Chapter 13: Training Montage
-o X o-
We took our sweet time on the return journey from Taki, and we made it back to Konoha over the course of five blissfully uneventful days. Neji was civil, Tenten was polite, Akiko was mostly silent. Lee would frequently invent challenges for us to participate in, but Naruto was the only one energetic enough to participate, and the two quickly became friendly rivals.
It was mid-morning when we arrived at the gates to Konoha, and after checking in with the guards, Anko began leading our team straight to the Hokage Tower. "The Sandaime wants to debrief you all personally for this one," she explained. "Some of what happened on this mission will likely become confidential. It's not every day that we get attacked by foreign ninja on what should be a generic C rank mission."
We climbed the winding staircase of the administrative building, passing a few bustling paper-pushers. When we reached the floor of the Hokage's office, however, I saw the first person I recognized. A gnarled, burly civilian man drinking straight from the bottle. Tazuna the bridge builder.
It was about that time, and I felt a bit relieved that we wouldn't be sent on that mission. That Taki doctor must have known what he was doing, because physically, I did feel mostly recovered already. Even so, we deserved at least a couple days rest, and I'd protest against anyone who suggested otherwise, especially Naruto. Even so, I felt uneasy about the fact that someone was going to have to face off with Zabuza Momochi and Haku, and I'm not sure how many Konoha jounin could come out on top in that match.
We entered the Hokage's office, and the man greeted us warmly. "Ah, Team 6, welcome home. I'm glad to see you all made it back in one piece." His eyes lingered on me for a moment. "From what Anko described, you met some very high-level opponents on the last mission. It looks like you have all recovered?"
I figured he was primarily addressing me, so I answered. "Yes, sir. Takigakure had a competent medic by the name of Doctor Tako. He seems to have healed the bulk of the damage, though he recommended I rest a few more days before doing anything too strenuous."
The Hokage nodded in approval. "Very well. I appreciate the fact that our allies took such good care of our shinobi. We shall be sure to repay them in kind, when the opportunity arises. However, as I am sure you are aware, it is not common to face such formidable opponents during a C rank. I'd like to hear you all describe what happened, with as much detail as you can remember."
"Yeah, you got it, Jiji!" Naruto said, throwing his arms behind his head and grinning widely. "Can I go first? I'll tell you all about how we beat those guys, and even how the fox helped, because my team knows about that now too!"
If that news surprised the Hokage, he hid it well, but he indulged Naruto's request to go first. We took turns recounting the battle from our own perspectives. I had seen most of the important bits of the fights myself, but Anko's battle was still a mystery to me. She gave an account of how Kidomaru slowly and methodically entrapped her in webbing and left her to be eaten by his summoned creature. After Kidomaru left, she 'somehow' (I assume curse mark stage one) mustered the physical strength to maneuver her hands within the tight confines of the cocoon, then made the signs to perform a powerful fire jutsu that burnt away the bindings. She proceeded to slay giant spider and it's broodlings, and rejoined the fight just in time to save my face from an untimely arrow.
When all was said and done, the Hokage leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, taking a long draft from his pipe. We waited patiently as he thought things over, consolidating all that he heard of our mission. When he opened his eyes again, they were hard and serious. "Team 6, I commend you for your courage in the face of such high caliber and unexpected adversaries. However, the events of this mission must remain confidential for the time being." He looked at Naruto in particular for a moment, who nodded, before continuing. "I suspect it will be easier said than done. As recently graduated genin, it will be tempting to tell your friends and family about what you accomplished here, especially since the events that transpired were well above your station in terms of difficulty. But outside of the present company and Team Guy, you must keep the details secret. The official report will be that the mission transpired without incident. Team 6 delivered their missive to Takigakure, waited several days for a response, then returned to Konoha to complete their mission. Is that understood?"
We assented in unison.
"Very good. And your confidence in this matter earns you some additional information as well, that we were not planning on announcing for another week or two yet," the Hokage continued, leaning back in his seat and folding his hands. "Konoha will be hosting the next Chunin Exams, and I believe it is prudent to inform you that the Hidden Sound Village has expressed intent on sending some genin to participate. The behavior of their ninja on your mission makes their intentions rather suspect. But until we have more information, we are going to proceed, at least outwardly, under the assumption that the hostility you encountered was not sanctioned by Otogakure. If they are concealing ill intent towards us, the exams will be an opportunity for us to find out more, a controlled environment for us to observe a few of their ninja. My orders to you are to act as if there was no hostile interference on the previous mission, and that all is well between us and them, until we can discern their true stance towards Konoha. Is that understood?"
"Woah, you mean those guys might have been going rogue?" Naruto asked in shock.
"Maybe, maybe not," the Hokage replied with another sigh. "I hope this was only an unfortunate incident of a few rogue ninja. The fact that Otogakure has not announced any missing ninja in the past few weeks suggests otherwise. In any case, to the public, you must act like it never happened at all. The security of our village may well be at stake. Are there any questions?"
After a moment's pause, I spoke. "I have one, Hokage sama. May I speak to you and Anko sensei alone?" Naruto and Akiko looked at me in surprise, and I made an apologetic face. "Sorry guys, if necessary, Hokage sama can fill you in later."
The Hokage also looked curious, and nodded. "Very well, if there are no other questions, you may be dismissed, Naruto and Akiko."
"Wait for me outside the building," I added. "I'll catch up to you there."
Once my teammates had exited, the Hokage inclined his head. "Well, Tedashi, what question do you have for me that you deemed prudent to keep from your teammates?"
"Ah, it was something that Sakon said, after Naruto and I wounded his brother/clone thing," I said with a frown. "When Sakon saw the wound, he told his brother to come and rest, until they could get him back to Kabuto." The Hokage's brow creased. I noticed Anko sensei shift a bit beside me. I continued, "I know Kabuto is a common enough name, but right before we left on this mission, a medic named Kabuto did a preliminary examination of some injuries sustained during training. I thought it was suspicious, and wanted to bring it up."
The Hokage stared intently at me for a minute. "I see. And why did you ask your teammates to leave the room before you divulged this information, rather than include it in the verbal report of your mission a moment ago?"
"I think it would be worthwhile to investigate the medic named Kabuto," I explained. "If it is going to be a covert investigation, I think the less people who know, the better. If Naruto happened upon Kabuto in an innocent setting but with the knowledge that he may be a spy, I think he would react in an… indiscrete manner."
The Hokage set his pipe down and steepled his fingers. "I happen to know of this young Kabuto you refer to," he said after a moment. "He is a genin, and has been for several years. You are nearly accusing another Konoha shinobi of high treason and spying for a foreign village that didn't even exist until recently. It is a rather unlikely claim, based only on a name, and you think we should launch a high-level investigation?"
I swallowed, suddenly realizing how serious of a claim I was making, on such shallow evidence. "Ah… I see how the connection is a bit of a stretch. It is possible that I am negatively predisposed towards the man due to the uncomfortable impression he gave me at the hospital. But still, I thought I should at least bring it up."
The Hokage didn't blink. "Indeed. I'll take this information under advisement. Regardless of your conjectures, the information that these hostile ninja had a skilled medical accomplice named Kabuto is potentially useful information, and will be added to the confidential section of this mission file. Is there anything you wish to report?"
"No, Hokage sama."
"Very well. You are dismissed. Anko, if you could stay a moment longer."
I left the room, passed by the nervous looking Tazuna again, and headed for the main staircase. I recognized a familiar voice coming up before I reached them.
"Come on, Kakashi sensei, please don't give us another D rank!" Kobi whined, walking beside his teacher as they headed for the Hokage's office. "I can't take another babysitting mission, or dog walking, or worse. We're ready for a C rank now!"
Kakashi looked cheery and sedate, completely unperturbed by his genin's complaining. Sasuke and Hinata were walking behind their team leader and other teammate, and both nodded in cordial acknowledgement when they saw me.
"Kobi, quit whining, you'll embarrass us in front of the other genin," Sasuke muttered. "But sensei, we are ready for a C rank. Tedashi's team must have just got back from one, and he's still in one piece. How did it go for your team?" he asked me.
"Ah, you know," I deflected, "typical C rank courier mission. Not that much more exciting than a D rank, really…" then, realizing what that the next C rank was likely the Wave mission, mentioned, "Maybe you guys should do a few more D ranks, just to be sure."
I was met with three indignant stares, and realized I had unintentionally committed them to their fate.
"No!" Kobi shouted indignantly, breaking the brief silence. "If Team 6 can do a C rank, so can we! C'mon sensei, please!"
"Hmm. What do you think, Hinata?" Kakashi asked airily. "Do you feel ready for a C rank?"
She met my eyes for a minute, then nodded at Kakashi. "Yes, sensei. I also believe that we are ready and capable of completing C rank missions."
"Well, I suppose we can see if the Hokage has anything available," he said, donning his signature eye smile.
"Yes! Finally!" Kobi cheered.
"Good luck, guys. If you do get a C rank, stay sharp," I said.
Kakashi eyed me for a fraction of a second, before Kobi started calling for everyone to hurry up from the top of the stairs. I hesitated for a minute before exiting. Should I give Team 7 some kind of warning? They would probably have to fight Zabuza and Haku. Kakashi would probably be fine against the Kiri Swordsman, but the genin didn't have Naruto and his Kyuubi power to bail them out against Haku. If Sasuke and Hinata fought Haku together, would they win? Did they have an answer for the Ice Mirrors?
My dread increased. No, I realized. Sasuke doesn't have that kind of power in his arsenal. Hinata is skilled with the gentle fist, but unless the Byakugan could see some kind of weakness in the technique that I didn't know about, she wouldn't be able to break it either. They would fight smarter than Naruto did though, and maybe Tedashi could contribute more than Sakura…
I exited the building, my brows knit in concentration as I tried to play out the different scenarios. If Haku traps them both, they're dead. If Haku traps only one, can the other do something from the outside? I remember canon Sasuke implying that they would have an advantage if Naruto stayed outside the mirrors; maybe he saw a weakness in the technique, something that makes it stronger on the inside than out…
"How'd your top-secret meeting with the Hokage go, Tedashi?" Naruto interrupted my thoughts playfully, and I realized that he and Akiko had been waiting for me.
I dismissed my battle scheming for the moment and rolled my eyes. "I heard one of the opponents say something fishy, but it turned out to be nothing, so don't worry about it. Akiko, are you planning on going to the Yamanka's district now?"
She nodded curiously, then answered in Asakura's voice. "Yes, how come?"
"Mind if I go with? I need to restock on some poison supplies."
She shrugged. "Sure. Akiko chan is fine with you accompanying us."
"Want to tag along, Naruto?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'll go. I've never been to the Yamanaka's. You think we'll see Ino there?"
I shrugged. "Maybe, she is the daughter of the clan head. They run a flower shop, which has a ninja section for poison and medicine ingredients."
"Woah. So does Ino use poisons too?" Naruto asked, eyes wide.
"Yeah. Choji, Shikamaru, Ino, and I were taught by Inoichi together- that's Ino's dad, by the way. Although, I think Choji and Shikamaru were mostly just there to build an immunity to the poisons; Choji didn't like the idea of poisoning others, and Shikamaru is too lazy to make his own. I think Ino is the only one who plans on actively using it. Now that we are officially genin, our lessons have stopped, but Ino is probably still learning more from her dad on the side."
"That's kinda scary," Naruto said with a shiver. "Ino was such a… such a… such a girl at the academy, I didn't think she'd be in to that kind of stuff."
I smirked, and Akiko's body sighed. "Akiko says she has some words for you about gender stereotypes when we get sorted out," the samurai spirit said.
We arrived at the flower shop, and a little bell attached to the door announced our presence as we walked in.
"Welcome to… Oh, hey guys, it's been a while. What brings you here?" Ino asked from behind the counter, putting away whatever magazine she was reading and smiling.
"Clan jutsu gone wrong," said the spirit's deep voice.
"And I need some more supplies," I answered.
Ino gave Akiko a concerned glance, then nodded. "I see. Ok, I'll go grab my dad."
She slipped into a back room, and returned a moment later with Inoichi. "Hello, Akiko and Tedashi," he greeted. "And you must be Naruto. Nice to meet you."
Naruto looked a little startled. "Ah, yeah. Uh, thank you?"
"Let's step into a room with a little more privacy to get Akiko sorted out. Ino, do you mind helping Tedashi gather ingredients for his poisons? Naruto can accompany you." Inoichi asked.
We nodded and split up. "So, what happened on the mission that caused Akiko to get like that?" Ino asked casually, as we entered the ninja section of the greenhouse. "It's been over a year since she last had to come here to get sorted out."
Naruto and I glanced at each other. "We went a little overboard during training," I answered. "She pushed herself a bit too hard, I think. I'm not too sure how her jutsu works, or how it went wrong, but at least Asakura san has been quite cordial." I decided to change the topic. "How has your poisons lessons been going? Learn anything knew?"
If Ino was skeptical of my answer and deflection, she didn't push. "A bit. Daddy finally let me start mixing some lethal poisons, but I have to be extra careful, because Shika and Choji aren't immune to them yet. I don't know if I'll even carry them with me on my C ranks yet, whenever Sensei finally lets us take one."
"You never know when a mission might go sideways," I said, a bit stiffly. "I would recommend you at least bring them."
Ino huffed, but nodded.
Once we had collected all the ingredients that I would need for poison making, we headed back to the civilian side of the shop where Ino tallied up the cost. Akiko and Inoichi soon emerged from the employees only section, and Akiko's features were back to normal.
"Welcome back Akiko chan!" Naruto greeted.
She nodded and smiled. "Yep, it's good to be back. Now, what were you saying about girls using poison? Do you think kunoichi are all cute and never scary?"
Naruto stuttered as he considered his implications, but I decided to at least spare him the discomfort of explaining himself before Ino and her dad. I thanked them and bade them farewell, pushing Naruto out the door with Akiko right behind us. And to our surprise, found Anko sensei waiting for us.
"Sup kiddos. I see that you're all sorted out now," she said, in way of greeting. "Let's get dinner tonight as a team to celebrate our first real mission success. Go ahead and go home, shower, clean up, whatever. But we'll meet together at 7pm. How about-"
"Ichiraku's!" Naruto interjected.
"We always get Ichiraku's," I countered.
Akiko raised an eyebrow. "If we're going to celebrate, let's do it right and get something nice. I vote sushi."
Anko huffed. "I was going to suggest dango, but I suppose Akiko is on to something. Sushi it is."
-o X o-
The sun was beginning to set, casting the village in red-orange tint as Naruto and I approached the designated sushi restaurant together. Akiko and Anko were already there when we arrived, and we joined their table. A waiter came by immediately, and we all placed our orders. Once he headed for the kitchens, our sensei started the conversation.
"Well, congratulations, brats," Anko said, a sharp gleam in her eye despite a flippant tone. "You completed your first A rank. Not to mention, you all scored your first kill, and none of you look completely mentally traumatized."
My eyes widened a bit at that, as did the others, as we glanced between each other. I… hadn't really thought about the fact that I killed a man when I killed Jirobo. Literally blew him up. There was so much going on, and I had just moved. It may have helped that the second state curse mark deformed him. He was a giant, a monster, a demon, a threat. And I killed him. Akiko and Naruto seemed equally contemplative.
"I… I did, didn't I?" Naruto stuttered, after a second. "I mean, it was the Kyuubi that did it, but I guess it was still me. I didn't realize that I… killed him."
Akiko looked a little pale. "It was Asakura san who was in control of my body when I killed… the girl. But it was my body. I didn't resist. We needed to kill her. It was instinct."
I nodded. "Jirobo was about to murder Fuu. And then he would have killed you guys. I just… just moved. I acted. I blew him up."
Anko was quiet for minute. When she finally spoke, it was somber, reflective. "You are shinobi. I suspected that none of you had thought about it much, given the circumstances, but this is something you need process. This is the life of a shinobi. You kill, or you get killed. And not just you, but your teammates, your comrades, and your friends too. If any one of you failed to kill your opponent, they wouldn't have hesitated to kill you. And then they would have killed your teammates. The first time is the hardest. But it won't be the last. And this time, two of you weren't the ones consciously making the decision. The Kyuubi and Asakura made the decision. But they are both a part of you, your responsibilities. These were your kills. I'm not saying this to make you feel guilty. You did the right thing. But you have to accept this. I want to make sure you get any mental reservations out of the way now, so that when we face more missions like this, there is no hesitation, no regret. If you need to talk about it with someone, you can talk to me, or I can recommend a Yamanaka for you. But make sure you come terms with what you did, and who you are. You are shinobi."
Our table was silent for minute, allowing Anko's words to linger. It was Naruto who spoke up first. "I understand," he said, a resolute look in his eye. "I don't want to have to kill people. But those guys… those monsters… they would have killed you guys. They almost killed Tedashi. I won't let that happen. If I have to kill to protect my team, my friends, my village, then so be it."
A small smirk crept onto Anko's face. "Good answer kid. Do you two feel the same?" I looked at Akiko, who met my gaze, and we nodded in unison. "Good. In that case, let's move on to lighter topics. I know we came here to eat an celebrate, but why miss out on a perfectly good training opportunity?"
"Huh?" Naruto asked. "What do you mean? What kind of training?"
Anko's smirk grew. "A shinobi must be observant. Information is worth its weight in gold. So from now on, you three are going to start noticing everything. Naruto, let's start with you. I'll give you an easy one, since I know you aren't the most, uh, cerebral of ninja. How many exits are there in this restaurant? No looking now, just from memory."
"Uh," he answered eloquently, screwing his face up in thought.
I smiled. I could do this game. There were three exits, I had noted them when we first entered.
"Two?" Naruto offered tentatively.
Anko scoffed. "No. There are sixteen exits. Three doors, twelve windows, and a chimney. The windows would be less than ideal, but they would break easily enough. The chimney would not make for a particularly fast exit, but it could make a fairly stealthy and unexpected escape route."
She turned her gaze to Akiko. "Alright, sis, you get a harder one. How many people in this room are from outside Konoha?"
Akiko pursed her lips. "How should I know?"
Anko shook her head. "Incorrect. There are five. All in that booth in the back left corner. Civilians from Wind Country. They are wearing rather heavy clothing for this time of year, suggesting that they are used to hotter climates than Konoha. This implies Wind Country, River Country, or the Land of Tea. Those scarves that they're wearing are made to keep the sand out of their nose and mouth while travelling through the desert. So, certainly not River Country, and most likely Wind Country. And lastly, see that scorpion tattoo on the big guy's left hand? That is a mark of an executive in the Golden Sand Guild, a trading operation based in the Wind Country capital. I wouldn't have expected you to catch that, but the other signs are clear enough. Fail."
Akiko squinted at the occupants of that table, taking in all the signs that Sensei had listed. Meanwhile, Anko turned to me. "Alright, eagle eyes, your turn, and it's the toughest one yet. How many people in this room are armed with shinobi weapons?"
I frowned. I hadn't activated my Byakugan since entering the restaurant. Neither had I scanned the room with normal vision to evaluate potential threats. We were in the heart of Konoha, so I hadn't deemed it necessary. "I don't know. I didn't check," I admitted.
Anko nodded. "Thought not. From now on, see that you do. Even if it is unlikely that a hostile situation will arise within Konoha, it is not impossible. And even if all the ninja on the premises are friendly, it is still good to know who would step into a conflict, where they are, potential fighting styles, etc. You might as well practice the skill of observation while within the safety of Konoha's walls. Make it second nature. Become adept at it, so that you observe everyone and everything wherever you go, without even a conscious thought. It may save your life someday."
"But Sensei," Naruto complained, "Tedashi has a huge advantage here. I can't notice all the things he can!"
She raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You can't see the same things. But you are on a team for a reason. Perhaps Tedashi will notice more than either you or Akiko, but you all have different brains. You may well notice something suspicious someday that he dismisses as innocuous. And then you can save his butt when a fight breaks out. So don't give me excuses."
The server came back at this point, delivering our sushi rolls. We thanked him, but Sensei stopped us before we could dig in.
"Not so fast," she said, a devilish smirk playing across her lips. "We're not done with our little training game yet. I'm going to give you another ten seconds to observe everyone and everything in this room- and that is a very generous amount of time. Then, I'll start asking each of you questions, one at a time. You get it right, and you get to eat a piece of sushi. You get it wrong, I take away a piece of your sushi. Are you ready?"
We groaned in unison. "Isn't this supposed to be a celebratory dinner?" Akiko muttered.
"Ten… Nine… Eight…"
We frantically started memorizing everything we could about our surroundings. It was the least filling team dinner in history.
-o X o-
The next morning, Team 6 gathered at our usual training ground at 8 am. No rest for the wicked, according to Anko sensei.
"Alright squirts, time for some more training, and you all have so much to learn still. So, the only question is where to begin," she said with longsuffering sigh. "No more D ranks for a while; you guys don't seem to hate each other and your teamwork is sufficient, so we'll focus on just improving your skills between occasional C ranks. In essence, your mornings are going to be miserable, and we'll work on the fun stuff in the afternoons. But first, I have presents for you all!"
We looked at her skeptically. "Presents?" Akiko asked. "What for?"
Anko grinned innocently. "To celebrate a successful mission! What kind of sensei would I be if I didn't commemorate such an important event!"
She pulled out a sealing scroll and laid it on the ground, and with a spurt of chakra released its contents. On top of the scroll lay three black combat vests, similar in style to the standard Chunin vests. Anko held one up for us to admire, and the most notable difference was that these vests had several pockets on the back, which didn't make any sense. It would be ineffective to try to reach any supplies stored there, so what was the purpose?
"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed. "For a minute I thought you were going to get us something lame that would torment us during training, but those vests look cool!"
Anko's smirk took on that mischievous glint that I now associated with eminent pain and misery. She tossed Naruto his vest- nearly knocking him over with its weight. He staggered, face alight with surprise, then indignant betrayal. "Sensei! What the heck is wrong with these vests! How can we fight in these?" he shouted.
Resigned to our fate, Akiko and I both picked up our own vests, groaning at the weight as we hefted them off the ground and put them on.
Anko snorted. "You will fight like you always do, just a little slower. From now on, you will wear these vests whenever you are in Konoha. It's a trick I picked up form Might Guy himself, the foremost taijutsu expert in Konoha. I watched one his training sessions with his students, and each one of his brats could kick your butts in a spar right now, blindfolded and one hand tied behind their back. You need every bit of training you can get, and these will help."
"Will we wear these on mission as well, sensei?" I asked, ignoring her slight of our skills. I definitely did not want to try my luck against Rock Lee.
Anko shook her head. "No. In that regard, I disagree with Guy. As we saw firsthand, missions are unpredictable. Even if we rigged these up with some kind of quick release to drop the weights, I don't want you to have to even think about it if combat starts unexpectedly. When you are in the village, you wear the vest. When you are outside of Konoha, or entering a potential combat situation, you leave them behind. Understood?"
"Yes, Sensei," we answered.
"As you get used to the strain, I will add more weights to your vests. But enough about how the presents work. I never heard a single thank you, and that will reflect in your training regimen today," she stated happily. We groaned. "To start with, Akiko and Tedashi, we need to work on your stamina and conditioning. I'll be leading you through a workout I came up with all by myself."
We groaned louder, but Anko ignored us and kept talking. "Meanwhile, Naruto, you are going to work on your chakra control. Head over to the pond, and keep practicing water walking until you're good enough to fight on the water."
"Right," he said with determination. After the initial shock, he had put on the vest without complaint. He hardly seemed phased. "But how will I know I'm good enough to fight if I'm practicing by myself?"
Anko rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're right, it's too bad your teammates will be so busy themselves. If only you had a technique that created some kind of sentient training partner that you could practice with."
Naruto's eyes lit up, and he laughed despite Sensei's teasing. "Of course! That's smart Anko Sensei, once I get good enough to water walk, I'll practice sparring with my clones."
Anko's signature smirk came out again. "I have an idea. How about you make a bunch of clones right away, and have them practice water walking too. That way, when you all get good enough to start sparring, they'll be able to fight back."
Naruto looked delighted. "Yeah! I'll have my clones practice too, so they don't fall behind. That makes sense."
I nearly facepalmed. I needed to have a chat with him about the Shadow Clone memory transference when I had a spare moment. Anko surely knew about it too, but she was visibly enjoying stringing him along for now.
"And to make things more interesting, I want you to start sparring with your clones in three hours, regardless of how well you or they can water walk. Got it?" Anko asked, smirking.
A dozen puffs of smokes revealed a batch of clones., saluting dutifully. "Aye aye, sensei!" they chanted in unison, and headed for the pond.
Anko turned to look at Akiko and me. "I hope you two like cardio!" she sing-songed.
We did not, in fact, like cardio. We made the mistake of letting our sensei know that fact after the first hour.
"Sensei, this is crazy!" Akiko wheezed out during a short rest between sprints.
"She's sadistic," I muttered, quietly enough that only Akiko could hear.
Or so I thought.
"Sadistic? I'll show you sadistic," she answered eagerly, and summoned a thin, reedy-looking black snake, which she grabbed by the tail. "Say hello to cute friend, Sparkles!"
We looked at the pitch-black snake hanging limply in Anko's grip. It stared back us with dull, empty eyes. Nothing about it seemed to sparkle.
"Time for the next lap! GO!" she shouted, and emphasized the word by cracking her snake summon like a whip, striking me in the leg. I yelped, and took off.
Anko was brutal and relentless, taunting and teasing throughout the duration of our morning workout. A full hour of sprints, then endurance running, then up and down a steep incline obstacle course of her own Earth Style's making. Pushups, sit ups, squats. All with the weight vest on, and a crack of Sparkles whenever we slowed down to pace unbefitting of her standards. I begrudgingly respected that Anko Sensei did the entire workout with us, however, chasing after us with her whip and thereby doing the every exercise herself. By the time lunch came around, Akiko and I were soaked with sweat and completely exhausted.
When Anko called a break, Naruto came bounding over, dripping wet but with a mega-watt smile lighting his face. "I'm getting the hang of it, guys! This training is fun!"
Akiko and I leveled him with deadpan stares, but he was oblivious. "What are we doing after lunch, Sensei?" he asked, as Anko unsealed some rice balls and dango and started passing them around.
Anko finished distributing our lunches, then answered, "Individual skill training, then team combat exercises. Are there any particular areas each of you want to improve in during the individual time? As your sensei, I have my own suggestions, but if you have your own ideas on what you want to improve on, I'm open to hearing them."
"I want to learn -hack- wicked awesome jutsu!" Naruto shouted, nearly choking on his rice ball in excitement.
Anko rolled her eyes. "And you two?"
"I would like to practice my kenjutsu and clan jutsu, which I can do in tandem," Akiko replied easily.
Anko nodded, this time with obvious approval. "And you, magic eyes? What do you have in mind?"
"Tch. Well, I'm about ready to ditch my staff, considering it was next to useless against the oversized demon guy," I answered. "I'm haven't thought about other weapons though. Maybe an elemental ninjutsu?" I asked hesitantly.
I knew that many genin trained for a long time before starting ninjutsu, often a full year or two. It was one of the signs that a young ninja was approaching chunin level. To my surprise, however, Anko nodded agreeably to my suggestion.
"I wouldn't give up on the bo staff quite yet. I do have a teacher lined up for you once he gets some free time. But I also agree with you learning ninjutsu. Right now, you are the only one on the team with decent ranged combat skills, something that will be unexpected of a Hyuuga. However, your techniques lack stopping power. You did fine against chubby wubby, wrapping him all up in explosives like you did, but you risked blowing yourself to bits to do so. Having a safer option to dispatch tough opponents is a vital necessity you currently lack. Lightning nature is not generally known for ranged attacks, but I'll work with you on activating it and we can go from there."
I nodded excitedly.
"Akiko, I believe that you can work on your technique without supervision, correct?" Anko said, receiving a nod in response. "Good. You work on that and let me know if you have any questions or need any advice or help. I'll look into getting a kenjutsu specialist to look over your progress sometime, but honestly, your samurai spirit probably has just as much technical skill as any sword wielder in Konoha.
"And you, shrimpy," she said, looking at Naruto, "are going to continue to work on chakra control. Don't complain, you have ridiculous amounts of chakra and will be throwing around wicked awesome jutsu soon enough. But in order to learn and safely wield the truly dangerous techniques, you need greater control of the chakra you utilize, got it?"
Naruto slumped his shoulders, but acquiesced. Anko made a clone and took Naruto aside to start teaching him who knows what kind of control exercises. Akiko also got some distance away before drawing her sword, using her spirit summoning jutsu, and meditating. The real Anko looked back to me.
She pulled out a little glass ball attached to a coiled wire. "I don't know much about electric chakra nature," she said with a shrug, "I've never used it myself. However, the Scarecrow told me that if you successfully convert your chakra to its lightning nature, you should be able to channel it into this chakra conducive wire and light up the glass bulb. So have at it."
She tossed me the simple device, and I looked it over. "Is this a normal way to learn how to channel my chakra nature?" I asked.
Anko shrugged again. "Beats me, kid. Electric chakra is pretty rare in Konoha, and I can never tell if Hatake's trolling me or being serious. You could go ask the nut job yourself, but I doubt he'll give you any time of day. I consider myself lucky to have gotten this much out of him. I know the Hokage can use lightning jutsu too, but it's not like he has time to waste on training genin. Other than those two, I can't think of any decent lightning users around here. It's mostly earth, water, and fire in this country."
I frowned but nodded and activated my Byakugan. "Alright, I'll get to it." Anko watched for a minute as I channeled my chakra into the wire, only for nothing to happen. I could see the chakra leaving my hand and saturating the wire, but there was no additional effect without deliberate lightning transformation. It didn't do any good to force my regular chakra into the light bulb.
I paused to think about my current exercise. What was the nature of electricity? Wind is sharp; if I remembered correctly, Naruto had to focus his chakra into a thin, precise line to cut the leaf, and then increase the power to cut a waterfall. Fire is, well, hot. I assume that you would have to heat up your chakra to turn it into fire. Earth is solid, water is cohesive and fluid, but electricity is… wild? Uncontrolled? No, that can't be right. The whole point of the exercise is to control it.
I tried envisioning the feeling of electricity, of shock and static and any other feeling I could associate with the force. I spent a good ten minutes trying to channel chakra while envisioning the feel of some electric sensation, but none of it caused my chakra to change. Alright, so feeling isn't the way to go; next tactic.
How did electricity work? I had learned the basics in a physics class a lifetime ago, and I studied how actual lightning worked just for the fun of it. The water or ice particles in a cloud would collide with each other and knock electrons loose, and the cloud would form a layer of insulation that separated the negative ions to the bottom, and the positive ions to the top. The excess electrons would usually jump from the negative ions to the positive, causing lighting bolts within the cloud. Sometimes, however, the electrons would jump from the negatively charged ions in the cloud to the surface of the earth, causing the spectacular sky-to-land lightning bolts.
So scientifically, the key was separating the electrons to cause positive and negative ions, then letting the electrons fly from the negatively charged ions to create electricity. Easier said than done; does chakra have any connection to scientific laws? Can chakra even be charged positive or negative?
Well, the particles in natural, scientific lightning get charged through collisions, so I'll start by trying to make my chakra 'collide' with itself. I focused my chakra into my right hand, the one holding the wire, and looked at the process with my Byakugan. I could see the chakra flowing through my wrist, my hand, my fingers, along linear pathways. Ok, time to make it wild.
I concentrated, trying to get my chakra to spin erratically. I imagine it was something like Rasengan, but rather than an external manipulation, I made the chakra spin inside my coils, at the microscopic scale. Intellectually, it seemed impossible to me, but the impossible happened every day in this world. I tried to will it to happen, to make my chakra dance angrily, unpredictably, and crash into itself. I imposed my will, forcing tiny, uncontrolled rotations in every direction. Then I saw a distinction begin to form amongst the chakra in my palm; some moved outward, toward my fingers, while the rest moved towards my wrist and arm. Sparks leapt from my hand, electricity cackled around my fingertips, and the bulb flared bright white for a fraction of a second.
Then it exploded.
I closed my eyes as glass shards bounced off my clothes and exposed skin, leaving a few tiny incisions. But I couldn't care less about that; I had made the light bulb explode with electricity! I kept up the process, observing my hand compared to the rest of my body. Throughout most of my body, the chakra flow was smooth and constant, like a liquid. But in my hand, where I concentrated, it became erratic and frantic. As new chakra circulated in, it would vibrate and split, electric chakra moving outwards, and the remaining chakra moving back up my arm. The lightning in my fingertips danced some more, then a small bolt of lightning leapt from my fingers and struck the ground near my feet. I let the electric chakra transformation fade, and my chakra circulation returned to normal.
Anko approached a second later, looking surprised. "What did you do? You broke it, you moron!" The way she grinned belied her abrasive words.
"I figured it out," I said, holding up a hand that briefly sparked when I focused on it.
"Well, that was fast, kid. Most people take weeks to figure out how to convert their chakra to their element," she said. "I expected you to take at least a few days, but I guess lightning manipulation comes naturally to you. And external manifestation, no less…" She frowned for a second in thought, then continued, "Alright, I don't have any jutsu scrolls for you yet, but I'll try to get some for you soon. For now, just try to get a feel for the lightning. Use the next two hours to acclimate to the feel of lightning chakra in your system, and improve your control. I'll let you know when it's time for coordinated team training."
I nodded, and thought about what to do next as she headed back to check on my teammates. I glanced at the wire in my hand, and though my Byakugan could see the electric chakra coursing through it, there were no sparks flying from it. It conducted the electricity and held it. Then I had an idea.
I pulled out a roll of ninja wire, tied a piece to a kunai, and glanced around for a target. A squirrel scurrying across a tree branch nearby fit the bill, and I threw. The kunai struck the squirl in the tail, pinning it helplessly to the tree trunk despite its squeals and squirms of protest. I emitted electric chakra down the wire into the kunai, and the effect was instantaneous. Immediately the squirrel spasmed, until I cut off the chakra flow, causing the creature to collapse into a limp mess of singed fur.
It was a bit more brutal than I anticipated, but I still grinned at my success. My ranged combat had just become significantly more threatening.
-o X o-
"Alright, our last activity today will be team training," Anko announced. "On most missions, you won't see any combat at all, especially not against other trained ninja. But you've seen firsthand how quickly a supposedly peaceful mission can escalate to mortal combat. So, before we start diving into more nuanced ninja skills, I'm going to train you how to fight, particularly how to work together to defeat a stronger opponent. Once you can work together cohesively, I'll try to call in some favors so the four of us can work together against an opposing jounin, or maybe another genin squad. But for now, the three of you will be fighting me." One of her signature malevolent grins crossed her face. "I'll give you feedback on your performance after you lose. Begin."
Without further warning, she launched forward, striking Naruto in the chest with a stiff kick before he was ready and sending him flying backwards.
"Come now, I've already taught you that lesson before," she tutted, spinning on her heel and starting a sequence of hand signs. "The enemy won't wait for you to be ready. Flaming Dart Barrage!"
Her hands continued to make new seals as a torrent of flaming projectiles rocketed towards me. Kunai already in hand, I spun out of the line of fire, deflecting a few of the wooden dango spears that would have been unavoidable. I charged forward as she finished the signs for her next jutsu. She slammed a hand to the earth and summoned a few snakes to intercept Akiko as she approached.
Naruto was still getting up from the initial blow- a little slowly, and I realized that Anko had not held back on that kick. Akiko and I would have ended up in the hospital if that landed on one of us, but Naruto was nothing if not tenacious and tough as nails.
Anko drew a kunai of her own, and I swiped upward. Before contact, I sent electricity down my arm and into my kunai, planning to electrocute sensei on contact. But my control was still shoddy, and the sparks leaping from my arm gave me away half a second before impact. In an instant, Anko's eyes narrowed, and she pulled back, dodging my swing instead of parrying.
She spun low to the ground and mule kicked upwards, striking me squarely in the stomach, but with deliberately less force than she had used against Naruto. I dropped my kunai as the wind was forcefully expunged from my diaphragm, and I went flying backwards.
I rolled to my feet, sucked in a breath of air, and reevaluated. We were technically fighting sensei together, but we were uncoordinated. She hadn't given us any time to plan, so we would have to improvise in the middle of combat to stand any sort of chance. I ran through our various assets and skills, hoping to find a makeshift way to combine our techniques into something that would catch even Anko sensei off guard.
Inventory of assets: I have a staff, Byakugan, exploding tags, novice lightning control. Akiko has a sword, taijutsu, and battle tactics. Naruto has clones and durability. We can all substitute and henge…
An idea began to form, and I intercepted Naruto as he came charging back towards sensei. "Wait!" I called, grabbing him by the shoulder. "We have to fight smart. Make a dozen clones and have them distract sensei. You and I need to help Akiko with the snake, then take on Anko together."
"Got it!" Naruto agreed, and immediately a dozen orange distractions appeared around us and charged at Anko. The real Naruto and I headed for Akiko, who had channeled Asakura and was in the process of decapitating the last of the snakes.
"I have a plan," I informed her, "but no time to explain. Charge Anko and fight until you feel the pull of a of a substation jutsu. Let it happen- trust me."
Akiko just nodded and turned to assist the dwindling number of Naruto clones fighting sensei.
I pulled out a small stack of exploding tag seals. "Naruto, we're going to turn your clones into kamikaze bombs. Make a dozen more, and I'll stick a explosive tag on each of them."
Naruto's eyes lit up in understanding, and he complied. A couple seconds later, and twelve clones stood before me, all affixed with exploding tags. "Alright, last step. I'll need you to have all but one clone charge in. At the minute, have the last clone substitute with Akiko to get her out of there. Then, explode!"
"Ah, I'm, uh, not so sure about my substitution jutsu," Naruto admitted nervously. "I can kinda do it, but it doesn't always work…"
"What?" I asked, surprised. No, I didn't have time to figure that out now. I had to adjust. "Fine, never mind. I'll substitute with Akiko and try to stun Anko. Leave one clone behind so I can substitute with it to get out. When I substitute out, explode them all."
The Naruto's chanted in agreement, "Got it!" and charged in to help Akiko, with only the real Naruto and one clone staying with me.
I pulled out some shuriken and let them fly, trying to add a bit of further distraction. Anko was handily fending off Akiko with a single kunai, but she pulled out another to deflect the incoming salvo of shuriken. As soon she parried the first to arrive, I channeled lightning chakra into the wire, and instantly Anko seized up in surprise at the sudden jolt. It was only a quick burst, as the shuriken deflected off the kunai and the connection ended, but it was enough to cause a short spasm. She grit her teeth and jerkily swung her other kunai to parry Akiko's next attack, but it was a wide, jerky swing that left her open and exposed. I substituted with Akiko and found myself face to face with a semi-vulnerable Anko sensei, and thrust my hand forward with raw lightning chakra coating it. I struck sensei hard in the chest. It wasn't refined enough to be called a real jutsu, but it was enough to sting and disorient, and allowed me to substitute again with the waiting Naruto clone. I fell to the ground, worn out from the rapid sequence of chakra expenditures, just as a large explosion rocked the training field.
The smoke obscured the results of the attack from my teammates as we stood there looking on. "Did we get her?" Naruto asked, seemingly unsure of whether he should feel proud or horrified.
"No, she dodged," I replied, to which he responded with some relief. "She burrowed downward, and at the same time erected an earth barrier to dampen the concussive force. Be on guard."
Anko burst from the ground a fair distance away. "Not bad for a first try, brats. A bit too clunky and slow to catch a jounin though. Time for some feedback and review. Tedashi, you didn't hide your actions when attaching the seals to Naruto. I observed what you were doing plain as day, and it wasn't hard to deduce what your general plan was after that. Other than that, you performed well, coordinating with your team, and using your skills to create an opening for the finishing blow. Did you come up with the plan on the spot?"
I nodded. Naruto grinned. "That was awesome! We almost had her with that plan! And Kamikaze Clones are genius, I can't wait to use that against a real opponent!"
Anko grinned at Naruto's enthusiasm and looked at me. "It wasn't half bad, kid. You sure you ain't half Nara?"
I shrugged. "Not a chance. I only planned up to the explosion. Shikamaru would have predicted all your potential avenues of escapes and prepared traps, as well as anticipated a half dozen other ways the plan could go wrong with contingencies for each of them."
Naruto scoffed. "That lazy bum would not have done half of what you did."
I started to object on Shikamaru's behalf, then stopped. "Ok, yeah, Shikamaru wouldn't have actually executed a plan that required so much work. But he would have thought of it, figured out the liabilities, then dismiss it as too much effort."
Naruto snickered, and Anko rolled her eyes. "We're getting off topic. Anyway, you're right, whenever you lay a trap, it's always good to think about how the enemy might go about escaping it. Adding additional layers of traps in the escape paths can be highly effective, even against high level ninja. That's often how the best of the best are done in. On to Naruto, it would have been better if you did the substitution jutsu yourself. You could have instantaneously detonated your clone bombs as you switched, instead of watching for Tedashi's switch and reacting to it. High level ninja will capitalize on that delay. Am I right to assume you aren't confident in the Substitution jutsu?"
Naruto nodded embarrassedly. "Very well," Anko replied succinctly, "We'll work on that. You'll be a master of it by the end of the week after the hellish training I'm going to put you through."
Instead of fear, Naruto reacted with awe and glee. "Right! You got it Sensei!"
She nodded and turned to our last teammate. "Akiko, your kenjutsu is getting better, but it's still not at the same level as when you have Asakura take over completely. Keep practicing. You'll do fine against bandits and most other genin, but you're not good enough to survive a competent chunin swordsman yet, let alone a jounin. Until you improve, fight cautiously. Let Naruto's clones serve as the meat shields and distractions, and look for openings. Do you have a spirit with ranged weapon expertise you can call upon?"
Akiko's nose scrunched up. "I do. She's not as… pleasant… as Asakura, but I'll start working with her more often."
"Good," Anko replied. "Overall, it wasn't a bad effort, squirts. We'll call it a day. Same time here tomorrow, we'll improve on what we learned today. A couple more days of training, and then I'll look into getting us another C rank. Peace!~"
And with a puff of smoke, she was gone again.
"Whew, what a day!" Naruto said with enthusiasm. "I can walk on water, Tedashi! Being a ninja is awesome! And Anko sensei is so helpful, I'm totally going to be Hokage-level in no time!"
"I agree," I said, smiling back at him. I was exhausted, but I had to admit, I had learned a lot for a single day of training. "Sensei is a good teacher. She takes us seriously and works us hard. We'll all get a lot stronger at this rate. A couple of weeks like this, and we'll be ready to really show off at the Chunin Exams."
"I hope so," Akiko said. "Remember what Anko sensei said when she gave us the weight vests? There are other genin who are currently way stronger than us."
"Not for long!" Naruto declared. "And I bet she was just saying that to kick our butts into gear. I'll take on anyone! No genin will beat me because I'm going to be Hokage!"
-o X o-
For a solid three days, Anko worked us to the bone, mixing up individual exercises with team coordination drills. When we showed up on the fourth day, however, Anko was already at the field waiting for us, even though we were a few minutes early.
"Listen up brats," she said seriously, immediately drawing our full attention. This wasn't her useful playful demeanor. "We have a new mission. Another C rank. Get your prolonged mission gear together and meet me at the front gate in an hour. I'll explain the details there."
She disappeared immediately, leaving our unanswered questions burning on our tongues. "What was that about?" Naruto asked, a bit nervously.
"I don't know, but it sounds like this one is serious. We should move quickly," I answered.
I sprinted home and grabbed the sealing scrolls I had set aside with long term mission gear. Long term implied at least a week in duration, but could be far longer. I wish I had more information; I hadn't seen my mother yet since returning from my first C rank, and now I would be leaving again indefinitely. I left her a note with the sparce details I had received and took off for the village gate.
I arrived shortly before my teammates, and once the three of us had gathered, Anko appeared in a swirl of leaves. "We have a time sensitive mission," she said curtly, and the seriousness of her tone made each of stand a little straighter and listen attentively. "The Hokage received an anomaly report from Team 7, Kakashi's squad. They encountered unexpected hostile shinobi, rogue ninja formerly of Kirigakure, on route to the country of Wave, and though they are continuing with the mission, they requested the assistance of a backup team. It appears the client withheld some of his circumstances when explaining the mission parameters. However, the client has agreed to increase the compensation if we complete the mission, and the Hokage has judged it worthwhile to accept. So, our mission is to get our butts over to Wave Country on the double, and support Team 7 in completing the mission in whatever form necessary. Understood?"
"You got it Sensei! Let's go!" Naruto said eagerly. Akiko and I nodded alongside him, and I could tell he was excited to get what he considered another 'real' mission.
I was a bit more hesitant. The civil war in Kiri was causing quite a few ninja to defect and go rogue, most of whom were low level genin and chunin who knew their chances of surviving the war was slim. The Hokage probably thought a few ninja of that caliber banded together to work against Tazuna. If that were the case, Kakashi and Anko would be able to handle them readily, the six of us genin could tag team anyone deemed sufficiently weak enough for us to handle. Such was the Hokage's logic, as far as I could surmise.
Knowing that Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist, would be confronting us on the Wave mission made me a bit more nervous. Even so, Team 7 handled the fight perfectly well in canon. I wasn't about to underestimate such dangerous opponents, but if we were cautious, our two teams combined should get out of this without serious injury.
Anko gave us all an encouraging nod and turned towards the gates. "Time to put your stamina training to good use, brats! If we push it, we can make it to Wave in two days. Let's move out!"
-o X o-
AN: This chapter was basically a long transition, but hopefully it was still enjoyable to read. And something caused Team 7 to call for back up! Will they be able to handle the Demon of the Mist until Team 6 arrives? Will Naruto still be able to Talk no Jutsu a cold-blooded assassin into rethinking his life? Will he even get a chance? Next up: Wave Arc!