Kasumi rolled out of bed and dressed for the day. She adjusted her hitai-ate over her hair and reached grabbed a granola bar off the table. She munched on it while strapping on her kunai holster and hip pouch. Finishing, she headed for the door and ignored her shoes, as usual.

She strolled down the streets casually, reading her surroundings with the vibrations in the earth and tuning out the cacophony of voices around her as she made her way towards the training fields. It got a lot quieter once she left the village proper behind, which she was grateful for. She hated large crowds in the morning, it did her head in faster than anything else.

"First one," she announced to no one as she arrived at the empty field. She sighed, lying down on the ground. She smacked one foot on the ground and the dirt moved under her, cradling her lumbar and her spine. She folded her hands behind her head and sighed contentedly, burying her toes in the grass and letting the sun warm her.

It wasn't long before she felt footsteps coming. She knew those footsteps. "Hey Red," she greeted lazily. "Ready to get whipped into shape by sensei?"

"Ah… as I'll ever be." Harumi was honestly surprised Kasumi had known it was her. She guessed that her kekkei genkai was as strong as she'd made out. She observed the reclining girl curiously, not quite sure what to say. Kasumi's eyes were closed, but that didn't really mean anything. Harumi didn't want to bother her by saying anything – she looked quite relaxed.

Kasumi slitted open an eye and examined her. "Why are you nervous?" She wasn't mocking, but curious. "That scared of Asuka?" Now she was mocking her.

Harumi gaped. "H-How did you know?"

Kasumi gave a lopsided grin and tapped a foot against the dirt pointedly. "Your heart rate changed. That's how I know you're nervous, how I know there's a couple of birds in that tree over there," she jerked her head towards a maple, "and how I know that Stick is currently being creepy and hiding in the brush."

Harumi whipped around, eyes darting here and there to find their teammate. Sure enough, Toshiro stepped from behind a tree, scowling.

"I was not being creepy," he said shortly, tugging irritably at the long sleeve of black shirt.

Harumi looked him over pityingly. He was pale, with painfully dark circles under his eyes and a large bruise on his cheek. "Toshiro, you look tired," she said, concerned. "Try drinking some chamomile before you go to bed tonight, that should help if you're having troubles. Oh, and let me take care of that bruise," she added, hastening forwards. "What happened anyway?"

Harumi was a little uncomfortable, feeling like she was taking a few too many liberties when she reached up and placed a hand glowing with healing chakra on Toshiro's cheek. He didn't protest though, just watched her with those steely eyes of his. Harumi shuddered a little. Kasumi was right, he was kind of creepy sometimes.

"Trip or something, Stick?" Kasumi asked lazily. "Or did you lose a fight? Let me guess 'you should see the other guy' right? Hah, bet it was something embarrassing-"

"For your information," Toshiro said sharply, "I was training with my father and he got the better of me for a moment. That's all."

Kasumi snorted. "Yeah, uh huh. I told you I can detect lies, right? Harumi, get some marshmallows, we're gonna make s'mores on his pants…"

Toshiro stepped forwards, mouth opening and eyes flashing as he prepared to say something nasty. Harumi grabbed his arm and clung on, trying to hold him back.

"Training hasn't even started and you're already fighting. Lovely, just what a teacher wants to see."

Asuka blurred into being between Toshiro and Kasumi, who didn't bother to stand up. She just raised a hand lazily and greeted her.

"Hey sensei!"

"Asuka-sensei," Toshiro said through gritted teeth, giving a small, respectful bow.

Harumi sighed in relief and let his arm go, rubbing her brow. She sweat-dropped. This was like having children…

"Morning all," Asuka said, eyes roaming over them calculatingly. Her gaze lingered on Kasumi, who had closed her eyes and settled back into the grass. "On your feet, you."

Kasumi let out a loud groan of protest, but hauled herself to her feet, irritably ruffling the back of her hair and making it puffy. "I'm up, I'm up," she huffed, sliding her hands into the pockets of her shirt. "Now, why am I up?"

"We're going to be doing a fun little exercise today," Asuka said saccharinely, a sure sign that something bad was about to happen. "You'll each be sparring me so I can get an idea of what you're capable of. And guess who's up first?"

Harumi paled. "We're fighting… you?" She would rather drink an entire gallon of the tea she'd forced down Takara's throat than fight her teacher. Asuka was a jonin, and a pretty well-known one, it seemed.

"We're so getting poisoned," she whined under her breath.

"Probably," Toshiro agreed from her side, crossing his arms over his chest. Harumi looked up at him curiously. Toshiro was staring at Kasumi as she took a spot across from Asuka, expression intent. She could practically hear the wheels turning.

Toshiro was very interested to see what Kasumi was capable of. He'd never paid much attention to her except when it was unavoidable, like when she made a scene by pulling a prank or starting a fight. He couldn't quite recall what she was good at, but he was curious to see. Her kekkei genkai sounded interesting, at the very least.

Kasumi stood bonelessly in front of Asuka, shoulders slumped and knees slightly bent. Her mouth crooked into a half-smile. "So, sensei… you want me to just come at you?"

Asuka tilted her head in reply. "If that's what you think is best," she replied slowly, daring Kasumi to try it.

"M'kay."

Kasumi raised a foot and stomped it down. Her hands rose from her sides slightly, palms facing the ground and fingers curling slightly. Her hands trembled for a moment, like she was fighting against something.

Harumi squinted, trying to see.

"What is she- gah!"

Kasumi brought her foot down again and a great wave of dirt and debris rose up from the ground in front of her, washing over the battlefield. Toshiro scowled in irritation. Asuka and Kasumi were no more than shifting black masses inside of the cloud.

"I can't see," he complained.

"Interesting," Asuka said from inside the cloud. "You command earth very fluently."

"No kidding," Kasumi said. She felt Asuka's weight shift as she went into a throw. Kasumi raised her arms in front of her and two panels of stone rose up in front of her, shielding her. She heard senbon clatter off of them harmlessly and smirked to herself, thrusting her hands forwards. The panels split into shards and headed right for Asuka.

Asuka watched with interest as the rock panels shot towards her. She deftly avoided them, running up the face and leaping over the top. Her eyes widened as she was greeted with three boulders the size of her head coming directly at her. She jumped into the air into a front flip over the rocks and landed back on the grass in a roll. She popped up, examining the fuzzy outline of Kasumi with interest.

This ability… it's very impressive. With it she almost doesn't need to bring weapons to a fight. She could carve her own out of the dirt around her.

Asuka put her hands together, fingers flicking through a jutsu. The dust abruptly dropped back to the ground, making it easier to see. She wanted to watch what Kasumi was doing closely.

"They're back!" Harumi exclaimed as the dust settled. Her eyes widened at the state of the training field. It used to be flat grass, but now sod and dirt were everywhere, bits of stone littering the area. "What happened?"

"I'd say Kasumi," Toshiro said, unable to resist the urge to chuckle drily for a moment. "She's actually not bad-"

"Love you too, Stick!" Kasumi called, smirking as she heard him. He definitely hadn't intended for her to, but her ears were incredibly sensitive.

Harumi buried her face into her palms, trying to hide her giggles. Toshiro gave her a dark look. "Oh shut up," he grumbled.

Kasumi's arm jerked up in a strong sweep and a boulder shot from the ground, hovering in front of her. She swung into a hard kick and sent the boulder flying at Asuka, who dodged it easily. Kasumi launched into a series of spinning kicks. One foot seemed to drag a rock from the ground, the other coming around and sending it flying. Asuka twisted and spun to avoid all of the stones, impressed despite herself.

I remember… this is what I enjoyed about teaching. My students were always surprising me with what they could do.

"Wow," Harumi said, mouth gaping. "She's doing earth jutsu she shouldn't be able to!"

"I don't think they're technically jutsu," Toshiro said slowly, trying to work it out for himself. "I don't really know what it is."

Asuka suddenly vanished, deeming to drop away into nothing. Harumi blinked as their teacher suddenly vanished. Her voice could be heard around the training ground.

"I see your abilities are impressive… but not terribly refined. For example, can you dodge this?"

Asuka's hands burst from the ground, intending to clutch at Kasumi's ankles. Kasumi jumped into the air, launching into a series of back flips. She landed in a crouch, one leg and one arm extended out to her side. She smirked, the tips of her hair touching the ground.

"Yeah, sensei, I can. You wanna sneak up on me? You better learn to fly!"

Asuka pulled herself from the ground, emerging like a zombie from its grave in a horror movie. Harumi shuddered involuntarily as Asuka dusted off her shoulders casually and adjusted her mask.

"So creepy," she muttered.

"Learn to fly?" Asuka commented casually. "Interesting idea."

Kasumi's eyes widened and she froze, wiggling her feet against the ground. Asuka was gone, she knew that – transformation jutsu probably – but she couldn't tell where she was.

Something big was coming at her. Kasumi whipped around, thrusting up her hands. More stone slabs rose up to protect her, but they didn't get high enough quick enough. Asuka's foot slammed squarely into Kasumi's face. Kasumi went flying with a yell. She jerked herself around in midair and dug her fingers into the ground, planting her feet. She stopped with almost alarming suddenness and straightened up, rubbing her jaw.

"Damn, Asuka-sensei," she muttered a little spitefully. "You kick hard."

Asuka, who had landed in a crouch, now straightened up. "I do," she agreed. Her hand drifted towards one of the many pouches on her belt. Harumi gasped in horror.

"Would she really-?" Toshiro whispered.

It wasn't hard to guess what was in the pouches at Asuka's waist. She was known for one thing in particular. She had joked about one of them getting poisoned, but Toshiro and Harumi both were actually shocked by the idea of Asuka genuinely trying to poison them.

Harumi cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Kasumi, get out of there! She's going for her poison!"

"I know!" Kasumi replied irritably, and seemed to drop into the dirt like she was falling into water. She popped out behind Asuka, a brace of senbon in each fist. She hurled them, all of them heading for Asuka. Asuka swept around, knocking them all aside with a kunai. The senbon pierced the ground to her left uselessly.

Toshiro's eyes blew wide. How did she-? Kasumi had just pulled off the very maneuver he had been struggling with before orientation. Without the aid of sight, she had precisely targeted Asuka. Those senbon had been headed directly for their sensei's head and chest. If she hadn't blocked them, they would have connected.

He was quickly being forced to re-evaluate his opinion of Kasumi as more bark than bite. She was far more competent than he'd anticipated.

"I think we're done," Asuka said, replacing her kunai in her pouch. She spun around, facing Toshiro and Harumi. One hand rose, a finger pointing. "You, the interloper. You're next."

Harumi's knees were shaking slightly as she stepped forwards. Kasumi was gathering her senbon carelessly next to the sensei, tucking them away in her pouches. She straightened up and headed over to join Toshiro. When she reached Harumi she paused, tapping the girl's shoulder.

"You're it," she grinned crookedly. "Give her hell, kay Red?"

Harumi blinked. "Uh, yeah… I'll try."

Kasumi nodded in approval and traipsed over to Toshiro, planting her hands on her hips as she stood in front of him.

"So, Stick," she greeted, grinning smugly. "What'd you think? Not as much of an idiot as you thought, huh?"

Toshiro bit his tongue to keep from spitting out a nasty comment. If he could master the technique, throwing a senbon blind… it would at least get his father off his back for a while, and he could move on in his training. Maybe he'd finally even be able to work with scrolls.

But for that, he needed Kasumi.

"Not bad," he allowed. Kasumi's jaw dropped open. She sighed and shook her head, resting her forehead in one palm.

"You're a tough one," she complained, scuffing her heel along the ground. Toshiro raised an eyebrow as a little plateau, perfectly flat and the right height to sit comfortably, rose out of the ground. Kasumi lounged on it, patting the empty stone next to her.

A little wary, Toshiro sat down gingerly on the edge. Kasumi snorted and smacked the back of it. She raised her hand and as it rose, so did a back. Toshiro leaned back against it comfortably.

"Thanks," he said slowly.

"No problem," she replied with a snort. "Now shut it, Stick, I wanna see how Red does."

Harumi was standing across from Asuka, trembling slightly. The jonin stood there, utterly relaxed, waiting. Harumi didn't make a move. Asuka huffed behind her mask, making it bulge oddly.

"If you don't do something soon, I'm going to take a smoke break," she snapped. Harumi flinched.

"Oh, uh… right," she said hastily, and reached into her shirt for her fan. Asuka took that as a sign that the fight was officially started. One hand plunged into her pocket and pulled out a bit of purplish-black powder. Harumi's eyes widened in horror as Asuka raised it to her mouth and blew.

Harumi's hands smacked together. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" she shouted, and pursed her lips. A burst of air left her, whipping back the grass. Asuka, who stood ten yards away, didn't stumble, but her hair was whipped back in her face violently. She closed her eyes as the powder was blasted back at her and held her breath. It passed harmlessly, and even if it hadn't, she was immune to that particular creation of hers.

An expert could knock down a tree with that jutsu, but there's still an impressive amount of power behind the attack for a genin. But she's… trembling? She has the ability, but not the confidence.

"I see you're capable at a distance," Asuka observed. "But what happens… if I move in closer?

Like a shot Asuka was moving. A blink later she was in front of Harumi, a kunai in her hand and headed for Harumi's heart. Harumi's hand holding her closed fan knocked the blade to the left. Asuka went with the motion, turning in a swirl and brining her opposite foot around into a kick. Harumi's hand flicked open, the edge aimed for the back of Asuka's foot. Asuka frowned slightly at that.

Why aim for – ah!

The edge of the fan gleamed in the sunlight. It was sharpened, and Asuka's foot was swinging towards the edge. That razor-edge was on a collision course with her peroneal artery – the one that ran down the back of the foot. If it connected, she'd start bleeding out.

Asuka thrust a hand into her pouch again and pulled some powder from it, tossing it for Harumi's face. The girl reacted immediately, changing the direction of her fan. It swept down, a gust taking the powder in another direction. That meant, though, that Asuka's foot connected sharply with the side of her head. Harumi was forced into a spin as she fell, landing on her butt in the dirt with her head ringing. She winced.

Kasumi was right, Asuka did kick hard.

Harumi lay there, clutching her head in one hand. Asuka stood over her.

"One kick, that's all it takes? That's ridicu-"

Harumi jerked herself around, this time aiming to hamstring her teacher. Asuka leapt up over the strike and flipped, the heel of her foot coming down towards Harumi's head again. Harumi skittered backwards and got to her feet, slightly dizzy, panting.

"A med-nin is always an annoying opponent," Asuka murmured. "You can't just decide to trade a hit for a hit. They are always looking beneath the skin… you're going for my arteries and muscles, not my flesh."

Harumi plucked a couple of kunai from her pouch and hurled them. She smacked her hands together into signs. "Wind Release: Gale Palm!"

With the attack released, the kunai sped up, now whistling through the air on a burst of wind. Asuka simply dropped under them. A shadow loomed over her and she looked up to see Harumi coming down in the same devastating heel-kick she'd tried to use earlier.

Harumi was beside herself when her foot actually connected with her teacher's head – until the puff smoke revealed it to be a split log instead. She froze as she felt the edge of a kunai poised at the back of her armpit.

"Tell me," Asuka said slowly. "What can I do to you?"

Harumi wallowed thickly. "If you push… you'd go through the fifth and sixth ribs."

"And?"

"You'd hit the left pulmonary artery."

Asuka nodded. "Good. Knowing where not to get hit is a useful skill to have. I expect you both to study up on it as well," she called to Kasumi and Toshiro, who were sitting on their stone bench watching.

"Of course, sensei," Toshiro said immediately.

"Or I could just not get hit?" Kasumi suggested with a shrug of her shoulder. Asuka's eyes narrowed.

"Impossible. You are a child, you'll be lucky if you go two weeks without getting hit."

Kasumi blinked at her sensei incredulously, jaw loosening slightly. "Ray of freakin' sunshine, isn't she?" she muttered under her breath.

Toshiro snorted. "You deserved that and you know it."

"On your feet, Fukui."

Toshiro stood abruptly, trading places with Harumi, who gratefully stepped away from the kunai. Toshiro nodded at her approvingly as he passed and Harumi gave a sigh of relief.

"Yo, Stick, you're actually shaking you're so tense!" Kasumi called, a hand by her mouth to make her voice louder. "Loosen up!"

"You should be nicer to him," Harumi rebuked Kasumi as she sat down next to her teammate. Kasumi snorted.

"Eh, he's a big boy, he can take it. Besides, I like him. If I didn't, I'd be mean."

Harumi winced. "This is you being nice?"

Kasumi gave a snicker. "It's part of my charm. By the way, nice going. You really know where all those muscles and arterties are?"

Harumi blinked, surprised that she was asking. "Well, yeah…"

Kasumi nodded thoughtfully. "Cool," she said absently, facing Toshiro. Privately, she was wondering if Harumi would be willing to teach her, seeing as she couldn't exactly just look at a diagram and memorize it. It sounded like a pretty good skill to have. People always went for the throat, but if you could sever an artery in the leg or arm… well, it worked the same, it was just a little sneakier.

Asuka and Toshiro stood across from each other, wailing for the other to make the first move. After three minutes of staring at each other, hair blowing in the slight breeze, Asuka took a small step to the side. Toshiro mimicked her exactly. Smirking subtly behind her mask, Asuka began to pace a circle, Toshiro following her every move. His eyes were so wide and he was so tense she wondered if he was starting to get sore from it.

Taking pity on him, Asuka ran forwards with a kunai. Predictably Toshiro backed away, leaping for the tree line and scrambling up one. He crouched on a branch and raised a hand full of senbon. Asuka stepped to the side and the senbon stuck into the ground harmlessly. She risked a glance back, raising an eyebrow.

Even though they missed, you can still see the pattern. The pattern of strikes… he was going for eyes, arteries, and joints. Accurate… but then that is what Fukuis do.

"Get down here!" Asuka ordered, hurling her kunai at Toshiro casually. He dodged and grabbed the limb of a neighboring tree, flipping up and onto it. He landed in a secure crouch and responded with a punishing volley of senbon. Asuka plucked another kunai from her pouch and twisted it, blocking every single senbon.

She was just lowering her arm when she saw it, and her eyes widened slightly as she jumped over the attack aimed for her thigh. She looked up at Toshiro, impressed despite herself.

Well well, most chunin have some trouble learning that maneuver. He threw the senbon in a precise order so that he could predict where I would move… and then he threw a senbon that would be hidden by my arm as it moved. Ghost Senbon Technique. I saw it early, but still, not bad…

"I said," Asuka repeated slowly, "get down here. I'm not scrambling around trees like a monkey just to hunt you down, Toshiro."

"No," the boy replied shortly. "You told us to fight you, this is me fighting you."

He jumped from the tree, rolled, and came up with his hands extended. He began pumping them back and forth. Asuka nodded to herself. She'd noticed the slight edges were his loose sleeves caught on a device underneath. Now she knew what it was – a senbon launcher. She doubted Fukui needed to resort to the device for anything more that to keep her at a distance – which was what he needed to have a prayer of getting through a fight.

Asuka shook her head.

He won't always be able to fight from a distance.

She couldn't get close to him without having to dodge through senbon, and quite frankly she didn't feel like that. So, from a pouch at the back of her belt, she produced a johyo. With a few quick sweeps of her arm she had momentum built up and she let it fly. It wrapped around Toshiro's extended left arm. Asuka hauled on it brutally and Toshiro staggered, unable to keep his balance. He dropped to his knees and Asuka ran forwards, kunai spinning around one finger.

Toshiro leapt to his feet and scrambled to get some distance, but Asuka didn't let him. She raised a hand, three pellets balanced on her palms. With quick flicks of her wrist she sent them flying. One to Toshiro's left, one to his right, and one over his head to land behind him. The moment they connected with the ground they sent up huge clouds of brown smoke.

Toshiro immediately covered his mouth with one arm and moved forwards, towards Asuka, the only option left to him. Asuka threw a punch, which Toshiro blocked, but it was a little clumsy. She brought her leg up in a series of kicks, one to the chest and one to the face. Toshiro misjudged her speed and tried to dodge, only for her to swing around and nail him in the cheek with the side of her fist. His head snapped to the side and he staggered. Asuka planted a foot in his side, sending him to the ground as he clutched his floating ribs.

Toshiro clambered to his feet, sore and flushed with both exertion and embarrassment. His hand flew to his pocket for a kunai, but Asuka held up her hand.

"That's it, we're done."

She turned her back on him, moving towards the two girls on the stone bench. Toshiro slumped along behind her, rubbing his face and wincing. He cursed himself.

I can't let father know, he'd be furious that I got hurt in my first training exercise. And I have to do a new recipe for dinner tonight… damn, I still have to stop for a cookbook, maybe some bandages too…

"That was really impressive," Harumi praised as the rest of the team approached. "You're so good with senbon, Toshiro!"

"It's what Fukuis do," Toshiro responded automatically. Kasumi snorted.

"Try and contain your enthusiasm, huh?"