I UPDATED CHAPTER 7 A LITTLE. I REALLY RECOMMEND REREADING THAT CHAPTER BECAUSE IT GET'S PRETTY IMPORTANT IN THE STORY. JUST SAYING.
Lazy Silver Ninja: Oh wow, what a coincidence! I planned on adding Pakkun into this chapter anyways and then you mentioned it! But he's not a major character in this chapter so he's just coming out to say hi (literally). I hope you enjoy this chapter! It was so fun to write. Actually, half of it was fun to write xD the other half made me want to rip my hair out sadly. But I didn't hate writing it.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto and its characters. It is respectfully owned by Kishimoto. I only own Haruka and her mother, which both are my OC's.
"Your hands are cold,
Your lips are turning blue, you're shaking
This fragile heart,
So heavy in my chest, it's breaking"
-Scars by James Bay
"Kakashi and Haruka, I congratulate you on becoming Genin. It is quite the accomplishment for someone your age."
"Thank you Hokage-sama." Kakashi and I both bowed to the Hokage.
"Well, I've called both of you here for a reason. Do you happen to know the reason why?" We looked at each other and looked back at the Hokage.
"I believe it is because we're both Genin, which means we need to be on a team." Kakashi answered.
"And because we've graduated early, we don't have teams." I said continuing what Kakashi just said.
"You are either going to assign us to a team or put us on a team that's already formed and is missing a person." Kakashi said. The Hokage nodded his head, agreeing to Kakashi's statement.
"In a way, you are correct." We both looked at the Hokage in confusion. "This is rarely done, but I am assigning both of you to a mentor." Raijin's ears perked up. I looked at him and I wondered what was going on. I knew Kakashi would become an apprentice with Minato, but who would I get assigned to?
"We're becoming apprentices?" Kakashi asked curiously.
"Yes. In fact, he'll be here any moment." The Hokage said, blowing smoke from his mouth. I turned around, and that exact moment my eyes widen.
"He? Is it-"
"SHIT!" Kakashi quickly turned around after I interrupted him. I felt my face turn red from embarrassment.
"Haruka-chan! Where did you learn those words?" Minato suddenly asked.
"Y-You scared me! You came out of nowhere! How else do you expect me to react?" I said sheepishly. Then it dawned on me, I just cussed in front of the Hokage. I slowly my head around and bowed. "I'm sorry for my foul language Hokage-sama!"
"It's alright Haruka-chan. It was quite funny. I didn't expect you say those words though." The Hokage said while chuckling. Kakashi snorted and I glared at him. I turned around again after the Hokage coughed to get our attention. "Both of you meet your new teacher, Namikaze Minato."
"Wait, both of us?" I blurted out.
"Yup. I'm gonna be your new teacher." Minato said with a big grin. I turned my head back toward Raijin, who was licking his paws.
"Don't look at me Pup. I just follow you around." I sighed. Why me?
"So, you're our teacher?" I asked after walking into a training ground.
"Yes I am." Minato said while smiling.
"Well, I understand why for him," I pointed at Kakashi. "But why are you my teacher too?"
"Well, your mother wanted to become your teacher, but the Hokage thought that you and Kakashi should stick together."
"Oh." I said. Right after I finished talking, Kakashi sighed. "Hey, don't sigh!" He looked at me.
"You're annoying though."
"Hey! You're not the most fun person to be around every day." We glared at each other, ready to fight.
"Now now, let's calm down students of mine." We both turned our heads toward Minato. He smiled at us while scratching his head, sheepishly. My stomach growled causing my cheeks to turn red.
"Minato-niisan, can we go get dango? I'm really hungry." I said.
"You have to call me Minato-sensei from now on!" I stared at him with a what the hell look.
"Yeah Haruka, you have to call him Minato-sensei now." I groaned after I heard Kakashi mocking me. I glared at him while I walked over to Raijin.
"Come on Raijin, we better leave before the idiots infect us with their stupidity." He rose up from the ground and I jumped onto his back.
"Hey, show more respect for your teacher!" Minato shouted out. "And besides, I want to do some training with you right now; we'll go for dango later."
"What?" I shouted out, my stomach growling in the process.
"Yes, training. Now get off of Raijin and come over here." I faked a sniffle and jumped off of Raijin and dropped my head, disappointed that we couldn't get dango. I rubbed my growling stomach while I walked over to where Kakashi and Minato stood.
"What are we doing sensei?" Kakashi asked. Minato was facing the opposite direction Kakashi and I was standing in, meaning we were looking at his back.
"I like the sound of that! Sensei." I glared at the back of his head.
"Just get on with the training. I want to eat." He turned around. That was Kakashi and I paled. He was looking at us with a smirk that would make any Iwa-nin run in the other direction. He raised both of his hands in the air like a high-five, but in between his fingers were shuriken. I paled even more, having a pretty good idea about what was going to happen. "U-Uh, Sensei? Why do you have those shuriken in your hands?
"Well my cute little students, why don't I show you?"
"Wait, wh-" I screamed in the middle of my sentence and started to run. I pushed Kakashi out of my way to avoid the shuriken being thrown at us. "WHAT THE HELL SENSEI?!" I screamed out. I turned back around to see Kakashi running right behind me with panic in his eyes too.
"I like hands on training. It's quite effective." Minato said while his hand held his chin like he was thinking.
"Minato-sensei, maybe this isn't the bes-" I let another scream, interrupting Kakashi's sentence. I ducked and rolled on the ground, leaving me with dirt in my mouth but my body intact. I spat out the dirt only to have shuriken thrown at me. Again.
"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HELP?!" I shouted at Raijin, who was currently lazing around on the ground.
"Of course not Pup. This is training."
"THIS IS NOT TRAINING!"
"What are you talking about Haruka? This is training! You don't see Kakashi complaining, do you?" Minato said. I flipped my head around, only to see Kakashi looking paler than usual. That was quite a feat for someone who was already very pale to begin with.
"OF-" *deep breath* "-COURSE-" *duck* "-NOT, WE'RE RU-" *roll* "-RUNNING FOR OUR LIVES!"
"Shit!" I turned my head around in shock and saw that Kakashi's arm was nicked by a shuriken.
"Language Kakashi!" Minato shouted out. I felt like crying. He was enjoying this! "Run my cute little students, run!" Well, I loved my life so far. Could someone tell my mother I loved her?
(One hour later…)
"Well, I think the training went well." Minato leaned over me.
"W-Well?" Minato turned toward Kakashi who was on the ground next to me.
"How the hell was-" *wheeze* "-that well?" I could barely breathe!
"Like I said, I think training like this is the best way for someone to learn." Minato said with a smile. To anyone else, it would seem like a nice, happy (maybe cute) smile. But all I could see now is a cruel, evil man who loved to cause pain in little kids instead of the nice, older brother figure I used to see him as. This is going to continue for a while, isn't it? A cry left my throat after the thought of doing this again. "It's okay Haruka-chan. I'll get you that dango you wanted." After hearing dango, I realized how hungry I was. Standing up, I groaned at the pain in my legs from all the running and falling I had to do to stay alive. I so didn't want to walk all the way to the dango store. Nope, not happening. No way.
"Raijin, come here." Raijin snorted and walked toward me, knowing exactly why I called him over. I grabbed onto his fur and tried to pull myself on top of him like I usually do, but I failed horribly. I sighed, clearly realizing that Raijin's not going to bend down to let help me, and obviously I can't get up there because of how tired I was. What to do, what to do… Oh wait, I'm such an idiot. I have 180cm tall man right next to me! "Senseiiii, help me get on top of Raijin." I asked Minato, dragging out the "i" in sensei. He sighed and shook his head while he walked over to where I stood, arms outstretched like a baby.
"Alright." I smiled and he grabbed me by my waist and put me onto Raijin's back. "And while I'm at it, here's Kakashi." He walked over to where Kakashi was laying down and grabbed him, placing him right in front of me and on top of Raijin. Kakashi glared at Minato who was looking at us (still smiling, of course.)
"Sensei, I'm perfectly capable of walking home on my own two legs."
"Well you can, starting tomorrow but for today why don't you just stay there. Okay?" Reluctantly Kakashi nodded, clearly uncomfortable at where he was sitting at.
"Well, are we getting dango or not Sensei?" I asked, stomach growling. He laughed and started to walk in the direction of the store.
"Come on, let's go!" Raijin started to walk in the direction Minato was going in.
"Hey Scarecrow, are you okay?" I whispered while poking him. His body stiffened and he looked at me with the corner of his eye.
"Don't touch me." Scowling, I started to poke him more. "Stop it."
"No." His eye started to twitch
"I said to stop touching me!"
"I will if you quit being such a hardass!"
"Haruka-chan, watch your language!" I quickly hid behind Kakashi after hearing Minato's voice. Why did I have to have such sadistic man as a teacher?
"Don't worry; I wonder the same thing too." Kakashi whispered to me, forgetting about the poking. Did I really just say that out loud? Oh kami, why don't you just kill me now?
"Raijin, are we there yet?" I asked.
"No Pup, we're not." He said with an attitude. I looked over at Minato and saw that he was stuck in his little world, smiling at every little thing. Bored, I started to poke Kakashi again.
"I said to stop poking me!"
"No!"
"I'm going to push you off if you continue this!"
"I dare you! f I fall, you're going to fall with me!"
"Ugh, you're so stubborn!"
"Like you're not too?"
"Guys, knock it off!" Raijin suddenly yelled out. We stopped and looked up, only to see Minato talking to some lady. Narrowing my eyes I realize this lady had the reddest hair I've ever seen. Wait… oh kami. Is that Kushina?
"Raijin, who's the lady?" I whispered to him.
"I don't know, but I can smell the love surrounding them. Ugh, it makes me sick." He shivered. Love? You can smell stuff like that?
"Do you think they're dating?" I asked Kakashi.
"Probably. Want to go check?" I nodded. Before I could jump off Raijin though, Kakashi pushed me. My eyes widened and I grabbed onto his shirt, taking him down with me. After untangling our arms and limbs from the ground, we started to yell at each other.
"Damn it Haruka, you were supposed to fall by yourself!"
"I told you if I fall, you're going to fall with me! Remember?" We suddenly realized how loud we were being and looked around, noticing Kushina and Minato walking toward us.
"Thanks Kakashi, now they've noticed us!" I whispered loudly to him.
"Well, hello-ttebane! I've heard so much about you guys from Minato-kun."
"-kun?" I blurted out. Minato blushed and turned his head away from us, hiding his face.
"Hehe, sorry about that. It's just a habit from a young age-ttebane!" Kushina smiled down at us. I was about to say something, but I realized I was doing all the talking. I looked over at Kakashi and noticed the slight blush around his ears.
"Hi Kakashi-kun, I'm Uzumaki Kushina-ttebane!"
"Uh I-I'm K-Kakashi." I face palmed myself. No shit Sherlock. I looked at him and noticed he was acting strangely. It's almost like… oh, he's acting like me when I first met Minato! I tapped Kushina on her leg, getting her attention. She looked at me and kneeled down to my height.
"Yes?"
"I think you broke the boys on my team." She broke out into a big smile and hugged me. Cant… Breathe! She let me go and placed her hand on top of my head while I rubbed my chest. I think she broke a rib…
"I like you already Haruka-chan!"
"Hey Mama, I'm home~!" My mother turned around and looked at me with a smile.
"How was your day with Minato guys?" Kakashi muttered something about pain while he rubbed his now bandaged arm. "What?"
"Let's just say, Minato-sensei's version of training is quite questionable." My mother looked at me weird. What else can I say? His methods are questionable. Just thinking about today makes me want to crawl under the covers and never come out.
"Okay then. Well, I'm going to go take you guys shopping for new clothes! You guys need some anyways. Look at yourselves, your clothes are ruined." Kakashi looked up and stared at my mother.
"Hehe, new clothes!" I jumped up and down next to Kakashi, who was standing very still, like a statue.
"Shopping?" I smiled at Raijin, but all he did was glare and me.
"Let's go, I want to finish shopping as soon as possible so we can go eat." My mother pushed Kakashi and I out the door. Kakashi let out a groan and face palmed himself while asking,
"Why me?"
I was looking through the racks of clothes when Kakashi walked toward me with a bag already full of clothes.
"You're done already? We just got here like a few minutes ago Scarecrow."
"It's not that hard."
"Lucky you. All I can find are dresses and icky colors like pink." I stared at Kakashi and imagined him in pink. I shuddered at that thought. Who wouldn't?
"What?"
"You don't want to know." I turned my head back towards the clothes. Ugh, all these colors I don't need! Pink? No. Purple? No. Neon yellow? Ew, absolutely not. After I ruffled through the clothes, I finally found a pair of black shorts. Yes! Victory! I walked towards the "ninja" section and started looking for a mesh shirt my size. "Too big… Why do they have one smaller then my size…? Don't have a chest…"
"What?" I looked at Kakashi like he was stupid.
"It's true. I'm still six." I'm turning seven in about six months! My birthday is about two months after Kakashi's. That means I have only eight years to save my teacher and his future wife from dying because of his ex-student going on a rampage. Not to mention the fact that I need to make sure I stay alive long enough… Isn't that such a happy thought?
"I think this is your size Haruka." Kakashi said, interrupting my thoughts. I grab the shirt in Kakashi's hand and check.
"Thank Kami; I didn't want to go through those anymore. Onwards to the shirt that doesn't sell mesh section!" I said while grabbing Kakashi. And he groaned like usual, causing me to laugh.
"Hey Scarecrow, are you ready? Minato said to meet him at the village entrance around eight-ish, and it's past eight so hurry up!"
"Calm down, I'm coming down right now. I just needed to make sure I had everything I needed." I opened the door and pushed him outside as soon as he walked down the stairs. We needed to go. Like now. We were late to training once and let's just say, we could barely make it back home in one piece. "We wouldn't be late if you woke me up earlier." He grumbled.
"Don't blame me! My mom usually wakes us up. It's not my fault she's on a mission!"
I said while smacking his head.
"What about Raijin? He could've woken us up!"
"It's Raijin, what do you expect?"
"Exactly. Why would I want to wake you guys up? I like to sleep, thank you very much." Raijin said while running next to us. "I'm not your mother; don't expect me to do stuff like that." Speaking about my mother, she left for a mission about two days ago and gave us instructions on how to take care of ourselves. She also told Kakashi and Raijin to not let me near the oven. At all. I don't know how she remembered, but she managed to keep her promise to Kakashi and told him what I did when I was left alone in the house when I was three. It made him laugh so hard he wouldn't stop teasing me about it for days. Let's just say, I had ways to make him shut up, like threatening to burn all his masks.
"There's no time to daydream Haruka, run faster!" Kakashi shouted to me.
"I know so calm down!" After a few minutes of running non-stop, we reached the gate with only seconds to spare.
"Hello my cute little students!" Minato said with a smile. How is he so cheerful when it's early in the morning? I groaned, thinking about who I'm going to be with for the next few days.
"S-Sorry we were late."
"Haruka forgot to wake us up."
"Yeah, blame it all on me why don't you? What happened to blaming it on Raijin?"
"Oi!" Raijin said.
"Now now children, let's behave ourselves." Minato said, interrupting Kakashi and I. "We have an escort mission to a small town outside of Konoha." We looked around until we noticed the wagon with someone sitting at the front.
"What rank?" I asked.
"It's a C-rank. It's not like we haven't done something like this before." I jumped onto Raijin and we started to walk towards the wagon.
"Hey Kakashi, why don't you practice your summoning while we're on the mission?"
"Oh that's a good idea Haruka-chan! You should try it Kakashi." Hehe he's summoning! I'm so excited to see Kakashi's summons again because they were so cute the last time I saw them, especially Pakkun!
"Can you summon Pakkun?"
"That's who I was summoning anyways Haruka."
"I don't understand why you like that little runt so much. You have a big, strong wolf like me." I started to pet Raijin snout while I placed my head on top of his.
"Don't worry Raijin; you'll always be my favorite, no matter what."
"U-Um, excuse me?" We all turn our heads around to the driver. "Could we leave? I want to be b-back in at least two or three days."
"Of course sir! Let's go Haruka, Kakashi!" Thank Kami for Raijin, this meant I didn't have to walk for a while!
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Raijin quickly turned around which meant I was looking at the cloud of smoke in front of Kakashi.
"Hey Kakashi." Being the little girl I am, I squealed and jumped off of Raijin, much to his displeasure. Who wouldn't squeal at a cute little puppy?
"Hi Pakkun!" I said while waving at him.
"Hi Haruka-chan. Want to touch my paws?"
"Ohmygoodness yes!" I skipped towards Pakkun and right when I was about to pet him and touch his paw, Kakashi picked him up.
"No. Get back to Raijin, we need to go Haruka."
"B-But!"
"No. Now go!"
"Why is the world so cruel?" I said dramatically as I fell to the ground, pounding my fists into the dirt." "Why?"
"Great Kami, why do I have to have you as a partner?" Raijin picked me up by the back of my shirt with his mouth, dragging me back toward the side of the wagon.
"Because you love me sooo much Raijin."
"Go ahead and think that Pup."
"Jeez, I feel the love." I grumbled. I looked up and I thought I saw Kakashi smirking. You could never tell with that annoying mask of his. It was so tempting to flip him the finger, but Minato was standing right next to him. I am not risking him getting mad at me. So I did the most childish thing ever. I stuck out my tongue.
"Quit being so childish Haruka."
"Says the boy holding a cute little puppy, no offense Pakkun! At least I have a big badass wolf that's scary!" Damn it, I cussed anyways!
"No offense taken Haruka." Pakkun said, waving his paw at me.
"Now you accept me Pup? Why do I have to deal with you?"
"Language Haruka!" I stood up and held onto Raijin.
"Protect me from the big, mean, scary teacher Raijin!" Raijin grumbled something about biting me. Of course while I was dramatically asking for protection, Minato shunshined behind me and smacked me upside my head. "Ow!" I looked up at him while he stared at me with disapproval.
"Is she really a ninja? She's so… loud." I heard the driver whisper to one of the ninja's at the gate.
"Come on Haruka, let's go." Kakashi said, clearly embarrassed of me. Hehe imagine me when he starts to date! He'll hate me forever.
"Alright alright, don't get your panties in a bunch" I climbed onto Raijin and we started to walk out the gates. I immediately became more aware of my surroundings because in the end, we are in a war. There was always a chance of attack from another hidden country. Of course, no one was stupid enough to attack this close to Konoha, but no one could be too careful.
"Hey Pup; I'll let you play with my fur since you couldn't touch the little runt's paws." Raijin whispered to me. I secretly squealed inside and started to play with his fur. I acted like I didn't notice, but I think I saw him do a dog version of a smile.
You know, these past few days let me think about what or why I'm even here, in this universe. Because when you think about it, I've probably changed a shit ton of things. Let's list off some of those changes, shall we? It's quite scary.
1. Minato is teaching not just one, but two students before getting Team 7, who may or may not exist anymore.
2. My friendship with Kakashi and if I remember correctly, he was like a robot, always following the ninja code.
3. So I changed his personality?
4. Can't forget Raijin either.
5. Oh, and my existence in general.
This pretty much sums up what I've come up with so far. But the scariest part to me? It's losing all of those who I love. My mother, Minato, Kakashi (I know, ew), Raijin, and even this village. I've come to love all of them and I don't want to let that go. I don't want them to die or get destroyed.
"Pup, I know I'm interupptin' your thoughts but I can smell a group of people coming this way. Way too fast for civilians." Raijin whispered to me. I look around and see Minato looking more alert than usual. I tap Raijin on his head twice to tell him I was jumping off. I jumped off and walked towards Kakashi who was a little bit ahead of me.
"Group of enemy-nin ahead." Kakashi signaled to me.
"I know. Where do we go?" I signaled back. We both looked at Minato.
"Kakashi, move to other side. Haruka, stay with Raijin where you're at." Raijin walked up to me while Kakashi moved to the other side. I start to pet Raijin's snout but he probably sensed my discomfort and licked my cheek. I stared at him in shock because let's face it; Raijin is a stubborn, arrogant wolf who doesn't show much emotion besides anger and annoyance.
"Thank you." I whispered. After a few minutes of walking, the air suddenly turned still. Nothing was moving. There was no wind, no birds or forest sounds. It was only the sounds of our feet hitting the ground. Then out of nowhere, a group of Iwa-nin came out of the trees and attacked us. Since Minato was the only Jounin on this mission with us, they all attacked him first
"Haruka, Kakashi, don't forget the mission! Protect the wagon and driver at all costs!" No matter how much we wanted to go in and help our sensei, Kakashi and I knew we needed to stay where we were at. And besides, he was probably fine on his own. Two of the shinobi broke off from their group of five and headed towards Kakashi and I. They obviously thought we were easy kill because of our age. The man walked up to me and sneered.
"Aww, it's a little girl acting like a ninja. I'm gonna kill you now. No hard feelings." Raijin and I growled. I never knew I could growl, especially like a wolf (dog?) but it didn't matter at that moment. He ran towards us and started to attack. The good thing about being small? I could move a little faster than him, letting me evade a lot of his attacks. "Just stay still!"
"No, I don't-" *duck* "want to die!" I ran behind him and threw the shuriken in my hands towards his face. He jumped out of the way and smirked, thinking he could avoid my attacks. And I'll give it to him; he did 99 percent of the time. But he forgot about Raijin (I don't know how you could, it's a fricken wolf the size of a child) and landed right where Raijin could jump up and bite him. It caused him to fall on his back and basically get attacked full-on by a wolf.
"Fuck!" He shouted and I ran toward him fully intended to help Raijin, but I didn't notice the other shinobi running towards me. He kicked me in my stomach, causing me to land about two meters away.
"Damn it." I landed on my side, causing me to cough up some blood. I stood up and held my kunai.
"You and the wolf are nuisances." The new shinobi said. He attacked me with a speed I couldn't keep up with; he kept kicking me and punching me no matter what I did. By the time Raijin finished attacking the first man, I was on the ground covered in bruises and cuts while blood dribbled out of my mouth. There's no way this guy's a Chunin. He's got to be Jounin level. I coughed again, causing more blood to come out of my mouth.
"Pup!" I looked up and saw Raijin run towards me. I stood up the moment Raijin ran in front of me, growling.
"Seems like your little wolf killed my teammate. He deserved it. Getting killed by an animal is such a stupid way to die." The guy said while looking back in repulsion. He brushed his black hair back, revealing purple eyes.
"H-How could you say that? He was your teammate!"
"I could care less about a teammate." He said.
"You d-disgust me." I said. He smirked and ran towards me. I knew that if I got hit by him one more time, I would get knocked out or killed, so I braced myself for the blow. It never came though because Raijin knocked me onto the ground and took the hit for me. The hit caused him to land three meters behind me and hit a tree.
"RAIJIN!" I cried out. I ran towards him, forgetting about the shinobi who stood in front of me. I kneeled in front of him. "R-Raijin?" I asked, brushing the fur around his face. He didn't wake up or move and it caused me to see red. "Y-YOU KILLED HIM!" I turned around and screamed. I ran towards the shinobi fully intended to kill him. With speed and strength I didn't know I possessed, I somehow overwhelmed him. It caused him to trip and I landed on top of him, stabbing him in the chest with the kunai that was in my hands. I fell off of him, staring at the now-dead man in shock. I looked at him and my hands, and I realized something.
"I-I killed him." I said.
Third Person P.O.V
By the time Minato and Kakashi finished their fights, Haruka was sitting on the ground, shaking.
"Kakashi, go check on Raijin." Minato said. Kakashi nodded his head and walked to where Raijin laid, unmoving. Minato bend down and placed his hands on Haruka's shoulder. "Haruka …" The words he was going to say died in his throat because she was looking up at him, covered in blood. She started to cry and fell towards Minato, clutching his vest.
"I-I killed him! I didn't want to but he hurt Raijin and I killed him! He killed Raijin!"
"It's okay Haruka." Minato said while rubbing her back. It hurt him so much to see one of his students in pain. But this was a pain that he couldn't protect them from.
"H-He could've had a family, a wife! Or even children! A-And I just took him away from them!" She sobbed. He looked behind him to see Raijin struggling to sit up. He looked back at Haruka only to realize she had turned silent while gripping his chest. He looked at her face and saw that she had cried herself to unconsciousness. He picked her up and walked towards Kakashi and Raijin.
"Raijin's okay. He was knocked out, but that's about it. I managed to wake him up." Minato saw him trying to help Raijin walk.
"I-Is she okay? Is Haruka okay?" He looked at Raijin's face and saw so much worry in his eyes.
"She's fine, just shaken up by her first kill. But I think she needs to be with you when she wakes up."
"Damn it! If only I wasn't knocked out." Raijin said. He tried stepping on his right paw, only to grimace in pain.
"I-I could summon one of my dogs to help you walk if you want Raijin." Kakashi said, trying to help. Raijin was tempted to say no because he had his pride, but he knew he need help walking and the boy couldn't help much.
"That would be very helpful Kakashi." Kakashi summoned Bull, the biggest out of the entire pack.
"Bull, can you help Raijin?" Bull nodded and helped Raijin walk towards the wagon. "I-Is she really going to be okay Minato-sensei?" Minato looked down towards Kakashi who was looking at Haruka worryingly.
"She'll be a little shaken up because of what happened, but that's bound to happen. All we can do to help her is support her and be around her." Minato decided to change the topic because the one they were talking about was very dark. "So, did Pakkun help you in your fight?"
"Yeah, he managed to bite the Iwa-nin and leg, causing him to fall and let me knock him out." Kakashi said, while rubbing his arm.
"Where's Pakkun now?"
"I let him reverse summon himself back. He was a little hurt and I wanted him to get better."
"Oh, that's good." They walked up to the wagon and saw the driver stick his head out of the opening.
"Are we good now? Is it safe to continue on?" Minato nodded and the man jumped out of the cart. "Thank Kami they didn't attack the horse. That would've been bad." Minato and Kakashi walked along the moving wagon until Kakashi broke the silence.
"How come Raijin can't reverse-summon himself when he's in danger? Pakkun told me that most summons do that to protect themselves." Minato looked at Kakashi.
"Raijin… isn't like most summons. And he's technically not a summon either. He's almost like the nin-ken from the Inuzuka clan." He said. Kakashi was still confused though.
"I don't understand. Raijin wasn't with us when I met Haruka."
"Remember how Haruka almost got kidnapped?" Minato asked. "Well, that trauma triggered something to summon him here. For some reason, that trigger won't let him go back. He didn't understand why he couldn't reverse-summon himself back. The only other thing Raijin would tell me is that he comes from a pack of wolves that have been with the Aotomi clan for decades."
"Oh. Wh-" Kakashi was interrupted by Haruka.
"Can you put me down Minato-sensei?" Minato placed her on the ground and she looked up.
"Did I-"
"HARUKA!" She flipped her head around and she saw Raijin shout out her name while being supported by Bull.
"R-Raijin?" She asked, her other question completely forgotten. She ran towards him and started to hug him. "Thank Kami, you're alive. I thought you were dead." Haruka said, her words muddled by Raijin's fur. Minato could hear the quiet sobbing that was coming from Haruka and the kind words Raijin was saying to comfort her. Kakashi walked towards Bull and thanked him, letting him return home (wherever that was).
"Those two have such a strong bond. It's going to take them places they never thought possible. Especially with the strength they already possess." Minato thought to himself.
Haruka's P.O.V.
After three days of flinching at any unusual sounds, me being an emotional mess, and healing our somewhat damaged bodies, we were finally home! Apparently, our wagon had an important document hidden inside all the food, which caused the Iwa-nin to attack and… yeah.
"Haruka, are you sure you're okay?" Minato asked, looking at me.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I needed to get it over with anyways right? It was inevitable." I said. Minato looked at me quite oddly. There's nothing else to it, this is the life of a Shinobi. They're expected to kill for their village. But saying it out loud doesn't really help. I've been having nightmares for the last three days about that man, the one I had killed. Raijin was there for me when I woke up; thank Kami, but what's going to happen when he isn't here? I would see his dead body in my dreams, scaring me awake.
"Haruka, let's go back home." Kakashi said, interrupting my thoughts.
"Y-Yeah. Okay. Let's go home." We waved goodbye to Minato, who was heading towards the mission desk to tell them about the mission and ask if the rank would be raised. While we were walking back towards the house, I felt uncomfortable because of the stares I was getting from passing Shinobi.
"Scarecrow, why are they looking at me like that?" I asked him.
"I don't know. Do you think your mom… failed her mission?" He asked me. I knew what he meant though. He was really asking me if she did the same thing Sakumo did on his final mission.
"I don't know. I just want to go home and curl up in my bed and fall asleep."
"Don't forget taking a shower. You stink." I playfully bump into his shoulder.
"Like you don't either. We all stink, it'll be better if we could go to the hot spring."
"Why don't we?" I looked at him in surprise. He usually says no to the hot spring idea. I have no idea why too.
"Okay, let's go after putting our stuff back home." I said to him. I stretched my arms above my head and realized how sore I was. We turned the corner and reached the house.
"Mama! We're back from the mission!" I entered the house, but no one was there. "Huh, that's weird. She said she'd be back within the week." I shrugged my shoulders and place my bag on the ground and walked toward the bathroom to clean myself up a bit. Right after I closed the door, I sensed someone I didn't know in front of the door. "Scarecrow, answer the door!"
"Why don't you?"
"I'm in the bathroom, that's why!" I shouted to him. I heard the scraping of his chair moving and the sound of the door opening. I looked at myself in the mirror and realized how pale I was. I started to touch the dark eye bags that were formed under my eyes when I sensed Kakashi standing in front of the bathroom door. His chakra was so… tense. I opened it to find Kakashi looking at me with sorrow in his eyes. "What's wrong Scarecrow?" He didn't reply to me for a few seconds. "Kakashi?"
"…I'm sorry Haruka, but your mom…" I froze, paling.
"What about her Kakashi?" He couldn't look at me and just looked at the ground.
"…She's at the hospital in a coma. She may not wake up and the medics can't figure out why. " I stood there in shock.
"No, no no no!" I clutch Kakashi's shoulders.
"I'm sorry." I sob left my throat, causing Raijin to walk into the hallway.
"Pup, is everything okay?" After hearing him ask, I just… broke down. My sobs wouldn't stop and the next thing I knew, I was being held by Kakashi and Raijin was standing next to me.
"W-why? Why Kakashi? Why?" I asked. Fate had to take my mother away from me too? Why?
A/N: Well, this was a very long chapter, over 6000 words. Phew. But this ends Haruka's innocent childhood and the transition into the strong kunoichi she'll become! Of course, there's help from the annoying teammate and a sadistic teacher. Can't forget about the scary canine companion too… I introduced Kushina too! Hehe.
Anyways, starting next chapter is when all the fun happens *rubs hands together and cackles.* Nothing bad really happens besides the actual beginning of the Naruto story plot line.*wink wink* If you think about it enough you'll understand if you don't get it.
So how was the fight scene? I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I personally think it sucks compared to those other Fanfiction stories that I so dearly love xD But I tried my best and that's all that matters! I don't know if I can promise another 6000 word chapter for a while, but I'll try my best to make my other chapters long :) Don't forget to leave a review and a follow! I seriously need to know how I did on the fight scenes because let's face it, Haruka's gonna be in a lot more fights and I want to be able to write a good action scene instead of a super crappy ones that no one wants to read. Until next time, drink some pop (soda), pet a dog, and eat a bag of chips! I know they're not healthy but those are my guilty pleasures... Don't judge me.
