Kaiya straightened her funeral ensemble and tied her old Leaf bandana around her neck. Her red hair hung loose down her back, free from its usual clip holding it half-back. She looked down at her hands - still bandaged, but healing quickly from the chakra burns. For all the good they did…
Heart heavy, she walked out of her apartment. She raised her hand to knock on Naruto's door, but it opened before she could. Naruto looked up at her. They said nothing - just turned together and walked to the funeral site. The sky stretched before them, dark grey and brooding. No birds sounded; even the trees seemed to droop. A moderate rain fell. It was as though the heavens themselves were weeping for the great man Konoha mourned.
Kaiya paused just short of the site. Naruto glanced back at her, but she shook her head and motioned for him to continue. He looked to where she was facing and saw her teammates walking toward them, away from where the memorial rock was. Kaiya walked toward them. She embraced Gorou, whose shoulders shook as he tried to hold back sobs. Hikaru put a hand on her shoulder. She pulled away from her larger teammate. Gorou straightened and nodded to her; Hikaru handed her a white blossom. They'd already been to the memorial - it was her turn.
Walking up to the crystal sculpture, she saw Kakashi standing with his back to her. "So you've come too," he said without turning. "Your teammates just left."
She nodded. "I saw them." She stepped forward and laid her own flower at the memorial. Her bandaged fingers brushed the polished stone at the name of her first teacher - Yoshida Yuuma. "Who are you here for?"
"A teammate of mine," he responded, the rain dripping from his hair into his eyes. "His name was Obito."
Kaiya stood. "Is this why you're always late? Why not just come earlier?"
"I did." She turned her bright blue gaze to him. "I've been here since dawn." He walked from the stone monument, stopping a few paces away. "This place…makes me think of the mistakes I've made in the past. And I've made so many of them."
She joined him and reached out to take his hand. "You're not the only one," she said, giving his hand a squeeze in spite of the sting it caused. "Let's go - it's bad karma to be late to a funeral."
"You made that up."
"Probably. Point still stands."
They walked to Sarutobi Hiruzen's funeral, not noticing that their hands remained entwined until they reached the service.
At the funeral, Gorou stood with him mother and four older brothers. The Date matriarch, so tiny compared to her huge, muscled sons, stood tall and proud even with tears running down her face. Her sons all wore different expressions, from the stoic and proud firstborn to the barely contained grief of the youngest. All wore the Konoha hitai-ate.
Hikaru was with his family as well - his mother and father were dressed smartly in a dress and suit, respectively. Hikaru, by contrast, wore the simple, standard shinobi funeral attire. His mother tried to take her son's arm and lead him to the area reserved for the wealthy lords and merchants in attendance. He shrugged her off, not even turning to look at her. He remained straight-backed, facing forward, his hitai-ate firmly tied around his forehead.
Kaiya stood behind Naruto during the service. She was grateful that Iruka was next to him as well - she wasn't sure she had an answer to his question of why good people had to die. Sarutobi Hiruzen had been more than a good man and leader - he'd been there for Kaiya personally so many times in her young life.
Kaiya sat on the swing and watched her classmates be congratulated by their parents. They showed off their shiny new hitai-ate proudly. Kaiya didn't really care that she wasn't joining them - it had been her choice, after all.
"Ah, Kaiya-chan," a gravelly voice said behind her, startling her off the swing. "Another graduation goes by, I see…"
"Hokage-sama!" Kaiya put on a grin and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah - they're all moving onto teams of their own, isn't it great? I guess I'll just have to wait another year…"
"Kaiya."
His tone made her drop the grin and her hand. She trained her gaze on the tree trunk next to the swing. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"
The man sighed. "Why weren't you in the group of graduates this time?"
"What do you mean, Hokage-sa-"
"I do know that when you continuously call me 'Hokage-sama' like that, it means you're trying to hide something," Hiruzen admonished the ten-year-old. "Your teachers aren't as easily fooled either, though they are baffled as to why you continuously fail the final exams on purpose."
The girl stared at a knot lower on the tree trunk. She pouted, her young face drawing inward, but didn't answer.
"You are very smart, Kaiya-chan," Hiruzen continued when she stayed quiet. "Near the top of your class every term. You should have graduated well over a year ago. Why hold yourself back in the Academy?"
Finally, the girl spoke in a small voice. "I don't want to go away on missions."
Hiruzen's eyebrows raised. "But that's part of a shinobi's responsibility. Some missions require travel - don't you want to see other villages or countries?"
"It's not that…I really want to see the desert sometime!" Her eyes brightened at the thought. "And the mountains of the Land of Lightning - I've read so much about them! And the ocean…But…" the ten-year-old's face hardened. "I can't leave the village. Not yet."
"Why ever not?"
"Because…" she looked to the side. "I wouldn't be able to look after the other kids then…like Naruto. I promised I wouldn't leave him alone and that I'd look out for him. I don't want to break that promise!" She stamped a foot on the ground.
Hiruzen was shocked. Kaiya had held herself back in school just to keep an eye on Naruto?
"Kaiya-chan," the Hokage started. Kaiya finally looked up at him through her lashes. "I completely understand you wanting to protect Naruto and the other children from the orphanage. But the best way to keep your promise - to look out for them - is to focus on improving your skills. You've learned all you can from the Academy; it's time to become a Genin and take the next step. You can help Naruto - and the other children - more by leaving the village and growing as a Shinobi than you can by remaining an Academy student."
The old man turned to leave. He hadn't gone a few steps when a small voice said behind him, "Hokage-sama?" He faced the red-haired girl again. "Is it…is it possible to do a make-up exam?"
Hiruzen smiled. "Of course. I'll make sure your teachers schedule it within the week."
Kaiya officially graduated as a Genin the following week, just in time for the team assignments to be handed out.
The rain petered out and the clouds began to thin. Kaiya looked to the sky and saw a bird flying in a ray of sunshine. The sunlight illuminated the Fire kanji on the red Hokage mansion. Kaiya almost smiled - she could just about see the shadow of the passage she'd used to illicitly enter the mansion so many times…
"Back again?"
13-year-old Kaiya jumped when she heard the Third's voice behind her. She turned around and rubbed her head sheepishly. "Hokage-sama…fancy seeing you here…"
He chuckled. "Well, it is my house - though with how often you come to my library, I'm starting to think I should just give you a card." She blushed. It was probably the third time she'd snuck into his personal library. He reached past her and took a scroll from the shelf. "You've really taken to fuinjutsu. I remember that chakra seal you used at your Chuunin exam - very impressive, and very advanced for a genin."
Kaiya felt her cheeks redden further and silently cursed her fair skin. The Hokage had actually remembered her exam? He must have seen hundreds over the years. "Thank you," she said, unable to think of anything else to say to that.
He handed her the scroll he'd pulled. "Sealing Techniques of Uzushiogakure: An Evolution of Fuinjutsu," she read aloud. "This…"
"Take it," the Hokage said. "If you are going to pursue fuinjutsu as a specialty, you should learn how it developed over the years. The village of Uzushio was famed for using it and developed many of the techniques we still use today."
Kaiya was dumbfounded. "A fuinjutsu specialist?" The thought hadn't really crossed her mind before - she just found the subject fascinating. She looked at the scroll in her hands. "I hadn't really thought about that before…But learning the history…" Her eyes brightened as realization dawned. "If I can understand how the techniques were formed, I wouldn't just have to recreate others' techniques. I could modify existing ones, make more of my own - Hokage-sama, thank you!" She jumped up and hugged the old man, backing off almost immediately when she realized what she'd done.
The Hokage just smiled at the excited teen. "Just promise me," he said, "that what you learn will be done in the service of others." His face grew serious again. "Uzushio wasn't just famed for their fuinjutsu; they were feared for it. It ultimately led to their destruction. Fuinjutsu is one of the most dangerous fields of ninjutsu that exist, due to the infinite potential inherent in it. Be careful, Kaiya."
She nodded, holding the scroll to her chest protectively. "I will, Hokage-sama. I promise!"
Kaiya wasn't certain whether it was a few stubborn raindrops wetting her cheeks or her own tears. Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage of Konohagakure, had really believed in her, both her abilities and her sense of morality and ethics; he would not have allowed her to "break in" to his library so many times otherwise. She still had the scroll on Uzushio - it was the only one she'd never returned, though she had its contents practically memorized.
Hokage-sama, she thought as she approached his gravestone with the white peony. Thank you. Thank you for believing in an orphan girl with no clan, a stubborn teen with a curious streak. Thank you for encouraging me to pursue my interests and improve. I will keep my promise - I will continue to study and do what I can to make sure that what I learn is used for the good of others. I will not hold back.
Thank you…and rest in peace.
The funeral episode in the anime was wonderfully atmospheric - I wanted to give it its own chapter here. Plus, it was the perfect time to delve further into Kaiya's history. But things won't stay purely reflective for long...
Next time: Memories of a Dark Night - We've seen a good deal of Kaiya's relationship with Naruto; now we see the one she has with Sasuke.
