Chapter 3 - ch 3

Naru woke up, feeling sore all over. "Owie!!" She complained, rubbing her joints. "I got pretty far last time (about halfway up), and today, I'll do even better!" she said, psyching her self up.

'Now, what do i have for breakfast.' She thinks to herself as she opens her fridge to find nothing but old milk and scraps of old food. 'Blech. I'll stop by Ichiraku's instead!'

She gets dressed, remembering her new sword, and heads to Ichiraku's. "Yo, Asane! One of the usual, please!"

"Just one!?" exclaimed a surprised Ayame.

"Well, thanks to Sakura, I kinda got cleaned out yesterday!" Chuckled Naru sheepishly.

"Your such a good customer, I think I can through you a freeby once in a while!"

"Really!? Thanks so much!!"

"No problem for our number 1 customer!" In a few moments, Naru is inhaling her bowl. "Say, Naru?"

"Huh?" She grunts through a full mouth.

"Isn't it past time for training?"

Naru looks at the clock, and nearly chokes. 'It's 7:08!? I was supposed to be there 8 minutes ago!!' She finishes off her ramen, says a quick thank you and dashes off to the training ground, dreading her inevitable punishment.

--------------------------------Training Ground----------------------------------

When Naru gets close to the grounds, she hears the sounds of clashing metal. Soon, she sees Hinata and Sakura fighting each other with their swords. She stops in her tracks, as she suddenly feels an evil presence behind her. she slowly turns her head, to see Grimm, with an evil aura visibly pouring off him. His left eye twitches from anger. "Naru! Why exactly were you late?" He asks in an earilly calm voice.

"I-I was ju-just get-ting b-breakfast?" She answered nervously.

"Well, guess what you get for being late. I'll give you a hint." He puts his hand on his sword. "Today is sword training, and there is only one other here with one."

Naru pauses for a minute, the it dawns on her. "Oh no. I have to train against..." She finishes her sentance by pointing at Grimm.

"Bingo. Draw your sword."

"But, but sensei!!"

"Draw your sword." Grimm repeated as he drew his own. "Or you WILL die."

Naru quickly draws her sword, just in time to block Grimm's. "Impressive speed! Try and keep up!" Grimmjow starts swinging wildly, Naru just managing to block most of the swings. Some she can't, and starts getting cuts all over her body. "You can't win if you only defend, c'mon, attack!" Yells grim, still swinging. After an hour, Naru has obtained innumeral cuts, has even managed to find openings to attack, but never even got close to scoring a single hit. "You're weak!"

"I'm not." responds Naru.

"You're pathetic!"

"I'm not!" She yells.

"You'll never become hokage!"

This struck several nerves. "I WILLLL!!!"

'Call my name'

She is surprised by this, and lets her guard down, resulting in a bad gash on her left arm. "Gah! Who?"

'C'mon! You want to show this bozo a thing or two? Call my name!!"

And she did. A name came unbidden to her lips, before she even realised it. "In-u-ya-sha..."

"Wha..?" Is all Grimmjow has time to say before he is thrown back by a surge of power. He looks at Naru, to find she had unlocked her shikai. "So soon! This shouldn't happen so soon!!" Naru is now clad in a red kimono vest, with equally red sleeves, which bell near the hands, black string tied around the arm, near the armpits, to keep them in place. A white shirt is clearly seen through the gaps. A sash holds up the the pants. Her sword has grown over a foot, with the hilt gaining a decent amount of dog fur. What's most interesting is that her features are more dog-like: her hands are clawed, she has an overbite, and her human ears were replaced with dog ears. "But still, this should be a lot more fun!"

"Yea, it will!" Said Naru, just before she charges. Grimm this time is on the defencive. Naru swings the sword with suprising speed and strength, Grimm is barely matching her speed, taking a few nicks and scratches himself. "C'mon. Sensei. You have to attack!"

"Bad choice of words, kid. You want me to get serious?" Naru hesitantly nods. "Alright, then!!" He blocks an attack and pushes back forcefully, pushing Naru back a ways. He then takes a stance, holding his sword horizontally, then slides his other hand across the flat of the blade. "Grind, Pantera!" A massive rush of energy knock Naru on her back. When she looks up, she sees his shikai. He is no longer wearing clothes, instead he has a white plate-looking armor covering his lowerbody, to just over his waist. (nothing is showing) His entire arms are covered in the same armor, up to his shoulders. His hands have become black, razor sharp claws. "Now we're talking!!" He takes a moment to revel in his power. "It's been too long since I did this, now-!"

"What the HELL are you doing!!?"

"I'm training this brat, Eva. Don't get in the way."

*SMACK* Grimm sunddenly has a red handmark on his cheek. "First of all, NEVER dismiss me like that, Got it!?" Grimm nods. "And second, why are you using this form on an untrained child!?? You know that it overloads Chacharmaru's sensors! Do you know how long she take to reboot!?"

'Sure, nevermind the fact he was about to kill me' thought Naru, a sweatdrop the size of her head dropping. "Um, sensei?"

"What!!?" they both barked.

"Nevermind. I'll be over here with Sakura."

"Yea, fine. We'll be with you in a minute!"

Naru ran over to where Sakura and Hinata were waiting, going faster than she expected. As she tried to stop, she slipped, falling right in front of them, making them laugh. "Hahaha! Naru, you can be so clumsy!" Commented Sakura. "But, you've gotten so powerful in such a short time! I'm a little jealous!" Hinata nods in agreement.

"I'm not really sure what happened, myself. All I know is I was fighting, he was pissing me off, then i heard a voice in my head."

"A voice?" questioned Sakura.

"Yeah!. It kept telling me to say it's name, then I guess I did! Hehehe" she chuckled.

"Do you remember it?" Asked Hinata.

"Um, I think it was Inuyasha? Yes, it was definitely Inuyasha!" Confirmed Naru. "by the way, how di you two end up training together?"

"Well..." Started Sakura.

----------------------------2 hours earlier---------------------------------------

Grimm was shaking with anger, Sakura and Hinata cowering in front of him. Eva was lazing underneath a nearby tree, while Chachamaru fed her grapes.

"So, brats..." started Grimm, a blood vessel visible on his forehead. "Where exactly IS Naru?"

They hesitated, not sure whether it was safer to stay silent, or take a guess. Sakura chose the latter. "Well, Sensei." Said Sakura, in her sweetest voice. "She most probably either slept in late, or stopped at Ichiraku's for breakfast..." Realising at the end that, while she may have saved her own hide, she just threw Naru under the bus.

Grimm's blood vessel got bigger. "Breakfast? She thinks breakfast is more important then training!??"

"Oh, no sir!" Said Hinata, much to her own suprise. "She most probably just doesn't relise the time." There was a long pause after she talked, Hinata hoping she didn't say anything wrong.

"Start training with each other. Naru's mine!" Grimm said with malice in his voice.
Just happy to get away from the danger zone, they moved to the middle of the field. Hinata drew her rapier, while Sakura drew her katana.

"Ready?" asked Sakura.

"Ready." responded Hinata.

Sakura charged, attacking with an overhead swing. Hinata blocked horizontally, a hand on both ends. She pushes back and counterattacks, jabbing at Sakura's arm. Sakura swings her blade, knocking Hinata's away from the arm, into open air. Sakura then kicks Hinata in the chest, tossing her back several feet, but she manages to stay on her feet.  Hinata charged, aiming for the leg. Sakura swung to counter, like before, but it was a feint. Hinata kicked Sakura's side, using Sakura's sword's momentum to throw her off balance. She jabbed again, aiming for the leg, and scored a hit, going a few inches in before she pulled it out.

"Sakura, I'm so sorry!! Are you alright!?" Said Hinata with concern.

"Yeah, it's nothing serious." She returns to her battle stance. "Let's continue!"

"You sure?" Said Hinata, still worried. Sakura nodded. Hinata returned to her stance as well, and waited for Sakura to act. Sakura charged, then took a sweep at Hinata's legs. Hinata swung at her blade, and blocked it. Sakura quickly pulled back, and aimed ate her arm. Hinata pulled her blade up in time to block, but was thrown sideways by the force of the blow. Hinata fliped in the air, and landed on her foot and knee, sliding a few feet.By the time she looked up, Sakura was already on her, with another swing to the arm. She ducked under, and swung her leg, cutting Sakura's legs out from under her. Hinata was on her in an instant, the tip of her blade at Sakura's throat. "I win this round!" Said Hinata, with more confidence than ever before.

"Shall we go again?" asked Sakura. Hinata nodded, and helped Sakura up. They walked away from each other a few paces, turned, and got into position to spar again.

-----------------------------------A short time later-------------------------------

Hinata was about to elbow Sakura in the gut, whe she heard,"You'll never become hokage!"

"I WILLLL!!!"

Hinata and sakura stop just in time to see Naru release his shikai. When the power wave reached them, they guarded their face from the wind. Eva looked over in annoiance when her kite string broke and it flew away.

'Such power! Is this Naru!!?' thought Sakura.

From then on they watched as Naru finally gained the upper hand, blow after blow pushing Grimm back, then they heard what should have been his last words. "C'mon. Sensei. You have to attack!"

'Really Naru? Did you actually get DUMBER with all that power!!?' thought Sakura, facepalming.

Soon, they heard what they shouldn't have for many years. "Grind, Pantera!" The resulting power wave knocked them both on their butt, and a nearby Chachamaru started to twitch oddly, and then fell over, unmoving. Eva, fuming, stomped over to Grimm.

"What the HELL are you doing!!?" Grimm muttered something they couldn't hear, but it obviously a poor choice of words. *SMACK* Eva started to rant at him, while Naru slunk away, clearly happy for being alive, but frightened from her teachers. She ran over to Hinata and Naru.

----------------------------------current-----------------------------------------

"So, who won?" Naru asked.

"Huh?" Niether Sakura or Hinata knew what she meant.

"Who got who the most times?!" Naru tried to explain.

"Oh, who won the most matches!" Said Sakura. Naru nodded eagerly. Hianta and Sakura look at each other and responded simultaniously," It's a tie."

Hinata noticed Grimm and Eva coming tward them, Grimmjow having turned back to normal. "Uh, guys?" She says, pointing to her instructors. The others look, and wait for them to come. When they got near, Eva started talking. "Alright, kiddies. We've got an announcement!"

'You guys are getting married, and making the world's most evil couple?' Thought Naru.

'You know, I can read minds if I focus, right?' responded Eva, with an amused look. Naru paled, and quickly apologised.

"I'm sorry sensei, I'm sure you'd make a cute couple!" She said as she bowed repeatedly. Everyone gave a questioning look, but said nothing.

'Besides, we ARE a couple!' Eva thinks before she makes her announcement. "Starting tomorrow, after training,  in order to prevent any more tardies,!" she said, staring at Naru, who slunks under her gaze. "You all will be living with us from then on!"

"Eeeeh!!!?" say all three genin.

"That's right. Pack your bags tonight, cause you move tomorrow! Grimm here will go with Sakura to talk to her mother, I will go with Hinata. Chachamaru.." Eva looks sideways ate her. "Well, once she's rebooted, will stay with naru tonight to make sure she ON TIME!"

"What do you think of this, Grimm-sensei?" asks Naru.

"I think.." He looks sideways ate eva, who is staring back in a similar manner. "I dare you." herlook said. "..I'm in enough trouble as it is." he finally finishes, his body hanging down at the waist.

"Right answer, honey!" Said Eva.

"Now, sence Chachamaru is down for the moment, lunch will be late today. She should finish rebooting in about 2 hours. So, we will continue yesterday's training!"

"But my arms are tired!" complained Hinata.

"But my hands still hurt!" whined Sakura.

"But I still hurt!" reasoned Naru.

"Fine, anyone who doesn't want my training, can go train with Grimm." responded Eva. Grimm is right behind her, giving demon eyes and cracking his knuckles. Everyone immediately returned to their training spots from yesterday. "I though so!" She created 3 clones to watch over her students, then went to lay under a tree, passing a dejected Grimm. "Grimm, honey! We have a few moments alone. don't want to waste that!" She said seductivly as she passed. They went under the tree, and cuddled until the end of training.

-----------------------------3 hours later----------------------------------------

Naru finally made it to the top of the tree. she jumped down, branch by branch, back to the ground. "EVa-sensei! I finally did it!!" She said full of pride.

"Great! Level 2 of chakra control training. Follow me." Naru followed her, into the forest, not too far from Sakura, to a stream. "This is the next stage."

"Water?" questioned Naru.

"Close." She makes a hand sign, and steps on the water, and another, and another, leaving her in the middle of the stream, standing on the water. "You gotta walk on it!"

"Walk on the water? I can do that!" She exclaimes as she makes her own hand sign, and jump in the middle. She sinks to her waist in ice cold water. "Eeep!!" She yells, jumping most of the way back, wading the rest of the way.

"Wait for instruction, dummy!" Said Eva with a huge grin, clearly enjoying the display. "It works the same as tree climbing, but you have to constantly change the force of chakra to repel the water."

"Right!" Naru responds, focusing her chakra, and stepping on the water. Her foot holds, so she takes another step, this one falling through, causing her to lose her balance, and fall into the stream.

"Hahahahahaha!!!" Eva is laughing uncontrollably. "This is priceless! This is even better than when you beaned your crotch on a branch earlier!! Hahahaha!!"

"grrr" Naru growls. 'I can't let her get the last laugh! I'll do this!!' Naru focuses her chakra to try again.

-------------------------------Hinata, meanwhile-----------------------------------

*thunk, thunk. thunk, thunk. thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk. thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, crack!*

Hinata nearly made it through the set of 8, when she missed, and fell forward, hitting her head on the training dummy, with a loud crack. "Damn!" Said Hinata, surprising herself with the foul language.

"So, little lady has a mouth on her!" Taunted the Eva clone.

"Quiet!" yelled Hinata, focusing on her next set. Before she could start, Eva pulled her by the hair so she was bending backwards. Eva's eyes radiated anger.

"What did you say?" Demanded Eva, staring Hinata straight in the eye.

Hinata quickly looked away, embarassed and scared. "Sorry, sensei. It won't happen again." Hinata murmured.

"Better not! And because of that bout of disrespect, if you can't finish at least 32 today, next time you'll have to wear 15 pound weights on your arms!" Said Eva sadistically. Hinata, arms throbing with pain and exaustion as it is, immediately returned to practice, trying her hardest to avoid punishment.

-------------------------------Sakura, meanwhile-----------------------------------

"Hrra! Rah! Haaa!" grunts Sakura as she punches the boulder. she's created a few cracks, but has made no significant damage. "C'm-on! Break, dammit!" She rages, punching with bandaged fists.

"Getting mad isn't gonna help." Said the Eva clone; bored and reading a book.

"Sensei, isn't there any other pointers you can give me!!?" Gasped Sakura, taking a short break. "I've barely scratched it, and I've been at this for two days!"

"This is a technique that the Sannin didn't even come across until she was Jonin! An inexperienced genin can't possibly master this technique at you level."

"Then what's the point!!?"

"Look at the damage you've done."

Sakura looks at the boulder, and the biggest crack is only an inch wide, 5 inches long. "So, I managed to crack it, and you could destroy it with your pinky!"

"And how many other people, even Chunin or Jonin, that can do that with their bare fists." This silenced Sakura. "While nowhere near mastering the technique, you are getting the timing down, and can increase the strength of you attacks significantly. You can probably even break the average person's bones!" Sakura looked down at her hand, wondering how strong she had gotten in such a short time. Eva grins widely, still staring at her book. "There is a method to our madness. Now get back to training! Still got another 3 hours left!" Sakura groans, but does as she's told.

---------------------------------3 more hours later--------------------------------

The genin return to their senseis, battered and tired. "Sensei, we're back..." Said an exausted Sakura. EVa and Grimm were resting under a tree, cuddled together, with Chachamaru fanning them with a large leaf.

"You 3 surprise me!" Responded Eva. "Not only do most students quit buy this point, but you are doing even better than expected." She pulls out a $50 bill and hands it to Chachamaru. "Serves me to bet against a machine."

"I only worked with porbability, mistress. Both Naru and Sakura are too stubborn to ever quit, and Hinata is use to subjucation, so I found it unlikely for her to leave either." explained Chachamaru.

"Yeah, yeah. Who asked you!?" Snapped Eva. "allright, brats. You have 4 hours of personal time, to do with as you wish. I expect you here at 7:00. If you're not..." She looks directly at Naru "...I won't stop Grimm-honey next time." she says with a smile. Naru gulps. "Alright, I'm done with ya, get goin." the three genin left in a hurry, eager to have some time to themselves.

"So," said Grimm. "You really think they are worth the hassle?"

"Naru's trining is going better than hoped, and the other two are far stronger than their profiles made them out to be. This is a definitly the team we want." responded Eva seriously.

"It better be. I hate wasting my time." said Grimm, "I just hope they're ready in time!"

---------------------------------the genin, nearing town----------------------------

The three didn't speak most of the way there, too tired and thinking about what to do. "Say, Hinata." Finally spoke Naru. "Do you...want  to go do something?"

This causes Hinata to blush madly. "...um, uh, I..." stammered Hinata. Naru, remembering Sakura's words from last night, said nothing and waited. Hinata continued to stammer for a moment, then just shut her mouth, and finally nodded.

"Great, then! Let see, what to do..." said Naru eagerly.

'Naru, you asked her out without even knowing what to do?' thought Sakura with a sigh.

"Oh! I know! They have that new Gurren Lagaan movie at the theater! Is that good Hinata!?" asked Naru excitedly. Hinata nodded again, a bit more eagerly than before. She had been wanting to see it too. "Right! We're off!" She grabbed Hinata by her arm and started to pull her, running, to the theater.

Sakura is left standing there, her eye twitching in disbelief. 'Is she for real? You have to be gentle with tha kind of girl. What an idiot! Oh, well, I think I'll go take a bath.' She heads home.

---------------------------------1.5 hours later-----------------------------------

"That was an awesome movie, huh Hinata!?" asked Naru, just leaving the theater with Hinata, still reliving the movie in her head.
"It was!" Exclaimed Hinata, still pumped. They both suddenly got into the stance from the movie: feet should-width apart, arms crossed, with a smug expression. "Just who the hell do you think I am!!!?" They yelled simultaniously, laughing uproariously afterward, attracting quite a bit of attention. They ignored everyone staring, and walked off. "Thanks for taking me out to this movie!" said Hinata.

"Ah, it was no big deal!" responded Naru modestly.

"But it was! That movie filled me with such confidence! I think I can stand Sensei with ease now!" Exclaimed Hinata with an energy she didn't even know she had. "I actually can't wait for practice tomorrow! In fact, I'm gonna put in some last minute training right now! See you at the training field!" Before she left, however, she gave Naru a peck on the cheek, and ran off. Naru just stood there in a daze, hand to her cheek.

'Hinata...' she thought, daydreaming. She shook her head and snaped out of it. 'I can't sit here daydreaming! Hinata has the right idea!' she heads straight for the forest, heading for the stream she was at earlier.

----------------------------2.5 hours later---------------------------------------

Everyone gathered in front of Grimm and Eva-sensei again, all on time this time. Hinata's palms are battered, and she look exausted; Naru is soaking wet, and Sakura looks clean and rested. "Why are you guys so exausted? Didn't you go see a movie?" asked Sakura.

"Well, you see, the thing is..." started Naru.

"After the movie, we just got pumped, and decided to train some more!" Finished Hinata, clearly being more open than usual. "It also helped me build some confidence too!"

"If we're done yammering!" said Grommjow impatiently.

"Sorry, sensei!" all three genin respond at once.

"Change in plans. We decided to get off our butts and..."Talk" to your parents." Said Eva. "Pack your bags, you're coming tonight!"