The Will of Wind

“Hyuuga-san, what is it you see?” Rock Lee asked, coming to a stop a moment after his teammate. The branch creaked beneath him, and the young man quickly dropped to the forest floor before it shattered. Used to the constraints of his ally, Neji Hyuuga dropped down as well, not bothering to look at Lee.

“There is someone unconscious nearby,” Neji said. His gaze was directed somewhere to Lee’s left, and the green clad ninja turned to look through the tree’s in the same direction.

“A threat?” Lee asked, and quirked one bushy eyebrow as his friend shook his head. “Then we should investigate.”

“Lady Tsunade will be displeased at the delay,” Neji said, not quite disagreeing with Lee. His shoulders shifted forward slightly as he focused more chakra into his eyes, extending the range of his sight another twenty meters. “I can see no traps surrounding her body, and no identifying marks. She is likely a civilian who ran afoul of something.”

Lee ignored the subtle message, ‘as will we, if we linger’, and shook his head. “The Hokage will be even less pleased to find that we left a young woman alone in the forest. I must insist that we aid her, Hyuuga-san. Could you please tell me where she is?”

Neji shook his head again, but leapt back into the canopy, dashing off in the direction he had been looking. On the ground, Lee sighed, before leaping back into the tree’s. It took only a moment for the Handsome Devil of Konoha to catch up to his teammate, a small smile curving his lips.

“You know, Hyuuga-san, you could admit that you wished to help her.”

Neji’s foot slipped a little on the branch he landed on, and it took the new Jonin a moment to regain his momentum. “I do not know what you mean, Lee.” He said, words frosty.

Lee smiled, giving his friend a huge grin and a thumbs up. It was as close to the famous Nice Guy pose as he could manage while moving through the treetops. “You could simply have remained silent, and move on, Hyuuga-san. Instead, you stopped and drew my attention to her plight. Even when questioned, you could simply have lied to me, and continued on. You wished to help her.”

“Hn.” Neji grunted, a sound worthy of an Uchiha. Lee was far enough behind him that he couldn’t see the very faint dusting of pink on Neji’s cheeks.

It took the two only a few seconds to cross the hundred or so meters to their target, more than enough for Neji to reassert his self-control. Before they crossed the last few trees, Neji stopped once more. His Byakugan was still active, and he watched as Lee came to a stop behind him once more.

“What is it, Hyuuga-san?” Lee asked, hands flying through the intricate sign language, eyes scanning the dense forest. “Do you see a trap?”

Neji shook his head. His words were soft, but the sound eased some of the tension out of his partner. “Wait here for a moment, Lee.”

“Why?” asked the Chunin. If there were traps nearby, subtle enough to evade Neji’s divination, then it was unlikely that there would be any warning before they sprang to life. On the few occasions that the two had investigated a similar aberration, Lee was always the one to check. He was fast enough that most traps small enough to evade Neji would be too slow to touch him.

“Because,” Neji said, tense shoulders his only sign of discomfort. “She is without clothing.”

“WHAT!” Lee shouted, flames seeming to burst from his eyes. He took a step towards the clearing, but stopped when Neji raise a hand.

“She hasn’t been raped, Lee. Or at least, there are no signs to indicate that she has been. We will need to interrogate—“ He stopped talking very suddenly, as Lee simply appeared before him. Before he could react, Lee had grabbed Neji by the front of his shirt, lifting the Jonin several inches into the air. When he spoke, Lee’s voice was cold.

“You will do no such thing. She is innocent until we have some indication otherwise, and if you attempt to interrogate her, then I will break your fingers so badly that you will never be able to use the Jyuuken again.” Lee growled, holding Neji’s face close to his own. “Do you understand?”

“I was not going to hand her to Ibiki, Lee.” Neji said, still calm. A fast strike, one they both knew Lee could have dodged, made the Chunin’s arm go limp for a moment. Neji straightened, and looked Lee in the eye. “I meant only that when she woke, we would need to ask her what happened to her to cause her current state.”

Lee blanched, looking down. He felt a little ashamed at his rash actions. Without speaking, Neji reached out, pressing his fingers into the same point he had struck a moment ago, restoring the limb. Lee rubbed the injured arm with the other, bowing deeply to Neji. “I am sorry, Hyuuga-san. My reaction was hasty.”

“I understand, Lee,” Neji said, his voice slightly softer. “Now, give me a moment to cover her, and we can continue.”

Lee nodded his head, staring at the ground once more. Had they not been on a mission, he would be doing seven hundred push-ups as punishment for his actions, but it would have to wait until they returned to Konoha. As punishment for waiting, he would also do a thousand sit ups. If he could not, then he would run five hundred laps around Konoha on his thumbs.

Neji leapt lightly through the trees. A few moment’s later, and he landed next to Lee, now shirtless.

In his arms, carefully wrapped in the loose shirt to preserve her modesty, was a slim young woman. She was fairly short, enough that Neji’s shirt covered her completely. While she lacked the hard, rippling muscles of a shinobi, she had the light build of an athlete of some kind, likely a runner. Lee blinked as he looked at her, distracted from his embarrassed kicking of a nearby stump. After a few seconds of the man’s idle kicks, it was little more than splinters. Two features of the young woman stood out to the young man. The first was that she was even more beautiful than Sakura-san. They shared the same slim, some would call flat chested, builds, with the delicate features of face and hand that Lee found appealing. They both shared the thin, pink lips and he was sure that when she awoke, this woman would be as ‘troublesome’ as any woman he had met.

The second thing he noticed was that she shared another trait with his beloved Flower of Konoha. While Sakura’s hair had inspired her name, the same soft pink of new cherry blossoms, this girl’s name must surely be Rainbow. Her hair was long, almost long enough to brush the ground from where she was held, and it shimmered through every conceivable color. Lee looked to Neji, confused, but he shook his head.

“I do not know. But she is safe now, so let us go. We cannot afford any more delay, and she should see a medical-nin as soon as possible. There may be complications that my eyes cannot see.”

Lee nodded, and held his arms out to Neji. “Give her to me, I will not be slowed by her weight, and it will free your concentration.”

Neji nodded to him, gently handing the girl off to his friend. Then Neji leapt back into the tree’s, channeling chakra into his eyes to cast out his divination range to its maximum. He refused to allow the girl to come to harm, or, if she were a plant, to allow her allies to tail them back to the Leaf. Lee took off an instant later, trailing only a few feet away from his teammate, cradling the young woman gently to his chest, keeping his mind and body poised to react in an instant. For all his instance on the girl’s treatment, he wasn’t a fool. He would kill her if she were a threat to his home, but he doubted that would be the case. Together, the two shinobi and their new charge, sped towards home.

“Who approaches?” a voice called from one of the small, heavily reinforced bastions. The small covered boxes that bracketed the massive gate to the city would protect the occupants, at least enough for them to raise the alarm as they died.

Neji turned to face the speaker, eyes narrowing slightly. “Izumo. We are to report immediately to the Hokage for debriefing.”

“Hyuuga-san.” Izumo bowed at the waist, his partner, Kotetsu mirroring him from the neighboring bastion. Carefully, Izumo flattened a paper against the wood siding of the bastion. The message, written in kanji, was far enough above the wall that the Byakugan would be able to perceive it.

Neji tensed, and the veins around his eyes suddenly swelled as chakra flooded them. “Chidori, the Thousand Chirping Birds.” He spoke clearly, reading the small letters through the wood.

Kotetsu nodded. It was the fastest way to confirm the credentials of a Hyuuga. “Hyuuga-san, Lee-san, you are cleared for entry. But who is that?”

“She is injured,” Lee said, giving the man a reproving look.

Izumo grunted, and looked to his friend. Kotetsu nodded, and spoke firmly. “Then make sure she gets to Ward 3, before you meet the Hokage. We can’t risk a problem flaring up right now.”

Lee nodded, while Neji simply stared impassively ahead. The huge gates opened far enough to allow the two ninja and their passenger to slip through, before closing with a dull boom once more. The two shinobi didn’t bother wading through the few civilians still bustling through the streets so late. Instead, they both hopped up onto the nearest rooftop, and continued jumping through the village.

A few moments later, and both shinobi dropped lightly to the ground in front of the hospital. They walked through the doors calmly. The entrance was nearly empty, a cheerful testament to the efficiency of the hospital. A single nurse sat behind the front desk, head in hand, idly tapping the needle tip of a senbon on her desk. The metal spike twirled between her fingers when they entered, and several more needles seemed to materialize, each one gripped between her curled fingers. In the next instant, the senbon were flying through the air at the two ninja. Each one was flying for a vulnerable point, either their eyes, of the delicate skin in the hollow of their throats.

Neji’s eyes widened at the sudden attack, and the evident annoyance on the face of the medic. He twisted to the side, reflexively slipping back into the Jyuuken. A pair of sharp strikes snapped the steel needles, the third floating almost lazily past him as it sped towards Lee. The taijutsu specialist didn’t pause, twisting to bring one foot up with blistering speed, swiping through the remaining needles. The kick sent the senbon deep into the wall to his left.

“Higurashi-san!” Lee shouted, glaring at the woman. “I understand that you are unhappy with us, but you should not attack someone who is already injured!”

Ten-ten’s eyes widened when she saw the bundle in Lee’s arms, and she was over the desk and gently taking the girl from her former teammate in an instant. “Damn it,” she swore, brushing hair away from the girl’s face with a gentle hand. “What happened to her?”

“We do not know,” Neji said, words a little sharper than normal. “We found her in the forest half a day from here. She appeared unharmed, but there may have been some complications that I was unable to see. Until we can determine who she is, and from where she comes from, she is to be held in Ward 3.”

“Isolation?” Ten-Ten murmured to herself, medic training kicking in. She traced the smooth lines of muscle running the woman’s body. “She isn’t a shinobi.” She said with confidence.

“We know.” Neji replied, staring steadily at his friend. “But we cannot allow a risk to remain. Until she can be verified, she should remain in Ward 3.” He waited for Ten-ten’s nod, and then turned to walk out of the hospital once more. “Lee, we must report to the Hokage.”

“Yes, Hyuuga-san.” Lee said, falling into step behind his leader. At the door, he turned and gave Ten-ten a quick bow. “I apologize, Higurashi-san. Please take care of her.”

“Of course.” Ten-ten huffed, hair buns bouncing as she moved. Lee grinned, flashing her the classic ‘Nice Guy’ pose, and then dashed off after his teammate. The medic smiled to herself, and looked down at the young woman, still wrapped in Neji’s shirt. “Now, just what happened to you…

“Well,” Ten-ten murmured, rising with the girl held close to her chest. She glanced at the clock on the nearby wall. “Let’s get you to Ward 3, and then get someone to look at you.”

Several days later

Her head was throbbing with the kind of headache Rainbow Dash had long since come to associate with truly impressive crashes. She was used to the feeling by now though, the rhythmic jolt of pain in time with her pulse. After all, when you spent your free time practicing aerial stunts, any one of which put more raw strain on the body than most ponies experience in a year, pain is a given. And after the first few times you crash hard enough to sustain real damage, the ability to block out the pain is a necessary skill.

Rainbow Dash forced herself to calm down, to stop hissing in each breath with a grimace. Eyes still firmly closed, she waited for a long moment, before slowly inhaling, feeling her chest rise, and a slight weight pressing down on her front. The weight confused her for a moment, but she dismissed it for the moment. Slowly, focusing on calming her heartbeat, Rainbow exhaled. Inhale, hold for a count of three, exhale. Breath in, four, breath out. In, five, out. When she got to fifteen, both her breathing and heartbeat had evened out, and the pounding in her head had begun to subside.

Very slowly, she opened her eyes. She squinted up at the ceiling. The fluorescent lights gave the mare no clue as to where she was. It seemed like every hospital had the same lights, a few years old, and not really high quality, and there was always that one that emitted a low buzzing noise, where something in the mechanism that caused the magic to flicker through the tube, rather than flow steadily. The bright lights stood out sharply against the grey stone roof.

That too made Rainbow pause. Where was she? Something didn’t feel right about this. If she were in a hospital, and the heavy scent of antiseptic cleaners seemed to suggest that she was, then why was the ceiling rock? She had been to the Ponyville hospital often enough to recognize the few beds they kept for injuries, mostly hers, that required the pony to stay overnight. And none of them were buried underground. It was hard to describe, but every pegasus could tell when they were underground. Twilight had mentioned something about their magic reacting to air currents, or something. Rainbow had been slightly more interested in the treasure trove of Sky Diamonds at the time.

That wasn’t the only problem. Ending up in a new hospital would have been unusual, since the last thing she remembered was flying through the Everfree, but it wouldn’t be the first time her memory had been jumbled by a crash. But there was no reason she would be underground. Or on her back.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” A polite voice called. Rainbow turned, and felt her body stiffen. A human was walking toward her bed. The human, a female, had a bright smile, and brilliant green eyes. “Are you okay?”

Rainbow’s mind was racing. Twilight had, after constant nagging from everypony, and what turned out to be a scarily accurate guess from Pinkie Pie, revealed all of the events that had happened to her in the human world, as well as the details of just what she meant by ‘human world’. Whoever this was, she didn’t resemble anypony that Rainbow knew, or even the various human versions of those same ponies that Twilight had described.

If that was true, and this person was a human, then she was at least as smart as a pony. And hadn’t Twilight said that when she and Spike had come to the human world, Spike had become a dog, while she had…

Horrified, Rainbow looked slowly away from the human, and down at her foreleg. It lay there, pale and slender. And rather than the hoof she had been hoping to find, she saw that, just as she had feared, her foreleg, no, her arm ended in five, delicate fingers.

“TEN-TEN!” Sakura cried, rushing to pin the suddenly thrashing patient. Sakura managed to grab her flailing limbs, shifting her grip to hold both of the girl’s arms with one hand. Her fingers held Rainbow’s arms like steel bands, just short of crushing the delicate limbs like twigs, and she moved her other hand to touch Rainbow gently on the brow. There was a warm aura surrounding her fingertips as they brushed against Rainbow’s forehead, and in the next moment, the human girl was resting peacefully.

“Haruno-san!” Ten-ten called, sliding through the doorway, an array of kunai and senbon both held tightly. She kept her body low for a moment, brown eyes darting rapidly around the room, finally settling on Sakura “What is it?”

“I need you to call Yamanaka-sama,” Sakura said, gently releasing the sleeping girl’s arms, and tucking her in. “Something doesn’t feel right about this, and I want an expert to examine her mind.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to ask Ino?” Ten-ten asked, receiving a steady gaze.

“Ino doesn’t have the experience that a delicate mind might require. I won’t risk a girls sanity so she can practice.” Sakura said, her words growing frosty. “She can always practice knitting minds back together when Ibiki is done with them.”

“Yes, Haruno-san.” Ten-ten said, bowing. “Forgive me, I just wondered if your history had—“

Sakura held up a hand, stopping her friend. “Yamanaka-sama, Ten-ten. Please.”

The girl nodded, before turning to leave the room. When she was gone, Sakura sucked in a deep breath, running a gloved hand through her hair. “Why do I get the same feeling about you that I get around Naruto?” she muttered, looking at the sleeping woman. “Like things are about to become very… troublesome.”

Rainbow was having a wonderful dream. She had been invited back to the Wonderbolt Academy, and had wowed Spitfire so much that she had made Rainbow a Wonderbolt on the spot. They didn’t have any spare wingsuits, so Spitfire had given Rainbow her own, winking at the newest member of the team with a saucy smirk, flicking a flame colored tail as she walked back to the stands.

Rainbow had slipped into the suit, still warm, and felt herself quiver with happiness. If it hadn’t been for the tight suit, she was sure she would have melted into a puddle on the spot. Instead, she stretched her wings as the announcer began the countdown to the race. All of her friends were in the stands, cheering her on, while the other racers looked sick, seeing their opponent. Lightning Dust and Gilda were both looking a little green, greener in Dust’s case. Beside her was the only real competition, another blue clad pegasus. Fleetfeather wouldn’t know what hit her.

Just as the announcer finished his countdown, and everypony burst into motion, a tall creature appeared in front of Rainbow Dash. She didn’t have time to react, barreling into the stranger, and landing on the dusty ground in a heap.

Suddenly, the race vanished, and so did everything else. The wingsuit was gone, and the stands, and the source less announcer. Instead, she found herself in, of all things, a museum. Picking herself out of the tangled pile with the man, the only other thing that had remained, Rainbow read the nearest placard. It was shiny gold, below a golden statue of her idol, Spitfire, shaped like the mare’s signature Flash Burn.

“What are you?” a voice asked from behind her, and Rainbow turned to look at the man. He was a human, similar to the ones that Twilight had talked about. He had hair the color of old straw, and green eyes that were narrowed as he looked down at Rainbow.

“Um, I’m a pegasus. Duh.” Rainbow said, flaring her wings. “See?”

“Let me get this straight.” Sakura sighed, rubbing her forehead. One arm rested on the table, cradling her head, while across from her sat Inoichi Yamanka, who looked equally confused and exasperated. “She thinks she is from another world? That she is some kind of horse with wings, and she lives with several other species of intelligent animals?”

“No.” Inoichi sighed. “She really is a, pegasus.” He said, struggling with the unfamiliar word.

“How is that possible?” Sakura groaned, letting her head fall slightly. “I examined her myself. She’s as human as I am. All of her organs, everything about her, even her chakra, is human. How can she be a horse?”

“Don’t call her that,” Inoichi admonished absently. “She doesn’t like it. And she might,” he stressed the word. “Might be deluded. But if she is, it is at a level so deep it’s become a part of her subconscious. For any practical purpose, they are the same thing. Even if it is delusion, it can’t be fixed, so we may as well assume it to be true.”

“Well, then what are we supposed to do?” Sakura snapped. “Is she sane?”

“Barring the possibility of delusion, yes. She’s more balanced than most ninja I’ve examined, actually. Apparently her life was a very peaceful one. She’s never had to kill, never even really hurt anyone before.”

“Well, that’s something at least. Is there any way that she could be a plant?”

“Yes,” Inoichi said simply, then carried on absolute surety. “But she can’t harm anything. She believes she is a different creature with the core of her being, there is no genjutsu or seal I’ve ever heard of that can change the core identity of someone so completely. Even if there was, it would be irreversible. You needn’t worry about her triggering.”

“Some good news at least,” Sakura muttered.

“Indeed,” he said, turning to look at the sleeping girl. “But what should we do with her? When she wakes up, she will not be too distressed. I explained that she was a human, and after a minor panic, she started talking about a friend, ‘Twi’ and how she became a human as well. She seemed to accept the idea readily, but we will have to wait to see how she handles it while awake.”

“Thank you,” Sakura said, rising and bowing to the man. “Could you please inform Lady Tsunade about this?”

“I had intended to,” Inoichi said, smiling. “But I would be happy to debrief her on your medical analysis as well.”

“As far as I can tell, she is perfectly healthy, apart from what you found in her mind.” Sakura said, handing the thin dossier on her patient . “She appears to be in as fit as an extremely healthy civilian, and her chakra flows naturally, and is far more powerful than expected. Otherwise, there is nothing that stands out.”

“I will inform the Hokage,” Inoichi said, rising as well. “She should be awake soon. Oh, and her name is Rainbow.”

Sakura thought about the tumult of colors in the girls long hair, and rolled her eyes. “Really?”

Inoichi smiled, and nodded. Then he left to room, leaving Sakura alone with her growing headache. “I knew it,” she groaned. “Troublesome.”

“What are you implying?” Tsunade asked, resting her cheek on a hand. Her other idly flipped through Sakura’s debriefing. “That she isn’t just some random girl?”

“I don’t know, Hokage-sama,” Inoichi replied with a short bow and a grimace. “All I can say is that she is utterly convinced that she is, in fact, a small horse. As detailed in my report, she seems to see the possibility of one of her kind becoming a human to be well within the realm of possibility, but she does not register any kind of human body as her default.”

“Is there any chance that brain injury could cause this? You know more about that branch than I do.”

“I’m afraid that the only way for that to be true would be severe enough that your apprentice and myself would both have immediately recognized the injury. Apart from her convictions, she appears to be a very healthy civilian girl. She is mentally as stable as any girl her age can be expected to be.”

Tsunade grunted, thinking. “Dismissed.”

Inoichi inclined his head in another short bow, muttering “Hokage-sama” before quietly leaving through the window. Once he was gone, Tsunade turned to her assistant.

“What do you think about this, Shizune?”

The young woman tilted her head, coming to stand a few steps closer to Tsunade as she thought. “Well, I’m certain that Sakura is skilled enough to notice any complications that might be lying in wait for the girl. Inoichi was right, there is no way that both he and Sakura could have missed the kind of head trauma that would induce hallucinations so severe as to completely shape her subconscious mind. And Inoichi is likewise certain that there is no genjutsu powerful enough to cause that level of identity shift, or that if there was, there would never be a way to reverse it, making it useless on a planted agent. So I think,” she hesitated a moment. I think that she may truly be from a different world. It isn’t that hard to believe, considering Naruto has a demon in his belly, and that the summons themselves live on a different plane.”

“I was thinking something similar,” Tsunade sighed, letting her head droop. “I was hoping you had another explanation.”

“Why?” Shizune asked, reaching out to rub the Hokage’s shoulders. Tsunade purred.

“Because,” she mumbled after a luxurious few minutes enjoying her apprentice’s fingers. “I’m not sure how to deal with her. It’s not like we can reverse summon her.”

“Well,” she amended. “At least not without knowing where she originated. Then it would just be a matter of chakra.” Tsunade suddenly groaned, and slumped forward onto her desk. “Sensei, I hate you.”

Shizune giggled at the muffled oaths, before a sudden thought occurred to the med-nin. “Tsunade-sama?”

“Hm?” the older woman grunted, not bothering to lift her head. “I’ve just thought of something. Even if we could figure out where she came from, and reverse summon her there, wouldn’t we need to accompany her to do it? What if there isn’t chakra there, whoever went would be stuck.”

“Damn it.” Tsunade whined, leaning back to slouch in her chair. “You’re right. So she would need to reverse summon herself. Looks like we’ve got a new shinobi.”

One Month Later

“You need to form the seals faster.” Kumiko said, calmly. She walked over to Rainbow, slowly forming a string of hand seals. Seal after seal formed between the special Jonin’s fingers, speeding up with each seal. Soon her fingers blurred, each seal forming faster than Rainbow’s eyes could follow. “When you can form the seals at this speed, we will proceed to the next stage of your training.”

“I can already use magic,” Rainbow grumbled, once again going through the seals. “Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Ox, Dog, Horse, Tiger, Boar, Ram, Hare.”

“Snake,” Kumiko corrected calmly, once more showing the snake seal. “Again.”

Rainbow growled. This time, she made sure the snake seal was added to the list. Then she went through the series of seals again. The young woman noticed something flickering at the edge of her vision on the fourth repetition of the seals, and flung herself forward in a clumsy roll. The kunai sank into the ground where she had been standing, and she glared at her teacher. Kumiko slowly lowered her hand, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Driven by instinct, Rainbow twisted her body to the side, gasping as several shuriken grazed her arm. They opened up several thin cuts in her arm, but she did her best to ignore the small injury. Her teacher jumped forward lightly, arms raised in the Academy Style taijutsu stance. Rainbow winced, raising her arms into a rough imitation of the stance. While Kumiko’s body was loose and fluid though, Rainbow was a collection of tense muscles and tight joints.

“Sen—“ Rainbow started. Kumiko lunged, attacking the moment her focus wasn’t entirely on the fight, and throwing a hard punch at the pegasus. Rainbow brought her arms up in a block, grunting as her fist slammed into her injured one.

“Battle is as much a part of a shinobi’s life as breathing. Never allow your focus to wander in combat,” Kumiko scolded mildly. While her words were light, something flashed in her dark eyes. She brought a foot up in a high kick, knocking Rainbow’s blocking arms to the side. She followed the movement through its arc, like the Academy had taught them to, and brought her leg back around in a low sweep.

Rainbow had seen the move before, and jumped over her leg. Her grin was promptly wiped from her face when Kumiko slammed her palm into her chest. Without her legs to balance her, Rainbow was sent flying. She hit the ground a few feet away from her sensei, rolling a few times on the soft grass. She felt the air stir around her, and Rainbow flipped over onto her feet, just in time to avoid a powerful heel-strike the thudded into the ground where her thigh had been. She felt her lips twist up into some bastard offspring of a smile and a growl.

It took Kumiko a moment to correct her stance, giving Rainbow a second or two to think. It was clear that Kumiko was testing her, but not going all out. She had seen the woman train against another ninja, and both of them had been little more than a blur of motion. She was telegraphing her attacks and letting her dodge. That kick was one she shouldn't have used, it was too easy to dodge and left her open for a moment. With a smirk, Rainbow dashed forward, fist aimed to blow into her sensei’s stomach. Training or not, that kick would have shattered her leg, and she wasn’t about to play nicely.

Her fist was a few inches from Kumiko when the her lips twitched. Rainbow got a sudden, sinking feeling as her hand closed the distance, and slammed into her stomach. And passed right through her.

Magenta eyes widened for an instant, before a boulder slammed into her back. Kumiko’s fist sank into her side, just under the ribs, and Rainbow dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. Her hands flew to the injury as she lay there, gasping. Above her, Kumiko watched impassively as Rainbow struggled to push herself up. Satisfied that she wasn’t about to start coughing blood, Kumiko began to lecture.

“You are a shinobi now. We live and die at a moment’s notice. If Hokage-sama orders you to lay down your life for the village, there can be no hesitation.” Kumiko spoke softly, eyes hard. “It may be unlikely that Hokage-sama will ask you to sacrifice yourself for the good of Konoha, but you must accept that possibility if we are to train you. Until a way is found to return you home, you are a Shinobi of the Leaf. There is more to being a ninja than memorizing hand seals and learning stances. Deception is the life’s blood of the shinobi, in every village. The Clone Jutsu is one of the simplest abilities, and it is part of every ninja’s arsenal. What did you do wrong?”

Rainbow sucked in a ragged breath, swearing under her breath. “I attacked you?” she guessed, finally pulling herself up into a sitting position on the ground.

“Allowing an opponent to dictate a battle is never a winning strategy. Attacking was not the cause of your failure.”

Rainbow paused, evening out her breathing as she stared back at Kumiko. Her eyes slid out of focus as she replayed the short fight in her head. After a moment, she spoke slowly. “The problem wasn’t my attacking, it was the attack itself. I left myself too open, just like you seemed to when your clone attacked. When the attack missed, there was not a way to recover before you counterattacked.”

“Correct.” Kumiko nodded to her. “It is unwise to devote your full attention to an attack, even one that can end the battle immediately. Never assume that you know everything your enemy is capable of. If he can avoid or somehow mitigate your attack, then such focus will leave you open to counterattacks, and you will die. Even the simplest jutsu can change the tide of battle. A distraction and a clone can divert your enemy long enough to slip a blade between his ribs. A well placed transformation can allow you to poison a mark. A substitution can allow you to trade places with a nearby object. If you can perform them when your enemy has lost sight of you, you can turn the battle to one in your favor.”

“The hand seals for the clone jutsu are Ram, Snake, Tiger. These seals will help you focus your chakra into the shape you need.” Kumiko said, eyes softening a fraction as she saw the impulsive woman think about her words. Rainbow nodded to her though, and closed her eyes in focus. Slowly, Rainbow ran through the sequence.

She couldn’t feel anything happening to her magic, but she completed the sequence. At a nod from her sensei, she formed the hand seals again, much faster. A third repetition had her forming the seals as fast as she could complete the full string of twelve seals she had been practicing all morning.

Kumiko nodded to her, stern expression softening a fraction further. “Indeed. These are the seals for the substitution jutsu. And the transformation jutsu.” she said, showing her student the seals.

Rainbow watched carefully, forming both hand seal sequences twice while her teacher watched.

“I must leave for a mission. I will return tomorrow morning. If you can show that you can form all of the seals at an adequate speed, and the three jutsu sequences, then I will teach you how to focus your chakra.” Kimiko said face resuming its usual granite features. Her hands came together into a tiger seal, and she vanished in a swirl of leaves and dark hair. She appeared in one of the nearby trees, watching her pupil.

When her sensei vanished, Rainbow let herself flop back onto the ground with a groan. Her back felt like it would soon be one huge bruise, and every muscle in her fingers and arms ached from overuse. She knew fatigue would make her fingers clumsier than they already were. Stupid hands.

Still, that clone thing sounded cool. Even Twilight hadn’t been able to create illusions like that. Hers were always faintly purple coloured, but Kumiko’s clone had been identical in every way Rainbow could see. A grin stretched her lips as Rainbow thought about getting her hands on something that cool. With a groan, she pushed herself up. And began making the seals again.

In her tree, Kumiko let one of her increasingly rare smiles show. This girl had potential. Unless she died trying. The dark thought stole the smile away from her, and Kumiko leapt from her tree towards the Hokage’s Tower.