_._

The Story of Us

'For those who never gave up'

Naruto x OC

Friendship, Adventure, Romance

Chapter 13: The Land of Waves

Hardships are only as tough as you are.

"Simple Man"- Lynyrd Skynyrd, covered by Jensen Ackles

The land of Waves wasn't that far from us, being just a half days boat ride across the ocean to get to them. The boat ride itself was pretty basic, a fishing boat that was large enough for us to space out nicely on deck. Other than Reiji getting seasick I don't think anything really happened. I spent most of the trip rubbing his back and doing my best not to smell the contents he vomited overboard.

Pakkun was content with the trip, having ran all the way to find us. When we got to Waves our boat was abruptly stopped though.

"Alright, everyone come here and stay quiet." He announced. We assembled, I had to give Reiji a hand since he wasn't used to his 'ground' moving so much and it seemed to seriously disorient him. Once the three of us had moved away from the man rowing the boat, Daisuke began his explanation.

"Before we continue, there are a few things you should know," he glanced around at all of us. "Kakashi would not send for aid unless he expected something serious. This means this mission is technically an A-ranked mission. We will most likely encounter enemy ninja at some point. I want you all on your toes and careful. Secondly, don't make the mistake in thinking you are entering any battles. If it comes to it you will need to defend, but stay out of any fights between enemy ninja with Kakashi and I. Do you all understand?"

Akira huffed while Reiji and I nodded. Daisuke had a serious face as he looked to all of us, nothing like the laid back look he usually wore.

"Good, from here on out, I want you all to proceed with extreme caution," Daisuke looked down to the pug. "Pakkun, lead the way."

We exited the boat quietly, none of us making a sound as the dog lead us through a mist. I wanted to ask how much further, my hands fidgeting slightly in anticipation.

Was Sensei alright? Did he need medical attention? Was it all a precaution and we would be sent home? Was Naruto alright? His teammates? What if something happened to Naruto? I felt myself shake slightly at that, but I urged myself to stay quiet.

What felt like hours, but was probably only one, later I could see houses come into view. Pakkun was sniffing furiously, then changed course on us. We continued, but I noticed Pakkun hurrying.

"Kakashi's been injured. I can smell his blood." Pakkun called back to us. My eyes widened, I urged myself to go faster.

"Then lead the way!" I called, but then looked back to my teammates. Daisuke was in the back, slower than us. I noticed the limp looking more pronounced and immediately slowed. "Wait, Pakkun slow down."

The pug looked surprised. I pursed my lips, trying to gain some self-control, and breathed through my nose to help calm me.

"Kakashi-sensei has his own team looking out for him, and we can't be spreading thin right now." I said nearly mechanically before turning to see the entire team had caught up. Daisuke looked mildly embarrassed, but none of us said anything.

"You're faster than I thought, Hikari." Daisuke teased. I smiled, though it didn't feel like one of my genuine ones due to the situation. "Alright, let's keep going."

We continued on through the land of Waves, albeit at a much slower pace that was getting on my nerves, but I stayed silent as we finally made it to the house we were looking for. Pakkun sat by the door, while Daisuke made his way over to knock.

A woman answered the door, but immediately slammed the door in our faces.

Well, considering there were supposed to be enemy ninja I didn't entirely hate the reaction. I wasn't offended by it either. Daisuke knocked again, but a 'go away!' From the other side was all we got.

"I'm Daisuke, Kakashi's friend. He called for us to come here." Daisuke called through the door, abandoning the notion someone might be watching us outside. I turned to look at Reiji and found that he seemed to be settled, so I tried to mimic this but ultimately failed horribly.

If this woman as that nervous, there had to be a damn good reason for it. Kakashi-sensei must've been pretty badly injured, and considering the glum look from Pakkun he was just as worried. I picked the pug up absently, clutching him across his chest.

The woman peaked other the door, glancing at all of us. We remained still for a while, before the woman narrowed her eyes.

"Kakashi never mentioned another team coming." She braced for us to storm the door. I stepped forward, her eyes tracking me.

"I-Is Kakashi-sensei alright? What about Naruto?" I asked in a rush. This seemed to strike a chord, as she stared at me. A few moments later she began to open the door.

"You know Naruto?" She asked, opening the door enough for me to get a good look at her. I nodded.

"We're best friends, just tell him Kari's here and-"

"Kari?!"

The woman looked stunned as she looked behind her into the house. There was noise for a while before Naruto yanked the door open with zero regard for the woman and stared at me. The moment I saw those blue orbs I felt a tension leave my body I hadn't realized was there. It had been there for the entire mission, but the sudden ease I felt upon seeing him brought a genuine smile to my lips.

"Naruto."

The boy launched at me, hugging me tightly, as Pakkun was squashed between us.

"Kari! What are you doing here?! I thought you had your own mission!" Naruto laughed, and I could tell there had been some tension in him too.

"Wait! Naruto, you're squishing Pakkun!" I said while trying to prevent the dog from being squashed between us. He flopped out of my arms, looking less than amused at Naruto's antics.

"Naruto! You can't push people like that!" Sakura smacked the back of Naruto's head. I tensed up as Naruto rubbed the back of his head. The woman only smiled, looking a bit embarrassed that a twelve year old shoved her over.

"Ow! Sakura! You don't need to hit me!" Naruto whined. I watched Sakura glare at him, my shoulders tightening as Naruto pouted. Sakura looked over to me, and only then did her glare falter.

I didn't say anything, but I didn't have to. My look seemed to tell her 'don't do that again' and be enough. She paused, staring at me, until I remembered what we were here for.

"Kakashi-sensei! Where is he? Is he alright?" I asked, eager to walk further into the house. Sakura and Naruto backed up for us all to walk in. It was only a few moments later I realized my team had been quietly observing the display and a blush flushed my cheeks. Akira especially was watching me with a suspicious look on his face.

We removed our shoes and the woman escorted us to one of the rooms available. Kakashi-sensei was resting with his vest and shoes off to the side. Sasuke was sitting against a wall, but I walked directly to sit by Sensei's head instead of saying hello. Pakkun sat with me, grumbling. He definitely wasn't happy about Kakashi-sensei laying there either.

"Sensei?" I asked carefully, tucking my legs below me. He opened his one dark eye, and after a moment it warmed.

"Ah, so Pakkun found you guys….. this is good." He said, trying to sit up. I noted he looked tense the entire time. Before I knew what I was doing, I reached down to pat Pakkun gently.

It wasn't like this was the first time I had seen Sensei wounded. I remembered a few years ago, one of the first times I had been allowed to come by the Hatake compound, he had been stitching up his chest. Despite my insistence that he go to the hospital, Kakashi-sensei just smiled at me, patted my head, and said it was nothing.

I still dragged myself around the compound more frequently to make sure he didn't need help. I had no doubt he was an excellent ninja, but Sensei often downplayed his injuries and I wasn't dumb enough to think some of those scars weren't painful. He'd been in the hospital several times upon returning, and I would do my best to bring him books and let his dogs know what the updates were. I would check with the doctors too, to make sure Sensei wasn't lying about his injuries.

"You look like a wreck. Had I known you would go this far I would've rushed them all." Pakkun said, pulling no punches. The little dog rarely did, especially not for his master.

Kakashi-sensei looked paler than normal. And while pale was common since he covered himself so much, it was a strange concept to think he could get even paler. I noticed his right hand was bandaged, but nothing else was obvious to me.

Sensei chuckled.

"Yes well, I'm happy it was only one jonin this time." Sensei explained. He looked at me, before gently placing his left hand onto my head to muss my hair.

"it's alright, Hikari. It's nothing serious. I just over-exerted my Sharingan." His voice got a little gentler, and I knew he was dong his best to make me and Pakkun feel better. The pug grumbled lightly, watching Sensei for a moment longer.

"Well, if you're fine and they're here, I'll report home." Pakkun said. Kakashi dropped his hand from my head and looked to the down.

"Thank you, Pakkun."

The dog vanished in a puff of smoke, and I crossed my arms to keep from attempting to fuss. Sitting still, watching the pale man waver slightly, bothered me a lot.

Daisuke cleared his throat, and again I was smacked with the fact that I had forgotten everyone else was in the room. I pursed my lips and ducked my head while Kakashi chuckled.

"Well, now that we know you're alive, why don't we hear what we're about to get into?" Daisuke asked.

So Sensei told us the full story as we sat around him. Naruto blurted in at some point, talking about his super cool plan he and Sasuke did, but mostly him. I nearly paled when I heard Kakashi-sensei had been captured by this jonin. That was proof enough that the scope of the mission was a lot bigger than initially expected.

Meanwhile, we also got introduced to Tazuna, the man behind all this, and Tsunami, his daughter. They said Inari, Tsunami's son, was around her somewhere.

Tazuna explained the reason behind the mission, and that the bridge would bring them hope.

It was all fine and dandy, but I didn't like this mission one bit. This man had blatantly put kids in danger for selfish desires, and there was a solid chance that, had Naruto not rioted for a C-rank, chuunin would've taken the mission and been completely slaughtered by this Zabuza character.

In a nutshell, the bridge wouldn't be built and this place would be just as badly off. I was very put off about the entire situation, but considering the fact that we now had two jonin- albeit one that was out of commission and the other had a bad leg- and six genin to work with. Our numbers might save our skins now. The mission itself would be a lot longer too. Initially it would've taken just a week at most for Team 7, but now it would be another two weeks at least until the bridge was finished.

"Why don't we settle in for the day? There's not much we can expect to do for the rest of the day." Daisuke offered. Tsunami stepped forward, smiling to our team.

"We don't have a lot of space, but I can show you to the other rooms if you'd like." She offered. Reiji smiled politely.

"That would be favourable, thank you." Ever the polite and cordial boy. Akira and I stood shortly after him; I glanced back at Kakashi-sensei once before making my way after them.

Tsunami led down a small hallway. Looked like Kakashi-sensei was resting in what looked to be their living room. Tsunami stopped in front of a door before turning to smile at us.

"You boys can stay in here. Naruto and Sasuke will be sharing with you. I'm afraid we don't have much room in our house." Tsunami had an apologetic tone, and as if on instinct both Reiji and I covered Akira's mouth when he went to comment.
"That's no problem! We understand and appreciate not having to sleep outside. Right Akira?" I said his name lower, daring him to talk back and get us all booted out. Akira huffed, but nodded, so Reiji and I lowered our hands from his mouth. Tsunami giggled at us while the boys walked into the room.

"I'll bring extra blankets and sleeping mats, but unfortunately we are in short stock." She turned to me. "As for you, Sakura and you will share the next room. It's smaller, was once a storage room, but there's more than enough space for two girls."

Tsunami led me down to the next roman opened the door. It definitely looked a lot smaller than the other one, but that was fine considering it was just Sakura and I.

Frankly, I was so tired it didn't matter where in the house I slept. I stifled a yawn, which Tsunami smiled at.

"You must be tired. Please, settle in. I'll prepare dinner shortly." Tsunami said while walking away. I watched her go, before entering the room myself to set up a spot to sleep.

After placing my things where they needed to be, I ventured back out and found the kitchen on accident.

Tsunami was staring at a half empty pantry, looking nonplussed. From the stories told to me earlier I had a hunch food was also pretty scarce as well.

"Did you want some help?" I asked, surprising the woman. She turned to see me, putting a hand to her chest.

"You're so quiet! Sorry, you scared me. But that's alright, I suppose we could have rice for dinner…." She trailed off, looking mildly embarrassed. I gave a gentle smile.

"If you'd like, I could help catch some fish? Ah, and Waves country has knotweed, right?" I offered, trying to think up a recipe for the gross weed. It was a pain, but the weed could be made into several purees, jams, or if properly handled it could be friend up.

Tsunami hummed in thought, putting a finger to her lips.

"Knotweed? I've never had it before honestly. Doesn't it turn slimy?" Tsunami asked. I shrugged.

"Yeah, but only if you try to strip it before properly cooking it. You could eat it raw, or…. Maybe we could make a puree….. and some skipjack tuna….. and that could on the rice?" Tsunami looked surprised.

"I've never tried, but…. If you'd like to see what you could find, I'll hold off on any firm plans for dinner." Tsunami offered. I gave her a smile.

Tsunami directed me on where to find knotweed in plentiful. Out in the forests along the main island for the Land of Waves. I then asked for a few fishing poles before finding all the genin back in the boys' room. Akira and Naruto looked ready to fight while Sasuke sat away from everyone with Sakura attempting to ask him something. Reiji sat quietly by himself, but immediately looked to the door when I entered.

"Naruto," I called, and the blond whipped his head to look at me. I grinned, holding out a fishing pole for him. "It's time we went back to basics."

"What? We're catching fish now?" Sakura commented, sounding unimpressed. I shrugged.

"Well, you gotta eat somehow. We'll need probably twenty small fish, so Sasuke, Akira, and Sakura, would all of you mind doing this?" I asked, Naruto already eagerly grabbing one of the poles.

"You're cooking? This will be great! Believe it!" He gave a goofy grin, and I knew the prospect of food was more than enough to get the blond working. I turned to Sasuke, who stared at me, but I just gave a gentle smile and waited the boy out.

A few moments later, Sasuke also stood and grabbed a pole. I grinned, then turned to Akira. He was staring at the Uchiha, but when said boy glanced back at him Akira glared before yanking a pole from my hand roughly. I turned to Sakura, who looked very put off at the prospect of having to catch fish for herself, but got up to get a pole anyway.

"Thanks guys," I turned to the Hyuga with the same smile. "Reiji, you and I are going to the forest to scavenge for some edible plants."

Reiji stood gracefully, smiling politely as he made his way over.

"We should let the jonin know where we're going, just in case." Reiji supplied. I paused, then nodded. The forest wasn't far, not even a half hour's walk, so I wasn't deeply concerned about us at this point, but it would be good to stay together.

"Right," I turned to the group with their poles. "Good luck guys, we'll meet back in a while. Tsunami said the docks are the best place to fish around this time of day."

We alerted the jonin of our current plans. Daisuke was comfortable with it, while Kakashi-sensei was a bit more hesitant.

"We don't know when the enemy will be back." Kakashi-sensei said with a hint of finality. However, Reiji took a step forward, bowing slightly to the white haired man.

"I promise, sir, Hikari will be safe. My literal vision may be gone, but I can still use my Byakugan fully. No enemy will sneak up on us." Reiji tilted his head up to look as though staring directly at Kakashi-sensei.

"She'll be safe, I promise."

I was a bit surprised by the words, even more so by the huff coming from Sensei. Daisuke grinned.

"Don't worry Kakashi, these kids are a lot more capable than you think. Go ahead Reiji, Hikari, don't run out of daylight though."

"Right!"

Sakura was fumbling a bit with her fishing rod.

The boys had already cast their lines into the water, while she had managed to get her hook caught on the front of her dress.

"Ah! Sakura, did ya need some help, y'know?" Naruto asked, letting his feet swing happily below the dock. He was short enough that his toes didn't skim the water and unsettle the fish.

Sakura was fuming, and turned her anger onto the boy grinning next to her. Her glare intensified.

"I can do it myself!" She snapped, fussing harder with her dress. Naruto flinched a bit, looking a bit more glum now. He watched Sakura as she began to rip her dress and make low noises of frustration. At some point Naruto decided he really should intervene. He balanced his fishing pole with his legs, using his arms to try and help the grumbling girl. Sakura glared though, making him hesitate.

"I-I just want to help, y'know." Naruto explained, but pulled his hands away.

Further down the dock, beside Sasuke, Akira was watching the other two with lazy eyes. He observed the attitude Sakura gave Naruto, a stark contrast from the way Hikari acted. Obstinately, he realized the blonde girl had never really said anything truly biting to anyone in his presents, even him.

He also noticed the flinching.

They both flinched a lot, both expected to be struck. He wasn't exactly a fan of his female teammate, in fact he really felt like the girl had struck gold when she was personally trained by the Copy Cat ninja. She was friends with the head of his own clan's son. She was associated with one of the two surviving Uchiha's. And she was fast-tracked without even properly passing her genin qualification test.

That didn't mean she should be flinching whenever someone moved to quickly around her.

He wondered, very briefly, why they both flinched, before remembering the brief glimpses he'd seen of them. The duo defaced property, pulled pranks, and got away with everything. Probably got knocked around a bit in the process, right?

Sasuke glanced at the duo out of the corner of his eye. Naruto said something, making Sakura snap back and the blond wilt a bit. The girl was still fussing with her fishing rod caught in her dress.

Naruto's mood picked up though as he caught a fish. With talent Sasuke didn't know he had, he swung the fish out fo the water and into the basket behind him. It laid with the three others he had caught. Naruto reached around to pull the hook from it's mouth. It laid there stunned from the slam while Naruto sliced it open to kill it humanely. The other three watched, a it miffed, as they had all come up empty handed through the process.

Naruto tossed his hook back into the water, a grin on his face again. Sasuke's nose twitched as he tried to keep from saying anything. Thankfully, there was another loud mouth to voice his questions.

"How the hell are you so good at this?" Akira snapped. Naruto just grinned out to the open waters.

"Kari taught me, she learned from her dad and taught me."

Sakura stopped her fussing and frowned at Naruto.

"I thought you two were orphans?" She narrowed her eyes, wondering what was up with this storyline.

Naruto then realized most people wouldn't know that Hikari had been temporarily adopted. Most people just knew she and him were best friends and that was all.

The blond's feet slowly stopped swinging, his eyes downcast to the water.

"She was adopted, briefly….." He said it gently, getting the attention of all three. Sasuke didn't react outwardly, Akira turned his gaze onto the boy, and Sakura frowned.

"What? Did she run away or something?" Sakura asked, picturing Hikari throwing herself to the ground in a tantrum for having to leave Naruto. When she heard they shared an apartment Sakura had thought it was pretty scandalous, and most of the girls agreed as well.

Naruto remained quiet, vividly remembering the day Hikari showed up at his door, covered in blood. Her parents' blood. He remembered gently guiding her to the bathroom, and doing his best to help her change her over-shirt and pants, gently washing the rest of the mess of her skin with a cloth.

She didn't make a sound, didn't move other than when he asked her to.

"No….not exactly…." Naruto said quietly, vividly recalling the story Hikari told him of that night.

The devastation on her face….

Sakura waved her hand as though she was swatting the thought away.

"Hikari just does whatever she wants, so I'm not surprised. I remember when she would throw rocks at Sasuke, or the day she knocked Hibachi out cold. She's also really good at manipulating people, so-"

Naruto caught Sakura's hand in the air with a sudden grip. It surprised her, making her gasp. Sasuke and Akira looked over to see the blond with shadowed eyes which were downcast to the water.

"Don't," Naruto said lowly. After a beat of silence he looked up at Sakura. "Don't ever talk about Kari like that."

Sakura felt herself gulp, she wasn't blind to the subtle threat behind his words. For a moment she wanted to curl away, but then just as quickly as he grabbed her hand Naruto released it and stood up. He withdrew his line from the water and looked down at the other docks.

"I'm going to try another spot." Was all he said before wandering off. Sasuke glanced at the boy, but didn't say anything. He minded his own business and continued to fish. Akira watched Sakura afterwards, noting the girl looked a bit uncomfortable while still trying to get the hook out of her dress.

He didn't feel much pity for her, frankly.

"Okay! This should do." I said, stopping my fussing in the grass. Reiji tilted his head and stared at me, but cottoned on the moment I held up the plants. He smirked, taking the wild onion from my hands.

"Not a bad idea Hikari. I'll take a look around." Reiji paused, going completely still.

Since the foraging for plants could take forever, I figured the minute detail of Reiji's eyes would be perfect in this scenario. He could look for the plants that I gave to him much faster than anyone else. My point was proven when he pointed off into the distance.

"Five meters, behind the bush. There's a few more, twenty meters to the front of us too." Reiji stayed still as I toddled off to grab the nearest group of wild onions. We would need a good chunk of them for seasoning and to fry up, but with Reiji searching we would be done in no time.

I collected about ten onions before getting Reiji to find us some knotweed. Once we had our baskets, which Tsunami offered to us, filled we headed back to the docks to see how everyone was doing with the fish. I was a bit surprised to see Naruto off on his own, while the other three were together. Half of me expected Naruto to be sidled up to Sakura and up to his usual antics, but instead he was quietly fishing by himself.

The three looked up as we approached. I noticed Sakura's dress was torn, and one fish sitting in her basket. Sasuke had a few, and Akira had one as well. The air felt strange though, as Sakura seemed to be pouting while Sasuke and Akira were keeping to themselves. Normal for Sasuke, but not for Akira.

"Hey, we found lots in the forest. How's fishing been?" I asked, peaking over to look at the Uzumaki. "What happened?"

It went quiet for a moment, no one offered a single word, but then Reiji reached for my basket. I looked up at him and he smiled.

"Why don't you go check on Naruto? I'll bring these back to the house." He gave his usual dazzling smile. I returned the warm gesture and nodded before making my way down the docks.

Naruto didn't move on my approach, but from the looks of his basket he had been fishing with a lot of success.

"Well, you're definitely not rusty at all." I teased. He looked up at me then, a huge grin burst onto his face right away.

"Hey Kari, did ya find what you needed in the forest?" Naruto asked. I sat down next to him, letting my own feet swing back and forth like his.

"Yeah, hope you're ready for some knotweed and onions." I snickered a bit at the disgusted look he gave.

"Aw c'mon! First I can't have anymore ramen and now I'm eating weeds y'know!" I snickered at his outrage, fully entertained by his attitude. My eyes grazed over the full basket; there had to be at least ten fish in there.

"Why don't we take these back and you can help me clean them up?" I offered, standing on the docks again. Naruto took a breath, then stood as well. "Something wrong?"

Naruto grumbled, but I just poked his nose gently. He reared back, nose twitching as though he'd been shot. I giggled.

"Naruto, I still love you."

He looked embarrassed, staring off to the side as pink dusted his cheeks.

"You say that everyday, y'know." He muttered, scratching the back of his neck. I tilted my head and raised a brow at him.

"I promised you I would….. Did you want me to stop saying it?" Was it a bit overbearing? I thought he liked when I told that to him, but lately he'd been looking uncomfortable with it, often looking away or turning completely red. Like right now, how he was trying to duck his face to hide his blush. Only I was shorter than him, so hiding it was sort of hard.

"… No….. I… I like it…." It surprised me a bit, the admission, Naruto often went out of his way to not tell me his feelings somedays. At least his feelings concerning me. It was sort of strange, considering how obvious he was for his feelings in everything else. I supposed it was because he thought I already knew, and though he'd never said it I could tell he loved me very much as well. He showed his affection rather than said them in little things like holding my hand or remembering my favourite foods. When I got sick he heated up broth for me and acted as a furnace to keep me warm. He would put up with me getting nightmares and talk me back to sleep. He would even go so far as to let me pick which ramen I wanted to eat and he would take whichever I didn't pick because 'you gotta treat yourself too Kari'

So he didn't say it like I did. That was okay, because it made me very happy that he was kind enough to remember those little things, and every now and again mention that he appreciated them.

Naruto looked down at me, his face becoming deep red as I beamed up at him.

"Okay, then I'll keep telling you how much I love you, sound good?" Naruto pouted, looking away.

"Kariiiiii! That's embarrassing y'know!" He whined, but I laughed and went to pick up the basket of fish. Naruto beat me to it and offered the fishing pole. "It's heavy, and I'm supposed to be helping you, y'know."

A grin slipped onto my lips as I took the pole from him. He looked a bit embarrassed, but as we made out way back to the group a goofy grin returned to his face. Part of it might've been the fact that Sasuke had way fewer fish in his basket. It was always hard to tell with Naruto.

We all returned to the house with minimal bickering. Naruto set up to clean the fish while I cut and prepped the foraged items. The rest of our teams were off elsewhere, though Reiji had offered to cook with us. He sat across from Naruto, observing the blond as he worked.

"Uh, no offence, but how can you see me?" Naruto blurted out. I kept my back to the two, allowing them some false sense of privacy.

"I use my Byakugan. I can see everything around me in detail. I can even see through walls if I concentrate hard enough." Reiji answered politely.

"Whoa!" Naruto slammed both his hands on the table. "That's cool y'know! Is there anything you can't see?"

This piqued my interest as I casually listened in while I continued to chop up the onions.

"Well, things hidden around me tend to be more difficult, and I have to focus on these objects, but otherwise there isn't a lot I couldn't see…. Except colour. The only thing that has colour to me is the chakra I see inside everyone."

I already knew that, but Naruto found it fascinating. He continued to jabber on as Reiji would politely answer and help him clean the fish.

Sometime later Tsunami came in and looked interested in what I was cooking. I explained the idea to her, and she happily helped. Not long after we had our meals ready.

It was a rendition of katsuo no tataki with knotweed puree on a bed of rice with wild onions roasted and added. The dish in itself would have sour hints, but it certainly would bring out the flavour of the fish a lot more.

When everyone sat down at the table it was a bit of a tight squeeze. I couldn't fathom why Naruto and Akira decided to sit next to each other. Perhaps because Naruto wanted to sit across from Sasuke. The Uchiha surrounded my myself and Sakura. Daisuke and Reiji further down. Tsunami and her family sat on the other side. Initially a few people looked nervous at the green paste, but I dug in to encourage the others.

It didn't taste half bad. The sour from the knotweed and the sweetness of the friend onion mixed nicely with the pan seared fish. I enjoyed it, and from the looks of it the others did as well. Tsunami looked down the table at me.

"This is impressive for some scavenging and foraging!" The mother praised. I grinned in return as there was a few murmurs of agreement.

"Thank you! My friend from the academy gave me a cookbook when I was young. It was pretty fun learning new recipes and how to make new ones."

Tsunami hesitated, and I knew the question that hung in the air, but I instead busied myself with eating before making another plate.

"I'll bring this to Sensei. He's probably not up to sitting at a table yet." I explained, Tsunami voiced where to find a tray. I retrieved it before excusing myself to the next room. Two mattresses were laid out in the room now, but Sensei was still resting in the same location. His right eye opened as I ventured in. He slowly sat up, and I rested the tray in his lap for him before sitting down.

"Thanks Hikari, I see the scavenging was a success." Kakashi teased while organizing his food. I hummed a bit, smiling.

"Yeah I'd say so. This country may be poor, but it has great resources for foraging and fishing." It wasn't anything like trying to find food at home. Konoha was littered with poisonous plants and identical plants to herbs that would also kill you. The land of Fire itself had a lot of things trying to kill you in general. The forest wasn't always a peaceful place.

"Well, it looks pretty good. If it doesn't kill me that's always nice." He was teasing, but I frowned. It was hard to listen to the taunts when he was laying in bed too injured to get up. Kakashi-sensei went to pull his mask down, but paused at my expression. Instead he took that hand and mussed my hair for the second time that day. I was nonplussed while he smiled at me.

"Hikari, it's alright," he insisted. Though I was quick to note he didn't say 'I'm alright'. "I need you to do something for me as well."

That perked my interest as I looked at him more attentively. I nodded, waiting for further instruction.

"Since I can barely walk and Daisuke will need to be on guard this entire time, I want you to help me take my students to the next step in their training." He explained, which surprised me. Sensei took training his students very seriously. I knew that from first-hand experience. He didn't hand them off lightly unless he knew the person was capable. Which meant Kakashi-sensei saw me as capable of doing this task, and that brightened my spirits.

"Sure thing, what am I going to train them in?" I asked, earning a small chuckle from the grey haired man.

"Very simple. I want them to climb a tree."

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

K so there wasn't supposed to be a Naruto/Hikari moment this chapter, but it happened. I legit just love them. Fluff will start to slow up a bit as their world gets more full, so enjoy it while ya can.

I noticed in previous chapters the formatting is off, so I'm going back to edit it as I go to make everything marginally smoother.

Also, can we just talk about how useless and stupid Sakura started out as? Like she called orphans lucky and mocked Naruto for it. Funny enough, I actually think Sakura has one of the best story arcs in the whole series, but her character as a whole has been trash and I really don't like her. Gunna be upfront, i'm fixing that trainwreck at the very least, because it needs serious fixing.

Would anybody be interested in a Shikamaru x OC story? I weirdly see him as a single dad type and really vibe with it.

Guest Review: Yeah, Hikari's gunna be more and more open as time progresses... in a way. I think Hikari really wants to get along with both her teammates, but there are a few big bumps they gotta roll out on both sides of the the friendship before they're ready. Yes big big oof, I realized this big oof and just sat there frozen for nearly an hour trying to salvage everything. It's frustrating because it would make this story next level great but requires a lot of commitment, you feel me? The ending is set. I already know the outcome, but there's like... 6 different ways to get there? I'm a huge fan of nostalgia and that look back moment where you see how far a character has come and all the hardships they faced. Hikari's gunna have a lot of crap to sort through soon. Also no idea what I'm doing about that middle story anymore, the change makes that part very important to read now...Still in debate.

Liyih: Hey! I'm from Canada, we are safe and peaceful in my neck of the woods. It's amazing to hear how far this story has reached, makes me giddy. Also really happy you think Hikari fits so well! She's fun to write!

I low-key want this arc over so badly because Chuunin exams has one hella surprise that I think y'all are gunna love or hate. Any guesses what it is? Because it's gunna confuse and intrigue some of y'all.

If you guys have an account, please check your inboxes. I reply directly to all reviews!

Anyway, hope you're all doing well! Wash your hands, and STAY SAFE!

Iland Girl