KONOHA
Neji, during this time, was cleaning out the clan library. And boy, did it need it. Desperately. He sneezed again as the dust invaded his nose, and Hinata sighed.
"I can do this," he said to her.
"No, nii-san. It's fine. I love helping you," Hinata smiled. Then sneezed as a dusty book fell from her stack.
Neji sighed. "We're never going to get it clean like this."
Hinata nodded. "If only we knew a jutsu that wouldn't damage the books, but swept the dust away..." Her eyes lit up. "Your Kaiten!"
Neji nodded his head. "Cover your face," he instructed her.
Hinata did so as he moved to an undisturbed part of the room and spun, releasing chakra from all his tenketsu points. Wind stirred up the dust, making it fly into the air. Neji stopped spinning and sneezed violently.
Hinata did the same.
~"~
Outside of the library, Ko the guard found a sense of amusement as he heard the heiress and the genius sneezing.
~"~
Neji started to pick up the books that had fallen in the gust of wind when he stopped and stared at the clan laws. An outdated book, but... This was the original book of the clan laws. He picked it up and brought it closer to his face.
"Neji-nii-san?" Hinata asked, frowning.
Neji wordlessly handed her the book.
Hinata read the passage he'd been reading and her eyes turned to their Byakugan.
In the clan laws, the law was the Main Family could not alter the seal in any way. And seeing the passage above it describing what the Caged Bird Seal did, it had not caused pain. Ever.
"And before you ask if I knew, nobody's been in here since... Well, I wouldn't be surprised if nobody's been in this library since the Founding, with how much dust there is here," Neji told her.
"I'm going to give this book to Father, but I'm going to have to tell him I found it," Hinata warned.
Neji nodded. "I understand." Neji moved to pick up the other books as Hinata darted off with a promise to be back soon.
He stacked countless books after dusting them. Then he walked over to the scrolls. He sighed minutely as he thought of Naruto. She had a summon - toad summon, and now possibly a fox summon.
He opened a random scroll and blinked. Then went really red and snapped the scroll shut. Apparently 'clan secrets' meant 'the entire clan's sordid secrets'.
He opened another. Hey, nobody had been in them for ages, so why not? Plus, he was bored, and he doubted that even Ko could see him past the layers of books. So long as no Hyuuga peeked into the room, he'd be fine.
He realized it was a summoning jutsu of some sort. He memorized the contents, then did the hand signatures. Then he slammed his hand on the ground... And vanished from that dimension.
~:~
Yuki Haku was feeding her bunny when the bunny stopped chewing.
"Haku-kun," the bunny said, earning a shriek from Inari, who was sitting there and had been playing with the bunny. "A new summoner has appeared in our realm."
Haku smiled, seemingly totally unsurprised. "Of course," she told the bunny.
"Does your dad know your bunny can talk?!" Inari asked, clutching his chest.
"I told him my story after the bridge battle," Haku replied. "Message received, Yuki."
The bunny resumed eating.
"Yuki is the messenger bunny." Haku petted Yuki. "I'm a contract-less summoner of the bunnies, because after I killed my father, this little guy found me in a meadow." A haunted expression appeared on Haku's face. Then it passed as she finished her sentence. "I was five when I was found by the bunnies."
"Ah." Inari paused. "You killed your father?"
"Oi, brat." Zabuza leaned against the doorframe, startling Inari into looking at him. Nothing like having a dad who was once part of Kirigakure no Sato. "Heard of the Kekkei Genkai massacres in Kiri? My kid here was involved. His mother was the holder of the Kekkei Genkai. When his dad found out, his dad killed his mother. Haku couldn't control his powers, so he accidentally killed his father. I found him on the streets with that dumb bunny. I let him keep it if he could feed it himself. He told me the truth after the bridge." Zabuza scratched his chin. "Sometimes I wonder how dumb I was. The entire Yuki clan became extinct not soon after Haku turned five."
Haku nodded. "I didn't have a choice, Inari-kun. That's why I'm determined to protect you, Tsunami-san and Tazuna-san!"
Inari smiled. "Sounds good!"
Haku blinked, but smiled.
"Seriously, though, Haku," Zabuza said, looking at his adopted son. "Why the hell did you have to make Nami a bunny garden?"
Haku looked out the window. Bunnies roamed Nami freely.
"I didn't," Haku replied. "The bunnies must converge freely where I am. I don't know."
Zabuza sighed.
~:~
Neji was kind of shocked, in all honesty. He'd never expected a bunny contract.
But they were friendly (if a bit too serious about their vegetables...).
He began to train with them.
~:~
WITH SAKI (In the Doragonrea, the Dragon Lair)
Saki collapsed on her arms, trembling and breathing hair. Her eyes burned and her chakra was low. So far, she'd managed to outrun almost every fireball; however, she had only just been able to unrap her Rinne eye to get the last one up. They'd been training her after every eight hours to runrunrun.
Eight hours running, eight hours asleep. And Saki was tired and very hungry.
"You've done well."
Saki only fell on her face, her arms not holding her up any more.
"You are now ready to pick an element."
Saki looked up at the dragon, who dropped one of Saki's scrolls that, in one of the attacks, a dragon had taken. With each new level attained, she would be given some of her belongings back.
"Kaze," she whispered. Kaze worked explosively with her natural element, Katon.
(Just like Naruto.)
The dragon stared at her.
"Interesting. Now, rest. Until you are rested, no dragon will bother you."
The dragon took off. Saki noticed water near the campfire the remains of the last fireball had made, and Saki crawled over to it.
She drank as neatly as she could, gathering water in her shaky hands.
She then unsealed the stuff in the scroll and ate the protein bars she'd had in them.
She fell asleep sitting up.
