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Cold rain saturated the darkness; the howling of the wind dominated the hearing of any who dared to venture into the bitter night. A small child sat huddled in the hollow of a rotting tree, his tears mixing with the rain that dripped from his matted hair. It was mere luck that a passing soul caught the child’s cries amidst the roar of the wind and the pounding of the rain; luck that the young man chose to investigate the muffled sound; luck that through vision blurred by tears the child found himself gazing into kind blue eyes, that the child was swept into the stranger’s strong arms and borne away from that frightful place…


BWEE, BWEE, BWEE!

A strong, tanned arm slid from beneath the covers, a soft groan accompanying the gesture. After a few moments of blind searching, the fingers found the button which would silence the alarm. The arm once more vanished among the bedding. The huddled mass began to writhe as the person hidden within attempted to stir himself awake. Blankets pulled back, revealing first a head of unruly green hair, followed by a bleary golden stare that remained, unfocused, aimed toward the ceiling. The sheets continued to retreat along the tired figure, exposing his pierced ears, his downturned mouth, his strong neck and shoulders. With a great stretch and a gaping yawn the boy forced himself into a sitting position. His gaze took in the clock in its peripheral, and the golden eyes suddenly grew wide and alert. Turning to face the clock fully he double checked the time, and found he had been correct when he first read it.

“Damn!” The green-haired youth cursed as he threw off his covers, “Damn! I’m gonna be late!”

The boy practically leapt from his bed, covering the distance between where he had slept and his bathroom with speed only one with ninja training could muster. He snatched up his toothbrush, coating the bristles with paste, and spent a few moments frantically scrubbing his teeth. After spitting the minty froth into the sink he ran a brush through his moss coloured locks a couple of times, not that it made much difference, before racing back to his bedroom. Picking up the crumpled black shirt and navy pants he had cast aside after wearing them the previous day, he once more dressed in the garments. Around his neck he fastened a thick golden necklace, bangles of the same gold slid onto his wrists. The final touch was the forehead protector, leaf insignia engraved in it, that he bound across his brow. The task of dressing complete, he launched himself down the stairs towards the door.

“Hey!” A voice sounded as he passed the kitchen. The source was soon revealed as a blonde man with a bright blue gaze and strange whisker markings poked his head into the hall, “Aren’t you gonna eat?”

“No time!” Came the hurried reply, “After training!”

“Yuudai!” The voice of the blonde man took on a stern tone, but it was for not. The youth had already dashed out of the house. A smile over took the adult’s features as he shook his head, bemused. Yuudai reminded him so much of himself, strong and determined; and yet they were so different. He had been ‘Konoha’s number one knucklehead ninja,’ but his son was harsh, and bitter. As many times as Naruto had assured the boy that they were a family, it never seemed to put Yuudai’s mind at ease.

Yuudai sped through the village, avoiding the crowds along the street by bounding gracefully from rooftop to rooftop. Behind him the ends of his forehead protector streamed like banners. He could see the faces of people below, stepping out from their shops to investigate; each villager wondering which ninja was traveling over their heads in a blur.

Nearing the place where his team was to meet to train, the green-haired youth leapt from the rooftops to the ground, landing so elegantly that he was able to continue on without missing a step. He tore towards the clearing he could see on the horizon, at the center of which stood a large tree by which he was supposed to join his team. As the tree that marked his destination loomed in his vision, he skidded to a halt, colliding with the foot of one of his teammates, who had held it up to keep from being bowled over.

“Yuu-kun! Watch where the hell you’re going!” The ebony haired girl with pink bangs shouted.

“Don’t call me that, Uchiha!” Yuudai responded his hands balled into fists at his sides.

A laugh sounded from above, and the green-haired youth turned his gaze upwards to find the source. There hanging by the souls of her feet, clad in a purple top and grey cargo shorts, her forehead protector bound around her thigh, was a young girl with two short, dark pigtails, and teal eyes. Clearly amused at their bickering, she dropped from her perch and, landing gracefully at her teammate’s sides, she spoke, “You’re late Uzumaki-kun! We were supposed to start ten minutes ago!”

“Peh, like you couldn’t have started without me!” Yuudai’s golden eyes rolled as he spoke. Why should it even matter if he was late?

“I’d have been glad to,” The Uchiha girl retorted, “If Kiba-sensei would have let us! Why the hell I had to get put on a team with you-”

She was cut off as the other female member of the team put a hand on her shoulder, “Oh, come on! We’re teammates, we shouldn’t be fighting, Uchiha-chan!”

“She’s right, Akina” The three ninja turned to the source of the voice. Astride an oversized dog sat their sensei, Inuzuka Kiba, clad in black and mesh with his Jounín’s vest left unzipped over the outfit, “You shouldn’t fight; it makes it hard to work as a team.”

He grinned as he hopped off Akamaru’s back, “I’m the sensei, leave discipline to me, ne? That being said, you should try and be on time, Yuudai, y’know? What if it’d been a mission you were late for?”

“Fat chance,” Yuudai muttered cynically, “We don’t get to go on missions.”
Akina quickly landed a blow upside of the green-haired boy’s head, “Can it, Yuu-kun. You shouldn’t talk back.”

“What the hell was that for?!” The youth held a hand over the spot on the back of his head, “And don’t call me Yuu-kun!”

“Akina, what’d I just say?” Kiba sighed softly. For two years he’d been putting up with their bickering…and frankly it was starting to give him a headache, “Anyways, what do ya say we get started?”

“I say let’s get going!” The purple clad girl responded enthusiastically.

“Right, Mine,” Kiba smiled, gesturing to a nearby set of three padded poles that were to be used as training dummies, “Let’s start with the basics.”

Yuudai mumbled under his breath, but not so softly that his words escaped Kiba’s ears. “We know how to throw punches; shouldn’t we be working on nin-jutsu?”

“And if your nin-jutsu fails, then what?” Kiba quirked a brow, “You need tai-jutsu to fall back on.” He paused, then laughed slightly, shaking his head, “Man, I’m starting to sound like an old man. But ninja are put into situations where their nin-jutsu and gen-jutsu won’t work. So, we start with tai-jutsu, now go!”

As the three Genin made their way to the training dummies, Akamaru’s muzzle stretched open in a gaping yawn. He circled a couple times before finding a spot to rest as he observed his comrade’s team at work. Each youth took a stance before a padded pole, and the punches began to fly. Fists flew through the air with blinding speed, legs were swung up to land kicks against the padding with dull thuds that echoed through the morning air.

Kiba leaned against the large tree, his arms folded across his chest as he watched his students, calling out advice when he felt they’d need it, and praising they’re successes, “I shouldn’t have to remind you to keep your eyes on the opponent, even if it is a post! Don’t lean so far when you land a kick, it’ll knock you off balance! Nice punch, Akina! Yuudai, take it seriously, would ya? That’s how a kick’s supposed to look, Mine! Good job!”

Yuudai let out an exasperated sigh as he landed a hard kick near the top of the post. Why did it seem Kiba was always picking on him? His punches picked up in intensity. To anyone without ninja training, they would seem nothing but a blur of motion. His assault on the post came to an end when his fist penetrated the padding, yellowish fluff spilling out of the hole.

“Great,” Kiba winced as he took in the damage, “I’m gonna have to pay to fix that. Well, guess this means we should move on to something else. How about target practice?”

“Tch, you mean you want us to practice on a stationary target?” The ever-argumentative boy countered, earning an exasperated eye roll from Akina.
“I wouldn’t be whining about it if I were you, Yuudai.” Kiba replied, setting up a target on the already ruptured pole, “out of everyone here, you’re the one that needs the most practice. It’s like you aren’t even trying.”

“Maybe I’m not. Maybe these stupid training sessions are totally pointless!”

“Listen up: I’m the sensei! I decide what training is pointless and what training is necessary. If you don’t like it, tough s**t. A ninja is more than just a soldier, a ninja can work as a member of a team, and can take instruction from a leader. You aren’t able to do either! Honestly, I’m not sure if you really even want to become a ninja, but all you’re doing at this point is holding your teammates back. Now shut up, and get serious!” The girls stared open mouthed at their sensei. They’d seen Kiba upset before, but never had he gone off quite like that. Yuudai and Kiba were in a stare down, each regarding the other angrily through narrowed eyes. Akamaru rose again to his massive paws, carefully watching the situation, ready to spring to his friend’s aid should the student physically rebel.

“I will be a ninja,” the golden-eyed Genin growled, “I won’t fail…I’ll be greater than even the Hokage!”

“Big words,” Kiba huffed, gently tossing a kunai so that it stuck in the ground at his pupil’s feet, “But can you hit the bull’s eye?”

Yuudai stooped, pulling the short blade from the soil, his golden gaze betraying his anger as he launched the kunai towards the target mounted on the pole. His rage had formed an energy that had snaked its way down his arm, and as anger and hatred are known to do, it had increased the strength behind his attack. This extra force, however, had diverted the blade from its intended course, and the kunai lodged itself deep within the wood of a tree beyond their training area.

“Your anger and motivation make you strong…your dad was the same way. He learned to control it; I suggest you do too, if you want to be half the ninja he is.” The sensei turned away from his students, moving towards where Akamaru, who had begun to relax once more, was circling in preparation to lie down. Kiba gestured to a sack containing kunai on the ground, “In case you don’t have any…but you should start carrying them either way. You each get ten kunai, make them count. Yuudai, you’re down to nine now…you might as well go first.”

The Genin grumbled as he moved to the sack, pulling out nine kunai. One blade was hooked by the open loop of the dull end onto each of his fingers, with the index of his left hand bearing two. He silently turned and made his way back to the target, taking a stance before it, and dropping seven of the kunai to the ground. He would show his team just how awesome he could be! Taking a kunai in each hand, he launched them simultaneously toward the target. The first hit with a thud just off of the center circle, but the second had strayed to the right of the target, and sailed into the trees.

“Stop trying to show off,” Kiba, who had seated himself at Akamaru’s side and was now resting against the large dog’s flank, shook his head as he spoke, “And start trying to do it right. If you just focus, then you can get it…or you wouldn’t have been able to graduate!”

Yuudai took a deep breath, trying to focus on anything but the rage he felt at being singled out yet again by his sensei. He knew he could do this, so why was it so hard? Letting out the breath, he locked his gaze onto the crimson circle at the center of the target, and with a twist of his figure, he released the kunai. The small blade sliced through the air, and his aim proved true as it lodged itself deep at the center of the circle.

“See? What did I tell you? You have six more to go, keep it focused.” Kiba smiled, pleased to see that Yuudai wasn’t entirely incompetent. Of course, he’d already known that. Yuudai was a skilled fighter, but he tended to fight with his emotions, and not with his head. It was a problem that had been known to get Kiba into trouble when he was younger as well.

The mossy-haired shinobi gazed at the blade embedded in the target. Though his sensei’s words had been intended as praise, they stung him. It felt as though the Jounin was rubbing his nose in the fact that he’d been wrong. Silently he took up another kunai, tossing it with a flick of the wrist, it landed just outside the inner circle. Another blade went soaring through the morning air, cutting into the target’s center ring.

“Alright, now that you seem to have calmed down, try two at once again.”
“Peh,” Yuudai bent to pick up another two kunai. Despite Kiba’s efforts to praise him, he was instead feeling patronized. In each hand he clutched a cold metal knife, taking a small jump back as he uncoiled the energy that had bound itself in his arms; he let the blades slice through the emptiness between him and the target. A dull thud sounded as the first sunk into the center ring, and a metallic clink echoed through the stillness as the second ground it’s way alongside, barely notching itself into the target.

“That’s it!” Kiba exclaimed excitedly, “You have the skill, and the determination, you’ve just gotta keep your head.”

Yuudai blinked, caught slightly off guard by his sensei’s excitement for him. It seemed that the Jounin was done belittling him. A small smile threatened to appear on the Genin’s lips, but Yuudai quickly reminded himself not to let his guard down. The village had some vendetta against him, and he wouldn’t let himself be lured into a false sense of camaraderie.

This time when he stooped, the green-haired youth took hold of each of the four remaining kunai. Standing, he took in the target, looking for the open spots where the blades would not ricochet off of those that had already hit their mark. He let them fly, in such rapid succession that they seemed to leave his grasp all at once, though each had been carefully aimed. A series of four dull thuds, and each blade found it’s mark, studding the target with the cold metal projectiles.

“That was pretty good,” Kiba nodded, taking in where the blades had impacted, each close to the center, centimeters away from one another, and the blades that had gone before them. He retrieved the kunai, “See what happens when you take it seriously? Akina, your turn.”


With a nod, Akina made her way past the sensei, who was returning to his seat at Akamaru’s side. She passed by the bag of kunai, relying instead on the ones stored in the pouch on her left hip. Retrieving the first of the small blades, she wordlessly let it fly towards the target. It sank just to the right of the center ring. Her lips fell into a small frown.

“Don’t let one missed shot rattle you. Just try to get the next one right. Besides, at least you hit the target,” Kiba reassured her, reaching out to scratch the massive dog behind its ear as he spoke.

Another silent nod as Akina drew her next blade; her teammates watched as the cold metal projectile sank deep into the center ring. A smirk flitted over the girl’s lips, and she reached for another kunai.

“Hey, Uchiha,” Yuudai’s voice caused her to turn her head. She was clearly perturbed at having her concentration shattered, “If you throw them all one at a time, we’ll be here all day! Pick up the pace!”

Akina was about to make a hot tempered reply when Kiba interrupted, “That’s enough, Yuudai. There’s no need to provoke a fight. She’s your teammate. You have to work together, so you’d better get along! Akina, go ahead and make your next throw, but remember that you won’t have such a long time in battle to line up your shots…”

“Yes, Kiba-sensei.” The smug look that the Uchiha girl had born upon hearing Yuudai rebuked faded into one of shame when it turned out the green-haired Genin had had something of a point. From the corner of her ebony gaze she was able to see a smirk crossing the golden-eyed boy’s lips.

Her own lips pursed in determination as she pulled out five kunai this time, determined to show up Yuudai’s throw of four blades. There was a soft hiss as each blade sliced the air in rapid succession, and a sharp series of thuds, one, two, three…two of the kunai had missed. Ignoring the weapons that had hit their mark, the kunoichi glared at where the two that had missed had disappeared into the darkness of the surrounding trees.

Kiba sighed and shook his head, “What I told Yuudai about showing off goes for you too. And picking up the pace doesn’t mean getting careless. Focus, but move quickly. Don’t let some stupid rivalry ruin your effectiveness!”

“Alright,” The word was spoken both to acknowledge her sensei, and to refocus her. There were only three kunai left; she’d wasted two of them stupidly trying to show up Yuudai. She stooped, scooping all three up by the handle, her left hand clasped around them. With a soft sigh she stared hard at the bull’s-eye, shifting her grasp so that one of the small knives was clasped now in her right hand. With a determined breath, she launched them quickly, three thuds. Each Kunai had embedded itself within the center circle.

“Good, much better.” Kiba gave an approving nod as the kunoichi retrieved her knives, “That leaves you, Mine.”

Mine smiled broadly as she swiftly unfastened the pockets of her cargo shorts. Each pocket was thickly lined so as to prevent the contents from stabbing their owner, and contained five kunai, ready to be used. The pigtailed Genin lacked the rivalry that drove her teammates, but she had something else motivating her, ambition. She knew that she couldn’t allow herself to do any less than her best if one day she hoped to reach her goal.

Akina, having finished the task of recollecting her kunai by tracking down the two that had strayed into the trees, returned to her sensei’s side, leaning against the same nearby tree that Kiba had previously used to prop himself up. Her dark gaze focused on Mine. She knew well what her fellow kunoichi was capable of. Out of the three Genin, Mine was perhaps the most skilled. Though she did possess natural talent, she had striven hard to get to the point she was currently at. Akina had no doubt that one day Mine would achieve a place in the ANBU ranks.

Teal blue eyes trained on the target’s center as Mine reached a hand into each pocket and withdrew two kunai. Despite the lack of missions given to Genin, Mine’s equipment was well maintained, always in the best possible condition. Her hands, in one fluid motion, were drawn from her pockets, and the knives were cast through the air. Each sounded a dull thud as it burrowed into the target, mere millimeters away from one another at its center. Another two soon followed, landing one on either side of the first two.

Kiba chuckled, “Obviously there’s nothing distracting Mine…”

A smile crossed Mine’s lips at the words, and in spite of what had previously seemed perfect aim, when she let four kunai fly this time, they sunk into the outer rings of the target, with one soaring into the trees.

“Looks like I spoke to soon.” Kiba sighed, “Oh well. Mine, you can’t let someone talking break your concentration. When you’re on a mission, you’re in constant communication with your teammates, and your enemy can always try to distract you with chatter. You have to be able to focus on multiple things at once.”

“Sorry,” Mine sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. She’d have to remember to practice with her brother talking to her in the background…or maybe the TV going.

“Hey, everyone makes mistakes,” The sensei reassured his pupils, “The key is to get them out of the way in training, so that you don’t make them when there’s a life on the line. Mine, you’ve got just two left…then it’s time for multiple targets.”

Mine grinned; throwing kunai at multiple targets was much more challenging than this child’s play, “Right!”

She drew her final two kunai, and let them sail, each sinking deep into the target, one above her previous strikes, one below. Smiling she turned to face her teammates, “Now comes the fun part, ne?”

Akina looked at Mine, admiring her companion’s enthusiasm and skill. If she could let mistakes roll off her like Mine seemed to, the Uchiha girl knew that she’d be much quicker to improve. Instead, she let her mistakes distract her, and that often caused her to mess up even more.

Yuudai’s look was one of indignity. To him it seemed as though Mine was showing off, and rather than being scolded, she was praised because she succeeded. It was grossly unfair.

As Kiba went about setting up four extra targets, Mine gathered her kunai, and rather than sit about with nothing to do, Akina opted to help her. Once they had pried all the kunai from the target they’d been using, Kiba took hold of that one, moving it to another location. When all was set up, there was a target in the center of the clearing, one each attached to the trunk of a tree at either end of the clearing, one propped at an angle between a high branch and the trunk of a tree at the back of the clearing, and one barely visible amid the thick leaves of a shrub in front of the tree that Akina had been leaning on previously.

“Ugh, the hidden target is always hard,” Mine winced as she tried to plan out a strategy, “Bet your kids haven’t got a problem with it though, right, Kiba-sensei?”
Kiba chuckled and ran a hand through his brown locks, “Well, not everyone has Byakugan.” Getting serious the sensei dropped his hand to his side, using the other to point out the targets, “You guys know the rules, five targets, five kunai, one chance.”

“Right!” Mine nodded, her hands already inching towards her pockets.
Spotting her enthusiasm, her sensei grinned, “Alright then, you might as well go first since you’re so anxious, Mine.”

The kunoichi nodded, then took a running start, launching herself from one of the padded poles near the center of the clearing. Her leap sent her spinning, and as she rose she reached into her pockets, drawing out two kunai from her left pocket, and three from her right. At the heights of her jump she launched a blade towards the target wedged in the high branch, and another towards the one hidden in the bush. Descending her third and fourth kunai flew towards either end of the clearing, seeking the targets fastened to the trees there. As she landed, she found the target below her, and bearing the remaining blade in both hands, she landed with a foot on either side of the target, crouching above it, the kunai still in her grasp, buried deep in the very center of the rings. Now, bear in mind that all this happened much faster than words can describe. To eyes not trained to follow her movements, the Genin would have appeared but a blur.

Drawing several deep breaths to recover from the effort, Mine looked about to see if the other blades had hit their mark. Though it had indeed penetrated the target, her first kunai hit only its outer ring. The second missed entirely, her aim having been obscured by the bush. The third had sunken true into the center of the target, and the fourth had barely made it into the inner circle.

“Only one completely missed. Not bad.” Kiba encouraged her, “But unfortunately, not good enough. If you’re going to hit a target, you need to try and take them out, meaning you need to hit the spot you intend to, whether it’s a fatal or disabling blow.”

“Who are we supposed to fight?” Yuudai quirked a brow, all this senseless training was beginning to get to him. It was one thing to train if you were going to actually put it to good use. But when the closest thing you got to a mission was saving the crazy cat lady’s favorite feline from a tree, there was hardly a point. At the very least, couldn’t they get a mission more than a few feet from the village walls?
“Only the people you have to,” the sensei replied, taking the sarcastic remark in stride, “Just because Genin haven’t been given missions in recent years, that doesn’t mean that there won’t ever come a time when you’ll have to battle. You’re still ninja, and there’s still a chance that an enemy might find you, even within Konoha. We’ve been attacked before, and it could happen again. So, our ninja have to be ready when the time comes. That said; don’t go picking fights just because you’re restless. You’ll get your chance, however long it takes, that’s a sure thing.”

It was probably the longest and most serious speech the Jounin had given his team. Mine and Akina exchanged meaningful glances. Yuudai folded his arms over his chest, contemplating silently. Each of them had the same thought echoing in their mind. They’d been training for years, but if it came time to apply what they had learned, would they be able to?

Sensing the darkening mood of the students, Kiba broke the silence, “Sorry to get all heavy on you, but I’m sure when the time comes you’ll all do great! Anyways, why doesn’t Yuudai go next? Ah, but first, Mine, could you go collect your kunai?”

“Ah! Right!” Mine had been so intent on what her sensei had been saying she’d entirely forgotten. In a short time she’d gathered the blades, and replaced them into her pockets.

Now, it was the golden-eyed shinobi’s turn. He retrieved five kunai from Kiba’s sack of blades, and took a place in the center of the clearing. Quickly his gaze flitted from one target to the next as he judged their positions. Taking hold of a single blade between his teeth, he carefully grasped the other four, then launched into the attack. Running straight for one of the padded poles, he let fly a single kunai, which struck the center of the angled target high in the tree, next in one fluid motion the three blades that remained in his grasp darted from his hands, through the air, and towards their perspective goals. As he leapt to the top of the pole he turned ever so slightly, taking the kunai from between his teeth and tossing it easily into the center of the target that rested on the ground. As for the three remaining targets: the one to the far left of the field had been struck within its second circle; the one to the far right had been passed by, the kunai biting instead into the wood of the tree; and the blade that sliced into the bush had sunken into the outer edge of the target.

“Not bad,” Kiba remarked, and Akamaru barked his agreement, “You hit nearly all of them. If only you had the same focus when trying to hit a single target…”

Yuudai scoffed, hating the idea of being mocked by his sensei, and went to retrieve the blades. The pigtailed Genin who had gone before him spoke as he did so, “You know, he’s not teasing you, Uzumaki-kun. It’s Kiba-sensei's job to teach us what we’ve done wrong as well as what we’ve done right. And you should always focus! No matter how simple a task might seem!”

“Mi-chan!” Akina chuckled as she drew five Kunai in preparation for her own turn, “Stop trying to suck up!”

“I’m not!” Mine insisted, but she too soon broke into a peal of laughter. She knew her friend was only teasing, “Oi, good luck, Uchiha-chan!”

Akina nodded as she took up her stance. Quick as a flash she began her assault on the targets. Her strategy differed from her teammates’. Rather than align herself with the most obviously easy target, she charged for the bush. A blade sliced the air to either side as she did so. At a range of only a few feet, she shot a kunai into the bush before rapidly turning and firing the remaining two. As a result, the kunai in the bush had struck true, a bull’s eye. The ones to either side were within centimeters of their mark, having sunken into the second circle. On the ground at the center of the clearing, another bull’s eye had been made. But high in the tree, the target stood untouched. The blade had cut into the tree much lower than intended, missing the mark entirely.

“Damn,” Akina muttered under breath. She’d been so sure she could hit them all.

“I don’t want to make you feel worse, but consider this,” Kiba pointed out, “You spent the most time focused on the target in the bush. If an opponent had made it that clear where he was hiding, it would probably be a trap.”

“Uh…bu…Grr!!!” Akina pulled at her pink bangs in frustration, “Dammit!”

“Don’t get so upset,” Kiba sighed, “That’s why we have these exercises. Yuudai, stop smirking over there! It isn’t as though you’ve got perfect aim either!”

Yuudai’s small smirk quickly fell into a scowl. But, the point was made…judge not lest ye be judged…or something like that.

“You know what…I think we’ve had enough for today. No sense getting you all worked up. Why don’t you go home and get some lunch?”

With that, the three Genin began their treks home. They walked along the dirt roads, Akina and Mine busily talking about how to improve their skills, and what new techniques they’d picked up. Yuudai trailed behind, still seething from the training session. Akina cast a glance over her shoulder, and spotted the green-haired Genin glaring hard at the ground. Rolling her eyes and sighing she turned, walking backwards so that she could address the boy.

“Oi, Yuu-kun,” The only sign her teammate gave that he had heard her, was a twitch at the loathed nickname, “You’d do a lot better if you’d just listen to Kiba-sensei, instead of taking everything he says as a personal attack.”

“I’m not!” Golden eyes narrowed as he replied, “It’s not my fault that the damn village has some sort of vendetta against me!”

“You aren’t going to go off on that again, are you?!” The black haired girl shook her head, pink bangs dancing against her brow with the action, “Get it through that thick head of yours that not everyone is out to get you!”

“Yeah, they make me feel so loved!” Yuudai spat sarcastically.

“It wouldn’t hurt for you to try a little bit, you know? It’s hard to get along with someone who…”

“Who what?” Her teammate cut her off, “Doesn’t belong to your wonderful little village?”

“I wasn’t going to say that! For Kami’s sake, you’ve lived here since you were like two!” Akina shouted in frustration, “You don’t exactly make it easy to get along with you when you don’t seem to want to be liked!”

“Yeah, people are falling all over themselves to try to be my friend.” Yuudai’s string of sarcasm continued.

Without even thinking about it, Akina’s fist was moving through the air towards her teammate. If she couldn’t talk any sense into him, then she had no choice but to beat it into him! Yuudai’s reflexes were quick, however, and before she could strike he’d caught her fist, mere inches from his face.

“I’m not fighting you.” He muttered, “I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

Mine and Akina scoffed in unison, the pigtailed girl speaking this time, “Oh right. What, because we’re girl’s you think we’d be so easy to hurt? I’ll have you know that Akina and I are –”

But her lecture was interrupted by a smirking Akina, “Oh please. He’s not really worried about hurting me. Why would he be? I mean, you and I do so much better during training, right Mi-chan? He’s just scared because he knows I could kick his a**.”

“Wanna bet, Uchiha?” The young man growled, infuriated at the accusation that he might actually be afraid.

“Yeah.” The pink-banged girl continued to smirk, her dark eyes narrowing in a challenge, “You and I both know you’re nowhere near as tough as you think!”

“Alright then,” There was a soft popping sound as Yuudai flexed his fingers, causing the knuckles to crack. He crouched into a fighting stance, taking in his opponent through a narrowed golden gaze, “But don’t think I’ll be going easy on you.”

“Oh, so now you’re willing to fight?” Akina fell into her own stance, not bothering to notice the concerned glance that Mine was casting between the two of them, “Alright then, bring it on!”