Author's Note
So somebody asked me why Hatorama is still a Genin when his abilities far outstrip his fellows. What it boils down to is basically two reasons.
The first is practical. In this story, Tsunade has always known that her son will become a target once his identity is known.
To that end, she decided to keep him with her for as long as she could and to train him as thoroughly as she could. She knew that once he graduated, he'd be expected to do missions and she wanted him to be as strong as possible before that. Plus she doesn't believe in allowing children to graduate early...
The second main reason is political. She knew sharks would be circling him in the village so she wanted him to be as prepared as he could be. In this story, you'll find her taking a harder line and bringing down the hammer on the Advisors.
Now I'd just like to remind you of my warning last chapter. This story is NOT slash, but Hatorama is a hormonal teen so I need you guys to see things in that context.
The next day, I'm up before dawn. Everyone else is sleeping. Well, everyone except Kakashi, but he's on the last watch.
Internally, I roll my eyes. He's reading that trashy book written by mother's teammate, Jiraiya. I nod my head at him and bend to put on my sandals. " If anyone asks, I'm out in the forest training. "
He looks vaguely curious, but nods his head anyway. I circulate my chakra faster through my body, warming me up. Then I take off at a run, heading for a clearing I saw yesterday.
Once I arrive, I immediately create a shadow clone. We start sparring soon after. In a way, this is even better than fighting a real opponent.
Despite its abilities, the clone is very fragile. A single solid hit is all I need and then it will dispel. So I take care to regulate my movements.
We fight for about half an hour before we stop. I nod and the clone dispels. As I sift through the memories, I go through the motions of making handsigns.
I don't channel chakra though. This is merely to keep my muscle memory in tip top shape. Once I've fully assimilated the memory, I start working on chakra control.
Extending my fingers, chakra thread emerges. Each thread picks up a stray leaf and then I channel elemental chakra through it.
I go through all five elements and then I begin again. I do this for about twenty minutes. Once that's done, I still for a second.
I can feel a chakra signature approaching. A familiar one. It doesn't feel hostile however. Just in case, I quickly cast a double layered genjutsu over the clearing.
It's not a complex one. It merely shifts me and my surroundings by a few inches. Nothing major, but a big advantage in a fight.
Then I get a look at the newcomer. My breath catches in my throat. I've never seen a boy look so pretty. If I couldn't distinguish gender by chakra resonance, I'd have thought it's a girl.
Forcefully, I snap myself out of it. " H..hi..." I can't stop the embarrassed blush from overtaking my face. Internally I curse. Of all the times for my voice to break.
The boy smiles mischievously. Or cutely. Ugh. He's dressed like a girl and his hair is styled like one too. When he says " hi " back, it only confirms my thoughts.
It's a very convincing disguise. Or maybe he just likes dressing like that? I shake my head internally. So glad that mother isn't here now. She'd never let me live it down.
" So what's a beauty like you doing here in the forest all alone? " The boy laughs. It sounds like music chimes.
" I'm here to look for herbs. My uncle is ill you see. " I snort softly. Uncle. Yeah right. Still, I play along.
" Can I help you? You have such soft looking hands. Wouldn't want to ruin it by digging for roots in the ground. " The boy blushes.
" That would be sweet of you. Are you a shinobi? " This guy! I'm so glad Naruto isn't the one that this boy found. He'd have given everything away.
" Yeah I am. Hatorama is my name. " I extend my hand. After a second, he takes it. It's just as soft as I thought. Feeling impish, I bend down and kiss his knuckles.
A blush overtakes the boy's entire face. " My name is Haku. If you want to help me, then please do, I'd be every grateful... "
Dammit! I curse internally as my mind immediately conjures a number of images of what reward I'd get for my help.
I cough and then ask him what plants he needs. We work in silence for a few minutes but then he starts talking. Subtly fishing.
I play along and answer all of his questions, though I do censor my answers. As he speaks, I keep careful note of his chakra.
When I'm this close to someone, I can feel echoes of their emotions in their chakra. There is no negative feelings in him at all. Only a gentle protectiveness as he speaks of his ' uncle '.
Against my will, I soften towards him. Well, if all goes well, I won't actually have to fight him. Once we've collected all the herbs, I make a snap decision.
Removing a scroll from a seal on my arm, I channel a small amount of chakra into it. In a puff of smoke, a satchel appears.
I give it to a hesitant Haku. " Inside you'll find an antiseptic cream created by my mother, who's the best medic I know. There's also other medical supplies. It should take care of any injuries your uncle has. "
Haku looks surprised for a moment. Then he smiles at me. My heart skips a beat. " Thank you Hatorama. I hope to see you again soon. "
To my surprise, he walks towards me, eventually standing so close I can feel his breath on my face. Then he kisses me. I'm so shocked for a moment!
I snap out of it fast and return the kiss. To my surprise and pleasure, it starts to become intense. As I start to get hard, Haku pulls away.
He looks at me knowingly. Then he winks and walks away. As he reaches the edge of the clearing though, I finally focus on the present.
" Haku, my team has killed Gato. Tell Zabuza that. We're willing to pay out his contract in exchange for hostilities to end. "
Haku's eyes widen. His mouth gapes slightly. I smirk. " Yeah, I know who you are. " Cheekily I wave at him and then I disappear in a flurry of leaves.
I appear near the edge of the forest by Tazuna's house. Based on my senses, everyone seems to be awake now.
I don't know what they're seeing on my face but both Anko and Kakashi look me up and down. " What? " I ask. Anko sensei snorts. " You look like the cat that got the canary. "
I shrug nonchalantly. " I had a good workout. " I greet everyone else then and get a myriad of different responses.
I ignore that however. As I eat, I inform Anko sensei that I ran into Zabuza's accomplice and made our offer known. She looks surprised for a moment but then shrugs.
Once I finish eating, Kakashi speaks. " So I know that we're hoping that they won't attack, but it's better to be prepared. I think we should have joint training exercises till then. "
Naruto complains about us holding them back to which Yakumo scoffs. Before anything can happen though, the Jounin take control and we're led outside.
Kakashi leads us into the forest, to a clearing just like the one I was in earlier. He then walks vertically up a tree. Team 7, or rather Naruto and Sakura look very impressed.
I'm feeling incredulous though. He can't be serious. I look towards my team. Yakumo looks contemptuous while Sai merely looks disinterested.
Sensei however looks annoyed. " Kakashi, you can't be serious! You're only teaching your team tree walking now?! I was ready to teach my team this on the very same day that we became a team. "
" None of them needed to learn it though. They already knew. This and the next exercise. Hatorama knows even more because he's a trained medic. You're really a joke of a sensei. "
Without even giving Kakashi a chance to reply, she leads our team away from this farce. Internally I frown. How can things be so bad. Are the other teams just as poorly trained? My mother won't be pleased when I send her my report.
We reach another secluded part, this time near the beach. Then she splits us up to spar. Me against her and Sai against Yakumo.
Yakumo is limited to Chunin level genjutsu however and Sai can't use his tanto. Then she engages me in taijutsu.
As she's learnt before, I have an immunity to the venom of her snakes so she doesn't bother having her snakes bite me.
Her shadow striking snakes that emerge from her sleeves are an annoyance in other ways though. Unfortunately for sensei, I've been hyped up since this morning, so I have lots of adrenaline to burn off.
As soon as her snakes wrap around my arm, I grab them and pull her flying towards me with my superior strength.
She uses substitution at the last possible moment, so that my kick ends up shattering the log instead of her collar bone.
She seems surprised for a second, which I use to sealessly spit a razor sharp needle of water at her. She dodges it barely, but it still slices through her left arm.
With blood dripping down, she goes through handsigns rapidly and soon, a large fireball is headed my way. I smirk.
With a thought and a smidge of chakra, the Sword of the Thunder God appears in my hand. I activate it and slash downwards.
Lightning chakra cuts the fireball in half. At the same time, I got through one handed seals. The moment her attack is negated, I use my own.
Water Style Water Bullet. A ball of water to match the size of the previous fireball, rushes towards her. She goes through handsigns again. I'm already moving forward though.
An earth wall stops my jutsu in its tracks, but not me. I smash the wall down with a fist. Then I leap up. Sensei erupts out of the ground too late.
Again I slash the sword through the air. Lightning chakra arcs downwards. A substitution saves her just in time. The log shatters.
" Alright you brat, that's enough for now. Sai, Yakumo! We'll switch opponents now. Sai against Hatorama and Yakumo against me. Sai, you can now fight without any restrictions, same goes for you Yakumo. Hatorama, no Sword of the Thunder God. "
I roll my eyes and stretch out the kinks in my body. I'm aware of Kakashi watching our training. He likely thinks he's hidden. I snort to myself as I make my way towards Sai.
My sword is the easiest way to deal with Sai and his ink creations, but far from the only way. As he charges me, tanto drawn, I throw a brace of shuriken at him.
He bats them aside with his weapon and continues on towards me, only to stop about a foot away. His sword has been snagged by ninja wire that was attached to the shuriken.
With him so close, it's nearly impossible to dodge. I flick a senbon at him. Just like with sensei, he barely dodges, but still ends up being cut. He takes out his scroll and rapidly draws in it. At the same time, I'm going through handsigns.
Earth Style Earth Dragon Bomb. He had created two ink lions and a bird. The lion's were destroyed almost instantly, as my dragon fired a barrage of projectiles from its mouth.
Sai had been able to escape on his bird. I smirked. I went through another set of handsigns. Water Style Downpour. Within a couple of seconds, the clouds directly above us start to darken.
Sai isn't the only one to look up. Anko sensei and Yakumo do as well. I can feel Kakashi's suprise too. Soon, rain starts to fall. Slowly at first, but gradually getting stronger.
Using chakra manipulation, none of the rain touches me directly. Above, I can see Sai struggling. It won't be long now. There! I can feel the chakra in his bird start to fade.
The rain is still falling heavily though, so his visibility is heavily impaired. I rush towards him as he tries to land. His construct breaks apart before he can land but he's close enough to the ground that his fall is only slightly jarring.
It's too late for him though. I appear behind him before he can react. A chop to the back of his head knocks him out. It's then that I stop feeding chakra into the rain.
As the jutsu starts to end, I heal Sai's arm. Footsteps squelching makes me aware of my teammates approaching. Not that I couldn't feel them but sensei does like her theatrics.
" Honestly Hatorama, don't you understand the concept of holding back. Ugh. Now I'm all wet. We'll end the training for today and head back. "
I shrug and don't reply. That was me holding back though. I couldn't go all out even if I wanted to. Some of my abilities my mother forbade me to use.
I can't wait until I'm older. Then those restrictions won't apply. I note that Kakashi has left. If sensei knew he was watching us, she says nothing.
Tazuna is waiting for us when we arrive. He isn't alone though. There are dozens of villagers with him. Anko sensei goes to speak with them and the rest of us enter the house.
We take turns using the bathroom. When we're all finished, we go downstairs as a group. It seems that sensei and Tazuna have concluded their business outside.
As Tsunami serves our lunch, sensei fills us in. Turns out that word had spread of Gato's death. Tazuna's doing mainly, but people in town were suspicious of the lack of thugs that usually roam the streets.
Now that Gato's gone, all the men who aren't busy with the bridge have decided to rebuild Wave Country's fishing fleet. Turns out that all the bigger boats were destroyed by Gato's men.
The day's following that soon settled into a routine for us. Anko sensei was so disgusted by Team 7's weakness that our team took on guard duty ourselves.
What that meant was that she, Yakumo and Sai would leave with Tazuna in the mornings. I would stay behind to guard Tsunami and Inari.
Once I told Tsunami about all the food I'd brought with me, our routine changed. That is, her, Inari and myself would leave the house not long after the rest of my team.
We'd go to the outskirts of the village and there, with the help of about half a dozen other women, food would be cooked for all the people here.
It made me happy, seeing the smiles on the faces of the children as they received regular meals. It actually made me wonder. Are there any people going hungry in the Hidden Leaf Village? I made a promise to myself to check when we returned.
Team 7 on the other hand were training. Sensei argued and browbeat Hatake into teaching his team to water-walk once they'd completed the previous exercise.
The Uchiha was sullen and resentful about being ' held back '. After Yakumo had soundly beaten him in a spar however, he shut up.
Naruto was a whole other problem. I'd watched his interactions with his sensei and team and couldn't help but be frustrated. Should I do something about it? That thought swam through my head.
Things basically follow this pattern for an entire week until the stalemate is broken. It happens just as we finish up eating our evening meal.
I sense them long before that though. There is no violent intent though, so all I do is give sensei a look. She catches on fast. A minute or so later, there's a knock on the door.
I stand up. Most of them sitting at the table trade glances with each other. I open the door, smirk on my face.
It's Haku obviously. He removes his shoes and then he enters. He brushes my shoulder with his as he passes me.
Tazuna rises. " Yes girlie? Don't believe I know you..." Haku giggles. Sakura is looking at him with jealousy. Not that she doesn't have reason to be, but in this case it's misplaced.
Sasuke and Sai both look suspicious, Naruto just has a stupid gaping expression on his face. Haku speaks then.
" Oh no worries, Mr Bridge builder. I'm actually here to speak to the shinobi. " Here he turns to Kakashi and Anko. He focuses on Anko though.
" I've come on behalf of Zabuza. He agrees with your terms. He wants to meet tomorrow. Where Gato's hideout used to be. Is that acceptable? "
Sensei and Kakashi trade looks. Kakashi slowly nods his head. He even waves his hand, the drama queen. " Sure kid, tell Zabuza we'll be there. He better not try any tricks though, or it won't end well. "
Haku just smiles. Then he turns to leave, holding eye contact with me for just a moment longer than necessary. I wink at him as he leaves the threshold of the house. None of the others see.
After bending down to put on his shoes, he slowly looks up again. Then he vanishes in a flicker.
I can sense him and Zabuza in the treeline however. Soon I feel them heading back to base. That's when I come back inside.
Thankfully, Naruto appears to have started a commotion, so nobody paid any attention to me. It gave me time to think.
Later on at night, I took the first watch. As everyone in the house was settling in, I started constructing traps around the house.
It took half an hour to get everything ready. Even a Jounin would be stymied, even if just for a minute or so. I carefully hid an explosive seal with a triple layered genjutsu.
That way, there's atleast a warning system to wake everyone up in case of an emergency. When I finished, I summoned Katsuyu. This was just a precaution, I didn't want to walk into a trap.
She was small enough that she fit in a leg pouch. Then I created four water clones to guard the perimeter. I waited till I felt everyone asleep and then I silently took off into the forest, senses honed on a particular chakra signature.
After a few minutes of running, I could make out a glow in the distance. As I came closer, I could make out a fire.
Not too far from it, Haku was sitting on a blanket. He looked up as I passed the treeline. I looked around for a moment, then I made a single handsign.
All the moisture on the ground and on the trees rose and at a thought, evaporated. I unsealed a scroll and removed four kunai. Kunai that had sealing tags wrapped around their hilts.
I threw them in a perfect square around us and then activated it. Pretty soon, the clearing started to warm up. Haku looked at me with impressed eyes.
I smirked cockily. Inside though, my heart felt like it was gonna leap out of my chest. Slowly, I sat down on the blanket next to him.
He didn't waste time. Soon we were kissing heavily. He ended up laying on his back and I was on top of him. It wasn't long before I started to get hard.
Haku must have felt it, because before long, his hand touched me. I gasped. Our kissing became more urgent.
He gradually made his way to the top of my pants and his hand started dragging my pants and underwear down.
I wasn't ashamed of my body in the slightest. When my pants was at my knees, he stopped kissing me. There was a glint in his eyes.
At first, I didn't understand as he switched our positions and I was the one on my back. When he went down and I felt his mouth on me though, that's when all thoughts fled.