A/N: Well now, it's been a while hasn't it? I seem to remember I had a story. About some kids in the Naruto universe. Oh yeah. This one. I suppose I need to explain why I've been absent. Well here's the thing: I had little to no access to a computer with a word processing program. I got my "The Brothers Greymon" chapter out at my cousins. However I'm not living with him anymore so I was shit out of luck. But, Zerojackson showed me the wonders of Google docs and it has been a godsend. However, I'll be getting a new laptop for Christmas so I'll be uploading from that in December. Until then, it's all thanks to Zerojackson. I cannot thank him enough. I just can't. anyway, onto this long awaited chapter.
Aika sipped her cup of tea as she let herself unwind a bit. She never went out much. What little practice she did was kept within certain limits. So having three kids in her care drained her. Her purple hair had grown quite a bit. She'd need to cut it soon. Aika took another sip and pondered.
They're going to have to learn real jutsu soon. They seem to have decent enough chakra control. It's just a matter of time. Aika thought back to her own genin days. Difficult jutsu and fighting moves to master. It took time. And hey, they had a good four years at least to learn this stuff before she'd let them go.
I'm thinking too far ahead. she thought to herself. Aika felt tired. She stretched her arms up and yawned, causing her right sleeve to fall a bit. Her eye moved to the black swirl-flame tattoo on her shoulder. She never bothered to get rid of it for some reason. Aika made a tsch noise before she lay down on the small couch. She closed her eyes and fell asleep, hoping to be ready for the long day that awaited her.
"Hey, Yukio. Wake up." Yukio's eyes flickered open as Arine's displeased face hung over his.
"Um…. good morning Arine." the brunette girl frowned.
"Don't get any ideas like our genius friend over there." Yukio turned his head to see Denji sitting, cupping his left eye.
"I see." Yukio sat up. "So what required Denji's face to become a punching bag?" the silver haired boy in question gave Yukio a smile.
"Word of advice, watch where you turn. You might see something worth losing an eye fo-" he never finished since Arine nailed him in the face with a pillow.
"Anyway" Arine righted her hair. "We should get downstairs, Aika's probably waiting for us." she stood, Yukio noting she was dressed again, and she exited the room. Yukio turned to his friend.
"You know that mouth and those eyes of yours are gonna get you killed one day." Denii, who was still, laying on the floor, started chuckling.
"Gotta be willing to sacrifice things dude." he sat up. "Otherwise you're going nowhere." Yukio raised an eyebrow.
"That's actually somewhat profound. You should write a book on the subject." he stood and stretched, the sun catching his white hair. "You might make some money." he added, beginning to get dressed. Denji waited until he was dressed, but not fully ready before replying.
"Nah. I saw a book on a shelf back in town yesterday. It was about some guy and girl I think. It was…. something Paradise." Denji tried to remember when Yukio responded.
"Sexual Paradise?" he asked, tightening the holsters around his thigh and lower back. Denji started laughing while Yukio chuckled at his quip. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. Some people can be such perverts." he stopped a second, then looked at his friend. Denji put a hand to his chest in mock offence.
"Me? Be perverted? Perish the thought." Yukio scoffed and walked out of the room, Denji close behind. They made their way downstairs only to find Aika barely awake, her hair a mess, and her clothes rumpled. Arine was beside the couch, not sure what to do. "Yeah, she seems pretty ready to me." Denji stated. Aika glared at him.
"I fell asleep on the couch, not the best place to sleep." Denji opened his mouth but another glare from Aika kept it shut.
"Anyway…. today, we're gonna split the day into taijutsu and ninjutsu, with the former being where we'll start." Aika stood, stretching. "And we'll get to hand-to-hand first then some weapons training. Then with ninjutsu, we'll get to some basic ones and we'll try and touch upon elemental jutsu. Key word being 'try' since elemental jutsu are hard to start learning, let alone master." she raked fingers through her hair to straighten it out. "Besides, I'd start you off with simple stuff so you're not overwhelmed." Aika shook her head and her hair looked normal enough. "Well, time for training." she turned and walked outside with the children in tow.
The sun was rising as a light fog was burning off. Aika and her triage stood for a moment, waking up fully as the morning air hit them.
"So, what hand-to-hand training are we having first?" Arine asked.
"We'll start with simple sparring. Easy punches, kicks, and blocks. Once we get some down, I'll have sparring with each of you to test you. Don't be discouraged when you lose, you're beginners so it's a given. However, don't hold back. I'm a 'learn by doing' person so we'll have more hands on stuff than what academies might have." the trio stood as Aika made her way in front of them. "All right, let's begin."
An hour later, Aika and Arine were observing Yukio and Denji sparring.
"Come on Yukio! You can hit harder than that!" Denji was taunting the panting white-haired boy. Yukio held his fists up as Denji came at him. Denji threw a wild haymaker as Yukio ducked as quickly as he could while going for a gut punch. It connected, however, it didn't do much but hurt the boy's wrist.
"Ah!" Yukio recoiled, holding his damaged wrist. Denji stepped back as Aika came over. A quick examination revealed that it just needed rest, like Yukio himself. Aika ordered a break for all and the three children sat down together and drank water while Aika told them of what she saw as areas of improvement.
"Yeah, pretty much all of it." She sighed. "Denji, you're too wild with your hits. You focus a bit and aim for one spot as opposed to just swinging, you could do some serious damage and be a force in hand-to-hand combat." she turned to Yukio. "Yukio, I hate to say it, but Denji's the stronger one. He's simply got more strength. However, that doesn't mean you're useless. My advice would be to go for the joints like elbows or knees. They're harder to hit but you hit it just right and you can incapacitate an opponent quickly. Though some strength training wouldn't go amiss since you could use it." Yukio nodded.
"All right then, Arine." Arine perked up. "You and Denji will spar while Yukio watches. Then once he's a bit more ready, you and him will spar. And this time I'll give you guys some kicks to use. We good?" the children nodded. "Good. Now get out there." Arine and Denji went and stood opposite each other. The took a stance and readied. Aika snapped her fingers and the two ran at each other. Denji, taking Aika's advice, tried to aim but wound up missing widely but just swinging while Arine ducked, came up beside him and elbowed him in the ribs hard.
Yukio watched intently, making sure to note it all. He was so focused on staring, in fact, that when he blinked at one point, his vision changed. He blinked and suddenly, he saw different colours. He looked around. Aika was orange, red, and yellow, all three colours moving and changing. He looked to Arine and Denji, who had more red, white, and orange. However, colours changed as they did with Aika.
Interesting. It's almost like- with a blink, his vision returned to normal. What? his thoughts started going everywhere, wondering what happened. Aika turned to him.
"You okay kid?" Yukio nodded and Aika turned back to the two sparrers. Denji was trying, really, but he just kept swinging wide and far, not really aiming. Meanwhile Arine wasn't really even hitting. Mostly just weaving and dodging, managing to avoid every hit. Denji was starting to show some wear, sweating and being tired. However, he just kept swinging. Until, that is, when he swung too far and stumbled. Arine ducked and hit Denji in the gut hard with a punch, making him gasp as Arine raised herself and her right fist until it connected with Denji's nose. Denji recoiled back a few steps as Arine let out a huge breath.
"Son of a bitch!" Denji's curse was muffled through his hands, which were now trying to stifle the blood coming from his nose. Arine flexed her right fingers, which seemed to hurt from the punch.
"Consider that payback." she said, still miffed.
"You punched me earlier! How does this count?" Arine shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know, for any future incidents." Denji glared, but Aika intervened before either could do anything.
"Okay there kids, break it up before you kill each other." the purple-haired nin stood between them. "Now then, Denji." She turned to him. "I told you already, aim. If you can't hit an ally in a sparring match, what makes you think you could hit an enemy?" Denji opened his mouth to argue but the combination of his hurt nose and lack of an argument kept him silent. Aika turned to Arine. "Now you. I'm saying this once: cool down. Don't let your rage dictate your hits. Otherwise you're gonna lose it eventually and make a fatal mistake. And that's not good." Arine couldn't argue either and simply stood there. Aika sighed. "All right then. You two sit down and I'll spar with Yukio." the boy in question was sitting, his eyes closed tight in concentration. He opened them as he stood and made his way down while Arine and Denji silently made their way to the steps.
I wonder… Yukio thought as he stared at Aika. He managed to get his vision back to the weird colours he saw. Shizune mentioned snakes had thermal vision so perhaps this was it. Either way, Yukio saw this as something that could be very useful. He took a stance as Aika did the same. Yukio tried to figure out what this could be used for when Aika came at him with a punch. He ducked just in time, Aika's thumb barely nicking his head. She wasn't going to go easy on him. Yukio turned and tried to land a hit on her knee. However, she turned around and struck with her shin, hitting the boy in his ribs and sending him sprawling.
Keep it together. He scolded himself. However, his thermal vision was fading slightly. It seemed to be draining him. Regardless, he noticed that Aika's joints were red compared to other spots. I need to get a clean hit to do anything. However, that failed the first time. Aika wasn't stupid. But neither was he. Yukio ran at Aika, hoping to somewhat fool her into thinking he would be going for a simple charge. Aika seemed to take the bait and took a stance to counter the attack.
Excellent. If I slide and hit her in the knee, then perhaps a strike to the above elbow. Then maybe a swing kick of sorts to her other knee, then punch her other elbow… yes it might work! Yukio ran and as his teacher struck, he ducked and slid along the ground until he was directly behind her. Pushing off his right foot, he flew at Aika, hitting the back of her left knee with a decent punch. As Aika turned, Yukio reached up with his left fist, connection with her elbow and straightening her arm. However, as he went for the kick where his heel would hit Aika's right knee, he lost his balance, twisted his right ankle somewhat, and almost fell as Aika's foot connected with his back and sent him a few feet forward. Yukio raised himself up a bit as his vision returned to normal. He felt drained of energy and his eyes began to hurt.
"C'mon Yukio!" he turned to see Denji yelling. "You can beat her!" This gave him enough confidence to stand up.
Okay then. I should go for the joint in a different manner. If I hit her joints from a point that'll bend them a way they shouldn't bend then I might be able to get her to at least stop in her tracks. Yukio began running. However, his back still hurt from Aika's kick and his right ankle hurt from being twisted for that failed result was Yukio falling mid stride and landing face first on the ground. Panting, he raised his head to see Aika standing over him, holding out a hand. He took it and stood.
"Way to go kid, that was actually kind of smart." Yukio almost smiled at the praise but he felt too tired to. "Mind telling us what exactly you were doing though?" Aika waited as Yukio stumbled over to where his friends sat. After a minute he managed to answer
"I was trying to….." he took a few deep breaths "trying to think of which moves I'd use first. Then use them." Aika made a hmpf noise.
"That's not a bad plan. However, it's a tough one." all three looked confused. "Basically, Yukio, if you're planning what attacks you want to make, then here's my advice: plan everything. Because if you simply plan your moves, you're gonna fail. You need to take in all considerations. Your enemy, their abilities, their endurance, their limits, your limits, the environment, possible allies or extra enemies, what your attacks will do, if anything. I'd suggest using that type of strategy after doing a bit of recon. What I mean by recon is fight your opponent lightly. Try and figure out what you can through fighting them. Once you get the basic idea, then go in with that plan. It's a lot of consideration. However, you seem smarter than the average bear it shouldn't be out of the realm of possibility."
"What about us?" Denij piped up. Arine sighed through her nose but didn't object, she was curious as well.
"You two need to do what Yukio's doing, taking in all factors. However, Yukio's going for precise hits, planning what he'll do, when he'll do it, and where he'll hit. You two should note enemies, allies, environment, all the good stuff. However, you can simply attack without a 'true goal'. You can hit wherever, whenever, and however. Yukio's trying to plan his hits down to the last detail. You guys can simply do the basics and then go in. And Yukio" she turned to him once more "Use your friends. They can be just as good at learning an opponent's abilities as you, don't bar them from helping you. On the other hand, don't hesitate to join them. As I always say, it's better to learn by doing, so get your hands dirty. Does that all make sense?" the three nodded. "All right, let's rest up a bit then proceed on to weapons training. Sound good?" the trio nodded again as Yukio and Denji removed their jackets to cool off.
"Aika." she answered Yukio's call. "Remember back when Shizune said I might be able o have something with my eyes?"
"Yeah. What of it?"
"It seems that it's true." Aika furrowed her brow. She didn't know how to react, really. So she simply asked
"How do you know?" Yukio licked his lips before answering.
"I was concentrating on Arine and Denji when it happened for a minute. Then when you and I sparred, I had it for a most of the fight. It seems to be thermal vision, if I'm right." Aika's expression returned to a more neutral one.
"Well, we'll have to deal with that during jutsu training. I'd suggest not worrying about it too much. Just rest for now and we'll deal with it later today. Then we can figure out the intricacies and what it can be used for. That okay?" Yukio nodded. "Good, I'm off to eat." and with that, Aika went inside the cabin.
"Got snake eyes there, buddy?" Yukio turned to Denji, who was snickering.
"At least I can aim my hits."
"Shut up, both of you, I'm trying to drink." Arine took a swig of water. "Besides, it's nothing major, you heard Aika. Yukio can just see temperatures. Nothing we can't handle." she took another drink. Denji snickered.
"I bet Arine looks white as snow because she's so hot." he chuckled until he felt a hand grab his silver hair roughly.
"Listen, you're near a cliff and I'm here. Do. Not. Piss. Me. Off. Or else you're going off. Off the cliff. Got it?" Denji was still wincing from his hair being caught in Arine's vice grip but he managed to nod. Arine let go as her friend rubbed his head.
"No need to be so rough there." he muttered as Arine glared at him.
"You haven't seen rough yet." Yukio chuckled. Both glared at him.
"What? Can't I laugh? This is hilari-ah!" Arine grabbed his hair rough as well.
"What. Did. I. Just. Say?" Yukio breathing through clenched teeth.
"Uh, cliff, don't piss you off, we'll go off, that." Arine released his hair and went back to drinking water. Yukio also rubbed his now throbbing head. "I swear, you need to watch your anger."
"I'll watch it if I want. That sound good?" Yukio sighed.
"Yeah, sounds good." Obviously, she was still miffed about Denji this morning. "Anyway, I wonder what Aika's gonna have us do for weapons training."
"She'll probably have you two spar. I've got no weapons so she might let me off the hook." Yukio pondered this.
"She might let you borrow a weapon. I don't think she'll want you completely useless when it comes to weapons. After all, why just ignore something when you can give a person at least some skill in that area, you know?" Denji thought a moment.
"Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I know I don't want to be useless as hell if I get a weapon in my hands. I'll ask her then." Arine grunted.
"So you're not completely stupid. That's good." Yukio noticed Arine was being very curt towards them. This went beyond normal anger. However he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He just hoped she would get over it.
"Anyway" Yukio took the last swig of water he could. "Let's get ourselves ready." He was feeling a lot better than before, though not quite up to snuff. However he could move and talk so that was an improvement. He and his friends stretched and made sure they were loose enough. Arine put her trident together and swung it around for good measure. Yukio pulled his retractable spears, flicking them in and out and swinging them slightly. Denji simply watched as Aika came out.
"All right kiddos, let's get to some fun with weapons." she noticed Denji. "Denji, I've got a couple for you. Mostly basics, some kunai and shuriken, and" she pulled a scroll, opened it, placed her hand on it, and a weapon popped out. "A warhammer." The warhammer was about as long as Arine's trident, a round, flat smacking side, a spike at the top, and a curved spike behind the flat part. Aika held it out to the young Earth user. "Be careful, this thing is heavy." Denji grabbed it and the weapon almost fell over, taking Denji with it. But he managed to get a firm grip and stood with it.
"I like it." he said, swinging it around. All three backed up since the warhammer looked deadly. Denji smiled brightly as he swung the weapon around. "Haha! I really like this one!" He stopped swinging it after a minute so that Aika could give her instructions.
"Here's the thing: as much as I want to train you on that, I want to focus on your taijutsu more." Denji looked confused.
"Why?"
"Because. The warhammer isn't the pinnacle of strategy based weapons. It's heavy, cumbersome, and almost a nuisance. I want you to focus more on taijutsu and strength so that if your weapon is taken from you, you can still fight. You're pretty strong Denji so we're going to take advantage of that. Okay?" Denji sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, sounds fair." With that he perked up again, held the warhammer beside him as Aika was giving off instructions.
"All right then. Here's the plan: Denji and Yukio can spar first again. After that, Arine will face Yukio. Then Denji and Arine. Then, after that, some rest. How does that sound?"
"Clear as a bell." Yukio responded while the others nodded. Aika actually smiled a bit.
"Excellent. You two, get in there." Denji and Yukio nodded as they stood and faced each other. Arine stood beside Aika. The sun was getting higher, showing that it was getting close to noon. Denji leveled his warhammer at his friend while said friend pulled out his left spera and flicked the weapon out with a satisfying click. Denji smiled.
"You ready for this? 'Cause I'm about to bring down the hammer." Yukio sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Denji, now confused, looked to Arine and Aika, who both had the same look as Yukio. "What?"
"That wasn't even funny you moron." Arine seemed to want her face and paml to become best friends. "If you're going to make a bad pun, make it kind of funny. Rather than 'I'm about to bring down the hammer'. I mean come on, that was just-"
"Okay, okay, I get it." Denji turned back to Yukio. "Can we get this over with?" Yukio popped his neck and readied himself.
"With pleasure." he dashed at Denji, with obvious confidence. Denji moved the hammer in time to block a strike from the spear with a loud clang. Yukio lowered himself with the spear before thrusting it up at Denji's stomach. Denji jumped back and swung his hammer, forcing Yukio to duck or else his face would meet the business side of the weapon. However, denji kept spinning with his hammer, going in circles. Yukio watched carefully until the hammer just passed over his head before tackling his friend to the ground, sending the hammer flying until it made a nice hole in the ground when it landed. Denji looked up to see Yukio's spear tip right above his eyes. "Check mate, friend." Denji chuckled.
"All right, you get this one. Now get off me." Yukio jumped off as he and Denji had a giggle over it. Denji walked over to where Arine was sitting as she stood and went over to Yukio. Aika offered her in-between rounds advice.
"Yukio, with those spears, I'd advise slashing more than stabbing. They don't have a lot of reach so thrusting into someone isn't always an option. Try slashing, the tips are sharp so they'll cut through clothes and skin nicely. You're not going to sever any limbs but some nice gashes here and there will help." Yukio nodded his thanks and faced Arine. Gripping his left spear, he charged again. Arine used the bottom of her trident and swung at Yukio's legs. He managed to jump in time to get her fist in his face. Yukio was sent sprawling, but manage to make it to his feet. He ran at Arine once more, grabbing his other spear from behind his back and flicking it out. Taking Aika's advice, he swung one spear and the tip managed to catch Arine's hand, leaving a nice little cut. In response, she thrust her trident forward, nearly catching Yukio's side with it. He managed to sidestep in time, but Arine wasn't content with a simple jab. She swung the weapon at Yukio and hit him in the side, sending him to the ground, his spears landing beside him. He looked up to see Arine's trident in his face.
"Okay, you win." he said with a chuckle. Arine simply lowered her weapon as Yukio gathered his and walked off. As Denji passed, he whispered "Listen, something's up with her today. Just try not to get hurt." Denji nodded and got his warhammer from where it landed in his last duel. He brought it around and faced Arine.
"All right then, let's get start-" Arine charged at him before he could finish. She swung her trident as Denji blocked. When Arine stepped back, Denji brought the hammer over his head and swung down. Arine jumped back as the head hit the ground hard with a deep thud. From there, Denji pulled the hammer and swung from a lower angle up at Arine. The head caught some dirt and flung it up at Arine's face, momentarily blinding her as Denji continued with his swing which knocked the trident from her hands. She was faced with the spike from Denji's hammer in her face. Her silver haired friend was panting from heaving it around, but he had a satisfied grin on his face. However, he lowered his hammer and walked back to Yukio, who was stunned. As was Aika.
"Not bad Denji, you might be useful yet." Denji chuckled.
"Yeah, I guess I'm not too shabby." Arine picked up her trident and joined her friends. She didn't seem as mad now, but more concerned. About what, none of them could decide.
"Anyway, it's lunch time. Eat and rest up. Jutsu training's going to take a lot out of you." With that, Aika went inside as the kids stayed in the sun.
A/N: Oh my GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! I did it, I finally finished this chapter. Holy shit. I mean seriously, holy shit. 10 pages. 10 fucking pages. 4421 words. I guess you all deserve this, even if the pacing of this story is agonizingly slow. Don't worry, I'll speed it up a bit. You won't see any 45 chapter arcs from me. However, about 20-25 will be my limit. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I'm back and better than ever. It's all thanks to Zerojackson. Seriously, without him I wouldn't even be writing this until after Christmas. He deserves every ounce of support you guys can give him. He's a fantastic writer and his story, Winds of Change, is a great read. A long one, but great. He's helping me plan plot points and such so he's a huge help. Seriously, it really is thanks to him that I'm able to post. Anyway, I'm done here. Expect a new Emerald Shades chapter after this and I'll get to writing chapter 8 of this and chapter 4 of The Brothers Greymon simultaneously. Hope you enjoyed, and seriously, it's great to be back.