"One more bowl please Ayame!"
"Coming right up!"
Nawaki loved the ramen stand. He literally loved it. It was the place to go if he wanted to meet with his teammates, or if he wanted a cheap-but-delicious meal. Seeing as he lived alone, the Hokage gave him monthly living expenses. It wasn't much, but it was enough. To save money, Nawaki ate at the ramen stand as much as possible. He mostly ate with Oki, Konahamaru joined them occasionally. Hisa never joined them, but Oki had explained that she was always busy training, plus her father made her eat enough ramen at home.
Nawaki was currently eating his fourth bowl of ramen. Three days stranded in a minefield helped you get a healthy appetite. Oki was sitting next to him, slurping down her own noodles.
"So what's your plan for the finals?" she asked.
"I'm not sure." he replied. "I'm guessing that Sai will train you, and Ino will train your sister?"
She nodded.
"Yeah, it makes sense that way. Ino can teach Inori all the clan techniques. But what about you? Do you want me to ask Sai to teach you as well?"
He shook his head.
"Thanks, but nah. I'll find someone. Maybe there's a pervy sage lurking at the hot springs!"
She laughed.
"That's not actually a bad idea. Konahamaru is a massive pervert. He could train you!"
"I agree with the training part, but why would you call me a massive pervert Oki? Actually, don't answer that."
Nawaki turned as Konahamaru entered the stand. He sat down next to them and ordered a bowl of miso ramen.
"So Nawaki, you're the only one of my students without a teacher for the exams. I'm not that busy most days so… what do you say?"
Nawaki grinned.
"Are you really offering to train me? I'd love to!"
Konahamaru grinned evily.
"Alright then, first rule: No ramen. It's not healthy to eat that much."
He reached over and snatched Nawaki's bowl, slurping down the last remains.
"Hey! Why do you get to have ramen?" Nawaki demanded.
"Nawaki, I'm the Third Hokage's grandson, the future Hokage, the best jonin in the village and the master of disguises. Do you really want to question me?"
"You forgot master of the sexy jutsu, Kakashi Hatake's Icha Icha fanclub leader, the first male shinobi to take a bath in the women's hot springs and master of the threesomes. At least, that's what you told Dad. Remember when you told him about Hanabi and Moegi…"
"That's enough Oki!" Konahamaru yelled. Ayame was giving him the stink eye. He glared at Oki, he was pretty sure she had just lost him his favourite ramen restaurant. He grabbed Nawaki.
"Let's go kid. I need to get out of here before Ayame strangles me. Oki, you and I are going to have a talk about conversations you shouldn't eavesdrop on!"
Oki just grinned and waved goodbye to Nawaki as he was dragged from the shop. Nawaki couldn't help asking…
"Master of Threesomes?"
"It's a long story. A story that I can't tell you since it doesn't come with a PG version."
Nawaki shuddered and wisely decided to change the subject.
"So, what will you be teaching me?"
Konahamaru frowned.
"I'm not sure. What are you good at?"
"You've been my sensei for at least three months and you still don't know what I can do?"
Konahamaru shrugged.
"You can do Fire Style right? That's all I know. I haven't had time to study you're training. I've been busy."
"Busy at the hot springs."
"I refuse to comment. All I will say is that you have to stop listening to Oki so much."
"But she's right."
"Maybe so, but still! She knows too much!"
"How is that a bad thing?"
"I just got kicked out of Ichiraku's. That qualifies as a very, very bad thing!"
"Point taken."
They walked together for a few minutes until Konahamaru came to a stop. Nawaki looked around, there was nothing to see but miles and miles of rock and sand. How far had they walked?
"This is one of my favourite training spots." Konahamaru explained "It's close to the village, in case of an emergency, but it's also for enough away that no one should get hurt."
"That's great, but you still haven't told me what we're doing."
"That's because I'm making it up as I go along! Anyways, I know you can do a fireball and the phoenix flower jutsu. Are there any other fire techniques you can do?"
Nawaki nodded, trying to remain calm. He had been longing to show off this jutsu. He hadn't been able to show a lot of his skills, as most of his training with his mother revolved around his sharingan. Other than that, Nawaki was good with weapons, relatively good at hand-to-hand fighting and very good at Fire Style jutsus. He had spent two years working on this technique.
He reached into his pocket and grabbed some shuriken. Konahamaru was staring strangely at him, probably wondering what shuriken had to do with a Fire Style technique. Nawaki ignored him and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, and imagined his fire-infused chakra flowing through his body. When he had built up enough chakra, he threw the shuriken with his left hand, and exhaled the chakra with his right. The shuriken caught on fire at once, and they flew through the air, before burning straight through a boulder.
Nawaki grinned in triumph. He looked at Konahamaru, who looked absolutely gobsmacked.
"Nawaki, where did you learn that technique?" he whispered.
Nawaki realised that he had overdone it. He pretended to look confused.
"The wandering shinobi helped me learn it. I was the only person to master all his Fire Style techniques, so he gave me the task of creating my own. I'm good with shuriken and kunai, so I decided to use them."
Konahamaru seemed to buy his explanation. He stood there for a minute, thinking hard.
"It seems that both your shuriken throwing and Fire Style jutsu are extremely advanced. You don't need my help with any of that."
Nawaki started to panic. That hadn't been his intention when he showed Konahamaru his jutsu! He needed training to get stronger for the exams. He stopped panicking when he realised Konahamaru was handing him something.
"This is litmus paper." Konahamaru explained "It shows you what your chakra nature is. Did this wandering shinobi teach you about chakra nature?"
Nawaki nodded.
"He told me I had a Fire Style nature type because I could do fireballs."
"That's true." Konahamaru said. "But Fire Style isn't necessarily your only nature type. Hold the paper like this and send your chakra into it."
Nawaki put the paper between his ring finger and middle finger. He sent his chakra into it but this time, he didn't focus on making it fiery. He just let it flow. He closed his eyes and pushed it out onto the paper.
His eyes shot open in surprise when he felt the paper grow wet. He quickly tried to shake the water off, but it stuck to the paper. In the end, he just tossed the paper away.
"It seems you have a Water Style nature type. I'm not a Water Style user myself, but I know someone who is. Tomorrow, I'll get him to teach you some jutsu. As for today… here, this is the Third Hokage's seeing ball. Play with it."
With that, Konahamaru disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Nawaki reached down and picked up the small crystal orb. Was this really the Third Hokage's? It made sense, seeing as Konahamaru was his grandson. Nawaki wondered how it worked.
He picked it up and focused. Sakura Haruno. Sakura Haruno.
Nothing happened.
Nawaki tried again. Oki Yamanaka. Oki Yamanaka. Ino Yamanaka. Naruto Uzumaki. Hisa Uzumaki. Konahamaru Sarutobi. Sasuke Uchiha!
Nawaki gasped as the orb swirled, and he was looking at the inside of the Uchiha police station. There were people swarming around, and Nawaki wasn't sure which one was his father. The image was murky, but although Nawaki couldn't see them very clearly, he could feel their chakra.
He watched the police station for a few minutes, before he lost interest and removed his chakra from the ball. He would try again some other time.
He drew some targets on some boulders, and practised his weapon throwing, before heading home. He hadn't managed to do much today, but he was confident that tomorrow would be better. He would be getting a new sensei to teach him Water Style! He began wondering who it might be. Izumo from the guard house was a fairly skilled water user, but Kotetsu would get jealous if Izumo was asked and he wasn't.
Nawaki thought about it some more, but no one he could think of was a good Water Style user. He put the matter to one side and focused on the village around him. It was getting close to dinnertime, and all around him, families were heading home. He felt a small pang in his heart when he thought of his empty apartment. He would spend the afternoon eating takeaway and then he would just go asleep.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice someone calling his name.
"Nawaki! Hey, Nawaki!"
He turned as someone walked straight up to him. A smile appeared on his face.
"Oki? What are you doing here? Is your training finished?"
She grinned at him.
"Yep, Dad and I were just heading home for dinner when we saw you. Do you want to eat dinner with us?"
"I couldn't possibly…" Nawaki stammered.
Oki's grin widened.
"Of course you can! Dad said it was fine and that Mom wouldn't mind. My sister's at her teammate's house so we have an extra portion. Dad mentioned something about your mother killing him if he doesn't make you eat your vegetables. I don't get that, Dad doesn't even know your mother!"
Nawaki smiled.
"In that case, I'd love to!"
The two friends set off together, talking and laughing as they went.
!
The next morning, Nawaki was waiting impatiently to meet his new teacher. Konahamaru had told him to be at the bridge next to the hospital at seven o'clock. It was now ten, and there was still no sign.
He sighed. His legs were growing numb, and the day was so hot, he was falling asleep. He had a feeling Konahamaru had just forgotten to find someone. He was probably off somewhere with Hanabi and Moegi. Nawaki shuddered. Scary thoughts.
Suddenly, he felt a shadow fall over him. He looked up to see a man standing on the railing.
"Sorry I'm late, I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life."
Nawaki froze. He jumped backwards and stared at the man. It couldn't be him. He should be retired by now. It just couldn't be him.
Nawaki looked at the man. Mask: check. Silver, gravity-defying hair: check. Horrible excuse: check. Konoha flak jacket: check. One eye covered: check.
The man smiled down at him, or at least, it looked like he was smiling.
"You must be Nawaki. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I'll be training you for the Chunin Exams."