CTG 4

CTG 4

Part 4… Cell Seven and Kakashi-Sensei

Michiyo waited in the classroom with the rest of her teammates. She had long before taken out a pad and started to doodle simply to pass the time. Naruto’s impatient complaining and Sakura’s attempts at conversation with Sasuke had become a drone to her, far off in another world as she concentrated on drawing runes. The image on her pad was rather complex with several archaic runes, long forgotten by the race of man and many others, arranged in a circular design. But, practice makes perfect, as they say… with a final flourish, she finished drawing a large symbol in the middle.
“There!” Her tone was satisfactory.
Michiyo gazed lovingly at the work of art. Especially the one rune in the middle; it was the same as the one in her chest.
“What?” Sakura was distracted from her reprimands at Naruto.
“What’cha got there Michiyo?” Naruto quickly became curious.
‘Uh-oh. Gotta put this away!’
“Nothing,” Michiyo lied. “Naruto, what are you doing?” Michiyo eyed an eraser squeezed at the top of a door as she slipped her pad away.
“Our sensei took too long, so this is what he gets for making us wait!” Naruto cackled.
“Naruto…” Sakura warned.
“Do you really think he’s going to fall for a prank like that?” Sasuke was indifferent to Naruto’s scheme.
“…”
“Hey, Michiyo you believe me, right?” Naruto looked for some sign of support.
“… To tell you the truth… it’s not very likely. But, I guess we’ll find out.” Michiyo looked pointedly at the sliding door which had a hand on it.

The door slid open, and a man poked his head through the entrance. The eraser fell and plunked on his head leaving a cloud of chalk-dust. ‘…He… fell for it??’
“Hahahaha!! GOTCHA! GOOD ONE!” Naruto pointed while laughing.
“I’m sorry, sensei, I tried to stop him…” Sakura started apologizing.
‘Sasuke doesn’t look too happy about our new leader.’ Michiyo couldn’t say anything. She didn’t trust her tongue at the moment to say anything decently respectful. ‘Can’t say that I disagree! Dumb guy like him, he’d last a week in the training phase. He’s fodder in the Red Room. Ugh. What standards…’
“Hmmm… well, based on my first impression of you, I’d have to say…” He chuckled lightly.

“You’re all a bunch of idiots.”

‘…WHAT.’ Michiyo looked at her uncomfortable teammates. Then her leader’s still chalky hair.
‘Yeah. Yeah. That’s actually not too far from the truth, actually.’

A Little While Later…

Everyone was outside the Academy, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Michiyo sitting right to left on steps. Their leader was leaning against the railing of the balcony they were on.
“Alright. I want you all to tell us a little about yourselves.”
“Like what?”
He was vague, but answered. “…You know. The usual… your favorite things… what you hate most… dreams, ambitions, hobbies; things like that.”
“Help us out here, sensei. You go first. Show us how it’s done.”
“That’s right… after all, you’re a complete stranger to us; a mystery.”
“Oh, me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t feel like talking about his likes, and dislikes. My dreams for the future are none of your business… but, anyway, I have lots of hobbies…” He trailed off.
“Hey… he said a lot, but all we learned was his name…”
“Now it’s your turn, starting with you on the right.” Naruto eagerly began.
“My name is Naruto Uzumaki! What I like is instant cup ramen! What I like even more is when Master Iruka treats me to ramen at the Ichiraku ramen bar! What I hate is the three-minute wait after you put in the boiling water.”
‘Naruto LURVES ramen…extremely.’
“My dream is to one day be better than Lord Hokage!! And then all the villagers will have to acknowledge my existence at last!!”
‘Acknowledge his existence…? Naruto? There’s more here…’ Michiyo then suddenly remembered her and Naruto outside the Academy.
-“Lord knows how, but I’m pretty sure we recently became friends. What, you DON’T want to be friends?...”
“NO- no, that’s not it…! Yeah, we’re friends.”
“Oh, OK.” Michiyo studied Naruto for a short minute.
“What?”
“Oh, it’s nothing… I just suppose that… you’re not used to friends…?”
Naruto’s eyes looked to widen.
“H-huh…!?”-
‘Naruto… you have a story…? …Too?’
“My hobbies are… pranks and practical jokes, I guess.”
Kakashi scratched his head as he said “Next!”
“My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are plenty of things I do hate, but I don’t see that it matters, seeing as there almost nothing I do like. It seems pointless to talk about “dreams”… that’s just a word…”
‘…hater…’
“…but what I do have is determination. I plan to restore my clan. And there’s someone I have sworn…”
‘!!!’
“…to kill.”
Sakura looked at him, eyes slightly wide. With blush, Michiyo noted absently. ‘Something tells me…’
Naruto looked at Sasuke disturbed. Wide eyes like Sakura, but frowning as he did so. Kakashi… didn’t look like he liked the outcome of Sasuke’s description, but also like he… expected it…
‘Sasuke also has a story… probably more gruesome… than Naruto’s…’
“And now… the young lady…”
“I am Sakura Haruno. My favorite thing… well, it’s not a thing, it’s a person. A boy… and that boy is… uh, let’s move on to my dream.” Sakura said all of this while looking at Sasuke. Of course, when she was going to say her dream, she hid a third of her face behind her fists. She blushed fiercely.
‘Ah…no…NO!! Sakura, goshdarnnit, you die-hard-!! I thought we had a talk…!’
“I hate… NARUTO!”
Michiyo watched in disbelief as Naruto wilted onto his hands in rejection, and Sasuke blushing as he continued to glare at the ground.
“My hobbies are…” Sakura continued to glance sideways at Sasuke.
Kakashi leaned his head on his hand as he looked drearily at Sakura.
“Alright, lastly. The new addition to Konoha…”
Michiyo took a deep breath and mentally cycled through all of the general background she was allowed that first night.
“My name is Michiyo Fujioka. My favorite thing is a secret… My hobbies are music, art, writing, and exploring places. I hate…” Michiyo hesitated, searching for what she hated… in the entire world, what did she HATE most of all?
“… I hate fear. I hate tyrants. I hate it when everything you had so scrupulously planned to the last detail goes wrong.”
‘I hate that feeling you get when you know you have utterly failed…’
“And I hate it when… you are so affected by everything else around you, YOU can’t even think. That’s what I hate.”
Michiyo finished, and looked at the sky. She wondered if she had overdone it. Cautiously, she looked over at Kakashi. He looked at Michiyo surprised. Yet he studied her at the same time. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Naruto look at her curious and worried. Sakura looked at her with curiosity in her face, but sadness in her eyes. ‘She must be remembering our “talk”…’
-“I… lost my best friends. One died honorably. The other died a dog’s death. And the last, who I swore to protect… well, it didn’t work out too well. After a while… I won’t tell you that, no.”-
She looked at Sasuke last, as he was the hardest to look at since he wasn’t leaning over or close. She saw that he was still looking at the ground, but her vision let her see him flick his eyes to his peripheral. He didn’t see her, thanks to her hair. But, somehow, he managed to look through the strands that his peers or senior could not, and he met Michiyo’s gaze.
Peripheral through peripheral.

Time stood so still as Michiyo gazed at Sasuke and he gazed back. Michiyo’s stomach dropped, and Sasuke’s eyes were normal, observing hers, until his grew wide. Michiyo’s grew wide as well. They both looked away. Michiyo blinked, and forced her breathes to be normal. She knew then, that Sasuke, different as he was, had suffered something so similar. So similar to what would be almost unspeakable even so long ago.
“Enough.” Kakashi spoke again.
“We all understand one another now. Formal training begins tomorrow.”
“Yes sir! What will our duties be?!” Naruto became instantly excited.
“Our first project involves only the members of this cell.”
“What? WHAT is it?” Naruto egged him on.
“Survival exercises.” Kakashi replied.
“Survival exercises?” Naruto was confused. ‘So am I. What does this mean?’
“But why would that be a mission? Our school days were full of survival training!” Sakura was also confused.
Sasuke said nothing. ‘This is making even less sense if what Sakura just said is true… Kakashi has something up his sleeve. As our mentor, there is DEFINITELY a lesson he’s giving us.’
“But you’ll have to survive… against me. It won’t be your typical practice.”
‘I knew it. He’s going to make us do an exercise that’s atypical….’
It seemed that Michiyo’s teammates weren’t quite as understanding.
“Well, then, what kind of practice will it be?” Naruto said this almost as to prove Michiyo’s thought.
Kakashi bent his head, and made a sound that sounded like a smothered laugh.
“What’re you laughing about Master Kakashi?” Sakura face showed that she felt offended.
“Oh, nothing. It’s just that… if I told you, you’d chicken out.”
‘Excellent, Master Kakashi. Setting the stage.’
“Chicken out…? Why?!” Naruto was falling for his stage act.
‘What story do you have for us, Master Kakashi? What is going to compel us?’
“Of the 27-plus-one members of your graduating class, only nine will actually be accepted as junior-level shinobi. The other 18 must go back for more training. THE TEST WE ARE ABOUT TO PERFORM HAS A 66% RATE OF FAILURE.”
Naruto’s face was shocked, his mouth hanging open in outrage.
Sakura gulped audibly, her face a mask of troubled thoughts.
Even silent Sasuke had his pupils dilate. Sweat appeared.
‘BEAUTIFUL! Stunning performance, Kakashi! You, sensei, are an amazing liar. VERY convincing, I might add. Not bad, not bad. You could be an actor, good sir...’ Michiyo chuckled inwardly. She remembered her teacher in the actor’s wing as they had prepared their roles for an assignment. Kakashi would have done his role flawlessly. Michiyo covered her grin with an open mouth, but let her eyebrows stay up.
“Hahaha! See? You’re chickening out already!”
Everyone was silent.
‘Well, he doesn’t expect much from me, does he…?’ Michiyo felt slighted.
“THAT SUCKS!!! We have been through IT ALL! WHAT ABOUT OUR GRADUATION TEST?!” Naruto was outraged. Michiyo giggled inwardly.
“Oh! We wanted to eliminate all the hopeless cases from your ranks. The ones left are the only ones who show potential.” Kakashi said carelessly.
“SAY WHAT?!!”
“In any event, we’ll meet tomorrow morning on the practice field so that I can evaluate each of your skills and weaknesses. Bring all of your ninja tools and weapons. And don’t have breakfast beforehand… unless you enjoy throwing up.”
Naruto was practically shaking in nervousness. Michiyo wished she could comfort him, but he probably wouldn’t believe her. After all, wouldn’t he ask questions?
“The details are on this handout. Memorize it… and don’t be late!”
“Throw up? How hard is this exercise going to be?!” Sakura was panicked.
Michiyo took the handout. She saw Sakura grip the paper like it was going to blow away forever any second. ‘Thinking about being separated from Sasuke, no doubt…’ Sasuke crumpled the paper defiantly. ‘Confident, aren’t we?’ Naruto was panicking even more, shoving his face into the paper. Michiyo knew the others couldn’t, but she heard his heart going ‘lub-dub, lub-dub’ loudly.
‘Poor Naruto… he’s totally scared, and he fell for Kakashi’s act, hook, line and sinker.’
Michiyo started to leave, worried about how her new leader was going to test her teammates.
“Master, you said something about 18 of us going back to school out of the 28.”
Michiyo stopped in her tracks. She immediately made the connection.
“Yes.”
“But you also said that only NINE of us will be accepted. That contradicts what you just said. Isn’t it supposed be TEN…?”
Michiyo’s body tensed. She considered running. Fast.
“…I can see your point. Looking at it from your angle, it would make sense…”
“Huh…? What are you saying?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean what I said. But it’s true. The number is actually ten.”
“So why’d you say nine then, sensei?”
Michiyo was silently walking away to escape notice from her teammates. She was silently running by Naruto’s question.
“Well…”
Kakashi spread out his hands openly.
“You know how your teammate, Michiyo, has recently moved here?”
Kakashi purposely looked at the three instead of Michiyo’s leaping movements for the roofs.
“Yeah… she said that to me once.”
“She did? I didn’t know that!”
“I had a hunch… but what about it?”
“Well, to be totally honest, it’s a given she’s going to become a chuunin.”
“… WHAAAT?!!”
“What’re you saying?!”
“…”
“Well… this is a bit strange. Didn’t you notice how readily she was accepted as a ninja? The very first day she shows up is the day she graduates… and gets a headband the next. She’s different than all the rest of you; much more advanced. So she isn’t from here… doesn’t mean she’s not better than probably every other genin out there. Maybe even chuunin. She’s an asset to this village, but we don’t know very much about her. She likes to be secretive about herself. As you heard before, and as you are no doubt aware that she’s no longer here.”
“H-HUH!?”
“What?! I thought she was still here!”
“How did she slip away so fast? …Master Kakashi, you noticed it, why didn’t you say something?!”
Kakashi shrugged.
“It’s not polite to draw attention. She’s long gone now.”
“…”
‘I think she’s way different! But, I didn’t think she would be that good …’
-“I’m going there too. BUT- I’m not going to be late. So, I’ll make sure we’re both not late… IF- you promise to close your eyes until I say so.”
“…What? ” He said a look of suspicion on his face.
“Just promise. OK? It’s a secret.” She put a finger between them as if to hush him.
“…that’s weeiird… but, I guess I don’t have a choice…”
He closed his eyes, still unhappy. Then he felt her hand tug on his arm, when he felt sudden wind; plus he felt really nauseous, like he was twirled around.
“Open your eyes.”
He did, and shouted when he saw that they were in front of the Academy.
“WHOA!!” Naruto turned to look at Michiyo. “How’d you DO that?!”
Michiyo grinned mischievously. “I told you; it’s a secret.”-
“…”
‘I didn’t know… but, I don’t think that I need to worry about her level…’
-“Sakura. I would not have even bothered bringing this up if I didn’t think you couldn’t be trusted or able to keep this secret. I’m letting you know now, that just knowing this information can get you quickly…”
‘Can get me quickly…’-

-“Or, brutally killed.”-

-‘What does she mean by secret? How important is it??’-

“…”
-Sasuke eavesdropped on the rest of the conversation. ‘Heh. Guess they’re friends after all.’ Sasuke relaxed, until he saw Michiyo leap away. His eyebrows rose, with wide eyes. ‘How is she so fast!?’ She’s not a normal genin… I’m going to have to watch her.’-
‘How good is she? This is endlessly important!’

“Master Kakashi… where is Michiyo from?”

“… I don’t know. She just appeared one night at the gates, like she fell out of the sky. She doesn’t have any evidence of living here or anywhere else…like she just crawled out of a cave. She’s a mystery, like I said. When we questioned her, she wouldn’t answer some of our questions. She has no memory of where she came from. …If you’re all so eager to see what she can do, then coming to practice should be a real incentive for you.”
-I’m not from here. I’m not from the Land of Fire.”
Sakura finally got her courage up. “But, you already”-
“I know. Sakura, I’m NOT from the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, the Land of Lightning, the Land of the Waves, the Land of Water, The Land of Snow OR the Land of Earth!”-