The Cloud Over The Leaf

The way back home was...interesting to say the least.

If Grandpa was happy on the way to the training ground, he was ecstatic on the way back. 

I even see a hop in his step every now and then!

We make it back to the house exhausted, besides Grandpa. The family looks pretty normal, I guess this was talked about before.

Grandma takes one look at Grandpa's face and is surprised by the smile. 

"Di! Do they-?!"

Grandpa nods his head, making Grandma smile the brightest smile I've ever seen her smile.

"Yosh!! Which one has Earth element?!"

The twins synchronize a shiver, which Grandma didn't fail to notice. Her smile is getting eerie now!

"Oho~?! The brats are like me, huh? This will be fun."

"Moya has Fire as well, Riku."

Grandpa is quite adept at adding oil to fire as Grandma's eyes seem to be able to pierce through Moya now.

My poor sister is shivering like a leaf.

I rub her and Yozora's heads to calm them down a bit, though I'm in a worse situation.

Mom went on a mission today, so she doesn't know yet. When she gets back though....

Oh boy.

"We'll need Kaya's help to find someone for Wind style. Yozora is the only one."

"Wind style, eh? I guess that'll have to do."

Riku nods her head at the advice and proceeds to ask Di more about the process, which brings Grandma to boisterous laughter at how fast we unlocked Chakra.

"Three little Geniuses, eh?! Looks like we'll have a shot at being a clan after all."

Di's also excited while the rest of us are confused. We'll be a clan?

Grandpa looks at our faces and smiles. 

"Don't worry about the other stuff. You'll have to work hard to get to your Mom's level."

All of our eyes shine when we think of Mom's prowess.

The twins could only hear tales, but I was shown the bits of Mom fighting the Kyuubi when he came back. Her Rising Cloud Jutsu is so versatile!

I wonder if I can learn it too?!

"Oh right. What did Hii-chan get?"

Grandma asks as she realized I wasn't under her tutelage and finds a very smug Grandpa.

"Hehehehehe!"

"Stop creeping the kids out, you big oaf!"

Grandma slaps Grandpa on the shoulder, but it doesn't stop his laughter at all. 

The two always seem to fight all the time, but Grandma's smile always seems to let us know the love they have is priceless.

I guess that's the same with Mom and Dad too.

We ended up being celebrated with a big feast with all of our favorites by Grandma. 

I'm not passing up on Grandma's rock bass fillet, but the twins are a little anxious as no carrots can be seen in the meal.

I'm glad they're already learning not to trust a good thing, but it's too late.

Can't escape it, so why not enjoy it?

*****

A few weeks have passed since we unlocked our chakra and it's been hell for the twins and I.

Grandma took over the training now as she tries to teach us the basic ninjutsu for Genin. Grandma and Grandpa have decided to switch off on subjects due to their style and...well, disability.

Grandma gives the basics of handsigns and chakra use while Grandpa gives us a bit of combat experience. 

I've always known Grandpa was strong, but not to the level of barely paying attention and beating us down.

The two won't tell us what happened to them yet, but whoever took their limbs must've been powerful.

Grandma is teaching the Transformation Jutsu and having us transform into her and Grandpa. 

Grandma would correct our details and smack the twins when they misbehaved. She was very patient with teaching this, saying the Jutsu could save your life someday. I feel she's speaking from experience on this.

It was a pretty fun week getting the basics of that Jutsu down though. It was especially funny when we all passed.

Mom came into the house to find four Grandma's turning towards her, Grandpa with a big grin on his face, and Dad walked in right after he finished his orders so he doesn't know who is who.

Mom being Mom, however,  didn't need much help in figuring us out.

"Hey Dad, which one is the prettiest?"

Grandpa walked over and hugged Grandma quite quickly, getting him a slap on the shoulder and a slight blush.

Pretty smooth, Gramps.

Mom just turned to us and smiled.

"I'm thinking I should make stew tonight. With looots of carrots. What do you think?"

The twins gave up quickly after that.

Mom made us copy her as well and gave me a thumbs up over how quick we copied her.

Of course, Grandpa dropped the bomb of of the twins nature to Mom, bringing a happy smile on her face.

"We'll need your help to find a Wind instructor, Kaya."

"I have someone in mind to help. Leave it to me! I'm glad you got some succesors, Mom!"

Grandma nods her head as she stares at Mom with a bright smile. 

"What's wrong, Mom?"

"It's about Hii."

Mom shoots a look at me and looks back at Grandma.

"What is his nature?"

"Lightning."

Mom's face....turns a bit complicated. I expected her to be happy, but I didn't think Grandpa's words would bring this on.

"Oh. I see."

Just then, Grandma leaned over to Grandpa.

*Smack*

A loud clap echoes as Grandma smacked the back of Grandpa's head.

"You dumbass! Tell her the full details!"

Di shrugs off the slap and chuckles to himself.

"Hii has Lighting and Water."

I turned to see mom's reaction only to be put dead center in her chest.

Haven't been here in a while.

"Yees!! Oh I'm soo happy! I'm gonna teach you everything I know!!"

Mom lifted me up as she shook to and fro. All I can feel is soft mounds and death slowly creeping up.

"Mom! Put me down."

Mom snaps out of her reverie and sets me down with a red face. I can't tell if it's from excitement or embarassment.

"You have to calm down, Kaya. Don't let your emotions show too much."

Grandpa says sagely as he eats his food.

"Says the skipper."

Of course, Grandma once again fires bombs on Grandpa, bringing laughter to the table.

"D-did anybody want to blacksmith?"

Sorry Dad, I don't think anyone does.

"Me."

....I stand corrected as Dad sheds tears of joy over his one child after his craft.

*****

The Substitution jutsu was pretty fun as well since we used logs and toys as things to switch with. 

Moya was actually the first one to get this one right followed by me, then Yozora.

Yozora got her back in the Clone justu training since she was dead last.

Second place for me though.

Mom taught us the basic times when to use these Jutsus from experiences she had.

Hearing how close Mom came to death though wasn't something we were found of hearing about. 

"Hmmm."

"What is it, Moya?"

"I don't like hearing your close saves, Mom."

Mom is shocked to hear Moya say that. Even more so when we all nodded at the same time.

"Why?! It'll help you know better if you're in a similar situation."

" I know! But.. It's just.."

Moya turns to me. Guess she needs assistance.

"Hii-nii."

Yozora too, huh?

"I think it's because you're our Mom. We don't want to hear how close to death you were, no matter how beneficial it is. We don't want to imagine you getting hurt."

Mom stares at all of us as the other two nod their heads. We didn't realize this got us a death hug from Mom. Her saying "My little babies" didn't help either.

We endured though, since it was Mom. 

After that, we were to train chakra control. Mom wanted us to climb a tree, which we would all do anyway when we went to play.

It was only when we saw her upside down on a branch did the twins realize how fun it would be.

I like the idea as well, but using it for pranking is a bit much.

"Hii."

"Yes?"

Mom puts a hand to her head and sighs.

"Watch out for them, ok?"

"It's my job, Mom."

We tried to run to the top of the tree, but it takes a couple of days for us to get it.

Surprisingly, I'm the last one to get it this time. I seemed to keep putting too much chakra into it, but I managed.

It wasn't over yet for me though as Mom took us to a nearby lake and made us put on swimsuits. When she started to walk on the water, I knew I'd have a bad time.

It goes to show we all learned how to swim really fast that day. We tied on this one.

It took us another week to master that before Mom taught us the last technique we could learn, the Body Flicker Jutsu. As soon as I learned the description of this technique I knew why Mom didn't want to teach it to us.

The bright eyes the twins had on this technique was all I needed to piece it all together. 

Mom warned us, or more specifically the twins, to not use this technique to cause trouble. 

The three of us agreed to not cause trouble with the technique. 

I did have to slap a couple of crossed fingers though to make them take it seriously.

Better me than Mom.

This time, I got the basics down first out of the three of us. Moya was second while Yozora was last.

This, of course, lead to a race using Body flicker to see who was the best of the two. 

I don't know how many times they tied each other, but Mom and I laughed till our cheeks hurt.

With the basics down, the twins thought they were ready to be full fledged ninjas. 

I knew better. Especially when Grandpa had a very pleased smile on his face at their confidence. It was like a spider looking at a fly that was dreaming it was in the sky instead of a web.

Needless to say, he crushed that confidence flat.