Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto.

Chapter 7: Out With The Old And In With The New

People say that in situations like these, time slows down. That's actually false. If anything, everything happens so much more quickly.

Sensei had left in a blur, leaving me there on the forest floor, dazed. At first I was confused as to why, but looking back on it afterwards, I realized that he knew I wasn't ready to take on Chunnin level shinobi. If only for lack of experience than anything else.

After Sensei left, the other shinobi had followed. I figured they knew Sensei was the bigger threat and was more likely to be the one carrying the information they wanted. Or perhaps they thought going after a little kid would just be wasted time. Still, I'd make a hostage, so they were also probably a little stupid.

With Sensei gone and the enemies with him, I did what he had asked me to do. I hid. We had a small lesson on proper hiding techniques a week ago, but it was nothing extensive. Hopefully, it'd be enough for me to at the very least not get in Sensei's way. I ended up in a burrow at the base of a tree, closer to the outpost than the way we had come. The outpost was still far away, I wouldn't be able to run it, nor did I want to. I was hyped up on adrenaline and anxiety, but I didn't want to leave without Sensei.

I tried to calm down, but it was useless. My hands were only a little shaky, but inside I was rattled. I needed to keep a cool head, freezing here in fear would do me no good. But that was so much easier said than done. I resorted to counting my breaths mentally, picturing Naruto and Itachi in my mind. Their images worked wonders, if I focused on them I was slowly able to push away my panicked feelings. I was still very tense, but now instead of being uselessly stopped by fear, I was much more alert.

That was what saved me.

My body moved before my brain caught up, so I was by another tree as the one I had been hiding in cracked and was destroyed by the shinobi that had appeared.

I stared,wide eyed, at the place I had just been in. I snapped to attention as the shinobi wasted no time to charge at me, and to my surprise, I could follow him with my eyes. I moved, lunging to the side to dodge, twisting around and aiming a punch to the shinobi's face. My fist connected with his cheek with a satisfying sound. He rocked back on his heels, and in a blink he recovered, grabbing my sides while I was still in the air. He tried to slam me into the ground head first, but I caught myself, stopping impact with my hands flat on the dirt, wrapping my legs around the shinobi's neck and using all my strength to lift him and slam him into the ground instead. I felt his hands loosen their grip and I wasted no time in pushing away from him, landing feet away.

My wrists were sore and painful with one of them probably sprained from having to take the man's force when he'd used to slam me down, my heart was racing, the sound rushing to my ears from fear induced adrenaline, and I was panting slightly. The man stood, dusting himself off as he turned his dark eyes at me. There was a stand off before I saw it. My good arm moved as I saw a twitch on the man's jaw. My shuriken knocked the kunai out of the air in a clang of metal on metal. The weapons embedded themselves in nearby trees but I hardly noticed.

As soon as the weapons had clashed, the shinobi had once again lunged at me. I tried dodging again but he grabbed my ankle and I twisted, aiming a kick at his head. He grabbed that too then threw me. I skid along the floor painfully, my head hitting a tree root harshly. I laid on the floor, panting and dizzy. I was running on autopilot here in an attempt to not let fear stop me in my tracks. I heard more than saw the shinobi approach, calmly. The sun glinted against the kunai in his hand. My vision focused for a moment, and I saw his arm raise and then he swung downwards, aiming for my heart. I twisted and rolled out of the way, almost face planting as I used my sprained wrist to push myself up, but I grit my teeth, good hand grabbing my own kunai and I stabbed upwards, partly blindly, but by the shinobi's howl of pain, I had hit.

He staggered back, dropping his kunai as he grasped at the weapon sticking out of his throat. Clearly he had thought I was down for the count and underestimated me, probably because of my age. I landed on my knees, panting as the shinobi fell backwards, having removed the kunai. He was bleeding out, and I detachedly watched, probably having pierced through his jugular.

He stopped moving rather quickly, and when he did, I felt a hand on my back. I twisted, hand already curled into a punch. My wrist was grabbed and I blinked, realizing who it was.

"Sensei?" My voice sounded weak, and I probably looked a little dirty, having rolled in the dirt like I had. His eyes went to the shinobi laying still on the ground before they went back to me, looking as unruffled as ever and without a scratch. Seeing him as his usual calm self in turn made me relax, and he let my wrist go, after he helped me to my feet. I let it fall at my side as I caught my breath. The fear had taken a backseat to the adrenaline, and I figured that that was the only reason I was so calm about the whole thing. It'd probably catch up to me later.

I swayed on my feet as I tried to take a step forward. Sensei caught me, and to my embarrassment, he gently placed me on his back. He didn't say a word, and neither did I. When I was holding on well enough, he took off, carrying me the rest of the way to the outpost.

0o0o0o0o1o0o0o0o0o

We made it quickly enough. Sensei handed me off to another shinobi, then left to complete the mission. I felt a little hurt but I understood, the mission did require a bit of haste.

"A prodigy huh?" The shinobi, a medic, since he was treating me, asked rhetorically as I sat on one of the infirmary's beds. He was an average height guy, with long light hair pulled in a low ponytail and hazel eyes. His mannerisms and tone were good natured and genial. I shrugged, a bit uncomfortable, and he laughed, placing an elastic bandage around my wrist. It wasn't a bad sprain, he'd told me. But I did have to take it easy with it for a while. I could have healed some of it, but I didn't want to add chakra depletion my physical tiredness.

"It's impressive that you took down a chunnin at your age," he continued, going around me and taking a look at my head. I had drawn some blood after hitting the tree root, but I didn't seem to have a concussion and I didn't need stitches. All in all, I had come out of the fight pretty damn well. I wasn't so egotistical to think that I hadn't won on luck. I had. The other shinobi had assumed I wasn't that big a threat, being young and a genin, possibly because of my gender too, and he had paid for that mistake with his life. He hadn't used any jutsu or chakra. I had been so ridiculously lucky.

"This was your first C-Rank?" He asked. I nodded, hiding my annoyance. He was just being friendly but all I wanted was to go home and sleep for a week, possibly with my boys near by. Those thoughts surprised me a little. Had Itachi, Naruto, and Konoha really come to mean that much to me?

Apparently so.

Before the medic nin could try to start more small talk, Sensei appeared at the doorway. I felt myself relax, unaware that I had even been tense. Seeing a familiar figure went a long way for my nerves. His eyes studied me for a bit before he turned to the other man. He must have been used to dealing with stoic shinobi because he wasted no time in detailing my rather small injuries to Sensei.

Sensei nodded and the medic excused himself, going through a door at the back of the makeshift infirmary.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, when the other guy was gone. I blinked, a little taken back. I hopped off the bed.

"I'm okay," I told him, not totally lying. I was feeling better than before, a lot better. I could stand now, my legs no longer jelly from fear but kept straight by adrenaline. There was a panic creeping up around me if I thought about the fight for too long but I firmly pushed it away to deal with later. I found myself missing Naruto and Itachi then with a ferocity that surprised me, considering it had only been about three days since I had last seen Naruto, and about a week for Itachi. Sensei eyed me critically once more before nodding, accepting my answer.

"We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning. Get some rest," he told me, and I nodded, watching him go. After he left, I took a moment to look around the infirmary before promptly falling back on my bed, cursing under my breath when that jostled my head wound. I moved for a while before finding a comfortable position and almost immediately fell asleep. It wasn't the best, and my dreams were plagued by the sounds of someone choking on their blood.

0o0o0o0o2o0o0o0o0o

Hayama had never really contemplated having a genin team before. He had figured he'd have one later on, but he hadn't really been in a hurry to get one. So he was a little apprehensive when the Hokage asked him to take on a student. As in singular, only one. Apprenticeships weren't rare, but they were a little uncommon. And they usually happened because a Jonin took an interest in a somebody. Having the Hokage ask for one on behalf of a student was a little unorthodox.

He was a little curious though, and decided to take a peek into the student in question's file.

Hayama had been rather surprised by what he had seen, and he admitted to himself that he was rather keen on seeing the kid able to catch the Hokage's favor like this Suzuki Natsu had. He had agreed in the end, since the kid had a wind affinity like him and the Hokage had seemed rather determined to get him to take on the girl. Why? He had no clue.

Natsu was a little different than he had expected. She was very mature, and incredibly driven. She had a lot of potential, and he was starting to see why the Sandaime had let her graduate early. Overall, even if he hadn't meant to get a genin at this point in his life, he was pleased with his student. He was rather fond of her now too.

Before long, they had passed through the obligatory but boring as hell D-Rank missions, and gotten a C-Rank.

The mission had started well enough, but it took a rather sharp turn. He had managed to distract and lead the chunnin away from his student. There were three of them, and during the fight, one of them had slipped away. He had tried to follow but the other two had kept him distracted. He had no doubt that the chunnin that had slipped was heading for his student, probably thinking that his buddies were enough to take down Hayama and that he could go deal with the kid quickly. Feeling protective, Hayama laid into the two shinobi with renewed vigor. He had to finish quickly to get to Natsu.

The two weren't that skilled but they were annoying enough that it took him longer than he'd have liked to finish them both off. Hayama had escaped unscathed but the other two hadn't been so lucky. Not even sparing the fallen shinobi a glance, he quickly raced to where he felt Natsu's chakra signature. When they got back, he would teach her to hide it.

He frowned at the scene he arrived to. His student was on her knees and close by there was a corpse. He retrieved her and then took off for the outpost. After, Hayama made sure to keep an extra eye on her. The first kill was always the hardest, but Natsu seemed to be handling it well. She had been her usual self, if a bit more subdued, understandable really, but not bad off.

When they left the next morning, Hayama carried her the entire way home, despite her protests. They reached the village by sundown, making Natsu frown (although it was more of a pout) at the gap in their stamina. He put her down in front of the gates, and walked at a somewhat slow pace with her after signing back into the village.

"Go home and get some rest," Hayama said, making the little girl blink and look up at him in confusion.

"But we have to report in," she pointed out, looking thrilled (not) at that. Hayama fought down a smile.

"I will go alone." He placed a hand on Natsu's head, mindful of the bandage, and gently ruffled her hair. "You did very well, but you're injured. It was your first mission outside of the village, go on and rest."

Natsu almost protested, but visibly held her tongue and nodded. She gave him a small, tired smile. "Thanks, Sensei."

Hayama watched her go before turning to continue on to the Hokage's office. He had a report to give in.

Sorry guys. I've tried to set up a regular updating schedule but I just can't seem to keep up with it. Updates will more than likely be irregular depending on my muse, but do know I won't abandon this story. As of now, I hope you're all enjoying it! Fight scenes are not my forte.

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