Ch. 2

Hiro

I am a Hyuga. My clan possesses the world-renowned byakugan: an incredible dojutsu that allows users to see chakra.

To my family, the byakugan is a tool that allows them to further their abilities.

To me, it is the only thing that keeps me from being swallowed by darkness.

Itachi

Hiro's problem was not the hand seals. It was not anything I had imagined.

Though she had no problem performing a transformation, she could not change into someone by looking at them, simply because she could not see them.

I was surprised by this.

"How can you see the target?"

"I have my byakugan, and therefore I can see shapes and bodies of energy. However, I cannot see details, or more specifically in our case, what sensei looks like.

I considered this.

"So your byakugan is always on?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Wow."

"Yes."

Back to one word answers, I see.

"Then in that case, all I have to do is tell you what sensei looks like?"

"Okay."

As Hiro successfully performed the jutsu, sensei was speechless. Partly because Hiro had made him so ugly.

Nonetheless, he announced the class had passed the transformation lesson, and began his beginning-of-unit lecture on clone jutsu.

"The clone jutsu is one of the most basic units of ninjutsu. You must learn to conjure up clones of yourselves quickly and proficiently."

I glanced at Hiro.

Her expression was one of silent annoyance, as though she was trying to figure out what she looked like.

She turned her head toward me, and somehow I could hear her thoughts.

Help me. I don't know who I am.

I could only bite my lip and marvel at how sorrowful those words were.

/after class

I followed Hiro to the forest clearing.

We sat down in the soft grass, and I explained to her that she didn't need to know what she looked like to create a clone.

However, before I could elaborate on how exactly to create a clone, she interrupted me.

"Itachi?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you want?"

"Um. What do you mean?"

"What do you want? The most. What do you want the most?"

I looked at her.

"I want a gold-plate forehead protector. And a giant pet lizard."

She plucked a piece of grass out of the ground.

"I want to bring peace to the ninja world."

I stared at her.

"Oh, really."

"Yes."

"Well, a dream like that requires a lot of sacrifice, doesn't it."

"Maybe."

"You don't care, do you?"

"No."

"Good luck."

"Will you help me?"

"Hahaha...no."

"...oh."

I laughed.

"Of course I will, you idiot. Do you even have to ask?"