Hello again! My Wi-Fi was fixed last night, so that's awesome! I can now continue throwing chapters out to you! :D The next chapter or two will pretty much just be team 7, having different misssions, and what not, so honestly nothing too exciting I guess. Sorry in advance.
Also thank you to Dekuton, KassieJean, and Calcu22 for your reviews! I appreciate them as always!
And warning, in this chapter, I try my best to explain how to use chakra thread, but honestly, I kind of just guessed it, because I couldn't really find anything, on how to actually create it, so if anyone knows, and or is able to find out, feel free to message me, and I will change it. If not, please forgive me. Please R&R. I would love to hear any feedback. (: I accept criticism, but if you do so, please don't be rude about it :)
Sasuke, Naruto, and I sat at Ichiraku's and waited for our food.
"What do you think our first mission will be? Maybe we'll be escorting a beautiful princess back home!" Naruto shouted.
"I highly doubt it. The first couple of weeks, we'll probably only have D rank missions. We're fresh out of the academy. There is no way they're going to send us out on a mission." I pointed out.
Naruto deflated.
Sasuke scoffed. "Yeah, idiot."
Here comes the headache.
Ichiraku, the owner of the ramen stand, couldn't have picked a better time to show up with our food. As soon as Naruto saw the ramen he forgot all about what Sasuke said, and immediately dug in. I winced because I could see the steam, just pouring out of the bowl, but Naruto didn't even seemed effected by it.
I blew on my noddles, waiting for them to cool down, and Sasuke did the same.
"You know, Lee was telling me that a lot of the new genin, have this one mission, where they have to chase, and capture a cat named Tora. Apparently, the cat is a demon, and escapes a lot. When Lee came home he had scratches all over him."
"Heh. It's just a stupid cat, how much trouble could it be?" Naruto said, slurping his noodles.
I just shrugged my shoulders.
The rest of the time we were at Ichiraku's was spent talking about different missions, we could have.
Eventually, Naruto and I were walking home together. Sasuke had already left for his house.
"Hey, Naruto?"
He looked over at me. "Yeah?"
"I was just wondering, if you would like to stay the night tonight? You know since Lee isn't here." I asked nervously.
I didn't want to admit it, but I was a bit scared to be home alone. I was always used to Lee being there with me, and since he was on a mission, I was alone. It would be 5 more days before he would even be back. I hoped.
"Yeah, sure." Naruto said, grinning.
I was pretty sure he knew by now I didn't like being alone, due to the fact that every time Lee would go on a mission, that required him to leave the village, I would ask Naruto to stay with me. There were times that Naruto stayed with me days at a time.
I sighed in relief. "Thanks Naruto!"
He chuckled. "No problem Hotaru.
Once at my house I took my shoes off, and went to our hall closet to get a blanket and a pillow for Naruto to use, to sleep on the couch. I wasn't tired yet though, and I doubted Naruto was either. Plus it was only now just getting dark, so it wasn't even very late.
"Hey, Naruto wanna continue practicing with the chakra thread?"
"You betcha!" He yelled, quickly getting up. I got up as well, and we went out to the back yard.
"I noticed how you were having a lot of trouble with it earlier. Try it again, lets see how we can fix it." I advised.
"Hm, okay."
I decided to see if I could sense his chakra control, once he started to try to make the strings. I immeadiately saw the problem.
"You're mashing your chakra too close together. You need to try to thin it out. Seperate it, through each of your fingers. Think about it, like how you make your shadow clones. Split it into different pieces. Concentrate on thinning your chakra into five seperate strings." I adivsed.
"Uh, okay."
He did as I said, and tried again. I could feel him seperating his chakra, but once it was time to actually make the thread, he would mash it all together again.
He growled.
"Don't worry Naruto, you'll get it, you just have to keep trying. It might take awhile."
"But it didn't take you very long." He pointed out.
"I guess. but I kept trying. Trying to think of what I did wrong, and how to fix that. I also read read everything about it, that was available to me. So I can lend you the books, if you want."
Naruto sighed. "Let's just keep practicing."
We practiced well into the night. Naruto was slightly getting the hang of it, but he could only make the strings about half an inch, which was something.
"Alright, Naruto, it's getting late, and we have our first mission tomorrow. We can practice another time."
"Alright."
We went back inside.
"If you get hungry, we have ramen in the cupboard above the stove. I'm going to bed, goodnight Naruto."
"Okay, goodnight Hotaru."
I went to my room, and plopped face first onto my bed. I really hope our mission isn't too bad tomorrow.
The next morning I was woken up by Naruto yelling for me to wake up, and jumping on my bed. It wasn't long before I was face first on the floor.
I growled. "Naruto!"
He laughed. "Heh, sorry Hotaru."
He helped me up.
"Come on, hurry up and get ready, so we can see what our mission is!"
I sighed. He left my room, and I slowly got dressed.
I finally left the room, to meet an impatient Naruto.
"Ugh, Hotaru you took forever!" He yelled.
"So sorry." I wasn't sorry.
Naruto dragged me out of the house, and we made our way to the Hokage tower, where we were supposed to meet, Sasuke, and Kakashi sensei.
Sasuke was already there, but Kakashi sensei wasn't.
"Morning Sasuke."
"Morning."
I slide down, and leaned up against a wall. We would probably be waiting awhile.
I was right. It took Kakashi sensei almost two hours to show up.
"Good morning my cute little students. Sorry I'm late, I ran into a little old lady with groceries, and I just had to help her out." He lied.
I glared at him.
"Yeah, sure. You were probably still alseep until ten minutes ago." I growled.
Sasuke and Naruto gave me surprised looks, but Kakashi sensei just grinned at me from under his mask, and bent down to my level, where I was still on the ground.
"Well aren't you just a little ray of sunshine in the morning." He said, ruffling my hair.
I scrowled at him.
Sasuke came over to me and held his hand out. I grabbed it, and he helped me up.
We all walked into the Hokage's office, and Kakashi sensei knocked on the door.
"Come in." A voice from the other side called.
Kakashi sensei opened the door, and let us in first.
"Ah Kakashi."
"Hey old man, do you have a cool mission for us?" Naruto yelled.
"Naruto!" I hissed.
"What?" He asked.
"Idiot." Sasuke scoffed.
The Hokage just laughed. "I actually have the perfect mission for you."
I didn't like the way he said that.
"You're mission will be to catch the fire Daimyo's wifes cat. Tora."
Ugh, no! That was not what I wanted our first mission to be. I glared at Naruto.
"Hotaru's brother Lee said that, that cat is a demon cat, and Lee came home with scratches all over him." Naruto recalled.
"Catching a cat should be no problem for you Naruto." Kakashi sensei said, while his nose was buried in a copy of Icha Icha Paradise.
"Of course not! Its just a stupid cat! I can catch it no problem! Believe it!" He yelled.
Just wait.
The Hokage chuckled. "Of course."
He handed Kakashi sensei the mission scrowl, and dismissed us.
Once outside Kakashi sensei handed me the scrowl.
"Well, good luck." He said, disappearing with a wave.
"Of course he left." I said sourly.
"Wow Hotaru, you're really angry today." Naruto pointed out.
Sasuke nodded his head in agreement.
"What, am I supposed to be happy go lucky all of the time?" I asked.
"Well, yeah. You usually are." Naruto said slowly, like he was afraid to set me off.
I sighed. I didn't get much sleep the night before. I had, had a nightmare about the chunin exams, with Lee and Gaara, but in my dream Gaara had actually killed Lee. It took me hours after I woke up to be able to fall back to sleep, after I had finally stopped crying.
"I'm sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night. I guess I'm just a little grouchy.
"A little?" I heard Sasuke mumble. I turned to glare at him.
It seemed like I was doing that a lot lately. Glaring and sighing.
"Alright." I said, choosing to ignore Sasuke. " We should split up and look for Tora." I pulled some walkie talkies from my bag and handed one to Sasuke, and one to Naruto. "We'll use these, to let each other know if we have spotted the target, and where it is."
"This is going to be so easy!" Naruto yelled.
"Uh, yeah. Let's go."
We split up, and started our search for the demon cat. I honestly really hoped I wasn't the first to find it.
I looked everywhere I could possibly think Tora would be.
Naruto came through the walkie talkie. "I've spotted the target. It's in an alley by the Yamanaka flower shop. I am closing in on it."
I ran as fast as I could to Naruto. I had a feeling this cat was going to own him.
I was rigiht. The moment I spotted Naruto, he was struggling to get the cat off of his face. Sasuke landed on the ground right next to me.
"What an idiot."
I had to agree with him this time.
I went over to Naruto, and tried to help him detatch the cat from his face. Once I was able to get Tora off of him, I couldn't help but laugh. He was covered in scratches, and was having a glaring contest with the cat. The cat started to fight against my hold trying to get to Naruto. But I had a firm hold on her.
"Shh, there there." I cooed, trying to calm her down. "Naruto don't look at her. She doesn't like you."
"Hotaru." Naruto whined.
"Heh. I don't blame it. I mean look at your face." Sasuke added fire to the burn.
"Come on you guys!" Naruto continued to whine. I just laughed, and Sasuke smirked.
"Hey. I thought I heard Naruto." Ino said, walking to where we were in the alley with a still angry Tora.
"Hey, Ino." I greeted.
"What are you guys doing?" She asked, looking over at Naruto, the human scratching post.
"We're on a mission to catch this demon cat." Naruto said, glaring at the cat again. Tora hissed at him.
"I see. Hey Hotaru. Have you heard from Sakura?"
Damn I forgot about Sakura. I had a feeling her and her team didn't make it.
"No, I haven't."
"I'm worried about her. I don't think her team passed. Are you doing anything after your mission?'
"Nothing planned, no."
"I plan to stop by her house, want to come with me?" She asked.
"Sure, just let us take Tora back to her owner, and I'll come back to the shop, and we can go to Sakuras."
"Okay, see you later Hotaru."
"See ya."
Ino left, and I turned back to the boys.
"Alright, lets go and get this over with."
We made our way back to the Hokage tower, where Kakashi sensei was waiting for us. I felt my eye twitch.
"So, how did it go?" Kakashi sensei asked cheerfully. Probably knowing exactly how it went, from the multiple scratches Naruto had on him, and the hissing cat, still struggling in my arms to get to Naruto.
"Just swell." I said, switching to a false cheerful voice.
I think Kakashi sensei noticed, because he grinned, and matched my tone.
"Well that's good to hear."
Naruto and Sasuke kept looking between us.
Kakashi sensei clapped his hands together.
"Well then, lets return the cat to its owner."
We made our way to the Hokage's office, where the Daimyo's wife was waiting with the Hokage.
"Oh you naughty kitty! Scaring mommy like that!"
I immediately gave the struggling cat to the heavy set woman. I winced when she started to squeeze the cat is a hug.
"No wonder the cat keeps escaping." Naruto mumbled to Sasuke and I.
We silently agreed as Kakashi sensei smacked Naruto in the back of the head, and bent down to whisper in his ear.
"Keep quiet." He warned.
Once we were each given our money for the mission, we left the tower. Kakashi had already disappered.
"I'll see you guys later, I'm going to head over to Ino's now." I said, waving goodbye to them as I left.
"Bye Hotaru."
"Later."
I made my way to the Yamanaka flower shop, thinking about what to say to Sakura. I wasn't sure what I could say. I knew how badly she wanted to be a ninja.
A ding sounded through the shop, as I walked in. Ino was sitting behind the counter.
"Hey Hotaru, you ready?"
"Hey. Yeah, I am."
"Hey dad, could you watch the counter? Hotaru and I are going to go see Sakura."
I looked over to see Ino's dad Inoichi walking over to us.
"Of course. Hello Hotaru. It's nice to see you again."
I bowed my head slightly. "Hello Mr. Yamanaka. It is nice to see you again as well."
"Alright Hotaru, let's go. We don't have time to waste!" Ino said, pulling me out of the shop. I could hear Inoichi chuckle.
Ino and I made our way to Sakura's house. Once there Ino knocked on the door. Sakura's mother answered it.
"Oh, hello girls. I'm sorry, but Sakura isn't here right now.
"She's not? Where is she?" Ino asked.
"I'm sorry dear, I couldn't tell you. She left awhile ago. She was pretty upset."
Her mom didn't have to tell us why Sakura was upset. We already knew.
"Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Haruno."
"No problem dears. If you can't find her, I'll make sure to tell her that you both stopped by, when she comes home."
"Thank you."
Ino and I left Sakura's house.
"Where do you think she is?" Ino wondered.
I thought about it.
"Follow me." I told Ino, as I took off.
"Wait, Hotaru!" Ino yelled, as she ran to catch up to me.
I made my way to the old park Ino, Sakura, and I used to play at, when we were younger. I went to where the swings were, and low and behold, there was Sakura, sitting on the swing, wiwth her head down.
"Sakura." I yelled.
Her head snapped up. She was crying. She quickly wiped her face.
"What are you guys doing here?" She asked, quietly.
"Looking for you." Ino said softly.
Sakura sighed. "My team didn't make it." Her voice wavered, like she was about to cry again.
Ino and I took the other two swings by Sakura, so that she was now in the middle of us.
"You can always go back to the academy." I said softly.
"It won't be the same." She argued.
"There are other things you can do as well." I tried again.
"Like what?" She asked.
"Well, you could always be a medical ninja. You were always the best with chakra control out of all of us. And you're really smart, so it'll be a breeze." I said.
"You think so?" She asked.
"I do. Right Ino?"
Ino nodded her head. "Hotaru is right. You'd make a really good medical ninja."
"Well I guess I can consider it."
"That's the spirit!" Ino yelled.
Sakura and I laughed.
"Thanks you guys"
"No problem. That's what friends are for." I said, moving my swing over to her, to bump into her. She laughed again.
We spent the next few hours just talking, and throwing off ideas to what Sakura could be other than a ninja. Once it was nightfall we said our goodbyes, and went our seperate ways to go home.
It was a long quiet walk to my house. I missed Lee. More than ever now, since I had that dream. I really hoped he was alright. I knew the chunin exams were going to be awful. I didn't want Gaara to hurt Lee. I really hoped things would change, and Lee would get to fight someone else. I would fight Gaara myself if I had to. If that meant he wouldn't have the chance to hurt Lee, I would do it in a heatbeat.
Even though I was starting to forget little things, from my past life, and the show, I still remembered most important things. It just really sucked I couldn't say anything to anyone without the right proof.
Once home, I took my shoes off and looked around. It was too dark, and empty. I decided to take a quick shower before I decided to try to get some sleep. I hoped I wouldn't have the same nightmare again.
I could only get so lucky.