Chapter Two
Generations of Change

"Good Morning Neji!"

Neji groaned and covered his head with his pillow. He didn't care who it was or why they were yelling, he just didn't want to hear it.

"You sleep late these days don't you?" Chi said, pulling the pillow off his face.

"Wha-" Neji said opening an eye and staring straight at a widely grinning Chi, "What are you doing here?"

"Don't you remember? I came home yesterday." Chi said, perching on the edge of his bed.

"I mean why you are in my room." Neji growled, curling into a ball.

"You used to be up and training by this time. But I guess there is no helping it." Chi got up and spun with a finger pointed at Neji. "Fight me!"

Her declaration was met with a small snore. She ground her teeth and shook Neji. "I'm trying to talk to you!"

"I don't want ice-cream for breakfast."

"What?"

"Just give me rice."

"I'm not cooking for you."

"Maybe an egg."

Chi sighed to herself. "Fine, I'll ask you later."

She slumped out of the room closing the door behind her. The minute she had left Neji cracked an eye open and smiled contently to himself before getting comfortable again.

Chi jaunted down the halls of the Hyuuga residence heading for Hinata's room. She skidded to a halt as the head of the Hyuuga household came round a corner and stopped in front of her. She bowed her head respectfully.

"Good Morning, sir."

"Ah, Chieri Udai… I had heard you had returned."

"Yes, sir."

"I suppose you've been to see Neji."

"Ah, I did stop by his room on the way. He was still sleeping."

"I'd recommend you see Hinata but she's away with her team at the moment. She would want to see you again."

"Oh I see."

"You should join Neji and I for training one day."

"I would be honoured."

"Your father has spoken highly of your skills."

"He speaks too highly of me."

"Not at all. To be able to maintain your place as heir of your house without your clans Kekkei Genkai is no small feat."

"You're too kind sir."

He smiled pleasantly at her. "I'm sure you have things you would rather be doing right now. I'll leave you to it."

Chi offered another bow then turned on her heel and made her way out of the Hyuuga complex. She turned the corner and ran right into Neji who had finally managed to get up and dressed.

"Oh, sorry." She as she stumbled back slightly, rubbing her head. She walked around him and took off at a jog.

Neji watched after her, a frown forming on his features. She had such good hearing she rarely did anything even slightly awkward because of it. Running into him was unprecedented.

Chi came to the park and flopped onto her back on the grass. A few kids were playing there and their laughter filled the air. It reminded Chi of her years back at the academy. She was the first of her clan to attend the academy since she was also the first to develop neither of her families' Kekkei Genkai.

Suddenly, almost as if someone had thrown the thought to her, she remembered a meeting with a certain ninja she had at the playground. She giggled as she remembered how shy he had been, something that she suspected wouldn't have changed much.

She pulled herself up to rest on her elbows and surveyed the village laid out before her. She tried to decide where to start. Noting the Hokage tower she figure the best thing to do would be to go and ensure the Hokage was prepared for her to return to active duty completely.

She leapt to her feet and set off at a jog, and before long found herself inside the Hokage's office once more.

"Ah, your back." The Hokage said glancing up from her paperwork. "And you have your headband on today."

"Yeah," Chi said adjusting her headband.

"Good, I had a look at your file and have been able to verify everything you told me." The Hokage flicked open a folder on her desk and sweep her gaze over it again, "You graduated a year before the rest of your class with the highest score and became a Chuunin one year later. That's an impressive record."

"I don't think I did anything unreasonable."

Tsunade looked up from the file, and very carefully observed Chi. "I also understand you have an impressive track record as far as your missions go. Thirty-seven 'D rank missions', twenty-eight 'C rank missions' and twelve 'B rank missions'. Not to mention you haven't failed to complete a single one."

"Did you memorize those numbers or are you still reading them off?" Chi said sheepishly rubbing her head. "Ah… I wasn't so much skill by myself as my team's ability to work together."

"Mm… yes… your partners were just as impressive as you. My condolences."

"Well, they did say they were going to become Chuunin or die trying." Chi tried to joke weakly.

"Mm… well… you have been returned to active duty, I'll inform you when I have a mission for you."

"Thank you Lady Hokage."

Chi stepped outside the building and blinked in the sunlight. It was another pleasantly warm day. She tugged on her jacket collar again and looked around at what she could see of the town. It was all so nostalgic, and as time was passing she was remembering more.

She suddenly thought about the one person she wanted to see most. However, she knew he probably wouldn't want to see her after the way in which they had parted.

Chi sighed to herself and sat down on the steps. She stared at the ground and began drawing in the sand with her foot.

"You know, someone is going to end up tripping over you if you sit there."

She looked up and saw a tall man with a shock of white hair and all his face covered except for one eye. He was holding a book in one hand and she saw the book read 'Make-out Paradise'. She smiled to herself.

"Ah sorry, didn't really think about it." She stood up and moved off the steps. "Ah, if you don't mind me asking, are you Kakashi Hatake?"

"Mm… how did you know?"

"Ah… was just a guess." She said looking at the book again, "A well educated guess."

"Who are you then?"

"Chi Udai."

"Mm…" he said before turned and starting up the stairs.

"See you around, sensei."

"Mm."

Chi, deciding that since she had nothing to do, chose to go to Ichiraku Ramen and have a long lunch. After all, ramen made everything easier to do. She sat down and waited to be served. She enjoyed the familiar aroma of the cooking soups and watched the steam swirl off the hot water used to cook the noodles. Suddenly a bowl of tonkatsu ramen, with extra pork, was placed in front of her.

"Wow… you remember!" She said, picking up some chopsticks and breaking them apart.

"Of course, you were in here everyday. Not something you forget in a hurry." The girl on the other side of the counter said with a grin.

"Thank you! You'll have to remind me how much that is."

"Consider it a home-coming present."

"Thanks Ayame! I am so hungry." She began sucking up the noddles at great speed. She was trying to decide what to do when she was finished with lunch. She had more then half a day ahead of her and she wished she had something more to do.

'I could get in some extra training… but I need to get back into training with a team, which is difficult when I don't have a team."

She soon found herself wondering about the offer from the head of the Hyuuga house. Why would he want to see her train with Neji. Maybe Neji had told him about her fighting style. Even more likely, maybe her father told him. The Hyuuga household and the Udai household were on good terms and the two heads often would meet to talk over a cup of sake.

"Now I think about it, he didn't say a word to me after the fight." She said out loud.

"Hm?" Ayame said

"Oh, sorry. Talking to myself." Chi said, returning to her ramen.

Her father didn't say much normally but she did kind of expect a word of congratulations or praise even.

"Hello Naruto, you're here early today."

"Yeah, the new technique I'm working on is really difficult so I thought I'd take a break."

For some reason the name Naruto sounded really familiar to Chi. She looked at the newly arrived ninja who had just taken a seat two seats down from her. She had to admit, he did look really familiar. She leant her head to one side, trying to think where she could have seen him before. He eventually noticed her staring and shifted uncomfortably.

Chi ignore his returned look, determined to figure out why he was so familiar.

'Blonde hair, blue eyes, black marks on his cheeks, leaf village headband, orange jacket and pants… well I don't know. He isn't bad looking actually…' she tipped her head to the other side, 'In fact he's pretty attractive… but I'm not supposed to be looking at him… I'm trying to figure out where I know him from.'

"Do you have a problem?" Naruto eventually said.

Chi pointed her chopsticks at him and poked him in the cheek without saying a word. She had already wandered into creepy territory, so may as well make a dash for the other side.

"OK..." Naruto said slowly, looking more then a little perplexed.

"I think I know you..." Chi said eventually. Just then something clicked. "Oh, you're the Naruto who failed the exam three times. The guy who always messed up in class. I remember."

He looked a little put out by the way Chi remembered him.

"Yeah, but I passed and now I am one of the Villages greatest ninja."

"Ah ha… I can see that."

He quickly changed his own facial expression to one of interest. "Actually, now you mention it. You also look familiar. Were you in the academy?"

"Yup... I think I passed a year ahead of you." Chi said simply, finishing her ramen and ordering another.

"So you're older then me."

"No, I passed early."

"Oh... Oh! You're the blind girl."

Chi face palmed. "I wasn't blind. It's a family training technique."

"Yeah, I remember you used to hang out with Shino all the time."

At the mention of that name Chi began choking on some pork. Naruto clapped her on the back a couple of times til she was breathing normally again.

While she recovered Naruto ordered another bowl of ramen. Chi frowned. He was already catching up to her, and that just didn't seem right.

"Another bowl please!" Chi announced loudly

"Sure."

'I will not be second best to anyone.'

"So, what's your name?" Naruto asked

"Chi."

Chi's next bowl arrived and she had finished it in a split second.

"Another bowl please."

"Ha, trying to reclaim your title are you." Ayame laughed, "Naruto is a pretty big eater, you could have your work cut out for you."

"Five years without you're food has left me with a lot of room to fill." Chi said, tilting her head to one side and grinning.

"I guess you could have a chance..."

Chi wriggled her eyebrows and put the second bowl in the first. Naruto, seeing his title threatened ordered another bowl immediately.

'This could be more difficult then I originally anticipated.'

Naruto and Chi both struggled up from their seats. Chi had lost count after her tenth bowl and now she felt way to sick to think about it. By the looks of Naruto he felt similarly. They had decided to call it a draw and were both currently feeling very sorry for themselves.

"Ah… I had better go train this off." Naruto said with a groan.

"I'm sure your team will love to hear how you were stupid enough to take on Chi Udai in a ramen eating competition." Chi declared, rubbing her belly contentedly.

"There is only one other person in my team and she is studying at the moment."

"Who's that?"

"Sakura."

So visiting Sakura would have been pointless anyway. By the looks of things, even though things were so close to being the same as before, they were shaping up to be very different.

"What happened to your third team member?"

"Oh… Sasuke…he… ah… ran away."

"The Uchiha?" Chi asked tilting her head.

"Yeah..."

"Oh... Well then... That sucks..."

"What about you, you have a team right?" Naruto asked as they began walking towards the edge of town.

"Actually no… both my team members died during our Chuunin exam."

"Oh… sorry."

"Well, you know, they died how they wanted to."

They was a long pause as they both considered that thought. Chi decided that she would have to go visit her team-mates.

"I just remembered something I have to do, so I'm going to head off."

"Yeah… I'll see you around."

"Without a doubt." Chi said with a smile.

Chi started walking away then something else clicked, and she turned to look at Naruto's back.

"Oh... That's the other one." She said thoughtfully. She smiled again, "I think Utakata liked him."

She turned and headed on to the flower shop, already feeling better about her day.