Chapter 26 - Dreams of Death & Snow
"Is the Hidden Leaf full of idiots?!" one of Hidden Frost chief's advisers barked at Konohamaru in the hotel lobby.
Standing just behind the pitiful jonin were his students, Hana being the only one of them looking particularly sorry for his actions.
A fifth person named Tarō, who was also an adviser for the chief, stood next to his fellow adviser, Shiki, trying to give Konohamaru polite translations of her words.
"Shiki just doesn't think it's smart for your genin to be getting involved in a fire occurring in our village."
"You could have jeopardized the safety of our village's ninja! What would you have done if one of them got hurt because your students wanted to play hero?!"
"Your students exposed themselves to harm when they jumped in. While it was very heroic of them, it was also very dangerous for both them and the ninjas on sight."
"So that's why, next time, keep your students in line and out of our village's way!"
"We appreciate the help, but please, let us handle things in the Hidden Frost for now on."
"Heh..." Konohamaru rubbed the back of his head, hoping it would stop hurting. "Right. ...Sorry again about this."
Tarō nodded. "It's alright. In the end, your genin did save a life. We'll just put this all behind us."
Put this all behind us, didn't seem to be what Shiki was thinking. After sparing a cold look, she walked out of the lobby without saying (yelling) another word to Konohamaru. Tarō gave the jonin a empathetic smile before following her out. Boruto made faces at the both of them.
"What a bunch of jerks," he said. "If if weren't for us that girl would have died for sure. Who lectures somebody for saving a life?"
"Bolt, could you please keep your mouth shut for once?" Konohamaru asked. "We're in their village, so we have follow their rules. Regardless of whether you guys saved the day or not, you still bypassed their authority like it was nothing."
"You didn't really try to stop us though, sensei," Sarada said. "In fact, you let me follow Hana and Bolt without a fuss."
Konohamaru could not deny Sarada's point. Maybe Shiki was write to lecture him like a child.
"Sorry, sensei... It's my fault," Hana said with a weak smile. "It's just... I get anxious whenever I see fire or smoke. You getting yelled at was my fault."
Konohamaru looked at his guilty student. The boy carried more remorse than even he did.
"Eh... Whatever. You broke the rules, but you did something good. I'll just give you guys the benefit of the doubt for today."
Hana looked up at him, his dark eyes brimming with surprise. Bolt patted his shoulder. "Ya see? Konohamaru-sensei gets it. He won't-"
"Hang on. I didn't say your guys were completely off the hook."
Boruto's eyes looked as startled as his friend's.
"Don't give me that look. Get your cloaks and follow me. We're heading out for a while."
The Hidden Frost Village was bigger than one would expect from a settlement where Winter was constant. It still paled in comparison to the size of a place like Konoha, but it was still impressive; with the most stand out feature being a enormous park in the village's center.
"Why are we at the park, sensei? There's nothing but kids here," Bolt said as they entered.
"We're here for 'that.'"
Konohamaru pointed at a tall ski slope sitting on its west wing. From the numerous trees sitting on it, his students could tell that it was it naturally formed, and the rest of the park had been built around it.
"So... we're going to ski as punishment?" Bolt asked.
"Just be quiet and watch."
He folded his arms with a "Tch..." and did so. A group of kids was standing at the foot of the slope, yelling up a boy who seemed to be the youngest of them.
"Hurry up and come down! We'll leave if you don't!"
Threatened with being left behind, the nervous boy gazed down the slope anxiously. Like a baby bird inching its way out of the nest, he stepped off of even ground and started sliding. Team 49 looked alarmed when he thought the boy was about to crash into a tree, but he adeptly weaved around it and every other obstacle in his way as he descended. Once he finally reached the bottom, his friends gathered around to congratulate him.
"Wow... Did he slide across the snow's surface?" Hana asked.
"He was probably exuding chakra from the soles of his feet like we do when we're climbing trees and walking on water." Sarada said.
Konohamaru nodded. "You got it right, Sarada. You use chakra to stick to a surface when you running up walls and trees, and use it balance yourself when standing on water. You could think of what that boy just did as a combination of both."
"How could that boy use a technique that advance when he's so young? He can't be over academy age."
"It's pretty normal here. It always snows in this village and their slopes and hills everywhere, so the locals just perfect this technique naturally over the course of their childhoods. Being from the Land of Fire you guys that privilege, but don't worry... we'll fix that before we leave the Hidden Frost."
This is what Konohamaru's idea was. Upon realization, Hana and Bolt exchanged looks. Their instructor predicted them making several faces, but smiles weren't one of them.
Hana tightened the strip binding his hair. "So we have to master this technique before he leave tomorrow? Alright! We won't let you down, Konohamaru-sensei."
Bolt punched his fist into his palm. "I'll have this snow sliding thing down pact by tonight. You can believe that!"
He headed off toward the top of the slope with Hana right behind him. A look of defeat could seen on Konohamaru's face.
"It's your own fault, sensei. If you wanted to punish idiots like them, you would have been better off making them sit in their rooms until we left. To them, being forced to train is more like a reward than a punishment."
Konohamaru held his beaten expression while Sarada followed the boys up the hill. Boruto descend first, slipping off his feet halfway, and sliding into a mound of snow at the foot of the slope, prompting the kids from before to point and laugh at him.
He sighed. "I guess it's better than them being unmotivated..."
Khaori gazed quixotically out her hospital room's window. Ever since she arrived in this village, the snow had never stopped falling. It had been so long since she saw the Sun, she had almost forgotten what it looked like.
Her thoughts were disrupted by the sound of her room's door sliding open. She could see in the window's reflection the frowning woman who had come to visit her.
"Hey, Shiki."
"That's Mrs. Shiki to you."
"What, did you get married? That sounds unlikely."
Shiki's frown evolved into a scowl as she shut the door behind her. She approached the hospital bed and glared intensely at the blue-haired patient sitting in it.
"While I don't mind you coming all this way just to glare at me, I don't think the hospital is going to allow it."
"I want you to answer a question. ...Without sarcasm."
"Are you going to ask if I was one who started the fire?"
"..."
Khaori sighed. "I thought we'd been over this already, Shiki: I'm suicidal anymore."
"So you didn't start the fire, then?"
"Of course I didn't. Nobody died. My work's not nearly that sloppy. If I had really been the arsonist behind that blaze..." She smiled. "There wouldn't have single survivor."
Shiki glare intensified. She knew from experience that she wasn't bluffing either.
"You little... Why does the chief even-"
"That's enough, Shiki," an authoritative voice from behind said.
Shiki looked back. "Chief. What are you...?"
"I was allowed to leave the hospital because of my duties, but I regular check-ups are still mandatory for me. Anyway, it's surprising to see you paying Khaori a visit. You two have never been on particularly good terms."
"Which is all her fault, by the way," Khaori interjected.
Shiki bared fangs at her one last time before leaving the room in a huff, making sure to bow to her chief before she shut the door.
"Will you two ever stop fighting?" Hitsugi asked.
"It's not like I want to fight, I just don't like losing."
"It's still a problem, Khaori..."
She shrugged and looked back out the window as Hitsugi took a seat next to her bed.
"What did you come here for?"
"To see you. I thought that much was obvious."
"You're playing favorites. The village chief shouldn't have favorites."
"I'm not playing favorites, Khaori."
"Oh? So everyone else who was involved in that fire got a visit from the chief?"
Hitsugi sighed. He had only just entered the room, and already he felt exhausted.
"Why is dealing with you so difficult? Eight years and you still won't let anyone get close."
"Feel free to thank me that. Trust me, I'm saving you and everyone else a lot of trouble."
Hitsugi tapped his knee. "What happened to the two guards I put outside your room?"
"I had Tarō get rid of them."
"Those guards were meant to protect you, Khaori. So long as those two men from earlier are still prowling about looking for you, I can't-"
"Hitsugi..." She looked up at him. "You're the reason why people hate nice guys."
The village chief lowered his head. He could never win against this girl.
"Alright, if that's how you feel, I'll just have to leave you be." He headed for the door. "But if those guys show up again, I don't care what you say - I'm protecting you like my life depends on it."
With that declaration, he shut the door and left. Such a tiresome person Hitsugi was. Ever since he found her washed up on a snowy beach eight years ago, he had been nothing but a busybody concerning her well-being.
And the day that he found her was just like this one, filled with snow.
It was getting dark when Bolt finally skid to the foot of the slope without falling, slipping or otherwise making a fool out of himself.
"Alright! I did it! Did you see that, Konohamaru-sensei!" he exclaimed.
"Hey, Bolt didn't fall!" one of the kids around him announced.
"I can't believe he did it," another kid said.
"Yeah. We all thought he was hopeless."
"Hopeless? Who the hell said that?! I was on top of this from the beginning!"
Sarada slid down right beside him smoothly and gracefully. "What are you yelling about? I could hear you from all the way up the slope."
"Sarada didn't fall even once. She's not a dunce like Bolt at all!"
Bolt growled at the children who ran away from him playfully.
"This is her first time making it down the slope, anyway!"
"If you're going to do something then you should do it right," Sarada lectured. "Unlike you, I'm not going to keep face-planting snow to figure out how to slide over it."
The two exchanged glares, making the chilly air heat up between them. Konohamaru stood back and watched. He honestly hadn't expected for the two of them to learn this quickly. It was barely dark out, and they had all already gotten a complete handle on it.
Well, almost all of them.
"W-Windmill Style!" Hana yelled.
He disappeared just as he was about to collide with a tree, then reappeared next to a adjacent tree that he held onto to prevent himself from sliding. He sighed in relief.
"Even Bolt is better than that guy... He hasn't even made it halfway down the slope without almost crashing," one of the children said.
Boruto was also a bit disappointed in Hana's performance. He should have made it down by now.
"Hey, Hana! What's taking you so long? I thought you grew up surrounded by snow!"
"Uh... There weren't that many hills and slopes around my village. This is actually the first time I ever tried snow sliding."
"Excuses! You just suck!" one kid yelled.
Hana made a miserable face as the children all laughed at him, much like a puppy cruelly having his ears pulled.
"Alright, you guys. Can you stop making fun of pupil?" Konohamaru asked while walking up to them.
The kids went along Konohamaru's request. It was getting late so they all decided to leave together, leaving Team 49 by themselves in the park.
"Hana, it's about time we headed back too. Just climb down using the trees," Konohamaru yelled to him.
Hana kept hold of the tree keeping him steady as he said "You all just head back to the hotel without me."
Konohamaru made a face. "Are you sure? We're going to leave the village early so-"
"I'll be back before midnight! I promise."
Seeing the desperate look in his pupil's eyes, Konohamaru nodded and headed in direction of the park's west gate. The other two genin followed him, although Bolt gave Hana a departing gaze before going.
"Was it really alright to leave him there, sensei? Bolt asked as they walked through the Hidden Frost's snowy streets.
"It's fine. He's probably giving it his all. It's better to just let him finish," his sensei responded.
"Come on, sensei. He can't be trying that hard. Otherwise he would have finished quickly like we did. He just slacking off-"
Konohamaru stopped abruptly. "Do you really believe that, Bolt? Do you really think Hana's not trying his best?"
"Huh? How else would you explain him not learning how to snow slide? It's not that hard."
Konohamaru rubbed the back of his head. "Bolt... you might not have noticed, but you and Sarada are different from Hana. He's not a prodigy like you two are."
Bolt smirked. "You don't have to tell me that, Konohamaru-sensei. I already-"
"I'm being serious, Boruto." Bolt made a face. "Even though you skipped class more than anyone else and basically flunked every written exam, your practical skills were on another level from the other students. Your taijutsu surpassed Sarada who number one in every other area. Had you took your studies more seriously you would have competed with her for top marks."
Bolt looked over at Sarada who was listening to Konohamaru as intently as he was.
"Sarada's potential speaks for itself. She was the top student of the academy, and had already mastered two of her chakra natures before she even graduated - a feat that's only eclipsed by the Third Hokage, who mastered three before graduation. It's obvious from your pedigree alone that you two would overshadow other genin. Hana... is different."
Feeling a bit pissed, Bolt gave his sensei an angry look. "What are you talking about, sensei? Ever since we were in the academy, Hana's always been-"
"Right beside you?" Konohamaru finished. "He's always been running right next to you... but as has he ever surpassed you? Has he ever gotten ahead of you even once? Did you ever think that maybe Hana was already barely keeping up with you to begin with?"
"..."
"I hate to say this, but Hana's potential isn't nearly as bright as yours is. It may seem like he's on your level now, but as you both mature the difference in talent is only going to get more obvious."
At a lost for words, Bolt glared down at the snow.
"Sorry, Bolt, but that's just how it is. One day, you and Sarada are going to leave Hana behind."
Having finished his lecture, Konohamaru kept walking toward the hotel. After sparing a moment's gaze at her teammate, Sarada followed him. Bolt stood alone in the snow. 'One day, you and Sarada are going to leave Hana behind.' That statement stayed with him.
Bolt always told himself that he was genius, that he was going to be better than anyone, that he would even surpass his father one day, but Hana... Hana was supposed to be his greatest opposition. He was supposed to be the one who kept up with him while he raced toward the goal called "Hokage." He was supposed to be his rival till the very end.
But he didn't have the potential? No, Hana had plenty of potential... but compared to Sarada and himself, he may as well as been labeled talentless. Compared to the two of them who had a pedigree composed of some of the greatest shinobi to ever live, there was no contest. The only reason he had kept up as long as he did was actually due to the training he received from one of those very ninja - Sasuke Uchiha.
But Hana wasn't truly of Uchiha blood. He could copy Sasuke's techniques all he wanted, but he would never truly take after them like Sarada, or even Bolt himself would. Yes, this was why Bolt thought Hana wasn't trying his best earlier. He had convinced himself that he and Hana were equals, but the truth of the matter was... they weren't.
And one day, they wouldn't even be close.
Bolt bit his lip while villagers passed by him, heading back to their homes for the night. He was going to surpass Hana one day. He wouldn't have a rival. He would just running by himself.
Bolt stopped staring at the snow, and looked ahead. His teacher and teammate had already disappeared around a corner. After looking back toward the park one more time, he followed after them.
"Windmill Step!" Hana shouted, vanishing and reappearing next to a tree just before crashing into another.
He sighed again, both in relief and exhaustion. It had been over three hours since his team had left him, and he wasn't showing any progress despite staying behind. He recalled how easily Bolt and Sarada grasp snow sliding: Boruto did what he always did, charging straight at it, striking from a million angles, knowing that even if he got beat away 999,999 times, he would manage to break through on the millionth.
Sarada took a more practical, cautionary route. Instead of going all the way down, she slid down the slope only half-way, then stopped by jumping up a tree, and ascending back to the top. She wanted to perfect her slide down the first half of the slope before making it to the second half; a perfectionist to the very end.
Hana took neither route. He couldn't try to "Head-on" method, because, unlike Bolt who had the instincts and reflexes to weave around trees in time and land in the softest part of snow at the bottom, he would always hit trees. He also couldn't try the "Half-and-half" method, due to not being able to even clear the first half without having escaping to safety with his Windmill Style. Sarada's style was out of the question too.
Of course, this didn't mean Hana was hopeless. The way he was struggling with snow sliding was normal. Most ordinary people would have this much trouble, but therein lied the problem: his teammates were not ordinary. They were anything but. The son of the Fourth Hokage and the daughter of his master who was descendant of the Uchiha clan. While they were academy students Hana managed to keep up with them, but recently he began to realize the real distance in ability between him and them.
"I can't keep up," Hana said with a sad smile.
It hurt to hear himself say it, but it was the truth. It wasn't like he was unused to this feeling. He went through the same thing back in the Fujikaze clan. Though he was chosen to be one of the possible successors of the clan, he could never quite keep up with the others, especially Tsubame. It wasn't just a question of age, it was one of ability. Hana didn't have the talent to get out of their shadows, and right now was no different.
He looked up at the snowy sky. "Well... Being the weakest is something I've dealt with before, at least."
Hana looked back down. When he did, he saw someone standing at the bottom of the slope staring up at the sky like he just was. Somebody familiar.
"Hey, isn't she...?"
Hana scaled the tree he held onto, and went down the slope by hopping from tree to tree. Once he made it to the bottom, he called out to the blue-haired girl standing in the snow.
"Um... Excuse me."
The girl looked at him. Bandages covered her arms, legs and neck. She was definitely the girl he had rescued before.
"What a small world meeting you again," she said, giving him a smile he couldn't trace any affection in.
"You're the girl from the fire... What are doing out here so late at night? Shouldn't you be at a hospital?"
"I guess, but I hate being cooped up in one space too long. At my apartment I'd sometimes wake up in the middle of the night just to go outside."
Hana cocked his head. "Why?"
"I don't know. To make sure outside still existed?"
Hana made a perplexed expression. What a strange girl he had saved. She was even waltzing around a snowy village at night in a hospital gown. He glanced down at her feet and saw that she wasn't even wearing sandals. How was she not cold?
"Ah. I just remembered that I hate you," she said while pointing at him. "I shouldn't even be answering your questions right now."
Hana went cross-eyed trying to look at the long finger being held between his eyes.
"...Well, I guess I'll let it go for now."
She strolled off further into the park, climbing a toad-shaped slide and standing at the height of it. She stretched her arms out as though to welcome the raining snow into her embrace.
Hana walked towards her.
"If you look up my gown, I'll hate you again," she said.
He reflexively took a few steps back. "Uh... Why do you hate me, in the first place? The only thing I did was save your life."
"Yeah, you did, and that's why I hate you." She closed her eyes as snow hit her face. "I was kind of hoping I would die in that fire."
"...Wha?!"
"What? It's the only way since I can't do it myself. I used to try when I younger, but Hitsugi stopped me. He made me promise not to try and kill myself anymore, and while I'm a lot of nasty things, an oathbreaker isn't one of them. Still, while I can't throw myself off a bridge, having one collapse under me is fair game. That fire was a blessing, and I almost want to thank the negligent mother who must have left her stove on. ...But just as things were getting good, you showed up, grabbing me in your arms and swooping me to safety just as the roof, that was supposed to crush my head, fell. Seriously, what thoughtless guy you are."
Hana could say nothing. She wanted to die? She wanted to get crushed? She was hoping for death to come? She thought it blessing? What was wrong with this person? Despite having such a deadly-ideology, the girl didn't come off as suicidal at all. From the way she admired the snow, Hana could tell that she didn't despise life. So why did she want to living?
"It never stops snowing here..." she said. "No matter what season or whether it's day or night, snow just keeps on falling."
Her random observation bemused Hana further. And then he realized she was tilting back. Just as she fell off the large toad, Hana ran up and slid to catch her.
"I thought you said that you promised not to kill yourself!"
"I'm alive, aren't I?"
Hana stared blankly at the girl in his arms. She stood first and dusted the snow off her gown.
"Well, I guess I should get back. If Hitsugi finds out I snuck out of my room, he'll spazz like nothing else. ...Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing that." The girl seemed to debate with herself whether or not torment someone she knew. Eventually, whatever conscious she had won out. "See you later, Nice Guy."
Hana stood as she walked off. "Nice Guy? Why are you calling me that?"
"Because I hate nice guys."
The same false-smile he had received before hit him again. The girl left the park, her shoe-less feet showing no signs of frostbite as they stomped through the snow. Hana stood there, still a daze. He looked back toward the slope. Realizing that he no longer had the focus to continue practicing, he sighed and decided to head back to the hotel.
"...Nice Guy," he repeated on his way back.
