Chapter Nine

The smell of cooking barbecue fills my nose as I gaze around Ino's backyard. Music plays in the background from a stereo system inside, set up just behind the open sliding door to the porch. Kids run around the yard in front of me, most of them with platinum blonde hair.

Ino's home is wonderful. It's a sprawling complex that (unlike most shinobi clan compounds) is laid right in the middle of the industrial part of the city. As far as clan compounds go, I suppose it's rather small. It holds only a modest front gate with a short walkway up to the main house in front. The main house is the largest building, a full three stories tall, and painted a cheerful yellow, courtesy of Ino's mother. Ino and her immediate family live in the main house. Slightly farther back from the front gate is a small cluster of other buildings where her more distant relatives live.

All the buildings in the compound are circled around a large, grassy courtyard, which they call their backyard. In it are a swimming pool and a trampoline, and Ino's father and uncles have even set up a barbecue here. A ways away from the barbecue is a long table set up with chips and other yummy snacks.

There is a back part to the property, behind the buildings, where the family training grounds are supposed to be. But it's fenced off and no one is allowed to go in there. Everyone's having so much fun in the main house and backyard, though, no one really cares.

Today is Ino's birthday.

Sakura and I are the only people here so far who are not members of the family. I was a little worried about what to expect from the Yamanakas at first, but Jiji and Shigeru-jii seemed nothing but pleased when I got the invitation from Ino, and even the adults are treating me nicely. Ino's older cousins are kind of annoying in the way they treat us like little kids, but they've been teaching us a lot of cool tricks on the trampoline, so they're not too bad. At least they're friendly to us.

I'm glad at least one of my friends' families seems to like me.

I smile easily as I go over to re-join Sakura in the pool. Ino was afraid it wouldn't be warm enough to for the pool - "Why is my birthday in the winter?! I want a nice, summer birthday!" - but she was lucky. Today is one of the few warmer days left in the year. I am wearing the bathing suit I usually use for training, a simple blue one-piece. My hair has been left long today, and it hangs dripping and dark down my back.

I chat with Sakura for a few minutes while Ino runs around behind us, ordering everyone around, in her element. The adults stand around in the background and talk. Sakura and I got here early, but finally, the other guests start to arrive. Most of them are girls Sakura and Ino know from public school, and I soon feel quite lost in their midst. Ino introduces me, the only one everyone doesn't already know.

I can practically feel myself being looked over, sized up. I will myself to feel confidence.

Everyone keeps their distance from me the first few minutes, but finally Sakura draws me into their chatter from where I'm standing awkwardly to the side. After that, I am regarded as an object of curiosity by most. They ask me much the same things Ino and Sakura did the first time they met me: What does your house look like? How many dresses do you have? How many servants? What's it like having dinner with nobles?

Much giggling is involved in general throughout the entire group.

Eventually, the talk turns to local gossip at their school, something I know nothing about. Maybe that's why it seems so... boring.

"Did you see that one weird girl, Kana, today? Ugh, she's always so sloppy. It's like she got dressed in the dark."

"She is weird, huh? She, like, never says anything."

"I know... hey, did you see Saka and Nobu holding hands today?"

"Holding hands? Really?!"

"Do you think they're going out...?"

I only have the vaguest idea of what going out is. And I don't really get why Saka and Nobu would want to be doing it, to be honest.

I am sitting around, trying to fit in, pretending to be interested, and alternating between the trampoline (which is amazing; I love it), the pool, and the snack table, for quite a while.

Finally, a loud, enthusiatic shout draws the group's attention. "Shikaku! Chouza! Late as ever, I see!" It is Ino's father's voice, but he doesn't sound upset. He sounds jolly as he walks over to talk to two men, one small and one huge, who are each holding the hand of a boy about our age.

"Who is that?" Sakura asks Ino in confusion.

Ino sighs and rolls her eyes. "My Dad's friends. He insisted on inviting them today. They each have this nasty little boy he wants me to be friends with."

I blink in curiosity as I turn back to look at the boys. They greatly resemble their fathers. One is large and plump and red-haired, with the same odd red markings on his cheeks as his father has. Perhaps they are his clan markings. The other is smaller, thinner, and paler, with sharp, pointed features and dark hair tied in a little ponytail at the back of his neck. Both look bored out of their minds.

I can sympathize with that.

Eventually, the other girls go back to their conversation, but for lack of anything better to do, I keep watching the boys. They eventually wander over to the snack table as their fathers continue talking to Ino's. They stand there apart from the rest, obviously not any more interested in talking to the girls than the girls are in talking to them. The skinny, dark-haired boy stretches out on the grass beside the snack table and the plump, red-haired boy sits next to him, munching happily on snacks.

Finally, when nothing seems about to change, I get out of the pool and walk over to the table, getting a handful of chips. I glance at the boys for a few moments before working up the courage to say, "Hi."

They both blink and turn to look at me. There is a moment of silence in which I wonder if I should have said anything. Finally, the red-haired boy gulps down a mouthful of food and says, just as quietly, "Hi."

The dark-haired boy is still staring at me. "You're talking to us," he says, like he can't believe it. "The boys. Us."

"Umm... yeah?" Should I not be talking to them for some reason? "I'm... kind of bored," I feel the need to explain.

The boy stares at me for a moment, and then his eyes widen. "Whoa," he says, sounding almost awed. "A girl who's not a bimbo. I didn't even know people like you existed."

I frown in confusion. "What's a bimbo?" the red-haired boy asks, and I am relieved. I thought that might be one of those things I should already know.

The boy shrugs lazily, closing his eyes and tilting his head back up to the sun, his moment of curiosity over. "It's what my Mom calls stupid girls," he replies casually.

"Hey!" I say indignantly. "Sakura and Ino aren't stupid!"

They turn back to stare at me again. Then the red-haired boy gets a thoughtful look on his face and says, "You know, she's right. Ino's pranks on us are too mean for her to be stupid."

The dark-haired boy blinks, and then snorts. "You're right," he agrees, his tone ironic at something I don't know about.

"... Pranks?" I ask uncertainly.

They oblige me with answers.

That is how I first become friends with Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji.

I learn that Ino has a definite malicious, mischievious streak to her that seems to come out around boys. I also learn that Shikamaru, the dark-haired boy, knows a lot of fancy words even I don't and says "troublesome" a lot, and that the red-haired boy, Chouji, is very nice, very self-conscious, and loves food more than anything else in the world.

I don't see why Ino and Sakura don't like boys. They're a lot more interesting to talk to than the girls.

Later, as Cat comes, with Aya in tow, to take me back home, Ino takes advantage of everyone staring at my ANBU guard and maid to pull me off to the side. "I'm sorry to have left you with Shikamaru and Chouji," she says confidentially, wrinkling her nose. "Was it awful?"

"Not at all," I reply honestly, grinning to myself at the memory of the crude jokes and stories they told, and the sarcasm of Shikamaru.

Ino raises her eyebrows in surprise.

"Someone needs to turn off their oven right now, before..."

BOOM! "Aaaagh!"

Takara-sensei sighs. "Before that happens," she finishes tiredly, rushing off to help the girls with the smoking oven. Two of Ami's friends. I can't help but feel a brief flash of satisfaction at that. Normally, I'd feel bad about enjoying someone's discomfort, but Ami and her friends still laugh at Ino and Sakura and I as they walk by, taunting us during every break. I've heard from Sakura and Ino that they're worse at school, where Ino says darkly that Ami has a bigger "power base."

Sakura is "Forehead Girl." Ino is sneeringly called "The Cool Kid." They've mockingly nicknamed me "Whiskers."

I know they're not going for that specific point on purpose, but... the whisker-shaped scars on my cheeks are a mark of my possession by the Kyuubi. It hurts to hear them make fun of that, although I just lift my head and stare them right in the eye whenever they start in on me. This usually gets them to back off, but it also has the side effect of an additional nickname: "My Lady." Ino and Sakura tell me I should take it as a compliment.

"They're practically admitting you're more..." Ino searched for the perfect word.

"Regal," Sakura supplied, smiling in a shark-like fashion rare on her sweet, shy little face.

"Exactly, regal, than they are."

I'm not so sure about that, but I do at least know not to take it badly. My Lady is a lot better than Whiskers.

We have finished with tea ceremony, thank goodness. As cold winds finally start blowing through Konoha in mid-December, we instead spend our afternoons in a Home Ec classroom on a civilian school campus, huddled around our ovens as Takara-sensei attempts to teach us the basics of cooking. "Attempts" being the key word. It's not going too well.

Some of it is fairly easy, of course. Measuring according to what's on the containers, mixing it all together in the stated order... but there's so much to do, and it all has to go perfectly for the meal to work out! Everyone always forgets to do something.

I don't feel so bad about my own failure to cook anything more than the simplest meals, though. When I announced what we were going to be doing at the dinner table a few days ago, Sanken muttered something I didn't understand about optimism concerning seven year olds, and Jiji and Shigeru-jii smirked at him from across the table. Aya said loudly that she was sure I'd do just fine, giving them one of her fiercest looks. That was when I understood.

I was disappointed at first that they seemed to have so little faith in me, but now, looking around, I can't help but wonder if they were just being accurate. Still... it would be nice to prove them wrong. Nice to show them I can do this.

I turn back to my own cooking.

This time, I will get the recipe right.

Practice, Takara-sensei and Shigeru-jii always say. It's all about the effort you put into it.

"I hate these events," Shigeru-jii mutters as he fiddles with his kimono in the entrance hall.

"You don't like New Years, Shigeru-jii?" I ask wonderingly. I love New Years. I didn't used to, of course. It was always freezing cold, and the matron would sometimes come into my Room, drunk, and then... bad things would happen. But now that I'm away from her and I can actually experience it, I really like New Years. The celebrations and the time with my family, it's all very precious to me.

"Nah, that's not it," he says, shaking his head. "It's these business functions your grandfather and I have to go to on big holidays like this, full of fussy nobles and dignitaries and government people and Council members who are just trying to seem posh and really couldn't tell their heads from their asses."

I giggle at his language. Jiji and Shigeru-jii are going to a "party" (Jiji used finger-quotes at the word, so I wonder if it's really going to be a party) at the local Council chambers to celebrate New Years Eve tonight, and most every important person in Konoha is going to be there. Ino and Shikamaru and Chouji's fathers will be, as ruling clan heads. So will Ami's father as an influential merchant, although I don't exactly like thinking that Ami might be half as important as she says she is.

Jiji says they will only be there a couple of hours, and then they'll get out early and come to really celebrate with me and Ko and Aya and Sanken. He seemed almost like he was trying to reassure me when he told me this during one of our nightly lessons, but I'm actually not that worried. I was frantic last year, telling myself over and over that they wouldn't come back, but this year I know the routine. I still have doubts occasionally, but deep down I know that Shigeru-jii and Jiji will always come back. They care about me.

Jiji comes into the entrance hall in his own kimono with Ko on his heels, chattering excitedly about how he couldn't wait for the fireworks later tonight and would Jiji please bring him back some snacks from the party? Jiji laughs. "I'll do my best," he promises. Then he and Jii take turns hugging us goodbye and leave through the front doors.

Neither one looks very enthusiastic. If all parties involving business or the nobility are like the dinners they hold over here sometimes, I can't blame them.

Ko and I sit around the parlor. The parlor isn't open to us very often, but it is on New Years, with the window curtain thrown open to reveal the moon above and the light covering of snowy white frost on the ground below. The fire crackles merrily in the hearth, throwing friendly shadows on the walls.

Aya sits with us and helps us make more of the paper cut out decorations that we've already decorated the first floor with, showing us where to cut by the light of the fire. A bowl of peanuts and chocolates sits on the glass table next to us. Sanken mostly sits in the corner, drinking, at first, but the smell of alcohol starts to bother my nose more and more. I've always disliked its strong stench.

Finally, Aya notices me glancing at him and snaps, "Oh, for Heaven's sake, come over here and help us!" at Sanken.

Sanken opens his mouth to argue, but Ko and I interrupt to join forces and plead with him to help, our eyes wide and puppy-dog-like. He eventually gives in, grumbling and making a great show of acting displeased when he's really not and we can all tell. Ko and I grin as Aya rolls her eyes and says, "Yes, yes, your life's horrid, now celebrate New Years Eve with your family like a reasonable man, even if you really aren't one."

By the time Jiji and Shigeru-jii get back home, the parlor is full of paper cut out decorations. They act suitably impressed.

Over dinner, the two of them entertain us with descriptions of the sheer ridiculousness of the event and all of its eccentric guests. There were the quiet, veiled barbs of one of the Council Elders, the one-armed old warhawk named Danzo, who looked like someone had threatened to forcefeed him arsenic to make him come. Then there was the pompous, big-headed, richly dressed merchants, and the pompous, big-headed, richly dressed Hyuuga Clan representatives, who looked down their noses at the civilian merchants for being pompous, big-headed, and richly dressed, like them. Perhaps the funniest are stories of the female head of the wild Inuzuka Clan, Tsume, who proceeded to get drunk, insult people at random, and flirt shamelessly with every man in the room.

I've changed my mind. Big gala events sound like fun. Maybe it's just the private dinner parties that are boring.

After dinner, the greatest part comes. Shigeru-jii throws Ko over his shoulders, and Jiji puts me over his, and we leave the mansion grounds. A festival has been held down at the village tonight for New Years Eve, and at the end of the evening is a fireworks display. Shigeru-jii and Jiji are taking us to a tree right at the edge of the forest. This tree is so high up, we will be able to see the fireworks all the way in the city.

Sanken and Aya head out toward the edge of the forest on foot, but Jiji and Jii take us speeding through the treetops, the shinobi way. As I hear Ko shouting in excitement next to me, and the wind blows into my face, whipping my long golden hair back and making my heart give a leap, I can't help but reflect on the festival itself.

Last year I didn't question such things, simply finding it wonderful that I could even see the fireworks. This year, however, I can't help but wonder... of course, the fireworks are lovely, and I enjoy getting to see them, but...

I remember Ino and Sakura talking about it just a couple of days ago. They were talking about what they were going to wear to the New Years Festival on the way home from another cooking class, and I was just sort of walking beside them, listening. Then suddenly, Ino turned to me and said, "What about you, Naruto? What are you wearing?"

I started, and then turned to them and had to say awkwardly, "Umm... I don't think I'm going."

"What?!" Ino and Sakura were aghast. "But it's one of the best festivals of the year!"

"I don't really go to things like that much," I explained. "Jiji thinks it's too dangerous."

"Too dangerous?" Ino echoed incredulously.

"My grandfather's a little overprotective sometimes. I already told you that," I reminded them.

"My parents are overprotective," Sakura objected. "Your family might be a little crazy."

"Well, they're just trying to make sure I'm not hurt," I said defensively. "They care about me."

But Ino and Sakura insisted that I just had to ask my grandfather and uncle to let me go, so when I got home, I asked them if I could go to the festival with my friends. They said no, of course.

"We're sorry," Shigeru-jii added upon seeing my expression. "We know how unfair it is that you don't get to do so many things normal kids do. But, well..." He trailed off, uncharacteristcally unsure of what to say.

"But you're not normal, Naruto-chan," Jiji finished softly, looking me in the eye as if to say, 'and you already knew that.'

And I did. I know they're just trying to protect me. But... when will it finally be safe enough to let me go out all the time like a normal person? When will I finally be able to go out there and start proving myself, even if there might be consequences?

I push back my frustration as the treetops start to thin, and flashes of starry sky begin to appear between the leaves above. I am going to see the festival fireworks with my family. I am flying through the trees like a bird. I should be grateful for that. It was not so long ago when I could not do these things.

I smile and burrow further into my thick, icy blue coat and warm, bright orange mittens as we can finally see flat, open ground ahead. Jiji and Shigeru-jii take one great leap, and my shout of excitement joins Ko's as we go flying high, right up to the top of the tall tree. Abruptly, the whole of Konoha is laid out below us, and I feel the same rush of protective joy that first made me want to be a shinobi at the view that I see.

The light covering of frost, so rare for the Fire Country, is laid out over the entirety of the fields, training grounds, and clan compounds. The grass is silvery, the ponds are crusted with ice, the flowers are frozen over. Among them are brilliant flashes of dark evergreen trees, and paper lanterns hang from some of the buildings, which have light coverings of frost coating their roofs as well. Further on, in the city, the whole place is brightly illuminated with tiny dots of color that are paper lanterns and open shops and lit windows. I can see tents and booths set up all along the streets, and happy, shouting people strolling along and running between them. Some are shinobi, some civilians. All mingle together peacefully, so it is hard to tell the difference. Distant strains of music float through the air from stages for entertainment set up here and there on the bigger streets.

"Wow," Ko breathes next to me, brown eyes wide. I nod silently in agreement.

Shigeru-jii smiles down at us, amused at our awe, but Jiji is watching it all too. "It is amazing, is it not?" he says softly after a moment. "Some of the greatest Konoha shinobi I have ever known became shinobi just for this. So they could protect just this."

"You too, Jiji?" Ko's high, childish voice pipes up after a moment.

He starts, as if broken from some sort of trance, and looks over at the three of us. He smiles gently, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Yes," he says, "Me too. The effect such love can have on a person is awe-inspiring."

I look back to the beautiful scenery and the happy people. "Yes," I have to agree after a moment, feeling warmth in my chest. "It is."

"Yeah, it's real amazing!" someone shouts below us. "Can we see it?"

The four of us start and look down to see Sanken and Aya standing below us, shivering. Sanken was the one who shouted. He's glaring up at us.

"No!" Ko shouts, grinning, before any of us can respond. "You're stuck down there!"

Jiji gives a deep, rich laugh, and he and Jii go down to help them up on the branch next to us. Ko and I grab each other's hands and carefully scoot over to the side so there's room. Jiji and Shigeru-jii perch on either side of us, and we wait, huddling against each other in the cold, for the fireworks to begin.

We don't have to wait very long. Soon, a long stream of light shoots up into the sky and bursts into a huge, colorful firework. "There it is; it's starting!" I shout excitedly, and Ko cranes forward as if it will help him see better, nearly losing his balance and falling. Shigeru-jii has to pull him back, smiling exasperatedly and shaking his head.

The fireworks are beautiful, like bright, colorful stars exploding in the sky, and for a while, I don't think about anything. I don't worry about anything. I don't remember anything.

There's just the beauty of a new year.

Later on, as I am climbing into bed, flannel pajamas on, bedroom door open behind me, quilt thrown over myself, I glance over to my window to see the wide, full moon shining out of it amid the stars. Around the view of the moon, on my trellis, the first few tiny white buds of nightflowers bloom into soft, glowing petals.

I smile.

"Alright, that's enough!" Shigeru-jii's voice echoes distantly across the long training chamber. "Fifty more palm-kick combos, and then one more set of single kunai and shuriken, and we'll call it a day."

Ko and I turn to each other in the pool and grin as one.

"Race you - "

"There!"

We take off from the pool and shoot across to the other end of the training rooms. I'm careful not to run too much faster than Ko, even though I know I could do it if I wanted to. But that would take all the fun out of it for him. Besides, I like watching his face screw up with effort and determination as he tries to keep up with me.

We make it to the training dummies at the exact same time. "Made it!" Ko immediately shouts.

"Did not, I totally got here first!" I protest, sticking my chin up and grinning wider, filled with exhileration. I love the long training days.

Ko opens his mouth to argue back, but Shigeru-jii interrupts him. "You toed the line at the same time and you both know it." He sounds exasperated. "Now get back to work!"

We leap back into our taijutsu combos. I go through each as fast as I can, hearing Ko panting beside me, feeling the strain as I push myself harder and harder. The flashes of white that I'm supposed to aim for flash in front of my vision as I swing by them. Shigeru-jii was especially specific to me to watch out for them. Later, he told me in private that, "It's not just because you're older; the style I'm planning on having you learn is very centered around flashing in through an opponent's guard, hitting sensitive points, and flashing back out again. You're going to have to be fast, and you're going to have to know exactly where to hit. You're going to have to have speed and accuracy, and you're going to have know your anatomy very well... Good God, I sound like my father," he muttered, as if in realization, and he ended up walking away shaking his head.

I was left breathless, though, caught on a certain thing he'd said. "The style I'm planning on having you learn..." My style. My own taijutsu style. I have practiced very hard at those specific things ever since. Jiji's even given me a couple of books on anatomy. They're extraordinarily boring, but relatively easy to learn. They're just diagrams mostly, and Jiji says I seem to remember pictures easier than simply words.

I finish the sets of fifty quickly enough, and do a few more for good measure before continuing on to the targets, which the kunai and shuriken are waiting next to in a neat pile. I palm a couple, run back to just a little farther than I was able to throw accurately last time, and aim.

Shigeru-jii has told me I don't have to throw from all possible angles every time, and I don't have to increase my length every time either. At least for now, I don't have to be that extreme. But what good is training if you're not improving yourself?

So I am flying all around the target, testing myself in different ways, trying to find something I'm not very good at yet so I can work on it. I enjoy long-distance weaponry. I have asked Shigeru-jii about it, and he has promised to pick me up some senbon the next time he goes into town. "You're not quite ready for the level of intense accuracy," he said, and then he smiled proudly. "But you're getting there. It's always good to think ahead, right?"

Think ahead. Look ahead. Aim.

And then there's the satisfying "snap!" Right on target.

Takara-sensei is yelling at someone again. I think the stress of teaching this is starting to get to her. Her picture perfect appearance is coming a bit undone. Despite how she still usually acts toward me, I can't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for her.

I ignore it, however, and turn back to my little cooking area. We're not working in pairs anymore (I'm not sure why Sensei mandated this; having more stations going at once just adds to her frustration). Now that I am working individually, I have noticed a definite improvement in my cooking. Even one of Ami's friends grudgingly pronounced something I made "edible" yesterday, and I consider that my greatest accomplishment.

Aya was right. I can do this once I set my mind to it.

I turn up the music on the little CD player I'm borrowing from Ino again and get back to work. There is, I reflect, a certain satisfaction in making something that is wholly your own from scratch. It is similar to the feeling I get when I garden.

I feel like I'm really starting to get the hang of this whole "being a real person" thing.

I sit on the matting, cross-legged, eyes closed. In front of my eyes is nothing but blackness. I can hear Ko breathing evenly next to me. I can hear Shigeru-jii pacing up and down in front of us. I tell myself not to concentrate on those things and to instead find the calm center within me.

I focus internally. I can feel the matting growing hard under my bottom. My nose twitches. My leg itches. Stop. Focus. Concentrate.

Meditating is made harder by the fact that my first reaction in calming myself down is to push all of my emotions away and feel nothing. To become in tune with your own self, with its flow... that's hard for me. Particularly because my body's flow seems to always be telling me to move around more. It's just so... frustrating!

Stop. Focus. Concentrate.

I frown, trying to push all those thoughts away, but the harder I try, the more unruly they seem to get. Stop. Focus. Concentrate. Concentrate. Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate...!

"Alright, that's enough." I sigh as my eyes pop open and the outer world comes back into focus.

I'll get it... eventually.

"Ko, begin your laps around the chamber," Shigeru-jii says evenly. "I have something I need to talk about with Naruto."

Ko frowns at this, but starts around the chamber without another word, glancing back between the two of us. Shigeru-jii walks up to me as I get to my feet, curious. He reaches into his pocket and hands me a package. The glint of steel catches my eyes, and I realize what it is. Senbon.

I look back up to him, beaming, and he smiles. "Hey, I promised, didn't I?" he says, echoing the first time he got me kunai and shuriken. He hands me the package. I tuck it safely into my pocket.

"Thanks," I say softly, touched.

"Eh," he says eloquently, shrugging. "You're a good kid, Naruto-chan, and you work your ass off. You deserve it."

I positively glow at the compliment.

"Now," he continues, turning more serious and kneeling down to look me in the eye. I am still very small for my age. According to Jiji, because of the matron, I always will be. "Today, I'd like to try something a little different with you. I've suspected something for a while, and so has your grandfather. We'd like it if you tested out our theory."

"Okay," I say slowly, slightly confused.

"Close your eyes," he instructs. I close my eyes obediently. Slowly, a scent wafts up to my nose.

"What does this smell like?" Shigeru-jii's voice asks.

I hesitate. "Naruto?" he asks again.

"It'll sound weird," I hedge.

"That's okay." His voice is calm, even.

"It smells like Ko," I confess. "And clothing. Ko's clothing. I can't tell exactly what it is."

"Okay," he repeats, still calm and even, and he holds up something else and asks me to tell him what it is. I do this over and over, not sure what he's trying to prove.

Finally, there's a pause so long that I peak through my eyelids at him. He's staring off into space, dark eyes lost in thought. Finally, he mutters to himself, "I knew it."

"Knew what?" I ask, and Shigeru-jii seems to snap out of his trance. He looks down at me.

Instead of answering, he says, "What's Aya doing in the kitchen right now?"

I strain my ears to hear, listening carefully for a few moments. Eventually, from a certain part of the kitchen comes a clang. "She's putting a pot on the stove," I tell him matter-of-factly. "We must be having soup for dinner tonight."

He stares at me for a long moment, and then asks slightly incredulously, "You really don't realize it, do you?"

"Realize what?" I reply, tilting my head in confusion.

"That normal people can't smell and hear nearly that well, Naruto-chan," he says, almost urgently. "Some animals have senses like that, but humans don't."

"Oh." I am surprised. I honestly had never considered such a thing before. "... Is it because of Kyuubi?"

"Probably," Shigeru-jii confirms, nodding. "We believe that you have a watered down version of a fox's senses. You can't smell or hear quite as well as them, but still better than the average human. Normal people, for instance, wouldn't be able to tell that this," he holds up the sock for emphasis, "belongs to Ko purely by smell. Especially not after it had been washed."

He gives me a moment to digest this, then continues, "You also have unusually high healing abilities. Your cuts heal in a matter of hours, right?"

I nod. I had at least noticed this. "And Ko's sometimes take days to fully heal," I finish.

"Exactly. And Ko gets calluses on his hands, and your skin just stops being affected by holding the kunai after a certain period of time. 'Supernatural regenerative capabilities' is the technical term for this. And the more you get hurt, the faster the healing will start to take effect. That's the theory, at least." He smiles slightly. "Only the Yondaime would be able to tell us fully the extent of your abilities and the benefits of the seal, and he's not exactly around to give us a step-by-step rundown."

I nod silently. "So," I say after a moment, "what does all this mean for me?"

Shigeru-jii looks over at me. "It means what we already knew," he replies simply. "That you are going to be a very powerful shinobi one day."

I blink up at him, startled by the certainty in the statement. I certainly don't feel very powerful right now.

"Someday..." he says distantly, as if reading my mind. There is a moment of solemn quiet.

Why are all these people around me so sure I will grow up to be amazing? I am not at all sure of it myself.

Finally, Shigeru-jii looks back down at me. "I'm going to be away on another mission by tomorrow," he says out of the blue. "It'll most likely be a long one. So, while I'm gone, I want you to work on your aim to the point where you might be able to start working a bit with senbon, and I want you to try to train your senses to become sharper, more able to pick up on the things around you. Got that?"

I nod, used to his abruptness in announcing his missions by now. "Hai!" I bark, determined to really do well while he's gone.

He smiles. "Good," he says quietly. "Very good."

Author's Notes: So, we finally meet Shikamaru and Chouji in this chapter. I have tried to do their characters justice. I know some people who have been looking forward to this. Also, I have no idea when Ino's birthday is, or even if it's been stated at all. Again, if it happens to contradict previously stated facts, my story.

And (because I just know this issue is going to come up) when the girls at Ino's party were talking about the boy and girl holding hands? I don't consider that unrealistic to their ages. These days, you hear that sort of thing from ten year olds all the time. They don't mean anything by it. They just want to sound cool and grown up. I doubt Saka or Nobu even have the faintest romantic interest in anyone yet. Besides, I can more see younger kids talking about that sort of thing in the Naruto world, considering the legal age for adulthood, marriage, drinking, and all that shit seems to be fifteen.

As always, an comments/critiques are greatly appreciated.