I was in a clearing now walking towards Konoha after leaving the Akatsuki. I felt horrible for leaving them but I had to become a ninja. I knew that to do so you had to enter an academy but that was for snot nosed brats. Maybe if I beat the teachers of the academy in a match they would let me join. I knew though I had to be an official resident and so for that I had enough money to rent an apartment.
I stood gawking at the huge open gate leading into Konoha. I knew this was technically my second time here but I could not remember what it had looked like then. I walked slowly clutching my bag. Right now it was early in the morning and the sun was just below the horizon.
I walked through the gate slowly my foot steps echoing on the empty pavement. No let me correct myself, almost empty pavement.
In front of me stood a girl with sandy colored hair pulled up into long pigtails that had rainbow streaks fused in it. She stared at me with cold hard eyes while the wind blew blowing her hair. I looked down and continued walking. I shivered slightly until I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I turned around as someone tried to pull me down. Anybody else they could have been taken down but with my speed I instantly jumped away as finger tips brushed at my shirt. I landed on the balls of my feet rocking briskly as I reached for my sword. I drew it instantly and stood there wind blowing through my hair sending chills down my back. It was dark enough I could not see her clearly but it looked as if it was a short girl, though she had a black mask on that obscured the left side of her face.
I could not see the color of her hair but I could tell it was short. She also was wearing a leaf village headband. Well of course this was the leaf village.
I stood there as the falling moon sank behind a cloud. Know all I could see was her figure. Then a figure jumped down in between us facing the girl.
He then turned around and turned towards me holding a lamp. As he got close I saw he had blonde hair that reached almost to his neck that was casually blown back. He had brown eyes that melted into you making you trust him.
"Hey sorry about that, we are all kind off on edge and we were about to leave for a mission." I relaxed my stance then and put away my sword moving swiftly.
"Completely understandable." I said this smiling putting on my best act to seem pleasant. With the Akatsuki it came naturally, but now I found myself actually having to use social skills I never learned about. I even impressed myself, I mean for someone who had not really talked to many people maybe a total of…16 who I had actually had a conversation with in my whole lifetime.
"So, are you traveling, I have never seen you before?" I then took a deep breathe remembering the story I was using for my reason being here.
"My village is small and needs protection from attackers." I said this throwing a little smile in at the end.
"Oh, so you came to hire ninja?" He said this as if a light bulb had suddenly appeared over his head.
"No, I came here to train." His smile softened a little.
"Oh, well we have some pretty incredible ninja here. I mean with Lady Tsunade always getting after the we would. Oh hey I still have not introduced myself. My name is Clyde." With that he laughed and rubbed the back of his head.
"My name is Hotaru." I said this bowing my head. Clyde then motioned for the two girls behind him who had been whispering to each other for some time now.
Only one of them appeared at his side. It was the girl with the ponytails. I could still see the other girls figure standing motionless behind him.
"And this is Zaro." He said this motioning to the girl behind him who gave me a cold stare. I nodded towards her. When I did another person arrived.
I looked up to see a man with blonde hair that was slicked back.. He also had a warm eyes like Clyde's. I stared at the two seeing a resemblance like father and son.
"Victor-Sensei!" This was Clyde saying this who stared up at him smiling.
"Are you two related?" I said this before I could stop myself, I was just itching to know.
"N-no." This was Clyde saying this who looked down sadly. Clyde introduced myself to him and he smiled. I learned that they all made up a squad and victor was a Jounin while the others were all chunin. I also learned that the kids were all 15 and had gone to the academy together. I never learned the other girls name for they tried to avoid talking about her altogether.
After talking for awhile and being directed to a place I could rent an apartment I set off in the now rising sun. I saw daily activity start as people opened shops and normal morning chores.
As the sky turned a soft blue and the land woke up I felt eyes bore into my back. Maybe it was because I had never been here maybe it was just me being self conscious.
I walked up to a tall building that had many porches. I walked to a building next door that had a sign telling you to come there to rent an apartment.
I opened the door and walked in my footsteps muffled by a thick carpet. I walked up to the desk and saw a person run out to greet me.
I talked with this person working out a rent for an apartment.
It was eventually settled that I would get a third floor apartment, I would currently be the only resident on that floor.
After I had paid that months rent I walked back over to the tall building and entered with the key clutched in my hand. I walked up three sets of stairs and stood in front of my door. I unlocked it and opened it to see a bright room. It had pale tan wood flooring and sunlight streamed through the glass door that led to a balcony. To the right was the kitchen with a small dining room behind white sliding panels. Back straight was a bedroom behind more sliding panels and then a bathroom to right of the bedroom. The house was empty except for a bed and kitchen appliances left by the previous owner. I walked over to the bed room and walked in. It had a bed that was on the ground as traditional Japanese style with cherry blossom trees painted on the walls. Also there was a small low table that you could sit at. I walked in and set my backpack that was stuffed with an assortment of borrowed clothes from Konan and Hidan. I sat on the bed and looked around proud of my first house. I laid my head down then yawning. My eyes closed as I fell into an uneasy sleep.
I awoke sweating and feeling panicky. I sat up looking around desperately. I felt stupid instantly for now I did not even remember what I had been dreaming about. I just remembered it had scared the living shit out of me.
I sighed and walked to the patio were I walked outside and laid my head on the cool stone. I felt feverish and I heard the hum of people below me. I wished for the view of rolling green hills but all I could see here were buildings that reached above me. I stood upon the balcony edge ad jumped down landing on y feet. I heard a few people grumble about how ninja's were always appearing out of nowhere and I beamed happily. I walked down with my wallet in my pocket and I could tell it was late afternoon. I would have to go over to see the Hokage about skipping the academy but first I had to get something to eat. I felt a smell waft past me and my stomach grumble loudly. I followed the smell over to a ramen shop were I could see one person sitting there. I walked in and sat down not even looking over t the person next to me. I looked over though when I heard a familiar voice yell,
"Ichiraku, more ramen!" I looked over to see Naruto Uzumaki.
"N-Naruto." I was going to ask why he was here till I reminded myself that this was his home village. He turned to look at me smiling and then looking surprised.
"Hotaru!" He stared at me and then smiled. "What are you doing here in Konoha?"
"To become a ninja." I said this softly but he smiled eve harder.
"Really? You know you could I should take you to see Lady Tsunade." I smiled that would be great, that would save me time looking for the place.
"That would be great! Do you think you could tomorrow at noon?" He nodded and the concentrated on his ramen. He really loved ramen. I chuckled softly and then ordered myself some.
I stood uncomfortably in front of the ramen shop waiting for Naruto. I was wearing a black shirt of Konan's that had a blue flowers on the front. I was then wearing a blue skirt that went to my knees with black leggings. I also had a blue headband and long black silk gloves.
I stood there waiting as people stared at me. I looked down as a group of ninjas passed me laughing loudly. I sighed and chewed on my lip nervously.
I saw Naruto run up to me waving then. I stared up at him as he panted. I was older then him but I was still a lot shorter and that made me look younger.
"Sorry am late, I had to lose three kids that were following me around." I smiled then and we took off. I felt the sun beam on me although a cold wind blew through the village. I followed behind Naruto till he skitted to a stop.
"Hey! Naruto!" This was yelled by a boy running towards us with a big dog at his heels. I saw this while peeking around Naruto. I stepped out in beside him to see the newcomer. He had short brown hair and purple upside down triangles on his face. His eyes were wide with excitement as he bounded over. I stood firm as his eyes scanned over me trying to figure out who I was.
"Hey Kiba!" This was Naruto. I stared at him seeing he was the last boy from that moment from the past. I did not care anymore for I could not keep looking into the past for it kept me from looking into the future.
Who's this?" He said this to Naruto while nodding at me. Naruto opened his mouth but I stepped in front of him.
"Hotaru, and I can fucking answer myself." I said this mad that people looked down at me, I mean I was older then them! Kiba laughed then the big dog came up behind him towards me. I saw him and cooed at him but he shied away from me whimpering. I was confused till I realized I was wearing Hidan's shirt that probably had the smell of blood on it that only an animal could smell. Kiba stared at me and sniffed the air.
"Why, does your shirt smell like blood?" He said this with his eyes narrowed.
"Well I fight and sometimes people get a little dinged up." I shrugged then.
"No, I mean the smell of a lot of blood is gathered on it, as if, as if you basically bathed in blood. I flinched for he might ruin my cover, although technically if I got caught I would be able to say they had kidnapped me.
"This was the same outfit I was wearing when my town got attacked, I tried to heal many people but they died in my arms. That is why I must become a ninja to protect them." I said this sadly while going along with my original story. Kiba's eyes softened and he looked at me.
"oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realized…"He then trailed off.
"No it's okay." said this smiling sweetly. He then laughed while petting the dog's head.
"Come on Akamaru, it's okay." He nudged him forward but Akamaru still shied away from the stench of death that wafted from me.
I sighed and stare at Naruto.
"Shouldn't we be going now?" I said this impatiently. I was afraid I had annoyed Naruto but he just laughed and put his hand on my head as if I was a child.
"Don't worry Hotaru, we have all day." I crossed my arms over my chest and pushed his hand of my head and looked up at him.
"Please?" I said this with wide eyes and stared up at him sadly. He looked at me and sighed.
"Okay." I smiled then and he walked forward waving goodbye to Kiba.
"Wait, Naruto!" I narrowed my eyes and looked back behind me, Naruto also turned around.
"Come over and train with me afterwards, and bring Hotaru!" I stared at him, he did not even ask me if I wanted to come he just told Naruto to bring me as if I was not even here.
"Okay!" Naruto yelled this and then bounded forward with me at his heels.
I felt my stomach go into knots as Naruto opened the door that the Hokage was behind. I pushed my anxiety into the deepest corner of my mind and took a deep breath.
The door opened to a lady with blonde hair sitting at a desk behind a stack of paperwork. Naruto walked in with me at his heels.
"Hey Grandma." Naruto said this casually and I heard her voice carry over the mountain of work.
"Hello Naruto, what do you want?"
"I brought someone who wants to talk to you about something." Naruto said this while rubbing the back of his head.
"And could she not make an appointment?" I looked at the floor now shyly.
"Well, she is a friend, and she helped with rescuing Gaara." I stared at him now with an eyebrow raised. With what he knew I had run away at the first battle and had not returned until Gaara was already saved. I knew though if I wanted to talk to the Hokage I would have to go along with him.
"Aw, fine." She said this and pushed the paperwork of her desk. I watched as all of the papers floated to the ground. Just then a woman with short black hair holding a pig walked in. When she saw all the papers on the ground her jaw dropped.
"Lady Tsunade!" She said this while the Hokage just waved her off. The woman then bent down picking up papers off of the floor.
"Shizune, you work me to death, I deserve a break." She said this sighing. She instantly looked back over to us though and nodded for me to talk.
"Hello, my name is Hotaru and I have come here in hope of becoming a ninja, I am also already a resident in this village." She stared at me then.
"Well if that is what you want enter the academy." I sighed and Naruto spoke up.
"She is good enough to be a ninja and she has to get back to her village as a ninja as soon as possible." The Hokage rubbed her head and then looked up.
"Fine, then I will assign her a teacher, and when they think she is ready she will become a ninja, only genin though." I smiled, this was a start.
"Thank you!" I then bowed gratefully.
"go to the first training field at seven to meet you new teacher." I nodded and walked out with Naruto following me.
Once we walked outside Naruto yawned and stretched.
"Well Hotaru I am going to train with Kiba, do you want to come?" I thought it over and decided I had nothing better to do.
"Okay." Then he walked forward. I followed him the sun beating down on me without a single cloud in the sky.
We arrived at a training field to see three people all gathered. I walked over next to Naruto to see a guy with a hood drawn up, a girl with long blue hair, and Kiba.
"Hotaru meet Shino and Hinata." I nodded saying a quiet hello.
"Um… hello. And h-hi Naruto." She blushed when Naruto turned to look at her and I raised an eyebrow.
"Hey Hotaru want to spar against me?" Kiba said this excitedly and I nodded.
"Prepare yourself though, I'm not going to go easy on you." With that Kiba crouched down and I steadied my stance grabbing my sword. Kiba lunged yelling and I swiftly jumped out of the way. I landed on a nearby tree and he lunged again aiming for my feet. I quickly jumped up pulling my feet up to me and landed on his head once he reached the branch.
"Your good but you focus to much on power and instinct, you have to plan out battles." I said this as I jumped away from him and landed on the ground.
"Yeah well, I live for the moment." He then jumped down and ran at me again. Once he neared I landed a spin kick on him but he disappeared leaving a branch behind. I stared at it confused but then felt him impact with my back from behind. I fell forward the air knocked out of me. Before I hit the ground though I ducked my head under my arm and rolled to my feet breathing deeply. I stared at him as he crouched down smiling.
I felt something land on my back then but saw Kiba still crouched down on the ground. I thought he might of used shadow clone jutsu till I heard a bark from my back. I saw Kiba then run at me again his eyes that of an animals. This tie the impact would hit.
I flung up my leg around Akamaru and flipped him putting him in Kiba's way who immediately stopped. I smiled and did my second time at shadow clone jutsu. I did the hand sings and muttered the words under my breath. I took the chance while Kiba was running to Akamaru to turn around to m clone and send them running into the woods. I ran over to Kiba ready to use an opportunity attack. I jumped up into the air and fell towards hi with my foot extended. I would have hit him in the head but he blocked it. I smiled slightly as I saw a foot wearing the same shoes as me appear on the side of his head. He then went flying to the side as my clone landed on the ground. Kiba instantly shook it off and called for Akamaru.
The giant dog ran over to him and stood next to him as Kiba performed hand sings that I had not seen together yet. Akamaru then turned into an exact copy of him. He then ran at me with Akamaru at his heels. I braced myself for the impact. I was not expecting them to start growing blue.
"Fang over fang!" Kiba yelled this and I felt him hit me sending me into the air. Not only that I was hit a second time by Akamaru. I felt the hit me multiple more times and knew I had lost this match.
I fell to the ground my whole body aching. I knew nothing was broken but I knew I was going to be bruised. I saw Kiba run up to me.
"I did not lose. Not yet." I then struggled to get up and Kiba offered me a hand. I took it and stood up brushing the dust off of me. "This match is still going on!"
"I would not want to fight you anymore especially now since your mad so I forfeit. Kiba then laughed holding up his hands.
"You know as well as I do that your fucking better than me, so prove it!" I then readied my stance but he just laughed.
"Geez your such a hot head. Calm down." Kiba said this laughing.
"Sound familiar Kiba?" This was Shino who said this. I laughed then as Kiba crossed his arms sternly with his lip jutted out. I walked past him smiling as the others walked forward to start training to.
I sat in the grass next to Hinata watching the guys still train.
"Wow they really go all out, don't they?" I said this watching them as they battled in a free for all.
"Yeah, they do not know when to stop. Although if you think this is bad you should see team Guy." She said this looking at the clouds. I thought I knew who they were already.
"There would not happen to be two people who wear green jumpsuits are there?" I said this thinking back of the four people who had beaten me so easily.
"Yep that's them." I felt fear knot in my stomach even though I told myself they would not recognize me. I looked over at Hinata who was staring at Naruto.
"You like Naruto don't you?" I said this sitting up and looking over to the guys making sure they could not hear us.
"Um, uh." Hinata said this blushing deeply. I smiled as she nodded her head yes and drooped her head down.
"Why don't you just tell him then?" I said this and Hinata looked at me sadly.
"H-he might not like me though, and anyway he probably likes Sakura." I looked at her sadly as she stared at the ground.
"Why not just talking to him and becoming good friends then?" I shrugged as I said this thinking of how easily people could become friends with Naruto.
"Y-yeah I guess I'll try." I smiled at her then and she smiled slightly. I turned back to watch the guys fighting but fell back when I saw Kiba right in front of me.
"Kiba! What the fuck do you think your doing! You cannot just scare somebody like that?" I yelled this and then kicked him pushing him back a couple of feet. He laughed then and I stood up brushing the dirt of off me.
"Ow, fuck. That really hurt, I just came over to take a break too. I cannot keep up with Naruto." He said this and then rolled over in the grass laying there. I crossed my arms frowning and looked up realizing my new teacher would be here soon.
The sky was starting to get dark and the land was turning blue. I stared up at the sky impatient for my teacher to arrive; he was already an hour late.
"Bye everyone, I have to be getting home." I looked up to see Hinata stand and stretch.
"I will also be leaving." This was Shino. I waved bye and fell into my back.
"Aw come on you guys, it's only eight." This was Kiba whining to them.
"Yeah I agree with Kiba." Naruto said smiling.
"Hotaru's staying, see." Kiba said this and motioned over to me.
"I'm just staying cause I have to." I rolled over then. Kiba pouted at me and then turned back to the others.
"Fine I guess your right, I'll be going to. See you Naruto, Hotaru." I raised a hand to say goodbye and Naruto groaned.
"Not you to Kiba." Naruto whined and then sat on the ground frowning. I watched as Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, and Hinata all walked away into the oncoming night.
"Why don't you go home too Naruto." I said this while laying on my stomach twirling a piece of grass in between my fingers.
"Yeah I guess I should. See you tomorrow Hotaru!" Naruto then ran off into the glow of the shops. I sighed and turned onto my back sighing loudly.
I stared up at the sky shivering slightly; everyone else had left around thirty minutes ago and I was really bored now. I then heard a rustle in the tree. I jumped up and into the bushes concealing myself. I saw then a man with white hair jump into the clearing. I gasped and jumped out to meet him.
"Your Kakashi, Naruto's squad leader." I said this bowing.
"Hello Hotaru." He said this smiling but his one eye that showed looked bored.
"Why are you here?" I said this preparing to wait even longer for my new teacher.
"Well I guess to train you. Call me Kakashi-sensei from now on." I stared at him, what was the coincidence he would be my new teacher. I smiled though.
"Well I guess we can start training." He said this smiling and rubbing the back of his head.
"I guess we can Kakashi-sensei." The my fist day of training began.
