Aspirant

Neji and Orochimaru, unsurprisingly, stay for dinner, a premade meal made by Amaya, warmed by Kakashi, who returns to his bedroom to continue tending his wife. Sasuke and Neji discuss jutsu theory for a while as Sakura and Naruto clean up, the Sannin unafraid to hen peck them.

Two days later, Neji insists at team practice, that it is time for the meeting Kakashi called. Glaring when Gai says his Eternal Rival would have informed him, Neji snarls back with all the fire he has quickly learned most, if not all Uchiha possess,

“I think my own Uncle would tell me when I left the house this morning rather than leave my bedridden aunt alone!” Whirling, Neji ignores his team in favour of bolting to the house- which he knows now that if so inclined, his Head of Clan would and could stretch to accommodate three dozen shinobi- where an equally bewildered set of two more Genin teams are staring at the boundary. Rolling his eyes, Neji presses his palm to the gate, calmly bending down to grab a dog treat from an ankle pouch before straightening to tell a fast moving Bull

“It is alright, Bull-san, my Uncle wishes to talk to these people about the Pack, and the Prima.” Nodding, Bull moves to continue his rounds, but not before growling

“If you hurt the Prima, the Alpha won’t have to have your heads. The Betas will do it for him.” Chuckling, Neji strode down the path, calling to the man on the engawa

“A fine day for tea, ne Oro-jiji?” A dip of his head, and a stroke of the snake in his lap before the man says lazily

“The gakis are in one of the outdoor salles. Niece and nephew wanted to get it up.” Grinning wickedly at the face his godson made, Orochimaru shrugged and said loftily

“Fact of life, Neji-kun. At least they do it when the house is empty.” Acquiescing, Neji hurried to the furthest training salle from the house, absolutely sure his cousin will be there. He is not disappointed, and instead of breaking up the Taijutsu match, calmly moves to assist Sakura as she has been restricted to Academy style until she masters the Iron Style Taijutsu. Sasuke quickly breaks Neji away from Sakura and Naruto to engage in a fast and furious Taijutsu match that leaves all bystanders breathless. Sakura, at Narutos’ chin jerk to her waist, yanks out the brand new green shukusen and begins battering Naruto even as he uses more acrobatic maneuvers, rolling and tumbling. Eventually, the three boys try melee combat, Neji’s Jyuken holding out against Sasuke’s Phoenix Stance, the Uchiha Taijutsu style. Naruto holds his own, but is defeated when the older boys gang up on him.

Before anything else can happen, an amused Amaya calls

“Dinner!” From the engawa. Calling a strategic retreat, Team Seven and Neji bolt to the buffet laid out on that same engawa. Neji and Sasuke disagree about who gets to say grace, Neji claiming that the other boys’ turn was today, Sasuke the opposite, until Amaya told them to shut up, she would do it. Shutting up at the silent threat to clean up the entire two floor, narrow library if they misbehave, Naruto sniggers only to get a whack from Sakura. Kakashi frowns at his students and nephew, before addressing their confused comrades.

“This is my wife, Amaterasu Uchiha Hatake, current Head of the Uchiha Clan.” Smiling warmly as she slid into his embrace, she remarked

“We boast three members now, you know.” Neji and Sasuke beamed (as much as tough guys beam) at the woman. Sakura says with a sweet venom that has Orochimaru raising his eyebrows

“Amaterasu-san is a bit long to say . . . Good thing she prefers Uchiha-sama.” Catching on, Sasuke says seriously

“Since we Uchiha are traditionally blood allied to the Hatake, the best way to refer to Kakashi-sensei-” Naruto, who has long since adopted Kakashi as a long lost brother finished with a feral grin

“Hatake-sama, if you don’t want to anger Uchiha-sama.” Neji nodded, equally serious, and says airily

“Oji-sama and Uchiha-dono are the strongest pair in the shinobi nations.”

Studying them intently, Kakashi eye smiled sadistically, the act all for naught when Amaya burst out laughing.

“Now, now, Neji-kun, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun . . . Kakashi, don’t joke with our guests so early.” Leaping to his feet, the Hatake man mercilessly wrestled his wife to sit in his lap, clenching tighter when she tried to get up. Chortling, Naruto informed the guests

“Amaya-sensei loves Kakashi-sensei, really, but he gets a little mean when she won’t let him play his games.”

Gaping, (Why, Naruto, muses, do people do that? Kakashi adored Amaya, who loved him more than her own life. Get over it!) the other teams were too busy wresting food from a hastily eating Neji and Sasuke, Naruto shrieking his joy girlishly when he found his favorite Ramen to notice Orochimaru chortling.

Eagle eyes watched a dozen Genin, and half a dozen adults devour the food, before she cleared her throat and said softly

“It is time to discuss why we called a meeting.” Neji froze, as Sasuke straightened from his place beside Sakura, Naruto snapping his head around.

Kakashi pressed close to Amaya, calming her with the touching more than being lecherous. Before anyone could talk, she said sternly

“The Exhibition showed that this generation of Genin is weak.” Waiting for the indignant cries to die down, she continued

“Sakura defeated a clan Kunoichi with acrobatics, cunning and a shukusen, Naruto and Sasuke manipulated their match to their end. These matches should have been much longer, but they weren’t.” Sasuke spoke up, having discussed this with his teammates and single clanmate.

“Can you teach them Iron Steel Style, Amaya-sama?” Kakashis’ grip tightened further, internally snarling at the idea of giving up more of Amaya. A soothing hand ran down his thigh, easing his grip fractionally.

Inos’ eyes lit up, hope igniting even after the berating Amaya had given her. Hinata was interested in more time with Naruto, and the others were slightly curious. Amaya considered this, eyes downcast, absently running her hand up and down her husbands’ thigh.

Gathering her body into his lap, Kakashi said quietly

“Go practice Taijutsu while she’s thinking about this. It is not a choice to make lightly, but I will do as she wishes.”  Amaya silently curled into Kakashis’ chest, for once without the jonin vest. Strong arms held her as she sorted through old memories, of cousins who had loved another pair of cousins, of their daughters- Akashina, out in Suna, with a distant aunt, who was still grieving a friend who had died young, Aisha who was on a long term mission in Kusa- and all she had taught them. Of her own sister, Akita, who had died birthing Neji, and her mother and grandmother, who had died, respectively, in combat and of illness. As they comforted each other and contemplated times bygone, a shadow moved out of the brush, and the elderly Inosha Yamanaka Senju walked out of the bushes, her cane a piece of carved alabaster topped by a ruby.

“Amaya-chan, are you going to teach them?” The creak of her voice was deceptive. Despite being one of the rare surviving contemporaries of the Sandaime, she was as sharp as her late husband, Tajima. Amaya sat up, blinking, before hurrying to seat her great aunt.

“Obaa-sama, what are you doing so far from the Yamanaka compound?” Inosha huffed “Your Oji-san died years ago, so why-” Amaya cut her off gently.

“Tajima Oji-sama loved you as father loved mother. Until you remarry, you are my Obaa-sama.”   

Snorting, Inosha replied

“Those idiots are still arguing over what you said to young Ino, and besides, I wanted to see you. You need to teach those children, Amaterasu. Honor is as good as nukenin, Faith returned to her homeland when Shisui died, Aisha will never be a leader, and Akashina will swear her allegiance to Suna, and you know she will.” Amaya stiffened, returning to Kakashi, aware of the sadness lurking in Inoshas’ eyes.

“If that is your directive, Inosha-sama, then I will obey, if you will reside with us until this generation is ready.” Interest sparked in the elders’ eyes, but was cut off when the young ones returned. Ino, Chouji and even Shikamaru were impressed that a Yamanaka elder was sitting in front of a rather chastised Amaya. Ino hurried over, exclaiming

“Inosha-obaa-chan-” Reaching over, Amaya cracked her Shukusen over Inos’ head, barking angrily

“Inosha Yamanaka Senju was the sister in law of the Sandaime. In my presence, you will address her as Inosha-sama!” Staring in awe at the woman who had shocked Ino into silence, Asuma asked

“What?” Inosha sighed heavily and explained impatiently

“My husband, Tajima Senju, died just before you were born, Asuma-san. Your mother, Biwako, was his twin sister.”

Amaya said offhandedly

“Inosha-sama will assist me in training the young females. Kakashi will of course be assisted by Sasuke and Oji-sama.” Holding up her hand, Amaya continued amusedly

“Hinata and Shino, Shikamaru and Ino, Tenten and Neji, you will be trained alongside Sasuke and Sakura in the Iron Steel Style. Kiba, Akamaru, Chouji, and Lee will train in the Augment Style so as to support the others.” Inosha cut off protests by saying

“You’ll have plenty of work to do, young ones. Ino, you’ll need to learn patience and battle tactics, Hinata, you’ll need to specialize with a weapon, Sakura, mednin jutsu is your best bet, and Tenten, you should consider a few close combat weapons.”

As the girls quieted, Kakashi said evilly

“Most of you will focus on ninjutsu and kenjutsu.” Amaya whacked him with her Shukusen.

“For now though, we’ll explain the Iron Daughters and Steel Sons.” Kakashi shook his head and said firmly.

“Dawn, tomorrow, you will return here for intensive retraining, prepared to stay for months if necessary. Neji, Team 7, settle Inosha-sama and see our guests out.” Amaya moved to protest, but her husband, as he had many times before, simply ignored her protests and took her to their bedroom, luxuriating in the feel of her weight, warm and soft, against him.