A.N.: Yes, I know I've been procrastinating. It's been more than half a year since I updated. sorry about that.
Chapter 2: Reunited with an old friend
It was at Naruto's third year training with Tatsuma that he had developed a certain want, a want that had never been erased from him, a want that rivaled his desire for ramen, a want for... extra cool jutsu. Back in his early years, he was taught many techniques after he had agreed to loose the jumpsuit and wear something else that didn't attract attention. His choice fell on a dark blue jinbei (1) he had bought in the village market just because he liked the casual outfit and it stuck with him since then.
But now, the blond had to pester the old monk to teach him something cool.
"Ne, Tatsuma-san," he said.
"Yes?"
"You know your one of my favorite person in the world right?"
"No, actually I don't..."
"Well anyway, you are."
"Okay, what brought this on?"
"Whaddya mean?" the boy asked innocently.
"It's obvious you want something, so what is it?"
"Damn, he found out." The blond muttered. "I want you to teach me something cool."
"What?"
"You know, one of those moves I've seen you use to blow up the tree that blocked the road after the rain poured down for three days, the one that you said you'll teach me when you feel like it?"
"Oh, you mean Tenhouken (Heavenly cannon fist)?"
"Yup."
"Sorry, kiddo, still don't feel like teaching it to you today."
"Brighten up, kid. Tell you what, I'll give you pointers, and you figure it yourself. That ok?
"Tenhou or heavenly cannon is a phrase deeply connected to thunder and lightning. The thunder and lightning can be called the heavenly cannon because of its sound and its destructiveness. Lightning occur because there's an electric discharge in the atmosphere caused by a leap of electrons in the clouds. It's actually amazing how something so small, so... invisible and seemingly ignorable could bring such devastation, don't you think?"
Hearing those words, Naruto nodded in understanding. He got the theory down, more or less, then comes the hard part, implementing the theory.
"Remember this though, when thunder strikes, the rain is not far behind."
Xxxx
The boy wrecked his brains, trying his hardest to implement the theory that he understood; use all the muscles in your body, send it out in one explosive shot and the rest is history. But he knew that using pure muscle power is impossible because no one is made that strong, so the answer would be internal power, or as the old man said, ki.
The problem with ki was that Naruto still couldn't control his as good as Tatsuma could. The priest could unleash a dangerous technique that could level a mountain at his own whim, while the ninja, or soon to be former ninja could only release his when his mind was blank and that in itself was rare to happen.
The blue eyed boy paced around, walking in circles until he finally gave up and took a nap near a ravine that was no more than 15 minutes' walk away from Tatsuma's house, or his current home.
Xxxx
Naruto had had many recurring dreams lately. These dreams, he realized, looked like a glimpse of the past and what could have been in the future had something happened or not happened. He had often dreamt what would happen if the Kyuubi hadn't attacked Konoha those 15 years ago. The dream was always interrupted at the same point, he realized.
The dream always started and ended in the same scene. He was woken up by a familiar voice, a woman's voice. She would then tell him to go downstairs and eat his breakfast, where he saw three people. The first one was a tall woman standing near a stove. She had long fiery hair and a kind, soothing voice whenever she spoke, but he couldn't see her face.
The second was a tall blonde man sitting on a wooden chair, eating his breakfast sloppily whose voice was kind, albeit a little boisterous. The third one was a small girl with two blonde pigtails. She was a bit shorter than him, he estimated, because her feet were about half a foot above the floor when she sat. But, like the woman, he couldn't see their faces.
They all would talk to him, ask him questions, basically making small talk. Then, it stated to rain and he looked out the window. And after he looked back to his 'family', the dream was over.
Today, he had such a dream, the annoying dream that kept eating him no matter how hard he tried to deal with it.
"Fat load of good that nap got me," he mumbled as he opened his eyes. He felt more tired every time he had that dream.
"You really shouldn't stay out in the open if you're going to take a nap. You could get a cold." A familiar female voice told the blond.
"Nah, I'm too tough to get infected with a simple cold." He replied without looking towards the source of the voice who began laughing after hearing his response. She was a young woman wearing a light blue yukata and was rather tall, but a few inches shorter than the 5'10 Naruto. So, he surmised that she was somewhere between 5'5 to 5'8.
This wasn't really surprising as he had seen many people over the years, but there was something very familiar with her. Maybe it was her long glossy black hair, or maybe it was her beautiful heart shaped face that he remembered from somewhere.
"Something funny, miss?" the blue eyed teen asked in curiosity.
"No, it's just that I had this exact same conversation with a very precious friend of mine."
"That so? He musta been a good guy."
"What makes you say that?" the female said as she approached Naruto and squat down next to him.
"'Coz he thinks like me. People who think like me are usually good people."
"Are you a good person then?" she asked as she smiled and in that instant he was mesmerized by her smile. Her smile was unlike anything he had seen. The way her small, yet full crimson lips curled upwards, how her scent, her very presence seemed to invade his senses. To him, the woman seemed like an embodiment of beauty itself. She was beautiful unlike anything he had seen.
"W... well...," the teen spluttered. He was speechless. This woman, no goddess who appeared before him was something else. Because in his 15 years of life, no one, neither female nor male had ever rendered him speechless, but this woman had done it with a smile alone.
"I'm joking." She said as she giggled again and each time she did, the blond was getting more and more mesmerized. "I'm sure you're a good person. Do you live here?"
"Eh? Y... yea, not far from here." He sputtered.
"I guess we'll be seeing each other more then." The woman said as she walked away.
Xxxx
Time had passed since Naruto's meeting with the mystery woman he met in the ravine, and today marked the 2nd month anniversary of that meeting, yet he still hadn't met the woman.
Sometimes he wondered where she was, was she lying about meeting each other more often, what was her name. He wanted to know and even now the memory of the remarkable beauty haunted his sleep.
Although, fortunately for him, his recurring dreams of his 'what-if' family had lessened, but the dream was replaced by memories of the unknown woman. He had often dreamt of her in his sleep and occasional naps; but none of it ever helped his loneliness. He wanted to meet her, to see her again. But this is nothing more than wishful thinking because he didn't even know where to see her.
But, his luck changed today because Naruto had seen the beauty in front of his master's home with an older woman who was about Tatsuma's age.
"Hello, Tatsuma, long time no see." The old woman greeted. Her short hair was fully white and though not very tall, she had an authoritative aura about her. If Naruto were to guess, she must have been some kind of leader or matron of something in the past. Her simple brown jacket above her light pink kimono looked old, yet well kept; like it was a precious gift or heirloom.
"Hello yourself, Tsubaki." The priest said back with a smile. "And I guess this is your new student you've talked about so much?"
"Yes, Tatsuma-san. My name is Haku. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Upon hearing that name, Naruto froze. He couldn't believe his ears; this woman was the supposedly dead Haku from all those years ago? It can't be, besides wasn't Haku a boy, or at least that's what he/she claimed.
The bald priest laughed after he heard the young woman's polite greeting. If he were to compare her to his student, they'd be like night and day. Naruto was brash, loud, rude, and childish, though he had matured slightly in the 3 years he had been with the priest.
Tsubaki's student, he noted was a proper woman, soft spoken, gentle in nature, and very mature. 'How I ended up with the kid, I'll never know.' Tatsuma wondered silently.
But the priest also realized that the blond was not without any redeeming qualities. For instance, the blue eyed kid had learned 80 percent of the style he had prided himself on: Souten Shinken (divine fist of the blue sky).
The style were the most powerful and dangerous style that became the predecessor of numerous taijutsu style. It was unpredictable and difficult to master, yet the boy had taken to it like fish to water. He absorbed everything Tatsuma taught without exception and now, he was sure that in two years, the boy will be able to inherit him and continue the legacy of Sen'Unjou (thousand cloud castle).
"Oi, Naruto, what're you doing? Greet the guest!" he ordered.
"Uh? Right. I'm Naruto. Nice to meet you." The blue eyed boy greeted with a light Iwa accent.
Hearing his casual greeting, both women laughed softly. It was rare to find someone with such awkwardness in being formal. "This is quite a student you have, Tatsuma." Tsubaki teased. "I bet he's filled with energy and enthusiasm, no?"
"You don't know half of it." The priest replied tiredly.
"Naruto." He called. "Why don't you two go outside for a bit? Us oldies got some catching up to do."
"You sure about that Tatsuma-san?" he asked unsurely.
"Yea, I am. Go on, shoo." The bald man said playfully.
"Don't do anything you shouldn't, okay?" he called out as they exited the house. "I know you're young and all, but wait for a bit before you try to make a kid!"
Xxxx
The two teenagers blushed in embarrassment when they heard what the old man said. Did he really have to say that out loud? "Damn crazy old man." Naruto muttered as they walked aimlessly.
"He is very eccentric, isn't he, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked softly as they walked aimlessly.
"Nosey more like it." The blond answered. "But in a good way. I mean.... well, I've never had anyone caring for me that much before."
"Hmmm... tell me more about yourself."
"Wh... what? What brought this on?" he sputtered with a blush.
"Nothing. I'm just curious."
"Well, I'm not that special you know. I was born in Konohagakure, raised there, trained to be a ninja there and became genin at 12. Went here when I was 13 and been here ever since. What's your story?"
Haku looked at Naruto with disappointment written on her face before she answered. "I was born in Kirigakure, stayed there until I was 4, killed my father who killed my mother, got picked up by a nuke-nin and travelled with him. Almost got killed when I was 14, found by Tsubaki-san and studied under her until now. Sounds familiar?"
"No way, you're 'that' Haku? The student/underling of Zabuza-han?"
"I'm glad you still remember me, Naruto-kun."
"What the...? But I... you...." he sputtered out.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand." The maiden said calmly.
"I SAW KAKASHI KILL YOU! How can you still be alive?" the young man asked loudly, holding his head with both hands while walking around in circles.
"I... don't understand it myself. From what I gather from Tsubaki-san, Hatake-san attack was never meant to kill me, so it only pierced my ribs without injuring any organs."
Seeing that the blond still didn't understand her, she loosened her yukata slightly, showing a diagonal scar over her left breast.
"Just before his Raikiri struck, Hatake-san turned his hand to make a hand sword that has lower attack area, but greater piercing power. When Tsubaki-san inspected this wound, she realized that this was what helped my survival. If he had struck with a Raikiri charged palm strike, I would certainly die."
"I... see. I'm sorry for bringing up such a bad memory."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean... Zabuza-han, he's your precious person, right? And he died then, I just thought that... you... might... y' know, get all sad and stuff."
"It's fine. I've gotten over it. You should too." She said curtly.
Hearing her say that was rather shocking to Naruto. He always thought that Haku was a melancholic person, but obviously he was wrong. 'Or maybe she was hurting more than she let on.' The blond thought.
To him, the thought of loosing someone like a father was something heartbreaking. He believed that he wouldn't be able to get over it easily. Though nearly 5 years has passed, shouldn't there be lingering sadness?
"I'm sorry for my outburst. That was uncalled for." The black haired woman said sorrowfully.
"No, I'm sorry. I was poking my nose where it don't belong. I was prying too much."
"No.... it's... it's fine, really." She stuttered.
The two walked on in silence; neither of them not finding a topic for a conversation before they realized they had ventured quite far away from Kazuma's house. Daring himself to speak, the boy asked. "Where are we going anyway?"
"Anywhere is fine." Haku answered unsurely.
"Really? Well, there's this lake around here that's pretty cool. How 'bout there?"
Xxxx
With Tatsuma and Tsubaki
"It's been a while hasn't it, Tatsuma-san." The old woman said. "You haven't changed a bit in 50 years."
"Meh, time doesn't really matter to us." Tatsuma said from his kitchen as he boiled some water. "So I don't really keep track of time. It's a lost concept to me."
"Do you honestly think that?"
"Why the pessimistic thought? Usually you're the one who complains when I'm being realistic about things." The old man answered offhandedly while rummaging his kitchen for tea leaves and a tea set.
"This is different."
"Yea? How?" he continued, returning to the living room where the mysterious woman sat and poured her a cup of tea.
"How long?" Tsubaki asked as she lifted her tea cup.
"How long what?"
"How long have we been living on borrowed time?" she asked forlornly.
"Does it really matter?"
"Yes, especially if our bodies are not the appropriate containers for this power we use to lengthen our time on earth!" the old woman said angrily as she stood, unwittingly spilling some tea on the table.
Tatsuma looked at her without bringing his teacup down and raised an eyebrow. He was used to the woman, but never had he seen or heard her panicked enough to let a drop of tea to spill anywhere and not notice it. She loved, practically adored the stuff.
"What's gotten you so worked up anyway? We could still live for another 5 years or so, you know."
"Do you think that's enough time to look for and train another container for our powers?" she roared angrily. In all her time knowing him, she was supposed to be the optimist while he the realist. Getting their previous roles switched wasn't what Tsubaki expected in the meeting with her old friend, but somehow it happened anyway.
"Yea, I do think it's time enough." The old priest said calmly as he put down his teacup. "I've found my successor and I can't think of anyone better."
"Who? Your student?" the old woman wondered.
"No. Yours."
A.N.: next chapter: Naruto quits being a ninja !?
1. jinbei is a traditional Japanese wear for summer.