One week later the kittens were already getting better. Hitomi didn't go easy on them, making them train until they were exhausted. Then, it was her own turn, between her mother's very capable and loving hands. Asuma sometimes helped her too, and they were often surrounded by members of the Fellowship. The end of the fifth year grew nearer and nearer, and Hitomi fully intended on keeping her title of First Kunoichi until graduation. Even if Hinata and Ino weren't exactly breathing down on her neck, her personal pride pushed her to surpass herself again and again. That would make her an exceptional shinobi, one day.
One afternoon, Kurenai gathered all the kids in the garden, while Hitomi's cats were trying to enhance their stamina by running laps around the house until they couldn't take even one more step. The woman wasn't alone: behind her stood Asuma, who had gained the respect of the whole Fellowship. Well, they were still teasing him exactly like Hitomi did, but they were grateful for his presence and help, and they let him know.
"Like you all well know, Iruka-sensei is waiting for your last year at the Academy to start to teach you the E-ranked techniques you will have to master to graduate. He has decided to work that way with you so the ones in your class that don't get special training are ready to learn when the time comes, but that doesn't mean you have to wait too."
If the children were excited, they tried to hide it out of respect for the woman they had learned to almost revere as the years went by. She was nice with every one of them, remembered details about them that made them feel special and appreciated. Even Naruto always obeyed her, so desperate to keep her attention and favours – he should have known that he would never lose her. Kurenai wasn't the kind to play stick and carrot. She never pushed her own austerity too far, settling for a kind of authority that was as quiet as it was indisputable.
"We're going to start with the Substitution Technique. Hitomi, can you explain what it is?"
The girl nodded, an eager smile on her lips. "The Substitution Technique creates a link between the shinobi who's using it and an object of similar size placed in a five meters radius from the shinobi's position, then swaps them in space."
"A very good definition, if you don't explore further than what you can find in the Academy's books. However, it's a bit limited. Shino, give us an idea of another application for this technique."
The Aburame straightened up, surprised to be asked to speak, as he always was. "My clan possesses a secret technique that will allow me, when I'll have mastered it, to create a clone of myself out of insects from my hive. I guess I could substitute with the clone?"
"Excellent! All solid clones allow for that move, and it can greatly confuse your opponent. Anything else? Yes, Hitomi?"
A crazy idea in mind, the girl had just shily raised her hand. "Uh… Would I be able to swap two objects of similar size and mass?"
"Yes, exactly! You really have to master the technique well to be able to do it, and have excellent reflexes, but it's possible to use it that way indeed. That's how Hokana Minami, the Iwagakure Secret Services Commander, was beaten by Uzumaki Mito, a century ago. She was married to Hokage the First, as you well remember. She swapped Minami's katana with a simple branch, then took advantage of the surprise to knock her out and capture her. Minami had been the first prisoner to be exchanged, which allowed us to get Mito's sister back."
A wily smile twisted Hitomi's lips as she assimilated that information. The possibilities were… they were staggering, really. She stayed there smiling, her mind twisting and prodding that new concept to shape it exactly like she intended.
She was so focused she probably started oozing a bit of killing intent again, just enough to attract Naruto's intention, and then the others', because the blond boy wasn't one to react discreetly. "Aaah!" he exclaimed. "Stop smiling like that! You always smile like that when you plan on doing something awful!"
His whining attracted Hitomi's attention and dissipated the aura around her. She straightened and, surprise and offense mixed on her features, brushed her fingers against her lips. "What do you mean? I don't understand why you're scared when I smile."
"Because," he sniffled, "when you smile like that, it always means you're preparing something mean for our next training session. I don't wanna run after a ramen cup for three hours without ever managing to catch it…"
The entire group giggled then. That had happened in the very beginning of their association, when Hitomi had still trouble motivating Naruto to train – he was so sure he was already an amazing ninja. Tired of having to berate him, she had waited for him to fall asleep, had tied a perch to his back and stuck a ramen cup to it with ninja wire. He had started to run as soon as he had woken up, and had never understood the trick she had played on him.
"Come on, children. You're very far from using the Substitution Technique in that way, but if you train hard, you'll be able to do it." Kurenai's voice, soft despite the amusement she couldn't quite hide, got the attention of her students back. They listened attentively to her instructions then trained their hands to reproduce the hand seal chain necessary to use the technique, until they didn't need to look at their hands anymore to be able to do it quickly enough.
They were very careful not to use chakra – they would have wasted it, and even Hitomi had to be thrifty despite her big reserves now that she had to maintain five summons in the physical world at all times. They helped her by paying part of the tribute the technique asked for with their own chakra, but she could still constantly feel the strain on her reserves.
Then, the children could start practicing the technique for real. Kurenai had prepared a log for each of them, and they were spaced out enough in the whole garden that they weren't at risk of getting in each other's way. Chōji was the first to get it and do a successful substitution. To reward him, Kurenai gave him a 'all you can eat' coupon for Ichiraku Ramen. With Naruto as a student, she had learned to have those ready at all times. You never knew when they could become useful.
Then it was Ino and Hitomi's turn, exactly at the same time. The sensation was disturbing: one moment she was there, the next she was elsewhere. She was sure her brain could adapt, but she would need to train first. Each new piece of knowledge, each new skill, came with a price to pay before mastering it. If it was just time and a bit of effort, Hitomi accepted the deal without any second thought. Focusing once more, she did the hand seals but didn't succeed in substituting this time: the flux linking her chakra and her log wasn't perfectly smooth. It was just about control. She could master it.
It took her ten more irregular attempts to be able to do it systematically, and she was starting to feel her reserves decreasing. However, Kiba, Naruto and herself were the only ones still standing. The others, their reserves smaller than theirs, were resting in the soft grass, their muscles spasming with exhaustion. The girl's cats were shaking, as spent as the kids were, but had just started a battle simulation and, even if they were fighting with their claws carefully sheathed, the paw swipes they were throwing at each other were still powerful enough to stun.
Catching her breath, the girl went inside with her mother and helped her get refreshments for everybody. Asuma was there too, but was distracted by the three kids he would teach after graduation. He wasn't even subtle about it, Hitomi mused as she was kneeling next to Shikamaru and helping him to sit.
"Tch… I was really happy napping, you know."
"Yeah, I know, but you need to drink. I can feel your chakra levels, silly. You shouldn't have pushed so hard."
"Hm… I wanted to master this technique. 'could save our lives one day."
"That's for sure. I'm gonna continue training with it. I really want to be able to do that thing with objects."
The boy let out a tired snicker then dropped his head on his cousin's shoulder, his water gourd still firmly gripped in his right hand. She saw the tension in his muscles, an instinctive response from his body to the violent effort it had just gone through. Shikamaru would never change in some ways: he would always like lazing around and avoiding what was too troublesome for him. But it wasn't a major trait of his personality anymore – it was more of a gift, a luxury he offered himself when the situation allowed for it. He had explained one night that he wouldn't stand the consequences if his team or family had to pay for him not working hard enough.
The following weeks were entirely focused on learning the E-ranked techniques: substitution, transformation, cloning, rope escaping and genjutsu reversal were the five techniques required to be part of their arsenal before graduation, a year later. They could only get a pass on one if they were able to show mastery of a superior technique with similar effects.
The one Hitomi struggled the most with was cloning – and suddenly she understood why Naruto had absolutely no chance of mastering this one ever. The simple cloning technique required such a tiny spark of chakra he just systematically overloaded the technique, which made it fail. Hitomi herself had trouble with it, especially when she couldn't quietly focus on what she was doing, and her chakra control was exceptional for any kid her age. Their reserves, Naruto's and hers, were simply too huge for it.
That assessment led the girl to go see her mother one night, after a particularly challenging training session with her cats. Sasuke was immersed in one of the scrolls about the Sharingan they had gotten in his clan's lands. Kurenai was preparing bentō for her two kids' lunch the next day. Silently, Hitomi joined her in the kitchen and started cutting carrot slices to a star shape with a little knife. She really liked pretty bentōs but always used the rests for other things – the bits of carrots would be great in the gyoza filling for the next evening's dinner.
"Mom," she said after a few minutes, "I think Naruto won't master the cloning technique. Ever."
Kurenai looked up from her own cooking space. "What's making you think that, sweetheart?"
"Hm… Did Ensui-shishou mention a secret of the village… that I would have discovered by hearing adults of the clan talking about it?"
A heavy sigh from Kurenai pushed her girl to focus even more on her hands, so she wouldn't be tempted to look at her mom. "Yeah, he told me, and added that you would discover it anyway between your friendship with Gaara and your oversensitive meridians. You can't tell anyone, alright? Hokage-sama doesn't want Naruto learning about it."
"That's dumb. This information could allow him to train accordingly, with full knowledge of his difficulties. It's dangerous to keep him in the dark."
"I agree, you know… But when he graduates, he's gonna be considered as an adult, since he's an orphan. I'll tell him the next day, when I'll invite him to come live here."
Hitomi's eyes went wide. "Really? Mom, that'd be great!
"Of course! A twelve years old child, living all by himself, without any adult supervision or support? Out of the question. The only problem is that we lack space here… But now that you have your meridians under control, we can probably buy the house next to Shikaku's. It's been empty for ages and no one needs five bedrooms in the clan."
Hitomi snickered. "Except us, obviously! Can we afford it?"
"I think so. I still have a nice part of the money your dad left me when he died – by the way, you'll have your share when you graduate – and savings from when I still was on active duty as a Jōnin. If it's not enough, your uncle will lend me the rest and I'll be able to pay him back once I'm a sensei and going on missions again."
By the longing on her mother's face, Hitomi could tell she was missing active duty an awful lot. She got it, more than she wanted to: if she had listened to her own frustration about staying in the village and sitting at a desk all day, she would have clawed the walls like one of her cats. She sighed and touched Kurenai's elbow to get her attention. "You'll have to tell Sasuke soon. It's a lot of change, he needs to prepare for it."
Kurenai brushed her hand against her daughter's cheek, a sad smile on her lips. The Uchiha heir, her beloved ward, still had nightmares from time to time – how could he not? – and she knew moving out and changing the family dynamic would disturb him. "I will, sweetheart. Don't worry."
Satisfied, Hitomi nodded. After a while, though, she thought of something and had to fight a wily smile. "About Naruto… When Ensui-shishou was training me, he sometimes used a technique that could replace cloning. He called it the Shadow Clone. Could Naruto learn it?"
If she was surprised by the casual way her daughter was mentioning a secret technique, Kurenai didn't show it. "Well… It's on the forbidden jutsu list, so I can't teach him without the Hokage's permission, but he wants Naruto to graduate above all else. I'll handle it tomorrow."
"Thanks, Mom, you're awesome!" So Naruto wasn't destined to miserably fail his exam. It was a relief. Hitomi couldn't protect him against all the threats in the world, but she remembered the cruel, casual way Mizuki had told him about the Kyūbi. It had probably conditioned the way Naruto perceived the demon. But if he never saw it as a threat to the village, rather like a potential ally, how powerful would he get?
The next afternoon, after class, even if it wasn't a Fellowship training day, Hitomi managed to get Naruto to come home with her. She didn't really need much effort for that – he loved Kurenai and each moment he spent with the Yūhi family, their ward included, healed some of the wounds the village's rejection caused him. Kurenai and her children accepted him unconditionally and without hesitation, even when he was agitated, tiring, noisy – Hitomi, Kurenai and even Sasuke went out of their way to make him feel wanted.
"Naruto," Kurenai started, "I spoke to the Hokage about your difficulties with the cloning technique."
The boy lowered his head, a very familiar shame blooming in his chest. Amongst his friends, he had been the last to completely master the E-ranked techniques, but the cloning… He felt like he would never get it right. He didn't even understand what it was he was doing wrong.
"Hokage-sama and I agreed on a solution. It seemed stupid to us that you would stay stuck at the Academy or in your ninja career because something as insignificant as an E-ranked technique. That's why I found another jutsu, a similar one that you won't have as much trouble mastering."
Naruto looked up to her, his big blue eyes gleaming with a quiet kind of hope. Hitomi's heart ached as she saw the anxiety below the surface, because she knew Naruto still had trouble understanding that people were willing to fight for him, for his dreams and goals. Before the Academy, the only person showing him kindness had been the Hokage, and the girl knew the man was acting that way because of the worst reasons possible: not for Naruto's sake, but for his parents' ghosts.
"This jutsu is called the Shadow Clone Technique. It requires a lot of chakra. At this stage, only you and Hitomi have a chance of mastering it, but you'll have the best results out of you two."
"What? Why? Hitomi is way better than me in ninjutsu!"
"I don't have as much chakra as you have, Naruto, far from it," Hitomi said with a gentle smile. "My reserves have been extremely stretched when I was traveling with Ensui-shishou, and grow bigger everyday because I'm right at the age where potential develops… But, in the end, you'll always have a lot more chakra than me. I can feel it when you're close to me. This technique is really perfect for you, and I don't mind it at all that you'll be better at it than me."
"Hitomi is right, Naruto. Now, kids, here is the hand seal chain for the technique. As you practice, you'll be able to reduce it until only the Cross Hand Seal remains. When you're there, you'll have mastered the technique."
The two children nodded and listened to the rest of her explanations. That technique required, as she had told them, a lot of chakra. It cut the reserves in halves and gave one to the clone – when you only created one – but, with reserves too small, not only would the caster put himself at risk because the energy was then lost, but the clone would also just appear for a moment before puffing out of existence. It was because of that risk that the Shadow Clone had been deemed a forbidden jutsu. No one under Chūnin level could learn it without the Hokage's approval. Hitomi was really lucky her mother had included her in her request to Hiruzen… And she had probably terrified the old man again to get him to accept.
Hitomi was the first of the two children to have a viable result with the technique. The sensation of half of her chakra leaving her body unsettled her; she would have fallen on her knees if Naruto, alarmed, hadn't caught her by the shoulders to stabilise her. In front of her was a perfect copy of herself, her big red eyes staring at her with a quiet self-assurance. So that was what she looked like? The mirror wasn't accurate then. She smiled and the clone did the same. She felt the other half of her chakra, the way it ran through this other body and anchored it in reality. Briefly closing her eyes to focus, she tried sending it a thought, a fragment of her will – then giggled when the clone, reacting to her command, went behind Naruto and threw itself at him to tickle him.
When she ordered it to dissipate, the clone obeyed, disappearing in a puff of smoke, and most of the chakra she had sent it came back to her. The sensation made her dizzy again; surprised, she had to put all her weight on Naruto not to fall, to allow her body to absorb the energy back. Even for such a short appearance, the clone had consumed a chunk of her chakra, which obviously was gone. A few moments later, she was stable again, ready to try once more.
Barely two minutes later, it was Naruto's turn to succeed: a dozen clones appeared around him, beaming and victorious. He didn't look frazzled at all by the sensation of his divided chakra, or even by the fact only a thirteenth of his chakra still ran through his body. Seeing him so astonished and proud, Hitomi knew she had done the right thing by speaking about the technique with her mother. Even if it implied she had to flee, howling with laughter, as thirteen Narutos were chasing her for a chance to tickle her back.