three.

(—true art)

Winter sauntered down the stairs into the kitchen finding Tsunami, a person with whom she found it bearable to talk with, "Hello Tsunami, I thought I would let you know that Kakashi is up." 

The young women smiled putting the plate she had been drying away. "Thank you, I will go check up on him. Would you mind getting more of that healing medicine you made?" Winter nodded once and walked over to where her cloak was hanging up, unzipping a small pocket she extracted a small vial of liquid in it. Slowly walking back up the stairs she came across a young boy yelling at her temporary team.

"A hero?" The boy scoffed, "There is no such thing as a hero."  

Naruto jumped to his feet, "What did you just say?" He yelled at the little boy. "

If you don't want to die, then go home." The little boy answered before brushing past Winter.

"Inari where are you going?" Tsunami asked softly, concern etched into her graceful features.

"I'm going to go watch the ocean." With those words, Inari dashed away. 

"Wow, what a little ray of sunshine." Winter's words were laced thick with sarcasm as she stepped into the room walking up to Tsunami. "Here." She handed the women the vial before walking over to the wall and leaning back against it watching everyone with hooded eyes.

Tsunami walked over to Kakashi, uncapping the vial before giving it to him. "Drink this." 

Kakashi nodded before hesitantly downing it in one gulp. To his surprise, it tasted like mint, not some bitter taste. Standing up with ease he took the crutches Tsunami offered him, not wanting to be rude. "Well now that we know Zabuza is alive let's go train." Naruto was the first one to dash out fist pumping the air, shortly after Sakura and Sasuke followed. Winter glided over to the door and down the steps silently.

***

"YOU WANT US TO CLIMB A TREE?" Naruto shouted making Winter rub her ears in annoyance. 

"Yes, but with no hands." Was Kakashi's calm reply. 

"EHHHH?!" Naruto was shocked when his sensei calmly walked up the nearest tree and hung upside down. 

"Chakra control, each and every one of you needs to know this. Then you will be able to use jutsus properly." 

"Tch, really? I have to do this again." Winter muttered. 

"Oh yeah? If you're so great why don't you show us how?" Naruto scoffed at the girl. Rolling her eyes Winter just walked forward and up the tree vertically. Once she reached the top she turned around and jumped off ignoring the yells of surprise. Doing three front flips she added chakra around her legs so that way she didn't break them, landing softly.

"I am going to go train and do something that will actually help me against Zabuza," Winter told Kakashi and she disappeared into the woods.  

Kakashi sighed, wondering why she was acting the way she was. He knew Inazuma had said that Winter would've been against being put in a new team, but that only brought forth a torrent of questions.

What exactly happened to her team? 

Why was it disbanded?

Where did her scar come from?

Sighing once more, Kakashi Hatake decided to ask Inazuma once he got back to the Leaf Village, not wanting to make any assumptions.

Winter stalked deeper into the woods muttering profanities about her new team. "Ha, as if my team wasn't strong. We rivaled Might Gai's team, hell we even beat them most of the time. Stupid blonde who makes assumptions, weird fangirl, revenge-obsessed weirdo, and what a perverted sensei."

Struggling to calm down, Winter knew she was being irrational. Naruto wasn't that bad, Sakura didn't fangirl as much as she originally thought, and Kakashi was really strong. Sasuke was just sorta there. However, nothing seemed to be going okay ever since that day two weeks ago. A dull, aching pain started up in her chest again. She just missed her team, messing around with Inazuma, pranking unsuspecting Chunin and the occasionally Jonin. Sighing she found herself in a small clearing, perfect for releasing her anger.

Easing herself into a taijutsu stance similar to her friend's Rock Lee, Winter took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She could feel every footstep the two ninjas took about 4 miles to the north, hear every whisper in the wind, notice the shift in the earth. Without warning her muscles tensed slightly and she sprung forward. Darting around she became a blur of red and black, punching the trees, ground and doing small flips as if avoiding enemy shuriken. Still, she wasn't fast enough. Frowning Winter stopped and tried to get angry. She needed to learn how to control her anger in a fight. It would become a great tool if she could.

Images flashed across her mind, some fleeting in a matter of seconds, another lingering in her sight.

Scarlet. It was everywhere. It painted the snow,  the ground, and her hands. Making her white shirt bleed, and her tears run red.

Lightning danced across the katanas, the edges coated in blood, the blood of those who were dear to her. The man laughed at her suffering. His eyes portrayed a sense of madness few would understand, his blades an extension of his arms. Deadly in every way possible. "We will meet again little wolf."

Red danced across her vision and Winter slammed her fist into the ground, causing it to crack slightly from the pressure. Tears streamed down her face in rivulets as she slowly started to lose control. Lightning started dancing across her body and the wind picked up, starting to howl violently. Whirling around she kicked a tree full force hearing a crack as the tree fell over. If the ninja didn't know she was here, they sure did now. She could feel to extremely strong chakra sources coming closer until they were suddenly repressed. But she was too far into her memories to even acknowledge them. Taking out several shuriken, she jumped into the air doing a flip, mid-flip she threw each shuriken. Looking as she landed, everyone hit each tree dead on.

Crouching down she struggled to control her emotions. Letting out a cry of rage she slammed both her fists into the ground releases a torrent of lightning, making the clearing light up before exploding. The after-shock made Winter crash into a heavy oak tree, crying out in surprise she fell to the ground breathing heavily. It had been a while since she lost control like that. Panting heavily she barely managed to hear a low whistle of awe.

"You obliterated it." The voice was male and had a slight accent. Glancing up all she saw was a shadow before something big and white landed, a clay bird? She wondered. A man jumped off wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. He had long blonde hair and the eye she could see was a brilliant blue.

"That was true art, un." He told the girl. 

"Uh, thanks, I guess." She said slowly sitting up. Feeling something warm trickle down her face, she lifted a hand up and wiped her forehead. Bringing her hand back down she saw the scarlet color of blood. Breathing in and out, she quickly summoned a roll of bandages from her pouch and wrapped the wound up. Looking around she spotted her headband lying next to the tree. Leaning over she grabbed it and tied it around her neck so she didn't put pressure on her wound.

"How did you do that, un?" The blonde asked curiously. 

"Well lightning is naturally explosive and since this is the Land of Waves, it rains often. The lightning exploded on contact with the wet ground." 

The blonde nodded, "My names Deidara, what's yours?" He asked holding out a hand. 

Glancing at it, she shrugged her shoulders and took it, "Winter." Deidara pulled her up and she nodded her head in thanks. 

"Winter? That's a unique name."

She shrugged her shoulders again and bent down to pick up her katanas,"I guess. It's boring if you ask me."

"Brat, what are you doing? Let's go, we already wasted enough time chasing after your so-called 'art'." 

Deidara humphed, "Whatever Danna, you just don't know true art. See you around Winter." He said and hopped onto his bird. Only then did Winter see the outline of another person. 

"Sure, see you around." She muttered. He looked familiar, not like she knew him, but like she'd seen him somewhere. Winter let her thoughts run wild as she started walking back to Tazuna's house noticing the darkening sky.

Walking through the forest Winter sighed wondering how Inazuma was doing. Usually, they went on missions together and they were an excellent team. The Hokage said he was worried about her, but how would this team help her? Kakashi was okay, a little weird, and Sasuke was bearable. On the other hand, Naruto was loud and Sakura was a fangirl. Opening the door and stepping inside she heard people talking in the dining room. Going in she found everyone sitting down, getting ready to eat.

"Ah, Winter there you are! I was just about to ask Kakashi to go find you. Are you okay?" Tsunami noticed the bandage wrapped around the girl's head. 

"Yeah, I'm okay." Sitting down in between Kakashi and Inari, Winter served herself a small helping of food not feeling hungry. 

"This is really fun! It's been so long since I ate with this many people." Tazuna proclaimed while Naruto and Sasuke stuffed their faces. 

When they finished they jumped up waving their plates in the air shouting, "I want some more!" simultaneously. Turning they glared at each other before throwing up to the side.

Wrinkling her nose in disgust Winter started at the two boys. "If you're going to throw it up, don't eat!" Sakura shouted at them, also disgusted. 

Sighs echoed around the room as everyone sat back down to eat, the clinking of forks the only sound in the room. Finishing off her dinner Winter stood up earning the curious glances of everyone. Walking over to the sink she cleaned her plate and fork, setting both in their respective places. She then walked upstairs to her backpack where it rested in the room she shared with Sakura. 

Rummaging through it, her hand hit something hard and cold, with a small engraving on the side. Pulling it out, Winter examined the necklace she used to wear 24/7. Opening the window she swung herself up onto the roof, holding the silver claw with a vice grip. Laying down, she rubbed her thumb over the small engraving barely visible to the eye.

It's not over when you lose,

It's over when you give up.

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