Age 10

It's the chunin exams.

Shisui and Itachi aren't keen on me going, so they've decided to ignore me.

How nice.

But at least I still had a friend on my side: Satoru.

His big, playful grin shakes me from my thoughts. "Natsu~ Where are you?"

I blinked. "...Natsumi is here," I stood up straighter, trying to demonstrate my mental presence.

We were at the entrance of the village. Unsurprisingly, not a lot of people wanted to send their kids to exams in the Bloody Mist, right after a great war and disaster. So it was only me, Shisui, Itachi, and Satoru. And Satoru was already a chunin, so he wasn't even coming with me.

There is also this girl named Inzuzuka Hana. She didn't seem interested in talking to any of us; focusing completely on her three dogs. Ninken, probably, since she was from the clan that specializes in them. However, it did take me by surprise that she had three.

It was also surprising that Nara Shikaku, Uchiha Fugaku and Yamanaka Inoichi were the jonin who were to escort us there. Shikaku and Inoichi stood on one side of the gate murmuring to each other, while Fugaku seemed to be lecturing Itachi and Shisui on the other.

Satoru waved his hand in front of my face. "Natsumi~ Satoru-onii-chan is lonely~ stop wandering off to other realms!"

We were both sitting on a bench not too far from the gates, but distant enough that I couldn't hear the adults' conversations at all.

"...Natsumi was in another realm," I confirmed, his contagious grin spreading to my face as well.

"Well, whichever one you go, I'm going," Satoru positioned himself behind me and wrapped me in an embrace.

"...She wants to say gay, but this is not." I tried to pull his arms away from their spot under my chin. "Did Sana reject you again? Stop confessing to her…"

"No…" He rested his chin on my head. "Life just hit me extra hard today...I'm gonna miss you."

What he just said was completely relatable, so I stayed silent and loosened the grip I had on his arms.

"Oi! Satoru! Stop flirting with my daughter!" Inoichi noticed us and yelled loudly from the gates. Everyone who was gathered turned to look at us and snickered. Shikaku rolled his eyes a little.

Shisui seemed a little annoyed, which was weird, since he never shows any emotion but happiness.

Itachi glanced in our direction and returned to talking to Shisui, who didn't tear his gaze from us. I felt Satoru's chin move, and Shisui narrowed his eyes and turned away sharply.

I half-heartedly tried again to tear his grip away from me. "What did you do this time…?"

I felt him grin. "Just stuck out my tongue at him. For once I got that kid jealous of me...thanks, Natsu." He let go of me and ruffled my hair.

What a spicy meme

Sensing a new presence, I jerked my head to the sudden appearance of the person we were waiting for, but my eyes widened at who it was.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, but didn't sound sorry at all.

"Let's get going now!" Fugaku said impatiently, going ahead. Itachi and Shisui hurried ahead with him, not sparing a glance at me.

It hurt a little, but when Satoru stood up suddenly and pulled me up with him with a grin on his face again, I forgot all about it and smiled back.

When I walked to the gate, I saw coaches there, and they were fairly large with two horses each. The village had provided us with two.

I hesitantly walked up to Inoichi and tugged on his pant leg, and he squatted as low as he could, but I still had to pull him a little lower to whisper into his ear. "Can Natsumi play with the horses?"

He grinned and said "of course!" at the same time Shikaku said "absolutely not."

Inoichi pouted at his long-time best friend. "C'mon, Shikaku! How'd you even hear that anyway?"

Shikaku glanced at me with playful scrutiny, but turned his gaze back to my surrogate father just as quickly. "That little minx never has anything good planned."

Shikaku used to be very fond of me, as if I was his own daughter. Maybe he wanted a daughter of his own? But after Shikamaru was born, he began to get more distant from me, but he was a little surprised when I got Shikamaru to giggle at me and say, "nee-chan!". Shikamaru, as expected, was a very lazy baby.

I think he's been a little jealous of me since then.

"Natsumi is not a minx," I pouted at him. Being cute towards adults always worked, even when they knew I was faking. I am ten years old, but I've been told many times that I still look six.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a fairy or somethin', making Shikamaru laugh." he sighed and leaned against a tree, looking at Fugaku, who seemed to be giving his boys a prep talk. "Make it quick, you...three," he glanced behind me, and I turned around to find Satoru making puppy eyes.

"That's gross," I said childishly.

He gasped, pretending to be offended. "So is your face!"

I rolled my eyes playfully and grabbed his sleeve and pulled him to the ground, latching myself onto his back. "Lift me up to the horsey!"

Satoru said nothing, probably trying not to curse me out in front of the adults, and wrapped his arms under my legs and did as I told him.

"Watch those hands, young man!" Inoichi said sassily from behind us.

"Sh-shut up, old man!" Satoru yelled back. I blinked in surprise, then pulled his hair lightly. "I didn't know you were close enough to tou-chan to call him 'old man'."

We reached the horse, and I cautiously reached out to stroke its side. He sighed. "I'm not, I just don't respect anybody."

I started rubbing its neck rhythmically, and it eased a little bit and turned its head toward me, scanning us. It neighed and stamped the ground with one hoof, seemingly a little confused.

"...We've merged," Satoru told it. He bounced me on his back once.

It whinnied.

I slowly traveled my hand towards its face, and it didn't back away. I giggled. "Whoaaaa…"

"Natsumi!" Fugaku barked. "We need to get going!"

His loud voice startled the beautiful silver mare and she reared once before calming down, but she didn't seem up for any more socializing. I sighed and kicked my legs a little, signaling for Satoru to let me down. "You very no fun."

"Are you five? Speak properly and show some respect. Get in the coach," Fugaku replied more gently this time and turned away to the one farther from where we were. His little minions followed him immediately, along with Kakashi.

Are we too social for him?

"Bye-bye, horsey...uh, Bolt." I ran my hand along what I could reach of her beautiful coat before turning to Satoru. "Bye-bye, Satoru."

He wiped a fake tear from his eye. "Come back alive, my child…" He thrust a surprising big bag into my hand. It was rather light for it to be weaponry.

"Alright, she's my child," Inoichi suddenly picked me up and placed me in the coach, leaving them out of my sight. "Don't harass Sana too much, Satoru...she might break your heart for real this time. And don't give my wife or Ino too much trouble. You're the man of the clan while I'm gone...better not mess this up!"

When did Satoru join my family again?

"Yes sir!' I heard Satoru agree cheerfully before running off. Inoichi joined Shikaku in the front and we started moving, prompting me to turn around—

—to come face-to-face with a curious Inuzuka Hana.

I froze.

She sniffed me.

Her dogs barked in unison.

She leaned away and sat down on one side of the room. I guess she approves of my scent. "You smell nice, like mochi. Do you have any on you?"

I suddenly remembered the bag Satoru gave me and I sat down across from Hana, untying it to find a large box. With the others watching in anticipation, I lifted the lid and found a dozen slightly steaming mochi buns sitting in front of me. Upon further inspection, there was another identical dozen underneath a sheet of...waxy paper? That separated them. Each one was the size of my little fist.

"Aahh!" Hana moaned. "Daifuku...ichigo daifuku...sakuramochi...even matcha flavored!" Her eyes began sparkling and she gripped my hands tightly. "I can smell your mama on this...let's be great friends!"

A little relieved the tension was gone, I smiled and nodded. "O-okay...Natsumi."

"Hana! Now let's eat!" She immediately grabbed a matcha flavored bun and shoved it into her mouth, face immediately morphing into one of pure bliss. "Aahh! So good!"

I heard a whimper at my feet and saw her dogs making the cutest puppy eyes ever, almost luring me into letting them have the whole box.

"Uh...are the dogs allowed to eat?" I asked while daintily nibbling on an ichigo daifuku as my mother taught me.

"Normally, yes," she said through a mouth full of sakuramochi, "but they've been bad puppies lately, and they're also on a diet. So try to ignore the puppy eyes."

"Will they be punished if fed extra?" I implored for a compromise.

She looked at me with dull, haunting eyes. "If we feed them today, mama'll smell it in them a month later. I ain't tryin' anymore, and I'm warning you as a friend that you shouldn't either."

I felt a little happier at the word friend, and I did my best to ignore her ninkens' whimpers and pawing at me.

When I finally finished my ichigo daifuku, Hana had already finished the eleven other mochi buns on the paper. I slowly looked up at her, and she gazed back sheepishly. "Um...sorry?"

I huffed. "You can't have any more! We have to share with the...um...six others!"

"Eh?!" Hana leaped at me and tried to steal the mochi, but I held it out of her reach despite being shorter than her and closed the lid. "You can't."

She crouched and began making puppy eyes along with her dogs.


"Here!" Hana thrust a mostly empty box of mochi at the Uchihas and Kakashi, her dogs right at her heels and making a good impression with Kakashi.

Itachi didn't hesitate to take one, but Fugaku and Shisui were a bit more hesitant. "Where did these come from?" Fugaku looked at Hana skeptically. She felt her eye twitch at the rude man.

"Natsu-chan's mama made them!" she exclaimed. "And they're very good!"

"I'll say," Itachi piped up, licking his fingers and stealing another one. Shisui and Kakashi took one as well, leaving three.

"Well, why didn't Natsumi deliver it herself?" The clan leader asked one last question.

Hana, not knowing that Natsumi was well acquainted with the Uchihas, huffed. "Natsumi's a nice girl, okay?! She's just intimidated by you guys!" she made a big show of looking Kakashi up and down, scrunching up her face at him.

He sent her an eye smile from his spot on the ground next to her dogs. He quickly stole another one, and Shisui and Fugaku took the last two.

"Well, tell her thanks, I guess," Fugaku decided to say after tasting the heavenly mochi. I'll have to visit Airi sometime. Mikoto would never make something like this for me :(

Hana grinned at them all. "Try not to be mean to Natsu-chan! See you later!" She skipped back to where Natsumi was, with the silver horse. Her dogs licked Kakashi goodbye and left him as well.

But what Hana said stuck with Shisui, and it didn't stick too well.

I didn't think I was being so mean...I was just trying to protect her. Is she avoiding me now?

He gazed longingly at the object of his affections from afar, her bright smile casting both light and shadow on his heart.


Do you ever just like actually want to die but spicy memes kept you alive