Hikari was sitting on a couch facing her two parents and older sister. As the stare down continued, Hikari could not help but ponder how she had gotten into this mess.

Flashback

Hikari was lying on her bed, exhausted. Not only had she gone through a grueling training session that pushed her to her utmost mental and physical limits, but the toll of being in the presence of her sensei as he fought was finally starting to affect her.

Just as she was going to close her eyes and get some well-deserved sleep, the door of her room burst open and a red blur came flying at her. Due to her exhausted state, Hikari was unable to react before the red blur landed on her stomach, driving the air out of her.

Before she could recover, the red blur, her older sister Narumi, started to talk excitedly. "Imouto-chan, imouto-chan! Wake up! Tou-chan and Kaa-chan and I want to talk to you!"

Narumi would have continued with her almost nonsensical ramblings, but was cut off when she saw the death glare aimed at her. Narumi shrank back into herself, slightly scared at the look that she was getting. Properly cowed, she sat there on her little sister's stomach as she got a monotone reply from a now-composed Hikari.

"Nee-san, if you were paying attention, you would have known that I was not asleep and that you did not need to jump on me. That being said, get of me. Now." Her tone did not change throughout the statement, but there was a certain stress that caused her older sister to shiver.

Narumi did not even argue before she quickly clambered off of her sister, Hikari rising off of her bed soon after her. Hikari stretched herself, trying to get rid of any soreness that was left in her body, an effort that was mostly futile. She released a sigh as she followed her sister out of the room.

The straw blonde girl knew that a confrontation would happen sooner or later, especially since her change in physical appearance. Despite this, she was not expecting the confrontation to be that night. Her parents usually ignored her as long as she was physically fit, or at least as much as they expected of her it terms of fitness. She was not ready for this.

Narumi led her little sister to the living room, where Minato and Kushina were seated next to each other on a couch. There was a couch similar in size across from them. When Minato noticed the two girls, he motioned towards the empty couch with his hand.

Before Hikari could respond, Narumi smiled a bright smile and grabbed Hikari by her hand and yanked the female blonde to the couch. The both of them landed on the couch, with Hikari face down in her sister's lap.

Hikari did not say anything. She expected something like this from her sister, so she just gracefully picked herself up and shot her redhead sibling a small glare. Satisfied by the freezing in her sister's figure, Hikari settled herself in her seat, and motioned for her father to start talking.

End Flashback

"Ah yes, that's how it was." Hikari mused to herself. She looked up at Minato, expecting him to talk now that she had given a signal.

Understanding the signal, the blonde kage took and small breath before he started to talk. "So Hikari-chan, how are you doing? Are your daily walks eventful?" Despite all his years as a shinobi, Minato still had a hard time being subtle, especially with people close to him. It was a trait that he picked up from Kushina.

Hikari rolled her eyes as a little bit of frustration settled. She needed to get some sleep to rest her tired body, and she was disturbed by this farce? "Tou-san, if you are going to interrogate me, then at least do a better job. Stop beating around the bush."

The blonde kage noticed the undertone of frustration in his daughter's voice, so he started to think over what exactly he was going to say. Before he could start talking however, he was interrupted by his wife.

"Hikari-chan, starting a little over a week ago, you have started to act differently. You are more of a recluse, and you spend more time outside. You even look different, far more pale than before? Is there something we need to know about?"

Hikari was calm on the outside, but she was cursing to herself internally. She hoped that she would be able to get through this conversation without revealing any important information, but she had underestimated Kushina's blunt and direct nature.

She had to reveal something in order to placate her parents, and she could not lie. Despite her ability to hide her emotions, she knew that Minato and Kushina were experienced shinobi. They would be able to pick up any lie that she uttered immediately, and it would only make it harder for her in the future.

Because of this, Hikari only had three options for what she could disclose to her parents. The first option was that she was talking to the Kyuubi. While she could play it in the angle that she did not know what she was doing, her parents would think that the Kyuubi had a hand in it. If they thought that, then she would never be able to travel anywhere without being followed and monitored by a squad of anbu.

The second option was to tell her parents that she was training in kenjutsu and taijutsu, something that was not a lie. What Naruto was teaching her was kenjutsu with a bit of taijutsu mixed in for the times she lost her sword, but she was sure that the response would be met negatively as well. Kushina stopped Hikari from training when she was younger, and she would probably do that again now by assigning her meaningless chores to keep her near the house.

That left her with the third option, the option that seemed the most viable. She could simply tell her family that she was hanging out with someone.

After considering her options, Hikari went with the third one. It was the most vague and would prompt further questioning, but she was willing to deal with it because the subsequent questions would be less dangerous to answer.

"I was hanging out with someone I met."

The response answered the question, and it revealed nothing that would cause too much alarm, but she underestimated the ability of her family to blow things out of proportion. Ironically, it was Narumi who did this. Hikari had completely forgotten to factor in her elder sister when she was contemplating her choices, and now she was going to pay for it.

Narumi's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as one of her hands flew up to cover open mouth. She extended her other hand as she pointed at Hikari as she shrieked, "I knew it, Hikari has a boyfriend! So tell me, what is he like? Will you bring him over!"

When Hikari has heard this, she lost her composure as her eyes flew open and she choked on her breath. She turned her head quickly to her sister about to reprimand her with subtle threats and glares when she felt something ominous in front of her. She turned her head back to find the origin of the feeling, and paled.

Sitting across from her was Kushina, and she had a smile pasted on her face that was far too sweet to be anything benevolent. To make it even worse, a dark aura was gathered around her, an aura that promised death to whoever was inane enough to defy her. Hikari started to tremble slightly when Kushina started to talk to herself with a tone that betrayed her slight insanity.

"So, some little monkey thinks that he is good enough for my daughter, huh? Tell me Hikari, what is this that I hear about a boyfriend?"

Hikari managed to snap out of her stupor and said "It's not what you think! I met him when he was sleeping in the forest! We just spend some time together!"

At this point, the smile melted off of Kushina's face and a fierce scowl spread across her face. Her crimson locks split into nine parts and started to wave in the air, almost like tails. To top it all off, the aura of death that had surrounded her only increased in intensity.

The older redhead reached over and clasped Hikari by her shoulders, shaking her back and forth "You were sleeping together!"

Before Hikari could deny the statement, Kushina let go off her and started to talk to herself, her voice slowly increasing in intensity. "Some bastard out there pressured my baby into doing things. That bastard touched my baby inappropriately. That bastard deflowered my baby."

After she had said this, she leapt out of the couch and tried to rush to the armory, but was intercepted by Minato. He held her around the waste as he tried to reason with his. "Calm down, Kushi-hime, I'm-"

Minato was cut off when his wife raised her foot and kicked him cleanly between his legs. When Minato fell on the ground and started to clutch his groin, Kushina started to stomp and him as she ranted. "Calm down! You want me to calm down! I'm going to chop that bastard's balls off and rub them into his ass for deflowering our baby!"

Narumi and Hikari were still seated on their couch, sweatdropping at the almost comical scene. Hikari cleared her throat and started to talk, trying to reason with the clearly deranged woman.

"While I admire your drive regarding my chastity and protecting my honor, need I remind you that I am only eight, and that I am far too young to have a boyfriend, much less perform the activities that you are implying."

When Kushina heard this, she calmed down and blushed. She started to rub the back of her head, a sheepish smiling crossing her face. "Whoops, -ttebane. Looks like I got carried away."A groan was heard coming from under her foot, and when she looked down, she saw her husband on the ground, still cradling his balls.

"Minato-kun!", Kushina yelled in horror. She bent down and tried to drag him up onto the couch, but this only seemed to cause him even more pain. Giving up this task, Kushina just waited for her husband to recover from the pain and sit in his seat on the couch.

After the blonde kage had managed to pull himself back together, he gave his younger daughter a serious look, and the mirth from earlier was gone. "Hikari, I know that you want to have a friend, but I think that it is best that you tell us about him. It is for-"

At this point, an inexplicable rage rose up within Hikari, and she snapped at Minato, shocking both Narumi and Kushina. "It's for my own good? How could you say that? Is it for my own good that I was alone before meeting someone? Is it for my own good that I am ostracized by the very people of Konoha. Is it for my own good that I should not learn how to defend myself? Is it for my own good that you must run every aspect of my life? How arrogant are you to perceive that you know what is best for everyone?"

Minato and Kushina could not believe what their youngest had just said. She was usually a quiet and reserved person, avoiding conflict if she could. Here was the same daughter that was confronting them right now!

Hikari would have continued, but she was cut off when Narumi put her hand over her mouth. "Imouto-chan, I think that it is best if you told them. They need to know. They are your parents."

Hikari gave a look to her sister before she calmed down. After she had managed that, she looked back up at her parents. "His name is Naruto, there is nothing else that you will get out of me." Her eyes grew colder, and a deadly edge entered them. "Do not try and set a tail on me tomorrow."

When the two parents had heard the name, they froze. Hikari, seeing that they were not going to do much else, got up from the couch and headed for her room. She was tired, and she had a lot of energy that she needed to recoup for tomorrow.

Narumi soon followed the lead. She got up and gave two meaningful looks her her parents, and headed for her room. Despite the way that she had acted during the night, she knew that something had gone horribly wrong with her sister, and it was her job as the older one to fix it.

While their two children were leaving the room, Minato and Kushina remained where they were. They had not heard that name in a long time, the last time being the night that both of their daughters born. In synchronization, the two of them looked at each other, Kushina asking the first question.

"You don't think...?"

Minato, being the more logical one, shook his head negatively. "We saw Naruto ripped away from us my that portal. Chances are that this Naruto is not ours."

Tears started to form at the edges of Kushina's eyes. "P-please, I-I need t-to g-g-go and ch-check. H-He m-m-might be-"

Kushina was cut off by her husband. "Yes he might be there, and that is a pretty big might. However, this is most likely not our Naruto, and just some other person who bears the same name as our son. Tomorrow I'll send a chunin to tail Hikari, and that should lead up to her mystery friend. I hope that will at least give you some peace of mind."

Minato was waiting for an answer, but when none was forth coming, he looked up at Kushina to see what she was doing. Instead of seeing a relieved or panicky face, Kushina had a tear-stained face of serenity as she was sleeping. She had fallen asleep from all of the emotional turbulence of the day.

Chuckling to himself, Minato picked up Kushina and carried her off to their shared room. What they failed to notice, however, was the small shadow that was left near the living room.

Sitting there is the shadows was a young girl with red hair, and her eyes widened in shock as she heard and processed the information that she had just gotten. She would have went to sleep, but she heard her parents speak downstairs of the important stuff, and her curiosity was piqued when she heard mention of a son.

"Son? Tou-chan and kaa-chan have another child? Why have I never been told of this?" Narumi got up from her hiding place and headed to her room, her last thoughts flitting through her head.

"Something is happening, and I don't like it. Tou-chan and kaa-chan are hiding something this big from us, and Hikari has become withdrawn all of a sudden. The coinciding appearance of this 'Naruto' character also raises some questions. I don't like this."

Narumi crawled into bed and slipped under her covers. She had a lot of digging to do, but she needed to rest first.

Next Morning

Hikari opened her eyes as the sunlight spilled through her window, casting light upon her eyes. Despite all the maturing that she had gone through over the last few years, some parts of her personality still matched that of an eight year old girl. In this case, it was her dislike of the sun in the morning. Even as she tried to crawl out of bed, she was cursing the sun with death threats

"Someday, someday you will rue the day you blasted your annoying rays at my eyes! Rue!"

Just as she was going to continue her half-insane monologue, she froze as she caught sight of the clock that was lying on her desk. It might have been the extra strenuous day the day before or maybe it was the meeting that she had with her family, but she had woken up later than usual. Much later. She was an hour late to meet her sensei, and she was filled with dread.

The moment after this horrible piece of information had registered, her bedroom exploded into a flurry of activity. Clouds of dust were lifted into the air, and objects were sent flying all over the place as Hikari got ready to depart from her house. The sight was actually quite comical to see, especially after a cat yowled from being tossed into the wall.

When Hikari had gotten her armor and uniform on, she proceeded to open the window and jump out, landing on the ground. She shot off at a brisk pace, one that was unmatched by most genin.

"Good thing I already ate yesterday, otherwise I might be in trouble. Sensei is already going to be displeased enough as it is."

She continued her brisk pace, and eventually landed in her training ground, where she spotted her sensei sitting cross-legged on the ground. As she entered the clearing, her sensei's eyes opened, slight irritation visible within the depths of the organs.

Instead of saying anything, Naruto just through her his claymore, and drew his two shorter swords. Without even a signal, he launched himself at Hikari and attempted to carve a grisly X into her chest. Luckily, Hikari managed to stop the blade in time.

"Naruto! What the hell are you doing? You nearly killed me!"

Naruto did not even bat an eyelash as he gave her an answer in response. "This is the final day, and it is your final test. Draw out your yoki, or die."

Before Hikari could respond to that, Naruto shifted his swords to the left, drawing the more massive blade away with the shorter ones. This gave Naruto the opening to lash out with his right foot, kicking her in the stomach, sending Hikari flying across the field and crashing into a tree, knocking the wind out of her.

When Hikari's vision managed to clear, she saw a blade whistling towards her head. Knowing that blocking with her blade would only trap her against the tree, Hikari managed to roll out of the way and get back on to her feet with her back facing Naruto. Before she could turn around and engage her opponent, another blow connected with her back, sending her sailing away again.

While she was flying through the air, Hikari could not help but curse to herself. "Damn it, this is too much. Not only is he faster and stronger than me, but he also has more experience when it comes to fighting!" Spotting the tree that she was headed for, an idea popped into her head. "This better work, otherwise I may end up dead. Naruto sure isn't pulling his punches in this one."

As Hikari approached the tree, she started to twist herself in mid air. In a burst of extreme acrobatics, Hikari managed to twist herself around in a complete 180, and plant her feet on the tree, sliding down the trunk of the tree with a small application of her yoki. She managed to lift her blade and block instinctively as one of the swords of her opponent clanged with her borrowed claymore. When she looked up and gazed at her foe, she spotted the blade in his right hand approaching her left shoulder. Unable to react in time, the blade nestled itself into the spot where her arm met her torso.

Pain. Large amounts of pain exploded from the spot where she was injured. She was no stranger to pain, her training sessions from the earlier days had made sure of that, but she had never received a wound that was a grievous as this one. It did not help that the blade and brushed by one of her nerve clusters, making the pain radiating from the wound even worse.

The elder claymore pulled both of his blades free and swung them, hoping to bisect Hikari at the waist. Despite the haze of pain that she was in right now, Hikari managed to clumsily dive out of the way. When she looked back, she saw Naruto approach her, with the tree that she had just been resting against cut down.

As Hikari tried to heft the giant blade to defend against the approaching threat, the implications of what Naruto had done to her with that stab finally hit her. Not only had he inhibited her with the pain that washed through her, but the injury to her shoulder made her incapable of hoist the claymore, and she was not yet strong enough to wield a claymore with just one hand.

Due to this, when Hikari tried to lift the massive blade, the sword sagged back down, the strength that Hikari applied to the blade incapable of raising the blade. Unable to mount a proper defense, Hikari was shocked when Naruto disappeared from view instead of pressing his advantage.

Before Hikari could start contemplating where her friend had gone, her back exploded into pain as it was slashed open, blood flying out of the open wounds. Her mouth opened into a wordless scream as she collapsed on he knees, no longer having the strength to support herself.

Even in her delirious state, Hikari was able to sense Naruto appear in front of her with a raised blade. Despite not being able to see his face, she knew that he was disappointed in her performance, and for some strange reason, this hurt her more than the fact that she was about to die.

"Hikari, I had high hopes for you. I thought you had promise, and I thought you were special. Maybe I was wrong. It looks like all your dreams are just going to remain like that. Dreams." With this, Naruto swung his blade downward, the sword seeking to end her life.

When that last sentence was spoken, something within Hikari broke. Throughout her life, no one ever believed in her, and thought that she would never amount to anything. The villagers. Her godparents. Even her so-called father and mother. When Naruto said that he gave up on her, something within her cracked.

Instead of breaking her resolve, Naruto's lack of faith only seemed to anger her. Who was he to judge her? Who was he to say that she was not strong? Who was he to look down on her as if he was something better than her?

Even as the last of these thoughts crossed her mind, Hikari felt a well of energy rise up within her. Desperate for anything to help her, she plunged into the source of energy. When she had done this, Strength flooded her body, and the pain from her wound on her shoulder seemed dulled.

Unknown to her, her eyes changed from silver to a glowing yellow with a feline slit.

With the energy coursing through her, an ice blue aura exploded around her. With this new strength, Hikari lifted her blade, and blocked the one that was descending down upon her. She pushed the blade upward, causing Naruto to leap back, lest he open himself to further attack.

When Naruto saw the ice blue aura envelop his student, he knew that she had succeeded in the task that he had set for her. Before he could continue thinking, he lifted the blade in his right hand, blocking the strike filled with killing intent. Knowing that he would need to stop Hikari before she accessed more yoki than she could handle, Naruto disappeared in a blur of motion and appeared behind his student. A quick chop to the neck knocked Hikari out before she could turn around and attack her blonde teacher. Hikari collapsed on the ground, dropping the blade, making it fall underneath her.

As the blonde girl was collapsing, Naruto stabbed his two blades into the ground, caught the falling body, and sat down, lowering her head into his lap. When her head was resting on his lap, he started to run his hand through her hair, an action that had a positive effect on Hikari many times before.

Naruto did not show it on his impassive face, but he was proud of his student. Despite what he had said earlier, he had fully expected Hikari to access her yoki reserves. She was just the type of person to do it, and the results from her training proved it. In less than two weeks, Hikari went from a normal girl to a girl who could give most of those seasoned genin in this village a run for their money. Sure, she wasn't much compared to full fledged warriors, but she was only eight. Given enough time and perseverance, Naruto was confident that Hikari would grow to match the single digits of the Organization, if not one of the top five.

Naruto sat there for a while, content with letting Hikari rest. Sure, he were losing valuable time that could be used to train himself or train Hikari, but it was his last day, and he wanted it to be calm and relaxing for both himself and Hikari. The blonde male stood up and picked up Hikari. Once this was done, he leapt into one of the highest branches in the surrounding trees, and placed Hikari back in his lap, content to watch the day go by as he waited for Hikari to regain conscious, never ceasing in running his hand through her hair.

Few hours later

In one of the tallest trees of Training Ground 87, a young blonde girl was stirring from her sleep. She reached her hands up to her face, and started to rub her eyes, trying to wipe the last vestiges of listlessness from them. When she removed her hands from her eyes, she looked up and froze as she saw the impassive look on her teacher. Before she could say anything, her teacher asked her a question.

"Good afternoon, Hikari. How are you feeling right now?"

When Hikari heard this, the memories of what had happened earlier in the day ran through her mind. Because of this, she raised he hand and slapped Naruto across the face. With a yelp, she pulled her hand back and cradled it, the appendage throbbing from coming into contact with something with the consistency of steel. Unable to cause Naruto any physical harm, Hikari settled for yelling at him.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'HOW AM I FEELING'? YOU WERE THE ONE WHO WAS CUTTING ME UP, YOU ASS! YOU NEARLY-" Hikari stopped talking as her hand explored her body, confirming that she had no wounds. "Hey, I'm not dead!"

Naruto have her a deadpan stare. "You're abilities of deduction astound me", he said drily.

Hikari would have hit him, but remembering the failure from last time, she settled for blushing and glaring at him. In response, Naruto just chucked lightly. "You pass, by the way."

Noticing Hikari's confused look, Naruto decided to elaborate. "You passed my test. For the first time ever, you have managed to draw out your yoki."

When Naruto had said this, Hikari had a brief flashback to when she had felt raw power course through her body. "Do you mean that rush of power that I felt earlier was my yoki?" she asked in an awed manner.

Naruto nodded in affirmation. "Yes, that was your yoki. Ten percent of it, if your physical changes signified anything."

A giant smile spread across Hikari's face as she started to talk somewhat excitedly. "Cool, that was only ten percent? Image how strong I'll be at a hundred per-"

"NO!" Naruto yelled, causing Hikari to stop talking. "Hikari, there are some things that I need to tell you about your yoki. Releasing more yoki will give you a larger boost of strength and speed, but it will also put you at a greater risk of that."

Hikari looked confused and slightly scared. Naruto had never yelled like that before. "At risk of what?"

Naruto sighed and picked up Hikari, leaping out of the tree and onto the ground. He leaned his back onto a tree, and began his lecture. "You might want to get comfortable, cause this might take a while. For all Claymores, yoki has four markers. These markers are at ten percent, thirty percent, fifty percent, and eighty percent."

He looked down, and seeing the comprehension in Hikari's eyes, continued. "What you used was ten percent. Generally, when a warrior accesses ten percent of her yoki, her eyes will turn a luminous yellow, and her pupils will turn into feline slits. When a warrior accesses thirty percent of her yoki, her teeth become longer and much sharper, carnivorous in nature. You saw both of these when I came here." Hikari nodded in understanding.

"The two that you have yet to see are fifty percent and eighty percent. When a warrior accesses fifty percent of her yoki, the veins and muscles all over her body start to bulge and grow in size significantly. It does look very grotesque. Trust me, you will know it when you see it."

"Eighty percent, however, is the limit. Warriors never access eighty percent of their yoki unless they are absolutely desperate. There are no changes at eighty percent, but this is the highest that any warrior should go."

Hikari looked up in confusion. "What happens when a Claymore accesses more than eighty percent of her yoki?"

Naruto's eyes gained a grave look, and he looked down at her. Gravely. he continued. "When a warrior accesses more than eighty percent of her yoki, then she undergoes a process called awakening. This forcibly pushes a warrior from eighty percent usage to a hundred percent. At this point, the yoma half of a claymore overtakes the human half, and the Claymore becomes a yoma."

Disregarding the look of horror on Hikari's face, Naruto continued. "The yoma created is not just any yoma. This new yoma has far more power, strength, and speed than any of the run of the mill yoma. To make it even worse, they have intelligence, something that regular yoma do not have. There is no returning from awakening."

He looked Hikari directly in the eye. "You know that I have to leave today, so here are my instructions. You will need to continue training by yourself, especially with your yoki so that you can control ten percent easily. Do not go beyond that. I will leave behind a couple of seals that will help you suppress your yoki, but as they say, prevention is better than cure."

Hikari just nodded dumbly, still trying to process the information that was given to her. She knew that she would go through a lot with her acceptance of Naruto's offer, but she didn't think that it would be this much!

There was little more she could do. She might be a child, but one of the lessons that Naruto had managed to beat into her head was what's done is done. There is not use crying over it.

Naruto gave one last look to her before getting up. "Also, try to learn to control your physical boosts at ten percent. When I get back next time, I expect a better fight." With this, Naruto extended his hand out to Hikari, waiting for her to grasp it. When she did, he pulled her to her feet. Naruto turned around and was about to leave, but froze in shock because of what had happened next.

When he looked down at his waist, two pale arms could be seen wrapped around him. Not knowing what to do, he twisted around in Hikari's grasp and awkwardly returned the hug. When Hikari had released the elder blonde from her hug, she gave one last megawatt smile, causing a small fire to flare once again in Naruto's chest. Before the male could react, Hikari turned around and set out at a brisk pace for her home.

While she was departing, Naruto clutched his chest, but unlike before, he welcomed the feeling. The flare of warmth made him feel oddly happy, and he realized that it only reared when Hikari was around. He gave a content smile, and turned around walking to the area he entered the realm.

He would not be back for six years.

Word Count: 5,467 Words

Well, finally done with the training arc. I have to admit, that I had a major case of writer's block for this chapter, and I don't think that this chapter was anywhere near as good as the other chapters. I had to rewrite this chapter three times, and this one was the best version.

So anyways, I think I may have forgotten to mention, but the fight scene in the last chapter was my first one ever, and the one in this one was my second one. If you guys could give me some feedback on how the fights were written, that would be great.