Here's the sixth chapter of the Violet Maelstrom! Hope you all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own the ideas behind this story, im simply extending and twisting them a bit.
(4 years later)
Just. One. More. Time. Naruto panted. Her trembling hands formed the required hand seals and she gathered the very last remains of her chakra, preparing for another go. She felt the wind whip against her hair and clothes and ignored it as she focused on the tree fifty metres in front of her.
Focus on grinding your chakra together, like your sharpening it against each other. Kurama suggested. They had discovered that they were able to talk at any time since their partnership began, much to Naruto's pleasure. It was nice to have someone always there for you that knew you inside and out. Literally.
Will do. She grunted in reply.
"Wind blades!" She shouted, and swiped her hands out in front of her horizontally.
Nothing seemed to happen for a moment, until the tree released a massive groan and fractured into tiny pieces. The blonde girl grinned tiredly and felt herself fall backwards. She had done it. She had finally mastered the technique she had spent the last year creating. Warm arms caught her and she looked into the proud eye of her sensei.
"Good job, Ru. You can rest now." Jiraiya murmured as her eyes shuttered closed. He sighed and slung her onto his back. They were on the last legs of their journey, finally almost home after four long years. Naruto had changed so much it was almost scary. She had finally started growing, no longer the short girl she used to be. Her hair reached the backs of her knees, but she refused to cut it. Jiraiya was pretty sure that she thought if it was long enough, I would stop being spiky. Like that would ever happen. She also looked older, with budding curves showing through in her figure. Besides appearances, Naruto had also become far more mature then she was before. She was clever and quick, and a deadly fighter as well. When she was in jinchuriki mode, Jiraiya didn't even stand a chance. With a sigh, he began heading back to Konoha, his goddaughter still on his back. With any luck she would wake up just before they arrived.
Seven hours later, Naruto woke up with her chakra fully replensished, and an hour past that, they approached the gates of their home. She stopped for a second, drinking in the sight, before bolting forwards and sprinting all the way to the Hokage mansion, leaving a disgruntled Jiraiya behind in the dust. She sped past the patrols and leaped through the window to land on her fathers back, tackling him to the ground.
"Daaaaaaaddd!" She squealed, hugging him as tight as she could – which was very tight. "I'm home!"
Minato, who had originally thought he was being attacked, settled down and waited for his daughter to release him before getting up and facing her. His eyes widened in shock. Was this really his daughter?
The girl in front of him was beautiful. She had sparkling violet eyes, tanned skin, and long spiky blonde hair that even tied up came to her knees. Yep, he thought ruefully. With that hair, she couldn't be anyone elses but mine. She was dressed in an off-white wide bandeau that covered from her chest to the bottom of her ribs. A sleeveless violet coat was worn over it. She wore a pair of tight black shorts – much too short for his likely – revealing strong legs and comfortable shinobi boots. Unlike most ninja, she wore no armour. No matter how unfamiliar her looks might be, the smile on her face was always the same.
"Naruto?"
She nodded gleefully and he bounded forwards and swooped her up in a hug, spinning her around. His girl was back! He sat her down and they caught up on everything they had missed. She told him about her travels and he told her about the going ons of the village. When she got to her new jutsus however, he wanted to see them. Within seconds he had flashed them to a vacant training ground, and she was warming up. To their surprise, Jiraiya turned up with Kushina, Kakashi and Tsunade in tow. After another round of hugs and squealing and catching up was over, she returned to warming up an hour delayed.
"Okay," she said, rubbing her hands together. "This is one I developed the moment I discovered my wind chakra nature!"
She made several hand seals and held out her hands straight in front of her, palms facing down.
"Air board!" She shouted. Nothing seemed to happen except the air distorted slightly.
"Is that it?" Kakashi asked, deflating visibly. He had been expecting…. Something to happen at least.
Naruto smiled smugly at him before jumping straight in the air. When she landed however, she was three feet in the air, just standing there.
"This is my air board." She said proudly, enjoying their slack mouths. "I can move around too! And from this, I developed my Air Discs, and later on my Wind Blades!"
"Very impressive," her father praised. "After hearing this, and Jiraiyas reports on your progress, I'm comfortable promoting you to jonin rank. After, you spar with one of us."
Her face, which was already smiling widely, grew even more, seemingly breaking the laws of what should be possible. "Well technically I'm already a jonin… just not for Konoha.. but that's another story for another day! And I want to fight… Tsunade!"
Tsunade grinned and cracked her knuckles in preparation. It had been a while since she was in a spar. The others cleared a space for them and settled down to watch what should be a very interesting fight. Naruto took a place directly opposite the sannin and grinned.
"Don't hold back because I'm thirteen." Naruto cautioned.
Tsuande smiled, a glint in her eye. "Oh don't worry, I wont."
Then the fight began.
Tsunade leaped forwards and blinding speeds, her first cocked back in preparation to wallop the girl and end the fight in one blow. Like that would happen. A split second before contact, Naruto slid to the side, narrowly avoiding the fist by mere millimetres. The force of it blew air over her face and she grimaced. That was a close one. Tsunade reared back for another punch, and she avoided it again. And again. And again. About five minutes into the spar, the others started to see what she was doing. Her fighting style was a very complicated one, and must have taken a very long time to create. It worked by the user getting their speed up to incredible heights and then applying it in dodging and deflecting any and all attacks. When they discovered a weakness in their opponent, then the user would dart in and unleash several hard and fast attacks in sensitive areas. It was a very fluid and graceful style that required great flexability and speed. If the fight kept going the way it was, Naruto would win. Something did change though, no matter how shocking it was. It seemed Naruto got tired with her style of fighting and the next time Tsunade threw a punch, she merely caught it in her hand with a small wince, much to the utter shock of everyone but Jiraiya, and quickly but efficiently twisted it and tripped Tsunade so she was kneeling on the ground with her arm behind her back.
Naruto held the position for a moment longer to show that she had clearly won, and then she got off, shaking out her right arm and rubbing her neck.
"Jeez, Tsunade, how much force can you put into your punches? That one actually hurt!" She complained, shocking everyone even more.
"How did you do that?" Kakashi asked, astounded. "I've never seen anyone stop one of her punches dead. Ever."
Naruto grinned and stretched her arms out. "It's because of Kurama!" She explained. "You know how I've always had an advanced healing rate because of his chakra?" All four nodded. "Well about a year ago we were trying to create a new fire jutsu and every time I stuffed it up my arm would get burnt really badly. So what we did was focus a lot of his chakra there before I did my jutsu and it sort of toughened my skin a bit, kinda, I'm not sure how to explain it… pretty much it just makes my skin extra hard and durable! I cant maintain it for long because it uses a lot of chakra but it comes pretty handy in a fight. Pretty cool huh?"
"I'll say!" Kushina exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Unexpected, but extremely useful!"
Naruto held a hand out to Tsunade and helped her off the floor, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "No hard feelings?"
Tsunade smiled proudly at her goddaughter. She had noticed during the fight that Naruto targeted particularly tender and weak spots on the body, something that she had taught her all those years ago. She was so proud. "Of course not! Now lets all go out to dinner and get some sake!"
She ran off, leaving Naruto to run after her and the others to follow at a more reasonable pace.
"BUT TSUNADE! I'M TOO YOUNG FOR SAKE!" She wailed.
Later that night at the small family restaurant run by the Akimichi clan, the six ninja's sat, eating their food heartily. True to her word, Tsunade had several bottles of sake spread before her and all the adults had a small drinking dish in front of them. Naruto kinda felt a bit left out, but then again, she was only twelve, she still had several years to go. It reminded her of the time that Jiraiya had tried convincing her to get drunk with him on their trip.
Naruto was ten years old and they had just finished up on a mission that was both the easiest and hardest one she had ever done. Her mission was to assassinate the leader of a small village that was attacking and raiding the surrounding villages. The man himself had committed many truly heinous crimes and if anyone deserved to die, it would have been him. The hard thing wasn't killing him. The hard thing was having to leave his two young children – a four year old girl and two year old boy – orphans. Their mother had died when the boy was born, just before the man started attacking other villages. Despite how cruel he was to other people in general, Naruto had watched him play with his children, making them laugh and giggle and smile, mere hours before her kunai had pierced his throat.
Some might think that sending a ten year old on an assassination mission might be inhumane, but Naruto knew why Jiraiya had asked her to do it. She had chosen the shinobi life, the life of a killer, and he needed to have her not freeze when she went into a battle. That could cost her her life. The job wasn't easy though and she kept being plagued with the images of the two children smiling in joy up at their father as he chased them around and tickled them. Those smiles wouldn't be there for a long, long time.
In an attempt to get her to cheer up, Jiraiya had brought her to a bar and shoved sake into her hand and told her to drink up.
"If you're old enough to kill, you're old enough to drink." He told her.
For a moment, Naruto actually considered it. Then she remembered her pledge when she was seven and saw a group of drunken teenagers beat a young puppy to death. After they were apprehended and had sobered up, they were appalled at what they had done and couldn't believe they had done it. She had sworn that she would wait until she was old enough to process alcohol properly so that she wouldn't do anything she regretted because she was too young.
"No thanks." She said firmly, pushing the drink away. "I'll wait until I'm eighteen. I just want to go to sleep now." And with that she left, headed back to the small room they had rented together.
Maybe the sake would have helped her get over it then, but it wouldn't have lasted. And she didn't want to become dependent on it to get over the guilt that accompanies the shinobi life. She had to learn to deal with it on her own.
Minato noticed the deep in thought look on his daughters face and tried connecting this young woman to the little girl he had been holding onto in his memories. This Naruto had seen so much more – experienced so much more – and it definitely showed. Whilst she hadn't had the most innocent of childhoods, Naruto had never had this aged look in her eyes before. Then and there he decided that she needed something to cheer her up with, and a thought appeared in his head that he would mull over later.
"So, baby," Kushina began, ruffling the spiky blonde hair. Minato caught her eyes for a moment and knew that she saw the difference in their daughter as well. "Tell your mother the prettiest thing you saw while you were away."
Naruto visibly perked up as she launched into a tale that included snow and mountains and underwater forests, the look in her eyes held at bay for the moment.
Surprisingly, sleeping in her own bed for the first time in three years wasn't nearly as nice as she had expected. Her body had grown used to cheap motel beds and camping mats and the squishy mattress was too different for her to get comfortable. With an exasperated growl, Naruto threw off the covers and slipped on sweatpants and t-shirt before jumping out the window. She bounced from rooftop to rooftop until she reached her destination, training ground 7 – the home of her genin team. Bittersweet memories flooded her but they didn't overwhelm her like they did before. She had grown up a lot during her time away and knew that she couldn't avoid her teammates deaths anymore, she had to accept it. Even though it was an hour past midnight, Naruto began her warm up exercises. If she couldn't sleep, then she may as well train.
Her body remembered the long hours spent repeating the same movements over and over again and slipped into the more complicated moves without hesitation. She became oblivious to her surroundings, lost in the feeling of her muscles burning and the sweat dripping down her skin. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears and she smiled as she fought imaginary enemies around her. She didn't know how much time had passed, but she was almost finished her deadly dance when a hand landed on her shoulder. Without pausing to think, she twirled around, grabbed the offending appendage and twisted it until she was kneeling on the back of the person, his arm twisted behind him and her knee digging into his spine.
"Jeez, Naruto." The boy – for the voice was deep but not yet a mans – coughed, "Is that any way to treat your best friend?"
Itachi Uchiha, ANBU captain and skilled fighter, couldn't believe what he was doing. The hokage had assigned him patrols. Him. He hadn't done a patrol since he had very first signed up after Naruto had left. Usually he was out on missions and in the rare times he was back home, he was resting in preparation for the next one. But no! Instead of the comfortable bed waiting for him when he got back two days ago, it was a mission scroll saying he had a weeks shift of night patrols! He had wanted to protest but no. Itachi gritted his teeth, bowed to his leader, and accepted the rookie job, no matter how much it insulted him. He didn't even get to guard the hokage or anything, just do a general patrol sweep around the village. How exciting.
They changed the routes every night to stop any possible enemy ninja from being able to predict their routes. That was why, on this particularly boring night, Itachi was passing by the training grounds on his loop back to trade off position.
Only four more hours to go. He encouraged himself as he jumped through the trees.
Nothing had happened. Nothing at all. Not a single damn thing that had even the slightest hint of being anything dangerous in any way at a- What was that?
The sound of heavy breaths and movement reached his sensitive ears and Itachi went on red alert, heading towards the possible enemy as quietly as he could, his sharingan ablaze. He hid in the trees as he observed the unknown shinobi. And it was a shinobi – that much was obvious. Even though the girl wore no headband or armour, her movements showed that she knew how to fight, and was very, very good at it. She whirled around in intricate patterns that seemed to both flow and snap. His sharingan catalogued every movement she made as her long blonde hair swung around her like sunshine and it tickled the back of his mind like a beacon of some sort. The girl turned in one of her flips and for the barest moment her chest was facing him.
Naruto.
He would recognize that tattoo anywhere. She continued on in her dance, completely oblivious to her surroundings and silent watcher. That had always been her though. One track mind and everything. He wasn't sure how long he watched her for, but when her movements began to wind down, he decided to move. Within seconds he was behind her and an arm was reaching out to touch her shoulder. Three seconds later, he was face down in the dirt with his arm twisted uncomfortably behind his back.
"Jeez, Naruto." He coughed. "Is that any way to greet your best friend?"
The pressure released and he rolled over to see the face he had missed so much – the face of his best friend. Her cheeks were flushed with blood from her exercise and her eyes were bright against the moonlight sky. Her clothes fitted her tightly and Itachi couldn't stop his eyes from wandering down it for a second. She was no longer the little girl she was when she left and he was suddenly glad for the mask that hid his face, well, that was until she ripped it off.
"Itachi?" She choked out.
He nodded once and then her arms were constricting him so tightly he could barely breath and yet he didn't care because he was hugging her back almost as hard. Naruto had always been the only one he would willingly give a hug to. She seemed to understand him on a whole other level and having someone who knew you that well was something he had missed terribly. When she finally let him go, a blush adorning her cheeks, he took the time to inspect her closely, just as she did him. He took in the mature look in her eyes and toned body and approved. She was growing up well.
Naruto couldn't believe it. Itachi was here. Here! She drank in the sight of him greedily. She couldn't help but notice the thin face and frowned inwardly. Had he been eating enough? There was a look in his eyes as well that she didn't like. He was only two years older then her but he seemed so much more. The ANBU mask she held in her hands seemed to weigh heavily, even though it was feather light. What missions had he been going on? His hair flopped into his eyes and she watched as a pale hand came and brushed it back irritably and she grinned. He had never been able to stop that from happening, even when they were little. She looked into his eyes and with a start realized that they were much farther up then she remembered being before. No matter how much she had grown, he had grown a lot more.
"So." He began casually, poking her forehead lightly. "How've you been?"
Naruto laughed and just like that there was no more silence. They talked about everything and anything, catching up on all that they had missed. Eventually, the sun rose up from behind the mountains, startling the two young ninjas. They had talked for hours without even realizing it. Wordlessly, they migrated to the markets and headed for a 24-hour food stall, both their stomachs rumbling. Even though neither of them had slept a wink last night, they weren't tired. Naruto didn't need much sleep because of Kurama, and Itachi had long ago grown accustomed to sleepless nights. It was at a little ramen stall – not Ichiraku's – that Kakashi found them hours later.
"Yo." He eye smiled, tapping them on the shoulders. "I see you two have gotten reacquainted nicely." They both gave him small smiles and waited for him to continue. "The Minato-sensei wants to see you Naruto, and don't you have paperwork to do?" Kakashi hinted at Itachi, causing the boy to slump slightly in his chair. The one downside to being an ANBU captain was that he had to go through all the reports of his ANBU. It was a boring job. A very boring job. He hated paperwork.
Waving goodbye, the boy headed towards headquarters and the two old team 7 members headed to the hokage tower.
"So what does dad want?" She asked curiously as she walked beside he sensei.
Kakashi winked at her. "Oh you know, this and that."
Although his words were vague, Naruto got the impression that he knew exactly what her dad wanted.
"Oh really?" She asked suspiciously.
"Yep."
They continued on the rest of the walk in companionable silence. Unlike with other people, Kakashi didn't see the need to fill every silence with chatter, and was perfectly content to just spend time together. Unfortunately, Minato really should have sent someone other then the villages most infamous late shinobi to pick up the villages second most infamous late shinobi. By the time they reached the hokage tower, it was almost noon.
They walked up the side of the building and clambered in through the window, much to Minato's annoyance.
"Do my shinobi purposely do that to annoy me?" He demanded, messing up his already messy hair. "Because I do have a door you know. And where were you two? I summoned you hours ago Naruto!"
They ignored him completely and made themselves at home in the chairs in front of him. At times, they had to treat him with the proper respect a hokage deserved, but this wasn't one of those times. This was a friendly meeting between a father and daughter and student.
Minato smiled slightly, knowing they only did it to stir him up, and turned around to face them fully before grinning at his daughter mischievously.
"Well! Naruto!" He exclaimed, linking his fingers together and peering over them like he had seen in all the movies. "I have some excellent news for you!"
Naruto was instantly suspicious.
"What news?" She said slowly, weighing each word before saying it.
Minato beamed. "You're going to be a jonin-sensei!"
Naruto's jaw dropped and she had to consciously make an effort to pull it back up. "What?"
Kakashi chuckled at her expression and elaborated for her. "Minato-sensei spoke to me last night after dinner and I agree with him. You have developed a name for yourself in the world, are smart, and would do great to mentor other kids your age. The academy has its newest batch of genins in a week so you'll have time to settle in first, but then you'll be a sensei!"
Naruto didn't know what to say. This wasn't even close to what she thought she would do when she got back to the village. "But-but they wont respect me! I'm just a year older than them!"
Minato smirked. "Then teach them respect. Even though you're almost the same age, you're a jonin and they're genin. You could beat them blindfolded with your arms tied behind your back."
Naruto straightened a little at the praise before hesitating once more. Her own genin team experiences hadn't gone very well, what if that happened again? No. She was stronger now. She would protect her comrades! She wouldn't let them down.
Both men could see the decision in her eyes and smiles. Kakashi knew she wouldn't make the same mistake he did. She would be a great sensei.
"I'll do it."
"Okay then!" Minato clapped his hands together. "I'll leave your genins to be a surprise for the day! Now, why don't we get some lunch?"
Later that night, as Naruto reflected on what she had agreed to do, she found herself actually looking forward to it. Her last thought before she drifted off was that she couldn't wait to tell Itachi, and wondering who her genin would be.
A week later, Naruto found herself running out of her room, her clothes hastily thrown on.
"Naruto!" Her mother scolded. "It's your first day as sensei and you're late! I knew Kakashi would rub off on you!" She growled, punching her fists together.
Elsewhere in the village a certain silver-haired ninja sneezed violently.
"I'm sorry! I smashed my alarm again!" Naruto wailed, grabbing some toast and shoving it in her mouth as she sped out the door. "I'll see you tonight!"
And with that she was off, sprinting through the streets so fast she was just a yellow blur to the untrained eye. When she reached the academy however, she slowed down until her breathing was normal once more before walking in. Everyone else had left hours ago so there was no question that the genin in the room were hers. Three surprised faces greeted her, and it took all her training not to burst out laughing when she saw them clearly.
"Sasu!" She squealed, leaping forward to tackle him in a hug. "I missed you so much!"
"Hmph!" his muffled growl said. "Gert orf me!"
She released him and laughed as he frantically tried to settle his hair.
"You saw me yesterday, you couldn't have missed me that much."
Naruto grinned at him before poking his forehead and darting back to look at the other two. One was a pretty girl with pink hair and bright green eyes that glared at her surprisingly. Ahh, a fan girl. Naruto thought smugly. She would beat her out of that or die trying. The other one was strangely familiar, but in a way that was super distant, like déjà vu or something. It was like she had met him before, but didn't know where from. His yellow eyes glistened with intelligence as he observed her.
"Okay guys! Lets all go out onto the roof where we can introduce ourselves properly!" And with that, she shunshined away, leaving her genins to hurriedly scramble after her.
Sasuke was the first one to arrive, having been taught by Itachi to climb trees, and just climbed the wall from the window. The strangely familiar boy was next, with pinkie following right behind him. When they were all seated, she began.
"Okay guys! I'm your jonin-sensei! I know that I'm only a year older then you, but I've been training since I was four, was the youngest genin graduate ever and was chunin by six." She paused to let them digest that. "So don't go underestimating me! Now why don't we introduce ourselves? Pinkie, your up first."
Pinkie glared at her. "Why don't you go first and show us how its done, sensei?"
Naruto frowned slightly before grinning. "Okay then. My name is Naruto Namikaze and I'm thirteen. I like ramen, my friends and family, and training. I dislike wimpy shinobi and pineapples. I hate pineapples. Oh and my hobby is training and my dream for the future is to be a better hokage then my father." She smiled at them and gestured for pinkie to take over. The familiar boy and pinkie looked quite taken aback at her identity and it took a moment for the girl to gather herself after that relevation.
"Well, my name is Sakura Haruno and I'm twelve. I like reading and-" A sidelong glance at an obviously irritated Sasuke. "I dislike pain and getting dirty. My hobbies are gardening and-" another sidelong glance "And my dream for the future is for a certain someone to really see me so we can get married."
Naruto sighed inwardly. It was going to take a firm talking to to shake pinkie out of her fan girl tendencies. Maybe she could send her to her mother for a day. Kushina would definitely have the girl straightened out then. Tsunade could probably help as well.
"Okay, Sasuke you're next."
Sasuke smiled slightly. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha and I'm twelve. I like training and my friends and family and fried rice. I dislike fangirls and cowards and people who call me Sasu." A pointed glance was sent her way, which Naruto expertly avoided. "and my hobby is training and my dream for the future is to get the sharingan but prove that one doesn't need it to be a strong shinobi."
Naruto nodded approvingly. Her little brother had grown up well.
"Okay, you next."
The last boy looked at her with those startling yellow eyes and Naruto recognized them a moment before he spoke. "Hi, um my name is Yui Harushi. I like weapons and learning about new weapons. I dislike bees I guess. My hobbies are training and learning how to use new weapons. I guess my dream for the future is to be able to find balance with my families jikanteido."
Naruto felt like she had been punched in the stomach. This boy! Of course he was familiar! He was from the same clan as Akio had been. She couldn't let them see what she was feeling however and put on a casual appearance. Only Sasuke, who knew her well, would have any chance of seeing how tense she was.
"Harushi…" She murmured. "You wouldn't happen to have known an Akio Harushi would you? He died in battle about seven years ago."
Yui frowned slightly, his eyes dropping to the ground. "Yeah. He was my older brother. Why?"
Again that stupid fist to the stomach. It was just her luck that she be put on as sensei to the brother of her one time teammate.
"Oh, we were friends once." She said it casually, but there was pain in her eyes that all three genin noticed. Only Sasuke knew why though. Yui would have been five when she was on a team with Akio, much too young to remember her. She was glad. She didn't think she could stomach the accusations she knew she would receive in his eyes if he knew Akio died because of her.
Shaking herself out of her gloomy thoughts, Naruto smiled at her team. Her team.
"Well guys! Just from the sounds of you guys, you look like you have good potential that I don't want to waste! We wont be training today so you can have the rest of the day off to rest, but make sure that your at training ground 38 at seven o clock sharp tomorrow morning!"
And then, just because she was thirteen and wanted to impress them, Naruto used a shunshin that she learned in the village hidden in the gas. Her body started fading around the edges and then, seconds later, she dissipated into gas, leaving three open mouthed genin behind.
Even though her team had the rest of the day off, Naruto's day wasn't going to be nearly as restful. Now that she knew the identity of her team members, she wanted to observe them and get to know them without them putting up a front. She followed Sasuke first, just because she wanted to. She already knew him so it wasn't necessary, but she just wanted to see what he would tell Itachi. She smiled as she saw him bolt up to where Itachi was playing shogi with Fugaku and announce it proudly to both of them. To her pleasure, Fugaku seemed genuinely pleased and Itachi nodded his approval and ruffled Sasuke's hair. She was slightly disappointed in Itachi's reaction but didn't let it bother her, he barely showed emotion anyway. She was surprised that he showed so much of what he was feelings when they reunited but then again that was a special case. As she turned away from her spying spot, Naruto remembered their promise of a spar before she left and grinned. They would have to have that soon.
She followed Sakura next. It was actually pitiful how oblivious she was. Naruto had to remain a fairly decent distance behind Sasuke so that he wouldn't know she was following him but with Sakura she legitimately walked not even 15 metres behind her. The whole way. She didn't even bother hiding. Sakura's mother was almost exactly like her daughter in looks – she could have been an older sister or something. Naruto took a position in a tree outside the girls bedroom and watched her as she tidied up. The confident expression she had worn earlier had disappeared completely to be replaced by a carefully neutral one. Something about the expression unnerved Naruto. There was something so… lonely there. With a sigh, Naruto hopped down from her tree and approached the front door. Only hesitating for a second longer, Naruto rapped on the door three times. A muffled shout came from within and seconds later a small man with kind eyes opened the door. She vaguely recognized him from the council meetings she had attended. She was pretty sure he was on the civilian council but didn't know his name.
"Namikaze-san?" He asked hesitantly. He wasn't sure why the daughter of the hokage would be visiting his home, the hokage would have used a messenger if he was being summoned.
Naruto wanted to sigh at the formality but knew this would go better if he respected her and didn't see her as a child when he found out that she was sensei to his daughter.
"Hello Haruno-san." She politely greeted. "I was wondering if Sakura was home?" She asked, even though she knew the answer.
The man frowned lightly at her – he hadnt known his daughter was the friend of the hokage's daughter – but gestured her to come inside.
"She's in her room, up the stairs and your second door on the left."
Naruto nodded her thanks and quickly made her way to where he had directed, her feet barely making any noise at all on the carpeted floor. The door was closed so she knocked softly and waited.
"I'm not hungry mum, I don't want lunch today." Her students voice came from inside. Naruto had noticed her thin stature but hadn't thought it would be because she wasn't eating. It was just another thing she would have to set straight to get this girl to reach her potential.
"It's not your mother, it's your sensei." Naruto returned, opening the door slightly. "May I come in?"
There was a pause. "Sure."
Naruto entered the room slowly, taking in everything around her. It looked pretty much the same from the tree outside but she looked nonetheless. There were posters on the walls and the main colour scheme was pink and white. There were so many different skin, hair, and beauty products on a frilly vanity in the corner that it made the jonin wince. All the money spent on that could have bought her a very good weapon. She turned to face her student with a carefully neutral expression. Sakura was already wary, she wanted her to be as comfortable as she could right now.
"Hello, Sakura." She began, taking a seat on the bed. Very comfortable. "I just wanted to pop over here and talk to you for a bit in private." She said pleasantly.
Sakura took a seat on her vanity chair and frowned lightly. "Why in private?"
Naruto sighed. She was far to young for this. "Because… I'm a bit worried about you, Sakura."
Instantly the pink haired genin tensed and turned defensive. "Why?" She demanded.
Naruto sighed again. "Answer me this. Why do you want to become a ninja?"
Sakura smiled softly. "To get close to Sasuke."
"And there's your problem."
Sakura glared at her. "You're just jealous! You don't want another girl on the team so you're trying to get rid of me!"
Naruto stood up and took a step towards her, offended. How dare she imply that she cared about something so stupid.
"Not at all! I just know that at this point in time, you're going to die very early on if you don't get serious about your training and career."
This caught the girls attention. "What do you mean?"
"Being a shinobi isn't an easy life, Sakura." Naruto explained, a dark look in her eyes. She knew all to well how horrible it could be. "We do the jobs that no one else wants to. We protect our village at the cost of our own lives. The village depends on us to defend it, and we cant do that if we're not trying our very best."
She checked to make sure the girl was listening, and was gratified to see an intense look on her face.
"Why did you join the academy? Back when you were little? You didn't know Sasuke then so it couldn't have been because of that."
Sakura frowned lightly. "Because Ino did, and I wanted to stay with her."
"And when do you think you first started to like Sasuke? Really think about it for a moment."
Sakura opened her mouth, shut it, then opened it again. "When I saw how much all the other girls liked him. I didn't want to be different."
The genin looked up hesitantly, afraid to see pity in the blondes eyes. Instead, she saw a very soft, understanding look that shocked her.
"It's okay Sakura." Naruto said quietly. "We may have left very different lives, and whislt I cant empathize, I can sympathize. It's perfectly normal to want to fit in. it seems to me though that you really need to think about your life choices. Ill stand behind you whatever you chose, and I hope we can be friends either way, but if you're only becoming a shinobi to get close to Sasuke, you could end up getting your comrades killed one day."
Naruto stood and slowly walked to the door.
"Think about what I've said, Sakura. If you chose to quit, don't come to training tomorrow. If you decide that you want to continue on, then come. But you have to commit fully to a decision. If you come, I wont treat you softly. Ill push you just as hard as the boys, possibly harder. You'll need to chose what you want. Also," she added quickly. "Have you noticed how much fan girls annoys Sasuke? Wouldn't you rather have him as a friend rather then have him ignore you all the time?"
And then she left, leaving the 12-year-old to absorb all she had been told. Sakura would stay up late that night, thinking furiously about her choices, both in the past and the future.
Naruto slipped out silently, sneaking past the elder Harunos and back into the street. She really hoped Sakura turned up tomorrow, and really did change. She still had one more student to find however and focused on that, though it was only a mere half hour before she found his home. It was small, but beautiful. There were intricate carvings decorating the clan gate, and colour bloomed everywhere inside. The civilians faces showed happiness and laughter, something that made Naruto smile. Yui was a child of the main family so his house was the largest, right at the end.
Instead of announcing herself like she had at Sakura's, Naruto simply observed from a distance. Yui was sitting on his bed, sharpening his weapons. She was impressed when she realized that she only knew about half of them. Yui's face was deep in concentration as he worked and the girl couldn't have interrupted even if she had wanted. Now that she knew he was related to Akio, Naruto couldn't help but notice all the things that they were alike in. Besides the eyes, they didn't have much alike in the looks department except for their body structure, but that was a common trait in those that possessed the Jikanteido. It was their mannerisms that made them alike. Yui would occasionally tilted his head to the side as he thought about something in depth, an action that the blonde girl remembered Akio doing quite a lot. There were several little things like that that made her heart burn with guilt and eventually, as night began to fall, she left. She had been sitting there for hours without even realizing it, just watching the boy while lost in her memories.
Naruto hurried home, making it back just in time for dinner.
"Where have you been, missy?" Kushina asked with a smile as she set the table. She still couldn't believe how much her girl had grown up.
Naruto scowled and helped her mother. She had missed talking to her so much. "I've been observing my students."
"Oh really?" Kushina inquired, carefully neutral. She knew who had been put on her daughters team, and knew that she could have some tough feelings about it.
"Yes. They're a very interesting choice." Naruto said wryly. She didn't hold it against her father for placing Yui on her team, she knew he did it because he knew she felt guilty. This would be a way for her to make up some of that guilt. As long as the Harushi didn't find out. The table was set, a minute before six, and the two kuniochi sat down to wait. They didn't have to wait long, as at exactly six, a yellow flash appeared and Minato stepped forward to kiss his wife and ruffle his daughters already spiky hair.
"How'd you like your team?" Minato asked playfully, sitting down and beginning the meal. They were have fried rice and chicken.
Naruto grinned at him for a moment before the smile faded. "You know he's Akio's brother don't you?"
An affirmative nod answered her and Naruto sighed softly. "Thank you."
Nothing more was said on the touchy subject of Akio and instead they discussed her plans for her team test tomorrow. She told them about Sakura and her ultimatum and Kushina smiled proudly at her daughter. Dinner was finished with lots of laughter and joking and the family spoke a bit more before heading off to bed. She had a big day tomorrow, and didn't want to be late!
sixth chapter written! Are you all excited for the genin test next chap? because i am! im pretty sure its not going to be the bell test btw ;) votes on whether or not sakura should stay? not quite sure, it could go either way at the point tbh ahah
Like ive said before, advice and ideas are always welcome like seriously reviews guys ahah ;) but nah i guess just thanks for reading my story! x