A/N: Important announcement at the end of the chapter, please remember to read it. But for now, enjoy.
Chapter 7 – First Love
The forest gently swayed in the wind as two boys stood silently within. Neither of them spoke, instead focusing dead ahead at the tree before them. A single leaf fell toward the ground between them, torn off from its branch by the wind. Taking what felt like an eternity, the leaf gracefully glided downwards. Just as it made contact with the ground, both boys shot off towards their respective trees in unison, as if prompted by an invisible force.
Blurs of orange and blue rapidly climbed the trees, a clear winner between the two nowhere to be found. As both of them continued their ascent, glints of steel could be seen in the boys' hands. Both soon reached the apex of their trees, a resounding thunk echoing throughout the forest.
"Haah, haah…How'd you like that, Sasuke?" Naruto panted tiredly, barely mustering a grin. "I reached the top first!"
"Hnn…You're clearly delusional." Sasuke shot back, equally as exhausted, but trying his damnedest not to show it. "I reached it faster than you."
"Heh. Someone's in denial."
"And that someone is you."
"Alright, that's enough!" Kakashi interrupted, making his presence known. "Why don't we stop arguing and make our way back down? Unless of course, you both would rather fall down instead?"
The two teens glanced towards each other, and an unspoken agreement was made between them as they both slowly started making their descent from the treetops. Watching their figures as they trudged down slowly the side of their respective trees, Kakashi grinned underneath his mask.
The two really were like him and Obito. Though ironically, the Uchiha in his case was more akin to Naruto than to his own flesh and blood.
(Well, let's not get too caught up in reminiscing.) Kakashi thought, leaping down from his perch. He passed the two teens on his way down, both of whom had apparently decided to make the speed of their descent a competition as well. As his body shot past the startled teens, Kakashi flipped midair and landed soundlessly on his feet, sending a mocking eye-smile towards the two.
His display clearly emboldened the two teens, as they both tried to mimic him, launching themselves off of their trees. However, clearly only one of them knew what they were doing. Kakashi watched as Naruto blanched when the blonde finally realized that he didn't know how to reorient his body, and the silver-haired jōnin winced in sympathy as his student crashed onto a pile of leaves. Sasuke followed soon after, though he managed to roll with the momentum and stopped at a crouch.
"Bleah!" Naruto spat a couple of leaves out of his mouth, climbing to his feet. "Never thought I'd ever find out how leaves taste."
"Maybe you should've looked before you leaped then."
"Shut up, Sasuke."
"Now, now, let's not start this again." Kakashi stopped the two before they could begin arguing. "First of all, I'd like to congratulate the both of you for learning tree-walking so quickly. Honestly, I didn't expect you two to have done it in just three days."
The two teens preened under the praise, with Naruto grinning openly while Sasuke hid his smirk.
"That being said, the two of you are far from being masters at it. As you grow as shinobi, so should your chakra control. Remember, chakra is our lifeblood. The better you are at handling it, the better at being a ninja you'll become."
Naruto visibly wilted, no doubt lamenting the fact that tree-climbing exercises were still going to be a part of his life for the foreseeable future. And to Sasuke's credit, he hid his reaction well, though Kakashi could still tell that he was of the same opinion as his blonde counterpart.
Kakashi mentally sighed. Typical teens. Always thinking that they've mastered something just because they were able to perform it adequately. Ah well, they'll learn soon enough that life wasn't that easy.
(Still…) Kakashi smiled to himself. (That doesn't mean that I can't throw them a bone once in a while.)
Clapping his hands together, Kakashi drew the attention of the two genin. "Now then, why don't the two of you have the rest of the day off?"
The two visibly cheered up, both boys eager to rest their weary bodies after three days of strenuous training. Just as they turned to leave however, Naruto suddenly came to a halt.
"Wait, but what about Hinata? It doesn't really seem fair if we get to rest but she doesn't." Naruto asked as he swerved around to face Kakashi.
"You don't have to worry about that. Hinata's already had her break, since she finished earlier than you two. The only reason I haven't made her resume her training was because I needed someone to watch after Tazuna and his men."
"Oh right, her eye thingy makes her perfect for that, huh?"
"The Byakugan, Naruto. It's called the Byakugan." Kakashi sighed.
"Right, right." The blue-eyed teen sheepishly replied as he turned to leave once more.
As the blonde boy left, Kakashi took the chance to ruminate on how he was going to teach his team next. Rummaging through one of his pouches, he felt his fingers brush against a set of papers.
(I suppose it's about time to teach them something a bit more advanced…) He thought as he dug out 3 slips of blank paper.
"Hey Sasuke, wanna race back to the house? Whoever loses gives up half of their dinner!" Kakashi heard Naruto call out from the distance. He couldn't hear Sasuke's reply, but given that the sound of two pairs of feet running soon reached his ears, he assumed that the Uchiha teen had accepted the challenge. He sighed at their childish antics, and looked towards the papers in his hand once more.
Maybe he'll wait for them to mature just a little bit more.
"Hmm…"
"…..."
"Hmmmmmm…"
"…"
"HMMMMMMMMM….!"
"Will you be quiet already?!" Sasuke snapped in annoyance at his blonde teammate. Said teammate was sitting on the couch cross-legged and cross-armed, humming to himself as if in deep thought.
"DAY OFFS ARE BORING, DAMMIT!" Naruto groaned loudly as he finally relaxed his limbs and leaned back against the couch. "There's nothing to do but sit around!"
"You're meant to rest, not jump around everywhere." Sasuke pointed out. It was times like these where the Uchiha scion lamented the fact that he was stuck with such a hyperactive idiot as his teammate. He seriously couldn't have gotten the Nara guy? At least he wouldn't have been as loud! Hell, he'd even take the Aburame kid.
(Well, that's not the total truth.) Sasuke admitted to himself. While he probably would've liked the peace and quiet he would've gotten with either of those two on his team, Sasuke couldn't deny that Naruto had been surprisingly decent as a teammate. He might even call him good if he was feeling generous.
And he definitely didn't know how their earlier encounter with Zabuza might've turned out if Naruto hadn't been there with his Shadow Clones and those strange abilities of his.
Speaking of which…What were they, anyway? He knew for a fact that Naruto hadn't been this capable back in the academy, given his reputation and status as the dead last. And now suddenly he was able to detect enemies way before even their mentor did, not to mention outpower and outspeed a jōnin-level rogue ninja's clones.
Sasuke would be lying to himself if he said that he wasn't interested in where his blonde teammate's sudden boost in capability came from. And if he'd be able to obtain that same boost.
(Anything to have an advantage over him.) Sasuke thought as his expression darkened. Flashes of dead bodies and the stench of blood in the air came unbidden to his mind, memories of that day bubbling to the surface. Just like they always did. Sasuke took a shuddering, deep breath as he tried to push the memories back into whatever dark recess of his mind they crawled out from.
He threw a glance at Naruto to see if the blonde had noticed his moment of weakness. He didn't, thankfully, for the boy in question laid slumped backwards against the couch. Sasuke thought back to his dilemma. Could he obtain the same power as Naruto?
He couldn't just up and say it though. What was he going to do, just walk up to him and say "Hn, hand me your power."? Only an idiot would think that would work! All that would accomplish would be to piss Naruto off.
Still, his curiosity was starting to get the better of him. Perhaps he should try to break the ice a bit and lead the conversation towards Naruto's powers? Or would that be too out of character for him to do? Sasuke cursed his lack of people skills. Despite his status as "the popular guy" in the academy, Sasuke never really learnt much in the way of communicating with people.
Just as he was at a loss as to what to do, Tsunami came out from the kitchen with a piece of paper in hand.
"I heard you were bored?" The older woman teased. "In that case, why don't you hop into town and pick up some groceries for me?"
"Huh? Sure, I could do that!" Naruto leaped up from the couch, his previous lethargy nowhere to be seen. "Anything beats sitting around doing nothing!"
Sasuke tuned out the blonde as he received instructions from the dark-haired woman. Sasuke started to weigh his options. Stay here and wait until Naruto gets back, which could potentially take hours depending on how well Naruto is able to source for groceries? Or accompany him in hopes of finishing this task as soon as possible, with the potential of getting Naruto to talk about his newfound powers?
Well, when he put it like that, there was really only one option.
"Hmmm, some vegetables, eggs, and chicken?" Naruto read the grocery list out loud as he strolled along the road to town. "Seems simple enough!"
If he were to be honest, Naruto was even a little excited. He had never been to another town before! He wondered how different it was going to be compared to Konoha, especially since Wave was relatively far from the Land of Fire. He didn't even mind that all he was going to be able to do there was grocery shopping, since it was going to be a new experience for him.
(That being said…) Naruto thought as he spun around. "Why the hell are you, of all people, following me to do grocery shopping?!"
Sasuke gave a bemused stare, and deigned to continue walking instead of answering the blonde's question. Naruto stared in disbelief as his question went unanswered, before chasing after his teammate in irritation.
"Oi, I'm talking to you, dammit!"
Finally, Sasuke seemed to cave and stopped, throwing a backwards glance at Naruto. The two stared at each other for a moment, before Sasuke turned away and huffed.
"I just felt like it." Was all the black-haired teen said before he resumed his walking.
[Tch, typical Uchiha. You never can tell what they're thinking about.] The Seventh grumbled.
Naruto was inclined to agree with his grandfather, but decided against joining in with the grumbling in favor of catching up with Sasuke, whose figure was slowly getting further and further away.
This wasn't really how he thought it would go.
It was just a question for god's sake! And yet Sasuke found himself unable to speak up. For the life of him, he didn't even know why he was having so much trouble. It wasn't like he was making a confession or something!
(That'll be the day!) Sasuke snorted at the notion. Still, he needed to find a way to broach the subject. He didn't want to piss Naruto off by saying something wrong after all, otherwise he'd never get an answer out of the blonde.
Maybe he should just try and be friendly with his teammate? Surely it couldn't hurt to build some sort of rapport, regardless of whether or not he'd find answers right now?
Unfortunately, that came with its own set of problems: Sasuke had no idea how to be friendly.
Not for the first time, Sasuke found himself cursing his upbringing. Or rather, his lack thereof. Turns out that having his social life limited to school and the occasional shopkeeper meant that he wasn't exactly a friend-making savant. Not that he had a choice in the matter, after a certain someone went and killed everyone he knew and loved.
Hell, at this point, he'd say that the person he had the most interaction with for most of his teen years was the very person that he was having trouble talking to. The thought of it was…less disturbing than he thought it would be. Especially now that he'd ended up on the same team as Naruto.
Now that he thought about it though, maybe he was going about it all wrong? Perhaps he should just come out and speak his mind in this instance? After all, they were alone in an open road with no possible eavesdroppers nearby, so if Naruto had some big secret, there wouldn't be any risk of it being leaked out here.
His mind made up, Sasuke shifted his gaze towards Naruto…Only to find him absent.
"There's the town!" He heard Naruto exclaim excitedly from ahead.
Sasuke snapped his head back to the front in surprise. True to Naruto's words, they were already at the town's gates.
Goddammit.
"Stop sulking and hurry up!" Naruto huffed as he waited impatiently for Sasuke to catch up. For someone who volunteered to come, he sure wasn't very enthusiastic about it! He hasn't even properly explained why he came anyway!
When his dour teammate finally reached the town's entrance, the unlikely duo made their way through into the town. If he could even call it a town, that is.
"Wha-?" Naruto blurted out in equal parts confusion and concern. "Just what the hell happened here?"
Sasuke on his part seemed to echo his sentiments. Whatever had been eating away at him seemed to be a thing of the past, for he was now focused on the scene before him.
Everywhere he looked, he saw emaciated people shambling across the streets. Buildings were in varying states of disrepair, and there was even the odd corpse slumped against some of them. Naruto and Sasuke walked slowly through the dirty streets. Neither of them had imagined that this was what was awaiting them at the end of their trip.
"Is…Is this what's Gatō is doing to all these people?" Naruto mumbled in disbelief.
[That bastard!] He heard the First snarl in anger.
[Our village has had hard times, but nothing compared to this…] The Second whispered out in horror.
[He's starving the people.] The Fifth, ever-calm, observed. And yet, even he had a twinge of anger in his tone. [Making sure that they can't rise up against him.]
[It's one thing to do this against an army, but this?] The Third said in an uncharacteristically grave voice. [This is just sickening.]
[You should remain cautious, Naruto.] The Sixth advised. [These people are hungry and desperate. There's no telling what they might do.]
Just as soon as the Sixth had said that, Naruto felt himself crash into something. Or rather, someone. A shifty-looking man grumbled, but stepped out of the way soon after. Just as he was about to talk away however, Sasuke's hand shot out and grabbed the man by his wrist.
"Wha-? Let me go!" The man protested as he tried to shake off the black-haired genin's grip. However, Sasuke proved to be too strong for the man, and instead tightened his hold.
"Not until you give back what you stole." Sasuke glared.
Stole? Alarms went off in Naruto's head, and he quickly checked his pockets only to see that his previous Gama-chan was missing. Spotting a poorly-hidden bulge at the back of the man's ripped pants, Naruto took advantage of his bound state to dig through it. Almost immediately, he dug out his wallet from within.
"Dammit!" The man cursed as his wrist was finally released from Sasuke's grasp. He walked away scowling, but not before spitting at the ground in front of them.
"Whew, it's all here." Naruto sighed in relief as he zipped his wallet back up. "Tsunami-san would've killed me if I let her money get stolen. So, er, thanks Sasuke."
"Hn. Pay attention next time. What kind of ninja gets pickpocketed?" The Uchiha teen turned away.
"I know that." Naruto grumbled, but he didn't have the heart to come up with a witty response like he usually would've. "It's just that…This. All of this. It's just a lot to take in."
"…We should go. Who knows what'll happen next if we stick around." Sasuke said as he started to walk again.
Just as Naruto was about to follow however, he heard a scream pierce the air. Turning towards the source of the scream, Naruto saw a lone girl surrounded by a group of men. The men were screaming incoherently about something, and were slowly encroaching upon her.
There was really only one thing Naruto thought to do.
How could she have been so careless? She knew that she would be targeted one of these days, no matter how much she tried to hide away from it. But she hadn't expected it to be in broad daylight, where she was picking up supplies for the shop! Said supplies were now laying on the ground next to her, though thankfully the contents of the bags had not spilled out.
She had bigger things to worry about though, like the mob that was slowly approaching her.
Perhaps that spoke volumes about the situation her country was in. People were getting more and more desperate by the day, and now they were even turning a blind eye to something like this. A dark part of her mind wondered if this was what she deserved. Perhaps it would be better for the people if they could let out their discontent upon her.
(I'm sorry, Shinobu-san…) She thought as she slowly closed her eyes to accept her fate, the men inching ever so closer.
At least, that's what she had expected to happen. Instead, just as she felt one of the men's hands brush against her arm, she heard him give a choked cry, along with the distinct sound of breaking wood. Her eyes snapped open to see an orange-clad blonde crouched in front of her. A distance away, her would-be assailant laid twitching amongst a pile of broken crates, a shoeprint on his face.
It didn't take long for her to put two and two together, but before she could say anything, a voice behind her spoke.
"Do you really have to go rushing off like that?" She turned to see a black-haired teen approaching them, his annoyance apparent given his expression.
"You saw what they were about to do to her!" The blonde shot back. "I'm not just gonna stand by and watch, Sasuke!"
"You could've at least discussed it with me." The black-haired teen, who was apparently named Sasuke, deadpanned before sighing. "Well, whatever. It's not like I'm in disagreement here."
"Hey, I knew you had a heart after all!"
"…Just deal with them before I reconsider."
"What, that was a compliment y'know?!"
As the two continued their back and forth, the girl stared at the two in disbelief. Just who were they? Evidently, the small mob before her had the same question, except they were getting more and more incensed as the odd duo continued to ignore them in favor of doing…whatever they were doing.
"Oi!" One of them eventually yelled, catching their attention. "Who the hell do you think you are, barging in here and attacking one of our folks like that?"
"Haaaah? From my point of view, it looked like you were the ones ganging up on this poor girl in the first place!" The blonde yelled back.
"T-that's none of your business, kid! You're clearly not from around here, or else you wouldn't be defending that bitch!"
"I don't care what you say, you creeps aren't laying a single finger on her!"
Growling in frustration, the man looked around at his companions - who were similarly disgruntled – and began advancing forward once more. Brandishing his weapon, a weathered meat cleaver, he then started charging at the two.
Gasping in horror, the girl made to yell out at the two to run away, only to notice that both of them had long since moved from their prior positions. The blonde slid across the ground and swept the man's legs out from under him, sending him face first into Sasuke's knee as he leapt up. As the man collapsed onto the ground, both teens glared menacingly at the mob, as if challenging them to meet the same fate as their friend.
"They're just two brats, get'em!" One of them yelled, and the rest charged at the duo. As they approached, the blonde then grinned and turned to his companion.
"Hey Sasuke, bet you that I can beat more of them than you."
"Do you have to turn everything into a contest, Naruto?"
"Aw, what's the matter? Chicken?"
"Hn. I didn't say no."
"That's the spirit!"
As if cued by some unknown force, the two shot off in unison in two opposite directions. The men soon followed suit, surrounding both of them in their respective locations.
Ducking under one of the men's fists, Naruto returned the attack with his own punch, hitting the man squarely on the chest. He stumbled back, but another man soon replaced his spot, launching an attack with a broken piece of wood. The blonde swerved left to avoid the hit, only to have to backpedal as the man continued to swing wildly.
Naruto soon found himself with his back against a wall, right next to where he kicked the first assailant to. Grinning menacingly, the wood-wielding man reared back and swung sideways. Naruto yelped and ducked, the wood swinging by his head with a loud whoosh.
Just as he ducked however, the man he kicked started to get back up. As he shook his head dazed, he found himself getting knocked back down, this time by his own friend's weapon. The wood smacked his face with a resounding crunch, making both Naruto and his opponent wince.
Seeing his chance, Naruto made use of his crouched position and swept his opponent's legs from out under him. The man fell forward onto his unconscious friend, and soon joined him in his state after a firm kick to the back of his head from Naruto.
A yelp of pain drew her attention away from Naruto's fight and onto Sasuke's, where he had one of the men pinned on the ground with their arm twisted painfully backwards. Two other men laid unconscious nearby. Before Sasuke could do anything else though, another man kicked at him. Forced to let go of his hold, Sasuke leapt backwards, successfully dodging the attack.
As the man helped his companion up, Sasuke was already back upon them. The two twisted their bodies away from Sasuke's tackle, only to be confused as he continued to run. She was confused as well, only for her confusion to turn into abject shock as Sasuke began running up a wall.
The black-haired teen soon launched himself off the wall, bringing one of his feet down upon one of his opponent's heads. The blow knocked him out immediately, and he crumpled onto the ground. Sasuke fell into a crouch soon after, and before his last opponent could react, he rammed his elbow straight into the man's stomach, causing spittle to fly out of the man's mouth as he joined his friend on the ground.
She stared in awe at Sasuke's display, only to snap out of it when she saw a body get launched up into the air. As the body came back onto the ground, she saw Naruto standing where the body was launched from, his arm outstretched towards the sky.
"And that's that!" Naruto grinned as he brought his hand back down. Similar to Sasuke, a few of the men laid in varying states of unconsciousness, some of them groaning in pain.
"So, who won?" Naruto wondered out loud as he began counting the men around him. "…3, 4, 5! I got five of 'em!"
"Five of them as well. It seems that this contest was meaningless from the start, there were an even number of opponents." Sasuke scoffed.
"Hey, you agreed to it!" Naruto grumbled as he walked over to Sasuke. "And besides, if you really think about it, I got that guy with the cleaver, I really beat six!"
Sasuke's brow twitched. "Excuse me? I believe I was the one who beat him."
"Hell no, I swept his legs first!"
"I was the one who knocked him out."
"So, you were just riding on my cocktails then!"
"Nonsense. I would've hit him with my knee even if you hadn't interfered." Sasuke then paused. "And it's coattails, not cocktails."
"Um…" She interrupted, trying to get their attention.
"Nuh uh, you would've totally flown past him if I hadn't hit him first!"
"Hey…" She tried again, louder this time.
"Keep telling yourself that. We both know who won this contest of yours."
"Hell yeah we do, it's-"
"WOULD YOU TWO CUT IT OUT ALREADY?!" She finally yelled, tired of being ignored. However, she paled as she realized what she just said to the two boys, who had both shown themselves to be very capable of fighting only moments ago. Panicking, she waved her arms in distress.
"Er, I mean-"
"Sorry about that." To her surprise – and utter relief – neither of them seemed to be angry at her, with the blonde boy sheepishly grinning at her instead.
"Oh, no, I…" She trailed off, unsure what to say.
"In any case, we probably shouldn't stick around here for much longer." Sasuke interrupted. "Who knows if anyone else is going to come around picking a fight."
"Ah, right." She replied, suddenly remembering that they were standing amongst a group of groaning, injured men. "Just a sec!"
She rushed over to where she had originally been standing before. The two boys gave a confused glance to each other and started following her, though she ignored them in favoring of opening the bags she had dropped earlier. Glancing around at their contents, she let out a sigh of relief as she saw that they were none the worse for wear.
Letting out a tiny, unladylike grunt, she hefted the bags off the ground. She then turned to the two, who were giving her inquisitive stares.
"Sorry, I'm good to go now. I'll lead you two to my workplace!" She smiled.
"Sure, sounds like a plan." Naruto smiled back. "Do you need help with those though? They seem a little heavy."
"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly impose!" She said panickily. "You both have already done so much for me, even though I don't even know you two!"
"Oh right. We haven't introduced ourselves." Naruto grinned and pointed to himself. "I'm Namikaze Naruto! And emo over here is-."
"I'm not emo." Sasuke interrupted with a displeased look on his face. "Uchiha Sasuke." He nodded towards her.
"Namikaze-san and Uchiha-san…" She mumbled as she mulled over their names. They seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn't exactly put her finger on it. Realizing that the both of them were waiting for a reply however, she filed that information for later.
"My name is Hino Arisa. Thank you for rescuing me, Namikaze-san, Uchiha-san."
"Hey, don't mention it! And you don't have to be so formal with us, right, Sasuke?"
"Hn. Do as you wish."
"Then…Naruto-san and Sasuke-san." Arisa said hesitantly, as if testing out how it sounded.
"Eh, I'll take it." Naruto shrugged. Before he could go on however, one of the men groaned loudly and stirred. "I think that's our cue to leave."
"Yes, well, follow me." Arisa walked forward with the two boys in tow. As they walked along the path to her workplace, she couldn't help but wonder who exactly were these two boys? They couldn't have been much older than her, and yet they were amazingly strong.
If they were this strong, maybe they could even-
No. Arisa dismissed the thought. No matter how strong the two were, in the end, they were just two people. There was no way they could overthrow all of Gatō's men.
Not for the first time ever since that despicable man took over her beloved country, Arisa found herself lamenting her powerlessness.
"I'm back!"
Naruto watched as the girl they'd just rescued enter through a wooden door and into a medium-sized, two-storey building. The building itself was rather nondescript, it being in the same relatively dilapidated state as the rest of the town. However, an appetizing scent wafted from within it, one that made Naruto's stomach grumble.
Glancing to his side, he noticed that the scent had the same effect on Sasuke as well. He couldn't blame him either, since neither of them have had lunch yet.
[Oi, you shouldn't keep her waiting.] The Sixth reminded, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts. Nodding to himself, Naruto entered the building, only for his eyes to open in shock.
It was…surprisingly clean. Normally he wouldn't be surprised by this, but in contrast with the outward appearance of the building, the interior was well-kept and looked no different from any establishment he'd catch a glimpse of in Konoha. Round wooden tables and chairs dotted the store, a simple menu placed atop each of the tables.
At the far end of the hall, Naruto spotted Arisa coming out from one of the back rooms, alongside a black-haired woman that he didn't recognize.
"Ah, Naruto-san, Sasuke-san!" Arisa waved at him and Sasuke, who had just entered the building.
"Take a seat, let me introduce you to my…" She trailed off, sending a pleading look towards her companion. Taking note of her plight, the woman smiled and approached the two genin.
"My name is Miyamoto Shinobu, Arisa's guardian. Allow me to extend my thanks for rescuing her." She said as she bowed.
"Hey, don't sweat it!" Naruto grinned. "We just did what anyone else would."
Shinobu's smile weakened. "Yes, well…That should've been the case, shouldn't it? Sadly, it seems the townsfolk have forgotten that."
"Ah…" Naruto grimaced. He might've not been the smartest person around, but even he knew when he had touched upon a sore spot.
"But nevermind that." Shinobu said, directing them towards a nearby table. "Why don't the two of you take a seat? I'll fix something up for the two of you. Think of it as a thank you."
"Really? Sweet!" Naruto immediately took a seat. There was no food better than free food after all! Sasuke seemed to agree, for he took a seat not long after, though he did so much more calmly.
As Shinobu left them and walked towards the kitchen, Arisa took a seat opposite Naruto. Cupping her head in her hands, Arisa smiled as she looked between the two genin. As the three stewed in silence, Naruto started to hear confused grunting.
[The name's right…And she definitely resembles her…] The First suddenly said. [C-could this be…fate?!]
[Who are you talking about?] The Second's annoyed voice asked.
[Isn't it obvious? It's my first love, Hino Erisa!]
A/N: And that's it for now, folks! Sorry that this chapter is a little shorter than usual, only being about 5000 words. And the fact that it's mostly filler. But hey, I tried to throw in a bit of action in there, so it's not completely terrible, right? ...Right?
Ahem. Anyway, I have some bad news.
No, I'm not dropping the story. You can lower those pitchforks now. I'm actually pretty invested in making sure that this one gets completed, so come hell or high water, I'm going to finish this one. However, I am about to become very busy, for I have to serve National Service for my country.
Basically, I'm getting drafted into the army. And this is going to be my life for the next two years.
Now, I'll have some free time during this period, which I plan to put towards updating this story when I can. This just means that my updates will get more sporadic. Well, more sporadic than they already are.
So in light of all this, I hope that you'll all be understanding if I'm unable to update for any period of time.
TL;DR: Going to army, can't update as often. Prease undastando.
With that said, don't forget to leave a review, let me know what you think of the chapter. We finally breached 40K words, so I'm pretty happy about that! I'll see you all whenever I can!
~Sul