Chapter 50

To my surprise, the training ground was empty except for Matsushita. "Everyone else was given their own assignments." Sakumo explained. "Kichiro, standard procedure dictates that every trainee is required to undertake a full assessment of abilities upon joining ANBU. Yours and Nagato's assessment has been scheduled for today. There is both a written and practical portion. Matsushita will be administering the written portion and I will be administering the practical."

I shrugged. "Fine."

"Your objective it to attempt to take this necklace from around my neck." Sakumo held up a rope with several knots in it and put it around his neck. "Try to use every skill in your arsenal to do so. Kichiro, you are not to communicate with the Kyuubi in any way. This is an assessment of your abilities, not your abilities plus the Kyuubi's, is that clear?"

I rolled my eyes. "Technically, if I don't have access to the Kyuubi, that means I'm theoretically dead or dying, so the Kyuubi, in all his wisdom, is a part of my repertoire."

Sakumo was not amused.

"If this was a true assessment, then it would be an assessment of everything I'm capable of."

"Logically, you are correct, but the Kyuubi's strength is not to be used lightly."

I am the great Kyuubi no Kitsune. If I wish to interfere, I will and this boy's pitiful strength can do nothing to stop me. If I do not wish my power to be used, it will not be used. No stupid mortal can—

You know I'm the only one who can hear you, right?

I winced at the Kyuubi's pissed-off roar and reflexively covered my ears.

"Kichiro? Kichiro!" Sakumo snapped.

"I'm fine, what were you about to say?"

"What happened?"

"Kyuubi got arrogant and I got smart with him. You were saying?"

"What are you thinking—"

"Let's not start this argument now, it won't get us anywhere. Can I use the Kyuubi in the assessment?"

Sakumo crossed his arms. "Fine, but If you lose control…" He left the threat hanging.

"I'm not going to lose control."

"Nagato will be going first."

The boy swallowed behind me. I ruffled his hair as I walked to the edge of the ground.

"Use every skill you have, Nagato, and the match is over when you succeed or are no longer able to continue." Sakumo explained. "Understand?"

Nagato nodded and settled into a stance almost identical to my crazy, improper starting stance.

Sakumo smirked in amusement and drew his sabre. Nagato swallowed. "Begin," Sakumo stated neutrally.

Nagato flew into action, copying my opening attacks perfectly. I felt an extreme case of déjà vu as I watched what could have been one of the spars I had with Sakumo during my second year of training. Nagato could have passed the Genin test without a problem, he probably would have been at the top of the class, given his academics reflected his abilities.

I wasn't entirely sure why Nagato was copying me move for move. A few seconds later, I realized that there was absolutely no way for Nagato to be able to copy me that closely—he had never had the chance to analyze my preferred fighting style. It took me a few more seconds to notice the extremely basic area-of-effect Genjutsu Nagato had somehow managed. A few seconds later, when Matsushita's eyes widened in surprise, I realized that Nagato had made up a Genjutsu similar to mine which somehow made a person want to believe what they were seeing. I carefully extracted myself from it and noticed the real Nagato carefully sneaking around behind Sakumo.

Nagato reached up to grab the necklace from Sakumo's neck, but before his hand closed around it, Sakumo grabbed his wrist and landed a solid backhanded strike in Nagato's stomach with the hilt of his sabre.

"Ouch," I rubbed my stomach. I had tried the same trick on Sakumo ages ago and it had ended up the exact same way, but Sakumo had struck me hard enough that he had to end training or risk compounding the injury. Unlike me, however, Nagato went on the offensive instead of recoiling and regrouping. My eyes widened when I realized that Sakumo hadn't broken the Genjutsu.

He was expecting Nagato to act like me and back down, he was seeing that in the Genjutsu, so didn't even see the kunai in Nagato's hand until it had made a jagged scratch from the left corner of his jaw to the bridge of his nose. It would have been much deeper, but Nagato pulled the strike at the last second. I gaped. I had never seen anyone land a solid hit on Sakumo. I had trained with him for two years and the best I had ever managed from endless spars with him was a glancing blow to his wrist when I overextended my reach with my sticks and broke my arm in seven places from the fall. I ended up more concerned with the injury than celebrating a hit on Sakumo.

Sakumo twisted faster than Nagato could track and knocked the boy out of attacking range to touch the sizable gash. I wouldn't have been surprised if the blade had touched bone. Nagato didn't let up, and took every advantage of the distraction. I barely caught the three hand seals before Sakumo was forced to leap out of the way of a wave of water.

Unfortunately for Nagato, only the first few minutes of the match let him show off his offensive plan. The next few minutes would be him forced to defend against Sakumo's onslaught before his turn to return to the offensive came.

Sakumo may not have been the best shinobi in Konoha, but he was a damn good one. Anyone else would have beat Nagato to a pulp for managing that, to prove that they were undoubtedly the better ninja, but he didn't, though he did make a point not to let Nagato get anywhere close to landing a second hit, and dealt several punishing hits of his own. Sakumo ended up pushing Nagato to the point where he was making up Taijutsu moves to try and keep Sakumo at bay and provide enough of an offense that he wasn't overwhelmed.

Most shinobi skimped of defensive training, since defense never won anything. I was an oddball in the fact the majority of my training was focused on defense. It would take a Jōnin to break through my defensive Taijutsu without any tricks. Nagato obviously had more training than average in defense, but it couldn't compare to the training I received, even though he did seem to have a decent understanding of what I could do and had to have modeled his independent training after my old regime. Luckily, Sakumo quickly picked up on that and didn't accidentally attack Nagato with something too far above his level.

By the time Sakumo backed off to allow Nagato to take his turn on the offensive, I had resolved to confront Nagato on how he knew so much of my fighting techniques. Not even Kushina was familiar enough with my style and abilities to copy them as well as he did and I hadn't fought enough in front of people, including him, for it to be public knowledge. Besides, as Jinchuuriki, my abilities were supposed to be obscured to reduce the risk of capture. Sakumo was warier as Nagato liberally used an odd variation of Kawarimi as a primary part of his next tactic.

Whatever Nagato was trying ultimately failed, though Sakumo got doused with a weak wave of water in the process.

Two minutes later, Nagato gave up. Sakumo gave him an approving nod before helping him over to where I knelt, watching them carefully. He shoved Nagato forward as I summoned medical chakra to my hands. The second I touched Nagato's forehead for diagnostics, my assessment began.

Sakumo tried to slap me with several Genjutsu once I stood up, which I dismissed the second they touched me. Since he still had his sabre out, I drew my sticks.

Obviously, the sabre was the biggest threat to me and I had to either take control of, or neutralize the advantage it gave him. Unfortunately, the fact that is could channel chakra meant that the only way I could neutralize said advantage was to remove the weapon from his control. The second threat was the size difference, but I knew I could rely on the Kyuubi to get me out of a bind if that came into play.

Third was the skill difference. I had no delusion that I could hold him off for more than a few hits if Sakumo went all-out, but he wouldn't during an assessment and I could take advantage of that. The only areas I could beat him in was in chakra control and chakra capacity. If I was fighting to win, I could take advantage of that, but I had an objective.

Sakumo was probably the worst opponent for anyone to face. By Jōnin standards, he was a master at Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, he was taught by an Uchiha, so his skill in Genjutsu was terrifying. His weakness, if it could be considered a weakness, was Ninjutsu, but that was only because he had only slightly above average chakra reserves, it had nothing to do with his skill.

Nagato had tried to play it sneaky, but I knew I couldn't trick Sakumo, if I had a chance, it was ruined when Nagato used my default tactics and almost succeeded. My best bet was to turn it into a Ninjutsu battle and force Sakumo to exhaust himself. There was about a ten percent chance it would work. While general Ninjutsu was just as effective, elemental Ninjutsu was much more powerful and the only way to remain competitive at a Jōnin level. I knew Sakumo had his affinity, lighting, mastered, as well as fire and earth. Wind was his weak point, which was why my training with it was touch and go with a lot of experimentation. I learned to utilize wind by messing with the element, under supervision, until it worked. Sakumo realized, too late, that I wasn't following the standard path of learning by solidifying the association with the way my chakra moved to specific hand seals. By learning medical Ninjutsu before any other jutsus, I gained a one-of-a-kind flexibility with my chakra that Sakumo wasn't sure could be duplicated. Hand seals made it easier to learn a jutsu, but after I practiced it enough, they weren't entirely necessary and I used them when I was too distracted to focus on molding my chakra properly, such as when I was fighting.

It was both a handicap and an advantage. Shape manipulation was much harder for me since I didn't have a guide, but I wasn't constrained to hand seals in combat, which gave me an edge none but the most highly-trained ninja had.

When I made no motion to start the actual match, Sakumo lunged forward, trying to knock one of the sticks out of my hand with the flat of his blade and a burst of chakra.

My sticks were strange weapons. The wood was far more durable than it should have been, it was obviously carved from the trees the Shodai grew around the village. What was strange was that there was something inside of the sticks that could conduct elemental chakra, like Sakumo's sabre, though nowhere near as effective or powerful. To a certain extent, even the wood could conduct chakra, though it was difficult. I had no idea how it had gotten inside the wood, especially since the sticks showed no sign of wear after four years of combat and training. I knew seals had something to do with it, but there seemed to be no sign of them. There was an odd, circular mark left at the tops of the sticks that Sakumo refused to elaborate on. My crazy, fanciful theory was that the sticks had been a project Uzumaki Mito and/or the Shodai had attempted. Unfortunately, there was no way I would have been allowed to wield a legacy like that until I was at least a Jōnin.

When Sakumo's sabre hit the stick in my right hand, chakra raced down the blade. I sent a wave of healing chakra down my arm and spun with the momentum the strike gave me and retaliated.

In the shinobi world, offense was the best defense and I was certainly not lacking in the defense department. Sakumo countered with ease and I made my first attempt at disarming him. My sticks had optional straps that I could loop around my wrists. I used those straps to twist up Sakumo's blade and clamped my sticks together on either side of the blade, struggling to fight the chakra invading my body. I twisted and forced the blade free from Sakumo's grip, leaping backwards with my trophy. My right stick dangled from my wrist as I held the sabre. I could tell from Sakumo's expression that he was regretting both teaching me the trick and how to use the blade, both with and without my sticks.

Sakumo drew two kunai. "Clever," he admitted. "What are you going to do with it?"

"A weapon the enemy knows better is a weapon against you," I responded and tossed the sabre out of the fighting area. He sent one last longing look at the blade before refocusing. "It's not like I took your baby." I rolled my eyes while sending a near-invisible blade of wind at him.

He spat fire at me, but I had charged the jutsu with more power than was probably wise and Sakumo ended up with a flaming blade trying to slice him down the middle. It forced him to dodge and retaliate with a bolt of lightning I barely managed to split it with a second overpowered blade of wind. I continued to bombard him with wind. Almost immediately, he caught on to my strategy. It was much more direct than was normal for me, but was the only option I could see. Sakumo could keep up and beat me in everything but raw chakra output. Even without the Kyuubi, I had him beat due to my Tsunade-level chakra control and the fact that I had low Jōnin reserves anyways. I could throw wind jutsu around indefinitely with the Kyuubi's help.

I managed to keep Sakumo on the defensive for a solid five minutes before he started to figure out my general pattern of attack. Things started to get hairy after that. While I could keep up more powerful Ninjutsu for longer, Sakumo's skill overshadowed mine and it was everything I could do to keep the fight from turning into a Taijutsu battle. I knew I was running a significant risk letting Sakumo back me around the training ground. I was going to end up in a trap, I knew it, I just hope my half-assed plan to get out would work.

Sure enough, a minute later I found myself with kunai and shuriken flying at me from every direction. I waited until the last possible second before substituting myself with Sakumo. The effort left me on my knees, but there was no way Sakumo could have stopped all the projectiles and was left with several scratches all over his body and a kunai in his left thigh.

He started attacking me with Genjutsus, which I struggled to dispel as fast as he piled them on. His hands never stopped flashing through hand seals for the next minute. He sent them so hard and fast that I was forced to close my eyes in concentration. I knew that if even one of them stuck, I would lose. Finally, Sakumo let up, unsuccessful, but he was in control of the fight and forced me to engage in Taijutsu.

I wasn't sure how much time passed; it was all a blur of blocks and dodges and struggling to stay off to his left to slow down his attacks. Unfortunately, Sakumo upped the speed and struck me full force in the throat. Sakumo never would have landed a hit like that in a regular spar, but this was an examination of what I could do, and healing during combat was a skill I had. Using it on myself in combat was slightly more difficult than I anticipated, but that might have been because three-fourths of my brain was screaming cantbreathecantbreathecantbreathe and the other quarter was split between healing and staying out of Sakumo's range with judicious use of Kawarimi and a Shunshin.

I didn't think Sakumo meant to, but not only did he crush my trachea, but he tore my jugular vein open. I wasn't sure how, but there was no way Sakumo would intentionally run a risk like that and keep pushing me to fight. If he was trying to get me pissed off, it worked. Basic repairs, like fixing torn muscles and broken bones were easy to do without direct contact with what I was trying to fix. I could heal bruises because they were generally directly below the surface of the skin. Organs were well-protected enough that any damage they took without breaking the skin would be mild enough that they just needed to be coaxed to heal faster but even more severe injuries could be easily healed because access to them was easy with only a few simple layers of muscle and skin in the way. The jugular vein was under a mess of blood vessels, muscles, and other tissue. It was all I could do to keep myself from bleeding out. Sakumo immediately stopped his attack when I stabbed myself in the neck with a chakra scalpel and stuck my finger into the hole. I couldn't even enjoy the expression of horror I knew was on his face. I easily finished fixing the damage and finally started to reconstruct my windpipe.

Unfortunately, healing my torn vocal cords would take more time than I could afford, especially because I wouldn't be able to cut myself open and fix them directly. I would have given up then, but without a voice and no signs for 'I give up', I had to continue. I was of the opinion that it was Sakumo's intention, otherwise he would have broken my face or ribs instead.

When I stood up, Sakumo resumed the match.

I didn't get a single chance to force space with Ninjutsu, and my attempt to make Sakumo think I was a few inches to the right was dismissed without a second thought.

I wanted to try to show him what he wanted to see with a Genjutsu, but I didn't know what he wanted, so I knew it wouldn't work.

I did know what he feared. While I fought, I explained my plan to the Kyuubi and started to draw on his chakra. Sakumo flinched back as my eyes changed color and my teeth sharpened. I started to pool the Kyuubi's chakra on the ground beside me. When Sakumo glanced at it, the Genjutsu was set and I dove out of the way. In his eyes, the pooling chakra grew into a miniature replica of the Kyuubi. I couldn't do that for real, but no one knew that. The fake-me's eyes widened in horror and the Genjutsu turned into a convincing rendition of what it would look like if I lost control.

As my hand closed around the necklace, Sakumo whipped a kunai at the fake. I jerked backwards as the kunai went through the fake's head. The Kyuubi took back his chakra so quickly that I nearly collapsed. In hindsight, I probably should have expected Sakumo to kill me rather than risk the Kyuubi's escape. I knew full well he was a shinobi first, person second, but it was frightening and disorienting to watch myself die, even more so since it was Sakumo doing the killing.

"Inari, Hachiman, and Kuebiko, help me," I heard him murmur into the air as my fake body's head snapped back.

Everyone was standing, horrified and frozen as my fake body with the ring of a fake kunai protruding from its forehead collapsed. I was frozen, indescribable emotions tearing through me for the briefest of instants before I realized that the real kunai was hurtling towards Nagato. I snapped the Genjutsu, screaming, but no one would be able to react in time and my vocal cords were still too damaged to make actual sounds. I shunshined forward, praying it would work properly, and slammed into Nagato the instant before the kunai would have gone through his head for real. Instead, it punched through the ball and socket joint of my shoulder, only nicking Nagato's forehead.

His head hit the stone wall behind him a moment before mine.

(-_-)

I couldn't have blacked out for more than a few seconds, because when I woke up, I had not been moved from the place I collapsed on top of Nagato.

The boy was already awake and blinking sluggishly.

I pushed myself up, trying to ignore the wave of dizziness. A few seconds later, I soundlessly screamed as someone pulled the kunai out of my shoulder and shoved me to the side. I fell hard on my back while someone else pressed their palm against my forehead and performed an extremely rudimentary diagnostics jutsu.

"No, no, lemme go!" Nagato begged and small fingers wrapped around my ankle.

I tried to sit up, but someone pressed the tip of a knife against my neck. I looked around, but everything was blurry.

"He's dangerous, boy, get back!" Someone ordered. A second person activated prisoner containment seals on my major chakra gates.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sakumo demanded.

"He's dangerous! He should be locked up!"

"Take off the seals," Sakumo ordered and I felt several reluctant hands pull off the seals. "Matsushita-san, please take both boys to their clan compound and impress upon their family that the two of them are not to leave the building, security level eight."

Sakumo pulled me to my feet, but my body barely responded. I could feel his steel control wavering as he put my uninjured arm around Nagato's shoulders and I would have fallen back to the ground if Nagato hadn't held me up. Someone pulled us both into a Shunshin and I fell to my knees on the front porch. I wasn't entirely sure how much time elapsed, but the next thing I knew was Ise grabbing Matsushita around the neck and slamming him against the wall.

"Who do you think you are?" Ise demanded. "Who do you think you are to waltz back here with my sons in this condition and think you can get away with it?"

The next second, Kushina was there, pulling Ise off the man. "They're just training injuries, leave him alone!" She said firmly. It was a good thing Kushina arrived when she did.

"It was just an assessment," Matsushita affirmed.

"Get them inside. Shita-sensei, you are welcome to stay." Kushina said politely.

"I think it would be wise if I did not. Hatake-san said to relay that Kichiro-kun and Nagato are not to leave the premises, security level eight."

"Orders received and acknowledged," Kushina responded professionally. "Come on, let's get them inside and settled."

I recognized Takeshi as he picked me up and carried me inside.

He sat me down on a wooden chair and Kushina deftly undid the chest plate of my armor and took it off so Ise could begin bandaging the wound on my shoulder and immobilizing my arm across my chest. Nagato summarized the non-classified version of what happened over the past several days, which basically amounted to 'Kichiro has been having a rough time and we'd both been training.'

"Kushina, can you go get me the medical seals for repairing bone as well as the medicine for nausea and inflammation?"

A minute later, Kushina returned and Ise pressed a slip of paper to my temple.

"Is his head broken?" Kushina asked.

"I don't think so, but it doesn't hurt to be sure. Activate this for me?"

Healing chakra wrapped around my head for several minutes as I stared blankly ahead. Kushina was there and studying my face, but it hurt too much to try and respond.

"He's not going to respond, Kushina, he has a severe concussion. Takeshi, give him these pills and take him into my room to lie down, we all know Fusō isn't resting in there so she can watch over him while he sleeps off the damage."

Someone pressed two pills into my mouth with sour tasting fingers and I swallowed them automatically. Kushina gently took my weapons and sealed them away, tucking the storage seal into my pocket. Takeshi picked me up and carried me into a separate room and laid me on the bed.

"I heard everything, don't worry about him," Fusō murmured and shifted so she sat right beside me, her fingers combing my hair. "I'm pregnant, not incapacitated."

"Just—"

"I've had a baby before, this is all highly unnecessary. I carried Nagato through a war zone and gave birth while shinobi fought a kilometer away. Trust me, I'm fine."

"But you—"

"Of the two of us, who is the prenatal specialist?"

He quickly backed out of the room. I curled against her side and she wrapped a heavy blanket around me before rubbing soothing patterns into my back and humming softly. I was out within seconds.

I didn't wake up for hours. When I did, the room was empty and I was practically swaddled in the blanket. I sat up and followed the sound of the voices.

I obviously interrupted dinner.

"Nii-san!" Echoed around the table and several of the kids ran forward. I braced myself against the doorframe.

I tried to greet them, but belatedly realized my vocal cords were still damaged. I relayed the information to Kushina through field signs.

"He says it's nice to see everyone and he won't be able to talk for a little while. There aren't field signs for details," she translated.

The adults called the kids back to the table and the youngest girl grabbed my cushion and dragged me over to sit beside them.

"Misaki, Kichiro can only use one arm right now, so he can't eat unless you let go." Ise reprimanded softly. A plate of food was set in front of me and the debate over whether it was worth making their own paper for Fūinjutsu due to the war shortage resumed.

I ate mechanically, only half listening to the chattering around me. I didn't even notice when almost everyone had left and the dishes were cleared away.

"Kichiro?" Ise murmured and knelt down beside me.

I glanced over at him and pressed my hand to my throat, working on healing my vocal cords.

He patiently waited until I pulled my hand away before continuing. "The kids are going to sleep early, Fusō thinks you should as well. Your eyes still aren't focusing on anything."

"I can see just fine," I rasped.

"Bullshit. Come on, Fusō wants to fuss over someone and Nagato already escaped upstairs. Kaede and I have the night shift at the hospital tonight and Fusō is due sometime in the next week. I'd feel better if you were there just in case the baby comes early."

I let him lead me back into the bedroom, but after I nearly fell flat on my face, he picked me up and carried me the rest of the way. Fusō started to fuss the moment we stepped through the door.

"I have to go," Ise murmured and left.

I didn't mind as Fusō started her mother routine on me.