Chapter Ten: WASP

Kin walked up the ascending spiral staircase early the next day. Having been sent a message that by a man wearing a mask resembling a lion on her time to come in and the directions to now take in order to reach WASP's location. The new location had her going through several alleyways before reaching a dead-end where an outline of a hand was on a wall. It was from there that she had to place her hand which then glowed and revealed a hidden entryway which led her to one of the familiar labyrinth-like areas that she and Kakashi had been at the day prior.

Once reaching the second level, Kin turned and soon was once again at the door which had the wasp head on it. Mimicking Kakashi's actions that she had seen yesterday, Kin wrapped twice at the door, cut her finger and scrawled her blood on the door in an"x" shape. The wasp's head glowed red and the door cracked open, inwards. Kin walked through and was once again finding herself in the dimly-lit room. However, unlike before, there were now people in the room.

A woman with rasberry-colored hair sat on the weathered couch balancing a kunai on her finger tip while a bulky man with a shaved head was reading in a chair opposite of the sofa. Both turned to see Kin.

Kin raised a hand in a welcome. "Hi."

While the man nearly nodded before returning to his reading material, the woman put down her kunai and approached Kin while Kin was in the process of removing her boots.

"A new recruit, huh?" She looked Kin up and down. "You're pretty scrawny." She smiled, playfully.

The woman was taller than Kin, looked to be in her middle to late twenties. Her bare arms had multiple scars that went diagonally along in different directions. Her eyes were curiously black, no trace of any color within the irises.

"What's your name, girl?"

"Tsuchi Kin." Kin said, she looked down and rubbed her arm, selfconciously. This all had felt like deja vu to her, feeling this awkward again.

The woman nodded. "I'm Kaimo Yuriko. Over there is Akira, he doesn't have a last name. What village did you come from, Tsuchi?"

Kin felt nervous about replying to this question, knowing that she was going to be met with some open hostility due to her village's part in the murder of Konoha's Hokage. She said in a low tone.

"Otogakure."

At first, Yuriko didn't respond and neither did Akira. It seemed Yuriko was considering Kin's answer, but then she, surprisingly, wrapped her arm around Kin's shoulder and brought her into the room and placed her on the sofa. She then sat down next to her.

"Sound, huh? Boy are you going to have it rough with Uzuki-taichou."

Kin nodded.

"How did you get picked?" Akira asked, not looking up from his book.

Kin swallowed and then slowly told them a watered-down version of what happened from her team being an unwitting participants in Orochimaru's plan to her escaping her fate and ending up in the hospital. She told them that someone offered her the option of joining WASP, but didn't say as to whom because she wasn't sure if Kakashi wanted her to. She had the feeling he didn't. After her story, she looked back to Yuriko, who had a hand to her chin, absorbing everything Kin was telling her.

"Wow, that's quite the story."

Kin nodded, solemnly. She then looked cautiously back at Yuriko.

"Where do you guys come from?"

Yuriko smiled as she gestured a thumb at herself. "Me? Well, I'm from Takigakure. Came here when my leader's coup d' teat against our village failed and, unfortunately, labeled me as a risk being that he was my leader. They casted me out, along with a few others. We all went our separate ways. I ended up here and, well, the rest is history."

Kin nodded and then looked over to Akira who sighed as he put down his book.

"I was found unconscious on the border of Fire Country with a Rock Hitai-ate on my arm. I have no memory of how I ended up there and since Konoha has a long history of distrust against Iwagakure, there was no way to find out about my past. Even though the interrogation squad here tried every method, all of it remains a mystery. So, here I am in WASP.

Kin lowered her head, sympathetically. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Akira shrugged, "Better to be ignorant than disappointed. I have no worries."

Yuriko sighed and casted him a wry grin. "You say that about everything."

Akira merely grunted in response.

Yuriok turned back to Kin, "The only other remember here you haven't met is Shiro. But, he's out on assignment, so I guess you'll meet him later down the road."

Kin nodded. The three of them turned their heads as the door to building opened and Yugao had entered. In Kin's opinion, the woman looked even more withdrawn than before. She looked like a mannequin that could walk.

Yugao took off her coat before greeting the other two, she then turned and spotted Kin next to Yuriko.

"Welcome to your first day, Tsuchi." She said. "I take it you've now met everyone?"

"Everybody but Shiro, due to his assignment." Yuriko said.

Yugao nodded. "Well, she'll meet him later on, but for now we're going to have to get things started. Tsuchi here is a pitiful example of a shinobi and I'm sorry to say that I'm going to need the two of you to take some time and shape her into something resembling a nin of a village, if not merely just faking it."

Kin grimaced at the woman's continuing to belittle her, but she held her tongue and looked expectantly at her sensei.

"Yuriko," Yugao continued, "I'd like you to teach her the fundamentals of ninjutsu. She knows some basic genjutsu, but it wouldn't hurt to do a refreshing course. Akira, taijutsu. Both of you can go as hard on her as you want to the point of her bones breaking. She joined us in a weakened state and, as you both know, WASP will never allow a weak member to be among its regiment."

Yuriko and Akira nodded. Kin paled.

"When they're all done, Tsuchi, I'll start teaching you in the the more advanced courses: cryptography, stealth, and a little bit of kenjutsu, IF you have what it takes. After you're done with one of these two, you'll immediately seek out the other. You will NOT be allowed any respite from your remedial shinobi training, am I clear?"

Kin gulped but nodded. "Hai, Uzuki-taichou."

Yugao sighed and gave a reluctant nod. "Work hard, prove yourself, and you'll find that all of this will have given you something greater than you've ever achieved before." Without waiting for Kin's response, Yugao walked away and went into her office, leaving the three.

After she had gone. Yuriko let out a sigh and then turned to Kin. "So, what's your chakra affinity?"

Kin shrugged. "I don't really know. My village just had me do espionage work and infiltration. I never learned what type I am."

Yuriko looked at her, her eyes as large as saucers. "You're kidding, right?"

Kin shook her head.

"Figures with Oto." Akira grumbled.

Yuriko sighed and then reached behind her and brought out a piece of chakra paper. "Here, send some chakra through this paper and we'll see what type you are."

Kin nodded and put her finger to the edge of the paper. Concentrating, she closed her eyes as she felt her chakra running to her hand and slowly went to her finger. Her ears heard a loud crackling sound.

"Whoa!"

Kin opened her eyes to see that Yuriko had backed away and the chakra paper she was once holding was now smoldering on the cushion of the couch. Kin looked to Yuriko who was gaping at her while Akira, in his chair, was chuckling.

"Well, well, she's a lightening type, huh?"

Yuriko nodded, still staring at Kin.

"What's wrong?" Kin asked.

Yuriko said nothing, at first, but then she slumped against the couch and sighed heavily. "In Konoha, there are two types of Elemental Affinities that are alien, if not rare. Those two are wind and lightening."

Kin nodded, "Alright, so what do I do, then?"

Yuriko sighed, "There's nothing much, unfortunately, you, or we, can do, at this point in time. I'll talk to Uzuki-taichou about it and see if there's anything we can scrounge up but in the mean time, I'd suggest we'd build up on your chakra reserves. Seeing as how you're barely at the minimum you should be, this will largely be part of your 'recovery effort'."

Kin sighed as she put her fingers together and twiddled her thumbs. "What else?"

Akira looked up from his book. "How's your taijutsu?"

Kin shrugged, "Fair, I guess. In Oto I was in the top of my class of Kunoichi's."

Akira nodded, "Well, we'll have a spar just to be safe."

Kin nodded in return.

Suddenly, Yugao came out of her office and motioned for the two, other than Kin, and they got up and came to her. Kin watched, curiously, as they talked barely above a whisper, ever so lightly turning their heads to her direction or giving her a glance. When finished, Yuriko sighed and called over her shoulder.

"Hey, Tsuchi? We're going to need you to come back tomorrow. We've got an assignment today, so you're training will have be put on hold until tomorrow."

Kin, at first, stared blankly at the trio, wondering what could have happened to offset her first day of training; in the end, she sighed and nodded. She was glad, in a way, that her training for today got cut short, despite there not being any actually training involved. She felt she could only take so much brow-beating from Yugao without resorting back to her 'Oto-personality'.

Kin nodded to Yuriko and proceeded to get up.

"Don't slack off, Tsuchi. Be here exactly the same time you camein today, tomorrow." Yugao warned.

Kin nodded, "Hai, Uzuki-taichou."

Yugao nodded and then resumed her conversation with her two subordinates. Watching ever so carefully as Kin walked to the door, put on her shoes, and then leave. Once the door closed, she let out a sigh and then motioned the two back to the places they were sitting.

"Well, tell me. How big of a train-wreck am I working with? Be honest."

Yurkio gave a smile. "She'll do, Uzuki-taichou. She's rusty, but that's not surprising given how her training was conducted."

Akira nodded, picking back up the book he was reading. "She'll be loyal. If anything, I believe she feels this to be her last resort. Better than imprisonment and, more importantly, better than facing Orochimaru whom she betrayed at the last moment."

Yugao sighed. "I still don't trust her."

"How long did it take for you to trust us?" Yuriko asked, giving a bemused smile.

Yugao smirked. "I still don't trust you, as far as I'm concerned." She then let out another sigh as she glanced at the doorway where Kin had left. "All in all, we'll just have to see what this girl decides to do."

To be continued....

A/N: I know this was hasty and extremely uneventful, but it had its purposes as to direct where the story's going to go in this arc. Basically, it'll be Kin's training with WASP, a little more insight on the two other members, and also a coming to understanding with Yugao and Kin. Other, more, immediate characters will make their appearance now and then, but Naruto's homecoming won't be until a few chapters ahead, or more depending upon where I decide to take with Kin's ANBU training. So stay tuned and review.

Next Chapter: "The Few, The Proud, The ANBU."

Q-n-P