Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Doubt
When I left my apartment this morning to go to the academy I saw that Naruto's place is as dark and empty as I'm use to it being. He must have gone on that 'super important' mission he was telling Shikamaru, and Chouji about yesterday. Every time I see Naruto he's up and doing something. He came home from his big trip one day, and he was sent on a long mission the next day. And when he came back from that one he was literally sent on another one in the same day. It's almost like I don't even have a neighbor.
Sighing, I lock my door before starting the short trek to school. Hopefully Akio remembered to ask his father about what kekkei genkai means last night. If he did then hopefully that will be one less answer I have to search for.
As I walk down the stairs to the ground floor I can smell something cooking. Its strong, and I try not to get to big whiff of it. Looks like someone is having eggs for breakfast.
Walking through a residential area I see all the addresses, all with family names neatly placed under them. Sato, Kobayashi, Niigata, how lucky all these people with surnames are to know their roots, their history.
I shove my hands in my pockets, and gag on a bitter taste in my mouth. Family history is probably something all these people grow up with, I think as I look at the last names one last time. They probably take knowing where their blood comes for granted. I want to now about my father's heritage, and my roots, but they're being hidden from. Where's the fairness in that?
I take a left once I reach the market center, only a couple more minutes until I reach the academy. It's not like my bloodline is unknown, because I'm one hundred percent sure that Tsunade, Kakashi, Iruka-sensei, Pineapple head, and his team know what family I belong to, and probably many others as well. People who might as well be strangers probably know about the blood that flows through my veins, and yet I'm the one left in the dark. How is that right?
With my hands still in my pockets, and a self-induced glare on my face I enter the schoolyard of the academy. That's already crawling with other kids. I see Akio wrestling with a couple of his guy friends, and decide not to join him. My father always said that when a shinobi is in the dark her life is in danger. That when a shinobi doesn't know what's going on around her it's harder for her to see possible attacks. My father was always so adamant that I learned everything to avoid being arrogant, to avoid death. But he kept his family, our family from me! My own father kept me in the dark! And then he died, taking a big secret with him to the grave. Why couldn't father tell me our family name? Why didn't he tell me the name when he told me the story about his clansmen being killed by another clan member?
The bell rings, and everyone scurries to enter the building, all laughing and talking with each other. I follow behind them, barely picking up my feet. Maybe there was a reason why father never told me about our roots. Maybe I wasn't a good enough shinobi for him to tell me. Or maybe he didn't want me to be in his clan. Possibly, in my father's eyes, I wasn't worthy of carrying his last name. Why else would he have kept such a big secret from me?
I'm the last one to stroll into the classroom. All my fellow classmates are being as chipper in their chatter as ever. Iruka-sensei nods at me with that smile of his that I hate so much. With my hands still in my pockets, and my glare from earlier still perfectly intact I stare at him as I walk past. Though my look quickly turns from a glare to a frown as Iruka-sensei stiffens and pales, looking like he has just seen a ghost. What's that about?
I force myself to look away from my teacher as confusion settles in me. I'm pretty sure that Iruka-sensei has seen me glare before. I glare a lot in this class, mostly because of Izumi, but he's never reacted like that before. Why is this time different? From our usual spot in the classroom I see Akio, as bright as ever, waving at me to hurry up and take my seat. I smile at him, as I pick my feet up just a little bit higher. Having a friend in the academy makes being stuck here just a little more bearable.
"Alright Class", Iruka-sensei begins, his color still looking a bit off. "We'll start today off by going over the basic tactics of infiltration".
With out taking my eyes off of Iruka-sensei I whisper to Akio, "Did you ask you father yet? About kekkei genkais?"
"The first step of a successful infiltration is to gather as much information-" Iruka-sensei said though I didn't hear him finish his sentence.
"Yea", Akio said in an excited whisper. "It's the coolest thing, you're so lucky Manami", He said struggling to keep his quiet tone.
Lucky? How can an orphan with no last name be lucky? I turn my vision away from the teacher to give my friend a curious look.
"Once inside the area of infiltration it is crucial that one remains-" Iruka-sensei goes on.
Sensing my eyes on him Akio turns to me, and grins. "Dad said that a kekkei genkai is what really special techniques that can only be gained through blood is called". Akio's brown-sugar colored eyes are glittering with energy. I shoot him a confused look, not understanding his definition.
"If contact is made with an enemy during infiltration-" Iruka-sensei continues.
Seeing my confusion Akio face twists as he tries to think of a better way to explain it. "Like…. Neji-sensei's eyes would be his family's kekkei genkai. You would have to have been born in Neji-sensei's clan to have his eyes".
I blink a couple of times. Neji's eyes? I remember the day that he taught me the transformation jutsu. He had those large veins visible on either side of his head, close to his eyes. I remember thinking that Neji could have special blood. So special blood is actually called kekkei genkai. Akio is staring at me, still grinning, waiting for me to catch on. But how does he know about Neji's eyes? Akio wasn't there the day that Neji had his eyes activated.
"Infiltration is mostly used for-" Iruka-sensei lectures.
"How do you know about his eyes?" I asked.
Akio shrugs. "He's a Hyuga. Everyone in the village knows about the Hyuga clan and their freaky eyes. But you're not getting the main point Manami", he whispered excitedly. "That Kakashi man said that the red eyes is your clan's kekkei genkai".
I nod my head at him. Of course I know that. I'm the one that told Akio that. So why is he acting like this is such big news?
Akio sighs almost to loudly. "Don't ya see? You have a technique that you can learn that no one else can because it's in your blood. You're so lucky Manami".
I open my mouth to say something to my friend but Iruka-sensei has another idea. "Akio! Manami! Face forward and pay attention!" He forcefully yells at us.
Both Akio and I snap our heads forward. "Yes sensei", we chant together, perfectly in sync. Iruka-sensei gives us a long look of warning before going back to his lesson. From the looks of it he has recovered from his little fright from before class started, whatever that fright was.
Class continued to go on in its normal tedious fashion. After infiltration tactics we moved on to shuriken trajectory equations, and that's where the fun began. For this lesson Iruka-sensei has to write a lot down on the black board. Making this a very good time for some serious pencil snatching. Akio makes the first move by sinking under the desk, before crawling over everyone's, who's in our row, feet until he got to the walkway. Keeping low to the floor, and his balance Akio carefully heads for Iruka-sensei's desk. Once every few steps he'll pause to look at our teacher before going on. Many in the class are covering their mouths with their hands, trying to stay silent. The majority of the class likes our game. It's entertainment for them. Only a few in our class roll their eyes at the game, mainly classmates who are called Izumi. Once squatting at the front of the desk Akio skillfully reaches up and grabs a pencil from the milky white pencil mug that Iruka-sensei has placed neatly on his desk for organization purposes. Deliberately slow Akio pulls the pencil from the mug, focusing on not letting the pencil touch the sides of the mug, thus not creating any extra noise. With the pencil safely in his procession Akio starts the return trip to his seat. Which he completes flawlessly. Iruka-sensei didn't turn around once. After Akio crawls back into his seat, and places the pencil in his pencil case, where he's keeping all of Iruka-sensei's pencils, he smirks at me and holds up seven fingers. Then he points at me and makes a zero with one of his hands. I glower at him in response to him reminding me that I have no pencil points, and he's leading by seven. Just you wait Akio. Pretty soon there wouldn't be any more pencils for you to take, because I'll have them all. I think as Iruka-sensei faces the class again and asks who thinks they can solve the scenario on the board with an equation.
My glower quickly turns to a smile as a plan forms in my mind. Akio's smirk disappears into a frown as I raise my hand. I hardly ever volunteer in class so obviously something is up, but hopefully Iruka-sensei won't catch on. "What are you gonna do?" My friend mouths at me right as Iruka-sensei calls my name. That's right Akio, be concerned. Be very concerned, because your seven points is about to look like child's play.
Iruka-sensei smiles at me encouragingly, if not looking slightly surprised that I willing chose to participate in class.
Once facing the black board I pick a slim piece of white chalk before reading the scenario. 'If you are in a tree, sixteen feet off of the ground, and an enemy shinobi is ten feet from the tree how far would you need to throw your shuriken?' I read in my head. Father used equations like these, but not for shuriken. He used it for trying to figure out where lumber will fall when he'd cut it from the top of a tree. Father taught me, and my brother how to do these equations on a stormy day when no one could go outside. Which, now that I look back, would have been a pretty good time to talk about family history, and a certain surname.
Pushing away my hurt for now I force my self to concentrate as I draw a triangle on the board. At the vertical edge I write the number sixteen, at the base I write ten, and for the slanted line, other wise known as the hypotenuse, I put a question mark. Next to my visual aid I write out. Sixteen-squared plus ten-squared equals question mark-squared. From there I make sure to show every step in my work. Before coming up with the answer of eighteen point eight feet.
Placing the chalk down I turn to face Iruka-sensei who is nodding his approval with his arms crossed. "That's right Manami. Good work", He said as he moves past me to explain the solution to those in the class who didn't understand it. With Iruka-sensei's attention safely diverted somewhere else, I look up at Akio, and smile at his unimpressed face as I walk past the teacher's desk to get back to my seat. Though before I completely pass it I, being as subtle as I can, swipe the mug, pencils and all with one movement. Holding the stolen items close to my body for coverage I try to keep a neutral expression on my face and my walk at a normal speed as I head for my row and quietly slide into my seat, before counting the number of pencils in the mug under my desk.
Turning to Akio I whisper to him, "Eleven pencils. How many points do you think the mug is worth?"
All I get in response is a humph. Silently I laugh to myself. Oh Akio, I think as I forget about my mysterious kekkei genkai, and my hidden surname, at least for a little while.
Once Akio got over his loss we spent the rest of the school day snickering at Iruka-sensei as he kept trying to locate pencils. At the end of the day, as our classmates file out of the room Akio and I, with stolen pencils and mug in hand, approach Iruka-sensei. "Here Iruka-sensei", Akio said as I shove the mug, with all of his pencils inside of it, into his hands. "Looks like you misplaced them", Akio finished, smiling up at our puzzled teacher. Then before Iruka-sensei could put two and two together I grab Akio's hand and we dart out of the classroom, laughing. And we don't stop running, and we don't stop laughing until we're reach the training field that we have now claimed as ours, and sometimes Neji's. Who is currently on his side of the field, attacking a practice dummy. "Didn't ya see the look on his face?" Akio asked, energetically.
Nodding my head, I drop his hand, surprisingly not out of breath. I guess all the running that Neji has made me do is paying off. "I wonder what Iruka-sensei will say to us tomorrow at school". I said.
Akio shrugs. "Worse case scenario is that we'll get a detention". Then with a smile he adds on, "But I think he should applaud us. I mean he's a chunin and never figured out what we were doing!" That starts a fresh wave of laughter, and it takes another couple of minutes until we both regain ourselves. "So", Akio starts as he plops down on the grass. "What's our next move?" He asked as I follow his example and sit down.
"Well I think the pencil game is over. If we try to take any more we'll definitely get caught. I guess we have to come up with a new game". I said, but as soon as I'm done talking Akio shakes his head at me.
"No I mean our next move in finding out what clan your from", he said. "I mean now that we know what kekkei genkai means should we work on finding out what the red eyes are actually called? Or should we just work on finding out your clan name?"
Shrugging, I start to watch Neji as he trains, moving very smoothly. How does a man move like that? "I'm not sure I want to know my last name anymore". I said after a while. "Maybe I'll just make up a last name, and start my own clan".
"Huh?" Akio said. "Why do ya want to give up?" He asked accusingly. "You were all gung ho about talking to Kakashi and learning about the red eyes, what changed?"
Again, I shrug and pull my knees up to my chest, hugging them as Neji pauses in his training and glances over at us. At our distance away from him I can't exactly make out his face, but I think he's frowning. I wonder why? "I've been thinking", I said.
"And?" Akio said.
"And maybe my father never told me about his clan because he doesn't want me to join it. Maybe I'm not good enough to join his clan. Why else would he not tell me about his family?" I have to force out the last bit as my voice starts to quiver.
A short moment of silence goes by before Akio blurts out, "You're stupid".
My eyes snap away from watching Neji to look at Akio. He's sitting up straighter, and is holding his ankles as he stares at me. For once he isn't grinning or smirking. "What?" I asked.
"You're stupid if that's the answer you came up with." At my lost look he takes a deep breath and said, "Do ya remember when you told me your whole story?"
I nod my head. How could I forget?
"You said that your dad trained you and not your brother. Why?" He asked, though I'm pretty sure that he already knows the answer.
"Because he didn't have any special blood". Because he didn't inherit the kekkei genkai, I correct in my head.
Akio nods his head affirmatively. "He trained you because ya do have special blood. Why would he train ya at all if he never wanted ya to know about his clan?"
A light breeze comes by and blows our hair around. "Oh", I said after it stops. "I- I didn't think about that", I said trying to not look I'm about to cry. Even though it feels like I am. But I don't want to cry in front of a boy. That would be so embarrassing. Though I do like Akio's point of view better than mine, but that still doesn't explain why father didn't tell me what clan he belongs to.
I want to thank Akio for changing my mind; because censorship isn't how I want to remember my father, but before I can even open my mouth a shadow looms over us. Both of us snap our head forward to see that Neji has left his training and is now standing in front of us. How long has he been there? With his arms crossed, glaring he said sternly, "This field is for training. If you want to lounge around go to a park".
Feeling the intensity of his words I instantly let go of my knees before jumping to my feet. Akio does the same, only faster. "Yes Neji-sensei", we both shout before spreading out on the field to begin some warm up stretches. Having Iruka-sensei mad at us just makes for a bad school day, but having Neji mad at us is something that I don't think I would be able to survive.
As I work on stretching out my lower back I hear Neji sighing deeply, annoyance clearly in it, before I hear him go back to his side of the field.