Reaching

By LilacLilyFlower

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Unfortunately.

-O-O-O-O-

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Chapter 17

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"Happy birthday!"

Hikari woke to a beaming Naruto and fidgeting Sasuke. She blinked her eyes blearily, glancing at her alarm clock.

Six in the morning, October tenth.

Ten years old.

Two months to go until the Chunin Exams.

She sat up, yawning. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she smiled. "Happy birthday, Naruto. Good morning, Sasuke."

"Up!" Naruto demanded. "Presents, then breakfast!"

She laughed, allowing herself to be pulled up. The three of them sat at the kitchen table. At her seat, there were two packages. She picked up the first one, carefully watching both of the boys for a reaction to see which one of them it was from.

Sasuke's cheek twitched.

Smirking to herself, Hikari sliced the packaging open neatly with chakra. The smirk fell off her face as she saw what his present was.

Laying in a clear box, nestled by cotton, was a sky blue ribbon identical to the one Naruto had given her several years ago.

She gently lifted it up, winding it around her bare wrist. "Oh, Sasuke."

"I thought you would want one for your right wrist," he muttered. "To match the one on your left. You could put seals on them that make them as strong as wristguards or something. I don't know."

Hikari beamed at him. "Thank you, Sasuke. That's a good idea." She poked him with her toe under the table. He smiled. "Naru, your turn," she said.

Naruto wasted no time in tearing into a present. He looked down at the slips of paper in his hands. "Huh?"

"Seals," Hikari elaborated. "See, this one is for producing a small swamp, and this one will generate a sound. You just have to write the kanji in." She pointed to the next seal. "And this one has a lot of glitter, and this—"

"Why," Sasuke cut in, "did you give him prank seals?"

Naruto threw his arms up. "This is amazing!"

"This is terrifying."

Hikari kicked Sasuke, hard. "It's good to learn how to incorporate seals into traps—or, in this case, pranks. It'll help in the future."

Naruto smiled so hard that he positively shined. "Open your other present!" She huffed, smiling. Her mouth dropped when she saw that his present to her was a scroll. On water jutsu. A collection of water jutsu. "Jii-chan helped me pick it out," Naruto said. "He said you should be able to learn them in time for the Chunin Exams."

Her eyes widened. The Third Hokage had? "You guys…" she trailed off, looking between Naruto and Sasuke. She made to hug them, but Sasuke held up a hand.

"Naruto needs to open my present first."

It turned out to be Uchiha-grade ninja wire. A lot of it. An entire spool of it. Five hundred meters of it.

They stared at it. Finally, Sasuke spoke, crossing his arms and slouching in his seat. "You need to learn how to use wire in your pranks too."

Naruto tackled them both in a hug.

-O-O-O-O-

Living with Sasuke wasn't difficult.

He fit seamlessly into their household life. The third bedroom had been given to him instead of being used for storage, as they had originally planned, and everything that he'd brought in the storage scroll fit in his room. His possessions were few, practical, and impersonal, except for a cookbook filled with recipes written in a neat, elegant handwriting.

(Hikari tried not to think about the photo albums that Fumiko had shown her, filled with the same handwriting. Uchiha Mikoto's handwriting.)

The chore distribution also worked out nicely. Sasuke had a previously unknown penchant for cooking and baking, things that Hikari and Naruto weren't as talented at, so he cooked for them. Hikari cleaned. Naruto did the dishes and the laundry. They all balanced the finances.

All things considered, it was an efficient system.

But technicalities aside, Sasuke balanced Hikari and Naruto. Hikari balanced Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto balanced Sasuke and Hikari. It worked. It was nice.

It was family.

-O-O-O-O-

"Two months left," Inoichi said, pacing in front of the team in his usual manner. "Your personalities have been well developed. I trust you've all been doing individual training on your own time with whatever you want to use during the exams."

They nodded. "Kakashi-sensei is a nightmare," Takahiro muttered. Hikari snorted. Kakashi had, at her request (and pleading with help from the Puppy Eyes of Doom no Jutsu), taken on Takahiro as a temporary student in the arts of kenjutsu.

So, basically, he was having fun poking and annoying Takahiro.

"I've been learning more genjutsu," Eisuke interjected. "And there's a falcon summoning contract that I'm thinking of signing."

Hikari's interest was piqued. "How did you get your hands on a summoning contract?" she asked.

Eisuke rubbed the back of his head. "We're a merchant clan, with a few shinobi members. One of my older cousins had it and gave it to me. You need a lot of chakra to summon any animal though, and even then it's not guaranteed that they'll accept you as a summoner."

"That's true," she muttered, thinking of cautionary stories in which shinobi were stuck in the summoning dimension for months on end. "But still, summoning is convenient, especially if the animal is suited to you." She considered Eisuke. "I think the falcons would accept you."

"Hey, hey, what about me?" Takahiro asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Rabbits?"

"Wow, rude."

She thought back to other summoners she knew. Kakashi had the dog contract. The Third Hokage had monkeys, if she was remembering correctly.

Itachi had crows.

"I want one too," she blurted out. "Eisuke-kun, what are the handseals for the jutsu?"

Inoichi spoke up. "Summoning isn't something you can learn right away," he said. "It's best for you to focus on what you have at the moment. You got a scroll filled with water jutsu, right? Learn those first."

She stepped back, away from him. "I got it this morning," she said, alarmed. Information shinobi, she thought. He already found out.

He nodded. "So work on it. Besides, summoning for the first time won't bring the animal most suited to you here. You'll be reverse summoned, in a sense, to the animal. So unless you have a plan to survive several weeks or months in the summoning dimension while you try to find and convince the animals to sign a contract with you, you really shouldn't try anything."

He clapped his hands together. "Anyways, do that on your own time. Today, we're going over T&I tactics." He settled onto the grass, crossing his legs and patting the ground in front of him. "All talk, so sit down and put your tanto away, Takahiro."

Takahiro looked up from where he'd been swinging his tanto and grinned sheepishly.

"So," Inoichi said when they were all sitting. "What can you guys tell me about the Torture and Interrogation Department?"

They all exchanged long glances. Finally, Hikari spoke up. "Well, it's closely tied with the Intelligence Division, which centers on handling information, whether it's regulating the amount of information available or gathering information."

"It also tortures. And interrogates," Eisuke said. "For more information."

Inoichi nodded. "And how do we ensure the accuracy of the information we receive from our prisoners?"

Takahiro shrugged. "Cross-referencing?"

"Yes, but also no," Inoichi said. "This is where T&I tactics come in. Do you three know about the concepts of positive and negative reinforcement?"

Hikari hesitated. "It's the difference between doing something for a reward and doing something because of a threat. At least, that's what the Academy taught us."

"Close enough. So let's say you're torturing a prisoner. How true is your information? How do you know? What if they say what you want to hear just to stop the pain? Torture is unreliable in terms of information. For shaping behavior, it's much more effective." He glanced at Takahiro, who paled and looked down at the grass.

There was a silence during which everyone pretended to not know about his reconditioning. It was broken by Eisuke. "So you offer deals and rewards for volunteering information?"

"Of sorts. There are various ways in which you can employ this method. For example…"

-O-O-O-O-

Hikari sighed as she let the blade from her Suishojin no Jutsu (Water Palm Blade Technique) collapse. She gathered the spilled water with her chakra, shaping a thin layer of chakra to keep the water from leaking, and poured it back into the river.

Senju Tobirama, the Second Hokage, the Nidaime, had been able to form a blade without even thinking. His mastery over suiton, the water style, had been revered. There were legends of how he'd created oceans with just a fraction of his chakra, but not due to how much chakra he had. But because of his understanding of suiton.

Hikari had chakra. A lot of it. Not as much as Naruto, naturally, given that he had a chakra construct sealed into him, but she was still an Uzumaki. She still had an overwhelming amount of chakra. Enough to form a large pond through water jutsu. But not an ocean.

But, she wondered, if I understand suiton like the Nidaime had, would I be able to form an ocean?

The thing was, she didn't understand. Because what was there to understand? In order to do jutsu, all the things that were required were hand seals, which could be skipped if a shinobi was good enough at molding chakra for that specific jutsu, and chakra. The correct chakra nature definitely helped, but it wasn't impossible for someone with wind-type chakra to do a fire jutsu.

There was nothing else to understand. Not in jutsu theory. All that there was left to do was to practice. So she sat down to practice the next jutsu in the scroll, the Suichutotsu (Water Pillar Thrust).

But deep in the back of her mind, the whisper of an idea took root.

Maybe… I need to understand chakra.

-O-O-O-O-

She stood, relaxed, balanced, forcing herself to remain limber.

In front of her, Ino scratched her wrist nervously, and Sakura shifted from slightly behind Ino. They avoided making eye contact.

She waited.

Ino cleared her throat. "So. We wanted to say sorry. For not believing you, and also for implying that you couldn't keep secrets."

"We're really sorry!" Sakura burst out. When Hikari looked at her, she was startled to see tears gathering in her eyes. "We want to be friends again."

The ice inside her melted. She wouldn't have been able to hold onto her resentment, anyways. "Okay," Hikari said.

Their eyes widened. "Just like that?" Ino asked, demanded, bewildered and confused. "You don't have anything you want to say?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Well, I guess I have a question. You're the daughter of Yamanaka Inoichi, so…"

"So why didn't I understand?" Ino finished. She smiled bitterly. "That's something I don't understand yet. I'm already training in clan jutsu and learning about the mind, but my dad doesn't want to teach me about information yet, and I don't know why."

"Maybe he wants you to have your options open," Sakura suggested. "A lot of clan kids follow in their parents' footsteps."

Ino snorted. "Yamanaka go into the Intelligence Division, if not T&I. It's a fact. And with Shikamaru and Chouji in our year, I'm going to be in the next Ino-Shika-Cho." She flipped her hair, which was growing out, over her shoulder. "It's fine, anyways. I like knowing things about people."

Hikari smiled. "Gossiping, you mean."

Ino shrugged. "Information is information," she said, meeting her eyes.

Information is information. I'm sorry I didn't understand.

"Yeah," Hikari agreed.

They shared a smile.

-O-O-O-O-

During team training one day, Takahiro paused in his rudimentary attempts at making exploding tags. "Why are we being pushed so quickly to take the Chunin Exams, anyway?"

Hikari stopped in her latest water jutsu attempt, and Eisuke looked up from his scroll. "We're in a bingo book," Eisuke said. "We're targets."

"Becoming chunin won't necessarily discourage others from targeting us, anyways," Takahiro replied.

"But it would deter some, and also show that Konoha is still strong," Hikari pointed out. "Speaking of bingo books, though, you know that nickname we got? Konoha's Three-Man Army?"

The boys nodded.

"It's too much of a coincidence that Kumo randomly decided to call us that, don't you think?"

Takahiro slowly nodded again. "You think that Konoha released information on our joke during the Tora mission."

"It was intentional. They're building us a reputation," Eisuke mused. "Nothing is a coincidence. But what's the point?"

Nothing is a coincidence.

"Intimidation tactics?" Hikari suggested. "It's kind of a ridiculous name for us, though. Our average age is eleven, and we're basically still rookies."

It might, she thought privately to herself, have something to do with the fact that I'm an Uzumaki who uses seals. A warning.

"I guess it does give us a head start of sorts," Takahiro agreed. "In the future, what if we had a 'flee on sight' warning next to our names like the Fourth Hokage did?"

"Let's become chunin first," Eisuke said, the corner of his lips twitching.

"Well, yeah," Takahiro said, falling onto his back. "But will we be able to pass on our first try?"

"Of course we will," Hikari scoffed. "We're Team One. We can do anything and become anything."

-O-O-O-O-

"Hikari?"

She looked up from where she was reading another scroll on all things related to water jutsu. Specifically, water-natured chakra. "Hm?"

Sasuke knit his brows together from where he was seated on her bed. "What do you do… when you miss Fumiko?"

She dropped the scroll. It rolled completely open across the floor. They watched it as its end hit the bookcase.

"I," Hikari swallowed. "I don't."

Sasuke stared. "What?"

She looked down at her hands. "I don't miss her. I can't miss her. Not if I'm training or filling every minute I'm awake with things that aren't, well, you know." Things that weren't related to the Massacre.

"Oh." He lay down and rolled so that he was on his side, facing her. But his eyes avoided hers, and he fisted his hand on the covers. He opened his mouth and closed it, multiple times.

She waited.

"I miss a lot of them," he whispered. "Aiko was just four. She was one of my cousins. And she was so happy all of the time. She smiled when she saw me. Not a lot of people did that." He squeezed his eyes shut. "And of course I miss Shisui and Fumiko and my parents."

Then, he sat up abrubtly. "But the person I miss the most is Itachi. Isn't there something wrong with that? I hate him. He killed everyone! But I, I, I—"

Hikari stood up and pushed him so that he was flat on his back. She clambered over him and onto the other side of the bed and lay down. When he protested, she muffled his mouth with her hand, and he eventually settled down. "It's okay, you know," she said after a period of silence. "To miss him. When you love someone that much, isn't it natural to hate them for leaving?"

"That's the problem," Sasuke replied, looking at the ceiling blankly. "When he killed everyone, I was more shocked than anything else, but the reason I hate him is because he left me. Alone. He…." His eyes blazed. "He should have taken me with him!"

"That's why," he continued, "I'm going to get stronger and find him. And then kill him."

Hikari smacked him on the stomach.

"Ow, what the heck?"

She smacked him again. "You're right, 'what the heck?'" she demanded. "So you're just going to do what he wants you to do, in the end?"

"It doesn't matter if he wants it or not," Sasuke insisted. "It's still revenge."

Hikari didn't know why Itachi had killed his family. She had no time to try and find out what his cryptic words meant. Not when she had the Exams to focus on, and her team, and Naruto and Sasuke and everyone she cared about. But the reason why Itachi killed everyone didn't matter when it came to Sasuke's revenge, and subsequently, his safety. Itachi had left the two of them alive that night for some reason, so she was going to keep Sasuke alive as best as she could.

"He didn't leave you alone that night," she said, suddenly very tired. "I was there, remember? And he didn't kill me. He left me with you." She curled around a pillow. "I hate him too," she confessed. "I hate him, and he scares me, but I'm not trying to kill him. Because, well, the best revenge is to not listen to him, right? To live life to the fullest and pursue strength on your own terms. That's what I'm doing. That's what I'm trying to do."

Because she did hate Itachi. Because no matter what his reasons were, he still killed Shisui and Fumiko. Precious, beautiful Fumiko.

Hikari glanced over at Sasuke. He was still glaring at the ceiling, but as she watched, his brow smoothed out, and his hand finally unclenched from the covers.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I guess."

-O-O-O-O-

Time passed quickly. There would be one and a half months left until the Exams. Then one month. Then two weeks.

Then, with a week left, it was time to leave for Kirigakure.

"It'll take more or less four and a half days with the direct route," Inoichi said. "You've all practiced waterwalking, so it should be fine for you three to run for three days over the ocean. Nonstop."

He smiled pleasantly at the expressions on their faces. "Meet back here in an hour. Personas on when you come back. Don't turn them off for anything, even when you're alone. Go."

Hikari wandered towards the market square, unsure of what to do for an hour. She'd already said goodbye to Naruto and Sasuke, and they were in class anyways, so she browsed around the stalls for a while. Then, she had a brilliant idea.

Should I find Neji?

He was the basis for her persona, after all. But he was in class…right?

No, not right. It was nearing the end of recess for Naruto's class, and if she remembered correctly, Neji's class had recess after them.

She found herself touching down at the far ends of the Academy yard, by the treeline. And there, she found Hyuuga Neji reading from a scroll on…chakra. Hikari's interest piqued, but she observed his demeanor instead. The tilt of his chin. The arch of his shoulders. She adopted these into her own posture, making them her own, and stepped out.

To his credit, he didn't flinch. He merely glanced up at her, frowned, and looked back down at his scroll.

So she plopped down next to him, abandoning all traces of her persona. "Is that chakra theory?" she asked, interest overriding dislike.

He shied away from her, leaning into the tree behind him and giving her another dismissive glance. "Yes."

"I've been reading on chakra too. Water-natured chakra, actually." She settled into a more comfortable position. "I'm trying to increase the amplitude of my jutsus in proportion to the amount of chakra I use."

"Hyuuga don't use elemental chakra," Neji replied, shoulders still slightly tense. "It's impure for our style."

"So you deal with pure chakra?"

"Yes."

"Can I borrow a scroll?"

This time, he actually looked up at her, with a look of incredulity. "No."

Ah. Well, it had been worth a try. Hikari shrugged. "I'll figure it out on my own, then." She lapsed into silence for several minutes, during which Neji's shoulders never fully relaxed. Still, she thought to herself. We have the capability to be civil to each other. Huh.

"You know," she said, considering him. "I think if we hadn't met in the manner we did, we'd get along."

"I doubt it," he retorted. "Our beliefs are too fundamentally different."

"Maybe," she agreed. "But Sasuke believes that tomatoes are a vegetable and we still get along."

His shoulders finally dropped. Got him, she thought. He aimed a strange expression at her. "You are a mess of contradictions."

…What.

Hikari didn't like where this conversation was going. Besides, it was time to head back to the gate. She stood up. "It was nice talking to you for once, Hyuuga-san." She began to leave.

"You're going to the Exams right now, aren't you?" She paused, and he continued. "If you come across any Cloud nin, please be sure to beat them, Uzumaki-san."

She blinked.

"Make a strong showing. Your team is the only one representing Konoha," he stated.

"I know," she replied. And she did. The pressure was enormous, but all she could do was deliver. "Thanks."

She left in a burst of chakra, bewildered by the sudden turn of events. But she shook it off, letting her persona slip into place.

I am unshakeable. I am strong. I am a mighty tree, unyielding to the wind.

Takahiro grinned at her as she touched down. "Last one of us to reconvene, Private. You should do a penalty."

Eisuke sighed with exasperation, hair noticeably parted differently. "None of that. We're leaving." His acting was natural, drilled into him for the past few months, but Hikari still laughed internally.

They fell into a diamond formation, with Eisuke taking point and Inoichi taking the rear guard.

And they left the gates.

According to their personas, it would likely be Takahiro who spoke first. Hikari spoke first anyways. "Sensei," she stated calmly, "isn't Uzushiogakure on the direct route to Kirigakure?"

Uzushio. Hidden Whirlpool.

Her origins.

"Why, yes it is," Inoichi said, grinning. "We'll pass it on our way. Unless," he added, eyeing her, "you'd like to visit."

She nodded once, curtly. "There may be useful things to pick up."

"You mean, if it hasn't been taken by looters already," Takahiro interjected. "Will there really be anything of value?"

She kept her eyes straight ahead. "You just need to know where and how to look." After all, all the important things would likely be kept in seals, in true Uzumaki fashion. Although, it might all be gone from other Uzumaki recovering things over the years.

"I don't see why not," Inoichi mused. "We have the time. Alright! To Uzushio we go."

As they traveled, they made little conversation. Except, of course, for the little asides that Takahiro and Inoichi made to one another. The pace was standard, and Hikari stewed in her own thoughts. She ran over possible seals to use on her ribbons, like Sasuke had suggested, and possibly on other articles of clothing. But there was nothing, so she resigned herself to constructing a seal of her own. Which wasn't hard, but it took more time than simply using pre-existing ones.

"By the way," Inoichi said, breaking into her contemplation. "It's going to be colder in Kirigakure. Konoha gets snow, but it's worse there. You all packed clothes accordingly, right?"

"Yes, Sensei," they all chorused. They knew how to pack for missions, and the Exams were essentially one large, extended, international mission.

"Uzushio is halfway between us and Kiri," Inoichi added. "We'll arrive in about two days."

"What are you going to look for when you're there?" Takahiro asked Hikari. "Or are you just going to loot?"

"A summoning contract, mainly, sir," she said softly. "Perhaps a family tree, if I can find one. Any remaining remnants. I have storage."

Eisuke tilted his head back. "That's sad," he said. "Sorry."

Inoichi burst out laughing, and Hikari cracked a miniscule smile. "Thank you for your sympathies, General."

He hummed dismissively.

And so their journey began.

-O-O-O-O-

A/N: HEY GUYS! I'M BACK!

Wow, it's been a whirlwind of a few months. I started university and clubs and thought of changing my major at least five times, no joke.

But now I'm back, and my updates will be at least more regular than this awkward three month gap. Yay!

Let me know how you liked this chapter. Much love.

See you next time!