Thanks for the reviews. I was surprised anyone was still reading this since it's been so long since I've updated.

. . .

I stood in front of Rin, hands clasped before me like an eager puppy, "What are you going to teach me, Rin-sensei?"

Rin merely shook his head, "So eager," he smiled, "Tell me, Yūmaru-chan, how much control over your chakra do you currently possess?"

I just stared at him, before my gaze flickered down to my bandaged covered hands, "It's okay, I guess. I mean, it's not hard to bring to the surface. It was worse when I first started using it; my hands would practically blow up."

Rin released a sharp breath, "Your chakra is... not what I expected," he murmured, "It sounds... poisonous and explosive."

"Poisonous, huh?" I muttered, "I kinda figured that when it blew up the first time."

"Show me your hands," Rin suddenly demanded.

Bemused, I did as he told. I unwrapped the dirty, worn bandages and let them fall to the ground. Rin reached a hand out and took one of my hands in his and held it so that it was palm up.

My palms were covered in old blotchy scars and nicks and cuts.

"Chakra Burns," Rin stated. He glanced at me, "Why did you not seek the proper treatment so that they would heal properly?"

"Proper treatment?" I scoffed, swiftly pulling my hand back, "I was five, Sensei, and Onii-chan wasn't particularly keen on me becoming a shinobi. I hid them from everyone."

"They must have been painful."

"Yeah, well," I shifted uncomfortably, "Shit happens."

Rin opened his mouth, but I cut him off, "Anyway, just how do you fight? Sasori mentioned something about chakra strings and a staff."

"He was correct," Rin answered, "My primary weapon in combat is a staff. If I wish to remain at a distance from an enemy, I manipulate it with my chakra strings."

"A staff? Why not a fan?" I questioned, "A lot of shinobi in Suna use fans."

Rin gazed at me, the sides of his lips quirking up, "I would say that, due to me not able to use my chakra like other Suna shinobi, it is.. easier. My control over my chakra is greater, thus I am able to form my chakra strings. Therefore, it should be easier to teach you what I know."

"Easier how?" I questioned.

"Your chakra is similar to mine," Rin explained, "Our reserves are smaller, but our control is greater than the average shinobi. That must be why the boy is highly adept at those genjutsus of his."

"But you use chakra strings," I interjected, "Will I learn how to use them?"

Rin inclined his head, "I do," he answered patiently, "And you will. But your control must be perfect. Tell me, Yūmaru-chan, can you walk up walls?"

"Walls?" I shook my head, "I've never tried, though Onii-chan taught me how to roof jump when I was in the academy."

"Then this should be fairly simple for you."

"Don't I just focus my chakra into my feet to stick?" I asked.

Rin nodded, clearly pleased, "Hopefully you're easier to teach than Sunako. The boy was a prodigy, but a handful."

I grimaced. The Kazekage as a teenager had been arrogant and blunt. As an adult, he was better, only colder and distant. I can't imagine what he had been like as a kid. Sadly, I just couldn't imagine Sunako as a kid.

I took a deep breath and faced the wall of Rin's training grounds, "Okay. I can do this."

I focused on gathering chakra, feeling it's warmth in my stomach before I pushed it down my legs and to the soles of my feet.

I lifted my foot and placed it on the wall, then the other in front. For a split second, I was suspended sideways in the air. A wide grin split my face. Encouraged, I took another step, then another.

It was harder than I thought to maintain my footing though, as the stream of chakra on the bottom of my feet had to be constant.

Before I knew it, the chakra at the bottom of my feet had exploded outwards, and I winced, barely managing to catch myself before I face-planted.

In that instant, I felt sick; needles crawled from my chest up to my throat, and I coughed once.

"Calm yourself, Yūmaru-chan," Rin commanded, though he made no move towards me, "You did well, for a first attempt." His lips tilted up.

"The only hard part of it is keeping a steady stream of chakra to my feet," I muttered, "The control part of it is easy enough."

Rin exhaled once, "Very well. Now that I know how your chakra control is, I wish to see how your speed is."

He slowly pulled something from the sheath on his back, and, thinking it was going to be a sword, my eyes widened.

To my surprise, it was a staff.

It was made completely of wood; the smooth texture of the wood twisted to form a circular lump on top, with only a single blade of metal sticking menacingly from the top.

"So... a spear, Sensei?" I asked, eying the weapon warily.

"No, a staff," Rin corrected, "With this, I will test your speed and reaction time."

"Reaction time-?" I didn't even get to finish the question before I was smacked across the face.

"Ugh," I groaned.

I opened my eyes, only to flinch back as Rin sent another swing at my head. I cried out, forcing myself back before the staff hit its target.

The attack missed me by a hair.

"The hell?!" I cried, taking another step backwards.

Rin didn't reply, merely aiming another hit at me.

The strike on my face stung, but I grit my teeth and forced myself to dodge the barrage of attacks.

Most of them I barely managed to dodge, though the majority of them hit me, and by the time he was finished, my entire body was aching.

Rin took a step back, eying me coolly, "Your speed is slightly better than I had hoped for," he finally commented.

I scowled, "What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

"You are still young, regardless of that," he added when he saw me begin to open my mouth in protest, "And you are quite nimble and small for your age. Speed is to your advantage with a distinctly bigger opponent."

"Like you," I piped.

Rin stared at me flatly, and I allowed myself to grin. I knew I wasn't a match for him, even if he was very ill. He was a seasoned jōnin despite the weakness of his body.

"Lastly, I will test your combat capabilities," Rin answered after what seemed like forever. He straightened himself up, "Come at me, Yūmaru-chan."

I eyed him carefully for a few, then made a dash at him. Rin's expression didn't change, not even when I feinted to the left and aimed a blow at his stomach. He merely raised an arm to block me and used his free hand to grasp my wrist and fling me aside.

I growled as I lost my footing, but I picked myself up and whirled around to face him.

Rin stood before me, his face impassive. The only thing that gave away the weakness of his body was the slight twitching of his fingers.

I rushed at him again, but was rewarded with the same efforts. I was thrown to the side again, this time nursing a bruised cheek.

"Sometime in the next year would be good, Yūmaru-chan," Rin commented boredly

I eyed his legs. Whenever I went for the legs in a taijutsu spar, I always managed to catch the opponent by surprise.

This time, I feinted to both sides before a kicking at his knees, but once again, I was stopped by the feel of his fingers wrapped around my ankle. My thigh, which was half healed, protested from the movement.

"Enough, Yūmaru-chan," Rin said, "You're still healing from your last mission. I believe I have your capabilities noted anyway. Your proficiency is your chakra control and speed. Combat you'll have to work, but it's better than I expected. I see you're using the katas I taught you two years ago."

I nodded vehemently, "Definitely. They're better than the shitty academy ones at any rate."

"Sometimes you have to make due with what you have," Rin reminded me.

I nodded, "I know."

"I think that's enough training for today," Rin said, and when I opened my mouth to protest, he added, "Do you really think you can train in condition?"

I looked at myself; he was right. My kimono shirt was caked in dust and my thigh throbbed with a steady beat of pain. I ignored it though. The pain would go away soon enough, it always did.

I nodded reluctantly, "Okay, Sensei," I muttered, "I'll just... go home then."

"Very well. I expect to see you bright and early tomorrow morning," Rin called after me.

"Yes, Sensei," I responded automatically.

I made my way out of Rin's house and made my way down the street, limping slightly

To my surprise, I saw two mops of dirty blond hair heading my way. I would know them anywhere.

Yashamaru and Karura.

There were two others with them, whom I didn't recognise.

They were both boys and both looked to be about ten or eleven. One had slicked back black hair, while the other was tall and slender with ash-blonde hair that seemed to defy gravity, spiking up in every direction.

Suna forehead protectors were tied around their head.

They must be part of Karura's team.

Karura spotted me, and she grinned hugely, waving a slender hand at me, "Yū-chan, hey!"

I smiled back at her, "Hi, Karura-chan," I replied. I nodded at Yashamaru, "Hey, Yashamaru-kun."

Karura practically bounced in front of me, "It's been forever," she said, and she glanced at the pitch-black scarf wrapped around my neck, "And you're copying my style."

I frowned, "This scarf belonged to my father. If anyone is copying someone, you're copying him."

Karura giggled softly, before her eyes found the headband around my forehead, "Congratulations, by the way. You won our bet. You even got Yashamaru out from under his rock; the team is all he talks about now. Speaking of teams, have you met mine yet?"

I just stared at her, but Yashamaru interjected, "As you can see, all she does is talk."

"Yashamaru," she whined, though she grinned at the teasing glint in his indigo eyes.

Yashamaru would never purposely insult his sister; he loved her too much to ever callously hurt her.

"Don't worry, Karura-chan, I know what it's like," I said, purposefully pitching my voice low, "I have two brothers."

"How do you deal with it?" she asked.

I shrugged, "I deal with him on a daily basis."

Karura glanced back at Yashamaru, "I know. Anyway, these are my team mates," she gestured to the boys beside her, "Daichi and Hirokj. Daichi-kun, Hiroki-kun, this is Yū-chan, she's Yashamaru's team mate."

The boy with black hair just stared at me with unnerving blue eyes, "They get younger every year."

"Daichi-kun," the boy with ash-blonde hair hissed. He glanced at me and smiled warmly, "Forgive his rudeness, Yū-chan. He's not used to people."

I smiled back, surprising myself. His face was kind, and his smile warm. There was a look of near adoration on Karura's face as she gazed at him.

I wasn't surprised. He was... pretty, and he seemed like a good person.

"It's fine," I answered politely, "Nice meeting you."

Karura beamed, then looked at me before looking back at the boy, "Hiroki-kun is the best, right? I mean, Daichi-kun is alright."

Yashamaru sent me a deadpan look, "Don't you think you're a little young to fall in love, Nee-chan?"

Karura flushed, "Hiroki-kun is just a good friend, Yashamaru," she retorted, "He makes the days with Daichi-kun bearable."

"I'm not that bad," said boy muttered. He was ignored.

"Anyway, Nee-chan," Yashamaru ventured, "Don't you have a mission to prepare for?"

"We have to meet Sensei at the gates, Karura-chan," Hiroki explained in his soft, gentle voice.

"Okay," Karura mumbled. Her eyes flickered up to meet mine, "It was nice seeing you, Yū-chan. I'm sure Yashamaru misses you."

"It hasn't even been a day, Nee-chan," Yashamaru muttered.

I smiled, "We'll always be friends even if we aren't on the same team for a while. Anyway, same to you, Karura-chan. It's been a while, and I'm always happy to see Yashamaru's beloved older sister."

"You'll embarrass Yashamaru if you keep it up," Karura said. She turned to her team mates, "We should go so we don't keep Sensei waiting. Bye Yū-chan."

"Bye," I mumbled.

Hiroki inclined his head and smiled warmly at me, "Maybe I'll see you around."

Daichi just grunted before stalking off.

Hiroki and Karura exchanged looks before following after him. After a brief glance at me, Yashamaru hurried after them.

I looked down at my feet before huffing out a breath.

Guess I'll head home then.