Crow's feathers - Naruto fanfiction

Chapter 41 Love over honor

Daro kicked a random rock with an annoyed expression. Two weeks! He had to take it easy for two weeks to let his shoulder heal. How was he supposed to train like this? It wasn’t fair. He narrowed his eyes and watched his comrades train. Taryn was instructing Kuro on how to outsmart Byakugan. Her youngest cousin was likely to participate in the Chuunin Exams.

“Hanabe may be young,” Taryn told Kuro,” but she’s strong. Her Kaiten will be perfect. Maybe even better than mine. Your genjutsu will not be enough, you need to train your swordsmanship more. Byakugan has one flaw. It has a blind spot, exactly behind the wielder. They Hyuuga clan thought up Kaiten to cover that. It is an almost impenetrable shield. But it can be stopped.

            “How?” Kuro asked.

“Remove the ground from under her feet or wrap her in chains.”

“I can’t perform earth based jutsu.”

            “You don’t have to,” Taryn said, “you can use other jutsu to manipulate the ground or use your weapons.” Kuro nodded. “Okay,” Taryn said, “practice with your weapons and then let’s see how well you do against my Byakugan later.” She then turned to Hiro who was trying out a new water jutsu. “Good job Hiro.” She watched him for a while before walking towards Daro. “What are you standing around for? Shouldn’t you be training as well?”

Daro growled annoyed. “My shoulder needs to rest.”

“That’s no excuse Daro.”

            “I need two hands to form seals.”

“You rely on our ninjutsu too much,” Taryn said, “you should train your other abilities more.”

            “I’m not good with weapons. Or Taijutsu.”

“Then this is an excellent opportunity to train just that. The Chuunin Exams will be tough. Earth based jutsu may not be enough, no matter how good you are at it.”

“You want me to train inured?”

            “You think you will get through the exams unscathered? Are you just going to give up and play dead when an opponent hurts you? You should treat it as any other mission. There aren’t many rules in the arena you know. Shinobi die there. You should be prepared. Your shoulder is nothing compared to what may happen. Besides. Your left arm is just fine. Improve your aim.”

            Daro had the decency to look ashamed. “I’m sorry sensei,” he muttered.

Taryn shook her head. “It’s alright. Just remember that you can’t always take the easy way out.” She pulled a set of kunai blades from her pouch and handed it to him. “Get to it.”

            Daro gave a serious nod and took the daggers. Taryn sighed as she watched him go towards the target practice spot. She bit her lip. Something kept pulling on her in the back of her mind. She very much wanted to ignore it, but was unable to. She shook her head. It wasn’t her responsibility.

“Promise me…”

Taryn pressed her hands against her eyes. ‘Get out of my head,’ she begged.

“You promised…”

Taryn’s hands clutched around a dagger so tightly that her knuckles turned white. One quick movement of her wrist and the outer wall fell down the ground in splinters. She instantly felt calmer. Slowly she continued with a series of taijutsu moves to clear her mind. For a moment she pushed all thoughts of promises aside. 

***

“It’s not true,” a young Sasuke cried, “my brother wouldn’t do this…”