The Red Maelstrom

[6] The Demon Brothers

They had just finished their capture of Tora, some rich lady's cat gone astray for reasons unknown. After getting Tora under control, they began on their stroll back to the Hokage Residence, where they were to receive yet another vapid D-rank mission. Kohana had just taken out one of the books the Fourth's Guard Platoon had given her to read when Sakura gasped and snatched the book right out of Kohana's hands, only for her to swiftly swat the back of her teammate's head with it. "You've been reading books all week! It's one thing to give your all in missions and study, but it's another thing to pass out from overworking yourself! You look like you haven't slept in days!" 

Kohana grumpily rubbed the back of her head. She turned to Sakura and snatched the book right out of her hand. "Thanks, like that's not gonna keep me from passing out." 

The angry Haruno took the book again, fuming now. "What's this book even for? You're almost as bad as Kakashi-sensei!" From where he was leaning against a tree with his beloved Icha-Icha Paradise, Kakashi waved his pocketbook around. "It's a best-seller," he defended, which the two girls ignored. Sakura clicked her tongue at Kohana and started leafing through the copy of "The Principles of Space-Time and Ninjustu". 

Why was Sakura even angry? Kohana was doing perfectly fine during her missions. That one time that old farmer even told her that if she weren't so busy, he'd have her till his land every time he needed her to! She was excelling!

Sakura sighed as she shut the book. She shook it around right in Kohana's face. The other girl tracked the book with the eyes of a starving carnivore. "I understand that this is going to help you on your training-- whatever it is you're training for, but you have to learn when to stop and get some rest!"

"Yeah, Hana-chan!" Naruto chimed in. "Your eyes look really scary! You look like you eat kids during the full moon!"

"You got mad at Naruto for having a coughing fit this morning," Sasuke helpfully pointed out. Now that someone called her out for it, Kohana couldn't say anything more to defend herself.

Except... "But it's so interesting!" she was practically pleading now. Why couldn't they just leave her alone! "Did you know that if you're moving really fast, time really does slow down for you? That's part of why the Body Flicker Technique works! And! And you can't look at space and time separately. If you move really, really, really fast, you can travel in time." Sasuke seemed to perk up at the new information. If Kohana weren't trying to plead her case, she'd rejoice at how easy it was to catch Sasuke's interest. The boy acted so high and mighty all the time, but he was a kid just like they all were, that endearing idiot. 

Naruto hummed in interest. "I don't really get how that works, but that's so cool!" Sakura, arms crossed and ready to send the siblings to oblivion, stared at him incredulously. Then, she sighed. "Yes, yes, we'd all like to hear about everything you've learned, but you need rest, Kohana. It's a good thing we have all these D-rank missions."

Kohana scoffed. "I'm reading as many book as I can because we have D-rank missions." She pointed at Kohana. "Admit it! You agree with what Naruto was howling about earlier!" 

Kohana threw her hands out and turned to Kakashi. "Sensei! We need better missions!"

"C-rank, C-rank, C-rank~" Kohana sang over and over again but she stopped short in her little dance once her eyes landed on an drunk old man. She almost wanted to cover her nose because she could smell the mixture of alcohol and sweat from his body.

"What's this? They're all a bunch of brats, especially the shortest one with the stupid looking face. Are you really a ninja, hey?" He drank straight out of his bottle of alcohol. How he managed to get here in that state, Kohana would never know.