Paranoia of the Starved |Kankuro|

Chapter 9

It was just after training, and Shiruma-sensei and I were sitting in the sand just outside the training range after a run around the village to end today's lessons. I chugged down some of the water in my bottle, and looked over at Shiruma-sensei, for finally deciding to ask, "so.. You know how my chakra reserves are crap?"

"Yeah," he responded bluntly, "what about them?"

"Well I was wondering, what can I learn to be good as a shinobi?" I asked. I already knew a few answers. Fuinjutsu, as it doesn't require too much chakra when just doing basic seals, but thats not exactly something for battle. There was taijutsu, which I was a bit subpar in at the moment. I wanted to learn some cool ninjutsu or something, now that I actually lived in the Naruto Universe, but I get stuck with crappy reserves. 

"Well, as a shinobi, it isn't all about cool ninjutsus," he explained starting off, like he read my mind. "I once knew a great shinobi, similar to you," he explained. "He was born a civilian but was determined to become a shibobi, he decided to become an iryo nin. As it didn't require too much chakra," he explained. 

"So you're telling me to become an iryo nin?" I asked tilting my head at him. "It wouldn't be too bad I guess.."

"Well that is just one option, if you're interested you could learn puppetry, it requires chakra control, and the amount of chakra you use all depends on you," he explained. Something sort of sparked inside of me. Puppetry wouldn't be all that bad. 

"That seemed to interest you," he chuckled. "Well, I'm no good at puppetry, but I know a few people as its decently popular around Suna," he explained. "So I could learn a few tricks and teach you the basics, but before then we need to work on your reserves. Otherwise by the time you're as old as me, you're going to have slightly above average civilian chakra," he chuckled. 

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" I asked, knowing it was a bad thing, but maybe there would be more perks. 

Shiruma-sensei was thoughtful for a moment, "both, bad because you have less reserves, but good in a way with your current specialty, infiltration and espionage. You just seem like a civilian," he explained with a chuckle. 

I stared at him for a moment, shrugging slightly. 

"Well, I better get going now, if you wanna improve your stores, try meditation, or even some basic ninjutsu. I'd suggest water, it's the least deadly." He chuckled, before hopping up and walking off.

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I sighed out as I sat there during lunch, in my regular spot on the side of the building. Sometimes Kankuro would join me, sometimes he wouldn't. It all depended on how much he was talking to Temari. 

Kankuro came with a book in hand, as well as his lunch, as he plopped down next to me as I was halfway through eating my bread. 

"What are you reading?" I asked, after swallowing my bite. 

"Okay, so after we learned about the third war, I looked into it a bit more, and I learned about Sasori of the red sand!" He explained excitedly, opening up the book. Which I could now see more clearly, but the covered had a red scorpian, and was titled "The Work and Life of Sasori of the Red Sand". 

I paused for a moment in the nostalgia. I remembered always preferring Sasori over Kankuro, because of how badass he was even though he was a huge dick in all actuality, but Kankuro just sort of fell into the background. 

"So are you getting into puppets now?" I asked, tilting my head. 

Kankuro nodded quickly, "yep! Sasori was so cool! And he made a lot fo cool puppets too!" He quickly flipped through the pages, showing the familar puppet known as 'Crow'. "They were so good that they actually began mass producing them!" He explained. "I hope that I can become that good they I can make a puppet they mass produce!" 

"Well the other day, I was talking to Shiruma-sensei, and he said that I would be good at puppets, and I've been considering it, so do you want to make a puppet together, maybe?" I asked, tilting my head. 

Kankuro perked up at that, "that would be great! When do you want to start? Do you have an idea already?" He asked, shooting off questions left and right. 

I shrugged a bit, "no I don't really have an idea, maybe we can draw one up?" I asked. 

"That would be great!" He chirped. 

Soon enough, almost conveniently, the bell rang and we were off to class.

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Ito-sensei stood in front of us all. "Alright, since we have the basics, we will being working on our first seal. One of the simplest seals, that many shinobi use on a constant basic, the storage seal. There are different variantions of the seal. Some to seal biological matter like plants. Some for food, and some for weapons. We will be working on a simple item storage seal." She explained. 

"Now, don't feel bad if yours doesn't work, but this will be a test to see if you will be staying in this class or not," she explained. "Although that will be tommorrow, so be sure to notify your parents that you may be home late," she explained. 

"But for today I will just be going over on the board how to write it, and you will be following along with me," she explained, passing out a small piece of sealing paper to each of us. "We will be using a special kind of paper, infused with chakra, to make this seal," she explained. 

"You are able to buy it, but most masters make their own," she stated. "Now let's begin."

Within 1 and a half hour, I had a bunch of illegible scribbles on my paper. She looked around the room. "Alright, all dismissed, except Himoko, please stay behind," she stated as she gathered our papers. 

I stayed in my seat as I watched the rest leave. I was nervous. Was I being kicked out, the test was tommorrow!?

Ito-sensei made her way over to me, "you're not in trouble, I just have a question for you," she stated softly, sitting down next to me. I scooted away slightly, she either didn't notice, or didn't say anything. "Are you left handed?" She asked. 

I shook my head no, "my sensei is making me use my left hand to get used to it, because my network and muscles are messed up on my right," I explained. 

"Could you write a bit for me, using your right?" She asked. "I noticed that your writing today was barely legible," she explained. I nodded, as she gave me a piece of paper. 

I dipped my quill into the ink and looked over to her, "what should I write?" I asked, the quill feeling foreign in my hand but my senses were quickly coming back to me as I gripped it. 

"How about you write you name?" She suggested. So I wrote my name. She paused for a moment. "Alright, well you are much better with your right, so, how about for homework tonight, you recreate the seal," she explained, handing me a copy of the seal, on regular paper. "You may leave now," she explained while standing up and making her way back to her desk. 

As I made my way outside of the school, I spotted Kankuro waiting for me, with his book in tow. "Hey! Wanna hang out?" He seemed nervous. "To work on the puppet!" He explained quickly. 

"Oh.. well I have to train with my sensei today," I explained nervously. I was not expecting this..! He was my friend right? This is what normal friends do, right? I felt my heart sink as I watched Kankuro's face drop in dissappointment. "But maybe you could come over later tonight? Maybe even.. A sleepover.. Yeah.." I explained slowly. I've never had guests, other than Shiruma-sensei. Plus I was only 8..! 

Kankuro perked up with a grin, "that would be great!" He stated. 

"Okay, go to training ground #2 at sunset, okay? Thats around the time my training ends," I stated. 

"Alright!" He stated, as he rushed off to Temari. 

Everything felt so.. weird. I was so used to the sassy, older Kankuro from the show, but right now, he was just an excited little kid.. An exicted little kid that was my friend.. We were friends.. I had a friend..! I grinned to myself, before going to train. I decided to grab some food. Instant ramen should do nicely..