Hidden Grass Village (Kusakagure)
Kyoudai laughed lightly as she nibbled on her food. She was currently having lunch with Namihiko. To say the least she was having a really good time. From the time he walked her home until now, they had talked non-stop. Within the two days they knew each other, Kyoudai had pretty much learned his life-story, and vise-versa.
Namihiko was twenty years old and worked as a blacksmith with his father. His father owned a majority of the weapons shops in Kusakagure. Coincidently, the store that Hijiri bought his chakra sword from was owned by Namihiko and his father. Namihiko wasn't a registered ninja, but they did research and trained in ninja arts in order to mold chakra weapons. A common method for blacksmiths in a ninja village.
Kyoudai had told him about her particular skill in Ninjutsu, and the variety of techniques she had developed, for herself, her clan and for Hijiri. After a little more discussion, Namihiko had proposed that the two of them could do a little work together, her aptitude for ninjutsu, and his skill in molding chakra weapons could be combined. He had said that he needed a skilled ninja in order to infuse a weapon with particular Jutsu.
All business aside, for the mean time they were just having lunch and continuing to get to know each other.
"I was wondering, have you ever thought of opening your own blacksmith? Or do you prefer working with your dad?" Kyoudai asked.
"I thought about it, but I like working with my dad, it's a family business, and I take alot of pride in it. Maybe I'll open a few of my own but my dad will probably be apart of it as well." He said.
"What about you? Any particular plans?"
Kyoudai thought about it for a minute before speaking. "Ninja don't really have similar career plans as everyone else so to speak." She said, after seeing Namihiko's semi confused look she continued. "You see, the biggest career opportunity for a ninja, is to become leader of a village, but that's really unlikely for the majority of ninja. For each ninja, future goals are really just to learn more Jutsu, and improve our skill really."
"I see where you're coming from, but not all ninja are apt in creating techniques like you are. I'm sure if you wrote down all the Jutsu you've made, you could turn it into a script and distribute it to the academies for teaching."
"I thought about that a few times, at some point I might do that. I figured, I and my mom would sit down, and she can help me."
"Sounds like a plan. What's your mom like?" He asked. "Is she as beautiful as you?"
"Um, yea I guess, thank you." Kyoudai said blushing.
"I have a question for you."
"What is it?"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
Kyoudai blushed more and smiled lightly. "Um, no. I'm single."
"What a coincidence. So am I." He said smiling
Kyoudai giggled slightly and looked at him. Before she could say anything a cloaked figure appeared beside them. Kyoudai looked up at the new arrival and recognized the mask as Hijiri.
"How's everything going?" He said to the two of them.
Kyoudai cleared her throat and inwardly cringed that Hijiri showed up at the time he did. "Nothing in particular. We're just having lunch. This is Namihiko."
Hijiri extended his hand and shook Namihiko's. As he reached out with his hand, his cloak opened enough to reveal his sword that was strapped to his right leg.
Namihiko eyed the weapon and looked up at him. "That's one of my swords."
Hijiri looked at him. "No, it's my sword."
Namihiko laughed. "No that's not what I meant. That's the Killer Bee, me and my father are blacksmiths, we forged that."
Hijiri opened his cloak and looked at the weapon. "Nice job, it's excellent."
"Glad that my work is appreciated. What exactly do you use it for? Killer Bee has a very specific chakra system."
"I use it to make people explode." Hijiri said.
Kyoudai laughed at the look on Namihiko's face, obviously confused. "He says that every time; just to see people's reactions. What he does with it is similar to what he said, but he won't tell you how he uses it specifically. That's his secret."
"Oh, you two know each other personally?"
Hijiri and Kyoudai nodded. Kyoudai spoke first. "Yea this is..."
"We know each other personally. My name isn't of concern." Hijiri cut her off.
Namihiko looked at them both, he didn't bother to say anything, and he understood that ANBU hid their identity. Kyoudai would probably get in trouble later for nearly exposing his identity. He decided to just leave it alone.
"Anyhow, I came here to confirm something with you." Hijiri said to Kyoudai. She nodded her head let him know to continue. "Temporary transfer?"
Kyoudai looked at him confused. "Where?"
"Well, where have you wanted to go, and haven't been able to go." Hijiri said. When she didn't answer him right away he inclined his head to Namihiko. "He's a civilian remember. Which is why I'm not making sense."
Kyoudai nodded her head and continued thinking for a few moments before she figured it out. Her face lit up when she realized he was talking about Konohakagure. She had wanted to get there for a while so she could visit all of her friends there. "Yea of course. Are you going to go talk to Koumei now?"
Hijiri nodded yes. Without saying another word he raised his hand, gave a little wave and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"She's on a fucking date!" Hijiri said as he barged into Koumei's office. He took of his mask and dropped it on his desk, revealing his slit, purple eyes. In the room with them were Homura and his younger brother Sandayuu.
"Who is?" Sandayuu asked. "And what does this have to do with my mission?"
"Nothing. Hijiri here just decided to interrupt. Koumei said, clearly irritated. "Whatever, Sandayuu, you know what your mission is. Unless you have any questions you're dismissed."
Sandayuu looked at everyone, shrugged and left. When he left and closed the door Koumei spoke up.
"Why the fuck did you just walk into my office without knocking?" Koumei berated Hijiri. "You better have a professional reason to be here. If you don't I'm going to kick your ass."
Hijiri cocked one eyebrow. "You kick my ass?" He said with a smirk as Koumei's face went red. Hijiri then answered his question quickly incase Koumei decided to punch him in the face right then and there.
"I wanted to ask for a temporary transfer to Konoha, me and Kyoudai both."
"Fine take it. Koumei said
The room was silent for a few moments before curiosity got the better of Homura. "Who's on a date?"
"Fucking Kyoudai!"
"Who's fucking Kyoudai?" Koumei asked with a laugh.
Hijiri gave him an irritated look and spoke up. "No you twit, Kyoudai is on a date."
"With who?"
"Some civilian, I don't know his name." Hijiri said; Homura and Koumei looked at each other. Then back at Hijiri, whose mouth was starting to stretch at the corners.
"Jealous Hijiri?"
"I'm not jealous. It's not like me and Kyoudai are a couple or anything. It's just. Why is she even on a date? She's never dated before. Why now? Are they going to get married or something? Like what the fuck."
Koumei and Homura looked at each other again and smirked. Hijiri continued to rant without making any reasonable sense. They both found a great deal of amusement listening to him complain when he had no idea what he was complaining about. When he finally stopped they were a little disappointed that he didn't have anything else random to say.
Hijiri opened his mouth to speak again but stopped when both Koumei and Homura looked at him in slight surprise.
"What?" He asked.
"You have very large fangs." Homura said.
"Yea it's because I have a demon inside of me. Did you forget?"
"No it's just that one second your were ranting, then you stopped and when you went to speak again you had grown fangs." Homura said.
"It happened pretty fast." Koumei added.
Hijiri looked at them trying to figure out why what anything they were saying had to do with his problem. "Dude, seriously. She's dating."
"So like I asked before, are you jealous?" Homura asked slyly.
"No, weren't you listening to anything I just said?"
"Nothing you just said made any sense, after that pointless rant all I got from it was that your jealous that Kyoudai has a boyfriend."
"No I'm not jealous, I'm just saying, why does she need a boyfriend, when did this happen? What the hell."
Koumei and Homura looked at each other again with wide smiles. "I think he's jealous."
"Young love, so confusing." Koumei said. They both turned and looked at Hijiri with wide grins.
Hijiri looked at them both in turn and sighed. "You guys are assholes."
Hidden Leaf Village (Konohakagure)
Naruto was currently standing in Tsunade's office as he waited for her to join him. He was dreading a mission. He had just gotten back and he wanted a little time in Konoha before he went back to work or training. A vacation so to speak.
It wasn't long before Tsunade entered the room and took a seat at her desk. Before she had a chance to speak Naruto voiced his mind.
"Please Baa-chan; Let me stay here for a bit before you give me a mission. I just got back." He begged.
Tsunade sighed and palmed her forehead in disbelief. "I'm not sending you on a mission, I just wanted…" Tsunade paused for a moment to let Naruto finish cheering. "I just wanted to call you in here to talk about a few things."
"What is it?"
"I just got a message from Kakashi in Kusakagure. They were successful in assassinating the Daimyo and Grass Country will be switching sides soon enough. It'll take a little bit to have their armies allied with us, but the ninja village is one-hundred percent with us, like they have been for the past three years."
"Kakashi is coming back sometime tomorrow afternoon and he's bringing a few Kusa ninja with him. They'll be staying here temporarily."
"Ok, cool. I've missed Kakashi-sensei."
"I'm sure. One of the things I wanted to talk to you about though, one of the Kusa ninja coming with him, his name is Oronaga Hijiri."
Naruto thought for a moment, he recognized the name but couldn't quite place it. Tsunade decided to give him a hint.
"Kyoudai's friend that you've never met."
"Ohhhh. Ok him. Yea anytime I see her she talks about him but he's never around. I swear, everyone has met him but me. Is Kyoudai coming too?" He asked.
"Yes she is. But I mentioned Hijiri because there was a reason you two have never met. Hijiri is also a Jinchuuriki." Naruto's face reflected the surprise he was feeling.
"That's the problem though, I don't know much about demons and how they get along with one another, but after speaking with the head Jounin of Kusakagure, he says that the demon sealed in Hijiri, and the Kyuubi are on bad terms."
"Really? Hmm, I'd have to talk to Kyuubi about that."
Tsunade seemed mildly surprised that Naruto so casually mentioned a possible conversation with a demon. Regardless, she continued speaking. "Either or, you need to ensure that you don't lose control of the Kyuubi. The head Jounin of Kusakagure promised that Oronaga Hijiri can control his demon. Can you control yours?"
Tsunade looked at Naruto sternly. He looked back with equal intent. He knew when it was time to be serious, and Tsunade was dead serious. He took a moment to ask himself whether he could control the Kyuubi, made sure that he had the correct answer.
"Yes, I can." He said with absolute certainty.
"Good, I'm glad we had this talk." Tsunade said with a smile.