Chapter 8 – New Resolution

"Talk"

'Think'

Flashback

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei. So…yeah.

The following morning, at Konoha Hospital

Noriko opened her eyes when she saw a pair of blue eyes peering down at her. Instinctively she hit the owner of the eyes followed by "Ouch! Why you hit me?" grumbled Naruto.

Pushing herself up, she saw white blanket and immediately, the memory from last night came flooding in "Okasan!" she yelled.

"She's here. She's okay" said a voice, at which she turned to and saw her tired-looking uncle "Shishui-ojisan!" she cried happily, while scrambling off the bed "Where's okasan? What happened? Where are we?"

Instead of answering, Shisui carried her to the next bed. Her mother appeared to be asleep with wires attached to her connected to a beeping machine. "Is she okay?" Noriko asked softly.

"Yes. She's just sedated to make her get better faster" replied Shisui.

"What's sedated?" asked Naruto.

"She was given medicine to make her fall asleep for a while" explained Shisui.

"Owh…"

"So what happened last night?" Noriko asked.

"You don't remember?" asked Naruto "We were walking back home when suddenly the bad guy appeared, he stabbed obasan-" his voice faltered "and then your eyes gone weird-"

"My eyes?" asked a surprised Noriko.

"Yeah" wrinkling up his face "instead of black, they are red and white, weird huh" then he shrugged his shoulders and continued "after that a white eyed guy came, poke the bad guy and grabbed the girl, then the bad guy fall, and then you fall, and then obasan fall and then, some more white eyed guys came and they brought us here" he finished with a grin.

Shisui smiled at a spirited Naruto

Flashback (a couple of hours ago)

Naruto woke up from his bed and looked across the two beds containing Shizuka-obasan and Noriko. His face was sombre.

"Are you okay Naruto?" Naruto jumped a bit. He turned to the voice and saw Shisui standing up from his chair near the window and walking to his bed.

Naruto looked down at his lap "I failed…" he said in a low voice "I cannot protect obasan" he looked up at Shisui with tears falling down his whiskered cheeks.

"You are facing a jōnin Naruto" Shisui reminded gently "Not just any jōnin, a head jōnin no less. Even some of our best shinobi will have problem facing him"

"But I cannot even move! I was so scared" Naruto pulled his knees to his chest and hugged himself.

Shisui sat down next to Naruto and hugged him "Even an experienced shinobi froze when faced with a more powerful opponent, Naruto".

"Does that ever happen to you?"

"No" Shisui said honestly "But then, I wasn't four when I fought a jōnin" He grinned feebly.

Seeing a still down Naruto, he switch topic "I bet you are hungry. How about I get you some ramens from Ichiraku's?" which brightened up Naruto's face "I'll be back soon"

Over ramen, Naruto asked a question "How old were you when you first fight?"

Shisui thought for a moment "I was six. It was my team's third mission. We were asked to delivered medicinal supplies to a hospital in neighbouring village when that village was attack by bandits"

"Were you scared?"

"A little, especially when they took a hostage" he glanced down at Naruto's awed face "But I've got my Sensei and teammates and together, we defeated them" Shisui finished with a smile when he remembered how grateful the villagers to him and his team.

"What happened to your team now?"

"One of the now is in ANBU, one has to quit while the other one and my sensei died"

"Died?!"

Shisui smiled sadly at Naruto "We thought we were facing a normal shinobi. Turned out, he was an S-ranked missing nin. My sensei sacrificed himself so we can escape. Things like that happened on a mission. That's why it is one of the Shinobi's rules to be always prepared"

"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay. That happened a long time ago. I'm sad that it happened but it also made me realized my weakness. I trained very hard after that so I'll never lose people that are important to me" said Shisui.

"Shisui-ojisan…when we got out, could you train me some more? I want to be stronger so I can protect Shizuka-obasan" said Naruto earnestly.

"Sure, Naruto" Shisui said as he ruffled Naruto's hair.

End Flashback

"Shisui-ojisan…" said Noriko in a low voice.

"Yes Noriko?"

"Am I weaker than Naruto?"

"Why you say like that?" asked Shisui in perplexed.

"Yeah…why you say like that Noriko? You punched very hard" said Naruto

"Because I fainted and Naruto did not"

Chuckling in a low voice Shisui explained "I don't think that has anything to do with you being weak. I think you fainted because you were having a shock at the sight of you mother being stabbed in front of your eyes on top of awakening your dōjutsus"

"The eye thingy? What's that?" asked Naruto.

"The red eye is called sharingan while the white eye is called byakugan" answered Shisui.

"What do they do?" asked Naruto while simultaneously Noriko asked "Why do I have them?

"The sharingan is a kekkei genkai-" seeing their blank look, he added "a bloodline limit, or special abilities that is unique to Uchiha clan whereas the byakugan is unique to the Hyūga clan. Noriko has both of them because her mother was and Uchiha while her father was a Hyūga"

"Was?" asked Noriko curiously.

"Yes Noriko, was. If you want to know more, you have to ask your mother" looking outside, he continued "I'm sure you guys have a lot more questions. But I'm being called by the Hokage. Kosuke-san will come later so in the meantime, I want both you to rest, okay?"

"…fine" they grumbled and watched as Shisui left them.

Noriko went back to her bed, deep in her thought before asking Naruto "Naruto? Were you scared last nite?"

"…I was Noriko"

"I don't like that, Naruto"

"Me too Noriko. That's why when I get out, I want to train harder so I can protect Shizuka-obasan. I don't want to see her getting hurt"

"Why okaasan?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You said you want to protect okaasan, why her?"

"Shisui-ojisan said he trained very hard so he doesn't lose people important to him. I don't want to lose people that are important to me too, but you hit very hard" at this, he pouted and rubbed his head "Shisui-ojisan, Kosuke-ojiisan and Keiko-obasan are awesome shinobi, so that leave Shizuka-obasan and she got hurt last night" Naruto looked downcast.

"Important people eh" Noriko said thoughtfully "I guess I have to train harder too if I want to keep my winning streak" she added.

"What winning streak?…I beat you many times!"

"Really, when? All I remembered is I kicked your butt many times"

"Let me kick your butt now so you remember"

…

…

And the bickering went on for a while until an irate nurse came to the room and shut them up.

End Chapter 8

Obasan – aunty

Ojisan - uncle

Ojiisan – grandfather

Okaasan – mother