As Izumi went to sit down in class, she sighed. Today was it, huh? Their big day. Somehow, she couldn't find it in herself to have the energy for it- but maybe it was because it meant that she'd be most likely separated from her little sister.
"Izumi-chan!" She turned to wave hi as two of her friends called, and she took her place next to them, flashing them a smile.
"Aya-senpai, Kazumi-senpai!" She called back, jogging over to them. "I'm glad you managed to get through the admission test! Ready for the big day?"
"We should be the ones saying that to you, brat!" Kazumi giggled, snaking an arm around Izumi's neck as she began poking her in the head. "You're two years younger than us, and yet you've still made kunoichi of the year this time!"
"Yeah! We knew you could do it, Drone-chan didn't stand a chance against you!" Aya added. At that, Izumi frowned.
"Come on, that's not nice."
"But it's truuuuue! The way she just stares vacantly into space, looks past you, and is basically a killing machine! That girl's not human!" Protective instincts had Izumi ready to defend her sister, but she took a deep breath to steady herself. 'Remember your promise, Izumi.'
"Nee-chan." Like any other time since Tomo had begun referring to her as such, Izumi's chest swelled with pride. "Can we talk about things?"
Izumi blinked. "Sure, imouto. What about?"
"We're about to be skipped ahead another class, yeah? Because the clan wants us out and about on the field since we're the hottest shit since the invention of ramen."
Izumi's smile became strained at the vulgarity, but she nodded. "That's what it looks like, yeah. Come next fall, we'll be paired with the fifth years."
"Don't defend me." Izumi's eyes widened. "I know that the reason that you never get to hang out with anyone is because you're always defending me, because the other children don't really like me. Please, don't defend me. They're just idiots who don't understand because they think I'm a little kid."
"Tomo-chan, I don't mind defending you. Besides, I wouldn't want friends that treat you poorly anyway."
"I don't care about them. Your life is your life; besides, I'm only in school in clone form most of the time anyway. I'd much rather you have friends outside of me, knowing that we can be together at home anyways than you being harassed because you decided to stick your neck out for me."
"Whatever the case, Tomo-chan would've been kunoichi of the year if she actually bothered, so I don't really feel like I'm all the way up there." Izumi shrugged.
"Pfeh. More like shinobi of the year." Aya wrinkled her nose in distaste.
"Isn't that a little too far?" Kazumi whispered, but the blonde just doubled down.
"No way, you've seen what that little creep did in kunoichi classes, I didn't even know you could just get banned from an entire section of studies! Besides, between the way she bandages her chest, her muscles, and the way she acts, either she's gay as hell or secretly a boy."
"Ugh! Enough about the little drone. What are you girls going to do now that we're Genin?" Kazumi cut in, rubbing her black and fixing her ponytail as a drop of liquid fell on her hair. Looking up, all the three of them saw was a leaky ceiling. "Ugh. Shitty school."
Of course, neither of the other two saw that clinging to the ceiling was a golden text that read "Fuma Tomo, Uchiha Clan Prodigy, Lv.25". Back when she was younger, Izumi hadn't really questioned it, believing it to be something specific to Tomo. She still wasn't sure she understood why Tomo's kekkei genkai gave her access to a "Friend List", as she'd called it, or why the text seemed to be so arbitrarily specific, but it was good to locate her sister and the fact that she'd pettily spat on one of her classmates.
Gross.
"Oh, I'm definitely going to go out there and find myself a husband. Hopefully one of those Yamanaka boys, they're so unbelievably pretty~" Aya sighed dreamily. "I want a man who I can talk to about flowers and who will wine and dine me every night."
"Of course, boys are the only thing you think of." Kazumi rolled her eyes. "Me, I just want to make Chunin. Hopefully get a good sensei, some good techniques, and then go for the middle rank. Jonin are way too stuffed with missions, and Genin pay isn't enough to live well unless you're breaking your back with missions. I want to make enough money that I can retire, and then I'll see the world while being strong enough to not have to deal with having trouble with bandits."
"That's a good dream." Izumi commented. "But, if a war breaks out you'd have to come back to Konoha and fight on the frontlines…"
"If a war happens, we're all fucked anyways, regardless of rank." The brunette shrugged. "Might as well not consider that. Besides, it's been too little since the last one, and Sarutobi-sama is not interested in starting another one anyway. What about you, Izumi-chan?"
"Oh, but Izumi-chan is with me on this one~" Aya teased. "All she wants to do is get good enough to stand side by side with her Itachi sweetheart until he becomes clan head and then make tons of little Uchiha babies~"
Izumi could practically combust, her face was so red at that. "Tha-that's not true!"
"Is it not?"
"Well… I mean, I also want to be able to live up to my mother's legacy…" The Burning Petal style was as difficult a taijutsu style as they came, requiring both a good grasp of fire ninjutsu and a tremendous ability with taijutsu. Tomo had already "noped out", and besides, when they tested it out she was proven to have the wrong affinity for it, as evidenced by the fact that she could barely perform the Great Fireball on a good day.
"And then you want to make babies with Itachi-kun."
"Yeah…" Izumi sighed, picturing the idea of having a quaint little family of six, with two girls and two boys, with Itachi-kun having become the clan head as well as Hokage- "Wait- I mean- uuuuurgh…" the two of them burst into laughter at Izumi's accidental admission.
"Everyone, settle down!" Bekkō-sensei called out, getting the attention of the class. "And for the love of Kami, please get down from the ceiling, Tomo-chan," he added quietly.
Looking back up, Izumi could see Tomo having appeared on the ceiling as though she'd always been there, seated on a chair that was somehow also sticking to the ceiling. Most impressively, Tomo's rather long hair was somehow defying gravity and sticking to her back instead of falling.
With a shrug, her younger sister ceased to break the laws of physics and fell right next to the trio of herself and the others, chair disappearing in a puff of smoke and pinning them with a glare. "It's not nice to talk poorly about your comrades. That's how Hatake-sama died."
A shiver ran down Izumi's neck and she wasn't even the target of her ire. Ever since Tomo had learned how to project killing intent, she had become absolutely terrifying when she wanted to.
After a few seconds of staring, she walked back up to the back of the class and got seated next to Hana, who offered her a fist bump.
Hana-san… Izumi couldn't even fathom how the girl had become friends with Tomo. But the girl was a businesswoman at heart, and Tomo-chan was unexplainedly wealthy- though Izumi suspected that it was what was left of her parents' belongings- and Tomo had thrown money at her until they were "even", not even realizing that after Hana was healed and then had received additional pay for the damages, the girl was just milking her for money.
Three hundred thousand ryo later, and even Hana-chan felt bad. Izumi wanted to punch her daylights out, but having identified Tomo as a "complete and utter sucker" due to her gentle morals, she sought to take the younger girl under her wing. They became friends, and Hana even went as far as defending Tomo to the others… though it was clear to most that, at least in part, it was due to Tomo being far stronger than anyone else in class.
When Izumi confronted Hana about this, the blue-haired girl had the gall to laugh at her.
"It's simple, really. Your sister is an idiot." She smirked, and Izumi had to physically restrain herself from lunging at her to break her arm again.
"How so?" She asked instead. Explosive anger is unbecoming of a Uchiha. It must be cold, yet deadly.
"Whatever it is you weird prodigy kids do at home, it's clearly left her skittish. But now that she realized that she can turn the rest of us mortals into pretzels without even meaning to, she's way too reluctant to fight for herself. And as amusing as it is to watch her try and dodge every single thing that comes her way, I'm apparently the only one who realizes that the only thing that gets her riled up enough to fight back is when she's defending you."
Izumi blinked. "Me?"
"Yeah. So I said; wow, if the little dumbass won't defend herself, then clearly, someone needs to stick their neck out. So, I get a little roughed up the first, second, and third time, come back to Tomo-chan to cry about how the other kids are bullying me, and suddenly, I have my very own attack sister, and she stops being abused by the others." She drawled in a manner so lazy that she practically looked like a Nara.
"That's... evil. You're taking advantage of her for your own gain." Izumi pressed.
"That's being a shinobi, working in the shadows for my ally and for myself."
Izumi couldn't help but be disgusted.
Despite the… overly sleazy tactics, she couldn't deny that it was effective, and Hana also didn't seem to mind the lack of company- but it was probably because she was too busy gathering the golden eggs laid by Tomo. In return, Tomo had helped her promote early as well, though compared to Tomo and Izumi themselves, she was still bottom of the pile. It wasn't fair to call her a slacker, given that she was still younger than most of the other graduates, but still… if you weren't ready to be a cut above the rest, it was unwise to get yourself promoted early at all.
"Now that you've all graduated, you are officially ninja of Konohagakure. However, don't let it get to your head! You're still very much fresh Genin." Bekkō-san warned, and Izumi returned her attention to her homeroom teacher. "That's why, until you are fit to become Chunin, you will be placed in teams of three under a Jonin sensei. The teams have been balanced with balanced strengths in mind, and so that you may learn the most under your Jonin sensei."
'I wonder if I'll be placed with Itachi-kun's sensei…' Izumi thought to herself. Itachi had basically closed himself off to anyone and everyone after a mission went wrong. All that Izumi knew was that Itachi had lost both of his teammates, and they were currently looking for replacements among the Academy graduates.
As the sensei began listing off the names, Izumi was dismayed to learn that an Aburame and a civilian would be part of Itachi's team, but secretly relieved to not be together with Aya and Kazumi. They said bye to each other, with mild promises to keep in touch that Izumi was not sure that she'd seriously consider following through on.
"Team Nine; Uchiha Izumi, Fuma Tomo, and Tatsushima Hana! You'll be with Special Jonin Uzuki Yugao!" Izumi tilted her head, but the name did not ring a bell. And a Special Jonin, rather than a full-fledged one? She wondered why…
"For the record, I don't approve of you having babies with Itachi until you're eighteen," Tomo commented, appearing next to her and startling Izumi.
"Tomo-chan!" She hissed back, grabbing the other girl by the scruff of the neck. "Don't say those things!"
"Just use protection." The other simply added drily.
"Stop it!" She began shaking the girl until she went limp like a ragdoll. "You're nine, and you didn't even participate in those kunoichi lessons!"
"What, you're ten and can think about babies already, but I can't recommend safe sex…?" Tomo moaned, head hung down as she looked about ready to barf.
"Uzuki Yugao, huh?" Hana said, out of the blue. "I don't think I know the name. I wonder what type of ninja she is."
"Well, we're a team of all girls, so it stands to reason that we're maybe espionage or seduction…" Izumi mentioned, though her nose wrinkled at the idea.
"Kami please no…" Tomo groaned. "I didn't skip out on Kunoichi classes only to get put in a seduction team…"
Izumi resumed shaking her until she began swatting away at her. "Have we stopped saying nonsense?" she asked the green-haired younger girl.
"I'm going to begin a household revolution for abuse against younger sisters, viva la-" Izumi began shaking her again. "Okay, okay, I'm done!"
"Interesting discipline method. I might have to steal it for myself." a female voice commented from behind them, and all of them whipped around.
Yugao-san was… young. She still stood a full head and a half above all of them, two in the case of Tomo, but it was clear that she was not that much older- hell, she'd met Itachi-san's teammates and they looked older than she did!
She wore the standard issue Jonin vest and had short, purple hair and brown eyes. She also wore armguards, and her forehead protector was instead tied around her right shoulder. She had a katana on her back and was dressed in a style that had little in the way of fashion in exchange for practicality.
"How about we have lunch together to figure out where we are as a team, huh? My treat." She smiled kindly.
After a moment, Izumi nodded, a smile of her own forming on her face. Maybe she wasn't in a team with Itachi, but her other fear, of being separated from her sister again due to team differences had just vanished, and their Jonin sensei seemed competent enough.
As they sat down at a noodle shop, Yugao-sensei seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before nodding to herself and turning to them.
"So, while we wait for our food, I think an introduction is in order. I'll begin, and you can pick up from there." She smiled at them. "I'm Uzuki Yugao, a Special Jonin. I specialize in logistics as well as tracking, and I am one of the very few practitioners of kenjutsu beyond the bare basics in the village. My plans for the future are to marry my fiancée and live a long, fulfilling life."
"...that's almost disturbingly sensible," Tomo said with a tilt of her head. "Maybe being a weirdo really is a requirement to being a full-fledged Jonin."
Izumi had to stop herself from slapping her own hand to her face hard, and Hana didn't even bother to hide her groan, but to their surprise, Yugao-sensei's mouth quirked up slightly in a smile.
"How about you girls?"
They looked at one another, all wondering who would begin. Eventually, Hana shrugged. "Tatsushima Hana, Genin, I... wouldn't say I've got a specialty, but I've gotten pretty mean with the Academy Three. My dream is to make Jonin so I can start a shinobi side of my clan to be head of."
"...that's weird," Izumi commented. "Why would you need that? Won't you just cause unnecessary trouble for your clan?"
"Easy for you to say, Uchiha." Hana huffed. "You're already from a shinobi clan."
"Well, that doesn't mean-"
"Why don't you two introduce yourself as well?" Yugao suggested, cutting in. Hana scoffed under her breath, and Izumi gave her one last side look before turning back towards their sensei. However, Tomo beat her to it.
"Fuma Tomo, and... I don't really specialize in anything?" she shook her head. Hana snorted rudely at that with a "Yeah, right".
"Hana-chan? Is there something you wish to add?" Yugao-sensei asked.
"Yeah. What Tomo means by that is that she doesn't specialize in anything because she's literally the best in class at every single thing we've tried for."
"Well, that's not true. Izumi has been beating me in taijutsu more often than not, recently." Tomo protested, and Hana scoffed.
"Yeah, right. Because you're limiting yourself to fighting like a shadow clone who's afraid to take a hit, and you don't go for the big hits on her yourself. Let's not kid ourselves, Tomo can flatten any of us seven ways to Sunday whenever she so chooses."
Tomo turned to Izumi for support, but Izumi just frowned. "It's hard not to feel like you're going easy on me in sparring when I've seen you punch a tree and leave cracks in it. Besides, you're younger and have less reach and musculature than me, and you're growing closer to me every day in height."
"...right." Yugao coughed. "As for you?"
"Uchiha Izumi, I specialize in the Burning Petal Style of Taijutsu, invented by my grandmother. My dream..." she paused, memory seared forever in her mind by the awakening of her Sharingan. "...is to become a kunoichi my parents can be proud of." she finished.
"Tch. Of course, the kunoichi of the year is like this. Ain't it nice, being a daddy's girl?"
There's a moment where the message needs to connect between Izumi's ears and her brain.
A moment later, all of them are off the table. Izumi realizes she has bodily tackled Hana to the floor, fist raised to deck her straight in her kami-damned face, Yugao-sensei is standing over her, holding her arm back from coming down, while Tomo-chan is trying to disentangle them.
"Say that shit again to my face, Tatsushima! I'm gonna break your other arm too!"
"What, all of your family has a reflex for throwing hands at a moment's notice? No wonder Tomo's traumatized-"
Killing intent spills in the air. "Shut the fuck up, Hana." Tomo glares at her. "You have not a single idea of what the hell you're talking about."
"..." Hana grits her teeth but does as told. Slowly, the two kunoichi are extricated from one another.
A moment later, the kindly old man who had taken their orders and now has dropped their noodles from the shock storms up to them. Izumi's gut twists in a churn of guilt. "I'm sorry, oji-san, we-"
"I don't care to hear it, out! Out of my restaurant, I say! I'm not going to have you shinobi pull your conflicts into our lives! OUT!" He screams.
...so much for things going well after all.
Woah, that's a huge skip forward in time! And as soon as Tomo had made a friend outside too...
Also, for reference, Yugao right now is 16, a Tokubetsu-Jonin specializing in Kenjutsu and Fuinjutsu, and freshly removed from Team Ro for the sake of dealing with Tomo. Poor her. I wouldn't wish Tomo on my worst enemy. However, it seems that right now, her other two students are doing even worse... perhaps she should go ask Inabi how he deals with emotionally stunted pre-teens.
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