"Well maybe I'd take you more seriously if your hair didn't keep getting in your eyes!" Ino snarls, jabbing a finger in Sakura's direction. "Ever think about that?! Seriously, like tie it back or trim it or something! It's not that hard!"
Sakura gasps in horror, but is back in Ino's face a second later. "You love my hair!" she argues. "You helped me find this look! You're just jealous that I can pull it off when you couldn't- just like you are with everything else!"
"Jealous?! Oh, that's it, we are taking this outside! Unless you'd like to settle this with an academic decathlon." The sneer in Ino's voice is loud enough to be a physical thing.
"We should! At least then you'd cram something useful in that tiny head of yours! And we are outside! Can't you tell? The sun is right there you stupid pig!"
For your part, all you can do is cast your eyes at the heavens in silent supplication. Would it be too much for them to actually speak like sensible people for once? Or, failing that, would it be too much trouble for Suzaku to strike you down where you sit? That sounds amazing right now.
And to think. This all started so well.
It had begun in the morning, when you had woken up fresh and rested after a relaxing three hour sleep to a trio of Ino's training shuriken flying at your face. You had dealt with them with a smile on your face because you had an idea. Not just any idea, a good idea for solving this whole Sakura/Ino issue. You were going to get them to talk.
What could go wrong with just talking? After all, this issue is mostly being caused by miscommunication. The only way to deal with that is head on, otherwise more things would get muddled. And when they're both thinking straight, Sakura and Ino are smart and mature people. They're definitely two of the smartest people you know, and though they both had their stupidly childish moments those were for the most part few and far between.
The morning's game had even worked out in your favor. It was Yui's turn to choose, and she'd decided on Leaf Spinning. Everyone would pick up a leaf, put it on their palm, use their chakra to hold it level about six inches up, and spin it. Last leaf left floating wins. It's not a particularly arduous game, nor is it one you really need to focus on anymore unless things start going poorly. In other words, it was the perfect exercise to do while you were talking.
You were feeling pretty confident when you had settled down between your two friends and pushed your leaf up. Your confidence had grown even more when you had broached the topic to mildly tentative agreement from both of them. It's not like they didn't know they were acting insane after all, and they had seemed almost relieved when you had offered to moderate.
That tentative agreement had lasted all of five minutes.
You're not sure when it went wrong. Ino listed her issues calmly. Sakura had listed her issues calmly. Ino had rebutted her concerns slightly less calmly, but still fairly rationally. Sakura had done the same. Then another exchange. Then another. Each time, their calm began to slip a little bit more. Until finally…
"Pig?! PIG?!" Ino screams, leaf long forgotten and left to fall into her hand. She crunches it with clenching fingers. "How dare you you… you… stupid oversized forehead!"
A flash of pain shines in Sakura's eyes and she draws back, as if stung. You palm your forehead with your freehand. For fucks sake, you thought Sakura was over that stupid little hang-up.
This is getting out of hand. You lean in, breaking their eye contact with each other. "Take a deep breath," you say, fighting to keep your tone level. "Just everyone, relax. Please. You're both too smart to get riled up like this." To her credit, Ino follows your advice. Her breathing starts to level out and she nods sharply, as if reassuring herself that yes, she's too smart to get riled up like this.
Sakura, on the other hand, is beyond caring.
"Forehead?!" she cries out, voice so shrill it startles a flock of birds into flight. "You… I… I… I'm done!" Without any further delay she hops up and marches away, glaring down at the ground with every step.
What little calm Ino had managed to muster vanishes in the blink of an eye. She hops up with fire in her eyes. "Oh, you can call me a pig, but if I mention your forehead it's too much?! Is that how it is?! Fine!"
Jabari stands up from where he was seated. He glances from you to Sakura, a question written on his face. You jerk your head after her, and he nods before jogging after the pinkette. She shouldn't be alone right now, and you can't be in two places at once. Your plate will be full enough once Ino stops being angry and remembers to be hurt.
It takes a while for that to happen. Your friend just stands frozen, glaring at the space where Sakura used to be for a long time. When she finally does speak, it's in the low monotone of absolute control. "We should go. We'll be late soon."
You open your mouth- only to close it as fanfare plays in your head.
YOU HAVE ATTAINED THE ACHIEVEMENT 'It's Under Control'! CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT!
At the same time, Yui glances at your hand where your leaf is still floating, gently turning as you unconsciously spin it. "I suppose that's another win for you," she muses dryly.
Well. At least there's that.
***
It's a good thing you got that achievement, because having something new to focus on comes in handy over the course of the class day.
You're still stuck awkwardly between Sakura and Ino, and while the Pinkette will offer halting words to you and the rest of her friends, she won't even look at Ino. Ino for her part seems like she wants to talk, even if it's just to yell about "WHAT A HYPOCRITE SHE'S BEING!", but she can't get Sakura's attention at all. So she makes do by telling you what a hypocrite Sakura's being. At length.
Even at lunch, the two don't interact. Sakura vanishes at lunch time, only re-appearing when the bell rings to call class back to order. To make matters worse, she takes Jabari with her. No surprise there; the big man is a soft touch, and he can tell that Sakura needs someone with her. But it's still a shame. That just leaves you with Yui and Ino in your usual spot, and Yui is being less than no help. She seems content to just sit off to the side, eat her meal as if nothing has changed, and make too polite comments that mean she's finding this entire thing utterly hilarious.
So supporting Ino and her rage is all up to you. That's not something you really need to focus all that much on; she just needs to vent before it consumes her. In fact, focusing would be irritating. But thankfully, you've unlocked a new skill, and that's given you something new to focus on.
Shape Manipulation. It's something you don't think you've ever even heard of before; was it even brought up in the manga? Did you take a break from it before that was dropped? But despite your lack of prior knowledge you can still puzzle it out for yourself. What it is is in the name after all: shape manipulation is all about manipulating your chakra and your techniques into shapes.
It's something that's easier said than done. When you generate chakra naturally it just kind of radiates off of you like steam off of burning coals. Gathering it into any kind of form is a miserable experience. It's not like it is when you use it for enhancement. There, you channel it with a purpose beyond just moving it. Right now it feels like you're manipulating it for the sake of it. Maybe if you had some kind of offensive ninjutsu? You'll need to think hard on it.
The difficulty doesn't put you off of training your new skill however; if anything, it only makes you focus on it more. And by the time you're let out of class you're able to at least gather your aura into one spot on your body. Next step: making it into an actual shape.
You keep practicing as you move to start walking Ino home as per usual, and you keep your focus on your sword hand. Feeling your chakra gather into one hand is a strange sensation, almost like dipping it into hot water while feeling pins and needles simultaneously, and you want to get used to it as quickly as you can. That focus is why it takes you a few minutes to realize that Ino isn't leading the two of you home, and that her rant has stopped and she's walking with determined purpose with a scowl on her face.
"Where are we going?" you ask as you let the chakra fade from your hand.
"I'm not sure," she says matter of factly. "But I can't go home when I'm so keyed up like this."
"Oh?"
"Daddy says I'm at a delicate stage in my clan jutsu training. If I go home like this he'll say we have to wait till I'm more 'stable'. And I'm this close to getting Shintenshin down! I'm not going to let this stupid stupidness stop me from mastering it!"
You think for a moment as the two of you just walk with no destination in mind. "So," you think out loud. "You need to burn off your emotions and your excess energy before you head home. Am I correct?"
"Well, duh," Ino replies, rolling her eyes.
"Then I have an idea. Come on."
You take control of your route, walking at a good clip through the streets and heading for the outskirts of town. Ino's eyes narrow as you get closer and closer to the training grounds. "Dai?" she asks. "Are we supposed to be at a training ground without approval?"
From her tone, she's not exactly put off by the idea. She sounds excited even. "We would," you reply, "if we were going there unsupervised. But the training ground we're heading to is already in use."
Ino accepts that with a small shrug and the two of you press on. You leave the residential areas of Konoha behind and make a beeline for the area known as Training Ground 7. Training Ground 7 is a heavily forested one, with the trees deliberately spaced out to optimal distance for practicing distance running. But you're not here for that; you head towards the sound of grunts and noise coming from a clearing near the center. Soon enough you make your way to it and stop, taking everything in.
In the center of the clearing stand three stuffed targets, each bursting with straw from dozens of tiny holes. They are the only piece of actual training equipment in this training ground. Just as well; the people using it seem to barely be paying attention to the equipment. The only one who is is a girl barely older than you are, hair done up in matching buns, dressed practically in a pink shirt and dark pants. She's launching dozens of pieces of tiny pointed death at the targets. With each miss she makes, she lets out a burst of profanity that draws reprimands from others in the clearing. You've only met her a handful of times but still, you recognize her. Tenten.
Some of those reprimands are coming from a boy with short cut hair that fans out from the back of his head and heavy bangs barely kept in check by his forehead protector. His outfit isn't what you would expect; there's no green jumpsuit, no legwarmers. Not yet at least. There's only a white martial artist's robe, like he's expecting to jump out and challenge dojos at any moment. His actions aren't doing anything to dissuade that idea either; he's punching at his opponent like a man possessed. Rock Lee.
Lee's opponent, on the other hand, doesn't look like he's breaking a sweat. Each motion of his looks effortless. He bats aside Lee's heavy blows with bare touches, swaying to the side so gently that the motion barely disturbs his shoulder length hair at all. And his white clothes are pristine. It's like he hasn't even started training yet. Even though his back is to you, you know that he's looking at you with those blank white eyes of his. Hyuuga Neji.
And of course, standing upside down on a tree over the two of them, hands on his hips, is the ringmaster of this circus: your sometimes shadow mentor, Maito Gai. He lets out a yell of encouragement as one of Lee's blows almost hits Neji. "You can do this, Lee!" he bellows out. "Show us your energy! Show us your dedication! Remember my promise!"
At his words, Lee redoubles his efforts. Of course, this means Neji just has to sway a little faster.
Ino leans in close to you so that only you can hear what she's saying. "Um, Dai? Like… I know your weird taijutsu teacher, but who're the rest of these guys?"
You on the other hand make no effort to disguise your voice. "This is his genin team. Team… Twelve I think? They're Team Gai. We can call them Team Gai. And since I have an invitation to drop in whenever I have a free moment, I decided that we could use this as an opportunity to blow off some of your anger productively."
Your volume draws some attention. Tenten glances over her shoulder at you. "Hey, Gai-sensei!" she calls. "Your cadet is here with a friend!"
There's a blur of movement and Gai-sensei is suddenly in front of you. "Daisuke-kun!" he calls out joyfully. "It is truly a blessing to see you here today!"
Before you know it, you're being clasped in a tight hug and lifted off your feet. Tears stream from Gai's eyes. Is… is that a sun setting behind you? It's barely four o'clock!
Your arms are free, on purpose likely. Gai's been trying to get you to hug him back for years. But you barely hug your Mother; you're not taking part in Gai's strange Genjutsu causing ritual. Instead you reach up and awkwardly pat him on the bowl cut. "Um… thank you, Gai-sensei? It's an honor to be here?"
"Indeed it is!" Gai-sensei trumpets. "Have you met my wonderful genin team?"
"Briefly," you say, waving slightly to them all. Tenten responds in kind, amusement on her face, and Neji nods slightly. You'll take it; from Neji, that's practically breaking into song. Lee, on the other hand, is more exuberant in his greeting.
"Daisuke-senpai!" he calls. "It is extremely amazing to see you today! I am thrilled to have you at our place of training! Perhaps you-" His greeting is cut off as Neji capitalizes on his distraction, driving a palm thrust directly into his stomach.
"Ooh," Gai-sensei answers with a wince. "Keep fighting, Lee-kun! Put your all into it! Remember what's at stake!"
"What's at stake?" Ino asks. "Like, do I want to know?"
"Ino-chan!" Gai yells, excitement even thicker in his voice. "It is truly glorious to see you once more as well! Have you met my youthful genin team!"
"Um, no?"
"Then we shall make introductions! I will begin-"
"No, no," you interject. "I'll be happy to introduce Ino to everyone. But first…" You feebly kick your legs, windmilling them in the air. "If you could put me down?"
After a moment of hesitation that is much too long, Gai-sensei finally lets you down, and you make introductions. After everyone knows everyone you turn to Gai again. "We did come here for a reason, but I am curious. What is Lee fighting for today?"
"Only the grandest prize!" Gai replies, chest puffed out as far as it can go. "He fights… for this!"
Gai reaches behind him and produces… that.
"This," Gai proclaims, waving around another copy of his green jumpsuit bodystocking thing. "Is the ultimate form-fitting stream lined perfectly made bodysuit! It is the ideal piece of training equipment! Try it on once and you'll be unable to even function without it! It is this that Lee fights for today! For if he lands one single blow on Neji-kun, Lee will have earned the greatest piece of equipment he will ever know!"
Without thinking, you reply, "It's alright."
There's a gasp of horror from Lee, and he appears beside Gai-sensei, battle forgotten. "Alright?! You think it is only alright, Daisuke-senpai?!"
Oops. You just stepped on a landmine. "Well," you reply quickly, hedging your bets. "I only tried mine on for a few days. I stopped soon after. Perhaps I did not give it enough of a chance."
...you just admitted something horrible. Your head slowly turns to look at Ino. Her mouth is open in a wide smile and her eyes are sparkling like a kid on Christmas morning. She is never going to forget this.
You need to change the subject. Now. "We are sorry to interrupt you, Gai-sensei," you hastily continue. "But I thought that perhaps we could aid in your training. After all, a variety of opponents helps one grow does it not?"
"Indeed it does!" Gai-sensei booms. "Were you offering to spar with one of my most youthful genin?"
You shake your head. "Not me," you answer. "But Ino here needs to burn some energy before her clan training can commence for the day."
"What?!" Lee gasps. He looks disappointed at the lack of chance to punch you.
"What?!" Ino snarls. She looks like she's going make her own chance to punch you. You look at her and shrug. If you're going to have to deal with her knowing about the jumpsuit, she's going to have her own pain and suffering too.
Gai-sensei nods sagely. "An excellent idea! Lee-kun! Take a break from your challenge! Helping the flowers of Konoha bloom is truly how we show our spirit and youth!"
"Yes Gai-sensei!" Any reservation is gone. Lee heads to an open part of the training ground and waits for Ino to join him.
Ino hesitates. She doesn't know anything about Lee except his Sensei, who she knows is a Taijutsu master, but that's enough for her to know that stepping to close range with him is a bad idea. "Are we limited to Taijutsu?" she asks Gai-sensei plaintively.
"Of course not!" is the response. "One must prepare for anything and everything! Speaking of: Neji-kun! Katas please! Tenten-chan! If you would throw at myself and Daisuke-kun as we speak, it would be most invigorating!"
Ino scampers away from you, loosening her sword in it's sheath and heading for Lee. She gets out of range just in time. Tenten's steel begins raining down on you the second she's not in the danger zone, causing you to leap back. Gai leaps forward, keeping the exact same distance between the two of you as you dodge.
"So Daisuke-kun," he asks conversationally. "How goes your Academy training?"
"Do we really have to talk about it while she's throwing knives at us?!"
"Why, yes!" Gai answers. He seems surprised you'd even ask that question. "A shinobi must be prepared to convey information to their comrades even under the heaviest of enemy attacks. This is simply another training exercise!"
There's no persuading him otherwise when he starts talking about training exercises. So as you dodge, you tell him about the Academy. You talk about your lessons, you talk about your sparring, and you talk about your class rank. When you bring the last up, Gai's head snaps up like a dog scenting prey.
"Fifth?" he asks incredulously. "And you have no plans to move higher?"
"Of course I'm moving higher!" you answer, twisting around a particularly well aimed shuriken. "I'm going to be the Rookie of the Year!"
"Excellent! But a Rookie of the Year must show skill in many areas! Are you truly up for the challenge?"
You raise an eyebrow at that. "There's no one more prepared for it then I am! I'm going to show what I've learned everywhere!"
Gai shakes his head. "Truly a youthful attitude but one that misses the forest for the trees!" At your questioning look he continues. "You do not need to show mastery of all aspects of your Shinobi training. Bare competence, yes, but complete mastery, no. In fact, attempting to be dominant in all fields may simply dilute your spirit!"
Huh. You chew that one over for a few dodges. It sounds like Gai, in his own way, is cautioning you against attempting to be the king of every single thing. That you don't need to be the best in class at absolutely everything. And he's not wrong. According to your quest log, you only need to prove you're the best at eight out of twelve things- and you've already got two.
So that means that out of the remaining ten fields, you could safely ignore four of them. Assuming you're at least competent in those you don't prove your might in.
What skills do you choose to ignore in your Rookie of the Year quest? This vote can be done either individually or in plan format. Vote for up to (4). The top four with a clear majority will be chosen. If none wins, Daisuke will ignore this advice.
[] Bunshin no Jutsu
[] Chakra Control
[] Genjutsu
[] Henge no Jutsu
[] History
[] Mathematics
[] Ninjutsu
[] Outdoor Survival
[] Shurikenjutsu
[] Stealth and Tracking
[] None.
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