Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter 13: Getting ready
"Who is this Jashin, and why is he a problem?" Naruto asked. Never before had he seen his parents this worried. It was quite unsettling.
"Jashin is a god. Which makes him very, very dangerous to all of us." Daiki explained. "When I entered this world I became aware of the presence of several beings that would qualify as gods or are on a similar level, but they were either sleeping or otherwise indisposed. The danger of them waking always existed, and now it seems to have come to pass. If our original plan had worked we would have been free long ago and would be in a position of strength. Now we are terribly vulnerable. If Jashin or another god should recognize what we are and that we are trapped here he will have almost no difficulty in destroying us all."
"Is the situation really this bad? I thought you were very powerful." the blond boy wondered.
Youko answered his question. "We are. Even if we aren't sure about the exact power levels; in an open fight your father and I would have a good chance at defeating Jashin or most other gods if we can fight them one at a time. The problem is that if he finds us now it would be more akin to us wrapped in chains inside a cage that allows hardly any movement and him completely free on the outside. It wouldn't even qualify as a real fight."
Daiki took over. "We have still some things going for us, though. One, Jashin is seemingly still unaware of our existence. Two, unless he looks very closely specifically at you or Hinata he won't recognize the situation for what it is. A cursory glance would only identify you as a demon container. Otherwise you would appear as a completely normal human. Three, even if he notices you doing something with our power he will probably assume that you are simply agents of another god and won't assign you a very high threat factor, meaning that the stuff he will throw at you should be survivable. Still, if he is active now you will have to deal with his followers sooner or later."
"Then we have to prepare. What do we know about Jashin or his followers in particular?" Hinata asked.
Naruto thought for a moment. "I believe I have seen some casual mentions of Jashinism in the historical texts I read, but they were always small, isolated groups with no real signs of supernatural power. That's all I got."
Youko had more information. "I still possess some vague memories of the Juubi from the age of gods, but they only contain some generalities. Jashin was a dark deity connected with death and destruction. He was always considered dangerous, but he wasn't one of the big players of that time. The Juubi was imprisoned in a special tomb at the end of the age of gods when most divine and demonic beings left this world. It was freed eons later to once more roam the world before the Sage of Six Paths sealed it and split it into the nine Bijuu. As the Kyuubi I occasionally found signs that some gods had remained in this world, but in the millennium of my existence I never encountered definitive proof. Today I recognized his power, and a feeling of enmity towards him from the Juubi part of me."
"We only observed an echo from what he was doing, but I can definitely say it was some sort of invocation ceremony done by mortals that involved human sacrifice some distance to the northwest. It was probably still inside the borders of the Land of Fire, though we can't locate it any more precisely than that. I think the purpose was to imbue a willing target with some of Jashin's power. Considering that we can only perceive the outside world for a few hours every week it is very likely that this has been going on for some time without us noticing. The particular signature of the ceremony indicates he has gathered enough worshippers to establish some sort of support base to grant chosen followers additional powers. At the present time we can say nothing specific about his goals or methods, but somehow his power seemed... foul. You will have to keep your ears open for news relating to Jashinists. If he isn't going for a limited, secret cult the increased propagation of his religion should become public knowledge soon." his father elaborated.
Naruto thought back to his recent lessons about divine beings. In general, gods were interested in gaining followers because they gave several benefits. Not every god used all of the subsequent options, but they existed.
The first and most important reason was that the belief and worship of mortals generated power which could be used to strengthen a god. There were different degrees to that, from doing some rituals once a year without believing in them to sincere and fanatic belief accompanied by constant prayers. You needed to be a divine being of some power in the first place to profit from such things, though. A human could have the entire world worship him, and he still would only be a mortal with delusions of grandeur.
Another reason was that a god could use his mortal followers to act in his stead and generally represent his interests without him having to invest too much effort.
Thirdly, if a mortal was sufficiently harmonized with a god's domain his soul could be used after his death as additional means of creating power. The options ranged from entering a god's personal afterlife to complete integration into the god himself.
A fourth option for gods intimately connected with a specific domain was to draw power from the strength of a connected principle. For example, a god of justice might want to get as many humans as possible to live under a reliable system of fair laws; a god of marriage would want to reduce extramarital relationships and so on. It applied more to weaker gods connected with certain, relatively narrow human philosophical concepts, though.
Generally, the souls of mortals held power. Everyone wanted them, and many beings would go to great lengths to get them. Most demons and some gods lacked the ability to draw power from worship. They tended to outright devour every soul they could get their hands on.
There were a lot more possible sources of power unconnected with mortal followers, and a god or demon would be wise to use as many as possible. Otherwise random events like a simple epidemic that killed a lot of people could have devastating effects on a deity's survival chances. His parents for example were self-sustaining even without any sort of followers. As long as they were imprisoned they couldn't use that method to gather additional power anyway.
"Why would Jashin want to destroy you in the first place?" Hinata asked curiously, interrupting Naruto's train of thought.
Daiki shrugged. "We don't actually know he will do that, but it is a reasonable assumption on our part. Part of it would be simple opportunism. There are rarely divine beings in such a precarious position as us. Jashin could gain a great deal of power from our remnants in exchange for relatively little effort on his part. Furthermore, we are possible rivals for the souls and worship of mortals. Most deities don't like competition."
Naruto frowned. "You said there are more sleeping beings of power in this world. What if they wake up and want their piece of the pie?"
His father's expression became grim. "That danger exists. Normally there are some rules in place to prevent conflicts from escalating too far, and things resemble more an incredibly complex board game with the mortals as tokens. A god directly attacking another god would only happen if the victim is sufficiently weakened from losing in the game. Unfortunately, on this world no power exists that could impose such rules. It may very well be that we are looking at a free-for-all no-holds-barred struggle for dominion over this world in the future."
"For now, we can do nothing about it, but I think we will have to step up your training of directly invocating our power without one of us taking possession of your bodies. You two are the only ones who can do that because of the direct connection to this world. The enchantments of the sanctuary should prevent Jashin from noticing anything; we will reinforce the protections once again. Kit, you will have to learn to better control my chakra; the simple draw you can manage at the moment won't be enough. I want you to be able to control at least two tails by the time you graduate." Youko commanded.
Naruto sighed. "Great, another time-intensive project."
"It can't be helped. Sometime in the future you might need the biggest hammer you can get, and we will do our damnedest to provide you with it."
Mizuki was in an emotional state he hadn't known for a long time: He was actually genuinely happy with his life. Even more surprising was that this state already lasted for several months. The order to supervise a study group had come as a surprise to him, but he soon realized that it was a boon. Not only did he receive a considerable pay raise; in compensation for his time investment his normal workload teaching idiot children had been markedly reduced. It was quite the exclusive group, consisting of Naruto and the heirs to five great clans. Even more exclusive were the topics they covered in the group.
Before his new assignment he had been a mere assistant instructor helping mainly with the taijutsu and other practical instruction of the children. Mizuki had no illusions that any of them would even remember him after they graduated. He had hated teaching the brats basic skills with a passion, but had been forced to put up a friendly façade. Most of the children had enough connections that a negative remark to their parents could ruin his career even more.
Now though everything was different. All five of Naruto's friends had displayed a burning desire to learn, and they had left the normal academy curriculum far behind. Mizuki found that he actually enjoyed discussing genin- and chunin-level subjects with them. He learnt as much as he taught, especially because Naruto had acquired some books with very advanced topics he needed help with. Help Mizuki was only too eager to provide. It would take him some more time, but he had made good progress in creating his own techniques and honing his skills in general. He wasn't privy to all information, but what he saw was obvious. Naruto had recruited five people with enormous future influence and was gearing up for a long-term take-over of the village. The others saw him as their leader, and they were well on their way to become the most powerful group of genin that had ever graduated from the academy. And Mizuki would be close to all of them, meaning he would probably be receiving a high position in the future power structure. They continued to hide their true skills in class, which Mizuki thought a very wise measure. Nothing was worse than a horde of hangers-on that got in the way of training and that you couldn't even use to further your goals.
That was not the only source for Mizuki's happiness. His relationship with Tsubaki had progressed a good deal, and he was now seriously thinking about proposing to her.
This happy state of affairs came to an end on a Saturday afternoon when a runner delivered a message to him. He was to immediately report to the Konoha hospital. Mizuki hastily complied with a spreading feeling of dread. Upon his arrival he was pointed to the intensive care unit. A doctor awaited him in the corridor.
"Mizuki-san, right?" Upon seeing his confirmation the doctor continued. "I'm sorry to inform you that Tsubaki-san has been seriously wounded in the line of duty and is currently undergoing treatment. Her condition is critical and you are on the top of list of people to inform in such an event. Please wait here, we will call you as soon as practical."
Mizuki felt his insides freeze upon hearing these news, but the medic had already hurried away. A few moments later he found himself sitting on a bench in the hospital corridor. It took him a few minutes before he had completely regained his senses. On a bench at the other side of the corridor sat a blond man going through some reports. Mizuki recognized him as Inoichi Yamanaka, father to his pupil Ino and head of the Torture & Interrogation department. When he spied his lover's name on one of the files he addressed the man.
"Sir, can you tell me what really happened? I only know my friend Tsubaki was heavily injured."
The blond man seemed to notice him only now. Mizuki found himself scrutinized as the man obviously thought about a reply.
"You are in a relationship with Tsubaki-san, aren't you?" He sighed and continued without waiting for a reply. "I suppose it is better to give you the full story before some rumors spring up. All of the following is to be considered secret information, am I making myself clear?"
Mizuki nodded, which was apparently enough.
"As far as we have pieced things together at this point the jonin Aoi Rokusho deceived his genin team after they failed the chunin exams to steal the sword of the Nidaime Hokage and a scroll detailing its use as an alternative means of promotion. When he was about to make his escape to another country with the two objects his genin Idate Morino saw through the deception and tried to get help. This led to Aoi abducting him and killing his two other pupils in the struggle. His older brother, who is my deputy, noticed his absence and took up pursuit together with two ANBU operatives. Unfortunately Aoi had planned his defection in advance and received help from an unknown party. The ANBU were killed and my deputy Ibiki was taken prisoner and tortured in order to retrieve the necessary information to decipher the secret scroll." Inoichi stopped for a moment and let out a deep sigh.
"Tsubaki-san's four-person team was returning from an unrelated mission and detected the chakra emissions from their tries to get the sword to work and chose to investigate. In the ensuing battle her three teammates were killed together with an unknown number of enemy shinobi while Tsubaki-san was heavily wounded by the sword-wielding Aoi. Idate-san was wounded as well, but managed to destroy the scroll and bring Tsubaki and a helpless Ibiki to safety when the building caught fire. Aoi's fate is unknown, but he is presumed to be on the run with the sword of the Nidaime. A short time later a second pursuit team reached them and brought them back here. All of them are currently undergoing medical treatment." he concluded with a sympathetic look before returning to his reports.
Hours passed without any news regarding Tsubaki. Mizuki absentmindedly noticed that the two Morino brothers were out of danger and that Inoichi left after a while. It had grown dark before a doctor approached him with his professional mask firmly in place.
"I fear I have bad news regarding your friend. We did all we could, but her internal injuries are too severe. Tsubaki-san is conscious and not in pain, but we don't think she will see the next morning. She wishes to talk to you. You have my condolences, Mizuki-san."
Mizuki was in a daze when he was led to his lover's room.
'This can't be happening.'
When he entered her room and saw her for the first time in weeks he had to use all his self-control to avoid crying out. Her formerly lovely face was marred by a trail of electrical burns and the blanket covering everything below her neck was supported by a wooden frame to prevent it from touching her body. He was just sitting down on the chair at her bedside when she opened her eyes.
"Hello dear."
"Hello love. How are you?" he answered while taking her hand into his.
Tsubaki chuckled lightly. "I know I'm dying; I… just wasn't good enough. There isn't much time left. Please, promise me three things."
"Anything."
"Promise… promise me you won't go after Aoi yourself. Don't blame Ibiki or the kid. Lastly, don't mourn me forever. When the time is right find a nice woman who can make you happy."
Mizuki had tears in his eyes by this point. "I promise."
"Such a sweet man." Tsubaki smiled and closed her eyes.
A few seconds later she stopped breathing.
Hours later, Mizuki aimlessly wandered the empty streets of the village. It wasn't the first time he had lost a friend, but never before had it hurt so badly. He wanted to scream. He wanted to track Aoi down, rip his entrails out, cook them on a fire before his eyes and feed them back to him. But most of all he wanted to take Tsubaki into his arms, hear her voice again and feel her lips on his. Mizuki didn't react when a familiar head of blonde hair appeared before him, nor did he react when he was led to Naruto's home. He just continued to stare into the space before him. A cup with a clear liquid was set before him.
"Drink this." Naruto commanded.
Obediently Mizuki took a deep swallow only to cough when the alcohol traced a fiery trail down his throat. It didn't prevent him from drinking more. Alcohol wasn't a permanent solution, but it would take the edge off the pain. It didn't take much prodding from Naruto to get him to open up; the boy was a quite skillful manipulator when he wanted. When Mizuki woke the next morning he already felt considerably better. He was by no means fine, that would take months, but he was over the immediate shock.
Naruto had already prepared breakfast, and they ate in silence. When he was about to leave the apartment Naruto addressed him. "I promise you, should the opportunity arise I will make sure Aoi will meet a most painful end."
Something was bothering Mizuki. "Why are you doing this for me?"
Naruto gave him an unreadable look. "I care for my subordinates. If they are loyal to me I have a responsibility for their welfare."
Mizuki gulped. Such a thing was rare in the shinobi world. Especially considering that Naruto didn't need to take his feelings into consideration because he held his life in his hands. "Thank you, Naruto-sama."
Idate Morino stared unblinkingly at the hospital wall. His injuries had already been treated and he could move around as long as he didn't exert himself too strongly, but there was no place where he wanted to go. Four normal ninja, two ANBU and his two teammates dead and his big brother tortured… all because of him. They had participated in the chunin exams in Suna and failed spectacularly in the first round. It had been a disgrace. In retrospect he could understand why his brother had told him that he was barred from making chunin and should reconsider if he wanted to remain a shinobi at all. At the time he had been too angry to think, but now he understood. He and his teammates had gone about the entire thing in a completely stupid fashion. Even after two years as genin they had treated everything as a grand game. Granted, some of that had been their sensei's fault, but still; he should have taken everything more seriously.
Ibiki had seen it and had probably known that almost nothing he could have said would have made much of a difference. Meaning he had started one of his psychological games to either get Idate to prove him wrong and shape up or quit altogether before he got himself or other people killed. When their sensei came to them with an alternate route to promotion it had seemed like a gift from heaven. It was only after Aoi made them to leave Konoha that Idate had become suspicious. When he had begun to object and tried to inform someone…
Idate shuddered at the memories. Aoi had simply smiled and before he knew what was happening Miwa and Ryoichi had been dead. Two years they had been together on a team, and their teacher had murdered them without batting an eye. Following that Aoi had knocked him out; probably to get some ransom later. When he woke up next they were already in some hideout where foreign shinobi had awaited the traitor. His big brother had come for him, but there had been too many enemies. He had been forced to watch the torture of his brother. Despite all the horrible things they did to him he had kept his secrets and only called them amateurs.
'That was probably even true.' Idate thought. 'Big brother has been tortured before, even if he never talks about how he got his scars. Not to mention that he has experience as torturer himself.'
Aoi had been forced to use trial and error to learn the handling of the Nidaime's sword. Idate shuddered again as his mind went through the next chain of events. The hope upon the arrival of the four Konoha nin, the despair when they were slaughtered one by one in the chaotic battle, the satisfaction he had felt when he managed to destroy the stolen scroll. Despite being wounded by a grazing hit from a water jutsu he had managed to bring his brother and one of the Konoha kunoichi to safety. He had felt some amount of pride that he had been able to do something.
And now the woman was dead. Eight lives had been lost because he had been too stupid to recognize what their teacher was doing and because he had trained too little to make a difference.
'Never again.' Idate vowed to himself. 'Enough with playing at being a ninja. I will train and become stronger. And if I'm lucky I will meet you again one day, Aoi.'
Ino yawned sleepily when she made her way to the bathroom. Her mother just had to wake her when she had an especially nice dream. She didn't remember any details, but there had been a lot of kissing and… naughtier stuff. A quick shower later she was sitting at the breakfast table with her parents. Her breakfast consisted of more food than she had eaten on a single day before she joined Yakumo and Hinata, but she didn't have a single gram of unnecessary weight on her body. The training she did saw to that. Her mother occasionally still tried to get her to eat a bit less, but Ino didn't listen to her on that subject anymore. She had come to realize that while her mother wanted the best for her she simply didn't understand the necessities of kunoichi training. Besides, two months after she had stopped dieting her breasts had finally started to develop. There was no way she would endanger that.
Her father stayed out of the argument even if he should have supported her new training regime and corrected her old bad habits. Ino felt no small amount of frustration over her father's behavior. On the one hand he often indulged her and her mother more than was reasonable, but when it came to advanced training and political tutoring he always considered her too young. It had taken her an eternity to get him to teach her the Yamanaka's most basic jutsu, the Shintenshin, and it didn't seem likely that he would teach her anything else before she graduated.
On her way to the academy she ran into some girls who once belonged to her hangers-on.
"Hey Ino, Sasuke-kun is displaying a new technique with shuriken and wire at the academy training field. Want to come along?"
"No thanks; I have to get to the class room."
"Your loss. Come on, girls."
She shook her head when the girls took off in the direction of the training yard. Why would she want to watch some boy display some silly trick she probably already knew? Ino stopped dead in her tracks when she came to the realization that Sasuke didn't mean anything special to her anymore. She hadn't even specifically thought about him in months.
'When did I stop caring about him?' Ino wondered.
The answer was obvious: It was after she stopped spending her entire time surrounded by girls who idolized him. At first after her inclusion into the group she still thought often about Sasuke, but Hinata and Yakumo never talked about him, causing him to slowly disappear from Ino's thoughts. After their grand investigation she had worked her ass off to catch up to the others in their physical and chakra training. She literally didn't have the energy to think much about boys in general and Sasuke in particular. At some point during that time she had lost her crush and admiration for him.
If she now tried to draw a mental picture of the boy she wanted as a boyfriend the result was… Naruto. Ino blinked in surprise. That merited further thought, but she had to get to class if she didn't want to be late.
Soon after she arrived in class the lecture started. Ino listened only with half an ear; the study group was already far beyond these basic lessons on trap setting. She used the time to mentally compare Sasuke and Naruto, especially the things she had once admired about the last Uchiha.
Cunning. You couldn't really get more cunning than Naruto. Learning an enormous number of skills in self-study while living alone since the age of five. Assembling their group of friends. Masterminding the long-term takeover and restoration of their village while displaying the image of an overeager and slightly stupid kid to the world. Being the best student in class couldn't really compare to that. Point for Naruto.
Talent. No contest, point for Naruto. All of them were probably better than Sasuke by now.
Coolness. Well, Sasuke was cool in a dark, aloof way. Naruto was cool in a mature, worldly-wise way, and the weekend when he took their group into the woods was still etched into her memory. His role as an experienced hunter and leader had really shone through. Ino decided she liked the latter type of coolness better.
Looks. Both boys were good-looking in their own way. Ino blushed involuntary when she remembered seeing Naruto train without a shirt on a particularly hot day. His muscles were impressive for a kid their age, and she doubted Sasuke could compare. Additionally, Naruto's whisker marks were just cute.
Tragic past. Being orphaned on the day of one's birth, getting the most dangerous demon in the world stuffed into one by one's own father, being isolated by almost the whole village since one's birth and being the possible victim of a conspiracy beat getting one's own clan slaughtered by one's brother. Furthermore, with the Yondaime as his father Naruto was more or less a lost prince that had been cheated of his birthright. Hell, he was probably the last of his own clan as well. The Uzumaki had once possessed their own village but were now extinct for all she knew.
Popularity. Ino had to give this one to Sasuke, but it was more because Naruto didn't want the popularity. It would interfere with his plans. He was certainly popular with all his friends.
That made it five to one in favor of Naruto, and there were additional considerations. For one, Naruto actually paid attention to her. He listened when she talked and took her opinions seriously. That wasn't to say that he always agreed with her, no, he wasn't afraid to argue, but he took her input into consideration. Ino knew she was a bit of a flirt, and Naruto always flirted back. Until now it had been light-hearted and relatively innocent, but she could easily imagine it becoming more. Additionally, while he tried to hide it he seemed to display an interest in the bodies of all three girls in the circle, so he was definitely interested in girls.
Ino briefly considered the other two boys she was closely familiar with.
Choji was always nice, but she saw him more as a brother she never had. Besides, he never wanted to argue with her, and it wasn't fun to encounter no resistance. Well, he seemed to enjoy his disputes with Yakumo a great deal, so maybe he had already a girl in mind.
Shino was mostly too reserved to outright flirt with her, but even he paid her attention and the occasional compliment. Still, his stoic nature wasn't what she wanted in a boyfriend.
In contrast, Sasuke had always completely ignored her. All three boys of their circle were more capable and far more friendly than him. Why again had she tried so hard to gain the love of a boy who obviously wasn't interested?
Then she remembered something else. The man in the dream last night had blond hair, not black. Her dreams in the past had always been about interactions with Sasuke. Well, the kissing that is. The naughty parts had only appeared of late.
'Oh god, I think I'm developing a crush on Naruto.'
"Do you have a bit of time for me?"
"I have always time for you if you need something, Hinata. What can I do for you?" Youko asked warmly.
It was a beautiful day, and Youko had been trying to create a fusion element from fire and earth. Hinata had heard her talking about it at length this morning. She knew the Yonbi could do it, which meant that the original Juubi had been able to do it, too. If some mortals with a measly bloodline could do it she saw no reason why she shouldn't succeed, after all she was now far more powerful than ever before. Unfortunately, Youko's experiments had been unsuccessful so far, at least judging from the state of the countryside.
With a wave of her hand the burned and torn land changed into lush meadows surrounding a small lake. After they had sat down Hinata began explaining her problems.
"I think something is wrong with my byakugan. Lately I increasingly suffer from headaches, and using it feels subtly wrong. I have enough chakra, and I don't activate it that often anymore since we finished with the investigation, but it doesn't get better." Hinata shrugged helplessly.
Youko hummed thoughtfully. "I can't say I noticed something amiss when you used it around me, but then again I'm not completely familiar with how it works. It would require an in-depth inspection to gather more information."
"Please do it."
"This might feel unpleasant." A gold-red chakra arm extended from Youko and entered Hinata's head. It felt indeed quite unpleasant. Due to her chakra training Hinata could feel the major pathways of her chakra network, and she could feel tugs all over the place. "Please activate your eyes now, Hinata." When she did so her usual headache started, and the unpleasant feeling doubled in intensity. Finally Youko removed her chakra hand from Hinata's head. "You can turn them off now. I have an idea what the problem might be."
Hinata watched in fascination when Youko created an incredibly detailed model of the chakra system of her head region in thin air. Minutes went by, and Youko zoomed in to some sections while creating several slightly different models. Finally she dispelled all models but two before she addressed Hinata.
"Interesting, very interesting. It seems the inbreeding of your clan has affected your byakugan after all. How do you activate it?"
"I simply push chakra into my eyes; when it reaches a certain level they activate and I can change modes simply by varying the flow." she answered.
"I thought so." She created a magnified view of a somehow malformed chakra vein connecting to the back of her eyeballs. "This is the core of the problem. That chakra vein is permanently closed. If it were open the entire chakra flow to and from your eyes would be much smoother. It isn't a crippling problem, and the Hyuuga have compensated by increasing the amount of chakra they pump into their eyes, but that is a suboptimal solution. Incidentally, the location of your blind spot coincides with that. Due to our training this pathway has partially opened and is causing the symptoms you described. If I were to open it completely the problems should go away without any loss in functionality. There might even be some benefits, but no promises about that. I can make the changes now and they will carry over to your body in the outside world, but it will be very painful."
Hinata thought for a moment and came to a decision. "Do it now. Better some moment of pain than the constant headaches."
Youko had been right, it was very painful. In fact, it felt as if someone was poking a white-hot iron into her head. After a few moments the pain disappeared. After a nod from Youko, Hinata tentatively channeled some chakra into her eyes. It was much less than normally required, but her sight expanded nonetheless. She couldn't determine a difference in how she saw things, but her control was much better. A bit of experimentation later and she had explored the main changes.
"My eyes require much less chakra to function, and it feels much more natural to use them. Before I had to literally stuff chakra into too small a space, but now it is more like a constant loop. I can activate them on a moment's notice with barely a thought, and switching modes is much easier. Well, and my blind spot disappeared."
Youko nodded appreciatively. "The flow is much smoother now. I think the actual chakra throughput of your eyes is higher than before, but the now open vein channels it back. In effect you recycle a good amount of the chakra, reducing the overall drain. Oh, and it seems you lost the bulging veins; I can't discern optically if you have your byakugan activated or not. That might cause problems with your clan. Additionally, sometimes your iris expanded until your eyes looked solid; that was when you brought your eyes close to your limit."
After a few tries Hinata found a way to consciously open and close her new pathway, meaning she could choose between the old-style and new-style byakugan. Oh, and her headaches were gone for good, a fact which she thanked Youko profusely for.
"The ability to use your byakugan without anyone noticing will be very useful, and I'm glad I could help you. Is there anything else?" a smiling Youko asked.
Hinata nodded carefully. "I… I think I like Naruto."
The red-haired woman arched an eyebrow. "Oh? 'Like' as in you would like to rip his clothes apart and make love to him on the spot? Or 'like' as in you would like to share your life with him, never let him go and bear his children?"
Hinata struggled to keep her blush in check. It had developed into a game between them. Youko would say or do something to make her blush, and she would try to maintain her composure. By now she rarely lost control. Her stuttering and fainting days were long over, unless she needed to deceive someone. During the grand investigation a year ago she had looked into quite a lot of private rooms where people were busy with intimate activities. It had been very educational, and combined with the years she had spent in the world at the edge of dreams under Youko's tutelage there were very few things she didn't know about sexual relationships. Her body might be eleven halfway to twelve, but her mind was more that of a sixteen-year old. A very naughty sixteen-year old. By now she had come to terms with the fact that she had some voyeuristic tendencies and liked both men and woman. Hell, both Yakumo and Ino sought her advice on such things.
"Both."
"You certainly have my approval. I take it you are aware that you can't display any sort of affection for him while you are in the waking world?"
She nodded. It was an unfortunate fact that she could never have a boyfriend in the outside world. Should her clan discover that she was genuinely endangering the 'purity' of the bloodline she would be either killed or more likely branded with the caged bird seal and imprisoned for life. It made her wonder how her grandmother had managed to have an affair and hide that fact. After all, considering the range of the byakugan you could never be certain you weren't watched if you weren't behind thick walls. It was doubly difficult for her because of her earlier un-Hyuuga like behavior and poor standing in the clan. That ruled out Choji and Shino, the only boys she would have even considered besides Naruto.
Naruto was the optimal choice due to a lot of factors. Most importantly, he was the only one from whom she had to keep no secrets. She knew who he truly was, and it was the same for him. In their time together she had developed genuine affection for the real him, not the idolized picture she had once admired. The image he displayed to their circle of friends was very close to the real him, but there were still secrets. That his parents treated her pretty much like a daughter and they shared a whole world inaccessible by everyone else were additional benefits.
"What is Naruto's opinion about it?"
Now Hinata's face showed signs of frustration. "I tried to talk about it with him but I think he purposefully avoids the topic. He shows clear signs that he is interested in girls, like his expression and physical reactions when he watches us train, but he made no overt moves."
Youko sighed. "I was afraid of that. Somehow he got the idea into his head that he has to wait until he is older before he begins any sort of romantic relationship, which is silly. I think part of his mind is confused how old he really is, probably because of how much time he has spent here without aging. Granted, gods aren't exactly known for their standards concerning sexual morality. As long as all sides are willing and know what they get into I am perfectly fine with everything." She shot Hinata a calculating glance. "He won't take my advice, and my mate is content with letting Naruto have his own way. That means you will be on your own. Start slowly. Flirt with him. Tease him. Pursue him. If he still tries to avoid the matter, spell it out for him in a manner he can't ignore. Either he is willing to enter a relationship with you or he isn't, but then you will know for sure."
A predatory gleam entered Hinata's eyes and she smiled in a manner that would have made Naruto quite nervous had he known about it.
Yakumo felt very queasy when she left the slaughterhouse after saying goodbye to her friends, but it had been an educational and very important experience. Working in a slaughterhouse for two weeks during the summer break had been another of Naruto's ideas, and it covered a very problematic hole in their academy training: It served to familiarize them with the sight and smell of blood and gore in addition to killing animals. There was nothing that could really simulate the feeling of using a sharp tool to change a living, breathing being to a dead hunk of meat; all while the animals screamed and tried to escape. Or sticking her arms as far as she could reach into the corpse of a cow to properly disembowel it. Sure, she had killed and prepared various poultry before at her home, but that was nothing compared to the butchery in one of Konoha's main processing facilities for animals. It belonged to the Akimichi clan, and it had been easy for Choji to arrange for them to temporarily work there.
On their first day all of them with the exception of Naruto and surprisingly Hinata were in steady danger of puking. Considering that Naruto had been hunting in the woods longer than she knew him that had been foreseeable, but Yakumo wondered how Hinata had gained her resilience. Anyway, that unpleasant episode should help them when the time came for their first real battle. It had certainly given her a few new ideas for genjutsu.
She rubbed her hands in anticipation. 'It will be so much fun using them on my willing test subj-… eh, friends. It isn't payback for forcing me to be the first for each new animal, I would never do that.'
Her experiments certainly taught them to never underestimate genjutsu. At the same time it gave them valuable experience in recognizing and breaking such illusions. The academy lesson would leave them woefully underprepared to deal with a competent genjutsu user. Yakumo was unquestioningly the best genjutsu user in their group, with Ino on second place. The others all possessed more or less the same basic capabilities.
After five minutes of imagining the horrors she would develop with her memories from the slaughterhouse Yakumo's mind switched to the next important issue on her list: Finding a boyfriend.
Shino had actually been her first choice. They often thought along the same lines, and despite his reserved personality she believed that he could be very affectionate. Unfortunately, it was not to be. After a bit of flirting that left no doubts about her intentions Shino had gently rebuked her. It wasn't as if he didn't like her, no, he had let her in one a closely guarded secret of his clan. The Aburame had problems finding acceptable candidates for marriage. This she had known. What was new to her was that 'acceptable' in this context meant a person who could produce offspring with an Aburame with any chance of success.
Apparently his clan had removed itself quite thoroughly from humanity at large in a genetic sense through a long time of selective breeding to strengthen their bloodline. Meaning there existed very few people with whom they could successfully breed. They had corrected that policy even before Konoha's founding, but such a development wasn't easily reversed. The problem became critical after the Aburame's enormous losses in the third shinobi war. They could no longer afford to marry inside the clan in fear of inbreeding due to their small numbers, nor could the clan allow a relationship without hope for offspring. Shino used his kikaichu to check for compatibility. Unfortunately she wasn't compatible.
After having her hopes dashed Yakumo had turned towards the other two males in her life she considered her friends. At first she simply couldn't decide between pursuing Naruto or Choji. Both had their good points and drawbacks. In the end she used a coin toss to make her decision.
During the past month she had tried to make some advances on Naruto, but so far she had no success. He simply treated her as he always had: as very close friend. It was quite frustrating.
Maybe she should be more obvious about showing her romantic interest in him?
It was already dark outside when Inoichi arrived to meet with his friends at their favorite bar. The blond man greeted the other men before ordering a drink. He immediately gulped it down before ordering a new one.
"Bad week?" Choza asked.
Inoichi grimaced. "You can say that. It was another of these cults worshipping Jashin. By the time anyone noticed half the local population was already belonging to the cult and happily sacrificing the other half. The army called us in to take out the leadership before they took care of the rest."
"These troublesome cults keep appearing despite the mandatory death sentence for Jashinists. Half a year ago the Fire daimyo outlawed the religion, but it only drives them underground." Shikaku gave his opinion.
Choza shrugged. "It wasn't as if he had a lot of choice, not after what they did in the Land of Hot Springs. Additionally, they call the feudal and social order into question with their talk of the end of days and divine rule."
Inoichi sighed. "I just wish we could find how they gain followers so quickly. No matter what I do, I can't read their minds properly."
"I agree, it is a mystery, but we can't forget that they are a rather minor problem in the great scheme of troubles. Despite the… extreme nature of their deeds, Jashinism has only very few followers and the incidents are pretty rare. The Land of Fire has a lot of other troubles, even after the daimyo has secured his rule and pacified the provinces. I probably will be commuting a lot between here and the capital in the next year. It's so troublesome, but as jonin commander I have to hash out our cooperation with the chief of the secret imperial police." Shikaku said.
Choza was surprised. "They resurrected that organization? The Land of Fire didn't need something like that since the days of the Shodaime."
The Nara clan head could only shrug. "Apparently the daimyo feels differently. They will be small at first and mainly police the higher echelons of the officials. Some of the provincial governors threaten to become too independent and powerful, and there are always some troublesome, scheming nobles to consider. They shouldn't interfere much with the number of missions the village receives. The son of the chief visits the shinobi academy, giving us a bargaining chip if some problems arise."
"Speaking of the academy, how are your children doing? Ino constantly pesters me for more training."
"Choji comes along nicely, he really applies himself. His grades aren't that good, but he admitted to me that he doesn't want to end up with a fan club like the Uchiha boy and keeps them down intentionally. He is already training in some pretty advanced clan techniques." a visibly proud Choza answered.
Shikaku sighed. "I wish Shikamaru would do the same, but we can't seem to get the troublesome boy to take his training seriously. He probably knows the subjects by heart considering that he always passes with the exact minimum amount of points, but I'm worried about his physical training. Yoshino gives me no end of trouble about it."
"He still has time; graduation is still almost a year in the future. In the worst case his sensei will have to kick his ass into gear, he won't be going on any dangerous missions anytime soon. I'm more worried about Ino training too much and not enjoying her childhood. She wants to learn everything now instead of giving it time. I had to put my foot down and refused to teach her more clan techniques until she graduates." Inoichi reassured him.
"I'm not sure if that is wise, but I won't tell you how you have to bring up your daughter." Choza seemed uncomfortable for a moment. "Choji brought something up. You know we planned to ask the Hokage to put our children on one team, but my son requested that we don't do it." The big man held up his hands. "Oh, he still is close friends with Ino and considers Shikamaru a friend, but he said he wants to make his own name for a few years before recreating the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. I would like to hear your opinions."
Inoichi wore a thoughtful expression. "Ino said something similar, and she has real problems with Shikamaru's attitude. She said she doesn't want to have to constantly be on his case to prevent him from slacking off."
The Nara clan head covered his eyes with his hands. "Troublesome. I see their points, though. It would be useless to try and force them together; especially when they know that we influenced the team placement. If they still hold their opinions in a year I agree to letting the Hokage decide without our influence. How did they know about the political nature of the team placements in the first place?"
"Who knows? They seem to know all sorts of stuff. The Kurama girl or Shibi's boy could have known; they seem to have received tutoring in politics. Hiashi's daughter is another possibility, or maybe they have guessed it on their own." the Yamanaka clan head speculated.
Chouza was relieved. Choji had been very forceful with his request. "Then we let them have their own way. Maybe it is for the best, our team formation is widely known. If they learn different skills while on separate teams they could create quite unique moves when they finally get together. It isn't like there will be a war in the near future; they have time to come into their own."
BLOOD! Give me their blood!
"Mother wants your blood."
"Get away from me! NOOO…" "No, have mercy… " "Please spare me! Please…"
Soon the cries subsided and only the soft wind of the desert was audible while his sand absorbed the blood of the bandits they had been sent to eliminate. Gaara was content. He had once again proven his existence. The jonin whose name Gaara had never bothered to learn was going on and on about something inconsequential, but he paid the man no mind. If he became too annoying he would feed his blood to Mother. Kankuro still had his two puppets out and Temari her war fan ready, but they knew better than to disturb him.
From one moment to another the voice went silent, and simultaneous gasps from Kankuro and Temari caused him to look up. Something had vertically bisected the jonin cleanly, and his halves were slowly sliding sideways. With a wet plopping sound they separated and fell to the ground. That sort of injury could have only been caused by a wind blade, and from Temari's reaction he inferred that she wasn't responsible. Meaning an enemy was around. Gaara immediately took control of a large amount of sand and let it form a circle around him.
"Heh. Just my luck. Suna's jinchuuriki and his family." A gravelly voice sounded. Turning towards the origin of the voice, Gaara saw a burly man with dark blond hair that was graying at his temples clad in an unremarkable grey jonin uniform standing atop the dune bordering the now destroyed bandit camp. On his belt he wore a slashed hitai-ate that Gaara identified as belonging to Ishigakure, one of the minor villages bordering the Land of Wind. "I go for a short reconnaissance and the idiots manage to get themselves killed. I really should have followed the other group. Damn coin toss."
"Who are you?" Kankuro shouted.
"Katsuo Maruyama, until recently right hand of the village leader of Ishigakure. Originally I was on my way out of the Elemental Nations before the bounty on my head becomes widely known, but you just killed my support group." Cold grey eyes scrutinized them before he smiled without the slightest trace of amusement. "Then again, you're a nice consolation price. Your bastard father killed my brother and son while your bitch of a mother did for my daughter and both grandchildren. I think I will return the favor."
I want his blood!
"Temari, Kankuro, stay back. I will spill his blood."
"But Gaara…" Temari began.
"Stay out of this or I will kill you!" Gaara snapped.
Katsuo let out a short bark of laughter. "Confident, aren't we? Let's see what you got."
A wave of sand shot towards the man but hit only empty air. A few thrown shuriken were effortlessly stopped by his sand defense, but Gaara quickly grew frustrated with the fight. The man was too quick and kept his distance, his sand never managed to catch up to him and Mother's screaming got steadily more intense. Katuso constantly created smallish blocks of a black stone without hand seals and hurled them against him, but he always battered them away. Most weren't that precisely aimed in the first place and didn't pose any danger to him. Then everything changed. He heard only a "Heh, enough playing around." before Katsuo seemed to disappear and he received a vicious uppercut directly to his chin that lifted him into the air. Before his sand could react more blows rained down upon him; a kick to his chest drove the air out of his lungs before he was violently flung away and collided painfully with the ground, though his sand managed to cushion his fall. Unsteadily he stood up, his sand armor flaking away almost completely.
Release me; I will deal with this nuisance myself. 'Yes mother, he will pay for hurting us.'
Gaara made a hand seal and the sand began to create a solid sphere around him, held tight by Mother's power while he himself maintained a floating sand barrier a little distance away. Normally he was loath to release Mother, but this seemed a fitting opportunity. The man would pay with his blood for hitting him. Gaara never noticed the horrified looks of his siblings.
"Earth Release: Obsidian Shower"
Suddenly a hail of sharp black stones was coming right at him, but Gaara wasn't worried. He had enough time to move his sand into their way… only for the projectiles to punch right through as if his sand wasn't even there. The sand controlled by Mother tried to deflect them but had no more success than he had. The cocoon dissolved immediately under the onslaught. A sharp pain caused him to look down. One of the black stones had sliced his right side open. From a big, ragged wound a sheet of blood was flowing and already covering his right leg. Gaara watched with incomprehension as it dripped to the ground in one big stream and several smaller ones from other wounds.
"What's this warm stuff? Mother what did… Ahh… Uwaaaaa! Blood… my… my BLOOD!" he screamed while holding his head.
"Pathetic. You didn't think I would let you actually transform? Secret Art: Reign of Divine Silence"
Gaara only now noticed that he was standing in a circle of obsidian blocks with glowing seals on their surface. A shockwave of blue light emerged from them and hit him in the blink of an eye. It felt like his entire body was on fire.
"AAAAHHH!" AAAA-…!
The voice of Mother was abruptly cut off, and he could feel his control over the sand falter. He first fell to his knees and then on his back. Without the steady flow of demonic chakra he felt as weak as a baby, especially in combination with his earlier injuries.
"Kid, you're not the first jinchuuriki I have faced. In fact, you don't even hold a candle to your predecessor. It's typical for the arrogance of the great villages to simply assume no one would develop counters against their super weapons. You rely solely on your sand and demon-supplied strength. You are pathetic. But don't worry, I will release you from your miserable existence in short order. A free, rampaging demon will be a nice parting gift to the Elemental Nations. Obsidian Shower!"
Gaara could only watch helplessly as the hail of sharp stones moved towards him. He closed his eyes and raised his hands in an instinctive defense, but opened them immediately when he heard the typical sounds of Temari's fan followed by the sound of stone hitting cloth and metal and something wet splattered against him. Before him stood Temari with the ruin of her beloved war fan in her hands, bleeding from several wounds. It was her blood that now covered his hands and face.
"I won't let you hurt my brother!" Temari shouted before her legs gave way and she fell down. Gaara saw that a jagged piece of steel from her fan had pierced her leg, but it had seemingly missed the artery. He could see some other wounds from grazing hits by the stones and pieces of her fan, but they looked relatively shallow compared to his own wounds. A long groove in the ground marked the direction her windblast had taken, but their enemy had evaded it effortlessly. Her attempt at deflecting the black stones with her wind obviously hadn't worked completely. It had been enough to change the course of the missiles somewhat, but some still got through and shredded her fan, peppering her with steel- and stone fragments.
"Nice try, missy, but you have to use far more power if you want to do something against my attacks. Too bad I broke your little fan."
Suddenly the man jumped to the side; just in time to evade a flurry of senbon needles Kankuro had launched from his puppet. Gaara glanced at his sister; the girl was still down and busy ripping a strip of cloth from her clothes to use it as makeshift bandage. She was obviously in a lot of pain; while the steel piece had missed large blood vessels it stuck deep in her leg muscles. Temari wouldn't be able to fight in this condition.
A new splash of blood hit Gaara, this time from Kankuro. After blinking away a few drops of blood he could see that despite the amount of shed blood Kankuro seemed only lightly wound and continued to engage their enemy. He had used his puppets and body to shield them from another attack that Gaara hadn't even seen coming. If only he could muster the strength to move! Gaara was becoming weaker by the minute; he could feel his blood still flowing out of the large wound in his side and could do nothing but watch the fight between his brother and their enemy. Something was strange about it. It seemed that the man was more testing the puppet's capabilities rather than fighting them seriously. Suddenly Katsuo jumped backwards to avoid a cloud of poison gas… right into the opened body of Kankuro's larger puppet. The hatch closed immediately, trapping Katsuo inside.
"Now I've trapped you! Die!" Kankuro shouted. His puppet Crow detached its body parts, which immediately launched itself blade-first into the barrel-like chest of the larger puppet. After nothing happened for a few moments, Kankuro seemed to relax, but something was wrong. Gaara's eyes widened in realization. The sound of the blades striking had been wrong.
Suddenly both puppets shattered in a great cloud of splinters. In their place stood a spiky copy of the man made from the same black material he had used in most of his attacks. 'A clone.' Gaara thought. He noticed movement behind Kankuro who stared at the unexpected destruction of his puppets aghast. Before Gaara could shout a warning, Katsuo emerged fully from underground, grabbed Kankuro, broke his right arm like a twig and gave him a mighty kick that send him flying through the air. Gaara was sure that he had heard ribs breaking. At the end of his flight path Kankuro collided with a boulder, causing again the sharp crack of snapping bones before he slid to the ground and lay unmoving.
"Boy, if you have to play with puppets use at least your own toys. I remember these from my fights with Sasori of the Red Sands before the last war. He was much better with them than you are. And ditch that silly cat suit and make-up, it makes you look like an idiot." He laughed his gravelly laugh. "Not that you will have much opportunity to change your behavior."
He turned around and approached Temari and Gaara. "And you missy, you relied far too much on that fan of yours. I watched while you killed the bandits. Without it you're nothing." He assumed a thoughtful expression before a cruel looking obsidian knife materialized in his hand. "I think I will peel your face like an apple before I send your corpse back along with the heads of your brothers. If I'm lucky that will trigger a new war, it would serve the bastards in my old village right for banishing me."
For the first time since his uncle had tried to kill him Gaara felt true fear. No, it was even worse. He hadn't been that helpless against Yashamaru; Mother had always been there to help him. But now he was alone and saw his death approaching in the form of the burly man with the cold eyes. He began to shake in terror. Suddenly he felt a warm hand embracing his own. Turning his head, he saw that Temari had crawled over to him and was holding his hand, tears spilling from her eyes.
"I'm sorry I wasn't a better sister to you, little brother, but you aren't alone. At least we can face our death together like a family."
Before Gaara could respond Katsuo stopped abruptly and clutched his neck. Gaara noticed a tiny arrow sticking there. His breathing suddenly labored, the man staggered and fell to the ground.
"Ha. Got you." Kankuro wheezed, a small blowpipe for poison darts falling from his mouth.
Katsuo let out a chuckle while the veins in his head were visibly turning black and blood bubbled on his lips. "Heh. Killed like a rookie because I didn't make sure you were out of the fight. Congratulations. I hope you'll learn something from this." he said before he stopped breathing forever.
Much later, Gaara sat cross-legged on a boulder overlooking their small campsite. For the first time in his life Mother was silent. He knew it wouldn't last, he could hear her soft snoring in his head and her power was once again coursing through his body. The desert night was… peaceful. It gave him some much needed time to think. His gaze often returned to his sleeping siblings close to the campfire or the bloody bandages on his side. Some additional blood had soaked into his clothes and covered his hands. Not anyone's blood. It was his own, mixed with that of his siblings.
After the battle he had been lying on the ground slowly bleeding to death. His automatic defense wasn't working anymore and he couldn't muster the concentration to move the sand on his own. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for Temari or Kankuro to kill him in that moment. He knew only too well that a few more minutes would have sufficed for him to die of blood loss; they wouldn't even have needed to do anything. Only… they hadn't. Not only had both of them thrown themselves in harm's way to save his life, they had bandaged his wounds. Gaara could feel them healing, he would probably be fine in a few days. Kankuro had sustained the worst injuries, but he would be okay after a few weeks in the hospital. Aside from the leg wound Temari's injuries were the lightest of them. His sister had some basic knowledge of medical jutsu; it was enough to stabilize them. She had sent one of her weasels for help, but it would probably take until mid-morning until they arrived; their current location was fairly isolated.
He once again looked at his bloody hands. The blood of his siblings was indistinguishable from his own. He didn't like the sight of his own blood. Suddenly he came to the realization that he also didn't like the sight of his siblings' blood. They… valued his continued existence. It felt nice. In that moment Gaara came to a decision. He wouldn't kill them even if they became annoying or Mother wanted their blood. As long as they lived they would acknowledge his existence.
That brought him to the last battle. It was only a mistake of their enemy that had allowed them to win. Due to his insomnia he had spent many nights reading. It helped him deal with the noise. Mother was Mother, but sometimes her voice was just so… loud. By now he was probably one of the most well-read people in Suna. Gaara had discounted many things about shinobi tactics that he had read; after all he was almost invincible with Mother's help. Only now he realized that wasn't really the case. Only the sand armor was truly his own. While he controlled the majority of his remaining sand, Mother supplied most of the necessary chakra.
Now that he thought about it dozens of ways to circumvent his sand came to mind. Or to simply overpower it, as their adversary had done. That state of affairs was simply unacceptable. Luckily he had already most of the necessary theoretical knowledge to train other shinobi skills. Besides improving his sand-based powers he would have to acquire a lot of other abilities. The physical training in particular would be unpleasant, but it had to be done. Never again would he be defeated so easily. The same was true for his siblings. Temari would have to branch out her skills and not rely so much on a single piece of equipment. The same applied to Kankuro. In his case Gaara would have to get him to refrain from using makeup and wearing that silly headdress. It simply wouldn't do for any of his family to become a laughing stock. He would probably have to apply quite some pressure to change their habits, but he was no stranger to threats.
Family… A new thought appeared in his head. Mother was currently sleeping and probably wouldn't wake up for a while. That enabled him to try something he had seen other families with siblings do. Nodding to himself, he left his post on the rock.
The next morning Temari received the shock of her life when she found a dozing Gaara cuddled up to her.
It was a sunny if somewhat cool day in Konoha a few days after the end of the winter term of the ninja academy. Three teens were sitting atop the Hokage monument enjoying the late morning sun around a blanket and a picnic basket. A casual observer would notice that each of the three probable academy students was engrossed in a different innocuous activity and discard any thoughts of suspicious activity on their part. A closer inspection would yield some more details.
The only female among them, a pale girl with bluish-black hair, was attentively looking around, an open book on bird watching and a checklist of different bird names in her lap. From time to time she would check one of them.
A chubby boy with brown hair and spiral tattoos on his cheeks was lying on his belly and writing in a notebook, a bag of chips besides him. If the aforementioned observer would invest the effort to sneak a peek at the book he would discover that the boy was apparently trying to write poetry.
The last of the trio was a blond boy with blue eyes and whisker marks on his cheeks. He was leaning against a rock with his arms behind his head and his face pointed towards the village, seemingly dozing or cloud watching most of the time.
If the hypothetical observer would go to the trouble and listen to their conversation he would only witness idle chat about academy topics, friends or general stuff that teens talked about. Now, if said observer would be able to stick around and avoid detection by the girl's very unique byakugan and the blond boy's extremely sharp senses of smell and hearing he would hear a very different and far less innocent conversation.
"It seems Kakashi finally showed up and gave them some lame-ass excuse about getting lost on the road of life. He is now giving them the same spiel he gave the last genin team half a year ago." Naruto said.
"I see two b-bells in his hand; he indeed seems to intend to give them the same t-test he gave the last two groups we observed him testing in the past." Hinata added.
"…munch, munch… no sense in wasting a perfectly good picnic day. Just keep observing, perhaps something interesting happens." Choji decided.
Hinata was using the telescope vision of her byakugan to observe the distant training ground 3 optically, the trees being only a minor obstacle to her matter-penetrating gaze. Naruto was using one of his original jutsu utilizing wind manipulation to create an effect similar to a directional microphone to add the audio information. Together they were giving a running commentary of the happenings that Choji wrote down in a cipher that looked for everyone without the key like bad poetry.
"… and Ichigo still hasn't noticed he is trapped in a genjutsu and only attacking a tree. I only hope his sword isn't too badly nicked at the end of the day." Hinata commented.
"Judging from her breathing Rukia is still unconscious from that water jutsu Kakashi used after she got a little too liberal with some fire bombs. She was lucky she didn't set the whole forest ablaze." Naruto informed them.
"Aizen has just engaged K-Kakashi in a taijutsu battle. What's that, Kakashi seems as if he is f-faltering. Has Aizen managed to get a hit through? ... No, it w-was only a feint and Kakashi is n-now behind him and seems to preparing a jutsu that … ouch."
"What happened? I heard Kakashi saying the jutsu's name, Konohagakure's Most Secret and Sacred Technique: One Thousand Years of Death, and Aizen shrieking like a little girl, followed by a splash some time later. Was it a cool jutsu?" Naruto inquired.
"It was a c-chakra-enhanced ass poke. Aizen was c-catapulted into the river." Hinata said with a disgusted expression.
Choji stopped writing and turned around to stare at Hinate, as did Naruto. "D-Don't look at me like that, it's really what he did. It's not my f-fault Kakashi is a perverted porn addict who gets his jollies by sticking his f-fingers into young boys' asses."
"Oookay, I vote we do our damnedest to avoid getting assigned to Kakashi. All in favor?" Choji asked. Both Hinata and Naruto nodded.
"That shouldn't p-pose much of a problem. He is certain to get Sasuke from our year b-because only he can train him in the use of his sharingan once it awakens. S-Sasuke already has the title of rookie of the year as good as bagged. That means they will assign the t-top kunoichi and the dead last to his t-team if they stick to tradition. With the domination of the academic knowledge in the t-test scores Sakura is certain to take that position." Hinata said with a brief look of distaste at the mention of the pink-haired girl's name. "You two have simply to avoid b-being dead last." she added with a smile which caused Naruto and Choji to stick out their tongues at her.
After a few moments, Naruto stood up and stretched.
"Kakashi gave them the same speech about teamwork he gave the last team and sent them back to the academy. I really wonder if this idiotic bell test is only a fake to fail the teams assigned to him. After all, he never accepted a team even if he shows up each term." he wondered.
Choji closed his notebook and assumed a sitting position. "That was the last team test for this term. Nothing really remarkable about the teams or tests, not like half a year ago when that spandex-clad madman tested his team's 'fires of youth'. Sometimes I wonder why they bother with these tests, the outcomes are obviously rigged." After a look at his now empty bag of chips and at the position of the sun he declared "It's time for lunch anyway. I can't wait to see what mom packed this time."
Hinata and Naruto agreed even if it was still a little early. They had been at their observation post since before Kakashi's stated time for the test in the unlikely event that the man arrived early to prepare the training ground. They had brought some snacks, but nothing compared to an Akimichi picnic package assembled personally by Choji's mom. She was justifiably hailed as one of the best cooks in the entire clan. After they had feasted enough on the delicious food, conversation sprung up again.
"W-What do you think will be the optimal team structure for all of us?" Hinata asked.
"Well, that is difficult to say. The members of our circle can work together in almost any combination. It really depends a lot on which jonin will be available to teach. Have any of you heard anything?" Naruto said.
Choji had an answer for that. "It's a bit too early to be certain, but some talk has started. There are rumors that Kurenai Yuhi wants to take on a team. She has just made jonin, and apparently wants to get the required teaching out of the way. Other than that, nothing."
"She's the highest level genjutsu user that Konoha currently has after the death of the Kurama clan, isn't she? Yakumo-chan would probably like her as a teacher; she has the necessary knowledge to bring out her talents."
"Ino w-would also profit from her teachings, genjutsu h-have a lot in common with manipulating minds." Hinata interjected.
"How many teams do you think they will let pass in the end?"
"Let's see, first we have all the clan heirs, you, Shino, Sasuke, Yakumo, Ino, Hinata, and Shikamaru if he manages to find enough motivation to actually pass the test. That's already seven people they can't possibly send back. I'm pretty much guaranteed to get a team because of being the resident jinchuuriki and the Hokage's pet project, Kiba is also a safe bet. Sakura has enough potential and her family is connected enough to get her a spot. Ten people overall; that means we're looking at four teams with two lucky guys from the rest of the class thrown in." Naruto reasoned. "Kakashi and Kurenai are likely to become senseis, that leaves two unknowns for the other two teams. If Shikamaru doesn't improve his grades he will end up with Kakashi. Sometimes I think his laziness is becoming worse every day, we have only half a year left to graduation and he still does only the minimum necessary amount of work. That attitude will get him killed one day. "
Choji looked sad at that. Shikamaru had been his friend from an early age, but they had drifted apart over time. The Nara boy did only the minimum amount of work necessary to pass the tests and seemed only interested in sleeping and cloud-watching. Sure, his clan had a reputation for laziness, but Shikamaru took it to whole new level. Without his deep friendship with Naruto Choji would probably have gone along with it, but he had changed a lot since getting to know the energetic blond boy.
"Can't we do anything about Shikamaru? Nobody deserves to be on a team with Sakura and Sasuke under Kakashi." Choji pleaded.
Naruto looked at him thoughtfully before nodding. "Alright, we can try again one more time, but I don't think it will change anything. There appears to be nothing that gets through to him. I don't want to show our hand completely, so we just warn him about his possible future team and invite him to the study group again."
"Thanks Naruto. I still remember the time when he, Ino and I played together as small children. He's a friend, and I hate to see him die because he's lazy and got a bad team." Choji said gratefully.
"J-Just remember you can't help somebody who doesn't want help." Hinata warned sadly. "That way lays only grief. I know; I tried it for years with my c-cousin."
A dark cloud seemed to pass over them before Choji put on a cheerful smile and asked "Well, who wants a piece of lemon cake?"
Author's notes: My thanks to my reviewers. The next chapter will contain the graduation and team assignment.
A word on pairings: I do know which pairings I will use at the end, but even if some characters form a relationship there is no guarantee that it will hold throughout my story.
No Bleach crossover is intended; I'm not familiar with that particular universe (not enough time to read). My nephew is a fan and made me put these names in. For some reason he wanted to let Kakashi use his special jutsu on Aizen.