Chapter 8

Megumi choked on her food while Kushina gave you a blink of surprise. Rin said nothing and continued eating without being very shocked. You decided to simply repeat yourself due to being met with silence.

"I want to take the chunin exams."

"Are you an idiot or something!? Most people wait like two or three years before attempting their first exam."

Megumi answered you by slapping down her bowl. You rolled your eyes at her antics. Kushina seemed to be watching the interaction in silence. Whatever her opinion was she seemed to keep it to herself.

"We've become stronger. I believe we should be able to pass easily enough."

You stated, putting your chopsticks down and gazing around at everyone. The next person to speak up was Kushina.

"I think you're underestimating the chunin exams."

Hmm. Well if Kushina says it, perhaps it's true.

"Maybe. It will be interesting to be proven wrong."

Rin seemed to have been the next to finish her food. Putting it aside in order to talk.

"I agree with Aoki. I think we should attempt the chunin exams."

Your eyes narrowed slightly at how she said 'attempt', but chose to ignore it. She had agreed with you after all. That was good enough for you.

Megumi sighed to herself in annoyance.

"Fine, whatever. We'll do the damn chunin exams."

Kushina gave a small nod at that, a smirk plying at her lips. She placed her eighth empty bowl beside her.

"Well then, I guess i should put you guys through some training before then. Get you as prepared as possible, you know?"

All three of you shivered at that. Knowing the beatdown that was likely imminent in the future. But for now you looked to the future. The previous chunin exams had been in the Mist village, and if the rumors were correct the next on would be in Konoha.

You've learned a few jutsu's since then, and if your opponents were just going to be other genin you were quite certain your chances at success would be high. You didn't think there would be much that'd surprise you but if there was, well, that'd be nice you guess. Unlikely though.

Despite having a few low rank jutsus now in your pack, you did still want to at least have something special in your back pocket. A technique, or maybe an ability. The chunin exams would be in a few months so you definitely had some time to think about it and come up with something.

Perhaps you would need help?





*~o~*
You weren't sure what inspired you to go to Naruko for inspiration on a secret move. Perhaps it was the fact that she always seemed to surprise you in one way or another. Perhaps it was the sheer tenacity she showed during training or sparring. Never giving up until she was absolutely pushed well over the edge.

Or maybe it was because Kushina was away from the village and she was the second closest person.

Whatever the reason, you started to talk to her about it.

"The chunin exams? Wow, so you're going to be a chunin soon huh?"

You smirked at your younger siblings words. Ruffling her hair in amusement. She leaned into your hand as you continued to talk.

"That's right. I have a few jutsu's at my disposal, but I'm looking for an extra edge just in case. Some sort of... secret jutsu."

Naruko perked up at this. Her eyes peering up at yours with a vulpine like gaze. Usually the one's she wore when she was about to prank you or get what she wants. On instinct you took a step back. Naruko pouted slightly at the feeling of your hand leaving her head.

"I know a secret jutsu!"

You blinked in surprise at how sure Naruko was of this. Was it possible for Naruko to know about a secret jutsu? Thinking it over, it was likely that Kushina gave her some of the clan's techniques. Interesting, you had gotten a basic overview of a few, and only knew the basics of only one clan technique. So maybe if Naruko teaches you hers…

But would Kushina respect that? You are part of the clan of course, but perhaps there was reason that she didn't teach you it. Maybe she didn't consider you-

"I made it!"

Naruko stated proudly, her nose pointing to the sky. Causing you to scrunch up your nose in confusion.

Was it possible for someone like Naruko to come up with a jutsu all on her own? She was tenacious yes, but she didn't seem the creative type. Well, actually that wasn't very true. She did seem to like spray painting walls and drawing in her spare time. Regardless, she was still in the academy.

You made your decision.

You may doubt her abilities, but you didn't doubt her words. If she said she created a jutsu you'd believe her. That was simply the relationship you had with her.

"Alright, can you teach me it?"

Naruko smirked.

"Sure, but in exchange you have to teach me a cool jutsu too! Not one of the lame academy ones either."

You gave a small nod in acceptance. She smiled and began to teach you the hand seals. You watched as she seemed to put in the henge seals before…

"Sexy Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke obscured your vision slightly. Once the smoke started to fade you raised an eyebrow at the visage of Naruko.

"So? What do you think?"

She asked, her voice lightly laced with a tinge of worry. Something that didn't really match up to her henged form.

You closed your eyes. You had wanted something more…aggressive, or maybe even defensive. This was a more support based jutsu, but that didn't necessarily mean it was bad. It could definitely serve as a good distraction against the right kind of opponent.

You nodded your head and attempted the jutsu yourself. Much to Naruko's enjoyment. It took a few tries to get down, but after awhile you were certain of the effects. It was a good technique, one that you were proud of Naruko for making.

"Now it's your turn to teach me something!"

...fair enough.

You proceeded to teach Naruko one of your techniques that you've learned. It was an earth release jutsu called mud wolves. Basically a trap that needed the ground muddy enough for the jutsu to work. Not only that but it took time and chakra to set up.

After the opponent triggers the trap, the wolves would start to form and chase down the person who fell for the trap. The best part was that you needed to kill the wolves quite a few amount of times to actually do enough damage.

You chose it because of it's flashy nature. Something that you knew would make it appeal to Naruko. She greedily began to train and attempt to use the jutsu as soon as you explained what it did. So great was her passion.

So great was her passion that while she was practicing she called you over to help her. Doing so triggered one of the mud puddles she had created. Having you falling into her trap. Your eyes narrowed as you should have seen it coming. Quickly retreating back to the closest tree as the wolves started to run after you.

You quickly climbed up the tree and then started to leap to another, throwing a few shurikens as you did so. Your aim was of course dead on and cut through the mud wolves. They reformed shortly later, but it ended their jumping spree on the trees.

You watched as they started to chase up your own tree, forcing you to go through a few hand seals. Jumping off the tree and then slamming your hand onto the ground. As the wolves jumped off as well, a giant pillar of stone shot up and pierced them all.

A few of them stopped regenerating by that point, but two were still moving. Forcing you to bob and weave as they were too close for you to focus on hand seals. Your foot connected to a nearby branch leading you to kick it up and use it as a weapon.

It shortly found itself buried in the head of one of the wolves as you simply slammed your heel through the head of another one. Causing it to splatter all over the ground.

Naruko stared at you in awe as you walked back over to her. You felt your chest swell with pride, but you attempted to not show it on your face.

"The wolves w-"

"Behind you!"

Of course Naruko comment confused you, but you knew better than to second guess her. Especially when her voice was so panicked. Spinning around quickly you were met with a wolf mid lunge. It had already attacked you so there wasn't much room to respond.

You fell backwards, and onto Naruko's form who must have ran forward to help. Thankfully you were strong enough to hold the jaws of the mud wolf closed. It attempted to snap at you but could do little due to the force you had on it's jaw. Slowly but surely you squeezed, harder, harder, harder, and harder...

Until finally it popped. Into mud that covered a good portion of your front. You frowned in disappointment as Naruko cheered behind and under you.

"Woah! That was so cool Aoki! You were like bang! Boom! Pow! And the wolves were like…"

You flipped your body around, facing Naruko as she was on the ground. While she was talking she quickly realized the look on your unimpressed face and slowly but surely stopped talking. Just then you decided to take a page out of Naruko's book. If she wanted to play with mud, then who were you to dissuade her?

Which meant you quickly closed the distance between you two. Falling on top of her with a huff as you quickly began to squirm your body ontop of her. She squealed in laughter as you quickly began to coat her in mud as well.

In an attempt to get back at you, she began to copy you despite clearly having more mud on you than her. After you were certain most of the mud was on her you attempted to make your escape. Something that she was quick to stop. Wrapping her legs around your torso in order to bar your escape.

Your eyes narrowed as Naruko looked at you with a smug look. If that was how she wanted to play it, you could certainly do much the same. Renewing your attack on her while she attempted to counter.

After a while you both got…tired. Both of you starting to straining yourselves and breathing getting rougher and harder. For some reason you didn't even feel all that tired, but your breath started to come out in ragged huffs. Naruko was much the same way. Her cheeks gaining a flushed color.

A strange feeling came over you. At first you had ignored it, but for some reason it became stronger over time. Sapping the very energy from your body. Until finally it caused you to lose power in your arms, causing you to collapse onto Naruko. She squeaked in surprise but didn't do much to get you off.

You both simply laid there for a while, attempting to catch your breath. Afterwards you both finally decided to take a bath to wash off all the mud that had accumulated. As well as hose off the clothes that had mud on them, as Kushina would not appreciate tracking such things in the house. Curiously, you saw bits of dead grass clinging to your clothes.

Afterwards you both had to run into the estate in only your underwear in order to wash up. You of course helping wash Naruko's hair while she does yours. For some reason you felt a bit strange in doing so. Perhaps a residual feeling of the mud fight from earlier?

How curious. Was this the effect of mud perhaps?



*~o~*
You trained further in those two months. Kushina primarily focused on your other two teammates rather than you. You understood, they needed much more help than you. It wasn't a stretch to say you were the strongest out of three.

Which meant you could mainly rely on yourself for training. Well, that wasn't too correct. Kushina did teach you a few tricks here and there. Such as tree walking, and after you quickly learned that, water walking.

Tree walking felt…almost peculiar to you. You couldn't put your finger on it, but it was just exceedingly natural. Water walking on the other hand was much more difficult. Which you felt was peculiar, as you've had your chakra nature tested with chakra paper, which turned out to be water. Which of course made your hands quite wet, causing you to throw said offending paper away. Much to Kushina's enjoyment.

You had assumed since water was part of your nature it would be easier to learn but it didn't seem so. Which meant you had to dedicate time to learning and mastering it. While doing so, practicing your throwing and aim at targets.

Kushina had also given you a decent looking short blade to practice with. It was nice, light, and had decent balance. Which meant you also had to practice your swordsmanship. Something that was difficult to do without actually sparring with someone. Kushina showed up periodically to help, but it was enough for you. You wanted to go the extra mile so to speak.

Your musing on how to better train your sword fighting skills was interrupted by the sight of a strange man walking around Konoha on his hands. You paused as he didn't even seem slightly winded.

…That was right, if there was one area you lacked, it was raw strength. You drew inspiration from the man, and shortly after you started to copy him. Not right behind him of course, that would be rather embarrassing. Instead you did it near the clan estate. The uneven ground making it softer but harder to traverse.

It took days to master not falling down, but by the end of it you were ready to start experimenting with different surfaces. Including jumping to said surfaces. Naruko watched you for a few days before trying it herself. She did pretty good, though her shirt constantly kept falling down and blinding her. Something that you felt shouldn't be fixed.

Probably because it gave her an added challenge.

You tore your eyes from Naruko's bra in order to focus on your training. Soon enough you were good enough to walk onto the streets of Konoha. You got a few odd looks but they were easily ignored. You didn't really care about the opinions of others. The only ones that mattered was your clan.

…and your allies of course.

Then of course you practiced your taijutsu with Naruko. Easily beating Naruko's attacks back and pummeling her with your own. She had steadily developed herself taijutsu wise. Becoming lighter on her feet, swinging her body with the punches. Using her joints in a fight.

Honestly with how quickly she's becoming stronger, you expected her to overtake you in a few years. It wouldn't be that long until she started to match you blow for blow. A fact that filled you with both jealousy and pride.

Though you were still pretty much better than her at everything else.

You started to train your shurikenjutsu at the Uchiha compound with Satsuki. in doing so you actually remembered that Satsuki knew how to use a sword as well. You'd trained her a bit after all. Which meant you actually had a sparring partner.

She wasn't exactly very experienced, but she served well as a practice dummy. Well, that sounded a bit rude, but it was technically true. You practiced with wooden swords of course. For some reason you liked the practice swords more than your actual one. Likely because it was lighter.

Your sword training went from when Satsuki got back from the academy, till she couldn't get up. You left her bruised all over. Some spots even becoming irritated and growing into slight bumps. You'd even swipe so hard that her outfit would get torn occasionally in training. Something that almost never happened, but when it did you found yourself fighting a stronger Satsuki. Your movements having become slower, less focused.

For what reason you couldn't imagine.

And in the final weeks of your training, you fought with and against your team members. Megumi's taijutsu had greatly improved. It wasn't your level of course, but it was decent enough you suppose.

Rin on the other hand was on your level, if not more so. But that wasn't that much of a surprise. She had always seemed to have much more training than either you or Megumi. She was older after all. Your teamwork was against Kushina of course, and it was pretty obvious how that would turn out.

Until finally it was time to take the chunin exams.