Nagi turn another page of the Bingo Book.
With a Bingo Book of her own to browse like past magazines, she no longer needs to go through Shisui's to identify possible key players. Though, she only recognize very few people in them anyways.
A lot of people of note are either too good to be in a Bingo Book, or still too young to have made a proper impression to be included (or too dead to be considered). Then there are those like Karin, Jugo, and other Orochimaru minions that aren't even in the periphery of society. Underneath the underneath the underneath.
Eyeing a painting of a jounin from the Iwa bee clan (and whoever is responsible for the illustrations of this album should really be praised), noted to be a heavy hitter, Nagi idly considers how she can deal with an opponent such as her with her current arsenal if, or when, the opportunity ever comes up.
Turning another page, Nagi notes what village it is from and folds the corner to bookmark and examine more thoroughly at a later date. The next page is another Kumo shinobi and she folds that too.
Tokuma turns to the south wall, veins prominent on his temples, "Nagi, it's late, we should sleep."
"Yes, Tokuma-nii." She sets aside her book, flopping over to her futon, set on the opposite corner of his room.
It's not literally her futon, but it practically is.
Tokuma turns off the lamp.
"Tokuma-nii, have you gone on a C-rank?"
"Yeah. Why do you ask?"
She rolls over to look at him in the dark, "What-... Have you fought a ninja?"
"Yeah." He looks at her, "What about you?"
"Not yet." Nagi contemplates turning on her Byakugan before dismissing it, "Did-... did you kill them?"
"Yeah."
Tokuma is five years older than her. Itachi is four, and Shisui is seven.
And each one have their respective body count.
More than one. Multiple.
It makes sense but it doesn't.
Tokuma is ten.
"How?"
"Four jyuuken strikes around the heart from behind. It was pretty cool, you should've seen my teammates faces." She can hear his smile, "Being Hyuuga is cool."
"Yeah, you're really cool."
"How long can you keep it up?"
"Four hours straight at most. But I usually rest it every thirty minutes, Hiroto-sama."
"Good, good, you have outstanding eyes, there is no sense in ruining it by over reaching." another elder says.
The third, and last one, continues, "In the future, you will be one of the most powerful Hyuuga and you will serve Hinata-sama to maintain the the honor and esteem of-"
Every meeting with her clan's elders mostly go the same way.
Her headband sits on her forehead, over her childhood one.
The one given to her after her sealing, which serves as a figurative bandaid to keep the seal from being tainted or 'infected'. Wear it long enough, and it even has a numbing effect, she'd discovered.
She mostly wears it because it's made of this nice fabric and is inlaid with a certain array of chakra so that her clanmates won't be able to scrutinize the seal under it too closely- if they even try. It's not like her family members are going to examine her curse seal for no reason whatsoever but better safe than sorry.
(It's over and done with, no one likes dwelling on it.)
The headband is generally treated as a kiddy garment, like rainbow printed socks. Or a comfort blanky.
And she has the appropriate childhood trauma that keeping it until her adulthood won't be too suspicious. Maybe eventually she'll find something better, but for now, it'll do just fine to obscure anything that may be too blatantly suspicious.
"We heard that you and Hinata-sama had a disagreement."
"It wasn't a disagreement, Hiroto-sama. I simply had a lapse of discipline. I have expressed my sincere apology to Hinata-sama."
"You are a hotblooded youth. Keep an eye on your temper, it can be used against you-"
She nods and answers when prompted but otherwise, she's rarely required to participate in these sessions beyond sitting and looking obedient.
She doesn't have the energy for much, her stomach heavy with a vague sense of dread.
Nagi leaps back, ducking under the kunai.
Yoji's bugs takes her place, cutting off Itachi's attempt to reach into his pouch to perform a fireball jutsu instead. It does its job and the bugs disperse. Only to be replaced by Nagi getting back into Itachi's guard while recklessly dispersing the fire chakra with a handful of glowing blue chakra, leaving her smelling like smoke.
The Uchiha heir grunts, swerving away from a jyuuken strike, hands flashing through signs. He sinks into the ground, barely missing another poke.
"Kaiten!" Nagi spins, blowing away the swarm that had surrounded her. She looks at the ground, clicking her tongue as she see Itachi finally able to take out his shurikens.
One won't believe the degree in which Itachi rises in danger levels once he's given the time to work at them.
Nagi leaps over the swarm, cutting through the second batch by spinning in the air. She lands on the branch Yoji hangs upside down from. She starts a series of blows on the surface, aiming for his feet.
Yoji dance around, avoiding the chakra strikes.
Nagi has to abandon the task to abruptly dodge a dozen shurikens aiming for their head. Yoji slices through the wires trailing behind it, slipping between the blades.
The shurikens rebound off each other, chasing after the two and corraling them together.
See what Nagi means?!
Nagi kick off a rock to fly towards Itachi, knowing her greatest advantage lie in close range.
Which reminds her, she needs to learn or develop some form of long range. She mentally puts the air palm in her to do list.
"Eight trigrams sixteen palms!"
Itachi avoids the first swipe with narrowed eyes. With a burst of speed, Nagi lands the second one and proceeds with the manoeuvre.
Itachi gasps- and the clone disappears in a puff of smoke.
Well, it couldn't have been that easy.
Nagi extend her sight and witness Itachi knock Yoji into a clearing, quickly followed by another fireball.
Chasing after them again -she's learning why exactly the Hyuuga hate the Uchiha always running away- she drops down on her teammates in a flurry of jyuuken strikes.
Yoji stumbles on one leg, catching himself on a tree trunk. Itachi sticks to another tree after performing a replacement.
Nagi keeps herself from screaming at him because she'd signed up for a fight, not a game of cat and mouse.
Itachi -the little- smiles in the face of her glare.
Nagi goes after Yoji-
"That's enough for today. Cool down, get your weights here Nagi, and then you can go home." Yuki-sensei cuts in.
They work to even their breaths.
Her stomachs aches. From the usual five meal a day, Nagi struggled to get two in the last week or so.
It's not yet taking a visible toll, but...
Nagi pulls her hair free, only to surrender her kanzashi to Itachi as they work to tame the dark locks.
Itachi, of course, doesn't have a single hair out of place, though the boy smells of his signature fire chakra.
Yoji limps towards where Itachi silently instructs her to sit.
Nagi unblocks his tenketsu and they plop down in a pile.
Yuki-sensei reads a scroll on one of the post.
Nagi blinks at the blue, blue, sky.
It might be her memories, her recollection of things, or just the lack of pollutants in this world, but the sky here is bluer than her previous world's had ever been.
Thanks for telling me yochan123.