Exams 4.13
Hisana rushed through the night, leaping across rooftops in almost perfect silence. Her eyes glowed a sinister red in the darkness, and the street lights below her were an excellent navigational aid. Her eyes focused, and she could see Hayate. He stood on a rooftop, opposite Baki. She couldn't sense Kabuto, but that wasn't a surprise. He was a supremely talented ninja, and sensor-types were common enough that a spy like him would make it a priority to be able to dampen his chakra. If he wanted to attack, though, he couldn't keep doing that. She
could sense Baki however, and was glad that her cover story was intact.
As she rushed forward, Hisana saw the two men subtly shift their bodies into fighting stances. The time for talk was over, and to her superhuman eyes it was obvious. The seals along her spine glowed red, and the the world slowed. In a burst of speed beyond her before she'd invented the seal, Baki dashed forward. His blade of wind forming as he did, Hayate's blade too slow to stop him. Hisana blurred forward, her blade leaping out it's sheath; her crimson chakra enveloping it with startling speed.
Hisana's chakra met Baki's, and bit into the blade of wind. The jonin leapt backwards, and Hisana felt her seal deactivate. It could only be used in short bursts - it's usage of chakra was too imprecise to allow for anything else. If she hadn't included a safety mechanism to cut it out after a predetermined amount of time, it might end up doing irreparable damage to her spine or brain. Hayate managed to stop his own attack in time, and came to stand beside Hisana.
"Thanks - cough - for the save, kid," He said, his cough awful and ragged. Hisana wanted to reply , but Baki wasn't going to give them any time to coordinate. His hands moved with extreme speed, and then he started to fling arcs of cutting wind at the two Konoha ninjas. Hisana could easily see the paths of the arcs, and stepped between them with a casual grace. Hayate had a more difficult time of it, but he managed. Hisana started to make handseals, activated her lightning blood seal, and then completed them.
A white-hot stream of fire roared out her mouth, the more focused version of the flame dragon bullet shooting straight for the enemy jonin. It was fast, but he had enough time to dodge the attack from this range. Only barely, however, and one of his arms was caught in the flame. Anything below the elbow was simply gone, vapourised by the heat of the flames, but the rest of the arm was charred and burnt.
Hisana's seal deactivated, and it was only her chakra sense that saved Hayate's life. A masked figure, his hand glowing radioactive green, leapt out of the shadows to attack Hayate's undefended back. Hisana blurred over, her sword suddenly in between the chakra scalpel and Hayate. Kabuto, for that was surely who the masked man was, pulled his hand back and retreated for a moment. Hayate and Hisana stood with their swords ready as Kabuto rushed towards Baki.
"We need to leave, now. I had to fight through people to get to you, and this new guy is good," Hisana said, and as Hayate nodded his approval she activated her seal and brought him along in a rapid series of shunshins. Kabuto and Baki didn't follow, and soon they had an escort of masked ANBU towards the Hokage's tower. She sheathed her sword when they arrived, and went to wipe it clean; only to find it spotless.
+++++
Hisana woke with a gasp, sweat pouring off her brow. That had only been a few nights ago, and she had severely limited time to train before the invasion. She couldn't afford to fall apart like she did last time, she couldn't afford to shake when holding her sword.
She sat up in her western style bed, and she the slight glow of her eyes. Whenever she had a nightmare about those red-tinged memories her eyes had etched into her mind, she wake to find them active. She thought it was no wonder the Uchiha had a reputation for madness, if they all suffered the curse their eyes brought. No wonder Kakashi had been so... broken by what happened to Rin.
Hisana had been debriefed by the Hokage late in the night, withholding only information that would out her knowledge of the future. As she found her way home, she smiled as she saw Hayate still sitting in the Hokage's office. She'd done it - she'd defeated fate, canon, and whoever those trenchcoat wearing assholes were. She'd saved Hayate Gekko, crippled Baki, and escaped Kabuto.
There were only a few more days until the chunin exams, and Hisana was tired of the month of solitary training. It felt wrong not to see her teammates except at breakfast and occasionally dinner - she wanted more than anything to get back to being Team Seven, instead of working herself to the bone alone every day. She'd made great strides this month, but she was ready for it to be over.
Naruto was already wolfing down something downstairs, so Hisana resigned herself to an early morning and headed into the kitchen. She smiled as she saw her teammate, and he said hello with cereal in his mouth. There was a toad hopping beside his chair, and he blushed as she noticed it. So that seemed to be on track, she thought. She decided to give him some privacy, and so after a quick meal and a shower she headed out into the private training area of the compound. Sasuke had Kakashi today, and Hisana would be having a long overdue discussion with the Ravens.
She slammed her hand down onto the wet grass, and stepped backwards as lines of inky black seals shot out from the point her hand had touched. Summoning the actual elders of the clan was a privilege she'd not yet earnt, but Yatta - an old and willy bird who acted as something of a teacher - had hinted he knew a little about senjutsu.
He appeared in a puff of chakra smoke, cawing at her in greeting.
"Hello, Yatta. I'd like to talk about some things today, if you don't mind," Hisana said, sitting down on a picnic blanket as she did so. She lent against the old, hard bark of a large tree, sitting in the shadows of the branches as the morning sun started to beat down on Konoha.
"Of course, caw, fledgling," he said, flapping his wings and perching in the thick branches. He was about half the size of a person, but he was still small as far as the summoned birds went.
"What do you know of senjutsu?" she asked, looking up at the bird.
"That is a dangerous question, caw. Not something for fledglings to know, caw," Yatta replied.
"I don't want to actually try and do it, at least not for a while - I just want to know if the ravens can teach it,"
"Yatta thinks you already know the answer to that, caw. Yes, we know of the sage arts; though the elders would not deign to teach them to you yet. Your performance against the snake summoner was most impressive, caw, but you still have more to prove,"
"I understand, Yatta, but thanks for confirming that for me. I have some more academic questions on it, if you wouldn't mind..."
In your fight against Temari, will you use your Lightning Blood Seal?
[x] Yes, you need to win it quickly to conserve chakra!
[x] No, you need the surprise!
What special preparations for the Invasion do you want to make?
[x] Write In
A/N: So I'll be offering a +20xp reward (On top of quality bonuses) for a banner I can use for the internal advertising. Updates are going back onto a more rapid schedule, since I found my inspiration for this quest again.