I carefully move my fingers with a deep level of precision that is becoming familiar from fixing up delicate items. Only instead of fixing something this time, I am using it to take things apart. To take apart traps, to be precise.
It came to me yesterday when struggling with a lamp. The lamp was fine for the most part. It simply needed some of its wiring replaced. It was a simple fix; however, the problem was this problem was common among the 'junk' as Ami so kindly put it, that I am fixing up. I could probably strip one of the other electrical devices for wiring, but then that device would be beyond repair. Faced with this issue, I thought about finding a store and seeing if they could give me a discount if I bought in bulk, but the wiring wasn't the only missing thing missing. Other small items were too, like little gears or structural rods. So I was trying to think of a way to find what I needed without having to pay. Then I started to think about the Kunai and shrunken I had fixed up and how I might need more of those soon. Then I thought about the traps, and they hit me.
Ninja traps are made of all sorts of little standard parts. They usually are made from simple things so that they can be diverse, one of the primary tools used being ninja WIRE. Wire… wire as in metal wire that, if appropriately used, would be perfect for fixing the wiring in my little projects!
So here I am the following day, bright and early (hoping that I get lucky and I don't run into any ninjas), disassembling traps. I mean, it may not necessarily be discarded like the Kunai, and shrunken were, but just leaving your traps is asking for them to be taken (more or less).
I hum to myself in quiet thought as my fingers work fast. I have to be careful not to spring the traps, however, it is clear that either trap-making is a standardized practice or people are boring because they all are pretty similar when you get down to the mechanisms.
Then I feel a familiar signature moving in my general direction. Not good.
Awareness Proficiency Level has risen x1
Good increase but a bad situation.
Awareness Proficiency level 27
Ability to be completely aware of your surroundings at all times, even when sleeping, meditating, or being otherwise distracted. Level of awareness increases per level.
I move quickly, shoving the parts of the deactivated trap in my bag, hoping to scram quickly and begin to try and hide my chakra signature just in case because he is a sensor…. But… shoot, I'm too late. Because either I have terrible luck, or he's sensed me because he is definitely headed straight for me now, and I can't even hone in on more precisely where he is because there is no way I am channelling chakra out here with the whole glowing eyes thing!
I duck around a tree as I hear the soft sound of someone jumping down from a tree.
"Sayori-chan? Come on out, your caught." A disappointed voice says, and I wince.
"Hey, Iruka-sensei..." I say, coming out from behind the tree. I now know how Ami must feel about me being a sensor...
Two more sounds of people jumping down, and my eyes widen slightly... Shoot. Of all the luck...
"Well, look who we caught… again." A smug voice declares behind me, and I can tell it's Kotetsu from the chakra. So no passing off that I didn't know it was a training ground this time.
"Again?" Iruka sensei asks sharply, and I work to keep my cool.
"You know the kid Iruka? Kotetsu and I found her dangling in a net a few months ago." Izumo says helpfully (not helpful at all in my case).
"Yes, I know her. Sayori-chan is in the class I help teach at the academy." Iruka informs the duo as I try to think quickly but come up empty. "What are you doing here, Sayori-chan? This is a training ground. It's dangerous!" Iruka declares as though I wouldn't know that an area where shinobi practice throwing sharp things and launching jutsu would be dangerous.
"She's here giving me a hand, of course!" A cheerful voice then says, suddenly appearing beside Iruka, making him, Kotetsu, Izumo and myself all jump with surprise. With dark fluffy hair and somehow cheerful coal-coloured eyes stands Shisui Uchiha. Now… well, now I am just confused!
"Wait, aren't you…?" Izumo begins to say, being the first to fully recover from the surprise entrance. I hadn't even sensed him!
"Shisui Uchiha, nice to meet you!" Shisui says in a happy-go-lucky voice as I try to understand a few things about the situation. Was it a chance that Shisui was here, or was it that he is following me? Is he an ANBU like Itachi? I don't think so, but I'm not so sure… Also, why is he interfering at all?
"Iruka Umino, Uchiha-san." Iruka says, holding out his hand, and there is a glint in the Uchiha's eye that promises mischief, as he avoids the handshake entirely and BEAR HUGS Iruka. The young chunnin instructor freezes, completely caught off guard. Izumo and Kotetsu are equally so. I'm a little less caught off guard since both Sasuke and Izumi talked about Shisui being a very odd Uchiha.
"No handshakes. You're a friend of Sayori-chan's, right? Would you also know my cute little cousin Sasuke? About this tall," Shisui says, motioning with his hand to a short height, but all I can wonder is if he and Kakashi have ever spent time together based on the 'cute little cousin' thing. "Black hair, dark eyes, like to practice glaring at his own reflection!" Shisui says, adopting a severe thinking pose holding his chin that throws the group for a loop. "What do you think the Uchiha famous scowl just naturally happens! It takes practice!" Shisui declares, nodding to himself, leaving the group of three chunnin blinking at the strange jonin as I grin a little. I like him. I really like him. I so need to perfect this art of freaking people out until their speechless!
"Wait, you guys actually practice that?!" Kotetsu then exclaims, and Izumo elbows him hard in the ribs, shutting him up.
"Anyway… Uchiha-san…." Iruka says, clearly now unsure how to proceed, and he seems to take a minute to straighten his thoughts. "How do you know Sayori-chan?"
"Oh, that's easy!" He says, walking over to me and patting my head. (Seriously, how many people want to do that?) "This cutie!" He says, taking a full breath just to say those two words and grabbing my shoulder, holding me closer. I would feel insulted if I wasn't in a state of awe. "Is the surrogate-adoptive little sister of my other cute little cousin's, you know about this big, long silky hair he takes way too long taking care of, girlfriend!" Shisui declares, and now I join in the blinking. It takes a second to work out what it is he just said.
"And who might that be?" Kotetsu asks, scratching his head.
"Oh, Itachi-chan, of course!" Shisui says, and every single chunnin now stumbles. "Plus, I'm pretty sure she's Sasuke-chan's secret girlfriend too." He says, putting one hand to his mouth as though it was a secret.
"I am not!" I declare fervently, and I can feel the blush coming on.
"Well, Uchiha-san… this is a training ground. It isn't the right environment for a child to be wandering…." Iruka begins to say, adopting his dreaded lecture voice.
"I totally agree! However, it's better for them to come supervised and with permission. If they're going to come anyway, wouldn't you say?" Shisui says, and Iruka seems to be mulling it over.
"Let's head off. Goodbye!" Shisui says, and then there is a spike of chakra, and the world blurs, and it is dizzy, and then it stops, but we are no longer at the same spot but at the entrance to the training ground. Shisui just body flickered me. I feel a little dizzy, and my feet feel heavy. Shisui steadies me. "Sorry about that. Most people get a little disoriented the first time."
"I'm fine… thanks for the save, Shisui-san…." I say, resting one hand on my spinning head as the world slows, not spinning as much.
"Don't mention it!" Shisui says happily.
"Why did you help me?" I ask after a moment, my curiosity outweighing my sense yet again.
"Two reasons." Shisui declares a little more seriously. "One, it would have been a shame for you to lose your bag of loot after spending all day collecting it." Shisui says, and I turn pale, or paler. "And two, I just like messing with gullible chunnin!"
I sigh. I doubt those are the only reasons, but I don't know him well enough to deduce them at this time. "Either way, thank you, Shisui-san." I tell him.
"Just call me Shisui. I'm not really one for honorifics." Shisui says, messing up my hair one more time before disappearing once again, this time in a cloud of smoke rather than a body flicker, a shadow clone, I think. Well, it's been an interesting day.