To Protect Those He Loves

by Gaim no Kaze

He was an orphan, he knew nothing of his origins, but he found a family, he found something to fight for. Destiny played against him, but he would fight for them no matter what, even if it costs him his life. Kirito harem...no flaming please. (Kind of AU, and carries Fate elements). Current arc - War Arc

7. Chapter 7

Hey, this is chapter 7. And before we start, just want to say something about the spells Kirito will use. He won't use them all the time, but when he does, I will have him NOT fully follow the chants in cannon.

XXX

Later that night, Kirito had received the Hokage's confirmation about the mission and was packing his stuff when the four girls came home.

Kirito greeted them, "Hey."

The girls waved as they put down their stuff. Asuna asked, "So, Kirito-kun, why did you want to go to Uzu no Kuni's ruins?"

Kirito smiled, "Uzu no Kuni used to be the country of the Uzumaki clan. But in the previous war, the clan was destroyed by a joint attack from Iwagakure, Kumogakure and Kirigakure. I figured that we might find something if value to Hikari-chan since she's the last Uzumaki in the village."

Sinon nodded, "I see. So we're all going."

Kirito nodded, "I know. Hokage-sama told me about the joint mission thing. So we'll escort that guy back to Nami no Kuni, stay there for a while until his bridge is done, and then go to Uzu no Kuni."

The girls nodded in response as Kirito said, "Well, I've finished packing, so you girls go clean up and pack your equipment, I'll tell you when the food's ready."

The girls nodded and went to bathe as Kirito started to cook. The teen was glad he finished packing early or he'd risk revealing his swords. But then again, he was probably gonna reveal his true strength after this mission.

After the girls cleaned up and ate dinner before they packed for their mission.

The next day, teams 7 and 11 were in the Hokage's office. Hiruzen said, "So, you two teams will be doing a joint mission, 2 C-ranked missions to be exact. They're both escort missions."

The two jounin nodded with their gennin. Hiruzen continued, "The first part will be escorting a bridge builder back to Nami no Kuni and guard him until he finishes his bridge. Then you will escort one of our villagers to the ruins of Uzu no Kuni and guard him before you come back."

The old man let out a breath, "Understood?"

The eight people in front of him nodded. The Hokage nodded, "Good. These will be your clients."

The door opened to reveal Kirito and an old man holding a sake bottle. Sasuke frowned, "Why are you here?"

Kirito grinned, "I'm one of your clients ya know."

The old man huffed, "The man looks fine, the boy looks like a duck head, and what's with the pinky? At least the others are good on the eyes."

Kirito chuckled as he felt the killing intent coming from all six gennins, he placed a hand on the man's shoulder, "Tazuna-san, I think you should watch what you say, everyone here can kill you in a flash and you won't know who it is."

The man huffed, obviously drunk, "Yeah whatever, name's Tazuna, I expect you to guard me well."

Yugao forced a smile, "Yeah, we will."

Kakashi eye-smiled, "Well, let's go then. No time to lose."

No one argued as they quickly left the office for the gates.

Soon, as they walked away from the village. Sakura asked, "Umm, Tazuna-san, I'm curious, why would you hire us and not ninja from your own village?"

Tazuna huffed, "That's the problem, pur village has no ninja. At least not after the third war."

Sakura asked curiously, "What happened?"

Kirito decided to answer, "Nami no Kuni was once part of Uzu no Kuni, which was a nation that had their own ninja village, called Uzushiogakure."

Tazuna nodded, "But during the war, the whole nation was destroyed, leaving the island and our country. That's why we rely on other villages for help."

Sasuke hmph'd, "They must be weak if they fell so easily."

The two Jounin, the bridge builder, Kirito stared at the last Uchiha. Kirito sighed, "Uzushiogakure was the home to the Uzumaki clan. It took several weeks, with the combined forces of Iwa, Kumo and Kiri to even break through their defenses."

Hikari nodded as she learned about her clan, "I see."

Sasuke however, didn't seem to notice that Kirito had said that the Uzumaki clan was part of of Uzu no Kuni and said arrogantly, "Hmph, they still fell."

Hikari, Asuna, Sinon and Suguha glared at the last Uchiha. Sinon said, "Even so, you have no right to judge them or disrespect them."

Asuna and Suguha nodded. Then, Kirito said, "Besides, if I remember correctly, it took one night, one man to kill the whole Uchiha clan, right?"

Sasuke's eyes glowed murderously and turned to face Kirito, "You bastard!"

Kirito smirked as he stared straight into Sasuke's eyes, "What's wrong? Did I get that wrong?"

Sasuke charged the teen, "I'll kill you!"

But before he could even move an inch, Kakashi held him in place, "Calm down, Sasuke. And Kirito, please."

The teen raised his arms in a surrendering manner as Yugao sighed, "This is like straight out of a drama."

Then, the two Jounin spotted a puddle at the side of the road and exchanged nods. Kirito also spotted the puddle easily and just decided to ignore it, though ready to act if needed.

Then, right as they passed the puddle, it burst into a cloud of smoke as two chains shot out and wrapped them around Yugao and Kakashi, seemingly shredding them to pieces.

Sakura screamed, "Kakashi-sensei!"

The smoke then cleared to reveal two masked men. One of the smirked, "Well, what do we have here, a bunch of cute kunoichi. Gozu, lets kill the builder and the boy, and have some fun."

The other man, Gozu nodded, "Why not, Meizu."

Asuna, Suguha, Sinon and Hikari acted quickly. The auburn haired girl drew her rapier and charged one of the brothers as Suguha drew her Katana and followed after Asuna.

Sinon drew her bow and nocked an arrow, aiming at the other man as Hikari drew a pair of kunai and charged in.

Asuna jumped up and spun in midair, coming down sending a series of stabs at Meizu as Suguha charged in with several slashes with her Tempest.

The man barely had enough time to dodge Asuna's stabs before he blacked Suguha's sword with his gauntlet. Meizu cursed as he noticed the blade slowly cutting through his gauntlet.

Then, Asuna appeared at his left, her rapier poised to strike. Meizu cursed as he pushed Suguha away and jumped up to dodge the stabs. But Suguha was ready, the busty girl charged and gave a slash, cutting off Meizu's arm.

The man stumbled, clutching his side as he yelled in pain. Then, he felt Asuna's Lambant Light on his neck and Suguha's Tempest's blade on the back of his neck.

Meanwhile, Hikari swung her kunai as Sinon shot arrows at Gozu's chains, preventing from using them. Then, the man grunted and tried to punch Hikari, but she dodged the punch and quickly made a clone that knee'd him in the face before it flipped around and hugged the man tightly.

The hug surprised the man before the clone started to glow. Hikari grinned, "Bunshin Daibakuha."

The clone exploded, killing the man in the explosion as the smoking corpse fell to the ground.

Hikari then realized she had killed a person and stared at the ground still, "I... I just killed someone."

Kakashi and Yugao appeared via Shunshin and stared at the girl. Sakura snapped out of her shock, "Kakashi-sensei, Yugao-sensei! You're both fine!"

The two Jounin ignored them as Kakashi spoke, "Hikari, I know this is your first kill, but this is how we work, we are shinobi."

Yugao nodded, "Yeah, you did very well."

Hikari nodded before she felt someone embrace her. Kirito's soothing voice entered her ears, "If you want to cry, just cry. Your first kill will always be the hardest, but it just proves that you are human."

Hikari's eyes widened as memories of people calling her a demon resurfaced. Tears burst out as she cried into Kirito's shoulder, the teen patting her back gently.

Asuna, Sinon and Suguha stared sadly at their sister in all but blood. The three knew among all of them, Hikari was emotionally the weakest. The three then realized that they would probably face the same thing when they did their first kill.

Sakura just stared in shock as she thought maybe her mother was wrong about Hikari being a demon. After all, no demon would cry about killing a person.

Sasuke however, was cursing the blacksmith, 'It should be me who has her crying on my shoulder! Kirito... I will kill you! First you dishonor my clan, then Hikari...'

Tazuna was just staring somberly at the ground.

Then, Kakashi approached the one-armed Meizu, who was still shocked that his brother was dead.

The cyclops nodded to the two girls, "Good job girls, I'll take over."

Kakashi then dragged Meizu into the forest.

A while later, Hikari stopped cry and let go of Kirito. The young man asked, "Are you okay now?"

Hikari nodded and wiped a tear off her eyes, "Thank you, Kirito-kun."

Asuna smiled, "Don't worry, we will definitely support you all the way, you have to be Hokage after all."

Hikari nodded and beamed, "Yeah!"

Then, Kakashi came out of the trees, "Tazuna-san, I believe we need to talk."

Tazuna started to sweat under the gaze of the two Jounin. Kakashi said, "Meizu was kind enough to tell me that he was hired to kill you."

Yugao blinked, "Wait, they are Chuunin ranked threats, but to kill a civilian like you..."

She glared at him, "What are you hiding?"

Before Tazuna could answer however, Kirito stepped in, "Ah, wait a sec, Hokage-sama knew this would happen, that's why he arranged this joint mission."

Kakashi stared at the blacksmith, "And? This could potentially be an A-ranked mission. That's not counting if there are stronger opponents ahead."

Kirito chuckled, "True, but that's why we have you two, right? Hokage-sama wouldn't give you the mission if he didn't think you could handle it, right? Copy Ninja Kakashi and former Anbu Yugao-san."

The two sighed, Yugao nodded, "I guess you're right, we'll just leave the decision to them. "

The woman turned to the gennin, "So, it seems that Tazuna has hidden info from us and we might be facing a potential A-rank mission. Do you girls want to continue?"

The woman completely disregarded Sasuke as she asked them. Tazuna then said, "The bridge will be the key to escaping from Gato, when our country gets back on track, we'll form a trade alliance with Konoha, please."

Kakashi nodded and looked at the girls and Sasuke, "That's what he said."

Asuna, Sinon, Suguha and Hikari looked at each other and nodded before they looked at Kirito who grinned. Asuna spoke, "I think we should continue."

The other three girls nodded. Yugao nodded in satisfaction, "Good, so, Sakura, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha grunted, "We should continue, its not like an Uchiha can back down."

Sakura nodded, "I'll follow Sasuke-kun."

Kakashi sighed and looked at Tazuna, "Well, you're in luck then. Let's get going."

The builder bowed deeply, "Thank you very much."

Kakashi waved it off, "Yeah sure."

The group then continued walking. Then, they noticed the mist was growing stronger and thicker.

Kakashi spoke, "Hold. This mist, its unnatural."

Tazuna blinked, "Eh? Actually its quite normal for mist this thick."

Yugao shook her head, "No, what he means is that the mist is filled with chakra, its man made. Which means that there is someone waiting for us."

Tazuna Oh'd before Hikari whipped out a kunai and threw it at a particular direction. Sakura frowned, "Why did you do that?"

Hikari ignored her and walked towards the direction, luckily still in sight as she brought a white rabbit out, caressing it, "Sorry, false alar- wait... the fur is white."

Hikari ran back to her team just as something swung by, almost taking her head off if she was a second late.

Kakashi yelled, "Manji formation, NOW!"

The team quickly surrounded Tazuna and Kirito, watching all sides. Then, Kirito heard wind whirling. He quickly turned and yelled, "Duck now!"

Everyone ducked, Kakashi pulling Tazuna down as they heard a loud clang. They all looked up to see Kirito holding a black blade against a huge sword.

Asuna gasped, "Kirito-kun?"

Suguha asked, "Where did you get sword?"

Sinon and Hikari could only stare as Kirito pushed against the massive sword. The blacksmith then spread his left arm to his side and started to chant, "Kaze yo, ware no yaiba ni nare. Hikisake, Vartex!"

A vortex of wind started to form around his left arm. Kirito swung his arm and sent the vortex at the blade. The owner of the blade quickly jumped away to avoid the wind blade as it cleared the mist.

The vortex blew away the mist completely to reveal a masked man who wore a sleeveless shirt.

Kirito grinned, "Eh, aren't you one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?"

The man hmph'd, "Yes I am. I'm impressed, for someone as young as you to block my blade."

Kirito smirked, "Its an honor then, Momochi Zabuza, wielder of the Kubikiribocho."

Sinon asked, "Kirito-kun, what are you doing?"

Kirito turned slightly and looked at the girls, "Sorry, but I've kept some secrets for a while. I'll tell you girls later, but for now, my pride as a swordsman wants to fight against him."

The blacksmith walked forward, out of the formation, "Zabuza-san, I've heard a lot about that sword of yours, as a blacksmith and a swordsman, I'm curious, how I stand against you."

Zabuza was intrigued, "Ho, its been a while since I fought as a swordsman, nor have I met anyone else other than those who share my title."

Kirito grinned, "My name is Kirito. Momochi Zabuza, I challenge you to a duel of swords."

Zabuza smirked, "Very well, I accept."

At the side, Kakashi and Yugao were surprised at what was happening, Sasuke growled, "What is that idiot doing?!"

Yugao glared at the gennin, "This is sacred among swordsman. I know Zabuza is the enemy, but shut up and watch."

Sakura then asked, "What is this duel anyways?"

Kakashi answered, "The duel of swords. Its something shared by swordsmen, be it samurai, shinobi or civilians. As long as they are swordsmen, they can challenge each other to a duel that puts their pride on the line."

Asuna and Suguha blinked, the auburn haired girl asked, "Why have we not heard of it?"

Yugao looked at her students, "I was planning to tell you some time, but you're not ready yet."

Hikari looked at the boy, "He's gonna be fine, right?"

Kakashi nodded, "If he knows about the duel, he should be fine."

Back with Kirito and Zabuza, Kirito took a stance as Zabuza readied his sword. Then, without warning, they both charged forward and clashed blades.

Zabuza grinned as they pushed against each other, "Your strength is not bad, to push against me."

Kirito chuckled, "You ain't seen nothin yet."

Zabuza pushed Kirito away and tried to cleave him apart. But Kirito spun around the blade and lowered the Elucidator to waist level and channeled chakra through the blade.

The Elucidator glowed as Kirito thrust the blade forward, "Vorpal Strike!"

Zabuza tch'd and managed to dodge a fatal wound as he landed a few meters from Kirito.

The man asked, "That technique, its not an ordinary kenjutsu skill, is it?"

Kirito chuckled, "Yeah, it is. I can't use chakra like you do, so I had to use another way. Let us continue."

The teen then charged forward as his sword glowed blue green, "Sonic Leap."

Kirito swung his blade at Zabuza who parried it with a chakra enhanced Kubikiribocho. The impact was so huge that it sent both warriors flying a bit.

They landed before they charged each other again, matching slash for slash.

Then, as Zabuza charged forward with an upward slash, Kirito drew his sword back as it glowed light blue. He then swung it down, "Slant!"

The blades met as the two swordsman passed each other. Then, a piece of the Kubikiribocho stabbed itself into the ground.

Zabuza looked at his broken blade in surprise, "You broke my sword."

Kirito grinned, "Yeah, I noticed that weak spot on the sword."

Zabuza nodded, "Yeah, but my sword can repair itself through the iron in blood, so its not a problem."

Zabuza then narrowed his eyes, "But, I've noticed that you're holding back, like you lack something. You, are you a dual blade user?"

Kirito chuckled before he sighed, "Yeah, but you're also holding back quite a bit, aren't you? I'm not stupid to go all out against a half-assed opponent."

Zabuza nodded, "True, I apologize, I haven't been taking the duel seriously, my target is the bridge builder after all."

Kirito nodded as Zabuza retook his stance, "From now on, I will not hold back now."

Kirito grinned and was about to unseal his second sword when a senbon embedded itself into Zabuza's neck. The man then fell to the floor.

A masked figure appeared in front of them and picked up Zabuza. Kirito narrowed his eyes, "What are you doing?"

The figure stared at Kirito, "Sorry, but I've been hunting him for a long time. I apologise for interfering, but I cannot waste any more time."

Kirito glared at the figure as the hunter nin bowed his head, "I really am sorry, I shall leave."

The hunter then vanished via Shunshin. Kirito sighed as he sheathed his blade, "And the fun was just starting..."

He then turned to see Kakashi and Yugao's impressed looks at him, but he was more concerned with the dangerously sweet smiles Asuna, Sinon, Suguha and Hikari were giving him.

The girls said in complete unrehearsed unison, "Kirito-kun, would you like to explain?"

The teen chuckled nervously as he sweated. Kakashi shook his head, "I seriously pity him."

Tazuna nodded in agreement, "You and me both."

Then before the girls could unleash their wrath, Sasuke voice out, "You, give me that sword."

Kirito blinked, "Excuse me?"

Sasuke glared at the black swordsman, "You, someone who isn't even a ninja, a nobody. Someone like you don't deserve that power. Give it to me."

Kakashi gripped Sasuke's shoulder hard, "Now now, Sasuke, that's not the way to talk to someone."

Kirito narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, "A nobody? Someone who isn't a ninja? If you think you can, come take it."

Sasuke tried to charge the teen but was held back by Kakashi. The cyclops sighed, "Please, stop. Both of you."

Kirito sighed and nodded, resealing his sword away. Yugao then spoke, "Come on, we do not have time to waste."

The group then quickly continued their journey, with Sasuke grumbling all the way.

A while later, they reached the side of a river, waiting for them was a small boat. A man was waiting for them.

The man frowned, "Tazuna, you brought so many people. How can we fit all of them here? Making the trip here was risky enough."

Kakashi asked Yugao, "You taught them water walking already?"

Yugao huffed, "I'm not you, Kakashi-senpai, I take my job seriously."

Kakashi chuckled, "I was just asking. Its better for us to water walk instead of sitting on the boat, well, Kirito can sit on the boat with Tazuna of course."

Kirito nodded, "I can't water walk after all, I can't use chakra like you do."

Kakashi nodded and looked at the man, "Its fine, we can walk, just let Tazuna-san and Kirito on the boat, we'll follow behind."

The man raised an eyebrow as the eight shinobi started to walk on the water and filed it off as a ninja thing. He then looked at Kirito and Tazuna, beckoning them to get on board.

The man carefully pushed the boat off shore onto the water and started to paddle quietly, with the eight ninja walking stealthily beside them.

As they moved, they were met with a huge bridge that was halfway hanging. Sakura marvelled and said as quiet as she could, "Wow, is that the bridge?"

Tazuna nodded proudly and stood up, saying quietly, "This is my masterpiece, the bridge that will- woah!"

He stumbled and would have fell into the water had Sinon not catch him by his collar. The girl said, "Please stay seated and stay quiet."

Tazuna nodded and quietly sat down, not saying a word after that as they quickly reached the shore. The man spoke as they got off the boat, "This is it, Tazuna. Good luck."

The old man nodded as the other man went off. Tazuna then turned to the others, "Come with me, my house is this way."

They headed towards a two story house and Tazuna knocked the door loudly, "Tsunami, I'm home!"

The man kept on knocking the door loudly until it opened and revealed a frying pan that slammed onto Tazuna's head.

The old man fell to the floor, revealing a middle aged woman with black hair. The woman noticed the group of people behind her father and blinked, "Ara, I'm sorry for that, I'm Tsunami, Tazuna's my father."

Kakashi nodded, "Its fine... I guess... erm, I'm Kakashi, we're the team, well, teams, sent here to guard your father."

Tsunami nodded as Tazuna finally got up from the floor. The old man sighed, "You hit as hard as ever, my daughter."

Tsunami sighed, "If you acted a bit less rude, then I wouldn't even hit you. Besides, there are guests."

Tazuna sighed, "Okay okay."

They all then went into the house as Tsunami asked, "But why are there two teams? I thought Otou-san could only ask for one team."

Kakashi chuckled, "Actually only half of us here are to protect your father, we're supposed to go to the ruins of Uzu no Kuni. But Hokage-sama was kind enough to make them joint missions, so we're here too."

Tsunami nodded, "I see, what do you need at the ruins though?"

Kakashi looked at Kirito who nodded, the teen spoke, "Well, Hikari-chan is the last Uzumaki in Konoha, so I thought we might find something there."

Tsunami blinked, "Hikari? That's you right?"

She looked at the blonde as she said, "But you're blonde, Uzumaki are supposed to have red hair."

Hikari shrugged, "Dominant and recessive genes and stuff. No idea who my parents are though."

Tsunami nodded, "I see."

Kakashi nodded, "Okay, so we'll set up a border around the house, then we'll go train. Got it?"

No one argued before Asuna asked, "Tsunami-san, do you have an empty private space?"

Tsunami blinked and nodded, "Sure, you can use the spare room upstairs."

Asuna smiled and nodded before she dragged Kirito away, Hikari, Suguha and Sinon following behind.

In the room, Suguha started, "So, can you explain what was that with Zabuza?"

Kirito rubbed his neck and sighed, "Okay, I was going to tell you girls soon anyways."

The teen looked at the girls seriously, "Do you remember, that day we got kicked out of the orphanage?"

The girls nodded. Kirito continued, "That day, I swore on my life, that I would protect the four of you. That time, the best way for me was to fight alongside you, since you all wanted to be kunoichi."

Kirito let out a breath, "But Kami-sama had other plans. I couldn't use chakra the way you did. I had a huge reserve, but the flow was small and I didn't have the necessary chakra coils to become a ninja."

The girls nodded sadly as they remembered that day. The young man then continued, "I ran. Then, I met Hokage-sama. I told him what happened, and he brought me to Kayaba-sensei."

The teen smiled, "Kayaba-sensei was like me. He had large chakra, but small coils. He taught me how to forge, and he taught me how to fight."

Kirito brought out the Elucidator and his second sword, the Dark Repulsor, "I couldn't fight alongside you, but I still wanted to do something, so under Kayaba-sensei, I learned kenjutsu and his version of elemental jutsu."

Kirito sheathed the swords on his back and brought up his right palm, forming a small ball of fire, "Unlike ninja, I don't use handsigns. I use spells that form attacks. My chakra coils are so small that I cannot use jutsu, but I have a high control over my chakra, so instead, I can do these."

The girls were speechless. Asuna said, "So, all this time, you were learning to fight, to forge to protect us?"

Sinon spoke, "And you attended the academy and worked in Teuchi-ojisan's shop as well."

Suguha continued, "And everyday, when we come back, you always try to do everything for us."

The girls teared up and all hugged him. Asuna asked, "Why didn't you just tell us?"

Kirito chuckled, "Well, I wanted you to focus on becoming the best ninja. Those things are worth it."

Suguha shook her head, "But you've been working so hard for all these years, we never really did much for you."

Kirito shook his head and said, "Don't worry about it, to me, as long as the four of you can smile, as long as you all are safe, I will do anything. Besides, I'm quite strong now."

Sinon shook her head and stared at Kirito in the eye, "Its not that! We all keep saying we want to protect our family, but all these years, you're the one who worked so hard for us."

Kirito smiled, "Why wouldn't I? When we found out I couldn't use chakra, you didn't leave me. You girls became popular, but you still stuck by me."

Hikari shook her head, "We love you, of course we'd stick with you! We even thought of sharing you!"

Sinon glared at the blonde slightly, "Hikari-chan!"

The blonde looked away, "Well, its the truth. Besides, it isn't like we didn't thought about that, and polygamy isn't illegal."

Suguha nodded, "The only reason not many people do it because people rarely have situations like this and prefer not to share."

Asuna nodded, "Sinon-chan, we've agreed about that, didn't we?"

Sinon blushed and looked away, "Well, I wasn't ready."

Kirito blinked, "So, you all... like me? And you decided to... share me?"

Asuna nodded, "Yes, we love you, Kirito-kun."

Kirito nodded, "I see. Me too, I've always loved all of you, but... I didn't want to hurt any of you by choosing."

Sinon gave a small smile, "Well, its good that you don't need to then."

Kirito nodded, "So, does that mean, we're officially moving to the next step?"

The girls all nodded in unison and burried their heads into Kirito. The blacksmith blinked, "Umm, can you girls let go? It's a bit hard to move."

Suguha pouted, "You don't like our hugs?"

Kirito sweatdropped, "No its not that, it's just a bit hard to move. Besides..."

The teen blushed slightly as he felt the four girls chest against him. He thought Hikari and Asuna were similar in size, Sinon was a bit smaller while Suguha had the largest.

The girls giggled as they knew exactly what was going in his mind and let go. Then Hikari spoke, "Umm, I also have a secret."

The girls looked at their sister while Kirito looked at her, knowing what she was about to say. Hikari pulled up her shirt and channeled chakra to reveal a seal on her stomach, "I'm the Jinchurikii of the Kyuubi, and its sealed here."

The girls stayed silent for a while before Sinon said, "I see, we had a bit of an idea about that."

Hikari blinked, "What?"

Kirito chuckled, "Well, if we think about your birthday, the way people call you a demon and your birthmarks, we figured you had some form of connection with the Kyuubi. Besides, Uzumaki women have been known to be the Kyuubi's hosts."

Suguha nodded, "Besides, it won't change the fact that you're our family."

The others nodded as Hikari embraced all of them. The five then stayed there, enjoying each other's presence.

Then, someone knocked on the door as Kakashi's voice came, "Are you five done? We need to set up the border and train."

Hikari grumbled as she let go four of the most important people in her life, "Bakakashi-sensei, he had to ruin our moment."

The others chuckled/giggled as they went out of the room.

XXX

Okay, done. So the next chapter will be training and stuff, with Haku appearing and so on. Inari will still get the character development thing, so yeah. Review please.

List of sword skills:

Vorpal Strike

Sonic Leap

Slant

List of spells used:

Vartex (non-cannon, inspired by Vartex from Super Robot Wars X's Xelguard)