PLEASE FORGIVE ME! It was not my intention to take this long of a break. I now have a full-time job and I am a full-time student. Another thing is that I was struggling to write this chapter because there were so many ways I wanted to take it but I wasn't sure where to take it. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter because it explores Akina embracing her heritage, kekkei genkai, and learning to be a wolf. If something doesn't make sense or is out of place don't hesitate to let me know in a PM. I do enjoy hearing what you guys have to say. Please enjoy!
When I broke through the water I was no longer in the forest within my mind, I was back in the training grounds. But something was different. Something was majorly different. When I opened my eyes every detail was enhanced; I could see the birds sitting in a nest high up in a tree that was 500ft away. I could hear people having their conversations from the marketplace, which was at the center of Konoha. Not only that but my sense of smell was 10 times better than it was before. I could still smell some morning dew from the grass, the scents of the different ninjas who trained here, and the smell of the animals nearby.
'This is incredible.' I thought. For the first time in years I felt truly like this is truly who I am. I feel somewhat whole. I reached for the scroll to put it away, but instead of a hand grabbing it, a paw landed on it and swatted it towards me. I jumped back in surprise. I looked down at myself and realized that my senses weren't the only things that had changed. My body had as well. I ran to the nearby pond that was to the west of the training field, just a few minutes away through the trees. Luckily no one was there when I arrived, my heightened senses making it a lot easier to tell. Looking down into my reflection I saw the same wolf I had seen in my mind. I saw the same beautiful black coat that surrounded dark purple eyes. On my back legs the dark seemed to go through a transition of grays before becoming pure white on my paws. With closer inspection I also saw that there were gray hairs running along the bottom of my tail. Pulling my lips back I saw two rows of sharp white teeth.
'I wish you could see this mom.' I thought sadly. When I was little I couldn't wait for the day when my mom would help to train me. She was so strong and smart and I thought she was unstoppable. But the night she died taught me that no matter how strong a person is they are still living things. And all living things eventually die.
'How does it feel?'I jumped in my place in fright, immediately trying to use my senses, looking for the person who talked but I was sure no one was around.
'Forgot about me already?'The voice said teasingly. Then I remembered; it was the voice from when I passed out on the bridge.
'How is it that you can talk to me now? I thought that was only possible when I was in my forest.' I said fed up with not knowing anything about him.
'Now that you are in sync with your wolf I can communicate with you without you going to the forest. Now it's time to get you acquainted with yourself.'
'What do you mean when you say 'get acquainted'? When are you going to tell me who you are?' I asked as my frustration kept rising. I could feel the fur on my back rise and my claws were starting to come out. A low rumble began in my chest, a primal feeling running through my system to hunt this person down and make him do what I said.
'Easy there tiger. No need to get mad at me, I am just here to help you harness your instincts. As for who I am that is something I can't answer right now but trust me when I say that I am trying to help you. Okay?'
I didn't say anything for a minute as I willed myself to calm down; the growling slowly ceased and I loosened up my muscles that had become tense.
'Fine, since I don't have anyone else I will trust you. But you will eventually have to tell me who you are and why you know so much about my family when the time comes. Is that understood?' I heard him laugh with amusement before he spoke.
'I am your most humble servant princess. And for now call me Naoki.'
The next day I was running through the forest; with Naoki instructing me on how to track scents, stalking animals, using my hearing to judge how far away people were and so much more. Since there wasn't much time before the chunin exams he wanted to teach me as much as he could but I was still hesitant about fully trusting him. I had no choice though since he was the only one capable of teaching me about my family and our jutsus so I just had to put my faith in him. Especially yesterday when he had finished training me and I realized I had no idea on how to turn back to being a person.
(Yesterday)
'You did pretty good for your first day. But next time when I tell you to not stick your nose somewhere you should listen to me.'Naoki said with a condescending tone. The sun was almost completely below the horizon; the moon making itself known and the stars were beginning to twinkle as well.
'But I swore there was nothing in there, I scented before entering and I didn't hear anything scurrying when I got closer so I tried my best. Stupid raccoon.' I said highly annoyed he brought that up again. I was currently laying in the forest farther out away from the training grounds nursing a couple scratches on my front right paw that I got from interrupting the raccoon's nap. I didn't kill it, since I had unknowingly provoked it by entering its nest, but I still wasn't happy that I didn't realize the animal used leaves to mask its scent to keep predators like me away.
'Anyway its late and there is still more things I want to teach you so go get your pack from the training grounds and head on home.'
I stretched my tired body before going at an easy jogging place back to the training grounds. Then I realized something very important that made me stop running.
'Naoki wait! How do I change back to human?' At first he didn't respond and I was worried that he couldn't hear me from wherever he was. But he answered a few moments after I started to panic.
'Oh yes I forgot about that. All you need to do is meditate, almost like how you entered your forest, but you're just going to imagine yourself as a human. Go ahead and try it.'
I sat completely still and tried to let the evening breeze calm me down. I created the image of myself in my head and held on to it. Imagining that my paws turned into human hands and feet, a muzzle shortening and becoming a human mouth, fur giving way for human skin. I felt the tingling sensation again, the same one I felt when I landed into the pond in my head, and I knew it was working. When the sensation subsided I opened my eyes and looked down to see my body back to my human self and in the same clothes I had on this morning.
"This is something I can get used to." I said as I got up and headed back to the training ground.
(Present Day)
The feel of the wind flowing over my fur felt amazing as I ran through the forest, chasing a wild hare. It was a fast critter and I could hear how hard its heart was beating from running and from fear. I felt a little bad that I was scaring it but at the same time it felt natural because I am a predator and it is prey. But my goal wasn't to eat it. Naoki gave me a test to see how well I can stalk an animal and chase it to judge how well I would do when the target is an enemy ninja.
'Don't lose focus Akina.' Naoki said taking me out of my head. I almost missed the hare making a dash for its hole but I pounced at the right moment, immobilizing the creature with my mouth. I could feel it shaking in fear waiting for me to take the bite that would end its life. I gently laid it down near its hole, letting it go, and watched as it scurried with its remaining energy to burrow itself as quickly as possible.
'Gentle as a lamb.' Naoki teased.
'So how did I do?' I asked, not giving him the benefit of giving in to his teasing, while I walked away from the rabbit hole. I could hear water running nearby and as I walked through some bushes I found a river. I smelled around it and there were no human scents just animals, a great place to catch a break.
'You're using your instincts a lot more today which is good. As a wolf it's important to trust your instincts because they can warn you of danger quicker but at the same time you're not hunting regular animals. You'll have to track humans one day who are a lot smarter and stronger. Over time you will learn to mix your instincts with your human intelligence.'
'How about you teach me a jutsu tomorrow to help me out? Particularly the Earth Style: Pack Ambush Jutsu.' I asked with hope.
He didn't say anything for a moment as he thought about it.
'I can try. It's not really something you can really master in three days but I can get you started. Plus it may help since you don't know a lot of jutsu. Alright tomorrow I will help you with the jutsu. Since the sun is going to set soon I will let you off early so you can get some rest. Goodnight Akina.'
'Goodnight Naoki.' I said as I got up, and transformed back to human, and went back to the training grounds to get my bag. Earlier Naoki had helped me hone my heightened senses in my human form. Which helped worked well with my chakra sensing skills because I could tell where weapons were coming from much faster and sense enemies coming from a longer range.
I left my bag in the same spot as I did yesterday, next to the training posts. When I returned though something, rather someone was standing next to my bag. With the sun now gone it was hard to see who it was but with my improved eyesight I could easily see the red hair glowing from the moonlight and the shape of the gourd on his back. I moved closer until I was five feet away from him. He didn't say anything and I didn't either. He simply stared at me with his lifeless eyes, as if nothing existed behind them. The hair on my body were standing stiff, instincts telling me that the boy in front of me was someone I should stay far away from.
'What is he doing here in the first place? Has he been watching me this whole time?' I had a lot of questions but I wasn't sure if this boy would attack me for simply uttering a syllable.
"You were with the Uchiha kid a couple of days ago." He stated with no emotion in his voice. But his eyes were starting to tell me that was wrong.
"I was." I answered quickly.
"What is your name? You already know who I am."
"I am Akina Yukito. Did you need something?" He didn't say anything for a few moments and I was starting to get worried that he was going to challenge me to a fight.
"I want to fight." He mumbled so low that I almost couldn't hear him.
'What the hell is with this kid?' I thought as I got ready to flee.
"I want to fight a fight to the death." He said a little louder, his eyes were wide and unfocused. His left hand rose to grip his head as if he was in some sort of pain. Or he was trying to hold something within him. I slowly backed away and pulled a kunai from my weapons pouch, his eyes instantly refocusing, looking straight at me.
"Enough." A voice interrupted. A body blocked my view of Gaara before I could take my next breath, and I've never been more relieved to the silver gravity-defying haired jonin than I did now.
"It's time for you to go back to your squad. It's getting a little late don't you think?" Kakashi-sensei said casually, but we could all hear the warning in his tone. Kakashi's sudden appearance seemed to force, whatever Gaara was feeling back under control, as his face returned to being stoic and he stopped clutching his head. He didn't utter a word as he began to walk away. He was almost out of the training ground when he stopped and looked back at me and said something that sent chills down my spine.
"I look forward to seeing you in the chunin exams." In a whirlwind of sand he disappeared. When I couldn't sense him anymore I allowed myself to relax and let out a breathe of relief.
"It's a good thing I was on patrol nearby. There is something about that boy that isn't right. Are you okay?" Kakashi asked as he turned to me.
"Yeah I'm okay but he is someone I would prefer to avoid at all costs in the future." I said as I put my kunai away and Kakashi let out a small chuckle.
"So you're okay then. Now what are you doing out here so late? You should be at home getting some rest. The chunin exam is only a few days away, you don't want to burn yourself out training before they begin now do you?"
"I was actually getting done with training when he appeared. I just had to grab my bag and then I was heading home." I said as I walked over to where my bag was.
"Wait." Kakashi said just as my hand reached the strap. I turned around and saw that he had put some distance between us. He must have read the confusion on my face because he laughed a little bit before he explained.
"How about we have a little training test? I never got to see what you really know during the bell test and I couldn't really watch you during the Land of Waves mission. I wanna see what they really taught you in the Mist Village." I stood there for a moment, still slightly surprised at what I was being asked, when Kakashi decided to make the first move. He threw a kunai at me to distract me from noticing him throwing a punch right behind it. I easily dodged the kunai and caught his right wrist with my left hand before he could touch me. I tried to throw my own punch but he caught my wrist as well. I remembered Sasuke getting into this kind of position during the bell test so I used his idea by putting my weight into my arms and aiming a kick at Kakashi's unprotected abdomen. He saw it and tried to move out of the way but I kept a tight grip on his right wrist making him unable to completely dodge it. He grunted in slight pain, I may have put a bit of chakra into the kick as well, and I took this moment to jump back and watch his movements. He wasn't hurt bad as he recovered quickly and darted into the trees.
I followed right behind him, using my enhanced sense of smell to easily stay on his trail. It was like a game of cat and mouse, and I was the cat at the moment. But he didn't make it easy on me. Kakashi changed his direction constantly and sometimes ran in the trees or on the ground.
'I need to catch up to him or else he's going to tire me out before we can even fight. Maybe I should put my wolf to the test now.' I thought. Before I could change forms Kakashi turned around and threw multiple kunai towards me. I quickly whipped about a kunai of my own and blocked the attack. Kakashi ran at me with a kunai in hand and tried to swipe at me. Our kunai clashed with a loud shrill, our strength matched. As our kunai clashed again I pulled a second one out of my pouch and tried to swipe at his arm but he saw it coming and pulled out a second kunai to block mine. We were at a standstill for a moment but since he was heavier than I was he had more leverage and used it to push against me. I jumped back to put some distance between us and to watch for his next move.
Kakashi's POV
'She's better than she appears to be. Silent on her feet, quick-thinker, and she has a good amount of strength for someone her age. It's also a benefit for her to appear weaker than she is, her enemies underestimate her and she can use this to her advantage to take them out quicker. Shame she doesn't have teammates that don't bother to work together 98% of the time.' I thought as she waited for me to make my next move. She didn't wait long as she aimed a kunai right at my head. I ducked but soon jumped out of the way as she tried to land punch. She followed and tried to land a left kick but I blocked it and held onto her ankle, jerking it towards to pull her off balance. I could see the anxiety in her eyes as she lost her balance, her right leg buckling. Using her hands to catch herself from hitting the ground she quickly yanked her leg out of my grip. I readied myself to block another attack but I wasn't for what I was hit with. One second my student is crouched on the ground and the next I have a large wolf latching onto my shoulder, its paws landing on my chest making fall onto my back. But the weird part was that it was simply holding me down it wasn't trying to break any skin.
Suddenly it jumped off of me, putting distance between us, I quickly rolled onto my feet and stared into two dark violet eyes.
"Akina?" I asked. I swear I could read amusement from her eyes as she yipped at me with her tail wagging. Taking a moment to look over her new appearance I was reminded of something from long ago but I couldn't place my finger on what it was.
"So is this what you've been doing these couple of days out here?" I asked sitting down, not really expecting an answer. But instead of talking to a wolf Akina sat in its place.
"Yeah I have. Ever since the Land of Waves mission I think I opened my link to my kekkei genkai so I've trying to focus on that before the test begins. Though I still have a lot to learn."
"Don't worry too much you seem to have a good control over it already. Do any of the others know about this?"
"No I haven't told any of them yet. I'm just trying to keep this my little secret for now until the right moment."
"It's good to have something up your sleeve especially in the chunin exams. Let them think they can guess your abilities so when they come after you they won't be the ones to walk away. Be prepared that it may come to that ending, that you may have to take someone's life." She gained a hard unreadable expression in her eyes as I finished.
"One thing the Mist Village teaches us when we're young is to have no sympathy for the death of your enemy. To be prepared to take their life in order for the good of the mission. I will be ready when the time comes." To hear her talk about killing someone with no emotion gave me mixed emotions. In our world to become a ninja one will have to take another's life in order to protect the village and the ones you love. It's a lesson that is learned young, too young. I don't know if the others have the guts to do it, Sasuke maybe, but if not then it would be Akina's responsibility to do what needed to be done, to protect her teammates.
"Alright then."
What did you guys think? Did you guys like the little bonding moment between Kakashi and Akina?