Chapter 24: In which some things happen and we address some off-screen trauma

Genma was the one to lead us from the village gates to the area we would be training in, grumbling the entire run about lazy jounin. He had us set up a camp that would be our home for the next month before starting us on drills. It was almost noon before Kakashi showed up, easily dodging the kunai his irritated students threw at him. Genma disappeared back to the village for his shift on the Hokage guard even as Kakashi pulled out several sheets of paper.

"I'm guessing you guys know what this is?"

The little shits all turned to look at me, even Sakura. I stared at her, "You know what they are. You have to."

"I assumed it was seal paper or chakra paper."

"It's chakra paper."

Kakashi ruffled the beanie on top of my head, continuing on even as I straightened it,

"It is indeed chakra paper. Channel a small bit of chakra into it to find out your base chakra nature. If your natures are anything other than fire then your experiences with learning fire jutsu should mean adding another element will be easy."

He handed out the paper and one by one they changed. Sai's immediately turned to ash, as did Ichiyo's. "Ah, no easy out for you two then."

Naruto's split in two and Sakura's turned into a sopping mess. Kakashi hummed, eyeing them. "You two are going to have an especially easy time after learning so many fire jutsu." He turned to Sasuke and I who were both eyeing the paper. Kakashi motioned to our chakra papers, "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Our pages both turned partway to ash…before the rest crinkled. I stared at his, then mine, just as he did the same in reverse. I stared back at mine, "Huh. What are the odds?"
Kakashi looked between the two of us, the sliver of expression visible was unreadable. "Interesting. Well, it will make the lighting jutsu I have planned easier. You're each getting a simple jutsu today to work on. Sai-kun and Ichiyo-kun, I'm releasing the two of you to the tender mercies of Sasuke and Asuka to run through the Uchiha fire jutsu you already know while I handle Naruto and Sakura." He paused, looking between my two teammates. "Good luck with that."

He drew Naruto and Sakura away, leaving Ichiyo to look nervously between Sasuke and me. "Good luck? What did he mean by that?"

I grinned, motioning to the clearing just through the trees. "Don't worry about it. Step into the ring."

It was a lot more fun to push Ichiyo and Sai in fire jutsu we'd been learning for years than it was to get pushed the same way in lightning by Kakashi. I had a slight advantage over Sasuke in that I knew the one lightning jutsu, though it was so medically inclined that it apparently barely counted. I wondered when Kakashi would split up Sasuke and me, and start training Sasuke for the Chidori, but it hadn't happened yet.

We had sparring matches every evening, rotating opponents at a signal, and we worked on individual theory work afterward, when we couldn't really stand up straight anymore. Sakura looked over medical ninjutsu, Ichiyo read through clan techniques, as did Sasuke, and Naruto and Sai switched out individual reading and arguing with one another about seemingly random topics. Sasuke joined in more often than not, leading to Sakura throwing her shoes at them. I generally spent this time arguing with Kakashi over sealing.

It was midway through the second week of our comfortable routine that Jiraiya of the sannin showed up during our quiet hour. I'd warned Kakashi of the approach of someone I didn't know an hour beforehand, from where I'd laid on the grass beside where he sat reading his book, listening to the sound of Sai and Sakura going at it in the ring closest to us.

"We've got an unknown approaching."

"Oh? Any details?"

"Massive chakra reserves…oil? Not like oily as in sketchy, but like a natural oil?"

"Ah, I was expecting him later in the month. No worries, Asuka. How long do you think he'll be?"

"Another hour unless he changes pace."

"Hmm. Thank you for the warning. Now get up and beat that stance issue out of Ichiyo-kun. He's doing the thing with his left foot again."

I internally groaned but got up, waving Naruto away to take his break and leaping into the fight against Ichiyo. He squeaked but recovered well enough, though it took him a good ten minutes to realize what I was getting at and to stop with the duck foot thing.

My next opponent was Sai, when Kakashi whistled for us to change out. I dodged around the tanto, absently eyeing his stance as I did so.

"You think I could learn the tanto?"

Sai considered the question even as he dodged my punch and attempted to swipe at my stomach. "I believe you are capable, and that your short arms may benefit from the reach. I do not believe you will be competent at it by the time of the tournament."

I kicked at his knees extra viciously for the 'short arm' comment but took the advice in stride. "I figured. Maybe afterward I could try to pick it up."

I was absently sketching a mental draft of a seal to store a blade in when Kakashi whistled next and I found myself up against Sasuke. He scowled at me,

"You again."

I stuck my tongue out at him even as we attempted to kill each other. Lovingly, of course. We were spending more time with each other than any of the others since our elements lined up so neatly and we were jointly running Sai and Ichiyo through their first-tier paces. I had one arm around his throat attempting to choke him out even as he tried to bend my other arm back enough to break it when Kakashi called a halt from standing directly over us. He looked down as we struggled to untangle ourselves and sighed,

"Like training puppies."

I perked up slightly even as Sasuke shoved me off him, "I support the treat method!"

He rolled his eye at me, "I think I'm just going to start pelting you with water jutsu for mistakes instead."

Sasuke blanched, "Sensei we're learning lightning jutsu!"

"I know. Better not mess up, ne?"

Sasuke and I made eye contact for a second before shrugging at each either, neither of us sure if he was joking or not. All of us settled in the shade with our various scrolls, Sai sketching something from where Naruto leaned against him, taking a nap while pretending to meditate. I snickered at the scene before pulling off the beanie and rubbing at my scalp to let it breathe. Sakura tugged on the end of one of the strands, "Can I braid it while you quiz me?"

I nodded, pulling her reading closer even as she brushed out my hair, searching for a place to start. She hummed, eyeing me. "I don't think I've ever seen all of your hair out at once, even in the academy. It's longer than I thought. And I'd forgotten it was black naturally."

Ichiyo glanced up from his reading, "Wait, your hair isn't purple?"

I let out a startled laugh, "I forgot I didn't meet you guys until after Anko got a hold of me."

Sakura made a noise of realization, "Is that the reason for the purple? Were you trying to look like Anko?"

"Not so much trying to emulate Anko as she held me down and dyed it. She says she'll stop when I can escape."

"I'm pretty sure you could hide from anyone, ever, why are you letting her continue?"

"Maybe I like Anko. But I did need someone to spar with when you guys were gone."

Ichiyo leaned into my side, huffing, "Well, you don't need to suffer at that woman's hands anymore, you can beat us up any time."

Sai didn't even look up from his sketch, "Some of us win, Ichiyo."

Sakura and I dissolved into giggles even as Ichiyo shot Sai a hurt look. We recovered after a few moments, and I shuffled through Sakura's notes before pausing, "Kakashi-sensei, your guest is about five minutes out."

"Ah, good. He's going to help us remove the seal Orochimaru placed on Naruto."

Naruto started awake at the sound of his name, "It wasn't me."

Sai looked down at him briefly before going back to his sketching, "You've got five more minutes."

"Oh, good." He was asleep again within the next breath and I sighed, "He's going to be so hyper, Sai, why do you enable him?"

"Because he is warm."

I flipped through Sakura's notes, "Fair, I guess. Alright, Endocrine system."

She groaned "No, I hate that one!"

"I'm aware, that's why I chose it."

Sakura gently braided my hair down my back as I questioned her, sharing little fun facts from my own reading in the past as we went. I tensed more the closer the unknown chakra signature got to us, Sakura finally tying off the end of the braid and taking her notes back.

"I'm guessing you'll join Kakashi-sensei with his friend to help with the sealing."

"Nah, I doubt they want me in their way."

Kakashi-sensei tossed a pinecone my way that I caught easily, "What, and do sealing without my minion?"
I tossed it back to him with a huff, eyeing the area where the intruder was hiding. Kakashi caught where I was looking, immediately sending the pinecone rocketing in that direction. There was a yelp, followed by a thud, then Jiraiya of the Sannin stepped into our clearing, rubbing his right cheek from where Kakashi had apparently nailed him in the face.

"Jiraiya-sama, nice of you to join us."

"Yeah, yeah, Sensei said something about looking over some seals?"

Kakashi tossed another pinecone at Naruto, who started awake again, "Wah?"

"Naruto, Sasuke, Asuka, time for seals. The rest of you have the evening off," Sakura cheered, even as he continued, "Use it wisely."

Ichiyo, Sai, and Sakura gathered their things, chatting easily amongst themselves as they headed back to the camp area. I grimaced when I realized Sakura had gathered up my beanie as well but put it out of my mind for the moment, tuning in to watch Jiraiya attempt to introduce himself to Naruto as the 'great toad sage' only for Naruto to take a step back from the grandstanding,

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with seals?"

"What?"

"The toads, how are the toads important?"

"Toads are very important!"

"To seals?"

"...toads are important!"

Sasuke came to stand beside me and we watched the byplay together for a few minutes before Sasuke turned to Kakashi. "You sure this guy knows anything about seals?"

That caught Jiraiya's attention, "I am Konoha's foremost seal master!"

Sasuke didn't look convinced, "Sure." He turned back to Kakashi, "Can we get this over with?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yeah, we should take a look at Sasuke's seal first, get your approval on the changes we made before seeing to Naruto."

Jiraiya dropped his bag, rooting through, likely for ink, "We? Did Sensei actually do some seal work?"

"No, Asuka made the initial changes-"

Before I could blink Jiraiya was in front of me, his expression no longer carefree. The sheer speed reminded me abruptly of the gap between Genin and Jounin, and then Jounin and Sannin.

"And who are you to make changes to curse seals?" The question wasn't friendly, an abrupt turnaround from his previous demeanor. He took a single step closer to me and I had no idea how to react, my words were gone and I couldn't even run because he would catch me, wouldn't he? The killing intent wasn't the worst I had felt, not nearly, but it was enough to compound the fear from his sudden appearance, there was so much chakra, and he was too close-

Until he was gone. I had to blink a few times to recognize Kakashi's back in front of me.

"Mah, Jiraiya, I know that you've been away from the village for a long time but it's still inappropriate to intimidate the Genin."

I couldn't identify the tone of his voice before Naruto and Sasuke were on either side of me, Sharingan whirling and Naruto shouting at the toad sage.

"That's not cool, old man!"

It was probably for the best the Kyuubi was out of reach at the moment.

Jiraiya held up his hands, "Fine, fine, but I would like to know why a Genin was allowed to touch a cursed seal."

Naruto answered for all of us, "Because it was hurting Sasuke and we were in the middle of the forest of Death, what else was she supposed to do?"

He shot the blonde a condescending look, "Get him to real help, maybe?"
Kakashi waved away the argument before it could start, "What's done is done, you're here to look at the current seal, not critique how it got that way. Sasuke? In the center, and eyes away."

He glared for a second longer before red faded to black and he sat down in the middle of the clearing, pulling his shirt off and revealing the sealed mark. Kakashi pressed his fingers to the side of it, unfurling it completely. Naruto leapt back as it crawled along the ground, making a shuddering noise,

"All that stuff is in him?"

Sasuke snorted, "You've got seals in you too, dobe."

I didn't bother to correct them about the space seals were kept in, instead keeping out of the way as Kakashi pointed out the changes I had initially done and then explained the changes we had both made to the Evil Sealing Method. After a few minutes, Jiraiya grudgingly agreed it was stable.

"It'll do. But don't get a swelled head about sealing, kid, you got lucky. Take Uchiha-san here back to your little camp, your Sensei and I need to look over Naruto."

I didn't bother to respond, he wasn't paying attention anyway. The walk back to the camp was silent until I couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry, I promise I wouldn't put a seal on you unless I was sure-"

"Shut up." I panicked for half a second before he elbowed me in the gut, "That old guy has no idea what he's talking about. I know you better than him, and I trust your seal work. You studied all the Uchiha sealing styles, so you're the only one who gets to seal Uchiha, got it?"

I grinned at him, elbowing him right back. "Got it."

We walked a little further, "Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"...thanks."

"Shut up."

"Shutting up."

I felt a flare of chakra behind us, "Naruto's free."

"That's good. What was it doing to him, anyway?"

"Kept him away from his furry highness."

"Ah. Why was that bad?"

"All that extra chakra? On top of what he's got already?"

Sasuke thought it over for a second before shuddering, "Maybe we should have left that seal on."

"Meh, better he have it if he need it."

I felt the chakra flex again, "We should hurry if we want to beat them there."

We sprinted the rest of the way, the three already seated in front of the tents looking up at us curiously. Before I could say anything Sasuke spoke, "This toad guy used killing intent on Asuka and told her she didn't know anything about sealing."

I grimaced but Sakura was already standing, "Naruto have a plan yet?"

Confusion mounted as Sasuke shook his head, "They started in on unsealing him too quickly, we'll have to catch up with him later."

Sakura nodded, looking determined. "I don't know if he brought any paint with him. Do we know how long this guy is staying with us?"

"No idea, but he seemed determined to talk to Naruto so probably a while at least."

Sakura's smile turned vicious. "Good."

I looked between the two of them for a second before turning to Sai, "What?"

Sai didn't look up from where he was inking tiger after tiger onto a scroll, a preparation for using them in combat judging by the chakra he was pouring in. "Revenge planning."

I turned to Ichiyo but he was shuffling through papers, muttering to himself. I rolled my eyes, giving up. "They're almost here, by the way."

No one reacted and I sighed, sitting down beside Sai and watching Sakura and Sasuke whisper to one another. They stopped abruptly when Jiraiya entered the clearing, Naruto zooming over to join them immediately. Kakashi clapped his hands together, getting our attention.

"Jiraiya will be joining us for the next few days at least to assist in some training."

The announcement was met with silence and I resisted the urge to shift nervously. After a few more moments of awkward nothing Kakashi clapped his hands together again.

"Minion! Come here for a moment."

I followed instantly, noting that Jiraiya immediately attempted to start up a conversation with Naruto about toads again as we left the clearing.

After a few minutes of walking, Kakashi stopped, turning to me. I waited out his silence, wondering if he was going to agree with Jiraiya, and tell me I was lucky things had worked out. That I wasn't nearly as good as I thought I was. After a few more moments he tilted his head, "Interesting."

I raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Jiraiya was further away than this and it stopped you dead. I've been reliably informed I'm quite terrifying, but there's no reaction."

Confused, I frowned, "What?"

"I'm letting out a lot of killing intent."

"Uh, yeah? I noticed?"

Kakashi sighed, "Asuka, just explain what's going on."

"I don't, what? Nothing?"

"You froze up because of killing intent from an ally. Not from me, not even from Orochimaru, but a known Konoha Jounin."

Oh, that was simple. "Well, I can fight back against enemies, and I trust you."

He frowned, the expression visible even with the mask and hite-ate in the way.

"What? A Konoha Jounin isn't going to attack you."

I wasn't as good at schooling my expression as I'd thought, because he was immediately no longer slouching, an aura of danger subtly forming. "Asuka."

Is he taller than I remember? "It was just training, shit happens."

"No, no it does not."

I shifted uneasily, no longer as certain in my conviction that it had been a usual thing for a mouthy nameless Genin. This was a military dictatorship, after all, violence was expected. Right?

"It was just a sparring match, back when I was still running all those missions with Sonada Nonami."

"Nonami was sparring with you?"

"No… Higa Jiro."

"Hmm, don't know him. Chuunin?"

"Jounin."

"Interesting. A Jounin, especially a full Jounin, should be good enough to pull their punches when sparring Genin. I'm assuming he landed some hits, since it left you nervous of all unknown Jounin?"

"A couple."

"Details, Asuka, I am trying to help you."

I slumped, "I broke my arm and took a kunai to the side."

He stepped forward half a step before jerking and immediately taking a full step back. "You broke your arm, or Higa broke your arm?"

"My arm broke?"

"Asuka."

At the disappointed expression I cracked immediately, "He snapped it like a twig and then stabbed me, what more do you want?"

He paused, dark eye meeting my own as he thought. "Did you report it at the hospital?"
"I said it happened during training."

"And they didn't ask any further? Not who you were with, what you were doing?"
"No. They rolled their eyes and called me clumsy."
"They healed it, though? The use of chakra healing has to be logged, including the cause of the injury."

"They healed the arm."

"...and left a stab wound? Has it fully healed?"

"Yeah, it's fine now, I'm not incompetent."

"Would you mind if I took a look at it? We can bring Sakura in if you're uncomfortable with that."

I rolled my eyes at the thought of not trusting him, lifting the bottom of my shirt just enough to show the gnarled scar settled precisely between my fifth and sixth rib, twisting slightly so he could see it.

After a moment of visual examination, he asked, "May I use a diagnostic jutsu?"
"Course, whatever you feel you need to do."

He entered my personal space carefully, the cool medical chakra skimmed over the scar three times before he took a step back, letting out a breath slowly.

"Did he take you to the hospital?"

"No? Why would he?"

"Because he was inches from your heart! A Jounin would have known that!"

His expression was hidden, as always, by the mask, and I could tell through his chakra that the emotion was a strong one, but not precisely what.

"...I'm sorry?"

His chakra calmed almost immediately, though it was that false, forced calm that usually came before storms, lightning included in his case.

"You, you have nothing to apologize for. That isn't how things work. Not in sparring, not in training, and not at the hospital. Genma will be back in two days. I assume you don't want to be left with Jiraiya in charge?" My grimace answered for me and he continued, "I'll go handle Higa then."

I looked up, surprised. "Don't we kind of need all our Jounin field ready and not suspended right now?"

He was visibly knocked out of whatever he was thinking, eye narrowing and focusing back on me, "Why would you think that?"

"Because Oto is probably run by Orochimaru, and I'm pretty sure they're working with Suna?"

He closed his eye, "...and why do you think that? The Suna bit."

"Because they brought a deranged jinchuuriki to the Chuunin exams? They snuck in a bomb pretending to be a functioning Genin."

He opened his eye, sighing, "I'm guessing you told all of your little Genin friends about this already?"
"Not the Suna thing."

"You didn't tell any of them about your suspicions about Suna?"

"No."

"Not even the Nara?"

"No, there's not nearly the amount of evidence like I had with Oto."

Kakashi examined me for a long, uncomfortable, second. "...good. Try to keep that quiet, we don't know for sure."

I nodded, "Got it. So, you'll leave Higa alone?"

"Hell no, he's got two days left. Now, march, it's time we made sure they didn't scar Jiraiya for life."

Jiraiya was sitting in the middle of the clearing, writing something when we returned. He looked up sharply the moment we got close.

"Uh, that's a lot of killing intent there, Kakashi. Everything alright?"

"Oh, I'm just planning a murder."

Naruto, the little shit, brightened immediately. "Can we help? Who is it? We did so many thought exercises on the perfect homicide, we have got this, right Sasuke?"

Sasuke, also a little shit, simply nodded, "Might be fun."

Kakashi ruffled both their hair fondly, "I'll be sure to let you know if I need backup."

I ignored the cheer Naruto let out, crawling into the tent I shared with Sakura. Today had been a day and I needed it to be over already.

~TimeLordOfPie