I wasn't surprised, not in the slightest, when we finally reached Kiri and as soon as we stepped foot in the region, shinobi were there, waiting for us to arrive. They lead us to an inn, first and foremost. Which made sense because we were probably going to spend some time around here.
I surely don't plan to lose easily.
The room arrangements were made pretty quickly. Sumire and I were obviously going to share and so were Sarada and Chocho. Iwabe and Metal stuck together, as did Boruto and Mitsuki, Inojin and Shikadai.
We ate like starved fools then closed ourselves behind indoors. At least, that's what I thought everybody did until the window of the room I was staying at got hit by a pebble. Wait, scratch that, it was a freaking boulder.
I cracked my knuckles, already having a pretty good hunch about who was the one to throw it.
Sumire having noticed the killer intent I was radiating, sighed. "Don't kill them, Seina."
If only she knew how many times I stopped myself from acting on that impulse.
Crossing my arms against my chest, I gave my purple haired best friend a pointed look. "It's a wonder the window didn't break!" I exclaimed, before taking a deep breath.
Unicorns, dango, that hot guy I saw sitting in the train...
Once I succeeded to calm myself, I approached the window, opening it, and poking my head out. It was only because of Orochimaru's training regimes that I caught the next stone before it damaged my face...and my newfound patience.
"Get back inside you morons! What are you even doing outside, hitting our window?!"
Okay, I expected Boruto and Iwabe and Denki with Metal because they basically worshipped them respectively.
But seeing Shikadai, Inojin and Mitsuki made me reach the following conclusions:
I am a horrible judge of character.
Boys are a lost cause.
"We told Boruto that he shouldn't have done it..."
Said guy gave them a glare, scoffing. "As if, they didn't even mumble a word other than cheers."
Before some argument could break out between them, I blew a sigh, sensing Sumire come stand beside me. She gave them a patient smile.
So now we are doing good cop and bad cop, great.
"Hello mina! Not that we aren't glad to see you..." I rolled my eyes and brushed off the stern look she threw me when I did. "But you could have used the door." she finished her sentence.
"Class Rep-san, we deeply apologize for that!" Metal, always the gullible one, was quick to respond, bowing out of shame and politeness. The others nodded, following his lead, minus the bow before giving us matching, excited grins.
Uhuh, they are up to something and I'm almost certain it's as idiotic as their face.
"Just come inside!" I yelled, suddenly aware that apart from their presence, there was another one, hidden. Where exactly, I wasn't sure but I wasn't going to take any chances. The fact that I sensed malice was good enough for me to make sure nothing bad was going to happen.
I made eye-contact with Shikadai, hoping he'd get it.
"You heard her." he said, after a moment of consideration. It wasn't surprising that they all chose to listen, coming up one by one. Once they did, I shut the window before turning to face them. They were all giving me expectant looks.
"I don't know what you think you are doing but I feel obliged to remind you that this village used to be called 'The Bloody Mist.' "
If I expected some sort of reaction, laughing was the last one I thought of.
I glared at Boruto, who was busy showering in amusement.
"I thought being a walking textbook was Sarada's job." he replied, mocking me.
He knows how much I hate being compared to her.
When Mitsuki narrowed his eyes to slits at him, I knew that no matter how much he admired him, I was always going to come first. "That piece of information is basic knowledge, Boruto." he didn't say more than that but I was grateful nevertheless.
Inojin regarded me silently, exchanging looks with Shikadai. What were they thinking, I didn't know.
"What's gotten you so worried all of a sudden?" it was Iwabe who asked me even though I thought I made it quite obvious. I sighed, praying for patience.
At least he is being serious for once.
"I sensed another chakra besides your own, outside. My point is, we are no longer in Konoha and you should be more careful of what you speak in public places."
Metal seemed the most confused from all of them but I couldn't judge him for it. "I don't understand. Haven't the Elemental Nations been at peace for years now?"
Great, we are entering a subject that's the devil's playground.
Politics.
How could I explain to him that even if what Naruto achieved was remarkable and efficient, things could change for the worst at any given time?
"All it takes is one little push for chaos to have room, child."
It scared me how often I thought back to what Orochimaru taught me but as sadistic and cold as he was, nobody could question his intelligence or the fact that he had a knack for sensing things.
Knack that he had passed onto me.
"Shinobi are unpredictable, Metal. We can't know when one of them decides to snap." Shikadai explained, coming to my rescue.
He seems to be doing that a lot lately.
"If it makes you feel better Red, we weren't going to discuss anything that shouldn't be discussed out in the open." Inojin spoke before Iwabe butted in:
"Speak for yourself, Kami knows Boruto would have slipped something."
"No, I wouldn't have! I'm not an idiot, I know as much! Inojin was right, we were going to ask if you wanted to explore this place before the exams begin tomorrow." He defended himself, glaring at Iwabe and watching me from the corner of his eye to gauge my reaction.
Hadn't he heard what I just said?
I took a deep breath, considering my options. On one hand, I couldn't blame them for wanting to look around. They have never travelled outside of Konoha before. I was also curious to see the surroundings since half of my roots lay here...But on the other hand, it'd be best if we lay low. This wasn't our village, it was foreign ground and while dad told me a few things about his birthplace, he hadn't informed me well enough to be comfortable.
Or maybe he had left out so much to ensure I wouldn't be traumatised...
"Have you asked Sarada and Chocho?"
"Not yet, we hoped to gain your approval first." Mitsuki answered, watching me and Sumire respectively.
"Come on Hozuki, this is the place where the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were born. Your uncle was one and so is your father now." Iwabe said, trying to tempt me more than I already was.
"This is a drag but if you come, at least there are less chances of a disaster happening. You know Boruto, trouble follows him." Shikadai added, smirking slightly.
"Yeah, he is rig—HEY!" Boruto protested vehemently upon getting the massage. Inojin elbowed him in the stomach, not very subtly though.
I bit back a smile before something occurred to me. I looked down, suddenly aware that I was wearing my pyjamas. They weren't revealing but puberty was hitting us all, me included.
"GET OUT!" I yelled, effectively damaging their ear drums. Sumire, having reached the same conclusion as I did, was a little more merciful. "Please." she added calmly but blushing nevertheless.
The boys, surprisingly, were looking as if they had just noticed our current state and they were quick to look away, stutter profound apologizes, tripping over themselves in order to reach the door, Metal being the loudest of them all. Mitsuki and Inojin were the only ones to walk out in a calm and composed manner.
Once we were left alone, I began searching in my luggage for something to wear. "Will you be coming as well? I know you think it's your duty Sumire to look after us and you will always remain Class-Rep in my and everybody's eyes but..." pausing, I walked to stay in front of her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "There is no pressure, alright? Let them be idiots and blow things up, they are bound to grow-up eventually."
"I DON'T GET IT. ARE YOU TWO COMING OR NOT?" Boruto's painfully loud voice rang from behind the door.
Facepalm.
"STOP YELLING! WE ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES STAYING AT THIS INN BAKA!" I retorted, suddenly aware I just raised my voice too.
"THAT'S HYPOCRITICAL OF YOU TO SAY!"
Aghh, he is impossible.
Sumire laughing quietly in that gentle way of hers made me re-focus my attention. "I'm coming, if only for Boruto-kun's sake." she paused, voice cheerful before regarding me with serious eyes. "You two bicker a lot more than usual lately. Something happened?"
What does she mean? We always bicker whenever we have to share space.
Then I thought back to what happened one year ago.
FLASHBACK;
I bit my lower lip, not knowing what else to say before I noticed something attached to Boruto's wrist when the sleeve of his jacket rolled up slightly.
Huh, weird. I didn't know he wears a watch.
Curious to see it, I stepped closer to him and reaching out for his hand. What shocked me, however, was when he caught my hand, his grip so tight that it hurt.
"Let go." I said calmly, realizing I had made a mistake and startled him. But crossing inside each other's personal space had never been an issue for Boruto before.
His once light blue eyes were now three shades darker and he was angry. So angry that he was still gripping my hand. By now I was sure he had left a bruise. However, the pain wasn't bothering me as much as his attitude.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" I yelled, hoping that would somehow wake him up. I refused to believe this was one of my best friends.
I managed to release my hand out of his grip and instead of leaving, like maybe I should have done, I started hitting his chest with my fists. They were sloppy hits and I knew they weren't doing much because I was too frustrated to hit him properly. Not that I wanted to.
"I just came to wish you good luck you baka! And...I didn't think that you'd hurt me just for wanting to see your damn stupid watch!"
When Boruto got fed up with my acts of violence, he caught both of my wrists. I struggled, raising my leg to hit him so he could let go but he saw that one coming and blocked my leg with one of his, pressing me against the desk. I was still yelling at him the entire time.
It took me a while to realize that he was being gentle now, compared to earlier. But firm enough so I was stuck in that position. The colour of his eyes seemed to have returned to normal too. He was himself again although I never would have thought we would end up like this.
"Are you finished dattebasa?" He asked quietly and I could hear the guilt in his voice when he spotted the red marks on the wrist that not too long ago he had gripped.
"Not yet." I paused, trying to catch my breath even though reason told me our fight couldn't have possibly made me this tired.
I am Orochimaru's apprentice for Kami's sake.
I watched him narrow his eyebrows, keeping the eye-contact and himself pressed against me. As if he was trying to make me think twice before I said anything else related to the subject.
Too bad we were both equally stubborn people.
"What are you hiding Boruto? I want to see what could be worth so much that you'd hurt me for."
It came to me while I was fighting him that whatever was the thing attached to his wrist, it had to be far more important than a watch.
It had to.
Otherwise I was going to lose it.
"I didn't want to hurt you Seina and you know it dattebasa."
"Do I?" I asked rhetorically.
It was not the bruises that bothered me. They weren't too bad and I've had worse. I probably would have shrugged if it happened during a spar or competition but this was different.
He let go of one of my hands to run it through his blonde hair as if he didn't know what to do next.
He doesn't have to take that decision.
I used my free hand to tug at his sleeve and Boruto wasn't quick enough to stop me. This time I got to see that thing. It was a device that I have heard about from Suigetsu.
"Ugh, I can't believe you... YOU PLAN TO CHEAT TOMORROW?" I couldn't help but raise my voice again.
END OF FLASHBACK;
Even if we made up immediately after and I convinced him not to be an idiot and cheat...something changed. It was like...we were back to square one, back to being ten-year olds, arguing over the littlest, most trivial stuff. It felt like somebody came and erased all the friendship and trust that had been carefully built.
Realizing Sumire was still waiting for an answer, I snapped back to the present. "We fought, a while ago."
She gave me a look that said you two always butt heads to which I replied with: "I know but it was different then."
From so many points of view that have my teenage mind resembling a whirlpool.
I smiled a bit at the irony. Boruto was as much Uzumaki as I was and they had a tendency to make ripples and hurricanes wherever they went, didn't they?
Sumire gave the hand I had on her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "He is making an effort, if you ask me. The others are merely coming to fill space so things won't be weird between the two of you."
I heavily doubted that but I was glad all the gang was going. The more, the merrier. I nodded, thanking my best friend for listening and for her wise counsel. It didn't take long for us to get ready and when we walked out of the room, we found Sarada and Chocho have joined the boys. I dimly wondered how they convinced the responsible, stiff Uchiha to come but I kept those thoughts to myself only.
"Joyful! Now that we have all gathered, our adventure can begin!" Metal gushed in a spectacle voice, sprinting ahead, leaving the rest of us to shake our heads and follow him.
...
I ignored everyone as they talked, closing myself in my own little world, too busy to look at our surroundings to take part in any kind of conversation.
Years after the Fourth Shinobi World War and Kiri, with all the efforts of Mei considered, still had that heavy air, the wind carrying the regrets of ghosts and the mist trying too hard to hide a shameful past that could only be pushed under the rug but never actually erased.
The blood was gone, long ago washed by the times rain had fallen and yet the village was never going to be known as anything but "Bloody Kiri". It saddened me immensely though I had hope that the future generations were never going to walk the streets and feel what I was feeling.
Stealing a glance at my friends, I wondered if I was the only one who thought about these things.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I watched the anime and witnessed what Kiri could do to people, Haku and Zabuza just an example in the sea of victims the village had created with its cruel ways.
"Hime, do you have any family around here?" Mitsuki wondered all of a sudden, intruding upon my thoughts.
"Not that I know of. Uncle died before I was born and tou-chan didn't say anything about having any relatives alive."
My comment caused some sort of silence to fall upon us. It wasn't uncomfortable but I suddenly felt obliged to do something to break it.
"Are you guys nervous? About tomorrow, I mean."
Iwabe looked at me then like I had just grown two heads over night. "You can't be serious Hozuki. You, nervous? Did Hell just freeze or something?"
I fought the urge to throttle him. After all, I needed a whole team in order to participate in the exams. "I asked if you are."
Damn him for reading me so well.
"We all went through the motions once so we have no reason to be. Iwabe is right. You are the only one who has no idea what to expect." Sarada intoned, as if she was reading facts from a book.
I wanted to throttle her too but Mitsuki and Boruto needed their teammate intact. Besides, I couldn't ignore the part of me that knew she was right. They have all competed last year and possibly only failed because the exams were sabotaged.
"It doesn't matter, Sarada. Konoha isn't Kiri and Kiri isn't Konoha. The first two rounds won't be the same and considering the past of this village, I wouldn't be surprised if the exams are harder to ace here than in any other place." Shikadai calmly interfered, as if sensing my anger.
Truth be told, radiating killer intent came as second nature to me now and it sometimes slipped out of my control.
I made eye contact with the Uchiha, wondering if her kind and mine, the Uzumaki, were forever doomed to argue. "I was merely saying that we have got some experience under our belts." she defended herself.
The child of my favourite ship or not (after my parents, of course), I had never really gotten along with Sarada. Half of the blame was on me, because I couldn't let go of that incident, the one where she barged inside my home, adamant that my mother is hers too.
She was the first person I met from the New Generation outside from Mitsuki and that impression left a bad taste in my mouth whenever I thought of it. Anyways, the other part of the blame was solely hers for making that impression in the first place.
Insulting each other and making biting remarks became habit once I moved to Konoha.
"You don't have to rub it in her face dattebasa." Boruto argued, knowing first-hand just how bad I felt when I was brought in front of the Hokage and his council and given the punishment of not attending the exams with them.
"What are you, her boyfriend, Boruto?" Inojin butted in, sounding half curious and half irked.
Clenching my fist, I punched a nearby tree with all the pent-up anger and frustrations gathered inside.
"My best friend." I said through gritted teeth, surprising even myself by admitting that. I looked over at Sumire, hoping she didn't take any offence only to find her smiling. I understood quickly what she meant by that. One could have more than one best friend. Grasping my bloody knuckles, I kept walking before speeding towards the wall of a building, to use the rooftops.
"You are an idiot, Inojin." I heard Chocho declare in the distance then silence. The village was surprisingly quiet, unlike Konoha who was buzzing with chatter and noise most of the time.
I moved towards the forest path, until I found a small pond. Just like dad, water was my element and it always calmed my nerves, if only briefly. Sitting down on the grass, I closed my eyes, knowing Boruto had followed me. His chakra signature was unmistakable and it also soothed me in ways I refused to think about.
"You don't run when you get upset." he sounded confused and I couldn't blame him. He didn't wait for any kind of approval, just sat down beside me. "People usually get several damage and trauma when you do." he added in a joking manner but I could tell he was serious.
It was the truth, after all. Yelling profanities and punching people was usually my way of dealing with anger and sadness. Anything else came as an alien concept.
"And nobody knows that better than you."
He chuckled, blue eyes dancing with mirth as he nodded. "And nobody knows that better than me yeah."
We exchanged amused looks before we opened our mouths at the same time, blurting out. "I'm sorry."
I narrowed my eyebrows in confusion, shaking my head in doubt. "If it's about what happened when I came over..."
Boruto interrupted me. "Not that, although I still resent myself for doing what I did." he paused. "I ignored you for a year afterwards Seina. Friends shouldn't..."
It was my turn to cut him off. "I ignored you too baka. So, we are even."
"Even, huh." he repeated, glancing down at my bloody knuckles, not saying anything though for a moment. "We should make Inojin or Sarada heal them."
Like hell I'm asking for help. I thought, stubbornly refusing even the idea of it.
"I will bandage them later, that way I will look tougher in front of our opponents." I added with a small smirk which had Boruto deadpanning.
"You are scary on your own without bandages, trust me dattebasa."
It pleased me a lot to hear that.
Shifting my position slightly so I sat cross-legged now, I looked at the blond troublemaker from the corner of my eye. "Why did you come, Boruto?"
He didn't move his eyes away from the water. "In Kiri? Like the rest I wanted..."
I elbowed him playfully and not harsh like I used to many times in the past. "Not that, dumbass. I meant why did you come, well, you know..."
This time he did turn his head to look at me, raising an eyebrow. It struck me that maybe he had a split personality. One moment it felt like I was talking to Naruto pre and shippuden and the other it felt like Minato was standing right beside me.
"After you?"
I nodded, looking away.
He was silent for a while. "For all the times I didn't this year."
I prayed to all deities that my cheeks didn't start resembling my hair, punching him in the stomach instead.
"OW Seina! Why did..."
I smiled innocently and faced him when I felt my face temperature returning to normal. I mirrored his speech. "For all the times I didn't."
He shook his head at my antics, rubbing at his hurt stomach. "I certainly didn't miss your punches..."
Now far too curious to let the opportunity pass me by, I asked. "What did you miss then?"
Boruto refused to make eye contact, standing up from the grass. He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish manner. "Beating you in a spar, of course." he offered me a hand, helping me to stand up.
"Mhm, keep talking like that Uzumaki and you won't make it to the exams tomorrow." I threatened but only half-heartedly.
"Can I trust you not to fix Sarada's glasses dattebasa?" he asked.
"I don't know. Can I trust you not to slap Inojin with his brushes?"
We looked at each other then burst out laughing.
...
Somewhere hidden in the distance, two missing-nin were having a debate. "So, the blond one is Uzumaki Naruto' son?"
"The resemblance is uncanny, idiot. Just look at him."
"We will have our hands full then. He must be a strong one."
"Still a kid, Katsu."
The other hummed, deep in thought. "Maybe but there is another with him. I haven't seen red hair since..."
"Since a very long time."
"And her chakra..."
"Change of plans then. We take them both."
A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been a long time since my last update and for that I'm sorry. I've had some stressful weeks and no inspiration for any of my fanfics. Today I stumbled upon the draft of this chapter and felt the urge to finish and post it...so here we are. Also, I have one request. If you have any idea about what the first round of the exams should entail, don't hesitate to leave a review about it. I promise I will take it into consideration.
Until next time!