A week into December mind boggling changes started showing in the Flying blackbird.
The first was the appearance of twinkling lights and a bunch of decorations lining the roof, windows, and displays. They shone in every color and twinkled like stars. The roof and awnings would alternate between red and green with striped canes, blue and white with colored balls.
The outside of the shop was crisscrossed by strings garnished with multicolored orbs of glowing light. More lights could be seen hanging haphazardly throughout the shop, zigzagging between shelves and the strange lamps turning the interior into a maze of twine. Probably a good thing since it kinda hurt his eyes.
The second was the reappearance of the radio within the shop. It was the size of Kiba's dog and looked like a giant toaster with an antler sticking out of it and it played all sorts of weird music-ttebayo.
Mina-nee said she didn't usually have it out cos' the music might freak out the customers. Which was weirdly normal for Mina-nee, but he guessed she had to be careful after The Date. besides when he had played with it in the back room it never worked anyway.
Loud static was really annoying and it gave him a headache-ttebayo.
It gave Dogface a headache too. Then again that might be because nee-chan grew a pine tree in the corner and it was his turn to sweep the floor. He didn't complain out loud, but it was pretty easy to see that he was upset. Even if his face was hidden by the shiny mask.
This happened last year too, but since he hadn't been living here, Naruto never noticed the tinier details. Like Mina-nee decorating the tree with sparkly glass balls and pictures like the ones in her room, or how the shop would start to smell like cinnamon and something kinda like mint but with a sharper bite. like it was crunchier than normal mint. Then again, last year Nee-chan didn't hang the talking portrait things up either.
Then again last year Nee-chan was eating dogfood and weeds so maybe she couldn't have this much stuff. It still makes him feel bad when she gives him the best bits of food. Unless it was fried potatoes, she eats those faster than he eats ramen. He tries to give them back but then she gives him this really intense stare and he eats it anyway. Sometimes he'll stare back but then Dogface starts snickering. It's not funny-ttebayo!
Naruto would stare back like Hinata sometimes stared at her elders. That kind of scary look
Naruto asked her where the money came from. They were kind of swimming in it now-ttebayo.
"I had some things sorted out." He tried to make her say something more but she always changed the subject.
Oddly enough not much changed despite all the money
Nee-chan still lived in the small shop. She still ate mostly vegetables, yuck.
She still made potions and magic candy.
The only major change was that she was now hiring genin teams to weed around the scary plants in the back. Well that and she wasn't buying dog food anymore.
Currently the shop was closed and Mina-nee was making a roasted goose, the big one he caught all by himself with some shoelaces, a coat hanger, and a used bedsheet. The smell filled the whole building and he started drooling whenever he thought about it for too long.
Nee-chan said that a big and important holiday was coming up and the store would be closing for a while because of it.
Naruto wasn't sure what holiday she was talking about. He figured that New Year's was coming up so it was probably that, but those celebrations never involved trees and presents.
The biggest Holiday he could think of was the kyuubi festival, which was on his birthday, October tenth. It was always the hardest day of the year, everyone would give him those awful looks and some people would throw things at him. It was also the day he got he got kicked out of the orphanage, but with Mina-nee here maybe this year would be different?
Maybe it was another witch holiday. Nee-chan spent the last day of october singing and dancing over a pot, giving out candy, and tricking people.
Why couldn't Konoha celebrate ha-ro-wiin?It was so much fun. Even Jiji and the daimyo's wife got in on it when they found out what Mina-nee's little potion did-ttebayo.
"Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog
Adder's fork and Blind-worm's sting
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing"
The witch danced around her abnormally large cauldron as Naruto, Hinata-chan, Jiji and Dogface watched. The potion started bubbling a scary green color that changed with each stanza of the song. Naruto recognized some of the words referring to parts of animals he knew. Cut up parts of dogs, owls, frogs, and snakes went into the cauldron. Even dragons bits! He had never seen a dragon before. Mina-nee said he was lucky but he thought it would be cool to see one.
"Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble."
The entire shop had been redecorated with bats and skulls. The roof and awnings had been recolored to black and orange stripes. Even Mina-nee had changed out of her pink grandma dress and black cloak into black pumpkin patterned dress with an awesome orange cloak.
"Something wicked this way comes!"
At the end of the little jig the potion had turned a cheerful pink and she poured it into a bunch of small cups and put them out front. It smelled kind of like roasted pumpkins and people started coming in to find the source of the smell. Most people were curious as to what the potion did but didn't have enough courage to actually take the 'trick'
It was kinda funny to watch the shinobi chitter and squeak like mice though-ttebayo.
Even Shisui-nii's cousins came in. They hadn't spoken much since Nee-chan broke her arm.
"Hi Goosebutt! Hi Goosehead-ttebayo!"
The younger one opened her mouth to tell him off but nee-chan beat him to it.
"Naruto that's not how you greet people at the counter." reprimanded Mina as she smacked him with a newspaper. "Hello boys. Would you like a trick or a treat?"
Goosebutt sort of just stared at Mina-nee. Naruto wasn't sure if he liked the look in his eye. He better not call Mina-nee a creep like some of the other civilians do. Uchiha or not, anyone who insults Nee-chan is gonna get a punch to the face. He gets a lot of practice punching away the smaller bouncing bulbs-ttebayo.
His brother ended up answering for him. "A treat for my brother and a trick for me please Majo-san."
Nee-chan nodded and gave goosebutt a candy mouse and goose head a cup of the potion.
Dogface leaned forward curiously. No one was allowed to drink the pink pumpkin smelling liquid until someone came into the store and the goose brothers had just given them the chance to see what happened.
Sasuke just wrapped the wriggling mouse candy in a napkin and stuffed it into his pocket.
Itachi took note of everyone's reactions and downed the bubbling drink in one gulp.
The result was horrifying. He collapsed to the floor as his legs began to change.
They were suddenly way longer then they were supposed to be-ttebayo.
Goosebutt teetered for a moment before crashing to the ground, unable to balance on legs that suddenly decided to bend in the opposite direction.
His skin darkened and spines began to sprout from it until they were the length of a finger and turned to feathers.
Arms became long and skinny like uncooked ramen noodles.
His eyes grew to the size of apples and his lips seemed to sprout from his face and morph into a black beak.
Naruto would have nightmares about it for for weeks afterward. He really wished he had looked away and judging from Goosebutt and Hinata-chan's expressions, they felt the same way.
And then it was over.
Goosehead had become a bird boy. He looked just like the crow tengu in the story books, only less scary and more funny. He staggered to feet and after a few tries, managed to stand almost like he had before he drank the trick drink, though his legs stuck out a little too far on both sides to be comfortable. "Majo-san. A warning would've been appreciated." Cawed the bird boy in a rougher but no less even voice. Then he started shuffling around so that he could get used to his weird bird legs without falling on his face.
"You did ask for a trick Itachi. Though perhaps I should call you Karasu?" Chirped Mina-nee with a little too much glee on her face. Seriously, it was kinda scary-ttebayo. Even Dogface was backing away a bit.
Then Shisui-owlface popped his head into the shop. "Heya 'Tachi! She got you too huh. You look great by the way, better then me." He hooted as he gestured to his mail owl transformation. It was the silliest thing he had ever seen with its great yellow eyes and funny face ruffles. Nee-chan had really weird looking birds where she came from-ttebayo! "Don't worry, I'm on my second batch. It'll wear off in a few hours. In the meantime, you should try gliding! The wings aren't strong enough to fly directly. WHICH SUCKS BY THE WAY! MINA YOU SHOULD FIX THAT." He screeched the last part at Nee-chan who was already popping out more pink drinks.
"It's supposed to be a partial shift! Plus, I DON'T CONTROL WHICH ANIMAL YOU TURN INTO!" She shouted back. She turned to the rest of the people who were staring curiously into the contents of the cups. "Go on. Give it a sip. It's perfectly safe and you can pretend to be monsters for a few hours."
In the end the entire village had been filled with animal hybrids for a few hours.
So yeah, Ha-ro-wiin was loads of fun.
Many shinobi discovered that they had bizarre reactions to ingesting mainstream transformation potions. Most of them ended up going to the hospital later that day with tinnitus, nausea, dizziness, and other symptoms in line with motion sickness after the potion wore off.
Even if the potion turned him half toad and gave him this really annoying ringing in his ears. It took Dogface a whole lot of fast taking to keep Hinata-chan's dad from killing them when she was brought back as a seagull girl. What is it with his friends having scary families-ttebayo?!
Choji's dad was bloody HUGE! and Kiba's mom always looked like she was real hungry! A boastful smile bloomed on his face. Mina-nee said that bloody was a bad word where she was from, and not just because it meant blood which was gross, because it was like the F-word.
Then again, he'd never been invited to anyone else's house before. Maybe it was a private thing, like birthdays or anniversaries. He'd never had one of those so he couldn't really tell. His smile, which was so big moments before, seemed to implode on itself, folding into an impressive frown. Mina-nee was family right? He'd been living there for ever.
That made them family right?
He had hoped this ku-ri-su-masu would be a fun and happy holiday like the end of october, but Nee-chan keeps looking sad even when she's smiling.
At first it wasn't so bad, he had barely even noticed, but as the month continued just got worse.
Mina had begun to throw herself into the holiday preparations. Stealing moments in between to stock to store in typical Mina fashion. She barely made enough time to talk with him. She didn't even make fun of Dogface anymore.
The food grew more and more elaborate each day. A few days ago it was Su-fu-rei, last night it was, twice baked potatoes. Tonight it she made a whole lot of Ra-sa-nya.
Then the snow started. Right over the shop, which was kind of cool but sometimes these kinda scary masks would appear in the corners, they were creepy cos' they're names never showed up on nee-san's magic door sign, just funny looking numbers. He wasn't sure what scared him more. The way Dogface always tenses when they're around, or the lack of a name.
(For some reason Dogface always covered nee-san's door sign when he comes in. Nee-san starting laughing when she told him.)
Dogface said to stay away from them.
Naruto had taken to asking Nee-chan about the people in the pictures to take her mind off of it. Mina-nee liked to tell stories about her friends. Especially stories about her nakama.
He would ask about her friends, and her teachers, and her sort-of siblings. He'd never had any, not really, so he was always hungry for them.
He liked to hear the pranks of the marauders. Three boys who turned themselves into animals once a month just to their fourth friend wouldn't be lonely when he took his cursed form.
The Patchwork Crew, seven friends breaking dozens of school rules, government laws and risking their livelihood to make sure one of them wasn't excluded. Ridori would steal things right from under the teachers by turning into a foot stool. Nee-chan and Kasu were lucky to have them.
Naruto hopes he would have nakama like that one day too. Well, he had Hinata-chan, she was awesome. But he'd like to have more than one-ttebayo.
Still, the stories Nee-chan told gave him hope that someday, it might happen.
It kept her distracted for a little while, but it all came to a head on the twenty fifth.
The three of them had spent the morning making cookies, opening presents (mostly for him and dog face from Nee-chan and Shisui-nii), and sliding off the snowy rooftops with tea trays. Then they danced around to witch show tunes. Nee-chan got sick of dogface standing around awkwardly after a few minutes and dragged him on to the dance floor.
It was kinda weird seeing him dance like that. He looked so awkward that even the portraits were giggling about it. Jijii said that the ANBU were professional ninja. But ninja didn't dance, did they?
Shisui-nii was on another mission, which made him feel bad 'cos ku-ri-su-masu was supposed to be for family.
But then during dinner time Nee-chan set the table for way too many people. There were twenty places set and some of them were highchairs.
He asked who else was coming 'cos he really wanted to meet them.
But then she got all quiet. "That's right. It's just me now…. They've all been killed. They've all been k-killed by…."
To Naruto and Dogface's dismay she started crying her eyes out.
Dogface reached over to comfort her only to be shot in the gut with a stinging hex.
"GET AWAY FROM ME MONSTER!" She screeched with her wand still out and glowing.
Naruto flinched and tried to ignore the tears forming. She thought he was a monster too?
He opened his mouth to ask when he noticed that she hadn't been speaking to him at all, but at Dogface.
"IT'S BAD ENOUGH I'M STUCK IN SOME BACKWATER NATION OFF THE MAP! I have spent years living in fear that one of your minister's mooks would kill me for making the wrong move or torture me if I didn't do something! I've been forced to support mindless MURDER and TORTURE!" She screamed in anger. "DON'T YOU DARE COME ANY CLOSER!"
Dogface simply bowed his head and took the stream of abuse without any comment. The moment seemed to last forever but the light soon faded from the wand and the witch dropped her hand as she realized what she had just said.
"I miss my home..." Sobbed Mina as she sank to the floor. "I'm sorry… "
"Don't be..." Murmured Dogface as he stared at nothing in particular. "I deserve it..."
Hyuuga Hinata liked a lot of things, but there were some things she didn't like.
She didn't like how Neji-niisan looked at her. It was a glare filled with anger and resentment and it never failed to make her feel lower than dirt.
He was the genius of the Hyuuga clan, but he was from the branch family and so he was barred from learning certain techniques. He had been glaring at her ever since Hizashi-Jisama returned from her kidnapping injured and scarred.
It got worse once Ji-sama told him the limits of what he could be taught. Hinata wouldn't complain though, Naruto-kun got worse then that all the time and he still smiled through the day. He still walked with his head high.
She offered to teach some to Neji but he rejected it.
"I don't need pity from the Main branch. Especially not from someone like You." He spat.
She figured he just hadn't believed her.
She really could help him too, even if she had trouble with the techniques when her elders were watching. It was hard not to shake with all those eyes glaring at you. The Hyuuga elders were once proud warriors of the clan and while their bodies may have atrophied, their fierce stare did not.
Hinata had trained on her own ever since that awful day. She could even do the vacuum palm technique.
Nobody aside from Naruto believed her when she said that though.
She didn't want to worry about being grabbed from her engawa again. Once her sister was old enough, Hinata resolved to train with her as well.
The porch that once held the beauty of the night had been ruined when she was drugged and shoved into a sack. Try as she might, she could not shake the feeling that she would suddenly blink and find herself in darkness each time she looked out into the night
Even with her Byakugan, Hinata couldn't help but wonder if there were any more nasty surprises hiding in the dark that would spring out and try to grab her. She could still hear the terrifying roar of the unseen monster through her drug induced haze.
Even if Father said differently, she knew there was a monster in the village.
She knows that this disappoints the elders and her father, and that makes it worse.
She didn't like bullies either but then she probably wouldn't have met Naruto-kun, who fell out of the sky and broke his leg when he saw some making fun of her. Hinata still felt bad about them getting hurt but at least it wasn't serious.
Hinata noticed how people were mean to Naruto-kun but shied away from his sister and the Dog masked man that followed them about. She asked her father about it, but didn't get anything other than to be careful around "that boy" as he was referred to by the household, especially if he got enraged because he might destroy everything around him.
She thought that was kind of silly, and had to carefully make sure her father couldn't read such thoughts from her expression.
Naruto-kun wouldn't hurt a fly.
Actually that wasn't right. He hunted in the woods for food sometimes, but that didn't count. Plus, the only way to make him really really mad was to insult Mina-Oneesan. Even then all he would do was punch them if they were kids, or prank them if they were adults.
Hinata didn't like being inside Mina-oneesan's shop either. She wasn't sure why, but something inside just felt funny. Like something very important was missing and hiding just beyond her field of site. A very uncomfortable feeling for someone used to seeing everything around her. It was highly confusing and it made her itch. She was glad her store was there though. Father and mother had told her that if it wasn't for the witch and her store, either she would've been kidnapped, or her father would've caused a serious incident by accidentally killing the kumo ambassador.
She wasn't sure she believed that but she would be sure to avoid Kumo's Purple Monstrosity in the future.
The Flying Blackbird was the source of many of her happy memories despite the strangeness coming from the store. Mina-oneesan was always patient with her questions and she always answered them, even if it wasn't something that adults normally told kids. Like the best way to blow up a building, or how to build a potato cannon, or where babies came from. The woman even encouraged sassy responses, citing that it showed a clever mind if an insult can be worded in a way that was polite and humorous at the same time.
She looked forward to the witch holidays since the celebrations were always interesting. The looks on the faces of the elders when they saw her in her half seagull state was almost worth the scolding she got. The strange egg drink that Oneesan offered earlier in the month was rather enjoyable too. Even Hanabi liked it.
When Naruto-kun showed up in front of the Hyuuga estate in tears about Mina-oneesan having a meltdown, she intended to do something about it. So she ignored the gate guard and pulled him into her training grounds and sat through his blubbering recount of the events that had transpired in the store.
Hinata was bad at many things, but understanding people, was not one of them.
Naruto didn't seem to understand that Oneesan was essentially living Hinata's worst nightmare. Then again, maybe he didn't notice. He was kind of dumb like that sometimes.
If she had escaped the Kumo nin and ended up being forced to live in a red light district, she would've gone crazy a long time ago. Stuff like that sort of flew in the face of everything she had been taught. It was a perversion of everything she considered sacred and a violation of her core values.
Hinata had also heard about the date farce. In fact, she had been following them herself to see what all the fuss was about.
"N-Naruto-kun. I think Oneesan's precious people were k-killed by someone wearing a mask. Maybe that's why she attacks ANBU sometimes." She began "I-I think she knows that what she did to D-Dogface was terrible. B-but she couldn't stop herself which made her even m-more upset and angry."
"Thanks for explaining. You're good at this stuff ya know-ttebayo." Naruto dragged his fingers up his inner wrist catching his sleave and wiped his nose. "We should do something to cheer her up!" His usual grin bloomed across his face in dynamic proportions. Quickly refolding his legs into a neater position Naruto hunched over crossed arms, his eyes scrunched in deep thought.
"I Know! I could pull a huge prank with the Hokage mountain! Or cover jiji's desk in post-its! Or maybe-"
"Naruto-kun." Hinata knew better than to let him ramble. Oneesan told her to keep him from doing something drastically stupid, or stupidly drastic. She had no doubt that he would do as he says and get in trouble for it. "M-maybe we should get her a gift of her own? U-um. It would show that we care."
Naruto perked up instantly. "Hey! Yeah Tha's a great idea! Let's go buy her somethin' awesome-ttebayo!" Then he dashed off to the shopping district where people would throw him out because of his birthday. Or he would pick up something he couldn't actually afford and cause a scene leading to the same action. Or buy copious amounts of ramen and spill it everywhere.
"W-wait for me Naruto-kun!" Called Hinata as she ran after him.
The witch had proved to be a valuable asset to Konoha.
Many of her products had made interrogations a good deal easier. But she had also been hired to ward the Hokage's files, which meant that he was rather short on information at the moment. Her personal items in her home were similarly warded. The few pages that he had been able to get his hands on had nothing written on them. Which should be impossible since his agents had observed her writing a formula of some sort. There wasn't any signs of chakra on them either so no genjutsu was used.
Danzo cursed under his breath as he watched another one of his agents get caught and sent to Torture and interrogation.
He had been relying on visual observation for the most part to get details on her techniques.
He originally considered using his agents to experiment and test the witch but that idea was quickly cast aside.
He could only imagine the possibilities if he had reliable access to her kekkei genkai.
However, she was civilian, and a civilian in mourning at that. She had shown absolutely no interest in the Shinobi system. If anything, she had been appalled at the suggestion and politely dismissed the agent who had recommended the option. The exact words, as quoted by the agent in question were "I respect the culture of the land even if I do not understand it. You will have to excuse my ignorance if I won't find fulfillment in being used by someone else. The pay just isn't worth it."
There was also that treasonous debate she had with the Uchiha on their date he had to worry about as well as the disaster that followed. She also kept interfering with The Weapon by telling children's stories about silly things like teamwork and a casual disregard for rules.
To think Sarutobi would actually believe that she was a good influence on The Weapon. Too bad he couldn't cut the ties since she's all it talked about.
But she was also woman. They were often a slave to their emotions and it couldn't be helped.
Ducking out of the way from a flock of highly aggressive blackbirds he got up and pulled the files of several younger agents and spread them across the desk in an attempt to find a path forward. She seemed to have a soft spot for children as well as an inclination to distrust shinobi. That was something he could use at least. Perhaps he could send operative Kabuto to her under the guise of needing a job to support himself. If the Uchiha was any indication, Kabuto would likely be taught several useful potions during his time working there as well as given access to highly valuable plants.
Since Hiruzen's idiot student had dropped in a few months ago he had lost a good chunk of his monetary assets as well as the chance to pressure the witch into joining ROOT.
That was probably for the best since, according to the hospital file he acquired, she had proved to be rather fragile despite her apparent strength as well as having an extreme chakra allergy. She wouldn't last long on a mission at all and training her would be a waste of time.
Her offspring on the other hand, there was a good deal of promise there. Danzo knew that Hiruzen would eventually pair her off with someone for that purpose. She had even allowed that act and copies of that particular letter had been copied and stored in a variety of places in case she should attempt to deny it. His operatives would run interference if he decided the candidate was not suitable for ROOT purposes.
Still, that woman's monetary support would have made his operations a great deal easier. It was much easier to operate over great distances when corrupt officials could be bribed into leaving something alone. Not to mention keeping her products out of the national economy.
Danzo rubbed his forehead with his unbound arm before setting aside the paperwork and leaning back in his seat.
He had no intention of letting any other village have access to the potions. It was one less item that couldn't be turned against Konoha agents.
He had to be careful from this point forward.
Fortunately the witch seemed to be more emotionally vulnerable during the end of the year when she seemed to become more aware of her situation and position in the village. She was likely more paranoid but more open to suggestion from one of his civilian operatives.
Make no mistake, once she proved to be too much of a liability he would have her taken care of by Orochimaru. A seduction operation was viable as whether or not the witch kept the child was inconsequential. The snake man could be quite charming when he wanted to be.
He had contacts in the hospital as well as the means to induce an early labor or force an abortion and grow the fetus in a lab.
If that doesn't work he could just have her sedated and taken to Sound and extract a child there.
An official announcement of her death should also make the Weapon as well as Hatake susceptible to influence.
Danzo fully intended to keep the witch books regardless of happened. With the witch's death all of the security wards should fail in theory since none of them had been anchored by a seal or a mage equivalent.
The witch had many reliable patrons and someone was bound to notice if anything happened quickly, especially Hatake who seemed to have bonded with the asset. Over pornographic novels no less.
He grimaced at the thought.
Yes, In the long run this was surely the best option.
If he went this route he would have to time this perfectly.
If he waited too long the Weapon would be out of his hands. If he rushed the Weapon would be destabilized and the Kyuubi may once again be unleashed and Konoha would be lost.
Not to mention the Uchiha might use the Mangekyo on her. It was only a stroke of luck that kept him out of the village during her weakest moments. That situation has to be dealt with, quickly at that.
The risks of this option were enormous but the payoff, equally so.
Kabuto might get airs if he learns any of the witch's abilities which would make him harder to control.
He wouldn't have to worry about the witch teaching Orochimaru anything. Apparently whatever energy she uses tends to displace chakra and despite Orochimaru's delusions about immortality, even he would not be so stupid as to cast aside something he spent his entire life building up in exchange for a skill he barely understood.
He would however have to worry about Orochimaru deciding not to give up the Asset. Orochimaru had an advantage as he resembled one of her old friends right down to the snake association. If the witch truly got seduced she could certainly be turned against the village, and with her the Weapon.
Again, a mangekyo from a specific Uchiha would be very useful in insuring that this doesn't happen, but the boy was also within the woman's grasp. Somehow the uppity bastards had grievously offended the witch and Uchiha Shisui had been given to her in recompense. Of course the only information available on this was the involvement of a giant strike of lightning which he assumed was a display of anger from the witch rather than a jutsu gone wrong like the official explanation states.
He highly doubted that she would allow the boy to get away with shirking his duty at the shop for anything short of a Hokage notice signed, stamped and handed to her by the man himself.
He didn't have access to the boy's ANBU files either and so could not send anyone to intercept him on a mission. Add the raised security on the ANBU entrance and Hiruzen monitoring it with his crystal and camping outside became impractical.
It left him in a dilemma.
Perhaps an opportunity will present itself.
Avoiding more conjured birds that had been released into the ROOT headquarters, Danzo began making his way outside and back to the public eye of Konoha.
Author's note: This chapter has not been Beta'd. I got kind of impatient and I wanted to get it out right away. My viewers tend to have that effect on me. I'll be replacing it with the cleaner version later.
Edit: It has now been cleaned up.
Edit 2: It has been cleaned up a second time. Next chapter is still in progress.
Mina's melt down made me depressed. This is pretty much the first time she hasn't spent christmas working her ass off trying to support herself. The last few years she's more or less ignored it outside of therapy and now its festered and oozing. I don't know about anything else but this was the way I dealt with my problems for a long time. I still do it even when I know it will blow up, but I can't exactly help it.
Hinata had given me some trouble. I can't quite picture her different from the show since she seemed pretty talented but also pretty nervous too. This Hinata was sure to be different from the last one, especially since she isn't involved in someone dying. I figure she would still be kind of shy and awkward and a little lacking in self confidence rather than self esteem in canon. Her fear of the dark would remain because she had used potions to calm herself rather then learning how to do it on her own.
She still strives for her father's approval but struggles with performance anxiety when ever she gets the chance to prove herself. She is considerably less likely to be cowed by anything since she knows what she is worth but doesn't like the idea of being heir if it meant more attempted kidnappings. She also kinda had to grow a spine if she didn't want Naruto and Mina to forcibly drag her into the magical world.
Side note, her first act of growing a spine involved a debate about which story Mina should read to them. She wanted Watership Down and Naruto wanted Knights of the Round table. The former being an epic tale of rabbits forging a new path into the unknown. The latter being about King Arthur's knights and all their valiant adventures.
Hinata won that debate by staring at them until they gave in.
As for why Mina had Muggle storybooks? She was friends with a number of muggleborns and she had been a part of the muggle association. She doesn't care where the origins of the story came from as long as it was good. She also finds Muggle artistic License to be fascinating.
I was actually debating between writing danzo and writing Obito for the third segment. I ended up going with danzo because it was fun to scheme and write out his plans and other plot possibilities.
So it looks like Obito cursing Kakashi at the graveyard will have to wait. I couldn't think of much to write other then Him cursing Kakashi for killing rin, cursing Mina for being able to see rin and writing her words, and hating them both for being close to each other. Not to mention the crazy magical factor.
On a completely unrelated sidenote. The halloween portion was inspired from the toad choir song from the movies. I liked to think that the song was originally a chant for an actual transformation potion that could be modified into something more benign or more malignant depending on the intent and the ingredients tossed into it. I imagine that Halloween for wizard children must be a whole lot of fun. The hybrid transformations not mentioned are monkey, maned wolf, great gray owl, weasel, ram, and chicken for Hiruzen, Kakashi, Shisui, Sasuke, and The daimyo's wife respectively. The rest you can come up with yourselves.
Hinaamaple: I'm glad that you are enjoying this story.
Manaliac: Yeah, Kakashi and Mina are about the same age. Her birthday is november 16th so about two months younger then he is.
To the ever mysterious guest: Mina/kashi is a possibility as soon as Kakashi figures out that its perfectly fine to find someone attractive. And also Mina gets over her issues since attacking each other is not conductive to a healthy relationship. I am considering that later on though.
To the other mysterious guest: Wizard pornographic photos would be like the gifs on tumblr and such. Pornographic drawings and paintings would be like interactive porn videos. They also don't come with volume control beyond what the wizard can cast. You can imagine that porn shops are rather noisy as a result. Funny enough most of the guides of that nature include pictures that demonstrate how to use toys and other things and what not. I imagine that sex education would involve copious amounts of these things.
Lurking Pheonix: You aren't wrong. Almost every ROOT operative has been attacked by those things. They aren't particularly subtle but he has adapted them into his defences.
Reviews are Love~