Tsukiko waited for Naruto in the hallway while he went off to use the toilet before they could head off to practice together again. She looked over at the resident cat and smiled as she moved toward it, crouching down next to her and scratching her over the head. Tsukiko loved animals and children.
"Naruto's not going to be happy to see you playing around with that water balloon," Tsukiko mused as she watched the cat move the ball around with her feet. The white-haired girl looked up when she heard Naruto come out.
"Hey! That's not your toy..." Naruto trailed off, watching the cat roll the ball back and forth between its paws until the water balloon suddenly burst, scaring the cat. Tsukiko looked at Naruto with interest when he muttered, "That's it..."
"You're going to use two hands?" Tsukiko asked Naruto as she passed him a water balloon. Naruto nodded in response and Tsukiko watched as he attempted it, holding the balloon in his left hand and using his right hand to make it burst. And it really did burst...
"Yahoo!" Naruto cheered loudly, causing both Tsukiko and Usajii to block their ears. "I did it! I did it, Tsukiko-Chan, dattebayo!" Tsukiko could only smile as she nodded along, actually happy he got it. "Let's go show it to Pervy Sage!"
Naruto rushed in front of her to their hotel room and Tsukiko jogged behind him to catch up. She unlocked the door and sweat-dropped when she saw that the Toad Sage was still passed out and snoring heavily.
"It's time to wake up, Pervy Sage!" Tsukiko said loudly. "Are you going to sleep in until afternoon, Usa?" She kicked the empty sake bottle and it hit the man over the head, jolting him awake as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.
"Oh... Naruto and Shirayuri," Jiraiya muttered, dozing off again. "Good timing! Why don't you go and bring me some water...?" Naruto burst another balloon onto his face to wake him up. Jiraiya let out a strangled laugh.
"The first step is cleared!" Naruto announced. Jiraiya looked confused, as if he could not understand what step he was talking about. Tsukiko threw a towel at his face and Jiraiya wiped his face.
"Cleared, huh?" Jiraiya asked, gaining some senses. "Well, let's have you show it to me," Tsukiko passed Naruto the water balloon.
"All right! Watch it careful!" Naruto said. Tsukiko watched as Naruto took a dramatically deep breath and placed the balloon in his left hand once more and began to work the Chakra at it with his right hand. And it burst again. "All right! See that?! See that?!"
"He fell asleep again, Usa," Tsukiko muttered, exasperated. "Pervy Sage! Get up!"
☾
"Sorry, sorry," Jiraiya said as he sat down for breakfast. Tsukiko and Naruto sat across him with tea, waiting for him to get done with his food. "I'm tired from the days and nights of gathering information," Tsukiko and Naruto gave him blank looks.
"No doubt about that," Tsukiko muttered sarcastically. She took a sip of her tea and glanced out the window, looking at the birds sitting on the wire. "Totally gathering information..." Does he know that he stinks so much of alcohol that it suffocates her and Naruto every night?
"You understood the trick pretty well, it's all thanks to me, though," Jiraiya said. Tsukiko looked over when she heard the resident cat come meowing over and jump onto her lap. Naruto patted the cat's head and she was revelling in the attention she was being given.
"It's all thanks to this guy, dattebayo!" Naruto said. "I realised after I saw this cat playing with the water balloon. He kept on flicking it with his paw many times, and the water inside moved in all different kinds of direction... then it came to me like 'Bingo!',"
"How did it come like 'Bingo'?" Jiraiya questioned.
"The time when the Pervy Sage first showed me how to break it," Naruto answered. "I remembered how the water balloon surface was not smooth. Until now, I was always only rotating the water in the one same direction. I realised Pervy Sage and Tsukiko-Chan's water balloons were not smooth, because the water inside was rotating in different directions. And after doing it my own way, it broke!"
"Anyhow... The first step is complete for now," Jiraiya announced. That made Naruto extremely happy immediately.
"All right!" Naruto exclaimed. "Do you want to see it one more time? One more time?!" But then he winced. Tsukiko frowned, knowing that he had used a bit too much of his Chakra the past three days.
☽
"Okay, now, we will proceed to the second step," Jiraiya said to Tsukiko and Naruto. Tsukiko knew that she couldn't use Wind Style this well but she wanted to try anyway. Besides, she needed to be diligent so she could later go and try out her own Jutsu.
"Yeah!" Naruto cheered. "It seems like we can finally go into some serious training, dattebayo!" Tsukiko just nodded in agreement, wondering what Jiraiya was going to make them do next.
"Here you go," Jiraiya said as he threw over to white balls to Tsukiko and Naruto. Tsukiko caught hers and felt it, realising that it was now filled with air, rather than water.
"Rubber ball?" Naruto asked. Then his eyes narrowed at Jiraiya. "Something like this again?!" But Jiraiya was not worried by it at all.
"Now, you two will break this one!" Jiraiya said, grabbing a rubber ball himself and making it burst. "It's one hundred time harder than the water balloon! Yurihime, I know Wind isn't your area of expertise, but it would help you learn better control over it,"
"Okay, that's not too bad, Usa," Tsukiko replied as she held the ball in her left hand. Naruto did the same and both of them tried to make the rubber ball burst – but neither of them could manage to do it.
"The first step in rotation, the second step is force," Jiraiya told them. "Since there is no water inside, it's more difficult to imagine the rotation of Chakra, so it becomes more difficult to rotate the Chakra as well,"
"That's true..." Tsukiko said as she sighed, trying her best to manipulate the Wind Chakra into the ball. Simple Wind Style Jutsus were so easy to do – but this was rather difficult.
"I'll leave that to your own judgement," Jiraiya said. "Well then, I'll go gather some information!" Tsukiko shook her head at him as he headed off.
"Hey, wait, wait!" Naruto shouted. "Let's all train together for the first time in a while! I don't mind if you take a nap!"
"Don't depend on me," Jiraiya told him. "You must have some kind of misunderstanding. I did say that I'll teach you the Jutsu, but I don't have the obligation to teach you every step of the way. If you can't do it by yourself, then that's it. Don't be childish forever... Become more respectable like a Shinobi!"
"Well, then, then," Naruto said. "If you can at least teach me the trick again..."
"Money," Jiraiya said, holding out his hand. Tsukiko sweat-dropped.
"W-What do you mean 'Be respectable like a Shinobi'?!" Naruto shouted. "Even though you say that, you're a dirty and greedy adult! You're not a respectable Shinobi at all!"
Once Jiraiya had left, Tsukiko tried to make the rubber ball burst with Naruto but she just couldn't get it to burst. Getting tired of the constant struggle, Tsukiko gave it up for the time being and headed to the forest stream to try out her new Jutsu.
"Usa," Tsukiko muttered as she caught a fish in a crystal hoop in the stream. "Now..." She focused on bringing out the Water Chakra from within onto her palm and smiled when she managed to create the Jutsu. "Let's do it..."
Tsukiko moved the Jutsu into the water and toward the fish inside. It had barely grazed the fish when Tsukiko jerked back in fear. The Chakra emitting from it had harmed the fish and Tsukiko could see a wisp of blood from the cut the fish had sustained. She pushed the Jutsu off of her hand and vanished the crystal to let the fish swim away.
"I failed," Tsukiko muttered, holding onto her head. "It ended up actually hurting the fish... But... It wasn't supposed to do that... It wasn't supposed to hurt innocent," She sighed heavily and sat down by the stream, trying to think of something that could help her.
"Maybe the fish was a bully," Usajii offered. Tsukiko let out an exasperated snort at his words. "Come on, don't be discouraged so quickly. It is certainly very difficult to practice Ninshu and create a sentient Jutsu,"
"I think I was too overly confident, a bit too egotistical," Tsukiko admitted. "Maybe that's where I went wrong... I will have to work harder and be humbler," Usajii nodded. "I guess I'll meditate a bit... I need to work on the Ninshu and see if I can make that rubber ball burst..."
For the next three days, that was all Tsukiko did. Naruto focused entirely on making the rubber ball burst somehow and Tsukiko found herself alternating between that and her own Jutsu. It wasn't a lie that Tsukiko was now more interested in her own than in Jiraiya's Jutsu. The third morning, Jiraiya joined them.
"Hey, Naruto, Yurihime," Jiraiya said as he walked over to where the two were currently trying out their rubber balls. They glanced at him. "Go and buy some food from the town below," Tsukiko furrowed her eyebrows.
"What?!" Naruto asked. "Why us?"
"Hey, even if for a while, you're still learning the Jutsu from me," Jiraiya pointed out. Tsukiko and Naruto gave up and agreed to go.
"Come on," Tsukiko muttered to Naruto, and the two of them headed off to the town below. It wasn't as crowded as the festival anymore but there was still a decent amount of people around them. The two Genin gave in the food order and waited.
Tsukiko watched the people, wondering how it felt to live in a place without superficial worries. These people didn't have to worry about getting attacked in the middle of the night for what they were born with, these people didn't have to worry about getting kidnapped by strange men for what they held within themselves – they were free of those worries. Tsukiko wished that life, too.
What would it feel like to have parents? Grandparents? Siblings? Cousins? Uncles and aunts? How does a mother's homemade food taste like? How does a mother's worry feel like? What did a father's advice made you do? How would it feel like to have a sibling? How would family gatherings feel like? Tsukiko didn't know, but she really wanted.
Seeing all those children in the Academy, Tsukiko had wanted lots of friends when she was younger. But none of the girls ever really wanted to talk to her. She only had Naruto to talk to, and their personalities had been quite different. Naruto was loud, and Tsukiko was quiet. They did spend time together, but ultimately, they only had each other.
It wasn't that Tsukiko wanted to be the best, the sole, the number one out of everyone. Tsukiko just wanted to be good enough to be included. Two was better than one – one was too lonely. While she respected Naruto's dreams, Tsukiko would never want to be a Hokage herself. She didn't want to be the one who was the best out of everyone to be acknowledged, she wanted to be one of everyone.
Sensei... Tsukiko had always wanted to become a teacher. Tsukiko loved children, and she was sure that one day, when she's done being a Ninja, she would like to be a teacher. She may have not gotten the childhood that she wanted, but she wanted to give others the childhood that they deserved – like Iruka did for her and Naruto.
Iruka had always been a wonderful teacher – Tsukiko knew that. Whenever she tried her most, worked hard to be the best out of the class, only Iruka had congratulated her every time, and even bought her Daifuku a few times when she skipped dinner to buy more books to get better and better than her last attempt. Tsukiko forever held his kindness to her, since the first day at Academy, close.
"Here you go, thank you for waiting," the shopkeeper said. Tsukiko thanked him and passed him the money while Naruto took the shopping bag before the two of them set off back toward the exit of the town to return to the forest.
"Dad, buy me some ice cream!" a boy's voice called out. Tsukiko stopped when Naruto stopped and glanced over to the sight. It was a young boy with his father, who was holding up a younger girl in his arms. "I want this one that cracks,"
Tsukiko stared as the man let his daughter two and bought the ice cream that the boy had been pointing at. It was a twin popsicle, and the man broke them into two, handing one to his son and one to his daughter.
"I could eat all of it by myself!" the boy said. His sister had already started to joyfully eat away at the ice cream – getting a minor brain freeze as she did so.
"Nope, when we get home, your mother will have supper ready," the father told them. "Mina-Chan, don't eat so quickly! It's not going anywhere!" The three of them headed off down the street.
Tsukiko bit her lower lip and pulled Naruto to come along, and they headed toward their own destination outside the town where Jiraiya must be waiting for them. It was rather strange but Tsukiko now felt even more miserable from her thoughts.
"Hey, uh..." Naruto said as he passed Jiraiya the bag of food. "Can you be around Tsukiko-Chan and my training for just a while... today?" Tsukiko looked at him strangely.
"I don't have time for that," Jiraiya answered. "I have to immediately go to the town. Unless you two can think for yourselves and get a grip of the trick for yourselves, it'll never work. I thought I told you days ago. Don't be spoiled like a child, you are a Ninja,"
Tsukiko stared at Naruto's darkened eyes and frowned deeply when he suddenly forced out a laugh, "I know that without you telling me, dattebayo! Just thought I'd ask. Hurry up and go, you Pervy Sage!"
And that was all how their remaining days went. Naruto struggled with the rubber ball, and Tsukiko struggled to get her Jutsu to become more sentient to her abilities.
"You used too much Chakra, Naruto," Tsukiko told him as she wrapped the bandages around his hands carefully. "You should take it just a tiny bit easier, Usa?" Naruto only laughed guiltily. "I know how you feel, Naruto, you can't fool me,"
"I know," Naruto admitted in a low voice. He was quiet for a few moments and then looked at the white-haired girl. "Do you wonder how it would feel to have a family, Tsukiko-Chan?" She bit her lower lip and nodded.
"I wonder that often," Tsukiko answered. "But there's nothing I can do right now... So, I try not to dwell on the thought for too long. It only makes me feel hurt, and I don't really like that feeling at all," Naruto nodded, downcast. "Go to sleep now, and be careful with your hands,"
"Thank you, Kiko-Chan," Naruto replied. Tsukiko smiled at him as he fell back onto his bedding and she glanced at the sky outside, frowning when she saw that it was going to be the full moon tonight. She didn't want to feel pain.
Tsukiko sank into her bed, pulling her blanket up to cover herself up completely to avoid any moonlight that may get into the room somehow from touching her. She winced slightly and grimaced at the pain that was spreading through her body. Why must she deal with this annoyance every month?
☾
"I did it, Usajii!" Tsukiko cheered loudly as she slammed her Jutsu over the crystal structure and it passed right through it, shattering it into pieces. "Look!" Usajii grumbled about waking him up so early in the morning but moved to have a look as well.
"Look at the mess you've made, Usahime," Usajii mused. But Tsukiko was celebrating happily as she twirled around the place. "Congratulations, Usahime, now stop before you give both you and I dizziness!"
"All right, all right!" Tsukiko said but she was still smiling. She rushed through the forest and back to where Naruto was. "Naruto, listen to me! Look what I made!"
"Did you get the rubber ball to burst?" Naruto asked. Tsukiko shook her head no and concentrated on creating her Jutsu once more. Naruto stared at the perfect spherical ball made out of water on her hand. "When did you learn that?"
"I didn't learn it, I created it," Tsukiko hold him. "I call it Benzaiten, and watch this, I'll hit it against a crystal wall," Naruto was a bit apprehensive and watched as Tsukiko created a wall of crystal, only to shatter it.
"Huh?" Naruto said, staring at the Jutsu that sliced easily through the crystal wall. "How did you do that, dattebayo?!" Tsukiko smiled in self-satisfaction and released it.
"I used the teachings of Rasengan but used Water to make that shape," Tsukiko informed him.
"Dang it, is it only me who is left?" Naruto said. He looked down at the rubber ball. "It doesn't break no matter how much I try... I'm just dripping away my Chakra this way," Tsukiko frowned as she looked at his shaking body.
"Rather than depleting your Chakra and putting your body through that pain," Tsukiko reasoned. "Understand the amount of pain that you're feeling, and calculate the amount of Chakra required for it. Rather than taking it inch by inch, maybe just go all out at once?"
Naruto had a quizzical look on his face and Tsukiko was rather frustrated that she could physically show it to him unless she controlled Wind Style as well. Maybe she should've focused on improving her Wind Style, too... But before she could pick the ball up and try for Naruto's sake –
"That's it!" Naruto announced.
Tsukiko watched him in surprise as he reached out and grabbed the rubber ball from the ground and held it between his hands. Immediately, Naruto began to force out an immense level of Chakra onto the ball.
But then, Tsukiko realised that he wasn't putting the Chakra onto the ball, he was collecting it before he would force it onto the ball in one go. He was storing the Chakra – and then he forced through it. Tsukiko's eyes widened when she saw the air inside the ball began to move erratically. And while the ball did not burst – it created a hole in it, letting out all the air.
"Hmm... There seems to have been a little progress," Jiraiya said. Tsukiko and Naruto both snapped their attention over, having not realised how long he had been standing there. The white-haired girl wondered, in fear, if he had seen her Jutsu.
"I've still only opened a hole and it hasn't popped with a bang!" Naruto disagreed. Tsukiko glanced at him, he was being rather humble for all of his hard work.
"Hey, don't pretend to be so tough!" Jiraiya said. "Here!" He broke the twin popsicle he had in his hand into two and held them out to the two of them. "You've done well, all on your own power. Both of you," Tsukiko flushed when she realised that he may have just seen it.
"Thank you, Usa..." Tsukiko said, shocked as she took the ice cream from him. She stared at the blue popsicle and smiled to herself before taking a bite of the sweet ice treat.
☽