Chapter 7:
What Lies Hidden Beneath The Leaves
(First half)
I had always found it weird how some people looked so different from what they weighed. During my past life, I once had a classmate that had been a total bean pole, the skinniest kid I knew. The boy had been so tall that he towered over the rest of the class but was as slender as a twig. He was so thin that I could hold both of his wrists in one hand, the guy was practically anorexic. Yet despite that the kid had somehow managed to outweigh me. It could have been his height coming to play or maybe he had more muscles under those baggy shirts he used to wear than I gave him credit for but put him on a some scales and he would somehow manage to outweigh all but the largest boys in class.
Then there was the opposite end of the spectrum. Not so much here in the Elemental Nations, but back in my old world obesity was beginning to become a serious problem. And among those people there several individuals who, how should I put this lightly, wore extra large clothing yet somehow were much lighter than I would have expected them to be given their bulky bodies.
What I was trying to say is that there were a lot of people out there who were much lighter than they appeared to be.
And Kakashi was not one of those people.
Ignoring the ways my lungs burned with each breath I took, I forced my aching arms to straighten and pushed myself off the ground. Holding the plank position for a moment, I sucked in another lungful of air and, ignoring how much my nose itched as sweat kept dripping off of it, I lowered myself back to ground before repeating the cycle and pushed myself up again.
"How much does your fat ass weigh?" I wheezed out between breaths as I forced myself to finish another push-up.
"I resent that." With my Byakugan turned on, as it always was during training, I could tell that Kakashi's single eye never looked away from the book he was reading from his place on my back. "I'll have you know that I do not have a fat ass. As a matter of fact, my ass consists of 70% pure muscles, 20% pure fine and 10% sheer awesome, making it a certified 100% badass. And it is not, in any way, fat."
"Then how come you weigh so god damn much?" I groaned back, forcing myself to work through the burn. After all the training I had suffered through during my second childhood, something as easy as push-ups was child's play for me. With chakra to enhance my body, I could have burned through a hundred of these without breaking so much as a single sweat. Or I would have been able to if I didn't have a fully grown man sitting on my back who, thanks to a combination of dense muscles and the equipment he carried, weighed a whole lot more than he looked.
"That's because of all the awesome that I'm carrying," Turning a page, Kakashi giggled perversely at something he read before answering, "it's clear to me that all of that awesome is too much of burden for a kid like you to carry, so it's weighing you down."
"Are you sure your not heavy because you're so full of shit?" I paused speaking as I forced myself through another push-up. "Because that's all I'm hearing every time you open your mouth."
"The only piece of shit around here is the one that's clinging to the bottom of my ass," Kakashi absentmindedly ruffled my hair, "Though keep trying with the comebacks, you might even get good enough to give me a challenge some day."
Instead of rising to the clear provocation, I resisted the temptation and decided to save my breath instead by ignoring Kakashi. The training was hard enough as it is without his wisecracking added in.
For the next few minutes, the Team 7 training ground was almost blissfully silence. Nothing could be heard but the sound of my low panting and the quiet muttering of Naruto and Shikamaru from the other side of the training field. It was actually kind of a nice change of pace after the all of the hectic days I've to go through since becoming a Genin.
Naturally, Kakashi had to ruin it.
"How did you learn it?" My Sensei asked me out of the blue.
"How did I learn what?" I grunted out, trying and failing to pretend that my nose didn't itch as much as it did. The temptation to stop and scratch it was almost overwhelming, but I resisted. Instead, I focused on lowering myself as close to the ground as possible before pushing myself up again, trying to get the most of my workout.
Gray hair filled the front of my vision as Kakashi leaned over my head, looking me straight in the eyes. "The Rasengan, how did you learn it?"
That actually caught me off guard, and I was forced to pause halfway through another push-up to process what he said. When I realized how guilty that made me look I forced myself to continue, "What makes you think I even know how to use the Rasengan? It's Naruto's technique, ask her."
"I did," Kakashi straightened up and crossed his legs, making himself more comfortable on the middle of my back.
"And?" I asked, giving him so much of my attention that I hardly noticed the exertion of the workout anymore as I completed another round of push-ups.
"She told me she learned it from a dream." Kakashi let out a thoughtful hum as he scratched his chin through his face mask. "Which reminds me, I'm going to have to teach Naruto how to lie properly. She's really terrible at it, isn't she?"
"That she is." I agreed as I continued with my workout. While Naruto has always been good at bluffing whenever she needed to, she had never been able to get the knack of lying, at least not straight to your face. It was her eyes, they were too emotional and always seemed to show what she was thinking. "But that doesn't explain why you think I would know anything about the Rasengan?"
"Well, she had to learn it from somewhere. Naruto too much of kinesthetic learner to create her own jutsu. The Rasengan is far more complex than it looks, there is no way she could have figured out that theory behind it on her own. That means someone had to teach it to her and as far as I know, there are only two people alive that are supposed to know the technique. One of them is me and the other was the Fourth's Sensei, Jiraiya." Kakashi flipped through another page, trying to appear casual though I had no doubt he had his complete focus on me, "Jiraiya-sama hasn't been in the Village for a long time now, years if I remember correctly, and I know I haven't taught it her, so that only leaves you."
"Again, why me?"
"Well, out of all the people that she hangs around with, you are the only one that has a habit of stealing other people's techniques." He casually pointed out and I knew he was talking about the Chidori. "So quit stalling and spill. How did you learn it?"
Were I not so out of breath I might have sighed. I guess it was too much to hope that the Rasengan wouldn't be traced back to me. And I knew there was no way I could talk my way out of this without giving him a reasonable answer, not when Kakashi was so invested in figuring out the mystery. That he waited until nearly the end of my training to spring the question, at a point where I was too exhausted to properly think up of a lie, was proof that.
It was a good thing then that I had prepared for this possibility when I decided to teach Naruto the jutsu.
"It was the Kaiten."
Kakashi's face popped back into the front of my vision again, as he leaned over my head to look me in the eye. That was something that I had always noticed, even though other people knew I could watch them no matter where around me they stood with my Byakugan, they still tried to make eye contact when speaking. "The Gentle fist technique that's exclusive to the Hyuuga main house? What does that have to with anything?"
"Everything, the Kaiten works using the same basic principles as the Rasengan. Both techniques require the user to release a large amount of raw chakra before using it to create a rotating sphere of chakra." I paused in the middle of a push-up so that I could talk without interruption.
"The only major difference between the two is that the Rasengan is used for offensive purposes while the Kaiten is used primarily for defense. Well that, and also a Kaiten user needs to use his entire body to help create the rotation while the Rasengan is done purely through chakra manipulation. Once I realized that, it was easy to reverse engineer the Rasengan and figure out how the technique worked."
Kakashi scratched his chin thoughtfully as he thought over what I just told him. And while I was lying through my teeth about how I learned the Rasengan, everything else I said was true. It was legitimately possible to discover the secret of the Rasengan through the Kaiten. I was pretty sure that the only reason no other Hyuuga ever bothered to try and learn it before is because there was no point, there were plenty of other Gentle Fist techniques that were just as useful and far easier to learn than the Rasengan. Even I only went through the effort of learning it for Naruto's sake.
"Hmm, that's certainly possible I supposed." Kakashi mused, not sounding convinced. "Still, having a theory and actually learning it are two different things. The Rasengan is a difficult jutsu to use and it isn't something so simple that you can learn just by having a rough idea of how it works."
That was true, there was a very good reason why I avoided using the Rasengan when possible, preferring the Chidori or the strikes from the Gentle Fist over it. It was simply too hard to use.
There are three ways that a person's chakra capabilities could be measured with. The first was chakra supply; simply put it was the total amount of raw chakra you had in your body. The second was chakra capacity, which was the amount of chakra you could release in any given moment. This determines which level of jutsu you could use. To use high-level techniques such as A-rank jutsu, you needed to have a high chakra capacity. It didn't matter how much chakra you had, if you couldn't pour enough of it into a jutsu fast enough then most of the higher rank jutsu would be beyond you.
The there was chakra density. Chakra density effected the size and intensity of a jutsu. The denser your chakra was, the more potent it's effect. Denser chakra would cause a fire technique to burn more fiercely, or a wind jutsu to blow more violently. Using the Katon: Great Fireball jutsu as an example, the larger your density the larger and hotter the fireball.
With only a few exceptions, chakra density didn't vary much from person to person, but that was fine because you didn't need to be born with naturally dense chakra to have it, that's what molding chakra is for. Before casting a jutsu, you can gather and fold chakra into self while it's still inside you before using it, thus 'thickening' it. Most Chuunin only needed a fraction of a second to double or triple the density of their chakra, so most of the time a person's natural chakra density was unimportant.
However, when it came to the Rasengan your chakra density made all the difference.
The Rasengan was basically nothing more but pure chakra condensed into a sphere then spun in place at a high speed. And while it was the rotation speed the allowed it to 'grind', it was the chakra density that hardened it enough to make it work. Think about it, if the Rasengan was less density then, lets say a bone, the Rasengan would be the one that shatters instead of an enemy's rib.
That was the real reason why the Rasengan was so hard to learn, the sheer amount of chakra density that was needed to get it to work was massive. When I tried to cast the technique, I needed to fold my chakra a dozen times over to make it work, which was a ludicrous amount. Even the Chidori only needed me to fold my chakra twice.
It was for this very reason that Naruto was so good with the technique.
Naruto's chakra was dense, ridiculously so. While most people needed to thicken their chakra to make a jutsu work, Naruto had to do that opposite. She had to 'thin' it out or else her chakra would simply overpower any jutsu under B-Rank that she tried it on. And while this may have been a hindrance in most cases, when it came to the Rasengan her chakra density was just perfect.
Naruto's chakra was already so dense that she didn't need to thicken it and simply use it as it is. And after only a few short weeks of practice she had been able to summon a full formed Rasengan into her hand in the blink of an eye.
I wasn't certain but I think the Rasengan was the only jutsu that Naruto had ever managed to learn faster than me, and if it wasn't, then it certainly was by the biggest margin. I needed a good twelve months to learn the bloody thing while Naruto, just like as she had in the Manga, had been able to get it down after a month. No wonder Jiraiya had been so impressed, that just wasn't natural. It was almost unfair how ridiculously strong her chakra network was, even at twelve years old I didn't think that there was anyone out there could match her.
Embarrassing enough, during training I had to resort to using the two-handed style of Rasengan that the original Naruto had to use in the show. It was the only way I could finally learn the thing. I swear Naruto laughed so hard at seeing me use 'training-wheels' as she put it that she almost hyperventilated.
Even now, she could mold a fully formed Rasengan in less than a fraction of the time I did. Her chakra density gave her that much of an advantage.
It was only after I had tried learning the Rasengan that I began to get an idea about how talented the Fourth must have been. For him to fold so much chakra so fast, his chakra control had to be amazing. Not to mention his chakra supply. Due to its density the Rasengan required a large amount of chakra to cast, a good bit more than even the Chidori.
I had always wondered why Kakashi never bother with the Rasengan but now I knew, it was simply too hard to use. I could cast a Chidori far faster than the Rasengan and at a fraction of the chakra cost to boot. Even if you factor in the screeching sound that gave the Chidori it's name, it was still more useful for me than the Rasengan was. Especially now that, thanks to Kakashi's guidance, I was getting even faster at forming the Chidori with ever passing week.
"I used balloons." I finally told Kakashi.
"Balloons?" He asked, arching an eyebrow in obvious bewilderment.
"Yes, balloons," I confirmed. "That's how I trained myself until I could mold the Rasengan. I first started practising on water balloons, trying to pop them while using only pure chakra. That helped me learn how to rotate my chakra. When I figured out how to do that and still hadn't been able to form a Rasengan, I decided to up the difficulty and switched to rubber balls. That taught me how to make my chakra denser. Once I was finished with that I was technically able to mold a Rasengan but it wasn't any good. It kept falling apart whenever I tried using it on something solid, it seemed that I wasn't able to hold it's shape together well enough. So next, I decided to combine both lessons and used a normal balloon but this time, instead of trying to pop it, my goal was to form a Rasengan inside the balloon without bursting it. This taught me how to hold it's shape. Once I had completed with all three of those steps, presto, I had finally been able to form a Rasengan. After that, it was rather easy teaching Naruto. Too easy actually, she ended up learning it far faster than I did."
Kakashi was giving me an odd look, something between a cross of amazement and suspicion, as if he couldn't believe what I was saying yet couldn't think of an alternative but to believe me. "…And you came up with this training method all on your own."
"No, I learned the technique from a comic book that teaches kids about secret ninjutsu techniques. Of course I thought of the idea myself." I snarked back and unlike with Naruto, I knew my blank white eyes wouldn't give me away when I lied. There was a reason why we Hyuugas were so damn good in poker. "Why? Where else would I learn it?"
"Nowhere, I was just…surprised by how similar it was to another a training method someone I knew thought of." And with the final comment, Kakashi ended the conversation and his head soon disappeared as he straightened back up into his seat on my back.
"Which reminds me." Now that Kakashi's interrogation was finished, I had nothing to distract me from the state my body was in and I quickly became aware of how exhausted my I was. While I was doing a good job at keeping it off my voice, there was no way I was going to give Kakashi the satisfaction of seeing how much of a toll his training was taking on me, Kakashi, like his dogs, can smell weakness that way, but simple truth of the matter was that I had long since reached my limit. My arms were trembling so badly that I knew they were about to give out on me any second now. "How much longer do I have to keep doing these pushups?"
"Hmm?" Kakashi glanced down at me, blinking in confusion as if he was surprised to find me still training. "Oh, you're still doing that? You were finished almost five minutes ago." I felt a hand pet my head as if I were a dog, "Though it is nice to see you so eager to complete my training."
"Oh you are such a dic-" The rest of my words were cut off as my arms decided to pick that very moment to give up the chase, and I had the breath knocked out of me when I collapsed onto the ground.
Effortlessly hopping off my back, Kakashi sat himself down on the ground beside me and returned to reading his book. "And this is exactly why you need to work on your upper body strength duckling. If it was Gai's student, he would have finished a hundred more reps then you."
"Lee would have finished a thousand reps, then start doing a thousand back-flips, followed by a thousand more squats and even after all of that he would still be asking for more. And that's exactly why Lee is a masochist." I let out a groan as I flipped onto my back, enjoying the cool breeze as it swept over my body. "And I'd much rather be a sadist thank you very much…kind of like you, now that I think about it."
Kakashi nodded wisely, eyes never leaving the book, "Yes, it always pays to be more like me."
I was way too tired to bother with thinking up of a comeback, so instead I just laid down on my back and allowed my self to enjoy my well earned rest, the painful burning in my arms slowly fading away until it turned into an oddly satisfying ache, the type that could only be found following a particularly strenuous exercise.
The rare moment of tranquillity I was enjoying however was destroyed not a minute later by the sound of Naruto's excited yells. It was little moments like these that made me appreciate what a blessing the Byakugan was, because right then I didn't think I had it in me lift a finger, let alone muster the energy needed to turn my head and look at what had gotten her so rallied up this time. So I used my still active Byakugan instead, and with a brief thought focused my sights on Naruto and Shikamaru, who were undergoing their own training in the opposite side of the practice ground.
"Boss, you have attack, attack I say! The group at the top right is weak, attack it. Offence is the best defense, so don't hesitate and charge!"
"No stupid, defense is the best defense. That's why they call it defense and not…something else. Boss, don't listen to her, your main group is too unstable. Build up your defense before you do anything or else he'll tear you apart."
"Will you two idiots shut up!" Naruto reached up and shoved the faces of her two clones away from her, not even realizing the implication of what calling her own clones idiots meant. "I'm trying to think here and you're not helping."
Satisfied that they'll stay quiet for the time being, Naruto turned back to the board game, scowling down at the pieces. After a time, she reached into a bowl and pulled out a white playing stone before placing it down onto the wooden Go board.
Her two clones leaned forward, eager to see what move she played. Their eager expressions however were soon replaced with confusion, then outrage before they both threw their arms in the air and yelled in out in indignation.
"Oh come on Boss, I said attack the right side, the right, not the left. You know which side is right, don't you? It's the hand you hold your chopsticks with."
"Boss, why do you keep doing this to us?" The other clone asked as she crossed her arms and glaring at her true self. "If you're not going to listen to either one of us then why did you bother summoning us for in the first place?"
"Because I'm getting my butt kicked here that's why." Naruto groused, never taking her eyes off the board. "I've heard that two heads are better than one, so three must be even better. Biggest mistake I ever made."
A clicking sound soon followed as Shikamaru placed a black stone onto the board. The lazy Nara barely glanced at the move Naruto played before he made one of his own. Despite participating in one of the few activities I had ever seen him eager for, Shikamaru didn't appear to be enjoying the game as he leaned back with a tried sigh, "I know I was the one who asked you for a game but it's kind of hard to take you seriously looking like that."
Naruto snorted and dropped her head into a palm, her elbow propped up on the ground next to her, "Does it look like I wanted to be stuck like this? Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it feels having so much sand in my pants? It sucks."
Right now Naruto was seated across from Shikamaru, a Go board placed between them. Though 'seated' may not have been the proper word seeing as Naruto was buried up to her chest in the ground. She was buried so deeply that the ends of her blonde locks ended up pooling on the ground behind her.
"Besides," Naruto raise an eyebrow as she gave Shikamaru a look, "it's not like you're in any position to talk."
Shikamaru shot her a baleful look from where he too was buried in the ground across the Go board from her, "Troublesome." He groused and waved a tired hand over the board, "Just shut up and play."
This time Naruto was quick to response, ignoring her clones groans of complaints when they saw the move she played, and looked over her shoulder, "Hey Kakashi-Sensei. How much longer do we have to stay like this?"
"Until you can dig yourself out of course." Kakashi replied, still engrossed in his book. 'Icha Icha – Harem Wars in a world filled with girls' must have been a particularly good addition to the series because this must have been the fifth time Kakashi has gone through it since it's official release a week ago.
"And I told, I already can." As if to demonstrate, Naruto easily plunged her fingers into the hard ground and gouged out a fist full of earth.
"Without using your hands," Kakashi replied, not bothering to look up. "You're supposed to use chakra to dig yourself out, there is no point if you brute strength yourself out of there. Release your chakra at a steady stream in the right frequency to soften the ground around you by turning it into sand, then you should be able to slither your way out. This is training, so make sure to do it properly."
"But this is not fair." Naruto pouted petulantly and pointed at me, "Why do we get the hard training while Hikaru gets off easy?"
By this point, I had been able to regain enough energy to raised my head up and glared at her, trying to ignore the stinging of my eyes as beads of sweat dripped into it. "Are you blind woman?" Giving her my best glare, "What part of this looks like I'm getting off easy?"
"It's just push-ups, what's so hard about that? I can do ten thousand of them without breaking a sweat, they're so easy." Naruto retorted while being completely serious, unable to understand the absurdity of what she had just said. "I don't see what you're complaining about when you get off so lightly.
"Not every one of us can be a stamina freak like you," I explained as I dropped my head back down onto the ground. "To the rest of us, doing endless repetition of push-ups non-stop is hard work."
When we had first gotten to know each other as children, Naruto never seemed to understand why I seemed to tire out after only an hour or two for playing. In fact, she always appeared to be downright baffled whenever I told her I needed a break, almost confused as if she couldn't comprehend what I was trying to say. And it took me a long while to figure out why.
Naruto did not get tired, ever.
Mentally sure, but physical it was almost impossible, her body would simply not give out. The more you push her, the more energy she seemed to draw out from somewhere. It was as if there was literally no end to her stamina.
When Naruto said that she could do a few thousands push-ups easy, she actually meant it. In her mind, there was no difference between a single push-up or a thousand other than the time it took to complete them. Overworked muscles were not a problem for her, her healing factor would kick in and fix that up as soon as her muscles were damaged. So she could literally keep going and going like some kind of living embodiment of the energizer bunny.
Which is why she never seemed to understand what it meant to get tired.
How do you explained exhaustion to someone who never felt it before? How do help a child understand that bodies have limits when hers simply didn't have one. Fatigue and exhausted were completely foreign concepts to Naruto that till this day, she had trouble understanding.
"At least what you're doing is better than this," She waved her hand to where she was buried in the ground, before sending Kakashi a pleading look, "Hey Kakashi-Sensei, can't I switch places with Hikaru?"
"No," was Kakashi's instant reply. "Now enough complaining my little duckling and get back to training."
"But I don't understand, how is any of this supposed to be training?"
With my Byakugan constantly on during training, something that I had been doing for years in an attempt to improve my stamina with it, I was able to afford a clear view of Kakashi as he lower his book to give Naruto a tired look, "Like I've already explained, this training is meant to increase your earth affinity."
"And I understand why he needs to learn it," She nodded towards Shikamaru, "He has a natural affinity to earth, but I'm wind. So why – HEY!" Naruto pointed towards one of her clones, "I saw that. Now put it back."
The clone in question looked as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, which was not too far from the truth as she had stolen one of Naruto's playing stones and was about to place it on the board. "But Boss-"
"I said," Naruto narrowed her eyes, cutting her off, "put it back."
"Oh, fine!" The clone huffed out, dropping the piece back into the bowl before turning away with her arms crossed. "Go ahead and lose, see if I care."
"Like I was saying," Once Naruto was certain her clones would behave, she continued, "Why do I have to bother with training my earth affinity?"
"So I can begin to teach you an earth jutsu. The Doton – Moguragakure no jutsu to be precise."
Moguragakure no jutsu – hiding like a mole technique – was perhaps the most stupidly named jutsu in the entirety of the ninja world, but nevertheless it was also an incredibly useful one. It allowed users to dig through the earth by temporary turning the ground around them into fine sand. And despite it being officially listed as a C-rank, the chakra requirement was closer to B-rank or even A-rank depending on how long you stayed underground, the constant stream of chakra you needed to maintain the jutsu was a large drain. That would obliviously not be an issue for Naruto while Shikamaru's natural earth affinity should be enough to cut that chakra cost down.
"Don't you want to learn how to move underground?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto's reply was almost immediately. "I do!" she affirmed excitedly, "moving underground would be awesome. Can you imagine how many more traps I could make or how much easier it would be for me to hide." Mentally, I sent a prayer to all of the poor souls that are unlucky enough to run into Naruto on a battlefield. Near endless waves of hidden clones that can attack you from both above and below while you tried to navigate through a minefield of traps. Poor bastards will never have a chance. "But what I don't understand is why do I have to improve my earth affinity to learn it. I've seen Hikaru use several different types of elemental jutsu but he has never trained anything but his lightning affinity."
"That's because our little genius here is actually good in ninjutsu," Kakashi reach out and ruffled my hair like a dog, "now aren't you boy?"
I swear if I still wasn't so out of breath I would have said something nasty to the man. Instead, I had to settle for biting his fingers when they strayed too close to my mouth. Though I only ended amusing the jerk when he pulled his fingers back at the last second and I found myself biting nothing but air instead.
"Nice try ducky, better luck next time." Kakashi patted my head one more time before looking back to Naruto, "But you on the other hand, aren't so good in ninjutsu, now are you?"
Naruto looked away with a frown but didn't refute him. "It's not my fault that those stupid jutsu don't work."
"Actually it is totally your fault." Kakashi countered. "You chakra control is so terrible that most of the time the jutsu just fall apart at the seams."
"Anyway," Naruto, cheeks turning red, changed the subject, "my point is why do we have to train this way? Can't we just skip the affinity training part, go straight to the good part and practice the jutsu itself."
Realizing that Naruto wasn't going to stop pestering him until he gave her a proper answer, Kakashi sighed and shut his book, stowing it away in his side pouch as he turned to give Naruto his full attention.
"Well my annoying little chatter mouth of a duckling," Naruto poked her tongue out at the insult. "Normally you would be right, I shouldn't be training your earth affinity for a single jutsu, the process just takes too long to get any real results to be worth it. And had I been trying to teach you any other earth jutsu I wouldn't have bothered with it, but this is different. The Doton – Moguragakure no jutsu is not a complicated jutsu in terms of chakra manipulation by any means, it's almost stupidly simple. All you need to do is figure out how to use your chakra to soften the earth and that's it, nothing else. And since that's basically the exact same thing as the basic levels of earth affinity training, learning one means learning the other."
Since Shikamaru has been slacking off at training his affinity, this basic training will actually be good practice for him. Naruto on the other hand has already trained her wind affinity to a high level, having endless supply of chakra to call on helped speed up the wind affinity training process wonderfully, so it wouldn't be a bad idea at this point to get her started on her second affinity.
"But luckily you only have to complete the very basics of earth affinity training to learn the technique." Kakashi continued. "After you got that part pat down the rest will be easy, all you need is a little bit of practice and your done. There is a reason why over half of the ninjas in Iwa know this jutsu. Of course you'll still need years of proper training to use the jutsu to it's full potential, but if you just want to hide by burying yourself a few feet in the ground or travel underground for a couple of dozen meters than at the rate the both of you are going, Shikamaru and you should be able to get good enough to do that in about, oh a couple of months or so of training."
"Then isn't there a better way to train my earth affinity?" Naruto made a face, "I keep getting dirt in my pants and I can't even do anything to scratch it, and it really itches too. Are you sure there isn't a better way?"
"There isn't," Kakashi replied as he pulled his book out and flipped it open. "Well there is, but as tempting as it is to bury you head first into the ground and watch you kick your legs in panic as you run out of air, I don't think that Hokage will find it as funny as I would if I suffocated you."
"Ok, Ok, I get it." Naruto grumbled and turned back to board game, slamming a stone down in frustration. "I'll learn the stupid earth affinity. But I still say this makes me look like a potted plant rather than a ninja."
"Oh, it does." I snickered at the girl. "Trust me little sunflower, it does."
"Alright, I understand why the Boss her has to be buried in dirt," One of Naruto's clones spoke up and pointed at me, "But why does Hikaru get to cop out of the training. He doesn't know how to use the Moguragakure no jutsu." The clone paused, shooting the real Naruto a questioning look, "He doesn't know it, does he Boss?"
"No I don't." I answered the clone. "And that's because I can't use it."
Naruto, the real Naruto that is, looked up in surprised, "How come? I thought this would have been easy for you."
"That's because I have a natural lightning affinity. Naruto, think of it this way, if learning a new jutsu is hard and learning a jutsu outside of your element affinity is stupidly hard, then learning a jutsu that clashes with your element is unbelievably stupidly hard to learn. And for someone with a powerful natural lightning affinity like me, earth jutsu are the hardest type to learn." I explained to my blonde haired friend, "While I can use a couple of earth jutsu, I not very good with them and you can't afford to be anything less than perfect with a jutsu like the Moguragakure. If I screw up with that technique then I'd end up being buried alive, either crushed to death or trapped underground with no air. And since neither prospect is in any way appealing to me I'm going to have to take a pass on learning the jutsu."
"But doesn't Kakashi-Sensei have a Lightning affinity too?" Naruto pointed out. "So how come he knows the jutsu?"
"That's because he's a Jounin, and all Jounins are expected to have at least two affinities." Actually, I think Kakashi had more than two. "You can get around the affinity problem if you have more that one well developed affinity but since training an affinity takes so long, that's simply not an option for me."
"Exactly," Kakashi chimed in. "Which is why I designed a completely different training program for Hikaru than the rest of you. While you and Shikamaru will be broadening your skill-set and learn earth elemental techniques, Hikaru here will concentrate one mastering his lightning techniques and perfecting his current fighting skills."
And he had, he actually had. I couldn't believe it at first, but Kakashi really did create a training program for us all.
It had been over two weeks since the end of our disastrous first D-rank mission, and since then life has begun to fall into a pattern. Every morning with the crack of dawn we would all meet up at our training ground at 7 am sharp, with Kakashi now only a half an hour late rather than the usual three or four hours. I had no idea what the Hokage did to Kakashi that day in the office, but whatever it was it worked wonders because ever since that day Kakashi actually began training us, and proper ninja training too.
For all of the shit I talked about the guy, Kakashi clearly knew what he was doing when it came to teaching. The workouts the he developed for us was gruelling and backbreaking stuff, even by my standards. Sparring, team exercises, ninjutsu training, chakra control exercises, physical training, strategy, the works. It was shocking to discover that Kakashi was a really good teacher.
Though I would never admit it to his face of course, the man had too big an ego as it was without me inflating it even more.
Of course Kakashi being Kakashi, he still tried to skip out of training whenever possible, making up of the most convoluted excuses to delay or postpone training entirely in favour of lazing about, so we often had to hunt him down and drag him here before he would be willing to start training us. But once we got him going the man would do his best to train us.
It was one of those things that I could never figure out about Kakashi. I wanted to blame it on Kakashi simply being lazy, but that didn't hold water when I took into account the sheer amount of effort he puts into thinking up his excuses, it honestly outweighed the work he would have needed to do if he just up and trained us.
Plus while Kakashi is generally an easy going person as you could find once training begins he turns into a total slave-driver, pushing me and my teammates to the limit every time until we all but collapse in exhaustion. It was a total contrast to his usual self, I swear it was like we were training under Maito Gai.
When I brought it up to the others Shikamaru just shrugged and guessed that Kakashi just didn't want to train us but if he felt he had no choice in the matter. And if that was the case then it was better to just get it over and done with and do a good job, rather than half-ass it and having to do it all over later when you messed up.
I had a different idea to why Kakashi behaved like he did. Maybe it was because I knew a little bit of his history and it coloured my view of him, but I don't think Kakashi liked the idea of training us. And by us, I don't mean Naruto, Shikamaru and me specifically but as in kids in general. I think after the childhood he had, the idea of turning kids into child soldiers like he had been was unappealing.
Naruto just thought the guy was just being an ass.
Speaking of people trying to skip out of training, Kakashi wasn't the only person that we had to drag to the training ground. Shikamaru was proving to be almost an equally big of a challenge.
I had to resist the urge to loose an evil chuckle. Poor kid, I honestly couldn't blame Shikamaru for wanting to ditch training, Kakashi's methods of motivating his students was rather extreme compared to the Academy instructors. Or at least I doubted that Academy instructors would have allowed dogs to chase Shikamaru around during running practice, with orders to take a bite out of his ass if they thought he was starting to slack off.
Then there was what Naruto and me did to keep him motivated. Between my willingness to shamelessly tattle on him to his mother combined with Naruto's pranks – the poor bastard had learned to never fall asleep during practice unless he wanted to wake up with a shirt full of spiders - along with my eyes that could spot him wherever he tried to hide, he quickly realized it would simply be less troublesome to go through with the training than avoid it.
He still managed to outsmart us and slip his leash from time to time, he wasn't a genius for nothing, so we had to buy a few Shogi and Go boards for him to play with as bribes. It may not have been the typical kind of training you'd expect from ninjas but mental exercises were still a legitimate form of training. Besides, Naruto needed to exercise her brain a bit more and she was far more receptive to strategy games than books.
By this point I felt rested enough to move around a bit, so I pushed myself up to a sitting position and turned to look at Kakashi, "Remind me again, why the hell do I have to do all of these push-ups with your fat ass sitting on my back?"
"Again, not fat but awesome. Say it with me, 'my Sensei has an awesome ass'. Repeat it in your head until you get it right." Kakashi flipped over another page, his single eye bulging out of his head as he read a particularly raunchy line before he let loose another perverse giggle. "As for why we're doing this, it's because your upper body strength sucks. For someone who's supposed to be the top of your class in taijutsu, you have rather scrawny arms."
"First, I'm not scrawny, I'm lean. There is a very big difference between the two." I made sure to point out. I worked my ass off getting my body in such good shape and I wasn't about to let anyone diss it. "Second, I'm a Gentle Fist user. What the hell would I need bulky arms for? I can kill someone with a touch of my fingers, I don't need or even want the extra punching power."
"Nevertheless, you still need to bulk up a little bit more if you ever want to master the Lightning Release." Kakashi reached out and tapped my right shoulder, the same one that I had dislocated in my fight with him. "That jutsu puts a massive strain on the user's body, both from the lightning coursing through them and from how hard the muscles are forced to work. Even if you master the technique today you won't be able to use it to its complete potential, not without tearing your body apart.
"As you are now, I doubt you could last more than ten seconds if that. Your muscles, your bones and most importantly you tendons, are all too weak to withstand it. If you tried to swing a punch in your current state with the Lightning Release fully activated you're far more likely to end up with a dislocating shoulder than anything."
"And here I thought I was physically strong for my age," I grumbled to myself. It was really frustrating that after all my years of non-stop training I had to suffer through it wasn't enough.
"Now ducky, don't fell too bad." The prick patted me on the head again. I would have felt more comforted by the gesture if I haven't seen him pet his dogs in practically the very same manner just a couple of days earlier. "You're fine physically, or your legs and core muscles are at least. It's your upper body that's lacking. That's the problem with you Hyuugas. You guys can run with the best of them, have bodies so flexible that circus acrobats would turn green with envy but when it comes to lifting weights, you lot are worthless. I know twelve years old girls with more arm strength than anyone in your entire Clan."
"Hey! Comparing us to Naruto isn't exactly fair now." I objected to the slight, ignoring Naruto as she laughed as off. Apparently she had ditched the Go game entirely in favour of listening in on us.
A few seconds later I blanched in horror as a terrifying realization dawned on me. "Wait! Does that mean I have to bulk up like the Raikage to learn the Lightning Release?" Almost retching at the idea. Trust me, Hyuugas are simply not meant to have that much muscle on us, we'd look horrible.
Kakashi chuckled, looking away from his book for the first time. "No, not unless you want to. The Raikage needs all the extra bulk because it suits his style. Unlike you and me who are only looking for speed, the Raikage wants the brute strength that comes with the technique in addition to the speed. He likes using his body like a battering rams to crush his enemies. When I said to bulk up, I was thinking more along the lines of Gai or me." He outright snickered at the palpable relief on my face. "Don't worry Ducky, you don't have to bulk up anywhere near as them unless you want to."
"Thank god for small blessings then." I heaved out a sigh of relief as I dropped back onto the ground. I did not consider myself a vain person by any means, but the idea of turning into one of those muscles bound body-builders that I used to see in the gym all the time was simply unappealing to me.
"By the way Sensei," I spoke up a moment later as I laid down at the grass, face to the sky. "Naruto and me won't be able to make it to training tomorrow."
Naruto shot straight up, stiffening at my words. Her face turned oddly empty as her gaze swerved onto me, those blue eyes of hers filled with so many conflicting emotions that contrasted with the blank expression she wore, before she switched to Kakashi a moment later. She watched him like the hawk, unblinking and unmoving. It was something that I usually only saw her do when she gave something her complete attention, staying perfectly still yet focused, and I knew she was taking everything in as she waited to hear his answer.
"Hmm?" Kakashi looked up from his book to shoot me a questioning look. "That's unusual. I never thought I'd see the day where you'd ask for less training. Something wrong?"
Lifting a hand, I lazily waved his concerns away. "No, nothing bad. Just a birthday party Naruto needs to attend, I'm just tagging along."
"A birthday?" Kakashi's single eye blinked in confusion. I guess whatever it was he was expecting me to say, it wasn't that. He cocked his head to one side like one of his dogs, "Anyone I know?"
"You could say that," I replied, "It's July 10th tomorrow, can you think of anyone who has a birthday on that day?"
Kakashi lowered his book and cupped his chin with one hand. "I don't think so-," Comprehension dawned in his eyes as he remembered. "Oh!"
He turned to look at Naruto, who immediately glanced away, refusing to meet his eyes. "I see." He said at last, eyes softening. "Well, I guess that's fine then."
Lifting his book up to his face he turned his attention back to reading, "Alright Duckies, tomorrow's training is cancelled. It's a rare day off, so be sure to enjoy yourself."
Naruto all but slumped in relief at his words, but both Kakashi and I pretended not to notice. For all of the girl's buster and courage, there are some things that Naruto even can't face head on. And this one of them, she had always been overly sensitive whenever it comes to her.
"Thanks." I told Kakashi, meaning it.
He just absently waved me off. "Maa~, Maa~, don't make such a big deal out of it. I get to get a day off and that's always a good thing." Then he added quietly, so that only I could hear him. "Be sure to tell her I said hi."
"Sure thing." I answered, equally quiet.
Shutting down my Byakugan, I closed my eyes and took the chance to enjoy the moment while Kakashi returned to his book.
A kind of comfortable silence fell between us as we both came to a silent understanding. If nothing else, when it came to keeping Naruto safe, we both knew where the other stood.
"Hey! What the hell are you two doing?" I heard Naruto yell, indignation filling her voice. I turned my head to the side and cracked open my eyelids to see what was happening. Naruto's two clones were looking abashed from where they sat on either side of the Go board, rubbing the back of their head as they gave the original sheepish smiles. "You-you-you lost three times! How? I don't even understand how you two could have played so many games when I wasn't looking? Didn't I tell you not to touch anything! I can't believe how stupid you two are to have lost so badly."
Again, I did not bother pointing out to Naruto what it meant for her if she thought her own clones were stupid.
A bell chimed from somewhere over my head as I pushed open the door.
It always felt like stepping into a different, tiny world whenever I walked into this store. As always the first thing I noticed was the air, it was damp with humidity, thick with so many different blends of scents that it was almost overwhelming and tasted so fresh that I couldn't help but be reminded me of my mother's garden during early spring.
"Welcome to Yamanaka flower shop." A voice called out from behind the counter, where an attendant had her back turned to me as she worked on a bouquet of flowers. "How can I help- oh, it's just you Hikaru."
"Nice to see you too Ino." I answered back blandly, trying to sound offended at the unenthusiastic tone Ino had adopted once she had realized she was talking to me. "As always, I'm overwhelmed by how welcome you make me feel whenever I shop here. It's a wonder that I don't come by more often."
"Come off it Hikaru," Ino waved a dismissive hand from over her shoulder, already turning away to continue her work on the flowers, "I don't have the energy to give you the full welcome treatment. I barely had time to shower after my training with Asuma-sensei before my Dad had me man the store. Do you have any idea how hard it is to act chipper all the time in front of customers when you want to do nothing more than get some beauty sleep."
"You'd be surprised." I replied, thinking back on all the public 'birthday parties' that I had to sit through as a child, where I did nothing but smile and nod politely for hours at the unending stream of guests. "So training is going well I take it. Asuma pushing you guys hard?"
"Not precisely, no." Ino admitted, a touch of frustration coloring her tone. "And that's the problem."
Even as she talked to me the pony-tailed blonde Heiress continued with her work, carefully looking over the bouquet with a critical eye, searching for imperfections. Though I could see nothing wrong with the flower arrangement she must have thought differently because she kept adding and removing flowers, occasionally nudging one in place.
"Why are men such lazy pigs?" Ino groused out loud, adding another violet lilac to the arrangement. "I mean really, why is every guy in my team so lazy. Is it like this for everybody or is it just with me? Am I the only cursed with teammates who would rather bum off cigarettes or eat a pack of chips than work?"
"Asuma and Chouji giving you trouble I take it?"
"You can say that." She snorted, tossing her hair over one shoulder, "I have to spend twenty minutes every morning convincing those two to get off their asses and train. Chouji refuses to work until he eats his second breakfast while Asuma believes it's better to allow him to go at his own pace than rush him. Thank god Sakura is on my team, I have no idea what I would have done if it wasn't for her."
Ino paused for a moment and thought on it. "On second thought I know exactly what I would have done, I'd be pulling my hair out in frustration as I spent half my day trying to get my team to do any real work. Which reminds me," She spared a quick glance over her shoulder, "thank your grandfather for me will you? I don't know what he did exactly, but if it wasn't for him I would have been stuck with Shikamaru instead of Sakura as a teammate and that would have been hell."
"I'll be sure to pass the message." I told her with a dry smile. "Though I imagine Asuma wasn't as pleased as you were with the team placement."
"Oh Asuma was furious," Ino commented flippantly, "He somehow got it into him that Shikamaru, Chouji and me would make a great team just because our fathers were." She snorted. "Yeah, as if. If I had to deal with a team filled with lazy boys alone without Sakura to help me out then I doubt I'd have been able to last a month before I snapped."
She turned to face me, a polite smile on her face. "The three of us were raised together you know, and I love Shikamaru as if he were my own flesh and blood brother." Her smile slowly grew a little bit too wide to be completely normal and her eyes gained a certain glint that made me take an involuntary step back. "But I swear if I had to hear him call me a 'troublesome women' day in and day out for the rest of my ninja career, I would have to kill him. And I mean I would physically strangle him and make him choke on his words. And I honestly don't think I would even regret it."
Then like a switch being switch the deranged look in her eyes disappeared, leaving behind nothing more than an ordinary smiling girl. Turning back to the flowers, Ino tossed a final comment over shoulders. "So I think it turned out better for all this way, don't you?"
"...If you say so." I replied, feeling a bit little scared of Ino for the first time in my life. And here I thought women were supposed to be the kinder gender.
Shaking my discomfort off, I decided to pretend that the last minute didn't happen and get back to the real reason why I was here in the first place. "Anyway Ino, I'm here to pick up some flowers I ordered. Are they ready yet?"
"It should be, just give me a couple of more minutes to finish with this and I'll look for it. Someone made a special orders for a bouquet of lilac flowers for today and I want to get it just right." She told me as she continued to alter the flower arrangement for what must have been the hundredth time. Say what you want about Ino, but when it came to her family's business she was a bit of a perfectionist.
"Take your time then, I'm in no hurry." Smiling, I allowed her to continue on her work, not bothering to mention that she was working on the flowers I had ordered.
"So, how Shikamaru doing anyway?" Ino asked after a few seconds of silence, probably more for something to talk about than anything, "He's not giving you too much trouble is he? I know how much of hassle it can be getting him to do any work."
"Actually, Shikamaru had been doing great. He really had been giving it his all during training."
Ino actually froze a moment later when she finally processed what I said, before turning around to give me a skeptical, "Really?" she asked, an eyebrow raised. "Hikaru, I know Shikamaru well enough to know that nothing short of his mother can get him to do any work."
"That's only because you don't know how to properly motivate him," I pointed out, "If you did, you'd find that Shikamaru can be quite the hard worker."
"Uh-huh," Ino drawled, clearly not believing a word I said. "And how precisely do you go about motivating him?"
"Dogs." I told her.
"Dogs?" She parrot, a second eyebrow joining the first.
"Yes dogs," I confirmed, not hiding the wicked smile that graced my lips. "You'd be surprised how fast Shikamaru can run when you send a pack of ninja-dogs after him with orders to take a bite out of his ass if he happens to slack off and slow down."
Ino's jaw dropped open, "And his mum didn't have anything to say about it."
"Oh, she had plenty of thinks to say." My smile just grew larger as I thought of his mother's response. Really, Yoshino was one of a kind. "Actually I think it was his mother that finally caused Shikamaru to resign himself to training. After the first time he got bitten by Kakashi's dogs he went to his mom to complain, only for Shikamaru to appear for practice the next day carrying an expensive brand of doggy treats. It was a gift from his mum, along with a note asking if she could borrow a couple of the dogs to use on her husband."
Ino's jaw hung open for a few more second before she burst out laughing, bending over and wrapping her arms around her belly from how hard she laughed. "Oh my god! That's hilarious. I wish I could have seen the look on his face." She continued to laugh unabatedly for a good twenty seconds before she calmed down enough to talk again.
She raised her head and turned her green eyes up to me, eyes twinkling with merriment, "You know, maybe I should try that on Chouji. Do you think Kakashi would be willing to send a couple of dogs my way as well."
"I'll be sure to ask the next time I see him." I promised.
"Thanks." She said before turning back to the flowers, still chuckling with good humor.
As I watched the blonde girl work, I found myself immensely relieved by how much this world differed from Kishimoto's version of it. I didn't know if it was because of all the changes I made by being here or if it had always been this way, but Ino had ended up becoming a vastly different person than she was in the series.
For one thing, she isn't a boy obsessed girl. Maybe it was because she didn't have Sasuke here to base her infatuation on but Ino didn't spend most of her days fighting to gain the attention of a boy and had actually put some real effort into becoming a respectable ninja. Though she was still pretty much a girly-girl in many ways and loved to gossip like you wouldn't believe.
That was actually another thing that was different in this world. I don't know if it was something Kishimoto embellished for the sake of comedy, or if it was something about me that scared them off but even though, like Sasuke, I performed head and shoulders above anybody else and was hailed as a genius, I was in no way popular with any of the girls in class. Neither Ino, Sakura, nor anyone else for that matter, had at any point in time had ever had a crush on me, and I cannot begin to express how immensely relieved I was to discover that.
I didn't know why that was the case and frankly I didn't care. I was just happy that I would never have to experience what it felt like to have mobs of fan-girls chasing me around and dogging my every move.
"There," Ino stated a minute later, giving the flowers a once over before nodding to herself in satisfaction, "that should do it. Now, give me a second and I'll be back with your order."
"Actually Ino," I stopped the girl before entered the back room and pointed to the bouquet she had been working on, "That is my order."
Ino looked stunned, her eyes jumping from the flowers I was pointing to and my face. "Umm Hikaru, not to sound rude but are you sure you ordered the right kind of flowers?" She began cautiously, "Those are purple lilacs, and they have a very specific meaning when giving them to someone."
"Yes Ino, I know that they're lilacs and I know exactly what they symbolize." I answered, amused but unsurprised by her reaction. In the language of flowers, purple lilacs are supposed to symbolize first or a new love, which is why their often seen in weddings, even in here the Elemental Nations. Over the years, it has become something of a growing trend in Konoha for a guy to give it to a girl on a first date. "And yes, those are the flowers I wanted to buy."
Ino's eyes went so wide that I thought they might roll out of her eyes while she gaped at me, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to speak but nothing seemed to come out.
Finally, swallowing, she managed to pull herself together enough to raise a trembling finger to point at me, "Oh-My-God." Ino emphasized each word as she spoke, "You've finally asked Naruto out! Haven't you? You're going out on a date!" All but squealing the last word in delight.
"When? How? Where? Details, I need details. Tell me everything. Did you ask her out or did she? You have to tell me!" Ino had a mile-wide smile on her face as she fired out questions after question so rapidly that I had trouble processing what she was saying, let alone answer her back. "Is that why you're all dressed up, for your date?"
I looked down at myself to take in what she was talking about. Unlike the usual type of clothing that I liked to wear, basically a shorts and shirt combo that's not too different from what Neji used to favor, today I had decided to dress up in style. I was wearing a traditional kimono, mostly made up of a single shade of dark blue that was lined with a some white, that was tailored from material so fine that, even to someone like me, it was clearly expensive.
"Kinda traditional for a first date, don't you think?" Ino comment, coming out from behind the counter to circle around me, looking me up and down with the same critical eye she used on the flowers. "But you Hyuugas love that kind of thing, so I guess it's only to be expected and it is clear you put some effort into it. Plus I have to admit it does look good on you."
Ino worried her bottom lip as she thought it over, before finally nodding to herself. "Good enough, I give it a pass. You have my approval to wear that on your date."
"Thank you, I cannot begin to tell you how much your approval means to me." I told her blandly, though the I felt my lips twitch upwards, giving away the amusement I felt. I shook my head at the excited girl. "But I'm sorry to disappoint you Ino but I didn't ask Naruto out for a date."
Ignoring the bewildered look Ino was giving me I walked around the counter and picked up the flowers she had been working on. And I had to admit that it was really well done, the lilacs were mixed with several tiny blue flowers, whose name I did not know, and were arranged in a way that really helped highlight the purple of the lilac.
Lifting the tiny bouquet up, I took a moment to really examine it from all angles. "And these flowers aren't for her. They're for a different girl, a certain beautiful red-head that I happen to know."
Satisfied, I turned around to complement Ino for a job well done only to find that Ino had turned a pale white. She was standing completely still, as if froze in place, her eyes staring blankly ahead at nothing.
"Ino?" I inquired cautiously, not sure what was had caused the normally talkative girl to become so silent. "Are you alright?"
My words seemed to do the trick because she seemed to start and snap awake, before her head turned to look straight at me. "...Oh god," She began, the empty look on her face quickly replaced with one of dawning horror, "Naruto's going to end up in prison isn't she?"
"What?" This time it was my turn to be taken aback as I tried to understand the leap in logic that lead her to that conclusion. "No! Why would you think she'd end up in jail?"
"Because Naruto is going to murder someone when she finds out. Oh god," Ino palmed her face, "I'm going to end up being friends with a murderer."
I couldn't help it, she looked so serious when she spoke that I ended up broking down in laughter, causing to Ino glare at me in annoyance.
"It's not funny." She snapped. "Naruto would really end up killing someone when she finds out. I've sparred with her you know," Ino winced at the memory and rubbed her belly, "and she has one mean punch even when she's holding back. One good hit is all she needs to take the poor girl's head off."
"Don't worry Ino," I reassured the girl, still chucking lightly as I walked out from behind the counter and approached her, "Naruto is definitely not going to kill someone over this because she already knows. In fact, not only was it her idea but she plans to tag along with me. You see," I stopped once I near the girl and leaned forward towards her ear while simultaneously lowering my voice, as if I was about impart a very important secret, "it turns out that Naruto is really into red-heads or at least she's into this particular red-head. And I can guarantee you that Naruto is going to enjoy her company just as much, if not more, than I will."
After finally imparting the truthful, if slightly misleading, bit of news, I leaned away from Ino, only to find myself having to fight back the urge to cackle as Ino blushed a bright tomato red at the implications.
Oh how I love messing with people's head. Especially when I'm being completely honest with them.
"I...I…Huh?" Ino stutter illegibly, actually looking as if she was about to go into shock. A few second of nonsense muttering later, Ino's brain seemed to finally being rebooting itself, "...Icha Icha spoke the truth." She whispered quietly to herself, still clearly out of it.
My eyes bulged at her words, not believing what I just heard her say, before I felt an oh so wicked smile grace my lips. "Oh Ino," I purred, my voice thick with amusement, "I didn't know you were into porn."
Somehow Ino managed to turn even redder as she realized what she had said; clearly she hadn't meant for me to hear that.
Ino was starting at me with wide terrified eyes, looking ready to bolt. It was such a 'deer in the headlights' look that I decided for once to show some mercy and spare the poor girl from any more grief. For now at least, you can be sure I'd be bringing this back up again later, this was far too good to drop entirely.
"Well, I have to be going Ino. Don't want to be late." I walked towards the store's exit and was about to make my way out but not before making one final comment before leaving. "Be sure to enjoy your erotic porn. I heard that the latest version is a really good one."
This time when the bell chimed above me as I opened the door, it was intermixed the sound of my laughter.
It was the click-clack of wooden sandals that alerted me to her arrival, so when the weight slammed into my back I was already ready for it and managed to stay on my feet, staggering only for a single step before regaining my balance. I didn't even need to think as I hooked my arms beneath the legs that appeared on either side of my waist, supporting her weight while making sure not to crush the small bouquet that I still held in my hand while I did so.
Deceptively thin arms wound their away around my neck, their owner using them to pull herself closer to me so that she can nuzzle the back of my neck.
"Hikaru~," Turning my head, I found myself staring into a set of sapphire eyes that sparkling in the sunlight, not more a couple of inches away from my own, an infectious grin adorning the face they belonged to, "I found ya."
"Idiot," I deadpanned to the grinning Naruto as she latched onto my back, piggybacking, "I'm the one who found you. You're late, I had to come looking for you."
"Ah, ahahaha," the blonde smiled sheepishly at that, one hand rubbing the back of her head awkwardly, the other still latching onto me. "Sorry, sorry, I kinda lost track of the time."
"It's fine," I assured the girl, looking away as I turned around and resumed walking, this time heading towards our destination. "It's not as if we're in any real hurry, we have all day. Just make sure not get your cloths all wrinkled up, you hear?"
"Got ya," Sensing more than seeing her nod behind me.
It was not long before I felt the blonde shift a bit on my back, making herself more comfortable as she set her face on the top my back, right between my shoulder blades. She nuzzled contently as found the perfect spot to relax, and I knew without looking that she had already shut eyes, almost as she was about to fall asleep.
And maybe she would, it wouldn't have been the first time it would happen.
We walked for a while in a comfortable silence as I navigated through the crowd of milling people, neither of us feeling the need to talk, and we just enjoyed the presence of each other's company.
The crowds didn't thin or disperse as I pushed my way through them, the people either not realizing who was sitting on my back thanks to the way she was all dressed up or simply not caring. While I won't go as far as to say that the ordinary citizens of Konoha had lost their fear of Naruto, or more specifically their fear of what she held in her belly, it wasn't as bad as it had been seven years ago.
There was still a lot of people who would cross to the other side of the street whenever they saw her coming, but there was just as many that didn't. I guess it goes to show that people could get used to anything if you waited long enough, even a demon container.
Still, it didn't make so much of a lick of difference to Naruto or me whether the average citizens of Konoha were scared of her or not. For me it had simply never mattered, I had never been particularly worried about what stranger thought about me, not in this or my last live, while Naruto herself had long since adopted a similar mindset to mine and had stopped caring what they thought of her entirely.
Soon the crowds began to steadily thin out as I made my way farther away from the more populated area of the city and neared the outskirts. I was making good progress and before too long I found myself standing at the base of a gray stone staircase. It was set on the side of a large grassy hill and went all the way up to the peak.
The hill it's was unusual. There were no building on it, no place to live in yet it was clearly well maintained. The stones the stair were crafted from were perfectly flat and in pristine condition, almost as if it had been scrubbed clean recently. There was also several paths ringing the hill, a good two dozen, all them made from the same grey bricks the staircase was made and all of them were only reachable by climbing the staircase.
Knowing that the path we needed to take was near the peak, I shifted Naruto's weight around a bit, making sure I had a proper better grip on her, before I ascended the first step and began the long trek up the hill.
The crowds were none existent here, as it usually was at this time of year, so it was only Naruto and me on the hill. Though the climb was a bit of a long one I knew it wouldn't tire me out. Not only was I in good enough shape but I had long ago gotten used to climbing this particular staircase. We came here almost every year, Naruto and me that is, and even with Naruto's weight added it was still an easy climb.
Naruto had always felt so light when I carried here that I barely noticed she was even there. It was hard to believe that this little wisp of a girl held all that power in her tiny body. I didn't know if that was because I had gotten stronger over the years or if I had I just gotten so used to Naruto's presence in my life but these day I no longer even noticed the extra whenever I had to carry her.
A few minutes later I noticed that I had reached the level I needed to and took a left turn off the staircase and onto the path.
"Naruto," I called out to the as I slowly walked along the empty path. When I didn't hear a response I called out to her again, louder this time. "Naruto, we're almost there." Had she really fall asleep?
"Hmm?" A groggy voice drifted from behind me, confirming my suspicion.
"I said we're almost there. Time to get up Naruto."
"Oh," came the lazy sounding reply, followed by a long drawn-out yawn, "Alright, I'm up, I'm up."
Naruto shifted around a bit on my back as she roused herself awake, almost causing me to lose my balance for a second, before I felt her place her hands on my shoulders and use them to push herself up, granting her a clear view of the place from over my head.
"Man, this place never changes does it?" She said as she looked around at all the stone monuments that lined either side of the road. After looking around a bit more she glanced down at me, "It looks exactly same as it did last year, doesn't it Hikaru?"
"Of course it does," I snickered at the idea of this place ever changing. "It's not like the people here can redecorate the place even if they wanted to, can they? Now," I halted in my tracks, "get off and let me a good look at you. We're almost there and I need to make sure you look presentable."
"Alright," The hands on my shoulders pushed slightly and I released my hold on Naruto's legs and allowed her to slip to the ground. I heard her land softly behind me, followed by the click-clack of wooden sandals hitting the stone floor as she walked around to stand in-front of me.
"Ta-dah!" Naruto exclaimed, holding her arms open so I can better examine her. "Well, how do I look?"
Like me, Naruto wasn't dressed up in her usually fair. In place of the orange and black suit that she loved to wear, Naruto was instead wearing a beautiful yellow kimono, one that had orange flower petals decorating its surface. It was the very same kimono that I had seen my mother force on her a couple of weeks ago. Though her hair was styled differently than it had been back then. Instead of having it freely falling down her back as she usually did, or the French braids she wore that day, today her golden locks was done up in an elaborate design, fashioned and held in place over her head with a comb that was decorated with pink flowers.
"Well," She repeated, a little shyly this time, fidgeting slightly as I looked her over. As it was fashionable these days, the sleeves of her kimono was a little on the long side so it half covered her hands, and she hand to fold her fingers over the edge of the sleeves to hold it in place. "How do I look?"
"Perfect," I told her truthful, her smile turning back to her usual confident one at my praise, "Looks like my mother did a good job."
"Of course she did," Naruto smirked, nodded proudly, "She had a good model to work with."
Seeing that we were both ready, I began making my way down the stone path and covering the last stretch of distance until our destination. Glancing to my right where Naruto was following alongside me, I asked, "My mum didn't give you any trouble did she?"
Instead of walking like a normal person would, Naruto was practically skipping. She hopped in place once, she spun around so that she was now walking backwards alongside me, the click-clack of the traditional wooden sandals she wore filling the air.
"Nah," She shook her head, before pausing. After thinking over a bit, she gained a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of her head. "Well, not too much anyway. I kinda had a bit of trouble leaving. Mio-san didn't seem to want to let go of me once she finished helping me dress up." Naruto gave me an embarrassed sounding chuckle when I deadpanned at her, still rubbing the back of her head. "I had trouble convincing her to release me from her hug but when I reminded her you were waiting she let me off easy. It was kinda why I was a little late."
"Of course it was," rolling my eyes at the thought of my mother, "I should have figured as much."
What Naruto didn't need to say was that by 'letting her off easy', it meant that my mother had restricted herself to only a good five minutes of cuddling with Naruto instead of her usual twenty.
Really, even in alternate universe mothers were the same everywhere. They go through so much trouble making sure your ready and all dress up in time for your big day only to end up making you late because they refused to let you leave the house when it was time.
By this point I noticed that were were almost at out destination and slowed my pace down, stopping to a halt once we reached there. "Well," I began, glancing to my blonde companion to make sure she was alright, "we're here."
"Yeah," a tense smile fluttered on her lips, "we are."
"Here," I handed her the flowers, placing it directly into her hands. It was Naruto who asked me to buy these, getting that idea after asking my mother for suggestions. "Take it."
Naruto bit her lips, suddenly nervous, looking down at the lavender colored flowers. "Do you think..." she began suddenly before stopping, her blue eyes usual so confident now wavered with uncertainly as they looked into my own, seeking reassurance. "Do you think she'll like them?"
"I think she'll love it." I told her, pushing a loose strand of hair behind ear, "And don't worry, you look beautiful so just go and talk to her."
Though she gained a little dusting of red along her cheeks at my words, it still didn't do anything to relieve her from her nerves. "Alright." Naruto nodded and took a deep breath to gather her courage before she turned away from me and walked ahead., "Here I go, wish me luck."
"Good luck," I called out after her.
I watched from behind her as she stepped forward, walking unsteadily towards the grave, closing the distance in three short steps. Reaching the tombstone, Naruto knelt down and held the flowers on her lap. For a time, she did nothing but stare down at flowers, her fingers dancing nervously on her lap, uncertain on what to do or say.
At last she seemed to gather her courage and, after taking one final deep breath, she lifted her eye and looked straight at the grave.
"Hi," She began, a watery smile on her lips. It looked so fragile, so weak that it felt like it could be washed away with the rain, so very different from her beaming smiles that I have gotten used to seeing on her over the years.
Lifting the lavender colored flower Naruto held it forward and placed it before the tombstone. "These are for you."
Lilacs were the symbol of new love, that was true. But there was another meaning to that flower, one that was less well known and popular than the first.
A large gravestone stood before Naruto, and on its flat surface was engraved a single name.
Uzumaki Kushina
"Happy Birthday mum."
Purple Lilacs can also symbolize the love between a mother and child.
*Chapter End*
Author's Notes:
Fun fact: Lilac is the symbol for new love, which is why they are often popular in wedding. But they also symbolize the love between a mother and child, which is a far less well known fact. To help me develop Mio's character I had to do some research into flowers in general (she is a flower enthusiast) and stumbled onto this information. When I did, I knew I had to add it in because it would go perfectly along with the chapter.
This chapter was actually only half of the outline I had I planned for it to be, but I decided to end it here because it was such a perfect place to stop and I really want to hear your reactions to it. As my writing is going really well (got this chapter done in less than 5 days) the second half of the chapter should be up before too long.
Oh, for of those you who don't know I have a forum (you can find the link on my profile page) and I'm going to add a place to discuss this story so feel free to drop in if you have any question or want to talk.
I also decided to set up a poll for this story on my profile page. I wanted to find out who were your favourite characters are, not their canon counterpart of course by their re-imagined version here in this story. So be sure to vote and let me know what you think.
Now for as the chapter itself, I spent a lot more time on the training scene than I would have liked but it needed to be done to set the groundwork for the rest of the story, and I tried to make it as entertaining and engaging as possible so I hope managed to pull it off. Oh, and I love writing Kakashi and Hikaru together, they really do make an interesting student-teacher pair. I never planned it to happen but as I wrote about them I found that they really did get along well.
Ino makes a brief appearance as well, not much of one I admit but we're finally starting to see more and more of the cast I have planned for the tale. And we caught a glimpse of the new team 7 dynamics along with the Naruto/Hikaru relationship. As for the end, well I always thought it was a bit of a dick move in the series that no one told Naruto about his mother. Always wonder why the hell didn't they tell him her name, so he could at least visit her grave or something. Well not here, and now we get to explore her reaction to that knowledge.
All in all, a slow paced slice-of-life chapter but hopefully you enjoyed it. Don't worry though, the next chapter will get the plot rolling again and is going to be full of twists so look forward to it.
That's all for now, please leave a review on your way out and tell me what you think. I really appreciate hearing all comments, from the simple 'good job' to the large thousand word reviews, they really help encourage me.
And again, thanks for reading.