_._

The Story of Us

'For those who never gave up'

Naruto x OC

Friendship, Adventure, Romance

Chapter 10

I was a genin now.

Not that it was all that difficult to become one. The academy test was so easy I actually expected there to be a catch.

Naruto had been so nervous, but I had seen him make a clone dozens of times before. So to find out he failed and did a- ahem, round about way of getting his headband, was a little bit of a surprise…. To say the least. I hadn't expected him to be out all night learning some forbidden jutsu just so he could get his headband, but was extremely shocked when he came home past midnight and woke me up to show it to me.

And when he showed me his shadow clone jutsu…..

Needless to say, I was pretty envious of said jutsu. I would have to ask Sensei more about it later.

Kakashi-sensei had laughed at the exam, calling it literal child's play, and warned me about the second part of the exam.

"Each jonin must give their team an assessment and decide whether that student or group will pass or fail. And only three squads can be made each year, meaning you've got a 66% failure rate."

Before finishing for the day, Sensei hit me with another bomb.

"Oh and Hikari, if you try and fail because Naruto does, I'll make you do handstands around the village for three days straight. I know a guy who will help me out too."

I knew he wasn't joking when he said something like that either. In fact I think I heard funeral bells swaying in the breeze at the mere thought of doing handstands for that long. He was definitely talking about Might Guy. I had only met him three times, and that was two times too many. There was nothing wrong with the guy, just that he terrified me with his training techniques.

The day of orientation I made Naruto ramen for breakfast as a treat. Honestly I was craving something salty as well, so it wasn't entirely selfless. The Uzumaki literally cuddled into me as I poured the broth into the bowls, chanting about how amazing I was for making him homemade ramen. Honestly if I knew this would wake him up so quickly I would've done it more often.

Naruto made to grab the sour milk I had been saving for a recipe, but I quickly swiped it out of his hands.

"This isn't safe to drink. Seriously have you tried drinking expired milk before?" I asked, looking to the carton where chunks were swishing away inside. The smell was awful, but Naruto didn't seem to notice. That got me even more worried as I recalled several expired products going missing. I always thought Naruto just tossed them out, but now…..

"Huh? Oh, I didn't notice." He managed to get out between slurps of noodles. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"That doesn't inspire confidence in my cooking skills, Uzumaki."

Naruto flinched, sitting up straight.

"Your cooking is wonderful and I really don't want you to start throwing ramen cups at my head again." Naruto rushed out in one long breath. Clearly he remembered the scorch of last year, where Naruto had eaten my special karaage chicken and beef ramen bowl that I had been saving. I could count on one hand the amount of times Naruto and I got into a real fight, but those ones we had were pretty ridiculous.

"Thanks, now let's hurry, it is orientation." I said after cleaning up my bowl. Naruto was on duty to wash dishes this morning while I went back to my apartment to get changed.

Since I finally had a headband, I decided to customize it a bit, and put it on a yellow sash instead of the standard blue. The soft yellow sash worked as an obi for my new kimono with wide sleeves and a hemline that ended at my mid-thigh. It was a green similar to the leaf village vest, with white trim around all the edges. Underneath my kimono was a body suit, like before, which had a high collar, was sleeveless, and went to my knees. My hair was still braided in a fishtail, hanging almost to my hips now in length with a few wisps of hair framing my face in a centre part.

Despite the time passing, I wasn't much taller than before, being barely four feet tall now. I came up to Naruto's nose, that was ridiculous! I should've been taller than him right now, considering girls tended to grow faster than boys at this age. Granted, Hinata was only a tiny bit taller than me, but still…..

I bit my cheek, trying not to overthink it considering there wasn't anything I could do about it anyway. Orientation was next, and I didn't want to waste anymore time dawdling. Sensei had given me the morning off, and it was an amazing feeling to wake up refreshed and actually ready to go.

Naruto and I wandered into the academy at a leisurely pace. There was no need to hustle today, everything was supposed to be quiet and relaxed. I took a seat next to the Uchiha and gave my customary hello. He would glance at me and look away to continue ignoring me, Naruto would get upset, and I would have to calm him down again. It was normal, seeing as Sasuke and I had been in a weird sort of battle for the past two years.

I would say hello every day, and the days I didn't he seemed to be waiting for me to say it, outright staring at me until I did. Then he would ignore me again. I found it kind of funny, and sometimes I would pretend to forget just to see him roll his eyes. That was probably the most emotion I was ever going to get from the kid, and that was fine.

It probably rubbed him the wrong way when I would haul my friends over to sit with him. Sasuke would hide by himself in the tree and we would sit on the ground. That was fine too, because despite leaping up there, he never once ran away.

I would definitely not call us friends, and frankly I didn't care if we were right now. He wasn't alone, at least, not entirely now. That was my only real goal.

Today I didn't try to make a fuss or tease, because today I was excited to find out what team I would be put on. My dream team would be Naruto and Shikamaru honestly. Naruto had the unlimited stamina and Shikamaru was a brilliant boy when he actually tried to work. I didn't want to be on Kiba or Sasuke's teams frankly. Mostly because I knew they would be difficult to work with. I didn't hate Kiba or anything, but the boy ran his mouth so much his mouth could probably do marathons more work than the rest of him. And Sasuke definitely would put himself above the team.

Shino wouldn't be bad, or Choji, I could work with them. They wouldn't be my first pick though. Don't get me wrong, Choji would've had the best snacks for any mission, and Shino's bug ability would've been super handy, but Choji complained about training almost as much as he ate, and Shino wouldn't talk to me even if I tried. Unless I was willing to discuss the mating habits of some obscure beetle there wasn't much else he was interested in speaking to me about.

No, I wanted Shikamaru and Naruto. I figured that would be a pretty tough lineup to beat. If we could wrangle Hinata into the mix I would've been happy as a clam, but teams traditionally had one female and two males. Traditionally, because there were less female ninja in general. These numbers weren't set in stone, but they were for genin straight from the academy.

Today was supposed to be simple, easy going. Even if Shikamaru wasn't on my team I was super certain Naruto would be. There was no real reason to split us up, and we'd practiced teamwork before using my water clones and very recently Naruto's shadow clones. We were a shoe-in as teammates.

Sometime during my thoughts Sakura sprinted up to the desk edge beside Naruto. He waved to her, but she completely ignored him.

"H-Hi Sasuke." She said, having grown more bold now that she had a headband instead of a ribbon in her hair. Sasuke said nothing, big surprise, so her glare landed on me. Honestly, what was the big deal with this guy? I mean yeah, I spent as much time as I could annoying the crap out of him, but I didn't chase him down to confess feelings that didn't existed. I just….

I didn't want anyone to be alone.

"Hikari." Sakura said stiffly. I gave a smile back, albeit a forced one.

"Hi Sakura." I noticed Naruto glaring at Sasuke, but then more girls stated to surround the table.

"I wanted to sit next to Sasuke!"

"No, I got here first! I should've sat next to him!"

"I almost feel bad for you." I muttered, leaning back to get out of the way of the girl's glares. Sasuke gave an almost inaudible snort, but otherwise said nothing. I smiled anyways, finding it almost funny how he actively tried to make less noise when the hoards of girls were around. The fact that he made a noise at all was a victory on my part, and judging by the glare he gave me he knew it too.

Naruto leaped onto the desk in front of Sasuke. Between Naruto scowling at the Uchiha and the gaggle screeching at him on the other side of me there was no solstice of peace to be had. But then the screeching stopped, the growling stopped, and I got worried. The sightline of the girls was looking to the boys, and I have to admit, when I cottoned on to the reason for the silence I couldn't help but look twice.

Somehow, Naruto had bumped forward and locked lips with Uchiha. A snort broke through my lips as I covered my mouth and quickly looked away.

This day was just…

The boys broke apart, choking and wheezing and acting like they were both about to die. Honestly? Naruto might considering the looks on the girls' faces. I yanked him into the seat between me and Sasuke, slinging an arm around his shoulders and smiling to the gaggle.

"Problem, girls?"

Thankfully Iruka-sensei came in at that time, so I just slid down a bit to make more room for Naruto to sit in between us without starting a fight with Sasuke. The gaggle disbanded, and Iruka-sensei explained the groups of three.

To be frank, I wasn't really interested in my squad number. The only thing that made me curious was the third member of the squad. Who was it going to be?

"Squad five. Hibachi Otoname… Hideki Kyounami…. And Hikari Koissui."

"WHAT?!" I shouted, slamming a hand down on the table in front of me. The class jumped while Hibachi and his buddy Hideki both glared in my direction.

This had to be a mistake… There was no way…..

I waited a few extra years for this?!

Sure enough, Naruto was put on team seven with Sasuke and Sakura. At least Naruto had a competent person on his team. I was stuck with dumb and dumber!

Those two hated me with a passion, and even after I had begrudgingly tried to apologize for laying Hibachi out, the boy actively insulted me and mocked me any chance he got. I did try for a while, but after he purposefully dumped a bucket of water on me in the middle of winter I had to stop.

It was either that, or Naruto and Kiba were going to kill the kid.

Hideki was Hibachi's shadow. If Hibachi liked something, so did Hideki. If Hibachi dissed me, Hideki repeated the exact same thing at me. It was pretty tiring to listen to after a while. Even Shikamaru had stepped in saying enough was enough between myself and the boys.

"Some people won't change, Hikari, you just have to accept that." He had told me like some wise old sage…. Before proceeding to curl up under the bench for a nap.

We broke for lunch- thank God- and I stormed outside without talking to anyone.

Where is a tree I can-

"Hey, we need to talk."

Hibachi grabbed my arm, yanking me away from the academy and out onto the pathway. Hideki was, as predicted, not very far behind. I didn't say anything, letting Hibachi yank me along.

We stopped a bit off the pathway, and Hibachi did a pretty pitiful attempt at intimidation. He punched the tree above my head, glaring down at me. Hideki standing next to him, both glaring.

"Let's get this straight. You follow my orders and we'll do just fine. Do you understand?"

Hideki parroted the exact same phrase. I raised a brow.

"But you're horrible at tactical advantages," I pointed out, "you failed almost every simulation exercise we were given."

Hibachi growled.

"Don't talk back to me!"

"Yeah don't talk back to Hibachi!" Hideki said. I sighed, imagining pulling teeth to be easier than being on a squad with these two. They were, however, my group now. I didn't have much of a choice in the matter… apparently.

"Hey," we all looked over to the voice to see Sasuke leaning against a tree. "Back off."

Well that was pretty surprising. Hibachi stepped away from me, taking a step towards Sasuke, however Hideki put an arm on his shoulder.

"Hibachi, you remember what that guy did to Naruto right?" Hideki reminded, but Hibachi smirked.

"Heh, I'm not that drop out." My eyes narrowed as Hibachi noticed Sasuke take a step closer. Like the coward he was, he saw an even two against two and turned tail. "Forget it, so not worth it."

The duo left me standing there, and Sasuke glaring after them.

"Um, thanks." I said, feeling a little bit awkward that the Uchiha had helped me. Sasuke continued his nonchalant character, glancing at me briefly. He hesitated, then spoke.

"So you're stuck with those two, huh?" I shrugged.

"Wanna trade?" I teased, but he just rolled his eyes. "Hey, your team won't be so bad. You're decent, and you've got Naruto. And Sakura might be a pain but she works super hard when she is motivated."

Sasuke glanced back at me, hesitating.

"Naruto…. What do you… how would you describe him?" Sasuke asked, leaning back against another tree across from me. I was surprised by the question, Sasuke didn't really talk much as it was so it was hard to say what kind of conversation we would have, but this didn't seem too far from the realm of curiosity.

"Naruto…. Hm…." I had to think of it, how I would describe the Uzumaki. A soft smile broke out across my lips I bit my pinky trying to pin one word to him.

"Sunlight."

Sasuke looked confused. I grinned.

"Whenever I'm sad, or lonely, or scared, I just have to look at Naruto and I know everything will be okay. It's like when the skies part after raining and the sunlight breaks through. That's Naruto."

Sasuke stared for a long moment, before a small blush broke out across his cheeks. Weird, why's he acting like that? Unless….

Sasuke turned and took off, not saying another word as he had a dazed look in his eyes. I gave a half-hearted wave and muttered a 'thanks again' before watching him go.

Not long afterwards Sasuke came storming down the path….. from the opposite direction. He walked right by me without even stopping to stare.

So….. Who was that then?

The world was out to get me today, I swear it.

Not only was I stuck with Hideki and Hibachi, but Ebisu was my new sensei. The jerk hated Naruto and talked him down so much as it was. Probably didn't help any that I encouraged Naruto to use his harem jutsu on him any chance he got. The guy took one look at me and seemed ready to rip my guts out.

Oh, and my team failed….. there's that…..

The goal had been simple, we were explicitly told to show how we worked as a team, but it was a mess. Hibachi came up with awful plans that involved me being bait and them taking on Ebisu. Most of which didn't work because they played into Ebisu's traps all the time. Any time I opened my mouth to suggest something they both loudly and openly disagreed with me. Then there was the fact that they then started to lie to me about the plan, and would openly ditch me to try and beat Ebisu.

The final straw was when Ebisu commented that if I spent more time training and less time arguing with my teammates we might actually get somewhere. I knew he was saying it to all three of us, but the other two were so dense they thought he was just talking to me and just egged me on further.

So yeah, I failed. Big surprise there. I was livid though, and sought out Kakashi-sensei to ask what the heck happened.

Out by the memorial stone was where he usually was this time of day, which I was right about. However he wasn't alone.

Tied to a post was none other than my knucklehead of a best friend Naruto, with Sasuke and Sakura standing on either side of him. Kakashi-sensei was looking at the three of them, and it dawned on me then who their sensei was.

I wanted nothing more than to wring Sakura's neck. She got my spot on Sensei's team!

Kakashi-sensei noticed me first as I came from behind them trio.

"Ah, Hikari, perfect timing." Kakashi-sensei called. I huffed a bit, subtly trying to glare at Sakura before taking a deep breath and settling myself down.

"Hi Sensei…" I muttered, before realizing I would have to tell him that I wasn't going to become a Genin now.

"Ah! Kari! You're done your test already? Awesome! We just finished too! And we passed! Believe it!" Naruto flailed his legs around since his arms were tied down. My back tensed, I stared at him for a moment before crossing my arms and looking away.

"What's with that face?" Sakura muttered. I looked at her, narrowing my eyes. She seemed surprised, but I lowered my glare to the dirt.

"Oh, so you failed the test then?" Kakashi-sensei said in such a rhetoric tone I clenched my jaw.

All three genin looked surprised, but I said nothing on the subject yet and opted to glare at the ground.

"But… How?! You train every single morning and evening! I mean you get up before me and-and you work so hard!" Naruto was in denial, and honestly so was I. This whole thing was so frustrating! I felt like taking a tantrum and crying about it, but one glance at Kakashi-sensei made me shut up. I had a feeling if I did start crying he would get really pissed at me for letting myself get so emotional over being a ninja.

Emotions don't belong on the field.

He reminded me of that every lesson. That, and to never show anyone but him and Tenzo my Wood release unless it was absolutely necessary. Something about it not being completely normal to perform that jutsu, so with a huff I recollected myself, and settled down once again.

"We couldn't get any teamwork done." I said shortly. Kakashi-sensei hummed, before revealing a bell to me.

"Well then, let's play a little game." All of us perked up at that. "If you can get these bells from me before three, then I'll let you swap with anyone on this team."

It was a lie, I was certain of it. If he already passed them, there was no way he would go back on his word. Kakashi-sensei wasn't that type of person. So why say that? To motivate me? No, I would love to prove myself anyways….

Ah, I know why.

"You're on, Sensei." I said. Kakashi-sensei smiled then retreated the bell into his palm. The trio all looked at me with mixed emotions.

"Good, now then, why don't we move away so these guys can finish their lunches?" Kakashi-sensei waved me over. I followed him to a new clearing not too far away. Sensei tied the bell to his waist, and I waited patiently for him to take out his Make Out Paradise Volume 3. He didn't though, and instead looked at me with a careful eye. I smirked.

"Not going to read, Sensei?" He chuckled at me, lowering into a fighting stance.

"Somehow, I don't think I'll have time to." He confessed. I grinned, also lowering my stance.

"Alright, begin!"

I took off at him, being careful to keep quick and light on my feet while I went at him and waited for an opening. Sensei wouldn't give one so easily though, and aimed a hard punch to my ribs.

Perfect.

I used the substitution jutsu to get away, quickly sprinting back to the trio who had untied Naruto and were now staring at their food.

"Guys," I started, kneeling down quickly in front of them. "I need your help."

All three looked up at me, Sasuke with narrowed eyes, Sakura with confusion, and Naruto looked curious.

"Our help? Why? Shouldn't you do this by yourself?" Sakura frowned. I shook my head.

"Look, there is no way I'm getting on this team. He already passed you guys. But I….." I let out a frustrated groan. "I have to prove myself! I have to prove to Sensei that I wasn't wasting his time."

Sasuke regarded me differently.

"You called him Kakashi-sensei this entire time."

Naruto seemed to catch on suddenly.

"Ah! Kakashi-sensei is the guy who's been training you!" Both of his teammates looked at him surprised. "It makes sense! You were always so sneaky about it! But that's who has been training you this whole time!"

"Okay yes, he has been! I confess that! But listen we don't have a lot of time! I used a substitution and now he'll be expecting me to come back, but I don't plan to come back alone." I explained, glancing over my shoulder with paranoia. I wouldn't put it passed the man to be lurking behind one of the trees.

"Okay so what do we do?" Naruto asked eagerly. Sakura glared at him.

"Don't go volunteering us for this!" She yelled, I flinched at the noise level and turned to Sasuke. Perhaps he could be convinced.

"I'll bet anything Sensei used the head hunter jutsu on one of you. He likes that one a bit too much." Sasuke twitched before looking away. I grinned. "Wouldn't it be the most satisfying thing to get back at him for it?"

Sasuke glanced at me, Naruto was getting more riled up.

"Yeah! He poked me in the butt earlier! I'm definitely getting back at him for that!"

Well, the boys looked convinced. I glanced to Sakura, who hesitated before realizing she was out numbered and sighed.

"Yeah sure, why not?" She sighed. I grinned.

"Perfect. Okay, here's the plan…."

Kakashi watched the substitution fall to the floor. Hikari was getting better and better with it. Dare he say it was currently her best skill.

He waited for her to reappear, but when she didn't immediately he smiled a bit.

"So she caught on already…." He said to himself, amused at the kids brain. He was curious what sort of plan she would come up with now. He'd give them a few moments to prepare.

Not long after he thought this Naruto and several clones dropped from the trees to his right, and several from his left. It was a good idea, using Naruto's stamina to their advantage to test out the waters on an unknown ninja, but for him it would be pointless.

A battle cry came from the clones as they all came up to him. Kakashi lowered his stance, expecting to have them all down in seconds.

So imagine his surprise when two of the clones expertly dodged him. One caught his fists and the other reached for the bells while also dodging a kick. Kakashi is forced to jump into the air, and much to his chagrin that seemed to be what they were hoping for.

Sasuke rapidly makes hand-signs, and Kakashi didn't need his sharingan to know what the boy was planning as he too made hand signs to counter the strike.

"Fire Style! Fire Ball Jutsu!"

"Water Style! Water Clone Jutsu!"

The three clones burst on contact with the fire, raining water down on the group and soaking out the flames. A whizzing noise alerted him to several shuriken flying at him from behind, so he had to pull a kunai out to knock them out of the way from their target. He realized, from the angle they were tossed at, that they were only a distraction, as he had now lost sight of which Naruto clones were Sasuke and Hikari.

His feet hit the ground, and immediately something took hold of his legs. He looked down, stunned to find small hands gripping them tightly.

"What?"

He was held down well, a substitution would be doable, but if he picked the wrong Naruto clone and it was Sasuke the boy would definitely see through the trick right away.

He found the Uchiha though as the boy busied his arms with a series of kicks and strikes that he was forced to properly defend. A Naruto clone dove for the bells, but he managed to free one of his legs to kick it out of the way. At the same time he tossed Sasuke into the air and he went flying.

He realized too late, that the reason Naruto had flown at him was not for the bells, but rather to get him to use a method of defence so that Sakura could come flying behind him and grab them.

Only…. The bells weren't her target.

In the pink haired teens hands was Make Out Paradise. Kakashi half expected her to get frustrated and say that wasn't what she meant to grab, but then she opened the book and flipped to the last few pages. His heart stuttered. She wouldn't…

"Aomi, my love, please, tell me the truth. Tell me why you would kill your brother-"

"W-Wait, no, don't spoil it-!"

"My dearest, it's because I-"

He covered his ears as Sakura continued to read, but then she stopped, grinning. It was only after a few seconds he remembered there was something holding his legs, but now only holding his right leg. He looked down to see the free hand holding a bell, and at the last second he was pulled into the dirt.

Hikari emerged a little ways away from him, looking every bit the victorious brat that she could be. She dangled the bell in front of him, raising a brow.

"So, good enough for you, Sensei?"

Kakashi was so glad he had on his mask. His face was deep red as he realized he'd been played by a bunch of kids over the book ending. Kakashi should've never told Hikari about how eager he was to finish reading it the other day and just kept his damn mouth shut.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all stood, their jutsu released, and seemed a little bit smug that they had caught him too.

He would never hear the end of it now.

"Not… not bad…" Kakashi said while dragging himself out of the hole. "Now, give me back my book and don't bend the cover."

Sakura grinned, holding up the book.

"Oh, this one?" In a puff of smoke, it was revealed to be nothing more than a piece of wood. Kakashi's eyes widened. "Yeah, I didn't know if I could actually grab it from you, so Hikari made this one to look like it was yours just in case. So, we couldn't actually spoil the ending Sensei."

Kakashi stared, dumbfounded, before looking to an especially smug looking Hikari. He half collapsed, though he shouldn't have been too surprised. She was his student after all, and he had taught her to use alternative fighting over her fists.

Still, to have come up with a tactic like that, and to get them to all execute it….. he was right in passing the three, that was certain. They did in fact have some solid teamwork skills, if only they could tap into it by themselves.

"Right, well, you pass." He said officially. Hikari swung the bell around while she looked back at Sakura he could see the contemplation in her eyes as she stared down the other kunoichi.

Hikari wasn't wrong, Sakura had indeed taken her intended position. He wasn't entirely convinced by the Hokage's choices either, but who was he to judge?

He remembered talking with the Hokage a few days prior, discussing his team chosen for him to lead with the other jonin. When the Hokage openly stated Hikari would not be on the same team, he had to question if he was making a good choice and sought to speak with him privately.

"Kakashi, I understand your confusion, but there is good reason for my choices. Hikari is Naruto's closest friend, and while they work well together I worry this will cause them to separate from others. Naruto needs to find friends and allies in others too, or I'm afraid they will isolate themselves. I'm also concerned for Hikari learning of the nine-tails too soon. She is a child, and while she may one day be able to help protect Naruto and keep the beast sealed, she must not be forced into it. They have both been through so much, I worry for them."

While he didn't entirely agree with the Third's choices, he did understand them. Hikari had a natural desire to help others, to the point of her own detriment. He could especially see her isolating herself and Naruto once she learned of the nine-tails being inside the boy as a means to protect him. She needed those connections now before that time came.

Hikari broke him from his thoughts she tossed the bell at him. He caught it nimbly, and watched her stare back at him. Whether she was aware or not, those eyes were always intimidating to look at. Even with a warm smile and gentle gaze those eyes felt like they were piercing through him.

"Sensei, I know you just wanted to see us work together," she looked to the trio, "and frankly I think they all would make a great team."

He could hear to tiniest of grumbles under her tone. Kakashi couldn't help but smile though and walked over to muss up her hair.

"It's okay, you passed as well."

All four kids looked up at him in shock.

"W-Wait!" Sakura panicked. "Does that mean she…."

Kakashi chuckled, looking down at the smallest girl. Hikari stared up at him with surprised and hope.

"The truth is, I already requested you fill in on a Genin team that is missing a member. It was favourable that your assigned team was expected to fail too." He explained, feeling mirth as a huge smile split Hikari's face. "They're a year old than you, but I expect the team to be adequate. I know the Jonin well."

Naruto ran up to Hikari, hugging her tightly as the girl just stared with mild disbelief. The boy chattering her ear off, but Hikari didn't seem to mind it at all.

Kakashi cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention.

"Good, well since you're here for today why don't you train with our group?" He looked down to his students, Sakura immediately protesting.

"What?! We have to do more?!" She looked exhausted at the mere thought. Meanwhile Hikari nodded.

"Sounds good. Should I run laps then?" She offered, almost looking eager to run despite Kakashi knowing she hated it with a passion. He nodded, shooing her off. Naruto sprinted after her, and Sasuke stared for a while before he sighed and took off after the blondes as well. Sakura stared for a moment, then called after Sasuke as she too ran after them.

Kakashi watched the group, at the gentle teasing Hikari does to spur Sasuke on, which indirectly pushes Naruto as well. Sakura lagging but still trying her best to keep up.

Well, perhaps this team won't be too terrible after all.

What's up my dudes? Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

Well, I'm not overly happy with this chapter, but I think it's because I've been super distracted by actually trying to figure out where this story is gunna end. A lot of set up would be required to get there, so this book is gunna be laying out a ton of groundwork for that final book where shit hits the fan. I'm a fan of becoming an emotional wreck after reading a good book, so hopefully my writing will get you there too. I also ask you not give up on this story, I promise the Epilogue of book 3 will be worth all the pain and sorrow. I promise this to you, but also myself as I teared up bad over the ending. I'm a huge fan of silver lining endings too, btw.

I don't know about y'all, but I really really dislike overly long books too. Like, I like to stick to somewhere between 30-40 chapters max because any more than that looks waaaaaayyy too intimidating, y'know? I often lose interest half-way through because I find there is too much going on then and I get overwhelmed. I just read a 156 chapter story and I can't even remember the beginning, that's how much happens, and that's too much in my opinion.

Having said that, I will let y'all know this will be a 3 or 4 part series. So 3 or 4 books (Depends on my will to write by the end of it) Spanning from Naruto as a 3 year old to the prologue of this book. Each book will have approximately 40 chapters, save for the interlude story which will have 25ish. These are guestimations, so don't hold me to my word too much.

Also this was always the plan for Hikari, and I'm super excited to write her new teammates. All OC and all really entertaining IMO. Their dynamics are going to be crucial to Hikari's story line. You'll meet them next chapter!

Thank you all fro reading and reviewing! Please check your inboxes for replies!

Also to the Guest reviewer: Thank you for the insightful review. It's actually because I plan to play around with Sakura's story arc that she's staying on team 7, and also, during the great war those babies are all definitely standing together to fight off Kaguya together. That, and the fact that I really really don't want to write out the Land of Waves arc in full. I get bored using scenes from the show like that, but some of them have to be done. Also thank you, I agree most fanfics miss the point that the fangirls pose a mental health issue with Sasuke. It drives a wedge between Sasuke and Naruto, but also drives a wedge between Sasuke and others. They don't actually care about him and I hated that so much. I especially hated how Sakura pines after him like she actually loved the guy but didn't even know him. Romance was not a strong suit of Kishimotos, but we'll work on that.

Anyway, hope you're all doing well! Wash your hands, and stay safe!

Iland Girl