Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I claim to.
Warning: All warnings are addressed at the bottom of chapter 2. EXTRA WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER FOR EXCESSIVE GORE AND DEATH. Please proceed with caution. If you feel you are about to get triggered, stop, and go google fluffy kitty and puppy pictures.
Beta: Cyndaquil123
'Tis the season to get gorey.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
"In the dark and dirty light,
where I can no longer hide,
I am exposed, corrupted through.
In the moment, motionless,
I will find my punishment.
This silent solitude!
-Sam luff, Solitude
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
(KISAME)
Kisame rubbed his hands together as he watched his cute little meatsacks shift around uncomfortably. Once he picked out his students, he had a messenger sent out to bring them all to one of the Akatsuki's private training grounds.
Obviously none of them refused the offer.
The Akatsuki were treated with reverence amongst the populace of Ame. Owari and Konan were head in exceptionally high regard, and consequently as Owari's partner, so was Kisame.
His starstruck students practically sprinted to get to the training grounds.
Kisame grinned widely, showing off his sharp teeth. "Alright. I think it's time for introductions. I'm Hoshigaki Kisame, partner of Owari. I specialize in kenjutsu, ninjutsu, and general ass kicking. Girl on the left, go."
The girl in question, an eleven year old, let out a small squeak. She was a petite little thing, all big blue eyes and soft black hair pulled into a side ponytail. She was easily the smallest of the trio, dressed in an overly large pale blue hoodie, and black shinobi pants that fell a little above her ankles. She wore her Ame hitai-ate around her neck, which Kisame thought was always a good place for fresh meat to wear since it added further protection against their neck.
"I-I'm Suzuki Seiko," Seiko introduced herself, a blush forming on her cheeks. "I hope to be a long-ranged ninjutsu user u-using my kekkei genkai: fuyu release."
Winter release? Kisame mused. He had only briefly glimpsed over her report. She had ridiculously large reserves—Uzumaki sized reserves—and a natural talent for her clan's kekkei genkai. The Suzuki Clan was nearly dead from lack of fertility by the time the Kirigakure civil war came around, and there were only two active users left. Once they integrated into Amegakure, however, the clan was able to successfully reproduce nearly ten kiddos who could use the kekkei genkai. Saeko was the most talented of the bunch, so Kisame grabbed her for himself.
Hey, if Naasica could have the Hyūga heiress then Kisame could have Saeko.
Fair's only fair.
"Okay," Kisame said, still grinning. "You, in the middle."
The boy in the middle was only barely bigger than Saeko. He had a mop of bright red hair, vivid green eyes, and a chip on his shoulder. He dressed in plain shinobi black pants, and a dark green camo-shirt. He had some thick black arm guards, and gloves, and black shinplates.
"Uzumaki Reo," Reo said flatly, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. The twelve year old still looked up at Kisame with plain reverence, but he actively tried to keep it from showing. It was funny, Kisame thought, to see Reo's brow furrow and his lips twitch as he tried to maintain a "cool" composure. "I'm a taijutsu specialist, and can use my clan's technique: chains."
If Naasica could have a powerhouse Uzumaki... So could Kisame.
"Last but not least," Kisame said, nodding towards his tallest student.
Kisame's last student was the very definition of nondescript. Civilian born with no natural talent in anything other than reading, or academics. He had flat brown hair that was kept neatly combed, dark brown eyes, and a face that was easy to forget. He was dressed entirely in black, the only color he had was a dark blue scarf he wrapped around to cover the lower half of his face. "Nibui Itsuki. I... have good chakra control."
Kisame was honestly tempted to grab another powerhouse, but that might be considered cheating. He took a completely ordinary, unremarkable twelve year old instead, like his partner.
Kisame clapped his hands together. "Good. Now let's get started, yeah? My goal is to get you guys shaped up to completely obliterate the Chūnin Exams in Konoha in six months. Prepare for the most hellish, grueling time of your lives, my cute little meatsacks."
All of three of them looked up at Kisame with determination, and hope.
This'll be a blast.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
(NAASICA)
I blinked once, then twice, a dizzying sensation washing over me. My head pounded fiercely for several seconds before it, and the vertigo vanished at once. When the fog over my mind lifted, I realized I was in a deserted training ground. The moon's position told me it was in the very early hours of the morning—around three, I would guess.
I had no memory of getting here.
The last thing I recalled was working in my office. It had only barely turned midnight when—
Nothing.
Three hours gone? I thought to myself. That's twice in a month, now, though... Is it happening more frequently, I wonder?
It wasn't the first time. Ever since Madara's death I had lost track of time a few times every couple months or so. It never lasted for more than three hours, and I only visited secluded grounds. I had Obito and Kakashi tail me a couple times when it first started, but they told me I only stood around.
I couldn't visit a doctor about it, since they'd likely do a thorough examination. If they did that, they'd undoubtedly discover some body seals I'd like to keep private. Then I'd have to kill them.
Spending a few hours of my time every month standing around wasn't that big of an issue.
I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
Then I went home to catch some sleep.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
"Again, Naruto," I ordered, eyes narrowed as I watched my adopted son leap back up into the air. He was pushing raw fūton chakra out of the bottom of his shoes. He was supposed to pump out enough to reach thirty meters first before he would slowly fall back down, then jump back up at twenty meters, repeat again for ten meters, and start over at thirty.
He was to land on the river without falling into the water, but so far he's had trouble doing that, and control his fūton chakra enough to gracefully slow his descent. So far he only made it come out in bursts, so the entire process was sloppy and required much refinement.
It probably didn't help I tied weights to him.
Naruto was breathing heavily, his outfit long discarded in exchange for a swimsuit. He was caked in sweat, his brow furrowed as he entirely concentrated on the exercise.
My gaze swung over to my next student. Hinata's hands were tied behind her back, a grimace on her face as she tried to maintain her composure through her own exercise. I summoned a couple dozen wooden spikes that stretched seven meters up from the ground. The points of them were sharp enough to cut through skin at a slight graze, and further down the base were a multitude of splinters pointing out.
Hinata was barefoot, and forced to hop onto each pillar, her feet awkwardly sticking toward the top of the spikes, the only spots not covered in spikes. She had to hop from one end to the other, and perform at least three different kicks on the way.
If she lost her balance she was not allowed to catch herself with her feet, or hands. Instead, I wanted her to use a basic suiton ninjutsu to pump enough water out of her mouth to push her back into place. The Hyūga were overly confident with their hand-to-hand fighting, I always believed. While Hisana worked hard to incorporate some much needed kicks in Hinata's style, she still lacked the experience to be wholly comfortable using her entire body.
And I wanted her to learn a good amount of long-ranged ninjutsu attacks. I thought about adding genjutsu to her repertoire instead, but decided that might be a bit too much this early on.
The Hyūga heiress looked like she was starting to near the verge of her first collapse. Impressive, since everyone began three hours ago.
After Hinata came Sakura and Ino. I had agreed to take on Ino, Chōji, and Shikamaru since the three of them required similar physical conditioning as Sakura.
And I was obviously the better teacher of the three of us. Kakashi and Obito were excellent shinobi, but neither of them had as much teaching experience as myself. Kakashi was working exclusively with Kiba at the moment, training him not to be so reliant on Akamaru while Akamaru trained with Kakashi's pack. Inuzuka members were decent enough with their partners, but becoming reliant on any other living creature in the world to do your entire arsenal was... stupid.
Kakashi had every intentions of turning Kiba into a close-to-mid range fighter. He'd teach him doton ninjutsu, and how to use dual weapons for maximum impact.
Obito took on Sasuke and Shino. Shino could never be a proper ninjutsu-heavy shinobi due to his hive (his bugs consistently ate up 75% of his chakra), so Obito would train him in taijutsu and genjutsu. The idea being that Shino would be able to throw off his opponents mid-fight to turn tides in his favor, or ensnare them at a distance in order to get close enough.
Sasuke, who was already skilled in genjutsu and clearly wanting to master it, would receive similar training. Except Obito would make sure Sasuke had some long-ranged ninjutsu in his arsenal. If you could learn long-ranged attacks, you always should. It'd be foolish to keep to a small arsenal.
Ino, Sakura, and Chōji were the three most unfit students we had. A brief discussion with Chōji's father confirmed that not all clan techniques required body fat. He would not go against me if I wanted Chōji to be more muscles instead of fat.
So the three of them were outfitted with weights around their ankles, wrists, back, and chest. They were not allowed to remove them except for bathing and sleeping. Any excessive damage they suffered would be healed up by Shisui in a way that will leave the muscles and bones stronger than before.
The three of them were tasked to run through a very simple obstacle course.
In the past three hours they'd each already collapsed from exhaustion over a dozen times.
And each time they were brought back up by a sympathetic Shisui and ordered to keep going.
Shisui was monitoring the three of them closely for me. I had kindly requested he took the month off for this specific purpose. When he mentioned it to his boss that his clan leader, Senju Demon herself, asked of it, he was immediately given paid leave.
The last student under my supervision was Shikamaru. He wasn't as unfit as the other three, so he was only given weights around his ankles and wrists. He was also put through another obstacle course... blindfolded.
I changed the obstacle course every time he ran through it—and he was not allowed to walk—so he couldn't completely memorize it.
He'd also collapsed around five times in the past three hours.
We began the training at six hundred sharp, and we would continue it until noon. Then I would allow them a two hour reprieve before we began again and continued until nineteen hundred.
This would repeat for the entire week, and then we would give them a chance out of this hell. On Saturday they would all train together, and on Sunday we would evaluate them. If they passed the evaluation, we would allow them to only train in the morning the following week and take missions in the afternoon.
If they failed, it would be another week of hell for them.
I smiled at that.
Because I knew they were going to fail, and we would be putting them through this for many, many more days.
I almost felt sorry for them.
Almost.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
Between extremely harsh training, a proper diet, and ragged determination, everyone could see improvement by the time the weekend rolled around. Chōji was shedding fat like water off a duck, with he and the girls rapidly gaining proper muscles. Granted, the girls would never bulk up due to lack of testosterone, but they were finally starting to become wiry and lean.
I suspected by the end of the month they would be as physically fit as Hinata.
Another week of hellish training and I decided I'd switch up their routine. Mornings would remain as intense exercise, but afternoons I could focus on actually passing on skills. With Sakura's chakra control, I was initially leaning towards genjutsu but that'd be rather boring.
She had the mind and talent for medical training, if she so chose, but I wouldn't be able to teach her in that so it was out. Maybe after she became a Chūnin she could seek out an apprenticeship with Shisui, but that would have to be her choice.
So I sat back and thought about my team composition.
Hinata would primarily be a close ranged fighter. Even though I would teach her long-ranged ninjutsu, that was to fill a painfully obvious weak point in her style. It would never be her priority. I'd bet all the money in the world she'd follow her mother's footsteps to a t. She'd learn Hisana's version of the Gentle Fist, master poison, and learn chakra strings and senbon. She'd incorporate launching poison-laced senbon via chakra strings with her fighting style.
She'd be lethal in close range, undoubtedly.
Naruto was a wild card with his fūinjutsu, but he'd probably stay mid-close range. He wasn't the type of person to want to sit back and launch attacks. He wanted to be in the middle of the fray.
On the flip side he equally enjoyed setting up traps made by his seals and guiding his enemies inside of them, like a sadistic mastermind.
But it won't be often that he'd have a chance to set up traps beforehand, so for the purpose of evaluating team composition I'd put him at a mid-close range fighter.
Which meant my team lacked a dedicated long ranged fighter.
But Sakura's reserves would never truly get big enough—
But with her chakra control...
Hmm.
Could she become a long distance fighter?
What kind of weapons did long distance fighters typically used, aside from ninjutsu?
Bows and arrows. Madara had an old bow that was made by the Uzumaki generations ago. It didn't require any arrows, but instead it generated chakra arrows based on the user's nature.
It was a good bow, Madara had told me. But it was too old to be used casually anymore, and being an archer never really fit Madara's style.
I could very likely reconstruct the bow myself. Hell, I could have Naruto reverse engineer the seals and build Sakura a bow. It'd be a good exercise for him, and I'd be able to assist him as necessary along the way.
Sakura already picked out a couple daggers, and whip as weapons she wanted to learn. Both might actually work well with an archer build. Obviously enemies would still get close to Sakura—I wasn't arrogant enough to think I'd be able to train her to kill everyone before they got to her—so she'd need to learn how to fight mid and close range. Daggers would help in close range, and a whip could cover the distance between too-short-to-use-a-bow but too-far-to-use-daggers.
Hmm.
If done right, the arrows shouldn't put a drain on Sakura's reserves, either. They'd also be able to shoot much farther than most ninjutsu techniques. Although they wouldn't be good for aoes.
Unless she learned how to turn them explosive?
It might be possible. If the arrows were simply the user's chakra condensed and given shape, shouldn't she be able to dictate what kind of chakra is used?
This honestly sounds perfect, I admitted to myself.
With my mind made up, I decided to have Naruto not train with the other Genin on the weekend. Instead, I'd give him the task of reverse engineering the seals off Madara's bow, and putting them on a different bow.
Should I go ahead and get an adult bow? Hmm. Yeah, might as well. She better be strong enough to use it.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
On Saturday, I had Naruto stay home with me while Obito, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Shisui headed out to the training grounds.
Naruto and I sat at the kitchen table. On my right was Madara's antique bow, and on my left was a brand new blood-red bow. Naruto sat across from me, looking at both bows with open curiosity. "How come I'm not training with the others today?"
"Today you're going to learn about fūinjutsu," I told him. "Or, well, I'm giving you an exercise to complete. It'd be difficult. It's S level fūinjutsu."
Naruto's eyes shined brightly at that, and he perked up. "Really? Oh heck yeah! What do I do?"
I patted Madara's bow. "This is a cherished, antique bow from the Uzumaki family. Reverse engineer the seals off it, and place them on this new bow for Sakura."
"For Sakura?" Naruto repeated, his face scrunched. "Why does she get to keep my work?"
"You're teammates," I scolded him. "Teammates help each other. I've done plenty of fūinjutsu work for Obito and Kakashi."
Naruto still looked reluctant. "But she's... I mean she's such a fan girl."
"Really? Has she done anything since team formation to make you think that?" I asked dubiously.
"Well, no," Naruto admitted. "She was all over Sasuke in the academy, though. She doesn't know 'nything 'bout him, either."
"Hormones are powerful things not to be underestimated," I reprimanded him. "Do I need to have the talk with you?"
Naruto cringed. "No. Nope. Na-uh. I'm good. I get it. Puberty's a bitch, I'll drop it."
"Good. You have a week."
"Please," Naruto scoffed. "It won't even take me a day."
The thought made me amused. It would've only taken me a day, sure, but Naruto?
"Wanna bet?" I purred. "If you get it done by midnight tonight... I'll talk to Minato about teaching you the flying thunder god."
Naruto's eyes bulged. Learning his father's legendary technique was an open desire of his. The only reason Minato hadn't trained him, yet, was because Naruto lacked the fūinjutsu skill. If he was able to successfully reverse engineer seals that were S-ranked, then he clearly could do the same for the teleportation technique.
A big, wicked grin stretched over his face and he declared, "Watch me! I'll have it done in no time."
"Good," I said with a smile. "You have until midnight. If you fail, you won't be able to take missions for a month."
That got a gulp of worry out of him.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
At twenty hundred that night—hours after everyone returned home, enjoyed dinner, and headed off to bed—Naruto sprinted into my office. He proudly held up Sakura's bow, his face brighter than the dawn. "I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT!"
I put down the tax report the council was going to go over in the next meeting. I turned around in my office chair and held out my hand. Naruto placed the bow inside of it, jumping up and down in place.
I examined it for several minutes, unable to contain my surprise, and pride at his work.
He actually did it.
I lowered the bow and gave Naruto the warmest smile my black heart could make. "Well done, my little sunshine. You have succeeded. I will talk with Minato later, so why don't you go to bed now?"
"Hee-hee-hee!" Naruto giggled with glee, rocking from side to side with giddiness from his success. "I'm going to be the best fūinjutsu master ever! EVER!"
"Yes," I agreed, my gaze soft. "You really will be."
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
Sunday was evaluation, and we did the same one as last week. Unsurprisingly no one succeeded—but they did get a little bit farther—and by the time the sun began to set we concluded the test. Before we allowed them to go, however, Kakashi unveiled a crate we had kept hidden.
Inside the crate were portable kennels, and each one had a cute little rabbit inside of it.
"Everyone needs to take one," I told them, "and take care of it for a while."
"Huh?" Kiba groaned. "How come?"
"It's for another test," Obito said. "To see if anyone has an affinity for animals, or is compassionate enough to start training under Shisui for medical."
The first part was true.
The second part was a lie.
Still, Shisui smiled and waved, as he was told to do. "Yep! All iryo-nin start with rabbits. None of them should be sick now, but if you're so inept at keeping a healthy rabbit alive not a lot we can work with, yeah?"
There were some exchanged looks, but for the most part they accepted what we told them. Sakura, Ino, and Chōji were especially happy with this development. The three of them selected their rabbits and immediately named them, all smiles and bright eyes.
"Dismissed," Kakashi told them.
The students left the training ground, tired and dirty. A few of them were chatting about their bunnies, and I barely heard Naruto suggest they bring them over to Kiba's. The three of us remained behind, waiting for them to leave before discussing our next move.
"Think they'll be okay?" Obito asked, a the barest hint of worry in his tone.
"No," I admitted honestly. "I think—I think we might have to use The Pit."
There was a twinge in Kakashi. Obito and I both reached out to him. Obito placed a hand on his shoulder, while I grabbed his hand. We moved closer to him, not quite embracing, but enough for him to be able to draw comfort from our presence. Kakashi took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
"We don't have to do it," Obito offered him.
"No. Naasica was right, it's a good idea to use it," Kakashi disagreed quietly. "If they can't handle this test, they'll be in for a lot worse if war ever breaks out. The Pit is a safest way to... acclimate them."
"I'm sorry," I confessed to him. It was my idea, after all.
"Don't be," Kakashi told me. "Even without war, there's still violence. They'll have to take lives, and get accustomed to the dirty side of this career anyway. If they break from The Pit..."
If The Pit breaks them, then they shouldn't be in this business.
It went unsaid, though.
I placed a brief kiss on Kakashi's cheek. "Obito and I will handle it, if it comes to it."
"I'm okay—"
"We'll handle it," Obito insisted, pulling both Kakashi and me into a hug. "We know you're a big tough Jōnin, buddy. Don't strain yourself trying to show off."
Kakashi might have smiled under his mask, but I couldn't see since his head was bowed.
Kakashi was a strong shinobi. He was a war veteran and had added hues of Red to the world during his career. He was soaked in the blood of his enemies, and even in the blood of innocents. He was a proper soldier for his village.
But he was still a man, and he reached his breaking point years ago.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't have an Owari to help bear that burden.
No. He only had me and Obito, and the two of us were barely put together as it was.
It was a bit of an odd thing, though, when you thought about it. How one little experience would be the last straw that forced Kakashi to draw the line. He was fine with everything else, but whatever made him think back to it—
Well.
Not that I could blame him.
We all had our scars to bear. Some of them hurt a bit more than others.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
I headed back home to make dinner while Obito took Kakashi for a stroll around Konoha. It was doubtful Kakashi would have an anxiety attack, or flashback, but on the off chance he did it would be best if he was someplace private. None of us liked showing our weak moments to the children in the house.
Minato was understanding. He had his fair share of issues. Even Shisui developed claustrophobia from his time in the ROOT cellars.
But Naruto and Sasuke were devoid of Red, and we didn't know how to explain to them why certain things bothered us. Why Kakashi avoided holes, why Obito refused to sleep in total darkness, why Minato sometimes just had to hold onto us for hours on end, unable to let go.
Why I couldn't visit Kushina's grave.
How did you explain to a child, who lived a life without strife, what trauma or pain was?
I wished I'd never have to.
I wished Naruto and Sasuke followed Itachi's path and turned their backs on the shinobi world.
But those were simply wishes, and given Naruto's jinchūriki status Minato would have undoubtedly made sure he was trained. Sasuke was adamant about being strong enough to protect his family, and there was no persuading him otherwise.
They were both destined to follow in our footsteps.
They were both going to break.
I only hoped I would be able to save them before they shattered.
Upon returning home, I set about making dinner. I pulled out the pork from the fridge, pleased it had finished thawing during the day. I seasoned each cut, and whipped up a breaded batter for them. While the oil was heating up in the fryer—a good purchase by Obito, but a pain in the ass to clean—I worked on the vegetables. When the oil was hot enough the vegetables were almost done steaming, and I dropped in the batter-covered pork loins in the fryer.
Frying barely took more than a few minutes, so by ten minutes I had all the meat fried. While the pork loins were frying, I had previously popped in homemade biscuits in the oven.
Everything ended up finishing around the same time, and it was then that Naruto and Sasuke returned home.
"We're home!" Naruto hollered out. "I smell fried pork!"
"Yes," I confirmed. "Would you two please set the table?"
Sasuke and Naruto entered the kitchen, both boys reaching to grab one of the fried pieces of pork, but I swatted their hands away. "Don't be such pigs. Wait until dinner."
Then I noticed something.
"Where are your rabbits?" I asked suspiciously.
"Killed 'em and fed them to the Inuzaka puppies," Naruto said flippantly.
I sighed. "Both of you?"
"Kiba and Hina-chan did, too," Naruto defended.
"The puppies are almost ready to be adopted out," Sasuke added. "We thought—Tsume-san said that maybe—maybe we could have one?"
That made me blink. "You two want a puppy?"
"Not us," Sasuke corrected. "For Itachi-niisan. Since he's—you know. Not a shinobi anymore, and the puppies could be trained to protect him."
While Itachi was retired, I didn't believe for a second there were a lot of people that could threaten him.
"If it's okay with Minato," I answered slowly. "I suppose we could get Ita-chan a puppy."
The boys let out a whoop. Naruto asked me, "Is he home?"
"Yes, he's in his work room. Knock before you enter in case he's experimenting with seals again."
Naruto and Sasuke both made an acknowledging noise before dashing off. I realized they hadn't set up the table at all, so I rolled my eyes and went ahead and did so. When they had returned—and Minato was with him—dinner was finished and set.
"Are Kakashi and Obito joining us?" Minato asked.
"Maybe," I answered. "They're out for a walk."
Minato didn't react, since that was our code for when one of us was feeling... less than stellar. Instead, he said, "Okay. So how's training?"
"Easy," Naruto bragged. "I don't know why Nee-chan is bothering with the rabbit test, though."
"Not everyone has gone hunting before and is comfortable with killing animals," Minato chided. "You have a civilian on your team, don't you?"
"Ugh. Yeah," Naruto muttered, exchanging sour looks with Sasuke.
"She's just as bad as Ino," Sasuke complained. "Can we drop all the useless weight? We don't need Sakura or Ino."
"Sasuke, they're your teammates," Minato admonished. "Besides, everyone has to start somewhere. Did you know that Obito was the deadlast?"
"Yeah, but he has the Sharingan," Sasuke pointed out. "Of course he was going to turn into a legend. Ino just complains about getting sweaty, and Sakura's... weak."
"They're both really weak," Naruto stressed. "How did they even pass the academy?"
Minato cleared his throat. "The academy evaluates all strengths. Sakura-san scored better than both of you on the written tests."
That made Naruto roll his eyes. "Ooo. Someone who re-eads."
"Naruto," Minato said warningly. He looked over at me with a raised eyebrow.
I smiled in response. "Don't worry. I beat the bickering out of Kakashi and Obito. This'll be a piece of cake."
Sasuke and Naruto both winced when I casually patted my bullwhip.
"The greatest shinobi alive and his sidekick have returned," Obito called out, teleporting into the kitchen with Kakashi. "Ooo. Fried goodness, come to me."
Kakashi took a seat beside me, appearing perfectly fine. That made me smile, since it meant that he was able to collect himself without dissolving into a panic attack.
"So what'd you two name your cute little bunnies?" Obito asked, scooping himself a big portion of food as he sat down beside Minato.
"Dog food one and dog food two," Sasuke quipped.
"Damn it. You weren't supposed to kill them that soon," Obito griped.
"We remembered Itachi-niisan having to do the same thing when he joined his Genin team," Naruto told him.
"Don't tell your friends," Obito warned them. "Otherwise you won't see missions for a year."
The look of sheer horror on their faces made them both fervently promise not to mention it.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
The next week followed much like last week. No one had passed their evaluation, so everyone was back to doing hellish training for a week. Progress was made on everyone's part, though. Naruto was now able to shoot up to fifty meters in the air in one shot, but his descent was still rocky. Hinata was able to bellow out a good stream of water to catch herself, and the rest no longer passed out so often. Shikamaru even made it through one session without dropping, which earned a good cheer of congratulations from Shisui.
Come Saturday we decided to give them a day of rest instead of training. This was met with tears or relief, and fevered thanks.
Then Sunday happened.
We told everyone to bring their dear bunnies.
Only three of them did so.
Chōji... Ino... and Sakura.
The rest of our Genin had killed their pet off in one fashion or the other. Most of them simply fed them to the new puppies after slitting their throats. Shino straight up used his for dinner.
It gave me hope for them. To already have so many comfortable with such an exercise was wonderful. It meant that I might not have to use The Pit.
The Pit was something I'd like to avoid if possible. In part for Kakashi's sake, but also because it was such a hassle to set up.
So I hoped that everyone would breeze through this test without issue.
"It seems like most of you caught on," Obito began that morning, his lips turned upwards in a cute smile. "We're proud of each you. To be honest, we'd prefer if the academy did this to begin with, but too many civilian parents protested against it."
Sakura looked around the mostly rabbit-less group, her brow furrowed as she clutched at the small brown fluff ball she dubbed Kikyo. "Um... I'm sorry, Senseis, but what are you talking about?"
"You were supposed to kill the rabbit," Sasuke cut in sharply.
Ino and Sakura both gasped at that, clutching at their pets. Chōji's face drained of blood, and his eyes watered. "Wh-Why?"
"You're going to be killing humans soon enough," Kakashi said flippantly. "Food really shouldn't bother you."
"But," I said not unkindly, "we understand that this isn't something you were raised, or taught about. At least, not in the academy. Taking a life is... difficult."
If anyone noticed my tone took a more mockery edge to it, they didn't comment.
"So today," Kakashi went on, "your exam is simple. Everyone has to kill their rabbit before noon, and then everyone passes. If Sakura, Ino, or Chōji fail to do this... then it's another week of no missions and we'll go back to the more difficult test."
The trio mentioned were thunderstruck by this. Sakura began to pet her rabbit's head and asked with a shaky voice, "If we—if we don't kill them by noon, d-do we get to keep them?"
"Sure," I dismissed. "If you're willing to put dog food above your teammates, might as well go all the way."
My words bothered them, and unsurprisingly Kiba spoke up and said, "Just kill the stupid things already. I'm tired of training all the damn time!"
"Here," Naruto said uncaringly, handing Sakura his kunai, "just make it quick."
Sakura paled, and shakily accepted the kunai.
But none of them made a move to kill the rabbits.
When their teammates realized this, there was some shouting. Threats. Peer pressure was tossed in soon enough, and Chōji was the first to break. With watery eyes, he slit his pet's throat. Ino followed behind him, only tears actually escaped her. Finally came Sakura, who held back a sob.
All in all, it took a solid half hour.
Shit, I thought, exchanging annoyed looks with Obito and Kakashi. Looks like we're doing The Pit after all.
Sigh.
If only they hadn't hesitated.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura patiently waited for me the Monday after the rabbit slaughter. The trio of them looked around the empty training grounds, surprised that Ino, Chōji, and Shikamaru weren't there. Especially since Obito was also beside me.
"Kakashi has taken everyone else for today," I said with a cold smile. "Since you all passed the evaluations we'll be taking missions in the afternoon. Mornings will still be dedicated to training, however. Sakura, you will remain on the physical conditioning program for another two weeks, though. Since you're making excellent progress, I'll only have you spend three hours of the morning on such, and the rest of the three hours will be spent training with weapons."
Sakura had a smile on her face at that, her body language conveying genuine happiness at that. "Th-Thank you!"
I clapped my hands together, tilting my head as I retained my chilling smile. "Before we begin, however, something must be rectified. Sakura-chan, you were the last of the Genin to kill your rabbit."
Naruto and Hinata spared her a glance, a glimmer of concern for their teammate on their faces. Judging from how Sakura's shoulders stiffened and color drained from her face, she sensed something unpleasant was about to happen to her.
Well.
She wouldn't be wrong.
"U-Um," Sakura stammered out, "I-I'm sorry. I promise to do better."
"I know," I told her. "Because I will make you better. It seems that it is time to desensitize you, dear Sakura-chan. Hina-chan, and Naru-chan will watch, and if either react you will get to join Sakura-chan."
That made all of them jump.
I could practically hear them asking themselves: What could be that bad?
I inclined my head. "Follow me. Oh, but... Obito, won't you please blindfold Sakura-chan, first?"
Obito had a big smile on his face. It was the kind of smile he wore right before he ripped out the intestines of someone he didn't like.
It only seemed to unnerve the trio of students further, though.
Obito was quick to tie the blindfold around Sakura's eyes, and he took her hand to guide her towards The Pit.
Kakashi kindly dug out a fifty meter pit for me. He smoothed it out entirely so no rocks could be used as a ledge.
I filled it up about two meters with rotting animal corpses and gore. I dug out holes in the side and stuck them with human limbs, guts, and heads. Some of them were in tight enough to hold a person's weight. Others were covered in too much blood so were slipper, and the rest were loose enough that they'd fall right out if touched.
All of them were close enough together that a blind-folded little girl would be able to reach them.
The dead things that rested at the bottom were rotten enough that tiny little maggots could be seen squirming inside of them. Holes torn out of them, mangled faces and heads staring up with unblinking eyes.
I did add some humans to it. A hand here, an arm there, a head in the wall. It was so easy to find the necessary parts. The humans were unfortunately a bit too fresh, though, so Obito was kind enough to tear them up. To burn bits and pieces of their flesh so that way they would slide right off if touched.
Naruto and Hinata both covered their nose and mouth. My poor, innocent little students had never been to the front.
They never had to inhale the bile stench of rotting flesh. They didn't have to hear the buzzing of flies, and see the squirming maggots eating out holes in things that were once human.
Once alive.
Hinata's eyes were impossibly wide, and she trembled with disgust and fear as she stared down at the pit. The way she clutched at her mouth and stomach told me she was fighting the urge to vomit.
Naruto was shaking, all pale and wide-eyed. I had been careful not to show him Red before. If he had chosen to remain a civilian, to not follow the Red path of shinobi I would have kept him innocent. But he chose Red, so he will get to see Red.
I would allow them a minute of breaking their composure before I counted it against them. Anyone would be caught off guard at first.
Sakura herself was gagging at the smell, coughing up spit and struggling not to retch. Obito casually patted her back.
"In front of you," I told the blindfolded Sakura, "is a pit. I will lower you inside the pit, and you must climb your way out of it without the use of chakra. Using your chakra will cause me to... show my displeasure. You cannot remove your blindfold."
"Wh-What's in it?" Sakura whispered, fear making her voice crack and her entire body shake like a leaf in a tornado.
I did not answer her.
Her not knowing would only fuel her fear.
Instead, I transformed my right arm into a branch, wrapped it around her waist and slowly dropped her down into the pit. She threw up half way down, losing her entire breakfast.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
(SAKURA)
Sakura could hear Naruto and Hinata reacting to whatever was down the hole. Their reactions did nothing to assuage Sakura's mounting anxiety, and when she got a good whiff of what was inside she nearly turned tail and ran. It was disgusting. It was like rotting meat, that horrendously sweet and sour stench.
When Naasica-sensei's wood wrapped around Sakura's waist, the civilian born girl couldn't hold back her whimpers. She was lowered into the hole—the overwhelming malodor growing more pronounced—and then plopped up to her chest in—in—in—something.
The smell of whatever she was in was literally so bad Sakura couldn't stop from retching, which made everything worse. Once she threw up her breakfast, she couldn't seem to stop from gagging and choking on that foul, awful smell and—
OH MY GOD SOMETHING TOUCHED ME!
Sakura tried to scream, tried to move, but the slimy filth she was in was like tar. She was pressing up against soft, squishy, things and then she could oh, God, oh God, oh God she could feel things worming and squirming and crawling on her.
She screamed, frantically trying to get away from the—She. Felt. A. Hand.
She felt a hand.
A hand grabbed around her ankle and Sakura's screams mounted. She wanted to claw the blindfold off and see what horrors Naasica had thrown her into, but she didn't dare. Things were touching her, grabbing her, and wiggling on her and Sakura's terror had reached new heights. Her head was lighter than a balloon as her heart pounded so hard in her chest she could scarcely breathe.
Demons, monsters, vile things, were in here with her.
When something grazed her leg again, she couldn't hold back her tears. Dread paralyzed her for a moment, sobs caught in her throat as she wished she was anywhere else but here. Then she felt more things start to reach out to her, and Sakura swore she could hear voices now. She could hear something whispering to her, the sound only barely audible that Sakura couldn't make out what it said.
Panic broke through all of Sakura's reasoning. She tried to form her chakra—anger or not, she was getting out of this hell now!—but it failed her. She was too terrified, and so Sakura frantically scrambled to the wall. Her hands groped around with a powerful panic, tears streaming down her face.
The voices were getting louder. She knew she was blindfolded but she swore if she turned her head around she would see a monster. She would see the most ugliest, vile, wicked creature to have ever existed and it would be taunting her.
She had been thrown into hell.
Sakura finally found a ledge but—oh, why did it feel so fleshy?—and she let out another strangled cry. She pulled herself out of the gunk, trembling and shaking when she could feel some of it clung onto her. Squirming—squirming—fingers were on her—the monster—the monster was going to climb up after her.
Sakura moved in a frenzy. She climbed with such fervor, with the literal belief that a demon was right at her heels. There was nothing but climbing, her mind was entirely blank with pure horror. The cold terror made her move her filth-covered body, made her squash the fingers of the monsters that grabbed her, made her climb.
She lost her grip, once, twice, thrice and she screamed as she fell. By some kind of mercy she was able to catch herself on slimy ledges before she fell all the way back down. She moved, and moved and refused to stop. She couldn't stop.
Hell was right at her heels.
Then she heard them—Naruto and Hinata—they were just above her and suddenly warm hands were grabbing her and pulling her up.
She was pulled to the top, her sobs hiccupping out of her as painful relief crashed hard on her. She cried for such a long time, her teammates holding onto her.
"Why don't you take a look?" Naasica asked her.
She didn't want to.
She didn't want to look back in that pit and see hell. She knew what hell was now. She knew the monsters that hid in there. She didn't want to see what they looked like.
But Sakura was still obedient, and she did as she was told.
And she did not understand what she saw.
That's it? Sakura thought. Where—where was the monster? The things that grabbed me?
Because all she saw were things that were dead. Dead things didn't come back to life to chase people.
Where was the demon? What were the fingers?
There was no demon. She could see, barely, little white maggots in some of the corpses. Could she have mistaken those for fingers?
It was gross, for certain, but nowhere near as scary as thinking she was in literal hell.
Is that really it?!
It didn't make any sense. Sakura couldn't wrap her mind around it.
She couldn't understand—
In comparison to what she thought she was going through, the pit looked extremely tame.
Was I... not in hell?
Is that really... is that really all there was?
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
(NAASICA)
When I plopped her into the pool of gore, she began retching violently. She was crying incoherently, stumbling around in the dead flesh of animals.
"Watch," I whispered to Hinata and Naruto. Both were still pale, and both still covered their noses, but they didn't break composure any further. "Watch her, and learn."
It took ten minutes before Sakura was able to pull herself together enough to waddle toward the side of the pit. She fumbled around, hiccups and tears crawling out of her. When grabbed onto the dismembered leg of a man that irritated me, she started crying even harder.
But she pulled herself up.
She stepped up onto the leg, soaked up to her shoulders in blood as bits of intestines clung onto her. She felt around again, finding a face on her left that fell out of its hole, and a hand on the right that she could pull herself up with.
She began her hellish climb, slowly, oh so slowly.
And she fell.
Twice.
Back into the pool of Red, and each time she fell she let out a shriek so painfully terrified it made her teammates cry.
I almost pushed them in there to join her since they broke composure, but Obito grabbed onto my hands and shook his head. He smiled sweetly at me, and mouthed, Mercy?
Since Obito asked it of me, I obliged.
It made him beam and give me that smile he saved just for me and Kakashi. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, resting his chin on top of my head. We went back to watching Sakura continue her journey.
Each bump she faced, every sob and wheeze that left her, deeply bothered Naruto and Hinata. So perturbed they were, that when she finally reached the top, both of them dropped to their knees and bent over the ledge. They called out to her, stretching out their hands and grabbing onto her blood-soaked ones.
They pulled her up, tears falling out of their eyes, and they pulled her into a tight hug. Hinata openly weeping with Sakura, and Naruto hugging the two of them tightly.
Obito and I watched them, neither of us making a move to stop them. When the crying finally came to a stop, and the trio untangled themselves, I told Sakura, "You can remove your blindfold now, dear. Why don't you take a look at reality?"
With shaky hands, Sakura did as she was told and hesitantly peered down into the pit.
She stared at it for several seconds, confusion plain on her face. She whispered, her voice raspy and cracked, "That's... it? That's... all?"
"Did you think it was something worse?" Obito teased her lightly, a dark gleam in his eyes.
"Yes," she croaked out. "That's... it?"
She couldn't believe it.
"Well," I said, now smiling, "you did very well, Sakura-chan. Naru-chan, Hina-chan, why don't the two of you take her back to our home? Give her a nice bath, clean clothes, and have Ita-chan whip something up for her."
Naruto nodded firmly, pulling a dazed Sakura up. Hinata took Sakura's hand, smiling at her kindly. "Come on, Sakura-chan... Itachi-niisan makes excellent sweets."
Sakura blinked, a haze about her. "Oh... um... okay...."
As the trio headed off—Naruto and Hinata were very attentive toward Sakura—Obito and I exchanged looks.
"So... Ino's turn?" Obito asked brightly.
I smiled brightly. "Let me reset the pit."
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
We put Ino and Chōji through the pit afterwards. We decided each one would be run through with only their team watching. Oddly, Shino and Sasuke both became upset when Ino went through The Pit, too. While neither of them cried—although Sasuke came very close—they both embraced their gore covered teammate afterwards. Obito sent his team back home, too.
(When they got there, and my team saw the blood-covered Ino, Hinata and Sakura both quietly got up and helped Ino with her bath, while the boys sat outside and kept guard.)
Next came Chōji, with Kiba and Shikamaru both breaking down enough that they got shoved into The Pit, too.
All three of them returned home with us, huddling close and grim-faced.
Once everyone was washed clean of the blood, they were given blankets and comfort food—although no one ate for many hours—and the teams stuck very close to one another. Hinata and Naruto were plainly protective of Sakura, both of them holding onto the dazed pinkette and openly glaring at me and Obito. Sasuke and Shino acted similarly with Ino, each holding on to her one of her hands. Chōji was holding Akamaru in his lap, as Kiba and Shikamaru flanked him, the gentle soul absently petting the concerned puppy.
We allowed everyone to sleep in the living room that night, Obito and Kakashi mentioning that they would take comfort with their teammates.
And when we asked them to each butcher an animal the following morning not a single one hesitated.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
(Sunday of The Pit, ITACHI)
Itachi woke up on Sunday morning feeling refreshed and content. It was his day off, so he allowed himself to sleep in a little bit.
Getting up at seven hundred was a novel experience for Itachi. If someone had told him prior to Naasica adopting him that he would get to sleep in he would have thought they were insane. His father always made sure he was up by four hundred, and training within thirty minutes. Even if his father didn't supervise all of Itachi's training, he knew better than to skimp out.
Itachi sat up slowly in his bed, his gaze flickering over towards a picture of his mother he kept on the nightstand.
He did not keep pictures of his father.
Mikoto was a good woman, Itachi believed. A good woman who sided with the wrong man.
But everyone makes mistakes.
Itachi set about to getting ready for the day. He may not have had to work at the bakery, but there were still house chores that needed to be done. His new family insisted on sharing the responsibilities, but Itachi was more than happy to take on an extra task or two when he had the time. Everyone else had such tasking jobs, after all, while Itachi got to enjoy and relax in his new line of work.
If someone told Itachi that he'd get to work as a baker for the rest of his life, he would have sent them to the hospital to get their head checked.
Low and behold, though, that was exactly what Itachi got to do.
His teacher was kind, in her own way, Itachi believed. Not only did she take on the worst burden Itachi was tasked to do, but she gave him a life outside of violence. There was no pressure to follow in her footsteps for the sake of the clan. She encouraged his silly desire to bake instead of train, and even paid for him to go to a food school for a year.
Mikoto wouldn't have even gone that far for Itachi.
But Naasica did.
Others called her a demon in human skin, or a monster given a pretty face.
Itachi simply thought she was someone who had to do bad things for good reasons. She, Kakashi, and Obito all had to endure the Third Great War. Itachi could only begin to imagine the kind of horrors they had seen.
When the war was over the official fighting might have stopped, but there was still a matter of collecting the bodies. There was a matter of hunting down all that went missing, and picking up the pieces of the broken countries they had fought in.
Itachi's worse memories were seeing the corpses of some of his clanmates, and finding Shisui in one of ROOT's bases under Konoha. Both were admittedly bad memories, but it was hard to compare them to the hundreds—if not thousands—of awful things Naasica, Kakashi, and Obito saw.
Anyone would turn a little twisted if put through that.
However, despite all of that, the three of them still had moments of kindness. Naasica was gentle at home, and did her best to support the family. Obito went around the village in his free time to help the elderly. Kakashi volunteered at an animal shelter in his free time, going above and beyond to find homes for animals.
They were good people, believed Itachi. Good people who were forced to do bad things for good reasons.
That didn't make them monsters.
Itachi headed out of his room and toward the kitchen. It had been Obito's turn to make the meals that day, so there was a plate of grilled fish, rice, and salted bamboo all wrapped up neatly on the table. Since there was only one plate, that meant everyone else had already eaten, except Itachi.
Which made sense. Minato was always out of the house by six hundred, with Raion following right behind him. Since becoming Genin, Naruto and Sasuke both followed suit. Naasica, Obito, and Kakashi were more sporadic in their hours. At times it seemed like Naasica never slept, and Obito and Kakashi rarely slept for more than three hours at a time.
You'd be more likely to catch them napping throughout the day—an hour here, an hour there—than see them actually sleep in their beds at night.
Shisui was on a rotating shift at the hospital—although he had taken the month off per Naasica's request—so sometimes he was gone for days at a time, and other times he would do nothing but sleep.
Itachi took his breakfast and reheated it quickly before taking a seat at the table and eating.
He debated on what he was going to do today. Laundry was put up to dry yesterday, so Itachi decided he would put it away today. Afterwards, he'd go to the store and pick up some ingredients to bake something nice for everyone.
Itachi set about doing exactly that, but before he could head to the store there was a commotion at the front door.
"Come on Sakura-chan," Naruto urged gently.
"W-We'll get you into the bath," Hinata said.
Itachi didn't hear Sakura's response, but he could certainly smell something.
The sickeningly sweet and sour stench of rotting flesh, to be exact.
Curious, and concerned, Itachi moved towards the front room to find Naruto and Hinata assisting a gore-covered Genin. Itachi instinctively activated his Sharingan, rushing to her side and wondering what exactly happened.
Naruto didn't startle when Itachi appeared next to him. The blonde Senju looked up pleadingly, "Help, please?"
"What happened?" Itachi asked, gently touching the pinkette. She barely registered it, her gaze staring off at something unseen.
"S-Sensei," Hinata hesitantly began, her voice oddly cracking.
"Did she fall into one of Naasica's traps?" Itachi questioned. The legendary trio had set up a brutal obstacle course to put their Genin teams through. It wouldn't surprise Itachi if one of those traps involved grotesque things like a rotting pig.
"She," Naruto bit out with a growl, "made Sakura-chan climb through this—this—pit!"
A pit filled with gore? Itachi concluded. It was definitely plausible.
It also sounded remarkably like what happened to Kakashi during one of the clean up missions. He fell into a mass grave, depleted of chakra, and was nearly buried alive. Thankfully Obito had stopped by to check on him, and rescued him, but Kakashi would describe the experience as one of his more unpleasant memories.
Itachi wouldn't think Naasica and Obito would make Kakashi relive that memory through their Genin, though. Unless...
"Was Kakashi there?" Itachi inquired, carefully picking Sakura up in his arms and carrying her to the main bath.
"No?" Naruto answered, though it came out like a question.
Makes sense... Itachi noticed how Naruto and Hinata were hovering around Itachi and Sakura. Didn't Naruto dislike Sakura?
It certainly didn't appear that way anymore.
"I'll get her cleaned off," Itachi told them. "Hinata-chan, would you please get her some clothes? Naruto, why don't you make up some tea?"
Both were reluctant to do that, but when Itachi asked them to do so again they left. Itachi carried Sakura into the bathroom, carefully removing her clothes and turning on the shower hose.
Why would they put them through a gore filled pit? Itachi wondered. Wouldn't this traumatize her?
We went through this and we're fine. If this much breaks them, then we have no use for them.
That was exactly the kind of thought process they would have.
The war undoubtedly made the legendary trio closer. There was no war this time around to bring their Genin together.
Itachi wondered if they even knew how to bond outside of what they went through. Come to think of it, they didn't interact with anyone outside of fellow veterans, and family.
Are they intentionally putting their Genin through similar experiences to make them come closer? Or do they not realize what they're doing? Itachi wondered, scrubbing away the dried blood. The child barely reacted when Itachi had to pull out bits of intestines out of her hair.
Or this could have only been an act to desensitize. By showing the worse, things look easier in comparison, Itachi reasoned. So they might think. Regardless...
Sakura would either break from what she saw and leave the Genin Corps, or she would come out with a higher resilience toward seeing such atrocities.
Additionally, Naruto and Hinata both seemed to become more attached to Sakura through watching her go through this pit. If Sakura chooses to stay, the team might grow closer from this incident.
If she left it might harden Naruto and Hinata even more so against her replacement.
All outcomes would have been fine by Naasica's standards.
It wouldn't surprise Itachi if Naasica genuinely believed she was being kind to Sakura by doing this now.
Naasica was kind.
Her kindness just didn't come across as such sometimes.
But Itachi knew better. He may not have been a true sensor, but with his Sharingan he could see glimpses over her chakra.
Like black fire, it burned around her entire being. It promised to only devour monsters.
As long as you weren't a monster, you would be safe from her.
Which was fine by Itachi.
The world could do without monsters.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
(KISAME)
Kisame took a big drink out of his favorite drink in the whole world: the pink panther. It was a pretty thing, filled with bright pink tea, topped with a decadent cream and strawberries. It even came with a swirly straw, and was kept inside of a glittery cup.
It was something he only allowed himself to get when he was with Naasica.
His partner was relaxing across the table from him, the duo in their favorite sweet shop and hidden away from onlookers so she could eat without her mask.
Kisame started to eat the petite mini cakes. "I've taken on my own Genin team."
Naasica paused briefly from devouring her molasses cookies. "Oh?"
"Yes," Kisame told her, a grin stretching over his face. "They're going to completely eat your kiddos alive in the upcoming exams."
"Oh-ho?" Naasica mused, raising a single, perfectly trimmed eyebrow. "You prepared to put your money where your mouth is, my darling?"
"Loser is the winner's slave for the next week," Kisame suggested, already anticipating all the blackmail he'd be able to get on her once he'd won.
Naasica's face twitched briefly before it morphed into what Kisame could only describe was her "Court face." She batted her eyes, curled her lips, and forced only a touch of blush onto her face. It was the kind of face that made weak men fall head over heels in love with her, and it was something she absolutely took full advantage of.
Obviously it didn't work on Kisame. Once you saw a woman wipe brain matter off her cheek, still covered head to toe in intestines and blood, you just... you just didn't look at her in any other way than someone who will absolutely cut off your dick if you piss her off. Hot or not, Kisame could fully admit viewing Naasica as anything other than his partner and friend would only result in playing a very dangerous game.
Namely a very dangerous game for his mini-Kisame and that was where he drew the line.
She purred, "But Kisame, you're already my slave."
He threw a cake at her She laughed with delight, catching it and taking a big bite out of it.
"Okay, okay. Only three days, though. If I do lose—which will be impossible, really—I don't want to spend more than three days out of Konoha."
Kisame agreed to those terms, chuckling. "Such an arrogant little queen you are."
Naasica laughed. "A queen, huh?"
"A queen of the shadows," Kisame amended. "Pulling the strings and shaping the world with hardly anyone knowing the wiser. Do you ever plan on stepping into the light, bloody queen?"
"I'll save the spotlight for Madara-sama," Naasica answered honestly. "He's much better suited to such. I'd prefer to remain on the sidelines with you, if that's alright."
"Sure, sure," Kisame said easily, drinking his pink panther tea.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
Next chapter is a bit more training, then Team 7 will get to go on their first C-Ranked mission. Sorry for the transition chapter. Writing out about training is a little boring, but I can't move on until everyone is at a certain point.
Kisame is my breath of fresh air in this series. I'll be adding bonuses with each chapter about him and his Genin team to keep it from getting TOO dramatic.
Answer: Howl's Moving Castle holds a special place in my heart, and Ghibli movies have been a huge inspiration for me.
Question: What do you like about yourself? You can't say nothing.
Reviews are love!