Chapter 6 – Rise of the Rookie Nine
There really is no substitute for combat training other than… well, combat itself. It's why a ninja's preferred method of improving his skills was to use them on a (not always necessarily) willing subject. Hence the rather common occurrence in this world of people in shinobi attire randomly issuing deadly challenges to one another at the drop of a hat, instead of just… exchanging socials like normal people do.
Like, even something as simple as shaking another's hand would be almost incomprehensible to most ninja in the field, considering the other guy was likely hiding a kunai in the other hand.
If he was good, he'd probably be palming an explosive tag in his outstretched hand instead.
If he was even better, he'd be doing both.
Some of the more academically inclined ninja would argue that chakra theory provided an explanation for this unusual push for live-fire violence being such a common part of ninja growth. Chakra after all is made up of both physical and mental energies, and battle pushes both the body and mind to their limits, meaning that actually going out there with a mindset for physically beating each other senseless in the training grounds did in fact provide a noticeable boost over simply studying techniques while lazing about on the couch in your living room.
Some of the more psychologically (or just cynically) inclined ninja would argue instead that it was a result that came with the inherently violent shinobi lifestyle. When death was just a job, of course a fight was just a friendly 'get to know each other'. Desensitization and a shifting of parameters that saw the violent as the new normal.
Those who weren't ninja at all, from civilian to samurai, would instead simply argue that all shinobi are crazy and leave it at that.
The thing was though, as Kakashi ducked underneath a haymaker, is that he couldn't exactly find fault with that particular line of logic.
"You know, not that I mind some good cardio now and then, but would it kill you to just… fuckin'… stand still for a moment!" his opponent grunted, larger, stronger, but (thankfully) not as nimble as Kakashi, the Copy Cat Ninja beating a hasty retreat.
Partly because the goal wasn't to actually engage in a brawl, but to keep the large Inuzuka as far away as possible from his summoned dogs, Urushi and Shiba, both carrying one of the silver bells that had been the original objective of the prospective Team 7, and partly (or largely, if he was being honest) because he didn't quite fancy having his skull caved in on what was supposed to be first day of his genins' careers.
Talk about getting off to a bad start.
Not that he really thought Inuzuka Hamaru was actually going for kill shots here (likewise, Kakashi hadn't even revealed his Sharingan yet, let alone use a move like the Chidori), but he wasn't exactly taking things easy either.
Case in point, Hamaru's latest charge that raced just inches past Kakashi as he rapidly spun out of the way (the silver-haired Jonin taking the opportunity to deliver a nasty elbow to his opponent's side, just barely missing the liver), the beastly man passing in a blur. Instead of tackling Kakashi to the ground, the large Inuzuka slammed into a nearby tree instead… which toppled to the ground with a loud crash.
"You know, I'm starting to think it might." Kakashi deadpanned to his opponent's earlier frustrated request as the dust settled, a flock of angry and confused birds flying up from the settling canopy as Hamaru rolled his shoulder, glancing at the felled tree with a wince.
"Uhm… ignore that."
"No, I don't think I will."
"… dangit."
For a moment, the two stood across from each other, unmoving in the small clearing that was bordering one of Konoha's many little parks, a lasting legacy of the First Hokage's power that saw the founding of their very village. A breeze picked up some of the myriad fallen leaves, whipping them on a mad dance through the empty space between the two combatants as off to the side-
"Keep going Hamaru-san! We'll pull our weight, you'll see! I've got a plan!"
-a red-clad blur sped past, pink hair stuck to a sweaty face as a young girl huffed and puffed, clearly exhausted but nonetheless fiercely determined before vaulting a nearby fence and quickly shimmying up the side of a building in an impressive show of Wall Walking for a fresh Academy graduate.
The silence between Kakashi and Hamaru extended for a half a second more as both men looked at the building the prospective genin had disappeared behind.
"Uhmm… ignore that too?"
"No, I don't think I will."
"… dangit."
Sakura thankfully didn't have to backtrack far from the exiled Inuzuka's house to where she had left Naruto and Sasuke behind. She immediately noticed a distinct lack of orange. Most of Naruto's clones had disappeared by now, but as a consequence the blonde himself at least wasn't running on fumes anymore, the chakra from his copies returned to him, though the efficiency rate wasn't perfect, Sakura knew.
Every Shadow Clone took more energy to create than they returned to the original caster of the technique, and that was only if they hadn't used any energy themselves of course. Now, that was true for someone skilled with the Forbidden Technique at least, but Naruto, while uniquely suited for the technique, was far from the superb level of chakra manipulation it usually took people to create a perfect Shadow Clone. That wasn't to say he didn't have a knack for it, but he had definitely brute-forced some of the finer aspects of the technique when Hamaru had taught it to him well over a year ago now, when Naruto first complained about their final exam being a clone technique he'd never have a hope of passing.
The less than stellar way that Naruto made his clones meant that their most important feature, the ability to send their memories back along with the chakra, wasn't truly taking effect yet.
As far as Sakura understood it (which to her credit, was probably better than most people twice her age), the Shadow Clone Jutsu was so busted because the Second Hokage had somehow managed to simultaneously mold both Yin and Yang chakra into a single cohesive construct that still managed to keep the properties of the two halves of chakra separate. Most clone techniques were either insubstantial (such as the standard and ubiquitous Clone Technique, the very same that had seemed impossible to Naruto), or were solid by utilizing a pre-existing medium such a mud or water, though because they were essentially just an overlay over the original over some lifeless material, that usually meant these clones were weaker, or lacked autonomy, or were only close ranged, or any other myriad thing that the Second Hokage had scoffed at in sheer disgust at their inefficiencies and had spurred him to create one that was, quite honestly, flawless instead.
Instead of pushing chakra into an already existing medium, the more physically oriented Yang chakra itself created the form, the Yin chakra gave it thought and 'life' and as the Yang-aligned carrier was destroyed, the separate Yin-aligned chakra would inevitably return to its original wellspring that it was split off from (which is why the technique was so dangerous, as you didn't mold chakra and then use it up like you normally did, but shared it equally between yourself and your creation straight from the source), by its very nature carrying all its experiences with it.
Of course, the only flaw with such a flawless technique was that if you did it wrong, you'd kill yourself, but to a genius like Tobirama Senju, that was just part of the learning curve.
While Naruto could distribute his far larger chakra reserves over a far larger amount of clones than most people could without setting their veins on fire, that didn't mean he had the ratio of Yin to Yang perfectly right yet (which for some reason had caused Hamaru to exchange significant looks with both Guren and especially Yukimaru) owing to his subpar chakra control (which was still nowhere even near Sakura's own unusually high level amongst all of the rookies, Sasuke included, a rare point of genuine pride she often lorded over both Ino and Naruto himself), meaning that his clones were perfectly physical all right, but were only sending back vague impressions of their imprinted experiences after they popped.
It was why Sakura saw Naruto arguing with his clones so often (which clones, regardless of medium used, aren't really supposed to be capable of doing) and why he hadn't even been aware of the memory sharing function until Hamaru had pointed it out to him with a little experiment.
He had sat Naruto on the couch, took a clone of Naruto's out to the backyard, and after a few minutes, the blond had shook his head in confusion as the large Inuzuka leisurely stepped back into the room.
"What the- hey! What's the idea, supplexing me into a tree like that?! The hell did I even do to you, huh?!"
"What's the secret word?" Hamaru had simply asked in return as he inspected his claws, completely unfazed, causing Naruto to falter.
"W-what secret word? You just up and left without even saying anything!"
"True, for you that is. But, before I supplexed your clone into a tree, I told him to focus all of his attention on memorizing the word that I was going to tell him. Probably why I got the drop on him so easily."
"That's… that's cheating!"
"Thank you, I try. Now, the word."
"… gubernatorial."
"There. You see the point I'm making here?"
"… no."
Hamaru face-faulted hard enough at that to rattle the cabinets on the wall.
"What the- why the hell not?!"
"I don't even know what that word means!"
"Nobody knows what it means, but it's provocative, it gets the people going!"
Naruto had eventually figured the lesson out, though he was still struggling with a proper balance between Yin and Yang Release for his clones, though apparently once he did, his progress would grow exponentially, something that was already true for his ever-present shadow, Yukimaru, who also had abnormally large chakra reserves like Naruto, but seemingly far less issues with his level of control.
By now, Naruto had been salivating over the thought of having his clones go to the Academy while he stayed lazing in bed (which had caused Shikamaru to immediately start daydreaming as well) for so long, Sakura had given plenty of thought on the implications of Yin and Yang Release on clones and mental techniques, having picked both Naruto's and Ino's brain over the years.
Rather… unusual extra credit work for a girl of eleven years old, all things considered.
Being surrounded by people that could charitably be called 'unorthodox', but with an undeniable intellect and an ability to think outside of the box had done something truly groundbreaking with Sakura's raw smarts: it had turned into an almost unending curiosity instead.
With Shikamaru and the elder Inuzuka's to bounce ideas off of (and on the rare lucky occasion, even Sasuke!) and Sakura had found an appetite for chakra theory and how it related to jutsu development.
It was why she and Shikamaru were probably one of only a handful of teenagers on the continent who were already aware of Yin and Yang Release, both intrigued for their own reasons. Shikamaru's clan of course relied heavily on Yin Release for their Darkness Techniques, much like Ino's clan used it for their various mind-related techniques.
Though the young platinum-blonde had gone cross-eyed when she had tried to follow one of the theory-crafting sessions between Sakura, Shikamaru, Kimimaro and Hamaru once, mostly having tried to chime in because she saw how riveted Sasuke had been by the conversation and she hadn't wanted Sakura to upstage her in front of their shared crush.
But then Kimimaro had grabbed a sheet of paper, folded it double, grew a pencil from his pinky bones and stabbed it through the doubled pages and she had decided her energy was better spent trying to keep Choji from throttling Jugo with his Partial Expansion-enlarged hands as the orange-haired boy kept a plate of steak out of the Akimichi's reach, tearfully screaming something about 'begging forgiveness, Ushi-neesan!'.
Ino had since then only chipped in when Sakura had asked her directly about the information she was free to share from what her clan knew about mental techniques (which was more than Sakura had expected to be honest, but Ino as a young girl only knew less than half of it), but it had formed the basis of a variation that Sakura wanted to make of the regular Clone Jutsu, specifically by overcharging it's already large Yin aspect.
Progress was slow however, considering she'd been playing around with the idea for a year now and had so far never even actually tried casting the technique. For now it was purely an academical thought process, much like Naruto's improved Shadow Clones. As it was, the blonde would just have to make do with the energy they sent back, refilling his own reserves somewhat, keeping him in fighting shape even after creating enough of them even seasoned jonin would be left out of breath.
Not that that seemed to matter all too much to the clone-Kakashi that was still handily dismantling the original Naruto. The blonde was putting up a good fight, but between his prior exhaustion and Kakashi's vastly higher skill level, he was really only in the fight by the seat of his pants.
"Lemme go, dattebayo!"
"Poor choice of words."
Quite literally, as Kakashi had managed to slip behind Naruto, delivering a sharp kick to the back of the boy's knees, causing the blonde to collapse, before the clone shot forwards, hoisting Naruto up and over the rooftop they had been fighting on by the back of his waistband, as if he was proudly displaying a sack of potatoes for the world to see.
"Lemme go right now, ya stupid, one-eyed, silvery haired bastard!"
An angry, struggling, cursing sack of potatoes.
"Well, I mean… you did ask… so."
And Kakashi let go, Naruto plummeting down.
"Don't say I never gave you anything!"
Before Naruto could drop more than two stories, Sakura swooped in, having raced up the stairs and jumping off the balcony of the neighboring building, catching the orange-clad blonde in mid-air. Slapping her free hand onto the wall of the apartments Naruto had been thrown off of, she gritted her teeth as the added weight and impact upset her delicate control, the two of them sliding down the side of the building in a cloud of dust and gravel.
"You haven't given me anything!" Naruto roared back up, completely ignoring his fall and subsequent rescue as the jonin peeked down at them over the edge of the roof.
"I know. I'd just prefer if you didn't say anything about it. Life's easier that way."
"Argh! You! You're gonna give me a… a… the head-ache thingie, but worse!"
"An aneurysm."
"Thanks Sakura-chan. You're gonna give me a nerism ya bastard!"
Sakura merely rolled her eyes, too tired and preoccupied with sticking them to the building to bother correcting her teammate.
"Well, there you have it, I did give you something. Aren't I just the greatest sensei ever; first day we're a team and I'm already handing out presents."
But then the jonin slumped as he leaned down further on the edge of the roof, the eye-smile from before turned upside down as his normally spikey hair fell flat in front of his covered face.
"But were any of my cute little genin thoughtful enough to get a present for little old me in return? Of course not. Oh, how cruel is life…" Kakashi dramatically sighed.
"Oh, don't you worry about that, you scarecrow. In fact, I'm in such a giving mood, I'm even willing to share my lunch with you." Naruto said darkly, still slung in Sakura's trembling grip as he glared up at the roof above them.
"Oh really? Hmm, maybe. What did you pack for lunch then?"
"A knuckle sandwich, extra large!" Naruto roared back, angrily shaking his fist up at their teacher.
"Ah, thank you for the kind offer Naruto, but unfortunately I'm already full. Completely stuffed from having my cake and eating it too, I'm afraid." Kakashi shot back with a smile.
"Now then, if you don't mind hanging around for a little while, I'm off to go see about your other teammate…" the jonin drawled, but to their collective surprise, he was interrupted by a cold voice coming from behind him.
"Don't bother looking, I saved you the trouble."
In a credit to his creator's skill, the clone was already moving the moment the first word had been spoken, but Sasuke wasn't stupid (though Naruto would argue otherwise). The boy had started his attack before even opening his mouth, a flying kick, both feet extended, straight to Kakashi's backside that carried them both past the edge of the roof and over the small alleyway that Naruto and Sakura were still hanging in, suspended against the wall.
Had he been there to witness it, Gai himself would've shed tears of joy at the perfect execution of such a youthful Dynamic Entry.
Due to the way that he had been crouched on the roof's edge, Kakashi sailed through the air head-first… straight into the balcony on the opposite of the road, two stories down.
The resulting smack sounded horrendous as mask-clad face met unyielding concrete and Sakura couldn't contain a scream as she saw her sensei (of all of one day!) break his neck and possibly every subsequent vertebra in his spine, his body doing a startlingly accurate impression of an accordion.
"Oh my god Sasuke you killed our sensei!"
"Relax, Sakura, it's only a clone." The Uchiha responded calmly, having followed the same trajectory as his opponent, but feet first and he gracefully cleared the railing of the balcony, landing lightly on the balls of his feet.
The mangled corpse of their sensei disappeared in a puff of smoke and Sakura let out an embarrassed chuckle.
"Oh, right."
"Hell yeah Sasuke! C'mon Sakura-chan, let's go track down the original and kick his ass too!"
"Naruto! Stop struggling so much, I can't keep my grip!"
"Uhm… guys?"
"C'mon Sakura-chan, we need to go or Kakashi will escape! Or worse, Hamaru will have beaten him before we can!"
"I'm telling you Naruto, if you don't settle down, we'll fall-!"
"GUYS!"
Shocked at hearing their usually taciturn teammate raise his voice like that, both genin looked up at Sasuke leaning over the railing with a distinctly unimpressed look on his face.
"Look. Down."
Confused, both did, only to find that they were indeed just hanging on by the (roughed up) skin of Sakura's hand slapped against the wall… all of 15 centimeters above the ground.
"Oh. Hehe…" Naruto bit back his original retort with a sheepish chuckle as Sakura extended her legs with a sigh, before placing the blonde back on his feet.
Before the arrival of the exiled Inuzuka and his strange family and the many days she had spent there after school, Sakura would've just dropped Naruto then and there, but Guren's sharp looks (and even sharper crystals) had quickly absolved the pink-haired girl of treating the loud blond too roughly these past two years.
Which was somewhat unfair, Sakura thought, considering how rough the strange Inuzuka family was with each other, but also fair enough considering Hamaru and Yukimaru had somehow convinced Naruto to at least stop asking her out all the damned time.
Sakura had found to her surprise that, when he wasn't shouting directly in your face, Naruto could be surprisingly good company to be around, though he could still be incredibly dense and frustrating at times.
"How did ya deal with your own clone, Sasuke? Mine was kicking my ass." Naruto groused, pride still hurt from the way Kakashi had dangled him over (and subsequently dropped him off) the edge of a building as the Uchiha easily vaulted the balcony, landing smoothly in a crouch besides them.
Sakura listened intently as Sasuke replied, not only because it was her crush talking (all right, largely because it was her crush talking) but also to see if there was any detail she could pick up about their sensei's fighting style and abilities that she could have her teammates exploit.
"I didn't. Some civilian woman burst onto the terrace we had been fighting on, and started chasing Kakashi around the perimeter, trying to hit him over the head with a frying pan. She was screaming something about avenging her microwave." Sasuke explained deadpan and Sakura sweatdropped at the mental image.
'Well, there goes that idea.'
"Far as I know, the clone is still trying to talk her down. I saw it unfit to interfere in a fellow Avenger's path of revenge, so I instead tracked you down, saw the other clone crouched here and immediately went to kick him from behind. It was instinct, really."
Ignoring Naruto's gleeful laugh, Sakura looked down at the hand she had used to stick herself and the blonde to the side of the building. The skin was roughed up from their descent and she opened and closed it with a wince.
'Maybe I should start wearing gloves? My control is good enough the fabric shouldn't interfere with the chakra sticking, same as wearing sandals while Wall Walking. Besides, Sasuke-kun probably prefers his woman's hands without callouses-'
She was ripped from her musings by a concerned shout from Naruto, feeling both her teammates' eyes on her.
"Sakura-chan, are you all right? Are you hurt?"
"It's fine Naruto, just some scrapes-"
"Here."
Sakura froze up completely as Sasuke stepped forwards, smoothly pulling out a small roll of gauze from his combat pouch and expertly wrapping her injured hand in just a few seconds, moving with the tell-tale surety of personal experience.
Being as much as a training freak like Naruto, but without the boy's healing abilities meant that Sasuke had quickly grown used to treating small injuries like this by himself.
"Good? Not too tight?" he asked calmly, completely ignoring Naruto's grumpy look and the way that Sakura's face now matched the color of her hair.
"I-it's fine, really. No loss of motion and the pain isn't too bad." Sakura managed to squeeze out in a small wheeze, flexing her hand a couple of times in demonstration as she kept a brittle smile on her face.
Inside her mind however, it was a different story.
'HELL YEAH! Sasuke-kun really does care! I will NEVER wash this hand again! Take THAT stupid Ino! I win!'
"R-really, it's fine. Thank you Sasuke-kun."
"Hn."
"Alright, alright, let's get going. Sakura-chan! You got an idea on how to get those stupid bells?"
With great difficulty, the blushing girl refocused on their current mission.
"Hamaru-san is currently fighting Kakashi-sensei. They moved too fast for me to see much of the battle, but I did see how Kakashi-sensei summoned two more dogs. Each ran off in opposite directions, but Hamaru-san ignored them in favor of sticking close to Kakashi-sensei. Based on the objective our sensei gave us and the way he seemed to avoid direct engagement with Hamaru-san, I'm guessing that each dog took one of the bells and ran off to secure them." Sakura swiftly pieced together.
"Or one dog has both and the other is there as a diversion." Sasuke pointed out with a frown.
"Maybe. But if that was what he was going for, he could've just summoned a bunch more dogs and send them all over the place, forcing us to pick one and then miss out on all the others." Naruto countered surprisingly quickly, speaking with authority and considering his sneaky fighting style and use of clones as distractions, Sasuke simply acknowledged the point with a nod.
"That doesn't change our objective then, we still need to find a way to track down and capture both dogs. Remember, we're still on a time limit." Sakura cautioned, Naruto and Sasuke frowning at the reminder.
"Picking up a trail should be doable, but tracking down both? All the time invested in taking down one just means giving more time for the other to get away. We need a multi-pronged approach." Sasuke concluded.
"So, more clones?" Naruto immediately offered, only partially disguising the tiredness in his voice as his hands came up in a cross-shape.
He was stopped by Sakura however, who had a gleam in her eye.
"No, Naruto. The thinking is right, but we don't need more bodies. Not clone bodies, at least."
"What are you thinking?" Sasuke asked, recognizing the look on Sakura's face as the one she got whenever she found a clever (if unorthodox) solution to a problem that had been bugging her.
"We need more allies."
Shikamaru was having a troublesome day. Then again, if you were to ask him on any given day, he'd probably respond that that one was being troublesome too, but still, this one had been particularly so.
Yesterday had been quite enough excitement as far as the young Nara was concerned, learning of his teammates and getting assigned his sensei. Ino and Choji were to be his teammates, as he had long expected of course, thus forming the next generation of the famous Ino-Shika-Cho formation, the sixteenth in fact.
It was a testament to how effective the teamwork between the three clans was if they felt confident in pulling off the same tricks no less than sixteen times in a row considering most ninja would only need to see a technique a few times at most in order to grasp the basics (even less than that if you were a genius like the Third Hokage or blessed with cursed eyes like the Uchiha).
Utilizing a set-up that wasn't just already known, but in fact quite famous, was a hell of a gamble and a statement of confidence in a world where life and death was usually determined by figuring out the trick of your enemy before they killed you with it.
Still, while it might be troublesome, Shikamaru was nonetheless pleased to be on the same team as his closest friends, so he didn't complain too much. Even when they all met up at the Yamanaka-Nara-Akimichi shrine that stood at the center of their connected clan grounds and got their ears pierced as part of their graduation ceremony.
Apparently, while the earrings were passed from generation to generation, worn from the day they became genin until the day they made chuunin as a memento of their oath of loyalty to each other's clans, tradition dictated that they were handed to the next generation by a Sarutobi, symbolizing the bond between the clans and the Village.
The Sarutobi weren't exactly a small clan, but Shikamaru wasn't blind to the fact that this was the second Ino-Shika-Cho Formation that was composed solely of the clan heirs, which meant that it should be an equally important Sarutobi to hand them the earrings. That meant the Third Hokage (who of course was much too busy what with the recent graduation and all), or his direct family.
As the son of the Jonin Commander, Shikamaru knew that it was a bit of an open secret that one son of the Hokage was enrolled in ANBU, while the other had recently returned to the Village from a prestigious stint as one of the Twelve Guardian ninja in the capital. Since they probably wouldn't pull a high ranking ANBU from his duties to baby-sit a bunch of brats, Shikamaru had expected their sensei would be Asuma Sarutobi.
Which was why he was somewhat surprised when Iruka had announced one Kurenai Yuhi was to be their sensei, and even more surprised when said Kurenai Yuhi turned out to be one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.
Choji had even paused in his usual munching on chips when the woman first stepped into the classroom and kindly asked them to follow her.
During their initial meet up in a nearby park, Ino had swooned over the elder woman's looks and style, apparently thinking that the woman would be able to help the blonde improve her own appeal and thus 'finally win the heart of her true love, Sasuke-kun!'
All Kurenai had managed at the suddenly shouted declaration was a polite blink of her signature red eyes.
Shikamaru had mostly found the entire ordeal troublesome. Even more so when Kurenai told them she wasn't their sensei just yet. As the heirs to the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, they were of course expected to have nothing short of perfect teamwork, in addition to whatever duties their clans would bestow them or other positions they would assume in Konoha.
Like Ino's dad, who was both the head of their clan as well as the head of Konoha's Analysis Team.
However, in addition to testing their teamwork, Kurenai also wanted to take the opportunity to see whether or not they had compatible skills with her own specialization. Shikamaru had immediately picked up how this seemed like a sore point for the red-eyed woman, but as he didn't want to be troublesome, he decided against mentioning it.
"Sensei? Is something wrong?"
Ino, of course, had no such hang-ups as Shikamaru's head thumbed against the table they were seated at. Kurenai blinked her unusual eyes for a moment, before sighing and visibly gathering herself to share something she clearly really rather wouldn't.
Shikamaru was oddly reminded of his first meeting with Hamaru Inuzuka almost two years ago now.
"It's nothing to do with you, Ino, I can assure you. It's just that… recently, there have been some quite heated discussions in which a past failure of mine has been brought to my and others' attention… repeatedly."
"Well, that's just mean!"
"Perhaps. They weren't wrong in their arguments though, I must admit. As such, it is very important to me that you not only have good teamwork with one another, but with me as your sensei as well."
Then, the young woman gave them a warm smile that managed to put all three of them at ease.
"Trust me when I say: I want to do this right."
Which was all fine and dandy with Shikamaru, if it hadn't meant that they were here the day after and already going through their drills. Apparently, once they were done with their little sparring exercise against their new sensei, the day still wouldn't be done, as they would only receive their earrings from Sarutobi Asuma later in the evening back at their shared memorial.
'Troublesome' Shikamaru thought to himself during a rare and precious moment of rest after a long series of physical drills.
Kurenai had allowed them a short breather to recover their stamina and instead used the downtime to question them on abilities, skills and interest in order to figure out a more refined training schedule. As such, while Shikamaru was catching his breath and Choji was 'refueling' as he called it, their sensei stood a little ways off in a small clearing, discussing something Genjutsu-related with Ino, probably a way to integrate them with her family's techniques if Shikamaru had to hazard a guess.
The small peaceful moment was interrupted by a sudden pink blur slamming into the clearing besides him and Choji, the poor Akimichi inhaling one of his ever-present chips in shock and rapidly turning blue in the face.
"Shikamaru-san! We need your help!"
"Troublesome." The Nara said, this time aloud as he calmly walked behind his best friend and with the ease of experience started performing the Heimlich maneuver on the desperate Choji, not even raising an eyebrow.
"What is it this time Sakura!?" Ino yelled at them, stomping towards her rival and followed closely by a bemused looking Kurenai.
"Our sensei is making us do a test and if we fail we get sent back to the Academy!" a yellow blur landed besides Sakura, quickly followed by a dark blue one.
"Naturally, that is a problem." Sasuke concluded with a nod.
"Troublesome."
"Yes, that was what I said."
"So? Why come to us? If you hadn't noticed, we're in the middle of our own test you know!" Ino shouted at her rival, before leaning past Sakura and giving a bright little wave.
"Hiiii, Sasuke!"
"… Troublesome."
"That's what I said."
"Wait, wait, wait! Hey you, pretty lady!" Naruto shouted, pointing at Kurenai before being whacked over the head by an irate Sakura and Ino.
"Naruto you blithering idiot! You can't just point at a woman and shout 'pretty lady' at her!" a mortified Sakura exclaimed.
"What?! Why the hell not?! She's pretty and she's a lady!"
"Of course she is! But you go around pointing at people and shouting things like that and people are gonna think you're looking for a… f-f-for a… y-y-you know…" Ino trailed, face quickly matching Sakura's hair.
"No, I don't!" Naruto shouted back to Ino, angry at getting hit for something he didn't understand.
"… a lady… of the night." Sakura eventually managed to squeeze out, though her embarrassment turned into anger at the non-plussed blink she got in return.
"What, like a… like she's a bat or something?"
"They mean a prostitute, Naruto." Sasuke eventually cut in, arms crossed in front of his chest and looking thoroughly done with the whole affair.
That remark set off another coughing fit from Choji and with a sigh, Shikamaru renewed his efforts at the Heimlich maneuver.
"Ohh. Well, sorry, hehe. Didn't mean it like that. Like I said, you're a lady and you're really pretty so that's what I called you." Naruto said in his version of an apology to the ever more lost-looking Kurenai, who just stared down at the innocent blonde while behind him Sakura and Ino were burying their faces in their hands.
"I'll… take that as a compliment?"
"You're welcome! Now, my question: are you gonna send these guys back to the Academy too if they fail your test?" Naruto breezed on by, snapping Sakura from her mortification as Team 7 looked at the confused Kurenai.
"All the way to the Academy? No, unless they showcased something fundamentally wrong with their skills or outlook on shinobi life. However, I am testing their capability for teamwork and gauging what their current skill levels are. Depending on that, I might keep them for several training sessions before we start doing any actual missions as an official team of Konoha." Kurenai explained easily, throwing Shikamaru a sharp look as the boy wilted under the prospect of additional training.
"What?! Man you guys are so lucky!"
Shikamaru glanced at Naruto in sheer disbelief.
"How can you say that? Did you not just hear her say we risk more training? More drills?"
"It beats needing to redo the Academy!"
"So maybe Kakashi was bluffing after all." Sasuke mused, but Sakura merely shrugged her shoulders at that.
"Maybe. Probably, even. Just from a logistical point of view, it doesn't make much sense to send genin back to the Academy if Konoha wants to keep their numbers up. Besides, there was nobody in our year that was redoing it because they failed their test from the previous year right?"
"Hey, that's true!"
"Dammit. How did we miss that?" Sasuke muttered angrily, frustrated with his own oversight.
"Doesn't matter. Kakashi was probably bluffing. However, do you want to chance if he wasn't?" Sakura pointed out, the boys sharing a glance, before looking back at the pink haired girl with determined nods.
"You know, still waiting on what this has to do with our own little training session?" Shikamaru pointed out idly, having saved Choji (again) and Kurenai began tapping her foot as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, her raised eyebrow clearly echoing Shikamaru's question.
"Oh, right! We wanted to ask for your help! Hamaru-san is currently directly engaging Kakashi himself, but our sensei summoned two ninken and had them run off. They now have the bells, so we need help in order to track them both down simultaneously."
"Yeah, right! Like Shika said, if you hadn't noticed already, we're currently busy with our own test-" Ino immediately refused, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"But that's perfect! You're being tested on teamwork as well, right? This is a perfect opportunity to display it, assisting us as a team! Consider it your first mission as ninja! It's by the books and everything, it's all legal, ask Sakura!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.
"It's true. She actually read the pamphlet. The whole thing, even." Sasuke dryly chimed in and Ino's earlier stubborn attitude visibly began to waver in front of her crush.
It shattered entirely when Sakura stepped up to her, one bandaged hand coming up to her shoulder, an imploring look in her emerald eyes.
"Please, Ino. We've had our differences, our rivalries. But we are friends. More than that, you're my best friend. Please, if Kakashi fails us…" the pink haired girl said in a small, quiet voice, and Ino's lips wobbled as much as her determination did.
Until finally-
"Argh! Fine! Fine! We'll help you, because I'm an amazing friend and even more amazing kunoichi like that. And also because if you start crying, then I start crying and that is absolutely not an option, considering how much I spent on this make-up!"
"You're wearing make-up right now?"
"Of course I am! First day with our new sensei, and then the earring ceremony later today? Of course I'm looking my best. Just be grateful I didn't show up for training in kimono."
"Uhm, kids? Aren't you forgetting something?" Kurenai interrupted the discussion between a haughty Ino and incredulous Shikamaru.
As all the prospective genin looked at the jonin, Kurenai shook her head.
"I'm the one in charge of your tests and training. Which means I decide on whether we're butting into another jonin's test, yes or no. Now, Inuzuka Hamaru may have seen no issue with doing so, but-"
"I think we should." Choji interrupted, surprising them all as this were the first words the large boy had said since the sudden interruption of Team 7.
"Like they mentioned, this is a very good opportunity to test our ability to work together in the field. You already know that we'll be able to work with each other, but what about complimenting our skills with others in Konoha? Besides, they are our comrades. Doesn't the Will of Fire of Konoha say that we should always look to aid our comrades? How can we continue with our own shinobi career, knowing that we started it off with the opportunity to help our friends, but turned them down instead, leaving them behind?"
There was a beat of silence as everybody gave the large boy a startled look.
"Well said Choji." Shikamaru clapped his friend on the shoulder, before looking back towards Kurenai.
"As troublesome as it is, I agree with both my teammates. I want to help Team 7 in their jonin test and yes, that is allowed and by the book, depending on how you're holding it. I read the pamphlet too."
Kurenai sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"If it helps, we were gonna head straight towards Team 10 to enlist their help as well?" Sakura offered politely, drawing a strange look from Shikamaru.
"What are you aiming at here, Sakura? Looking to gather an army of fresh-faced genin in an uprising against the jonin of Konoha or something?"
"You of all people should know that getting more pieces on your side of the board is only logical!"
"True, if said pieces are actually worth anything. No use in loading up on pawns when the enemy is nothing but rooks."
"You guys were going to enlist Asuma, ah, I mean Team 10 as well?" Kurenai interrupted suddenly, and something in her tone of voice tipped off Ino, who gained a gleam in her eye.
"Of course, makes sense doesn't it? They're our friends, so we know that we'll work well together and they'll likely be our comrades in the future. It's just logical." Ino pressed and Kurenai's defenses started to crumble.
"Yes, of course. Makes sense. It's just logical. Ahem. Very well, Team 8, our first mission will be to assist Team 7 in obtaining two silver bells from Hatake Kakashi. I will not involve myself in the fight directly, but I will judge you on your strategy, improvisation and cooperation." Kurenai eventually decided, leading to cheers from the more rambunctious children, while the quieter ones simply gave pleased nods.
"C'mon, let's go get Kiba and his teammates as well! If I know Kiba, he'd jump at the chance to help his uncle! 'Sides, he's good with dogs!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.
"His teammates are Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino, making them perfect trackers as well. We can leave them one of Kakashi's ninken, no trouble. With Team 8 on the other dog and we can run interference and provide aid where needed." Sakura quickly summarized.
"Then let's get to it." Sasuke simply stated.
To say he was taken off guard when six children and the most beautiful woman in the world suddenly appeared in the training ground while he was just in the midst of putting Inuzuka Kiba right on his ass (… again, the kid definitely had some authority issues they'd have to work out), was a bit of an understatement for Sarutobi Asuma, son to the Third Hokage, former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja and mentor to three kids that he had difficulty gauging.
Well, two, if he was being honest. Kiba was rather… uncomplicated, compared to this teammates.
Shino, like all Aburame, was quiet to the point of being taciturn, but at least professional and willing to work alongside others, though he and Kiba clearly rubbed each other the wrong way.
Hinata, despite being heiress to the most prestigious clan in the Village, was obviously, painfully shy and while Asuma was loath to think it about a girl who was very clearly sweet-natured and eager to do well, he had some serious doubts she had it in her to be a kunoichi.
That's nothing to say of the fact he hadn't really expected to be put on this team in the first place. Given the traditional bonds between the Sarutobi clan and the Yamanaka, Akimichi and Nara clans and Asuma had assumed he was a shoe-in as the sensei for the new Ino-Shika-Cho formation.
He had confronted his father on the seemingly last-minute change, who had confirmed that had been pretty much the plan until the most (in)famous Inuzuka in the world had raised a fuss about it. Asuma would've assumed out of nepotism (obviously, considering his own background and how often he himself had been accused of such), but his father had admitted with a sigh that each point Hamaru had raised had been (annoyingly) solid.
Kiba would indeed benefit more from learning under Asuma, considering how the way he used his trench knives and wind jutsu would be a deadly combination with the kid's own clan's rotation techniques, especially since he had taken up fighting with those shinobi claws of his, apparently a gift from said uncle.
The same was true for Shino: as an Aburame, he traditionally lacked in close quarters combat, a known weakness for a clan who relies so heavily on the ranged applications of their bug companions, a weakness that Asuma would… rectify.
Additionally, all three children were uniquely compatible with some of his own large scale ash techniques. While the ash would blind their enemies, Kiba's nose, Shino's Kikaichu and Hinata's Byakugan would allow them to fight and track opponents unhindered.
Points Hiruzen hadn't been able to refute when Hamaru had listed them off and Asuma hadn't begrudged Kurenai the chance to helm a prestigious new formation herself instead of him, who had quite his fill of fame at this point. Despite only having made jonin recently, none of the clans were prideful enough to raise a fuss about it (especially because Kurenai's skill with Genjutsu nicely complimented their own techniques as well), while simultaneously the arrogant Hyuga were mollified that their clan princess was getting direct instruction from the Hokage's own son.
All in all, not a bad shake, and Asuma could still hand the new Ino-Shika-Cho their earrings at a later ceremony, so no loss there.
Which didn't explain why there were suddenly standing here in his training ground. Not that their own explanation did much to clear things up, all things considered. So the Haruno girl had been sneaky enough to find a loophole and had enlisted that very same Hamaru to brawl with Hatake Kakashi of all people?
Clever girl.
Still, that had little to do with his own team and he didn't feel much for their pleas of potentially failing their genin test and being sent to the Academy, especially since he figured that, with all the trouble they'd given him so far, Kakashi was likely to take them under his wing anyways and immediately sign them up for the next Chuunin Exams.
Or, if they'd given him too much trouble, he'd argue to kick them out of Konoha entirely.
Either, or.
He wasn't swayed even when Kiba (as expected) and Hinata (definitely not as expected) piped up to help Team 7 and Hamaru against Kakashi, with the quiet support (or disapproval… it was hard to tell with an Aburame) of Shino as well.
What did convince him, immediately in fact, was when Kurenai politely asked him to help out.
"Team 10, get those bells on the double!"
"… wow did you change your mind fast."
Unfortunately, it was only after he had given his approval that he learned that they had to split up, which meant he couldn't stick around Kurenai- uhmm, he meant, unfortunately Team 10 couldn't back up Team 8, yeah.
Still, he had to admit it was a good opportunity to see how his team could operate in the field with a live target. As expected, they were excellent trackers, Akamura having picked up the scent of a fellow ninken in no time flat, with Hinata's Byakugan leading them on a straight shot towards their target.
Seeing as he was being hounded (… hehe) the ninken made a snap decision to return to its partner to request back-up which incidentally lead them on a roundabout way back towards the enormous entrance gate of the Village.
Something twigged his mind and he wondered why Kakashi was retreating to that point. Had he been so fed up with his team after all of one day he was making a break for it and going missing nin?
Ha, surely not!
… well, weirder things have happened…
More invested now than he would like to admit, Asuma landed next to his team as they descended on a rooftop overlooking the wide main road leading from the entrance gates to the center of the village. To his surprise, on the opposite side of the road, Kurenai and her team landed at roughly the same time (Asuma had to forcefully restrain the urge to wave at her like an idiot) while both ninken jumped ahead to a nearby shingled roof, both of them looking trapped, red strings fluttering from their mouths.
It didn't take long for them to spot the ninkens' partner, Kakashi bursting through the windows of an office building nearby, trailing shards of glass and shouts behind him. He looked a bit worse for wear and Asuma was shocked to see the man had even gone so far as to uncover his famed Sharingan. He landed next to his ninken in a deep crouch, before everyone froze in their spots as the glaring red eye landed on them.
"… oh come on, this is just not fair anymore." The Hatake sweat-dropped, before turning back towards the office building he had just escaped, cupping his hands over his mask.
"Sakura-chan! Stop siccing other jonin on your sensei! You shouldn't do that!"
"But it's not illegal!"
"No, but it's not nice!"
"Stop running away from me then!"
"Never!"
"At least stop destroying windows!"
"… Maybe."
Asuma and his team just looked on, baffled, as the famous jonin had a shouting match with his student and he wasn't the only one he noticed, glancing at all the civilians and clients that stood on the wide road below them, glancing up with gaping mouths.
Finally, Sakura emerged from the broken window as well, carefully sticking to the wall as she clambered up the side of the building to its roof and Asuma raised an eyebrow at the early display of Wall Walking. He was pretty sure his own new students were quite a bit removed from managing it on their own as well, and they were all clan kids. This Sakura was clearly from a clan-less background, given the empty circle on her back.
Once she had established her name and credentials, she'd have to come up with a design to fill it, as the other clans of Konoha had done far in the past.
From the same building, Sakura's teammates emerged, themselves as well-known in Konoha as their teacher, though they lacked the level of control the pink haired girl had displayed. Instead the Kyuubi container used the upper ledge of the window, leaping out while catching himself on the frame with one hand and using his momentum to fling himself upwards, pushing off once before vaulting over the edge of the roof and ending up in a classic three-point landing beside Sakura. The Last Uchiha didn't even come through the window at all, instead the door standing on top of the roof was kicked open, the raven-haired boy strolling out while shooting his teammates a deadpan look.
"You know, there are stairs…" he muttered before joining his teammates on the edge of the roof, standing opposite their sensei and his ninken.
"What did ya do with Hamaru, ya big scarecrow!?" Naruto roared over the street, the heads of the people below following the bellowed conversation like a tennis match.
"Oh, don't worry about our big Inuzuka friend, he's just a little… tied up, right now." Kakashi said leisurely as he straightened from his crouch, pitching his voice towards the nearby Team 8 and Team 10 as well, and neither Asuma nor Kurenai missed how the Hatake angled his body so that his Sharingan was focused on them too.
'Crap, I get the feeling this is starting to escalate. He's taking this a lot more serious than his reputation would suggest.' Asuma thought to himself, a sideways glance towards Kurenai showing the gorgeous woman having similar concerns.
"No way, you got ninjutsu strong enough to put down Uncle!?" Kiba roared in anger and shock, only held back by the strong hand of Asuma pulling him back by his furred hood.
"No, something much more better than ninjutsu!" Kakashi shouted back easily, a hand dipping into his combat pouch and despite having known his new team for all of a day, Asuma found himself shoving the kids behind him as he fished out his own knives as the Copy Nin revealed the secret weapon that had apparently put down the strongest Inuzuka in history, a… a…
A little orange book?
"Behold! Icha Icha Violence! The chapters on shibari proved particularly inspiring."
The collective facefault of the crowd below was strong enough to rattle the buildings and Asuma buried his head in his hands with a sigh. Said sigh ended in a chocked off cough when from behind him, the innocent voice of Hinata sounded out.
"Uuhmm, s-sensei? W-what does s-s-shibari mean?"
"… ask your dad."
"… somehow I feel like I shouldn't."
It wasn't hard to see where the princess' hesitation came from, considering the shouting that came from the crowd below, especially the women who were shouting up at the copy nin that 'he should be ashamed of himself!' and 'who allowed this maniac within a hundred feet of minors in the first place?!', which was contrasted by a few of the voices in the crowd who came to the book's defense.
For all of his survival instincts when on a mission, the copy nin seemed determined to dig his own grave today, as he ignored his students on the opposite rooftop and began shouting down at the crowd instead.
"Oh yeah? Well, if these books are so awful as you say, then why was a film adaptation of Icha Icha Paradise just announced, huh? Rumors are, it will even star Koyuki Kazahana in the main role!"
"She's a harlot!"
"She is an artiste!"
Asuma was shocked by the killing intent he felt besides him and he turned to see Kurenai trembling in place, her face as red as her eyes.
"Shameful…" she muttered angrily, her hands coming down to rest on Shikamaru's and Choji's shoulders, the boys sweating while Ino looked on, fascinated.
"Team 8. New mission. Deliver me Hatake Kakashi's balls."
"… uhmm, don't you mean… bells?" Shikamaru hazarded.
"No. No I do not."
"… right."
Finally spotting the danger, Kakashi backed away from the rooftop's edge and the subsequent brawl that was evolving in the street ("It's art!" "It's porn!" "Exactly!"), his ninken crouched low besides him as they kept Team 7, 8 and 10 in their peripherals.
Not that Asuma was really keen on letting this go on any further, but he had the faint impression that if he didn't back Kurenai in this, he could forget date night for the foreseeable future.
"Well now, let's all be reasonable here…" Kakashi stalled, putting the orange book away again.
"Just give it up, Kakashi, you can't hold out against all of us. Just pass your damned brats already so we can all go home." Asuma tried as a last effort, and for a moment it seemed he had actually gotten through to the Copy Nin.
"Ho, my Eternal Rival! As expected, to see you at the center of such youthful excitement!"
'Ahh, crap.'
Kakashi's face turned gleeful (well, the visible parts of it at least) as he half-turned towards the gates a little away, the voice of Konoha's Green Beast having reached them easily even from there and above the din of the civilians below.
"Gai, right on time! Knew you'd be back sometime today. Assist me and I'll let you pick whatever challenge you want for the next three days!"
"YOSH! MY BELOVED GENIN! THIS IS A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO FAN THE FLAMES OF YOUR YOUTH IN FRONT OF YOUR COMRADES! PUSH THROUGH AND PERSERVERE AND SHOW THE STRENGTH OF YOUR YOUTH!"
"HAI GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
And then Asuma was forced to backpedal rapidly as a blur of green was suddenly right there in front of his face, throwing off a series of sharp jabs he only managed to avoid by the skin of his teeth.
'Yep, this is definitely getting out of hand now.' Asuma sweatdropped.
Ebisu prided himself on his abilities as a teacher. He might not be the Leaf's greatest combatant, or have the most exciting specialization, but education was the foundation that built up the next generation and he took great pride in that.
That being said, lately he wished more and more often that others viewed his duty with the same reverence he did.
"Come on, Ebisu-san. That sounds like trouble ahead. We shall investigate."
Especially when it came to his own students. Wasn't he supposed to be the authority figure here!?
'… so why doesn't it feel like that?'
"Ah, Kimimaro. As team leader, I am the one who decides what assignments we do and do not take. And I say we follow protocol; we still have this report to deliver after all." The man sat, pushing up his spectacles as he held up a slim red-banded scroll.
Kimimaro glanced back at the man that was supposedly his superior, before shooting a look towards the orange haired boy at his side.
"Jugo." He simply commanded, the large boy nodding at the single word.
"Sure thing, Kimimaro. Excuse me, Ebisu-san." The boy said politely, one hand coming up to grab the other end of the scroll.
Then the boy's voice suddenly deepened into an animalistic growl as the hand gained a grey color, increasing in size and growing several spikes and odd protrusions.
"I'll take that." The voice grumbled as he easily tore the scroll from Ebisu's hand.
Before the spectacled man could recover from his surprise, Jugo turned around, hefted back his arm and with a forceful grunt whipped the abnormal appendage forwards. The scroll disappeared in a blur through the opened gates, quickly followed by a crash and the sound of splintering wood.
"What in the godsdamned shit-fuck was that?!" the high-pitched shriek came from a startled Kotetsu, as always on gate duty with Izumo, the scroll embedded in the wall right next to his head, the edges of the sealed paper even smoking slightly, as was the tip of his ear.
As Jugo's appearance returned to normal, Kimimaro glanced back towards a gaping Ebisu.
"There. Scroll delivered. Protocol followed. Let's go." He stated curtly, Jugo simply shrugging and giving a nod, while Yukimaru came up besides their sensei, patting the man on the shoulder with a sympathetic look on his face.
"My brother means well, Ebisu-san. … I'm pretty sure, at least."
"Y-you know, as your teacher, you should all respect me more! … please?" the older man trailed off, sounding somewhat unsure.
The bone wielder merely raised an eyebrow, the red dots on his forehead shifting as well, before turning on his heel.
"Of course we respect you as a teacher, don't be foolish. Now come on. Try to keep up."
And with that, he disappeared in a blur, Jugo right on his heels. Yukimaru winced before giving another pat on the older man's shoulder.
"I apologize Ebisu-san, it's nothing personal I promise. Kimimaro is only really respectful to people that are stronger than us after all. You'll get to that level eventually, I believe in you! So please don't feel bad!" and with a last smile Yukimaru was off as well, following his brothers and leaving their sensei on the road towards the entrance to Konoha.
"… somehow, that actually made me feel worse…" the man said in a small voice, sadly pocketing his hands as he kicked at a small pebble.
When he was younger, he had had many thoughts on what kind of teacher he'd be and especially on what kind of students he'd have the privilege of mentoring. He certainly hadn't been prepared for students like… like this.
Dejected, he walked through the entrance gates, without truly looking at their strength and majesty as he usually did. Dejected, he walked past the booth where Izumo and Kotetsu were trying to extract the mission report scroll from the side of their booth, going so far as to stand on the wall, pulling at it with all their might as they hung suspended off the floor. Dejected, he walked past the brawling crowd, not even bothering to try and calm the people as he walked past-
"We should bring back book burnings, just to rid the world of Icha Icha!"
Ebisu's dark shades flashed as his head snapped up. He knew he wasn't the greatest shinobi in the village. He had thought he was one of its best teachers at least, but nothing had prepared him on how to teach monsters that were stronger than him, throwing everything he thought he knew out of the window.
But this? This, Ebisu knew that this was something in which his expertise couldn't be denied, something that couldn't be turned on its head as so many other things in his life recently had been. Like a drowning man at sea spotting an island in the middle of a storm, Ebisu turned towards the brawling crowd, rolling up his sleeves, a worrying flame burning bright behind those dark glasses.
And then-
"Icha Icha Paradise is a masterwork of literature that stirringly paints the bonds between a man and a woman as none have ever done before or since!"
-he roared as he leapt into the crowd, engaging in a furious bukijutsu battle against an equally ferocious Konoha housewife, kunai against frying pan, sparks flying. Dodging a downwards swing that left a small crater in the road, only a single thought went through Ebisu's mind.
'Ahh… some normalcy at last…'
AN: I know that most people are waiting for updates on my other fics, but recently I've been reading some truly amazing Naruto fanfics (most notably From Nin to Five by SeatAdmiral, go check it out, it's the best currently ongoing Naruto fic imo) and that left me with a bug I just couldn't shake, so here we are.
While doing some research on the Naruto world, I sort of automatically fell into the same approach that I used for my original Twelve Step Program to Omnipotence in the MCU. There's a bunch of stuff lying around in the Naruto world, especially in the fillers and the movies, that are just… there, seemingly forgotten by the plot. I've got a rough outline of how you'd bootstrap yourself to immortality using a couple of those and now I can't shake that idea, especially since it fits really nicely with a Mizuki SI (something I haven't seen done before, so that's pretty exciting). Expect that to be the next update, hopefully coming soon, though I can't be sure as work will be picking up again.
Hopefully, once I get more and more back into the swing of things I can bring back the polls over on , but for now I'm really just writing whatever comes up and whenever I can find the time. Thank you for your understanding, have a wonderful day.