Chapter 12: The Rice Field

5:00 a.m., 3 May 53; Shisui's Home

The training field was muddy underneath Shisui's feet as he raised his wooden bokken. Yugao darted across the field in front of him, her purple hair flagging behind her. She whirled around and raised her own bokken. Shisui felt the impact reverberate down his arm as he neatly blocked her strike.

"Ne, Yugao, you need to fix your grip. Keep your thumbs outside of the hilt, like this."

Yugao altered her grip and rewrapped the cords around her hand. "Thanks, 'Sui. I don't know why I keep messing that up."

"Sure thing."

He saw her again. It was a different field. The sun was beginning to set, and it cast eerie shadows over everything. Kuromaru's ears were flattened against his skull as he walked at the head of the team. There was a faint glint as Yugao quietly unsheathed a tanto. The cords of his own were wrapped around his hand. Something was hunting them-had been hunting them for days now. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

Isamu screamed, "RUN!"

An overwhelming feeling of jealousy sprang up. Isamu always had the drop on him, in swordsmanship, in speed, in sensing. Shisui was always behind him. For a moment, he hesitated. Before he could turn around, the cliff under Isamu's feet gave way. He reached out to grab him, but-

Shisui woke up panting and drenched in sweat. The colors in the room sharpened and the daisies in the corner glowed a soft blue with Katya's residual chakra. Consciously clearing the chakra from his eyes, he blinked hard until the room dulled. This was the third time he'd had that dream. It didn't make any sense. The only time he had ever seen Yugao Uzuki outside of class was at the smithworks when he had to replace his whetstone and kunai polish. Now that he thought of it, he'd seen her training on field four every now and then. She'd been apprenticed to a master kenjutsu user, which was very fortunate, because all of the genin teams had been full when they graduated, and she had just barely missed the cutoff for points.

He grabbed the handkerchief next to his futon and wiped his forehead. These dreams and visions were going to make him crazy. He would never feel that way about Isamu— they were friends.

If he could tell Katya, maybe it would be better, but even that had its risks. She would probably tell her dad, who would then ask a Yamanaka for advice. Who would then want to look in his head. Which would then cause an uproar between clans because a Yamanaka looking in a sharingan-wielder's head was just not done. It wasn't worth it yet. He certainly didn't want anyone poking inside his mind, anyway.

'I doubt he'd be able to,' came the inner voice from the back of his mind. Shisui startled. The man had never spoken to him directly before. He could only assume this man was responsible for all of his nightmares, for every bad feeling that he had ever had. His dreams used to be safe, the one place where his soul felt free from the crushing burden of shinobi life. Now they were tainted with this man's memories.

Anger ripped through him as he screamed, 'Leave me alone!'

'I wish I could, kid. Believe me. I wish I could. I can't control them anymore than you can.'

'What the heck is that supposed to mean? Aren't these your memories? And now you're messing with my dreams too?'

Silence answered him. He growled and ripped the comforter off of his body and stood up. His team was going on its first C-rank mission today, and he didn't want a stupid nightmare ruining that. The idea of being out of the village was exciting. Camping even more so. The only other time he had gone camping was when his grandparents had taken him when he was two. His grandmother had wanted to see the constellations one last time.

He didn't think Katya had ever been camping outside of the village. Kakashi had arranged for them to go 'camping' from time to time in the Academy training grounds. Kakashi-style camping was never fun, though. He didn't allow a campfire, which was half the fun of camping, because it was 'too dangerous' and 'would attract enemy shinobi.' And he made them go fishing for their supper. It was almost inhumane. One time, Katya had the foresight to sneak in two protein bars, and Kakashi had thrown them into the river, quoting the shinobi rule book like the weirdo cyborg he was. The worst 'Camp Kakashi' had been when they woke up in the river itself after being thrown in by a brother who'd had one too many paint seals activated against him. He made them stay until they could walk on the top of the current.

'Weirdo?' Hell, I'm starting to sound like Katya.

Shisui shook his head as he packed his camping supplies into a spare storage scroll before storing it in his backpack. When he walked into the kitchen, he pulled out his wallet from the zippered pouch. He carefully counted out one-thousand ryo and taped the bills underneath the kitchen sink. His mother would know where to find them later.

"Wait a second…" The amount in his wallet was off. There was nearly twice the amount that should've been in there from a week's worth of D-rank missions. "Katya…"

5:15 a.m., 3 May 53; Namikaze Residence

Kushina put a hand on Katya's shoulder and shook her slightly. The girl really was starting to get too old to sleep in their bed, but she didn't have the heart to stop her.

"Five more minutes, mama," Katya murmured.

"Don't you have a mission, Kit-Kat?" Kushina whispered.

"My mission!" Katya jumped and rushed to her room. Kushina pulled herself out of bed and walked over. She laughed at the careless way her daughter shoved random objects into a backpack without a second thought.

"Would you like a storage scroll, Katya-chan?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, that'd be great!"

Kushina rolled her eyes fondly as Katya threw camping supplies on her bed. "Would you like a pre-packed storage scroll?"

"YES! You're the best, kaa-chan!"

"Alright. Sit down, I'll put your hair up for you. Remember how I told you to do it for the field?" Kushina pulled out the hair supply basket from underneath Katya's bed and sat down. She put a hand underneath the girl's chin and looked into her eyes. "Not too tight, not too loose. And always keep your hair away from your eyes."

She worked quickly until a line of blonde ponytail holders segmented Katya's hair and ended in matching pigtails. Winding them up, she added two pins to each to hold the buns in place.

"Which pins are these?"

"These are the threaded ones. They're full, so be careful. Make sure those boys know not to touch them." It never hurt to hide weaponry where one could, especially one with fast-acting poison.

"You've never let me wear the threaded ones before."

"You're growing up, baby. I think you're old enough for some of these, now." Katya turned around quietly and put her arms around Kushina's waist.

"Thank you."

"Now scoot. You're going to be late, and Tsume's going to blame me!"

Katya got up and threw the storage scroll into her now empty backpack. She stopped by the door and backed up.

"Hey, kaa-chan, can I have some money, please? My wallet's empty."

"Uh, yeah. Here's a hundred. What are you spending your money on anyway?"

"Food, ma. I get hungry."

"We'll talk about it when you get home." Kushina kissed her forehead, and Katya jumped out the door with her shoes in hand. She was running late, again.

11 a.m., 3 May 53; Land of Fire

It was overcast above the tall Hashirama trees when Team Tsume began their journey to a nearby rice farm. Rather than risk being spotted on the main road, they were moving slowly through the back trails and the treeline. After traveling for five hours, Tsume held up her fist and signaled for them to stop. Isamu and Shisui perched on a nearby tree branch and crouched down. Katya put her hand on the bark and pushed her senses. They were not alone.

Tsume and Kuromaru sniffed the air and looked behind at their genin team. The jounin nodded, and Kuromaru jumped behind the genin formation. Her fist dropped back down to her side, and they continued forward.

"Katya-chan, did you sense anything?" the ninken growled lowly as he landed next to her on the branch. The tail did not smell like an Iwa-nin to him. Even so, this would make an excellent learning opportunity.

"Yes, but I don't know what it was. It wasn't… human. It felt distorted? Like walking on broken glass in a swamp."

"I see. Thank you." Kuromaru fell several paces behind the genin. There was always the possibility that they were being tailed by someone's summons.

"Katya-chan, what's going on?" Isamu whispered, falling behind Shisui.

"We're not alone." She reached out and squeezed his hand in comfort as they landed on the same branch. After hearing her reply, Shisui tightened his tanto sheath subconsciously. Isamu made the conscious effort to look casual. He'd been through this before. The older genin caught up with their sensei and whispered something to her. She nodded and dropped down from the treeline.

"Alright. Listen up. We have a tail. What we're not going to do is panic. We're not going to make any conspicuous motions towards our weapons." She looked pointedly towards Shisui as his ears reddened. "What we are going to do is sit down and have a nice protein bar."

"A protein bar? Sensei, shouldn't we try to flush them out?" Shisui protested.

"No. We are a genin squad. A newly formed genin squad outside of the village for the first time. We are not built for combat. If they try to fight us, you three pups run back to the village immediately while Kuromaru and I hold them off. Understood?" Tsume spoke in low breaths while Kuromaru made conspicuous sounds on the outside of the circle.

"Yes, sensei," the three genin replied in unison.

"Good."

The ninken sensei laid his head next to Katya's lap as she opened a protein bar. She cocked her head to the side but offered him a bite. Her head flew up when the chakra signature disappeared altogether. Kuromaru scented the air. The swamp smell still lingered in the air, even though the girl insisted that the signature was gone. An incredible sensor she may be, but she still had much to learn.

Soon after, they were in the trees, traveling faster than they had before. It wasn't long before they arrived at the rice field. Acre after acre of perfectly maintained paddies stretched across the landscape as far as the eye could see. It was far from the small farm that they had been led to believe it was. The genin team stationed there waved them over in greeting.

"Tsume! It's good to see you!" A tall brunette man raised his hand as they walked towards them.

"Ah, Genta Ueda, it's good to see you too!" Tsume pulled the man into a rough bear hug while the genin greeted each other.

"It's nice to meet you!" Shisui said, raising a hand in greeting. Isamu waved and Katya gave them a shy smile from behind Kuromaru.

The two genin sensei relayed information about the area while the genin teams looked curiously at each other. Enemies that had been spotted recently, various groups headed to the front, etc. Tsume whispered lowly about the tail that they had encountered in the woods. The other jounin sensei nodded before hopping into the trees with his own tight formation behind him.

"Why are you acting so shy?" Isamu asked Katya as they gathered fresh firewood on the outskirts of the field.

"Me? I'm just not partial to strangers."

"You never shut up when it's just us."

Katya shrugged. "Just a comfort thing. I don't like acclimating to new chakra signatures. And his wasn't very pleasant to me, that's all. Not that there's anything wrong with Ueda-sensei's chakra!" She waved her hands frantically from underneath the wood. "It's just like how you don't like ramen—his isn't my favorite. If I had to work with him, I'd probably get used to it…"

"Hn. You're a weird kid." Isamu and Katya set down their bundles of wood next to a ring of stones that previous genin teams had left behind. Shisui and Kuromaru had already caught several woodland creatures that lay next to them.

Shisui responded jovially while skinning a rabbit, "She knows. She gets told that all the time."

"It's too bad there weren't any fish," Katya said, nodding towards the rabbit.

Kuromaru huffed and looked towards the horizon. She wasn't the first little kunoichi to say such a thing. He could remember back to the days when Tsume was a young Academy student forced to kill her own rabbits.

"Mah, you get used to the rabbits after a while. It's better than protein bars for days straight, anyways." Isamu patted her shoulder as they set the wood near the fire.

"I don't like eating a lot of meat… They live in the trees, and the trees enjoy their company. Fish don't live near very many plants. Well, at least not the ones I can listen to."

Tsume cocked her head to the side as she slipped a roll of ninja wire into her pocket. "What'd you mean you listen to trees?"

"It's not really listening. More like feeling chakra, I can feel the trees? It's hard to explain. Kaa-chan said we need to go to Uzushio for more information. That's not going to happen until the war is over, and I'm a chuunin." Katya looked at Tsume carefully for any sign that her sensei would take this information the wrong way. Though Tsume was her mother's friend, it never hurt to be too careful when a kekkei genkai was involved.

"Why Uzushio?" her sensei asked.

"It's where the oldest Senju archives were kept. At the beginning of the Senju-Uchiha wars, they moved their archives there. So that was…" The six-year-old counted on her fingers. "Over four-hundred years ago. The only other place with information on the mokuton would be the Uchiha clan. But that information was gathered when they were an enemy to the Senju, and it's likely incomplete. They probably wouldn't let me look at it anyway."

"Is it like a clan thing, or something?" Isamu's head tilted as he looked at Shisui.

"Or something…" Shisui looked towards his hands and then off into the forest. A day hadn't gone by where he didn't hear the elders whispering about his relationship with 'The little Senju brat.' It had only gotten worse since his grandfather had passed. The elders detested the fact that Tobirama and Hashirama's line had continued, regardless of how much their numbers dwindled. They especially couldn't stand the fact that a sharingan wielder and potentially powerful member of their clan was so close to the Senju heiress.

Isamu stood opposite of Shisui as they both raised the wooden training bokken. Tsume had decided that it was high time they started training in the field. It wouldn't make a difference to train in the rice field or in the Konoha training fields, so long as they didn't damage the valuable crop.

"Are you sure about this, Tsume-sensei?" Katya asked. She was sitting on the edge of one of the paddies, overlooking her teammates twenty-feet away. "Shisui's good with the tanto. Like really good. He even gives nii-chan a run for his money... sometimes."

Tsume snorted, "I have no doubt. But Isamu is at a jounin level, at least. The only reason he's a genin is the mark on his record. Just watch, Kitty Kat, you'll see."

Tsume never told Isamu the real reason she submitted the insubordination packet to the Hokage's office. He was the only one of her pups that could be forced onto the front if he made chuunin. One of them currently served as a medic and spent most of his time in the hospital. The other now worked in the intelligence department as a decrypter.

Isamu, though, he was special. He was an excellent tracker, sharp with his tongue, and quick on his feet. Any jounin commander would immediately snatch him up for some horrid frontline mission if he was promoted to chuunin. As a genin, he was under her command and protection.

"I'm not a cat," Katya grumbled under her breath.

"Ready, set, go!" Tsume shouted.

The two boys circled each other carefully. Shisui flipped, aiming a blow for Isamu's left shoulder. Isamu backed away and counter struck. The older boy feigned a hit for Shisui's right leg, only to strike his left flank. Shisui looked up in shock.

"Your eyes, Shisui! Your eyes!" Katya yelled from the sidelines. "Good job, Isamu-senpai!"

'Right. Okay. Conduct chakra to the eyes,' Shisui thought. The moment he did, he saw a different girl on the sidelines. It was no longer superimposed. Clear as the day was bright, Yugao was standing on the sidelines cheering on Isamu. He blinked, quickly flushing the chakra from his eyes. Too late. Isamu was on him. Shisui twisted backwards and avoided a swipe towards his ribs. He stuck his free hand on the ground and backflipped away, aiming a kick towards Isamu's chin. The older boy neatly avoided it by bending to the side.

Isamu jumped and rolled in the air, aiming downwards towards Shisui's head. There was a sharp gasp from the sidelines when he barely avoided it. The little green monster of jealousy started to rear its ugly head when Shisui realized that Katya thought Isamu was better than him.

'No, he's your friend. You can't be jealous of him,' he swiftly reminded himself. He raised the bokken and neatly blocked Isamu's move. The force from the strike sent shocks up the six-year-old's arm, and he tightened the cord around his hand.

Isamu backed up slightly and smirked, his bokken raised. He didn't have to rely on the cords for stability anymore.

The smirk made Shisui's temper flare-a long-buried Uchiha trait that he didn't think he had. He shunshinned towards Isamu, substituting with a rock near his feet. Isamu substituted with a nearby boulder at the same time. His smirk turned into a wide grin.

"Still not fast enough, kouhai," he teased, looking casually at his nails. "And sensei said no jutsu."

"I'll allow it," Tsume said between bites of rabbit leg.

Shisui growled. He had worked hard on making his shunshin that fast.

"Your eyes, Shisui! You have to use your eyes!" Katya cheered.

The moment chakra was forced through his eyes, he saw an explosion of color. Pointedly avoiding looking towards the sidelines, he shunshinned towards Isamu. He saw the moment that Isamu tried to shunshin away. Raising his bokken to the side, he neatly slashed towards Isamu's ribs during the shunshin jutsu. Isamu avoided the hit, but rolled roughly on the ground during the landing.

"What the hell was that?" the nine-year-old asked, lowering his bokken from his crouch. "How is that even possible?"

"My sharingan let me see you shunshin...I layered a genjutsu over the top of that so you wouldn't see where my bokken was and would think that I was still over there," Shisui panted with his hands on his knees.

"Do that again, Shisui-kun," Kuromaru demanded. He stood up and watched closely as the two boys settled into combative crouches. "Isamu, when he does that, I want you to pay close attention to his chakra changes. I want you to use your other senses. Not your eyes."

"Yes, sensei."

"Katya-chan, close your eyes. Feel the changes in their chakra," Tsume added. "This is turning out to be a very profitable exercise indeed, huh, Kuromaru?"

"Indeed," the ninken easily agreed.

Isamu ran towards Shisui, aiming for the middle of his bokken. Shisui backflipped. While in the air, he shunshinned with a rock that had been next to Isamu. Genjutsu over genjutsu were quickly layered on top of each other. Isamu closed his eyes. He felt Shisui behind him and threw his arms behind his head, his bokken pointed towards the ground. His arms shook with the effort, because Shisui didn't hold back from his strike. The wood crunched and echoed throughout the field as the bokken in Isamu's hand broke in half.

Holding the broken weapon in front of him with a baffled look, Isamu stuttered, "I...yield?"

Shisui grinned. "I accept."

They extended their hands and exchanged the sign of friendship. The younger boy promptly fell backwards on the ground and splayed his limbs.

"What just happened, sensei?" Katya asked as the boys sat down with their water bottles.

"Well, looks like you get to practice that mokuton after all, Katya-chan. Isamu-kun needs a new bokken to finish this mission with. Congratulations on your new jutsu, Shisui-kun," Tsume said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Shisui held up his thumb in the air before throwing his head backward on the ground. The spar had exhausted nearly all of his chakra.

Isamu put a hand on Shisui's pale forehead. "Woah, man. You don't look so good."

Katya walked over with two protein bars in hand. "His chakra's almost gone, Isamu-senpai. You need to eat something before you pass out."

Shisui tore open the package and shoved a bite into his mouth. "Thanks, Kat." The second he closed his eyes after swallowing, he fell asleep in the dirt.

"I think I kinda like you brats calling me senpai," Isamu said haughtily. Katya playfully pushed him over the berm, and Isamu laughed as he tumbled down.

Sundown came and splashed the sky in an array of reds, oranges, and yellows. The clouds barely concealed its glory as it began to set over the trees below them. Tsume had instructed the three genin to start unpacking their camping supplies. On every mission they went on, they were to pack their things the moment they opened their eyes and unpack right before bed. If an enemy were to attack them during the day, they would be able to escape with most of their supplies intact.

"Alright, pups. Isamu, you know the drill, so you can take a perimeter run with Kuromaru-sensei," Tsume started. "You two, we're not doing tents because it's not going to rain. If it were to rain, we would make one lean-to against the trees for sleeping and another in the trees for look-out. Keep in mind, if you ever decide to go ANBU that even lean-tos and sleeping bags are prohibited. Another topic for another day.

"You can go ahead and place your sleep mats underneath your sleeping bags if you must. I would prefer it if you didn't use one at all, as they take time to pack and put away. Remember, the name of the game is to pack and unpack as light as possible while still being able to get the best sleep on a mission. You will not be able to function if you're exhausted, and an exhausted shinobi is a dead shinobi.

"Every night when we set up camp, you will bury the ashes of the fire so that we don't have any sort of light coming from our campsite. You will then spread this powder in the ashes so that the smell doesn't carry downwind." She held up a packet of powder for the genin. Katya immediately recognized it as one of Orochimaru's inventions. "You will then polish and sharpen your weapons every single night after eating. Understood?"

"Yes, sensei," they replied together. Isamu returned from the perimeter run with Kuromaru and reached into his backpack. He carefully pulled out his own bedroll and set it up within the ninja wire boundary. The brown fabric had numerous patches with slight stains on it. One more rip and it might as well be new fabric all together. Shisui's wasn't much better.

In sharp contrast, Katya laid out a dark pink goose down sleeping bag on top of her sleep mat with a slight blush. The smell of oranges and dog fur came through when she unrolled the last bit-home. Isamu looked over and whistled.

"Fancy," he joked. "That looks perfect for the village princess."

The back of Katya's neck burned.

"Lay off, Isamu!" Shisui defended.

Isamu held up his hands in surrender. "We already knew you were a princess, Kit-kat. I'm just teasing."

Crickets chirped when a warm summer breeze rolled through the rice paddies. The tall grains bent with the wind. The way his friend sighed happily from her sleeping bag brought a smile to Shisui's own face as he settled in for his first watch shift. He wondered if the plants sang to her in her dreams. She kept several potted plants in her room, they hung in delicately tied macrame containers that Kushina had taught her how to make. They probably sang to her too.

All day, he had been imagining a different girl on their squad-Yugao. He'd turn around and see the swish of long purple hair only for it to be superimposed by blonde buns. Blonde buns that apparently had poisoned pins he was not to touch under any circumstance. Girls were scary.

Earlier, when Katya was supposed to be coming back with firewood, he saw Yugao walking beside Isamu. Instead of Katya's cautious steps around the wildflowers that littered the edges of the paddies, he saw Yugao carelessly bouncing along with a sword at her hip, trampling the delicate petals in her wake.

A small sniffle came from Katya's sleeping area. Shisui raised his head. Her legs kicked and the sleeping bag whooshed over top of them as she fought an invisible enemy.

"Run, Sui…" came a whimper from the sleeping bag. "They're gonna catch us… make it to the gates…"

"Kat," he whispered, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Her eyes opened in surprise as her body stilled under his touch. She looked around in confusion. "Shisui? Is it my shift already?"

"No, Kat. You were having a nightmare."

Katya closed her eyes again and grasped the hand on her shoulder. "Oh." She rolled over with her hand in his as she let herself succumb to exhaustion.

'Well. The top of her sleeping bag is more comfortable than that boulder anyway,' he thought as he settled down for the remainder of his watch. His nightmares were just as bad as Katya said hers were. Every night was something different: his grandfather's body, the kidnapping, even memories that he knew didn't belong to him.

After his shift, he woke Isamu and shamelessly moved his sleeping bag next to Katya's. Placing his hand in hers, he fell back to sleep. In the middle of a C-rank mission, he received the best sleep he'd had in over six months.

AN:Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review. :) If you liked this fic be sure to hit follow/subscribe to have update alerts!

Beta'ed by: The incredible, prodigious cherryberry12 herself,who might I just say is absolutely amazing to stick with this project! Her skills blow me out of the water and I am flabbergasted everyday she works on this with me. :)

The next update might be a couple of weeks as I finish off this arc and head into the war front. I have a few other projects that I'm working on as well.

Follow me on Tumblr or Ao3 (Archive of our Own) for more! katydid001 for both. (Ao3 is where I hide the smut)