A/N: Hello and welcome back to One Year Early! We are here with a new chapter. Mostly a buffer between the whole saga of Taki-Tsunade retrieval and what comes next. So once again, I apologize for the lack of action here, we will be getting some soon in the next two or three.
P.S. I originally intended to post this on May 9th, on the occasion of Victory day but that unfortunately didnt happen as this chapter got ready only on the 10th. Anyways, I am happy that I had a Guardian of the tailed beasts chapter ready for the Victory day and hence I didnt miss it.
After Victory day, me and GBAboy313 came to yhe the decision of withholding further chapter releases until the latest saga of fanfiction's almost never ending email notifications issue was resolved. Which happened today, so thankfully we are still in time to make sure that the monthly schedule is sustained.
However, we can't say when the next email notification saga will start.
Well, we believe that most of you read our fics on your cellphones, hence me and GBAboy313 would like to sincerely request you to consider switching to the fanfiction app (available on android and iOS). We are also considering using other platforms like AO3 but AO3 doesn't work here in Russia and I am just too lazy to use VPN all the time, so for the time being, we will be here only. Although we have released the first 4 chapters of guardian on AO3 and we plan on eventually uploading all the available chapters of it there.
However, we haven't come to a decision on the other fics as to when we will post them there or whether we will post them there or not.
Well, long story short; please consider switching to the app. Also if you wish to PM us, using the app would be better. But I have to remind you that the DMs sent over the website and the DMs sent over the app are not synced.
Anyways...lets not hold you any longer and get on with the chapter….
CHAPTER 20: LIVING TOGETHER AND RECUPERATING FROM THE INJURY…*Nara clan compound, Konohagakure*
"And there goes my bishop…check and mate…" Shikamaru said lazily.
"Dammit! I lost again without even taking anything other than 4 pawns…" Naruto grumbled in annoyance at the utter one-sided crushing defeat he was handed down.
"But you were able to take two more pawns than the previous match, Naruto-kun…" Hinata said encouragingly with a soft smile.
"Umm…well…when you put it that way…" The blonde rubbed the back of his head embarrassingly…
"I would admit that you have improved a bit from last time…ways to go but still…" Shikamaru commented.
"Just you wait Shikamaru! I will beat you one day!" The whiskered boy proclaimed.
"Looking forward to it…" Shikamaru said without betraying any emotion.
It had been about three weeks since Naruto and Hinata had started cohabiting in the Nara compound. And the two would readily admit that they were happier than they had ever been.
Hinata was getting along really well with the Nara matriarch, Yoshino who was quickly becoming a mother figure to her. The two would enjoy cooking together and Hinata's cooking was already being looked forward to in the Nara household.
Hinata also had Yoshino teach her more about homemaking and the Nara matriarch happily helped out.
Shikamaru also frequently began playing shogi with the two when he was not having classes in the academy.
As for Hinata's recovery, she was still forbidden to use chakra or train for at least another month. She could walk, she was to do some physiotherapy related exercises every day.
That night…
"T-That feels so good…y-your hands have magic, Naruto-kun…" Hinata mumbled in a shy tone as she let out a relaxed sigh.
Anyone who heard this would have probably assume more…adult activity was underway.
They were wrong.
The boisterous blonde was carefully and lovingly massaging his lovely girlfriend's injured leg, having placed it on his lap, he was tenderly massaging it, with extreme caution and care so as not to press it too hard and cause his Hime any pain.
This had become a particular favourite of Hinata's during their cohabitation's more domestic time. Naruto asked for nothing in exchange for his initiative with dealing with her recovery aches.
Hinata couldn't reciprocate the gesture in full so she did something close.
She embraced Naruto frequently…holding him tight to her even as they slept.
Daily life just went on for these two.
Of course, we need to focus back on Naruto's training.
Simply put, Naruto had wanted to wait till Hinata had recovered before training resumed.
He was promptly overruled, as he was uninjured and therefore had no excuse to rest.
So, he kept working on refining the wind-blade, taught to him by Baki.
For that he also needed to refine his chakra control even more. Shikaku had postulated that with high chakra control, the wind-blade can be turned into an S-class assassination technique. True, Naruto was not looking to be a ninja-assassin but such techniques were something he couldn't afford not to learn, especially when it was offered to him on a silver platter.
The Nara clan had huge grazing grounds and forests, giving the blonde a perfect place to hone his cutting techniques.
He kept doing the leaf-cutting exercise, while parallelly practicing the wind blade to cut down branches of trees and even trunks.
Well, that was the target, but he was not quite there yet. He had used this technique in his fights against Tsunade, the Nokizaru group, and those deranged Kumo ninja…but there were still ways for him to go before he could consider this technique mastered.
Cutting a thick birch tree with one single slash, was his target.
Shikaku had seen the boy having fully honed the leaf cutting exercise. And then he upped the ante even more by handing the boy some small rocks.
"Cut these in half with the wind chakra moulding practice method used with the leaves, it will be troublesome if you start with the larger ones so start with these little ones." The Nara Clan head commented.
"Alright sensei!"
"…Wonder if we can do something similar with the Wind Blade as you improve your Wind Chakra moulding." Shikaku wondered aloud pointing at a nearby large boulder.
Naruto eyed that boulder, then looked back at his sensei and then looked at that boulder.
"Hmm…this pineapple head is a slave driver when he wants to be…" Kurama remarked with a sly grin on his face…
'You know what, I agree with you….' Naruto inwardly nodded.
"W-well, sensei…isn't this technique supposed to cut down humans…" Naruto didn't really like talking about killing so nonchalantly, he knew it was part and parcel of his job but still…
"Hmm…it is…but say if it is able to cut through large scale earth style attacks…that would allow you to defend against powerful earth style users and counter earth techniques in ways that many expect to only see from lightning techniques, which would include any Iwa shinobi worth his headband." The Nara commented lazily.
Naruto's eyes widened. "Of course that makes sense!" no felt the need to add anything regarding Konoha and Iwa's historically poor relationship.
"Iwa could target you due to knowledge of you being the jinchuuriki being an open secret here, which would make it easy for the news to reach the Tsuchikage's office…"
Naruto began pondering: "What was even the point of trying to hide that? It ended up coming out anyways and making most of the village resent me for reminding them of…that night. Honestly it feels like someone was angry at the village over something and screwed me over to hurt the village for snubbing them…"
(In another part of the village, Danzo carried on the charade of being complicit with his house arrest while continuing to run ROOT via proxies and clandestine order handoffs. Just as he was about to handoff an order; he suddenly sneezed and got the nasal debris all over the order he was about to hand off, a mixture consisting of mucus and blood. No time was available to redo the order and thus it would have to wait until he was able to redo the order. Danzo growled as he went about setting up the signal for his courier to not bother looking for an order drop off, "Not again…another order document ruined by this mess.")
"You're right. At first it was supposed to be secret…then someone leaked information to the public which caused hysteria to form, so we had to make a decision to either crush the rumours and risk public outrage for hiding the truth and outright deceiving the public or be forthright but risk information getting to the wrong ears. Well, the Third naively believed that people would treat you as a hero for containing the fox. I was against it, heh, the elders agreed with me on it…Danzo did but he lies about so much it wouldn't surprise me him telling his parents he loves them ended up being lies. The council as a whole thought it would be for the best…this was early in the existence of the civilian aspect to it so who knows if they had an agenda to them yet or if they were trying to gather power by being bootlickers…but still we all know how things went and it just became all the more troublesome after that because of certain knowledge being out in the open" Shikaku sighed.
"Yeah! And guess what, Konoha and Jiji are not the only fools who did so, those in Taki did that too, fucking everyone knows there that Fu is a jinchuuriki. If the Jinchuuriki are supposed to be the final option* in a conflict, why the hell are they so publicly known?! That makes the obvious option to send the best Nin you have to either assassinate the Jinchuriki or break their seal and send the Biju on a rampage. Everyone old enough knew and treated me like crap for it, but I had no idea I was one until that bastard Mizuki had to run his mouth…" Naruto commented with a snarl at Mizuki.
"I have to admit that I would not have expected to hear such pragmatic words from you after my first impression…" Shikaku responded with a small smile.
"Umm…well…Hinata-chan is working wonders I guess…her mere presence made me a lot smarter, I guess…" Naruto grinned.
"I guess that's indeed the case…" Shikaku responded. "Alright Naruto, back to work…"
And the blonde went back to training. It was going to be a while before he could cut a large boulder down with the wind blade alone.
'Well, to be honest, he doesn't need to master the wind style to that degree just yet for his age and rank, his wind chakra control is just fine, but this will in turn help when he inevitably learns the Rasengan. Minato did say that the Rasengan was an incomplete jutsu, despite being a pinnacle of the shape transformation aspect of chakra control. He wanted to add elemental chakra to it, wind or lightning, but he never could… I sure hope is kid can manage what the father couldn't…' Shikaku thought to himself.
"Damn it! I thought this would be easy!" Naruto yelled from where he was training.
Shikaku sighed. "If it's easy, it ain't worth it…" He mumbled to himself before walking off.
*Some distance away in the academy*
Iruka was holding the results of a recently conducted test in the class.
"Alright students, I am sure everyone worked hard and gave their best." The chunin commented before going on to read the results out aloud.
"First of all, Sai, you have the highest marks in the whole class, a total of 584 out of 600. Congratulations." Iruka said with a smile as he offered the marksheet to the pale skinned boy.
The boy, with his fake smile on, wordlessly walked forward, collected his sheet, and then went back to his seat; one row behind Sasuke's.
"Next up, Sasuke, 572 out of 600" Iruka commented.
The class was already up in some chatters, but by then, everyone had already become used to Sai beating Sasuke in basically everything, becoming the new number one in the class the moment he had joined.
This was annoying to Sasuke.
One the one hand it gave him something to actually strive towards. A goal. Something worthy of time and energy.
On the other hand, the Last Uchiha in Konoha was being regularly beaten by a boy that he KNEW for sure was holding back. Sasuke knew that Sai had something to hide behind that obviously fake and irritating smile of his. His woes were worsened by the fact that he couldn't manoeuvre the boy to be in a position to give up answers. If his Sharingan were to awaken then things might become different, but at present, Sasuke could do nothing but be annoyed internally that he was unable to force Sai to actually show his true capabilities.
Sasuke also noticed that Sai had an interest in him for some reason and obviously, the Uchiha couldn't get the answers he needed. He had stopped asking after two times.
The first time, 'You are just making things up because you can't beat me. You are merely being a sore loser, duckbutt.' Sai had stated with that creepy smile on his face.
It had taken Sasuke all of his self-control to stop himself from pummelling the pale boy into the ground. Or in all likelihood, getting destroyed in the attempt, Sasuke wasn't delusional enough to ignore that he knew nothing about Sai and therefore could be walking into a vastly superior opponent's trap.
Second time, even worse.
'I am afraid I am not the type of person who takes interest in the same gender.' Sai had replied curtly.
It had almost made Sasuke puke. Sure, he had still not shown any interest in his fangirls but that didn't mean he swung the other way. Just because he had pretty boy looks didn't mean he was into guys. (Needless to say, Sasuke had too much exposure to the independent writer community*)
Since then, the Uchiha had decided to keep his mouth shut, until the day he could pummel Sai and force everything out of him and yearning for the day that Sai didn't wear that creepy ass smile anymore.
"Third place, Sakura." Iruka stated. The pink haired kunoichi in training got up from her seat, collected her paper and went back to her seat. Sakura knew she was lucky that this ranking was based on pure academics, otherwise she would have lost to Ino despite a large gap between their scores in raw academics.
Ever since that day when she had inadvertently thrown a jab at Shikamaru's father while trying to taunt Naruto, she had learnt to keep her mouth shut when it came to things that she didn't know anything about.
Iruka kept calling the students one by one.
Ino was also highly placed at the 7th place. Shikamaru would have liked to put enough effort to just pass, however with Naruto and Hinata now living in the Nara compound and Naruto having actually had told his mother that one day about how low the boy actually used to score had changed things for him.
For about a year, Shikamaru had been doing a little bit of forgery. He had memorized the principal and Iruka's signatures and was also able to carefully alter his marks on the marksheet and show his mom some decent results.
One would obviously wonder why the pineapple headed boy was willing to put that much effort into altering his marks while he was obviously capable of doing better in the exams by putting in a little bit more effort.
That was something Naruto had wondered aloud when he, Hinata, and Shikamaru were having lunch one fine Sunday, just three weeks ago.
Unfortunately for the Nara boy, Yoshino was within an earshot.
The beating he had subsequently received was beyond, beyond troublesome.
Obviously Shikamaru didn't know that Naruto and Hinata had decided to do this beforehand to make sure that their friend put his effort into honest work rather than cheating.
And so, Naruto's prank that went horribly awry from the sheer maternal discipline fury he had unwittingly unleashed came to be.
'That's one of the things I have to get back at him for' Shikamaru thought to himself as he collected his marksheet from Iruka. After all the disciplining at home, he was now putting a little more effort and had scored about 70%. Still not what Yoshino would like but enough to placate her.
Choji had a passable score, still better than some, at about 45%.
"Kiba, you really need to work, you just barely passed." Iruka said in a serious tone.
"H-Hai sensei…" The feral boy stuttered out.
"Poor mutt boy…want me to help you out a bit…" Tamaki teased from her place. Her lips shaped into a teasing cat smile.
"Shuttup! I don't need help from cat tamers of all people! I would rather fail!" Kiba shouted.
And that bickering went on for a couple of minutes as Iruka sighed. Though the two would typically quiet down before he had to resort to the Big Head jutsu, so that was a relief.
'That technique really messes with my head and makes my throat soar if I have to yell…' Iruka thought to himself.
Throughout all of this, Akamaru and Dokutora(Tamaki's cat) got along well despite their partners' inability to get along.
Ironic that a cat and a dog got along better than two people.
Iruka shook his head at the antics before he made his next announcement: "Alright class, next week we will be missing two days out of our usual week. The village is having some major structural maintenance done and those two days are the days that the Hokage tower and academy are being worked on. Extra credit goes to anyone who decides to help where they can on those days."
At the village gate, an old man had entered the village as part of the construction crew.
'Now this village will taste the venom I hid in its veins so long ago, before the death of my son shook me.'
-END-
A/N: Okay...another chapter done! Alright. As you saw...nothing much going on here except for fluff, romance and some more setting up for future plotlines. If you guessed who our spectacled newcomer is...well...no prizes for guessing...its not that difficult to be honest.
The next two arcs are gonna be small, but we'll quickly go through them before hitting something more serious.
Lastly, I thank you once again for your continued love and support and i sincerely count on the same going onwards.
Reviews and suggestions are always welcome, but we dont enjoy angry rants and comments that just seem like a scream right next to our ears. There have been comments like that in here as well as in Guardian. I would only like to request for a bit of empathy while expressing your criricism. I hope its not too much to ask for.
Also most negative reviews so far seem to have been connected to the author's notes that we used to insert.
Frankly, I enjoyed them but since it was not as enjoyable to many of you, we have since stopped using them. But chapters released much before still have them. We apologize for the irritation and we would like to inform that we are working on editing them out. However both myself and GBAboy313 have IRL stuff to take care of and we only have so much free time. Hence it will take time before all those in chapter author comments are taken away.
Once again, I sincerely thank you all for your love and support.
EN: First : I would have gone for the Nuclear Option but that term wouldn't make sense in Naruto's setting so I went with this…I hate how close it comes to the Final Solution.
Second : this is an instance of the editor making a comment about the apparent thought processes of many fanfic authors. I swear I have seen comments that have basically declared that 'Haku is so pretty they are either gay or a girl' and it has officially driven me crazy. Its stereotyping and stereotypes are, more often than not, bullshit.
Now that the notes are out of the way, I finished editing this to the tune of Pacific Rim's Go Big or Go Extinct, now it feels like I'm Cancelling the Apocalypse! Really feels like it because this was supposed to be finished before Victory Day (May 9, 2024) but I'm finishing it on that same damn day! I can hear Marshall Pentecost yelling at me over why I haven't finished cancelling the apocalypse yet…
And with that, we are wrapping up for today. See ya all in the next chapter. RaNK001 and GBAboy313 out. Cheers and peace.