The White Flash

Focus

The afternoon sun began its descent across the sky, a gentle breeze rustling the bushes. Ayumi laid on her back, arms and legs sprawled out to her sides with her eyes closed against the sunlight that shone through the canopy overhead. Kakashi had led the squads into the forest and assigned training: Squad 7 and Kohei were assigned hands-free tree-climbing, while Hiro was on the shore of a nearby pond practicing ninjutsu and Ayumi was shooed to a different clearing a few meters from the others to practice the Flying Thunder God technique. Although, she wanted to start working on her swordsmanship.

Ayumi pushed herself up, green gaze sweeping the area. She had twelve kunai in different locations while the large blade stood in the center of the clearing, her feet resting against the side. It seemed much more intimidating than usual. The dark, soulless eyes of the eagle staring into hers.

"One of legend. It only responds to the strong." Zabuza's voice echoed in her mind. "You haven't awakened it yet, have you?"

"What does that even mean?" She whispered, pressing her toes more against the cool metal. Was this sword really that strong? By appearance only, it was just a double-edged great sword, the blade itself was thick and durable yet had ripples from the forge. The wings of the eagle that formed the hilt had small signs of rust from its time of isolation. All in all, it was in excellent shape. It wasn't like some lock that needed a key to open. Or did it?

Ayumi scooted closer, her heels folding inward as she reached forward and gently ran her fingertips over the ripples. The metal was cool to the touch. She didn't get it. Her lips tugged down in a frown as she placed her palm against it, "why are you special?"

She felt it.

Her eyes went wide as she focused on her palm, the metal that she touched. Something inside of it was moving. Slow and smooth, like honey or syrup. What is that?

"Yu."

"Fuck's sake!" Ayumi jumped, her hand slipping down the blade. Her thumb curved around the edge, a thin cut showing down the side. "Owie..." She scooted back, watching a thin line of blood slide from the cut. "Papa!" She turned to the silver haired Jounin with a frown, "you can't scare me like that!" His weight was supported by a pair of wooden crutches Tsunami had lent them, slow as he limped his way towards the center of the clearing.

"Sorry, sorry," he said. "Aren't you supposed to be training?"

"I needed to take a break," she informed. With an index extended she circled her arm over her head. "This takes a lot out of you!" Kakashi stopped beside her, shifting the crutches to one hand he sat next to her.

"Which is all the more reason you need to focus on your technique," he lectured. His dark eye shifted to the sword in front of them. "You have a tendency to move on to the next challenge without fully finishing the first. There is no denying eventually you will need to learn how to properly wield your sword, but first you need to focus on mastering the technique you spent years on figuring out." Kakashi shifted his gaze to her, one hand setting atop her head and tousled the white locks. "When you complete this training, I'll start showing you the basics of swordsmanship."

"You know how to fight with a sword?" She peered at her father with slight doubt. She had never seen him use any kind of blade for any of his missions.

"I never showed you?" Kakashi's hand fell to the ground, "I had a sword that was given to me by my Oto-san, a tanto that earned him the name White Fang."

"I know that sword!" She exclaimed, Ayumi leaned forward on her hands with a grin. "Ojii-san's, White Chakra Sabre! I didn't know you had it Papa!"