Chapter 12: Training begins

Tenten lay curled up on her new bed with tears coursing down her paled cheeks. She normally didn't cry, didn't normally like to be seen as weak, but she felt justified to let it all go just this once. Just this one last time and she would never cry again. For now though, she let everything loose and allowed the tears to continue coming, after all, her brother was worth every single one of them.

She hadn't known that he had died, she probably never would have found out at all had she not been told by Haruno-sama. She hadn't wanted to believe him, hadn't wanted to admit that she was now utterly and completely alone, but she also knew that he was telling the truth. Whether it was by the pity and pain she saw in his eyes or by the hesitant soothing tone of his voice. Maybe she did already know that he was dead. She and her brother always did have a very strong bond.

Tenten closed her eyes tightly and a few more tears leaked out. She had to stop thinking about this. She had to stop trying to pick it apart. Soon enough emptiness filled her mind and her sobs stopped coming. Her face had smoothed out to the point where it showed absolutely no emotion. The only indication of the pain that she was in was the steady stream of cold tears that still fell down her cheeks. Yes, after today she would get stronger, after today she would work harder, after today she would forget, after today she would never cry again. But for now it was still today and for today she allowed herself to morn the loss of the last bit of the family she had never known.

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Haruno Kyo sighed sadly as he leaned on Tenten's wooden door. He knew that she was still upset by the way her chakra flowed in agonizing waves, but he also knew that she was already healing. That she had realized that Yotaro would not have wanted her to be this way. He sighed again. He only hoped that this loss wouldn't cause her to close her overly giving heart. Fortunately, she had been one of the prime candidates for his and his wife's plans. He thought that now that she was away from the war and with children her age she would have a better chance of healing what is often thought to be unhealable.

"Kyo?" Kyo turned at the sound of his wife's concerned voice and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, koi," he said as he wrapped the pregnant woman in his arms. "She'll be alright."

Kairi nodded as she slipped her own arms around her husband's waist. She closed her eyes and leaned further into him. She knew moments like this would be few and far between now and she wanted to saver each and every one as it arrived.

"Come on, Kairi," Kyo said as he pulled back. "We need to go check on the rest of the children. I'm afraid that most of them are not faring as well with their losses as Tenten is."

Kairi nearly snorted. As if you could call the wrenching sobs of a heartbroken seven year old doing well. Still she understood the underlying meaning of his words. Not all of the children realized that they could still live past their pain. For a moment she felt a motherly tug on her heart as she remembered that Naruto and his friends were out in the world all alone, with no one there to comfort them as she and Kyo were now able to do for others.

As if reading her mind Kyo reached out and took her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "They'll be alright," he said. "I honestly think that this is what they were born to do."

Kairi sighed. "I truly hope that you are right."

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Once the corner kids had 'officially' become Konoha ninjas they wasted no time in proving that they were worthy of the titles they now carried. Sakura, having been instructed somewhat by her sister, fell into the same taijutsu stance that Hikari used in accordance with Itachi. Sasuke, seeing the way she stood, felt a smile rise on to his face before he too fell into a stance. Itachi had never taught him anything concerning the stance he used when partnering with Hikari, but for the past several weeks that he had been a sharingan wielder he had copied everything he could; including taijutsu stances.

He was vaguely aware that this was some what like cheating but he assumed that since he didn't know everything there was to know about this stance he still had a chance to learn it on his own. He glanced at Sakura, briefly noticing that she was beginning the 'symmetry' part of this particular taijutsu form. He grinned a little as he too began to slip in sync with his now partner. The last thought he had before his mind ran blank was that at least he didn't have to learn everything alone.

Hinata and Naruto glanced at each other before they shrugged lightly. Hinata fell into the traditional stance that the Hyuuga family uses in accompany with their byakugan while Naruto just took up a basic attack stance. They didn't look nearly as connected as Sakura and Sasuke. Actually the stances they used both being ground attack stances were more likely to hurt their team work rather then their opponents. This, however, never crossed any of the minds that resided in the small court yard.

A swift attack on Sakura's end and the mock battle was started.

Ichigo and Gaara watched the spar with wide eyes. They had yet to be formally trained and, since neither has had the opportunity of attending any of their village's tournaments, this battle was the first either had ever observed. Ichigo found it rather amazing that anyone could move with such grace as Hinata, or attack with such power like Naruto, and even she could tell that the level at which Sasuke and Sakura worked together was well beyond what anyone their age should be able to accomplish.

In the end, despite the slight chakra touches that Hinata was applying, Sasuke and Sakura won; mostly just because Naruto and Hinata kept running into each other. Still the two partners felt a happy sense of pride that their first duel battle had ended in their favor. Congratulations were passed between the four of them and Ichigo and Gaara ran up, each sporting awed grins.

"That was real cool you guys!" Ichigo squealed.

"Yeah," Gaara added. "I've never seen anything so good!"

"Ah, thanks guys!" Naruto grinned as he rubbed the edge of his nose. "We are real good huh?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at Naruto's round about way of bragging. "Baka," she said affectionately.

"You all are pretty good for babies," a snobbish voice said from somewhere above them.

Only a few seconds after it was heard the corner kids had once again placed Gaara and Ichigo in the center of their protective perimeter. Their eyes searched frantically as they tried to pinpoint the source of the voice. Finally Sasuke's coal black eyes landed on the smirking frame of a blond haired girl with an arm length fan held in her right hand. Her clothes were rather plain but Sasuke was still able to tell that she was a ninja, probably still in Sunagakure's academy seeing as she only looked a few years older then he and his friends.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Sasuke demanded drawing his friends' attentions to the girl above them.

The girl opened her mouth to reply but she abruptly froze as her eyes landed on the figure of Gaara where he stood surrounded by his friends.

"G-Gaara!" she exclaimed in shock. "Ehehehe, I, um…that is I didn't realize that these were your, um, friends? S-sorry. I'll go now."

"Wait!" Gaara called. "Who are you?"

"I, um, I'm Temari," She stuttered as she glanced back over her shoulder. "I'm your older sister."

Gaara gaped in surprise as he watched his so-called sister turn and vanish from his line of sight. "I didn't know that you had a sister, Gaara-kun," Ichigo finally spoke up breaking the dense silence.

"I did," Gaara answered dully. "But I've never met her or my brother." A slight frown crossed his face and his head lowered towards the ground. "She was scared of me too…"

Ichigo gave her friend's hand a tight squeeze and he looked up at her. "Don't worry Gaara-kun; she won't be scared after she knows you like we do."

"Hm," another voice, coming from the left this time, caused the kids to once more jerk to attention. "Temari was right. You are rather good for your age."

"Who…?" Sakura started only to be taken by surprise as the mysterious speaker suddenly materialized in front of her and grasped her by her bright red Haruno clan shirt. "Let me go!" she screamed as she grabbed the man's hand and tried to kick her way free.

"Leave her alone!" five voices rang out as the stranger disappeared to the other side of the court yard.

He smirked. "If you want her, come and get her."

"You jerk!" Naruto shouted as he prepared to charge in.

"Naruto don't!" Sakura shouted from her position in the man's arms. Luckily for her he had decided to flip her over so that she was facing her friends. He did, however, keep her arms pinned to her sides so she couldn't move.

"Sakura-chan's right," Hinata said. "We-we need a plan. Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke wasn't paying her any attention. Instead his gaze was locked with the mocking eyes of Sakura's captor. The man smirked and Sasuke snapped.

"Sharingan!" he shouted as he began to form several hand seals. "Ichigo! Make sure Sakura doesn't get burned!"

"Huh!" Ichigo exclaimed not really sure what he was talking about.

"Fire element: Dragon-fire no jutsu!"

"Sasuke!" Hinata yelled. "What are you doing! Sakura will be killed!"

"Gaara-kun! Make a shield around Sakura-nee-chan with your sand!" Ichigo yelled.

Gaara complied and his sand rose around him before it raced the dragon of fire across the court yard where it came to a rest around Sakura. Ichigo scrunched up her face as she held out her hands towards the fire willing it to mold to her will. Almost at once the dragon split just before it hit Sakura's captor shifting around Sakura and Gaara's shield so it missed them completely. The fire subsided but the man was nowhere to be found.

"N-Naruto-kun, sniff h-him ou-t," Sasuke ordered breathlessly as he stumbled to Sakura's side while the sand barrier gently fell away.

"Right!" Naruto said as he focused chakra into his nose filtering out all of the scents within the small area where they were. "Hinata behind you to the left!"

"Byakugan!" Hinata shouted as she spun around and slammed her palm point blank into their assailant's abdomen.

He went down with a crash and a cry. His body hit the ground heavily but on contact it began to melt away revealing that it was nothing but sand bushin.

"Very good," the man said from his safe spot on Gaara's balcony. "Very good indeed. Your control is excellent for being so young."

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded weakly, just barley keeping his consciousness as he pulled Sakura close to him, the blood red mirror wheels having faded from his eyes due to the amount of chakra he had expelled.

"My name is Baki," the man smirked. "I will be your teacher for the time that you will reside here in the Hidden Sand Village."

"….What….?"

End chapter 12

Kaliea: Yeah! Cliffy! Heeheehee, I am soo evil. Anyway, please review!

Review Answers:

Animefreak-shinobi: Thanks! I'll remember that.

Dragon Man 180: I really have no idea. I copied and pasted all of this info from They wrote it I just used it.

Jays Arravan: It's not a bold question. In fact I'd be more then happy to give them more customers! I got the info from They're really good.

Danny-171984: Heehee, Thanks!

Kaliea: Kudos to those who reviewed! Until next time, ja ne!