Authors Note: Just a warning this is going to get a bit long and a bit of it is somewhat important so I'll get with that first.
First of is a question to you guys. Currently I'm pumping out one chapter a week at around 2,000-4,000 words each. This actually is my maximum workflow at the moment due to the fact I'm busy constantly and don't have much time to write outside of weekends. However I was wondering if you guys like the current set up or if you think I should maybe post on longer chapter (between 6000-8000 words probably) every two weeks instead of these shorter ones every single week. I would like to hear from you guys about this because I don't mind adjusting my schedule a bit.
Alright that aside I want to thank everyone for the reviews, likes and follows. As I'm typing this the story is at 99 follows (SO CLOSE) 50 favorites and 14 reviews. I think everyone for the support and hope you guys can all keep providing it, it brings me more joy then you would think.
Now then I've also been getting quite a few reviews asking what Kaminari looks like. So I quickly sketched up a picture of her because I'm not sure if I'll ever really describe her in great detail in the actual fic due to the law of conservation of detail. Its on my artblog on Tumblr and a link to that is on my profile to feel free to go look at it there because apparently you cant link shit in here
Outside of that I have two reviews that were left that I'm going to reply to here as they didn't have accounts to pm:
PreludetoLove: Thank you for your interest in the story, I hope you continue to enjoy it! When it comes to Kaminari's name I know it isn't a common name by any stretch. I actually was looking at other names before choosing this one mostly because Kaminari's name is actually a pun. Depending on how it is written it could mean quite a few different things. In this I referenced in the prolog that her name could of very well just been Rai, this is due to the fact that Rai and Kaminari share the same Kanji character, and Rai is a much more average name. Kaminari however is way more fun to mess with because if you were not write it in that Kanji it could mean many, many different things. Kami for example could mean God, the most common translation, but it could also mean hair, above, or even paper. Nari could be talking about thunder, or shape, or an affirmation. So to put it smply I mostly named her Kaminari because the possibility of making a pun out of her name later is now completely open to me in many different ways. Plus Minato and Kushina have some pretty shitty naming skills between the two of them, so I wouldn't put it past them to name their kid something weird. (*cough cough* Naruto *cough cough*)
KaialianEdain: This... Is not something I actually expected to do at all. This fanfiction is inspired by DoS but I hadn't planned on trying to fit it into the actual DoS universe. This is actually due mostly to a few things. For one I'm a little antsy about sticking a fanfiction onto another fanfiction due to the fact that this would basically become an au of an au. I would be at least slightly dependent of their work and how it continues to for. This isnt the biggest issue though, my biggest hurdle would actually having Shikako in this fic. This is mostly because Shikako is not my character, and she is not a canon character. I can't play the "alternative character interpretation" game with her to skid around moments that might be considered ooc. With her, I'd want to write her right. I'd want her to be in character and unless I could contact Silver Queen directly and ask "hey, what would Shikako do in this situation?" I would be really, really nervous having her in the fic.
That being said if I could contact Silver Queen and maybe ask them directly about this... I don't see why not. I don't have any objection plot-wise to it. Currently at the rate this fanfic is going it'll take quite some time to even get to the point where Shikako would be actively playing a role. So I'm actually going to say maybe. Maybe this will end up like a fanfic of DoS. Maybe.
And if anyone else has an opinion of that matter or on any other ones feel free to leave a review or shoot me a pm about it. I really would love to talk about this kind of thing with you guys.
Anyways! With that done let me thank you one more time for all the support! As usual I dont have a beta so I apologize for any spelling or grammatical mistakes. Feel free to contact me about them. I hope we continue to enjoy this ride together.
Dad sat in the back yard across from me. After a day of relaxing, mostly including laying around the house all day and simply acclimating back to being home, he told Mom and I that he'd only be staying a few weeks before being sent back out again. This back and forth for one month intervals would apparently be the new norm, at least until the war was won. Or unless it got horribly worse and every able bodied person was out fighting in a desperate attempt to survive. But that went unsaid, only the possibility of winning was mentioned, so I didn't mention the chances of things just going sour. Either way, it was due to this new schedule and the war that Dad had also decided that now was a very good time to start my training in the ninja arts.
Just in case, he said.
We all ignored the weight hidden in that statement.
And thus were outside, sitting cross-legged and starting my first lesson in chakra.
"Now Kaminari in order to control your chakra you need to unlock it." Dad said as we relaxed into a more meditative stance, "I want you to close your eyes and feel inside yourself for it."
I raised an eyebrow at that and he smiled sheepishly.
"Trust me, most people don't actually feel it until they start to purposely look for it." He added, "When you feel it, you'll know when. I can promise you that."
With a small shrug I closed my eyes, looking and feeling for anything that seemed out of place. I was a bit unsure by what he meant by, 'When you feel it, you know it', because it seems ridiculous that I would of not noticed my own chakra before. I already understood somewhat of how chakra felt because I simply always felt it. It was practically everywhere, and completely ignorable in most situations. But people's chakra all felt different.
Mom was like the sunlight, bright and energetic but with this deep kernel of sticky, red pressure inside of it.
Dad's chakra was also energetic but in a different way, more subdued, like a warm summer breeze.
Kaka-nii's was a storm, the buzz in the air before lighting hit, heavy and tense like it was ready to snap and go at any moment.
Rin-nee's was the opposite, a gentle flow that was like a river.
Obi-nii's was like an ember, sparks of fire occasionally bursting into flames.
Itachi's was like a candle, not much heat behind it but the potential was there, and it was ready to become something much more.
Everyone's chakra felt different, even in the smallest of ways. That being said I had never really focused on how my own chakra felt. Probably because, since I was myself, I might of actually just been used to it. With this conclusion in mind I tried to sort it apart from the rest of me. After a few moments of silence I squirmed a bit.
"Dad I don't think it's working." I said with a small frown, opening my eyes to look at him.
He looked in thought for a moment before looking back to me.
"Okay close your eyes and focus again, I'm going to try something."
"Alright." I said and closed my eyes, waiting for whatever it was that was supposed to happen as I fell back into the search.
Suddenly I felt a soft ping of chakra,causing me to jump before I realized it was just a tiny bit of Dads hitting me, and suddenly I noticed it as it touched my system.
I felt my chakra.
A deep humming in my veins. It was almost indescribable, strange, like looking into the night sky on a cloudless night. Deep and full, lazily crackling through me with a quiet intensity. It felt weird, and yet oddly amazing.
"Oh.." I said simply as I blinked my eyes open and looked down at my hands for a moment, almost half expecting this sudden new feeling to be physically seen in some way before looking back up at Dad. I must of had one strange expression on my face because he chuckled at my response.
"Yeah, it's usually a bit of a surprise when you first unlock it, but don't worry you should be able to get used to it." He said before giving a soft smile, "Are you feeling okay?"
I flexed my fingers a bit as the humming in them continued.
"I'm okay." I said and tried to push the feeling to the back of my mind, returning his smile, "I was just wasn't expecting that."
"Even when they get told to expect something no one ever actually does." Dad said, smile widening as he moved and grabbed the stack of paper next to him.
"But now that you have that done you can start learning how to manipulate your chakra." He said happily as he set the stack of paper between us. He then put his hand flat against the stack and lifted it, a sheet coming back up with his hand, stuck firmly to it. He shook it a bit to show that it was infact stuck causing me to giggle and him to grin at me.
"This is the most basic chakra control exercise. All you need to do is focus your chakra into your hand when you press it up against something and it should stick. Paper is a good place to start since it's smooth." He explained, demonstrating for me slowly this time with his other hand as I watched.
"If you use too much chakra you'll shoot the paper off your hand, like this." He smiled brightly as the paper shot off his hand and I caught it with a grin.
"And if you use too little it just slide off like you aren't using any chakra at all." He demonstrated this with the other hand, letting it fall gently to the ground from his hand.
"Any questions?" Dad asked as he straightened out the paper pile and looked at me. I went over the steps in my head for a moment before shaking my head and smiling.
"No Dad, I think I understand it" I confirmed and he ruffled my hair.
"Alright then, let's see if you can do it."
I nodded and set down the piece of paper I caught before lightly put my hand on top of the paper pile, trying to focus my chakra into it. It was harder than I was expecting, the humming energy not really wanting to move much. After a moment that surely seemed longer then it was I felt it reach my hand and I pushed it through. The trick was really trying to get it out in consistent amount, and then having it stay there.
I lifted up my hand, the paper hanging on for a moment before starting to fall off, I quickly increased the amount of chakra to my hand, only managing to over correct it and causing the paper to shoot off my hand and flutter gently to the ground. Dad chuckled and I shot him a small glare and pout.
"It's not funny Dad." I huffed before looking back down at the stack of paper as if it offended me.
"I'm sorry," He apologized lightly and I rolled my eyes because he clearly wasn't, "Don't worry though, it's going to take a few tries to get it. It's not supposed to be easy the first time."
"I'm good at most things the first time." I stated before setting my hand back onto the paper stack and moving my chakra into my palm again. It certainly did go easier this time, but I wouldn't admit that. Slowly lifting my palm up the paper stuck firmly for a few moments before starting to slip again. I forced more chakra into my palm, trying to find the perfect point where it would stop but not fly off my hand. I didn't, and the paper fell to the ground as I didn't manage to exert enough chakra as fast as needed.
I quickly put my hand back onto the pile and tried again.
Another piece shot off my hand.
The next stuck for a solid fifteen seconds before my control slipped and it fell away.
An hour passed by like this with various failures and no successes.
I glared down when my hand smacked the ground instead of more paper, realizing that I had somehow managed to get through the whole original stack. Dad had all the pieces I went through in his hands, and shot me a small smile.
"You should take a break, otherwise you could accidentally exhaust yourself." He said softly and I sighed. I could feel a nagging soreness in my body but I didn't want to stop. I liked to learn, I liked to impress my parents and make them proud. I didn't like not being able to do something that I knew I could do if only I tried hard enough. But at the same time, I knew Dad was right. I would only hold myself back if I worked too hard. Didn't stop me from wanting to do it anyways.
"Can I try again in an hour?" I asked hopefully, looking up at him. He thought for a minute before smiling.
"You can try again after lunch for a little bit, but you're young so you can't do this too much." He said.
"Okay…" I conceded and stood up after him before taking one of his hands and heading inside, promising myself that I would be able to do this by time Dad had to leave again.
A week later and I hadn't made enough progress for my taste. I could easily stick to the paper now, but the issue was keeping it on my hand for anything longer than a handful of seconds. Both Mom and Dad were proud at me being able to perform the simple task but I wasn't happy yet. I wanted to be able to do this right.
Lucky for me I had time to practice today.
Kind of.
There was a catch to it. Theoretically I had already practiced for the day, showing slow progress like usual and I wasn't allowed to do anymore per Dad's say so. However Mom and Dad had left today, something about a lunch date, and so I was left with a babysitter. Usually babysitting duty fell onto Kaka-nii's shoulders due to the fact that he was almost always around anyways. Today though since the lunch date had been a spur of the moment thing and since Kaka-nii wasn't directly around it fell to whoever my parents could convince to watch me for an hour or two.
Rin-nee was working away at the hospital during her time back.
Kaka-nii was off gallivanting about somewhere.
Obi-nii though, he hadn't been doing anything particularly important and had been close at hand.
And it was due to this that my plan was going to be able to work.
See Obi-nii was perfect for this because of a few things. First off he was always willing to play along with whatever I wanted to do. Rin-nee always tried to keep things to calm activities like reading or helping me with my calligraphy, and Kaka-nii liked to do whatever I want as well but wouldn't let me get away with things, he watched me too much for me to get into trouble.
Obi-nii would let me do what I want, and as long as I didn't obviously put myself in trouble he probably wouldn't notice me doing things that I wasn't supposed to be doing.
And so as soon as my parents left I grabbed bi-nii's pant leg and gave him my sweetest smile I could muster.
"Obi-nii," I said in almost a sing-song tone, "I wanna play hide-and-go-seek!"
He smiled brightly at me
"Alright Kami-chan, inside or outside?" He asked back.
"Outside." I said and started tugging him towards the door, him following with a small grin.
"Sheesh you're excited. So do you want me to look for you first?"
I nodded and walked outside, bouncing on my feet slightly as Obi-nii shut the door behind us.
"Okay start counting Obi-nii!" I demanded with childlike impatience which got be an eyeroll as Obi-nii covered his eyes and started counting out loud.
"One… Two.. Three.." He slowly went through the numbers as I scrambled away to enact my idea. Getting to the base of one to the trees in our yard with lower hanging branches, I jumped up and grabbed one before struggling to pull myself up onto it. Ignoring the burning in my limbs from all the chakra training earlier I quickly climbed up the tree as far as I could make it while still being surrounded by the leaves, the thick upper branches creaking under my weight a bit as I got higher. The one I ended up settling on making an almost ominous sounding noise as I say on it, but at that moment I really could care less. This was the only way to get away with doing this after all, if Obi-nii saw me I'd probably get scolded that then he'd watch me more carefully after that. Smiling to myself at a job well done I got to work. I plucked a leaf from the tree and started trying to make it stick to my hand.
It wasn't paper so it was a bit harder to work with because leaves just aren't smooth. Still the grooves in it were small and it was close enough for what I was doing.
I heard Obi-nii finish counting and start to look for me, but I had guessed that he'd probably check around closer to the ground first. Not even because he would think I was down there but more because I was a child and he usually let me at least look like I was good at these games, so even if he knew I was up here he'd give me a bit and act like it was harder to find me then it actually was. Which gave me plenty of time to get a bit more practice in.
I'll admit, I felt a bit smug that I could sneak more practice time in like this.
I let out a small yawn as I worked, carefully controlling my chakra and making the leaf stick for longer, and longer a period of time. I was at close to a minute when I shifted my weight and the branch I was on made another noise. Not the same one as last time though.
It cracked.
Then it broke.
And suddenly I was falling through the tree towards the ground with a loud, surprised shriek. In my life there had been very few to no moments that I could actually regret, but that moment was slapped onto the small list of those times within a half a second of me falling.
I screamed as I fell, mostly in shock from the suddenness of it all and flailed my arms, trying to grab onto anything I could touch. My hands managed to slam into a branch with a loud smacking noise but the force from the fall was still strong enough to immediately cause my grip to falter. It was in that moment I didn't think, I just acted. I slammed most of what was left of my chakra into my hands and tried to stay attached for my dear life, my heartbeat pounding in my ears and I shut my eyes tightly, scared to see what would happen next. My screaming stopped after a moment and nothing happened. I noise beneath me followed by a voice.
"Holy Shit! Kaminari- just uh hold on I'll get you-" What sounded like Obi-nii came from below me and I blinked open my eyes to look down. He was staring up at me, maybe six feet beneath the bottom of my feet and was pale and wide eyed as, I assumed at least, he tried to figure out how to safely get me down. My brain was working sluggishly at the moment and I looked up to see my hands firmly stuck against the side of a thick branch. I stared at it for a moment before I realized what I had done.
"Obi-nii! Obi-nii look I-" I didn't get to finish my response because at that moment it was like a timer went off in my head and my tiredness slammed into me. Adrenalyn had stopped me from feeling it at the moment of me falling, but now actually seeing and feeling my chakra stick me to the branch it hit me like a brick. And I suddenly couldn't even try to keep it up. So the flow of chakra to my hands sputtered to a stop and I fell. Again.
I let out another surprised yell at this but didn't hit the ground. Obi-nii managed to catch me before that and He stared at me, pale and wide eyed. I blinked at him before slowly looking between him and my hands before my gaze landed on him and I gave him a nervous smile.
"I did it." I said, my voice rough from the shock of everything that just happened.
Obi-nii stared at me for a solid moment and I was about to ask him if we was okay before his eyes suddenly got wet and he glared at me.
"I can't believe you just did that!" His voice cracked a bit as he yelled at me. I winced at the sudden anger.
"You just- What if you had gotten hurt?" He continued, swallowing down something as I stared at him quietly. "What the hell were you thinking Kaminari?!"
I swallowed and felt something thick lodge itself in my throat as I looked away from his upset expression.
"I… I just wanted to practice more." I meekly stated and Obito let out a noise in the back of his throat that sounded somewhere between a groan, a sigh, and something not even describable.
"Damn it Kaminari- just… You can't just go and do that! It's dangerous and you scared the shit out of me!" He said while gently setting me down and swiping at his eyes.
I frowned, trying to remember the last time I got in any serious trouble.
"I'm sorry Obi-nii…" I quietly said, trying to put as much conviction into my voice as possible because I was sorry. I didn't mean to almost get hurt, and I certainly didn't mean to scare him so bad.
"You should be," He said in a slightly strangled tone as he sighed and looked down at me, "just don't do it again. Okay?"
"I promise." I said honestly and he let out another deep sigh, clearly trying to calm down.
"Okay… Good…" He said and we fell into an awkward silence for a moment before he looked at the door.
"How about we go inside and read a book or something?" He offered.
I just nodded and let him steer me towards the door. Guilt preventing me from objecting at all.
Mom and Dad were less than pleased when they found out. That was putting it lightly. I both got the same lecture from both of them that I had gotten from Obi-nii, just with less tearing up and more anger which, I would admit, was well due. It had been a stupid idea. It had been a horrible, stupid idea. And I had admitted that within seconds of the lecture starting. Along with close to fifteen promises that I wouldn't do it again.
Dad Sighed as they finished up the lecture, looking worn out from the entire situation. Guilt ate away at my insides.
"Kaminari," He said softly, "I think after this we'll be putting more training on hold for awhile."
I wanted to protest. I had just figured out hot to do it and I was ready to actually show it off in a setting where I wouldn't get hurt otherwise. But after what I had just done, I knew that wasn't going to be happening for at least a few days, until Dad left if I was unlucky and he was mad enough. I couldn't argue.
"Okay Dad…. I understand.." I shakily said, swallowing down the tears that wanted to come up.
He nodded and let out a deep sigh before relaxing and after a moment he and Mom pulled me into a tight hug.
"We just want you to be safe Kami-chan." Mom said softly into the top of my head as I hugged them both tightly back and nodded my head in understanding. I had messed up, and I had scared three people I cared about. That was three people too many, and I told myself that it wouldn't happen again.
I'd make sure of it.