"Just relax. You don't want to force it. Just remember what I showed you and take it slow. Twist it slightly and when you feel the pull just go with it." Rin said softly into Hinata's ear as the little sister breathed slowly, trying to focus. "Alright, now pull your hands apart slowly."
As Hinata's hands moved away from one and other, thin lines of light blue chakra stretched between the two hands, connecting them finger to finger. The little girl gave a short gasp before a smile spread across her face. The now four and a half year old Hinata nearly bounced in Rin's lap as she shout in triumph. "I did it! Look Onee-san, I did it!"
Rin chuckled at her little sister's excitement before grabbing onto Hinata's sides, causing the ticklish girl to give a short 'Eep'. The chakra threads were forgotten as Rin tickled the little girl. "Of course you did it silly. I never doubted that you would get it. Your such a talented little thing." Rin said cheerfully, before wrapping her little sister in a bear hug.
But after Hinata's soft giggles quieted, the small girl looked down a little. "Am I really talented, Onee-san?" She asked seeming a little embarrassed by the question.
"No doubt, I don't think there is anything you can't do if you put your mind to it." Rin said with a sharp nod, trying to reassure the timid girl.
"Oji-san doesn't think that. He says I'm not as good as you and Neji-nii." Hinata said her eyes looking down cast.
Rin's mouth twitched at the mention of the elder, but she quickly hide it. Giving a short sigh, she leaned down and placed her chin on Hinata's shoulder. "Hinata-chan, there are only two things that are truly infinite; the Root and the stupidity of the male sex." Rin said gently.
"Huh?" Hinata looked up in surprise.
"All men are idiots. You really shouldn't put too much weight into what one says." Rin told her little sister.
"E...even Shirou-nii?" Hinata asked. The little girl had taken to seeing Shirou as an older brother figure. It had taken a while, since she was so shy, but Shirou was a patient sort, and Rin had brought Hinata to see him quite a lot.
Ever since the incident with the Caged Bird Seal nine months back, Rin hadn't left Hinata alone on the Clan grounds for a moment. So she had taken to bringing the girl with her to Shirou's instead. This did mean that she had to simply walk out the front door rather than sneaking out, but her father had, surprisingly enough, given his blessings and merely required that they have an escort for on the way there and back.
"Especially Shirou-nii. Shirou is the stupidest of them all. He could move mountains through the sheer force of his idiocy." Rin said with something between a chuckle and a sigh as she shook her head.
"I thought Onee-san liked Shirou-nii?" Hinata said looking back at her older sister. The innocent child had no idea how true those words were.
"Oh Hinata-chan, that is exactly the reason why I like Shirou so much." Rin said, confusing the girl even further. "Someday, you will have an idiot of your very own, and then you will understand what I mean."
Hinata gave a small pout, like all children, she didn't like to be told 'you will understand someday'. She wanted her sister to explain it to her now. But before she could start trying to press for an explanation, someone else entered their little training area in the garden and interrupted the sisterly moment.
"Hikaru-sama, Hinata-sama." Hakaku's voice was as disappointed as ever as the tutor stood in the doorway, practically glaring at the two small girls. Rin really hated this guy. Does he not know that you should never enter a girl's room without knocking first? "You two should be preparing for your survival training lesson."
"Should we? I was under the impression that our Otou-san wished to give us that training and had to reschedule it because of the peace talks." Rin said, placing one hand on Hinata's shoulder as the timid girl tried to melt backwards into her older sister.
Even if the members of the clan were all pretty much related, that didn't make them family. Rin probably only knew about half of them by face and even less of them by name. To Hinata, most were strangers and those who weren't hadn't been all too kind to her. It was hard on her, growing up in such a militaristic family when she herself was so gentle.
It was one of the reasons that Rin had taken up training Hinata herself. The style of teaching her clan used to prepare people to become ninja wasn't effective for her, since she hesitated too much when asked to make a fist. But through games and little challenges, she learned extremely quickly.
Actually, with her natural talent at shaping chakra, Hinata would have been consider a protege in a Ninjutsu forced clan. It was only because of the Hyūga clan's focus on their eyes and Taijutsu that Hinata was not properly received.
"As these talks are likely to be taking up much of Hiashi-sama's time for the foreseeable future, he has requested that I provide you with the lesson in his stead." Hakaku said with a dry voice that made Rin wonder if he understood the concept of a child or how to deal with one. Then again, most people who had to deal with her had seemed to forget about it. Maybe because Rin herself was so unchild like.
"I see, in that case, you should wait for us by the main entrance. We will join you after..."
"No. You will not make me simply wait for you again." Hakaku said sharply, glaring down at Rin.
Rin crossed her arms and glared back, she did not like being interrupted. "So you aren't going to leave us alone?" She said sharply, a bit of warning in her voice.
"That is correct." Hakaku replied.
They glared at each other for another few moments before Rin's next words caught the man off guard. "Pervert."
"Wha?"
"Trying to force two young girls to change into their uniforms in front of you. You absolute beast. Wait until I tell Otou-san that you tried to take advantage of us in such a manner during is absence." Rin said in a dramatic fashion, acting as thought to cover herself with her hands. Hinata flushed as she looked up at Hakaku with scared eyes.
"I... that was not... you... little brat..." Hakaku couldn't figure out what to do. Finally, he turned to leave the room, saying that he would wait for them outside the house.
"You should have realized long ago that you can never beat me, baka." Rin said with some satisfaction.
"Onee-san?" Hinata said, unsure what was going on.
Rin smiled down at her little sister. "Well, since it seems were going to be stuck with Mr. Grumpy today, how about we have a bit of fun. I'll call Shirou-chan and Naruto-kun to meet us out there and we can all have a picnic." Hinata's face brighten up, showing how much she liked the idea. So once Hinata and Rin had changed into their uniforms, Rin went to the phone to call up Shirou.
It was one of the things that was interesting about this world, looking at what technology they had and what was missing. Construction equipment, refrigeration, phones, and the like were all there, but at the same time, no one owned a car.
The phones were not as useful as they had been in her old world though. Without the space race, there were no satellites, and without those, no calling people who weren't connected by a land line. So you could only call people who were in the same village. She had heard that some people tried to set up lines between villages, but the telephone poles would always be torn down by rival villages. So while you could call anyone inside of the village, information between villages had to use radio, and if the range was too great for that, they resorted to carrier pigeons.
Still, it beat having to go through the annoyance and drain of casting a two way communication spell.
Rin picked up the phone and started dialing the number before waiting for Shirou to pick up.
"Alright... sure... What!? You're inviting us, but I have to provide all the food?.. Yeah... Yeah... Y...yeah... Fine. I'll meet you out there in about an hour... See you there... Bye." Shirou said before hanging up the phone, then he gave a short sigh. He had been planning on practicing his magic that day, but it seemed like that wasn't going to happen. "Any time she's doing something she won't give anyone the time of day, but when she wants to go on a picnic, suddenly everyone else has to drop what they are doing for her."
"Oh, a picnic huh? Sounds like fun." Anko said. Shirou looked up to find her standing on the ceiling above him. She hung there, using her chakra to mount herself to one of the beams that stretched across the ceiling, a wide smile on her face.
"Anko-nee, spying on people is rude." Shirou scolded the older girl. He tried not to react to her sudden appearances. It would only encourage her.
"You do remember that being a spy is my job, right?" Anko teased before detracting from the ceiling and flipping down behind Shirou, draping her arms onto his shoulders. "Now don't change the subject. I heard you mention a picnic. I hope you and the Princess were planning on inviting me."
Shirou flushed and tried to fight his way out of the crazy girl's grip. "Don't you have to go to work? You can't just keep ditching it because you want to play around."
"Ah! But Shirou-chan, what about my free food!?" Anko whined in the manner of a child. She started to squeeze Shirou's head into her matured chest, embarrassing the boy even further.
"Fine! I'll make you something, just get off of me!" Shirou finally shouted, receiving a squeal of delight from the purple haired spy. "Remind me again who is supposed to be taking care of who?" He grumbled once he was fully free.
"Oh, don't be like that. You know you love me." Anko said with a smile.
"Yeah, sure I do." Shirou said, rolling his eyes before sighing heavily. "Hey, have you seen Naruto-kun around?"
Anko stopped in the middle of a little victory dance and tilted her head. "Last I saw, the little fox was trying to get into the hen house again."
Shirou groaned again before making his way out of the house and back towards a small area behind it. A while back he had decided to keep his own egg laying chickens. The problem was, the chickens and Naruto didn't get alone.
The moment he left the house he could hear the noise coming from the chicken's penned off area. "Not again." Shirou said as he saw Naruto underneath a dozen chickens, all of them pecking and scratching at him as the four year old boy tried in vein to get away.
"Shirou-san! Help me!" Naruto cried out. Shirou came in and pushed the birds away from Naruto who immediately rushed out of the caged off area. Once out, he sat down on the ground, mopping to himself. "*sniff* stupid birds. *sniff* I'll get them next time."
"I thought I told you to just leave them alone." Shirou said, shaking his head. Shirou sometimes wondered if the chickens could somehow sense the demon inside of Naruto. Most domesticated animals couldn't, as they had lost their tie with nature, but the chickens seemed unnaturally angry with the small boy.
"They started it!" Naruto shouted angrily, giving Shirou a strong pout. "I'll show them who's boss. Then they'll be sorry." Shirou couldn't help but feel like it was all rather pathetic.
He didn't bother to ask if Naruto was alright. Shirou could see for himself. Right before his eyes, the cuts and scraps from the birds were disappearing, healing so fast that there was no sign they had ever happened after just a few seconds. The demon's regenerative abilities were impressive. Naruto himself was oblivious to this fact. He was too young to understand that there was anything different about him.
Naruto living in Shirou's home had been a trip for Shirou. It had taken him over a month to get used to the boy's presence being so close. He hadn't been able to sleep at all at first because the strange distortion the demon made caused his skin to crawl. But in the end, Rin had been right. Shirou couldn't bring himself to kill an innocent child. Not while there was still the spark of hope.
Though the research that Rin had done also was a bit of a roller-coaster. At times even Rin had panicked.
First came the understanding that there were eight other people like Naruto. Once you knew they existed, some of them were pretty easy to identify. If they were supposed to be a secret, they were the worst kept secret in existence.
Two in particular gave made Shirou's point of Naruto being dangerous all the more creditable. One was a boy the same age as Naruto who lived in the Land of Wind. The stories of the three year old carrying a Teddy bear killing off fully trained ninja by crushing them in sand until their blood squirted out of there bodies was more than a little disturbing. A second set of reports had to do with another child, a six year old who became the Mizukage of Kirigakure and then forced the other children to murder each other in order to prove there loyalty to him. Things in Kirigakure were so bad that it was being referred to as the 'Village of the Bloody Mist'. Naruto could easily end up just the same. It also made them a little worried about his dream of becoming the next Hokage.
Then there was the seal that was placed on Naruto. It had four layers, but Rin had only been able to access the two outermost ones. What she found she didn't like.
The first layer was alright, a simply system for dividing Naruto and the demon's consciousness, but the second layer had her worried. For some reason, one that they couldn't began to comprehend, the seal was designed to have any of the demon's chakra that leaked out of the seal filtered into Naruto's body, rather than dispersing it into the outside air. Such a thing was insane. Any normal human boy would have been fully possessed in an instant. Hell, most people would die for that much chakra entering their body.
If the seal had been placed on anyone other than Naruto, it wouldn't have lasted. But because it was Naruto, there was still hope.
When Rin had first noticed it, she believed that Naruto must not have really been human. She thought he must have been some kind of product of bioengineering because it seemed so unreal for it to exist naturally.
Uzumaki Naruto had a B rank magic resistance.
Naruto had a massive amount of his own chakra inside of his body, and his chakra coils were roughly ten time the size of anyone else's, providing him with an inherent resistance against magic. His innate resistance to mystic energy was around the same level as Saber's. If he was actually trained then it could probably be brought up to an A rank.
It was only because of this resistance that he managed to survive. It was because of this that he was able to avoid falling completely under the demon's control. Even so, it wasn't a perfect fix.
It all came down to stamina.
As Naruto's physical and emotional stamina was drained, his own chakra levels would decrease causing more and more of the demon's energy to be absorbed into his body. Coupled with the fact that the demon got stronger then more blood thirst there was, and things could very easily turn out badly if Naruto ever found himself in a serious battle.
Even though his magic resistance wasn't a solution, it did mean that they would have time. Time needed to find out a way of removing and destroying the demon without killing Naruto himself. A task that had never been completed on such a serious case of possession.
"Shirou-san!" Naruto said, snapping Shirou out of his thoughts.
"Just go back inside and clean yourself up. Rin and Hinata-chan called. We're going to be having a picnic." Shirou told the boy. Naruto's face little up and he started to bounce around.
"A picnic! Really! Yahoo!" He shouted happily. He rushed inside to go get himself washed. Leaving Shirou to simply shake his head before returning inside himself. Though while Naruto went to the bathroom to get clean, Shirou went to the kitchen.
Life was chaotic in the village, though at the same time it was rather peaceful. Shirou liked it. Though deep down, he knew that things were eventually going to become complicated.
They always seemed to.
This was just a little section to show the time skip had happened and to set up a bit for what is going to happen during the next few chapters.