Fire Red (Naruto)

Beginning of a New Test: Aiko Finds Her Ninja Way

The next month seemed to pass Aiko by in a blur. Training had picked up ten-fold now that she had her one on one with Anko, as well as spending time with Naruto and occasionally getting a session in with Sasuke, she never seemed to have a break. Not that she minded, of course. Things were looking up for the redhead, even if team 9 was only given D rank missions once again.

She was almost bored, although she wasn't all that upset once Naruto returned and caught her up. His C rank mission had been changed to an A rank, with him, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi facing off against one of the former 7 ninja swordsman of the mist, Zabuza.

Naruto had learned his own ninja way from it, however, declaring to Aiko that his ninja way was to never go back on his word. A nindo worthy a ninja, truly.

Aiko smiled to herself as she walked towards her team's usual training grounds, thinking back to her twin's proud declaration. In the few months since they had graduated, he had grown exponentially. She was almost jealous, if she ignored the fact that she had grown as well. Since returning from Suna, she had been learning jutsu with Anko. She was proud to admit that she had mastered two new fire jutsus, although Striking Shadow Snakes wasn't coming along nearly as well.

It was such an advanced jutsu, creating snakes by transforming your chakra. It required incredible chakra control. She frowned, thinking back to Anko's instructions.

"In order to form the snakes, you need to imagine your chakra twisting, taking the shape of a snake. For your first step we're going to work on shape. Release your chakra, focus on keeping it long and cylindrical, while giving it the flexibility of the real animal."

That part had been difficult for Aiko, taking her two weeks to get down. If it wasn't for her large store of chakra it probably would have taken her longer. She was working on forming the actual snakes now, but progress was slow.

Upon reaching the training grounds, Aiko met up with Riichi, Akemi, and Anko. They were going to continue working on their pitch black training. They worked on it at least once a week, mastering working without the use of their eyes. However, just as they were getting ready to put on their blindfolds, Anko looked upwards to see a hawk circling over her.

"Okay brats! Change of plans for today." She paused, smiling at their confused faces, "I need to, ah, run an errand. So take today off, go get some food and talk over your training or something. I'll meet you all tomorrow." She vanished.

"Weird," Akemi started, before shrugging, "You guys want to grab some lunch? I haven't eaten since before dawn."

Aiko and Riichi agreed to some food, the former's mouth watering at the thought of some onigiri.

As they were walking, however, Aiko spotted her brother with Sakura and some preschoolers. Curiosity sparked in her then, and she looked at her teammates apologetically, "sorry guys, I actually just remembered that I have something to do today. I'll catch you guys later okay?"

She moved away, following after the now running group. She got closer to them just in time to see a boy she recognized as Konohamaru Sarutobi, the grandson of the Third Hokage, run into a boy wearing a black.. Catsuit?

Aiko frowned, stopping her movement and simply watching for the time being.

"Do you need something?" He asked the boy, looking down his nose at him. He leaned down and grabbed his scarf, lifting him off of his feet.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto's voice held panic and anger, but the moment he moved a twitch of cat boy's fingers and he was on his ass. Aiko studied the pair from her spot, eyes flashing. They were both older than her, by maybe two or three years. As they spoke, she noticed that they mentioned "him", and that caught her attention. Who was this boy that they were clearly scared of.