Hasuka awoke on the damp grass by the slight nudging of someone's hand on her shoulder. "Hasuka?" The males voice calls.
"Nng," she yawns, blinking at the sunlight streaming down on the four people gathered.
"It's time to wake up," the blonde explained.
"Who are you?" She questions, reckognizing him from somewhere but unable to put her finger on it.
The man gets a sweat-drop at her response, replying, "I'm your sensei."
Hasuka blushes in embarrassment as she sits up and looks around the clearing.
Obito stops walking, seeming to have just arrived. Minato stands up, muttering to himself, "The resemblance is almost uncanny." Turning and addressing everyone and drawing forth something from a pouch, he states that, "For today's training, it is time for you all to fight me to get these three bells."
This suggestion was met by gasps from Obito and Rin while Kakashi remained impassive except for a slight widening of his eyes. "Since this will be the first time, I assume, that Hasuka has done this exercise, I will explain the rules. Essentially, there is only one rule: there are three bells, and four of you. Steal at least one bell from me and you are free, otherwise, if a decent time has passed and no one collects a bell, you all have to complete a D-Rank mission of my choice, without the pay reward. If everyone is able to get a bell except you, you will be subjected to the same punishment." Obito and Rin groaned audibly at the idea.
"So, we have to get a bell to pass?" Hasuka clarifies.
"Yes," Minato confirms. "However, since Kakashi, Obito, and Rin have all done this before, they are not allowed to directly attack me with either taijutsu or genjutsu, excluding weapons. Similarly, if I even do much as /think/ that you are cheating and explaining the trick, then it becomes an immediate disqualification and everyone receives the punishment."
When no one raised any other questions, Minato continued, "On my mark, we begin. Three..." Hasuka could see everyone tensing up in preparation to move. They couldn't use taijutsu or genjutsu specifically, so heading towards the target would not exactly be advisable, so were they headed into the surrounding forest? "Two..." Hasuka tensed up as well, preparing to leap into the fray. Since she was essentially the only one who could do any immediate attacks, she had only a second to come up with something to do. "One..." The blue-haired girl focused energy into her eyes, seeing Minato's Chakra reach out to one of his kunai stuck into a tree on the outskirts of the clearing.
"Go!" Minato shouts before flickering away, Hasuka is already leaping in the same location, albeit slower than the famed Yellow Flash. She perceived more than saw the hesitation in his chakra movements that matched perfectly to his physical widening, and then narrowing, of the eyes. His chakra flickered in the direction of another kunai so Hasuka again flipped her body over to head in that direction simultaneously. She knew that she was not physically fast enough to catch him in this way, but following him in real time should relay the message to their teacher that she was more than she seemed.
This time, Minato did not hesitate. As he flickered back into visible sight, he was lurching forward, meeting Hasuka half-way and gliding past, pushing on her back and forcing his student to stumble forward, watching in intrigue as she held out her hand and seemed to right herself without any touch to the ground. This momentary lax in mental acuity seemed to be enough time for Kakashi's jutsu to take effect, a hand reaching out of the ground to the side of Minato's left foot and grasping his ankle.
"Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu," he mutters ominously, liquefying the ground beneath his opponent as the silver-haired boy begins to drag him below. Minato cannot teleport away without bringing Kakashi with him, so he would have to be careful. He decides that he might as well try, sending out his signal and pinpointing with chakra where the nearest kunai is located.
In his desperation and care, he is slower to move than he would be normally. When the two chakras meet, Hasuka moves up to the line almost as if in slow-motion. She can see Minato already starting to move out of the corner of her eye, but with her energy present and focused within her eyes, she could see where he was going. The, now, blue-haired girl created something akin to a second skin of energy over her hand, grasping at where she could see the string.
As he moved, Hasuka crushed her fist, effectively snapping the connection to his kunai. Minato stumbled as he pulled Kakashi free of the earth, putting his hands together. "Substitution Jutsu," he muttered, disappearing and leaving a stump in Kakashi's hands. A bush wobbled on the outskirts of the clearing and Hasuka moved to follow it. Obito and Rin were nowhere to be found, but Kakashi was standing up on his own so she took her initiative.
Her feet thudded against the earth as her ninja sandals moved swiftly across the grass, following his path by the residual traces of energy he had left imprinted in the grass. Her hearing was sharpened in this state, and she could hear in the distance his footfalls, but they were quickly gaining speed until they fell off completely. Trees and lands passed by as she dashed in pursuit of her prey, the energy fading quickly yet still retaining a faint imprint. The light-haired girl paused on the edge of a clearing. Through the clear opening, Minato stood facing away from her at the edge of a lake. Sunlight reflected off of its rippling surface and she was momentarily blinded by the sheen.
"You wouldn't happen to have a brother would you?" He questions, lifting his face and looking back at her out of the corner of his eye.
Hasuka remained cautious of his words. "Why do you ask?"
The yellow-haired ninja heaved a sigh, debating about what to do. "I believe that I've seen him."
"Can you show me? I need to see him!" She stepped forward, a hopeful smile making its way to her face.
"No," he replies with finality.
"What? Why no-"
"It's complicated," he interrupts. "But I get the feeling that he would not want to see you right now."
"W-Why not?" She stutters, her hands falling to her sides and eyebrows creasing.
"I just have the feeling. That's all I can tell you right now, but trust me when I say that it would be better for you to stop looking for him."
Hasuka felt her energy fading faster as her attention shifted. Closing her eyes, she felt her connection to everything and pinpointed the energy in the grass and earth at her feet, absorbing just enough to refill her reserves. Suddenly, the currents of energy and aura popped out at her much more clearly. Minato's was not unlike his hair, like a yellow egg surrounding his form with occasional spots of red. Not the red of her brother all those months ago, but a softer one, one that if Hasuka had to guess, would name love.
Deciding to keep her newfound knowledge a secret, Hasuka focused her gaze on Minato, trying to judge if he would attack first or if it would be up to her. Their conversation could end in nothing else but a fight. He was probably just tricking her. Her teacher had not given any previous indication nor any reason for seeing him, and refused to divulge even the limited information he might have. When he didn't move, she reached up to draw her hair sticks, only for her wrist to be halted in its movement before she could do much as brush over the wood.
"Hasuka," a calm voice seemed to whisper about her. Recognizing it, she looked around but could not find the two fish from the previous night. "Remember that everything has balance, especially energy." She struggled against Minato's grip, pushing back against his hold but her strength was severely limited in this position.
With the hints of an idea now in her head, Hasuka focused on drawing energy from the air itself, specifically the water molecules within it. To Minato, it seemed as if the air materialized, spitting water droplets like dead flies onto the earth.
With the surplus of energy, she focused it into the hairs on her wrists, directly turning the energy into a searing heat. Minato immediately let go with a hiss, appearing some distance away to avoid the movement of Hasuka's incoming kick.
With the hair sticks gripped tightly in each fist, she grinned at her sensei, the adrenaline that had been lacking being pumped into her system again a welcome rush. The skin on her wrists had formed bubbles and blisters from the heat, but she was unconcerned with the wound, drawing the energy away from the injury instead to begin it's healing.
Minato was surprised. After fighting her brother for weeks on end, seeing his sister here was a caution to them all. What were their chakra natures? Perhaps it was an unknown release? They fought differently, though. However, just because they use their chakra in different ways, does not mean that his team received the weaker of the two. If she had anything like her brother's capabilities, he wasn't sure if even Kakashi could stand up to her. Some of the bloodlust and techniques he had seen her brother control were alarming for someone so young.
"I have an idea," he suggests. "Fight me only using your nature chakra."
Hasuka grew uncertain. She really did not know how to use them very well yet other than adding, removing, or simply moving it. Practice makes perfect, though, and it had already proved useful in fighting him so far. After twirling her blue hair up and pinning it with her hair sticks, she splays her hands out in front of her, bending the arms at the elbow.
Minato gets on guard, expecting anything to happen at this point. Hasuka in turn clenches her eyebrows together in thought. "Let us guide you," the fish whisper. "Come, child. Into the water." Following their directions, she makes a dash headed directly at Minato, putting her left hand a little above her right as if forming an invisible ball. He never breaks eye contact until he holds a kunai to her throat. It's gone in an instant, not even so much as a scratch, but it's enough to abruptly halt the girl's movements.
When she drops her hands and turns around to face the yellow-haired ninja, he has his arms crossed expectantly, the kunai nowhere to be found. Hasuka takes slow steps backwards until her heals touch the edge of the water. Eventually, her feet are submerged when the water surges around her, propelling her out into much deeper water as it churns around her without tipping her balance.
When she looks down, the fish are spinning wildly in a circle below her and their thoughts become her actions. She raises her arms and the lake twists underneath her before she slowly rises above the waterline, suspended by the fast-moving water. It was a nerve-wracking feeling and now she had to consciously make sure that she would not fall over and tumble down into the water.
Hasuka's clothes were soaked and her hair was flying wildly out of the stick's control but the raw power she felt in that moment flowing through her made the crazy appearance that much more maniacal. Rin and Obito lean forward in their respective trees, coming into view on the far side of the clearing behind Minato.
Sure, he had seen jutsu that had similar effects, but those were generally Earth chakra wielders who could lift the land, not water. What was most concerning to him though was her change in appearance. Light-blue hair has darkened to a color closer to that of navy and green eyes with only two black lines had now rearranged themselves to stand on either side of the sclera, spreading out to color the white black. Even from this distance, her appearance popped out unnaturally against the light of day.
Minato could tell, based on such a change, that whatever she was doing was not a benevolent. "Hasuka!" He calls out, getting into a defensive stance when she tilts her head, focusing all attention on him and him alone. The grin that he receives in return is the most malicious expression he had ever seen the child make.
Without a word, the girl spins her arms around her head before pointing her outstretched hands in his direction, the water following her movements to a tee. A stream arose, circling itself, before whipping in his direction only to be retracted when he flashes over several feet just in time. The jet splashed down again in the spot he used to be and continues to do so. Every time, Minato moves enough to be out of range no matter what she tries. One sweeping motion made him back up underneath Obito's tree, allowing the boy to get the jump on their sensei.
He leaps down on top of Minato, who catches himself from toppling, and holds tight as another water whip latches onto the bells at his teacher's side. Rin drops down to the same side with medical scissors opened and ready, sliding them through the stings holding the bells to Minato's belt and letting them suspend in Hasuka's water.
In a moment, the bells are gripped in Hasuka's hand and she is washed up on shore, dripping but grinning nonetheless. Her eyes have the telltale lines where they should be and her hair has returned to it's original color. Rin and Obito are there to meet her, smiles to match her own and cheers for getting all three of the bells.
"I couldn't have done it without you guys," she thanks, giving them each a bell.
"That's the whole point of this exercise," Rin explains. "Even the first time, we couldn't defeat Minato by ourselves."
Kakashi's eyes are steely as he calmly crosses the clearing to their group, not long after Minato. "I suppose that means I fail."
"Here Kakashi I-" Rin starts.
"Take mine," Hasuka interrupts, tossing her bell at the newcomer.
Kakashi faces the semi-circle of ninja, catching the bell easily but replying coldly that, "I don't need yours."
"Tell me that when I show you that I can use these as well as you can too." She flips open a pouch and adds Kakashi's shuriken to his hands. He raises a condescending eyebrow before Minato breaks apart the tension.
"So, yes, Hasuka, Rin is right. The point of this is to increase the General feel of teamwork within the group by forcing you all to work together. None of you get the punishment, and I'm proud of you and all of that. The Hokage said that he wanted to see me later in the day, though, and I'm already late as it is, so see you later!" Following his words, he disappears from view, leaving the quartet to stand solitary in the forest.
The walk back to Konoha is almost silent, each person lost in their own thoughts. At one point, Obito breaks the silence to ask about her water jutsu, but Hasuka brushed the question away with the excuse that she had learned it during her training, but rarely used it because it required a pre-existing body of water. That seemed to satisfy the group and the tension lessened afterwards.
It was only the following morning, after she awoke, that Hasuka couldn't quite remember her actions leading to their victory the previous day.