Disclaimer, I don't own anything in Naruto, except my OCs
Chapter 5 - Cherry blossoms wither, violet buds bloom
*Three months later*
As they had expected, Tomoe and Sasuke had been quite bored during the first three months of their academy life. All they had been taught so far were things that they had already learned years ago. As they were both children of the clan head, they had been taught how to do math, read, and write from a young age, as it was expected that they could do these things. Same with the ninja lessons, during the taijutsu lessons, Tomoe and Sasuke spend most of time exercising or practicing their clan taijutsu kata while correcting each other, although it was mostly Sasuke correcting Tomoe, as they had yet to begin sparring lessons. The ninjutsu lessons weren't much different. So far, they had gotten a brief introduction to chakra, how it is their lifeforce, how it is used to perform jutsu, and other stuff they already knew. After a week or so, they were told to train their chakra control by trying to stick a leaf to their forehead, an exercise both had basically mastered after having done said exercise for years. Sasuke just kept the leaf on his forehead, while Tomoe experimented with having the leaf stick to her forehead through multiple separate points, rather than the whole leaf or just a single point.
So far, the most interesting thing for Tomoe was her budding friendship with Ino. As Tomoe and Ino had already learned how to read, write, math, and covered the basics of chakra at home, they were often bored during most of the classes. Tomoe hadn't seen how Ino did with the taijutsu kata as she was busy practicing kata with Sasuke, but from the exercise part of the class, she knew that her stamina could use some work.
Being bored in most of the classes had resulted in Tomoe and Ino had spent quite a few of the classes talking. Turns out Ino was the daughter of the Yamanaka clan head, so she and Tomoe were in a similar position and had a few things in common, even if Tomoe wasn't the clan heir of the Uchiha clan like Ino was. Besides school and clan stuff, Tomoe found Ino interesting to talk to. Having spent most of her time training, Tomoe didn't really have a non-training related hobby, whereas Ino seemed to have nothing but. She loved flowers and often helped out in her parent's flower shop, and she was a natural social butterfly that seemed to make friends with most people she talked to. Although, Shikamaru noted that he wouldn't mind if she talked to him a little less.
Ino also had another friend that often joined them during recess, a pink-haired girl named Sakura. Compared to Tomoe and Ino, Sakura hadn't really spent that much time training and learning, but she was quite a fast learner. Everything she read seemed to stick the first time she read it and she had fairly quickly succeeded in the leaf exercise. And according to Ino, they were pretty much on the same level in the taijutsu classes. The lack in preparation from home however, resulted in Sakura being the exact opposite of Tomoe and Ino. Whereas they were both bored during classes, Sakura was incredibly active and engaged in classes, as she had yet to learn most of what they covered. And with Tomoe and Ino's desire to stave off their boredom, they were all three looking forward to start the kunoichi classes.
"Ready for kunoichi classes?" Ino asked as she, Tomoe, and Sakura made their way to their first kunoichi class.
"Yup, been waiting for these to begin, I might learn something new," Tomoe replied. "These past three months have been boring."
"Really? I thought they had been rather interesting, especially the chakra lessons," Sakura added in slight confusion.
"That is because you didn't learn about chakra and all when you were four," Tomoe replied.
Hearing Tomoe and Sakura going back and forth, Ino couldn't help but chuckle at her friends.
"Don't you laugh, I know you have been as bored as I have," Tomoe chided.
As the trio made their way to the classroom where the kunoichi classes would take place, they passed by Sasuke who was on his way home. "See you at home," Tomoe said with a small wave of her hand as they passed him in the hallway, before she returned complain about the classes so far. Sasuke simply nodded as he passed them. As she was busy complaining about the classes, Tomoe missed both Ino and Sakura turning their heads to look at Sasuke as he walked past them.
When the trio arrived at a classroom similar to their regular classroom, they saw a woman with long, curly, black hair, oval glasses, wearing a pink kimono and a pair of baggy red pants standing in front of the blackboard. "Welcome you three, please take a seat," the woman spoke. As no single table had three empty seats, Sakura took a seat front centre, while Tomoe and Ino took a seat near the windows in the middle.
After a while, the classroom was full as more girls had arrived to class. When the last girl had sat down, the woman in front of the blackboard spoke, "Hello girls, and welcome to your first kunoichi lesson," welcomed the woman. "My name is Suzume, and I will be your teacher for your kunoichi classes. I would like to start off our first lesson with a question, what do you think makes kunoichi classes different than the other classes?"
Ino raised her hand to answer.
"Yes, Yamanaka-san." Suzume said, giving Ino permission to speak
"To become feminine?"
"And why is that," Suzume asked, seeking a more in-depth answer.
"In case we don't make it as ninjas?" Ino replied uncertain.
"Not quite," Suzume replied. "While the overall purpose of the kunoichi classes is indeed to make you more feminine, the reason is quite different than most civilians think. There iswith almost certainty going to come a mission in the future, where you'll have to go undercover as a noblewoman or just a normal civilian that has no ninja skills whatsoever. These classes seek to prepare you for these missions and allow you to blend in seamlessly, with no one ever knowing that you are in fact, ninja." she explained. "While these lessons might seem useless for now, they are almost guaranteed to be helpful in the future."
At this revelation almost all of the student's expressed a collective, "Oooohhhh," in understanding. Happy that the girls understood the purpose of the lessons, Suzume continued to explain about the lessons, "During these classes you will be taught multiple things to help you blend in during an infiltration mission. You will be taught about other cultures, so that you know the dos and don'ts of the different cultures. Additionally, you will be taught the language of flowers and how to do proper flower arrangements, how to host a proper tea ceremony in the different countries, and finally, you will learn the way of fragrance. The last one is more commonly known as incense appreciation, how you refer to it changes depending on nobility of the company."
Tomoe had seen her mother arrange flowers and serve tea before, but she had no idea what the language of flowers was or how to host a so-called "proper" tea ceremony. Intrigued to finally learn something new, Tomoe looked to Ino at her side who looked a bit disappointed. "Not what you were hoping for?" she asked.
"No, not really," Ino sighed. "You know how my parents own a flower shop and how I help out from time to time?" she asked. When Tomoe nodded, she continued, "Well, flower arrangements just so happen to be one of the services we offer, and for that you need to know the language of flowers. In other words, at least one third of this class will be completely uninteresting."
"In that case, I'll be relying on you to help me in those classes. Most I've ever done is help my mother put some flowers in a vase," Tomoe replied.
"Sure, might as well. Hey, if you're up for it, you can come by and study at my home some time. Then we'll get you up to speed in no time," Ino offered.
Tomoe's eyes widened for a moment, while they had been friends for a few months, they had never interacted much outside of school. "I'll need to check with my mother and father, if it's ok with them, I'd be pleased to visit your home."
"You're being formal again."
"Oh. My apologies, I hadn't noticed, do forgive me," Tomoe retorted with a small smirk.
Ino shook her head, "You're insufferable."
"You two, quiet down," Suzume admonished, getting both girls attention.
"Sorry Suzume-sensei."
"Now for month's schedule." Suzume began as she returned to talk about the lessons, "As you know, you have to attend these lessons once every Friday, and this week we will start with learning how to host a proper tea ceremony by Konoha standards. While you are required to learn about different cultures and how they do there, it is important that you understand the basics of hosting a tea ceremony first, so that you have base to build on. Furthermore, as someone mentioned earlier, in case you don't make it as a ninja it is a useful skill to know. The next two weeks we will start learning the language of flowers and their meanings. As this practice is more likely to be useful and takes a while longer to learn in comparison, we will dedicate extra time to learn it. And then the final week we learn about the way of fragrance. Now, we will repeat this schedule for three months, and by then you should have a firm grip of the basics. And once you do have a firm grip of the basics, we will then proceed with learning about the cultures in the other countries, and then applying that to these three practices." Suzume finished explaining. "Any questions?"
At this Sakura raised her hand.
"Yes, Haruno-san?"
"Is there a book we can borrow to help us learn the language of flowers?"
"You will be provided with the necessary supplies for these classes, as we do not expect you to do it successfully on the first try," Suzume answered. "Any other questions?" when no one raised their hand, Suzume clapped and said, "Good, then we can begin with your first lesson in how to host a proper tea ceremony."
"You two got along well in class," Sakura pointed out as they left the classroom.
"What do you mean?" Tomoe inquired.
"It's rare for you two to talk so much that you get called out for it. What were you talking about?"
"Oh that. Nothing special, I just offered Tomoe some help learning the language of flowers. Seeing as, you know, we own a flower shop and do flower arrangements," Ino explained.
"Really? I thought you would know all about that Tomoe, being from the Uchiha clan and all," Sakura said.
"Eh," Tomoe replied as she shrugged her shoulders, "my mother rarely made flower arrangements. I helped her put flowers in vases but that was it."
"Really? You never had flower arrangement lessons? I thought that you would have gotten these lessons from an early age," Sakura said in mild surprise.
"I think my mother did offer it at some point, but at that point I was too consumed with practicing our clan jutsu and kenjutsu," Tomoe replied absentmindedly.
"You're practicing kenjutsu?" both Ino and Sakura exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah, been doing it for a few years. Started after I saw how my brother looked while fighting with a sword and was sort of enamoured with the art," Tomoe explained.
"Sasuke-kun does kenjutsu as well?" Sakura marvelled.
"Sasuke? Oh, my bad, I wasn't being specific. My older brother, Ichi-nii. I saw him and Shisui-nii sparring with it once, and decided to give it a go. Haven't learned much, but I'm enjoying it," Tomoe elaborated.
If Tomoe saw the look of disappointment on Sakura's face, she didn't comment on it. As they reached the academy front entrance, Tomoe spoke up once more, "Do you two wanna make a stop before we go home?"
"What do you mean?" Ino asked.
"Well, erhm, the thing is," Tomoe stuttered while seemingly struggling to finding the words, "This lesson about tea ceremony and all that information about tea in general kinda intrigued me, so I was wondering if you two would like to go visit a tea shop before we go home?" As she had never hung out with anyone her age outside of school, expect for Sasuke, Tomoe was a bit nervous when inviting her friends to hang out.
"Sure, sounds fun," Ino agreed after a small pause. "Know a good spot?"
"Not really, but I'd hoped we could find one together, one not in the Uchiha compound," Tomoe replied, elated that Ino had said yes. She then turned to Sakura, "What do you say?"
Sakura looked sheepishly at her and said, "Sorry, I can't. I promised my mom to go home right away today, sorry."
"Oh, well if you have prior engagements, then it can't be helped. Perhaps you can join us another time?" Tomoe said while smiling politely.
"Yeah, another time," Sakura replied. "Anyways I have to go now. See you tomorrow," she said as she started walking away, leaving Tomoe and Ino at the academy.
"It's a shame she couldn't join us," Tomoe sighed, sounding disheartened at Sakura's refusal.
"All right, let's a tea shop to try out," Ino said, taking Tomoe's hand and pulling her along. "I think my mom mentioned one near the shopping district that should serve some pretty good tea. Think it's called 'The Wandering Leaf'."
Being dragged along by Ino, Tomoe couldn't help but smile as they went searching for a place to get some tea.
The following Monday after their first kunoichi lesson, it was time for class 1-A to finally start sparring during their taijutsu lessons. After their usual warm-up consisting of running some laps around the academy courtyard and stretching, Iruka gathered all the students and started explaining, "Alright all, listen up. It's been three months since you started taijutsu lessons, and you have all gotten a decent grip of how the academy taijutsu style works by now. This means that you now will spend some of the lessons sparring with each other, instead of just practicing taijutsu kata."
Hearing that they were finally going to actually spar, Tomoe was starting to look forward to this taijutsu lesson for once. She shot a look towards Sasuke who caught it and nodded, seemingly accepting her sparring invitation. But before she started to walk over to spar with Sasuke, Iruka started speaking again. "As this is just the first sparring session, we will be making the pairs for now." This did dampen Tomoe's spirit a bit. While she didn't know exactly how good her classmates were, she doubted any of them were on Sasuke's level. While she rarely won against her brother anymore, he was still fun to spar with and she doubted anyone else could provide the same entertainment and challenge.
"Tomoe!" a loud voice behind her said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"Huh? What?" she said turning around to see Iruka looking down at her.
"You're up first," he instructed, pointing towards the circular area behind him, that looked similar to the sparring areas they had at home.
"Oh, right," Tomoe replied unenthusiastically, as she started walking towards the sparring area. As she arrived, a voice from beside her spoke "Wow, it's rare to see you so unenthusiastic about class." Tomoe turned and saw Ino standing there.
"Oh, hey Ino. Why are you in here?" Tomoe asked.
Ino looked at Tomoe incredulously, "Wow you really weren't listening, were you? I'm your sparring partner."
"Ah, yeah that would explain it. I kinda zoned out when they were announcing the pairs," Tomoe said sounding a bit happier. She was no Sasuke, but Ino was a good friend so that might make the spar more fun.
"All right you two, make the Seal of Confrontation," Iruka instructed. Tomoe and Ino both raised one hand, forming a half a ram seal each. They then looked at each other. After a few seconds Iruka yelled, "Begin."
As soon as Iruka had given the start signal, Tomoe slipped effortlessly into the Uchiha base taijutsu stance, holding her left arm in front of her body with a slight bend in her elbow, her right arm was pulled back so her right upper arm was a bit behind her torso with the elbow bending so that her forearm was pointing forwards, with her left foot in front pointing forwards, and her right foot in the back pointing a bit to her right.
Ino on the other hand, spent a while getting into her stance, spending several seconds making adjustments to the stance. Tomoe couldn't help but think that it was sloppy, spending that much time getting ready was almost certainly going to lose you a match. As her style most often relied on reacting to her opponent's moves, Tomoe stood still waiting for Ino to make the first move. "If you won't come to me, then I'll come to you," Ino said after a few seconds of waiting and started charging towards Tomoe, while disregarding her stance and defences completely. As Ino got closer, she started pulling her right arm backwards, getting ready to throw a punch at Tomoe. Tomoe casually leaned to her right dodging the punch, and returned the punch with a quick jab to Ino's side.
Ino not used to getting hit very hard, bend over in pain. As she slowly straightened up, she looked towards Tomoe who had returned to the same stance as before, once more waiting for Ino to move. "You sure don't hold back, do you?" Ino asked in a strained voice. However, Tomoe didn't respond and just looked at her. "What ignoring me now?" Ino asked sounding annoyed. Getting mad at Tomoe for ignoring her, Ino charged at Tomoe once more.
When Ino got close enough to Tomoe, she tried kicking at Tomoe's abdomen. However, Tomoe grabbed her leg and pulled her closer, knocking Ino off balance and making her fall to the ground. Before Ino had a chance to get up, Tomoe placed a knee on her chest, a foot on her right arm, and a hand on her left arm, keeping her in place.
"All right, that's enough," Iruka interrupted, calling off the spar. "Tomoe wins the spar."
As soon as Iruka had declared Tomoe the winner, she got off of Ino and reached out a hand to help her up. "Sorry about that. When I spar, I tend to get serious and focus only on the fight and not respond to conversation as it often distracts me." Ino took her hand and got up and as she stood up, Tomoe noticed she held her right side when she had punched her. But before she could comment on it, Iruka interrupted.
"Good spar, remember to make the Seal of Reconciliation."
Tomoe and Ino made the same ram seal they did before starting the spar, and shook hands with it. As they left the sparring area, Tomoe lent Ino a shoulder she could lean on, "Are you alright? I didn't hit you too hard, did I?" she asked, her voice filled with worry.
"I'm fine, it just hurt more than I expected. You really don't pull your punches, do you?" Ino asked with a strained voice.
"Sorry, I hit you about as hard as I do when I spar with Sasuke. I don't hit him often, so I have to make each hit count," Tomoe explained.
"You don't hit him often? You made me look like toddler out there, and you're saying he's better?" Ino asked incredulously.
"Oh yeah, out of 20 matches, I win once, maybe twice," Tomoe answered as they made their way over to the sidelines so that Ino could sit down and relax a bit, while watching the other spars.
"Wow, no wonder you looked so unenthusiastic when we started. If your regular sparring partner beats you, the rest of us must feel like toddlers in comparison," Ino sighed.
"Talking about sparring, what was that out there?" Tomoe asked.
"What do you mean with 'What was that'? I tried my best you know?" Ino replied offended.
"That was your best? What have you been doing the past few years when practicing taijutsu?" Tomoe asked in shock.
"Years? I started training three months ago," Ino said before pausing. Ino suddenly looked at Tomoe "Wait 'years', you've been training taijutsu for years? I thought you had only been training for a year or so, when did you start taijutsu training?"
"Since I was four or so. Why?" Tomoe asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No wonder you're so good, you have literally been doing taijutsu half your life. Well at least that helps my wounded pride, you have way more experience than I do."
"Really? I thought you had been training with your family at home like I have."
"I have, but only like the past year with our clan's basic jutsu and I started home-schooling like three years ago so I could learn to read, write, and all that stuff," Ino explained.
"That was late, what were you doing before then?" Tomoe asked.
"Late!? When did you start training and home-schooling?" Ino asked in surprise.
Tomoe thought before answering, "Let me see, I learned to read and write when I was three, I think. I then started taijutsu practice, chakra control exercises, and shurikenjutsu practice when I was four, and I successfully performed our clan's jutsu at five." Tomoe looked at Ino and saw she was staring at her with wide eyes and open mouth. "What?" she asked.
"You have been training in everything we're going to learn this year, since you were three. Not to mention you started learning jutsu when you were five-"
"Well, I did start learning, but I could successfully use it soon after," Tomoe interrupted.
"... How soon after?" Ino asked in a wary voice.
"A week I think?"
Ino just stared at Tomoe with wide eyes, not quite believing what she was being told. But judging from her friend's face and puzzled expression, Tomoe was telling the truth and didn't see anything strange about what she was saying. But to Ino who just started learning three years ago, it sounded absurd. When she was four, she was running around playing with her friends not worrying about anything. But at that time, her friend was already hard at work training.
"You really are amazing you know?" Ino muttered to herself.
"Huh? Did you say something?" Tomoe asked, having heard Ino saying something, but not hearing it.
"No nothing. Hey look, Sakura's up," Ino said, changing the subject.
Tomoe looked towards the sparring ring and saw that Sakura had indeed entered the ring and now stood opposite of a girl with pale white eyes and short dark-blue hair. "So she is, and she's facing Hinata. Poor girl," Tomoe said.
"Who? Hinata?" Ino asked.
"No, Sakura. Doubt she'll win or even have a chance."
"Why not?"
"You said that you and Sakura were at the same level in taijutsu, right?" When Ino nodded Tomoe continued, "Now, I only practices taijutsu as part of my training, but Hinata's a Hyuga."
"And that means?" Ino asked in confusion.
"The Hyuga specialise and focus on taijutsu, where I do a bit of everything. And I have a feeling Hinata has been doing it as long as I have, if not longer."
Ino turned to look at the fight between Sakura and Hinata, and similar to their own spar, Hinata was dodging every hit Sakura sent her way with ease. After a few moments of dodging, Hinata finally went on the offensive and hit Sakura hard in the abdomen, who buckled over in pain, and fell to the ground.
"Told ya," came from Tomoe.
Ino wanted to rush over to see how Sakura was doing and help her, but her side still hurt so she had troubles standing up. If she saw the pointed look Sakura sent towards Ino as she kept sitting on the ground leaning against Tomoe, Ino didn't react to it.
*Three months later*
The first half year of the academy had passed by, which meant that for class 1-A it was time for their midterm examinations. As they were just starting, they didn't have many classes that allowed for testing, which meant that they only going to be tested in chakra theory, math, taijutsu, and shurikenjutsu. The entire day was set aside for testing, although the breaks between the periods would be longer than usual. First period would chakra theory, second period would be math, and taijutsu and shurikenjutsu would be tested during the third and fourth period after lunch.
Tomoe and Sasuke were walking to their classroom discussing the coming day. "Feeling ready?" Tomoe asked.
"Ready? With what we have been taught so far, I've been ready the past three years" Sasuke replied confidently.
"Agreed," Tomoe agreed, sounding equally confident. "You haven't forgotten our contest, have you?".
"Nope, loser gets the winner's chores for a week."
"Going by overall highest score or number of highest scores?"
"Number of highest scores, if we're even we go by overall highest score."
Tomoe nodded in agreement of how they would determine the winner of their contest. They arrived at their classroom and took their usual seats, waiting for the test to begin. As Tomoe sat down, she saw Ino next to her looking a bit paler than she usually did. Tomoe put a hand on Ino's shoulder and shook her lightly, "Are you ok?" she asked worryingly.
Ino nodded slowly, "Yeah I'm fine, just nerves really. I'm not that good under pressure," she admitted.
Not knowing what to say to help her calm down, Tomoe decided to say what Mikoto had said to her when she was showing her father the Great Fireball Technique a second time, "Just do it like you practiced, you told me that you learned most of this years ago, right?"
Ino looked at Tomoe, "That doesn't mean I can use it, not everyone can perform well under pressure, not that you would know how that feels," she snapped at Tomoe.
Tomoe was slightly taken aback by Ino's comment, but before she could say anything, Iruka and Mizuki walked in and whistled to get their student's attention. "Good morning everyone, hope you're ready for today's tests. As you know first period is chakra theory. You will be handed a worksheet with 10 questions that you have to answer. When time is up, the sheets will be collected and you will be given a longer break than usual. Once the test starts, you have 50 minutes to complete the test. We will now distribute the worksheets facedown; you may turn them and begin when we say so." Iruka explained as Mizuki passed out the worksheets. When Mizuki had finished passing out worksheets, Iruka looked at the clock, and as it hit nine o'clock, he announced "The test begins now!"
Tomoe flipped her sheet over and started reading the questions:
Question one: What is chakra?
Question two: Where is the chakra core located?
Question three: How does chakra circulate throughout the body?
Question four: What are the two components of chakra?
Question five: Where in the body is chakra produced?
Question six: How is the leaf exercise performed and what is its purpose?
Question seven: Name a chakra control exercise.
Question eight: How does hand seals help using ninjutsu?
Question nine: Are hand seals necessary to use jutsu?
Question 10: What are the three academy ninjutsu?
Tomoe looked at the questions, picked up her pencil and started writing while thinking, "Well, this is gonna be easy."
Tomoe stretched her body and turned to Ino, "Feeling better?"
Ino gave Tomoe an annoyed look, "No, we're not even halfway through the tests, why would I be feeling better?"
"Cause the hard part is over?" Tomoe asked.
"Look, it's obvious we don't see eye-to-eye on this whole test thing and I don't know if you're trying to cheer me up or whatever, but I'd appreciate it if you could stop making it sound like it is the easiest thing in the world," Ino retorted.
Tomoe was taken aback at Ino's words, nodded and turned her attention towards the blank blackboard. "I'm sorry if I said it too harshly, but I'm nervous about this," Ino apologised after a while.
"It's fine," Tomoe replied, "I wanted to try to help you calm down like my mother does with me, but evidently I'm not that good at it."
"It could use some work," Ino agreed with a small smile.
*Later that afternoon*
"That was hell," Ino sighed in exhaustion as she, Tomoe, and Sakura were leaving the academy after finishing their exams.
"Especially the taijutsu part," Sakura added, "I'm sore all over."
Before Tomoe could open her mouth to say something, she was interrupted by Ino, "You don't get to say anything. No matter what your input is, it won't make me feel better."
"At least it's over?"
Ino shook her head as they kept walking. "You guys wanna stop somewhere before we go home?" Ino asked. "I don't know about you two, but I could use some relaxing and if I go home, I'm probably just gonna be put to work in the shop."
"I'd love to, but-" Sakura began, drawing out the 'but'.
"Oh that's right, your grandma's birthday is today, right?" Ino asked.
"Yeah, can't miss it, she's turning 80" Sakura replied.
"Then go," Tomoe said. As Ino and Sakura turned to Tomoe, she continued, "If that is the case, why are you here? You should be with her," Tomoe insisted.
"She could've worded it better, but she's right Sakura. Go be with your family; we'll hang another time," Ino replied.
"Yeah, right," Sakura said in a sullen voice.
"You ok, Sakura?" Ino asked worryingly when she heard Sakura's tone of voice.
"I'm fine, see you two later," she snapped, and with that Sakura left in a hurry.
"Wonder where that came from," Ino said Tomoe as they watched Sakura leave.
"No idea. "
After a brief pause of the two girls standing in front of the academy, Ino spoke up once more, "So where should we go this time? 'The Wandering Leaf' again?"
"I saw a new one had opened near the markets, could be fun to try."
"Fine with me, what's the name?" Ino asked as they set course towards the Konoha markets.
"'The Blooming Flower' or something like that."
*Five days later*
"Why do I have to do the shopping," Tomoe grumbled to herself as she walked towards the Konoha marketplace. Her mother had sent her to do the shopping for tonight's dinner. As she wasn't in a hurry, Tomoe had decided to take the scenic route towards the marketplace and was currently walking through the park following the river that led into the lake near the Uchiha compound. As she was walking along the river, Tomoe overheard two people having a loud discussion further in the park. As she got closer, she saw one of the two had a ponytail, while the other person bright pink hair. Thinking it was most likely Ino and Sakura, Tomoe decided to go over to see what was going on. Before she got close enough to call out to them, she heard them both scream "FINE!" before the two split ways, running in opposite directions. Tomoe not knowing what was going on, decided to follow Ino who ran into a nearby grove to find out what had happened that had caused the two to run off like that.
After searching for a few minutes, Tomoe found Ino sitting under a big tree while hugging her knees and sniffling. "Hey, you ok?" Tomoe asked as she walked closer to Ino.
Hearing someone talking to her, Ino's head shot up from her between her arms and looked to see who it was. Upon seeing Tomoe, Ino wiped her eyes and spoke, "Oh it's just you. What are you doing here?"
"Was walking in the park when I saw you and Sakura yell at each other, and then you both ran off. What happened back there?" Tomoe asked, her voice filled with worry.
"Nothing you need to worry about," Ino snapped.
"No need to be rude," Tomoe replied, taken aback by the sudden hostility. "I just want to know what cause you two to fight like that, I've never seen you fight like that since I met you two."
"As I said, nothing for you to worry about, just leave me alone."
"Sorry, I just wanted to help," Tomoe explained. Not knowing what to do, Tomoe stood around for a while, before she walked up to the opposite side of the tree that Ino was sitting at, and sat down.
"What are you doing?"
"Sitting at a tree, enjoy the cool weather. It's fine if you don't want to tell me, but I'm here if you want to talk."
After a longer pause until Ino spoke again, "I'm sorry. You're right, we've never fought like that and we've been friends for five years, so I'm a bit shocked and confused."
The two sat there in a comfortable silence for several minutes before Ino spoke. "Sakura said that we're no longer friends," she admitted.
"What?!" Tomoe almost yelled in surprise. "Why?"
"Multiple reasons. The first one is that she thinks we like the same guy."
"Really? I didn't know either of you had someone you liked."
"Well, I don't, but she does."
"Who is it?" Tomoe asked in curiosity.
"-ther," Ino mumbled in a voice too low for Tomoe to hear.
"Huh? I couldn't hear what you said."
"I said your brother," Ino said in a loud voice.
"You like Sasuke?" Tomoe exclaimed in surprise.
"I mean, I was interested at first, but it never really got beyond that you know? He seemed cool at first and all that. But then the two of us started hanging out more and visiting those tea houses together, and I... just didn't think more about it," Ino explained. "Not that Sakura believes that. She's dead set on that I like him, and that I'm using you to get closer to him. Not that that's true," Ino hastily added. Tomoe sat in silence for a while, absorbing the information. "Tomoe? You there?" Ino asked after several minutes of silence.
"I'm here, just trying to wrap my head around it. You're saying that Sakura abandoned a five-year long friendship, because she thinks you like the same guy?" Tomoe said in disbelief.
"Well, that's one part of it."
"And the other?"
"She also thinks that I'm replacing her with you."
"What, why?"
"We started hanging out more after school, and we often went somewhere without her like those tea shop visits, like after the exams. So she thinks I'm replacing her with you, and that I have decided that you would be a more worthwhile friend, since we're both clan children and she's isn't,"
"Are you?"
"NO, not at all!" Ino exclaimed. "Please don't say you think that as well," she said with tears in her voice.
"No, no I don't. I've known you long enough to know you're not one to use others like that. If Sakura can't see that after five years, that's her loss," Tomoe said in a reassuringly. After that, the two sat in a comfortable silence once more. Before they knew, they had been sitting there for almost an hour in silence, with only the odd sniff from Ino interrupting it. The silence was broken when Itachi jumped down next to Tomoe, "So this is where you were, Tomoe," startling them both.
"Geez Ichi-nii, you frightened me," Tomoe said between gasps of surprise. When she had composed herself, she asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Mother sent you out shopping an hour ago, and you had not returned. So I went looking for you to see if you were harmed," Itachi explained.
"Has it already been an hour?" Tomoe said in realisation.
"Erhm, who is this?" Ino piped up.
"Oh, sorry Ino. This is my big brother, Itachi," Tomoe explained, introducing her brother.
"Oh him," Ino said in realisation. "Pleasure to meet you Itachi-san."
"Likewise," Itachi replied, nodding. "Why are you out here?".
Tomoe looked back at Ino, then to Itachi pulled on his arm and said "Come over here for a moment."
Ino looked on as Itachi politely followed along with Tomoe as she pulled him away. Tomoe then pulled his head down so that she could whisper in his ear. They stood talking like that for a while, making Ino nervous about what they were talking about. Then Itachi pulled his head back and straightened up and spoke, "I'll talk to mother and father about it. Meanwhile, you go shopping as you were told to."
"Thanks, Ichi-nii," Tomoe replied with a huge smile on her face. Itachi nodded and body flicked away. Tomoe then turned to Ino with the same smile on her face and exclaimed, "Alright, now that that's taken care of, let's go."
"Go? Go where? And what were you talking about?" Ino asked in confusion.
"We're going to the markets for a bit, just follow me," Tomoe insisted as she grabbed Ino's arm and marched towards Konoha's marketplace.
At the Konoha marketplace Tomoe was dragging a confused Ino along to the different stores and stalls while looking for the groceries Mikoto had sent Tomoe out to get. After having shopped for vegetables, Tomoe was currently looking for the meat for tonight's dinner when Itachi appeared beside her, shocking her again. "Ichi-nii you need to stop doing that," Tomoe grumbled before continuing, "What did mother say?"
"Mother would happily have her over for dinner. Father nor I will be home this evening, so it will just be you, Sasuke, and mother this evening, so there are open spots at the table."
"Alright, thanks Ichi-nii, you're the best. See you when you get back."
Itachi nodded to Tomoe, and promptly left without saying more.
"Ok, what is going on here? Why is your brother coming and going like that?" Ino exlaimed, confused about Itachi coming and going like that.
Tomoe looked a bit nervous all of a sudden, "I asked my mother if I could ask you over for dinner this evening," Tomoe explained, before quickly adding, "Only if you want to, of course."
Seeing Tomoe flustered and jittery like this, Ino couldn't help but laugh.
"No need to laugh, you could just say no," Tomoe sulked.
"I'm sorry," Ino said between fits of laughter, "It's just unusual to see you struggle with something so it caught me off guard." Once her laughter had died down, Ino looked at Tomoe smiled and said, "I'd love to join you for dinner, I do have to tell my parents first though."
"Well, let's go tell them," Tomoe declared. Tomoe was elated that her friend had agreed to come over for dinner, even if it was in an attempt to cheer her up. As Tomoe set off to tell Ino's parents, she stopped after walking a few meters, she then turned around and sheepishly said, "You should probably lead the way, I can't remember where you live."
Ino laughed once more, walked in front of Tomoe and said, "Come on, follow me." As Ino walked in front of Tomoe, she didn't hear the small sniffle that came from her, nor did she notice the small tears of happiness that were forming in Ino's eyes as they walked.
Omake – Tales of a sibling rivalry
"Ready?" Sasuke said to Tomoe, as they stood over the table in their living room.
"Are you sure you wanna do this?" she asked.
"Positive, this is what we both have been waiting for the past six months. No way I'm gonna let you back out now."
"There's still time in case you want to back out, you know," Tomoe replied with a smirk.
"Sure you should be that confident? You might have missed something," Sasuke retorted.
"We both know you've been missing more than me recently," Tomoe winked at Sasuke while she spoke.
"Enough!" Sasuke yelled. "Time to finish this."
"As you wish... brother," Tomoe said gloomily, "Just don't blame me when it's over."
"I could say the same to you. On three," Sasuke said with determination.
Tomoe nodded, as they counted down at the same time.
"One."
"Two."
"THREE!" they both exclaimed, and at the same time slammed four pieces of paper each down on the table. "Four perfect scores," they both bragged. It took a while before the twins realized what the other had said. There was a pregnant pause between them as they looked at each other.
"What do we do now?" Tomoe asked.
"I don't know, we never agreed on anything in case of a draw," Sasuke replied.
"We really should have done that, the tests were way too easy," Tomoe remarked.
"They really were, it was all stuff we learnt four years ago," Sasuke agreed.
They both stood in front of each other for a moment, before Tomoe had a suggestion, "Rock paper scissors?"
"You want to decide who wins our first real academy contest, with a game of luck?" Sasuke asked incredulously.
"You have a better idea?" she retorted.
Sasuke thought for a moment before sighing, "Fine, rock paper scissors it is. Best of three?"
Tomoe shook her head, "Nope, first win decides it all. More fun that way. Besides, luck is a part of skill."
Sasuke grumbled at his sister's antics, but got ready for rock paper scissors anyways, "Ready?"
"Ready when you are," Tomoe replied.
"Ok, let's try this one more time."
"Rock."
"Paper."
"Scissors." They looked at each other's hands for a moment before Tomoe spoke, "Best out of three?"
AN: As mentioned in the main fic Blade of the Uchiha, this is a collection of side stories that has no real impact on the main story. Wanted to have all the omakes collected in one place, so they would be easier to find if someone wanted to read a specific omake. While they are all canon, none of them are plot relevant and aren't needed to understand or follow the plot of the main fic.
AN: In case you were wondering, I've based the kunoichi classes on what Wikipedia calls the "three classical Japanese arts of refinement," with flower arrangement being the only confirmed subject in the Naruto universe.
AN2: I've based Tomoe's base taijutsu stance on Old Snake's stance from MGS4 when he fights Liquid near the end. Search on YT for "Old Snake vs Liquid," and the stance Snake has just as the first cutscene ends is the one I've based it on.
AN2: Wanted Tomoe to have a small verbal tick when nervous or flustered, kinda like I gave Fugaku, bonus points if you can spot it, which is her reverting to formal speech.
AN3: This omake and all future omakes will be posted in a separate fic called "Tales of Konoha," in case any of you are like me and enjoy reading specific omakes, but can't always remember the chapter of the fic where it is. While they are all canon, none of them are plot relevant and aren't needed to understand or follow the plot of this fic. They are all meant as short side stories, that has no real impact on the main fic. They might have separate plotlines themselves, but those are separate plotlines from this fic. Hope you enjoy them though, I have a few more planned/in mind.