Kotone's chest barely rose as she inhaled, straining her other senses as hard as she could. She counted off on in her head. One. Breathe out. Two. Breathe in. Three. Breathe out.
The kunai spun around her finger and then flew forward at a blinding speed. With a thud it lodged itself half an inch away from the bullseye. She let out a frustrated shout. Every mark was closer than the last and at the least consistent within the ring around the center point, but that wasn't enough. She needed the kind of accuracy and precision that could hit exactly where she wanted at any time.
Four weeks had dragged by since her enstatement as a reserve kunoichi, so she was taking advantage of her break from D- ranked gardening. Kotone yanked another kunai from her pouch agitated and forced chakra to her hands. Her fingers buzzed feeling the intense energy flow through them.
Her eyes glanced down to the pages by her feet. She began murmuring the words back to herself. "With chakra in your hands place the kunai it's throwing position as shown in chapter one…Use diagram two to see what the chakra should look like under your skin."
Kotone took another breath in and then threw the weapon. It had the same results.
She kicked the book across the grass.
"It's your foot position."
She froze, slowly turning to look at the person behind her. A shinobi wearing a flak jacket looked at her pointedly and she found herself startled by the pupil-less eyes.
"When throwing your feet need to be further apart and angle the right foot in more."
She nodded slowly before doing as told. Her eyes narrowed at the red dot that had been taunting her and flung the kunai. Her mouth parted when it hit dead center.
"You should've learned that at the Academy."
"Ah… they kinda rushed the lesson, as long as we could hit the enemy it was good enough."
For a moment he said nothing, but his eyes never left her. "You have a protector, are you a genin?"
"I'm a reserve." She stated flatly, however, her voice picked up emotion quickly. "Why did you help me?"
"You looked tired, like you've been working hard and it's frustrating to see no results."
"Yeah." She admitted, "but thank you…"
"Shiro."
"Thanks, Shiro-sensei." Her lips formed a smile.
He raised a brow at the added honorific. Did she already know he was a jounin-sensei? Surely the girl wasn't that advanced in her intelligence work, though he had been told she spent an awful lot of time in the library to make up for the lack of a team. No. He decided it was Kotone being polite. Her eyes looked too sincere to be hiding information.
"Of course. I hope you'll keep training hard like this."
Those eyes, almost impossibly dark, betrayed her every emotion. Shiro could see the excitement from the praise, but then again, most kids thrived off such things, so it couldn't be held against her.
"So?" Minato prompted looking over the student files once again.
Shiro nodded. "I think she'd balance out their team, but she'd give them an advantage, wouldn't she? She knows exactly what we're looking for in the exam."
"Well, a head start just means less time teaching them the principle of teamwork."
"Technically, she shouldn't be taking the exam a third time either."
Minato put his face into hands. He wanted Kotone on a team as soon as possible and he would never deny students a chance for an exam because there was an even number of kids who passed their Academy exams rather than the odd numbers that created threes. They deserved something for hard work. His head snapped up.
"Then she can meet with them prior to their test, they'll do a two on one for the bell. Someone will tell her she cannot directly tell them what the test is trying to accomplish. Does that work?"
"...Even without a loophole, you manage to find one."
"Anything for the next generation." The Hokage grinned.
Shiro smiled back. What he saw through byakugan was earlier impressive, her chakra had surged to her hand in a speed not many ninja of her age could do. From what he read in her file, Kotone's chakra system was far more extensive than her normal circulatory. It was assumed to be a side affect of her hemophilia, but no one in the medical team knew for sure. The conditions rarity never warranted studying until after the death of Kotomi Matsushita left her ten year old daughter in the care of the shinobi system.
"Come on, come on, when do we start?" Iruka bounced excitedly. "Who did they choose from the Academy to join?"
Mizuki was anxious to meet their new teammate. His leg wouldn't stop shaking. Their academy teacher rubbed his temple wishing Kotone would arrive to keep his, hopefully, soon to be former students from going crazy.
The door creaked open causing the boys to sit straight up in a single breath. Kotone felt just nervous, the people beyond the door would truly determine her entire future.
Narrowing his eyes, Mizuki said. "She isn't from our class"
"Mizuki, Iruka Umino, meet Kotone Matsushita. She will be the new member of Team Six."
Mizuki threw his arm to point at her. "I recognize you. You were a few classes ahead of us, weren't you?"
"Yeah. I was a reserve until now."
The Academy instructor made his exit leaving the kids to become acquainted.
"So… you've taken the test?" Iruka prompted.
"Twice, so I can't take this exam with you guys." She looked into their eyes. Kotone needed them to understand, to realize how much this meant to her. Her stare, however, made the boys blush. "You have to promise me you'll both pass together."
Iruka stepped forward to meet her, grabbing Mizuki to drag to up toward Kotone as well. He grinned. "Of course we'll pass! We can't let our new teammate down! Right, Mizuki?"
Mizuki fought to hide his twitch from Iruka holding him in such a friendly manner, but managed to plaster a smile over his face. "Of course. What else are friends for?"
Kotone blinked at their declarations taking a step back, she hadn't expected them to be so willing. And that word. Friends. She wasn't opposed to her team being friends, but how could they say such a thing without knowing her? Her only reference was her former team, all selfish bastards, and Kakashi who had cut everyone out because he let people in. She wanted to understand why Mizuki and Iruka were the total opposite. What was different?
"I'm starving, we should all get food! My mom gave me some money so I can pay for us!" Iruka now had a hold on Kotone's arm too and took off running with the others flailing behind him.
Shop owners yelled at the group when their feet kicked up dirt behind them as they sprinted through the village. Mizuki shouted for Iruka to slow down, but Iruka only burst into laughter. Kotone found the sound infectious and started to giggle. Mizuki rolled his eyes, but a smile was on the corner of his mouth.
In the small noodle shop, Iruka immediately ordered for the three of them, knowing exactly what kind of food Mizuki liked and making the recommendation for Kotone.
Iruka couldn't feel more excited. He couldn't wait to receive his forehead protector and show his parents, hell, he nearly couldn't contain his excitement that Mizuki was on his team and that their teammate was someone who seemed as cool as Kotone.
Between Mizuki and Kotone, Iruka knew he had a lot of growing to do, but the challenge to become as strong as them was one he was up for.
"Yeah, this one time I got a whoopie cushion under our teacher. His face was priceless!"
"And then you had detention for four days."
"Worth it!"
"Your parents grounded you!"
Iruka shoved Mizuki playfully. "Still worth it!"
Mizuki readjusted his bandanna with a snort.
Kotone observed the dynamic duo she had been thrown into. The boys bantered the whole meal, breaking into laughter every few minutes that Kotone couldn't help but mimic. Every time she laughed, the other two laughed harder. There was rising feeling in Kotone's chest that she had never felt before. She couldn't think of a time she ever felt this happy.
"Kotone, what was your old team like?" Iruka looked at her.
"They were selfish." She left out the stronger words. Even in the beginning she hadn't loved her team, but figured she would grow to like them. "They don't matter now."
"Oh." Iruka smiled once more. "Well, I'm glad you're our new teammate!"
"Me too."
By the time they finished eating the threads of fate were set in motion.
Three days later, Team Six stood in front of one Shiro Hyuuga ready for their first mission.
I know it might seem slow, but things will be picking up pretty soon! And for the most part this should follow canon story line, but you know, creative liberties and all that haha. As always, reviews are incredibly welcomed!