51-60

"You did great! I'm so proud of you!" As soon as Nozomi reached her merry group of misfits Tomoka began pressing her while hugging her from the side. This in turn generated a reaction from the two girls in Tomoka's friend group. Nozomi felt pride swell in her chest as some embarrassment mixed with something else tinged her cheeks rosy red. On the other hand Hinata couldn't help but frown and pout in jealousy.

"Hinata Hyuga'' Having her name called suddenly caught the girl by surprise. However, she quickly composed herself before walking forwards. In her mind she needed to do better than Nozomi. Her competitive nature ignited for one and one reason alone. She wanted to be praised and maybe even hugged by Tomoka, not that she would ever admit to the latter one.

Like before the timer began and with practiced ease Hinata got to work. The Hyuga clan was never recognised for their bukijutsu, or ninjutsu, or anything else that isn't their gentle fist or byakugan. However, she is different. Due to her constant and relentless competition with Nozomi she had improved drastically in those fields.

Weapons flew through the air as they landed on target each time. Hinata's hands moved at high speed throwing weapons until her time ran out. In her hand weapon number nine was just about to leave but didn't. Her final count had been eight flawless hits. Hinata's brows were furrowed into a deep frown.

"You did well" With a smile Tomoka placed a hand on hinata's head softly petting it. Hinata felt conflicted, On one hand she liked the feeling. On the other, she knew this was nothing more than a consolation reward. Her frown became even deeper once she saw Nozomi's smug grin. In her mind she vowed to train harder, she would win next time.

"Tomoka Fushi" Tomoka's turn finally came. With ease of movement she went forward Analyzing the targets while formulating different methods for maximum efficiency. However, before that she had to do something else.

"Sensei! I told you to just call me Tomoka" With a deceivingly cute pout she glared at Iruka.

[Don't fall for it, human! This demon is worse than me!]

'Shut it fox, He is already under my grasp'

Done with their little banter Tomoka prepared. In front of her were a total of five targets with different sizes as well as distances from her. The biggest target is also the closest one while the smallest is the furthest away. Another thing to note is that all of them are nailed to a tree, and this was what made her mind.

"Begin"

As soon as the timer started Tomoka took her first kunai and threw it to the nearest target. Her movements were languid and slow disregarding the fact that she was wasting time. As the Kunai flew through the air a loud whistle could be heard. Then it struck the target, splitting it in two while perforating the tree behind. The same was repeated four more times.

"I believe I said this was a bukijutsu test Tomoka" Iruka finally broke from his astonishment and came to a conclusion.

"I don't understand sensei?" Of course Tomoka played dumb.

"You used an air jutsu to improve their cutting power didn't you" Iruka was having none of it. The strange whistle had been clue enough.

"No I didn't. I just infused them with my chakra. That's not a jutsu is it?" She wasn't wrong but that wasn't what Iruka wished to hear. He had been warned about this one, a cheeky and smart girl that enjoyed messing with people.

"Fine, I will let this one slide, but no chakra usage in the taijutsu test or you will get detention" He simply let go of Tomoka for two reasons. First he didn't want to deal with it, and second her display didn't affect the results of this test anyway. After all, coating the weapon would be meaningless if they didn't hit.

To tell the truth Iruka didn't care much for the amount of shuriken and kunai thrown but instead for the hit rate and what targets were hit. As long as a student was able to hit all five targets without missing once he considered them to pass flawlessly.

"Don't worry sensei, I won't. After all, I don't want to hurt my fellow classmates… much" The last part came as nothing more than a whisper that even she could barely hear.

[I wonder who will be the poor bastard to be matched against you]

'Hopefully Sasuke, he is the only one I won't feel bad for beating into the ground'

[Bullshit! You won't feel bad no matter who you beat into the ground, I have seen how you train Naruto, Hinata and Nozomi]

'Touché'

Iruka was having a difficult time with his current task or to be more specific with Tomoka. After his initial scolding for the usage of chakra in the bukijutsu test he finally took in the whole situation. A kid no older than eight years had used chakra coating on her weapons. That is simply insane especially since he himself is unable to do such a thing, At least not without a weapon made from chakra metal.

To put it simply, in Iruka's eyes the girl might as well be a genin already. That reminded him of similar instances of such prodigies in the past like Itachi or Kakashi. Not wanting to think too deeply about it he decided to push that notion to the back of his mind and continue with the test. It's not like she could be as skilled in other areas right?

"Alright, next will be the ninjutsu test. Since I don't expect most of you to actually know any yet I will ask those of you who don't to make a group to my left. Those of you confident enough to try please stand to my right."

As instructed everyone moved to one group or the other. As expected, all kids from civilian families stood to the left while all from clan families stood to the right… except for a certain lazy Nara and chubby Akimichi. There were some kids that, like Tomoka, didn't belong to a clan but instead had shinobi parents who also stood to the right.

"Alright, I will be calling you one by one and I want you to use a ninjutsu, any will do" The goal of this test was simple. Iruka wished to observe the kid's chakra control and reserves. Of course doing so with trained shinobi would be impossible for him, however he could do so easily with kids.

Once again names were called one after the other. Until the first interesting name was called and would you guess but it was the blond boy. Naruto walked forward before waving some hand signs for an air jutsu. In a moment Naruto shot out a wind bullet, a very weak one mind you.

Seeing Naruto's performance, Tomoka could do nothing but sigh. She had drilled that one jutsu into his skull for the last two years and he still botched it horribly. The amount of wasted chakra in its execution was enough to shoot ten or more of the same bullets with twice the power.

Iruka had noticed the flaws in Naruto's execution of the jutsu. His eyebrow and lips twitch with annoyance. The damned kid had wasted around half of what Iruka had for a chakra pool. With a cough to refocus his thoughts Iruka decided to call the next kid before he went into a rant.

"Next, Sasuke" Like before, Sasuke went right after Naruto. After all, Iruka was simply calling them by list.

Hearing his name Sasuke walked forward with confidence and pride, that is until his eyes landed on Nozomi. In an instant Sasuke's brows furrowed into a frown, he couldn't understand how that failure of an Uchiha had surpassed him in Bukijutsu. However, a moment later he came to a conclusion.

'Of course. Since she can't use fire she sunk all her time into Bukijutsu while I had to train my ninjutsu. No wonder she managed to beat me' With the confidence that brought this thought Sasuke proceeded to weave the famous fireball jutsu of the Uchiha.

As the kid exhaled a fireball the size of a basketball flew towards a target. As it hit a small explosion followed as the target got bathed in flames. Satisfied with his performance Sasuke couldn't help but send Nozomi a smug grin.

"Well done Sasuke, next is Nozomi" Like before Nozomi walked forward with calm steps. She had been nervous until a moment ago when she saw Sasuke's fireball. Even though yes it was powerful for a kid his age, it was nothing compared to what she had to deal with from Tomoka.

Once she received the green light from Iruka she began her performance. Her hands moved with incredible speed and precision out of pure habit. A second later she was finished and exhaled.

'Air style: APER'

From her mouth a tiny ball of liquid was propelled forward with amazing speed Striking the target next to Sasuke's. As the liquid bullet impacted the log it pierced through it like a hot needle through foam till the halfway point. What came next was a loud bang as the compressed air expanded rupturing the log from within causing it to explode.

This very jutsu was something that Tomoka had made after mastering the air bullet jutsu. She called it the Armor piercing explosive round or APER for short.

Iruka could barely believe his eyes. The little Uchiha had used an extremely lethal jutsu like it was nothing. Her control had been top notch having little chakra waste. Though he could see she was slightly winded from the exertion he would be scared if she wasn't. After all, this jutsu might as well be a B tier jutsu, maybe even A tier.

Tomoka couldn't help but grin after seeing Nozomi's display. Inside her mindscape she was cackling madly at Sasuke's gobsmacked expression. She had ruptured her lungs more than once trying to create the damned thing. Nozomi had been taught after the redhead had checked and triple checked its completion and even so she had observed the Uchiha girl at all times while she practiced.

In the end Nozomi could barely use it in a combat situation as the amount of concentration needed would lead to a massive state of weakened awareness and reaction. Not to mention that interruption of the jutsu could lead to death by exploding lungs.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was suffering from a mental breakdown. His delusion had been thoroughly shattered as he had been bested in two of the three tests.

"A-alright, next is Hinata" Iruka had barely managed to recover his composure resulting in him stuttering a little. Meanwhile Hinata's eyes were focused to the point her byakugan almost activated. She had lost in Bukijutsu but she vehemently refused to lose in Ninjutsu.

Moving forward the Hyuga girl stood at least ten meters away from everybody else. What she was going to attempt would be extremely dangerous and would leave her out of breath. However, her determination burned strong.

In an instant Hinata began moving her hands before slamming them into the ground. At that moment she remembered the harsh training she had gone through at the hands of Tomoka. Her will unwavering pushed her chakra to do her bidding.

'Earth style: spike forest'

A moment later sharp earth needles protrude from the ground all around Hinata. A circle of five meters radius filled with deadly spikes had formed around the girl with each spike being a meter in height.

As Hinata finished her jutsu she could feel her body become slightly unresponsive due to exhaustion. That single jutsu had cost her half of her chakra. Unlike Nozomi who for some reason had high chakra reserves, though compared to Tomoka or Naruto it was nothing, Hinata's reserves were average at best.

This time Iruka's mind went blank for a moment. Having one prodigious student is already great, having two is a little absurd but three! Three is just madness. Last two girls had used monstrous jutsus and he was slightly afraid of what the third might do. With trepidation Iruka decided to get it over with.

"Tomoka… your turn" He had to pause for a moment after saying the girl's name as a chill ran up his spine. Something told him that whatever the girl would do, he didn't want to have anything to do with it.

"Sure thing!" With a cheery voice Tomoka walked forward. She had quite a few options to choose from. However, not all of them appealed to her. In the past, she had decided to act normal, or as normal as she could, so she wouldn't garner unwanted attention. Now on the other hand, she became tired of it. Instead she would do whatever she felt like and deal with it later.

Having made a decision, Tomoka began moving her hands, she decided to use a jutsu she had just recently made. It wasn't perfect just yet and the backlash would be lethal for anyone else but her. The years of self electrocution had changed her body. Nowadays she was confident in surviving a lightning strike or two unharmed.

As she finished weaving her hands everyone's hair began standing up. Through Tomoka's dispersed chakra any and all movement would generate small amounts of static electricity. This concept had been directly taken from her static field jutsu. However, now it has been taken further.

In an instant Tomoka moved forward striking a nearby tree with her fist. The impact released a large amount of static that lightly charred the tree's exterior. Iruka as well as some other students thought she was done, they were very wrong.

The next moment Tomoka disappeared only to reappear next to the tree on a different side, she struck once again with ridiculous speed. What followed was another static release, this one stronger than the last. Then she vanished again.

As the saying goes, the third time's the charm. Like before she appeared next to the tree and struck. The sheer amount of static contained in the impact had caused the bark of the tree to light up for a moment. However, that was not important for what followed amazed everyone present.

'Lightning style: Thunder lord's decree'

All around the area large amounts of lightning surged out of the ground flowing like a swarm of snakes towards the tree. An instant later all of them impacted the tree flowing upwards, in what seemed to be a reverse lightning strike. A bright flash of light later and the tree had been split in half, charred and burning as if lightning had struck it. All around the poor thing the buzzing of electricity could be heard as the remaining charge dispersed.

Standing at her original position Tomoka stood with a satisfied expression as red and blue electric sparks flowed through her from time to time. Despite her relaxed demeanor and calm breathing she felt like fainting. Her chakra reserves might be massive but this jutsu was simply put, a huge chakra sink. If someone were to lightly push her she would have no other option but fall to the ground and faint on the spot.

'I feel like puking'

[That is what you get for showing off]

From afar a few other teachers had rushed over to check out what was going on. After seeing that no battle was taking place they decided to leave it be and ask Iruka for a report later.

Iruka.exe stopped working. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. Cold sweat flowed down his back as he tried to rationalize what had just happened. A girl that for all intents and purposes should barely know how to use her chakra had used an A ranked jutsu no, that thing might as well be S rank at this point. What made it worse was that the girl just stood there, unhindered by the immense amount of chakra she had just used.

"Hey Tomoka, stop acting" A voice suddenly brought Iruka out of his stupor. Nozomi walked next to Tomoka while saying that. Acting? Iruka couldn't understand what she meant, that is until he saw what happened next. Nozomi gave Tomoka a slight tap on the shoulder.

'Damit Nozomi! It was going so well!' Tomoka couldn't help but scream in her mind as doing so with her mouth was currently imposible. Like a puppet with her string cut, Tomoka collapsed. She would have hit the floor hard if a certain purple eyed angel hadn't caught her.

"Is she alright?" Iruka's mind was still in disarray, because of this his thought process was lacking. As a teacher, he should have taken action to ensure his student's safety. However, right now he didn't feel like a teacher.

"Yeah, she is fine, this isn't the first time she has done something like this" Nozomi said nonchalantly as she gave Tomoka's leg a slight kick. To tell the truth Nozomi was a bit angry with Tomoka. Every time she did something like that she was reminded of what happened four years ago.

"I see, in that case let her rest and let's continue with the final test" Iruka decided to simply forget about it for his own sanity and move on.

With that done, Nozomi turned around to see Tomoka receiving a lap pillow from Hinata who had a slight blush on her cheeks and a mocking grin directed at her. At that moment the Uchiha girl realized the great opportunity she had lost and given to her rival. She felt like crying but a distraction came just in time.

Unlike before, Iruka decided to draw lots for the taijutsu test, since it consisted of one versus one matches. As names were called kids moved forward and fought till one of them either fell out of the ring, gave up, or their backs hit the floor since those were the rules.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga" The next two names were called and Naruto's expresion paled. He had seen Hinata fighting when she got serious and it was simply scary. The gentle girl would always refuse fights even when they were simple spars because she disliked hurting others. However, there is an exception. Whenever Tomoka offered rewards the girl would become savage and merciless.

"Erm, Hinata, did Tomoka offer you any reward?" He needed to make sure, after all he didn't want to end up beaten black and blue. However, to his dismay the girl only gave him a sweet smile.

"Alright, do the friendship sign" Following this the two did as told. Next they got into position and soon after the fight began.

In an instant Hinata began sprinting towards him with determination burning in her eyes. This was all Naruto needed to see before he knew he was fucked.

Not wasting any time he changed his form to a defensive one Tomoka had drilled into his skull through constant beatings. In the past he had felt some resentment for that, now however, he was thankful. The poor blond kid blocked and dodged as much as he could as Hinata's relentless punches and kicks assaulted him.

Iruka was once again having a hard time understanding what was going on. He knew full well that all Hyuga members practiced the gentle fist style and they were taught it from a very young age. This should apply even more to Hinata since she is the Hyuga's clan princess. However what was currently unfolding before him was completely different from what he expected.

The style Hinata was currently using wasn't completely dissimilar from the gentle fist. However, it is well known that the gentle fist style has little to no moves involving the lower part of the body. On the other hand Hinata was using her lower body masterfully, weaving kicks in between punches and open palm strikes.

Tomoka, who had recovered enough to at least sit by herself, felt proud. She had worked really hard to introduce kicks and foot work into the gentle fist. Of course, she couldn't take full credit for it since in reality she had merely guided Hinata a little. The girl made her new gentle flow style all by herself.

"Kick his ass Hinata and I will pamper you for a full day!" Tomoka's sudden shout had distracted the girl for a second. That second had been long enough for Naruto to land a punch square on her face. The impact had pushed her back which almost resulted in her back impacting the floor.

For his part, Naruto only processed Tomoka's words after he had taken advantage of the gap which he now regretted thoroughly. He saw with trepidation as Hinata landed on her hands doing a backflip before charging back at him.

'Gentle flow style: flowing wrath'

lowing like water and hitting like a landslide. That is the easiest way to describe what followed. In an instant Hinata closed the gap while attacking with an open palm strike that was easily blocked. She wasn't done, not even close, with the same arm Hinata kept her momentum delivering an elbow strike followed by an open palm to Naruto's stomach.

The moment Naruto felt pain coursing through his stomach he knew he needed to retreat. However, it was easier said than done. As soon as he attempted to jump backward he found his right foot stomped on by the Hyuga girl. The next instant a harsh knee strike was delivered to his left hip as well as a fist to his rib cage on the right side.

Little by little, strike by strike Hinata was rendering Naruto unfit to fight. Unlike the common gentle fist style that focused on dealing internal damage through the use of chakra as well as the disabling of the tenketsu points. Hers added an extra factor, her strikes also aimed at the exposed pain points as well as the more exposed nerves within the body. The end result was a brutal fighting style that rendered the adversary powerless through pain and unresponsive limbs.

It only took Hinata ten seconds to beat Naruto black and blue. The blond boy had wanted to give up or just fall to the ground but the constant and precise strikes prevented both. At least his suffering had been brief despite its intensity. Having had enough Hinata let Naruto collapse.

"Naruto, are you alright?" Iruka had finally been brought out of his trance-like state after seeing Hinata's display.

"Yeah, this isn't the first time she has gone all out on me like that. Though I won't be able to move for a while, everything either hurts or I can't feel it " It was the truth. Once he had made a comment about her red face when Tomoka had praised her which led to an even worse beating than now.

Iruka couldn't help but sigh. What was wrong with this generation? Any kid in Naruto's position right now would be crying their eyes out and here he was, seemingly fine. Once again Iruka decided to just ignore it.

"The next two are Shikamaru Nara and Tomoka" Iruka didn't know what to expect from the confrontation. Every time Tomoka had done anything he had his mind blown. However, she couldn't be a prodigy in taijutsu too right?

As the two entered the circle Tomoka looked Shikamaru in the eyes and gave him a cheeky grin. For his part Shikamaru looked relaxed and unbothered, even bored. A moment passed and the two made the friendship sign before getting into position.

"Start" As soon as Iruka finished, the two kids moved.

"I giv-"

"I forfeit" Before Shikamaru could give up, Tomoka did so. Looking to the side Shikamaru could see the same cheeky grin she had given him before. At that moment his puzzled mind managed to piece things together. Tomoka knew he would give up so she made it a competition to see who could do so first.

This realization made Shikamaru feel a little amused, perhaps interacting with this girl wouldn't be as much of a drag as usual. At the very least she wasn't one of Sasuke's fangirls.

Iruka felt his whole face twitch as he contained his annoyed expression. He had seen the entire thing and even though he wasn't as smart as the Nara are his years a teacher gave him enough experience to reach the same conclusion as Shikamaru.

He wanted to retort, to say anything. However, he knew that he could do nothing to force Shikamaru to fight. If he pushed it he would at most let himself be hit and fall out of the circle or on his back. As for Tomoka, she was even more of a variable, one he didn't feel like dealing with. With an exhausted sigh he decided to move on.

"Alright, next up are Nozomi Uchiha and… Sasuke Uchiha, what a coincidence" The last part was whispered to himself. To think that lady luck would put the two Uchiha against each other. Not that he minded. Both of them seem to have a lot of potential.

A moment later the two Uchiha stood inside the circle with serious expressions on their faces. Sasuke had a frown on him that he was trying to hide. Nozomi expresion on the other hand was one of pure determination. She would win, no matter what.

As soon as the signal to start was given both Uchiha rushed towards each other. The first to attack was Sasuke with a straight and telegraphed punch towards Nozomi's left shoulder. In his mind, Sasuke believed that by attacking first he would be setting the tempo of the fight giving him an advantage. He expected Nozomi to dodge to her right and as such he prepared to kick as soon as she did.

Nozomi for her part understood Sasuke's intentions. Instead of dodging the right like he expected she dropped to the ground doing a leg sweep. Sasuke's reaction was to jump to avoid the leg sweep while kicking towards Nozomi's head. The girl deviated Sasuke's kick with the back of her left hand before doing a backflip. The backflip also worked as an attack as she added a kick while doing so.

This time Sasuke couldn't react in time. His position in the air had been compromised by Nozomi's redirection of his leg. The end result being an unstable landing. As he tried to regain his balance a harsh kick landed on his jaw pushing him backwards. With his compromised balance he would have fallen to the ground and lost. Instead he adjusted his body and did a cartwheel to bleed off the momentum.

To the side the other students and the teacher couldn't help but admire the high speed combat taking place. Of course compared to an actual chunin or jonin this was nothing more than child's play. However, it didn't remove the fact that a pair of eight year old kids were fighting with such skill.

Going back to the fight it had fallen into a lull as both adversaries caught their breaths and analyzed their opponents. Sasuke felt frustrated at the fact that he had been hit first, not to mention it had been a hard hit. He still felt slightly dizzy from the kick. Nozomi for her part felt slightly worried. Sasuke's speed is superior to hers. It had been thanks to her combat experience against Tomoka and Lee that she could out maneuver him.

After circling around each other one last time the two moved again to continue fighting. This time Nozomi was the first to attack. A quick jab towards Sasuke's chest had been her choice as it was the attack with the least amount of risk. Sasuke for his part blocked the attack before sending a kick to Nozomi's side.

Block and counter, block and counter, rinse and repeat. The two Uchiha continued their song and dance as they attempted to take down their opponent. Sometimes one or the other would manage to land a hit. However, no matter what either side tried they were equally matched.

Sasuke hadn't been completely off the mark with his previous analysis. Nozomi had indeed spent a lot of her time training ninjutsu and bukijutsu since those were the Uchiha's speciality. Her remaining time had been spent in taijutsu. Because of this her taijutsu fell short of her other skills. However, it was still enough to fight Sasuke to a draw. Something neither of them wanted.

The fight continued, Nozomi's body hurt as she pushed herself to her limit. Bruises had formed where she had been hit and her muscles screamed for her to stop and rest. She ignored the pain and pushed through it. Her conviction, her will would not be broken. Nozomi understood that if things were to continue as they are she would lose.

Her mind made, she decided to go completely on the offensive disregarding any defensive measure. The next attack came, a kick to her left side, the perfect opportunity. Instead of blocking or dodging the kick, as she had done so many times before, she lifted her left arm letting the kick land straight into her ribs. The pain that followed made her mind blank for a fraction of a second. However, her body moved without her input.

Sasuke wanted to gloat as he saw his kick land with devastating force into Nozomi's unprotected ribs. Unfortunately what came next made his smile disappear. The girl's left arm fell down grabbing his leg against her body, preventing him from retrieving the limb. What came next was a scream of pure determination escaping Nozomi's lips. She pulled on the leg with all her strength before landing a punch on Sasuke's arms that had been crossed to block the attack. All part of her plan.

In an instant Nozomi delivered a brutal kick to Sasuke's right knee. Causing the limb to go numb and unresponsive with pain. Next she pushed with what little strength she had to knock Sasuke down to the floor. With one leg trapped and the other unresponsive, Sasuke had no other option but to fall.

"Alright, the fight is over, Winner is Nozomi. Are the two of you alright?" Iruka had been so lost in the fight that he had forgotten his role as teacher. He should have stopped the fight sooner but with all that had happened today his mind wasn't working right. Because of this he could do nothing more but try and help his injured students as much as he could.

Nozomi stood up slowly from her kneeling position, her eyes glazed over as her mind tried to focus. She felt floaty and heavy at the same time, her lungs burned just like her muscles and yet her skin felt chilly. As she opened her mouth to try and talk but blood came out as she fell to the floor coughing thick globs of blood. Her ribs on the left side had been broken. The last thing she saw before passing out was Tomoka's proud yet concerned smile. It had all been worth it.

"Well I guess having to change my plans wasn't a completely bad thing after all" Tomoka looked at her notebook with the many plans and sub plans she had created for the massacre that was to come.

Plan D had been integrated into plan B as plan B-2 while the original plan B became B-1. However, now that Nozomi is in the hospital she had to create a third version taking into consideration her possible prolonged stay there. This gave birth to Plan B-3 which she will be working on today.

[You are working really hard to keep that girl safe]

'Of course I am. She is my first friend, my best friend! I won't let her die if I can do anything to prevent it'

[Wow and here I thought I was your first and best friend] The fox smiled while trying to tease Tomoka

'I mean, at this point you are more like family to me. Something like a sibling or maybe an uncle. Considering how old you actually are I think you would fit the grandfather or great grandfather role better.'

Of course his teasing backfired and got teased instead. Old he might be but he still had to learn a lot about interacting with others. Not that Tomoka was much better than him. As an introvert she didn't have much experience from her past life. Most of it came from interacting with Nozomi since Hinata is too shy to tease her.

'Anyway, I am going to go visit Nozomi now. Hope everything went well' With that said Tomoka hid her notebook and left her house alongside her father.

A few hours had gone by since class ended. After the two Uchiha's fight Iruka took Nozomi to Konoha's hospital to be treated since the school's infirmary lacked the necessary personnel as well as tools to treat her. He came back half an hour later and continued with class. However, from his defeated demeanor it was obvious he had been berated harshly.

In total, around six to seven hours have passed since the incident. Tomoka calmly walked next to her father while making small talk. She told him about her day at the academy. For any bystander looking the girl seemed calm and collected, if a little bored. In reality, a dangerous mixture of emotions had been boiling in her mind since a few hours ago.

Tomoka felt worried for Nozomi, she felt anger towards Sasuke as well as pride for the girl's skill and determination. At the time she had wanted to smite Sasuke with her thunder lord's decree for hurting Nozomi. However, she held her emotions at bay. This does not mean she would not make Sasuke pay in the near future.

With her inner turmoil raging within the confines of her mind Tomoka and Nagi finally arrived at their destination. Taking a deep breath to try and calm her nerves the two approached a nearby nurse asking for Nozomi.

"Nozomi Uchiha? Right, she had surgery a few hours back. Nothing drastic. They had to fix her broken ribs. Thankfully the wound to her lung was minor. She is currently resting in her room, room 37."

After thanking the nice lady for the help the two went on to look for Nozomi. Knocking on the door they were let in to find Nozomi awake on her bed with a doctor discussing something with another Uchiha member, presumably her caretaker.

Nozomi had told Tomoka that since she is still a minor a caretaker had been assigned to her. The guy should cook for her and in general take care of her as per the job's name. However, he very rarely does so. Before Nozomi learned how to cook for herself, he would appear to cook her meals and then leave. Now he would only appear once a week to deliver groceries.

"You must be Tomoka-chan, and this is Nagi-san I presume" The doctor, a gentle looking old man spoke with a gentle smile on his face.

"Once Nozomi-chan woke up she asked me to inform the Nurses to let you two in. It is good to know that she has such a good friend by her side" Tomoka could only smile and nod while her gaze never left Nozomi's visage. She looked tired and a bit pale but otherwise fine.

"I guess now is my turn to worry about you" Tomoka's smile became a little dangerous as Nozomi couldn't help but smile wryly. She had been reminded of her reaction a few years back when Tomoka had been injured.

"Tomoka I-"

"It's fine, but I find it a bit unjust that I am the only one that had to promise to take better care of myself" Tomoka walked closer to Nozomi wanting to hug her but she knew she shouldn't.

"Four years ago you made me promise to never do something as reckless as what I did back then. You told me to stay with you forever and ever" Tomoka's expression became serious, she hated seeing Nozomi hurt. Now she finally understood why the girl had reacted how she did back then.

"Now I will hold you to the same treatment. I want you to promise me to take better care of yourself. I want you to promise me that you won't do something reckless again. I want you to promise me that you will stay with me forever and ever." Tomoka's eyes became teary. As she spoke she imagined what it would be like if she were to lose Nozomi.

"I promise" Nozomi's heart hurt, it was as if someone was squeezing it. She hated seeing Tomoka like that. She hated seeing the happy-go-lucky girl sad. She hated herself for making her cry.

"It's a promise, if you break it I will hate you forever and ever" With that, Tomoka took a step forward while wiping away her tears. She extended her right hand with her pinky finger forward. Nozomi gave her a little nod while linking her pinky with Tomoka's.

"Uhm, I-I also want you two to promise me to be safe! P-promise me!" Turning around, Tomoka saw Hinata standing by the door.

"Sure but you need to say the whole thing or it doesn't count" Feeling a bit better Tomoka decided to tease Hinata a bit. However, the determined expression on Hinata's face made her shut up.

"Then, Tomoka, Nozomi, promise me that you two will take care of yourselves. T-that you two won't be reckless and hurt yourself. T-that you two will stay with me f-forever and e-ever!" By the end of it Hinata's cheeks had turned rosy.

""We promise""

"But you have to promise us the same thing" Tomoka gave hinata a smile while offering the pinky from her left hand.

"Yup come here, I can't move my left arm" Said Nozomi who had a cast on chest that prevented her from moving her left arm at all.

"I promise!" Hinata had stepped forward and linked her pinky fingers with those of her friends. She felt that they had grown closer, a lot closer. It gave her a tingly feeling in her chest.

"Though, with the wording, others might think we are asking each other to get married" Tomoka felt cheeky and wanted to tease the others. However, she didn't expect her own words to backfire on her so spectacularly.

The three girl's cheeks became red as they blush thinking about it. Tomoka realized that she hadn't given much thought about it, be it in this life or in her past one. She didn't even know if she liked guys, girls or both. However, she felt that perhaps spending the rest of her days with these two wouldn't be so bad.

For Nozomi and Hinata the attack had sent their heads spinning. In the past, they had been constantly competing against each other for Tomoka's attention. They regarded her as their first friend, their best friend but now Tomoka's words made them realize that it wasn't just that. In their eyes Tomoka was like the sun up above. She lit their otherwise miserable lives with her warmth.

"I-I was just joking" Not being able to take the awkward silence any longer Tomoka decided to try and break it to no avail. The other two girls had devolved into blushing messes. All they could do was nod in acknowledgement of Tomoka's words.

"Anyway, I hope you get well soon Nozomi" Tomoka was desperate to change the topic. Her heart had been beating wildly inside her chest. The two extremely cute blushing messes in front of her only exasperated the problem.

"M-me too, I hope you get better soon" Hinata had recovered a little and was finally able to answer.

"Don't worry you two. Nozomi should be able to leave in around three days to a week. Though she should be careful and not push her healing body for the better part of a month." The gentle doctor answered. Satisfied with it both Tomoka and Hinata thanked him and said their goodbyes before leaving.

Five days later Nozomi was discharged from the hospital. For Tomoka this had been extremely good news. For starters, it meant that Nozomi was on her way to full recovery. Second and more important, it meant that protecting her would become easier.

After multiple visits to the hospital to map it and visit Nozomi, Tomoka came to the conclusion that from the three plan Bs, B-3 is the worst possible outcome. She would need to either set a perimeter around the hospital and prevent any invasion or infiltrate the hospital herself, fight the security and set up her own.

Neither is advisable as both would inquire about an increase in costs be it her chakra or material resources. In the end, now that Nozomi is out of the hospital Tomoka can scrap B-3. However, this also brought a few new thoughts. What if Itachi wasn't the only one doing the killing?

'Now I have to worry about the involvement of root in all these. If Itachi wasn't the only one doing the killing, excluding obito of course, then it means root probably helped. This puts in jeopardy plan C and its sub-plans.'

[You have been going at this for months now. You need to relax a little or you might end up messing up just from stress] The fox had seen the girl making plans for her plans and contingencies for her contingencies. At this point not even a quarter of those would get to see the light of day and yet Tomoka still felt dissatisfied.

'You are right but I can't help but worry' If things went downhill this would be the second time she would need to fight for her life, not only hers but Nozomi's too. With every day the pressure increased as she felt that her time to prepare was running short.

From her clones Tomoka had been receiving information about odd movements within the Uchiha compound as well as the root bases she had already found. Spying on shinobi was hard since they could detect her clones through chakra sensing. Because of this she had to keep her clones in less important places and go by rumors.

The current rumors as well as movement indicated that the Uchiha ninjas had stopped taking missions for one reason or another for the last week. Not only that but another rumor said that the patriarch would deliver a speech for all clan's members in two days. Taking that into consideration. Chances were the massacre would be carried out tomorrow night.

'I guess I can't do much more than what I already have. If worse comes to worst I will have to implement the more brutal and destructive plans' Tomoka hates losing, she is the kind of girl that would flip the board, nei, the table when she is about to lose.

'That eye thief dares touch a single hair of my Nozomi I WILL BURN HIS FUCKING VILLAGE TO THE GROUND' Just the thought of Danzo trying anything funny made Tomoka rage.

[For the time being you should sleep, it's already midnight already, you will need all your energy if they do attack tomorrow night]

'You're right' Tomoka calmed her raging heart and went to sleep. Tomorrow after class she will start implementing her plans.

The next day after class Tomoka approached Nozomi discreetly trying to avoid Naruto and Hinata. Plan A-1 was a go, she needed to invite Nozomi for a sleep over without alerting Naruto or Hinata.

"Sorry Tomoka but I can't. The patriarch wants all of us to stay at the compound since he will be giving a speech tomorrow" A expected answer, however, that doesn't make it any less unpleasant.

"I see, then tomorrow?" She needed to keep her cool and act normal, no alerting Nozomi or things could become worse.

"Yes, tomorrow should be fine." With that the two went their separate ways, Nozomi to the compound and Tomoka to a nearby forest. Inside the forest Tomoka began thinking and scraping useless plans.

'Plan A was a failure and all its sub-plans need to be scrapped. Plan B-1 is also useless now. Alright I will need to implement plan K-1 and B-2 as well as C-1. Lets see how everything goes' Tomoka's tone became cold and calculative, as if all emotions had been drained from her.

However, inside her mindscape, in the very middle of the gigantic lake, a patch of its crystal clear water became pitch black like tar, bubbling with her barely contained rage.

That very night Tomoka sat on Nozomi's house's roof. Her eyes shone pink with her kinagan active. The moon shone a beautiful red color as an omen of what was to come. Her face was hidden by a mask she had made with a mixture of clay and plaster. The mask resembled the unholy combination of a lizard's skull and a spider's head.

'Funny how both the massacre and your quote attack on konoha unquote both happened on a lunar eclipse.' To tell the truth Tomoka found the red moon quite attractive and beautiful.

'Kurama, I will be needing three tails of chakra'

[You can only handle two safely and you know it]

'I won't use all three unless necessary.'' Knowing he wouldn't be able to convince Tomoka, Kurama decided to stay quiet and simply nod.

A chilly breeze flew past and with it Tomoka received the sign for the start of combat. Her clones had found multiple ninja moving around the area. Most important among them was a pair. One with a spiral mask and the akatsuki trench coat, Obito. The other, an Uchiha with a cold emotionless face, Itachi.

'It's showtime. Initiate plan F-1' With that said Tomoka waited for the fireworks to start. A moment later, multiple explosions could be heard throughout Konoha. Tomoka had just set off the bombs she had planet inside the root hideouts she had found.

This move had been planned to prevent any backup from arriving in time. Not to mention that the explosions would set the entire village on alert, hindering root movements. She prayed in her heart that they would also spook the root ninjas and they would call the operation off.

Her prayers went unanswered. A minute later a group of two root members approached Nozomi's house. With a sigh Tomoka got to work. First she waited until they activated one of the myriad of traps she had planted all around. The poor sod had the misfortune of stepping on one of the more insidious ones.

A land made with household items. a simple syringe with a reactant pointed at a container with an oxidizing agent mixed with human feces and shrapnel. The explosion wouldn't be enough to kill four out of ten times. But the victim would lose a leg or both at the very least. Not to mention the horrible infection that was to come.

Fortunately for Tomoka, the two root members were running side by side on the rooftops resulting in both suffering the horrible consequences of her ministrations. Unfortunately, the explosion would catch the attention of the other nearby root agents. Not that she minded, tonight she was out for blood, and blood would be the paint she would use to color the world in red.

The next group of root agents soon came into the scene. They, as the brainwashed puppets that they are, ignored their mangled comrades and attacked. Wary of any other traps the root ninjas began blasting the area in front of them with different jutsus. To Tomoka's annoyance this was the smart thing to do as many of her traps were triggered without harming anyone.

Not wasting any time, Tomoka retaliated with her own set of low cost jutsus, or rather, what she considered low cost. A barrage of APER flew out of Tomoka's mouth causing explosions here and there as she bombarded the three root ninjas. Two of them managed to escape unscathed while the third had his left arm blown to smithereens.

'Resilient fuckers why can't all of you drop dead!' The bubbling of the black tar within Tomoka's mindscape grew in size and intensity.

'Fine, I will rip you all to pieces if that is what you want' A feral grin appeared on Tomoka's face.

Pumping chakra into her eyes, she began reaping apart the chakra of her foes before they consumed it. The end result was the eery pink glow of her eyes growing stronger. Following that Tomoka began coursing the speed force through her body as red lightning began to crackle through and around her.

In the blink of an eye she had covered the distance delivering a devastating blow to one of the root ninjas rupturing all of the organ's inside his abdomen. Without losing any moment she used the man as a weapon, smashing him against the second root ninja killing both with sheer unadulterated brutality.

Her muscles screamed for her to stop, the pressure she was putting on her body and mind by using both to their limit was taking its toll. She didn't care, she would kill until she could no more, and then she would kill some more just to make sure. Whoever dared to harm what was hers had forfeited their lives in her eyes.