On My Mind

Aikawa Katsuhi was a man who was considered to be one of the wisest mentors the Barrier Team had to offer. With a sharp gaze and just as tuned-in perception, there was barely anything that escaped the man’s notice, not even bugs as minuscule as they could come were safe.

“You need to sharpen your sensory skills further, Izumi. They aren’t your strong point,” told her Aikawa, sharp gaze focused on her. “For a Yamanaka especially, they are vital.”

During their training session, Izumi had found herself making mistakes several times, mistakes that could, if to happen in a real apprehension, either result in her getting injured or even endanger her life. When the clones of Aikawa-san had sneaked up on her, she had missed detecting one several times, the real Aikawa then taking his chance to hit her over the head, often enough making her fall to her knees as a result.

“Careful,” He had told her. “Danger lurks in every corner.”

Again and again, she had tried, only to then fail another time. “It is common for a sensory ninja to sometimes be unable to detect one presence,” He said. “That doesn’t mean it should happen.”

The back of her head throbbed uncomfortably so from every hit Izumi had taken so far as she stood in the middle of the room again, cerulean eyes carefully inspecting everything in her line of vision. From one moment to the next, her entire perception could change, after all. At the same time, she also focused on the various chakra presences in the room, some masked to a point where they were barely a whiff while others were out in the open, easy to find. Izumi’s goal was to be able to detect even the smallest hint of a signature, even when it was as small as a speck of dust was.

“While they aren’t horrible, they aren’t perfectly honed either. I would recommend you would improve upon them.”

Izumi nodded, making a mental note about what he had told her. “Thank you for the suggestion, Aikawa-san.”

Aikawa looked back at her, his lips twisted into a sharp expression. “I expect you to act upon it, Izumi.” His words held a demand in them, making it obvious that it was not an offer he made to her.

“I will.” If Izumi wanted to progress any further in her apprenticeship, she had no choice but to do so.

“Good, you’re dismissed then. Inoichi-san wanted to see you.”

━━━━

Apparently, ‘see you’ was the new wording for training, or at least according to her uncle. Izumi thought that the man could have worded his intentions better and should not have left her in the dark about a training session with him following the brutal one she already had with Aikawa-san. As soon as she had set foot into the new training room, Izumi could already feel her limbs aching from exhaustion.

Her uncle, on the other hand, had another idea, grinning at her widely as soon as she entered. “Izumi, hello,” said Inoichi. “Ready for your training?”

“Yes,” She answered hesitantly, the blatant lie coming out flat. “I am.”

“Today I have something interesting to teach you, the so-called Mind Transfer Puppet Curse Jutsu. It is a technique your father is a true master of. Originally, he wanted to teach it to you, but …” Inoichi’s lips twisted into a small frown, eyes taking on a sad glint. “He asked me to take over for him, little one.”

Izumi understood immediately, her father couldn’t. While she was utterly grateful for her uncle jumping in to teach the jutsu to her in his stead, at the same time, she yearned to learn his specialty from the man himself. In spite of her disappointment she smiled at her uncle, nodding along to his every word.

“This technique is a bit different from the mind techniques you are used to. As the name already indicates, you will be working with a puppet in order to transfer your mind,” In his hand her uncle held a plain puppet. “To explain the basics of it: instead of directly transferring your consciousness into the victim of your technique, you will first transfer it into a puppet.”

Izumi tilted her head in confusion, brows furrowed as she stared at the doll. “How does that work?” Never before had she transferred her consciousness into something inanimate, the mere thought of doing so appearing bizarre.

“First, you will place the puppet somewhere where your future victim will come by-”

“And how do I know where they will come by?”

Inoichi let out a chuckle at the interruption. “Always so thorough, little one. That is something you have inherited from your father, without a doubt. But to answer your question, it is a lot of guess work. When I have used the technique, Shikaku always calculated the most likely route for our opponent to take.”

For Izumi, that sounded like something Sen would do.

“Let’s just say that you have managed to correctly predict the path of your opponent, and they walk by the doll. What you do is manipulate the puppet to attack them so that they will retaliate with an attack of their own, that is the moment the jutsu will work properly. Your consciousness will then switch with the one of the victim, meaning you will be able to overtake their body.”

“So it is like a sneak attack?”

Inoichi nodded. “Exactly like one. The victim’s mind will remain trapped in the puppet, meanwhile you, the user, are able to roam around in their body. Its advantage is that you don’t have to worry about the victim’s will attempting to fight back against yours, as it is within the puppet. Although, the rules of the Mind Body Switch Technique still apply.”

“So my body will still be defenseless and any injury done to the victim’s body will also be done to mine?”

“Yes.”

“No offense, Inoichi-oji, but when could I ever use such a technique?”

“Infiltration,” He supplied quickly. “Taking control of the opponent’s body in such a sneaky way is always helpful and not to be underestimated. This does not mean that you should go infiltrate whatever!” He gave his niece a pointed look. “Your father just asked me to teach it to you.”

“I understand.” said Izumi, brows still furrowed as she stared at the puppet.

“Before I teach you though … Have we told you yet that Yua is pregnant?” asked Inoichi, smiling widely. As soon as his wife’s name pushed past his lips, the man looked euphoric, his green eyes taking on a shine.

Izumi’s eyes widened at that, her jaw falling open. “You haven’t! She is?”

Inoichi nodded, the words lost on his tongue.

She gasped. “Oh, congratulations!” The beginning of training was left behind as the girl flung herself at her uncle, embracing him tightly. “You and Yua-oba are going to be such great parents.”

“I sure hope so,” chuckled Inoichi, ruffling his niece’s hair affectionately. “We for sure can’t wait for her to be born.”

“Her?” Izumi peered up at her uncle, eyes sparkling with joy. “You are going to have a daughter?”

Inoichi smiled. “Yes, a daughter. Luckily for Yua and I, we had enough practice with you.” Playfully, he pinched Izumi’s cheek, making the girl push him back.

“Do you have a name yet?”

“We want to call her Ino.”

“How original,” snorted Izumi. “I couldn’t have come up with a better name.”

“You couldn’t have. Remember when you wanted to name our cat ‘Dog’?”

The incident was retained rather vividly in Izumi’s memory. When she had been a child and her aunt and uncle had gotten themselves a cat, they had offered her to name it. With a delighted grin, she had immediately announced to the entire family that the cat was to be named dog, much to Inoichi’s chagrin. Yua meanwhile had let out a laugh at the suggestion, accepting it. Therefore, the cat had been named dog.

“I was three!” She scoffed. “Yua-oba liked the name.”

“She accepted it out of pure pity.”

Izumi crossed her arms of her chest, pouting at the older man. “No, she loved it.”

“A deal: if you manage to learn the basic of this technique today, you were right. If not, I was right.” Inoichi held his hand out to his niece, a smirk playing at his lips. While he believed in her abilities as a Kunoichi, the bet served as both a source of motivation for her and gave him the possibility of being in the right.

For a moment Izumi hesitated, cerulean eyes fixated on his hand before she reached out with her own and grasped it tightly, shaking it.

“Deal.”

━━━━

At the end of their training, the two of them had come to the conclusion that their bet ended in a tie. Maybe the decision was made to spare the other’s feelings, they weren’t exactly sure. The conditions of the bet were blurry after all and so were the results, leaving both disappointed by the outcome.

Izumi's heart skipped more than just a beat at the thought of being able to tell Kakashi all about her day, to be able to lay beside him on the flower field. The two of them had agreed to meet in their usual spot once Izumi's shift ended, so it was no surprise to her that once she arrived, some of the space was already occupied by a certain silver-haired Jounin.

"Hi, Kashi," She greeted him, settling down in the grass beside him. In a quick motion, she angled her body to be able to look at him. "I hope your day at work was tolerable."

From the Jounin came no reply, instead he merely stared up at the clouds, his visible charcoal eye following them without as much as a noise.

"Kashi," Izumi tried again, now fully turning towards him with a wry smile, concern bubbling up in her throat. "How has your day been?"

Was everything okay? Had something happened? The questions were left unanswered.

Kakashi averted his gaze from the clouds, charcoal eye peering at her before he shrugged. "Fine."

"Did anything happen? Anything interesting?"

"No."

Izumi's smile faltered, twisting into a frown. "I see." She mumbled. Unconsciously, she began to angle her body away from him.

Kakashi though noticed, his fingers twitching to keep himself from reaching out to her. Merely minutes in and his plan was backfiring already, the wall he had been building up for days crumbling almost completely. He had promised himself to act differently toward his dearest friend for a while, at least until he no longer felt his cheeks flush at every word she spoke, at every smile she gave him. When the moment came, and he was able to look at her without his stomach twisting and turning in delight, then he would let his walls down again. Or so he had planned.

A small sigh pushed past his masked lips, going unnoticed by the brunette beside him. His resolution was already crumbling.

This time it was Izumi who stared up at the clouds, cerulean eyes following them intently. The silence between them was both persistent and obnoxious.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked, refusing to look at him.

"I-" He began, cutting himself off. He felt so frustrated. "No, you didn't."

Izumi hummed, unsure of what to say. Her eyes were still focused on the various clouds, not wanting to pressure him by looking directly at him. While she wished he would talk to her, tell her what was going on, what was wrong, she knew it was no use. The only thing she would achieve would be pushing him away, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. So, she kept quiet, peeking at him every once in a while from the peripheral of her vision.

It was rather apparent that there was something he was hiding from her, something he wasn’t telling her. The way he lay on the grass, muscles tensing whenever she addressed the topic of his field of work, charcoal eye widening a fraction as she did so, told her all she needed to know. One day, Izumi hoped, he would tell her whatever there was.

The Yamanakas were people who loved and appreciated strongly, a trait that was reflected in their clan’s symbol: the thunberg’s bush clover, a flower symbolizing ‘positive love’. While her clansmen considered this to be one of their greatest traits, Izumi couldn’t help but think that sometimes, her vast emotions could be her downfall.