Hello everyone! For reasons stated in my other fict, I have to put it on hold until the new Bleach movie comes out. Until then, I have this to keep me busy. I hope you like it!

(Note: I edit chapters I've already posted every now and then, so it doesn't hurt to reread them every once in a while)

The gods have given us time to prepare. We must use it well.

-"Lady Knight" by Temora Pierce

Training Ground

Kakashi has been teaching Naruto ninjutsu for about three months. Despite it being over four months since Sasuke killed his brother, no signs of either Sasuke or the Akatsuki had been found, so Kakashi turned his mind toward training Naruto. In order to take advantage of the blonde's large reservoir of chakra, the silver-haired shinobi had decided that teaching him a variety of techniques to utilize it would give his fighting skills a boost. Naruto was annoyed by his sensei's assessment of his skills. He knew his teacher was correct, but he would never admit it.

Over the course of their training, Kakashi felt like the blonde absorbed most of the jutsu he was taught.

Kakashi and Naruto were at one of the old training grounds, attempting to add the water dragon jutsu to his rapidly growing list of techniques. Unfortunately, Naruto was having some trouble. While it was easy for him to gather up the chakra needed to use the jutsu, he had trouble with the water-style in general, and so far, he had only accomplished in making a huge splash that soaked himself and his sensei.

"Why don't we go have lunch, Naruto?" Kakashi suggested. "You've been at it all day. We can go eat at Ichiraku if you want to."

"Yeah!" Naruto yelled in agreement. "Do you feel like paying today?"

His grin quickly withered under his sensei's glare. "Never mind." Naruto scowled. However, his grin returned almost as quickly as it had left as another idea crossed his mind.

"Race you then," the jinchuriki shouted gleefully as he sped off toward the Ichiraku ramen stand far ahead of Kakashi.

"Kids." The copy-ninja sighed. How did Naruto get so much energy? As he had grown older, he simply felt older, yet Naruto was just as energetic at age eighteen as he was when he was twelve. Kakashi instinctively winced at the obvious answer, the Kyubi was becoming a bigger influence as time passed. Grimly, he trudged after Naruto, muttering to himself.

Jiraiya's defeat by Pain had been a serious blow to everyone's morale. The fact that the toad-sage had even survived was a miracle. Jiraiya had lost, and hadn't gotten many answers from his fight, only more questions. The Sannin was thrown into the hidden village's massive lake, and left to drown. However, Tsunade, who was hiding nearby, recovered his half-dead body and took him back to Konoha.

Hyuga Compound

"Hinata, you have to keep the chakra output at a constant level, otherwise it will just fall apart!" Hiashi Hyuga instructed his eldest daughter.

At Hinata's insistence, her father and cousin, Hiashi and Neji were teaching her the Eight Trigrams Rotation technique. She had been at it for three weeks now, and was making steady progress. She had already mastered the individual elements of the technique: the release of chakra from several parts of her body, and the high-speed spin. She had taken a week to learn each one, a feat that was close to unprecedented. However, the ability to combine the two parts into a single motion was eluding her so far. When she did one part correctly, she would either mess up the other one, or forget it to use it all together. Hinata was beginning to lose morale. The week she had spent working on it had come and gone, and she had made little progress during it. The Hyuga felt like she had simply hit a wall she couldn't pass.

"Why don't we wave a lunch break Hiashi-sensei? " Neji suggested."It is time for lunch, after all."

Neji's suggestion caused Hinata to remember something. Her eyes widened, and she glanced at her wristwatch. Hiashi and Neji looked at her questioningly.

"I-I just rem-m-embered something." She stuttered. "I'm sup-p-post to meet Kurenai-sensei, Shiba-kun, and Kiba-kun for lunch. S-sorry for forgetting to tell you." The heiress apologized meekly.

"Very well, Hinata, we will continue your training later." Hiashi replied. That reminded Hinata of something else.

"Oh, we're also going to t-train together after we eat!"

Though it would take who knows what to get him to admit it, Neji almost sniggered behind the other two Hyuga's backs. The only thing that restrained him, was the fact that when everyone present possessed the byakugon, you never knew who might be watching.

Hiashi scratched his head absently. "Fine, just be back before sundown." He replied, this time with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

"Thank you father!" Hinata thanked him respectfully. With that, the young heiress hot footed it out of the compound.

"Is it just me, or is she stuttering less than she used to? Hiashi asked to no one in particular.

"She's growing up Hiashi-sensei." Neji replied with a grin." Most people do that sooner or later."

Neji's joking reply reminded Hiashi of something else.

"Speaking of growing up, Neji," the Hyuga elder asked offhandedly," is there anything I should know about concerning one or more of your teammates?"

Neji stared at him. "Nothing that I know of, Hiashi-sensei." He replied a little too quickly. Hiashi's eyes narrowed at his nephew's suspicious reply, but he decided to let it go for now. Still, Hiashi mused, it could make thing interesting later on.