Chapter 9

"Are you sure this is okay?" I asked in a hushed whisper as we dashed from brush to brush, wary of any prying eyes. Kiyomi was leading the pack with Mana bringing up the rear. Kazuma, the one who had organized this little outing, walked calmly down the path to not raise any suspicion that he was smuggling a bunch of kids into a restricted area.

"Of course, Big Bro already scheduled the time so we'll have the field all to ourselves. We'll be able to do real ninja training!" Kiyomi whispered back, her excitement causing her to be a bit too loud as Kazuma shot a glare over in our direction. My heart was racing while my mind ran scenario after scenario of what might happen if we would get caught. What might my parents do if they found out? The thought of having to face down my Dad when he was legitimately angry was... something I really did not want to envision.

"Meiko, are we going to learn new magic tricks?" Mana asked quietly as she tugged on the back of my shirt.

I looked back to her with a smile, "Maybe, it depends on what Kazuma-san has in mind." Silver-blue eyes sparkling as Mana heard my words I had to quickly shush her before she risked getting too loud.

"Alright, you guys can come out." Kiyomi's brother called to us. He stood in front of a simple chain link gate with a sign that read 'Field 4' and removed the simple padlock. Security here wasn't very tight since the training grounds were just for that, training. They didn't hold anything of significant value that needed protecting. Just basic measures to tell people 'do not enter', that was probably why it was so easy for us to sneak in. Really, the restriction was likely just a precautionary measure to keep kids like us from getting hurt. A lot of good it was doing right now.

Beyond the fencing was an open, rocky landscape. Considering the amount of vegetation surrounding the field, this area had definitely been artificially dried out to simulate a different kind of terrain. A decent wind blew past, kicking up some loose sand that spiralled into a small tornado before quickly fading. In the distance was a small canal, water sparkling in the morning light.

The three of us stepped out from the bushes and stepped onto the rocky terrain. Immediately I felt some sand slip in between my toes as my feet slightly sunk into the soft ground. "Let's go guys!" Kiyomi said happily as she ran to her brother's side. The four of us then made our way deeper into the grounds, stopping a few dozen meters away from the artificial river.

"Can you do it now? Please! Broooo!" Kiyomi suddenly started begging Kazuma for something, tugging hard on his sleeve. The elder brother laughed and patted the blonde's head before shooting her a thumbs up.

"Alright, all of you stay back. I got something awesome for ya!" Kazuma warned us, motioning for everyone to back away with one hand. Before coming here, Kiyomi had been extra excited today since her brother had recently returned from his first mission outside of the Land of Fire. "I used this on my last mission to beat up a bunch of thieves!" He cried as his hands became a blur of hand seals. Kiyomi was at my side, bouncing with anticipation and even Mana was enraptured with the prospect of seeing a new trick. I couldn't deny the familiar tingling of excitement brewing in my chest either. Jutsu use was highly restricted within the village, rightly so, even Misaki barely used any techniques in front of me. I could count the number of jutsu I had seen in my five years on one hand.

Kazuma had finished his preparations as he called out "Here we go! Earth Style: Stone Barricade!" A solid slab of stone then rose up before the boy as he slammed his hands into the ground. While not the flashiest of jutsu I could certainly see how it was an effective one. Standing an impressive two meters tall and wide with a half meter thickness, that wall would easily be able to protect the caster from a wide variety of attacks. To my left, Kiyomi was ecstatic, jumping up and down at the sight of her brother's jutsu. Mana sadly, was not as lively. A simple 'hmph' was her only reaction as she kicked a pebble at her feet. She preferred something a lot flashier from my own experience.

"I'm not done yet!" Kazuma suddenly called out as he formed a few more seals. Placing his hands on the wall he created, he shouted out the new jutsu's name, "Earth Style: Stone Shuriken Barrage!" I couldn't quite see everything happening from the angle I stood at, but after a short delay, small bolts of stone began to rapidly fire out from the wall, colliding with a boulder some ten or so meters ahead. Each collision took a small chunk from the rock as dirt and debris was thrown into the air with a loud crash. With each shot, Kazuma's barricade slowly shrunk away until it resembled a slice of swiss cheese, collapsing under it's own weight.

"Whew" Kazuma wiped his brow as the dust slowly settled, revealing the extent of the damage. While still standing, the boulder had several large chunks blasted out of it. Kiyomi lost it, running to her brother's side demanding he teach her the jutsu right then and there. Mana too was a lot more impressed with the second technique as there was a lot more going on with it. I meanwhile stood back and clapped my hands, trying not to imagine what happened to the thieves he encountered on his mission.

"So!" Kiyomi said after calming down a bit, aiming her words over at Mana, "How was that jutsu? Freaking great right?"

Mana's lips pursed as she thought it over for a moment, finally raising four fingers and saying a simple "It was okay."

"Four!? That's all!?" Kiyomi moaned loudly, pointing towards the shattered boulder. "Look what he did! My brother's jutsu is amazing!"

Standing off to the side, I burst into laughter as the two bickered with each other. Well, Kiyomi was doing the bickering while Mana just held firm on her score. It was a little game the two had started at some point, Kiyomi would try and show off a jutsu or some kind of trick she learned, trying to impress Mana who would rate it out of ten based on whatever scale she used. From my own experience, Mana enjoyed tricks that were flashy, or hard to see how they were done. I guess it added to the mystique of it all, something that Kiyomi kept missing out on when she would just show herself or her brother performing a jutsu. This, of course, I kept a secret from Kiyomi. Mostly because I found it hilarious that my silly card tricks consistently got higher ratings.

That said, I was rather jealous of my Yamanaka friend, her jutsu repertoire was growing rapidly, even if her success rate with them was extremely low. At the moment, the jutsu she could most consistently perform was the basic clone. And that was only about one in five attempts she might get it right. The gap between us felt like it was growing by the day and I was struggling to keep up.

Mana was no slouch in that aspect either, although she went about things in such a wildly different direction it was difficult to accurately get a sense of her skill level. Rather than learning jutsu, the girl just seemed to be... creating new ones. A fact that left everyone utterly dumbfounded. I don't think she was even doing it consciously, it was just something she could do. Now, she wasn't creating anything world-shattering or anything, like that day at the festival they were small scale 'parlour tricks'. Creating sparks, blowing bubbles, changing the colour of objects. Pretty much everything was purely visual in nature. Sparks had no heat, bubbles didn't float on the air and didn't pop when touched. To top it all off, she didn't even use hand seals. From what I could tell she was substituting it with random movements. I still wasn't sure if this was supposed to be possible.

"KAZUMA!" Kiyomi finally screamed, turning to her brother while pointing at Mana, "Show us another jutsu! One that will blow her socks off!"

Her brother chuckled, stepping towards us. "Nah, that's all I got for now. Buuuut~" His tone playful as he pulled something out of the pouch at his hip. "I got something special for you three." His hand whipped forward, revealing several paper slips in his hand. The three of us stood there in silence, wondering why some simple slips of paper were such a big deal.

"...I don't get it." Kiyomi was the first to chime in, "What's so special about some silly pieces of paper?"

Chuckling once more, Kazuma flashed a wide grin. "Oh my silly little sister, these aren't just any ordinary pieces of paper. These..." He made a few wide gestures to try and stretch out the drama, "Are Chakra Induction Papers!" Again, the three of us were silent, not quite sure what to make of it.

"So... They conduct chakra or something?" I asked, trying to remember if I had ever heard of these things before but coming up blank.

"Sort of, but no." Kazuma replied, "These are special papers used to learn what your chakra nature is." Chakra nature, that rang a bell. It was an advanced application of chakra control if memory served correctly. Basically, it was adding elemental power to your chakra, or something like that. The others however, did not appear to have the same knowledge as I did on the matter, so Kazuma continued his explanation. "Its an advanced form of chakra control, so you guys won't have to worry about it for a long time. But I finally managed to get a hold of a few of these so I figured it would be fun to find out what everyone was attuned to." He then turned towards the rubble behind him, "The jutsu I used were Earth nature, there's also fire, water, wind and lightning. We use these papers to find out which nature a person naturally aligns with.

Kazuma then removed a single strip with his free hand and held it towards us with two fingers. "Its real simple too, just hold it in your hand and focus your chakra into it. Depending on what sort of reaction you get will indicate your chakra nature." He then began his demonstration, a couple short moments passing before the paper between his fingers twitched, dried up and then crumbled away into dust.

"Whoa..." The words escaping me involuntarily. I hadn't expected such a severe reaction from such a small thing. The sight also gave Mana quite the shot of adrenaline as she started bouncing, demanding to see it again and holding up eight fingers.

"Wait, THAT got an eight!?" Kiyomi cried out, indignant. "He even said how it worked!? I..." Utterly bewildered, Kiyomi devolved into incoherent stammering that I couldn't help but laugh at. Mana was the one person I knew who could throw her for such a loop.

Kazuma clapped his hands to get our attention. "Alright, come get a slip." The three of us complying, taking a slip each.

Kiyomi went first, holding her card towards Mana as she focused her chakra into it. Just like with Kazuma, the paper trembled, dried out and crumbled away to dust. The grin that spread across her face was practically ear to ear as she turned to her brother. "EARTH! EARTH RIGHT!?" She shrieked with unbound glee. Her brother returning a similar smile as he nodded.

"Yup! Looks like I'll be able to teach you those jutsu in a few years." He managed to say moments before Kiyomi threw herself at him.

"We should start right now! Come on!" The girl yelled while swinging around her brother by his neck.

"Finally coming to a stop, Kazuma grabbed Kiyomi by the waist and pulled her off. "Sorry, you're a long ways away from being ready for that sort of thing. But don't worry, I will in time."

"Booo," Kiyomi pouted as Kazuma turned back to us.

"So, who's next?" He asked, looking in my direction. Kiyomi, noticing this, grabbed a slip and ran it over to me. The look in her eyes demanding me to 'volunteer'.

I raised my card. Pinched between my index and thumb, and closed my eyes. Moving chakra throughout my body still took conscious effort so I needed focus. From my stomach I felt the energy there, warm and inviting. I imagined myself taking just a small pinch and pulling it up through my spine and through my arm. I could feel I already lost some of the chakra during the transfer but most of it managed to reach my fingertips. Now I just had to pour it into the paper.

The chakra however, did not want to cooperate. It simply sat in the tip of my finger, refusing to leave. To be fair, I hadn't learned how to expel my chakra yet so I did the obvious thing, I started focusing harder. My face scrunched up and I could feel the veins on my forehead begin to bulge as I tried to force the chakra into the paper.

"You alright?" Kazuma's voice called out, obvious worry in his voice as I was struggling with something so simple.

"Yeah," I replied, voice slightly strained, "Chakra control isn't... my strong suit..."

"Come on Meiko! Hurry up!" Kiyomi moaned in a taunting manner.

"I'm trying!" I said, getting more frustrated. I kept trying to imagine the chakra leaving my finger and entering the paper but again it just would not leave my body. After another minute, I let myself relax, the chakra fading away. "Mana, you go, I'll be a bit." I said, resigning myself to this failure. As I once more began channeling my chakra, I watched as Mana looked to the paper in her palm. She then looked up, her gaze falling on each of us before returning to the slip. Pinching it between her fingers, she raised it up and...

Nothing.

"Hmmmm." Mana hummed, raising her free hand and striking some kind of pose. "HA!" She cried, but still nothing happened. Turning to me, tears welling in her eyes, "Meikoooo," She whined, "The paper won't do magic!"

Chuckling, I pointed to her paper. "You gotta put your 'magic' into the paper. Like when you do your tricks, but aim for it." Kiyomi and Kazuma shot me confused gazes, wondering how I understood what she said.

""Oh! Okay!" Mana said, raising her paper again. Her right hand mimicking some silly finger movements I would sometimes do with my card tricks for her. "And There!" She yelled, immediately the paper crinkled up. Mana's excitement quickly drained as her whole body practically deflated. "That's all?" She moaned, falling to her knees.

"That's actually pretty rare." Kazuma chimed in, "When the paper crinkles, that means your chakra nature is lightning. You don't see too many lightning users in the village." While it was genuine praise, it unfortunately fell on deaf ears. Mana clearly wasn't interested in learning her chakra nature, she just wanted the paper to do something cool. I guess I had better not disappoint.

"Alright, one more try." I tried psyching myself up for another attempt, staying calmer this time I slowly moved the chakra to my fingers once more. "Okay, gently this time." I murmured as I tried to ease the chakra out rather than forcing it. Slowly, very slowly, I felt the chakra begin to move. "I think I got-WAH" Panicking I threw the paper away as it suddenly caught flame, burning to cinders before it even touched the ground.

"Cool!" Mana yelled, holding up seven fingers. Guess I lost a point for my performance.

"Fire huh? Sounds about right." Kazuma commented, not at all surprised. We did live in the Land of Fire after all, I just assumed that people here were more naturally attuned to that particular nature. That, of course, meaning I was surrounded by irregulars. Taking a quick glance at all my friends, that felt about right. At least I managed to cheer Mana up.

"So, what's next!?" Kiyomi asked her brother eagerly. Kazuma just shrugging at the question.

"That's about all I had really." He said with a shrug, "The rest of the time I was going to practise some stuff on my own." Kiyomi noticeably deflating at this news, but Kazuma wasn't quite done talking. "Sorry Kiyomi, I have another mission coming up and I need to be ready. But there was another reason I chose this field." He then knelt down, scooping up a handful of sand and allowed it to flow through his fingers. "You guys can do some 'training' here without me. All you have to do is play some of your ninja games, you'll find out what I mean pretty quickly." He then turned to Kiyomi who's face was slowly looking like she was sucking on a lemon, giving her a wink as he threw a thumb in my direction. "If you're not careful, Meiko might actually come out on top today."

Great. He just had to light that torch didn't he. If there was one thing that could fire Kiyomi up it was competition, especially one where she could stomp me into the ground from. Here eyes lit up with a fire as she shot me a very familiar and very smug grin. "Alright!" She said, thrusting a finger outwards. "We're playing Ninja Tag, and Meiko is it! 321GO!" Kiyomi then darted off, diving behind a nearby rock. I looked over to Mana, who looked back at me, suddenly nibbling on a baby carrot she got from... somewhere. Blinking a couple times she lightly began jogging in the opposite direction. She wasn't one to exert herself physically.

I turned my attention back to the rock where Kiyomi had vanished behind, sighing as I broke into a run. Immediately I realized what Kazuma was getting at. The thin layer of sand made running a lot more difficult as the ground shifted under my steps. I probably would be feeling this even more as my feet sunk in deep thanks to my training weights. I felt I could safely assume the 'training' he had in mind for us was adapting to a completely different terrain than we were used to. Looking behind the rock, Kiyomi was already gone, however her ability to hide was hindered by the simple fact that sand leaves clear footprints.

As I quietly tried to sneak in the direction Kiyomi had fled, Kazuma called out for all of us to hear. "Alright guys, have fun and stick around the field. I'll be on the other side of the river there trying out some jutsu. DO NOT cross the river! Just call me if you need me." He said and quickly dashed away. I continued my pursuit, following the prints behind another, larger rock. Climbing on top, I peered over to see if I could get the drop on Kiyomi. However, there was no one around and her prints simply ended.

"What the?" I said aloud as I suddenly felt an impact into my back, sending me flying off the rock and flopping into the sand. Lifting my face out of the grainy ground, I spat out a mouthful of the substance. Rolling over, I shielded my eyes as Kiyomi's silhouette stood with her back to the sun. Her stance strong and triumphant.

"Nice try!" She said with a giggle. I couldn't make out her face thanks to the sun rays streaking past her but I knew the type of grin she had on her face right now. "But you'll have to do waaaay better than that!" She then hopped off behind the rock once more. Groaning and spitting out more sand, I got to my feet, back throbbing where she struck me.

"Ugh, that hurt. Did she dropkick me or something?" I muttered as ran out to the open. Once more she was gone, prints going off behind another large rock once more. "Not falling for that twice." I said to myself and began circling around wide to try and catch the girl out. That, unfortunately, was the basic pattern for the next twenty or so minutes. I would try and catch Kiyomi, sometimes I could flush her out of hiding, but she would escape or get the jump on me.

Admittedly, I grew increasingly frustrated as time passed. Kiyomi was literally running circles around me and thanks to the sand and my weights, my stamina and speed were greatly suffering. My breath became ragged as I tried desperate to catch her just once. Finally, after taking another blow from Kiyomi I simply could not get back up. Rolling onto my back, I looked up to the clear blue sky while trying to catch my breath. In the distance, small explosions rang out from Kazuma's latest jutsu.

My frustration grew to a boiling point. I slammed a fist into the sand several times over while using my other arm to cover my face, hiding the tears that were threatening to escape. "Damn it..." I bemoaned quietly. All this time I thought I was getting stronger but Kiyomi was still just so much further away. For every step forward I took it felt like she took three.

"All tired out?" The girl's taunt stung far more than she probably intended, but what was worse was that slightly bored tone to her voice. As if to really be asking 'Is that all you can do?'. I took a fistful of sand, gripping tightly yet pointlessly as it slipped through my fingers.

"Is this all my work could amount to?" I wondered to myself, straining to keep the tears in as my frustration grew even further, threatening to spill out. "...No..." I finally choked out, wiping my eyes and pulling myself back to my feet. I still hadn't quite caught my breath but I refused to stay down any longer. Kiyomi's smile grew ever wider seeing my determination to not give in. "I'm far from done!"

"Great!" Kiyomi replied happily, "But I think we should change our plans." Looking back, Kiyomi motioned towards the river where Mana sat watching Kazuma perform his jutsu, having both forgotten and been forgotten over the course of the game. These games did often devolve into a simple me vs Kiyomi dynamic, Mana often would happily watch but this time there was something far more entertaining for her.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked the eager Yamanaka.

Kiyomi's grin widened only further, I swore this girl's cheeks were made of rubber with how big her smiles could get. "Well, we're here at an actual training field," She then took up a combat stance, lowering her centre of gravity and raising her arms slightly towards me. "Let's do some actual ninja training! We spar!" That caught me by surprise, of all things she could suggest a straight out fight wasn't on my list.

"Are you sure?" I asked cautiously, I wasn't sure about her but Misaki had only just begun teaching me the basics of taijutsu. Rather than sparring to practice technique, it was more likely to devolve into some kind of slap fight.

She nodded, "Yeah! Kazuma says he spars with his teammates all the time and that its amazing training! We really should start doing it too!" I could tell from her tone I didn't really have a choice in the matter. If I tried to back out I'd likely just suffer another 'sneak attack' but with a bonus follow up attack.

"Ok, if you're sure." I said, still hesitant but taking up a stance of my own, awkward as it was. Normally, Kiyomi would take the initiative with a fast countdown or something but this time she simply stood in place. Prompting me to ask, "Ready?"

"When you are." She replied, but made no move to start. This worried me greatly.

"Any rules?" I asked tentatively.

"Uhh..." Kiyomi needed a moment to think, "Nah, just come at me. Be sure to tap out if it hurts too much though!"

"Alright..." She still had her usual confidence, the fact she was holding back terrified me though. I took a few cautious steps forward, Kiyomi stiffening her stance in response but still not moving. "Guess I have to come to you." I took a deep breath in, crouched down and dashed forward. Bringing my arms up close to my chest like I had seen boxers do in the distant past I moved in for the attack. Once I was close enough, I threw out a straight right, aiming for the centre of mass. Kiyomi, as if predicting my movements, deftly dodged by shifting to her right while her left arm swung up to deflect my blow. She then followed through by grabbing my arm and kicking out my leg from under me. Suddenly the sky and earth inverted as I found myself slamming into the ground once more.

"Wait, what?" I said as I found myself staring at the sky once more. The soft sand thankfully broke my fall somewhat. I was more bewildered than hurt.

"Hehehe, how's that?" Kiyomi asked triumphantly. "Bet you didn't see that coming!" She was certainly right there, Kiyomi had definitely been training to be able to pull off a throw like that so easily. "Man, you're really heavy though." She added in that last comment. I felt my face flare as I rolled myself back onto my feet, slapping my cheeks to calm myself down before facing her once more.

"Kazuma-san teach you that?" I asked, pretty much knowing the answer.

"Mhm!" Kiyomi nodded proudly, "For a while now actually. I've been waiting for a chance to show it off!"

I sighed, "Why do I always have to be your guinea pig?" I moved in again for another attempt. Slower this time, I threw another straight, but this was a feint. Pulling the fist back I instead came in low with the left for a kidney shot. Kiyomi's eyes went wide as she had to dodge rather than counter. I continued to throw quick, weak jabs, putting the girl on the defensive for a few swipes before she caught my arm and threw me again.

Hitting the ground again I was a bit more prepared this time. I immediately kicked myself off the ground and went back on the attack. More light attacks meant to try and put Kiyomi off-balance than strike a blow were unleashed. Kiyomi was already adapting though, rather than simply dodging she was parrying my attacks and slipping in light strikes of her own. Palm strikes into my chest, individually weak but the damage was quickly building up as she continually broke through my defences. The moment one of her blows caused me to stagger, she once again tossed me over her shoulder.

Getting back to my feet yet again, we exchanged another flurry of blows. Once again, it ended with me on my back. Over and over I found myself on the ground, got up and was thrown down again. Adrenaline pulsed through my veins, dulling the pain and helping me to push my body further. Kiyomi on the other hand, was starting to burn out. She was having difficulties following up her parries, her movements becoming sluggish and her breathing no longer steady.

I pressed my advantage, Kiyomi forced onto a back foot as I continued to advance upon her. Finally, after so much effort, I saw it. A break in her defences. I took my chance, firing a punch that would slip between her arms and strike at her chest. As my fist shot forward, a sudden fear shot through my chest, gripping tight on my heart. "What if I hurt her?" I had been doing weight training for over a year now, a direct punch to her chest could hurt a lot. My fist halted mid-swing as my entire body seized up over these thoughts.

Kiyomi did not waste time cashing in on my hesitation. Immediately grabbing my arm and throwing me over her shoulder. This time however, the sand did not break my fall. No, instead I collided with something hard, knocking the air out of my lungs. Since I had her backpedalling moments before, we both had failed to notice the large rock behind Kiyomi. One I was now slowly sliding down as I gasped for air and pain shot through my body.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry!" Kiyomi cried out as she realized what had happened. "KAZUMA! COME QUICK! MEIKO'S HURT!" Finally reinflating my lungs, I took a loud and deep gasp before entering a coughing fit. Kiyomi dropping to my side and helping me to my knees. "Are you alright? Are you bleeding? I'm really sorry, I didn't know the rock was there."

"Yeah... I'm fine." I managed to sputter out between coughs. I hurt definitely, but maybe it was because of the lingering effects of the adrenaline the pain was still bearable. Kazuma and Mana were quick to join us, wondering what had happened.

Kiyomi was practically in tears as she explained what we had been doing. Her brother frowning as he clonked her lightly over the head. "I told you not to do anything like that without supervision." He said angrily as Kiyomi started to lightly cry.

"I'm sorry..." She sniffled.

"It was my fault too. I got carried away and should have said something." I said as I stood beside my friend. We were both equally guilty in the end and I wasn't going to let her take the brunt of the blame alone. Sighing, Kazuma gave me a similar smack over the head.

"Alright, I think that's enough for today." He said with a grunt. "Dust yourselves off and get ready, you're going to have to sneak back out after all."

Turning to Kiyomi, tears still streaking down her face I gave her a weak smile. "I'll get you next time."

Sniffling, she wiped her tears and smiled back. "Nuh-uh. I'll be ten times better next time."

"You really okay?" A meek voice came from behind me. Turning I saw Mana standing there, clearly worried about my condition.

With a, slightly pained, chuckle, I patted the girl on the head. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just a bruised back." "And ego..." I said with a reassuring smile. Mana did not seem completely convinced however.

"...Why are you doing that?" She asked after a long moment of silence. "You want to be a ninja but you got hurt. Does being a ninja mean getting hurt?" Those silver-blue eyes were piercing as she questioned why I would willingly get myself hurt in pursuit of this career. I turned to Kiyomi who returned my gaze, unsure of what to say herself.

"That's... hard to answer." I finally admitted, "Its not that we're actively trying to hurt ourselves, its more of an occupational hazard." I crossed my arms, trying to think of a way to best explain it so she would understand. "We train so the chances we get hurt are lessened, but that's not the main reason." Mana's head tilted as she awaited further elaboration, "In my case... I want to protect my family and those close to me." I felt my cheeks flush as I said this, stating it so plainly still felt quite embarrassing.

"Can't other people do that?" Mana then asked, "There are a lot of other ninja in the village, why can't they do it?" She made a good point, from a certain point of view. Admittedly my own perceptions were coloured by what I knew was coming.

Kiyomi responded this time, "We can't just leave everything to someone else!" She said defiantly, "There are things that we need to do too and we need to support those who are already working! When I become a ninja I want to help my brother out on his missions! Together with Meiko we're going to kick everyone's butts and keep the village safe!"

I chuckled at my friend's enthusiasm. Something she never ran out of. "We want to protect you too, Mana. That's why we do this. Today was just an accident because we got ahead of ourselves. Sorry for worrying you." Apologizing, I lowered my head for a brief second. Mana sucked in her lips, taking in the information.

"Okay..." She admitted defeat in the matter, "So when you become ninja, we won't see each other anymore though..." Her voice was sad yet held a note of experience in the matter. "Papa is a ninja and he's never home. He always has to do more work. I barely see him..." Kiyomi immediately sprung into action, throwing her arms around Mana.

"Don't worry Mana, we'll always be there for you!" She said as she embraced the sad girl. Mana gently returned the hug.

"Promise?" She asked

"Promise!" Kiyomi replied.

"Come on you guys, time to go!" Kazuma called from over near the gate. The three of us finished brushing off any sand and made our way over. As we were sneaking through the bushes, I found myself reflecting on all that happened. Kiyomi felt so far away now in terms of skill. I thought that after all this time I would at least have an edge on the physical front but she dwarfed me there too. It was unbelievably frustrating. "I need to work so much harder. Next time I see Misaki, I'll have to ask her to kick things up a notch."

As we were nearing the exit, an older shinobi dropped out of the sky in front of Kazuma. The three of us froze, my breath caught in my throat as I snapped a hand on Mana's shoulder. Both to get her to stop and sign to her that she needed to remain as quiet as possible. Kiyomi was fine but Mana had a habit of wandering when bored so I had to be sure she wouldn't just continue on without us.

"Hey." Kazuma said calmly as he tried to walk past. The shinobi stepped in his way however. Adjusting his sunglasses as he glared at the boy.

"Hello." He said flatly. "Did your training go well?"

Kazuma stopped looking up to the man looking completely calm. The complete opposite of myself assweat pouring down my face and my heart desperately trying to burst out of my chest. "It went pretty good. I'm getting a good handle on my new jutsu." He said with a smile. "Was there something you needed, sir?"

"Yes." The man replied and while he didn't move, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as it felt he was glaring right at us. That feeling was quickly proven true with his very next sentence, "Who are those three in the bushes over there?" It took a lot of willpower to not yelp at being busted. Kazuma, for his part, was still able to put up an act. Looking to the bushes, then back to the man.

"What do you mean?" He asked so innocently I could almost believed he didn't realize we were here.

"Hmph" The shinobi grunted before turning towards us. "Come out. There's no point in hiding anymore." I looked to Kiyomi for guidance as she seemed to be the type to get into these situations the most. The Yamanaka just shook her head no at me to remain hidden. Mana however, did not get the cue and instead hopped to her feet.

"Hello!" She called out sweetly, waving at the man. My hand suddenly found it's way onto my face with a quiet slap. I really should have paid attention to her first.

"Oh!" Kazuma suddenly called out, "Where did you come from!?"

"That traitor!" Kiyomi scream-whispered as she turned to me, "Okay, time to run! Grab Mana and let's go!"

Nodding, I started to move when I noticed the shinobi was gone. Before I could say anything however, I felt a hand plant itself on my shoulder and from the corner of my eye I could see the same had happened to Kiyomi. "You three will be coming with me." He said, pulling the two of us to our feet.

"Kazumaaa! Help!" Kiyomi cried out to her brother who was already dashing off into the distance.

"Wow, he really just abandoned us." I thought as we were taken off for our punishment.

Turns out, the punishment for sneaking onto the training fields wasn't too severe, at least for first timers. Due to our age we were given a slap on the wrist and punishment was deferred to our parents. That was a very long and dreadful wait in an office lobby for my folks to come get me. The entire time I feared Dad could burst open the door at any moment in full Ogre mode. I don't know what happened to the others, my Mom was the first to arrive and take me home. Honestly, Mom was more bewildered than angry with me. She had to confirm several times that yes, I had indeed joined them in sneaking into the training area. I was then subjected to perhaps the most confused scolding anyone had ever seen as I took that walk of shame home.

My fears regarding Dad's reaction were, thankfully, misplaced as the giant man burst into laughter upon being told what had transpired. Mom gave him a scolding too, although considering the one I just had it felt more like a duty. Eventually my punishment was settled on a grounding for a week. I would not be allowed to see or contact Kiyomi or Mana during this time. Thankfully they did not cut off permission for me to train at least. After today I was going to have to start working even harder to even have a chance to catch up to Kiyomi. Still, it would be a lonely week without those two around.