The Underground Training Ground

Standing in line were three genin, and in front of them a Jonin.The jonin was none other than Sora herself, and the genin, her students.

The one to the far left was a boy, taller than the other kids. His aloof appearance started with his hair. It was short in the back but it stuck up like brown daggers towards the top, with two large spikes that fell to the front of his shoulders. His brown spiky hair was held back by his ninja headband that was sitting on his forehead. His neck was covered by a black turtleneck that didn't cover his shoulders or arms. His shoulders, left bare by the cloth of his shirt, was short sleeved. The top of the shirt had a gray outline on the top, with the bottom was a white quarter zip up shirt that was tucked behind his bands and a large obi waistband. Inside this waistband were two long katana that were left to poke out from behind his back. His left arm was covered with a fishnet sleeve, while his right was left bare. Below the obi were a pair of black pants that went down into his black shinobi sandals. He had his ninja tool pouch tied to his right leg.

The kid was yawning, though it had already passed 2 p.m. in the day.

The student on the right was a girl.The girl was short but had the largest smile on her face. She was a short girl, shorter than her fellow teammates. Her purple hair stood up in a ponytail that fluttered out into the air with the front two bangs split sharply, flowing all the way down to her chin. Her cute face was as happy as could be. Her eyes were big, black and cat-like curves on the edges. The girl's earrings were purple plants that were long and the designs were multiple small purple hearts that connected to each other and went all the way down to her soldiers. Her shinobi headband was tied loosely around her neck, covering the top of her purple cheongsam. The straps on her left chest line were golden. The cheongsam was only made for the top of her body, while the bottoms were baggy pants that were cuffed right below her knees, her tool pouch being wrapped around to the bottom of her back. The rest of her leg was covered by her long shinobi sandals that had been elongated to cover her entire shins.

The final one was the kid in the middle, Riku. His eyes were a deep dark red that watched every movement in the room. His long, spiky, black hair flowed behind him. It was long enough to reach the bottom of his back. The hair covered the sword that he was carrying on his side, but still poked out six inches past his right hip. The top of his body was dressed in a sleeveless shirt that was light gray on the area above his upper chest, while below this area the shirt was all black. The top of his shirt was covered by a red half mask that draped down to the middle of his chest cavity. His waist was wrapped with a double layered rope. His pants were long and black pants that went down into his shoes that were open toed, with the top of his foot exposed. His shinobi tool pouch was wrapped around his left leg. His entire outfit was brought together by his ninja headband that was wrapped around his forehead.

"Alright, kids! Time for some training!" Sora yelled. The kids all covered their ears from the echoing sound of their teacher's voice. Riku pointed at her angrily.

"Stop screaming in here sensei! It echoes!" Riku yelled back at her. Sora raised her fist and started walking towards her student.

"It doesn't help that you're screaming too!" She countered with a yell as she threw her fist down, hitting the Natsume child directly on the top of the head. Riku slammed to the ground, head first. The boy to the left just sighed and looked on the ground at his teammate.

"It doesn't work if you both start yelling." He said calmly, watching Riku get back to his feet.

"Shut up, Suna!" Riku yelled again, which was directly followed by another punch to the head. Laughter could be heard from Riku's right. The girl was holding her stomach.

"Riku! You're never boring! AHAHAHA!" She managed, still cracking up at the boy. Sora sighed and walked back to her original spot.

"Right! Now, back to what I was saying. Clear your schedules for the next few weeks. The team has been giving a high-class, A-Rank mission. Directly from the Kazekage." The kid's response to this was without a doubt a surprise.

'Directly from the Kazekage…' Riku thought to himself, looking down at his hands. Rika and Suna looked at their sensei, happy but also confused.

"Sensei. What type of mission is it?" Rika asked. Sora put her hand to her chin and closed her eyes as if she were in deep thought.

A few seconds passed by and Sora balled her fist up and hit her palm like she had come up with an ingenious answer.

"The secret kind."

Sweat dropped from her student's heads.

"Sensei. I was expecting a real answer." Suna retorted but the answer he wanted wasn't given.

"That's all the information that I can spare right now. You'll just have to be okay with it for now and trust me." The Jonin responded as she moved on to the next topic.

'What type of mission could be so secret that we can't even know the nature of it?' Rika thought to herself as her instructor began talking again.

"Alright! Down to business. I have specific training for everyone, starting with Rika. You'll be with me. We're going to start with the basics then work our way up to the more advanced medical ninjutsu techniques and then move on to your taijutsu." Sora ordered. Rika nodded quickly and began walking to her sensei's side. Sora turned her attention to Suna next.

"Suna, you're going to be working on your sword technique against my shadow clones. It'll be tough. I also want you to start training your wind jutsu in conjunction with your sword." The sensei stated. Suna drew his two swords and crossed them in an X position.

"Yes, Sensei!" He yelled in agreement. Riku had his fists balled up, ready for his training regiment.

"Sensei! Is mine going to be sword training too?! Or are you going to teach me a new jutsu?!" Riku screamed. Sora shook her head and reached into her pocket and grabbed a handful of leaves.

"Nope. Your training's going to be a lot harder than that. You're going to be holding leaves for a full ten minutes." She responded as she reached out her hand.

"That's so cool-... WHAT?!" The boy yelled. Sora sighed and prepared herself for the chaos that was about to ensue.

"What do you mean I have to hold leaves for ten minutes?!?!" He yelled, making the other three ninja cover their ears.

"You can't be serious sensei! Everyone else is doing something cool and I'm stuck doing the lame stupid tricks again." Riku said as he looked at his master with a mixture of anger and confusion glued to his face..

"If you would listen then your life would be so much easier. Let me finish, ya!" Sora answered as she began moving the leaves in her hand. Each leaf was placed on each of her finger tips. She reached her hand towards Riku, palm down, without any of the leaves falling to the ground. This caught everyone's attention.

"If you had let me explain I would have shown you. This is a technique for controlling your chakra." She finished, began swinging her hand wildly in the air. To the genin's surprise none of the leaves moved from their original spot on her fingers. Once her hand stopped moving she pointed her hand palm parallel to the Natsume child and released the chakra in her fingers, making the leaves slowly fall to the ground.

"This technique is something that chunin and some jonin can't even master." the woman acknowledged, making Riku's surprise pique. Sora bent over to grab the leaves from the ground.

"It's a level of chakra control that's so accurate that even a second of inconsistency results in failure." She explained before standing up from retrieving the leaves and walked to Riku. Riku looked up to his sensei, directly into her eyes. They both reached their hands out and exchanged the training material.

"If you can master this then you won't have any issue controlling chakra anymore. It will be the key to learning any jutsu you set your mind to." Sora said as she turned and began walking back to her starting position.

When she was once again standing next to Rika she began to speak once again.

"Master this Riku. I know you can." Sora reassured the boy. Riku looked down at his hand silently.

"Any jutsu." Riku whispered to himself.

"Okay! Time to get to training." Sora finished. Everyone moved into a corner in the room and began their training.

Sora had created a single shadow clone for Suna to practice with, who had already begun attacking, trying combinations of wind jutsu and sword slices. For Rika instead of physically intense training there were books. Tens of books had been spread around the floor. The topics ranged from large scale battle healing strategies to precise techniques such as reconnecting the most minute nerves that were cut. Sora stood over her, lecturing as she read about the swift action needed during a full scale war, prioritization based on the severity of the injury, and the construction and deconstruction of the body that can be used for offense, defense, and healing.

The only one who hadn't begun his specified training was Riku. Instead of trying to practice controlling leaves on his fingertips he had resumed his wall training. Though the mastery wasn't as great as his fellow teammates, his comfortability and progress had come extremely far. Before now he could reach his second step. Now he could walk halfway up the wall before becoming shaky, and of the wall before cracking the cement wall and falling back to the ground. Sora watched this, pleased with his train of thought.

'Good, Riku. If you can master the wall technique then I have no doubt that you can grasp the finger leaf technique as well. Before the end of the day I have no doubt that you'll succeed in getting up the wall.' The woman thought as she turned her attention back to Rika.

!

Three hours passed before any breaks were taken. By this time Rika was laying on her back, books finished, being rambled to by Sora.

"Ahhhh. Sensei. Let's take a break. My brain is fried right now!" She complained. The girl had managed to read all of the books really quickly. In the three hours she had been reading she'd consumed all of the material and listened to Sora speak on battle strategies regarding not only ninjutsu but how to construct an entire battle.

Sora looked down at the girl, who had closed her eyes and placed her hands behind her head, showing she was tired and sleepy, with a smile.

"Sure, let's take a break." The sensei agreed, turning her attention to her other students. Suna was still fighting the shadow clone. The clone had taken minimal to no damage, while Suna was drenched in sweat, dirt and blood. His swords had been resheathed and focus had me transitioned to taijutsu and wind jutsu usage.

Suna formed only a single hand sign, bird.

"Wind-Style: Wind Bullet!" He yelled, jumping into the air as he said it. His stomach became enlarged with air as he opened his mouth and a large stream came blowing strongly from it. Dust kicked up everywhere in the vicinity. Suna began forming new hand signs but before he could complete his channeling of chakra the clone jumped out of the smoke, hand reaching to grab the child's face. Suna performed a side spin, dodging the attempt and positioning himself right below the clone, who had continued to move forward in the air.

He finished his final hand seal before thinking, 'Wind Style: Wind Bullet!'. The swell of the stomach happened once more, hitting the clone right in the stomach, forcing her into the air, while sending the brown haired boy flying to the ground.

Suna landed on his feet and drew his swords as he watched the woman float in the air.

"Now!" he yelled, jumping in the air, his swords positioned for an attack. As he reached the woman he crossed his swords in an X position, preparing to slash her to ribbons. But, before he could swing his swords Sora's clone did a side spin, similar to the one Suna had performed, and ended up to the unprotected left side of the child and threw a powerful kick that sent the swordsman flying across the room and slamming into the wall. Suna fell motionlessly to the ground. His swords still in hand, his head dropped as the clone landed right in front of him.

"It would serve you better not to telegraph when you're going to attack by screaming, Suna." She said aloud as she looked over to her original body, who nodded.

The real Sora looked down at Rika, who was still blisfully lying on the ground with her eyes closed.

"Hey, Rika. Now you can put all of that reading into practice. Suna needs you right now." She stated. Rika's eyes opened and looked over at the unconscious boy, before closing her eyes again.

"Five more minutes, sensei. I was almost asleep." She responded calmly. Sora raised her hand and flicked her student in the head.

"Get up and go heal him! We're training, not napping you idiot!!" The sensei yelled. Rika gripped her forehead and sat up.

"Fine! I'll go heal stupid Suna!" She begrudgingly said as she walked over to heal him.

"Now, where's the kid?" She asked aloud, looking to the spot on the wall where Riku had been standing, but where's nowhere to be seen.

"I'm up here sensei!!!!" He yelled. Sora turned her attention to the place where the voice had come from, the ceiling! Sora's face changed into a face of surprise.

"You did it, kid!!" She said with a smile.

'I didn't think he would get it this quick. I guess he's much better off with that chakra of his sealed away.' She thought to herself as she walked over near where Riku was hanging upside down. His long black hair was hanging down behind him.

"I'm proud of you kid. I thought you would be stuck on this technique for at least a few more days." Sora complimented as Sora just laughed.

"I know, right!! I was having so much trouble the other day but today it wasn't that hard! I don't know what you did to me but it worked sensei!" Riku said. Sora's eyes lowered in annoyance.

"I told you that I sealed it some of your chakra, kid." She said lightly before turning her attention back to the training.

"All right! Seems like you're ready for the next part! The leaves." She said.

"Hell yeah!" He said as he began walking back to the wall so he could walk down. Before he could reach the edge of the ceiling there was a *POP* sound that came from the ceiling. Riku's chakra had become inconsistent, and in turn, his feet had been released from the ceiling.

"AHHHHHHH!!!" Riku shrieked and he landed in the sand, sending sand flying through the air. Sora let off a tired sigh as she shook her head.

"I should've known. You're still an idiot." She said as the boy stood up off the ground.

"I'm not an idiot!! I got that technique down pat!" He screamed back. Sora looked down at him, observing everything about the boy.

'His hair is filled with dirt, and his feet and pants are covered in it. He's been working hard, I'll give him that.' She thought as she looked down at him with a smile. Riku noticed this and dropped his eyes.

"I hope you're not thinking of any of those creepy things, sensei." Riku said skeptically. Sora's face became red with anger as a high punch came down to the kid's head.

"What are you talking about?! Stop saying stuff like that! People will start rumors about me! You idiot kid!" She said loudly. Laughing could be heard from the sidelines as Rika was standing next to a heavily breathing Suna. He had regained consciousness but his left eye had swollen shut and his hands covered his ribs..

"Sensei! You're hilarious!" The little girl chuckled out.

"Shut up! Ironing board!" Suna yelled at the girl. The laughing immediately stopped, tranforming into a frown, anger filling her eyes.

"What did you call me, loser?!" she yelled, getting right into Riku's face, who had risen back to his feet and had his fist balled.

"You heard what I said! Mrs. A-CUP!"He yelled back, which pulled the girl's last straw. The two started tussling like idiots all over the room. Sora watched this and sighed as she looked at Suna once again.

"Well. Looks like we could all use a break!" She said as she plopped down to the ground and pulled bandages from her ninja tool pouch.

"Come here, Suna. I'll finish patching ya up." Sora said. Suna nodded and walked forward to his teacher.

'These kids are going to be the death of me.' She said to herself with a sweatdrop forming on her head.

The moon in the sky was shining brightly in the forest at night. The rodents ran around and scurried through the weeds and bushes, snakes trailed tracks, and the larger carnivores scoured, looking for their prey. There was one more predator in the forest… the ninja.

Slice! One swift motion was all it took to send the head of a tiger rolling across the forest floor. The head rolling was the only noise that echoed from the action. Before the head could even stop its movement through the grasses the tiger body disappeared. No evidence of the animal's body remained except the head, not even blood was left dripping from the head.

The ninja camp had been set up 700 feet away from the Sound Village's hideout. A tall, skinny man in a cloak with a mask on appeared, carrying the beast in his left hand. He dropped the meat carefully on the ground.

Two puffs of smoke appeared from nowhere. Stepping from the smoke were the two jonin who were ordered to serve under this Jonin. One was a man who had spiky brown hair that dropped down to his shoulders. His face was covered, all but his eyes, with a thin black mask. His plain outfit was that of a jonin as well, his vest being slightly different. There was a large chunk of it missing because of a large gash being cut diagonally across his stomach.

The other ninja was a kunoichi. Her bright red hair had been cut, to only reach the middle of her back. Her outfit was the same as the other jonin, except her's was missing the same gash in it. The Anbu leader turned his attention to them.

"I can skin and gut this meat. I need you two to go retrieve the others."

The two ninja nodded and disappeared into the forest. The Anbu leader found a large stump to the left of the camp, pulled a kunai from inside his ninja pouch, and began cleaning the carcass.

"We've been out here for days and the information that we've been able to gather hasn't been exponential. It seems like we were found out the day we arrived. The greenery around the hideout hasn't changed since we got here. I have to make a decision." the Anbu said aloud to himself.

Only 3 minutes passed before the chunin and the jonin returned to the camp. The group arrived aeeing their leader finishing the gutting process and setting the tiger up to be cooked. The two chunin were two women who were both dressed the same. The one on the left had thick red hair that was pulled into a ponytail while the second had long black hair that reached the bottom of her back, tied at its end into a bun.

"Any information gathered today?"

"None. Just like yesterday. The first day we arrived the greenery looked as if there was movement in the trees and grass. But now that movement has ceased completely. The ground's tracks have cleared up and the animals are moving back into the clearing. Meaning that whoever was scaring and hunting them, all of their signs of existing, have disappeared." The red haired Chunin finished. The black hair woman nodded in agreement.

"I assumed this would be the case. Koreno, cook this meat with your jutsu please."

The masked, male Jonin walked forward and began forming hand signs, ending with the tiger seal.

"Fire Style: Fire Encasing Jutsu." He said before two flames slowly appeared on both of his hands. Koreno reached down to the carcass and placed his hands gently on top of the meat. Immediately the meat was encased in a tight seal of fire, cooking slowly.

The female jonin became forming hand signs as well before finishing with the bird hand seal.

"Wind Style: Wind Tunnel Jutsu." She announced quietly. She placed her hands on her mouth as her stomach grew filled with chakra and air. She placed her hands around her mouth in a fist and began lightly blowing air that circled the meat and once it completely encapsuled the meat a tunnel of wind began to shoot directly into the air, dodging branches and leaves as it soared above the trees, releasing the smell of the cooking meat out into the sky, not revealing their position.

'Jonin. Their ability to analyze even the smallest of details so quickly. So this is what it means to be a true ninja.' The black haired woman thought to herself.

"This should slow the meat cooking down. It will take around ten minutes." Koreno stated before sitting on the ground next to the fire. The jonin and the two chunin followed his lead.

"Very well. Then I will be blunt with you. There are only two options we have currently. They are to stay in the position we are now, waiting for reinforcements from the village we sent for with Nero or… we infiltrate the base ourselves."

The ninja all looked at him with no surprise.

'I figured this would happen. As things are going now we're just wasting time.' The red haired chunin said in her head as the female jonin began talking.

"Sir, you are the head of the mission. The decision is your choice." The woman said dutifully. The other shinobi nodded in agreement. The Anbu raised his hand in disagreement.

"No. Though I may be captain I am still a shinobi and risking the lives of others is not something I am keen to do. I've also been ordered to retreat if a situation like this were to happen. We will take a vote. If you are not willing to lose your life and would instead wait for reinforcements."

The vote had begun. The two Chunin raised their while the two jonin held their's down, content with finishing the mission under these circumstances.

"That's two for continuing and two for waiting. Meaning I am the deciding factor…" seconds went by before the response was finished, "The mission will be postponed until the backup comes. I'm sorry Koreno, Menorai. I have to side with Renia and Korin. If I were to risk the lives of those not willing then I could not return home as a true ninja."

Just then all of the ninja lowered their eyes in suspicion. The air had changed. The slightest sign of chakra had slipped into their senses.

"Come out. Now!" The red haired Chunin ordered. Just then a ninja appeared out of a puff of smoke. He was a tall, white haired ninja who was standing right in front of them.

"I'm surprised I was discovered with such a frighteningly small amount of chakra. Goes to show how thorough the Sunagakure ninja are trained." The man said as he looked at the group. The Anbu quickly pulled a kunai out of his tool pouch and charged forward. The enemy drew as well and countered. They both stood there, locked in a strength competition as the others jumped in as well.

The female jonin jumped in first and attempted a kick to the back of the enemy's head, which he ducked and countered by attempting to stab her in the leg with a kunai. Before the kunai could land Koreno slammed his fist into the man's back, forcing him to fly back into a tree.

Renia and Korin began weaving hand signs quickly, with the red haired woman ending with the dog hand sign, and the black haired woman finished with the snake hand sign.

"Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu!" The red haired woman yelled as her stomach bloated before three water bullets shot from her mouth, aimed right at the man. He ducked all three quickly, only to be met with two large walls of rock flying at him from both sides.

"Earth Style: Caving Walls!" The black haired Chunin yelled. The white haired man jumped high off the ground and kicked off of the tree, flying forward towards the Anbu once again, clashing kunai again. They struck at each other over and over again before coming to a stalemate once again.

"Wait! I didn't come here to fight! I have a message from our Lord!" The white haired man yelled at the enemy. The Anbu heard and ignored what he had to say, dropping down for a sweep kick, which was easily dodged by jumping into the air. He was met by a barrage of punches from the two jonin. He was hit consecutively at least thirty times before falling down the ground, onto one knee. He had blood falling down from his forehead, which was covered by a Sound Village headband, and was holding his ribs that had taken damage.

He didn't move to attack again, just sat and watched the group. The two Chunin women were standing in the back, weaving handsigns, waiting for their next opportunity to shoot a jutsu. The two Jonin were reaching into their bags, pulling out kunai. The last was the Anbu member, who was waiting for Kabuto to make his move.

'Lord Orochimaru wants them all alive. I have to talk my way out of this fight.' The man thought to himself as he dropped the kunai that he was holding and raised his hands in submission.

"Look! My hands are empty! My name is Kabuto and like I said before, I didn't come here to fight you! My master is the leader of the Hidden Sound Village!" The man yelled, standing back to his feet.

'That's good. They're not attaacking right away so they seem to be willing to listen.' He thought before continuing.

"He is currently away on business. But we have been warned about your plans to attack the Hidden Sound Village. He wants to extend his hand to help you!" He finished. This caught the entire group by surprise. The Anbu raised his hand, signalling the chunin and jonin to cease their preparations for attack.

'The only reason we were briefed on the attack so early on was because we had this mission. How did this Village find out about it? Is there a spy in our village?' The Anbu thought before responding.

"How do you know about the attack?"

"My Lord is a very powerful, influential man. He has connections and information networks everywhere. He has plans that coincide with yours. We would like to start a relationship with the Hidden Sand." The man said calmly, dropping his hands from his ribs.

"If that's so, why are you planning an attack on our village?" The Anbu man asked. The man smiled and turned.

"Before I can tell you everything you have to follow me. My lord is awaiting us." He said as he turned and began walking away. The group looked at the Anbu.

"What are your orders?" Asked Morenai. The Anbu nodded and resheathed his Kunai.

"Morenai and Korin. You two will stay outside to watch guard in case of an ambush. Koreno and Renia. You two are to come with me to meet this Leader."

All the ninja all nodded in agreement and began walking forward. The male jonin and red haired Chunin walked to reach side by side with the Anbu leader while the other two walked closely behind them.