Chapter Six
Approx. One Year Later
I wake up feeling inexplicably happy. There's no particular reason for the feeling, but I have learned that you don't always need a good, solid reason to feel happy. Sometimes you just do.
I count all the reasons why I should be happy as I get dressed. There are many, many reasons.
It's a beautiful day, and I'll probably spend all morning out in the garden, tending to the plants and reveling in the knowledge that something needs me to grow.
I finally got up the courage to ask Aya if she could buy me some shorts and pants a few months ago, and she promised she would. I have not had to wear a skirt since.
Shigeru-jii promised me he would start helping me with my aim and throwing skills soon, since it says in all the books I read with Jiji that kunai and shuriken are vital to any ninja's repertoire (a silly word). Children are not allowed to enter the Shinobi Academy – which is way out there in the middle of Konoha, a daunting prospect – until they are eight in times of peace, but having Shigeru-jii help me with my first weapons is almost as good. Especially since Shigeru-jii is not around as often as he used to be.
Jiji tells me that the people of Konoha have finally started to calm down from the fright they got when they realized I was missing. I wonder if they all started looking under their beds for sharp teeth and scary growling, but I don't have the heart to ask Jiji.
Jiji told them I was in a "secure, unspecified location", and after people didn't start disappearing randomly or getting mutilated, Konoha had to assume their leader was keeping them safe. After it was clear things were starting to calm down, Shigeru-jii stopped guarding me all the time and went back on active duty. It turns out the only reason he was around all the time in the first place is because he was on a "term of leave." Now he's back as an active shinobi. He sometimes disappears for days on end to go on missions, or he goes out to work for the day like Jiji, patrolling the village.
I tell myself firmly that because he's happier, that's one more thing to be happy for. Even though I miss him sometimes.
Finally, and most importantly, I am happy because I have the right to live. Just as I have promised myself I always will be.
I put on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt – in orange, a bright, beautiful color I've taken a liking to – and brush my hair until it gleams. Then I go down the stairs to the kitchen.
Jiji is already there, which isn't a surprise. But so is the rest of the family, and that definitely is a surprise. Even Ko is there, looking sleepy in his father's lap… and I didn't even know his father was back from his latest mission yet. Did he rush just to be back here this morning? Sanken is sitting next to Jiji. Aya is standing near the stove full of already-cooking food.
"Is something wrong?" I blurt out.
Jiji raises his eyebrows. "Why would you think that?" He sounds genuinely confused.
"Everyone's up," I answer, just as confused.
"Of course we are," Aya says dismissively, bustling around the cupboards. "You know what day it is, right?"
Is there something special about today? Not that I can remember. I shake my head, frowning a little.
"Today is your seventh birthday," Shigeru-jii says gently. He turns to Ko on his lap and shakes him a little. "Right, Ko?"
"Bir'day," Ko yawns, rubbing his eyes.
"So sit down and let us give you your presents already," Sanken adds, growly in spite of everything. Aya gives him a Look from the stove, and he makes a kind of warding off gesture with his hands.
Aya and Sanken don't get along too well.
"I… get presents?" I ask dumbly. What do presents have to do with birthdays?
"Everyone gets gifts from the people important to them on their birthdays, Naruto-chan. That's the way it's supposed to work," Jiji explains. He seems sad again, like he's explaining something I should already know. He hasn't sounded like that in a while.
"Oh. Okay," I agree, eager to cheer him up. Besides, who am I to turn down presents they've picked out just for me?
I sit down at the table with my family, but Aya says I have to wait until after breakfast so that she can watch too. I don't understand what could be so interesting about watching someone open a box, but maybe she wants to know if I like what she bought me or not.
Apparently, some people don't like gifts even though someone was kind enough to buy one just for them. I won't ever be someone like that, but for some reason, my family seems to keep thinking I will. It's almost insulting.
Breakfast is huge, and full of lots of yummy food. That's how most of the food Aya cooks is. I think that's why I'm not so skinny anymore.
Finally, though, breakfast is over and the plates are cleared from the table. Shigeru-jii puts down Ko, who has been miraculously revived by pancakes drowned in sugary syrup, and walks out of the room for a moment. When he comes back, he's carrying a whole bunch of boxes wrapped in beautiful, shiny paper. He puts them down on the table in front of me, and my eyes widen.
"They're all for me?" I ask incredulously. Shigeru-jii's lips twitch a little as he nods.
I think that's amazing. I sit there for a moment, entranced, before carefully picking up a box. The beautiful paper has been taped over the box in layers, but I don't just want to tear it off. That would ruin it. So I carefully peel the paper off at the corners, making sure not to tear any of it, and pull the big sheet away from the box.
Inside is a brand-new, gleaming set of kunai and shuriken. My face lights up in excitement as I look up to Shigeru-jii. He smiles. "Hey, I promised, didn't I?"
Aya clears her throat and gives him a pointed look. "Right," he says hurriedly, "and the first thing I'm going to teach you is how to hold them so you don't hurt yourself." He practically scurries around the table toward me and spends a few minutes teaching me where and how to grip each of them, and to hold them away from myself.
Finally, Ko, who has been bouncing impatiently in his chair, shouts, "Mine next! Mine next!" We both turn to look at him, and Shigeru-jii lets out a soft laugh.
"Of course," he says, and slides out a big paper card that I hadn't noticed before from the pile.
Drawn on it in crayon is a messy, childish picture of Ko and me playing ninja together. At the top, in big, scrawling letters, are the words, "Happy Birthday Nee-chan."
Tears fill my eyes as the warmth in my chest blazes. "It's beautiful," I say, beaming over at Ko. He grins, looking rather proud of himself.
All of my other presents are just as perfect. Aya has sewn me a beautiful, colorful patchwork quilt to throw over my bed. Sanken has made me a wooden trellis to set up around the frame of my window, promising me he'll teach me how to grow ivy and certain kinds of climbing flowers on it later. Jiji gives me a book on the three main shinobi skills: taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu. He also says they have bought me a bookshelf to put in my room and start my own collection of books.
At the end of it all, I think I have the best family in the whole world.
They even spend the rest of their morning helping me set everything up in my room. The quilt is put on the bed. Sanken puts up the trellis around my window, and Shigeru-jii puts the bookcase together just a little ways away from my wardrobe, saying all those words Aya always slaps him over the back of the head for all the while. The book goes on the first shelf once it's finished. The kunai, shuriken, polish, and sharpener I put on top of my chest of drawers, right in front of the mirror.
Ko just sort of runs around getting in everyone's way until Jiji makes a suggestion about the wrapping paper I saved. He says that I could cut out a square from every piece of wrapping paper I save, and make a sort of collage of them on the back of my bedroom door. I like this idea, and Ko and I end up doing this together. We tape each large square on the inside of the door, leaving room for others for later years.
I like the idea that there will be later years.
The rest of the paper I fold and put inside the first drawer in my chest of drawers. I tuck Ko's card in carefully at the top.
As I shut the drawer, the words flash in front of my vision.
Happy Birthday Nee-chan.
Later in the week, I am spending my nightly reading time with Jiji. Sometimes he teaches me other things, like math or history or something about shinobi, but a lot of the time we just read together. Instead of taking out a book tonight, however, once he gets to the library he picks me up and sets me on his lap.
"Naruto-chan," he begins, "how would you like to meet some other little girls your own age?"
My eyes widen at this. "I thought I was supposed to stay here and be safe," I say with a bit of panic. I'm not leaving, am I?
"You'll still be here most of the time," he reassures me. "But there are some etiquette lessons going on in the village, arranged for little girls from six to eight."
"Etiquette lessons?" I echo, wrinkling my nose a little. "What are those?"
He smiles. "Etiquette, as I've told you, means manners. But in this particular case, it would mean preparing a little girl to become a very confident and graceful young woman. A lot of parents pay a certain woman in the village to teach their daughters lessons about this."
Well, I don't think I want to be clumsy or under confident when I grow up. Still… something in me hesitates to leave the estate. I always knew I would have to eventually, of course, but I hadn't thought that "eventually" would come quite so soon.
"What if…" I trail off. Jiji waits patiently. Finally, I continue, "What if something happens? Or the teacher tries something? Or the other little girls don't like me?"
I am surprised when he smiles warmly. "As long as you act like yourself, Naruto-chan, I can't see the other girls not liking a wonderful little girl like you." I can't help but blush at this; it's still so odd every time someone says something like that to me. "And as for your other worries…" Jiji pauses, considering. "I'll tell you what. Do you remember Cat?"
The tall, dark-haired, masked woman. I still have her cloak. I beam and nod.
"What if she sits in on the first few lessons with you? Not participating, but watching from a distance to make sure everything goes alright. She would even escort you to and from there. Would that be okay?"
I nod at this. Cat is rather intimidating, but she definitely looks out for me. So she can be intimidating to everyone else instead.
"If you do this, it would also mean something else, Naruto-chan," Jiji adds. I look back up at him curiously. "It would mean that I would have to announce to the village that you're living with me, since you're starting to go out among the people. Granted, this place is much better protected then it appears to be, so we shouldn't have any problems, but I want you to be aware that everyone will know you as the Hokage's granddaughter, as well as the Kyuubi container."
Somehow, that actually doesn't worry me so much. The idea of Jiji telling everyone I'm his granddaughter makes me feel warm inside.
"I'd like that," I say, smiling up at him.
His answering smile is brilliant. "So would I."
The following days are filled with preparation. Aya is buying me a whole mountain of new clothes (I secretly think she actually enjoys doing this) and Jiji gives me a book on the different things I should expect to learn at the lessons. He is busy at the office more and more, preparing the way for me I think, so I usually play with Ko or fix up my trellis with Sanken or spend time with Shigeru-jii when he isn't on duty.
Most of all, I read the book Jiji gave me. I learn a little bit about different things like flower arrangement, tea ceremony, dancing, singing, and wearing kimono. Some of it sounds interesting, but not like anything I could ever do. Whenever I think about this, I actually feel clumsier, as if my body is reminding me that I am going to fail.
I eventually admit this to Shigeru-jii. He looks at me speculatively for a moment. "Come with me," he finally says, and leads me down to the kitchen.
We walk through the kitchen and to the back, where there is a small wooden door that I always thought led to a pantry or cupboard. Shigeru-jii opens it, however, and steps back, gesturing me inside with a small, almost mysterious smile. Curiously, I step through the doorway and see a set of stairs leading downward. I start down the stairs, hearing Shigeru-jii close the door behind me and climb down after me. The moment he closes the door, the stairwell is thrown into darkness and I have to grope around for the handrail before I feel it's safe to go the rest of the way down.
When we finally get to the bottom, I feel Shigeru-jii reach over my head and then there's a click. Suddenly, bright fluorescent lighting blazes over our heads. I blink the spots out of my eyes for a moment before looking up… and I can actually feel myself gaping.
In front of me is an entire floor of connected training rooms, one after the other, holding all the kinds of shinobi training equipment I've ever imagined and quite a few I haven't. Each room seems to be set up for a specific training purpose, and there are a few rooms I don't understand the purpose of at all. At the far end of the floor, I think I can even see a big pool of water.
"This is where you'll do most of the shinobi training you do at home," Shigeru-jii announces unnecessarily.
I am speechless for a moment, another thing that hasn't happened in the Sarutobi Mansion in a while.
Shigeru-jii doesn't let me stand there for long, however, pushing me gently through the different doorways to one of the rooms. Most of the floor in this room seems to be made of matting, the only equipment being training dummies set up at the far end. Shigeru-jii kneels down to look me in the eye and smiles. "Did you know that taijutsu is a lot like dance?"
I nod. "I read about that."
"So a good way to practice your reflexes and coordination for things like dancing would be to practice taijutsu, would it not?"
"I… I guess so," I reply, feeling a flare of hope inside me.
Sure enough: "Would you like me to start teaching you taijutsu? If you can do this, certainly dance shouldn't be too much harder. Right?"
My nodding becomes frantic. "And… kunai and shuriken training too, right?" I add, just to make sure.
He looks almost amused. "Of course."
As it turns out, we don't actually start out with any specific style. Instead, Shigeru-jii wants to build up my strength and endurance. Taijutsu training starts out with a lot of push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, and running. Shigeru-jii teaches me how to do things like somersaults and cartwheels. He teaches me balancing exercises. He even starts teaching me how to swim. The work is very hard, but I love it. I love the feeling I get when I push myself, when I know I'm getting stronger.
Kunai and shuriken training is a bit simpler. In the beginning, it's mostly just a matter of holding the weapons right and forming good aim. After you learn what you're supposed to do, it's all a matter of individual practice.
I start training a lot on my own, even after Shigeru-jii leaves on another week-long mission. Quite apart from wanting to get better, I find that the more I push myself, the less I worry about my upcoming lessons and the more confident I feel that won't mess up in front of the other girls.
Ko does a lot of the training with me, which comes as a bit of a surprise. Ko is just turning four, so the exercises are sometimes much harder for him than they are for me. Still, he sticks with it, his little face screwed up in concentration as he huffs and puffs along behind me. When he gets too far behind, he'll sometimes call out, "Nee-chan!" and I'll stop for a second to wait for him. Most of the time, though, I don't have to. I'm just as unused to this type of exercise as he is.
Whenever Ko joins my training, Aya comes down to the training rooms with us to supervise. She purses her lips a lot when she has to watch us train, sighing and tutting every so often. It's kind of uncomfortable. I don't like the feeling that Aya disapproves of something I enjoy doing.
I overheard her talking to Shigeru-jii once, the day after that first afternoon in the training rooms. I was coming in from a morning with Sanken, covered in fertilizer and with grass stains on my knees, preparing to ask Shigeru-jii if we could go down to the training rooms again, when I heard voices in the sitting room. I wouldn't have stopped to listen… if I hadn't heard my name. I crept closer to the door just in time to hear Aya say, "… just a child! They don't need their heads filled with all of that die-hard shinobi nonsense yet!"
Shigeru-jii's voice was hard and steely in a way I'd never heard before as he responded, "That die-hard shinobi nonsense keeps the people of this village alive."
"Yes, and I respect that, but that doesn't mean you should be teaching it to such young children!"
"In a year, Naruto will be old enough to start training at the Academy." His voice softened slightly. "And you know Konohamaru will try to do whatever Naruto does. She's his big sister. He looks up to her, and he looks up to us. He just wants to fit in with the rest of his family."
"And I can't persuade him to the contrary. Stubborn, your son. I can't imagine where he got it from," she added sarcastically. "Well, Hiruzen-sama approves, so I suppose you'll get your way anyway. But I think you're pushing them too much."
"Better to be pushed too much than too little," Shigeru-jii said in that same steely voice, and Aya didn't have any response.
Finally, the first day of my lessons comes. It doesn't start out too well. Despite all my preparation, my stomach is nauseous from nerves. Aya doesn't help. When she walks into the kitchen to make breakfast and sees me dressed in a shirt and a pair of jeans, she takes one look at me and says, "Oh, that won't do at all!" Then she rushes me back upstairs and puts me in a very itchy pink dress with too many frills. She says this is what "ladies" wear. I tell her if this is what ladies wear, I don't ever want to be a lady and I don't need to go to the lessons after all.
It makes sense to me. I actually feel some hope at this thought, but Aya shakes her head at me and says, "Everything's already been prepared for you, Naruto-san. I don't think you have a choice."
By the time breakfast is over, my nervousness has increased to the point where I can hardly speak.
Jiji left even earlier than I could get up this morning, but when I walk out the front door, he is waiting there with Cat. She looks just the same as she ever did, right down to her mask and the sword at her back. Jiji raises an eyebrow at my clothing, and I sigh. "Aya."
"Ah." Jiji doesn't sound surprised.
He kneels down to look me in the eye, like he usually does when he's about to tell me something important. "Everything is ready, Naruto-chan. Today's lesson is being held nearby, at a local flower field."
"Flower arrangement?" I mutter.
He smiles a little at my tone and nods. "Probably," he says gently. "But this means you won't actually have to travel through the village on your first day. Cat will still be there watching if anything goes wrong. But try to make friends and not just cling to her, alright?"
I calm a little at his soothing tone, and at his words. Taking a deep breath, I nod. I can do this. How hard can putting flowers in color-coded bunches be, anyway?
His smile widens at my determined expression. "Good. Now, I'm going to head out to the office. The two of you should get going."
He stands up and directs the last sentence to Cat, who gives a single, silent nod. Then he gives me one last encouraging smile and turns to walk down the drive. We watch him in silence for a few moments before Cat turns to me. "Do you want me to carry you? It'll be quicker that way."
I beam despite myself and nod quickly, eager to fly again. She gathers me up in her arms like she did all that time ago and speeds out the gate behind Jiji.
Soon we're running through the branches of tall trees, leaping from treetop to treetop through the forest. "Cat," I say as we run, "you're in ANBU, right?"
"Yes," she says simply, not pausing in her sprint.
I grin. "That's cool. I've read about ANBU. They're supposed to be some of the strongest shinobi in the entire village. That means you're really strong, right?"
"Compared to the average shinobi, I… suppose I am," she says quietly, but I can hear a hint of something I can't quite define in her voice.
We pass out of the forest, the cool, clear wind cutting into our faces. I can see all the big estates up ahead, but Cat turns a different way, running alongside the edge of the estates and out past them. Behind the estates are a long stretch of quiet fields. Looking over to the left, way out in the distance, I can see the city part of Konoha running the length of the estates and the fields. Looking over to the right, I can see the long stretch of forest we came from, and the great wall beyond it. In front of me are the fields, and way out in the distance I can see a particularly colorful one with a group of people sitting next to it.
My stomach lurches despite myself.
Cat speeds along between the fields until, faster than I would have thought possible, the group of people has loomed close enough that I can see they're a bunch of little girls around my age, with a woman standing in front of them. The woman looks up to see Cat slowing down to walk closer. Her eyes widen, and all the little girls turn to look too. I see a couple of them gasp, and then they all start whispering to each other. Clearly, they've been told about me. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
Feeling self-conscious, I wiggle slightly in Cat's arms. She gets the message and sets me down so that I can walk on my own. I try to match her long strides as we walk right up to the group, hiding my face behind my long curtain of golden hair in a nervous gesture.
Cat turns to the woman. "Uzumaki Naruto," she says brusquely, gesturing to me. "I will be staying to observe. Security reasons, you understand."
"Of course," the woman says immediately, but when she glances over at me, I'm not sure if she does. She is a very strict-looking woman in a neat, precise, picture-perfect dress. Not a hair is out of place in the bun on her head, and square glasses hide her brown eyes. She is not frowning, but there is something tight about her face, like she doesn't want me here. Her eyes are cold. Not as cold as the matron's, but still rather chilly.
I am glad Cat will be here.
Cat retreats some distance away to watch, and the woman turns back to the class. "Well, as you all can see, we have a new student today. Please treat her with respect."
"Yes, Takara-sensei," the class recites mechanically. I wonder if they practice so that they can all say it in unison.
Takara-sensei turns to me. Her smile doesn't reach her eyes. "Have a seat, Uzumaki-san," she says, a bit stiffly.
I nod silently and turn to the rest of the girls. Over twenty pairs of curious eyes stare right back at me, and it is very intimidating.
Finally, I decide there is nothing else for it and go to sit next to two girls in the back, one with strawberry blonde hair so deep it's almost pink, the other a platinum blonde.
Author's Notes: Obviously, I kind of made up the lessons. I know Ino and Sakura met through some sort of girl-lesson-flower-arrangement type of thing, but I don't think much is ever really said about it, so I filled in the blanks with whatever I wanted. I completely made up the teacher.
If this turns out to diverge with canon at all… my story. But I don't think it does.
Sakura and Ino are already friends here. Remember, this is for girls 6-8 and Naruto is a late arrival. They've known each other for a while already.
In other news, time should start to move a bit faster after this. A couple of chapters or so and we'll (finally) get to the Academy… and some time will be spent on that, so don't expect to just skip through that and get to graduation. I will be trying to introduce more action and shinobi-oriented stuff into this story slowly, so that it's not like one chapter she's painting her room with Shigeru and the next missing-nin are trying to kill her. Not to mention, I'm actually planning for some pretty important stuff to happen around Academy era.
As always, any comments/critiques are greatly appreciated.
