Summary: To be strong is not necessarily in reference to having power and/or strength. It's possible that it could mean to be fearless, to be impavid. OC self insert.

Poll is closed. We're sticking with three months!

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**************IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!****************

So I've noticed you guys sometimes worry about when I'm next/ whether I'm even going to update, so I've decided…

To make a twitter account!

/SPCMRose

So follow me on twitter for the easiest way to keep track of my stories!

**************THANKS FOR READING!****************

I DO NOT own Naruto. Only the idea of my OC.

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I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

~Fred Allen


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"Hokage-sama," I greet warily as I approach him. "I was not expecting you. Would you like some tea? Snacks?"

He smiled, but it was a fake, well practiced smile. "I'm sorry for the intrusion, but I wish to keep this meeting short."

"No tea then?" I smile, just as fake as his.

Let's see. How do I want this meeting to go? Should I be the scared but loyal little girl I should be, or the brave and knowledgable girl I am?

I decide to go with the former.

"No thank you Hikari-chan. I'm sure you've been confused about why I've had Kurenai following you," he begins.

I nod. "It has confused me Hokage-sama."

A lie. I know exactly why the Hokage has so much interest in me.

"Well, I suppose I should start by congratulating you on graduating the academy."

"Thank you Hokage-sama. It was kind of you to advance me a few years."

He nods and brushes his robe, although there's not a speck of dust on it. "Yes," I don't miss how he dismisses the subject quickly. No doubt he doesn't want to explain the entire of his reasons for promoting me to gennin so soon. "Now, your team is specialised for dealing with multiple enemies. That's why you have Jurou on your team."

"Because of the explosives?" I guess, although I have a suspicion that it isn't that simple.

An amused smile appears on his face, most likely because he's glad I did not voice my suspicions. It seems he's truly believing I'm as simple as my age suggests. "No, my hope is that Nagasaki-kun will discover a way to enhance your… crystals with fuuinjutsu."

Wow… that's actually a really smart idea. "And Gai?" I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"Gai is there to protect both you and Nagasaki-kun," the Hokage answers simply.

I nod, accepting. "Thank you for explaining the situation."

"Finally, I wish to impress upon you the importance that you continue your training," the Hokage says as he moves to the door. "Do not make me regret my decision, Hikari-chan."

"I won't Hokage-sama," I promise as he leaves, with one last fake smile flashed in my direction.

Once he's gone I let out a breath and try my best not to panic.

Sheesh that guy is terrifying.

I can't help but fear for the future meetings I'll be having with the man.

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"This is…" I trail off, lost for words.

Kakashi smirks at me as he crosses his arms. "It's beautiful. You look wonderful my little Riri."

"I can't believe she could make something so perfect."

As I talk I admire myself in the mirror.

Kash had brought home the outfits finally, and I'd immediately unwrapped one to try it on.

It was perfect.

First was a long sleeved dark grey shirt with teal swirls dotting the back and front. Next was a short teal mini skirt that was weaved together and looked very delicate, but in fact was incredibly durable. Under that was a thin grey skirt that was longer on the right side, so it draped to my ankles at an angle. Then of course I wore some black tights under it all.

"So are you ready for your missions now?" Kakashi asked with a smirk.

In answer I spun around and hugged him. "You're so awesome! I can't believe I have a custom outfit! It's perfect! Thank you so much."

"No problem sis," he chuckled and ruffled my hair, much to my annoyance.

I'd just managed to smooth it down somewhat too!

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"Hikari!" I heard someone yell from behind me and I quickly wiped at my eyes.

Obito approached, a worried look on his face. "It's nearly dark out, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing," I say quietly as I wipe my eyes again and sniffle.

He frowns and sits down next to me. "You okay?"

"Fine," I say sharply.

"You don't look fine," he smiles slightly. "Want me to help you home? I'm sure your brother is worried about you."

I shake my head. "No, I stay out way later than this sometimes."

"Well…" He trails off and scratches his head. "What is it exactly that you are doing?"

Hesitantly, I let out a sigh and clear my throat. "I was supposed to train with Rin this afternoon, but she's started and internship at the hospital, so we can't hang out anymore. And I wanted to join her by I can't perform any more than basic superficial wound healing and it just really upset me 'cause she was so happy that she was going to save people's lives but I can't-" I cut off when I run out of air and try my best not to start crying again.

It just got to me. I saw how happy Rin was, and not only did it remind me of my useless chakra but it hurt to see Rin so happy and know she was going to die in a few years. She was my best and… only friend.

"Alright," Obito says with a laugh. "Why can't you heal?"

In answer, I summon chakra to my hands, enough that it's visible.

The ruby glow was fragmented, like millions of tiny shards grinding against each other to form a jagged cloud of chakra.

Obito cringed just looking at it.

"My chakra is different," I explain. "It would probably kill someone if I tried to heal them. It works fine with small cuts and minor burns… but other than that…"

He nods in understanding.

"Well," he starts after a moment. "It's very pretty."

And then his obsidian eyes meet mine, and I'm stunned by the awe and kindness I see in them.

"T-thanks," I stutter out after a moment and he grins.

It takes a moment for me to figure out what I want to say, and when I do I reach for Obito's hand. "Do you mind walking me home? I don't really want to train tonight and I don't really want to walk home on my own."

He doesn't hesitate as he agrees and soon we're walking through the village on my way home. "Do you want some dango or something?" I ask, feeling bad that he's going out of his way for me.

"Sure," he leads us towards one of the stands.

Two dango sticks later, Kash opens the door for us, looking mildly surprised to see me and Obito. "Uh, yo."

"Hello Kakashi," Obito smiles slightly and lifts our clasped hands. "Hikari here wanted me to accompany her home. Hope you don't mind."

Kakashi shakes his head. "No that's fine," after a moment he opens the door wider. "Want to come in for dinner?"

I find myself wanting Obito to join us, so I plead to him with my eyes. For a moment I think he's going to come in, but he glances at Kakashi and finds my brother with a hard look. Startled he lets go of my hand and shrinks back. "Thanks for the offer, but I've got to get back before it gets too dark."

"You can sleep over tonight," I offer. Annoyed with my brother I flash him a death glare which he matches evenly.

Obito just starts backing away though, scratching his head. "Ah, thanks but I really should get going. Take care Hikari and see you tomorrow Kakashi."

"Bye!" Kakashi waves cheerily as he tugs me inside, closing the door.

Furious, I turn on him. "What was that?"

"Nothing," he says with an amused smile on his face, behind that mask of his. "Now come on, dinner's ready."

With a reluctant sigh I follow him to the table.

Maybe Obito can sleep over tomorrow then.

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"Did you tell Jurou?" I ask Kushina bluntly.

She frowns at me. "What are you talking about?"

"The Hokage talked to me, he said he wanted Jurou to find a way to enhance my crystals," I explain simply.

Kushina glances around at the mention of the Hokage before nodding to me.

Huh, I wonder what else the Hokage was planning.

"Alright! All my lovely little cherries, let's go start our mission for the day!" Gai and Jurou come join us as she unrolls the scroll. "Let's see… We have to go and build a shed out the back of one of the apartment buildings. For storage."

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "Kushina, I can make it in a second with crystals."

"Oh," she thinks for a moment. "Well I suppose if we finish this mission quickly then we can move onto tree climbing this afternoon!"

No doubt Jurou had already mastered tree climbing, knowing he had to have advanced chakra control. But I doubted Gai had. "Alright. Give me the scroll, I'll go complete the mission and you guys start on the chakra control exercises."

Impatient, I snatch the scroll out of her hand before she can reply and go to build the stupid shed.

It takes almost two hours in total, but finally I return to the training ground and shove the paychecks at my teammates. "You guys owe me."

"That was a youthful display Hikari!" Gai exclaimed from halfway up a tree.

I rolled my eyes. "You didn't even see me do anything Gai."

"You're back!" Kushina says and grabs my arm, pushing me towards a pool of water. "Water walking! Have fun!"

And then she shoves me and I topple in.

After a series of curses I see Jurou sitting on the water to my left. I drag myself to the shore and run my fingers through my hair. "I just got this outfit too."

"Kushina-sensei is…" Jurou began. "She's kind of crazy."

I tug off my outer (heavier) layers of clothing and fold them neatly before placing them on a tree stump by the shore. "I think she likes messing with people, but she goes too far all the time."

"So, have you learned how to water walk yet?" Jurou asked.

Instead of answering, I turned to the civilian-born. "I can see you have."

"Yeah," he says, his face brightening. "My father's best friend taught me. That's how I began fuuinjutsu."

I nod. "You studied it mostly by yourself then?"

"For one week he helped me," Jurou said. "Then he… went on a mission…"

He didn't need to finish the sentence.

"Well I'm impressed that you've managed so well without a teacher," I admit.

Jurou beams at my compliments and stands, walking towards me on the shore. "I'm guessing you've already learned to walk on water. Want to try another chakra control exercise?"

"What'd you have in mind?" I ask, curious.

He pulls out a scroll from his pocket, unrolling it and smoothing it over the ground. "I made this seal myself. It's pretty basic, but you just have to match the levels. This symbol here-" he points at the scroll and I make note of it "-Will change colors depending on how much chakra you put into it."

"What's the goal?" I ask as he guides my hand over the middle symbol.

"Start with blue, then move all the way through to red. Sustain the level for as long as you can."

I smirk. "Let's do it."

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After being utterly embarrassed at my performance in Jurious test, we head to Ichiraku's for ramen. Kushina having already bought ramen and ran, leaving us with the bill.

Honestly, I swear sometimes I'm more responsible than even my sensei is.

Jurou doesn't stay long, seeing as his family aren't too supportive of his chosen career. They gave him a curfew.

If I had a curfew! I'd never be able to train as much as I needed to.

"Gai," I said as I finished off my second bowl. "I'm going to leave now. Seeing as I was stuck with your bill last time I think you should get mine."

Gai didn't argue, and so I left.

I had someone I wanted to talk to.

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"Obito!" I greeted happily as I joined him in the bookstore. "I'm so glad you came."

He smiles at me as he tucks his hands in his pockets. "Hey Hikari. How was training?"

"Pretty good actually. One of my teammates is a studying fuuinjutsu master, he had this really cool scroll for chakra control." I looked at the shelves, picking out a few books on sewing. There were repairs I needed to do on my outfit.

Stupid Kushina.

Obito followed behind me, taking time to grab a book on dendrology. "That's cool. Isn't Kushina a fuuinjutsu-"

"Kushina's too lazy to help Jurou with his study. I don't even know why she's our sensei, she doesn't act like it."

The raven haired Uchiha at my side frowns as I grab a few more books and head to the counter. "Well, Minato-sensei is really nice, but he doesn't really focus on me and Rin as much as he does Kakashi."

"Yeah, my brother's been his apprentice for a while now," I explain. "He's always said great things about Minato-san though."

"He's not that bad. It's just kind of obvious that he spends a lot of time with Kakashi." Obito's tone wavers a bit towards jealousy.

Oh, is it already time for the whole Rin thing?

I reach for his hand as we head outside of the store. "Well. Enough of that talk. Let's go play a game of cards or something. This time I'm inviting you for dinner and Kash can't kick you out."

"Cards?" Obito repeated.

"Yeah. How about cheat or something?"

He shrugged and smiled at me. "I haven't played many card games."

"Oh… Well we can play something else-"

"No it's fine," he assures with a laugh.

We reach the street my home's on and turn down the path. "Okay, I'll teach you poker then, always useful to play."

"Sounds good."

I swing open the door and let him in first, following behind. Kakashi isn't in sight, but his gear is on the counter so I assume he's in his room. "Alright, take a seat. I'll grab us some snacks and stuff."

"Sweet," Obito grins at me once more before I disappear into the kitchen.

Kash enters the loungeroom once we're about an hour into playing. He immediately tugs on his mask before Obito turns around. "Yo."

"Hey!" I greet. "Want to join us? We were playing poker but we've moved onto black jack."

He frowns but joins us, Obito tensing when he does.

Rivalries… You gotta love 'em.

"I'll deal," Kakashi says simply and grabs the cards from my hands.

Obito nods slightly and I suppress a sigh.

This is going to be a long night.

Obito wins the first hand, with two queens beating Kash's king and three. I watch in amusement as Kash deals the next hand with determination. I win that hand.

And the next hand.

When I win the next three hands Kash is staring at me with narrowed eyes.

I shrug.

He glares.

Obito snickers.

The next hand is won by Obito, and four hands later, when Kash still hasn't one, he gives up the game and storms off.

Obito and I are laughing our asses off and we both roll up our sleeves revealing dozens of cards hidden safely under a rubber band.

"That was awesome," I giggle hysterically as I tidy the mess Kash had made of the cards.

He nods in agreement. "You're so evil though, he's going to be furious at training tomorrow."

"You don't spar do you?" I ask, growing worried.

"Yeah," he admits.

I freeze. "I don't think he'll hurt you."

Obito grins. "I'll be alright Usagi."

"Rabbit?" I ask, confused.

He nods. "Your cute, alert, brave. You should look up what they symbolise, suits you to a tea."

"Huh," I nod slowly. "Usagi… Interesting nickname I guess."

Obito reaches for the snacks then and sips on his milk. "So my adorable little Usagi-chan, I'm getting tired."

"You're not staying the night?" I pout as he moves for the door.

He turns, smiles, and shakes his head. "Not tonight Usagi."

"Alright, have a good night Obito," I wave as he leaves, sending me one last smile.

Kakashi returns when I'm cleaning up in the kitchen, he leans against the doorframe. "So… You're friends with the Uchiha now, huh?"

"He's nice," I say. "He's not like most Uchiha."

"Maybe," Kakashi says. "But I don't like him."

I turn and roll my eyes at him. "Go to bed Kash. I'm joining you tonight by the way, it was too cold in my room."

"Really?" He groans and heads towards his room, my giggles following him.

Once I have everything cleaned I shower and change into my panda kigurumi (best pajamas ever!) then I climb into bed next to Kash. I worm my way under his arm and eventually he hugs me tight. "Night Kash."

"G'night Riri. Wake me up when you get up, okay?"

"Okay."

"Love you Riri."

"I love you too Kash."

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Shirakumo-sensei was finally letting me train with my crystal swords. We'd moved passed the wooden ones and now he had me sparring with him.

And holy heck he was fast.

None-the-less, I managed to block all of his attacks, so at least I didn't get sliced into little Hikari pieces.

Once that was over, I went to training with Kushina.

"Awesome mission today guys!" Kushina chirped as she crossed her legs. "We get to paint a house."

I shared a look with Jurou whilst Gai cheered.

"So… Have fun!" Kushina chucked the scroll to Gai as she body flickered away.

Gai turned to us, checking the address on the scroll. "Shouldn't sensei be monitoring us?" I ask.

"Yes," Jurou agreed. "That's why we have a sensei, she has to make sure we don't die."

Gai started walking and we followed. "I'm pretty sure we won't die whilst painting a house, but stupid Kushina doesn't want to sit around bored whilst we do it."

"She's a terrible sensei," Jurou concludes and I nod.

"Do not talk about our sensei like that!" Gai yells from in front of us. "Kushina-sensei is most youthful! Clearly she has enough faith in us that she trusts us to complete missions! It is a great honor to have such a responsibility!"

I roll my eyes. "Oh yeah. It's always been my dream to paint houses."

Jurou laughs and Gai simply sighs.

"Ah! Good morning Sato-san! We are the genin team sent to paint your house!" Gai said as said lady opens her door.

"Oh hello. The paints by the wall. At the back," she points in the direction.

I nod. "Thank you. We'll have it done in no time."

Jurou follows me whilst Gai deals with paperwork. We just have to show our client the scroll and she has to sign it, saying she agrees. Nothing too difficult.

It doesn't take us long to fill in half the wall, Gai works on the left wall whilst we work on the back wall. After that we just finish with the right and Jurou goes and finishes up the front whilst we clean up the mess.

Once we show Sato-san, and she approves of our work, we head to the mission desk.

Kushina catches up to us once we've gotten our paychecks, she snatches hers out of my hand as she chews on her dango.

"I swear I'm this close to hitting Kushina on the head," I whisper to Jurou angrily.

He laughs.

Once we reach the training grounds Kushina jumps into a tree, telling us we should continue our chakra control exercises.

Growing sick of her, I follow Jurou back to the stream and we work on his scroll again.

About an hour of this boring nonsense later (although in some weird way it's still better than the academy) I hear twigs snapping behind me.

Jurou and I turn, and Rin - of all people - emerges.

"Rin!" I yell and jump up, hugging her tightly.

She laughs and ruffles my hair. "Hey squirt. How've you been?"

"Don't call me that," I pout as she takes in Jurou and the scroll. "We've been stuck with chakra control exercises, really boring. What are you doing here?"

Jurou scoots aside as Rin and I sit down. "Well, Minato-sensei kind of got Kakashi and Obito to spar, and they really hurt each other. They're both in the hospital getting checked on."

"What?" I gasp, about to get up until she puts a hand on me.

She sends me a warm smile. "Don't worry, they're completely fine. I healed both of them and Minato was just taking them to double check. After that he's going to force them to do another mission."

"You sure they're okay?" I asked.

Rin nods again and reaches into her satchel, pulling out a container. "They're completely fine. I made a few bento's for lunch, normally I give one to my team but seeing they're-"

"Give me!" Someone shouts from behind us.

In the next second Kushina hovers over us with a hungry look in her eyes.

Stunned, Rin pulls out one of the bento's and hands it to her.

In the next second Kushina's is gone.

"Sorry about her," I say before she can speak. "She's kind of insane. Not sure what's going on."

Rin shrugs. "All good I guess. I'm assuming you have your own lunch Hikari? You always did."

I nod, a proud smile on my face, as I pull out my own bento. "Got one. Jurou?"

Jurou bites his lip as he pulls out a container, although when he opens it there's hardly enough in there for a snack let alone lunch. "Your parents aren't feeding you probably? Are they?"

"No it's fine-"

"Here," Rin offers him her two spare bentos. "You did look a little skinny."

I laugh and pat her on the shoulder. "That's what I thought!" Then I turn back to Jurou. "I'll bring you lunch from now on, you shoulda told me."

"I couldn't possibly-"

"Nonsense!" I interrupt, waving him off. "I make lunch for my brother, I'm always chucking out left overs."

Jurou sighs and Rin giggles as she digs into her lunch.

Eventually Kushina comes and tells us that she's leaving, mentioning that Gai had already headed off to… wherever Gai goes.

As per usual, Jurou is the first to suggest we head home. "Yeah I need to head to the hospital now anyway," Rin agrees.

"Oh right, I forgot about that," I say as we head from the field. "How is that going?"

She smiles at me. "It's going really well. I'm learning so much Hikari, they said if I keep doing as well as I am I'll be allowed to begin training as a medic."

"Isn't that what you're doing now?"

"Not really," she shakes her head slowly. "I'm learning how to heal, but I'm not doing any study or anything. When I start training I'll have to learn all about the body and how to repair it. Right now I'm learning through practice, so I can't do anything too impressive."

I nod slowly, trying to understand. "Well I'm proud of you. It sounds like you're really enjoying it."

"I am," she assures as we reach the edge of the village. "Well this is where we split ways. I'll see you later Hikari, Jurou."

Jurou waves to both of us and says his goodbyes.

Soon I'm alone again, and find myself wanting to see Obito.

But then again… I did only just see him yesterday.

Ah, what the hell.

I make my way to the training field I normally spend my afternoons at. It hits me I haven't worked on my kekkei genkai for a while, so I begin doing that.

Obito wouldn't know to meet me here, maybe I should…

"Ah!" I say as I make a clone.

The clone nods at me before running to find Obito.

Yay! My own personal messenger.

Eventually the clone disbands herself and I learn that she'd found Obito and he was heading this way.

With dango.

Awesome.

I continue by making my swords. I've been working on lengthening the time I can sustain them with chakra.

The reason I don't just create them, like I do with the other permanent crystals I make, is because this way I can keep them sharp and manipulate them easily.

Eventually Obito appears, as I'm practicing my Crystal bombs. He steps up carefully and whistles. "That's impressive Usagi."

"Thanks," I chirp.

He sits down on one the the many temporary crystal blobs I'd made and watches as I hold my hands up, forming my swords again.

With a short breath I slash through the crystal structure in front of me.

Obito's eyes widen. "Wow! That's insane."

"I know right?" I laugh and slide the swords into the two holsters at my side. "Well. I'm about done for today. What's the plan Obi?"

He shrugs and holds out a stick of dango, which I take with a smile. "Thought we could just walk around Konoha. I have a lot of pent up nervous energy for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I ask, confused.

Obito grabs my hand and we head from the field, I take a quick moment to dissipate all the remaining crystal. "We're going on a retrieval mission. A daughter of the wealthy Hyoga family has been kidnapped by a large group of bandits."

"That sounds a bit…" I pause, trying to find the write word.

"Advanced?" He supplies, and I nod. "Well we do have the legendary Kakashi Hatake on our team," he finishes somewhat bitterly.

I glare at him and he smiles sheepishly. "Well. You'll be careful right? And take care of Rin and Kash?"

"Obviously," Obito says with a roll of his eyes. "Everyone knows I'm the strongest in the team."

I nudge him playfully and he laughs. "Tell me you're joking, that you're going to take this mission seriously?" I notice the somewhat playful glint remaining in his eyes and I narrow my eyes at him. "Promise you won't get hurt?"

Finally he sighs and nods as he tucks his hands into his pockets.

Good.

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I get home late that night.

Obito and I had spent a long time messing around at the fruit vendor. Taking time to juggle as many oranges as we could and make funny faces with fruit. We of course bought everything we touched, seeing the annoyed look on the vendor's face.

There was a tense air between us though. Partially because I was terrified that the three people who meant most to me may not return from their mission.

It was kind of stupid of my to befriend people who were in the same team.

Considering their was a greater chance they would all… you know… die.

And then I'd be left alone.

A shudder ran through me and I quickly shook it off.

"You're going on a missions tomorrow!" I yelled as I entered the kitchen. "Promise me you'll be safe!"

Kakashi glanced up from the book he was reading. "I've gone on plenty of missions before, most far more deadly than this."

"Just promise!" I repeated.

With an amused scoff he nodded.

"And you'll take care of Rin?"

Another nod.

"And Obito?"

At this he paused.

"Kakashi!" I screech.

My brother laughs and pulls me into his arms, ruffling my hair. "Don't worry Riri. I'll take care of them all. Even the stupid-" He cuts off at a glare from me. "Even Obito."

"Good," I decide as he pulls me closer and I tuck my legs under me on the couch.

But the nagging worry doesn't leave me and I can't help but worry that something is going to happen to the people I love.

They didn't get hurt before the third war did they?

With a sigh I nestled into Kakashi's side and did my best to calm myself by listening to the beats of his heart.


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**************IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!****************

So I've noticed you guys sometimes worry about when I'm next/ whether I'm even going to update, so I've decided…

To make a twitter account!

/SPCMRose

So follow me on twitter for the easiest way to keep track of my stories!

**************THANKS FOR READING!****************

A: OWLS! DUH!

Q for you guys: What's your favorite movie?

Next time: Plans continue! A new friend? Missions! Kakashi & friends return? Who knows~!

REPLYING TO EVERYONE CAUSE YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME (100 reviews, omg!)

Replies:

Ash6751: No problem! And Sakura is an awesome choice, she's definitely one of the main contributors to the world! She also has a lot of opportunities to change things!

deathgeonous: I'm glad that you like it! It's good to hear things like that, I'm trying my best to improve my writing as well as get things out in a timely fashion! Please tell me as soon as you stop liking it, and why! Any suggestions or improvements are more than welcomed!

Guest: Ah! That's interesting, I wasn't sure on the word at the time! Thanks for pointing it out!

Deanov87: I would like to see a powerful Hikari as well! (We'll see o:) I'm glad you like her character! I'll be sure to include some Asuma for you too, although probably not too soon, sowwy :(

sweets427: Yeh I was trying something different! But I've changed it now :) Thanks for reading! I hope you like this start better :)

Falling Right Side-Up : Changes Will be starting real soon (wink) Thanks for reading and I'm glad you love it!

Harmonic Bunny: Thank you! I've fixed it now! (I think… can't remember e.o) And I love when people point out my mistakes! I don't have a beta and sometimes I miss things, thanks so much and don't be worried to be nit picky!

Yinko: Orochimaru probably won't be making a show in some time, but do know he's still around! Thank you for the info! Love ya!

Yinko : She's difficult to write. I'm trying my best to keep her character, but I'm glad you think she's not too ooc! She isn't going to be around to often, as we know she's not trying too hard as Hikari's mentor, poor kids :( Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Kashlazy: Sorry for long updating periods, as you know each chap is 5k. So it takes a long time to write! But it also means the stories advancing fairly quickly (compared to some other fics!) Thanks, I'm so glad you liked it!

Meatbun Attack: Too true about Kushina, poor Hikari. I agree, I didn't see it myself! But I was thinking, who should Hikari's teammates be, and why?

(Let's get in depth here, seeing as you review so often I think you deserve it! Youre awesome BTW! I love reading your reviews!)

What's the Hokage's plan for the girl? (I can't tell you all of it yet) But yes, a large area attack like Hikari's, deserves the proper team to back her up. So let's think: Firstly, we need someone to assist Hikari, and someone to provide back up (quite like how there's a medic on teams) The back up (Seeing as I didn't want too many Oc's) would most likely had to have been someone who could move through large areas quickly and defend against few opponents. Who do we know who's like that… hmmm? Gai!

And I didn't know that about Gai! I looked for a while on the subject when I was writing, but didn't find that snippet of info :(

Thanks for reviewing! Love ya!~

Tamani: Oh an Uchiha? Awesome! That'd be so fun, although the massacre would be a worry for you o: Salamanders are a perfect pic and would be bad as frick. Itachi would be adorable! Yes! And That's one of the angles I was thinking, but I just couldn't put Hikari through that torture (I just don't think Kushina is mature enough yet for an apprentice. She needs some time) I'm so glad you love the story and don't worry! We'll be at cannon soon! There's still a lot Hikari needs to do first though :/

Avarianna: It was my pleasure to update and read all of your reviews! Thank YOU for reading, without you I wouldn't be writing!

monkey kix ass : I feel like the Hokage and Hikari are going to be seeing a lot of each other in the future (wink) I'm glad you've enjoyed what you read so far, do let me know if something bothers you or upsets you! I'm working hard to improve my writing and the tale of Hikari.

I can't believe how much you've all supported me all this time! Thank you so much you are ALL incredible!

So many reviews, you guys are awesome! Thank you everyone who has read, faved, followed and reviewed this fic! you guys are so kind!