Growing Pains

II.

Chakra signatures darted below him, small bright glows that flickered now and again. Uchiha Sasuke reclined in a large oak tree, secluded from view by the large leaves. His arms were folded over his chest, over a midnight black flak jacket. His blood-red eyes followed the three bright glows of chakra, keeping a mental tally of how many times each flickered. This exercise he’d thought of himself, at first for Kyo, whose eyes needed the special training, but then it changed into something the other two needed to learn. If they learned to hide their chakra signatures from both Kyo –and– Sasuke, no ANBU would ever be able to find them. Still, they were only children, only eleven to twelve, so flickering was as good as they were going to get for a while. Besides, this sort of exercise didn’t sit quite well with Sasuke, but the Ichidaime Yunkage of Kinugakure had pretty much demanded it, and to make it fair all teams from One to Ten were required to learn the basic skill of chakra control. Sasuke knew for a face only his team, Team Nine, was actually following orders.

Sasuke rose, dropping silently from his perch to the branch below, searching out his genin. There was Kyo, snake-like eyes following the movement of Umi as she stalked Sei. Umi pounced and walked right into Sei’s trap, leaving their sensei shaking his head and moving to help, effectively calling training to an end. The three children looked grateful, and Sasuke only gave them a wary smile. He extricated Umi from the chakra string and took a firm hold on her kimono to keep her from attacking the boys.

“Enough,” Sasuke said quietly. “It’s time to go back.”

“Did we do good, sensei?” Kyo asked almost immediately, brightening when Sasuke nodded.

“Yes. And it’s ‘do well’ Kyo, not ‘do good’.”

“Yeah, everyone knows that,” Umi proclaimed with a huff. Sasuke gave her a little shake.

“Be nice. Home. Now.”

The girl gave a short pout as she glared defiantly into those crimson eyes before she gathered her male companions and began to lead them home. Sasuke followed behind until they’d made it to the defensive wall of Kinugakure, the children heading for Umi’s home first. It was something neither Kyo nor Sei really thought of, but every time they left the village, they would escort Umi home first. She never complained, though she was perfectly capable of defending herself. After all, she’d been taught by Haku and she was part of Sasuke’s team. Sasuke watched them disappear before he went in search of his own sensei, climbing the tower and nodding to the few nin that occupied the ground floor reception at this late hour.

They let him pass without a sound. Sasuke paused before the door that led to Orochimaru’s office and listened. Last time he barged in without listening (he knocked. The old bastard had gotten that much warning at least) he’d been greeted to a sight he never really wanted to see again. Hearing nothing that could indicate sex or otherwise, Sasuke knocked and entered. The Yunkage’s office was surprisingly furnished compared to other offices Sasuke had seen. There was a desk, a large comfy chair (Sasuke knew this because he’d sat in it once as acting Yunkage when Orochimaru had come down with a mysterious “cold”) behind it, a long couch that also served as a daybed, file cabinets, and assorted decorations. On one wall there were framed photos of nin who’d been killed in skirmishes, and on another photos of genin, jounin, and chuunin even a village photo of the original shinobi of Kinu. There was one of every team, a few family photos, even a graduation picture with the genin holding up their brand new hitai-ates. On the same wall were hand drawn pictures from children in the academy, civilian and shinobi. The Yunkage’s desk was covered with manila folders, file folders, papers and paperweights, a lamp and an inkwell for pens and pencils. There was even an ‘In’ and ‘Out’ box, Kura-ou’s idea of a practical joke. Sasuke stood still for a moment and took it all in, remembering when this used to be a bare room.

“I have a few new pictures from Akashi and his little group of friends.” Orochimaru said, earning a raised eyebrow from his student.

“Really. Of what, now?”

“Typical things little kids draw.”

Sasuke shook his head. Akashi was the son of – and little brother of Umi – Sasori and Deidara. His ‘group’ consisted of Aoi and Akio – Zabuza and Haku’s and Meizu and Gozu’s respectively – and Sasuke’s nephews, though Satoru and Takeo were still a bit too young to actually do much with the three older boys. Which meant those drawings were anything from a harmless ninja tiger to a mushroom cloud created by someone with huge and physically impossible hair.

“How’d training go?” Orochimaru asked as Sasuke moved to sit on the couch.

“Flickers,” Sasuke replied. “They’re getting better – Sei flickers less often than Kyo and Umi – but they’re kids still.”

“Of course they are,” came the saccharine reply. “That’s why we teach them to be spies and killers and let them go kill other kids.”

“Now you’re being an asshole.”

“Comes with the job.”

Sasuke snorted. “Bullshit.”

Orochimaru scowled at the younger man over a letter before he crumpled it and tossed it at the jounin. It hit Sasuke’s chest and bounced, rolling into his palm.

“What’s this?”

“Read it,” Orochimaru said. “You don’t have a choice, anyway. We’re going.”

Sasuke blinked and unfolded the paper, staring at the perfect lettering of a stenographer. He skimmed, read once slower, and again slower still. Finally, he lowered the paper and looked to the Yunkage.

“Chuunin exams?”

“Village wide.”

“Don’t have a choice.”

“What I said.”

“Great,” Sasuke said without much conviction. “Are we ready?”

“Probably not, but then if we were, what fun would that be?”

Sasuke heaved a sigh and crumpled the letter again. “We’re all going?”

“You, me, Kura-ou and the kids.” Orochimaru said around a paper clip. Sasuke let out another sigh.

“This is going to suck.”

“Tell me about it.”