Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

"If I make another move, there'll be no more turning back -

because everything will change, and it all will fade to black."

-Bad Apple

The scream tore out of my throat, raspy and broken.

The lights turned on and arms were around me.

I couldn't feel it, though.

I couldn't feel anything.

Blonde hair covered my vision, and I vaguely got the sense of someone trying to comfort me.

I couldn't feel it though.

I couldn't feel anything, anymore.

. . .

. .

.

"I think we've reached a point where we can decided where to go next in our training," Minato declared to us one autumn day.

The transition into winter was a gentle one. The days grew shorter and despite being named as the Land of Fire, the country still faced some chilling winters. In truth, the only reason the country was named Land of Fire was from its plethora of volcanoes—the country itself was bipolar with its whether, and it was not terribly surprising to see a couple tornadoes grace our springs. For the most part Konoha had yet to deal with a direct confrontation of a tornado in years—at least not since I was reborn into the world—but the tornados still occurred along our border.

All of the volcanoes were dormant, and had been for at least a century. The Uzumaki Clan had been the ones to forcibly seal away a few of the volcanoes; a thought that sent chills up my spine. To imagine any one human capable of stopping the force of a volcano with the simple matter of (essentially) words on paper was... staggering. How could such a clan fall, regardless of the number of enemies? It was mind boggling and made little sense to me.

But, I suppose it didn't matter. What was done was done.

We had all transitioned into our winter clothing. While we could regulate our body temperature with our chakra, it was a waste of chakra to do so outside of extreme conditions.

Kakashi discarded his previous short sleeve short in favor of a long-sleeved black jacket with a front zipper. His arm guards were gone, as well, but he kept his thick finger-less shinobi gloves. He wore a dark brown half-skirt that covered his sides and back and fell a little past his knees. The material was thick and heavy—strong enough that it wouldn't tear from a standard kunai throw—and due to the material, Kakashi could easy sit in a pile of snow without getting wet, or feeling cold. Underneath the skirt he wore thick black shinobi-standard pants with a kunai holster on his left leg.

His tanto was currently in storage.

Obito replaced his favorite dark blue jacket in favor of a short-sleeved navy blue shirt, with a bright orange thick long-sleeved shirt underneath. The Uchiha crest was still emblazed on the back of his shirt. His pants mirrored Kakashi's, save instead of black he wore dark blue, and his kunai pouch was on his right thigh. He had a heavy dark blue coat tied around his waste at the moment, but I knew once practice started he would place it underneath the tree.

Once again Kushina played a strong hand in my choice of outfit—I had a feeling she was over the moon about being able to dress me up. I certainly didn't mind, as I was uncertain of how to shop for... appealing outfits. Madara insisted that I remained aesthetically pleasing in the village as it would make ascertaining alliances with civilian nobles, lords, and other politically savvy parties easier. As shallow as it was a pretty face backed with power went a long way in politics.

I wore a pale orange thick jacket with a large hood that I normally kept pulled down. There were tufts of creamy-colored fur outlining the hood, as well as the end of the sleeves and the inside of my jacket. Underneath my jacket was a creamy-colored t-shirt with the Senju crest emblazed in red on the back. I had a dark orange skirt (with slits on both sides for better maneuverability) that ended halfway down my thighs and long creamy-colored leggings that disappeared into my white winter boots.

I sorely missed my dark colors, but Kushina was all about the bright and lively colors. It was so like her—so eye-catching and warm, filled with light. She was a beacon in my life, shimmering brilliantly amidst the chaos of war. Untainted with her sunny disposition.

Her affection was contagious and I even was starting to be drawn to the more... luminous colors that reminded me of her. I may have craved and belonged in the dark along with Madara, but my heart had a special spot for Kushina's light.

"What do you have in mind, Minato-sensei?" Obito asked excitedly. "Are you going to teach us some sweet ninjutsu, yet?"

"Naasica-hime can't learn ninjutsu aside from the mokuton, Obito-kun," Minato reminded him lightly.

Obito waved a dismissive hand. "Oni-hime doesn't need any more ninjutsu! She's lethal enough as it was."

I leaned over to Obito, rubbing against his shoulder, fluttering my eyelashes and purring, "What a sweet pincushion you are. I can't wait to prove how right you are in today's training lessons."

Obito stuck out his tongue at me, playfully shoving me off him. After months of being brutally, and systematically beaten by Kakashi or myself in our private training sessions, any pain I could reintroduce to him (without lethality, or showing my Other Side) would be redundant. He could easily take what we threw at him and then some.

He certainly came a far cry from the little boy that joined us at the end of spring. His taijutsu would likely never match our level, but his katon ninjutsu was developing nicely. His quick-time reactions due to the Sharingan was also a welcome accomplishment.

Minato chuckled good-naturedly. "Actually, seeing how everyone has become rather companionable I was thinking we could start working on our team fighting style."

I balked inwardly.

No. Hell no.

I had nothing personally against working as team, or learning to fight as a team. I just knew that it would physically impossible for me at that point.

I was literally learning two very contrasting fighting styles. One for my personal use as Naasica of Konoha, and the other for Madara's plans as his tool. The two styles were contradictory and it was a constant effort to keep one style from bleeding into the next. Normally shinobi or kunoichi learned multiple styles for each of the styles to bleed into one another and create a unique combination. I could not do such a thing in this case, for I could not risk such an obvious association between Madara's tool and Senju Naasica.

As a result I had the very strict, ninjutsu-heavy, and bukijutsu-heavy style of Madara, against the flexible nintaijutsu-focused style of Naasica. I could not allow any of the styles to combine into the other, nor could I allow myself to maneuver in any way that mimicked the other style. It was trying and difficult, but I knew it would come with ease after years of practice.

In the meantime, though, I simply could not learn another fighting style without that style bleeding over into the other two forms.

I simply could not do it.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Sensei," I began, feeling a frown mar my face. "I have nothing against working as a team, but I believe our coordination should come naturally rather than trained. I have very intentions of seeing this team rise through the ranks, and if we set our style now we could become too trapped in that style. I firmly believe that our team style should be spontaneous in battle."

Minato's brow furrowed briefly, but he relaxed soon enough. "I see your point, but—"

"I agree with her," Kakashi said quietly. "Teamwork and coordination will come with experience and time. We don't need to waste our time now, or limit ourselves in the future by choosing a set style at this point in time."

"What they said," Obito agreed.

Kakashi spared him a glance. "Do you even understand what we're talking about?"

"Not really," Obito admitted, "but I don't need to 'cause I trust you two to do what's best for the team."

Kakashi's lips twitched behind his mask and I awarded Obito with a pleased smile.

"Well, alright," Minato said slowly, "if you three are really adamant about this, I won't force the issue at this point, especially since I had a back-up plan in mind for our next focus of training."

"What is it, Sensei?" Kakashi inquired.

Minato grinned. "Cooperation Ninjutsu! Even if you don't want to dedicate a fighting style for this team, I still feel it's important to have a couple cooperation ninjutsu ready."

Obito's eyes lit up. "That sounds really cool! So what exactly does it do?"

"Well, you remember how the elements play off one another?"

Obito gave him a blank look.

Kakashi face-palmed while I resisted the urge to start throwing kunai at Obito. Clearly I forgot to make sure Obito was keeping up in his intellectual training in favor of making him catch up to Kakashi and me physically. A mistake I would undoubtedly rectify after this lesson.

Minato's lips ghosted into a brief smile before disappearing. He squatted on the ground and pulled out one of his kunai and began to draw a simple pentagon. At each point of the pentagon he wrote out each of the elements. From the top and clockwise it was: Katon, Fūton, Raiton, Doton, and Suiton. He pointed at katon at the top. "Each of the elements correspond in the direction of the pentagon clockwise. To the right of the element is what it is strongest against, and to the left is what is strong against it. Katon style is strong against fūton, but weak against suiton. Raiton is strong against doton but weak against fūton.

"Each shinobi's chakra is unique to one of these elements. There are some cases, though, where a shinobi—or kunoichi—can develop a mutation to their chakra that combines two or more elements to create a new one. Naasica-hime's mokuton, for example, combines doton and suiton. In other cases shinobi who became adept at mastering multiple elements are able to combine these elements to create massively powerful ninjutsu. We won't be working on anything so large-scale, but I want to ensure that you three are capable of linking up your ninjutsu without harming yourselves, or your allies."

"How can we do that, though?" I questioned. "I'm a mokuton user while Obito is katon, and Kakashi is raiton. None of our elements correspond with one another."

"It's true that none of them naturally enhance the other, and it'll be tricky utilizing your mokuton with Obito's katon, or Kakashi's raiton," Minato admitted, "but I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't have a plan in mind already."

Minato gestured for me to step forward. I docilely took a couple steps towards him. "Hime, would you please create a pillar going straight up about ten meters away from here?"

I asked, "How high up?"

Minato gave a thoughtful hum. "Let's shoot for twenty meters. Do it when I say start."

I nodded my head, placing both my hands on the firm ground below us. The ground was chilly, and the dead grass crunched underneath my hands. Even if it was not a particularly cold day that day, I knew by the end of the week it would grow to be significantly colder.

Obito discarded his jacket around his waist, and both he and Kakashi took a few steps back from me. Minato pulled out a stopwatch, readying it. When he was prepared he said, "Start!"

I flexed upon my chakra, and allowed it to follow its very nature. It formed and bubbled around me, quickly gathering beneath my hands and into the ground below. In a single breath the chakra shot out and traveled along the ground before shooting up ten meters away from us as a climbing tree. I did not allow it to create any branches or leaves, so it was a rather bare twisty trunk that reached up into the sky. I stopped it at about twenty two meters and looked back up at Minato.

Minato smiled. "Good. Can you withdraw it now, please?"

I pulled on my chakra, forcing it to return to me and the trunk descended into the ground.

"Next, Obito-kun, would you please stand next to Naasica-hime?"

Obito shrugged and walked over towards me.

"Obito-kun when I say start I want you to wait a second and then use the biggest katon you have and shoot for the exact spot where Naasica-hime had the tip of her jutsu last was."

I frowned as I realized what would happen. I looked back up at Minato.

"This time hime, I want you to raise the trunk up to thirty meters."

"Should I shoot that high, then, Sensei?" Obito asked.

Minato shook his head. "Not yet. Ready? Start!"

Once more I pushed my chakra out and the trunk shot up in the air. At twenty meters Obito's massive fire ball slammed into it and I felt my chakra faltering. As the trunk climbed higher, the base of it shrunk and burned rapidly. The entire tree was aflame and quickly turning to ash.

Ever still, I made it climb to the thirty meters—it became a towering flame.

"That was cool, Sensei," Obito said, but he was frowning, "but I just ruined Oni-hime's jutsu."

"And do you know why that occurred?" Minato asked, smiling widely.

I pursed my lips. "Because wood burns."

He laughed at that, reaching over and patting my head. "No. Because you stopped creating the wood that was being burned."

Blushing brightly at that, I ducked my head as I realized he was correct. I did not immediately regrow the wood when I realized it was being burned away. I chose to instead complete the task Minato had specifically given to me instead of going beyond it.

"Mokuton is especially susceptible to katon because chakra-created wood is highly flammable with chakra-created fire. This is because the chakra-created fire can feed off the chakra in the wood, whereas a normal fire would not burn away the chakra so quickly. To make up for that in this combination, Naasica-hime must rapidly replace the wood with new wood—she must continuously regrow."

"But why make her do that? That seems like a waste of chakra," Kakashi said.

"To someone without her reserves, probably," Minato agreed, "but this ability is unique. Naasica-hime has remote control over anything she creates with her mokuton, giving her the capability of creating a pursuing jutsu without even moving. This allows her to target at an especially long range. With time, and practice in using her mokuton, she should be able to create numerous trees to attack for her."

Obito's eyes lit up. "Numerous trees that are on fire!"

"A certain possibility, yes," Minato agreed again, giving our little pyromaniac a wink. Obito was giggling with glee, positively giddy at the thought of setting a mini forest on fire.

"That's going to be so cool! Oh, Oh! Oni-hime, can you make your trees look like dragons?"

I hesitated. "A dragon mokuton is a unique jutsu on its own. It doubles as a sealing jutsu since the mokuton chakra inside it produces a sedative chakra"

Obito cocked his head, dumbstruck. "What?"

"The dragon mokuton is one of the mokuton jutsus used to subdue powerful shinobi or bijū," Kakashi sighed, giving Obito an irritated look. "Did you pay attention in any of your classes?"

"It gives out sedative chakra?" Obito repeated blankly. "Like... what those... medical shinobi do?"

"Sort of," I admitted. "It's complicated. It uses some yinchakra as well, instead of just my mokuton chakra."

"Yin?"

Kakashi dug his fist on top of Obito's head, causing the young Uchiha to stumble forwards and clutch his head. "Itai! The hell, Baka-kashi?"

"Moron. Go to a library," Kakashi snapped.

"We're getting off track here," I said. "I cannot create the dragon mokuton until I can use yin and yang chakra, so for now you will have to be content with a simple tree."

Obito shrugged, still rubbing the top of his head. "Oh. Okay. So I get how me and Naasica will combine, but where does Baka-kashi fit in?"

Kakashi's right eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Minato rested a hand on top his head, slightly smirking. "Kakashi won't be able to join in on the combination until he feels comfortable with channeling his raiton along another's chakra."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked.

"Any base element can follow someone's chakra," Minato began. "For example, if I were to create a string of chakra from this point all the way over to those training posts, a raiton user could channel their raiton release through me, and it would travel along that chakra strong. This can be done for any of the elements, even doton. It's the basis of being able to combine powerful techniques directly; such as fūton and katon."

"How do I learn to do that?"

"Practice," Minato said simply. "You'll practice with me, learning to channel your chakra through my own and following a small chakra string I create. Once you're comfortable enough with that, you can practice on the hime."

"Why can't I just start with her?" Kakashi frowned.

Minato fought to hold a smile back at that. "I think you'll find that once you connect with her directly as such, her mokuton chakra can be rather... lethargic and dense to work with. It'll be harder than most."

"Really?" I was surprised at that. "Is it that big of a difference?"

"Huge," Minato admitted. "I've had a couple sensors specifically stay away from us to avoid directly dealing with your chakra. It's very... sedative?"

"Why is that a question?"

Minato shrugged. "I'm not a sensor, so I can't describe it. When they sense the mokuton, they feel heavier, simple as that."

"Interesting," I mused. "Do you know if it was like that with Hashirama?"

Minato shrugged once more. "I can look through the Jōnin library to see, if you'd like."

"I would. I'm curious if that sedative sensation is in relation to the dragon mokuton ninjutsu."

"Sure. For now, though, let's continue working on combination ninjutsu for now. Tomorrow we'll be going over information gathering!"

The three of us groaned.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

"So," I began sweetly, grabbing the back of Obito's collar. Obito gave a plaintive whimper at that. "From what I understand our physical conditioning has been doing wonders for you, little boy; but, it seems that you've been slacking off intellectually."

"Come on, hime," Obito whined, "I haven't had the time. You literally make me train until I collapse."

I released his collar, allowing him to turn around and face me. I awarded him with a mocking sneer. "If Kakashi and I can do it, so can you. After our physical conditioning has reached a satisfactory conclusion this evening you and I will be going to the Genin library. I will assign three texts that must be read by the end of the month. I will, of course, create a strict schedule for you to follow. If you do not follow the schedule I will make my displeasure known."

"But—"

My icy glare shut up him. "A team is only as good as its weakest link, Obito-kun. I admit that you have progressed admirably. You are clearly above average, not unlike Kakashi and me. That only further proves my point, however, that you have the potential to succeed. You are merely lacking in a firm hand to fairly guide you and provide you with focused attention. I will not allow you to squander your abilities, Obito-kun. I expect this team to pass the upcoming Chūnin Exams with soaring colors, followed by the Jōnin Exams in the months afterwards. Do I make myself clear?"

Obito's expression was torn between prideful and fearful. He settled on sly in the end. "You really think I'm talented?"

"Obviously you wouldn't have survived her training if you didn't have some talent," Kakashi said dryly.

Obito preened. "Well, yeah, that makes sense. She's crazy! Good, but crazy."

"I wouldn't have earned the title Oni-hime if I wasn't," I sniffed.

"What are ya gonna have me ready, anyway?"

"Human physiology texts, and biology," I answered.

Obito squawked. "What!? That's—That's—"

I shrugged. "Out of the three of us you have the best potential of becoming a med-nin. Your personality even fits it."

"But—"

"I'm not saying you have to specialize in it, Obito," I responded patiently. "But, it is an invaluable skill that I believe will be best suited for you to learn. Naturally, Kakashi and I myself will learn the basic Mystic Palm, but you, I strongly believe will be able to go further with it than we could. Furthermore med-nin is too valuable to not have any knowledge on it. What if Kakashi and I were gravely injured on the field and you couldn't do anything to save us due to your decision to not learn even the basics?"

Obito's shoulders hunched over, his eyes downcast. "Hate myself."

"Exactly," I agreed. "Kakashi and I have already read these texts. I am not making you learn something that we would not learn ourselves; but, I have a good feeling that once you get the hang of it, you will enjoy it."

"What makes you say that?"

"You love helping people," I responded simply. "You have a sweet heart, Obito-kun. You are not suited for a path of violence, like Kakashi and I are."

"You guys are sweet, too," Obito argued instantly, blushing. "You guys are the ones that stay after every day to help me train. Even if you say it's just to help yourselves out by having a stronger team, I know you could have just requested a new team, or ignore me entirely then leave after the exams."

My cheeks warmed in sheepish embarrassment and Kakashi looked away, shoving his hands in his pockets. He mumbled, "Whatever. Let's just get started."

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

"Woman. Come here."

I rose from my meditation pose—Madara was having me transition my chakra into the ratios of each of the main elements. The best way to do so was during meditation, as it allowed me to wholly concentrate on my chakra core. Doing this was to create a habit of drawing upon my chakra and correctly changing the nature. Eventually I would be able to develop the ability to adjust my chakra ratio to whatever element I needed.

Naturally some elements would forever be out of my reach—mostly kekkai genkais for obvious reasons—and some would come easier than most. Katon and Fūton were always difficult, but the two were imperative to mimicking Madara; however, with enough time and near-perfect chakra control there was no reason to being unable to utilize each element to some degree.

Especially since I knew and understood the ratios.

When I arrived to Madara's side, I bowed. "What would you have of me, Madara-sama?"

"I have a gift for you," Madara answered, and it was then that I noticed an item wrapped in black cloth. "A reward for your efforts, and something you can carry with you always."

"I am—"

His eyes narrowed. "I was not finished, woman."

"I apologize."

"Forgiven. This is an item that was passed down from my grandmother to my mother. As you are aware, my mother did not give birth to any kunoichi, and no one lived long enough to marry, and thus was unable to pass on this relic. I kept it in her honor, and I have decided that you will treat it well."

I was speechless. Words could not even begin to describe the staggering amounts of flattery, and honor I felt at that moment. I was deeply humbled by what Madara was about to entrust to me—for what he was about to bless (for really, what could be a better word?) me with.

There was a lump in my throat that prevented any sound from escaping me, and for some strange reason my vision was a blurred and it burned unpleasantly. Madara watched me carefully, a ghost of a smile gracing his lips. "Do you remember when you first began learning the tessen?"

I blinked in surprise, the memory coming unbidden.

"You have reached an acceptable level of competence with the gunbai, jian, and bo. I will allow you the choice to train in your next weapon."

A thrill ran through me, and I bowed lowly to my master. Madara raised a pale hand and gestured for me to follow him. I did so happily, pulling off my training shirt and using it to wipe the sweat off my brow. I had to tug down my undershirt after doing so, though, and I ended up discarding the training shirt off to the side. It was drenched in sweat and I did not enjoy the thought of putting it back on.

Madara guided me to his weapons room—home to seventy three different types of weapon; one of them being a two meter long smoking pipe. Madara was always quick to remind me that anything and anyone could be a weapon. Literally. There was a skull mace from a Kaguya, and more than a few spines fashioned into whips.

Madara's goal was for me to master at least ten different weapon styles. He said I would most likely be able to master more once I "reached a certain point in the plan", but for the time I had to learn them the hard way.

Surprisingly, it was easier than what I would have anticipated. The motions came fluid and after years of Madara drilling his taijutsu into me. His taijutsu was bukijutsu base, so the weapon training just fit nice and snugly into my routine.

"Tessen?" I inquired, looking over at Madara.

"A very kunoichi-like weapon."

"Its style is similar to the gunbai, though, and I could carry it on me as Naasica," I said, explaining my reasoning.

"True," Madara agreed. "I suppose it would seem odd if you did not learn any weapons as Naasica, and furthermore it is a common and small enough item that you may encounter it on my missions for you. Learning how to use it will make learning how to counter it exceedingly simple. A good choice, woman."

My cheeks warmed under his praise and I bowed to him once more. "Thank you, Madara-sama."

Madara waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "Rise, woman. Let us begin our practice. I suspect in about three years' time you will have adequate understanding of enough weapons, and ninjutsu, that we can begin incorporating them."

"I will not fail you."

"I know."

"Yes, Madara-sama," I rasped out, swallowing multiple times to try and get rid of the lump.

Madara presented his blessing to me, and I took it with careful hands. Delicately, I began to unwrap the black cloth and marveled at what I held in my hands. It was heavy—heavier than the tessen I had been practicing with—and I knew it was made of very sturdy material. The metal was black and shiny, it had obviously been well taken care of. There were a handful of scratches and blemishes on it, but they were minute and I had to squint to see them. The tessen was roughly twenty centimeters long, and when I fanned it out, it spread out to roughly forty centimeters wide. It was certainly bigger than what I had anticipated, but it was beautiful.

There was a picture inside the fan. The teeth were all black, but there was this gorgeous design that reminded me of an intricate flower kimono design. It was filled with dark and bright colors; red; orange, yellow, some blues. It was a blazing sunset lighting up a field of blood-soaked flowers, with illuminated blue stems.

"This is beautiful," I whispered.

"Yes," Madara agreed. "It suits you."

"I..."

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Late in the evening the following day, I indulged in showing off the tessen to Kakashi. Meanwhile, Obito was having a hard-pressed sparing match with Heiwa. My summons was unused to utilizing a trent and my abilities, so the spar was a good chance for both of them to get some work done.

"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU FIND THIS THING?!" Obito screamed out as he narrowly avoided a massive wooden hammer that used to be Heiwa's hand. The trent was cackling like mad.

Run little meatsack! Run!

"WHY THE HELL IS THIS THING NAMED FOR PEACE WHEN HE'S MORE SADISTIC THAN YOU?"

"I think it's a very fitting name for him," I called out, giving Kakashi time to marvel over the tessen.

"Where did you find this?" Kakashi inquired. "It looks ancient."

"In the old compound," I easily lied.

Kakashi shook his head, blinking in amazement. "It's impressive. I didn't know you knew how to use a tessen, though."

I shrugged. "I'm not a master. It's just something you pick up here and there."

"I suppose," Kakashi agreed with because of course a prodigy would understand what I was talking about, or at least think he did. "Your compound sure does have a lot of weird things. I wonder why Hashirama never used Heiwa in battle."

The introduction of my summons to my team went by fairly easy. No one could really refute (or had any reason to) the claim that I found him in the Senju compound years ago and only just now figured out what he was. It wasn't far-fetched to think that the Senju family had a summoning contract, or pretty much any artifact. The Noble Clans of Konoha had been around since the beginning of the village and a large portion of their relics were not documented by the village.

It also wasn't so hard to believe that the Senju clan didn't recognize the summoning contract for what is was. The clan went "endangered" within a century. Many of the fūinjutsu masters perished decades ago within the clan. Grandmother was the rare exception as she was not a frontline fighter, nor did she do risky experiments alone (you would be amazed how many fūinjutsu shinobi and kunoichi got arrogant of their skills and practiced untested seals alone and died. Grandmother had once told me that at least twenty of Senju's finest fūinjutsu users died within the past five decades alone of doing just that).

"Maybe Heiwa was acquired later on and only those with the mokuton can use him."

"Then who was the mokuton user before Hashirama who made the contract?"

I shrugged. "No clue. Heiwa won't discuss it. I'm just happy to have a contract."

"And an antique tessen," Kakashi added.

"And an amazing tessen," I agreed, smilingly blissfully. It still made me giddy and ecstatic to think about Madara's gift to me.

"Nononononono—THAT DOESN'T BEND THAT WAY."

"Don't break his arm," I called out. "They take too long to heal."

Okay.

There was a resounding pop that signified the end of the lesson. Obito let out a squawk and clutched his dislocated right shoulder. Kakashi sighed and got up. "I'll put it back in place, just hang on..."

Heiwa turned to me, its ethereal gaze meeting mine. I felt his gentle brush against my mind that conveyed a deep sense of bemusement.

Your teammates are squishy, but I enjoyed this. I hope next time you summon me, you will have a good meal prepared.

Translation: give me something to devour in whole pretty please, and thank you.

I bowed to it. "I will. Thank you for sparring with Obito. He's too used to how Kakashi and I attack, and so the brutal change of pace will be sure to wizen him."

Of course, Heiwa responded before he disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the tree left behind began to rapidly decay.

Another snap echoed the clearing and Obito gave a barely repressed groan. I spared him a glance, smirking at his sweat-bruised-scratched-and-just-generally-beaten form. He learned a while ago to always discard his clothes—except his boxers, of course—when he sparred with either me, or Kakashi. And after the first session with Heiwa, he learned to do the same.

Moving quietly to kneel beside him, I made sure to grab the first-aid kit along the way. "You did very well this time. Even I have difficulty sparring against Heiwa."

Then again that was mostly because he would stay in his true form and possess any and all weapons Madara threw at him so it was more like I was facing ten or so floating weapons that I was not allowed to damage at all (because they were Madara's precious relics). The only way to win was to either survive long enough that Madara decided it was enough, or to knock out one of the Zetsu's that Heiwa was protecting.

I still had a nasty gash on my upper right thigh that required Madara to use medical ninjutsu on to heal (and even then, it was bad enough that Madara had cancelled extensive training for the next week while I recovered). To say Madara was displeased my failure was an understatement. The scathing lecture left me overly critical of all my actions for days.

The grin on Obito's face practically lit up his entire expression. Even his eyes were bright with excitement. "I know, right? He didn't knock me unconscious this time!"

"Very good indeed," I praised him. "Your stances and reactions times have dramatically improved and I am very happy with your physical progress. I believe the next area we should focus on should be speed, and learning to strategize in battle."

Kakashi nodded his head. "You're too reckless, and it shows you aren't thinking through a lot of your actions. It makes you predictable. Speed will come easily enough, but strategy just comes with practice. I think we should try having you spar against more than just Naasica and me."

"Like who?" Obito asked.

"Your mother would be a good choice," I suggested, "and Kushina-nee-chan. Your mother is a genjutsu specialist, so that will give you good experience in dealing with genjutsu. Nee-chan is very spontaneous and sporadic, so you'll have to think fast on the fly."

Obito smiled. "Okay. Hey, you guys said you read those books you made me get, right?"

We nodded.

"I don't understand some of the chapters. It's mostly just the, ah... the words?"

Kakashi gave a small grunt. "I have a dictionary you can borrow."

"That would be really helpful," Obito said.

"I also have some notes that I took a couple years ago," I offered. "If you have any specific questions, just write it down and I'll try to find the answers for you."

Obito gave me an infectious smile. "Thanks, Oni-hime! I gotta say, I'm really looking forward to learning some basic medical ninjutsu, if only so I don't have to quit training so early!"

Kakashi and I exchanged amused looks. "Kakashi and I haven't learned any medical ninjutsu, yet. If you enjoy the subject enough, don't hesitate to learn it without us."

"'Kay. The texts are really boring, but I promise I'll get through them. You know I never go back on my word!"

My lips twitched for a brief moment, and I reached out a hand and patted his sweat-matted hair. "You're a good boy, Obito."

He blushed in embarrassment.