It's been a month since arriving in the Hidden Cloud. Naruto and Hinata have gone on numerous missions and have proven their worth tenfold with their abilities and have garnered even greater respect among the Cloud shinobi. They've even gotten to work with the envoys from the other Hidden Villages on larger missions.
Kotori's training has also progressed rapidly in this time. She's gotten good at taijutsu and has been practicing with the rest of her class in sparring matches. She still has a ways to go, but she's able to put up a fight. Having prior training with Takeo really helped build a solid foundation that Naruto and Hinata could use to help her get even better.
She's also started using her feather during target practice. The others use kunai and shuriken, which her training hasn't gotten to, and are decent at it. Hayai excels at it, as he does in most subjects, while Takai hits the bullseye about half the time. Her own feathers are still not fully controllable; most of them run out of chakra before even reaching the target but the ones that manage to reach, hit even if it's not a bullseye.
She summons a whole bunch of them and fires a barrage at the target.
"Kotori, no mass throwing!" The teacher scolds her.
"Sorry, sensei." Her shoulders drop.
One child holds out his hand and looks to the sky expectantly. Before they could question, his classmates feel a droplet fall on their heads or shoulders. "Aww, rain!" They groan in unison. That means indoor classes for the rest of the day.
As expected, the sensei calls off the class and ushers them all inside. In the classroom, the sensei addresses the disgruntled students.
"Alright, I know no one likes the rain but we can do a lot of things inside, too! And we still have that trip outside the Hidden Cloud to look forward to, right?"
"But what if it rains that day, too?" One student whines.
"Yeah, it's been raining sooo much these days!" More join in the complaining.
It takes some time for everyone to settle down.
Kotori looks to the cloudy skies, grumbling.
Much to the kids' delight, the day of the trip was set to be sunny, meaning their excursion was to continue as scheduled. The goal is to take the kids beyond the village to see a little of their surroundings and learn more about the land their village resides on and learn of its history.
The students and their parents were warned in advance of the paths they'd have to take and prepared proper equipment for climbing and walking through mountains.
Both Naruto and Hinata were present to wish Kotori farewell and see her off on her 4 day school trip.
Hinata's looking over Kotori's bag, making sure she put everything inside. "Warm clothes, water bottles, tent, gear…"
Naruto and Kotori are both eager to go.
"Come on, Hinata, we already counted her things 10 times, we're gonna be late!"
"Yeah, we gotta hurry!"
They make their way for the Academy, where many of the other parents and their children have already gathered. The sensei greets Naruto, Hinata, and Kotori. He takes the bag off the and opens a scroll. He places the bag atop the scroll and forms the necessary seals, after which the bag disappears. Teleportation Scroll. Naruto and Hinata had seen this before plenty of times, but not Kotori.
"Woooow." The young girl doesn't hide her surprise.
Some of the other students laugh at her reaction.
Naruto grumbles. "These kids…"
Kotori pats him on the arm. "It's fine. I don't mind." She notices Hayai and Takai already present and walks over to them.
Naruto and Hinata see Futoi and Yukai there, as well, and go to mingle before the kids set off. They catch up and some other parents join them, mainly to talk to Naruto and Hinata who've only been rising in popularity.
With everyone gathered, the teacher does roll call and gives his final instructions before departing.
Most of the first day of the trip went by uneventful. The kids were excited to be out of the village to explore their home. Their destination is the Valley of Thunder and Lightning, a large piece of land owned by and approved for the trip by the Yotsuki clan, a fact that Kitsui reminded everyone of as often as he possibly could.
Many of the kids were in awe of Kitsui and followed his every word and his every step.
Some, however, don't care as much.
"So, I don't get it." Hayai is walking on a slightly elevated piece of rock, hopping from stone to stone. Kotori and Takai are walking besides him. Somehow Takai is still at eye level with him, even though he's on higher ground. "If they're your Pops and Mam, why not call them that?"
"It's not that simple." Kotori fiddles with the straps of her bag. "They're so young. They don't need a daughter to get in the way. Not yet, at least. So being their student is good enough." She gives a weak smile.
Hayai intertwines his fingers behind his head. "I dunno. You do you. But if you really want a family, you should have a family." He then mutters under his breath "If my folks were still alive." but he shakes it off.
Takai looks down to Kotori. "I think you should ask them. They're good people."
Kotori mulls it over.
Meanwhile, Kitsui stands near the edge of the cliff and points to the cliffs in the distance. "And that's the Thunderhead Peak. Those two we call The Horns."
Some of the kids are standing behind him, looking wherever he's pointing.
"Kitsui, everyone, step AWAY from the edge! It's dangerous." The sensei calls out, less than half the class actually listening to him and following his orders. "We'll talk over the landscape when we get down and set up camp."
"I know more about the valley than anyone else; my family owns it!" Kitsui brags for probably the 152nd time since they departed on this trip. "And I know its condition better than anyone else, too, so I know it's safe."
The teacher steps in and has everyone step back. He takes Kitsui by the hand and pulls him closer. "We've had a lot of rain lately, so it's likely to be wet and unstable. We'll talk about the valley when we get down."
The kids continue their trek as Kitsui grumbles the entire time over having his authority disrespected. Nearing the middle of the day, he begins acting up again and spouting every bit of knowledge he has about the area, most of it clearly memorized by heart; it sounding like he's reading it from a textbook.
Eventually, he goes to the edge of the cliff again. "Somewhere under here's the Komori Caves." Most of the other kids who follow Kitsui also stop to check.
Kotori stops and tugs on the teacher's flak jacket. "Uhh, sensei?"
Takai and Hayai look on, somewhat indifferent and annoyed, respectively.
He turns around "Kitsui! I won't repeat myself again!"
"Fine! But you better get ready to hear from the Yotsuki clan about this! We're here because my clan allowed it, you know."
One of Kitsui's two main lackeys looks nervous. "Uhh Kitsui, maybe we should listen to sensei."
"Fine, you coward. But don't complain to me when-" As Kitsui begins angrily stomping back, the ground under him cracks.
The cliff splits, creating a rift further and further towards the path. The very edge where Kitsui was standing on breaks. The rocky ground falls, and Kitsui with it. In his panic, he reaches over to his friends, trying to grab onto one of them to get to safety. Everyone steps back and away from the edge.
Kitsui looks on in despair. He's falling. No one's going to save him. He tries to grab onto the ledge as he falls but it's still unstable. It crumbles in his palm. He cries out.
A hand grabs onto him and he looks up to see Takai of all people, holding onto him and trying to pull him up. To no avail, as the ground cracks under her, too, and they both begin falling.
The other kids cry out and the sensei rushes over. He grabs a kunai and a thread, tying the two together. He embeds the kunai into the rock behind him and jumps toward the kids. He should be able to reach them easily enough and then use the kunai to pull everyone back up. A plan that would work, if the rock above was just as unstable as the rock below. The kunai is lodged out and the sensei begins falling, as well. He has no secure footing now.
Before his mind can go over what he can do in this situation, he sees a figure fly past him. Kotori Uzumaki jumps in after her falling classmates. "No! Don't!" He calls out but it's far too late.
Hayai looks on in shock. "Damn it, those two…" He forms a series of hand seals. He's not sure what he can do but he's got to try. He's one of the few in his class who can actually use jutsu.
Once done with the seals, he smacks his chest with his palm as a small shockwave washes over him. "Lightning Style: Spiking Surge" His body gives off sparks of sparks of electricity. Visually or in terms of strength, it doesn't even come close to what the Raikage can do, but it works in a similar way. It boosts his reflexes and his sense and he becomes more aware of his surroundings.
He uses this to run down the cliff. With his jutsu, he's able to better spot in time which bits of rock are about to fall off and which ones are more solid. He can use them as stepping stones.
Meanwhile, Takai is still holding onto Kitsui, neither of them sure what's to come.
Kotori looks on, falling just above them. She herself is not sure what to do, either.
"No… I can't… I don't wanna die. I wanna spend more time with everyone… Mom… Dad…" Her breathing heavy, she's scared, as any 7 year old would be. Her mind goes blank.
'You know what I didn't do? I didn't give up.' Naruto's voice rings through her mind. Her mind begins being filled with thoughts and memories. Everyone she's cared about in her short life, everyone she wants to care about in the future.
She remembers all of her training so far. All the combinations of hand signs where she felt the largest spike in her chakra
'Hare' seal.
She can focus her feathers. They can lift things. She's been able to lift small objects with them. She just needs to focus more than she ever has before.
'Dog' seal.
Takai pulls the crying Kitsui closer to herself and wraps her arms around him to act as a cushion. She tries to reach up to Kotori.
'Ox' seal.
The sensei tries to grab onto the cliffside to stop his fall, but it breaks off again and he lands on his shoulder on the cliffside with a loud thud.
'Dragon' seal.
Hayai's already on their level but he still has nothing he can do. All he CAN do is reach the bottom and hope he can help them.
'Bird' seal.
The feathers gather under her. Long black feathers with white strips. However, unlike before, they're not erratic and not appearing one by one. Multiple feathers, lining up in rows, each row over the previous one. Wings. Body. Claws. Beak. A screech echoes through the mountains.
"NINJA ART AVIARY: LIGHTNING CONDOR"
Kotori's descent is stopped as she hits the back of a large bird. Two large claws grab onto Takai and Kitsui. Everyone looks on in awe as a condor materialized out of this air to save their falling classmates.
Takai looks up with widened eyes. "Kotori… you…"
Hayai has a similar reaction. "Holy…"
"Ha… I did it… I DID IT!" Kotori is laughing and crying out of a very complex mixture of fear and joy.
The condor slowly hovers to the ground. Kotori's breathing is getting heavier and heavier.
"Kotori, this is… awesome…"
Kotori manages to crack a smile. "Yeah... I'm… pretty… grea-" Her voice trails off as she begins swaying on the back of her condor. The bird falters as she falls off its back. It disappears in a puff of feathers. Its caster- unconscious.
Takai and Kitsui fall on the ground with the larger girl still acting as a shield. The distance and velocity is much less than before but she still falls in a bad way and hisses in pain as her foot already begins aching.
She immediately tries to stand up when she sees Kotori still falling head first. She tries to stand up but her leg doesn't allow it. "KOTORI!"
"I got her." Hayai jumps in the air and snatches her before she can fall on her head. He lands on his feet but the added weight causes him to fall over with Kotori on top of him. He checks her pulse and sees she's still breathing. It's only chakra exhaustion. He lies back, exhausted himself from the rush of emotion. "Now that was groovy." He can't help but laugh despite himself.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY EXCUSES, MY SON NEARLY DIED!" A man's shouts fill the Raikage's office.
It's been 2 days since the incident and the class quickly turned around and came back to the Hidden Cloud due to the unfortunate events. The sensei carried the unconscious Kotori on his back, while some of the other students helped Takai with her leg.
The girls are both in the hospital, with Takai's leg in a cast and Kotori yet to wake up from her chakra exhaustion.
Now, the parents of those involved stand in the office. Kitsui along with his raging parents, Naruto and Hinata, Futoi and Yukai, Hayai and a young-looking man, presumably some kind of family relation.
The teacher is sitting on a chair in front of the Raikage's desk, his back extremely hunched over and his head lowered.
"I sincerely apologize." He says in a quiet voice.
"THERE'S NO WAY THAT'S ENOUGH, YOU HEAR ME?!" The man turns to the Raikage, sat in his sofa as usual. "Lord Raikage, I demand this man be demoted at once for his negligence."
Hinata steps forward. "Please, I'm sure we needn't go that far. It was an accident."
"Yeah, it was Kotori and Takai who actually got hurt so I'm not sure why you're the ones blowing a casket." Naruto backs her up.
"I don't expect Leaf to understand how things work around here." The father glares at them.
The sensei speaks solemnly. "Lord Raikage, I will take full responsibility for what happened."
Yukai's arms are crossed. "It was the Yotsuki clan's responsibility to ensure the Valley was safe for the kids to trek through, wasn't it?"
Futoi speaks up, as well. "And to begin with, from what we were told, it was Kitsui's disregard of orders that lead to everything."
Kitsui shrinks in his seat.
"You…" The angry man grits his teeth. "I expect it from the ignorant Leaf but you. You're saying the fault's on OUR son?"
"Or whoever raised him." Futoi doesn't seem to have any fear of the clan, despite how much they flaunt their name and status.
"WHY, YOU-"
"ENOUGH!" A's booming voice stops everyone in their tracks. "Yotsuki, two things. First, if you raise your voice in my presence again, I'll demote you, instead. Second, if you make demands of me again, I'll strip you of your rank altogether. Are any of my words unclear?"
The Yotsuki parents quickly calm themselves in the presence of the Raikage. "No, sir."
"Good. I've heard all that I need to hear for now and will give a verdict shortly. You're dismissed." He turns to the Academy teacher. "As for you, we still have things to discuss."
"Yes, sir." His voice is still barely a whisper.
Kitsui's mother grabs him by the hand and begins dragging him, huffing.
That's when something clicks in him. He's only 7. He hasn't lived that long and he doesn't have a lot of memories, but even his earliest ones are people pushing or pulling him in a direction they see fit. Always telling him what he needs to do, always telling him what needs to be done. His clan and even his supposed friends all steer him in the direction they see or they want. To represent the clan, to excel at everything.
The only time he's felt safe or that someone cared about him… was when Takai went after him and protected him. A girl he's constantly mocked. The only time he felt like someone didn't see him as a Yotuski was when Kotori leapt after them and literally saved their lives. A girl who isn't even from the village.
He breaks free from his mother.
"No, it's my fault. It's all my fault." He says in a panicked voice and runs out of the room.
"Wha- Kitsui?" Both his parents are surprised by his action and follow after him.
Hayai simply looks on. He looks up to the man with him and they seem to share an understanding glance and a nod. The boy goes outside, too. Walking, not running.
"Naruto, Hinata. Futoi, Yukai." The four turn to the Raikage. "I sincerely apologize for what happened. For our youth to be put at such danger where there should be none is inexcusable."
Futoi and Yukai become flustered. "Lord Raikage, you needn't apologize."
They bow and take their leave.
Hayai finds Kitsui sitting between some bushes at a park. He's curled up with his head resting on his knees.
"You're sulking. You don't sulk."
"You don't know me."
"Hm." Hayai moves to stand besides his classmate. "You're right, I don't. Whose fault is that?"
Kitsui doesn't say anything. The wind blows, rustling the surrounding trees and bushes. The dark clouds chill the air a bit, sending a shiver down their spines. It's getting colder. Probably rain again.
Kitsui doesn't lift his head. "Why are you better? What am I missing?"
Hayai continues looking on in the distance. "I don't know about better, but… I think the difference is, I want to be a shinobi. You have to be. I look forward to it, but for you, it's just pressure. I guess being in a clan isn't as groovy as everyone makes it out to be."
Hayai begins walking forward. "You coming? Takai should be waking up from her operation?"
Naruto and Hinata walk into the hospital room where Kotori is staying. Inside, they see Takai lying in bed with a cask around her lifted leg. On the bed next to hers lies an unconscious Kotori, Samui standing guard over her.
"Samui, thank you for staying with her."
The blonde turns around. "Of course. She saved two of our own. It's the least I could do."
They approach the bed. "Has her condition changed at all?"
Samui shakes her head. "The medics said she depleted all of her chakra. It'll take some time to fully heal."
"How weird is it that in a month, she's had her chakra depleted twice now… I hope this doesn't become a habit." Naruto turns to sit by Takai. "You feeling okay?"
She nods "Yeah." and looks to Kotori. "I'm sorry. She's like this because she had to save me."
Naruto ruffles her hair, leaving her eyes clear of hair. "Hey, don't say that. You went in to save a comrade in need. You're basically a hero, y'know." He flashes his signature grin. "Not everyone would go that far but you two did. I'm really glad Kotori has you as a friend. You've really helped her a lot. So thanks."
"Ah, no, I should be thanking her! Because she became my friend, I changed. She saved me, and she saved me again back then." She keeps her gaze focused on Kotori.
"Well, if you feel that strong about it, just keep being her friend, like you have 'til now, alright? Keep being there for each other. That's the whole reason we're here."
The door opens, with Futoi and Yukai entering dressed in their scrubs and carrying all necessary medical equipment. They check up on the two injured girls, continuing to heal their daughter's leg and dealing with Kotori's depleted chakra. As before, Naruto offers to use Kurama's chakra to speed up the healing process.
Futoi kisses her daughter on the forehead. "You'll be standing in no time. Given how serious it could've been otherwise…" She trails off and her thoughts of the alternative seem to be showing on her face as even her daughter recognizes what she's thinking.
Takai holds her hand and presses it against her cheek.
The door opens again to much lighter footsteps entering the room. Hayai and Kitsui make their way, with the former walking to Takai's bed without stopping while the latter remains at the door.
Kitsui's lowered his head, not looking anyone in the eyes and grasping onto his shirt. "I'm sorry." His eyes tear up and he falls to his knees. "I'm sorry."
Futoi frowns and walks over to the boy, kneeling and giving him a much needed hug.
Kotori's eyes flutter open to the sound of rain hitting the window. When she sees her surroundings, she grumbles. 'A hospital again.' Her mind's still foggy and she struggles to remember exactly what happened. She turns around and sees a sleeping Takai on the bed next to her, her leg lifted up and wrapped in a cask. It takes her a moment to process it but her memories come back to her. She jolts up and hisses in pain when she feels a hand gently touches her shoulder and pulls her back to bed.
"She's fine." Hinata's soft voice puts her slightly more at ease, just knowing she's there helps. "She's just sleeping."
"And Kitsui? What about Kitsui?"
"He's also fine. Honey, you saved them." Hinata cups the girl's face with her hands and presses her forehead to her.
Under the touch of her adoptive mother, she cracks and begins crying. "It was so scary. I was so scared." Her voice is broken in-between sobs.
Hinata fully sits on the bed and embraces Kotori, holding her as tightly as she can. "It's alright now. You're safe."
Something stirs in the bed opposite of hers. Naruto stands up and sees that Kotori is awake and immediately runs over. He sees the mood she's in and doesn't say anything. He sits on the bed on the other side from Hinata and takes the girl's hand in his own, in comfort.
After a couple minutes of silence, they break from their hug and Kotori wipes her eyes with her sleeve, sniffing. Hinata straightens the girl's hair.
Naruto grins. "You really had us worried y'know."
Hinata laughs. "He spent so much time panicking, he's barely left the hospital since you were admitted."
"Wha-, no, I was totally calm! I knew she was gonna be fine so I didn't have to worry!" Naruto is visibly flustered, flailing his hands. Kotori has seen him act goofy but not flustered.
Hinata finds his current state oddly adorable. "Oh, yes, he ran into the hospital screaming 'Where's my daughter?!' " She puts on an exaggerated face and continues laughing. "I've never seen him so worried before."
Kotori's expression becomes downcast and she lowers her gaze, focusing on the sheets. "Am I?" Both Naruto and Hinata give a puzzled look. "Am I your daughter?"
"I mean, yeah, of course you are." Naruto focuses on her. Apparently she's been having the same doubt as he has.
"I'm not young enough to be your kid. You have a future. I don't wanna be a burden. I don't wanna get in your way."
"Oh, Kotori…" Hinata knew of Naruto's concerns of their new situation but she didn't know their girl was keeping such thoughts to herself.
"You're not." Naruto gets off the bed and kneels down, to be at eye level with her. "Y'know, I was an orphan, too." Kotori looks up. He told her he had a rough time of it but he never told her that. "I spent a lot of time wondering what it's like to have a family. It took me a while, but… I finally found out." He smiles to her and to Hinata. "I know I'm still a kid myself and there's still a lot I don't know and I'm pretty immature, but I want us to be a family. I don't know if you see us as parents but I couldn't have imagined having a better daughter." He flashes a grin.
Kotori tears up again, but for different reasons this time.
Hinata speaks up. "I know your situation has changed a lot and it has for us. We still don't know exactly what we're doing but we're trying to do our best. For you, so you can have the best life you can. That's enough for us."
"Can I… can I call you 'mom' and 'dad'?"
"Of course."
She tightly hugs them both and through tears says "Mom. Dad."
Takai smiles from her bed, having woken up a bit ago. The family moment lasts quite long, all of them happy to have each other. When they break off, they see Takai awake.
"I'm glad, Kotori."
She grins to her friend.
Thunder roars outside which startles the girls. The sky has been progressively getting darker and darker as the stormy clouds send down storm after storm. Naruto feels uneasy. He looks outside to see what looks like black fog in the distance. The mountain top in front of it becomes engulfed, and then the one in front of that.
Hinata looks puzzled. "Naruto, that fog is…"
"Getting closer. And fast." He finishes her thought.
A voice echoes inside his head. "Naruto, that's not fog. That's raw chakra! We need to stop it now!"
"Hinata, I'm going." He goes to the window and opens it, letting some rain get in but it's the fastest way. He enters his Shroud Mode, his clothes seemingly replaced with orange and black flames. Futoi and Yukai burst into the room to check up on the girls when they stop and stare at Naruto who turns to them "Keep our daughter safe." and he Flickers outside.
It doesn't take him long to reach the end of the village. With Kurama's chakra and his Sage Mode, it barely takes him a couple of leaps to get to where he needs to. He's now face to face with the approaching cloud, a dark and menacing presence that towers over him.
He summons Kurama's form.
"This is something Eight Tails likes to do. I don't like taking ideas from him, but it's our only choice."
"How about we double it?" A large shape crashes next to Kurama and Naruto. The horned, eight-tentacled Gyuki stands besides them, wrapping his tails around his body.
"Gyuki! Octopops!"
"Kurama, I'll spin to the right, you spin to the left."
The fox does exactly that. "You bastard, throwing around orders. I'm only doing it because that's what I was going to do, anyway, you got that?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure."
The two Tailed Beasts coil their tails as tightly as they can. Once enough, they spin violently, releasing a massive rush of wind powerful enough to cover an area even greater than the village itself. The dark fog is dispersed and the imminent threat is averted, but some bits of cloud remain, still cackling with electricity. The pressure from their tails was enough to kick up a large amount of dust.
"Gyuki, you feel it, too, right?"
"Yeah. After what you told us, I should've known these day-long storms weren't natural."
Something growls behind the dust cloud.
"Huh? Feel what?"
"Yeah, what's with this stormy fog, is that why I've been smelling like wet dog?"
"You should be able to feel it, Naruto. The presence in front of us. It's the same as the Kappa. Another one of the Great Beasts sealed away by the Uzumaki."
A paw swipes through the air, clearing the dust. In front of the Nine-Tailed Fox and the Eight-Tailed Ox stands a being just as massive and odd.
Its tiger body is lowered and ready to pounce, its monkey-like face screeches, showing off sharp teeth. Its tail coils and twists, the snake head at the end hissing in their direction.
The Nue roars, sending jolts of electricity in every direction.