An hour into our spar treatment I began to wonder what kind of drum we were in. Hakari insisted we enjoyed a hot bath together, but it was the most bizarre method I had ever seen. Instead of the quite common hot spring baths I had heard of, sourcing natural heat from the Earth to draw off hot underground waters, we were instead sitting in a large drum over a fire. This is what sparked my curiosity because I had only now realised that the drum wasn't quite normal. It was oval shaped and held groves and patterns that didn't look man made, it was natural.

"Hakari?"

"Yes" She said in trance from the opposite side of the oval, leaning an arm over its side.

The oval shape of the drum curved to our backs perfectly, so that we each could relax against its slopped boarders while staring up at the starry night sky "I was wondering- what is this drum we are in, it doesn't look wooden, metallic or clay?"

"You must not come here often?" She sighed and a gratifying breath of mist came out from her mouth, the air outside was cold but we were hot from the warmth of the bath. "The Leaf Village doesn't have as many natural sources of hot water for spars to benefit off of, which is why they invest in extraordinary treatments." She hummed and sank deeper into the steamy bath, her feet touching mine under the scented waters.

"That kind of doesn't answer my question?" I squirmed away from her touch, the tempered soak making my flesh tingle like laughter to the unexpected contact.

"It's a turtle shell; you most probably didn't recognise it when jumping in because it's top side is charred from so many fires. Turtle shells are meant to have youth regenerative effects, according to folklore." Folded and saturated in the tranquil heat, she spoke with a warm hum in her voice, her face cloth over her eyes, her skin rosy.

"A turtle shell!" My cheeks went red to the abrupt squeak in my voice; we had been whispering for so long that vapours in the air had made my vocal cords delicate and unaccustomed to the volume.

A voice came from the side of me. "Yes a Giant Turtle Shell, it's our spars speciality." She was one of the attendants who now arched an eyebrow at me in responds to my squeaky outburst. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Agh..."

"Don't mind him Skimmia. Everything is fine"

"Very good Lady Kessho, of course if you need me a simple raise of the hand will do." She turned to latch her eyes on me, making sure I understood where she directed her ruling, before walking off.

I spoke with a smile in my tone, "I can see where you spend most of your days off training, Lady Kessho." She knew the ladies name on her voice alone, her eyes still under her face cloth.

"Only after completing one too many C rank missions, those mission Assignment ninja work on my nerves just as much as yours" She removed the face cloth, looking up at the sky to breath out clouds of white respite.

"That reminds me, I still need to assign one more member to our team. Since you're here we can discuss him together" I raised a hand calling our attendant, this time without the ball squeak "Would you please retrieve my Shuriken holster, it is in the pigeonhole numbered 129." I gestured with my finger out, feeling rather relaxed in the intoxicating bath.

"I'm sorry sir, weapons are forbidden in this area, is there anything else you might need instead?"

"uhm..." I dropped my finger whilst thinking of ways around getting out in order to retrieve our next team mate's ninja profile. "Could you get the piece of paper inside the holster?" I asked hopeful.

"Of course sir" 'Ladies Mantle' walked away into the back rooms to search for my seal.

"Funny isn't it, if Tenten where here fetching a scroll would be just the same as bringing weapons to the hot water." Considering her sealing jutsu released weapons, and that seals were weapons in a way.

"Tenten who?" Hakari asked sitting up against her end of the turtle shell.

"I suppose--- never mind" It would be ignorant of me to assume every ninja knew everyone else, I only knew them from the Chunin exams and Bukijutsu after all.

"Here are your papers as requested sir." I gently took the number of loose Fuuinjutsu paper tags, wondering if it was ok to get them wet but then again it was wax paper. I shuffled through and picked out the one I needed before handing her back the remainder. "Shall I return these?" I nodded gradually.

Hakari was the first to chuckle "Who would have known weapons weren't to be elicited but paper bombs are perfectly ok!" Hakari raised her voice on the last remaining point of her message, "Only Argies." before releasing another rolling chuckle.

"Hey! Stop that" I whispered exclamations with a smile. "haha, ok let's see." I unsealed the ninja profile of my next target. "This is our future team mate, his character is a little shaky but his potential is great."

Hakari looked over the file I handed her humming as I spoke in more detail about our likely future addition. "It says here that he has been on three other teams before, but has failed each time they are appointed to complete their Sensei's test."

"Yes, as his profile says, he isn't a very confident Genin but because of his promise in ninjutsu he has been given many opportunities to form strong ranks in other teams."

"And you believe we should give him another try? I don't know, he is beginning to sound very spoilt and too 'mild mannered' to realise how lucky he is."

"Please Hakari, this is of grave important for the future of both of us. I don't need hidden pleasantries hiding what you truly want to say. The kid is clearly a moron for not forming one of the most powerful Shinobi teams in the Leaf, but perhaps it is due to some hidden cause. I am not on grounds to judge, but I am willing to indulge upon the idea of gathering more strength into our team. His speciality is in empowerment jutsu, a very strong and reliable technique which can maximise the capacity of any team no matter their rank or skill."

"Hidden pleasantries, sounds like you are using more of them than I Argies, in making this kid sound like a blessing when I see many obstructions blocking your vision. With ninjutsu like he possesses we will begin to rely on it, and because of his mission history I can tell that dependence is deadly. Without the consideration that our rank is determined by his ability to amplify our jutsu, our team records will be obscured to seem like we are far more skilled than we truly are. To the assignment ninja, there is no way for them to directly observe what we are capable of alone. We will be assigned mission which will rely solely on him to give us the strength to complete. Which, If he falters, we will no longer have the enhanced aptitude to follow through"

"I understand what you are saying Hakari. That even if he adds a factor of two times our ability, if he fails our abilities are cut by that same factor. That that may not reflect upon those handing out our assignments, which will be of missions double our ability... an ability we will only be able to hold on his inclusion. Still, although I haven't considered this, our team is classified as a medical unit which by nature does not see much combat. The protocol of the Leaf is to protect the medical units they send out into battle, and only to send them as the last of a unit. This severely handicaps our capacity to advance as Shinobi, undermines our abilities in battle and limits the missions we will be sent on; which is why I say, if we are seen on paper as double the strength that we are marked out to be, it will not match the reality of how great a power we most certainly will be in combat."

"Wow, great speech Argies, I just hope this medical Sensei of ours can keep you to your word and train us well."

"Ya I'm hoping that too, still we can always kill him accidently on a mission and get another one"

"What?!"

"Agh nothing." I leisurely jumped out of our turtle shell, which now that I thought about it kind of had a double meaning.

"Where are you going?" Hakari made motion to do the same.

"No don't get up, I'm planning on going to visit our dicey Shinobi. I think it would be best if I go alone as he seems to be frightened by large crowds or something... All I know is the first time I met him he ran away crying"

"What did you do to him?"

"Nothing I swear!" I shouted looked around myself at all the other spar clients while holding up my wet under cloths, remembering Hinata's reaction to scold me for chasing the boy away. "I talked to him" I said in answer of Hakari, still reflecting on the fact that Hinata a shy little girl was compelled to reprimand me... I felt so bad.

"No wonder he ran away... if you spoke to him anything like to those beast masters, I would consider running away too... either that or bonking you over the head."

"Tssha... Great, remind me never to attempt that undertaking. Well See you soon."

"You know where to find me; just don't expect my brothers to give you a warm welcome... especially not after today"

"Great..."

...

Ok this is the place. Agh it's rather creepy, vines and stuff going up the walls of this small home... it hardly looks lived in.

"Hello!" I shouted before knocking, it feels like if I do knock the door might open and pull me in like it an act of house on human hunger. "Hello?" I followed through, knocking this time. The knots of vines on the door an abrasion against my knuckles, the door cracked open a fraction. The Roots and vines around it preventing me from seeing who was inside, but out of the dark a voice creped out.

"Who be a-knocking?" The ladies voice was old and her speech strange, again it was another foreigner in the Leaf like the Beast masters, like Nasantot, like I.

"Hello... oh yes I've said that alr-" Forgetting myself I righted again, determined to project professionalism. "I am Argies Ages, Chunin of the Leaf and I would like to script Amo-Roto into my team." I pronounced his name as best I could, learning it and revising it off his portfolio, I will not make him cry today....

"Amoroto?" The lady pronounced his name questioning if he was the person I had mentioned, her vernacular rolling the 'R' not as deliberately as I had; Cursing my recall of that day, saying his name over and over forgetting that 'R', I guess now I put too much emphasis on it.

"Yes Amoroto, is he around?" I inclined my head, pressing my directive, I was not leaving no matter how spooky things get.

"Younglings, forever in a hurry... Once you spend up your time you will learn to slow down and soak in the present." Her voice drifting off from behind the door, I felt my heart drop feeling that she abandoned me but her stiff presence returned with a pale off-white note sticking from the door. "Amoroto still be an up training throughout the night when he should be here in the dark avoiding the unrest." She shook the note in her hand, insisting I take it from her. "You maybe it who can shake him of senselessness."

The hand attached to the note was wrinkled and old, older than the voice it was attached too, reluctantly I snatched the page out of hand and inspected it. "This is a map?"

"Fool, it will travel you to the training area of my grandson."

...

Fool? How dare she! How would she like it if I decided I wasn't going to help Amoroto because of her ugly attitude? Old coon, she doesn't know anything about me.

I silence my thoughts, I was nearing the training grounds and I could hear him. He was singing but there was something else, the sound of kunai making their way into wood. It was a bad custom to sneak up on a training ninja, tradition would have me ringing a wooden bell but I saw none around. Ordinarily the perimeter of training grounds would have signs posted, with wooden alarms strung up on trip wires to alert training ninja deep in concentrated thought and technique. From the map I was handed I could gather that this wasn't an official training area, it was not unusual for a ninja to go off alone and train by themselves however... Amoroto did it because he had no team. He wasn't designated an area of training just for him and his team, because he had none. He was an inter-village ninja like me, like I was, like Hakari was before I recruited her. Now I am going to recruit him too.

He practiced by torch light, a small blaze held above the ground by a stake in the earth. It was unusual for ninja to fight in the dark, despite our tendency to hide in the shadows very few of us could fight in them; Few least the silent killers who used sound to detect obstacles and movement.

I watched on, peering through leaves from my hiding, wondering as I watched him strike his targets with deadly accuracy. I pondered, 'Inter-village ninja are ninja who have failed to develop set traits that would guild them to a particular ninja team- A tracking unit, intelligence, diplomacy, medical, capture, assault- But they were also ninja who failed to pass their sensei's test.' That is what Amoroto is, he is a ninja who has repeatedly failed any test given to him by a sensei. It makes me doubt my intentions in recruiting him, it wasn't exactly the brightest light for him to be standing in. Still in another light, he is a failure with potential; we were never given the opportunity to form part of a team. Hakari and I, Taka Fuma and Genjuu, and all other inter-village ninja, most of us weren't deemed gifted enough to be selected for a team. Amoroto was in an unflattering light but we were in the dark at the brim of that light, a shadow to what could be called ninja. We are not fit to bear the name Shinobi in the eyes of Jounin leaders, but Amoroto is.

Right before the strike could be made, I called out, jilting him and causing him to miss. "Amoroto Shizukana!" He stopped singing his tranquil song, immediately breaking from form to face me as stiff backed as a pencil. The Kunai he flung missing its target when his voice ceased singing, these two actions seemed connected somehow.

"It's you" I heard the words break from his lips, his face dropping its initial shock, he gulped hard and asked. "What are you doing here?" He blinked as if he was suddenly dashed for thoughts. "NO! I mean, I don't have permission to ask Mr Chunin sir, but how did you find me. No of course, you're a Chunin and..." Deciding it best, he shut his mouth before any of his brattled thoughts could fly out.

I grimaced to hide my amusement, I will not frighten him away this time, and stepped over the hedge I was spying on him from. He no longer wore the plain cloths I saw him in before, no, now he was dressed not in the attire of the civilian but of a well purchased shinobi. Wealth, like the Uchiha, exuberated off his appeal like the gleam of sun light. This was a shinobi uniform perfectly cut to his form, a custom design, black and well fit. The thought that he must come from a wealthy family, make me both despise and envy him. 'How is it that he still hasn't found a team, despicable' but then again, I remembered his home and how dilapidated It was.

"Your ninja uniform." I decided rather than draw suspicions of his character from within the confines of my mind where he could not defend against them, I would confront him with an honest and friendly interest. "You were not wearing it before, why didn't you tell me you are already a ninja when I said you could be... back then?"

It was a long time ago, a week but in the world of Shinobi it felt like months. When I was injured and within the Hospital too lame to walk on my own, I needed the assistance of Hinata and Genjuu to walk me, we were directed to a special training hall were we could find Lee. Lee who was so badly crippled that he needed the aid of crutches to walk a snail's pace, who now was practising Bukijutsu unaided in a special training hall. Aided only by the pray seals Amoroto sung into, his empowerment jutsu which could make a crippled ninja fight like an abled one.

Back then I complemented Amoroto's ninjutsu, saying that with abilities like his he could become a powerful ninja. Little did I know that the civilian cloth boy I saw then was this well clad Shinobi I see now?

"I thought..." The boy spoke up, as young as I but fearing his tongue in my presents as if I were a serpent ready to strike out at any transgression. "It's nothing sir."

"Amoroto, I would not be here to judge you if I didn't believe you were capable of the task. Now speak and prove you are."

His eyes bulged at the prospect of my possible offer, it was a trial, I am judging him... he knew this but spoke what he meant to say anyway. "I thought that if I acquire expensive gear that it would give me confidence and earn me respect." The sides of his mouth curled down, an over whelming sadness pulling on the smile he tried to lift. Masking his shame, but saying what his heart intended anyway. I did not know if this was because he felt compelled by his own will or by the authority he placed in my rank, so I reasoned against his inner conflicts.

"Amoroto you cannot do this." Instantly I saw the colour fade from him, he stood their shattered in that instant, in that full stop I saw his feet's willingness to make flight in the blaze of the torch light. "You cannot live placing yourself under others." His heart was rested, his feet planted in the understanding that what I said was not a rejection of him. I continued, knowing now my words would not be cut by his retreat. "Rank, authority, these are words to respect yes, but they are only a guide to what you must truly trust. You must live your life following your own will, your aspirations; they must be the path you take. 'A ninja must complete the mission, accepted onto them, no matter what' and your mission Amoroto as is my mission, is to follow the desires of my own ambitions and to see my will lifted higher than any order of authority.

Hope blossomed in the boy's chest as he lifted it higher and spoke now with passion and in memory to recall the rest of the ninja rule I quoted. "'A ninja isn't willing to let fear govern their actions, nor let the judgment of any other but their own, direct their choices into what they see as wrong.'" And although not all the words fit to the purpose I hoped to inspire in the boy, I found myself smiling knowing that he knew where my words had come from.

"Yes that is right Amomoto" The charm I had seen raised in him dropped like a stone, the change in his posture on the mention of his name. "What is wrong Amonoto?" again the jittery tapping and indecisive nature returned to the boy as he stared at me with an almost fear in his eyes. "Amonmoto?" I stretched out a hand unsure of what has changed, and then, he ran.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this..." tears streaming through the air, trailing after the gusts of wind he stirred in his escape of me.

"What do I keep doing to you Amomroto?" I said to myself disappointed, in this place of training that was so silent, holding only the silence of a flame flickering in a gust of retreat. My own hopes quivering like that of the orange flame, the promise in the warmth of light snuffed out. My own glow turning cold with the embers of that torch turned to doubt.

...

Getting back home I heard a knock on the door the instant I locked it, a good thing too because guess who it is; Tensue.

"Hello my subject"

"*Woo*" I shook the chill off me on hearing that eerie voice, his crazy half, before addressing him. "I hope you understand that I do not appreciate you addressing me like that. I am your student now, you are my sensei" I spoke to him through the door, because there is no way I'm opening the door to this creep.

"Yes my ssstudent" It was like an internal battle for him to replace that word, a battle I am happy is happening on the other side of my door. "I have come to this place to tell you, your time is up." I could hear him both smile and leer at me through the door, I just knew it.

"My time is up, what do you mean Sensei?" I tried not to distract myself with the possible meaning to his words, was it the spying that I knew they were doing or is it his own personal time bomb to when he is going to dissect me. Not letting panic in I stood firm, not letting any quaking of my spirit fall on my conscious, still I prepared a kunai to hand.

"My Sensei test is tomorrow" His voice transmuted in to his more reasonable and professional alter ego, or have I it the other way around... either way his a creep.

"Tomorrow, but I haven't formed my team yet!" Amoroto was likely out of the list of options, still I had other ninja selected less personal ones at least.

"It was your job to arrange your team, remember, and I have given you plenty of time." He was right, not about the time he seemingly has given me but that I only accepted his conditions as teacher under the proposition that I would choose my team.

"I was unaware there was a time limit, but now that I know..."

"No, you have had your time. Tomorrow is the test, if you fail to show you fail my sensei test."

"but that would mean you would lose me as a subject." I cannot believe what I am saying, I'm basically bribing his other side with my dismemberment.

"A disband looks very bad on a ninja's record, it is labelled with the words both of traitor and failure." Shippuden! He knows something he isn't telling, maybe there are whispers about me among the Jounin. Considering the fact that he isn't as well known as the others, it means it must be very well talked about gossip in the higher arcs as well as the lower. That is probably how Neji heard, I wonder how far this lie or truth transgresses against my name.

"Since you still insist on refusing me in, I will pass this letter under your door instead of handing it to you as I intended. Your test begins tomorrow morning at four o' clock, don't be late."

...

The letter contained a map, our future training grounds I presumed, that lead far out of the surrounding forests. Further than any other training ground I had ever seen, almost secretively so. Still I had no reason to suspect him of plotting to kill both me and my selection of team mates. Surly there would be repercussions for such an act, besides I was not helpless against attacks even if I was partly injured from yesterday's now classed 'A' Ranked mission.

Waking up a little before four, I first wrote a letter and delivered it to Amoroto's home. A letter seemed fit as I didn't want to risk disturbing him further by speaking to him directly. His Grandmother accepted it rather kindly; I think it was granted that I managed to get her grandson back home early last night. I then visited Hakari next, who was rather reluctant to leave home so early, but her parents in spite of waking them so early appeared to understand on mention that it was a sensei's test. If anything, he parents would defiantly ask questions if Hakari suddenly went missing... unless they blame the mangled bodies on me and say I committed suicide or was nowhere to be found(because I'll likely end up in Tensue's book as in subject piece A all the way up to Roman numerals). I left the map to our location with Hakari's parents just in case, I had already made two copies; one for Amoroto and an extra for myself, taking precautions when you had time was a good sentiment to healthy living.

Still I was happy. Even if we couldn't form a classic three man team further strengthening the chance that we would be sent on more elite missions, I had a team mate. I feel like my life is progressing, even as I urge Hakari along who is still half asleep, I feel like being here today means we have improved as ninja.

Still on my guard, who could tell the intentions of a mad man, I brought extra kunai and explosive tags with me. If he is going to try anything suspicious, it is going to be one hell of an explosion and an impetuous fight because I risked much in being captured.

Nearing our location I woke up Hakari further, tapping her on the shoulder rather briskly. She had been following along at a limping speed, with no rock holding her down it was only her lack of sleep keeping her back. "Be on Guard" I whispered "Tensue is not a sensei that should be trusted, we cannot afford to be at ease in his presents"

In a mere moment and with my tone, Hakari was sobered out of sleep. "Is he dangerous?"

"Yes I fear so"

"Good, no use having a harmless teacher." She righted herself and with a shinobi's attentiveness, she walked into the clearing that was marked out on our map as our testing grounds.

Tall and in white, stood out Sensei, formal and upright. "Good you've made it. Now that you are here we can begin. I have gathered these sizable rocks from the bed rock of a nearby river" He directed out attention to three large stones of my height, stood up like teeth they were elongated obstacles in our way to completing our test. "These are of the hardest rocks here in the Leaf, used in the foundation stones of our great walls and biggest buildings. This is your objective, to pass my test you must break these rocks using only your medical abilities!"

"Medical abilities?" Hakari questioned because as far as she knew I had none and as for herself I wasn't sure, the ninja profile on her was very lacking in their details of her abilities.

Tensue disregarded Hakari's interruptions and my concerns of my own abilities, to continue on with his speech. "Medical ninjutsu is the art of Healing, but as a ninja we must be able to use our healing arts as a method of lethal force. By the end of this day, the pillars in front of each of you, must be destroyed." He made motion to leave but Hakari's tongue was swifter.

"Hey! I've heard it is part of your duty, as our new Sensei, that you are supposed to ask us who we are, and I didn't wake up at four in the morning to be told what to do before being properly introduced. You act as if you are alone here with Argies, but this inter-village ninja doesn't take that kind of abuse from anyone. I can report you, improper conduct of a Jounin instructor can still be filed before a sensei has completed his test." Hakari hit him with the books, hard, and it was our right as his students that he should follow the same rules we had to. After all we were just like any other ninja, now that he had selected us, our inter-village titles had fallen away at least till we were disbanded as a team.

Grimacing, Tensue turned back to address us, the prospect of misconduct being branded on his ninja profile for all time was no less bitter than the threat he made against me the night before (of a disband ninja). "I see my potential students are well learned, very well. I am Tensue Wadokei, some of my fellow medics call me Tensue six palms as a means of classifying my many medical talents into subcategories. I don't expect you to understand but I will try and explain the taxonomy of the six plants in plain speak.

Hakari and I looked to each other and whispered the same words, "Plain speak?" he had only begun but already we were confused although I think that was his intention. I believe our teacher likes the sound of his own trumpet.

It was then that Amoroto entered the clearing, bowing his head as he came into sight, I placed a hand on Hakari's shoulder to warn her against greeting him. 'I don't know what sets him off', was the message I projected to her, she nodded in agreement. Instead we politely tilted our heads and smiled, luckily the constant chatter of our Sensei made the silence almost normal as Amoroto hurried in trying not to disturb us with his untimely arrival. He was no longer wearing the flashy cloths I saw him wear the night before, my half smile spoke my approval.

"The morphology of palm trees are divided into six tells..." he continued regardless of the fact that we couldn't understand him, and maybe didn't want to. Amoroto looked to us to see if his complete lose for comprehension was with well cause, and on capturing the absent stares we returned, he did not let play a false understanding. "...Coryphoideae, Calamoideae, Nypoideae, Ceroxyloideae, Arecoideae and Phytelephantoideae. Coryphoideae is as my talents with my scalpel, the most diverse of uses yet a talent that is used by almost every Medic ninja. Calamoideae is my greater understand of the chakra network and how to exploit my insight with acupressure, puncture and Fuuinjutsu. Nypoideae is my use of herbs and methods no other medical ninja is willing to use, and my subsequent breakthroughs in my research of these herbs and methods. Ceroxyloideae is the beautiful flow of my art form, my precision in how I perform all my talents. Arecoideae is my understanding of the human body in its entirety. And last is Phytelephantoideae the rarest of all my talents; dedication. Now if you will introduce yourselves..."

We looked at him dumbstruck, what in Konohagakure was he saying! "You know Tensue, for your claimed talents, you are considerably poorly skilled at simplifying." Even though the man was obviously stroking his own ego by using such soporiferous wording, it was still insightful. The important bits I got out of all his talk was, Fuuinjutsu, herbalism, and his understanding of the human body in 'its entirety' as he said it. He also mentioned that he is dedication, so I could hold him to his word and make sure he trains us properly. I bowed my head stepping forward to address my team. "I am Argies Ages, I have been called the Shadow-less thrust; the invisible sword, but a member of another team. I kind of like the ring to be honest, but titles are not to be important to a ninja. Our intentions should not be to gather fame like a rock gathers moss, because with recognition comes trouble. If anything my goal as a ninja is to unassumingly become stronger, under cover of darkness to lurk unseen before the strike. Who I am, that is a volume that can only be told through getting to know me, which I cannot express."

Hakari waited for the dramatic pause in my words to linger before addressing us with her own insight to who she is. "I am Hakari Kessho a crystal user, I haven't been called by any titles before but I have been cursed numerous times by the ninja I have captured ranked higher than me. I used to detain hospital patients of all ranks but I do not like the job. It is too easy, after the 'A' rank mission Argies insisted I aid him with, I do not see myself ever going back to capture and release missions. If you train us well, I believe that we will form a most power team. My personality is something you will just have to get used to, I don't stifle myself with what is seen as proper lady like behaviour or any other reform people think is necessary due to age sex and other general prejudged ideologies. I love sweet foods and all sorts of candies, anything with honey or sugar in it will likely end up in my mouth. I am short for my age which has a negative effect on my chakra capacity as physical chakra is body mass, but I make up for it in other ways. Typically with the big crystal rock I conserve for 'A' ranks, which was used up yesterday. It is my chakra only outside my body, I do have a little chakra without it but not enough for big missions. I am able to regenerate any lost chakra over four days, so we will at least be able to handle an 'A' rank mission every week... If you guys can handle it" She winked a smile in my direction, which was a little too typically girly for her, but what the heck I'm catching all the glances she throws my way.

It was Amoroto's turn next, he hesitated for a second but then I could see him right himself as if he mentally told himself he could do it. "I am Amoroto Shizukana. I am a descendant from a long line of enchantresses who use their songs and poems to empower their weapons and allies. Our clan is very small and scattered throughout the shinobi world because the blood limit of my family is passed solely through the bloodline of female heiresses, and as only very few are born we remain scattered. My ability is infinite, I can do anything and everything, but with the scale of its effect the cost in time and chakra becomes devastating and its eventual enactment possibly never forthcoming. My likes are walking for long distances, thinking and singing. My dislikes are large crowds, social events and time constraints." He concluded with a bow, keeping formal and rigid, like as if he had given a speech on stage in front of many people.

I can tell he's done this many times, not just because I read it as being so in his ninja profile but because of the way he gave his 'speech'. His introduction was an answer to questions I hadn't yet asked. About his capabilities and his clan, his brief summary of who he is aside from his abilities and heritage was very short and to the point. It is as if he doesn't think we value him as a person at all, but rather see him as a 'tool' with positives and negatives. Cautioning us to what he might not be suitable to doing and what he's more intended functionality is.

Tensue looked across the three of us, accustoming himself to the fact that before him was a team I presumed. "Well, now that that is concluded I must be off. My shift at the hospital begins in an hour and I cannot afford to be tardy." He rolled his eyes across Amoroto and myself, striking the blame of my team mates late arrival across me as well.

Before Tensue could dismiss himself completely it was again Hakari who was quickest to pin him down with question. "You aren't even going to be here! How will you grade us if you don't even know who smashed which rock, or how long it took us!"

Tensue glanced over his turned back before sighing to return to us. "The challenge I presented you was to smash your rocks using your medical ninjutsu." He stated using the words Hakari so delicately castoff. "I will know if you fail to execute those orders by the state of your boulder on my return."

"And how will we know what is classified as our medical ninjutsu if you haven't properly shown it to us?" I asked in turn as the lead of my team.

"Your medical ninjutsu Argies?" Tensue smiled malevolently, and I knew that smile... it was his other self, peering out from behind his current mask. "If it is a lecture you want, I can spare time. After all patients is one of my many gifts." He walked to the centre boulder with his hands cupped inside each other behind his back, leaning an arm against it, half modestly as a doctor and as a fox plotting trouble. "You're missing mission to find a lost boy or hidden assassin, the sealed ninja records of our Villages test invasion." He waited for my surprised acknowledgement before continuing "You pressed your hands against two comatose Chunin and revived them from their state. That is a medical ninjutsu, one I would like you to personal explain."

...

"Augh, me..." he pressed his hands on into himself, seeing everyone around him stare in. "I have no idea how that happened, well not no idea" he babbled on, stuttering as he rushed to draw conclusions he did not yet have. "I was just so over loaded with chakra that it just wanted to come out" Gulping he stopped there, not wanting to say anything else, not knowing if there was more to add and fearing what there was.

"Look upon my challenge as a way to force that ability out, our techniques as medical ninja must be developed both to mend and eradicate." Or so the Medical teacher kept saying, fixated on his ideals of both healing and total annihilation; Determined to set ablaze the concept of medical ninjutsu by militarising it. 'I will bring fear to the title of medical ninjutsu' he spoke aloud to himself in his mind.

"And my team?" was the plea that cut forth from the young Argies Ages as he cracked his wrist unsure of their abilities as well as his own.

"The Crystal..." Tensue stopped himself before addressing the crystal user as simply that, knowing that the bite of his tongue would not go unpunished if he were to transgress against her. "Hakari, the manipulation and creation of crystal descends out of the physical aspects of your chakra. Vitality moulded into stone form; that is what the crystal style is. If you were to learn how to mould your vital energy into people you would be able to heal and destroy them." Tensue turned to the other of their group, recalling his name he continued his lecture after a pause to recollect. "Amoroto, you use inspiritment to empower your will upon the world. Like Hakari's technique of vitality chakra, the physical, your jutsu is of the opposite; spiritual. Where Hakari's ninjutsu is corporal yours is ethereal, able to literally bring new life to dead cells or convince them to destroy themselves." Now having said all that was asked and all that was needed, Tensue vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Right--- so let's begin." Still looking to the place where in sensei was, Argies stepped forward to oppose his challenge as did his team mates, facing their respective trials.

Focusing his chakra and pressing it out, Argies placed his hands to the boulder willing his power into it as he did to those downed Chunin. Remembering that day, the energy surging in him, boiling his temperament and making his skin itch with unease, he amplified his will to turn his rock into shattered stone.

Hakari placed her hands on her boulder, the obstacle blocking her path to A rank missions. Vital energy, physical power, yang chakra, stamina, these were the requirements she needed to pass her test. The trial she faced was more than it appeared to be, for she was the crystal user now without her crystal style. Needing four days recuperation to re-amass her chakra blue crystal, without it she had no jutsu and now no way to destroy her boulder. With her hands on the rock, she absorbed in its cold, blacking out the environment around her. Hakari felt exposed to the challenge, her Boulder towering over her because of her small size, a fidget breeze blew out from the pitch empty void around her whispering condescension. Building up a worry in her, 'you will not pass', dread near over coming, compelling her frustrations and anxieties.

Amoroto did not place his hands to his Boulder, no in distain he turned away from his challenge and instead pulled out a note book; scribing words of pain into his volume of contempt. Words of disdain curled around unflattering comment. Cutting with mind his attack did not relent, nor did his mind break or fall under pressures that could render it bent.

It was then that the winds gusted and new vision unfolded in their minds of the time they had spent. It was dark when they had arrived, birds silent to the calls of the night, stars and the moon hiding their light. That time has passed, breaking free and lost, now the chill of the air was brittle, the bit of the twilight waning to the dawn of the daybreak of morrows light.

...

I had to stop, I had to pull away from my test. The amount of time that had passed baffled me. Where hath it gone, where has it disappeared too. It felt like only a moment ago that creep of a sensei was here, my sensei our teacher. Telling us new aspects of ourselves that we didn't know, I didn't know. It meant he researched me at least and that he was knowledgeable enough to inform Hakari and Amoroto of their abilities only after just meeting them. He is of use to us, now I know that to be true and I know the adventures ahead will be great but... will we get there? My abilities aren't as strong as they could be, my chakra network is still a little sensitive after yesterday's overload. The healing powers of the turtle shell has definitely helped in some small way, even the bruising to my abdomen has almost entirely disappeared. I don't feel half as bad as yesterday, not at all which is surprising considering the first time I used that much blood jutsu I ended up in the hospital for a long stay. I think I should seriously consider hot water treatment as a solution to the abuse of by blood jutsu, it certainly lessens the side-effects quit well. Still....

What now? I'm trapped here facing this test, trapped with no way of overcoming a hurdle I simply must jump. Well, back to work I guess, no point in delaying the task that has to be completed.

...

Why are the boys so silent, can't they see what I see? Can't they see the silence too, the nothing around us like a cloud of fog that removes from existence everything it touches? It echoes as it passes, it echoes as like a scream from the ones it consumes. It is there I know it, I see it there like a veil over the world, surrounding this place, shrouding it in an unseen disturbance to still waters. What is it, what is this feeling it puts into me. It spits doubt and casts confusion, and I am no longer in control over my own intentions. What is this boulder in front of me is it my trial or is it my end...?

...

I have to beat them, I must show them I am stronger then I was then. I don't want Argies to see me as weak, I don't want them to see me as a threat to their team's success. I should destroy my boulder first, no, no I shouldn't, I should let them destroy their boulders. If I destroy my boulder first it would raise their expectations and I will only disappoint them later, but if I don't destroy my boulder quick enough they won't respect me. If I destroy my boulder second, they will see me as an equal, should I destroy it after Argies or after Hakari? If I destroy it after Argies Hakari might become offended, but if I destroy it before Argies it might be insulting to his authority. What should I do?

...

"Enough of this" I heard Hakari's words and I felt pulled back from my thoughts. It was like we were being sucked into the task, compelled to debate but never begin the lesson. "Argies you are team leader as a Chunin, don't tell me you don't find it strange that none of us have attempted to break our boulders."

Stepping away from my challenge like retreating from a serpent, I back into the centre of our clearing to joint Hakari who had already moved away from the source of her disturbance. "Your right, there is something strange about this place."

Amoroto came to join us as well, bowing slightly as he did "You have need of me sir?"

Hakari tilted her head in incredulity "What, we have no time for this... Sensei Tensue didn't give us a time period for when he will be back. Calling Argies Sir isn't going to help us on missions so you better stop that now so we can formulate a plan!"

Amoroto responded back, "It is hard to plot against boulders" and I could sense the cheek in his words. Not a wise opponent for someone so meek to pick.

"That is not our task you too" I tried not to sound like the older sibling nevertheless I had to take command. "We have little time for brattle and there is no place for it in the field. Take it as if this is a mission, a most dire mission because if we fail our team ceases to exist, and I do not wish to die in any form or way today. Hakari, you were first to sense it, tell me what more you have to say?"

"Well, with my crystals I would have been able to sense it like a henge, but now even without them I can feel it and even see something is off about this place. It means that whatever it is, it is very strong."

Amoroto put up a hand half way, unsure if his means of directing attention was correct, I tilted my head allowing him to speak. "It could be an area effect jutsu sir-Argies" He bit at his lip, but I made no motion to reprimand his imaginary offence.

"Right, if that is the case... Kai!" I tried to dispel the jutsu but there was nothing to dispel, or at least I felt nothing. "Well, whatever it is that didn't work, next idea?"

"I don't see why we can't just destroy the rocks?"

"You're right why haven't any of us tried yet?" I hummed for a moment, my concentration elsewhere as they looked to me hopeful for an answer. It could be the influence of an area effect jutsu like the one placed on the tournament audience, too powerful to dispel and too wide a range to escape. Too bad my new knowledge of how chakra works in conjunction to all ninja techniques, doesn't extend to how to overcome a powerful genjutsu. If it were like the Fuuinjutsu fire I started, I would at least have a base understanding in order to counter act it, but now I didn't know where to begin. Fuuinjutsu, Amoroto is supposed to know something of it along with his inspiritment jutsu. Thanks to Hakari's ability to sense it we haven't wasted too much time staring at our boulders. Perhaps with my knack in absorb chakra can...etc.

It was too long a moment to pass, before I gathered that the influence of the genjutsu was still affecting me. My mind had slipped so far into my gradual accumulation of thoughts, that when I had awoken from the spell I felt as if I was breaking the surface of the heavy abyss I was drowning in. I looked up at my comrades, the light clouded in their eyes, an incoherent look hardened on their faces, their bodies swayed ever so gently as their brains were prodded by Tensue's malevolent jutsu.

...

"Amoroto, Hakari... I see no way out. This trial has truly bested me. My mind has been caught in a maze that points to many exits but my footsteps fail to take the paths that are set. Yet! I stand before you punishing the integrity of my pre-existing knowledge, knowing that it is not enough to free you, but my will remains strong and persistent; though I stand a statue in the garden of my mind, unable to act, my conviction to move instils within me a greater force that frustrates my very being. I cannot tell you how we will complete this trial, only that we will not accept surrender even against the inanimate, because we must protect our comrades! We must draw the longer straw from our shorter destined lives. We the inter-village ninja who have been placated with a lower fate, must raise above the standards cast upon us and achieve what was never thought possible for us. Not for our will, nor our intentions of freedoms to accomplish what was never ours to do within the Leaf, but for all inter-village Nin! We must preserver; we must shine a light that forever foreshadows our enemies with the glory of our power. We are the Inter-village Nin, and our might is forever!"

Argies words like a ray of light, shone a beam through the darkness that clouded around them. Their vision cleared, the haze lifted, and their bodies now swayed no longer by the indecisive bleakness of the still airs.

It was Hakari who spoke first, her mind now washed of the dark storming of thoughts, now enlightened by the call to arms of a team leader. "Thank you." she sighed relieving herself of the weight of doubt that the jutsu burdened them with. "This is the A rank mission all over again. Only now instead of Tensue doubting our ability to complete an easy task, he has trialled us with doubt and we are tasked with an uneasy challenge."

"mmm Agreed" Argies looked over his comrades, he struggled not to look inwards and fall into the trap once again, and so he sided instead of thought he would skip his stone along the surface of reality and remain in the moment. "Hakari, Amoroto, I will ask you to tell me what you can do to abolish this evil jutsu, but! Heed my warning, do not step into deep thought but instead rely on what you already know and trust."

"And now you're speaking like a monk!?" Hakari squinted at Argies in inspection of this team mate of hers that had a habit of odd behaviour attached to violence.

"I may be able to do a-thing-that-might-help" Amoroto broke his offer down, unsure what to make of his teammates odd interaction, a team he had just that morning decided to join. Retrieving a string of prey inscriptions, he strapped his weapon of choice to his hip. The long lose strips of paper at his left hip blew in the wind, the inscriptions glowing lightly at his side. Finding the one he needed he gathered attention to himself once again. "This is the pray seal I Hang in the training areas of Konohagakure. It protects those training there from injury and insures that they play at their finest."

"I've seen ninja get seriously beat up in that kind of play" Hakari arched an eyebrow sceptically.

"My pray seals use the power of the wind when I am not there to empower them, any strikes met when my seals are inactive result in injury, only when the breeze blows does it work to their benefit but when I'm around it is my chakra which inspires their wellbeing." Amoroto stood there, meek but proud of his contribution to the Leaf. His existence to him, meant that because he lived the Leaf is able to train their troops safer and within the confines of his jutsu in a more suitable environment of body as well as mind. Without the word of command from his Leader, Amoroto conceded to confidence and let his chakra inspirit his seal and its light illuminate in their presence.

Suddenly the hue of the world like a gradual light, started to brighten out of the murky misery they were bound to. Still the world remained dim even though now the time present had reached nearer to the afternoon.

"Gooood" Argies stretched his approval with a malevolent tone with in the atmosphere of that one positive term, emanating both an agreement with Amoroto's actions and a potent disapproval for acting without permission. "I can feel the capacity to think returning, still I ask each of you to tread lightly."

Hakari put her hands to her hips and rolled her eyes "Really Argies, really now, there are only two of us. No need to say things like 'each of you' when you can say 'both' instead. You're beginning to sound like Sensei."

Argies eyes bulged but he remained to his words "Don't be absurd!" For he knew very well why he was talking like this, he was accustomed to the ways his Aunt and Uncle talked, and because they could no longer rely on thought but instead habit, he had no means of correcting his fossilised tongue. "Our next conundrum is for who should face the tempest of our challenge. Now with clear minds and open thoughts, the fact remains that I do not know of how to use the medical aspects of my ninjutsu. On that day when I had used it then, it was only because my body was so overflowing with energy and to tip my brim and empty my power out was with the greatest of ease. Reviving those Chunin was more a relief than an act of charity. Now with my chakra at rest, settled within me as it should be, I see no way for it to stream out let alone destroy my boulder with what should strengthen it. Hakari? Amoroto? Could you destroy your boulders?"

Amoroto hesitated but spoke first. "I need clarity to write my songs and right now my mind still feels clouded. I cannot think under this spell and I still need to focus my chakra into empowering the seal currently negating some of the effect of this curse jutsu." He surrendered to the truths of his proficiency just as Argies had.

Hakari stepped forward, her small body now seen large in the pride of her conviction. "I will go first, I have had the time that you two haven't; the time to know my ninjutsu and nothing else, because it is the only jutsu I have ever known. My crystals are my only form of chakra, I've never used anything else. I've had plenty of time to learn what I can do and because I haven't been told what I can't do, I've made a lot of interesting discoveries."

Hakari strode to her boulder, her footsteps proud yet cautious of the jutsu plaguing them. Placing her hands to the rock cut from the earth early just that morning by their Sensei, she hummed to reassure herself as the ice chill of uncertainty frazzled her conviction. Delaying no time, to remain there in torture and unbearable thought, she concentrated her will and chakra and unleashed her crystal jutsu. Like a frost her chakra blue crystal now formed around the rock in a pink chalky white colour. Crystals, a pattern of water turning to ice, slowly crept across the surface of the stone. The sound of frost, the cracking of glacier, the penetrating echo of broken glass being stepped on transcended the outer brim of the clearing. Then with the rock pinkish white and frozen over, encased in her supremacy, the outer shell of her crystal shattered and in it the rock as well.

Hakari gazed at the sight, her eyes blinking in wonder at the illusion she could see that they couldn't. The clouds of darkness like smoke scattered in fright from the sparkles of her pink chakra crystal in the light.

"You did it!" Argies shouted from a distance away, fearing the taint of the darkness that seemed thicker around their challenge stones.

"I would be lying if I said that was easy, but, that was pretty shippuden easy" Hakari smiled broadly, her button nose teasing them playfully with her delight.

"Ha, nice" Amoroto conjectured what he thought was an appropriate response.

"There is one thing though..." Hakari drew closer, not wanting to remain alone in the cold of the darkness. "I saw something strange when my chakra dispersed. It was like the... the genjutsu was repelled by my chakra."

"hmm..." Argies thought for a moment feeling inspired by Hakari's achievement. "Well even though I don't know how I might use my ninjutsu I must act, while Amoroto holds back the genjutsu we cannot idle...and" on that note his serious tone fell away and his half smile returned. "With your 'interesting perspective' I believe I can muster up something that could challenge our penetrating foe." He silently spoke the words of his unsung hero, his ninjutsu, and struck his hands together casting some unseen barrier.

They felt it more than they could see the effect, the warmth of his influence, his aura of protection, the atmosphere he cast about them.

They looked to him hoping for an explanation, but on his way to the boulders, he turned his head back to face them and said ominously. "You don't want to know" For what he had casted was his blood mist jutsu, and their feeling of safety waded within his blood and the confines of his grip of chakra absorption.

Not willing to rob his comrades of too much of their chakra, and the possibility of their disapproval if they ever found out, he only sapped them of a little while maintaining a barrier to keep out the genjutsu attacking their minds. 'A little is enough', he told himself, he resolved to only use enough to determine how to will his chakra naturally into an object.

Placing his hands on the sides of his boulder, the toothy rock of his size, he concentrated on the feeling in pouring excess chakra in. The surge of energy leaving him felt strangely pleasing to him, but as it neared the point of equilibrium he could feel the siphoning of his chakra gradually stop like a tap closing off. Sensing this he slowed down the process, learning, focusing on the technique his body naturally knew he struggled to practise it intentionally. Then as the additional chakra of his Comrades reached nil, he pressed on with his own energy, and now it poured out of him as an eerily unsettling feeling. The power leaving him cautioned him of its lose like an act of instinct pressuring him to stop what could harm him. Still he pressed on and his breath laboured and his body grew physically weaker and his chest burnt in a building anxiety. Pulling away he stepped back and fell...

...

Opening my eyes I could hear the shouts from my team mates before the vision and blurred bodies remerged into apprehensive sight. Hakari was pulling on my arm, trying to get me back up, while Amoroto told her to leave me and instead wait for my recovery.

"...There is no time for waiting, what if he doesn't wake up... I know what I'm doing Amoroto, an unconscious person must be pick up! They have no ability to adjust to improper positions blocking airways and restricting circulation."

I gazed up still wondering if my mind's haze was fooling my vision with apparitions, as before me stood my boulder steaming like a spirit coming out of a fiery abyss surrounded by fog.

Hakari stopped in her struggles to lift me, although I'm sure she could, on seeing my eyes open. "What is wrong with my Boulder" I said still lost to my bizarre surroundings.

"You did that, it's too hot to get near too now, I had to drag you here away from it. Amoroto wasn't very helpful" She look over her shoulder at the boy who was still inspiriting his pray seals.

Getting up I spoke one word that wet my mouth with excitement "Water!" Rushing to the creek nearby, the sound of its waters only now filling my ears, I collected as much water as my hands could hold... but it was not for me to drink, it was for the stone. Throwing the water out like a leash to latch at the blistering rock, the instant the water connected to the heat of the stone I heard the stone screech. The steam of water clouding up off of it vanished to reveal cracks within the stone, and so repeating the task of retrieving water I completed my trial and shattered the rock with water that tempered the scorching stone.

With my blood jutsu in affect and Amoroto's pray seal, the Singing ninja was able to complete his song of destruction and destroy his rock last.

...

atD8