Thank you to all of my readers, especially those of you who posted reviews and inspired me to write more!

Japanese Terms: Deshi (student)Sugoi (terrible, dreadful, terrific, amazing, great, wonderful) Ohayougozaimasu (good morning) Itadakimasu (expression of gratitude before meals) Ne (emphasis, agreement, request for confirmation)

Awakenings 3

It was still dark when Naruto stepped into the private training grounds of the Hyuuga family. He had gone right to bed the night before, spent a good while tossing and turning in excitement over the new technique and thoughts of Hinata before he persuaded himself to fall asleep. The Hyuuga family is the oldest noble family of Konoha, known for its many secret and powerful techniques. A technique developed by Hiashi Hyuuga, the main successor of the family, would most definitely be one made of the stuff of legends.

Hinata had shown him in, barely able to contain her own excitement at both learning the new technique and seeing Naruto at her home again so soon after the last visit. Though her steps were still measured and timid, Naruto noticed distinctly the slight bounce and quickened pace she took as they had walked out to the back of the compound. Hanabi was all ready there, decked out in a serious looking, black, one-piece workout uniform that started above her knees and reached up to where her skull connected to her neck. Despite her tiny size and slight frame, one look at her left no question that she was of ninja heritage. Her long, dark hair waved over parts of her face as she moved like a silk mask that framed her alert, pale eyes. She stood on her right foot with her left leg raised up and held against the side of her body pointing towards the sky.

In sharp contrast with her sister's sleek and intimidating appearance, Hinata had on her usual apparel. Her large and thick tan-grey jacket wrapped around her as if protecting her from harsh artic winds. Around her neck hung the blue sash that held the metal forehead protector inscribed with the Konoha symbol. Out of habit, her hands were clasped together in front of her, just below her chin.

Naruto, of course, was still in his bright orange jumper jacket and pants, his forehead protector flashing proudly on his forehead.

The two new arrivals took Hanabi's lead and began stretching and warming up. Framed by the walls of the training ground, the sky above them slowly began to change from dark hues to light blue, red, orange, and yellow. Naruto looked up as he stood up from touching his toes and saw the top of one of the hills next to the mansion. Squinting his eyes a bit, he realized he wasn't hallucinating when he pin pointed a figure standing at the summit of that hill.

"Ano, who's that up there?"

"He's from the branch family. He's to keep a lookout for spies while we train."

Hinata examined Naruto's face as his lips grew taut and his eyes narrowed pensively. She knew he understood the fundamentals of the Hyuuga family politics, the subservience of the branch family to the main family, the cursed mark on their foreheads.

The morning sun had barely peaked over the horizon when the large, wooden doors swung open. In stepped Hyuuga Hiashi, right on time, not a hair out of place. Both daughter's immediately stood at attention, arms to their sides, feet together, and bowed low facing their father. Naruto, unused to such formality, followed suite a beat behind the other two. The Hyuuga successor bowed in return. Without a word, he walked through the clearing towards the trees in the back. The three deshi followed obediently. Hyuuga senior stopped in the middle of the large patch of trees.

They watched him, waiting, anxious. Even Hanabi's placid eyes betrayed a hint of anticipation. The two young progeny of the byakuugan bloodline limit focused their chakra and the nerves and veins bulged around their eyes enhancing the 360 degrees, spherical range vision they had been endowed with at birth. Naruto watched intensely, looking feverishly for whatever it was he might be missing.

Hiashi stood for awhile, his dark hair falling straight down over his shoulders and back. His autumn robes, layered in gray and white, hung off of his frame with little to no movement, as if he were a stone statue that stood amongst the trees. Then it came, the slightest breeze that had stolen its way into the walls, slipped down the steep rise, and given movement to the still air trapped by the fortifications against curious eyes. The trees around them shook ever so slightly, and leaves whose joint to the branches and twigs had been weakened by the advent of fall broke loose and trickled to the floor. The sound of clinking metal and leaf flesh being sliced filled the silence around them. The three young ninjas gasped. Naruto looked at a few leaves falling near him and saw that they had be cut perfectly in two down the middle where the stem had held the two halves together. He looked back up at Hiashi and realized that he was about 5 yards away. He turned around and looked behind him. His eyes grew wider as he saw 10, 20, 30 yards away from here he stood, all the leaves as far as he could see were in the same pristinely sliced state, some still twirling their way to the grassy floor.

"Sugoi…"

The word escaped Naruto's lips in a whisper before he was aware he was speaking out loud. He looked at Hinata and Hanabi who were both wearing wide-eyed expressions as well.

"That," Hiashi finally said, "is what you are to accomplish—the Hidden Kunai of Konoha—a chakra distance attack."

He began to make his way out of the trees and out to the clearing. They followed quietly behind. He went over to a shed behind the dojo and opened it, effortless pulling out and lifting 3 large wooden poles about a foot in diameter. He brought them to the part of the clearing about 10 yards away from the tree line and slammed them into the ground. Each pole stood steadfast in the place where Hiashi had planted them as if they had always been there. The three youths knew instinctively to stand one in front of each pole with Naruto and Hanabi on the sides and Hinata at the middle pole. They all stood facing their respective targets and the trees beyond. Hiashi pulled back the sleeve over his right hand and held it up in front of him, fingers together, thumb tucked in, with the palm facing his chest area, and slightly angled outward as if challenging them to a fight.

"Chakra flow and control is at the heart of the Hidden Kunai. To use your chakra like a knife weapon, you must concentrate both on giving it a solid form outside your body and maintaining a sharp edge. Your task now is to mold your chakra at the tips of your fingers, extend it outside of your body in a solid yet invisible form, and then sharpen its shape. To best achieve this, you must mentally picture a blade extending from your fingertips."

He walked up to each of the three poles and made a motion with his hand where it flipped palm down and slid with a horizontal cutting motion at each target. Upon each pole was left a mark as if he had pulled out a kunai and actually made a cut mark on the wood.

"No part of your body should touch the target. Your task this morning is to cut the pole in half. Begin."

Three pairs of young eyes flared with determination as three right hands rose to the same gesture that their teacher's hand had just taken before striking, angled out with palm facing their chest, challenging their target to defy them. From the tips of each of their fingers sprouted what looked like blue, misty flames. The translucent flames seemed to turned and twist as they tried to make a solid form. Then they struck, Hanabi first and Naruto and Hinata a step behind her. The second mark on the poles varied. Hanabi's mark was the thinnest and deepest, demonstrating that her chakra blade had been the sharpest. Hinata's mark was the second thinnest. Naruto's mark was the thickest and shallowest of the three, indicating his blade was the bluntest.

"Visualize the blade."

"Pull your hand farther back to make the most of your strike."

"Stand up straight. Good posture allows for good chakra flow."

They went on, striking again and again with Hiashi making comments here and there to each of them. Naruto was thoroughly enjoying himself, watching his mark get thinner and deeper with each strike. He liked Hiashi's attentive and direct teaching style. Naruto had become accustomed to Jiraiya's usual process of teaching him—show a technique and then run off to harass women while he practiced by himself tirelessly. The steady flow of feedback from the Hyuuga successor sped up his progress.

The sun had fully come out from behind the hill when the first pole broke in half. Hanabi had cut through hers first. Soon after, Hinata's fell, and then Naruto's. The three of them stood, panting from the effort, sweat glistening on every face.

"We must not leave evidence of our training. Rake up the leaves and pull out the wooden posts. Burn all of it in the fire pit."

At that, Hiashi bowed. All three students bowed in thanks, and then watched as he walked in a stately manner out the wooden doors. They were soon at work raking leaves and lugging the leftovers of their morning's worth of training over to the fire pit in the corner hidden behind some patches of tall grass. The smoke was quickly billowing up, erasing their efforts from the prying eyes of others. Naruto looked up on the top of the hill for the Hyuuga Branch family member. He was gone.

They sauntered back up the path towards the main house through the path of rocks. When they entered the garden, they saw that a table had been set for five outside, and Hinata's father and mother were all ready seated. The last plate of breakfast food was just being put into place when they sat down. Naruto smiled and nodded to the server in thanks.

"Ohayougozaimas!"

"Ohayou, Naruto-kun," returned Mrs. Hyuuga with a bright, morning smile, her ink-blue locks glistening in the morning sun.

"Wow, what a spread! Do you always have meals together?"

"I suppose at least once or twice a day for the most part," said Hinata quietly.

"That's great! So this is what you do when you have a family!" Naruto said, rather absent-mindedly blurting out his observation. Still oblivious to the impact of his remark, he began to roll up his sleeves to eat. Both a look of sadness and guilt flashed across the eyes of the Hyuuga family members, guilt for all the meals they spent barely saying a word to each other, and sadness for Naruto—his life as an orphan was all too real to them at that moment.

"I'm starving!"

"Go ahead then, dear," Mrs. Hyuuga said kindly.

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto said loudly, his hands clapped together and held a prayer pose before picking up the chopsticks and poising them for optimal food retrieval. The Hyuuga family, unaccustomed to this outburst that was so common in the households of other families, all awkwardly smiled and said the same traditional saying of thanks at a much lower volume.

"How was training this morning?"

"It was great! Hinata and Hanabi were doing much better than me, especially Hanabi. Ne, Hanabi?"

Hanabi's eyes looked furtively at Naruto in disbelief he was addressing her at all, and then managed a shrug in response.

"And Hyuuga Sensei was a great teacher! He actually stays and gives me feedback while I'm training! He doesn't run off to harass girls like that Pervert Sennin Jiraiya while I'm working my butt off!"

At that moment, Hiashi choked on the tea he was sipping, a good amount it spraying out of his mouth. Hinata bit her lip to keep from smiling, Hanabi's lips twisted in a weird way, and Mrs. Hyuuga covered her mouth with her sleeve letting out a muffled giggle, and then lowered her hand from her face and let out a full laugh. With that, the two Hyuuga daughters started laughing, and even Hiashi managed a half smile. All the while Naruto sat a bit puzzled. He wasn't quite sure what it was he had said, but it seemed to have amused everyone. He put his right hand behind his head and laughed lightly.

Hinata noticed Naruto giving his I-don't-know-what's-going-on smile, a look she had seen on his face ever since she first saw him. At that moment, she wanted to lean over and give him a reassuring hug.