Before reading this, I have to explain a fubar I made a couple of weeks ago. In the midst of editing the last chapter, I managed to cut out a scene. That scene was completely lost, and I had a choice to make. Either I could leave it be, or I could rewrite it and admit the mistake. I have chosen the latter option.
Parts of this chapter won't make complete sense without that scene. I urge you to go back to Transition Part 2: Among Friends and read the scene added onto the end. It is clearly marked so you won't have to dig for it. Happy reading.
Naruto yawned as he meandered his way to the bridge where his team always met in the mornings. He was about fifteen minutes late, but it didn't matter since his Sensei wouldn't be around until three hours later.
When he made it to the bridge, Sakura and Sasuke were already there.
"Hey, Sakura-chan!" he said brightly.
He got no answer, and that set off a warning bell in his head. Even in her worst mood, Sakura always said something back. He realized that his two teammates were staring at something. Something that they could not process, for their faces were a mix of terror and disbelief.
"What's wrong with you two?" he asked curiously.
Sasuke finally pointed to a tree on the other side of the bridge. Naruto followed the line of the appendage to see a man, no... an imposter leaning against the tree reading a little orange book. It had to be an imposter, because there was no way Kakashi would ever be this early.
Not long after Naruto noticed him, the imposter-Kakashi snapped his book shut and walked over to them.
"You're fifteen minutes late, Naruto," he said tonelessly, "We'll figure out what to do abut that later."
"Who are you?" Naruto demanded sharply, "What have you done with our Sensei?"
"Umm..." Kakashi scratched his head, "I am your Sensei?"
"No way," Sakura backed up a few steps, "Kakashi-sensei is never on time. You were already here when I arrived..."
"Sakura is always early, too," Sasuke added, "There's no way you're Kakashi."
The jonin sighed in frustration. He couldn't much complain about this, though. He'd brought it on himself.
"Naruto, I defeated you with 'A Thousand Years of Death,'" he turned to Sakura, "Sakura, I used a genjutsu showing you your greatest fear. Sasuke, I buried you up to your neck."
"You could have spied on our genin test," Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
"I suppose I should be happy the three of you are questioning my sudden change of habits," Kakashi allowed, "But we are going to go get a mission now. If I'm an imposter, the Hokage will spot it immediately."
He watched as his team exchanged wary looks, then nodded as one.
"Alright," Sakura said for them, "Let's go."
XxXxXxX
The knock sounded again, more insistently this time.
"I'm coming!" Ren shouted in exasperation. If it hadn't been for Zuki, she wouldn't have even known she had a visitor. They just had to show up while she was doing her morning routine in the garden.
She opened the door to see a white-eyed, raven-haired man in plain brown robes. He had a cloth with the Hyuuga clan symbol on it tied across his forehead.
"Sakibou Ren?" he asked politely. She nodded and he continued, "A message for Sakibou Osamu."
He offered her a small but ornate scroll. She figured it cost almost a thousand ryo on its own.
She took it hesitantly, "Who is it from?"
"Hiashi-sama," the messenger answered, "He wished to thank the boy."
The man turned and left without another word, leaving a stunned Ren wondering what the hell her brother had done to earn the gratitude of a clan patron.
XxXxXxX
The mission had been simple, if long and boring. Painting some old biddy's fence and pulling the weeds in her garden. Naruto had sped things up as much as possible with his clones, but he could only throw so many bodies at the problem before they started getting in the way.
Eventually he settled on five to help him paint the fence while Sakura and Sasuke weeded the garden. He hadn't wanted to leave her alone with the bastard, but Naruto had tried multiple times to pull up some important plant and been kicked out of the garden. Kakashi sat on the roof of the woman's house reading that damnable book of his, but he also had a pen and pad. He seemed to be making a tally of something.
Finally they returned to the tower for their pay. The three genin turned to go their own ways when Kakashi cleared his throat.
"Where are the three of you going?" he asked.
"This is when we usually split up," Sasuke told their Sensei. His tone of voice said a lot about what he thought of the man's intelligence at the moment.
"Not today," Kakashi replied with that strange eye-smile of his, "We're going to eat lunch together."
"What?" all three teens asked at once.
"So where should we go?" he pondered, ignoring their incredulous looks, "Naruto, if you say Ichiraku, I will demonstrate 'A Thousand Years of Death' on you again."
Naruto's big smile turned to one of nervousness, "I was just gonna say how tired I was of it..."
"How about barbecue?" Sakura offered hesitantly.
"That sounds good," Kakashi said brightly, "Sasuke?"
All the Uchiha provided was a noncommittal grunt.
"Alright," the jonin began to make his way down the road, whipping out his orange smut on the way, "Barbecue it is."
Arriving at the restaurant, Naruto began to get nervous. He had never actually tried to go to such an establishment in his years alone, and Hiroto had only ever taken him to Ichiraku. He had no experience with these places, but he had an idea how this was going to play out.
As soon as they entered, things began going about how he predicted.
"I'm sorry," the too friendly host said apologetically, "We can't seat you at this time."
While the place was busy for the lunch rush, there were still plenty of tables free, and the staff didn't look too harried. The sandy haired young man seemed to grow a little uneasy when they didn't immediately leave.
"And why is that?" Kakashi matched the young man's tone in a way that obviously set the host on edge.
"Y-you know why, sir," the employee replied, faltering only once. His eyes flicked to Naruto, and Kakashi turned his own to regard the normally rambunctious boy. Kakashi approached the host, wrapped an arm around him, and began leading him away.
"Let me talk to you in private real quick about accommodating us," Kakashi's face was twisted into that eye-smile of his, "Wait here, team."
They walked well out of ear shot, and it was clear the man wanted nothing to do with Kakashi. After some distance, they broke apart and faced one another. Kakashi's face never fell from its friendly mien, but the host's face began getting paler and paler.
"What's up with Sensei?" Sakura asked as she watched, "First he's early, then he drags us all to lunch. He's acting funny..."
"I maintain that isn't Kakashi," Sasuke muttered just loud enough for his team to hear.
"Jiji didn't call him out at the tower," Naruto countered his dark eyed teammate, "The other shinobi we've passed seem to think its him, too."
Their conversation was cut short as their Sensei and the host returned. Kakashi was still smiling, and the host was following suit, but it looked forced. His face was white as a sheet, and his eyes were fearful.
"If you'll follow me," his voice broke a little, "I'll show you to your table."
After they were seated and their orders taken, Sakura finally asked, "Sensei, what did you say to that man? And why wouldn't he seat us before?"
"Sakura," Kakashi replied seriously, "There are things you just shouldn't know right now."
"I don't get it," Sasuke fixed his eyes on the jonin, "What the hell is this all about?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Kakashi replied innocently.
"Showing up early," Naruto began to tick off, "Sticking around for our D-rank, dragging us to lunch..."
"You should know, Naruto," the cyclops told him, "You're the one who caused this."
"I was?" the blonde asked in surprise and confusion.
"You were?" his teammates asked incredulously.
"Sure," Kakashi confirmed, "Hiroto-san was quite... blunt about how he thought I should be handling this team. He was right on a few accounts."
There was something in the way he said that that had each of the genin shuddering slightly. They got the distinct impression that they were about to see a side of their Sensei they never wanted to.
XxXxXxX
Lunch was followed by lecture and general instruction. A run down of what they would be covering in the following weeks; chakra control mostly. It wasn't until they were done that things got bad for them.
"Alright," Kakashi kipped up from his sitting position, "This is the part of the day where we do physical training."
His overly happy tone had them on edge once again.
"I should note that this is also where any breaking of my rules will be punished," he added.
"What are your rules, Sensei?" Sakura asked nervously, "You haven't ever mentioned any."
"No one asked till now," he smiled at the groans he heard, "Rule one: be on time... Yes I will be following that. Rule two: respect me and your teammates. Rule three: no fraternization."
"What's fraternosason?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.
"It means no dating your teammates," Kakashi answered evenly, "It also includes longing looks, requests for dates, and ignoring a teammate in favor of another."
Two looks of horror were counterpointed by a look of hope.
"By my tally," he whipped out the notepad he'd been marking in all day, "Naruto was fifteen minutes late, has asked Sakura out five times, has glared at Sasuke twenty three times, called him 'bastard' twenty seven times, and looked at Sakura longingly twelve times. Thats... eighty two total infractions."
"WHAT!" Naruto cried, "You're punishing me for things I didn't know I shouldn't be doing!?"
"When did you make the effort to find out?" Kakashi asked in a merciless tone, "The punishment is 8.2 kilometers of running and 820 squats, sit-ups, and push-ups."
A snort of amusement came from Sasuke.
"That's one more for duck-butt," Kakashi fixed his unforgiving stare on the Uchiha, "That brings the tally to thirty seven looks of contempt at either teammate, calling Naruto names twenty five times, finding amusement in your teammates' misfortune thirteen times, and not referring to me as 'Sensei' five times. Eighty infractions... I'm sure you can do the math."
"What's my total, Sensei?" Sakura asked in a subdued tone, "I think I can imagine what I did wrong over the day."
"Good," he told her, "you had ninety three infractions."
Naruto gave a low whistle, "That's rough Sakura-chan."
"Oh by the way," Kakashi gave them a big smile, "Each of those punishments is for the whole team. So you each have to run 25.5 kilometers and do 2550 sit-ups, squats, and push-ups."
"How is that fair!?" Naruto cried indignantly.
"It's not," Kakashi deadpanned, "But it is realistic. In the field, when you make a mistake, the whole team pays for it. That's why I'll be sharing your punishment. Let's start with 250 squats."
XxXxXxX
Osamu had barely gotten through the door before his sister was grilling him.
"What the hell did you do this time?" she asked in a tone that suggested anything less than the truth would earn him an extended endurance training session.
"Well," he made a show of thinking, then said sarcastically, "Today, I ate breakfast. After that I went to meet my team..."
She thwacked him over the head with a scroll he hadn't noticed earlier, "Can it, smart-ass. I mean, what did you do to get a personal message for Hyuuga Hiashi?"
Osamu blinked a few times in surprise. He opened his mouth to answer, then it clicked shut. It did this a couple more times.
"You don't know?" Ren asked him, getting frustrated.
"I'm pretty sure I know," Osamu explained, "I'm just not sure if telling you will be good for my health."
She groaned, "Osamu... he invited you to dinner."
"Well that doesn't sound too bad..." he ventured carefully.
She thwacked him again, "I wanted us to remain obscure until we were ready to petition for clan status. You go and get the attention of arguably the strongest clan in the whole damn village. I want to know how."
"I kinda gave them a scroll detailing their tactical weaknesses," he smiled sheepishly at her.
Her shoulders dropped, "You what? Osamu... you don't know anything about tactics. You're a social infiltrator."
"I didn't get the information myself," he said defensively, "One of the branch members snuck me inside to see Hinata-chan. All I had to do in return was pass along his complaints as if I were making the observations."
"This didn't seem like a terrible idea at the time?" she gripped his shoulders, "Osa-kun... people have been assassinated for insults like that."
Osamu's face grew pale, "I can just turn down the invitation."
"And risk insulting them further?" she squeezed his shoulders, "No... you have to go."
"But..." his pupils were dilating from anxiety.
"No 'buts', Osamu," she sighed heavily, "You brought this on yourself."
"You could go with me," he said desperately.
She shook her head, "The invitation is just for you. Hopefully it's a sincere gesture and not a reason to get you on their grounds where Konoha's laws don't apply."
Osamu gulped, "I'm so dead."
"Don't be so grim," she tried to encourage him, "You aren't without allies."
"Hinata-chan is great and all," Osamu looked at her incredulously, "But I doubt she can help me if Hiashi-sama wants me dead."
"I was thinking about someone else," she smiled in triumph and began to put on her sandals.
"Who?" Osamu asked in confusion.
"I'll be back," she told him before rushing out the door.
"I am so dead..." Osamu muttered.
XxXxXxX
The sun was touching the horizon when he finally let them go. He'd only had them do five hundred each of the exercises along with a five kilometer run, but Sakura was struggling by then. He had refused to go any faster than the slowest individual. He found it unsurprising that Naruto tried to encourage her while Sasuke chomped at the proverbial bit.
"Naruto, could I talk to you a moment?" he called out to the tired blonde before he got away.
He saw the boy stop, heave a sigh, and turn around, "What is it, Sensei?"
"You need to give Sasuke a little more leeway," Kakashi said seriously, "His life hasn't exactly been easy."
"Neither has mine," Naruto shot back petulantly, "I'm not a complete ass all the time."
"No," his Sensei agreed, "Instead you're a one man circus that will do anything to get attention."
Naruto gaped at his assessment so Kakashi plowed on, "Sasuke has chosen to deal with his problems by shutting others out. If you really want to annoy him, stop making him so successful."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, recovering from his Sensei's harsh words.
"I guarantee you'll bother him a whole lot more if you make an effort to be his friend," Kakashi explained.
Naruto took on a pensive pose and stayed that way for a full two minutes. He finally nodded in agreement, "That actually sounds pretty funny."
The jonin had to make an effort not to cackle evilly. Considering the conversation over he turned to leave, but was stopped by Naruto's voice.
"Why did you do that?" Naruto asked in an unusually subdued tone, "In the restaurant I mean."
"Why did I threaten a harmless civilian in your defense?" Kakashi looked back to see his student nodding, "Let's just say I owed it to an old friend."
He leapt away before Naruto could question him further.
XxXxXxX
"Naruto," Hiroto finally asked when his curiosity couldn't be contained anymore, "What the hell are you doing?"
Naruto had barely touched his food in favor of the little pad he'd been staring at all night. Every now and then, a devious look would cross his face, and he would write something down.
"Hmm?" the blond looked up from the notepad he had been scribbling in, "Oh... just brainstorming."
"Brainstorming what?" Hiroto furrowed his brow in worry, "You aren't planning a prank are you?"
"Not exactly," the boy answered, "I'm trying to figure out ways to be nicer to Sasuke."
Hiroto stared at Naruto like he had a second head, "What?"
"I can annoy him more that way," Naruto explained with an mischievous look, "It'll be awesome."
Hiroto continued to stare as Naruto went back to his evil plot to be nice to Sasuke.
XxXxXxX
The next day provided no end of hilarity for the normally blase jonin. Naruto could be amazingly subtle when he wanted to be. The blonde didn't really change the way he talked to or treated Sasuke, but there were subtle acts throughout the day that left the Uchiha survivor confused on multiple occasions. A 'good job' here, an offer of help there... every instance left dark eyes narrowed in suspicion. It had the side benefit of Sakura acting nicer to Naruto; at least until he managed to set her temper off.
Naruto's minor acts of kindness resulted in the normally sulky teen to become almost outright hostile, earning the whole team even more exercise. The other two, while still struggling overall with the new rules, managed to only add, relatively, minor amounts to the already ludicrous pile. At the end of the day, they were looking at over fifty kilometers and five thousand reps.
Finally, after their round of punishment, Kakashi stopped Sasuke before he could run off. He'd steered Naruto towards working with the team; it was only logical to do the same with the more intractable member of the team.
"What do you want," he asked tiredly, then added as an afterthought, "Sensei."
Kakashi decided to let it slide, "Your looks of contempt are getting more and more clandestine. Another couple of years and I won't be able to notice them."
"If you're just going to mock me," Sasuke turned as if to leave, but Kakashi placed a hand on his should and forcefully turned him around.
"They've never betrayed you, so stop punishing them like they have," he said to the boy.
Sasuke looked as if he'd been struck. The shock vanished quickly, but Kakashi knew he had him off balance.
"Don't look so surprised, Sasuke," Kakashi chuckled a little, "I know what you're doing because I used to do it to my own team."
"Please," Sasuke fixed a sneer on his face, "One's an idiot, and the other is weak. It's got nothing to do with anything else."
"Tell yourself whatever you want, Sasuke," Kakashi released him, "One day, you'll find yourself wishing you had taken my advice. I lost the only family I had when I was young, and spent the following years pushing away people who were trying to help me. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't regret it."
His student gave a snort of derision and walked away, but not before Kakashi saw the loneliness in Sasuke's eyes. He'd planted a seed of thought; he could only hope it would grow.
XxXxXxX
As ordered by his sister, Osamu had left training early that day to prepare for his dinner at the Hyuuga compound. He felt like he was going to his own funeral. When he got home, Ren rushed him into the bathroom and told him to scrub until he was raw. After he was done, he found some new clothes waiting for him in his room.
They were similar in style to the formal outfit he'd worn for the lantern ceremony, but brighter in color. The shirt was the color of cream with jade trim and embroidered with two jade tigers stalking down the front, mirroring each other. The pants were the same green color. They were just dark enough to help obscure the size of his thighs. He wondered if his sister knew he would be the brightest thing in the whole compound.
As he was putting it on, he noted there were at least fifteen different places to hide small blades, all of which were full.
"I don't think the Hyuuga will appreciate me sneaking kunai in," he shouted through his door.
"They'll expect it," Ren countered from somewhere in the house, "You are a shinobi."
"Always prepared," he smirked at her logic as he left his room. He found her at the front door with some fresh wraps for his feet.
"Exactly," she smiled at his appearance, "At least you'll make a good impression."
"If they aren't planning to kill me," he muttered.
"I'll be nearby," she assured him, "Zuki is sure he can command our squatters."
Osamu managed a chuckle at the thought of hundreds of stray cats running rampant over the austere Hyuuga compound. Not so funny would be the ten large hunting cats.
"I suppose I should go," Osamu squared himself, "The letter did say 'precisely eighteen hundred.'"
"Good luck, Osa-kun," she rubbed his fuzzy head, "Don't do anything stupid."
XxXxXxX
Hinata dragged herself into her room still sore from the unusually... vigorous morning training. The day had been no easier. Kurenai had been talking about them taking on their first C-rank mission, and was ramping up their training to get them ready. All Hinata wanted was to shower and sleep; food be damned. A knock at her door prevented her from making it to her bathroom, though.
"Yes?" she asked tiredly.
The door opened to reveal one of her maids, a young branch member whose eyes were a normal shade of green with visible pupils.
"Hinata-sama," she greeted politely, "Hiashi-sama wishes for you to be ready to greet an honored guest."
Hinata sighed deeply, looks like she would be putting off sleep for a while, "H-how long do I h-have?"
"About half an hour," the maid replied.
It wasn't a lot, but Hinata could be ready in time with help.
"G-get a kimono r-ready, please," she requested as she rushed into her bathroom.
The shower was short, but it eased her soreness a bit. She came out feeling more up to her task.
Her maid had laid out a simple azure kimono with a black obi. The maid helped her into it, then made sure her hair was dry and set in its normal style.
After that was done, Hinata made her way to the front gate just in time to see it opening to admit someone.
"Well don't you just look pretty," her wizened great uncle Juro commented with a smirk.
"J-jujii?" she looked on confused, "I thought y-you w-were staying in th-the medic b-barracks."
"I am," he confirmed, "Thought I would stop by and see how the clan was doing."
She smiled softly at him. She rarely got to see her favorite relative.
"Haruki hasn't been too hard on you has he?" Juro asked coming forward to embrace her.
"Ojii-sama d-does what he m-must," she hedged. The brothers did not get along well at all.
"Might as well go find him," Juro's face grew sour, "Kami knows the bastard will hear about my arrival soon enough."
She watched him go with apprehension. Fights between the estranged brothers were legendary.
"I didn't know you were so closely related to Doctor Juro," a voice behind her said. Its proximity made her jump slightly. When she turned around, she saw a smiling Osamu, "How's it going, Hinata-chan."
She was about to send him away with her apologies, but then she noticed his clothing, "Osa-k-kun, why are y-you dressed l-like that."
"I know it's brighter than usual," he looked down at the shirt, "But I kinda like it. You look nice."
"Th-thank you," she blushed a little, "What are y-you doing h-here?"
"Hiashi-sama invited me to dinner," he replied nervously.
Hinata's eyes widened as she realized Osamu was the 'honored guest,' and that scared her. She didn't want him to see how cold her family was. Still... she had a duty to preform.
"W-welcome to our h-home," she bowed to him.
"It is an honor to be here," he replied with his own bow. Hopefully he would keep up that level of courtesy and not alienate her father.
She led him to the main house and into the dining room. She found her sister dressed in a deep green kimono with a lighter green obi already seated at the table.
"Th-this is m-my imouto, Hanabi," she introduced with apprehension. The young girl was prone to discourteous behavior where non-Hyuuga were concerned, "Hanabi, this is Sakibou Osamu."
"You have strange eyes," Hanabi managed to confirm her fears.
"H-hanabi!" she tried to sound scolding, but her stutter ruined the effect.
"You're eyes are stranger," Osamu countered the girl, "At least I have pupils."
"We have pupils," Hanabi was suddenly defensive, "You just can't see them..."
Hinata had to suppress a giggle at how easily Osamu had put her little sister in her place.
Before the conversation could go on, her father entered followed by her great-uncle and grandfather. Neither looked too happy about the others presence, but Juro did have a look of triumph in his eyes. He sent a wink at Osamu that seemed to calm his nerves a great deal.
"Hiashi-sama," Osamu bowed deeply to the clan leader, "Thank you for the honor of sitting at your table."
Hiashi inclined his head to acknowledge him. He indicated his two older relatives, "Hyuuga Hiruka and Hyuuga Juro. Please sit."
Not long after they had done so, multiple branch members covered the table with food and drink. Everyone waited, staring at Osamu. Finally Hinata nudged him with her elbow, causing him to jump. He got the hint, though, and began to pull things from the platters onto his own plate. After he had made his first choice, everyone else followed suit.
Normally their meal would pass with little conversation, but circumstances were unusual.
"So what'd you do to have to suffer through this?" Juro asked from across the table.
"Juro!" his brother reprimanded sharply.
"Oh shut-up, Hiruka," Juro waved him off, earning himself a death glare, "I'm trying to be welcoming to our guest. You know... make conversation."
"He provided us with information important to the safety of the clan," Hiashi answered for Osamu. He sent a quick glare at the two older Hyuuga.
"Just trying to be helpful," Osamu gave a sheepish laugh.
"You were successful," Hiashi replied, "My new security chief, Ko-san, tells me the holes in our defenses will be taken care in a few more days."
"Glad to hear it," Osamu replied. The room fell into an uncomfortable silence.
"Well orange is a weird color for eyes," Hanabi finally broke the quiet, earning some odd looks from the older people.
"Not as strange as white," Osamu countered immediately without thinking. He realized his misstep a moment later and said, "No offense."
"Our eyes have long been a mark of our clan," Hiashi claimed, dismissing the insult easily, "Strange features are often a sign of strength in this world."
"The color is amber, Hanabi-chan," Juro mock-whispered to the young girl, causing her some indignation at being corrected.
"What do you know, Jujii," she shot back petulantly, "You are branch."
"He is also your elder by many years and a talented doctor," Hiashi gave his daughter a cold look, "You will show him respect, Hanabi."
The girl looked down at her food after the reprimand and remained quiet.
"I am told you keep a pet with you," Hiashi looked back at Osamu questioningly.
"Yancha isn't a pet," the boy replied, somewhat sharply, "She's mischievous as hell, though. I figured it would be best if she didn't come with me."
"Probably just as filthy as those damn dogs," Hiruka muttered to himself.
Osamu looked at the old man, and for a moment, Hinata feared he would say something. He let the comment pass, though.
"A familiar, then," Hiashi corrected himself, "I do not see such a small creature being overly useful in combat."
"Yancha has her tricks," Osamu smirked at the man, "She's actually already saved my life once."
"What?" Juro interrupted, "Thought I told you to stay out of direct conflict."
"It was during my genin test," Osamu's face grew solemn and sad, "Sensei miscalculated the challenge."
"Damn irresponsible of a Sensei," Juro growled out, "Taking fresh genin into a prison."
"You were tested at the prison?" Hiruka looked at Osamu directly for the first time that evening, "What for?"
Hinata watched as a number of emotions crossed over Osamu's face. Guilt, sadness, anger, shame; they all seemed to war for control of him.
"I..." he stopped, took a deep breath and continued, "I fought and killed a chakra savant."
The only sound was of Juro still eating. He apparently already knew about this.
"You are already blooded?" Hiashi asked. Hinata could hear the slightest bit of remorse in his voice.
Osamu could only nod in reply. His eyes kept darting to look at Hinata, and she realized that he was afraid of what she thought of him now. She knew all too well the fear that people might scorn you for your actions, so she smiled at him to try to put him at ease.
"You don't seem so strong," Hanabi finally broke her silence, "How did you win?"
"H-hanabi," Hinata gave her sister a warning look, "C-can't you see h-he doesn't w-wish to discuss it?"
"No," Osamu looked over at Hinata, "I'll answer her. I used my greater agility and genjutsu to keep away from him."
"That wouldn't work against a Hyuuga," she boasted proudly, "Genjutsu doesn't work on us."
"Is that so?" he asked, but his voice emanated from directly behind the girl, causing her to jump and spill rice over herself.
"Osa-k-kun!" Hinata scolded him, looking at her father to gauge how angry he would be.
"Impressive," Hiashi said instead, "You did that with no hand seals."
"It was just a quick auditory illusion," Osamu shrugged, "I can do visual like that, too."
He demonstrated by having one of the jade tigers on his shirt come to life and leap onto the table.
"Parlor tricks," Hiruka sniffed in derision.
"He's twelve, you ass," Juro glared at his brother.
"Show some respect," the older sibling glared right back.
"Or what?" Juro smirked in triumph, "Maybe if you had applied it correctly you could force me, but you botched the branding."
"I can do a lot better," Osamu interrupted them suddenly, before Hiruka could continue the conflict. Hinata could have hugged him for that. He had unwittingly prevented the older Hyuuga from revealing the clan's worst aspect to him.
Osamu began to make hand seals, and the tiger began to grow and change color to match its real counterparts. Hinata noted that the dishes on the table were displaced or even knocked off by the growing beast. Once it reached full size, it roared majestically causing everything to rattle. Osamu released the illusion suddenly, and everything was back in its proper place.
Hiashi nodded in approval, "A fine, if ostentatious, display. I suppose you can be more subtle, though."
"Of course," Osamu agreed, "I was taught by the best."
The meal wound on without much more incident. Afterwords, Hinata rose to show Osamu out.
"I will show our guest out, Hinata," Hiashi told her, "You may go."
She felt a stab of apprehension, but Osamu gave her an encouraging smile, "Bye, Hinata-chan."
Osamu matched his hosts slow pace as they made a roundabout path to the gate.
"You were watching us carefully, Osamu-san," Hiashi said after a few moments, "What is it you were looking for?"
"Why Hinata-chan is the way she is," the boy answered honestly.
"And did you attain this knowledge?" Hiashi continued to question him.
"Not really," Osamu told him, "I have more info to work with, though."
"You care about her well-being," the man observed.
Osamu nodded in agreement, "Of course I do. I'm her friend."
"A good one, it would seem," Hiashi noted, "You may continue your friendship with her."
"Honestly, Hiashi-sama, I would only stop if she told me to," Osamu's voice wavered a bit, but he managed to keep his face and body language under control, "You know that, right."
Hiashi graced him with a smirk, no more than a quirking of his lips, "I figured as much, but my approval is more for her benefit. It is... important to her."
They came to the gate and Hiashi turned to look at his guest, "Tell Ren-san I respect her wish to protect you, but that bringing a small army of felines was unnecessary."
"How..." Osamu began to ask, but he stopped and smiled sardonically, "Right... the eyes."
He left after a final bow to his host, and sighed in relief when the gate shut behind him. If the Hyuuga never invited him back in, it would still be too soon. He would try to get Hinata out of there every chance he got, though.
XxXxXxX
Exhausted. Totally and completely exhausted. That was the only way to describe how she felt at the moment. Sakura watched as her fellow teammates trudged off after the grueling exercise they had done. Footsteps sounded nearby, and her vision was suddenly filled with the covered face of Kakashi.
"This level of physical training should leave you tired, not wiped," he told her, "This is only the third day."
He reached down and dragged her up to a sitting position by the arms.
"How much more do we have?" she asked wearily.
"Let's see," he opened that damnable notepad of his, "Over forty kilometers now."
It made her want to cry, but she was too tired. She settled for dropping her head.
"Sakura," Kakashi lifted her face by the chin, "Are you getting enough to eat?"
"Yea," she said immediately.
"I don't believe you," he replied, "Five hundred isn't a lot of reps for a shinobi, and five kilometers is nothing."
"Maybe for you," she shot back angrily.
"The past three days, I've seen you barely touch your food at lunch," Kakashi told her, "I get the feeling you are doing the same for breakfast and dinner."
"What do you care how I eat?" she continued bite back at him.
"Because your health could mean the difference between life and death," he said matter-of-factly, "If you were watching your weight for some silly self-image reason, stop it."
"You can't..." she began to counter him.
"Oh I can," he interrupted before she could finish, "You will start logging everything you eat and turning it in to me at the end of the week. If I find you haven't been eating enough, I'll take you off active duty for health reasons."
"WHAT!?" she cried in disbelief.
"Considering how much physical activity we get, I suggest you try for at least three thousand calories a day," he continued as if she hadn't said anything.
"I can't do that!" she gaped at him, "I'll balloon up!"
"Sakura," he shook his head, "Why are you so worried about your weight."
"Uh..." she became suddenly quiet.
"If this has to do with Sasuke, I'll give you a free pass," he informed her, "Just this once."
"I heard him muttering one day about needing a healthy partner to reestablish his clan," she replied with a deep blush.
Kakashi palmed his face, "That kid needs some serious help before he's ready for anything like that."
"What do you mean?" she asked him curiously.
"Don't worry about it," Kakashi replied with a sigh, "Look... thin does not mean healthy. How many calories are you getting a day."
"Fifteen hundred maybe," she answered after some thought.
"Up it to twenty-five hundred," he ordered, "In about two months I want you taking in forty-five."
"But..."
"No, Sakura, " he stopped her, "If you don't do that, you won't ever make any progress. Either eat more, or get off my team."
He stood from his squat and walked off, leaving a stunned Sakura behind.
I reckoned the average caloric intake of an active shinobi would be close to that of an Army diver. A good friend of mine was taking in about 4000 a day and was still only 170 pounds during his training (they do ludicrous amounts of physical training). I figure shinobi do at least as much exercise and need more to support chakra production. That raises the question, though, of how the Akimichi manage to maintain their husky physiques. They probably consume something close to 10000 calories a day. That's the low end of what actual sumo wrestlers get. This story has gotten me research some odd topics...