Final
Chapter 7:
What Lies Hidden Beneath The Leaves
(First half)
I always found it weird how some people looked so different from what they weighed. During my past life, I once had a classmate that had been a total bean pole, the skinniest kid I knew. The boy had been so tall that he towered over the rest of the class but was as slender as a twig. He was so thin that I could hold both of his wrists in one hand, the guy was practically anorexic. Yet despite that, the kid had somehow managed to outweigh me. It could have been his height coming to play or maybe he had more muscles underneath those baggy shirts he wore than I gave him credit for but put him on some scales, and he would somehow manage to outweigh all but the largest boys in class.
Then there was the opposite end of the spectrum. Not so much here in the Elemental Nations but back in my old world, obesity was beginning to become a serious problem. And among those people there were several individuals who, how should I put this lightly, wore shirt sizes with more 'X's in them than I had fingers but somehow weighted nearly half I would have guessed them to be given their bulky bodies.
What I was trying to say is that there were a lot of people out there who weighed far less than they appeared to be.
And Kakashi was not one of those people.
Every breath I took burned but, fighting through the pain, I forced my aching arms to straighten, pushing myself up off the ground. Sweat ran down my face and dripped off my nose as I held the plank position, staining the already damp ground beneath my face, and after sucking a shaky lungful of air I once again bent my arms and lowered myself to the ground.
Only to repeat the entire thing all over again.
"How much does your fat ass weigh?" I managed to wheeze out between breaths as I forced myself to finish another push-up.
"I resent that," with my Byakugan turned on, as it always was during training, I could tell that Kakashi never took his eyes away from the book he was reading from his place on my back, "I'll have you know that I do not have a fat ass. As a matter of fact, my ass consists of 70% pure muscles, 20% pure fine and 10% sheer awesome, making it a 100% certified badass. And it is not, in any way, fat."
"Then how come you weigh so goddamn much?" I groaned back, forcing myself to work through the burn. After all the training I had suffered through during my second childhood, something as easy as push-ups was child's play for me. With chakra to enhance my body, I could have burned through a hundred of these without breaking a single sweat. Or I would have, if I didn't have a grown man sitting on my back who, thanks to a combination of unnaturally dense muscles and the equipment he carried, weighed a shit ton more than he looked.
"That's because of all the awesomeness I'm carrying," turning a page, Kakashi giggled perversely at something he read before answering. "It's clear to me that all of that awesome is too much of a burden for a little kid like you, so it's weighing you down."
"Are you sure you're not heavy because you're so full of shit?" I had to pause speaking for a sec as I forced myself through another push-up. "Because that's all I'm hearing every time you open your mouth."
"The only piece of shit around here is the one that's clinging to the bottom of my ass," Kakashi absentmindedly ruffled my hair, "Though keep trying with the comebacks, you might even get good enough to give me a challenge someday."
Instead of rising to the clear provocation, I resisted the temptation and decided to save my breath instead by ignoring Kakashi. The training was hard enough as it is without his wisecracking added in.
For the next few minutes, the Team 7 training ground was almost blissfully silent. Nothing could be heard but the sound of my low panting and the quiet muttering of Naruto and Shikamaru from the other side of the training field. It was actually kind of a nice change of pace after all of the hectic days I've had to go through since becoming a Genin.
Naturally, Kakashi had to ruin it.
"How did you learn it?" My Sensei asked me out of the blue.
"How did I learn what?" I grunted out, trying and failing to pretend that my nose didn't itch as much as it did. The temptation to stop and scratch it was almost overwhelming, but I resisted. Instead, I focused on lowering myself as close to the ground as possible before pushing myself up again, trying to get the most of my workout.
Grey hair filled the front of my vision as Kakashi leaned over my head, looking me straight in the eyes. "The Rasengan, how did you learn it?"
That actually caught me off guard, and I paused halfway through another push-up to process what he said. When I realized how guilty that made me look I forced myself to continue, "What makes you think I even know how to use the Rasengan? It's Naruto's technique, ask her."
"I did," Kakashi straightened up and crossed his legs, making himself more comfortable on the middle of my back.
"And?" I asked as I completed another pushup, giving him so much of my attention that I hardly noticed the exertion of the workout anymore.
"She told me she learned it from a dream." Kakashi let out a thoughtful hum as he scratched his chin through his face mask. "Which reminds me, I'm going to have to teach Naruto how to lie properly. She's really terrible at it, isn't she?"
"That she is." I agreed as I lowered myself to the ground. While Naruto has always been good at bluffing she has never been able to get the knack of lying, at least not straight to your face. It was her eyes, they were too emotional. They always seemed to show what she was thinking. "But that doesn't explain why you think I would know anything about the Rasengan?"
"Well, she had to learn it from somewhere. Naruto is too much of a kinesthetic learner to understand how to create her own jutsu. And the Rasengan is far more complex than it looks, it'd take a lot of advanced chakra theory to figure out how it works let alone how to recreate it. That means someone had to teach it to her and, as far as I know, there are only two people alive that are supposed to know that technique. One of them is me and the other is Jiraiya, the Fourth's Sensei." Kakashi flipped through another page, looking as casual as he always did though I had no doubt in mind he was completely focused on me, "Jiraiya-sama hasn't been in the village for a long time now. Years if I remember correctly. And I know I haven't taught it to her so that only leaves you."
"Again, why me?"
"Well, out of all the people that she spends time with you are the only one that has a habit of stealing other people's techniques." He pointed out casually and I knew he was talking about the Chidori. Huh, if I didn't know any better I'd say he was feeling a little sore about that. "So quit stalling and spill. How did you learn it?"
Were I not so out of breath I might have sighed.
I guess it was too much to hope that the Rasengan wouldn't be traced back to me. And I knew there was no way I could talk my way out of this, not when Kakashi was so invested in figuring out the mystery. Whenever he got like this Kakashi was like a dog with a bone, he just wouldn't let go. That he waited until nearly the end of my training to spring the question on me, when I was too exhausted to properly think up a lie, was proof that.
It was a good thing then that I already had one prepared when I decided to teach Naruto the jutsu.
"It was the Kaiten." Kakashi's face popped back in front of me, his upside-down features strangely intense as he looked me in the eye.
That was something that I had noticed other people do, even when they knew I could see them no matter where they stood around me with my Byakugan, they still tried to make eye contact whenever they spoke with me. "The Gentle Fist technique that's exclusive to the Hyuuga main house? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything," I replied, "the Kaiten works using the same basic principles as the Rasengan. Both techniques require the user to release a large amount of raw chakra before using it to create a rotating sphere of energy."
I paused in the middle of the next push-up so that I could talk without interruption. "The only major difference between the two is that the Rasengan is used for offensive purposes while the Kaiten is used primarily for defence. Well, that, and the Kaiten requires the entire body to spin to help create the rotation while the Rasengan is done purely through chakra manipulation. Once I realized that it was easy to reverse engineer the Rasengan and figure out how the technique worked."
Kakashi scratched his chin thoughtfully as he went over what I just told him. And while I was lying through my teeth about how I learned the Rasengan, everything else I said was true. It was legitimately possible to discover the secret of the Rasengan through the Kaiten. I was pretty sure that the only reason no other Hyuuga ever bothered to try and learn it before is because there was no point, there were plenty of other Gentle Fist techniques that were just as useful and far easier to master than the Rasengan. Even I only went through the effort of learning it for Naruto's sake.
"Hmm, that's certainly possible I supposed." Kakashi mused, sounding unconvinced. "Still, having a theory and actually learning it are two different things. The Rasengan is a difficult jutsu to use and it isn't so simple that you can learn it just by having a rough idea of how it works."
That was entirely true. Hell, Kakashi was understating it if anything. There was a very good reason why I avoided using the Rasengan whenever possible, preferring the Chidori or the strikes from the Gentle Fist over it. It was simply too hard to use.
A person's chakra capabilities were measured in three primary methods.
The first was chakra supply; simply put it was the total amount of raw chakra you had in your body.
The second was chakra capacity, which was the amount of chakra you could release in any given moment. This determined the rank of jutsu you could use. To use a high-level technique, like an A-rank jutsu, you needed to have a high chakra capacity. If you didn't then it didn't matter how much chakra you had. If you couldn't pour enough chakra into a technique fast enough then most of the higher end jutsu were beyond you.
Then there was chakra density. Chakra density affected the size and intensity of a jutsu. The denser your chakra was, the more potent its effect. Denser chakra would cause a fire technique to burn more fiercely, or a wind jutsu to blow more violently. Using the Katon: Great Fireball jutsu as an example, the larger your density the larger and hotter the fireball.
With very few exceptions, chakra density didn't vary much from person to person. It was almost universally the same no matter who you were. Which was completely fine as you didn't need to be born with naturally dense chakra to have it, that's where chakra molding came in.
Before casting a jutsu, you can gather and fold chakra onto itself while it's still inside you before releasing it, thus 'thickening' it. Most Chuunin only needed a fraction of a second to double or even triple the density of their chakra, so, for the most part, a person's natural chakra density didn't matter.
However, when it came to the Rasengan your chakra density made all the difference.
At its core, the Rasengan was nothing more than pure chakra condensed into a revolving sphere that was spun in place at a high speed. And while it was the rotation speed that allowed the Rasengan to 'grind', it was the chakra density that hardened it enough to make it work.
Think about it this way if the Rasengan was less dense then, let's say an average human's bone, then even if you tried to slam it into an enemy's chest then the Rasengan would be the one that shattered instead of the enemy's rib.
That was the real reason why the Rasengan was so hard to learn, the sheer amount of chakra density it needed was massive. When I tried to cast the technique, I needed to fold my chakra a dozen times over to make it work, which was a ludicrous amount. Even the Chidori only needed me to fold my chakra twice.
Ironically the very same reason that made it so hard to use was what made Naruto so good at it.
Naruto's chakra was dense, ridiculously so. While most people needed to thicken their chakra to make a jutsu work, Naruto had to do the opposite. She needed to 'thin' it out or else her chakra would simply overpower any jutsu under B-Rank that she tried to use. And while this might have been a hindrance for most jutsu, when it came to the Rasengan it was perfect.
Naruto's chakra was already so dense that she didn't need to thicken it. All she had to do was release her chakra and rotate it into a sphere. In the end, all she needed was a few short weeks of practice and she could create a fully formed Rasengan into her hand in the blink of an eye.
Which was impressive as hell.
The Rasengan might have been the only jutsu Naruto had ever managed to learn faster than me, and if it wasn't, then it certainly was the one with the largest margin. It took me almost an entire year to learn the bloody thing while Naruto, just like she had in the Manga, managed to get it down after a month. No wonder Jiraiya had been so impressed. Learning the Rasengan that fast couldn't be explained away by pure talent, it was an achievement that bordered on the supernatural.
It was almost unfair how ridiculously strong her chakra network was, even at twelve years old I didn't think that there was anyone out there that could come close to rivalling her. And she still wasn't done growing.
Embarrassing enough, during training I had to resort to using the two-handed style of Rasengan that the original Naruto had to use in the show. It was the only way I could finally learn the damn thing. I swear Naruto laughed so hard at seeing me use 'training-wheels' as she put it that she almost hyperventilated. Even now, she could mold a fully formed Rasengan in less than a fraction of the time I did. Her chakra density gave her that much of an advantage.
It was only after I had tried learning the Rasengan that I began to get an inkling about just how talented the Fourth must have been. For him to fold so much chakra so fast, his chakra control had to be phenomenal. Not to mention his chakra supply. The technique was a chakra sink. Due to its density, the Rasengan ended up draining more chakra than any other jutsu I knew, even the Chidori didn't compare.
I had always wondered why Kakashi never bothered with the Rasengan but now I knew, it was simply too hard to use. I could cast a Chidori far faster than the Rasengan and at a fraction of the chakra cost to boot. Even if you factored in the screeching noise that gave the Chidori its name, it was still more useful to me than the Rasengan was. Especially now that, thanks to Kakashi's guidance, I was getting even faster at forming the Chidori with every passing week.
"I used balloons." I finally told Kakashi.
"Balloons?" He asked, arching an eyebrow in obvious bewilderment.
"Yes, balloons," I confirmed. "That's how I trained myself to mold the Rasengan. I first started practising on water balloons, trying to pop them while using only pure chakra. That helped me learn how to rotate my chakra. When I figured out how to do that and still hadn't been able to form a Rasengan, I decided to up the difficulty and switched to rubber balls. That taught me how to make my chakra denser. Once I was finished with that I was technically able to mold a Rasengan but it wasn't any good. It kept falling apart whenever I tried using it on something solid. Didn't take long for me to realise that I needed to get better at keeping its shape together. So for the next step, I decided to combine both lessons and used a normal balloon but this time, instead of trying to pop it, my goal was to form a Rasengan inside the balloon without bursting it. This taught me how to properly hold its shape. Once I had completed all three of those steps, presto, I had finally been able to form a Rasengan. After that, it was rather easy teaching Naruto. Too easy actually, she ended up learning it far faster than I did."
Kakashi was giving me the oddest look, something that was a cross between amazement and suspicion, as if he couldn't believe what I was saying yet couldn't think of an alternative but to believe me. "…And you came up with this training method all on your own."
"No, I learned the technique from a comic book about ninjas. Of course, I thought up the idea myself." I snarked back and, unlike Naruto, I knew my blank white eyes wouldn't give me away. There was a reason why we Hyuugas were so damn good in poker. "Why? Where else would I learn it?"
"Nowhere, I was just…surprised by how similar it was to another training method someone else thought of," Kakashi admitted slowly before easing off, pulling his face away from mine as he returned back to his seated position on my back.
Which was when I realised just how tired I was.
I bit back a groan of agony as I pushed through another pushup, not having realised how hard I had been pushing my body while I was distracted by Kakashi's interrogation. But now that it was over it was hitting me like a sledgehammer.
"Which reminds me," I began, trying to sound casual and doing a good job of keeping my exhaustion from my voice. If there was one thing I learned about Kakashi was that, like his dogs, he could smell weakness a mile away. And there was no way I was going to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much his training was getting to me. However the simple truth of the matter was that while the spirit was willing, the body was weak, and my body had long since reached its limit. Even as I finished another rep I could feel my arms trembling so badly that I knew they were about to give out on me any second. "How much longer do I have to keep doing these pushups?"
"Hmm?" Kakashi glanced down at me then blinked as if he was surprised to still find me there. "Oh, you're still doing that? You were finished almost five minutes ago." I felt a hand pat my head as if I were a dog, "Though it is nice to see you so eager to complete my training."
"Oh you are such a dic-" The rest of my words were cut off as my arms chose that moment to give up the chase, and I collapsed onto the ground, knocking the breath out of me.
Even before I hit the ground Kakashi was off my back and sitting on the ground next to me, legs crossed and already back to reading his book. "And this is why you need to work on your upper body strength duckling. If it was Gai's student, he would have finished a hundred more reps then you."
"Lee would have finished a thousand reps more, then started working on a thousand back-flips, followed by a thousand more squats before asking for even more by the time he was done. Which is exactly why Lee is a masochist." I let out a groan as I flipped onto my back, enjoying the cool breeze as it swept over my body. "And I'd much rather be a sadist thank you very much. Kind of like you, now that I think of it."
Kakashi nodded sagely, eyes never leaving the book, "Yes, it always pays to be more like me."
I was way too tired to bother with thinking up a comeback, so I just laid down and allowed myself to enjoy my well-earned rest. Slowly the burning in arms began to fade, replaced by an oddly satisfying ache, the type that followed a particularly strenuous workout.
The cool breeze and soft grass beneath me were lulling me into a false sleep, and instead of fighting it like I usually would I instead let myself be swept away by the sensation, enjoying a rare but well-earned break.
It was a nice, tranquil moment that I rarely got to experience.
Which was naturally ruined not a minute later by Naruto's excited yelling.
Moments like this made me appreciate what a blessing the Byakugan was because right then I didn't think I had it in me to lift a finger, let alone muster the energy needed to turn my head around. So while I laid on my back, my eyes still closed, I used my Byakugan to focus my sight on the opposite side of the training ground, where Naruto and Shikamaru were undergoing their own training.
"Boss, you have to attack, attack I say! The group at the top right is weak, hit him there. Offence is the best defence, so don't hesitate and charge!"
"No stupid, defence is the best defence. That's why they call it defence and not…something else. Boss, don't listen to her, your main group is too unstable. Build up your defences before you do anything reckless or else he'll tear you apart."
"Will you two idiots shut up!" Naruto reached up and shoved the faces of her two clones away, not even realizing the implications of what calling them idiots meant. "I'm trying to think here and you're not helping."
The two sullenly quieted down under the force of her glare. When Naruto was satisfied that they'll behave, for now, she turned back to the board game and scowled down at the pieces. After a few seconds of deliberating she reached into a bowl and pulled out a white playing stone, before hesitantly setting it down onto the wooden Go board.
Her two clones leaned forward, eager to see which move she chose to play. Their eager expressions however quickly melted away, replaced with confusion, then outrage as they both threw their arms in the air and yelled out in indignation.
"Oh come on Boss, I said attack the right side, the right, not the left. You know which side is right, don't you? It's the hand you hold your chopsticks with."
"Boss, why do you keep doing this to us?" The other clone moaned before crossing her arms and glaring at her true self. "If you're not going to listen to either one of us then why did you bother summoning us for in the first place?"
"Because I'm getting my butt kicked here, that's why." Naruto groused, never taking her eyes off the board. "I've heard that two heads are better than one, so three must be even better. Biggest mistake I ever made."
A clicking interrupted their brewing argument as Shikamaru placed a black stone onto the board. The lazy Nara barely spared a glance at the board after Naruto's move before making one of his own. Despite participating in one of the few activities I had ever seen him eager for, Shikamaru didn't appear to be enjoying the game.
Leaning back with a tried sigh, Shikamaru glanced up at Naruto, "I know I was the one who asked you for a game but it's kind of hard to take you seriously looking like that."
Naruto snorted and dropped her head into a palm, elbow propped up on the ground, "You think I want to be stuck like this? Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it feels having so much sand in my pants? It sucks."
She was sitting across from Shikamaru, a Go board set between them. Though 'sitting' probably wasn't the right word to use here seeing that Naruto wasn't actually sitting on the ground so much as she was buried in it. As in literally buried. Her entire body from her armpit downward was hidden in the earth, with only arms and head sticking out while the tips of her blonde locks pooled around her.
"Besides," Naruto quirked a brow at Shikamaru, "it's not like you can talk."
Shikamaru shot her a baleful look from where he too was buried in the ground across from her, "Troublesome." He groused and waved a tired hand over the board, "Just shut up and play."
This time Naruto was quick to respond, ignoring her clones' groans when they saw the move she played and turned back to look over her shoulder, "Hey Kakashi-Sensei. How much longer do we have to stay like this?"
"Until you can dig yourself out of course," Kakashi replied, still engrossed in his book. 'Icha Icha – Harem Wars in a world filled with only girls' must have been a particularly good addition to the series because this was the fifth time Kakashi has gone through it since it's official release a week ago.
"And I told you, I already can." As if to demonstrate her point, Naruto effortlessly plunged her fingers into the hard ground and gouged out a fist full of earth.
"Without using your hands," Kakashi replied, not bothering to look up. "You're supposed to use chakra to dig yourself out, not brute strength. Release your chakra at a steady stream at the right frequency to soften the ground around you by turning it into fine sand, then you should be able to slither your way out. This is training, so make sure to do it properly."
"But it's not fair." Naruto pouted petulantly and pointed at me, "Why do we get the hard training while Hikaru gets off easy?"
By this point, I had been able to regain enough of my energy to raise my head up and glare at her, "Are you blind woman?" I shot back, trying to ignore the stinging of my eyes as sweat dripped into them. "What part of this looks like I'm getting off easy?"
"It's just push-ups, what's so hard about that? I can do a few thousand of them without breaking a sweat. Stop being a baby about just a few hundred Hikaru." Naruto retorted, completely serious, unable to understand the absurdity of what she had just said. "I don't see what you're complaining about when you have it so easy.
"Not every one of us can be stamina freaks like you," I retorted, dropping my head back down on the ground. "To the rest of us, doing endless push-ups is hard work."
When we had first gotten to know each other as children, Naruto never seemed to understand why I'd get tired out after only a couple of hours playing. I could still remember how baffled she appeared the first time I told her I needed a break as if she couldn't comprehend what I was trying to say. It took me a long while to figure out why.
Naruto never got tired. Ever.
Mentally sure, but physical? It was all but impossible, her body simply would not give out. The more you pushed her, the more energy she seemed to draw out from somewhere. It was as if there was literally no end to her stamina.
When Naruto said that she could do a few thousands push-ups easily, she actually meant it. In her mind, there was no difference between a single push-up or a thousand except the time it took to complete them. Overworked muscles weren't a problem for her, her healing factor would kick in and fix it up as soon as her muscles were damaged. So she could literally keep going and going like some kind of living embodiment of the energizer bunny.
Which was why she never seemed to understand what it meant to get tired.
How do you explain exhaustion to someone who has never felt it before? How do you help a child understand that bodies had limits when hers simply didn't. Fatigue and exhaustion were completely foreign concepts to Naruto that she had trouble understanding them till this day.
"At least what you're doing is better than this," She waved her hand to where she was buried in the ground, before sending Kakashi a pleading look, "Hey Kakashi-Sensei, can't I switch places with Hikaru? Please?"
"No," was Kakashi's instant reply. "Now enough complaining my little duckling and get back to training."
"But I don't understand. How is any of this supposed to be training?"
With my Byakugan, which I never turned off during training, I could see Kakashi as he lowered his book to give Naruto a tired look, "Like I've already explained, this training is meant to increase your earth affinity."
"And I understand why he needs to learn it," she nodded towards Shikamaru, "He has a natural earth affinity, but I'm wind. So why – HEY!" Naruto pointed towards one of her clones, "I saw that. Now put it back."
The clone in question had the same look on her face that Naruto wore whenever she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar, which wasn't too far from the truth as she was caught stealing one of Naruto's playing stones and was about to place it on the board. "But Boss-"
"I said," Naruto narrowed her eyes, cutting her off, "put it back."
"Oh, fine!" The clone huffed out, dropping the piece back into the bowl before crossing her arms and turning away. "Go ahead and lose, see if I care."
"Like I was saying," Naruto continued, giving her clone a long gaze and looking away only after she was certain they'd behave, "Why do I have to bother with training my earth affinity?"
"So I can start teaching you an earth jutsu. The Doton – Moguragakure no jutsu to be precise."
Moguragakure no jutsu – hiding like a mole technique – was perhaps the most stupidly named jutsu in the entirety of the ninja world, but nevertheless it was also an incredibly useful one. It allowed its user to dig through the earth by temporarily turning the ground around them into fine sand. Actually it might have been better to say it allowed the user to swim through earth. And despite it being officially listed as a C-rank, the chakra requirement was closer to B-rank or even A-rank depending on how long you stayed underground, the constant stream of chakra needed to maintain the jutsu a massive drain. That obviously wasn't an issue for Naruto while Shikamaru's natural earth affinity would hopefully allow him to keep the chakra cost low.
"Don't you want to learn how to move underground?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto's reply was almost immediate. "I do!" she affirmed excitedly, "moving underground sounds so awesome. Can you imagine how many more traps I could make or how much easier it would be for me to hide?"
Mentally, I sent a prayer to all of the poor souls that would be unlucky enough to run into Naruto on the battlefield. Near endless waves of hidden clones that can attack you from both above and below while you tried to navigate through a minefield of traps. Poor sods will never even see it coming.
"But what I don't get is why do I have to improve my earth affinity to learn it? I've seen Hikaru use several different types of elemental jutsu but he hasn't ever trained anything but his lightning affinity."
"That's because our little genius here is actually good in ninjutsu," Kakashi reached out and ruffled my hair like a dog, "now aren't you, boy?"
I swear if I still wasn't so out of breath I would have said something nasty to the man. Instead, I had to settle for biting his fingers whenever they strayed too close to my mouth. Though I only ended up amusing the jerk when he pulled his fingers back at the last second so I ended biting nothing but air instead.
"Nice try ducky, better luck next time." Kakashi patted my head once more as if to make a point before turning back to Naruto, "But you on the other hand aren't so good in ninjutsu, now are you?"
Naruto looked away with a frown but didn't refute him. "It's not my fault that those stupid jutsu don't work."
"Actually, it is totally your fault." Kakashi countered. "Your chakra control is so terrible that most of the time the jutsu just fall apart at the seams."
"Anyway," Naruto interrupted loudly, cheeks turning red, "my point is why do we have to train this way? Can't we just skip the affinity training part, go straight to the good part and practice the jutsu itself."
Kakashi sighed and shut his book once he realized that Naruto wasn't going to stop pestering him until he gave her a proper answer. Stowing it away in his side pouch, Kakashi turned to give Naruto his full attention.
"Well my annoying little chatter mouth of a duckling," Naruto poked her tongue out at the insult. "Normally you would be right, I shouldn't be training your earth affinity for a single jutsu, the process just takes too long to get any real results to be worth it. And had I been trying to teach you any other earth jutsu I wouldn't have bothered with it, but this is different. The Doton – Moguragakure no jutsu is not a complicated technique. Actually compared to most it's almost stupidly simple. All you need to do is figure out how to soften the ground with your chakra and that's pretty much it. And since that's basically the exact same thing as basic earth affinity training, learning one means learning the other."
If the foundation for building up wind affinity is to train your chakra to cut then to train your earth affinity you had to teach your chakra how to crumble. Which is where the burying them up to their armpits part came in.
Shikamaru, unsurprisingly, has been slacking off at his affinity training so having him go through basic training will actually be good for him. Naruto, on the other hand, has already trained her wind affinity to a pretty high level. That's the upside to having an endless supply of chakra, you could train for as long as you wanted instead of as long as could. It helped speed up the training process nicely. So having her get started on a second affinity wouldn't be a bad idea.
"But luckily for you, you only need to complete the very basics of the earth affinity training to learn the technique." Kakashi continued. "After you got that part pat down the rest will be easy, all you need is a little bit of experience on how to navigate underground and you're done. There is a reason why over half of the ninjas in Iwa know this jutsu. Of course, you'll still need years to properly master it but if it's for something simple, like hiding underground or even travelling for a short distance then the basics are enough. And at the rate the two of you are going, I'd say you should be done in about, oh a couple of more months or so."
"Isn't there at least a better way to train?" Naruto made a face, "I keep getting dirt in my pants and I can't even do anything to scratch it. It really itches too. Are you sure there isn't a better way?"
"There isn't," Kakashi answered unsympathetically, pulling his book back out and flipped it open. "Well there is, but as tempting as it is to bury you headfirst into the ground and watch you kick your legs in panic as you slowly run out of air, I don't think that Hokage will find it anywhere near as funny as I would if I ended up suffocating you."
"Ok, ok, I get it," Naruto grumbled and turned back to the board game, slamming down a stone in frustration. "I'll learn the stupid earth affinity. But I still say this makes me look like a potted plant rather than a ninja."
"Oh, it does." I snickered at the girl. "Trust me little sunflower, it does."
She stuck her tongue out at me.
"Alright, I understand why the Boss here has to be buried in dirt," One of Naruto's clones spoke up and pointed at me, "But why does Hikaru get to cop out of the training. He doesn't know how to use the Moguragakure no jutsu." The clone paused, shooting the real Naruto a questioning look, "He doesn't, does he Boss?"
"No, I don't," I answered the clone instead. "And that's because I can't use it."
Naruto, the real Naruto that is, looked surprised, "How come? I thought this would be easy for you."
"That's because I have a natural lightning affinity."
"So?"
"Think of it this way, Naruto. If learning a new jutsu is hard and learning a jutsu outside of your element affinity is stupidly hard, then learning a jutsu that clashes with your element is unbelievably stupidly hard. And for someone with a powerful natural lightning affinity like me, earth jutsu are the hardest type to learn." I explained to my blonde haired friend, "While I can use a couple of earth jutsu, I'm not very good with them and you can't afford to be anything less than perfect with a jutsu like the Moguragakure. If I screw it up then I'd end up getting buried alive, either crushed to death or trapped with no air. And since neither of those prospects is in any way appealing to me I'm going to have to take a pass on learning it."
"But doesn't Kakashi-Sensei have a Lightning affinity too?" Naruto pointed out. "So how come he knows the jutsu?"
"That's because he's a Jounin, and all Jounins are expected to have at least two affinities." Actually, I think Kakashi probably had more than two. "You can get around the affinity issue by developing multiple affinities, at least to an extent, but since training a new elemental affinity takes so long that's simply not an option for me right now."
"Exactly," Kakashi chimed in. "Which is why I designed a completely different training program for Hikaru than the rest of you. While Shikamaru and you will be broadening your skill-set and be learning earth elemental techniques, Hikaru here will concentrate one mastering his lightning techniques and perfecting his current fighting style."
And he had, he actually had. I couldn't believe it at first, but Kakashi really did create a training program for us.
It had been over two weeks since the end of our disastrous first D-rank mission, and since then life has begun to fall into a predictable pattern. Every morning at the crack of dawn we would gather at our training ground at 7 am sharp, with Kakashi now only a half an hour late rather than the usual three or four hours. I had no idea what the Hokage did to him that day in the office, but whatever it was it worked wonders because ever since Kakashi has actually begun training us, and proper ninja training too.
For all of the shit I talked about the guy, Kakashi clearly knew what he was doing. The workouts he developed for us were gruelling and backbreaking stuff, even by my standards but I couldn't deny the results. Sparring, team exercises, ninjutsu training, chakra control exercises, physical training, strategy, the works. It was shocking to discover that Kakashi was a really good teacher.
Though I'd never admit it to his face of course, the man had too big an ego as it is without me inflating it even more.
Of course Kakashi, being Kakashi, still tried to skip out of training whenever possible, making up of the most convoluted excuses to delay or postpone training entirely in favour of lazing about, so we often ended up having to hunt the man down and drag him to the practice field before he would be willing to start training us. But once we got him going the man did his genuine best to train us.
It was one of those things that I could never figure out about the Copy Ninja. I wanted to blame it on Kakashi simply being lazy, but that didn't hold water when I took into account the sheer amount of effort he puts into thinking up his excuses, it honestly outweighed the work he would have needed to do if he had just up and trained us.
Plus while Kakashi was generally as easy-going a person as you could hope to find, once training commenced he turned into a total slave-driver, pushing my teammates and me to our absolute limits every time until we all but collapsed in exhaustion. It was a total contrast to his usual self, I swear it was like we were training under Maito Gai.
When I brought it up to the others Shikamaru just shrugged and guessed that Kakashi just didn't want to train us but felt as if he had no choice but to. And if he had to train us then it was better to just get it over with and do a good job, rather than half-ass it and having to retrain us from scratch all over again.
I had a different guess as to why Kakashi behaved as he did.
Maybe it was because I knew a little bit about his history and it coloured my views of him, but I didn't think Kakashi liked the idea of training us. And by us, I didn't mean Naruto, Shikamaru and me specifically but kids in general. I think that after the childhood he had, the idea of turning kids into child soldiers like he had been was unappealing.
Naruto just thought the guy was just being an ass.
Speaking of people trying to skip out of training, Kakashi wasn't the only person that we had to drag to the training ground. Shikamaru was proving to be almost equally big of a challenge.
I had to resist the urge to let loose an evil chuckle. Poor kid. I honestly couldn't blame Shikamaru for wanting to ditch training, Kakashi's methods of motivating his students were rather extreme compared to the Academy instructors. Or at least I doubted that the Academy instructors would have allowed dogs to chase Shikamaru during running practice, with orders to take a bite out of his ass if he was starting to slack off.
Then there was what Naruto and I did to keep him motivated.
Between my willingness to shamelessly tattle on him to his mother combined with Naruto's pranks – the poor bastard had learned to never fall asleep during practice unless he wanted to wake up with a shirt full of spiders - along with my eyes that could find him wherever he tried to hide, he quickly realized it would simply be less troublesome to go through with the training than avoid it.
He still managed to outsmart us and slip his leash from time to time, he wasn't a genius for nothing, so we had to buy a few Shogi and Go boards for him to play with as bribes. It may not have been the typical kind of training you'd expect from ninjas but mental exercises were still a legitimate form of training. Besides, Naruto needed to exercise her brain a bit more and she was far more receptive to strategy games than books.
By this point, I felt that I had recovered enough energy to move around a bit, so I pushed myself up into a sitting position. "Remind me again," I asked, turning to face Kakashi, "why the hell do I have to do all of these push-ups with your fat ass sitting on my back?"
"Again, not fat but awesome. Say it with me, 'my Sensei has an awesome ass'. Repeat it in your head until you get it right." Kakashi flipped over another page, his single eye bulging out of his head as he read a particularly raunchy line followed by him letting loose another perverse giggle. "As for why we're doing this, it's because your upper body strength sucks. For someone who's supposed to be the top of your class in taijutsu, you have rather scrawny arms."
"First, I'm not scrawny, I'm lean. There is a very big difference between the two." I made sure to point out. I worked my ass off getting my body in such good shape and I wasn't about to let anyone diss it. "Second, I'm a Gentle Fist user. What the hell would I need bulky arms for? I can kill someone with a touch of my fingers, I don't need or even want the extra punching power."
"Nevertheless, you still need to bulk up a little bit more if you ever want to master the Lightning Release." Kakashi reached out and tapped my right shoulder, the same one that I had dislocated in my fight with him. "That jutsu puts a massive strain on the user's body, both from the lightning coursing through them and from how hard the muscles are forced to work. Even if you mastered the technique today you won't be able to use it to its complete potential, not without tearing your body apart.
"As you are now, I doubt you could last more than ten seconds, if that. Your muscles, your bones and most importantly you tendons, are all too weak to withstand it. If you tried to swing a punch in your current state with the Lightning Release fully activated you're far more likely to end up with a dislocating shoulder than actually hit anything."
"And here I thought I was physically strong for my age," I grumbled to myself. It was really frustrating that after all my years of non-stop training it still wasn't enough.
"Now ducky, don't feel too bad." The prick had the audacity to pat me on the head again. I would have felt more comforted by the gesture if I hadn't seen him pet his dogs in the very same manner just a couple of days earlier. "You're fine physically, or your legs and core muscles are at least. It's your upper body that needs work. That's the problem with you Hyuugas. You guys can run with the best of them, have bodies so flexible that circus acrobats would turn green with envy but when it comes to lifting weights, you lot are worthless. I know twelve years old girls with more arm strength than anyone in your entire Clan."
"Hey! Comparing us to Naruto isn't exactly fair." I objected to the slight, ignoring Naruto as she laughed her ass off. She had apparently ditched the Go game entirely in favour of listening in on us.
"Wait!" I blanched in horror as a terrifying realization dawned on me. "Does that mean I have to bulk up like the Raikage to learn the Lightning Release?" Almost retching at the idea.
Trust me, Hyuugas are simply not meant to have that much muscle on us, we'd look horrible.
Kakashi chuckled, looking away from his book for the first time. "No, not unless you want to. The Raikage needs all the extra bulk because it suits his style. Unlike you and me who are only looking for speed, the Raikage wants the brute strength that comes with the technique in addition to the speed. He likes using his body like a battering ram to crush his enemies. When I said to bulk up, I was thinking more along the lines of Gai or me." He outright snickered at the palpable relief on my face. "Don't worry Ducky, you don't have to bulk up anywhere near as them unless you want to."
"Thank god for small blessings then." I heaved out a sigh of relief as I dropped back onto the ground.
I didn't consider myself a vain person by any means, but the idea of turning into one of those musclebound body-builders that I used to see in the gym all the time was simply unappealing to me.
"By the way Sensei," I spoke up a moment later as I laid on the grass, face to the sky. "Naruto and me won't be able to make it to training tomorrow."
Naruto shot straight up, stiffening at my words. Her face turned oddly empty as her gaze swerved onto me, those blue eyes of hers filled with so many conflicting emotions that contrasted with the blank expression she wore before she switched to Kakashi a moment later. She watched him like the hawk, unblinking and unmoving. It was something that I usually only saw her do when she gave something her complete attention, staying perfectly still yet focused, and I knew she was taking everything in as she waited to hear his answer.
"Hmm?" Kakashi looked up from his book to shoot me a questioning look. "That's unusual. I never thought I'd see the day where you'd ask for less training. Something wrong?"
Lifting a hand, I lazily waved his concerns away. "No, nothing bad. Just a birthday party Naruto needs to attend. I'm just tagging along."
"A birthday?" Kakashi's single eye blinked in confusion. I guess whatever it was he was expecting me to say, it wasn't that. He cocked his head to one side like one of his dogs, "Anyone I know?"
"You could say that," I replied, "It's July 10th tomorrow, can you think of anyone who has a birthday on that day?"
Kakashi lowered his book and cupped his chin with one hand. "I don't think so-," Comprehension dawned in his eyes as he remembered. "Oh!"
He turned to look at Naruto, who immediately glanced away, refusing to meet his eyes.
"I see." He said at last, eyes softening. "Well, I guess that's fine then."
Lifting his book up to his face he turned his attention back to reading, "Alright Duckies, tomorrow's training is cancelled. It's a rare day off, so be sure to enjoy yourself."
Naruto all but slumped in relief at his words, but both Kakashi and I pretended not to notice. For all of the girl's buster and courage, there are some things that even Naruto can't face head-on. And this one of them, she had always been overly sensitive whenever it came to her.
"Thanks," I told Kakashi, meaning it.
He just absently waved me off. "Maa~, Maa~, don't make such a big deal out of it. I get to get a day off and that's always a good thing." Then he added quietly, so that only I could hear him. "Be sure to tell her I said hi."
"Sure thing," I answered, equally quiet.
Shutting down my Byakugan, I shut my eyes and took the chance to enjoy the moment while Kakashi returned to his book.
A comfortable silence fell between us as we both came to a silent understanding. If nothing else, when it came to keeping Naruto safe, we both knew where the other stood.
"Hey! What the hell are you two doing?" I heard Naruto yell, indignation filling her voice. I turned my head to the side and cracked open an eyelid to see what was happening.
Naruto's two clones were looking abashed from where they sat on either side of the Go board, rubbing the back of their head as they gave the original sheepish smiles. "You-you-you lost three times! How? I don't even understand how you two could have played so many games when I wasn't looking? Didn't I tell you not to touch anything! I can't believe how stupid you two are! How dumb do you have to be to lose so badly."
Again, I didn't bother pointing out to Naruto what it meant if she thought her own clones were stupid.
A bell chimed from somewhere over my head as I pushed open the door.
It always felt like stepping into a different, tiny world whenever I came to this store. As always the first thing I noticed was the air, damp and humid, thick with a blend of scents that it was nearly overwhelming yet there was also a ting of freshness mixed in that I couldn't help but be reminded of my mother's garden during early spring.
"Welcome to Yamanaka flower shop." A voice called out from behind the counter, where an attendant had her back turned to me as she worked on a bouquet of flowers. "How can I help- oh, it's just you Hikaru."
"Nice to see you too Ino," I answered back blandly, trying to sound offended at the unenthusiastic tone Ino had dropped into once she realized she was talking to me. "As always, I'm overwhelmed by how welcome you make me feel whenever I shop here. It's a wonder that I don't come by more often."
"Come off it Hikaru," Ino waved a dismissive hand from over her shoulder, already turning away to continue her work on the flowers, "I don't have the energy to give you the full welcome treatment. I barely had time to shower after my training with Asuma-sensei before Dad had me man the store. Do you have any idea how hard it is to act chipper all the time in front of customers when you want to do nothing more than get some beauty sleep."
"You'd be surprised." I replied, thinking back on all the public 'birthday parties' that I had to sit through as a child, where I did nothing but smile and nod politely for hours at the unending stream of guests. "So training is going well I take it. Asuma pushing you guys hard?"
"Not precisely, no," Ino admitted, a touch of frustration colouring her tone. "And that's the problem."
Even as she talked to me the pony-tailed blonde Heiress continued with her work, carefully looking over the bouquet with a critical eye, searching for imperfections. Though I could see nothing wrong with the flower arrangement she must have thought differently because she kept adding or removing flowers, occasionally nudging one in place.
"Why are men such lazy pigs?" Ino groused out loud, adding another violet lilac to the arrangement. "I mean really, why is every guy in my team so lazy. Is it like this for everybody or is it just with me? Am I the only one cursed with teammates who would rather bum off cigarettes or chew through a pack of chips than work?"
"Asuma and Chouji giving you trouble, I take it?"
"You can say that." She snorted, tossing her hair over one shoulder, "I have to spend twenty minutes every morning convincing those two to get off their asses and train. Chouji refuses to work until he eats his second breakfast while Asuma believes it's better to let him go at his own pace than rush him. Thank god Sakura is on my team, I have no idea what I would have done if it wasn't for her."
Ino paused for a moment and thought on it. "On second thought I know exactly what I would have done. I'd be pulling my hair out in frustration as I spent half my day trying to get my team to do any real work. Which reminds me," She spared a quick glance over her shoulder, "thank your grandfather for me will you? I don't know what he did exactly, but if it wasn't for him I would have been stuck with Shikamaru instead of Sakura as a teammate and that would have been hell."
"I'll be sure to pass the message along," I told her with a dry smile. "Though I imagine Asuma wasn't as pleased as you were with the team placement."
"Oh Asuma was furious," Ino commented flippantly, "He somehow got it into his head that Shikamaru, Chouji and me would make a great team just because our fathers were." She snorted. "Yeah, as if. If I had to deal with a team filled with lazy boys alone without Sakura to help me out then I doubt I'd have been able to last a month before I snapped."
She turned to face me, a picturesque smile on her lips. "The three of us were raised together you know, and I love Shikamaru as if he were my own flesh and blood brother." Her smile slowly grew a little bit too wide to be completely normal and her eyes gained a certain glint that made me take an involuntary step back. "But I swear if I had to hear him call me a 'troublesome woman' day in and day out for the rest of my ninja career, I would have to kill him. And I mean I would have physically strangled him and made him choke on his words as I slowly watched the life leave his eyes. And I honestly don't think I would even regret it."
Then like a light switch being flicked the deranged look left her eyes, leaving behind nothing more than an ordinary smiling girl. Turning back to the flowers, Ino tossed a final comment over her shoulders. "So I think it turned out better for all of us this way, don't you?"
"...If you say so." I replied, feeling a little scared of Ino for the first time in my life. And here I thought women were supposed to be the kinder gender.
Shaking off my discomfort I decided to pretend that the last minute didn't happen, for the sake of my sanity if nothing else, and get back to the real reason why I was here in the first place. "Anyway Ino, I'm here to pick up the flowers I ordered. Are they ready yet?"
"It should be, just give me a couple of more minutes to finish with this and I'll look for it. Someone made a special orders for a bouquet of lilac flowers and I wanted to get it just right." She told me as she continued to alter the flower arrangement for what must have been the hundredth time. Say what you want about Ino, but when it came to her family's business she was a bit of a perfectionist.
"Take your time then, I'm in no hurry." Smiling, I allowed her to continue on her work, not bothering to mention that she was working on the flowers I had ordered.
"So, how is Shikamaru doing anyway?" Ino asked after a few seconds of silence, probably more for something to talk about than anything, "He's not giving you too much trouble is he? I know how much of a hassle it can be getting him to do any work."
"Actually, Shikamaru had been doing great. He really had been giving it his all during training."
Ino actually froze, pausing all movement as she processed what I said, before turning around to give me a sceptical look, "Really?" she asked, an eyebrow raised. "Hikaru, I know Shikamaru well enough to know that nothing short of his mother can get him to do any work."
"That's only because you don't know how to properly motivate him," I pointed out, "If you did, you'd find that Shikamaru can be quite the hard worker."
"Uh-huh," Ino drawled, clearly not believing a word I said. "And how precisely do you go about motivating him?"
"Dogs," I told her.
"Dogs?" She parrot, a second eyebrow joining the first.
"Yes dogs," I confirmed, not hiding the wicked smile that graced my lips. "You'd be surprised how fast Shikamaru can run when you send a pack of ninja-dogs after him with orders to take a bite out of his ass if he happens to slack off or slow down."
Ino's jaw dropped open, hanging so wide open that you could have fit an apple in there, "And his mum didn't have anything to say about it."
"Oh, she had plenty of things to say about it." My smile just grew larger as I thought of his mother's response. Really, Yoshino was one of a kind. "Actually I think it was his mother that finally caused Shikamaru to resign himself to training. After the first time he got bitten by Kakashi's dogs he went to his mom to complain, only for Shikamaru to appear for practice the next day carrying an expensive brand of doggy treats. It was a gift from his mum, along with a note asking if she could borrow a couple of the dogs to use on her husband."
Ino's jaw continued to hang open for a few more seconds before she burst out laughing, bending over and wrapping her arms around her belly from how hard she laughed. "Oh my god! That's hilarious. I wish I could have seen the look on his face." She continued to laugh unabatedly for a good twenty seconds before she calmed down enough to talk again.
She raised her head and turned her green eyes up to me, eyes twinkling with merriment, "You know, maybe I should try that on Chouji. Do you think Kakashi would be willing to send a couple of dogs my way as well."
"I'll be sure to ask the next time I see him," I promised.
"Thanks." She said before turning back to the flowers, still chuckling with good humour.
As I watched the blonde girl work, I found myself immensely relieved by how much this world differed from Kishimoto's version of it. I didn't know if it was because of all the changes I made by being here or if it had always been this way, but Ino had ended up becoming a vastly different person than she was in the series.
For one thing, she wasn't a boy obsessed girl. Maybe it was because she didn't have Sasuke here to flame her infatuation but Ino didn't spend most of her days fighting other girls in an attempt to grab a boy's attention and had actually put some real effort into becoming a respectable ninja. Though she was still pretty much a girly-girl in many ways and loved to gossip like you wouldn't believe.
That was actually another thing that was different in this world. I didn't know if it was something Kishimoto embellished for the sake of comedy, or if it was something about me that scared them off but even though I, like Sasuke, had performed head and shoulders above anybody else in my age group and was hailed as a genius, I was in no way popular with any of the girls in class. Neither Ino, Sakura, nor anyone else for that matter had at any point in time developed a crush on me, and I cannot begin to express how immensely relieved I was to discover that.
I didn't know why that was the case and, frankly, I didn't care. I was just happy that I would never have to experience what it felt like to have mobs of fan-girls chasing me around and dogging my every move.
"There," Ino stated a minute later, giving the flowers a once over before nodding to herself in satisfaction, "that should do it. Now, give me a second and I'll be back with your order."
"Actually Ino," I stopped the girl before she entered the back room, pointing to the bouquet she had been working on, "That is my order."
Ino looked stunned, her eyes jumping from the flowers I was pointing to and my face. "Umm Hikaru, not to sound rude but are you sure you ordered the right kind of flowers?" She began cautiously, "Those are purple lilacs, and they have a very specific meaning when giving them to someone."
"Yes, Ino, I know that they're lilacs and I know exactly what they symbolize," I answered, amused but unsurprised by her reaction. In the language of flowers, purple lilacs are supposed to symbolize first or a new love, which is why they were often seen in weddings, even here in the Elemental Nations. Over the years, it has become something of a growing trend in Konoha for a guy to give it to a girl on a first date. "And yes, those are the flowers I wanted to buy."
Ino's eyes went so wide that I thought they might roll out of her skull while she gaped at me, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to speak but nothing seemed to come out.
Finally, swallowing, she managed to pull herself together enough to raise a trembling finger to point at me, "Oh-My-God." Ino emphasized each word, "You've finally asked Naruto out! Haven't you? You're going out on a date!" All but squealing the last word in delight.
"When? How? Where? Details, I need details. Tell me everything. Did you ask her out or did she? You have to tell me!" Ino had a mile-wide smile on her face as she fired out questions after question so rapidly that I had trouble processing what she was saying, let alone answer her back. "Is that why you're all dressed up, for your date?"
I looked down at myself to take in what she was talking about. Unlike the usual type of clothing that I liked to wear, basically a shorts and shirt combo that's not too different from what Neji used to favour, today I had decided to dress up in style. I was wearing a traditional kimono, mostly made up of a single shade of dark blue lined with white, that was tailored from material so fine that, even to someone like me, was clearly expensive.
"Kinda traditional for a first date, don't you think?" Ino comment, coming out from behind the counter to circle around me, looking me up and down with the same critical eye she used on the flowers. "But you Hyuugas love that kind of thing, so I guess it's only to be expected. And it's clear you put some effort into it. Plus I have to admit, it does look good on you."
Ino worried her bottom lip as she thought it over, before finally nodding to herself. "Good enough, I give it a pass. You have my approval to wear that on your date."
"Thank you, I cannot begin to tell you how much your approval means to me," I told her blandly, though I felt my lips twitch upwards, giving away my amusement. I shook my head at the excited girl. "But I'm sorry to disappoint you Ino but I didn't ask Naruto out for a date."
Ignoring the look of bewilderment that Ino was giving me, I walked around the counter and picked up the flowers she had been working on. And I had to admit that it was really well done. The lilacs were mixed with several tiny blue flowers, whose name I didn't know, and were arranged in a way that really helped highlight the purple of the lilac.
Lifting the tiny bouquet up, I took a moment to really examine it from all angles. "And these flowers aren't for her. They're for a different girl, a certain beautiful redhead that I happen to know."
Satisfied, I turned around to complement Ino for a job well done only to find that Ino had turned a pale white. She was standing completely still, as if frozen in place, her eyes staring blankly ahead at nothing.
"Ino?" I inquired cautiously, not sure what had caused the normally talkative girl to go so silent. "Are you alright?"
My words seemed to do the trick because she appeared to start and snap awake, before her head snapped to look at me.
"...Oh god," She began, the empty look on her face quickly replaced with one of dawning horror, "Naruto's going to end up in prison isn't she?"
"What?" This time it was my turn to be taken aback as I tried to understand the leap in logic that led her to that conclusion. "No! Why would you think she'd end up in jail?"
"Because Naruto is going to murder someone when she finds out. Oh god," Ino palmed her face, "I'm going to end up being friends with a murderer."
I couldn't help it, she looked so serious when she spoke that I ended up breaking down in laughter, causing Ino glare at me in annoyance.
"It's not funny." She snapped. "Naruto would really end up killing someone when she finds out. I've sparred with her you know," Ino winced at the memory and rubbed her belly, "and she has one mean punch, even when she's holding back. One good hit is all she needs to take the poor girl's head off."
"Don't worry Ino," I reassured the girl, still chuckling lightly as I walked out from behind the counter and approached her, "Naruto is definitely not going to kill someone over this because she already knows. In fact, not only was it her idea but she plans to tag along with me. You see," I stopped once I was near the girl and leaned towards her ear while simultaneously lowering my voice, as if I was about to impart a very important secret, "it turns out that Naruto is really into red-heads or at least she's into this particular red-head. And I can guarantee you that Naruto is going to enjoy her company just as much, if not more than I will."
After finally imparting the truthful, if slightly misleading, bit of news, I leaned away from Ino, only to find myself having to fight back the urge to cackle as Ino blushed a bright tomato red at the implications.
Oh how I love messing with people's heads. Especially when I was being completely honest with them.
"I...I…Huh?" Ino stuttered illegibly, actually looking as if she was about to go into shock. A few seconds of nonsense muttering later, Ino's brain seemed to finally begin rebooting itself, "...Icha Icha spoke the truth." She whispered quietly to herself, still clearly out of it.
My eyes bulged at her words, not believing what I just heard her say, before I felt an oh so wicked smile grace my lips. "Oh Ino," I purred, voice thick with amusement, "I didn't know you were into porn."
I didn't think it was possible but somehow Ino managed to turn an even brighter red as she realized what she said, clearly haven't meant for me to hear that.
Ino was staring at me with wide terrified eyes, looking ready to bolt. It was such a 'deer in the headlights' look that I decided for once to show some mercy and spare the poor girl from any more grief. For now at least, you can be sure I'd be bringing this back up again later, this was far too good to drop entirely.
"Well, I have to be going, Ino. Don't want to be late." I made my way around the girl and towards the store's exit. I was about to make my way out but, before I did, I made sure to leave one final parting comment. "Be sure to enjoy your erotic porn. I heard that the latest version is a really good one."
This time when the bell chimed above me as I opened the door, it was intermixed with the sound of my laughter.
It was the click-clack of wooden sandals that alerted me to her arrival. So when the weight slammed onto my back I was already ready for it and managed to stay on my feet, staggering only for a couple steps before regaining my balance. I didn't even need to think as I hooked my arms beneath the legs that appeared on either side of me, supporting her weight while making sure I didn't actually crush the bouquet that I held.
Deceptively thin arms wound their way around my neck, their owner using them to pull herself closer to me before she nuzzled the back of my neck.
"Hikaru~," Turning my head, I found myself staring into a set of sapphire eyes that sparkled in the sunlight, only a couple of inches away from my own. An infectious grin adorning her face, "I found ya."
"Idiot," I deadpanned at the grinning Naruto as she latched onto my back, piggybacking, "I'm the one who found you. You're late, I had to come looking for you."
"Ah, ahahaha," the blonde smiled sheepishly at that, one hand rubbing the back of her head awkwardly, the other still latching onto me. "Sorry, sorry, I kinda lost track of the time."
"It's fine," I assured the girl, looking away as I turned around and resumed walking, this time heading towards our destination. "It's not as if we're in any real hurry, we have all day. Just make sure not get your clothes all wrinkled up, you hear?"
"Got ya," sensing more than seeing her nod behind me.
It wasn't long before I felt the blonde shift behind, making herself more comfortable as she set her face on the top of my back, right between my shoulder blades. She nuzzled contently for a few seconds when she found the perfect spot to relax, and I knew without looking that she had already shut her eyes, almost as if she was about to fall asleep.
And maybe she would, it wouldn't have been the first time it happened.
We walked for a while in a comfortable silence as I navigated through the crowd of milling people, neither of us feeling the need to talk, and we just enjoyed the presence of each other's company.
The crowds didn't thin or disperse as I pushed my way through them, the people either not recognizing who rode on my back thanks to the way she was all dressed up or simply not caring. While I wouldn't go as far as to say that the ordinary citizens of Konoha had lost their fear of Naruto, or more specifically their fear of what she held in her belly, it wasn't as bad as it had been seven years ago.
There were still a lot of people who would cross to the other side of the street whenever they saw her approaching, but there were just as many that didn't. I guessed it goes to show that people could get used to anything if given enough time, even a demon container.
Still, it didn't make so much of a lick of difference to Naruto or me whether the average citizens of Konoha were scared of her or not. For me it had simply never mattered, I had never been particularly worried about what strangers thought about me, not in this life or my last, while Naruto herself had long since adopted a similar mindset to mine and had stopped caring what they thought of her entirely.
Soon the crowds began to thin out as I made my way farther away from the more populated area of the city and neared the outskirts. I was making good progress and before too long I found myself standing at the base of a grey stone staircase. It was set onto the side of a large grassy hill and went all the way up to the peak.
The hill was an unusual sight.
There weren't any buildings on it, no place for someone to live in, yet it was clearly well maintained. The stones the stair were crafted from were perfectly flat and in pristine condition, almost as if it had recently been scrubbed clean. There were also several paths ringing the hill, a good two dozen, all made from the same grey bricks the staircase was made from and all of them were only reachable by climbing the very same staircase.
Knowing that the path we needed to take was near the peak, I shifted Naruto's weight around a bit, making sure I had a proper better grip on her, before I ascended the first step and began the long trek up the hill.
The crowds were none existent here, as it usually was at this time of year, so it was only Naruto and me on the hill. Though the climb was a bit of a long one I knew it wouldn't tire me out. Not only was I in good enough shape but I had long ago gotten used to climbing this particular staircase. We came here almost every year, Naruto and me that is, and even with Naruto's weight added it was still an easy climb.
Naruto had always felt so light whenever I carried her that I barely noticed she was even there. It was hard to believe that this little wisp of a girl held all that power in her tiny body. I didn't know if that was because I had gotten stronger over the years or if I had just gotten so used to Naruto's presence in my life but these days I no longer noticed the extra whenever I had to carry her.
A few minutes later I noticed that we arrived at the level we needed to and took a left turn off the staircase and onto the path.
"Naruto," I called out as I slowly walked along the empty path. When I didn't hear a response I called out to her again, louder this time. "Naruto, we're almost there." Had she really fallen asleep?
"Hmm?" A groggy voice drifted from behind me, confirming my suspicion.
"I said we're almost there. Time to get up Naruto."
"Oh," came the lazy sounding reply, followed by a long drawn-out yawn, "Alright, I'm up, I'm up."
Naruto shifted around a bit on my back as she roused herself awake, almost causing me to lose my balance for a second, before I felt her place her hands on my shoulders and use them to push herself up, granting her a clear view of the place from over my head.
"Man, this place never changes does it?" She said as she looked around at all the stone monuments that lined either side of the road. After looking around a bit more she glanced down at me, "It looks exactly the same as it did last year, doesn't it Hikaru?"
"Of course it does," I snickered at the idea of this place ever changing. "It's not like the people here can redecorate the place even if they wanted to, can they? Now," I halted in my tracks, "get off and let me a good look at you. We're almost there and I need to make sure you look presentable."
"Alright," The hands on my shoulders pushed slightly and I released my hold on Naruto's legs and allowed her to slip to the ground. I heard her land softly behind me, followed by the click-clack of wooden sandals hitting the stone floor as she walked around to stand in front of me.
"Ta-dah!" Naruto exclaimed, holding her arms open so I can better examine her. "Well, how do I look?"
Like me, Naruto wasn't dressed up in her usual fare. In place of the orange and black suit that she loved to wear, Naruto was instead wearing a beautiful yellow kimono, one with orange flower petals decorating its surface. It was the same kimono that I had seen my mother force on her a couple of weeks earlier. Though her hair was styled differently than it had been back then. Instead of having it freely falling down her back as she usually did, or the French braids she wore that day, today her golden locks was done up in an elaborate design, fashioned and held in place over her head with a comb that was decorated with pink flowers.
"Well," She repeated, a little shyly this time, fidgeting slightly as I looked her over. As it was fashionable these days, the sleeves of her kimono were a little on the long side so it half-covered her hands, and she had to fold her fingers over the edge of the sleeves to hold them in place. "How do I look?"
"Perfect," I told her truthfully, her smile turning back to her usual confident one at my praise, "Looks like my mother did a good job."
"Of course she did," Naruto smirked, nodded proudly, "She had a good model to work with."
Seeing that we were both ready, I began making my way down the stone path and covered the last stretch of distance until our destination. Glancing to my right where Naruto was following alongside me, I asked, "My mum didn't give you any trouble did she?"
Instead of walking like a normal person would, Naruto was practically skipping. She hopped in place once, then spun around so that she was walking backwards beside me, the click-clack of the traditional wooden sandals she wore filling the air.
"Nah," She shook her head, before pausing. After thinking over a bit, she gained a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of her head. "Well, not too much anyway. I kinda had a bit of trouble leaving. Mio-san didn't seem to want to let go of me once she finished helping me dress up." Naruto gave an embarrassed sounding chuckle when I deadpanned at her, still rubbing the back of her head. "I had trouble convincing her to release me from her hug but when I reminded her you were waiting she let me off easy. It was kinda why I was a little late."
"Of course it was," rolling my eyes at the thought of my mother, "I should have figured as much."
What Naruto didn't need to say was that by 'letting her off easy', it meant that my mother had restricted herself to only a good five minutes of cuddling with Naturo instead of her usual twenty.
Really, even in an alternate universe mothers were the same everywhere. They go through so much trouble making sure you're ready and all dressed up in time for your big day only to end up making you late because they refused to let you leave the house when the time came to go.
By this point I noticed that we were almost at our destination and slowed my pace down, stopping to a halt once we reached there. "Well," I began, glancing at my blonde companion to make sure she was alright, "we're here."
"Yeah," a tense smile fluttered on her lips, "we are."
"Here," I handed her the flowers, placing it directly into her hands. It was Naruto who asked me to buy these, getting that idea after asking my mother for suggestions. "Take it."
Naruto bit her lips, suddenly nervous, looking down at the lavender coloured flowers. "Do you think..." she began suddenly before stopping, her blue eyes usually so confident now wavered with uncertainty as they looked into my own, seeking reassurance. "Do you think she'll like them?"
"I think she'll love them." I told her, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "And don't worry, you look beautiful so just go and talk to her."
Though she gained a little dusting of red along her cheeks at my words, it still didn't do anything to relieve her from her nerves. "Alright." Naruto nodded and took a deep breath to gather her courage before she turned away from me and walked ahead, "Here I go, wish me luck."
"Good luck," I called out after her.
I watched from behind as she stepped forward, walking unsteadily towards the grave, closing the distance in three short steps. Reaching the tombstone, Naruto knelt down and held the flowers on her lap. For a time, she did nothing but stare down at flowers, her fingers dancing nervously on her lap, uncertain on what to do or say.
At last, she seemed to gather her courage and, after taking one final deep breath, she raised her eye and looked straight at the grave.
"Hi," She began, a watery smile on her lips. It looked so fragile, so weak that it felt like it could be washed away with the rain, so very different from her beaming smiles that I have gotten used to seeing on her over the years.
Lifting the lavender coloured flower Naruto held it forward and placed it before the tombstone. "These are for you."
Lilacs were the symbol of new love, that was true. But there was another meaning to that flower, one that was less well known and popular than the first.
A large gravestone stood before Naruto, and on its flat surface was engraved a single name.
Uzumaki Kushina
"Happy Birthday mum."
Purple Lilacs can also symbolize the love between a mother and child.
*Chapter End*
Author's Notes:
Fun fact: Lilac is the symbol of new love, which is why they are often popular at weddings. But they also symbolize the love between a mother and child, which is a far less well-known fact. To help me develop Mio's character I had to do some research into flowers in general (she is a flower enthusiast) and stumbled onto this factoid. When I did, I knew I had to add it in because it would go perfectly along with the chapter.
Now for the chapter itself, I spent a lot more time on the training scene than I would have liked but it needed to be done to set the groundwork for the rest of the story, and I tried to make it as entertaining and engaging as possible so I hope I managed to pull it off. Oh, and I love writing Kakashi and Hikaru together, they really do make an interesting student-teacher pair. I never planned it to happen but as I wrote about them I found that they really did get along well.
Ino makes a brief appearance as well, not much of one I admit but we're finally starting to see more and more of the cast I have planned for the tale. And we caught a glimpse of the new team 7 dynamics along with the Naruto/Hikaru relationship. As for the end, well I always thought it was a bit of a dick move in the series that no one ever told Naruto about his mother. Always wondered why the hell didn't they at least tell him her name, so he could at least visit her grave or something. Well not here, and now we get to explore her reaction to that knowledge.