Hina was holding on to Twigs arm as they walked toward the Uchiha compound.
"Your mom still looks like she's doing well." She said looking up at her much taller friend. "Yeah, she's a tough one, I just hate the fact that she works to hard. When I graduate the Chunnin Academy I should be making enough to take care of all the bills and she could just rest for the remainder of her life."
His face held determination, and the playful expression that was always posted had completely vanished. He was rarely seen like this but when it came to his mother he didn't play around.
They arrived at the compound only to find Itachi sitting on the front porch. In the background was the yelling of five other siblings and his mother. It was obvious Sakura was trying to get the kids together for the banquet and Saskue must have already left. His siblings were always like this and Itachi couldn't stand it. It was that they were all starved for attention and had to out due the other for it. Itachi was the one that hated the entire ruckus it created and left whenever it began. He would sneak out in the middle of the night with the anxiety of being Closter phobic and leave his home. He would roam around the streets of Konoha until Hina saw him through her window one night. She made him come inside and he'd falling asleep easily on her floor next to her bed. It became a routine over the last 3 years. Two to three times a week he would get his rush of anxiety and roam to Hina's house. He'd climb the side of the walls and click at the window with a rock until she came over and opened it up. She would crawl back into bed after grabbing the extra blanket and pillow out from her closet. Itachi would set it up next to her bed and fall asleep to Hina telling him everything would be ok.
The truth was Itachi was starved for his mother and fathers attention just like his siblings, but unlike them he had his parents longer. With being the first born Uchiha he knew he would accomplish everything his father and mother wanted first. He would be first to enter both academy's, first to graduate both, hopefully first to marry and continue the Uchiha clan. So he figured that was enough attention for him, the rest could have them.
"Are they going at it again?" Twig said to his teammate. "Yeah, let's just go, I can't stand the yelling anymore."
Itachi stood as Hina looped her arm in his and then back into twigs. Itachi's eyes were still bandaged as where Twigs hands. They both looked down at the short female leading them and smiled. They couldn't have been in better hands.
"Alright then! I and Itachi will work our butts off so we won't slow you down getting into the Chunnin academy twig. And Itachi, me and Twig will give you all of the attention you can possibly handle, ok? Everybody happy?" They laughed at her gesture to make them feel better. Strangely they believed her.
Hiro walked with Jin to Tsuki Lee's house to pick her up for the banquet. As the others they were arriving as a team. Over the past month of being a team Hiro and Jin were ok with each other. Jin Yamanaka was quiet but when he did have to speak he was almost as bossy as his mother.
Jin was Ino and Sai's only boy. He was lean with pasty skin like his father with the same short black hair but his vibrant blue eyes came from his mother. He stood 5'7, not the tallest of his year but defiantly the most artistic. He was and exquisite artist and helped his mother with ink blots that she used for the Psych ward she ran in the hospital. He liked the Yamanaka mind- transfer technique and went that way when learning jutsu that complimented it. He still kept up with his art and used it for minor things. He was the long distance fighter of the group and the medic. He also made it his business to familiarize himself with every deadly plant known to man and the multiple ways to use it. He would keep the deadly poisons in syringes that where placed carefully in his pouches where he would have easy access to them. He also had daily doses of these same plants to slowly become immune to them. He called it his way of being the perfect medic. His grandfather prepared the doses for him and administrated the drops every morning to his only grandson. They would watch for a reaction and when nothing serious happen Jin was free to go. Sure he would get nauseated most of the time but it wasn't like when he first started the poisonous drops, which would send him into a hurling fit or pass out. After taking the poisons for over 2 years he was getting much better at containing himself.
"It took you guys long enough to get here! I'm soooooooo excited! All of this youth gathered in one place! I just can't wait!" Their over excitable teammate Tsuki was waiting for them at her front door. She could never understand how she got stuck with the quietest of all of her class mates. She ran towards them almost tripping on her dark purple Kimono. Jin smiled at her offering a hand that she gladly took.
Tsuki stood only at 5'3 and was super thin. Her teammates always worried about her eating because of her light weight, even though she ate almost as much as them. She was a short and clumsy girl but fighting came easy to her. She was the close range fighter of the group and a major powerhouse despite her weight. She had chakra unlike her father and used it to enhance her tai-jutsu skills. It made her punches and kicks more devastating by channeling her chakra to the area of the body that she was about to use to attack. Her control was on point and the speed that she was able to transfer to each body part amazed her sensei, Hanabi. She was the one to teach her the control since her father didn't know where to begin when it came to chakra. And what came to a surprise to most was that her affinity was earth which only made her even more dangerous. Her speed was outrageous thanks to the weight training her father had her go though.
Hiro lifted his arm so she could wrap hers in to it as did Jin and they escorted the small teammate to the banquet as she rambled on about this "youthful experience" they were about to embark on.
Hiro always being as over protective of her as his own siblings just listen to her go on and on. Secretly she made him feel better about being a mute and never really tried to force him to speak. She would talk to him and eventually answer her own questions about him by the subtle nods he would give her.
On the three man squad Hiro was the scout and the oddly enough the strategist. He spoke what was necessary for the mission and was silent for the duration. With his powerful Byakugan, he was about to hit four hundred meters easily without strain, six hundred when pushing it. He took up the Huugya way with the heavenly palms but made sure he was never predictable with it. Shadow clones were his families' signature and he made good use of them. They watched his blind spot just as well as his teammates did and also served as his team's fist line of defense. He would send them into a situation and use them to their full potential then receive the information they need to succeed by dismissing them. His chakra amount was endless as his fathers and so was his stamina. His teammates once watched him go against hundreds of him selves for almost ten hours straight until he defeated himself and passed out from the exhaustion.
The trio made the final steps toward the compound to see his sister's team and his older cousin Nema's teams arrive at the same time.
"I can't wait for you guys to see all the decorations its going to be so beautiful. I put so much hard work into it. Father said he was proud of me for doing most of this by myself." Her teammates rolled their eyes at the bragging Nema and gave a silent apology for her boastfulness.
"I'm so glad you guys were release in time for the party from the hospital. It wouldn't be half as awesome if you guys didn't make it." She directed this to Hina and her teammates. She was secretly happy that Twig had made it. He was her target tonight and she was determined to get at least one dance with him no matter have bad his hands were injured.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, sorry if we worried you while in the hospital. I promise to take better care of them next time." She gave her families signature grin and lead the boys inside.
Following was Hiro's team with Tsuki wondering what kind of food would be in there.
Pulling up the rear was Nema's team, she wanted to be last to enter and of course she got her way.