Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Thanks to SeverNSkull who beta-read this chapter! I should edit this later when the beta is finished :)

Note: The rating went up slightly after I thought seriously about the events of this story. It's T-rated now, although I don't know if it will become M in the future. I'll warn you if it happens!

I hope you will still enjoy it!

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Chapter 3

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You gave your word!

As Shisui stood at the sink, washing the dishes, he found himself repeating the written conversation that he had had merely a moment ago. On his skin.

After his encounter with Genma, he had pondered a lot whether he should "answer" whoever was writing on his body or not. He had actually written his first sentence as a joke. He hadn't expected to get an immediate reply. He found it unsettling to watch the uncanny response form character by character besides his own.

Then again, it wasn't nearly as unsettling as the fact that the grim figure inked on his skin that morning was supposed to be a frog. As he thought back on the childish form, he began to see how the huge, round eyes and the small face could have possibly represented the small animal... in some kind of perspective.

Washing his skin with his chakra from time to time, he had kept answering curiously. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he still wondered if someone hadn't put a seal to allow these kinds of conversations to make fun of him. That would be an amazing skill to use during missions though! Did anyone in Konoha know enough about Fūinjutsu to manage such a feat? Unless it was an enemy who had put a seal on him during a mission and who was now trying to extract information from him.

He had almost told this person as much – to whomever he was talking to. He was about to demand to be convinced that this Soulmate-thing was real, by whatever means. However, he couldn't help but think that the answers he had gotten were far too pure to be a lie. Somehow, a feeling inside his chest made him almost believe it.

He shook his head to clear his mind. Genma wasn't the type of person to make those kinds of statements without any foundation. After all, if even the Yondaime believed it, it must have held some truth.

Despite it all, he couldn't help but feel slightly wary. Even if the person he was talking to was well-meaning, he didn't know anything about them. Be it their gender, their age, their village or their job. What if they were an enemy ninja? He had to be careful not to give away any sensitive information about himself, or worse, about Konoha. Moreover, he was becoming more and more famous for his speed and his genjutsu abilities. He couldn't take the risk to endanger his village for the sake of-of what? Talking to a stranger that Fate was throwing at him through his skin?

He deadpanned. There, he was sounding just like a Hyūga.

Hearing light steps behind him, he came out of his thoughts and turned around, smiling.

"Shisui?" a beautiful woman with long wavy dark hair called him from the door.

"Welcome back, Mom," he greeted her warmly.

She approached him slowly. "You didn't come to the meeting," she remarked before kissing him on the cheek.

He grimaced. Ah, those clan meetings. He turned back his eyes to the plate in his hand and washed the soap with water. "I… Uh, Hokage-sama summoned me earlier today."

"Oh?" she asked in a seemingly nonchalant voice.

However, Shisui knew instantly that her thoughts were twirling. "Nothing bad, Mom. Everything's fine," he tried to reassure her. "Actually, it should be really good for the clan."

She raised an eyebrow in response, her calculating eyes staring at him.

"I might become part of the ANBU soon." Expecting the dark look she gave him, he didn't let her expression deter him. "It's such an opportunity for me; it would be beneficial for the village and the clan's reputation!"

"ANBU shinobis have neither name nor clan, Shisui," she reminded him while taking the sponge in his hand. "And you're only 14. I can't see how it could be good for anyone, other than this twisted and ungrateful system."

She pushed him gently to finish cleaning the sink. Shisui frowned, his lips turning downwards. He knew that the behaviour of the citizens of Konoha had turned his mother bitter and that she was especially angry at the Hokage's lack of reaction.

Leaning in front of her, he insisted. "The higher-ups will take my position into account and the clan's place in the council could become more important and impactful."

Her eyes blazed in red before turning back to their usual black color. "Shisui."

He felt a lump in his throat. He hated going against his mother and angering her. After all, she was such a sweet and comprehensive woman usually. He understood her anger, but he still thought that acting out on bitterness and hatred would cause more harm than good to their family.

He leaned back and ruffled his hair in frustration. All the same, he still thought the quicker he would climb the ranks, the easier he would manage to help his clan and ease their situation.

When she looked back at him, his mother's gaze softened and she let out a sigh. "Shisui, you're the one to decide on your future. I won't interfere, but I would like you to take into consideration that the ANBU is too much of a dark place for a teenager and that your work won't be as valued as it should be. Konoha's higher-ups are a bunch of selfish opportunists and they won't hesitate to break you for their sake."

"I know," Shisui answered sullenly, leaving a short pause before adding a soft, "I understand, Mom."

She nodded, placated by his answer. "Then I hope you'll at least reconsider. I love you, Shisui, but your efforts won't account for anything if it costs you your life."

Shisui plastered on a reassuring smile for her to mask his heartache. It made him exhausted to hide the truth from her, but he knew that she would thank him in the end. He approached her to circle his arms around her neck, and he laid his head on her shoulder. "You don't have to worry. If I become a part of ANBU, I'll make you proud."

It wasn't exactly a lie; he wouldn't throw his life away without a good reason. And he would most definitely do everything to better the situation of his family and to bring back his mother's serene smile.

"Oh, Shisui," she returned the hug, drawing light circles on his back, and she gave him a light kiss on the forehead. "I'm already so proud of you, honey. Don't forget that I'll always be there though, you don't need to push yourself more than you already do."

Appeased by her words, he closed his eyes softly and buried his head in the crane of her neck. "I know."

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On the following morning, Naruto went to school in a particularly good mood.

This feeling was so new! To be able to talk to people, like she was… Like a normal person. She had two friends now, and she was on her way to make a third one! Sure, he didn't know her name, but she didn't know his either so they were even.

She thought back to his response. I'm here now.

She started skipping, swinging her arms back and forth with a huge grin on her lips. It was the first time someone uttered this kind of words to her. It was so nice. She felt like her heart was about to burst with excitement and happiness.

When she arrived at the gates of the Academy, she spotted Ino and Sakura seated on the grass near the entry of the building. They weren't that hard to find, the pink hair was quite easy to notice. She quickened her pace toward her new friends. "Sakura-chan! Ino-chan!"

They both turned in the direction the sound of the names was coming from and they greeted Naruto with a smile as soon as they saw her. She loved those smiles.

"Naruto, you're finally here!" Ino called.

"Hello, Naruto," Sakura grinned. "We were waiting for you!"

Naruto tilted her head to the side curiously. "What's it?"

Instead of answering her, Ino opened her bag and took from it three little rectangular sponges, one orange, one purple, and one pink.

"My grandma gave those to me! I chose each color for us." Ino turned her gaze toward her blonde friend. "Naruto, I took an orange one for you since you're often wearing orange clothes. I just guessed that it's your favorite color since you never told me. Is it okay?" Ino inquired.

Naruto stared, surprised. She nodded silently.

Ino's face lit up. "I knew it! You see, I was telling Sakura that those were special sponges soaked in chakra. We can use them to erase easily whatever's written on our skin when we talk with our soulmates! I know that you didn't talk to yours yet, but whenever you do, you can use this! It's really practical."

Naruto's eyes widened. This... Was it a gift? An actual gift, for her?

Without thinking, she threw her arms around Ino's neck, causing her friend to shriek. "Thank you thank you thank youuu!"

"Wahh! Naruto, calm down, it's just a sponge!"

Sakura giggled. "And you didn't even speak with your soulmate yet," she added.

Naruto's hold on Ino weakened a bit and she glanced at both girls, uncertain. "Uhh… Actually…"

Ino frowned slightly, waiting for her to finish her sentence. However, Sakura was quicker to understand and she let out a gasp.

"Naruto, did you talk to him?!"

She nodded shyly, her cheeks reddening. "Um, yes, he answered me yesterday."

Both her friends attacked her instantly, squealing in shock.

"Eeehhh?!"

"No way! What did he tell you ?"

"Was he nice?"

"What do you know about him?"

Naruto's eyebrows went up and she stepped back. She wasn't expecting such a strong reaction. Feeling embarrassed, she looked down and rubbed the back of her neck. "I… Um, I wrote to him the same day as you. But he only answered me yesterday, so…"

Ino and Sakura stared at her in disbelief.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?!" Ino demanded, shocked yet excited.

"I didn't think you'd be interested in that…"

"Of course we are!" Sakura replied, upset.

"We tell each other everything about our soulmates, remember?" Ino added with conviction.

Actually, she didn't. It didn't mean that she didn't like it.

Smiling at her friends, Naruto scratched her cheek. "Okay then, I'll tell you everything from now on."

Both Ino and Sakura nodded, satisfied.

"We should go to the classroom now," Ino realized. "But don't think you're getting away with it! You'll have to tell us everything!"

Naruto laughed and started to walk beside her friends in the direction of their classroom. When they arrived and sat next to each other, they kept chattering, Sakura and Ino asking question after question about their new friend's True Love.

Their teacher entered the class a moment afterwards, a pile of papers in his arms. He put everything on his desk and asked for his students' attention.

"Good morning, everyone! Today, we'll be having a written exam."

Naruto blinked, and turned toward her friends, before looking back at Iruka. Her smile suddenly left her face. What. Whaaaaaat?!

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Silence reigned in the classroom. Only sounds of pencils scratching the paper could be heard as every student was focused on their exam. Naruto glanced sideways to watch her friends. Ino's eyebrows were furrowed while she re-read a question. On the other hand, Sakura was writing without interruption.

She looked back at her paper. Although she had managed to answer a few questions, most of them made no sense to her. Written stuff and theory were really not her cup of tea. It was so uninteresting! And anyway, how could knowing the name of some lost village be important for a ninja?

She just wanted to train to become more skilled and know how to fight. Studying was too boring, and-and hard. If only someone could be by her side and help her...

I'm here now.

Naruto blinked. But… She had someone by her side from now on… Right?

With a pen in her hand, she checked that Iruka was far enough from her before she started writing on her wrist.

Hello. What's the 3 ninja ranks?

She waited a moment for his reply, before realizing that he might take another week before answering. Letting out a sigh, she went back to reading the questions, before she saw from the corner of her eye that new words were appearing on the inside of her arm.

Genin. Chūnin. Jōnin.

Her eyes went wide. Woaaaah! Dattebayooooooo! He had answered her so quickly! And she even recognized those words! Her soulmate must be so smart!

She quickly wrote down those answers, a happy smile on her face. She continued reading the questions, jotting down the answers to the easiest ones, when she had to stop again.

Hey, do you know the country of Kumogakure?

She tapped with her pen a few times on the table until she saw an answer forming. A smile stretched her face before he had even finished.

Do you mean Kaminari no Kuni?

Hah! That word was so long and complicated, yet people were surprised that she couldn't remember it?

Thank you your awesome!

With a light heart, she continued working on her exam, asking for help from time to time. Her soulmate was the best, dattebayo!

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No, the war ended in the year 66, mainly because the Yondaime Hokage and his team managed to defeat an important part of the Iwagakure military defense.

Shisui answered the questions carefully, trying to stay as neutral as possible in his wordings. Was this person testing his knowledge as a shinobi or trying to guess his affiliation depending on his answers? The questions were a bit childish and quite easy to answer, but he had to stay careful.

However, he was starting to notice a few elements about his- discussion partner on his part. He hadn't really paid attention to it at first, but he had found quite a few grammatical mistakes. Was this person bad at writing? Or could it be that those mistakes on purpose? Did this person have a poor education? Or a lesser intellect? He also noticed that the sentences were written solely in hiragana; there was not a single never using kanji, which spoke of simple and basic knowledge. He wondered if he lend some help with that.

He considered asking what were all these questions for, but he decided against it in the end. It would be better if he could guess by himself without his interlocutor's knowledge for now.

Thank you! I never did this good at an exam!

Shisui stared, his mind blank. What.

He stared some more.

Did he just become an accomplice in cheating?

In his surprise, he guffawed. He thought back to all the questions he had to answer to. It… definitely sounded like questions for a written exam. Either for an academy student or from a civilian school.

This was the second time that this person was breaking his expectations.

These exchanges were turning out to be quite unpredictable, it seemed.

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To be continued.

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THANK YOU, everyone, for your comments, it makes me soooo happy, you have no idea ;w;

To answer the Guests, Itachi will be appearing in the future since he's Shisui's closest friend, however, I didn't think about Izumi at all, to be honest, I don't really know her. She might appear if I have an idea for her! As for Iruka and Anko... Uh, I never thought of this pairing either haha! I'm not sure about whether I should add other pairings or not, I didn't think it thoroughly yet haha!

If you have any suggestions or ideas though, I'm listening! Until next time!~