This is quite a long chapter but I didn't feel like splitting it in two so...
Thank you to everyone who reads and everyone who leaves reviews! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Hunter x Hunter or Naruto.
Strengthening x of x Bonds
"Maybe... we should start coming in a bit later..."
Naruto let out a yawn and glanced at Sakura. "Nah, Kaka-sensei and Sasuke will be here soon."
Sakura looked at him skeptically. "How can you be so sure?"
He shrugged. "Just a feeling. Kaka-sensei said we had a mission today. Doesn't that mean he has to come a bit earlier than normal to give us the mission?"
Sakura shrugged back. About fifteen minutes had passed since Team 7 was scheduled to meet at the same bridge above the riverbank, but only two of them had arrived. Naruto was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed and a hand seal formed while Sakura sat next to him, trying to sense his chakra. It was an idea she had gotten from Kakashi, who was nowhere to be found. But then again, neither was Sasuke.
"And where do you think Sasuke is? Think he ditched?" She questioned.
Naruto shook his head, eyes still closed. "Doubt it. He seemed to be coming around yesterday. Could've sworn I saw him crack some stupid smirk when I made a mistake during a drill."
Sakura let out a chuckle at that. "Really? I didn't even catch that."
"Bastard thinks he's slick, that's why. Every time the littlest emotion appears on his face, he turns his head to hide it." He huffed. "I don't know if he's shy, or just has a stick up his ass. Actually, it's the second."
Sakura shook her head in exasperation. "How insightful of you Naruto." After a few moments of silence, she turned to him and tried focusing harder on sensing his chakra, even closing her eyes to concentrate.
She could definitely feel a presence, just like she could when she had come across Gon using Nen a few weeks ago. There's a pressure coming from Naruto, but it doesn't feel distinct. It feels characterless, blank. She wouldn't be able to tell him apart from other people.
"What are you doing?"
Sakura jumped and opened her eyes to see Naruto gazing at her inquisitively.
"I was trying to sense your chakra. People apparently have distinct chakra signatures. So if I get good at this, I could be able to tell people apart by how their chakra feels. Right now though I can only just sense a pressure."
Naruto looked amazed. "That's really cool! I'm sure you'll get it down soon Sakura-chan." He looked up with a sigh. "Me on the other hand..."
Sakura saw that the boy was frustrated. "No luck with that jutsu you were practicing?"
He shook his head. "I asked sensei more about it yesterday. I know how to improve with it now... it's just not what I expected. It's going to take some time to get better at."
Now she was curious. "What did Kakashi-sensei tell you then?"
Naruto's face turned red and looked away. "Uh..."
"Do you have a crush on Sakura?"
Naruto made an embarrassed face. "Huuh?"
Kakashi let out a chuckle. "Do you like Sakura, Naruto? I won't make fun of you."
"This has to do with the jutsu?" Naruto asked skeptically. Kakashi nodded. "Well..." He took a breath and looked to his feet. "I used to like her a lot... for a long time. She's really pretty after all. But after a while I realized she wouldn't like me back... so I don't really feel that way any more. I'm just glad we can be cool." He looked up at Kakashi. "Now, why'd you wanna know?"
Kakashi eye-smiled. "Well there's your answer Naruto. That's why you could use the jutsu to transform into Sakura, but not anything else you tried."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Can I get a summary?"
"You liked Sakura, so you paid a lot of attention to her. The true transformation jutsu works by replicating qualities of whatever it is that you transform into, but for it to work you must have those qualities ingrained in your mind." At Naruto's blush, he laughed. "That's right. You liked Sakura so much that your mind remembered her distinct smell and the feel of her chakra."
"WHAT?!"
"Careful Naruto. Get too loud and they might hear you," Kakashi said, gesturing behind Naruto.
The boy glanced back to see Sakura and Sasuke, who had been practicing a shuriken team drill, turn to look at him in curiosity(and mild annoyance in Sasuke's case).
Naruto gritted his teeth and turned back to Kakashi. "Sensei, that doesn't even make sense. Maybe her smell, but her chakra? I don't even know how to feel another person's chakra, so how could I remember hers?"
"The subconscious mind is powerful Naruto... just because you don't consciously realize it, doesn't mean your mind hasn't picked it up and stored the information away. Same thing goes for her smell." He pulled out his book and began reading. "I don't know how into the art of romance you are, but it's been scientifically proven that many people end up being attracted to others by smell. Shinobi even become attracted because they like the feel of another's distinct chakra signature." He looked up. "Interesting, no?"
Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and stared speechless for a few moments before sighing. "Fine. So I have to remember things about whatever it is that I want to transform into? Then if I remember a shuriken is sharp, why can't I transform into one?"
Kakashi sighed and closed the book, looking Naruto in the eye. "You told me that you had tried to transform into a Demon Wind Shuriken. It's interesting in concept, but have you studied one? Analyzed it from every angle and in every lighting? Touched it's cool metal and committed the feel to memory? Have you felt what it's like to be cut by it's sharpness?" Kakashi questioned. "Knowing what one looks like and does isn't enough. You have to memorize the qualities that you wish to incorporate. For example, if you get the metal part down but haven't memorized how sharp it feels, you won't be able to cut even a sheet of paper."
He paused and took a breath before continuing.
"You transformed into Sakura, but I doubt it was a perfect transformation. You got her looks, voice, smell, and chakra signature down well enough, but who knows what error you made? I probably would have saw through the transformation had I been paying more attention," he explained. "To transform into something perfectly, you have to become it. For example, to transform fully into an inanimate object, you'd have to learn how to cease all thought and just become it. Otherwise, enemies might be able to feel something amiss. That's part of what makes this technique so difficult to learn."
Naruto looked intrigued. "Wow... as annoying as this ability sounds, it's really cool isn't it?"
Kakashi nodded. "It's a forbidden jutsu, just like the shadow clones. It's bound to be impressive."
"Say, sensei, do you know how to use it?"
Kakashi shook his head. "It's rare that someone is able to use that jutsu, Naruto. It usually takes a lot of chakra, control, repetitive training, mental commitment and control of the mind just to transform once. The only reason you were able to transform into Sakura is because of the time you probably spent studying her."
Naruto brushed off his embarrassment with a curt nod.
"Naruto, promise me something," Kakashi said, causing Naruto to look at him curiously. "You should do a lot of studying, chakra control exercises, mental training, and visualization practice, but promise me you won't actually attempt to perfectly transform into an inanimate object yet. At least not while you're alone."
He noticed that Kakashi was looking at him very intently. He had a feeling there was more to the jutsu that the man wasn't telling him, but he shrugged it off. He would ask for more help with it later anyway.
"Yeah. I promise."
"He basically said I have no talent at all and just need to work my ass off."
Sakura huffed, no longer interested. "Well I could've told you that."
"Hey!"
Sakura chuckled. "I'm just joking."
She felt a presence behind her and turned to look. It was Sasuke. "Woah, guess I'm getting better at this chakra sensing thing."
Sasuke walked onto the bridge with his hands in his pockets and his usual expressionless face, but his body language wasn't as closed off as usual.
To their surprise, instead of stopping a few feet away from them and ignoring their existence, he walked right up to them.
"Good morning, Sasuke." Sakura greeted, watching him confusedly.
Naruto said nothing, but he too was interested.
After a moment, Sasuke nodded at them and turned to lean over the railing. "Yo."
Both Sakura and Naruto's eyes widened and they turned to each other.
"Did he just... greet us?" Naruto whispered in shock.
"Casually?" Sakura quietly asked back.
Sasuke scoffed. "You know I can still hear you idiots right?"
They both jumped and turned to face him.
"Sorry, Sasuke, we're just kidding!" Sakura laughed nervously.
"I wasn't," Naruto muttered.
Before Sasuke could reply, Kakashi appeared in a plume of smoke.
"Kaka-sensei!" Naruto jumped up with a smile, running up to the man.
"You're late," Sakura noted. "Again."
Kakashi eye-smiled and patted Naruto on the head before he made eye contact with Sakura. "True, but didn't I tell you three to run laps while I'm not here? That I would punish you if you didn't?"
While Naruto cringed and Sasuke scoffed, Sakura turned to the man in defiance. "You also said yesterday that we should refrain from doing that on days we know we have missions because we'll tire ourselves out before the day even begins. On top of that, Sasuke just arrived. Wouldn't starting without him go against the qualities of teamwork you've tried to instill in us?"
Naruto and Sasuke looked at her in surprise, but she kept her gaze locked to Kakashi's. She wasn't in the mood for this right now.
Kakashi said nothing for a while, meeting her eyes intently, before eye-smiling and chuckling a bit. "Smart girl. From now on, I know I can count on you to remember things Sakura."
Sakura relaxed a bit at that. So it had just been a test.
"Anyways, we've got a simple D-rank mission today. Hope you're skilled with paint brushes!"
It took a few moments for his words to sink in.
"Sensei...?"
"Don't tell me..."
"Tsk."
Kakashi beamed at them and held up the mission scroll for them to see. "Yup! Time to paint, my cute little genin!"
The three groaned in unison.
"Come on boys! Hustle!"
Gon and Killua groaned. Only Bisky would have them doing training while on a D-rank mission.
They were currently moving supply boxes from one shop to another while wearing weights that Guy had given to Kite for them to wear. There was a weight for each arm and leg, and each of them weighed 3 tons, equaling 12 tons in total plus the extra weight from the boxes. Since neither of them were allowed to use Nen, the training was many times more difficult, mainly for Gon.
"Don't they say carrying too much weight like this stunts your growth?" Killua asked, mildly sweating as he held a large box against his chest.
Gon, who was sweating profusely and panting, shrugged and lifted his box a little higher above his head.
Bisky was in the background clapping, doing absolutely no work, despite being genin like they were.
Kite was in the background just watching them.
Killua sighed. "I guess this team has two senseis and two genin."
Gon let out a shaky laugh and nodded, pushing forward with more vigor.
"Hey, Killua, let's finish this mission quick so we can go see what Naruto and Sakura are up to. I think they have a mission today too."
Killua nodded. "Alright." He pushed forward to catch up to Gon. "Let's make this quick then."
"Less talking! More moving!" Bisky commanded.
The two boys groaned once again, but pushed on.
"This... is the worst."
Sasuke had to agree with Naruto, though he didn't feel like saying it.
The two were on the left side of an old beige house, painting the chipped wall while Sakura painted the front and Kakashi watched her. The team had spent the last two hours painting the other two sides of the house, so these two sides were all that was left.
"I'm surprised you're even doing this, pretty boy. Not scared to get paint in your hair?"
Sasuke scoffed as he moved his brush in long vertical strokes along the wall. "If I were you, I'd worry about the paint that's all over that horrid jumpsuit."
A tick mark appeared on Naruto's head as he looked down at his jumpsuit and back at Sasuke. "Horrid?"
Sasuke sighed as he dipped his brush back into the bucket of beige paint. "Just shut up and get back to work loser. The faster we do this, the faster I can go train. Something you should do more often."
"I've been training hard to get this special jutsu down. Just wait, I'll blow your ass out of the water!"
"Hn." Sasuke chose not to speak more on the matter, leaving the boys to work in silence.
He had decided to at least try to interact with his teammates more. Kakashi's words had gotten to him somewhat after all.
What could the harm be? He'd still be getting training either way, and it's less likely for them to hold him back if they can all work as a team. It's not like he has to marry them or something.
But still, this much forced conversation with Naruto was tiring. He just wanted some quiet.
Unfortunately for him, Naruto soon spoke again, but only because the boy accidentally touched the wet paint on the wall.
"Damn it, stupid paint..." Naruto sighed, wiping the paint on his orange pants. The boy's whole outfit was already riddled with beige paint, making him look beyond messy.
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. "Don't you have any sense...?"
Naruto huffed and went back to painting.
No response? That was a first.
That's when Sasuke heard it.
"Look at him... He's messing up the new paint job for that house!"
"I still don't know why the Hokage even let him become a ninja."
"Honestly! That boy will purposely ruin anything he gets his hands on!"
"I'm tired of seeing that wicked child in this village..."
Sasuke didn't turn to face them, but it was clear the villagers were muttering about Naruto. Naruto's tense body language and him hiding his face from Sasuke's view also confirmed this.
Now, why the villagers were talking like that about Naruto and why they were talking so loudly? He didn't know.
But it was annoyingly distracting, so he turned and directed a fierce glare at them.
They all flinched a bit and moved along, not giving a second glance.
Now that, Sasuke was used to. Either people put him on a pedestal, or they feared him. It was usually students and teachers in the academy that worshipped him, but many other villagers gave him wary looks and stayed far away. As if he would snap at any moment. As if he would go do the path that man did...
So he understood why he got that reaction. It was normal.
But as he turned back to Naruto, he couldn't fathom why they were talking about him like that. The boy doesn't exude any type of harmful or malicious intent. Even when he showed another side to himself yesterday and berated Sasuke, he hadn't seemed bad. Just more intelligent than he normally lets on.
So why had one of the villagers called him a 'wicked child?' That seemed like a bit much for just a couple pranks.
He decided to get to the bottom of it. "That doesn't annoy you?" When Naruto realized Sasuke was talking to him, he turned to him with a confused expression. "I know you heard those villagers talking. Why didn't you just yell at them to get lost?" That seemed like it would be typical behavior for Naruto anyway.
Naruto just gave a forced smile and shrugged, turning back to painting. "That'll just make them think worse of me. Give them more to talk about." He sighed and dipped his brush into the bucket. "Besides, you get used to it after a while."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. So this was a common occurrence? Why? As far as Sasuke knew, Naruto wasn't tied to anything bad like how Sasuke was tied to Itachi and the massacre. It didn't make sense.
"They're talking about something specific? Or are they just being fools like usual?" He asked dryly, moving his brush on autopilot.
Naruto tensed a bit and averted his gaze. "Pranks, I guess. They've been doing that for as long as I can remember though."
Sasuke thinks he may have found one thing he can relate to Naruto on, besides them both being orphans. He understood probably more than anyone else in their age group what the boy was going through. Maybe even more than anyone in the village.
Not like he'd say that out loud though.
"Hn." He turned back to painting. "Don't listen to them. Like I said, they're fools."
He saw Naruto smile slightly from the corner of his eyes and had to question why he had let himself get so nice. He would have to throw in a few more cold glares throughout the day to even it out.
Over on Sakura's end, she was progressing much more quickly than the boys due to her lack of distraction. She had already painted the bottom half, and was now on top of a scaffolding to paint the higher parts of the house. The house was only 2-stories, so it wasn't really dangerous.
She could feel Kakashi's gaze on her. Turning around to meet his eye, she saw that he was still laying leisurely on a nearby bench and reading his book contently.
Her eye twitched. This guy just screamed lazy sensei. And wasn't that a damn porn book...?
Kakashi looked up at her innocently. "Something wrong, Sakura?"
Sakura put on her brightest fake smile and shook her head. "Oh nothing sensei!" she said sarcastically.
His mocking eye-crinkle irritated her. "Good! Because you're close to being done. It wouldn't do to get distracted now."
"I would already be done if you helped..." Not bothering to say that out loud, she huffed and turned back to the wall.
"Speak on it! What's the worst he could do?" Inner Sakura jumped in.
Sakura sighed. "I don't know, punish me and the other two for talking out of turn? Kick me off his team? Maybe tell my mother who will then nag me to death?"
"He won't do that over a simple remark! Grow some balls!"
"Why are you even talking? Go away."
Sakura has been dealing her 'imaginary self' for so long that it had become a habit to just repress her. Inner Sakura had been a version of her that could remain strong while others bullied her as a child. Her mother had said it was a childish phase and it's one of the only things Sakura can agree with her on. She should have long since outgrown this, and she's been trying to leave it behind for a long time.
But lately, in the past couple of weeks, Inner Sakura's been making herself known more often. Even when Sakura tried to push her into the back of her mind, she would come back at some point. Sometimes she would even push back against the repression, as if she were a real spirit with real power over Sakura's mind. It was distracting and kind of unsettling.
"Whatever! Your stupid sensei is calling you anyway!"
"Technically he's your stupid sensei too but..." Sakura turned to Kakashi. "You say something?"
"Ignoring people is rude Sakura. Especially if it's your sensei," he commented, not seeming to care much.
Sakura shrugged. "Sorry. I was lost in thought. What did you want though?"
Kakashi pointed at the scaffolding. "If you're interested, there might be another way for you to paint without having to rely on that. It could help with your overall ninja career too."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. Now he chose to be helpful? "And what's that?"
He sighed and got up, moving through the crowds of villagers that walked by to stop next to a tree across the street. "I didn't bother teaching you kids this yet, but I figured I might as well show you. From what I've read, you have excellent chakra control." He then proceeded to walk up a tree, making Sakura's eyes widen slightly and all the people around gasp in amazement. "This is a technique done by focusing chakra to the soles of your feet and pushing it past your sandals to connect it to whatever surface you're trying to walk on," he said, raising his voice so she could hear him over the chatter of the villagers.
Sakura hummed in interest. "And the hard part is probably determining how much chakra to use and keeping the flow consistent?"
Kakashi nodded. "Good question. Using too little will make you slip off the surface. Using too much will blow you off." He walked down from the tree and eye-smiled at the villagers, greeting them politely as he pushed through the crowd. He stopped in front of the scaffolding Sakura was on before speaking again. "You don't seem that surprised by this technique like a genin fresh out of the academy should be."
Sakura shrugged and looked away. "I've seen impressive things before..." Her mind drifted to the time she saw Gon's Nen Aura and when she found out that Bisky's youthful appearance was a cover up for her real age. She turned her eyes back to Kakashi. "Besides, in a world where people can spit fire and duplicate themselves, is walking up a tree really so crazy?"
Kakashi chuckled. "Fair point. Care to give it a try?"
Sakura nodded and jumped down from the scaffolding before walking with Kakashi back over to the tree. It was still early in the morning, so it was only natural that civilians would be watching them curiously. She mentally noted that her parents would find out about this by the end of the day. Her mother had always told her not to draw attention to herself in the village, especially with anything ninja related, but she didn't find herself caring too much.
"Don't be hard on yourself if you fail. This is a pretty advanced chakra control technique after all. You'd have to be really talented to get this on your first try." Kakashi told her lazily, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm just curious to see exactly where you stand in terms of chakra control."
Sakura nodded easily, but she still fully intended to get this down first try.
She made a hand seal and closed her eyes. Focusing her senses inward, she felt around her navel for the pool of chakra and visualized it as the blue energy she had seen in textbooks. Slowly guiding the blue energy to her feet, she envisioned it going through her sandals to gather beneath them with a controlled current.
She opened her eyes and looked at Kakashi. "Ok. I'm ready."
Kakashi nodded, watching her with mild interest in his eye.
She placed one foot on the tree and focused. Her chakra seemed to be in tune with the tree, and she could feel it's faint life force from where her foot touched.
Carefully, balancing all her weight on her extended foot, she placed the other one on the tree and braced herself for a fall. It never came. She heard the gasps and awes from the villagers and knew this was definitely making it to her parents by tonight.
She turned to look at Kakashi, who's eye was incredibly wide. "Well sensei, looks like I'm really talented!" She took a few more steps and stumbled a bit before running up the rest of the way, stopping to sit on the highest branch.
She turned to look down at all the awed villagers and her even more shocked sensei. Putting up the piece sign, she said, "This wasn't as hard as I thought!"
She looked around a bit and saw Naruto on the side of the house gaping at her along with a shocked looking Sasuke. She waved at them and started laughing. "You two need to catch up!"
Sasuke huffed and turned, going back to painting while Naruto ran over to the tree excitedly.
"That was amazing Sakura! Did Kaka-sensei teach you that?"
The villagers began clearing out at his arrival and gave him dirty looks as they left.
Sakura hopped down in front of him and nodded. "Yeah. It's a chakra control technique. You basically just focus it to your feet." She looked around at the quickly leaving villagers and wondered what the hell their problem was. But she was pretty sure that her parents would know about her talking to Naruto by tonight too.
Naruto grinned and turned to Kakashi. "Why's Sakura getting all the special treatment? I wanna learn that too!"
Kakashi eye-smiled at the excited boy. "In due time, Naruto. No offense, but you'd have to do regular chakra control exercises before even attempting that. Yours doesn't hold a candle to Sakura's as you are right now. Neither does Sasuke's. I doubt any of the rookie genin are on her level in that regard."
Sakura blushed at the praise while Naruto pouted but went back to gushing over how good she was.
Kakashi, meanwhile, was mentally appraising Sakura's unexpected talent.
"I've never heard of anybody being able to do the tree-walking exercise on the first try. It took me about five tries to get it down when I was younger... I think it even took the Legendary Tsunade two tries..." he narrowed his eye at Sakura in interest. "After reading her academy reports, I had a hunch that she would be the most skilled with chakra on the team but... the chakra control exercises in the academy are all basic. Scoring perfectly on them is no doubt impressive, but this? This is next level... Not to mention she was at the top of her class when it came to written tests, proving she's very intelligent..."
He had to wonder where all these children full of potential were popping out from. Naruto and Sasuke were obvious due to their bloodlines, but Sakura is from a civilian family and Gon and Killua were foreigners that literally seemed to come out of nowhere. Just like their mentor Kite did a few years ago.
Regardless of the details, this generation of shinobi could be the most talented one yet.
"Sakura! Naruto!" A voice yelled from down the street. Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto turned to see an excited Gon running towards them with a smiling Killua right behind him. Walking calmly behind the two was Bisky, who Kakashi and Naruto were seeing for the first time, and Kite.
Sakura beamed and ran towards them with Naruto hot on her trail. "You idiots!" She yelled with a laugh, tackling them to the ground in a hug. She felt like she hadn't seen them in a long time, even though it had only been two days. Gon was on the ground laughing and Killua followed suit. After a moment, she too joined in on the mirth.
Before they could even get up, Naruto tripped and fell on them, making it four kids on the ground laughing in joy. Kakashi, Bisky, and Kite took in the scene with mild amusement. Sasuke peeked out from beside the house and watched without a word.
Sakura sat up. "Don't you guys have a mission?" Naruto looked curious too.
Gon and Killua sat up, both of them nodding. "Yeah, we already finished," Killua said.
Upon further inspection, Sakura noticed that they were sweaty. She jumped up. "You mean to tell me I hugged you guys when you're sweating that much?" She made a disgusted face and started checking her red dress for sweat stains.
The three boys laughed at her before she huffed, looking away. She noticed Bisky for the first time and a happy smile broke out on her face. "Bisky!" She ran past the boys to envelope the woman, who was smiling and waiting with opened arms, in a hug.
Naruto looked at the two females before squinting and turning back to Gon and Killua. "Who's that?" He whispered.
"Our me—"
"Our teammate," Killua cut in, nudging Gon harshly. The boy, now sheepishly agreeing, had been about to slip up and say 'mentor'.
Naruto nodded and turned back to look at Bisky curiously before shifting his gaze to Kite. He acknowledged that the man looked very cool, and he briefly wondered how long it had taken to grow his hair to that length.
"Naruto," Gon started, causing the blonde to turn back to him. "Are you done with your mission? Me and Killua wanted to know if you guys wanted to hang out today."
Naruto eye's widened. "Really?" Gon nodded. Naruto shot up with an excited grin. "Yeah! Let's do it! I haven't really gotten to spend much time with you guys yet except... well..."
"When you beat the hell out of Mizuki?" Killua supplied. Naruto laughed but nodded. "That's why we wanna hang out. We got off early today, so we wanted to take advantage of our free time. You done with your mission?"
Naruto flinched. "Oh yeah, I forgot! I left the bastard doing all the work!"
"You're damn right loser. And you'd better get back over here." Sasuke stood at the corner of the house with his arms crossed, glaring at the blonde. It seemed his patience was wearing thin.
Naruto smirked condescendingly. "Aww, you miss me princess? Don't you worry, I'll be there in a second!"
Sasuke glared harder and scoffed before walking out of their view, presumably going back to painting.
Gon and Killua chuckled. "You guys seem to be getting along," Killua remarked.
Naruto huffed. "If you can even call it that." He turned and started walking over to Sasuke. "Anyways, wait for us. We'll be done soon."
Sakura, meanwhile, had sat down with Bisky while Kite went to stand near Kakashi, them greeting each other with head nods.
"So, how's everything going Sakura? It's been a while since you came over for dinner," Bisky said.
Sakura shrugged. "Things have been moving fast these past few days, but I think I can adjust to this life." She turned to Bisky. "What about you guys?"
Bisky smirked evilly. "Well, I don't know about the boys, but not much has changed for me."
Sakura squinted at her. "You don't even plan on participating in the missions do you?"
Bisky cackled loudly and Sakura just shook her head with an amused smile.
She really liked Bisky. She kind of had a crazy but cool mom vibe to her—unlike her actual mother.
"Sakura," Kakashi called. When Sakura turned to face him, he eye-smiled. "Break time's over. You still have painting to do!" He said cheerfully.
Sakura sighed and turned to Bisky. "This job better pay well." Bisky laughed and patted her on the back as she got up to trudge back over to the house.
The laughter halted as Bisky watched Sakura walk up the unpainted corner of the house with only her feet.
She was very intrigued. Making eye-contact with Kite, she asked, "The fact that she can do that means that she already has incredible chakra control right?" She had read about this technique while she was studying chakra.
Kite nodded, also looking impressed. "So I've heard."
Bisky went over to talk to Sakura while Kite turned to Kakashi. "That's quite the student you have there."
Kakashi looked up from his book with an eye-smile. "Thanks, but don't be so modest. I've heard impressive things about your students too."
Kite hummed. "From Guy, I assume?"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Those kids know Guy? "No, from the Hokage."
"Ah, he told you about their test," Kite concluded.
Kakashi nodded, meeting Kite's gaze. "He mentioned something about one of your students using an at least A-class jutsu. Gon, was it?" He narrowed his eye slightly. "That sounds pretty impressive to me, considering his age."
Kite could sense that the man was indirectly asking a question, so he just gave a small smirk. "Indeed it is. But while Gon is a skilled boy, he's not the most impressive on our team." At that, he turned away to watch Gon and Killua converse with Sakura and Bisky across the road.
Kakashi raised a brow. "Oh? I know about Killua's assassin background and his skills too. I'd say they both are tied when it comes to being impressive." Gon being able to use a technique more powerful than a rasengan was no joke after all.
Kite let out a chuckle at that and closed his eyes. "I agree Kakashi, but you seem to be confused." Kakashi raised an eyebrow and Kite met his gaze. "I never said anything about Killua."
At that, Kakashi's eyes widened in disbelief and he looked towards Bisky, who for all intents and purposes, looked like a little girl dressed up as a princess. He shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but it was hard not to. Was Kite pulling his leg?
He didn't get a chance to ask because Kite had already walked over to his team, telling them he's leaving and then waved at Kakashi before jumping away. Gon and Killua, too, began walking away along with Bisky.
"Sakura, me and Killua are going home to shower! You and Naruto come to our building when you're ready to go out!" Gon called out from down the road. Killua stood behind him with his hands in his pockets arguing with Bisky about something.
Sakura nodded with a smile and went back to painting, wanting to finish quickly so she could go home and shower herself. "Got it!" She responded.
Naruto, who had heard, ran out from beside the house. "Wait! I don't know where you guys live!"
Killua, who had turned from Bisky with a huff, looked at Naruto. "Ask Sakura where it is. Or just meet up with her and have her bring you." Naruto nodded and he and Sakura waved at the two departing boys along with Bisky.
Naruto walked back over to Sasuke and looked at the boy curiously. "You sure you don't want to come bastard? I don't think they would mind, as long as you play nice."
Sasuke scoffed but didn't reply.
Naruto turned his head away in annoyance. "Hmph!" He got back to work so he could finish up quick.
A few hours later, a bit into the afternoon, Gon, Killua, Naruto, and Sakura were walking down the street together. Naruto had decided they should all go to Ichiraku since they were hungry from their missions earlier.
Sakura yawned. "Typical that you would choose to eat here Naruto." They were close enough to see Ichiraku coming into view.
"Why wouldn't I? Ichiraku is the best place to eat in the whole village!" Naruto declared.
"...Debatable."
Gon nodded in agreement with Killua. "Yeah, the food at BBQs was really good. And we went to this other restaurant that sells amazing fish!"
Killua smirked. "Of course you would like the restaurant with fish." Gon stuck his tongue out at him.
"Why do you say that?" Naruto asked, wanting to get to know his friends more. Sakura looked curious too.
Killua looked unsure, but Gon had no problems telling them. "I'm from a fishing island. I grew up in a house near the forest, so I was always going out and being around nature and animals. I fished a lot too."
Naruto tilted his head. "So you grew up as a... fisher boy?"
Gon hummed in thought. "Kinda, I guess."
Sakura slightly raised a brow. "You never told me that. I thought you guys were both ninjas-in-training from one of the smaller shinobi villages but just had ties to the leaf."
Gon and Killua made brief eye contact. "You're kinda right," Gon said, turning back to her. "He wasn't from a shinobi village, but Killua was kind of a ninja-in-training, remember?"
She remembered Killua being from an assassin family, but that still made her think they were both from a small shinobi village. She never asked for more background on them because she was afraid they would think she was suspicious. Besides, she hadn't needed to. She trusted them, they're her friends.
"Hey, hey, I'm out of the loop," Naruto cut in. "So Killua grew up trained as a ninja, but you were just a fisher?"
"Assassin," Killua said. All eyes turned to him. "I grew up trained as an assassin."
"Isn't that the same thing?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Kind of but not really," Killua said quietly, speaking lowly enough so the people walking around them couldn't hear. "Assassins do the work of high-level ninja like ANBU. They take assassination jobs ranging from just somebody they're being paid to kill, to big political figures like the Hokage. Assassins don't do any of these other non-serious missions like painting a house to support the village. They're all about killing. And I was born into a family of them, trained from young to become the next heir."
Naruto looked amazed, while Sakura looked unsure.
"Shouldn't you be trying to keep all that a secret, Killua?" Sakura inquired, glancing cautiously at Naruto. Naruto was a cool guy, but who knows if he could keep a secret or not?
Killua shrugged. "Probably. If word gets out about this, I could be targeted both by ninja in this village and from other villages. But you already knew pinky, so I figured he should know too. You're both my friends. I don't see the harm if it's just you two." Naruto looked happy at that, feeling trusted with something for the first time. "Besides, it's not like I'm still an assassin. That's one of the reasons I'm here right now, I ran away with Gon."
What Killua didn't say is that Gon had changed him a lot and continued to have an influence on him to this day. Gon trusted Sakura and Naruto as good friends, so Killua was inclined to as well. Not to mention he had spent a lot of time with Sakura and he knew Naruto's secret, so he felt like they deserved to know.
Sakura just nodded at his explanation. As long as he was sure.
Finally, they reached Ichiraku and sat down. The seating order from left to right was Killua, Gon, Naruto, then Sakura.
"Hmm, I haven't had ramen in a long time. Have you ever had ramen before Killua?" Gon asked.
Killua shook his head. "Nah." He looked at the menu wondering what to order.
Naruto turned to look at him incredulously. "What? Get the Miso ramen. Right. Now!"
Sakura laughed at Naruto's enthusiasm, but planned to order the same. "You should you guys. It's really good."
Gon and Killua looked at each other and smiled, nodding. They would trust their friends.
They all ordered Miso Ramen and were continuing their conversation while they waited.
"So we got Killua's whole assassin backstory, what about you Gon? There's more to it right?" Naruto asked with interest.
Gon shrugged. "I told you most of it already. I grew up on a fishing island but then..." Killua nudged him, wordlessly telling him to try to leave out details. "One day, when I was younger, I had almost been killed by an animal who's territory I had just trespassed onto. But a man saved my life." He turned to look at Naruto and Sakura. "It was Kite."
Sakura blinked. "I heard you mention that name before. That's your sensei, right?"
"The cool-looking guy from earlier with the long flowing hair?" Naruto asked.
Gon nodded. "Yeah. He's the reason we have ties to this village. But anyway..." he went back to reminiscing. "He's the one that told me... that my father had become... a hunter." He had considered switching out the word 'hunter' with 'ninja', but Gon didn't want to lie to his friends.
Killua facepalmed while Naruto and Sakura were confused. "So he hunts animals?" Naruto wondered.
Killua sighed and gave Gon a dirty look. "You should've just skipped over that part idiot, it's too much to explain," he whispered.
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "What aren't you two telling us?"
Gon looked from Killua to them and back to Killua. "We might as well tell them Killua. It's okay, they'll get it."
Killua swallowed down his explanation about how the knowledge of them being from a different world/dimension/whatever might push the other two away, or might even make them seem crazy.
Instead, he came up with his own explanation. "Hunters where we're from means something different. It doesn't just mean animal hunters. It's a title for those who travel the world with a goal that they're striving for, hence why they're called 'hunters'," Killua explained.
Naruto still looked a little confused but nodded while Sakura raised an eyebrow. "But where are you from? You never told me exactly where, and I've never heard of that 'Hunter' term."
Killua quickly thought up what he remembered from this world's geography to give her an acceptable answer. "Gon's from the Land of Waves and I'm from nowhere. I was constantly on the move with my family, we didn't have a single home. After running away, I ended up in the Land of Waves and met Gon who had just set out on his search for his dad. Happy?"
"Land of Waves huh..." Sakura said. "I've heard of that. I should've figured you were talking about there when you said fishing island Gon."
Gon laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. Meanwhile, Killua was patting himself on the back for remembering that the Land of Waves was home to many fishermen.
After Killua finished convincing Sakura, Gon started speaking again.
"I was raised by my aunt, and she had always told me my parents had died. She was afraid that if I found out about my father being alive and a hunter, I would end up like him."
"And to this day, she was right," Killua muttered. They all shared a laugh at that before Gon continued.
"But after Kite told me the truth about my father, I ended up wanting to do what he does. So I set out on a journey to find him. That became my 'hunter' goal. That's how I met Killua, like he said, and we've been together ever since."
Naruto was 'wowing' at the story. "That's really cool... so is that Kite guy the one who inspired you to become a ninja?"
Gon nodded with a smile. "Yeah... Kite's a ninja and a hunter. He's even my father's student."
"Wait. Kite's your jounin sensei..." Sakura started. "If your father is his sensei then..."
"Yup. Gon's dad is no joke." Killua said. "But then again, neither is mine. He can rip a heart out without there being a single drop of blood."
Gon stuck his tongue out. "Show off! Bisky said Ging is one of the best Nen users in the world and he's clearly one of the top hunters too!"
Killua got in his face. "Oh yeah? Well my dad is one of the top assassins in Zoldyck history and he could probably kick your dad's ass!"
They two boys growled in each other's faces while Naruto and Sakura watched them with a mix of shock, confusion, and amusement. Mostly amusement on Sakura's end, as she'd seen them bicker like this before.
"Nen user? Zoldyck?" Naruto had no clue what those words meant but he shrugged it off in favor of the steaming hot bowl of ramen that was placed in front of him. His mouth watered and he wasted no time digging in.
Gon and Killua looked on at his ravenous eating in surprise while Sakura just chuckled. "He ate like this both times I came here with him. He really loves ramen."
Gon, grinning at the challenge, picked up his chopsticks and dug in, trying to out eat Naruto. Naruto finished his first bowl and asked for a second. Gon followed soon after.
Killua and Sakura watched on as the two boys' stacks of bowls got higher and higher, until it was clear that Naruto had outpaced Gon.
Naruto slammed his eleventh bowl on the table. "Ah! Finished!"
The other three just looked at him with wide eyes.
"Did he just..." Sakura started.
"Eat eleven bowls of ramen...?" Gon questioned, staring incredulously at the stack of eleven bowls. He himself had only eaten six.
Naruto just laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I was really hungry. It's okay though, I'll work it off with exercise."
"The real question is..." Killua started, "...who's paying for all that?"
There was silence among the four. Teunchi, the ramen shop owner, turned to them with greedy eyes.
They all turned to each other. "Rock paper scissors?" Gon suggested.
Killua scoffed. Of course he'd suggest that. "The last two standing will have to pay."
A few matches of rock paper scissors later, Killua and Sakura ended up having to pay, with a triumphant Gon and Naruto laughing at them.
Sakura's eye twitched. "How is it that these two dimwits ate most of the food but won't have to pay for it?" Her and Killua's bowls combined didn't even measure up to Gon's bowls, let alone Naruto's.
Killua sighed. "Whatever. The old hag gave me this money anyway." He put some money on the counter. "I paid half the bill. Thanks for the food old man," he said to Teunchi before standing up.
The boys all looked at Sakura expectantly. Sakura growled in annoyance and reached into her wallet. "I better get this back from missions..." They had gotten paid earlier that day, but the pay was crap! Hopefully the money will get better overtime.
Gon put his hand on hers and shook his head. "It's okay, Sakura. I got this half of the bill." He took out some money and put it next to Killua's.
Sakura was shocked. "Huh? But you won the game! You were even the one to propose we play it!"
He shook his head at her. "Yeah, but, I did eat a lot." He turned to Naruto, who looked a bit shameful. "Naruto, I know you don't have a lot of money on you, so it's ok. Don't feel bad." He turned back to Sakura. "And you get your money from your allowance right? You don't have to waste it on this. Me and Killua got it."
Sakura's heart warmed at the boy's kindness and she crushed him in a hug. Gon just laughed joyfully and patted her on the back.
Killua coughed and looked at them pointedly. "Well, if you two are done, we should get going. Didn't Sakura say she wants to go shopping or something?"
Sakura scoffed and let go of Gon. "Someone's jealous. But yeah, let's go!" She skipped passed Killua, who was glaring daggers at her, and started going the direction of the clothing shop she wanted to go to.
The three boys followed behind her, one muttering 'stupid pinky', one laughing mirthfully, and one that was just happy to actually be out with friends.
"Well look who it is."
The group turned around and Gon beamed when he saw who spoke. "Shikamaru! Choji!"
They had all just been about to enter the clothing store when Shikamaru had spoke to them from behind.
"Yo." Shikamaru said, hands lazily resting in his pockets. "I see you're doing better since the last time I saw you," he said to Gon.
Gon nodded cheerfully.
"What're you guys up to though?" Choji asked. "Going group shopping?"
Sakura nodded with a smile. "Yeah, you guys wanna come?"
Shikamaru rubbed his neck. "I mean, I don't think we should... considering we weren't invited to this little get together..."
Killua smirked. "Hurt, Shikamaru?"
"Badly," he sarcastically replied.
"Oh come on Shikamaru! This wasn't really planned!" Naruto said to him. "We just happened to run into each other after our missions and decided it then."
Sakura nodded. "And we didn't know where you guys were. We didn't see you around the village anywhere."
Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah, that's because our mission was in the damn forest and they had us chasing a stupid cat." He showed them the scratch marks on his arms. "Get a good look at why being ninja sucks, kids." Choji laughed at his expense.
The collective thought of the other four was "What type of mission involves chasing a cat through a forest?"
"Anyway," Choji started, "Let's go with them Shikamaru. We don't have anything else to do right now."
"Shogi? Sleep? Cloud-watch? Contemplate on life? Fake our deaths and run away?"
Everyone else deadpanned at him.
"What...?" He asked. "Do those not count?"
Sakura walked up to him and grabbed his ear. "You're coming." She pulled the complaining Shikamaru inside the shop while the others just stood and watched.
"Well that happened."
Killua nonchalantly walked in after them, hands in his pockets and amused smirk on his face. Gon was right behind him with a curious look around the inside of the shop. Naruto and Choji looked at each other and shrugged before entering too.
The store had a brown interior with large scrolls attached to the walls and white paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. It wasn't as big as it looked from the outside, but there were many clothing racks around the store with clothes suitable for both shinobi and civilians. The store owner asked if he could help them with anything, but they all replied no. Sakura finally released Shikamaru and started looking around.
As he rubbed his ear, he gave Sakura a dirty look. "Was that really necessary?" Sakura just smirked in return. "What the hell do you want in here anyway?"
Sakura perked up. "Oh yeah!" She turned to Gon. "Gon, let me buy you some clothes!"
"Huh? Why Sakura?"
Killua and Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her.
She put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, I kind of did lose the rock paper scissors match, but you covered the ramen for me. I feel like I should repay you for that." Before Gon could even tell her she didn't have to, she cut him off. "Besides, you're one of the main reasons I wanted to go shopping anyway. You could use some new clothes." Gon nodded, smiling carefreely. "You too, Naruto." She said, turning to the blonde boy.
"Right..." Naruto said, seeming uncomfortable.
Shrugging her shoulders, Sakura grabbed Gon by the arm. "Ok guys, we'll be going over there. Go get some clothes for yourselves." She glanced at Killua. "And since you seem to think you're a fashion icon, you can go help Naruto find some clothes." She laughed at Killua's twitching eyebrow and dragged Gon away to the other side of the store.
"Troublesome woman stole my joke... what a drag," Shikamaru muttered. Choji scoffed.
Killua, who had taken a look behind him, noticed that Naruto still seemed uneasy and his eyes were pointedly staring at the floor. He took a look around, wondering what his problem was, when he saw the shop owner giving Naruto a fierce glare.
"Hey brat, you know better than to be in my damn shop... Get the hell out!" The man hissed. Naruto flinched, but Shikamaru and Choji stood in front of him protectively.
Sakura had taken Gon to the far end of the store, so neither of them had heard what the man said.
Killua hadn't forgotten about how the villagers treated Naruto. Many of them had been giving Naruto dirty looks on their way here. But he didn't know even the shop owners hated the boy so much that they were willing to lose money just to get rid of him. It pissed him off.
"This place doesn't look like business has been booming lately. Is it smart to kick out potential customers?" Shikamaru remarked.
"I don't want that damn thing as a customer! He's nothing but trouble! If you're his friends you can leave too!" Naruto flinched once again at the man's words and started stepping back slowly, clenching his fists.
"Naruto hasn't done a thing to you! We're just here to buy clothes!" Choji chimed in, his brows furrowing at the unfairness.
"I don't give a damn!" The man said frantically, starting to look fearful. He picked up some type of religious statue and held it out in front of him. "Get out! You kids and that demon all need to leave!"
"Demon...?" Choji repeated in confusion while Shikamaru narrowed his eyes in thought. He had seen kids in the academy and their parents steer clear of Naruto, but he always attributed it to the boy's troublemaking and loud nature.
But to call him a demon? And for the man to look that fearful, with a religious figure in hand?
Something wasn't adding up. Shikamaru just didn't know what.
Naruto, not wanting to cause anymore trouble, had his head bowed and turned to leave. "It's ok guys. I'll just go," he gritted out, trembling in barely contained frustration. It never ends, does it?
Before he could walk out, he was stopped by a hand that gripped his wrist firmly. Killua's white hair shadowed his bangs, but Naruto still could sense the emotion running through the boy.
Anger.
Cold anger.
The whole atmosphere changed, and everyone in the vicinity felt the full brunt of Killua's negative intent when he raised his head to reveal cold blue eyes.
"Old man... we're staying. Understand?"
The man, deeply shaken by the boy's merciless gaze, nodded slowly. He didn't have the willpower to stand against that.
Killua smirked and his eyes regained their light. "Good." He turned to the uneasy Choji and wary Shikamaru. "Ok, let's go look for clothes for Naruto like pinky said."
"R-right..." Choji stuttered, holding his chest and breathing much faster than he should be. Shikamaru just sighed and nodded.
Killua turned to Naruto. "You ok?"
"Yeah..." Naruto replied quietly, having calmed down. He looked at Killua not with shock or fear, but with wonder. "You didn't have to do that you know."
"Of course I did. That's what friends are for."
He walked off in a random direction and knew the three others were right behind him.
Killua could feel the tension coming off Shikamaru and Choji, mainly Choji. He knew he screwed up, he shouldn't have done that. Now there's a chance he ruined his friendship with them by making them afraid of him. That was a really stupid move.
"Killua," Shikamaru called out quietly.
Killua stopped walking and turned to face them, already knowing what was coming.
"What... was that just now?" Shikamaru asked. He was clearly cautious, but he wasn't as nervous as Choji clearly was. Did Killua really shake him up that much?
Killua sighed. "I'm... sorry. I shouldn't have done that around you guys." He turned his back to them.
Naruto clapped Shikamaru and Choji on the shoulders. "Come on guys! What're you acting so scared for? Killua's our friend. He just needed to shake the bastard up a bit."
"It's not about why he did it..." Shikamaru started.
"It's about what he did..." Choji finished quietly. He looked at Killua's back. "Killua... are you the demon he was talking about?"
Killua whipped around incredulously. The statement was almost funny enough to laugh. "Come on Choji. It wasn't that serious."
"The best way for me to describe what happened..." Choji started, "...is that you got upset, your eyes... I've never seen eyes so cold. But it wasn't just that. Killua, you..." He took a step back. "You made shivers go through me. I almost had an anxiety attack, I... What was that?"
"Yeah, that wasn't normal. Was that some type of jutsu? Genjutsu, maybe?" Shikamaru questioned, trying to gain understanding.
Killua sighed and looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of a way to explain it. "It's... kind of a jutsu... It involves me using chakra to strike fear into those around me. I can only do that when I'm really upset though, and I tend to do it without thinking." He looked back at Choji. "Sorry for scaring you Choji. I didn't know you had anxiety. But I promise, I'm not a demon or anything like that... So... can we still be friends?"
He braced himself for some type of rejection. He tried his best, but he knew it was coming.
A few moments passed of Shikamaru and Choji just staring at him. No expression on their faces.
After a while, they looked at each other and busted out laughing. Hard.
Killua and Naruto were confused. "What the hell is so funny?!" Naruto demanded with a raised eyebrow.
"You... you should've seen... the look on your face Kil," Choji wheezed, standing against the wall for balance. Shikamaru had to cover his mouth to hide his grin.
"Wait a damn minute. You two were just acting?!" Killua felt a tick mark forming on his head.
"Well no, not at first. I really do have anxiety and you really were scary but..." Choji trailed off, sobering up a bit. "It wasn't to the point that I thought you would be a danger to us. I mean come on! All the time we spent with you and Gon these last few weeks, we like to think we know you a bit. Scaring people into doing what you want is right up your alley. Especially if they made you mad."
Why did they have to make Killua sound like such an ass? Regardless, he couldn't help the laugh of relief he let out. After a moment, the others all joined in too.
Meanwhile, over with Gon and Sakura, Sakura was placing clothes against the boy's body to see what looks good on him. So far, everything has.
"What are those idiots over there laughing about?" Sakura wondered out loud. She was holding a navy blue T-shirt against Gon's body and acknowledged that it fit him really well.
Gon shrugged at her question. He had felt Killua's bloodlust spike a few moments ago but it immediately calmed after. He knew his best friend had the situation under control, whatever it may be, so he didn't worry about it. He found himself actually invested in finding new clothes for himself, even though he would mostly be wearing his regular clothes.
Sakura really liked the way the navy blue T-shirt looked against Gon. "Hey, Gon, try this shirt on. It would look good on you." It was a simple shirt with nothing on it, which was pretty much Gon's style. "Go in the changing room over there."
Gon just looked to the changing rooms and back before grinning. He turned his back to her and took off his white tank top, exposing his bare back.
"What the hell? Didn't I tell you to go..." Sakura stopped when she saw a strange design on the back of Gon's neck.
The boy turned and took the shirt from her when he noticed how curious she looked. "What is it, Sakura?"
She ignored how toned Gon's body was in favor of walking behind him to touch the mark on his neck. "Gon… what's this strange mark?"
"Oh that? Kite put that there yesterday," He replied. "It's a seal that uses both chakra and nen. He came up with it himself and created it by working with ninja good at fuinjutsu and genjutsu. Whenever any of us use Nen, it activates a genjutsu that makes it look and feel more like chakra." He demonstrated by releasing a little bit of aura. "It's working, right?"
Sakura was amazed. The boy was shrouded in a dense blue glow of chakra, something she had never seen before. She had only saw images of chakra in textbooks and in her imagination. In the academy, she had been told that it was invisible for the most part. Is this really how it looks, or is it just what the genjutsu created?
"Gon… this is amazing." Her hand felt the tingle from his energy as she touched the aura. "It even feels like chakra. Kind of different though. You could write that off as you having a special kind of chakra maybe."
He nodded and deactivated his nen, turning around to face her. "Me and Killua met a jounin in the forest two days ago the first time we used it. Even he was fooled into thinking we were using chakra." Pulling the navy blue T-shirt over his head, he continued. "He thought we were using something called a chakra aura."
Huh?
"Chakra aura?" Sakura questioned. It sounded self-explanatory but still...
Gon nodded as he patted down the shirt against his waist. "Yeah. He said it's a technique they don't even teach genin because it's pretty hard to do." He looked up at her and held his hands out with a smile. "How do I look?"
While the green shorts and boots did look a bit weird with the T-shirt, Gon is able to somehow pull off the look. She would still need to get him some more suitable pants and footwear though.
"You look great Gon. We should get you a few different colored t-shirts and tank tops. And some new pants too." He nodded and took off the shirt, putting back on his white tank-top. When she saw some blue ninja sandals in Gon's size, she picked them up and put them in the shopping bag. Good thing they came here while the sandals were on sale.
"Do you remember the man saying anything else about this chakra aura?" She asked after a while.
Gon hummed with a finger on his chin. "I think he said something about releasing chakra from all the chakra points. It sounds like what we do with Nen, so that's why I remembered it." He looked back at her. "Why, you want to learn how to do it Sakura?"
Sakura nodded. She knew she had a knack for chakra usage ever since the academy. After her tree-climbing feat earlier, she realized that it was time she started focusing her efforts in that area. "I'll have to look into it. Thanks for the info Gon. I guess I owe you one again."
The boy chuckled. "It's ok Sakura. Just promise to tell me whenever you learn it. I wanna see."
Sakura looked away in thought before meeting his eye. "Pinky promise?"
Gon held out his pinky with a smile. "I'll teach you how we do it where I'm from." They linked pinkies and he started chanting something Sakura had never heard. Why would he swallow a thousand needles over a broken promise?
"Now for the final part..." He pressed their thumbs together. "Sealed with a kisssss..."
Sakura couldn't stop herself from laughing. She could only imagine Gon making some girl blush from a pinky promise. There was no doubt in her mind that her friend would be a real charmer when he started dating.
Killua had better take notes.
After shopping for about an hour, the group left the store laughing and joking as the store owner glared at their backs. Killua glanced at him and winked causing the man to instantly change his attitude.
"Come again!" He called out with a forced smile.
"Don't count on it!" Killua cheerily replied.
The man flinched and looked pleased before the door shut, leaving them out on the village street. The sun was now setting and there were less people out than earlier.
"Killua why'd you say that? I like that place," Sakura pouted, holding a bag filled with clothes for herself. What if she wasn't let in the next time she went?
"Well we don't," Shikamaru told her. "In fact, we should boycott it." Him, Choji, and Killua hadn't bought a single item of clothing for themselves.
"Why?" Gon asked, holding his three bags full of his new clothes. "They had some cool stuff in there." Not to mention there were a lot of clothes on sale. That was the only reason he'd allowed Sakura to buy him clothes, even though he paid for some himself. He wouldn't feel right having her spend too much on him.
"Because of the way the owner treated Naruto," Choji replied, now eating BBQ chips. "While you guys were off on your own, the owner tried to kick Naruto out and kick us out because we were his friends. He even called him a demon..."
Shikamaru and Sakura noticed that both Naruto and Gon tensed, but for different reasons. Naruto had sunken into himself slightly with a frustrated face while Gon looked more on the angry side.
Killua, who walked next to Gon, put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Calm down stupid. I already handled it." He wouldn't put it past his friend to storm back in there and give the store owner a piece of his mind. "Besides, look." He pointed at the two bags in Naruto's hands. "We got clothes for Naruto. Mission accomplished. All's well that ends well."
Gon took a deep breath and nodded with a small smile. Sakura and Shikamaru found the exchange curious.
"Naruto..." Sakura called out softly. He turned to her with a slightly guarded expression. "Do you know why he was being mean to you? I mean... I've heard the villagers talk about you but..."
"The guy called you a demon," Shikamaru finished. "That's very specific word choice. Doesn't really fit a prankster."
Naruto's jaw tightened and he turned back to the road while Gon put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Killua side-eyed Sakura and Shikamaru. He doubted Naruto was comfortable enough to tell the others yet, so Killua decided to cover for him.
"Let's just say there's some nasty rumors about Naruto because the villagers don't like how he acts. So they all hate him. It's stupid, if you ask me," he said.
Sakura nodded and came to stand next to Naruto. "Don't worry Naruto!" She said, trying to cheer him up. "You don't need to worry about them! You've got us, right?" The rest of them agreed wholeheartedly.
Naruto looked her in the eye and let his guarded expression drop slowly, a small smile replacing it. "Yeah, thanks guys. Sorry for being so quiet. It's not like me." He looked to Killua. "I owe you one especially, Killua."
Killua raised an eyebrow at him. "Why's that?"
Naruto held up his two bags with a grin. "Why else? You helped buy my clothes!" He looked at the sky. "I haven't gotten money to afford anything more than ramen for a while now, so thanks. It means a lot." He turned to Shikamaru and Choji. "And thanks to you guys too. You were going to chip in before Killua said he would handle it."
Shikamaru shrugged and looked away, muttering, "Troublesome."
The others busted into laughter and engaged in conversation, but only Gon and Killua noticed the raven-haired boy that was watching them from the sidelines.
After a while of walking around, it had gotten dark outside. The village lights illuminated the five kids as they came to a stop.
"Well... it's about time I get home," Shikamaru said. He turned to Choji. "You too, right Choji?"
The boy nodded. "Yeah, my dad is probably wondering where I'm at right about now. He'll be pretty chill though."
Shikamaru sighed. "My mom expected me hours ago. It's close to dinnertime now. Troublesome woman is probably throwing a fit."
Naruto remained silent and looked away.
Sakura jumped. "Damn! I forgot all about my mother!" She turned to the others. "She told me to be back home by sundown..."
Killua smirked. "You act like you were going to listen to her even if you remembered."
Gon chuckled. "Good one Killua!"
Sakura rolled her eyes at the two. "Whatever. Well, since I'm already late, I might as well go run an errand real fast." She gave each of the boys a hug, and once she got to Naruto and saw his downcast face, she gave him an especially comforting hug. "Don't look so down Naruto! This won't be the last time we hang out like this! And I'll see you tomorrow at team training. Promise!"
Naruto smiled and hugged back, nodding. "Yeah. We gotta tell the bastard about all the things he missed."
Sakura chuckled a bit, pulling away. "I doubt he would be interested in stuff like this."
Gon and Killua made eye-contact, but chose not to comment.
Little did the others know that the Uchiha had been watching them for a while. He'd left only a few minutes ago.
"Anyways, gotta run boys!" Sakura said, jogging down the street. She glanced back. "Don't be strangers you guys! We should do this more often!"
The boys said their goodbyes before turning to face each other.
"Well, it's a drag, but it's been fun. Like Sakura said, we should do this again sometime soon." Shikamaru said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away.
Choji nodded. "Yeah. I wish we could've started hanging out like this sooner. Usually it's just me and Shikamaru."
"There used to be more people in our group until... things happened," Shikamaru said, looking pointedly at Naruto.
Naruto looked away. "You guys know that had nothing to do with me."
Shikamaru sighed. "Naruto, you know me and Choji would've still been friends with you right?"
Choji put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "He's right. You've been acting really distant ever since then... we're glad you're opening up again." He backed up and chuckled a bit. "The troublemaker stuff was getting old."
Gon and Killua were lost, but they didn't want to interrupt the interaction.
Naruto huffed but smiled a bit. "You know damn well my troublemaking led to some funny moments."
Choji and Shikamaru smirked. "Yeah, in the academy," Shikamaru said.
"Things are different now, but you're different too. In a good way! And you seem happier lately. We're glad." Choji said, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly.
Naruto looked at them closely and pulled a protesting Shikamaru and laughing Choji into a group hug. "I really missed you guys..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah idiot..." Shikamaru mumbled.
"We missed you too!" Choji chuckled, hugging back.
Gon and Killua looked at each other and Gon pulled Killua into a hug.
"Hey! What they hell are you doing?"
"What? They're doing it too," Gon said innocently.
Killua saw the sides of Gon's mouth twitching upwards and knew he was messing with him. He grabbed Gon's neck and put him in a headlock, giving him a noogie.
"Oh yeah? We'll now we're doing this!" Gon just laughed mirthfully in response.
Naruto and the others turned to look at the boys and joined in on the laughter. The villagers that walked by either looked on with a smile or sent a glare towards Naruto, but nevertheless it was a nice moment for each of the boys.
After sobering up, Shikamaru and Choji began walking away, one saluting with a lazy smirk and the other happily waving goodbye, promising to meet up again.
Now it was only Gon, Killua and Naruto.
"What should we do now?" Gon asked Killua. "It's not like Bisky is waiting up for us at home or anything."
Killua shrugged. "Even if she was, I'd stay out just to piss her off."
Naruto looked at them curiously. "You guys live with your teammate?"
The two Hunters turned to him. "We live in the apartment across from her, but we spend a lot of time in each other's apartments," Killua replied.
Gon nodded. "She cooks us dinner a lot of the time too."
Naruto hummed and looked at the sky. "Must be nice..."
The boys remembered that Naruto was an orphan and didn't have anyone waiting for him at home.
So wordlessly, through eye-contact, they decided to keep him company to take his mind off that fact.
"Hey Naruto," Gon started. "You wanna come back to our place?"
Naruto looked at him in shock. "Huh?"
"Do you want to come with us stupid?" Killua repeated. "You can sleep over too. We have two beds, me and Gon could share one."
Gon nodded in agreement.
Naruto started stuttering. "B-but it's.. but—"
"It's no big deal, come on." Killua grabbed Naruto's arm and started dragging the surprised boy along. Gon followed with a smile.
"Wait!" Naruto said.
Killua halted and looked back at him. "What is it? You don't want to come?"
Naruto shook his head with a sheepish grin. "Nah, it's just that... I don't feel comfortable sleeping without my pajamas so... can I run to my apartment real quick?"
Gon and Killua stared at him in silence for a few moments before busting out laughing. Naruto blushed in embarrassment and was about to yell at them but Gon patted him on the shoulder.
"We'll come with you Naruto," he said, still having an amused grin on his face.
Killua nodded, starting to sober up. "It's better this way. You can bring a change of clothes and other things like a tooth brush and towel. You have a team meeting tomorrow right?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, this way I don't have to go back home first in the morning." He paused for a moment before grinning at the two and pulling them into a tight hug.
"Hey!" Killua protested.
Gon just patted him on the back and chuckled without a care.
Naruto let them go quickly and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, it's just..." He turned away. "Nobody's ever treated me this normally... I was friends with Shikamaru, Choji, and... Kiba when I was younger, but it was more of us being partners in crime at the academy. I didn't really get invited to hang out after school with them or go to their houses or anything like that... I can't imagine people would want me in their house after all."
Gon and Killua just waited for him to continue in silence. He seemed like he needed to get something off his chest.
He sighed and looked up at the stars. "Me and Kiba were the troublemakers, Choji followed along to have fun, and Shika always got dragged in by Choji. It was all fun and games back then..." He turned back to them with a grateful smile. "But I never felt like they actually understood me like you two do, you know? Hell, I didn't even understand myself for a long time. I'm still trying to, especially with the whole demon fox business but..." He took a deep breath. "I guess... I just wanted to thank you guys. Even with everything you found out about me, you still treat me as a friend. A real friend. It... really means a lot."
Gon smiled at him while Killua looked away, embarrassed. "Yeah, yeah, don't say it like you're a charity case. Anyway, let's get going."
Naruto chuckled and started walking towards his house, his two friends right behind him. "Right!"
The three boys engaged in casual conversation on their way to Naruto's home. A few weeks ago, Naruto wouldn't have imagined he could have friends like this, he was so used to toughing it out alone. He really, really hoped this happiness he felt would last.
But if there was one thing he learned from past experience, it's that happiness is temporary.
Meanwhile, Sakura had just entered the library and was currently going through scrolls in the 'C' section. Thankfully, this library was open 24 hours so it can accommodate ninja that are busy during the day. She had all the time in the world to find something of use.
She had finally arrived at the books that had 'chakra' as a key word. Taking a few of them off the shelf and setting them on a nearby table, she looked at each of the titles.
"Ok, let's see..." she thought.
'Chakra for Beginners'
'The Chakra Network'
'In Depth: Chakra and The Ninjutsu Process'
'Chakra Molding and Control: Advanced Edition'
She had a feeling that she knew everything in the first book, so she started off by skimming through the second one, 'The Chakra Network.' It was filled with many visual images and diagrams, making things simpler to understand. She was definitely taking this book. Knowing exactly how chakra flows through and affects the body would be useful.
"The anatomy lessons are cool too... that's a bonus."
'In Depth: Chakra and The Ninjutsu Process' seemed very interesting. Just from the table of contents, she saw information on shape transformation, elemental chakra, healing chakra, and... jutsu shortcuts? What was that? Turning to the page listed, she briefly skimmed through the passage, her eyes widening as she went along.
"So apparently, if a ninja practices a jutsu to the point where they memorize how their chakra flows to activate it, they could lessen the hand seals needed to use it or even get rid of hand signs all together! Amazing!"
She would definitely have to look into that... she already had a few ideas. This was exciting stuff.
Moving on to 'Chakra Molding and Control: Advanced Edition', she realized she had hit the jackpot. Scrolling through the table of contents, she saw info on chakra enhancement, chakra sensing, chakra concentration, chakra transmutation, chakra emission, and the main thing she'd been looking for: chakra aura.
She had always been a bookworm and enjoyed learning new things, but at the prospect of learning all this? She was shaking with excitement.
Kakashi had said that the tree-climbing exercise was supposed to be difficult and required a lot of skill, but she did it on her first try. Not to be cocky, but that meant that her talent with chakra control was far above average. She had a good shot at learning at least some of this stuff quickly.
But, she decided to take a step back. Chakra Aura was clearly more advanced than some of the other applications of chakra, so she would save it for later down the line. For now, she should focus primarily on chakra sensing and... chakra enhancement. She was still lacking on the physical side when compared to her teammates, so learning to amplify her body with chakra could help with that.
She sighed. "And to think, I'll still have to do team training, missions, my own physical training, and other things along with learning all this. I've got my work cut out for me."
Despite this, she picked up the three books and brought them over to the librarian at the front counter. The dark brown-haired man had fell asleep while leaning on the desk, drool falling past his beard and all. She supposed she couldn't blame him since there was no one really in here but her. She got a bit annoyed when she saw the sake bottles behind him, meaning he'd been drinking on the job again, but she brushed it off.
She tapped him lightly on the forehead. "Mr. Sakaki. Wake up."
The man jolted and looked around. "Wha–huh?" He looked down at her and she waved with a bashful grin. He sighed and rubbed sleep out of his eyes. "Oh, it's just you again brat. Do your parents approve of you being out so late?"
She huffed. "I'm a ninja now, I doubt this will be the last time I'm out late. Besides, I'm only at the library."
Sakaki hummed and took the books from her, reading the covers with curious eyes. "Well I'll be damned. Seems you really are growing up." He looked to her with a raised brow and a mocking smirk. "No more romance novels?"
Sakura blushed with embarrassment and lightly slapped her library card on the counter. "Can we just hurry this up old man?!"
"Old? I'm only twenty-eight."
"Keep drinking your life away and you might not live to see thirty." She met his eyes with a challenge.
He let out an amused chuckle. "Touché."
"I'm serious," she said. "We've talked about this!"
He sighed. "I appreciate it kid... almost. But I'm fine. I only drank tonight because I was bored."
She rolled her eyes. "You're always bored."
He grinned. "Can't argue with that."
He lazily rung her up, placing the books in a large paper bag and handing it to her. "Enjoy," he said sarcastically.
She rolled her eyes and took the bag, walking to the exit. "Thanks, I will."
"Get home safe kid," The man added, waving goodbye.
She turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh? Is that concern I hear?"
He shrugged. "It's late. The village is usually peaceful, but there's a lotta assholes that come out at night. Just watch yourself."
Sakura smirked and winked at him. "Ninja, remember?"
She walked out the library and began making her way home, thinking about all she would learn from the books.
Sasuke was right. She really should've been doing her own studies outside the academy. Who needs romance novels anyway?
"We're going to be SO badass!"
Sakura grinned. For once, she had no problems agreeing with her inner self.
Ring.
Ring.
Why was he doing this?
Ring.
Ring.
He was their friend too, he deserved to know.
Ring.
But still... maybe he shoul–
"Kurapika?!"
Damn, his time to hang up had expired.
"Do you know how many times I've called you?! Where the HELL have you been?!"
Kurapika let out a sigh. "I've been... busy, Leorio."
He heard Leorio scoff over the line. "Busy, huh? Too busy to answer your phone once out of a thousand times?" Leorio paused and Kurapika could hear traffic in the background. Was the man driving?
Leorio suddenly spoke again more quietly. "How am I supposed to know if you're okay or not? I get worried, you know."
Kurapika let out another, more annoyed sigh, filled slightly with guilt. "Look, Leorio, we can speak about this later. I called you for something far more important."
"And what could be more important than knowing that you're okay?"
"The fact that right now, your other friends aren't exactly okay."
"What...?" Leorio questioned.
"It's Gon and Killua," Kurapika said. "Apparently, they're trapped in another realm, sent there by Nen. I've been assigned to a mission to bring them back by Chairman Netero."
For a few moments, Kurapika heard nothing but the sounds of traffic coming from the other line.
After a while, he heard the sound of a car pulling over and coming to a halt.
He pulled his phone away from his ear, already knowing what was coming.
"WHAAAT?!"
And there it is.
Kurapika let out yet another sigh. This would be a long conversation, wouldn't it?
Chapter 13 End
I don't know if any of you noticed, but I stopped using honorifics (-san, -chan, -kun, etc.). At first I used them to show relationships between characters, but they're kind of hard to remember sometimes. They're not necessary, so from here on I'll just stop using them to make things simpler.
Anyways, thanks for reading!