a teacher, Kei-chan? You're water affinity, right? I don't think there are very many of those around Konoha." Naruto quickly swapped topics on a lighter note.

"No, there aren't many. Kiri killed most of the water affinities from the other countries. It's safer if only one country has a monopoly on a certain affinity. Though I am not quite sure how the water gene entered my genetic code." Kei paused for a moment before shaking her head. She couldn't recall that she had any Mizu lineage in her. "The only jounin that have water affinity have it as their secondary or tertiary affinity so no one really specializes in it. They probably practice it well enough, though. I think I know who my tutor is actually..."

Kei softened her voice again. She thought she knew, but she also wished that she was wrong. That person wasn't someone she wanted to face so soon.

"Hmm? Really? So do you think you can guess my tutor, Kei-chan?" Naruto bounced before the girl happily.

"Wind affinities are even rarer than water in Konoha. Only Sarutobi Asuma and Hayama Shirakumo have the affinity if I recall correctly. Sarutobi-sensei has his own genin team this year so I doubt Inoichi-sensei would be quite as inclined to ask him for favors. However, I don't know too much about Hayama-san." Kei said.

"So cool! I'm sure he's cooler than teme's jounin and that's good enough for me!" The blonde stopped for a moment before he jumped up in the air and waved maniacally. "Oi oi! We're coming!" He landed and turned to Kei with a lopsided grin. "Let's hurry up! One hundred meter sprint, go!" The boy bolted off towards his waiting sensei leaving Kei in a somewhat confused haze.

The girl jolted out of her daze and let out an irritated, "Hey!" before dashing off after her companion.

-TSUME-

Was Inoichi joking? He just had to be joking. Team Tsume sat in the booth gloomily. They stared across at their tutors with dead looks in their eyes. Inoichi laughed weakly at his students before coughing to try and grab their attention. "So, I assume you all remember Hatake-san." Inoichi gestured towards the white haired jounin beside him.

Kakashi twirled his straw in his drink slowly. He had told his students to meet him about an hour ago and was actually going to be on time, but as per usual, someone had to grab him. Apparently Inoichi decided it was the perfect time for Kakashi to get another temporary student. Kakashi faintly recalled agreeing to mentoring one of the kids, but it was awfully soon. The man sighed. Hopefully he wouldn't get stuck with the demon; it would be just his luck.

"Hatake-san will be mentoring Kei-chan in her water affinity. He's busy with his own genin, but while they are on missions he can give you pointers. Alright, Kei-chan?" Inoichi smiled kindly towards the girl while she bobbed her head in response.

She was not a happy camper. The events yesterday kept replaying in her head as she gazed warily at her new sensei. The whole situation just seemed so punitive. Not to mention that he seemed to be glaring at Naruto every few minutes. Was Kakashi that protective of Sasuke? It seemed unlikely, but maybe somewhere deep inside of him, Kakashi was a kiss up.

"Hayama-san will be mentoring Naruto-kun." Inoichi then waved towards the scarred man beside him. Shirakumo had a long scar racing down his dark cheek that only made him look more fearsome as he looked at all of the genin with distaste. He didn't hate children by any means, but that didn't mean that he liked them. The last thing on his list of things to do was to be roped into mentoring a green genin. In all honesty, genin normally didn't begin affinity training until three to six months into their training. Inoichi apparently didn't care for any preset conventions.

Shirakumo sighed and looked over towards the inquisitive blonde. The boy was peering over the table at his new sensei. Shirakumo grunted irritably. It seemed like he had gotten the loud one, how unlucky. If memory recalled, the boy was Uzumaki Naruto. He was the demon container wasn't he? The man stroked his chin in thought. So he'd be teaching one of the most potentially dangerous ninja in all of Konoha, eh?

A smirk lit his face. It certainly was an honor now wasn't it? "Nice to finally meet you, Uzumaki-san. Looks like we'll be working together, now won't we? Don't waste my time now." His rugged voice seemed to light a spark within the boy. The orange-clad genin bounced in his seat and spluttered out a garbled thank you.

To say that Naruto was shocked at the man's acceptance was an understatement. He was sure that the man would turn him away because of who he was, but it almost seemed that he was being treated normally! Naruto glowed happily in his spot as Inoichi moved along.

"Shikamaru-kun will stay with me for now. I've also talked to your dad, Shikamaru-kun. He will be tutoring you in some of the Nara techniques, but I will also help you with a secondary hereditary ability. I assume you have knowledge of the affinity type of which both of our clan's jutsu come from?" After getting the affirmation from the genin Inoichi continued, "Some jutsu don't have an elemental affinity, such as the Kagemane no Jutsu. The affinity these jutsu carry is called the Yin and Yang affinity. Genetic mutations or hereditary affinities are conventionally the only way for people to use these jutsu."

"Since you are from the Nara clan you are born with an ability to use these jutsu. All Yin and Yang jutsu can be used by others who also have the affinity so I will have you ease into the affinity. Alright, Shikamaru-kun?" Inoichi tilted his head to the side and smiled warmly at his genin. The three of them were absorbing all of the information he gave them like sponges. It made him incredibly proud to have them as his students. Thank goodness the Hokage had allowed him to choose his team.

"A-ah." Shikamaru nodded quickly and betrayed his excitement. He had never really been informed as to the details of his clan jutsu and had only been taught the basics. Now he would finally be able to delve into his father's library and read the tomes stored there.

"Good, good. I suppose your sensei will all want to get acquainted with you now. In that way we do have a head start, don't we Shikamaru-kun?" Inoichi winked at the boy before standing up from his spot. He slipped outside of the booth and turned to the rest of the table. "I hope I will see you all soon! We will be splitting off from one another for the next two weeks before we meet back to track improvement. Don't become strangers from one another though. Come on, Shikamaru-kun. Goodbye all of you."

-TSUME-

The golden general clicked as it was set down upon the board. "Your turn." Shikamaru turned away from his father and back to the scrolls piled beside his seat. The sun shone over the ink and it reflected an eerie color in the boy's eyes. The Yin and Yang affinity was so very different. His fingers traced over the words as his eyes scanned across the scroll.

"Father." Shikaku looked up from the shogi board. "Yin and Yang doesn't come from the chakra system does it?"

Shikaku was silent for a moment before nodding the affirmative. "Shikamaru, there are only five basic affinities. A majority of the other affinities such as ice and wood are mixes of those five. Yin and Yang is not a mix, but nor is it one of the basic types. One of the reasons that Yin and Yang is so not usable by others is because it is a genetic mutation. Any shinobi can master two or even all of the elemental affinities if they train hard enough. However, only those with the mutation can learn the Yin and Yang affinity jutsu."

"Thin streams of the affinity are coiled around our chakra systems. It is one of the reasons why you rarely see any of the Akimichi, Yamanaka, or Nara clans out on battle duty unless absolutely necessary. All injuries to our chakra systems also cut through the streams that supply the Yin and Yang energy. For ease of reference, I shall call it Ki."

"This Ki has to be contained within the stream because it is still dangerous to us if it escapes through the rest of our bodies. That is why the clan heirs generally go into the interrogation department or the strategic advisory. Only the doctors of our clans know how to repair the chakra streams. Most normal medic nin have no knowledge of the abnormality."

Shikaku picked up a small piece with the words for 'lance' graphed into it before placing it back down on the board. "Checkmate, Shikamaru. You still aren't observing all the options."

Shikamaru cursed under his breath as he looked at the board. How absolutely hilarious. He had lost because he was cornered in by his own general. Shikamaru looked up at his father with a cold look in his eyes. "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Shikaku shrugged flippantly before getting up from his seat upon the ground. "Always remember: on the battlefield there is no such thing as black at white. Your allies may become the cause of your death whether they know it or not. Now come. We have other things to do."

-TSUME-

"Did you not hear what I said, Shimizu-san?" Kakashi smiled creepily at his student. The man was hunched over the water's edge and was peering at the girl that was partially submersed.

Kei spluttered as she tried to regain her breath before glaring coldly at her sensei. "I did, Hatake-sensei. But I still don't know what I'm supposed to do. You haven't given me any instructions!" She cut out exasperated.

"Not all things can be taught through a book, Shimizu-san. Water is something that cannot be tamed by reading about chemical compounds. Think about that carefully as you're under there." He grabbed her by the head and pushed her back down under the water before taking out his book with his other hand.

Shimizu squirmed as water filled her mouth again. Dratted man didn't even allow her to catch her breath. I need to breath, dangit! She cursed silently. Bubbles of air escaped her mouth as the last remnants of her precious oxygen left her. Her golden eyes faintly saw the bubbles as they rose up to the top of the water.

A thought struck her, was she supposed to create a pocket of air? She was pulled back up to the surface a moment later and immediately returned to gasping for breath. Kei venomously spat out the water in her mouth before leaning back into the water. If she didn't trust him with anything else, she trusted him enough to keep a strong enough hold on her so she wouldn't fall. Even he wouldn't want to be known for killing a genin like that.

-TSUME-

"You've got to be joking, ne Shirakumo-sensei?" Naruto held the leaf up and inspected it carefully. "I can't see any purpose of doing this at all! In battle I would never start cutting leaves! I'd just rip the darn thing if it came to it."

Shirakumo grunted in annoyance. The demon was far too energetic and far too stupid for his tastes. "Listen to me, boy. If I say to cut a leaf with chakra, you cut a leaf with chakra. If I tell you to cut a thousand of them with chakra, you're going to do it. Got it, boy?"

"EH? You can't be serious, Shirakumo-sensei! A thousand?" Naruto screeched. He stared blankly at his leaf before looking back up to his sensei. "Really?" The man looked back at him dully before saying, "Two thousand."

"Crap."

-TSUME-

"I would like to say it has been a while, but really it hasn't." Shikamaru smirked as he leaned against the tree. The clouds floated across the blue sky and slowly took the forms of both animals and people. Shikamaru dragged his attention away from the fluffy white and looked back towards his friends.

"You have no idea what crap I had to put up with." Kei growled low. The girl looked bedraggled as she rubbed her forehead in irritation. Hair was going every which way and was only kept vaguely in control by the hair tie behind her head. Her eyes had gotten noticeably puffier from lack of sleep and the whites of her eyes were lightly bloodshot.

"Ehh? He was that bad, Kei-chan? Shirakumo-sensei was totally the best! He said that I could visit him anytime I wanted as long as he was off duty. I should bring him out to eat with us sometime!" Naruto exclaimed merrily. The boy hopped up and down in excitement. He was glad to finally see his companions again. Not that Shirakumo was boring or anything, but he just couldn't quite compare to Kei and Shikamaru.

"He was that bad." Kei huffed. She could just remember it now. While Kakashi's genin were off plucking weeds, he was busy holding her underwater and telling her to relax and try and create an air bubble around her mouth. For a newbie, it just didn't work like that. That wasn't teaching; that was attempted murder. She rubbed her neck uneasily as she looked around warily. She almost felt that he was watching her. Kakashi seemed to always be around even she didn't see the fellow.

Shikamaru raised a brow in amusement before shaking his head. He supposed that he probably got the better end of the deal. Inoichi was a pleasant fellow to be around and his father was more of the same. When he got to play shogi for his training, there wasn't much to complain about at that point. Except maybe that they had been missing a few meals due to "extended sessions".

"So, what have you two learned? I trust that you haven't been lounging about these past two weeks." Shikamaru inquired amiably.

"Shirakumo-sensei was the best! So, so, at first it was really boring because he had me do something called splitting leaves. You have no idea how boring that was. Heck, I starting having a conversation with the leaves! Did you know that the female ones turn orange and red earlier than the male ones? Anyways, I finally got to split the leaf and it was so awesome! It slashed right through the leaf like it was paper! I guess it was a bit flimsier than paper, but still! It was so cool."

"He had me off splitting leaves for the first two days then it started getting a lot cooler. He demonstrated about the sorts of things you could do with wind affinity chakra. He has this jutsu where he can create a blade made out of wind! He said he'll teach it to me if I'm good! I wanna learn it so bad!" Naruto trailed off with a dreamy look on his face. It appeared he had recently obtained another goal to work towards.

"I suppose that if ever I am being held underwater I will survive. Heh." Kei chuckled humorlessly before returning to glaring at an innocent rock. "I'm also probably immune to getting hypothermia now." Kei cut off there and a sour look crept upon her face. She did not want to elaborate.

"A-ah. I see you two have had a lot of fun." Shikamaru chuckled lightheartedly in an attempt to improve the ambiance before telling his own little tale. "Inoichi-sensei had me studying the organic compounds of the nearby shrubs and grass so I could get a better understanding of what I am manipulating. We only really began affinity training yesterday because I finished studying the book he gave me. Father has pretty much given me free reign in the lower library to figure out whatever I like. Once and awhile he's sat down to play shogi with me, but I suppose he's busy with the clan meetings."

Shikamaru flexed a small strand of grass between his fingers. If he recalled correctly, this was the fourth variation of grass he had studied. How troublesome.

"Having fun without me? I'm hurt, you three." Inoichi gave a merry grin as he walked up to the trio. He leaned against the tree before saying, "I had to talk with your sensei. I hope I didn't leave you waiting too long, though." His blonde hair swayed behind him as he bobbed his head up and down.

"I also had time to talk with the Hokage a bit. We think you three are ready for a bit more than Tora chasing." The genin all perked up slightly at that. No more Tora would always brighten up anyone's day.

Inoichi stuffed a hand into his pocket and pulled out a small scroll. He tossed the paper over to Shikamaru who caught it and quickly broke the seal. He rolled it open for his comrades to see before skimming over the paper himself.

Assignment Code: Quarry #19, Mission 14, Rank C
Placement: The coal quarry in the lower eastern district of the fire country.
Mission Summary: Genin requested to help guard the shipment to the market town to the west. Distance is nine hours if shunshin, if walking then four to six days depending on what is being guarded.

Formal Request Letter: Our village would like to request the assistance of Konoha to help guard the shipment. The shipment is mighty important to our town and we don't want to take any risks. We need a group by the end of the third week of this month. Payment will be on completion of the mission. Thank you kindly.

"A-ah. This is our first rank C isn't it?" Shikamaru examined the letter carefully and committed every word to memory. He couldn't be too careful, although somehow he doubted the mission would be too eventful. His eyes glanced over towards Kei. She was already in a fairly bad mood and finding out that she would be placed on a guarding mission was bound to make her mood even worse.

Her eyes burned through the paper before a groan erupted from her mouth. It was a guarding mission. She was going to be screwed. She hadn't spent too much time with offensive jutsu over the past two weeks and only had two that she could effectively use. Being a one-trick pony would make her a pushover and that was not something she particularly desired to be.

"That's right, Shikamaru-kun! We'll be departing in two hours so you had better pack up! We'll be gone for about two weeks to even longer if there are any unexpected delays. Run along now, I'll meet you by the gates." The trio huddled together after their sensei left to discuss their plans.

"Shikamaru-kun, have you gotten any better at extending the width of theKagemane no Jutsu?" Naruto was bubbling with excitement. Finally no more of those blasted D ranks! He was going to have a breakdown if they got assigned to Tora one more time. Plus he would be able to prove to Shirakumo-sensei that he was able to learn the jutsu! It was going to be awesome.

"Mmhm. A little bit. I can probably capture four people now as the width of the jutsu can go to about four feet in all directions, albeit I can't sustain it endlessly." Shikamaru guiltily looked in Kei's direction. Some part of him still felt bad about forcing her to fight, but there was no way that he'd take the position. "Do you have any jutsu to use for battle if it comes to that, Shimizu-chan?'" Shikamaru inquired softly.

Kei looked at the boy and drawled sarcastically, "Sure. Loads and loads of jutsu." She opened her notebook and began skimming through her notes. She wrote down most of the jutsu that she would have an affinity to within the booklet, but were there any she could learn on such short notice?

The boys shared a glance with one another before getting up from the ground. When Kei got into her notebook, there wouldn't be any getting her out of it for awhile yet. "Just remember to pack, eh?" Naruto merrily patted her on the head before ambling off towards his apartment. He fumbled for his key before he unlocked the door and marched in. The boy searched the room for various shinobi gear, when he found a spare kunai or shuriken he would toss them onto his bed before continuing the search.

He pulled out a large leather satchel and tugged on the edges. It looked like it would still be able to carry a fair amount. He dropped onto his bed and began the tedious process of packing all of his belongings. If he was going to be gone for over a week then he would have to be super prepared. Almost anything could happen if given enough time. Naruto didn't want to test that hypothesis.

He stuffed a final roll of kunai into his pack before he sealed it off. With a contented sigh he leaned back onto his bed and looked casually over at his nightstand. His eyes widened as the clock blinked the time: it was 12:00. "Shoot!" Naruto bolted up from his spot and hastily grabbed his bag before bolting out the door. He was late, again!

He skirted around the lunchtime traffic as he climbed over yet another fence. He didn't live particularly close to the gates so he'd have to move double time. Hopping down the crates, Naruto took off down the lonely dirt road. A few minutes later, the iron gates came into view. Beneath their looming shadows were three figures. "I'm sorry!" were the first words out of his mouth as he came to a stop by his companions.

Despite his previous sprint, he gave an energetic bow before looking up towards his friends. Inoichi laughed at the boy before waving off the boy's apology. "It's alright, Naruto-kun. We aren't put off too badly. Kei-chan only got here a few minutes ago, herself. But let's run along now. If we show up late, it will give Konoha a bad name."

This is not only short, but lame and late. I apologize for that. Really really sorry. ;3; Life just decided to smack me in the face and boy does life have a good right hook. Now for the long string of excuses to why I wasn't here. /clears thoat

Nevermind. I just warned you so it defeats the purpose... Ugh. Anyways, I kind of wanted to rush through this chapter since it was metso-filler. I needed to introduce certain elements to the story for the next few chapters, but I wasn't quite sure how. So this is all you get. SUFFER THROUGH IT. About the clues, I know a lot of you wondered: Why didn't you explain them? D: So there's the explanation. I never really did explain Kurenai's clue though. However, it was pretty much just training with Anko. Not too much to say. Asuma and Kakashi had the meat of the ordeal though. I know my adults are dark, but I thought it was pretty realistic considering most of them got pretty lame team dynamics. Naruto canon people are too sunshine and roses for my tastes. No one should just go: Wow! I just watched my mom and dad get squashed by the Kyuubi! Happy day!

Anyways, thanks so much for reading, favoriting, alerting, and review! Love y'all! :PAnd thanks again to pokepikachu1 for betaing for me~ :D