I was still angry, even after I had changed. I now wore a black leather-like jacket that had a whole bunch of zippers, a blue crop top, black fishnets underneath it, and blue shorts. I had slipped on my blue ninja shoes, tightened my weapons pouch on around my right thigh, and placed my hair in a high ponytail. My headband was around my forehead as always, but I didn't have my usual blank, daydreaming look. I was MAD.
And I pretty much made sure the whole house knew that, too. I stomped down the stairs louder than necessary, taking a seat at the table without a word.
Naruto almost choked on his pancakes when he saw me. "Wow, uhh... Outfit change?" He said, his cheeks turning red.
I looked down at myself, then back at him and nodded. "Yeah. This one's easier to move in, anyway..." I muttered.
I saw Sasuke look up at me indifferently, and I knew how much he really didn't want to look at me. But even he couldn't act all high and mighty, because I already saw his eyes almost bulge out of his head when he saw me. I don't know why, but he quickly looked away and glared at the table.
Well, fine then. Let him be rude.
Kakashi-sensei eyed me carefully, and I could tell that he didn't know whether or not to talk to me. It'd be better for him if he doesn't, because I might just explode.
"Minxie... This is Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter. She helped us take care of you while you were hurt," He introduced unsurely. I looked up to see a pretty woman with dark hair. She smiled kindly at me, and I felt the corners of my mouth smile back reflexively, even though it was pretty forced.
"Thank you, Tsunami," I said, nodding as breakfast was put in front of me.
"No problem, honey. It was a brave thing that you did," She praised, putting her hand on my shoulder lightly. Sasuke scoffed and I glared at him from across the table.
Everyone was silent, obviously feeling the tension between he and I. I decided to make conversation so it'd be less awkward and said, "So... When are we going to train?"
"As soon as we finish eating," Kakashi-sensei replied easily. I took a bite of my breakfast, which so happened to be pancakes. Any other day, I'd've been jumping for joy at eating them. But when I'm angry, nothing registers the same way for me.
I reached across the table for the syrup bottle, realizing too late that Sasuke was doing the same. Our hands touch and we glared at one another. I snatched the syrup before he could say anything else, and poured it on my pancakes.
"Um... Minx?" Naruto inquired from next to me.
"Yeah, Naruto?" I replied sweetly.
"Um... You're sort of killing the syrup bottle, and you're killing my foot from underneath the table..." He whispered, gesturing to under the table. I looked and saw that my foot was crushing his own, probably had been since I'd sat down. Well, I had been stomping rather viciously...
"Oh... Whoops," I said meekly, quickly removing my foot and putting the syrup bottle back to where it once had been. Naruto let out a deep breath and clutched his foot, and I bit my lip, shrugging.
"Anyway," I said, "what sort of training is this supposed to be, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Well, considering how you've all grown exceptionally, I think this practice will be good for you. Once we're finished, you'll find learning new techniques simpler than before," Kakashi-sensei answered.
"Ooh... Sounds fun!" Naruto piped up.
"It won't be fun for you," A childish voice said. We all looked up to see a dark-haired boy, probably only Konohamaru's age, walking over to Tazuna.
"Inari!" Tazuna cheered as the little boy, Inari, welcomed him home.
"Inari, don't be rude! These are the ninja that brought your grandfather home safely!" Tsunami scolded.
"But mommy... They're all gonna die," The little boy reasoned. I stopped eating my pancakes to raise an eyebrow at him.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?" Naruto hollered. I stepped on his foot once again, causing him to wince back down.
"You can ask that calmly," I said, turning to Inari for his answer.
"No one can beat Gato or his men. You'll all just die," He said.
"WHAT-" The look I gave Naruto made him lower his voice. "-listen here, twerp! I'm a hero who's gonna be the Hokage someday! There's no way Gato or his friends can beat me!" He announced with his usual bravado.
"Hero? There's no such thing!" Inari said.
"What!?" Naruto yelled. Sakura held him back.
"Idiot! He's just a little boy! I told you to quit it!" She hissed loudly.
"Just go home... You won't die that way," Inari said, walking away.
"Inari? Where're you going?" Tazuna asked.
"I'm gonna watch the ocean from my room..." The dark-haired little boy answered, exiting the room.
"You know, Sakura, you call Naruto an idiot... But sometimes, I wonder, doesn't it take one to know one?" I said out of nowhere.
The pinkette glared at me. "You're so lucky that you almost died!" She barked.
"Why, thank you for showing such concern."
~*~
Many awkward silences later, we finished breakfast. Now, we were in the forest, where Kakashi-sensei would train us with some new, really beneficial technique.
I was excited, which was a first for me. My anger had improved; I was all bubbly now. But then Kakashi-sensei started talking about the wonders of chakra... And I just zoned out.
When I zoned it again, I heard Naruto say, "So... What do we do then, sensei?" What do we do to what? I was so confused... When you zone out, you miss everything.
"Simple, Naruto. We climb trees!" Kakashi-sensei announced as if that was perfectly normal.
"That's awesome! We get to be like ninja squirrels!" I gushed happily. Everyone sweatdropped at me.
"What? That's not what we're doing?" I asked, completely baffled.
"No, Minxie... It's an exercise that will help you get better control over your chakras," Kakashi-sensei explained with a sigh.
"Right... Chakras... Now where have I heard that before...?" I muttered to myself, but of course, everyone else heard.
"See! I'm not the only one!" Naruto piped up.
"Yeah, well, at least I didn't call them catras!" I snapped, and the blonde sweatdropped. "Oh... Wait! I remember now! A shinobi's chakra allows them to perform ninjutsu. Basically, energies from the body and energies from the mind form, together, a shinobi's chakra," I announced, smiling.
My whole team stared at me like I had just grown a second head. "What!? I pay attention! Sometimes..." I muttered, shrugging with a sheepish smile.
"So... I am the only one..." Naruto muttered, sounding bummed out.
"No, you're not. Between you and I... I first called them catras, too," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He immediately became energized.
"Anyway... This won't be any ordinary tree climbing, Minxie. You aren't allowed to use your hands. Using your chakra, you must focus energy into your feet and use it to walk up the tree, parallel to the ground, of course," Kakashi-sensei explained.
All of us had 'yeah, right...' faces on, so he smiled and walked over to a tree. He made a single hand sign, and his feet began glowing slightly. Then, he walked up the tree, parallel to the ground, as if gravity couldn't affect him. He stopped at a branch from which he hung upside down, smiling at us.
"And that's it in a nutshell. It's really simple, if you focus enough," He said, still smiling. Uh-huh. Sure. Because sticking to a tree like you're Spiderman is totally simple. Happens everyday.
Then, I realized something. "OH! So that's how you get your hair to defy gravity!" I said, smiling as if I'd just solved the greatest puzzle in history.
Everyone facepalmed. "You people are so rude..." I muttered, glaring at the floor.
'Anyway... use these," he threw kunai down at us, "to mark how high you get each time. I don't expect any of you to get to the top on your first try, but to begin with a running start."
I picked up the kunai, as did my other teammates. "No sweat! I could do this before breakfast!" Naruto announced.
"Uh, Naruto? We already had breakfast..." I pointed out, facepalming. "You see this!? And you guys look at me weird? He doesn't remember eating!" I cried, shaking my head.
Naruto sweatdropped at my comment, but continued his rant, "I'm the fastest-developing ninja on this team! This'll be a piece of cake!"
"Minxie, feel free to stop training as soon as you think it's too much. I don't want you to re-open that wound," Kakashi-sensei said after sighing at Naruto.
"Psh, you know that won't happen, Kakashi-sensei," I said.
He sighed, still upside-down, but I saw him smile from behind that mask. "Less talking, more acting. Pick a tree and climb!"
And so we did. I chose a tall tree and ran at it after I finished focusing my chakra. I thought I was just crazy, but I think I heard a humming sound while I did that... But I didn't stop to check it out.
Kakashi's POV
I watched as my students each bounded up their trees.
"This was easier than I thought!" A voice cheered. The boys and I looked up to see Sakura sitting on a branch in her tree. Sasuke and Naruto, however, were still on the ground. And Minxie... Was nowhere to be found.
"INCREDIBLE! GREAT JOB, SAKURA!" Naruto cheered, although he did seem rather ticked off. "Wait... Where's Minxie?"
"Up here!" I heard Minx's voice say. We all looked up and saw that... She was at the top of her tree. She wasn't sitting down like Sakura, though. Her chakra control was so advanced that she was just standing on the tree, parallel to the ground, without falling.
But that wasn't the oddest part. The oddest part was that she was glowing. A golden aura had surrounded her, shining with the most radiant light I had ever seen.
This aura... It must've been what Guy had told me about.
"What? Am I not doing it right?" Minx asked, biting her lip.
"HOLY CHIZZ! HOW'D YOU GET ALL THE WAY UP THERE!? And... WHY'RE YOU GLOWING!?" Naruto asked rather loudly.
"SAY WHAT!? Oh, no... I thought I was past all the freaky glowing stuff already! Please... Don't let me start floating!" She said, covering her face.
"No, no, Minx. You're doing fine. Don't lose concentration," I said, trying to keep her from falling. She nodded, uncovering her face and letting out a deep breath.
I assessed the situation carefully, looking at both girls in their trees, and the boys still on the ground. "Well, look at that. It seems that the females of this team have the best chakra control. Even with all of Naruto's boasts about being Hokage... Minxie or Sakura have a far better chance of being Hokage..." I said.
Sakura and Minxie giggled, smiles on their faces.
"And the last Uchiha doesn't seem impressive, either," I finished. Minxie started laughing hardcore, but Sakura immediately stopped smiling, pointing an accusatory finger at me and saying, "How could you, sensei!?"
Although I did mean what I said, I looked down at the two boys beneath my tree, knowing how massive their chakra resources were. Sure, Sakura had beat them in controlling her chakra, but her chakra amount was pale in comparison to theirs. And Minx... She had just as much chakra as Naruto and Sasuke. Of course, she had no clue how to use it, which would be a problem... But seeing as she was the last of the Takeda clan, she shouldn't have too many problems.
Speaking of which... I made a mental note to tell the Hokage of what Zabuza said. If memory served me right, the Takeda was once upon a time one of the most powerful clans in Konoha. But it had ended up in a bloody massacre, just like the Uchiha clan...
I looked over to Sasuke and Minxie. We all heard their huge argument in the house, and they kept on glaring frequently at each other. I sighed, shaking my head. Those two had no idea how much they had in common with each other.
But their pride... Their pride was their biggest similarity. Neither of them would ever admit to being alike in any way.
"This is so cool! I feel like I'm on top of the world!" Minxie cheered, breaking me away from my thoughts.
"Your tree isn't even that tall," Sakura countered, rolling her eyes.
"Well, at least I don't need to sit down on the branch! I'm awesome enough to just stand on here," Minx argued, walking up and down the tree until she was at the highest part.
"You both did well. I mean, look at the boys. They're still on the ground," I said, trying my best to avoid an argument.
Minx waved mockingly at them, making Sasuke glare at her. "Don't worry, Naruto! You can do it!" She cheered, making the blonde jump up and nod happily.
"Yeah!" He agreed, making another attempt to the tree. He and Sasuke tried time and time again, but still, they didn't get it.
Everything grew silent, though. There was only the occasional grunt from Sasuke or whine from Naruto about not getting the exercise. The girls were still perched in their trees.
But, of course, Naruto ruined the silence with, "OH, THIS ISN'T COOL, BELIEVE IT!"
It caught everyone off guard; a sudden outburst like that. Sakura jumped, but she was on the branch, so she didn't fall. But... Minxie wasn't. She was still on the trunk of the tree, and Naruto's outburst had surely startled her. It startled her so much that she lost her balance on the tree, her chakra throwing her off.
Everyone stared as she seemed to fall in slow motion. Obviously, I wasn't in any condition to catch her. And a fall from that height... Oh, no.
Minxie's POV
Have you ever fallen from an impossible height? I really hope you answer no, because it really isn't pleasant, but if yes, doesn't it seem as if you're falling in slow-motion? Don't you see everything you've done, everything around you, just slowly disappearing? No? Is it really just me?
Well, that's what was happening to me at that moment. I was falling, but to me, it seemed as I did so in slow motion. Naruto's cry had made me lose my grip on the trunk, and now, I was plummeting towards the ground.
A fall from where I was would surely kill me. If not, I'd probably end up paralyzed or with an impossible number of broken bones.
I shut my eyes, preparing for the impact of the solid ground.