The Generation of Prodigy's
A warm wind passed through the village of Konohagakure as a young cherry blond haired girl did exercises on the roof of the of the rather large yet modest house that she shared with her family. She had been up since sunrise and was currently meditating while balancing on her finger tips, a noise from below brought her out of her meditative state. After slowly placing her feet on the ground she walked over to the side of the of the roof and looked down to see her mother holding her foot and cursing.
"Natsumi where are you!" Kushina shouted, Natsumi cringed at the tone her mother was using knowing it meant trouble. "You left your weights out again!" Natsumi shrunk to the ground in an state of fear she could here her mother angrily returning her weights to their holders. "Get over here or you are making your own breakfast!" That had Narumi launching to her feet and over the side of the roof. The older Namikaze glared at her daughter as she landed, "How many times have I told you not to leave your training equipment lying around?"
"Four hundred and thirty two times, give or take" Natsumi said with a smile, "I am sorry though." she hugged her mom before rushing into the house, "I need to shower thanks for putting my weights away! Love you Mom!"
Kushina sighed as she walked back into the house, a chuckle from her husband led the Namikaze matriarch to glare at the blond man. "Whats so funny? she gets it from you" Kushina snarked as she passed Minato who was sitting at the island separating the kitchen from the dining area.
"She's young and determined to get stronger I'm sure it'll get better as she gets older" Minato said while sipping his tea.
Before either could say anything a yawning Naruto who was still in his pyjamas walked into the room, "Morning Mum, Dad" he said with another yawn.
"Morning" Minato responded with a smile.
Kushina simply glared at her son before mumbling a morning in response before turning to start breakfast, Naruto leaned over to his father and whispered "is Mum mad?"
"Bad timing she just got through scolding your sister for leaving her weights lying around" Minato responded not bothering to whisper.
With that Naruto walked around the island to help his mother with breakfast, "Mind if I give you a hand?"
"You can scramble the eggs" she responded while handing him a bowl.
A short time later Natsumi came running down the stairs in her normal blue hooded vest and black shirt with the kanji for Namikaze on the front, as well as her dark grey combat shorts "Smells good Mum!" she exclaimed as she sat down beside her father. Within moments Naruto and Kushina served a breakfast of scrambled eggs, grilled fish, rice and natto. Kushina sat across from Natsumi with her food looking the young girl in the eyes making Natsumi nervous. "Is something wrong Mum?"
"Your Genin test is today is it not?" Kushina asked as she began to eat.
This only made Natsumi more nervous, she knew her mother knew that it was today "Umm yes."
"After breakfast id like you to join me for a short walk before you head to school" Kushina responded with little emotion sending a chill down Natsumi's spine. The rest of the meal went by in silence, with Naruto and Minato glancing over at Natsumi with smirks on their faces. Natsumi didnt notice she was too busy staring at her plate trying to figure out what her mother could possibly be planning.
After everyone else had finished their food Natsumi was still staring at her food and Naruto noticed this. He silently walked up behind his younger sister placing his head by her ear, "Natsumi!" A startled Natsumi whipped around and attempted to strike her brother only for it to miss by a mile as Naruto stepped backwards with a smile. "Mum is waiting for you outside" he laughed before turning to head upstairs.
"I cant wait to get stronger so i can beat him" she grumbled before turning to the glass door that led to the yard. On the other side her mother stood with her arms crossed impatiently, with a sigh Natsumi joined her mother in the yard "Hey Mom..."
Kushina nodded before walking towards the back of the yard, Natsumi followed her mother, "I've told you of my clan before right?" Kushina asked cryptically.
Natsumi was shocked this was definitely not what she was expecting, "The Uzumaki clan right you said they were great sealing masters but you said there was a disaster that killed off most of the clan."
"That's right" Kushina said simply, she came to a stop before turning around to look at her daughter. "Natsumi when children in the Uzumaki clan come of age they are given a gift to aid their life and adventures, the gift can basically be anything." Kushina paused as she reached into a pocket and pulled out a knife adorned with seals along the blade, "This knife is the gift my mother gave me when i was your age." Kushina handed the knife to Natsumi, rolling it over in her hands Natsumi noticed how worn it was. "That knife saved my life move times than I can count, and I hope this will be as helpful to you" with a snap a short cherry red ninjato with a whirlpool like tsuba appeared in Kushina's hands.
Natsumi was still stunned by the sword when her mother handed it to her, out of reflex Natsumi returned her mothers knife. Without a word Natsumi unsheathed the sword to see a cold blue blade with a wave like hamon, "Its beautiful" Natsumi breathed. Looking closer she saw small etched seals dotting the blade, quickly re-sheathing her sword Natsumi hugged her mother. "Thanks Mum!" she exclaimed earning a chuckle from Kushina.
Kushina broke the hug before looking her daughter in the eye, "You best get off to school you have your test today you don't want to be late and do your best Dattebane!"
Natsumi smiled before turning to run to school, "See you after school Mum!" she yelled as she left view. As soon as she hit the street she started hopping over houses on her way to the academy, it only took her a few minutes to reach the school unfortunately as she landed a bell rung. Indicating class had started, Natsumi paled 'dammit Iruka-teme is going to flip' she lamented inwardly. With a deep breath Natsumi decided to sneak into the classroom, she silently made her way to the window of he classroom. Iruka was standing facing the chalk board writing something about the Genin exam, 'perfect!' With subtle movements Narumi made her way inside, after making it to her seat earning stares and whispers.
"Nice of you to join us Miss Namikaze, your mother told me you may be late there was no reason for you to sneak in" Iruka spoke as Natsumi sat down. The Namikaze heiress blushed slightly as the class laughed lightly, "As you all know today you will all take the test to determine who among you will become Genin." Iruka began as he turned around, "Many of you are from Clans of old some are from civilian family's this test does not care whether you are from the greatest family there is. If you fail you will not become a genin and will have to try again next year," murmurs erupted only to be silenced by Iruka raising his hand. "We will now be heading to the training ground to begin your test please follow me" Iruka grabbed his clipboard and began to lead his class out to the training ground. As they were walking Narumi was joined by her two best friends Tsuji Uchiha and Ryujin Hatake, the daughter of Obito Uchiha and the adoptive son of Kakashi Hatake and his wife Rin Hatake.
"Hey Natsumi nice sword" Tsuji said as she trailed behind slightly to get a good look at the sword, Tsuji has almost white blond hair contrasting the Uchiha's usual black hair. She wore a sleeveless armoured red shirt and a pair of loose black pants with combat boots, she also wears a grey sash around her waist where she keeps a Katana.
"Yeah Mum gave it to me, I can explain more later" Natsumi responded, looking to Ryujin she saw he was staring at the ground. While he was normally quiet, usually he would greet Natsumi "Earth to Ryujin" she said while waving her hand in front of his face.
Ryujin shook his head quickly making his short slightly curled hair wave, before moving back into place revealing a scar that marred the left side of his face. He wears a brown leather tunic fastened with obsidian clasps and a pair of loose grey combat pants he also wears a pair of standard ninja sandals. "Everything's fine im just nervous, I don't want to disappoint my parents y'know" he confessed.
Narumi could tell there was more to what was going on but they were now in there training ground and Iruka was asking everyone to get in a line. "Were going to be starting right away please listen carefully, this test will have three stages, the first stage will be tree walking you will have three tries. Murmurs erupted, Natsumi could hear someone complain and another said it was because of the fourth Hokage's rules. Shaking her head Natsumi returned her attention to Iruka, "Second stage will be breaking out of a Genjutsu, you will have ten minutes." Another round of murmurs was silenced by a glare from Iruka, "Your third test will be to use a elemental ninjutsu of any sort, you will have three tries." Iruka paused to snap his fingers, at the sound three other people appeared. The first a man with a bandana style headband a grey hair that Natsumi knew as Mizuki, the next another man with a bandana style headband and black glasses. The last was a teen Natsumi knew as Shino, he wore a pale green coat with the hood up and black goggles. "These three have volunteered to help me administer the tests, I will split you into four groups who will be each put in the care of one of my colleagues." Iruka took a quick glance down at his clipboard before continuing, "If I call your name you will be joining young Shino here. Tsuji Uchiha, Choji Akamichi, and Konohamaru Sarutobi."
Shino silently waved the three students over before taking them to a part of the training ground to begin the test. "Now if I call your name you will be tested by Ebisu, Ino Yamanaka, Haruta Takenobu, and Ryujin Hatake."
"Please follow me students" Ebisu announced as he stepped forward, his glasses flashing in the sunlight. Without waiting for his students he turned and walked to the opposite side of the training grounds to where Shino had gone.
"The last three names I call will be tested by Mizuki, Sai, Kumoharu Aburame, and Natsumi Namikaze. Sasuke Uchiha, Hanabi Hyuga and Shikamaru Nara will stay and be tested by me" Iruka finished.
Mizuki smirked and waved his students over before turning and walking off, Natsumi glared at the grey haired man's back. Mizuki stopped by the nearest tree, "Okay you three remember the rules? Cause i cant be arsed to repeat what pineapple head said." Natsumi nodded along with her fellow students, normally she would have laughed at the joke at Iruka's expense but this guy rubbed her the wrong way. "Kumoharu you are first" Mizuki continued lazily.
"Hai" Kumoharu responded as he stepped towards the tree, Kumoharu was lanky with long black hair that covered most of his face. His one revealed eye was a brilliant purple, nearly matching his eyes he wears a purple robe with black accents. Despite his bad posture the robe still showed the ankles of his grey pants, strangely he wore a pair of black cloth boots. Slowly Kumoharu strolled forward and casually walked up the tree, Natsumi was not surprised as Kumoharu was known for walking up walls.
"Tch whatever I guess you pass" Mizuki spat, "Sai you are next get up there" he continued while harshly waving his hand in the direction of the tree.
"Okay" Sai responded in a sickly sweet singsongy voice passing Kumoharu on the way to the tree. Sai stopped a foot before the tree cocking his head to the side before running up the tree flipping off at the top landing softly.
Mizuki could not believe his eyes "You pass" he sighed while waving Sai off, "Namikaze you're next!"
Natsumi rolled her eyes, "Right..." a few steps brought her to the tree. After a bored sigh Natsumi walked up the tree without any issues, before shooting a glare at Mizuki as she returned to the group.
Mizuki growled a "You pass," after roughly reaching into his pocket Mizuki pulled three small pieces of paper. "These each have the same Genjutsu placed on them when I place it on you and apply some chakra you will be placed in said genjutsu." He stopped to make sure they understood, seeing they did he approached placing a seal on each on their foreheads while applying a small amount of chakra.
Natsumi fell into the genjutsu immediately, she knew she was going to struggle as her genjutsu resistance left some to be desired. The young Namikaze found herself in a memory, it was her sixth birthday which brought a smile to her face. She could see her younger self playing with Naruto, Tsuji and Ryujin. As she watched a sense of calmness passed over her leading to her sitting in a chair, getting more and more engrossed in the calmness and nostalgia. After a few minutes Natsumi shook her head, "Why am I here?" she questioned before a realization hit her, "This is a genjutsu!" with a burst of chakra Natsumi was out of the genjutsu. Looking around she could see Mizuki, Sai, and Kumoharu staring at her, "What? Did I fail?"
Mizuki shook his head with a smirk, "No, but it was close you had thirty seconds left. I thought the Hokage's daughter would have done better than that" he finished with a shrug. This aggravated Natsumi, "Well now that Natsumi-hime is finished lets move onto the final test." He led them over to the training dummies, "Now you will have three tries to perform an elemental ninjutsu, Sai why don't you begin."
"Hai Mizuki-sensei" Sai responded before moving into position.
Natsumi was curious about what jutsu Sai was going to attempt, he was by far the most mysterious person in their class. Sai weaved through hand signs before placing his hands on the ground
"Earth Style: Mud Trap!" a brown hole opened under one of the dummies swallowing it whole before returning to hard ground. Natsumi wasnt surprised that Sai was able to do it first try the boy had been coasting along at third in the class rankings beneath herself and Sasuke.
"Well done you pass." Mizuki responded his tone not reflecting his words, "Kumoharu your next." He growled through gritted teeth, Kumoharu ignored the man as he got into place passing a smiling Sai who was on his way back.
Kumoharu sighed before weaving his own hand signs, "Lightning Style: Raiton blade!" A small discharge of lightning escaped his hands. Kumoharu growled and set up again, this time a thin blade of lightning chopped the dummy in half.
"You pass..." Mizuki growled once more, in his anger he began to wander and by the time he stopped he was standing by the final training dummy. "Namikaze get this over with," he demanded not seeing the dummy behind him to his right.
"Uhh are you sure about that?" Natsumi questioned trying not to laugh, Mizuki just glared at her. Shrugging in acceptance Natsumi began to weave through hand signs, "Water Style: Geyser Eruption." A Geyser of water erupted around the dummy before falling down in a sheet soaking Mizuki, making Natsumi laugh uncontrollably.
"Why you little brat..." he growled under his breath quieter than the students could hear, 'she will get hers for making a fool of me.' Iruka approaching stopping Mizuki from doing anything rash, growling beneath his breath Mizuki turned to his old friend.
"How did they do Mizuki?" Iruka asked in a rather chipper manner.
Iruka's voice grated on the nerves of Mizuki, it made his blood boil. "They passed..." he responded darkly, before Iruka could ask what was going on Mizuki turned to leave "Sorry Iruka I have some things I need to attend to."
"Whats with him" Iruka thought out loud, shaking his head he turned to the group of students. "Well done!" Iruka clapped with a smile on his face, "With the three of you passing it makes your year the first to all pass the test congratulations." With that he handed each of the three a leaf headband, "return tomorrow for your team assignments as for the rest of today you wave the rest of it off."
Natsumi bowed deeply before running off to find her friends, "Thanks Iruka-teme!" she yelled as she ran off. Iruka nearly faltered at the "honorific" leaving him speechless, Natsumi quickly found Tsuji and Ryujin who were standing with Sasuke and Hanabi. Running up Natsumi tied her headband around her head, "Hey guys congratulations on passing!"
"You expected less?" Sasuke questioned, "Those tests were a joke."
"Okay tough guy" Natsumi laughed, "I wasn't talking to you anyway, I could care less that you passed." Natsumi said with a shrug, this sent Sasuke into a rage attacking the blond. Natsumi expertly dodged the Uchiha's assault, back flipping away Natsumi slipped into a stance. Before either could charge Naruto knocked Natsumi off her feet and Itachi knocked Sasuke off balance with a poke to the forehead.
"You two are feisty huh?" Naruto asked with a sigh, standing beside him was the third member of their team Sakura Haruno.
"Naruto you really should be nicer to your sister" Sakura laughed as she helped Natsumi to her feet.
"Mind telling me why you are here?" Sasuke growled while rubbing his forehead and glaring at his brother.
Itachi sighed before poking his brother in the forehead again despite his attempts to dodge, "If you had waited a moment we could have explained." Sasuke just glared at his brother harder, "We've been invited to a celebration by Kushina-san, that's why we are here."
"Yup! So if you all come with us we can get there before Mum starts getting impatient" Naruto laughed.
"Wait all of us?" Hanabi questioned.
"Yeah Mum invited the whole class, your family's have already been informed" Naruto shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. With the announcement made everyone began to gather around to make the trip to the Namikaze residence, steping into the yard revealed it to be decorated to the nines. Streamers connected the trees in the back of the yard to the house, in the centre of the yard was a couple of tables with every snack you could think of lining them.
After everyone had filed into the yard Kushina appeared in the doorway of the house with Minato behind her. "Welcome all and congratulations everyone on passing your genin exams" Kushina exclaimed. "Please enjoy the snacks, and door prizes!" Natsumi smiled as everyone rushed to the food and prize tables, joining her mother who was still over by the house Natsumi gave her a hug.
"Thanks Mum this is great" she her smile shining brightly in the afternoon light, the party flew by with much laughter and many full stomachs. Night had long fallen and most of the village had taken their trips into dreams, but Natsumi lay in her bed staring at a mark on the roof. Her mind was racing through the events of the day and the possibility's of the next, 'Whatever happens tomorrow I just hope either Ryujin or Tsuji are on my te...' her thoughts were cut off by her window opening. 'What the..' she thought to herself as she took a defensive position crouching on her bed with her sword in hand. The window opened the rest of the way to reveal Mizuki, Natsumi being in the shadows she wasn't noticed right away which gave her a chance to think. 'What is he doing here?'
Mizuki looked around the room with a calm demeanour, looking at her bed Mizuki was disappointed to not find Natsumi he growled. "Where is the bitch..." a flash of moonlight off metal caught the chunin's attention, turning he grabbed Natsumi by the neck holding her at arms length. "There you are!" he laughed with an almost deranged look on his face, 'Shit!' she tried to stab the grey haired man in the arm only to be thrown across the room and into some scattered training equipment.
As her body bounced over the equipment she felt at least one of her ribs break, "Dad! Naruto!" she called out as loud as she could despite her injuries. As she attempted to call out again she was kicked across the room into her bed knocking the air out of her, gasping for air Natsumi could hear Mizuki laughing hysterically.
"They cant hear you princess!"he said through his laughter, he pointed to the scroll on his back "Thanks to this scroll of forbidden jutsu's this room is completely sound proof." Not waiting for her to recover he picked her up off the ground and threw Natsumi against the wall, "Not even the vibrations from you hitting the wall will escape this room." Mizuki slowly walked over to Natsumi's prone body, despite himself he was surprised by the broken girl she was still holding her sword. Pausing mid stride Mizuki knelt in front Natsumi, "I bet you are thinking "Why is this happening?" or something like that right?" he asked lifting her chin with the tip of a kunai, "You humiliated me today you and those other brats." During his rant he stood taking the kunai away from Natsumi's chin, "But you went too far... you made them laugh at me!" Turning around once more he looked more deranged than ever. "Well now you die and I leave this village im sure the hidden stone would love this..." he laughed as he pulled the scroll around to his front.
Natsumi took this moment of distraction to gather all her strength and lunge at her assailant swinging her sword at his neck. However due to her injuries her aim was off and she only managed to cut his right eye, landing on her feet she stumbled back the best she could to get distance. Mizuki was now raging, "This is not how this was supposed to go!" He yelled, "Fuck it not worth it, I have the scroll that will have to be enough." Mizuki complained before jumping out the window and running off into the distance.
As the jutsu faded Natsumi, could hear someone walking down the hall. "Help!' she managed to yelp before collapsing into unconsciousness, darkness filling her vision as her door opened to reveal her father.
Dawn had risen and transitioned to late morning by the time Natsumi awoke in the hospital of Konohagakure, her family surrounded her Kushina was laying with her head on the bed. Naruto was pacing around the room, and Minato was glaring a hole in the wall. Natsumi awoke with a twinge of pain as she took in too deep of a breath, her movement and grunt of pain alerted the other occupants of the room. "Natsumi!" they exclaimed in near unison, Kushina stood quickly while leaning over her daughter to inspect her. "How are you feeling?" Kushina questioned.
"Like I got run over by a horse..." Natsumi groaned sitting up.
"I should have guessed" Kushina lightly laughed despite the tears in her eyes, leaning forward she gingerly hugged her daughter. "I'm so sorry Natsumi, I should have known something was going on." Kushina cried.
"It's not your fault, I should have just run... he was too strong I overestimated myself" Natsumi mumbled into her mothers shoulder. Kushina broke the hug to look at her daughter who had a defeated look on her face, her eyes devoid of their normal lustre.
"Don't give me that crap!" Naruto yelled his voice booming down the hallway alerting the nurses. "You fought an enraged forbidden jutsu hopped up chunin, you did amazingly well. Despite losing you severely injured your opponent causing him to retreat!"
Natsumi stared at her brother with disbelief in her eyes, before anyone could respond Sakura Haruno Natsumi's doctor and Naruto's teammate stormed into the room with a scowl on her face. "Naruto! This is a hospital you cant be yelling like that!" Sakura scolded sternly making Naruto flinch.
"Sorry" he responded sheepishly.
Sakura sighed at her blonde teammate placing a hand on her face in frustration, "Just don't do it again..." she lamented. With a glance Sakura spotted the now awake Natsumi, stepping around Naruto Sakura approached the bed. "Good morning Natsumi, are you hurting?"
Natsumi frowned at the question, she had always found the elder pink haired ninja obnoxious. So between the obvious question and her own inward disappointment being reflected outward Natsumi lashed out. "What do you think?!" She shouted in response startling the occupants of the room, Sakura took a step back not expecting her patient to have an outburst like this. Natsumi looked down not sure why she yelled like that, her mind was a torrent of thoughts. The flood of thoughts began to overwhelm the young Namikaze, as Sakura attempted to step towards the bed again it was empty.
"Wah! Where did she go?" Sakura exclaimed doing a double take towards the bed.
Naruto was about to respond when his father spoke, "I'll find her, I have a good idea where she is going." Minato spoke leaving no room for argument, then with a flash step he found himself standing in the dense forest behind Konoha. A few moments of walking brought him to an ancient looking house , bowing deeply before continuing Minato entered the house. A smell of must assaulted his nostrils, swiping his hand in front of his face he cleared the way of cobwebs making his way to the back of building. Entering through the slightly ajar double doors that led to the inner most room Minato found Natsumi kneeling before an ornate white jade dragon adorned with gold clouds and mirrored steel teeth. The rest of the room was covered in paintings of past battles and significant events, stepping forward gained the attention of Natsumi who spun around quickly getting into a fighting stance.
"Dad? What are you doing here, how did you know I was here?" Natsumi asked her voice shaking.
"The better question would be why are you here?" Minato asked as he approached his daughter, kneeling beside her he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know, I just ran and found myself here!" Natsumi snapped earning a look of concern from her father. She stared at her father for what seemed like forever before looking down, "I failed... It's all i can think about... what I could have done different, how i could have won." Tears began to roll down her cheeks, burying her face in her hands she broke down letting her emotions pour out.
After Natsumi had recovered she looked to her father, he was now sitting on the ground with his hands behind him propping him up. "Natsumi failure is a part of life" he paused looking towards his daughter, "It's hard to deal with some times. But learning from it is how you build strength of character and soul, I cant tell you how to deal with it because for everyone it is different." Standing he brushed the dust off the back of his pants which turned into a yawn and stretch. "Take your brother for example, failure is nothing to him, he gets knocked down and will always get up. That's how he found his strength, however I know another man who once went into a deep mental battle after every failure." Minato stopped to reach down and help Natsumi to her feet, kneeling down slightly he lifted her chin up so she was looking him in the eye. "This man would go over his failures til nearly driving himself crazy, he would throw himself into training vowing to never fail again. Of course this failed until he was able to learn to move past and learn from his failures. Do you know who this was?"
Natsumi stepped back before answering, "You" she responded with a light smirk.
Minato faulted nearly falling backwards, "How did you know?"
Natsumi looked at her father with a look of annoyance, "First of all, you started with Naruto and second you are you and would never tell someone's story like that without asking first."
Minato looked at his daughter in awe, "Well damn you got me there" he laughed. "We should go back im sure your mother is worried, and I'm sure you want to know your team assignment."
Natsumi had forgotten about the team placements this raised her spirits a bit, "Yeah lets go" she laughed. It did not take them long to return to the hospital, entering the room, Natsumi was assaulted by voices.
"Natsumi why did you disappear Sakura was just trying to check your injury's!" Kushina yelled, her voice overpowering both Naruto and Sakura who were yelling as well.
Minato silenced the room by raising his hand, "Do not worry we simply went for a walk" something in his tone left no room for argument. Natsumi looked at her father in surprise, he turned back to her "Natsumi if you wish to attend your team placements. Its best you get checked out by young Sakura here" Natsumi nodded sharply while walking over to the bed.
"I think ill head home Natsumi's room was destroyed and needs cleaning and repairs" Kushina said before passing her husband giving him a kiss and waving goodbye to Naruto, Sakura and Natsumi.
"Naruto I need you to come with me, I have an issue I could use your help with" Minato said as he turned to his son. "Do your best today Natsumi" he added as he left the room followed by a waving grinning Naruto.
Both Minato and Naruto ran across the roof tops as stealthily as they could not wanting to bring attention to themselves. The duo mad their way to the outskirts of town where they were met by Kakashi Hatake and Obito Uchiha. "Sensei, Naruto you got our message?" Obito asked.
"Yes, it said you had found Mizuki, Where is he?" Minato asked his voice dark, setting everyone on edge with the amount of killing intent he was letting off.
Kakashi pointed to the old mansion behind the gate he was leaning against, "Don't know why he wouldn't just leave the village? Maybe those forbidden jutsu are messing with his brain?" Kakashi asked no one in particular.
"That's likely most of those jutsu are double edged swords" Naruto responded while stretching his face void of emotion. This put a deeper feeling of dread in Kakashi and Obito than the waves of killing intent coming off Minato. Naruto's normal happy go lucky attitude was no where to be seen, despite themselves they felt sorry for what was about to happen to the traitor.
"Obito keep an eye out for traps we are moving in" Minato commanded before jumping the gate and running towards the run down mansion. With out a word the three other men followed their Hokage, quickly reaching the front door.
"No traps on the door" Obito reported his Sharingan blazing in his eye. "He's upstairs in the first door on the left" With a single kick from Naruto the door flew off its hinges and down the hallway, Minato rushed up the stairs first leading the other men.
Entering the group was met with a trembling Mizuki kneeling before three people in robes, "See I told you they would come!" Mizuki exclaimed crawling closer to the robed infiltrators. "Now get me out of here like you promised!"
The figure in the middle looked down before speaking, "Very well, you have completed your task our master will be proud your bounty will be grand." As his sentence finished a swirling pattern etched into the ground below Mizuki sucking him down and through a portal, "This will take you to the master."
"Damn it we let him get away!" Naruto growled attempting to rush in only to be stopped by Minato.
"Wait Naruto we don't know what they are capable of" Minato warned.
A sharp laugh cut the tension, "Our capability's are endless our numbers Legion" the left most man spoke nearly unable to contain laughter as he talked. His laughter was cut off by Kakashi landing a round house kick to the head. The kick would have killed most men, however this green haired man who was now removing his cloak simply began to laugh again. The man was covered head to toe in scars, wearing no shirt revealing his slim lanky body. He wore a pair of tattered striped prison pants cut off below the knee, where fused into the flesh of his lower legs were two blades that run down the front of both his legs. Matching his legs on his forearms he had metal claws connected to the same fused metal flesh combination.
"This is going to be fun!" he shrieked as he rushed Kakashi only to be blitzed by Obito who knocked him into the ground pinning his back to the hard wood floor.
"Stay down mad dog..." Obito spoke his voice even and uncaring as he drove his kunai into the man's eye penetrating his brain.
"Hmm it seems they are better than we predicted, but why don't you attack Hokage?" One of the remaining cloaked people asked her feminine voice was nearly monotone, making it hard to find any hidden intention in her question.
Minato glared at the woman releasing a massive amount of killing intent mixed with potent chakra acting like a genjutsu to cause fear. Within a moment or two the woman backed down with a gasp, "Reveal your selves and you may get out of here alive." Minato said with a hint of anger in her voice, this had both figures to remove their hoods.
The man had a bald head which every milometer was covered in unrecognizable tattoo's, the woman had long blond hair with beads braided into intricate designs they both had uncanny yellow eyes. "We have shown our selves, because we know our Lord the god of blood. The god of carnage, the god of Immortality! shall give us the strength to cleanse all who stand in our path." The man who was still under Obito began to convulse throwing the Uchiha off his corpse, "Our Lord Jashin grant us your boons to rid these heathen from your WORLD!" A wave of malicious chakra filled the room, the man who was chanting suddenly grew to twice his original and the woman beside him seemed to be encased in a powerful barrier. The most concerning was the dead man he simply stood and pulled the kunai from his brain healing the wound in seconds, "Thank you Lord for your generous gifts!"
"Whats with these guys I know that should have killed him" Obito complained while rolling his shoulders.
"Don't go crying on us" Kakashi verbally jabbed.
"Not the time! you three hold them off ill seal them so we can have Ibiki get any information they have out of them..." Minato retorted coldly.
"Hai" they responded in unison, the battle did not last more than two minutes the three assailants were now tied up with seals placed all over their body's.
"Kakashi, Obito take these three to Ibiki, Naruto you best get to the academy you don't want to let your team wait too long." the three Jonin nodded before each disappearing in their own swirl of leaves.
Neither Natsumi nor Sakura knew what to say so they say in relative silence, the only words between them being medical questions and answers. The exam had revealed that between the emergency healing she had received when she had arrived, and her natural healing factor from being half Uzumaki she was nearly recovered. After being released Natsumi made her way over to the academy, her class had already started but they had yet to begin the team assignments.
"Normally id scold you for your tardiness, but with the situation as it is ill let it slide" Iruka said as Narumi entered the room.
"Gee thanks..." she mumbled before sitting beside Ryujin and Tsuji.
"Congratulations everyone on passing, this is my first year as a teacher that everyone has passed be proud!" Iruka announced igniting the room with cheers. "And now its my pleasure to assign your teams, to begin we will start with Team 11. Haruta Takenobu, Sai, and Tsuji Uchiha your sensei Hinata Hyuga will be waiting out front of the academy."
Both Tsuji and Natsumi looked at each other, "Sorry Natsumi guess were not on the same team" Tsuji lamented quietly.
Natsumi hugged her friend, "Its okay we'll get stronger separate until were strong enough to go on missions with one of us as the lead." she whispered in Tsuji's ear before breaking the hug to push the Uchiha to follow her teammates.
"Next we have Team 10, Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akamichi your Sensei Itachi Uchiha will be waiting at Team 10's training grounds." Shikamaru made an audible groan of troublesome as he followed Ino and Choji out of the room. "Onward we have Team 7, Sasuke Uchiha," Natsumi prayed to what ever gods were out there to spare her from being on a team with Sasuke. "Konohamaru Sarutobi, and..." despite knowing Iruka was not pausing it still felt like an eternity while she waited her fate. "Hanabi Hyuga," 'Yes!' Natsumi inwardly shouted, "Your Sensei Naruto Namikaze asked you to meet him on the roof." Natsumi looked around the room as Team 7 left, Iruka speaking made her look his direction, "As you three may have guessed you are a team, Team 6 to be exact, your sensei should be here any minute she is running a bit late so just wait here for her." With that Iruka left the room leaving Natsumi with her new teammates, her close friend Ryujin and a person she had maybe talked to a handful of times Kumoharu Aburame.
"Hey Kumo why don't you come over here until Sensei gets here!" Ryujin called out waving him over.
"Whatever..." Kumoharu complained while getting up to join his teammates, kneeling on the desk rather than sitting on a chair.
"What should we do till she gets here?" Ryujin continued when Kumoharu got comfortable.
"Why don't we get to know each other, I cant say I know either of you particularly well." the spider like boy responded surprising his teammates.
"That's a great idea!" said a feminine voice coming from the door announced, the three genin turned to see Sakura Haruno standing in the doorway. Natsumi did a double take before grimacing, "I was going to get you to tell me about your likes, dislikes, and dreams so we could get to know each other better so this is perfect."
"Great ill go first!" Ryujin exclaimed standing from his seat, "My name is Ryujin Hatake, my dream is to become a great ninja who my father and mother can be proud of!" Despite his shouting his attitude was somehow contagious, "I like writing stories and talking about fantastical tales with my mother, I dislike those who look down on me because of my bloodline or lack there of!" he sat down with a "Humph" and a ear to ear grin.
'Interesting he reminds me of Naruto' she thought with a smile, next to go was Kumoharu who stood as Ryujin sat. "My name is Kumoharu Aburame." his tone almost bored as he spoke, "My dream is..." he paused thinking deeply, "I don't know if I even have a dream... But I do like dango... as for dislikes I dislike too many things to list, but one thing I despise are bullies."
'Not too surprising' Sakura mused, Natsumi standing next returned her attention to her students. "My name is Natsumi Namikaze, my dream is" Natsumi paused thinking deeply. "I dream that I may one day live a life of ultimate freedom going where the wind takes me, having adventures every step of the way." 'Sounds about right' Sakura smiled, "I like my moms cooking and I dislike Ichiraku ramen, unfortunately that's my family's favourite restaurant." She finished with a look of disgust on her face.
"Well you three are certainly interesting" Sakura outwardly mused, "Now as for myself, my dream is to be the greatest medical ninja in the world, I like spending time with my friends and parent's and I dislike seeing people hurt and being unable to help them." Sakura's face turned dark for an instant with her final comment. "Now that introductions are done with we are going to have a race!" the jonin announced, this shocked her three students as they sat mouths agape. "We will be racing to Training Grounds Six, on the mark of three!" Natsumi, Ryujin, and Kumoharu all got into a stance best suited for them. "One, Two, Three" on three all four members of Team Six were off, It only took moments for each to reach the Training Grounds. Natsumi reaching the goal several seconds before Sakura who simply smiled as she saw Natsumi had beaten her. Kumoharu was not far behind Sakura with Ryujin tight on his heels. "Very well done" Sakura clapped, "But now the real test begins." As she finished she pulled a pair of bells from her pocket. "You have until tomorrow morning to take these bells from me, normally this is just a team work test but I'm sure a few of you would already know that." Sakura took a moments pause to ring the bells, "But this time I want you to think of this as your first official mission and you will fail and go back to the academy if you do not retrieve both of these bells."
"What!? but I thought we passed our Genin exam?" Ryujin questioned, Kumoharu was thinking the same thing but he chose to keep it quiet.
Natsumi had sorta seen this coming she knew there had to be more to becoming a genin, "Fine what are the rules?" Natsumi asked in a confident tone. Both Ryujin and Kumoharu looked at their teammate in surprise.
Sakura smiled in a way that made Natsumi nervous, "I'm glad you asked Natsumi, since you have proven to be faster than me and most likely to get both bells on your own. You will be unable to grab the bells your self, you will only be able to assist your teammates." Natsumi's jaw dropped but before she could call foul Sakura began the test, "Your test starts now!"
Natsumi followed her teammates as they dashed into the forest, "Okay this just got a lot harder" Natsumi confessed as they stopped in a well hidden grotto. "Either of you have a plan?"
"I'm not sure how long it would last but I hav..." Kumoharu was cut off by Natsumi covering his mouth.
"Sorry..." She whispered in his ear, "I think she followed us we need to be quiet." The ground quaking revealed that she had, Sakura had just punched the ground sending all three genin in different directions. "Damn it lets meet up back at the clearing, you two make a plan ill hold her off til you get far enough away!" Natsumi yelled as she stood before the woman who just created a mini earthquake with a punch, Neither argued as they dashed away.
"Smart, now they can get away and you will run when things get hairy." Natsumi was not surprised she saw through her plan though it did not change anything it was still her best bet. Charging forward Natsumi attempted to get behind the older ninja only to be met with a fist nearly taking her head off. Natsumi barely managed to dodge the strike having to turn her momentum into a roll which sent her into tree. "You may be fast but you are very predictable, your movements are liner i just have to place my fist in your path and you do all the work for me." Sakura scolded, Natsumi had met no one save her father and brother could take advantage of her speed like that and it was beginning to scare her. "This is a team exercise and you split your team up to fight a foe stronger than yourself," Natsumi attempted to run only for her vision to be filled with Sakura petals. 'Shit Genjutsu!' Natsumi thought to herself as she fell unconscious. Sakura sighed as she picked Natsumi up and placed her on her shoulder and started making her way back to the clearing where Natsumi was meant to meet up with Kumoharu and Ryujin.
As Sakura as about to enter the clearing she found her self unable to move either her arms or legs, 'Webs?' she thought to herself as she spotted what was hindering her movement. The next moment Kumoharu appeared above her and Ryujin below, Ryujin reaching for the bells and Kumoharu grabbing hold of Natsumi. Sakura had to let go of Natsumi to rip the webs and block Ryujin from grabbing the bells, after engaging in a quick martial bout Ryujin retreated. Sakura chose not to chase after her students instead she smiled and gave them time to recover, after all she had all night to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
Ryujin and Kumoharu stopped running when they found a cave hidden in a hollowed out tree, placing Natsumi down Kumoharu lightly touched her forehead injecting chakra into her system disrupting the genjutsu allowing her to awake.
Natsumi sat up with a start looking around to gather her bearings, "Kumoharu, Ryujin what are you guys doing here I thought you were going to get away?"
"We did and we managed to set a trap for Sakura-sensei, she had you under genjutsu but Kumoharu broke it when we got away." Ryujin explained he was leaning against the wall of the cave with a distant look on his face.
'What's with him?' Natsumi inwardly questioned, looking towards Kumoharu she gave a quick bow. "Thanks for saving me guys" she said in a strained happy voice revealing it bothered her that she had to be saved.
"If it wernt for you we wouldn't of had a chance we would have been separated all night, I'm guessing that was her plan" Kumoharu droned with a shrug.
"Were you guys able to come up with some form of plan?" Natsumi asked looking to Ryujin trusting his opinion.
"Kumoharu's spiders are our best bet at this point their paralytic should be enough to slow her down allowing us to get the bells." Ryujin explained with a little of his regular glow returning to his face.
"How is a spider meant to get on Sakura without her noticing, shes a Jonin after all her awareness of her environment is out of this world... she's also had to deal with my brothers dumb pranks I'm sure she has a sixth sense for these things." Natsumi questioned.
"That's where you come in" Kumoharu said with a dark smile.
The three Genin waited till darkness fell to make their move, it did not take long for them to find Sakura leaning against a tree reading a book. "Don't rush and this will work" Natsumi whispered as they stopped in a tree not far from Sakura.
"That's rich coming from you" Ryujin playfully jabbed before rushing in as per the plan.
Natsumi lightly smiled while shaking her head, following behind Ryujin she kept to the shadows hiding her presence with chakra.
Sakura was surprised that her students had waited till nightfall, it did not bother her though it allowed her to catch up on reading. As she was getting to an integral part of the story she felt a person running at her full speed. Sakura sighed as she closed her book at the perfect time to block an attempt by Ryujin to grab the bells by knocking his hands away with a back hand. Taking a moment to recover he grabbed at the bells again, 'And he was raised by Kakashi-sensei?' she thought as she attempted to block again, however this time the attack was a distraction. Ryujin dropped to the ground lashing out with a strong low kick, Sakura had no choice but to dodge she had thrown herself off balance in her attempt to block his feint. Jumping to dodge Sakura was met with a large spider web filled with spiders of all kinds, as the web encircled her a puff of smoke appeared where Sakura had once been. Now in her place was a battered log, now standing behind Kumoharu Sakura let out a light laugh. "Nice try but you were a bit slow springing your trap" Sakura said in a sing songy voice sending a chill down the spine of her student.
"That wasn't the trap," Natsumi said from behind the Jonin placing a hand on her shoulder allowing the spider on her wrist to make its way onto Sakura's exposed neck. Sakura attempted to squash the arachnid before it could bite her unsuccessfully, Sakura could feel the effects immediately. Her vision began to blur as her body began to slow. Kumoharu did not want to let this chance get away from him, diving for the bell had him landing face first on the branch they were standing on. "Shes heading towards Ryujin im going to back him up! Catch up when you can!" Natsumi yelled as she took off after Sakura.
As Sakura landed she reached for her Med Kit only to be assaulted by Ryujin, who attacked her with a rush combination throwing as many blows as he could as fast as his body would allow. If she were not afflicted with the spider toxin this rain of blows would be no problem, but at the moment it was taking everything she had to keep up with her student. Despite the speed disadvantage she had she was slowly stopping storm of fists, feet, elbows, and knees and began to push him back. Suddenly as she was about to counter Ryujin back flipped away, avoiding the ground behind him. Sakura was too late to stop her self from falling into the disguised hole, she once again used substitution jutsu to escape her predicament. "This is insane..." She lamented aloud while landing from her jutsu, Sakura once again had no time to deal with the spider toxin as Natsumi had now joined with Ryujin. Both genin charged their teacher Ryujin leading the attack, with a deep breath Ryujin attacked with a large Fire Ball jutsu.
"Fire style: Fire Ball Justu!" as Sakura attempted to dodge to the left she saw another fire ball blocking her way this time from Natsumi.
At the last second Sakura managed to slam her foot into the ground creating pillars out of stone to block the jutsu's, "Nice try!" She huffed. Continuing the unrelenting assault Kumoharu stepped out of the shadows behind Sakura.
"Secret Art: Widow's Fangs!" The lanky boy aimed his index and middle fingers on each hand at the neck of his teacher.
Sakura could feel the killing intent behind the attack make every hair on her body stand on end, she once again dodged by jumping into the air only to be met with Ryujin attacking from behind the stone pillars she had made. Ryujin was aiming the kunai in his hand at the string that held the bells, Sakura threw her weight to the side shifting the string out of the way of Ryujin's blade. As Ryujin fell Natsumi who was hiding behind Ryujin took aim at the same point with her her sword cutting though the red cord. The bells fell directly into Ryujin's waiting hand causing him to yell in triumph, "We did it!!" he yelled as he fell onto his back with a laugh.
As Sakura and Natsumi landed Sakura began to clap, "Well done! I expected this to take late into the night but you three proved me wrong." Her body language betrayed her words as she had a half scowl on her face and was standing with her arms crossed indignantly. "We will meet again tomorrow morning where your real training will begin" she said before disappearing into a gust of leaves. Sakura landed outside a small restaurant, built of wood without much decoration the restaurant was unassuming and plain one could easily mistake it for a family home were it not for the open sign draped over the top of the front door and a sign that simply read Renji's. Stepping through the threshold Sakura was met with the familiar aroma of the head chef and owner a former Jonin named Renji Kageruko's food. "Afternoon Renji anyone else here yet?" she asked in a near monotone as she reached the counter. Renji was standing with his back to the restaurant prepping vegetables for the next order.
Without turning the large tanned man with greying black hair pointed with his knife towards the back room where there were tables for groups, "Aye yer boyfriend got 'ere a few minutes ago 'es wait'n 'n yer friends at yer normal table 'll send Aizumi over with some drinks when shes done with the dishes, shouldn't be long."
Sakura was surprised that anyone else was done already, however she was happy she was not the first to arrive. "Thanks Renji!" she responded happily as she entered the backroom. As she did she saw a few other Jonin she knew but there were also quite few she had never met, this being a hangout for Jonin she was not surprised and simply found her way to their groups normal table to see Itachi sitting there. "I'm surprised your here so early Itachi" Sakura almost laughed as she sat in the chair beside him to give him a kiss on the cheek.
"Same could be said to you darling" Itachi retorted putting emphasis on the darling knowing his girlfriend hated being called that, "You were the one trying to compete with Naruto and the others I never agreed to be apart of the game" he continued while taking a sip of his tea.
"Sure you say that now but you still lost," Sakura laughed while poking Itachi in the chest. "What was your test anyway?" she asked as she moved her chair closer so she could lay her head on the Uchiha heir's shoulder.
"I just had them fight a clone of me each, they did quite well despite only Choji being able to beat his clone alone but that was expected those three work best as a group." He took another sip as Hinata walked in seemingly chewing Kiba out.
"How could you do something so reckless, if Shino hadn't been there you would have lost your head!" the normally quiet teen yelled making a few random jonin laugh.
Kiba shrugged as he rubbed the back of his head, "It wasn't that bad, you are over reacting I had the situation under control..."
"You nearly destroyed the first Hokage's face! You would have been convicted of destroying a national artifact!" she yelled turning on her heel this made anyone drinking spit out their drink's. Without another word she left him behind as she made her way over to the table that Sakura and Itachi were at.
Natsumi slowly made her way home she was still sore from the attack the night before and had pushed herself too far in the race and test. She was surprised when she entered the door to see her father sitting on the couch reading a scroll and listening to some music. "Hey, I'm tired i think ill go to bed after a short soak in the bath." Natsumi said as she attempted to walk up the stairs only to be stopped by her mother yelling from the kitchen.
"You need to eat something you are a growing girl! Ill bring something light up when you are done your bath." Kushina yelled from the kitchen.
Natsumi knew better than to argue with her mother so she responded with a quick but sincere "Thanks Mom." before retreating to soak her sore body in the hot water of the tub, she quickly ran the water as hot as she would be able to handle without injury before stripping out of her dirty and sweaty combat clothes. Giving herself a once over in the mirror she could see several dark bruises pocking her skin, she grimaced at the sight. Without another thought on the matter Natsumi got into the tub hissing as the water stung any reopened cuts.
Not long later Natsumi got out of the water, she dressed in her robe and threw her soiled clothes into the hamper in the corner of the room. As she exited the room she was met with her father, "So how did it go?"
"We passed i can tell you more tomorrow I'm really tired Dad," she said as she noticed the plate in his hands, she accepted the plate with thank you before turning to go to her room.
"I am proud of you Natsumi not many would be able to go through what you did last night and still be willing to be a ninja, you may not agree with me now but you are strong and I have no doubt that you will be a great ninja." he said before descending down the stairs.
Natsumi stopped short of her room stunned by her fathers words, a small smile graced her lips before she entered her room to eat quickly before bed.