《A strange new life》


 Chapter 1: Early years and Academy days.

    Chapter 1: Early years and Academy days.


    Life got strange, fast. I mean, real fast. One moment, I was in front of my computer, lost in an endless haze of fandom surfing about my latest manga obsession.


    I blinked. I was somewhere else.


    Gone were the soft green walls of my room, the messy table with my computer, my plushies, my bed, and all the clothing scattered about. I was underwater, or it felt like I was underwater. My body felt strange. I couldn''t move. There was a tube going down my mouth and throat, and I could feel it shifting inside my chest whenever the world shook.


    I was inside some glass container, viscous green soup surrounded me. It blurred the world, but even so, I could see the room where I was. It was plain, unadorned concrete walls. No windows. A single door. A table upturned, papers scattered about. I saw broken wires and eighty''s-looking computer parts: large, cumbersome, and utterly shattered. Among the paper, I saw rolled-up things that looked like scrolls, but it made no sense. Why would someone with access to computers use scrolls?Th.e? most uptodate novels are published on n(0)velbj)n(.)co/m


    The world shook again, harder this time.


    The container I was inside buckled and tipped over. It felt awful. Something pulled inside my lungs. The back of my head stung. My arms and legs hurt. The green sludge spilled away, leaving me shivering. Whatever happened, broke something because I couldn¡¯t breathe anymore. There was a tube in my mouth, but there was no more air there. Panic surged inside me. I tried to move my hands, to spit the tube out, to kick. Nothing worked. I know I should have asked how I got from my room to this place, but right now, the only thing I could think of was the need to breathe.


    An eternity flashed in a second. My lungs burned, my head spun. Blackness crept into my vision. Why was this happening to me? I don¡¯t think I ever did anything to deserve this. Pushing Veronica in the mud didn¡¯t count; she bullied Amanda. Was it because I snogged Kimberly? It couldn¡¯t be, could it? No, not a chance. Mom just hadn¡¯t caught up with the times.


    The world shook once more. The walls exploded, debris peppered the rest of the room, myself included. It hurt, but the sting was nothing compared to the burning need for air. I saw movement before darkness claimed me. A stylized porcelain wolf mask, with red whiskers. Spiky white hair. Black shirt under a gray vest. Shoulders bare, but the same black cloth covering most of the arms.


    Yeah, I¡¯ve gone mad. Why was this person wearing Kakashi-sensei¡¯s ANBU mask? Was this a cosplay thingy? Blackness claimed me. I guess I¡¯ll never know.


    I opened my eyes again. Surprising. I thought I had died. The room smelled like antiseptic, sterile, like a hospital. Bare white walls, a window that let me see the blue sky and mountains in the distance. I got up to a sitting position, the blanket slid off and spilled to the ground. The world seemed bigger, out of proportion. Like I was in a world of giants.


    Outside the room I was in, I could hear a commotion. The voices are too muffled for me to understand what they were saying. I clenched my fists, muscles protesting the movements. My hand looked small, young. Curious, I touched my face, my head. TV lied to me. I couldn''t tell if this was my face by just touching. What I could tell was that I had no hair. Urgh, what a pain. I liked my hair, and it would take forever to grow it again.


    ¡°Stopping you from what?¡±


    ¡°To kill this abomination!¡± Father exploded. ¡°This vile thing is a stain on the Hyuga name. Will you interfere with clan matters?¡± Hiashi demanded, finger still pointed at me.


    Something inside me died at those words. The small, frail thing that were Hinata''s memories curled in pain and sadness. My throat closed, and tears spilled from my eyes.


    ¡°I cannot tell you how to run your clan, Hiashi.¡± The Hokage said, voice tired and sad. Hiashi turned to me again, finger glowing once more. ¡°But by your own words, Hinata is not a member of the Hyuga clan.¡±


    Father stopped, turned around, bewildered expression on his face. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The Hyuga clan may deal with their members according to whatever law they have,¡± Hiruzen said, walked to the side of my bed. ¡°This girl, Hinata, is a citizen of Konoha, not a member of Hyuga, by your own words. I will not let you kill a child from my village.¡±


    Hiashi glared at the old man Hokage before turning around and storming out of the room.


    ¡°You may leave as well,¡± Hokage said, addressing the spooked nurses. The old man spoke again only when the room was empty except for the two of us.


    ¡°How are you feeling Hinata?¡± He asked, softly.


    I opened my mouth, but words wouldn¡¯t come. I tried pushing air out, make any sort of noise. I tried to groan, to snarl, to giggle, to laugh, but couldn¡¯t. I shook my head.


    ¡°You¡¯re safe now.¡± He said. He looked at me for a moment, sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He said. Turned around, left me alone.


    I laid back on the bed, mind in turmoil. How I was in Naruto? That didn¡¯t make any sense. This was not how the story was supposed to go. Fat¡ªHiashi may have been a horrible father, but he never disowned Hinata in the original story, nor did he try to kill her. What was going on here?

 1.2

    1.2


    It had been a few days since the thing happened. Since then, I learned a few things. I couldn¡¯t speak. For some reason, no noise would come out. I wasn¡¯t mute; I know I wasn¡¯t. My body just refused to obey whenever I tried to make any sort of sound. I was almost five years old, and from listening to all the whispered conversations, I was kidnapped when three. No one knew where I was for the last two years. T/his chapter is updated by


    That helped me put some things into perspective. The event know as Hyuga affair happened when Hinata was three years old. The Third Raikage sent his village Head Ninja to kidnap her¡ª me. This was confusing. At times It felt like I was Hinata, other¡¯s I was still Camilla. In the original story, that failed, the Head Ninja was killed, and Hizashi ¡ª my uncle ¡ª was offered to Kumogakure as restitution.


    That seems to be the point of divergence from the original time-line. Hina¡ªI was kidnapped, and they only found me two years later. I didn¡¯t know where I had been kept, but from what I remember, some sort of lab. Was it in Kumogakure?


    I learned other things as well. I slept for about a week after being rescued. During that time, the Hyuga clan disowned me, and after I woke up, tried to kill me. From all the past few days gossiping, I learned the reason why. Neji had been adopted by the main family after I vanished. In the original story Hizashi wanted his son, considered a genius of the clan, to be free of the cadet branch family stigma. After losing the heir, what better way to settle the dispute between brothers than adopting a talented kid into the main family?


    But that was history. I wasn¡¯t that Hinata, at least, not anymore. Before I left the hospital, old man Hokage came to visit again. Skipping all the pleasantries, this was the meat of the one-sided conversation.


    ¡°What do you plan to do now, Hinata?¡± The old man asked, looking at me. ¡°If you want to join the Academy, we¡¯ll arrange a place for you to live and a monthly stipend for your daily necessities.¡±


    It always surprised me how kids in Naruto stories were treated. Child soldiers, harsh training, adult treatment while still kids. Were they different here somehow? Was it because of chakra? Or was it just cultural differences?


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to be a kunoichi anymore, we can place you in an orphanage and maybe look for a family to adopt you.¡±


    I considered for a moment. If butterfly effect didn¡¯t spiral things too out of course, I knew what fate awaited this world. Pain¡¯s attack, Konoha¡¯s destruction, the fourth war, white Zetsu army, Infinite Tsukuyomi. Could I live in such a dangerous world and let others dictate my fate? No, I could not. I raised one finger. I couldn¡¯t speak, but I hoped this would be clear enough.


    ¡°You want to join the Academy?¡± The God of Shinobi asked.


    I nodded, happy. That was fair and more than I expected. After that, the conversation turned to other boring matters. Hiruzen asked what I remembered. I omitted the things I knew from my previous life but told him what Hinata did remember, which wasn¡¯t much. She didn¡¯t remember falling unconscious. There was no memory between her passing out and my waking up. The only thing I did remember was Wolf-san bursting inside the lab. Hiruzen chuckled when I called Kakashi that. Weird.


    A few days later, I was in my own apartment. The place was small, cramped, and nothing compared to what I knew from my two lives. Camila lived in a three-bedroom with her mother. It wasn¡¯t the biggest, but it was cozy. Hinata lived in a luxurious home, being the daughter of a clan leader.


    The new apartment was small and bare-bones. One bedroom. One living room. The kitchen at least had the basic necessities. I really appreciate the oven. I already had ideas. Again, it was small and simple, but at least it was mine for as long as I worked for the village.


    Lack of spoken words made things difficult until I bought a small drawing board, pen and an eraser. My writing still wasn¡¯t the best, I could only use hiragana, but it was enough. With the money I received, I got new clothes, shoes, food, notebooks and other things I needed.


    The first days were complicated, I was used to living with family, or as Hinata, having servants. I spent my days pouring over the language primer, then the fuinjutsu manual. It didn¡¯t work like I wanted it to. Learning traditional kanji was complex and repetitive work. The style in the primer didn¡¯t help either. The fuinjutsu manual assumed you already could sense and use chakra. But I couldn¡¯t. Hinata had been too young to start training with chakra before being kidnapped, and nothing in the manual said how to sense or manipulate chakra.


    It was frustrating. Infuriating.


    To clear my mind, I started another project. I didn¡¯t want to forget what I knew about the story of this world. Memory was a fickle thing, and the sooner I did this, the better. However, I didn¡¯t want to simply write down things. I was pretty sure I was still under observation, perhaps even full-time. I didn¡¯t want to write the story of this world where anyone can read it. I needed a way to keep things secret without alerting a bunch of paranoid ninjas.


    My solution was a simple one. I started a diary and a storybook. In my diary, I wrote what I did for the day, how I felt, things I wanted, and my hopes and dreams for the future. Not the actual thing, you know. The storybook was something else. There, little Miss Chef Camilla wanted to learn all the recipes in the world and become a renowned chef. The story itself wasn¡¯t important; the recipes were. The trouble of acquiring the ingredients, the competition with other chefs . They looked like nonsensical things, like a children''s story, but each of those actually referenced a ninja, place, or event. Orange was Naruto. Lemon was Sasuke. The less said about that, the better. Once I learned more, I intended to move all this to an adequately coded book.


    Aside from reading and writing, I also started with morning exercises. I loathed them before, but now I couldn¡¯t not do it. Not with how many monsters were waiting in this world''s future. My days settled into a routine. Wake up, run, have breakfast, train the katas I still remembered from the Hyuga clan, have lunch, study language, gnash my teeth in frustration trying to feel chakra in the evenings, sleep and start it all over again the next day.


    Three weeks later, I received a visit. A chunin told me the academy started next Monday, and I was to attend it.

 1.3

    1.3


    I was excited for my Academy days. Not going to lie about it. The main story didn¡¯t cover the early days, but I knew there were a few important events here. Mostly related to Iruka-sensei and Naruto. It was pretty much agreed by most of the fandom the reason Naruto didn¡¯t turn into a sociopath jerk was due to Iruka-sensei.


    The crowd of parents in front of the academy was intimidating. I recognized some of them. The Akimichi clan were easy: all big, all chubby, spirals tattoo on the cheek. Even before graduation, Chouji hair style was funny. The Nara clan was also easy to spot: Shikamaru looked a lot like his father, the same slouch, the same hairstyle. I saw others as well. The Inuzuka clan, red fangs tattoo¡¯s and the cute dogs.


    Separated from the others, was the Uchiha clan. With their black hair and blue clothes. A small boy, accompanied a older woman, an older man, his mother and father, probably, and a teenager. A portly ninja talked with Uchiha father. The teenager turned and looked straight at me as soon my eyes landed on the family.


    I looked away, scared. Itachi was freaking scary.


    Ignoring all the looks directed my way, I walked inside the Academy, joined a growing crowd of children. Some of those I also knew, mostly by hair. Ino¡¯s blonde ponytail, Sakura¡¯s pink hair, Naruto¡¯s blonde hair and orange clothes.


    I had dressed for the occasion too. Skirts aren¡¯t common among ninjas, but I liked them. I wanted to create my own style. If Naruto could wear orange jumpsuits, why couldn¡¯t I wear skirts? I didn¡¯t go overboard. Opentoed shinobi shoes, black stockings, shorts with a gamut of pockets to store stuff. The skirt went to my knees. I wore a black sleeveless shirt, with no symbols or adornment, and a open finger glove. Call me a weeb if you want. But I was already inside Naruto world. Leave me be.


    It drew attention. Could have been my short cropped hair, or maybe the clothes. As I said, skirts aren¡¯t common among ninja, or maybe it was the fact I was the dead Hyuga princess. No one approached me, which was fine.


    The rest of the day wasn¡¯t what I expected. After all parents left their children, a large man, with brown hair and a goatee walked in front of the children, the same man who talked with the Uchiha outside. He wore the forehead protector like a bandanna. Who was that? Where was Iruka-sensei?


    We had to introduce ourselves, which was embarrassing, given I can¡¯t speak. When the large man, Daikoku-sensei, pointed at me, I was prepared. I wrote down my name and raised my communication board.Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only


    ¡°Hinata.¡± The man read out loud. More eyes turned to me. I forgot not every kid this age knows how to write, or even read. Oops? Thankfully, sensei didn¡¯t linger, asked the next kid over to introduce himself. It was the same class, twenty seven students. Rookie 9 was still here. Aside from Iruka-sensei, nothing else had changed.


    When thinking about academy, I expected gruesome training, constant spar, intense mental exercises. What I got was children games in the morning, and letters songs and shinobi stories in the afternoon. At first glance, it looked more like a nursery than a ninja academy. It made sense, we were five. I didn¡¯t mind. I did my best to fit in, play the games, write the stories, mouth the songs.


    At the end of the day, after all the other kids had left, I approached sensei. Daikoku was a jolly, patient man. I waved him.


    ¡°That¡¯s alright, dear.¡± Sensei scratched his chin. ¡°We can try something else, if you want. Usually done between family...¡± Sensei trailed off, looked away.


    I shrugged. I didn¡¯t have a family. A small part of me cried inside. I nodded. ¡°Please?¡±


    The man nodded. ¡°Give me your hand, and close your eyes.¡±


    I did as instructed. Put my hand over his. Closed my eyes. It started like hot water in my hands, rushing up my arm and spreading through my whole body. If I hadn¡¯t sensed it early, and know it was Sensei¡¯s chakra, I would probably have panicked. I clamped down on my fear, sensei¡¯s chakra leaving warm lines wherever it passed. It spread through my whole body, dividing into several strands, each pursuing a different path. They converged on my heart, where sensei said chakra was generated. Things changed when sensei¡¯s chakra entered that place.


    Like a beast sleeping, I felt it. My own chakra awakening, stirring. Like a storm, a ravenous beast, it attacked the foreign chakra, glomping it up, slurping it like noodles. Faster than I could process, it spread through my whole body, eating sensei¡¯s chakra.


    Sensei yelped, broke the connection a few moments before my chakra had reached the source. I opened my eyes. Sensei panted, sweat dripping from his brows. I, on the other hand, felt alive, full of energy. A new sense spread around me. I could feel it, the bundle of warmth inside Sensei. Nearby, past the wall, I could feel others. Bigger, small. Hot, cold, breezy. So many textures and types and smells. My hand moved toward Sensei, toward the bundle of inviting energy on his belly, but the man had gotten up.


    ¡°Well, that was certainly interesting.¡± Sensei had a chagrined expression. Like he had done something he shouldn¡¯t have.


    I blinked, distracted. The chakra inside me slowed down. Returned to it¡¯s sleeping place, but it slumbered no more. I could feel it. I willed my chakra move, and it filled the same pathways sensei chakra had filled just a few moments ago.


    I picked up my board. My hands moved faster than I expected. ¡°I can feel it.¡± I wrote, showed sensei.


    ¡°That¡¯s awesome.¡± The man beamed. He had already recomposed himself. He looked tired.


    I wiped the previous words, wrote others. ¡°Thank you sensei.¡± I showed the man the board, bowed after he read it.


    His smile, which had been strained, softened. He tousled my non existent hair. I pouted. He laughed. I left the academy and returned home.

 1.4

    1.4


    Using chakra was instinctual and awesome. I didn¡¯t even need to direct the energy, it moved on it¡¯s own to fill my legs, feet and eyes. I ran. Faster and longer than I ever ran before. I don¡¯t know for how long I ran. Night had already fallen, and my stomach demanded food when I finally got back home.


    I sprawled on the cool, comforting floor, bleeding heat from all that running. Sweat poured from my whole body. I was tired, but it was a good type of tired. I sat up, went to bathroom. Got under the shower.


    I had confirmation the class was the same, all twenty seven students were there, including the Rookie 9. I needed to decide what to do. If I was being honest, I didn¡¯t like the whole Uchiha clan. Always thought they were a bunch of emos and drama queens. Canon Uchiha wanted to overthrown the Third, which wasn¡¯t cool, but the clan hadn¡¯t been treated fairly ever since the first Hokage¡¯s death. I hated that I agreed with Danzo: Hiruzen was too passive in his old years. for new novels


    I didn¡¯t dare put it on paper, but right now, I needed to decide what I wanted to do. Preserve the original storyline and have better information about the future. Try to change things, and put myself in great danger without any hope of defending myself?


    You see, while I agreed Hiruzen was too soft in his old years, it was Danzo that made things worse. Coward greedy hypocrite thinking he was better than others, making the hard choices for the sake of Konoha. I mean, take the name of his group of assassins. Root. The megalomaniac thought he was the roots that supported Konoha. If that didn¡¯t spell what was wrong with the man, I didn¡¯t know what did. I hated Danzo, more than I hated Sasuke. Yeah, Emosuke was soooo boring. While reading the story, I often wished Sasuke would just die already.


    I had some ideas. The focal point of the Uchiha storyline ¡ª at least for me ¡ª was never Itachi, but Shisui. Coward Danzo was afraid of Shisui, stole the man¡¯s right eye, and manipulated teenager Itachi into killing his own family. If I could somehow talk with Shisui, I might be able to convince him to go ahead with the plan to put Fugaku on a genjutsu, and not trust Danzo. From what I remembered, Danzo already had a sharingan, hidden beneath his bandaged head.


    But, if I remembered correctly, given the events time-line, Shisui died when Sasuke was still in his first semester of the academy. Roughly two years later, Danzo ordered Itachi to kill his clan. Kakashi-sensei was another option. By this time, he and Danzo probably already had their disagreement, and he knew of a lot of things Danzo did, even the assassination attempt at the Hokage, which stupid old man Hiruzen forgave Danzo for. Could I trust him? Yes, in every version of every story I read, Kakashi was always trustworthy. The question was: how to get into contact with him.


    The plan was simple. I was a mute. People avoided me. Naruto was a loudmouth, people avoided him.


    In the second day of academy, after the morning games we stopped for lunch. Kids sat in their forming cliques, laughing, cheering, having fun. Naruto sat by himself away from others, looking sad. I walked up to him, sat nearby, started to eat.


    Naruto looked at me wide-eye, like a deer caught in headlights. He looked so dumb. I offered him some of my food. He refused vehemently. I nodded, resumed eating. He didn¡¯t talk, which was more than fine with me.


    The following day, I did the same. When it was time for lunch, I looked at the furthest corner to find Naruto sitting alone, looking sad, watching the other kids. I walked to him again. Sat down. Placed the second bento I made this morning in front of him. I turned to my own bento and started eating. It wasn¡¯t anything grand. Rolled eggs, rice, veggies, grilled fish. After the morning exercise, it tasted like a feast.


    ¡°Hi-Hinata-chan? That¡¯s for me?¡± The annoying brat asked.


    I sighed. Placed my food down. Picked up my communication board. Wrote on it. ¡°Eat your food.¡± Showed him the board. The kid looked at me like I had grown three other heads. I blinked. Right, children. He didn¡¯t knew how to read yet. I placed my board down again. Picked up my food. Pointed my hashi to his bento, then to his mouth. I turned around and started eating again.


    It didn¡¯t take long until the dumb kid started eating. I ignored the muffled sobs. That had nothing to do with me. I was just enjoying my meal, thinking about fuinjutsu.

 1.5

    1.5


    After two weeks of struggle and no real progress with fuinjutsu, I realized my mistake. I mean, I knew it from the first attempt, I just thought I could brute force stuff. My chakra control was horrible. Which surprised me. Hyuga were know for their precise chakra control. How in the hells it was so hard? I might not have the name anymore, but I was still a Hyuga, right?


    I didn¡¯t knew any control training aside from the ones in the story. Leaf sticking, tree climbing, water walking. Kakashi taught those to team seven after graduation, but I couldn¡¯t wait until that time. It didn¡¯t need to be a leaf. I tore a piece of paper and stuck to my forehead, I willed my chakra to keep the paper there. I removed my hand. The paper didn¡¯t fall.


    I cheered. In my jubilation, cut the flow of chakra.


    The paper was still stuck to my forehead. I slumped. Right, paper, humidity. I went outside to find a collection of leaves for this training.


    It took me two days to coax my chakra gently enough to keep the leaf stuck to my forehead. A week until I could move around and keep the damn thing in place. After that, I changed the exercise. Trying to keep ever more heavy things stuck to me with chakra. The academy training gradually changed as well. The ¡®games¡¯ got more complicated, other were added. Hand to eye coordination exercises, pattern recognition. Even in the form of children games, I wasn¡¯t fooled. It was training, even more harder for me who refused to use chakra.


    After those first few days, Naruto stuck to me like a sad puppy. Following me wherever I went. It didn¡¯t last. He couldn¡¯t read, I couldn¡¯t speak. He tried to learn how to read, but gave up after only two days. We still ate lunch together everyday, and he often spoke at me, but he was still a brat, and future prankster and attention whore. That was fine with me. I wanted to make his academy days a little better, but I didn¡¯t want to rock the boat in that particular storyline. I couldn¡¯t imagine Naruto surviving without Shadow Clones.


    I could have done more, of course. Try to keep the other children from being mean to him, but I was in the same boat. Other children avoided me, not the same as Naruto, but I often found myself alone in games and other activities. I did try to at least be present among the other kids. We couldn¡¯t talk, but I had tricks up my sleeve. Every so often, I purchased candies and took them to class, divvying it up among the kids. It even earned me a new nickname: Okashihime (Sweets Princess).


    At some point, I stopped paying attention to the letter songs, stopped participating. I already knew the basics. I used that time to study the language primer the Hokage gave me. The Academy sensei¡¯s didn¡¯t mind when they saw what I was actually doing. Daikoku-Sensei even tousled my hair again. Ignored my glares.


    By the end of the first month, I knew I was in a spot of trouble. I had been cooking for me and Naruto every academy day. I didn¡¯t mind. I already had to cook for myself. Make a bento for him as well didn¡¯t add any trouble to my routine. What it did, however, was screw with my budget. I had to buy more stuff, and now, at the end of the month, I had nothing left, and the stipend was still a few days away.


    I sighed, rolled my eyes. This was going to take forever. I erased the message, but sensei stopped me before I could write again.


    ¡°Let me see if I understand it right,¡± Daikoku-sensei said, ¡°You¡¯ve been cooking lunch for Naruto, but your allowance isn¡¯t enough for the both of you, and you want him to help you out buying ingredients.¡±


    I nodded. Naruto just looked confused.


    ¡°Let me talk with the administration. I might be able to solve it.¡± He looked at me, serious. ¡°Do you have enough until your next allowance?¡±


    If it was someone else, maybe their pride would raise it¡¯s ugly head and say they didn¡¯t need help, in a futile attempt to prove something equally dumb. I had no pride. I was used to it. In my Camilla¡¯s life, I never had any money I didn¡¯t beg mother for. I shook my head.


    ¡°Right.¡± Sensei said. He looked at Naruto. ¡°You can go, Naruto-kun, and keep working hard on your letters. You¡¯ll never be able to talk with your friend if you don¡¯t.¡±


    Naruto nodded. Fled soon after. Sensei chuckled at the scene.


    In another world, another time, a small kid being alone with an adult and taking money from him would ring every sort of warning bell. I grew up listening to those advices every day. Here? I felt safe. I knew Sensei never even thought about such things. Cultural differences, maybe? Or the existence of genius children killers put a stop to any of that. Who knew?


    Sensei handed me a few coins. More than enough until I got my allowance. I bowed deeply. Dodged the man¡¯s hand before he tousled my hair. I mimicked Naruto; fled as fast as I could. Sensei¡¯s rumbling laughter accompanied me all the way until I left the Academy.

 1.6

    1.6


    Sensei was true to his words. My next allowance came, and I got more money than expected. It still wasn¡¯t much, It barely covered the basics, but I wouldn¡¯t need to pester Naruto for money just to keep the cooking routine. Let the brat have a few more coins for his ramen, he had it hard enough already.Updated chapters at novelhall.com


    I graduated from the Leaf Sticking exercise after a month of continuous training. Not that I was still using leaves. These days, I was copying something I remembered reading from another Naruto story. Placing heavy objects under my clothes, and keeping them there the whole day. I didn¡¯t dare use coins. Money was hard to come by and no need to put my food security at risk.


    I started in the evening with tree walking exercise, without a tree.


    Another thing I, from that same story, thought made more sense. Instead of running up a tree and try to glue myself, I started just walking about. Knowing this exercise could be explosive, I did it in one of the many training grounds around the village. I expected explosions with every step. I was disappointed. Moving chakra to my feet was hard, stupidly hard. It took me hours concentrating to manage to push chakra from my feet while standing still. Add movement and things derailed.


    During one of my many outings, I walked into a training field to find Naruto. The brat hadn¡¯t seem me, and I preferred if he didn¡¯t, but I was curious what he was doing. His training was all over the place. One minute, he would punch, kick, hit the three wood poles in the training area. In another instant, he did hand seals and shouted random jutsu names. I don¡¯t think it was a real jutsu.


    The small, always scared part of my mind I attributed to Hinata stirred, looked at the brat. Something bubbled in my chest. Oh no. No way. I turned around, fled as fast as I could. No way I was turning this into a self fulfilling prophecy. Naruto could train as much as he wanted. I wanted nothing to do with this part of the story. I didn¡¯t even liked boys. Never had. I won¡¯t deny I fled like a coward. I¡¯ve read too many stories that dealt with fate. I didn¡¯t want to tempt it. I memorized that particular training field. If I needed to search for Naruto, I could always go there. Otherwise, avoid the place like the plague it was.


    It took about three weeks to master the tree walking exercise. I felt depressed. In the story, Sakura-chan did it on her first try. Naruto and Sasuke took only days. It took me weeks.


    My academy days were mostly the same. Shinobi games in the morning, which I was started to lag behind even the other girls in class. The exercises were designed to stimulate chakra circulation on the kids, and I still refused to use chakra. I was slower, weaker, and tired faster. But it was all for my master plan.


    I wrote: ¡°Hi! I¡¯m Hinata. I have a deal with Old Man Hokage. I¡¯ve finished my part, can you tell him, please?¡±


    The kunoichi looked between me and the board. She closed her eyes. Fingers pinching the bridge of button nose beneath glasses. I could see the gears turning in her head. She thought this was a prank. I took the board away, erased the text. Before she could speak, I showed her the new words.


    ¡°When I was at the hospital, he promised to give me more fuinjutsu if I learned the first one.¡±


    The kunoichi read my message, still skeptical. ¡°Did he?¡± She asked. Her voice lilted at the end, almost sound like she was singing.


    I nodded. Took out my bag, picked up the original fuinjutsu scroll, put on her desk. She picked it up, opened it. I took another rolled up sheet of paper, one of the seals I had drawn. I opened it, showed the woman. Her eyes widened. I placed the seal on the desk as well. Picked up my board again.


    ¡°I can activate it if you need proof. I have others if the old man asked for examples.¡± I showed her the board.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be damned.¡± The woman muttered, looking at the ceiling. ¡°No, you don¡¯t need to. I¡¯ll tell the Hokage-sama you are here. Please have a seat.¡±


    That went surprisingly well. Operation Talk to old man Hokage is a go!

 1.7

    1.7


    Kunoichi Secretary-chan led me up the stairs, past a number of busy looking shinobi, locked rooms, and a confusing maze of corridors. I wasn¡¯t sure I would remember the path if I had to make my way out alone. Something to keep in mind. All around, the bonfires that were all the shinobi¡¯s chakra painted a strange picture. I couldn¡¯t see through walls, that was a byakugan ability I didn¡¯t have, but I could at least know how many ninjas were around.


    I was led to a room deep into the tower. Inside, I felt two, wasn¡¯t bonfires anymore, but blazes of chakra, with a not small number of other bonfires scattered around.


    Secretary-chan knocked at the door. ¡°Hokage-sama,¡± she said, ¡°Hinata is here to see you.¡±


    ¡°Let her in.¡± Old man Hokage said from inside.


    Secretary-chan opened the door, I stepped inside. I froze.


    The Hokage office was a mix of antiquated office and paper hell. Stacks of paper littered some of the corners, shelfs full of more paper, books and scrolls covered most of the walls. Old man sad behind his desk, Hokage hat deposited on the table in front of him. The problem wasn¡¯t the Hokage. The problem was the other old man inside the room.


    Dead fish eye stared at me, peering inside my soul. Half of the man¡¯s face was covered with bandages, and for a moment I had to ask if the stolen sharingan hidden there could see through the fabric. An x scar on man¡¯s chin screamed who that was, even if the bandaged head and dead eye didn¡¯t.


    Shimura fucking Danzo. Why was my luck so rotten?Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com


    ¡°Hinata, you wanted to talk with me?¡± Hokage asked, eyes glinted with curiosity.


    I couldn¡¯t move. I needed to move. Fucking Danzo¡¯s eye had changed. Before, he just dismissed me, now he looked interested. Move, fucking dammit, I needed to move.


    ¡°What¡¯s it girl?¡± The man¡¯s condescending voice demanded. ¡°Cat got your tongue?¡± The prick asked. There was no way he didn¡¯t knew I was a mute.


    Like a mechanical, rusted robot, my hands moved. I felt the sweat forming on my back. My knees were unsteady. I felt two other bundle of chakra around the room. ANBU and ROOT if I had to guess.


    Hiruzen took the seals I created, inspected them. He placed a finger on one, activated it. There was a puff of smoke. A coin popped out of the paper. He took one of the blank seals. Picked the coin and placed it on the center. He touched his finger to the seal. There was another puff of smoke, and the coin was gone.


    He sat back, his mouth twisting into a smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t think I would hear from you this soon.¡± Hokage-sama started, eyes crinkling with amusement. ¡°I expected it would take you a few years to manage the seal.¡±


    I shrugged. I guess if I was a five year old kid that might have been true. Even with kids somehow maturing earlier here ¡ª something I was starting to think it was due to chakra ¡ª many of the other brats in the academy thought nothing about it aside from games and stuff. I had put effort on it. Almost four months of constant, rigorous training.


    ¡°Daikoku-Sensei told me he helped you sense your chakra.¡± I nodded. ¡°But he also tells me you are falling behind your classmates in the morning games, even if you are years ahead of your peers on your letters.¡±


    I scowled. I knew the old man was keeping tabs on me. At least he didn¡¯t seem to know my poor physical results were intentional. I took my board again. Erased the previous message, wrote another.


    ¡°Hard to keep up, I get tired too fast.¡± I showed the old man the board. It was the truth, in a sense. I was getting tired faster because I wasn¡¯t using chakra. But again, master plan. I wanted to hold my own without subconscious chakra enhancement, because when I did use it, I hoped the effects would be greater based on a higher baseline.


    Old man Hokage nodded, got up from his chair. He moved to one of the many shelfs, picked up a new set of scrolls. My eyes landed on a big, very recognizable scroll roll. Wasn¡¯t that the so called sealed scroll Naruto steals in a few years? Damn, these people were hardcore, leaving such dangerous thing on view of anyone. Now I know how Naruto managed to steal the damn thing. It was just there, unprotected, god knows for how many years.


    Hokage-sama sat again, placed the scrolls in front of me. ¡°Here¡¯s more details about the sealing art. It has less jutsu, and more theory, which I think it is perfect for you.¡±


    I nodded. I wanted to understand the topic, instead of just memorizing seals. I want to create my own seals, instead of just copying from others. I picked everything from the table and placed inside my bag. Part one of my plan complete, now for the second part. I took my board again, erased the text wrote more on it.


    ¡°Can I see Wolf-san again? I want to thank him for saving me.¡± I showed the board to the old man.


    Old man Hokage laughed, a bellied sound that surprised me. ¡°You read that, Wolf-san? The girl wants to see you again.¡±


    The invisible bundle of chakra in one corner of the room flicked. There was puff of smoke and Kakashi stood there in the corner, ANBU uniform, mask and all. Looked between me and the Hokage. Even with his mask on, I could see the man rolling his eyes. That was Kakashi-sensei all right. So cool!

 1.8

    1.8


    I won¡¯t lie. I wanted to fan-girl a bit. I mean, can you blame me? It was Kakashi-sensei. He was so cool. Annoying, but sooo cool. I wanted to ask for his autograph. There were no others in the Naruto story I thought were cooler than Kakashi. Gai-sensei came a hard second, for the sheer thick skiness and disregard for what others thought about him. But Kakashi was the real deal. The only other one I thought had a winning chance was Minato. I mean, cool and op. But Minato was dead, so Kakashi it was.


    I vibrated on my seat, doing my best to contain myself. Old man Hokage chuckled again. I threw caution to the wind. I mean, I had the chance, why not use it? Ignoring that tiny voice inside my head screaming at me to not do it, I threw my self at the man in a tackle-hug.


    Not sure what I expected. A part of me thought Kakashi would dodge or something, he didn¡¯t. I wrapped my arms around his legs. Kakashi was tall, or maybe I was short. He looked uncomfortable at the close proximity, and after a long moment, spurred by a still chuckling Hokage, he patted me on the head. Once. Damn, that was soo cool.


    The fan-girl moment ended. I returned to my senses. Released the man¡¯s legs. Bowed in apology, walked to my previous chair, sat again. I took a deep breath to dispel the rest of the fan-girl dumbness out of me. I took my board.


    ¡°Thank you Wolf-san, for saving me.¡± I showed him the message. Bowed deeply once he read it.


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome?¡± Kakashi-sensei asked back. He sounded young, uncertain.


    A wide smile broke on my face. Right, Kakashi was barely eighteen, basically still a teenager. I erased the text, wrote more on my board. ¡°I have something for you, please accept it.¡±


    I dug into my bag, took out the other part of my plan I had prepared. You see, the second part of my plan was how to get in contact with Kakashi without alerting Danzo, or the Hokage, who would certainly alert Danzo as well. I didn¡¯t doubt the Hokage would listen to me, maybe even believe my words, what I doubt was the man would be able to do what needed to be done. Not when he let every evil missing-nin and traitor just walk away, when he could have stopped then. I wanted to bypass the old man, use Kakashi to alert Shisui to the fact Danzo had a sharingan.


    In the canon story, Shisui only lost his eye because Danzo surprised him and broke free of the genjutsu with his stolen sharingan. I didn¡¯t think Danzo could defeat Shisui otherwise. After meddling with that, I¡¯d let story run it¡¯s course. If the Uchiha clan still died, I could at least say I had tried.


    I placed a wrapped sandwich and a candy in front of Wolf-san. It took some effort to make that. Fluffy bread wasn¡¯t something common in the village. I think I did a good job. The bread wasn¡¯t that fluffy, but the homemade mayo, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and chicken fillet tasted good. I mean, I ate two before stopping myself. I had made only a limited number of them.


    The wolf mask hide Kakashi¡¯s expression very well, but I saw bewilderment in his movement. I guess I could relate. Who gave away food and candy as thanks? Hesitantly, the man took my offering. I wanted to mute squeal in joy, but kept quiet. For the most part. You couldn¡¯t blame me for buzzing in happiness.


    ¡°Thank you?¡± Kakashi-sensei asked.


    I bowed again. Dug on my bag once more. Took another sandwich, another candy. Offered them to the old man Hokage. After he took it, I showed him the board with the same message I showed Kakashi. The Hokage might not have directly acted on my rescue from the lab, but he saved my life in the hospital.


    Kakashi noticed the old man had finished eating the meal, but hadn¡¯t touched the candy. He also hadn¡¯t missed the man sniffing it for poison. ¡°She seems mature at times, but still a child in others.¡±


    ¡°Humm,¡± Hiruzen considered. ¡°I thought the same.¡± He took some papers from the table, read it, before looking at Kakashi again. ¡°The academy teachers tell me she¡¯s falling behind in every physical activity, even if she is far ahead of any other in any mental task.¡±


    Kakashi considered. ¡°It¡¯s surprising she can already control her chakra to this degree. She should be stronger, not weaker.¡±


    ¡°You think it¡¯s something related to her circumstances?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Kakashi admitted. It had been more than a surprise to find the girl there. He was raiding one of the many abandoned laboratories set up by Orochimaru. After they learned the truth about Yamato, ANBU cracked hard on any lead regarding those labs and experiments. Like many others, Kakashi believed the girl had been taken by the Third Raikage.


    Two years ago, when she disappeared, the whole village mobilized in the search of the girl. The prime suspects, the head ninja delegation had left Konoha that same day. It didn¡¯t take long to find them. All dead, just past Konoha¡¯s borders, the girl missing. Kumogakure tried to accuse Konoha of killing the delegation, but there was no proof. Konoha couldn¡¯t accuse Kumogakure, since the girl wasn¡¯t among the dead, nor there was any lead regarding the girl whereabout. To think they would find her inside one of Orochimaru¡¯s labs.


    Kakashi looked again at the Hokage. ¡°Did you learn what the seals on her body do?¡±


    Hiruzen sighed, tired. ¡°Only the one inside her throat. It¡¯s been pretty obvious.¡±


    ¡°The girl¡¯s voice, you mean?¡± Kakashi asked, and the old man nodded. If the reports were true, the girl had a number of strange seals hidden inside her body. Bones, heart, even behind her eyes. One of the many reasons the council and Danzo thought the girl a plant by Orochimaru.


    Kakashi felt tired beyond his years. He got up, bowed to the old man, and left. The rest of his day went about the same. He kept an eye on Hinata, did his patrol, maintained his vigilance. Late at night, when he had returned to his home, Kakashi thought about making food, then he remembered the girl¡¯s gift.


    He unsealed the food and candy, a smile on his face at the whole situation. He unwrapped the stuffed bread. Noticed something strange within the wrappings. There was a small piece of paper there, hidden among the plastic.


    It was a string of numbers. A simple substitution code. He deciphered it, read the message. ¡°Wolf, need to talk, secret. Don¡¯t tell anyone. Meet me?¡±


    Kakashi destroyed the paper, took a bite of the offering. It tasted good. ¡°Well, well, what are you planning, you clever girl.¡±

 1.9

    1.9


    My plan failed. Somehow.


    It had been about a week since my visit to the Hokage office and delivery of my secret message to Kakashi-sensei. I expected him to show up the same night, maybe the night after. But no dice. That complicated things a lot if I still wanted to intervene with Shisui¡¯s death. One thing for certain, I was running out of time.


    I had seen some very hard working people trying to map the time-line of Naruto. No easy feat, when the anime contradicted the manga, which was debunked by the so called Databooks. I had no idea yet which universe I got thrown into. Although at the end of the day, the changes were minimal, and only noticed by those who had a hard on by details. That was never me. I just liked knowing things, didn¡¯t mind the occasional inconsistency.


    Some of those time-lines, or even other stories, made it seem like there was almost no time at all between Shisui¡¯s death and Itachi killing his whole clan. A more detailed analysis made by a madman of the fandom listed the events by year, which put Shisui¡¯s death in the first semester of the first year of Emosuke¡¯s academy days. It was the fourth month already. The guy could die at any time, any moment.


    Now that my self imposed task was over, I changed my training routine. Wake up, run before breakfast. Prepare food for school day. Go to the academy. In the evenings, I started to practice taijutsu, and chakra control. Sticking multiple objects beneath my clothes while I did other things. Let me tell you, it was hell. But I was getting the hang of it. I also changed my no chakra policy. I was sabotaging myself. Taking inspiration from all those cultivation novels, I decided to try something else. After the hard exercise, in the moments of rest, I circulated chakra in my body. I didn¡¯t know if it would help, I hoped it would strengthen my body, raise the baseline strength.


    But back at the pressing matter, I was considering maybe writing a letter, hide it in Sasuke¡¯s belongings. That was a horrible plan, I didn¡¯t even know if Sasuke would give the letter to his parents, and I would be an immediate suspect.


    I shook my head. Sweat poured from my forehead, armpits, my back. I always thought those old people practicing Tai Chi with their slow movements had it easy. Now I¡¯m trying to replicate the Hyuga clan katas, moving slow is hard, harder than it had any right to be. I looked around, it was dark already.


    The path back to my apartment wasn¡¯t long. I still couldn''t lose concentration, I had four coins ¡ª ended up going with the coins anyway ¡ª stuck beneath my clothes and I didn¡¯t want to lose money. I got home, took a shower. Too tired to eat, I laid on my bed. I pushed my chakra to circulate in my body, strengthen my aching muscles. Reinforce my bones. No idea if it worked, but as they say, it was the intention that counted, And I was very intent focused.UppTodated from


    Right, I could have put that one together. That was what I get for asking dumb questions. I shouldn¡¯t waste this opportunity. I wrote in the air again. ¡°Who kidnapped me the first time?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know for certain.¡±


    I nodded. That made sense. Even if I thought I should have asked who they thought kidnapped me. I still had another question, one that would turn my gamble to a certainty. ¡°The lab you found me in, did it belong to Orochimaru?¡±


    Kakashi bolted up. Growled. ¡°How do you know that name?¡±


    I raised my one good hand in surrender. Raised the broken one as well when that didn¡¯t work. I didn¡¯t move. Better not provoke the paranoid ninja any more. Kakashi prowled the room. Even from behind the mask I could sense his glare. A minute later, he sat down again. But his posture was tense.


    I seized the initiative. ¡°Is this place safe? Private?¡±


    Kakashi got up again. Walked to the walls. Slapped a sealing paper on them. Activated some sort of barrier. He sat down. His stare was ever harder. ¡°Now it is.¡±


    I nodded. You see, ever since I first saw myself in the mirror, I had the sneaking suspicion the snake, pun intended, was involved with my kidnapping. I mean, come on. Who else in the Naruto world was obsessed with learning all the jutsu, human experimentation, and had a hard on for anything dojutsu out there? Did I even need to mention the freaking snake pupil in one of my eyes?


    But now was the hard part: Selling the lie. I wrote in the air. ¡°I¡¯ve been having dreams.¡± I looked at Kakashi for any response. I took a deep breath, this was stressful. ¡°In my dreams, I¡¯m not myself. But someone called Orochimaru.¡±

 1.10

    1.10


    For days I struggled with ideas on how to tell a bunch of trained killers I had important knowledge and prevent them from locking me inside a room where I would never see the sun again. From a logical point of view, the best choice I could ever make was tell them everything I knew. When events started to happen just as I predicted, they would have no choice other than believe me.


    And I would have no other choice other than probably be killed by Danzo, or someone else that thought I knew too much. I wasn¡¯t exaggerating, even if I was being dramatic. And I was selfish. I was in Naruto gawdammit. I wanted to be a ninja, use cool jutsu, be a bad-ass kunoichi, maybe snog some of the female cast. I didn¡¯t wanted to do the right thing. I wanted to enjoy this new strange life.


    With that in mind, and given the situation I was in, blaming everything on a possible, maybe even plausible concept like genetic memory ¡ª even if I¡¯m just saying they are dreams ¡ª should be doable. Stranger things happened in Naruto story all the time. I mean, people could just plug eyes from bodies and fit it in their own head without issue. Trippy.


    I could feel Kakashi¡¯s burning need to know more from behind the mask. If that man could shoot laser through his eyes, I¡¯d be dead. I took another deep breath. I wrote. ¡°Most of the dreams makes no sense, or nothing happens.¡± I started. Better introduce the dream as iffy memories, in case some of them turns out wrong.


    I wrote some more details. ¡°Almost all of them are just glances, or a single image, or a jumbled mess. I see papers I can¡¯t read. Places I don¡¯t know. Other laboratories.¡± I stop here, shuddering. I had made a point of not even thinking of about that small moment when I woke up, trapped inside a vat. Trauma begone. I pushed that to the back of my head. ¡°Two dreams are clear.¡±


    Kakashi leaned forward. That¡¯s good, at least he was interested.


    ¡°I¡¯m on the branches of a huge tree, there are two others with me. They are dressed in black robes with red clouds. One, Orochimaru addressed as Zetsu. His appearance is strange. Half his visible body is black, the other half is white. There¡¯s like a flytrap plant coming from beneath his robe, above his shoulders.¡± I stop, if Kakashi asked, I could try to draw it later. ¡°Zetsu asks about the mission. Orochimaru says it¡¯s done. Zetsu nods and disappears inside the tree.¡±


    I stopped, took another deep breath. This was more tiring than I thought it would be, and I wasn¡¯t even speaking. Really.


    I wrote again. ¡°The second man wears a orange mask. It¡¯s like a spiral, with the center being the right eye. There¡¯s only one eye hole. Orochimaru calls him Tobi. They talk about someone called Mizukage.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t remember all the details. There¡¯s one thing I remember. Orochimaru asked how Tobi managed to control the Kyuubi, Tobi just shook his head, left after that.¡± I looked at Kakashi. ¡°Even in the dream, Orochimaru wanted to know it, really bad.¡±


    I still didn¡¯t have any replacement for my board, I wrote in the air. ¡°Do you know who tried to kidnap me?¡± I almost added ¡®this time¡¯, but stopped myself. That sounded petty. Old man Hokage wasn¡¯t cool, but he did his best.


    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± the old man admitted, ¡°but I¡¯ve taken steps so it doesn¡¯t happen again.¡±


    That was good. I wanted my best life in Naruto. I nodded, bowed at the waist. I couldn¡¯t even be angry with this attempt. Clearly the old god of shinobi had set Kakashi to keep an eye on me, to spy on me.


    I wrote something else I wanted. ¡°Can you teach me chakra control exercises?¡±


    The old man¡¯s eyes twinkled. ¡°What do you know?¡±


    I tilted my head. Why was he asking this? If he had people keeping tabs on me, probably knew what I could do. I shrugged. Nothing for it. I picked the cup by my bed. Slapped it onto my forehead. Held it there with chakra. Got up from the bed. Turned around. Walked to a nearby wall. Walked up on it, cup still stuck to my forehead. Walked to the ceiling. I didn¡¯t have enough control to keep my clothes and hair from moving. That was still a work in progress. Upside down, I wrote with my good hand.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking now about water walking, but these are the only three I can think of.¡±


    Old man Hokage nodded. ¡°Talk to me when you¡¯ve mastered water walking. I¡¯ll prepare something for you then.¡±


    Damn, was the old man a lazy old man? That looked a lot like procrastinating.

 1.11

    1.11


    Kakashi-sensei took me to my apartment later that same day. We didn¡¯t talk much. He entered the house with me, and I did spot the dried blood near my bed. Yikes, couldn¡¯t they at least have cleaned the place a bit?


    A hand falling in my shoulder brought me back to reality. Kakashi knelt by my side. ¡°I¡¯m giving you a S-rank mission.¡± His voice was serious, but I wanted to laugh. Really? What was he up to now? ¡°What you told me about the dream? It¡¯s a secret. Don¡¯t tell anyone. Not me, not your friends at school, not even the Hokage. If I need to talk with you about the dreams again, I¡¯ll mention the S-rank mission, understand?¡±


    Ooh. Not gonna lie. That did all sort of things to my fan-girl side. I knew he was just messing with me, trying to keep me quiet, but I had to hold in the mute squeal of joy. I mean, man, ninja! I nodded, fast, decisive. Maybe too fast, I got a little dizzy.


    Kakashi patted my hair, once. ¡ª How could he be this cool? ¡ª Got up, took paper seals from the walls. I hadn¡¯t seen him placing them. Left without saying anything else.


    The next days flowed by. I thought I would be involved in the aftermath, that someone would keep me updated, tell me things. No one bothered me. No one even asked me questions. During those days, my chakra behaved strangely a few times. Like when the dead ninja used a jutsu to keep me asleep. My chakra surged into my head, did something there, before retreating. I had no idea what happened. But it happened only three times. Someone tried to cast a jutsu on me? A genjutsu? At least, that was my guess.


    Participating in the academy training with a broken arm wasn¡¯t nice. The instructors didn¡¯t care I was hurt. I mean, they cared. They just didn¡¯t let me avoid the training because I was hurt. I got an endless amount of quotes that basically meant the same thing: a shinobi should be able to function even injured. Those jerks. Cooking food also became a hassle. Using only one hand took some time to get used to.


    On my own brand of training, I decided to postpone water walking on account of a broken arm. I didn¡¯t want to drown. No sir, thank you sir. I kept the sticking exercise, raised the number of stuff glued to me. To make up for the lack of the new exercise, I varied the things in size and weight. Let me tell you, it was hell. UppTodated from


    In the evenings, it was fuinjutsu time. Seal techniques were interesting. It used these building blocks. Each chunk represented a concept, and a seal master arranged those concepts in order to express an effect. Somehow, it reminded me a lot of those visual programming languages, the ones each function was a tile, and you just connect functions using wirelines through input output. Trippy. Which meant it was route memorization work, and boring word at that.


    By the end of the year, most of the class could read. Slow, stuttering, syllable by syllable. That made my days less lonely. Not that I really bonded with the other kids. Even if they didn¡¯t fully behaved like fives or sixes years old, they were still toddlers in my eyes. Cute, killer in training toddlers, but toddlers nonetheless.


    It took me more time to master water walking. It just wasn¡¯t my focus. Fuinjutsu took most of my attention those days. When I finally did mastered the exercise, I paid another visit to the old man. Or at least I tried to. Kunoichi Secretary-chan didn¡¯t led me in to see the old man. She handed me another set of scrolls.


    ¡°Hokage-sama left these for you.¡± Was all she said.


    Damn creepy lazy old man keeping tabs on my progress. I debated if I should retaliate. I shrugged. I wasn¡¯t that petty. I wrote on my board. ¡°Can you deliver these for the old man and Wolf-san?¡± I took the prepared cupcakes from my bag, placed on the woman¡¯s desk. Lemon flavored cupcakes. Don¡¯t judge me, I was feeling bitter.


    She read the board, looked at the cupcakes. Her eyes glinted with curiosity.


    I dug inside my bag, took the ones I had separated for myself. Offered them to Secretary-chan. I had already eaten some in the morning. I could survive without my sweets in the afternoon.


    The teenager smiled. Took it. Smelled it. Took a nibble. Squealed in joy. Yeah. Girls and sweets. Perfect combination.


    I pocketed my new chakra exercises, bowed to the woman. Left the tower. The girl¡¯s reaction had been pretty funny. I might use her to taste test my other concoctions.

 1.12

    1.12


    Second year of academy came and went.


    By now, I had relaxed somewhat. Wolf-san came to me a few times. Initiated our secret meetings with the S-rank code phrase. Asked about dreams. I couldn¡¯t think of anything else urgent, decided keep just to those two lies. Must have looked strange. Code phrase and S-rank mission trigged my fan-girl side hard.


    I didn¡¯t meet with the Hokage again. Emosuke was still Emosuke. Naruto pranks increased. By now, most of the academy could read, except for Naruto. He still struggled with the words. I couldn¡¯t blame the brat. He had no one to teach him. I tried, a not insignificant amount of times during our shared lunch. He couldn¡¯t or wouldn''t pay attention.


    I had a passable relationship with all other kids. I was the bringer of sweets. I was the quiet girl that never bothered anyone. I had a pain in the behind Emosuke still trying to prove he was better than me in everything.


    In the second year, Academy training morphed. Less games, more serious training. More focus on the shinobi rules as way of life. We had taijutsu lessons. Survival games. Camping. Throwing. The teachers also taught us how to meditate, how to sense our chakra. I used those moments to circulate my own chakra, soak my body in it between gruesome training. I think I was onto something. I was still one of the weakest in class regarding anything physical: I still refused to use chakra unconsciously like the other kids, but using chakra in between training to recover and revitalize made me capable of keeping up with class, even without chakra.


    Of my other side projects I also saw improvements. I¡¯ve taken to using Secretary-chan as guinea pig for my cooking experiments. Whenever I could extract squeals of food happiness from the teen, I knew I had the right recipes.


    Not to say nothing happened this year. I heard rumors and gossips. Whenever I could, on my academy off days I went to a restaurant to eat, listen. Konoha¡¯s relationship with the Kumogakure worsened. Some talked about war between the villages. I heard rumors things never calmed down after their head ninja was killed, with escalating hostilities.


    I didn¡¯t know if that was normal for the Naruto world, or if the manga just glossed over those details, since they weren¡¯t important for Naruto¡¯s story. I hope butterfly-chan wouldn¡¯t be too cruel because of my actions.


    In second year, Academy measured us based on scores. Between all the other classes in the same year. I was bottom of the barrel for anything physical. Not dead last, but close. Middle of the pack in others, with mental disciplines being the only I exceeded. That was fine by me. Even if that angered Emosuke to no end. He was top of the class, top of the year in everything. Except the subjects I still beat him. Take that, you jerk.


    Of course things like that had repercussions. The damn brat rounded me at every moment. Be it to slap me in the face that he was better, or to try surpass me when he wasn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t care. The kid could do whatever he wanted. It was annoying, but since I couldn¡¯t speak, and refused to write, he often got angry by himself and stormed off.


    The gaggle of forming fan-girls however, started to give me stinky eyes. I mean, really? Aren¡¯t these girls too precocious? I didn¡¯t think it was anything romantic yet, but they must have grown listening to stories about the legendary Uchiha¡¯s heir. My guess is their parents kept pestering them about Emosuke, since Uchiha Itachi was too old to be interested in these kids. Save me from impressionable children, please.

 1.13

    1.13


    I was seven. Third year of Academy, when things changed.


    The first months of semester went about the same. The Academy curriculum changed again. Less playing, more focused training. We sparred every day. Throwing classes. Hand-seal classes. Spycraft, infiltration, survival. Shinobi rules. At a very high level, one would still take it like a game. Naruto always did. Others wised up. The gaggle of Emosuke fan-girls grew by the month.


    Learning hand-seals was fun. I could lose hours repeating the movements if I wasn¡¯t careful. Even more when we started moving chakra in certain patterns together with the hand seal. It was a simple exercise. Perform the hand-seal, move the chakra. Perform another hand-seal, move the chakra again. It wasn¡¯t any particular jutsu. Just getting the kids used doing the thing. My fan-girl side buzzed with joy. I mean, fuinjutsu was cool and op, but it wasn¡¯t flashy. I wanted some fireballs. Thank you very much.


    It was another normal night in the last weeks of the first semester when I woke up to distant explosions. The floor shook, like a distant earthquake. I ran outside, climbed the building, reached the roof. Light-shows, fire, lightning. It was chaos. It was far away. I looked at the Hokage tower, compared the explosions location. I had the inkling the battle, far as it was, waged on the Uchiha compound.


    The village was on uproar the next day. Rumors ran rampant. Gossip. The Uchiha clan had been attacked by two people. The clan leader, Uchiha Fugaku had died. A dozen others had died.


    It wasn¡¯t the clan extermination. It changed! In the story, they only discovered silent compound filled with dead bodies, later in the day. From what I heard, stuff already happened. Itachi at thirteen became Uchiha clan head. They were being relocated from their isolated compound to their original homes. Trippy.


    I was... Happy? Yeah. Happy.


    Some people died. But I changed something there. Itachi hadn¡¯t killed his whole family. Emosuke wouldn¡¯t have any need to become even more emo on the path of revenge. The Uchiha clan was still alive, still allied with Konoha, which would help in the upcoming war.


    I was eight. Fourth year of the academy rolled in. To my surprise, Daikoku-sensei wasn¡¯t teaching anymore. We had two new teachers. Iruka-sensei and another fucker that deserved to die: Mizuki.


    Ever since I awakened my chakra, I could sense it around me. It wasn¡¯t anything advanced like the byakugan that could see people chakra pathway, or even see chakra through walls. No, it was just a, I couldn¡¯t explain, I just knew where the chakra was. Mostly, my perception was limited. People with a lot of chakra felt like a blaze. Most adults felt like a bonfire. Kids, most of the times a little fire. It was rare the occasion I could add other attributes to the fire. Like that ninja who tried to kidnap me. His bonfire was cold, indifferent.


    Mizuki¡¯s bonfire was acrid, like vinegar. Bitter and uncomfortable.


    Fourth year we learned another of the three jutsu: Kawarimi no Jutsu. It used two more hand seals than Henge. Tiger - Boar - Ox - Dog - Snake. The hard part of this jutsu was finding something of comparable mass to swap places with. We also started with the leaf sticking exercise.


    There were no games in Academy anymore, just ruthless, unending, focused training. More focus on strategy, leadership, logistics. Advanced maths and physics.


    I got to confirm some things. About a dozen of Uchiha had died in the attack, but most of the clan was still alive. Itachi was the new clan head. Shisui was still alive. One of the attackers had been freaking Danzo. The other I guessed was Obito playing his part as Tobi, pretending to be Madara. What a mess. Sasuke was still depressed, and it didn¡¯t seem it was going to change anytime soon. From the few outbursts during class, the kid was obsessed with being stronger than his brother.


    Had Sasuke always been the obsessive type, but hidden by the Uchiha massacre?


    I kept my distance. Worked on improving myself. Worked on creating new seals. Kept the ever more complex chakra exercises.UppTodated from

 1.14

    1.14


    Second to last year of the academy changed focus yet again. Where before it focused on the individual, now we had combat drills, survival training, mock missions, problem solving, diplomacy, logistic and any other number of skills necessary for a shinobi to function in society instead of being just a killing machine.


    I think if Iruka-sensei hadn¡¯t been here, this year would have broken Naruto. The kids always avoided him, but now they were old enough to realize something was wrong. No one said anything, but every adult looked at Naruto with distrust, often urging other kids to avoid him. I still did my best to keep him company. We often grouped for activities, that on top of our shared lunch. But I always kept him at bay as well. I was his friend, I was friendly. I wasn¡¯t his emotional support.


    It was in this year Naruto started obsessing with Emosuke, and Sakura-chan. I watched from the sidelines, provided what little comfort I was willing, and kept with my training.


    I had surpassed this year a hundred kilos in each seal. It was nuts. Maybe those cultivation geeks had a point after all. It took a while to really see the improvements, but no one could deny it. I could compete with the top boys, wearing my weights and not using chakra. My taijutsu was still a mess, but I was improving. I recovered faster, I could perform for longer.


    It became glaring obvious, during ninjutsu practice I was way behind the clan kids. By now, all the others of rookie 9, except maybe for Sakura-chan and Naruto, were training on their clan jutsu. I was pretty sure Emosuke burned my hair on purpose, the bastard. But he wasn¡¯t the only: shadow binding, beast transformation, giant hand punch, bugs. Whenever those came into play, I had no answer. I knew only the basic three and fuinjutsu. After one particular nasty beat-down, and another burn attempt I walked to Iruka-sensei.


    I took my board, the new and improved version was still in the development phase. I wrote. ¡°Sensei, where can I learn more jutsu?¡±


    Iruka-sensei scratched the back of his head. Squatted in front of me. ¡°Hinata-chan,¡± he started, ¡°There¡¯s two ways. You learn your clan techniques,¡± I scowled at him, ¡°or you buy those from the village.¡±


    I erased the words on my board, wrote more. ¡°Are they expensive?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but also no.¡± He said. I tilted my head. ¡°You can¡¯t buy them with ryo. After you become a shinobi, and finish missions for the village, you¡¯ll earn mission points. You can use those to exchange for new jutsu.¡±UppTodated from


    I glowered at the man. Angrily scribbled on my board. ¡°How I¡¯m supposed to fight those jerks with their clan jutsu using only the three taught here?¡±


    ¡°That is by design, Hinata-chan.¡± The man explained patiently, ¡°when performing missions for the village, you¡¯ll often meet ninjas more powerful, and with more techniques than you. What will you do then?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s good,¡± Secretary-chan said, ¡°but it feels like it¡¯s missing something.¡±


    I sighed. Dangit. I was trying something new, my masterpiece, my magnum opus. But it seems I was still missing something. I dug in my bag again, handed her the scroll with the exercise.


    ¡°You finished it already?¡±


    I nodded. Waited for the next one expectantly.


    The woman scratched her head. ¡°I don¡¯t have another.¡± Secretary-chan admitted. ¡°Hokage-sama told me this was the last one, and you probably would take a few years to master it.¡±


    I blinked. What? I mean, yeah, I guess. Using multiple chakra treads to manipulate objects far away from me, while glued to the ceiling, and keeping multiple things stuck to my body, and still preventing my hair and clothes from being affected was a pain. But it was just that. The sheer amount of things to keep track of was what made the exercise complicated, not the control itself.


    The woman walked from behind her corner, hugged me. ¡°Congratulations Hinata-chan!¡±


    I... didn¡¯t know what to do. Maybe what the Hokage meant was that I already have more than enough exercises and experience to create my own exercises? I could always increase the number of threads, and objects I¡¯m interacting simultaneously, as well the number of stuck things, and reduce the area of my body in contact with the ceiling. Yeah, that sounded suitably challenging. I realized what the Hokage meant with that one being the last exercise. It was time to come up with my own.


    I wrapped my arms around Secretary-chan. Buried my face in her hair. Relaxed a smidgen. Enjoyed the moment. She smelled nice. Cherry blossoms. It had been so long since someone hugged me. I planted a swift, chaste kiss on her cheeks. Fled the tower with my ears burning.


    To put away thoughts of missing mom¡¯s hugs and presence, I went to work on my new communication board. Version 5.1 worked nice, but the hinges I used to allow the board to rotate on the support broke too fast. I needed a new design there, as well change the seals so the pen and eraser were included when I also vanished the board. It was embarrassing having to collect them from the ground when I stored my board.


    I had mastered all the fuinjutsu vocabulary availed to me. These days, I spent a lot of times working on improving things. I was working right now on miniature seals. It wouldn¡¯t be long until I could store bigger stuff into smaller seals. But that also left me frustrated. I didn¡¯t want to cobble a hodgepodge of existing functions to create a cumbersome result. That¡¯s how everyone did it. I wanted to truly master it. Master the language, create my own functions. But nowhere I looked taught me how. I hadn¡¯t done anything that would warrant me receiving more stuff from the old man. He had already given me plenty. The one time I asked Secretary-chan, she told me such things are well guarded clan secrets. I started to suspect the old man hadn¡¯t given me all information I needed to master seals.


    It was so frustrating. What I needed was a seal master to teach me.

 1.15

    1.15


    I had just turned twelve. It was the start of the year. It was the last day of Academy.


    The past years were a blur of training. I had improved, a lot. Even if no one in the academy knew the full extent of my capabilities. All that chakra circulation cultivation nonsense might not have been nonsense. I still refused to boost my body with chakra during training, or boost at all. I still used the ankle and arm bracelet seals, and I even added a necklace seal. I had no idea how much they weighted at the moment. Every time I got used to the weight, I amped the voltage, so to speak.


    At some point, I stopped paying attention to numbers. I had obsessed about them a bit too much. Even so ¡ª surprise surprise ¡ª I wasn¡¯t the worst in my physical classes. In terms of physical strength, I was top of class. Top of year even. I was stronger even than adults. My hodgepodge taijutsu landed me firmly upper middle of the pack. I had more endurance than all the kids, Naruto excluded, he had his own cheat. All without using chakra. Still wearing the weight bracelets. Damn, talk about a cheat.


    I lagged bad in jutsu. I knew the Academy three. I could perform them flawlessly. But I knew only the basic three. Without a clan to support me, didn¡¯t knew where to learn more. The academy only offered the basic three. The village asked for mission points. Ninjutsu training with the clan kids was bad. More than once Iruka-sensei had to intervene, mostly because Depresuke always tried to burn my face off. I even gave up on having long hair, after the fucker burned it for the third time.Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com


    Instead of a long hair, I had a bob cut. I liked it, but still, long hair rulz.


    I wasn¡¯t top of the class with hand-seals. Some were better than me. But I was still in the top 5 of the whole year. I had unmatched chakra control. The other students were baby when compared to me, but the academy didn¡¯t measured that. There were a few basic exercises here and there to promote control, but I think the consensus was that any Genin would train that by themselves. For the last year, aside from all the habitual multitasking, I had started training one hand jutsu and using jutsu without hand seals. I mean, I had mastered the three jutsu I knew with one hand, and without seal. It wasn¡¯t even difficult.


    One day Iruka-sensei warned us that during a battle, an enemy might be so proficient with one particular jutsu he might use only one hand, or no seal at all. That, of course sparked my control training mania. It was the first thing I did when I returned home. It took a few minutes to figure things out. Once I did, I could use it, seal or no seal, one or two hands. It was a bit disappointing. I struggled recently with ways to train my control, and for a moment, I had gotten excited I had found a new way to practice. Guess I shouldn¡¯t have expected much. After all, these were E-rank. Basic of the basic-est.


    Over the last years, I started to gravitate more toward my future team members. I wasn¡¯t the best when dealing with bugs, the smell freaked me out a bit, but Shino was cool. Kiba was a loudmouth like Naruto, but I¡¯ve been trained to endure Naruto¡¯s style of annoyance for years. Kiba was an amateur on that regard. I made sure to make friends with the others. I¡¯m not going to lie here. But I ignored all other classmates that weren¡¯t in the rookie 9. Which left my only female friends Ino and Sakura.


    My fan-girl moments usually got out of control with them. I mean. I loved them. Really. I even loved myself. I was Hinata. I wanted their autograph. There were some spots of fan-girling sometimes, but class got used to it quickly. I didn¡¯t suffer with bullying too much. At least not aside from the first years.


    Iruka-sensei walked inside the class, called out for order. ¡°To graduate, your final test is a Bushin no Jutsu. When you¡¯re called, come to the next room.¡±


    I waited. When my name was called, I walked to the test room. Kiba gave me a thumbs up in encouragement. Inside, I saw Iruka-sensei and Mizuki behind a desk. Forehead protectors displayed arrayed in the desk in front of them.


    ¡°Please demonstrate your Bushin no Jutsu.¡± Iruka-sensei called out.


    I nodded. Walked to the center of the room. The hand-seals were easy. Ram - Snake - Tiger. I pushed my chakra on the last seal. I didn¡¯t need to hold back anymore. Five other clones appeared around me. I took a step back. My clones stepped forward. Each performed a different routine, while I ran through some of my self made katas.


    When done, I dismissed the jutsu. Bowed. Mizuki had a calculating stare. Iruka-sensei smiled ear to ear. ¡°Amazing. That was amazing Hinata-chan.¡± The man waved me over. Gave me the forehead protector. I bowed. ¡°Be here Monday morning to see which team you will be assigned to and who is your jounin sensei.¡± I bowed again. Turned. Left the room. Stepped through another door to the courtyard where a group of kids that had passed waited.


    I took a pose. I did the V for victory. Everyone looked at me like I had grown a third head. Damn, I forgot it doesn¡¯t translate. My shoulders slumped. I gave them a thumbs up. The crowd cheered. Some patted me on the back. I took a seal from my pouch. Summoned an array of cupcakes. The kids cheered even louder. I huffed. They wanted me only for my sweets. Bunch of hyenas.


    The rest of the class trickled over, except for Naruto. Soon, parents also joined the crowd celebrating with their kids. I cast my gaze about. On a far tree, sad, lonely, depressed, on a tree swing, was Naruto.


    I walked over. Sat by his side. I knew everything was going to be fine. But it broke my heart seeing him like this. I summoned my special cupcake. Sunshine and Orange. Decorated with cat whiskers. I offered it up. Naruto took it. I hugged him while he cried.


    It was going to be okay. I wanted to say. I might have cried as well. I regret not doing more to help him. I didn¡¯t because I was selfish.

 Chapter 2: Land of Waves.

    Chapter 2: Land of Waves.


    Now, officially graduated, I had to work on my shinobi uniform. I mean, after the first year I gave up on trying anything too complicated. Too expensive to have the clothing store Oba-san craft it just for me since I¡¯d replace it just a few months later. I was a growing girl, and clothes got destroyed fast when you¡¯re training to be a ninja.


    But this time I wasn¡¯t training to be one. I was a ninja!


    I already had my ideal uniform in mind. Heck, I had already paid the ninja people to craft it for me. Years of saving money ¡ª and maybe selling a seal here and there ¡ª I ordered four sets of matching clothes. I would order more when these didn¡¯t fit me anymore. I was still a growing girl, after all.


    I still didn¡¯t break tradition of the opentoed shoes. They had their reason. Those stayed. White stocking to cover my toes, going up to mid thigh. The usual skirt ended up just shy above the stockings. A finger width of exposed skin. I mean. I was twelve already. I wasn¡¯t a kid anymore. I mean, I was still a kid, but wasn¡¯t. I was proud of myself. I wanted to feel pretty. If that annoyed anyone, they could go practice their chakra control elsewhere. Not that anyone would see anything under my skirt. We were tree-hopping ninja. I wore shorts beneath it all. The skirt was just a fashion statement. There were small hidden pockets on those shorts where I kept my new miniature seals. It took years of research, but I was finally able to create small seals that could to store large things. My Koto was there, so was my supply of exploding tags. Can¡¯t blame me for keeping the important stuff on hand.


    I wore what was basically a short sleeve dress shirt, collar, yoke, button stand and all. To top it off, a small red tie, and open finger gloves. My fan-girl side mute squealed in delight when I saw myself in the mirror. Damn I looked good. My hair had changed. It had always been dark, more toward blue. But now it was completely black. I couldn¡¯t see a hint of blue there. I¡¯m not sure when that happened, I never paid attention to it. It was only when Sakura-chan pointed it out for me last year I noticed the difference.


    The shorts, skirt, shirt where all shinobi approved, of course. Crafted with wire mesh underneath, and reinforced to provide any protection it could. It was all black. Save for the tie, which was red. I wore the forehead protector beneath my fringe, almost all hidden. It was cool. It looked good. I mean, If Naruto can wear a orange jumper, Gai a green leotard, why couldn¡¯t I abuse my earth days for some fashion statements?


    The rest of my preparations was packing stuff. The story never went in details what sort of training Kurenai-sensei put the team eight through, but I was confident the team wouldn¡¯t fail because of me. Team eight was supposed to be a tracking specialist team. I didn¡¯t have byakugan anymore, but I could still feel chakra. Even if I hadn¡¯t told anyone yet. Should I have spoken to Iruka-sensei about it? I shook my head. The academy covered the basics only, these things were the purview of a jounin-sensei.


    ¡°Team seven.¡± Iruka-sensei called. I perked up. Comedy time. I looked expectantly at the row with the trio from team seven. ¡°Uzumaki Naruto,¡± he called out, ¡°Hinata,¡± he said next. I tilted my head. Wasn¡¯t Naruto supposed to cheer and Sakura to get sad at the news? ¡°Uchiha Sasuke.¡± Iruka-sensei ended. Naruto played half of his part. Slouching on the table at mention of his team up with Sasuke, Sakura also looked devastated.


    ¡°Iruka-sensei!! Why an outstanding shinobi like me have to be on the same team as that prick over there?¡± Naruto hollered.


    Iruka-sensei put hands on his waist. Leaned over, face stormy. ¡°Sasuke¡¯s grades were the best of all twenty seven graduates and yours were dead last. Do you understand we have to balance teams, right?¡±


    Emosuke did his emo routine. ¡°Bah, just don¡¯t get in my way... dead last.¡±


    Class exploded in noise. Naruto yelled, others laughed. Something still didn¡¯t seem right to me. Sakura looked sad. Shouldn¡¯t she be happy for teaming with her crush?


    Iruka-sensei called the classroom to order again. ¡°Team eight.¡± He started. ¡°Haruno Sakura, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba.¡±


    I blinked. Tilted my head again. Looked a the row with team seven. Sakura looked pretty freaked out. That made sense, she couldn¡¯t deal with insects. I tilted my head the other way. Wait? Sakura on team eight? I replayed the previous scene in my head. Played again Iruka-sensei¡¯s words.


    It finally dawned on me. I was on team seven, not eight. Shit. I was so screwed.

 2.2

    2.2


    Like every other story in existence, team seven sensei hadn¡¯t shown up to meet in the scheduled time. Iruka-sensei had left. Naruto booby trapped the door with the eraser.


    Did the interaction between Sakura-chan, Naruto and Sasuke happened? My memory was hazy after years, but I think in the original story Naruto tied Sasuke, and almost kissed Sakura-chan, by pretending to be Sasuke. Given how Naruto was still holding his belly when he entered, the milk did it¡¯s job. No idea if teenage drama happened as well.


    ¡°That¡¯s what you get for being late.¡± Naruto hollered after creating the trap.


    Emosuke scoffed. ¡°Pft. Like a jounin would fall for such a stupid booby trap.¡±


    I stayed quiet. Kakashi-sensei had been on the other side of the door for a while, even if I couldn¡¯t see him when Naruto opened the door. The man had dimmed his chakra, but not enough that I couldn¡¯t feel it.


    A hand opened the door, the head peeking inside in a way that made sure the eraser hit. White powder splashed everywhere. Yeah, I didn¡¯t knew how Naruto and Sasuke didn¡¯t see it.


    ¡°Hahaha. You fell for it!! You fell for it!!¡± Naruto hollered again.


    Kakashi-sensei scratched his chin. ¡°Hmm... how can I say this,¡± the man started. ¡°My first impression is...¡± he looked at us again. His eyes stopped on me for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t like you guys.¡±


    I froze. I had to. With every fiber of my being I held back my mute squeal of joy. He was so damn cool!


    Five minutes later we were at the roof. Kakashi sat on the railing. We sat in front of him.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s begin with introducing ourselves.¡± Kakashi-sensei said.


    Naruto was the first to answer. ¡°What do you want to know?¡±


    Naruto looked freaked out after that. Sasuke even more emo. I went back to my apartment. I wasn¡¯t sure how I wanted to deal with this. Wrangling Naruto wouldn¡¯t be difficult. He was loud, annoying, but he wanted to be a ninja. I just needed to tell him I had a plan and Naruto would follow through. Sasuke however, might be a pain. The boy never liked me. I never liked the boy. And I think he might refuse just because.


    I didn¡¯t knew him enough to convince him. I might have antagonized him on purpose more than a few times during academy days. My assumptions coming to bite me in the behind. All those years getting to know and be in good terms with team eight, when they put me in team seven. It was what it was.


    Kunais, shuriken, exploding tags, my own custom sealwork, traps, food, gear. I prepared it all. If possible I wanted to get the bells. Offer them to the boys. There was a good chance Sasuke would help if I promised him the bell.


    I walked inside the training field at six in the morning. I packed everything, but my pack was light, a small bag that wouldn¡¯t restrict my movements. All my stuff was stored in seals. Seals didn¡¯t take too much space, it was just paper. Both boys had huge, cumbersome bags with them. Obeying to the letter the instructions. They brought everything.


    I sat by Naruto side, he looked stressed. I took a seal. Out popped three chicken sandwich, from another a thermos and cups. I popped my board, wrote up. Naruto looked like I was crazy.


    ¡°Eat up.¡±


    ¡°But Sensei said we couldn¡¯t eat!¡± Naruto protested, but kept staring at the food. His stomach growled.


    I smiled, wrote some more. ¡°Dummy, a ninja needs his energy. And sensei said we should skip because we might throw up. He didn¡¯t forbid us from eating.¡±


    Naruto scratched his head. Shrugged. Took a sandwich, a cup of tea. ¡°Itadakimasu!¡± He yelled. Dug in.


    I turned my board to Sasuke. He read it. Raised one eyebrow. I took my share, started eating. He would eat if he wanted. I couldn¡¯t force him. Emosuke resisted at first. Half an hour had passed and Kakashi hadn¡¯t arrived yet. Sasuke got up, picked the sandwich, ate with his back to us. I looked at Naruto. I grinned. Naruto looked confused, but grinned back.


    It was past ten when Kakashi finally arrived.


    ¡°You¡¯re late!¡± Naruto yelled.

 2.3

    2.3


    ¡°If you want, you can use shuriken and kunai. You won¡¯t succeed unless you come at me intending to kill.¡± Kakashi-sensei said, closing his fist around the two bells.


    Naruto had a nervous laugh. ¡°You¡¯re so slow, you can¡¯t even dodge a black board eraser! We¡¯ll definitely kill you!¡± He sounded sick at the idea.


    Kakashi looked at Naruto. His voice was low, but carried. ¡°In the real world, those with no talent often bark the loudest.¡± He looked at me and Sasuke. ¡°Well, ignore Mr. Dead Last and start when I say¡ª¡±


    Naruto exploded. In one moment, he grabbed a kunai, took one step toward Kakashi-sensei. Next moment, Kakashi held Naruto by the hair, Naruto¡¯s hand and kunai pointed at the back of the boy¡¯s own head.


    ¡°Calm down. I haven¡¯t said start yet.¡± Kakashi-sensei said.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com


    I squirmed a bit. Maybe even did a small dance. I certainly couldn¡¯t contain the guts pose. That was so cool! Thank god I was behind everyone, and no one saw me. That would have been embarrassing.


    ¡°Well, it seems you¡¯re finally prepared to come at me with the intent to kill.¡± Kakashi-sensei chuckled. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s get going. Ready, begin!!¡±


    I moved out, same as my team. I dove toward the copse of trees, changed direction, circled around, hid myself between the branches of one of the large trees in the area. As expected, Kakashi-sensei was still in plain view, in the middle of the clearing. He and Naruto.


    Loudmouth Naruto hollered his challenge. Sensei took his Icha Icha book. I needed to get the fan-girl in control. I almost mute squealed, gave my position away. The scene played the same as I remembered. Naruto got played. Suffered a thousand years of pain, got trapped upside down. Sasuke took an obvious fake opening to attack.


    Then from behind, I felt the chakra entering my head. A genjutsu. I held my own chakra back in, let the jutsu work on me. I needed sensei to think I was out of commission. I toppled down the tree. Kakashi-sensei caught me and gently laid me on the ground. Then he left. Chakra bonfire moving away. I gave it a few more moments, before I let my chakra break me free of the genjutsu. Kakashi had trapped my mind inside some sort of demented lab.


    Without hand-seal I created a clone, left it on my place.


    Still, I played my part. I looked around, put a finger over my mouth. Dashed away to another place. I explained my plan. I took my seals, summoned my exploding kunais, shuriukens, distributed to the boys. The surprised look on Emosuke¡¯s face was priceless. I wished I had a camera. Kakashi-sensei seemed to decide it was time for the showdown. He moved to the center of the clearing.


    We divvyed up.


    Like we planned. I approached openly. I had my board out. Bowed to sensei. I could see his smile beneath the mask, the crescent eye shape. I showed him my message.


    ¡°Hi, Kakashi-sensei. I won¡¯t go easy on you.¡± The man nodded after reading my message. I nodded back. Stored my board. Took a deep breath to center myself. I could feel Sasuke¡¯s and Naruto hidden, just outside view.


    I ran in, pushed my legs as fast as I could. My movements were a little uncoordinated. I had never give my all during academy training. I was always afraid of hurting the kids. But Kakashi? Kakashi could handle it. The world blurred, I was inside Kakashi¡¯s guard, open palm strike from beneath. A combination of the gentle fist and Konoha¡¯s style.


    Kakashi-sensei eyes were wide. He had, of course, blocked. But the force of my strike had threw him up, just a centimeter. I realized I could take the bells. It wouldn¡¯t even be hard. I just needed to extend my chakra threads and pull the things out. I didn¡¯t. I had made a plan with the boys. I was going to deliver.


    I spun, still low. Using the movement momentum to kick. Kakashi blocked with crossed arms, but this time he was thrown up and away. In that same movement, I got my shuriken, the exploding ones, threw them at sensei.


    Give credit were credit is due. Kakashi matched throw by throw. Shuriken exploded midair.


    A dozen shadow clones, all holding kunais, jumped from behind the trees, on a blitzkrieg attack. They attacked relentlessly. Worse, their kunai were the exploding type. I had instructed Naruto to stay hidden, and use the clones as suicide squad.


    A barrage of kunai, shuriken, all of the exploding types threw by me and Sasuke, crested the surrounding area, blocking any path of escape, except two places: where I was, where Sasuke was. Kakashi flickered away. He choose Sasuke¡¯s side. Before the man had even finished his jutsu, Sasuke dove from his hiding spot, grabbed the two bells.


    I cheered. I danced. I knew it. Explosions are a girl¡¯s best friend!

 2.4

    2.4


    I was still cheering and dancing when Sasuke approached. He had a funny look on his face. Naruto approached as well, a huge smile, hands behind his head. I bowed to both boys. They played their part perfectly. Sasuke threw one of the bells at me. I caught it, he kept the other. What a jerk. I thought my speech would guilty trip him into being nice.


    Naruto looked at the exchange. I Walked over. Handed the bell to Naruto. He looked really conflicted. Pushed my hand away. ¡°You can have it Hinata-chan, even if I have to repeat academy ten times, I¡¯ll still be a Hokage!¡± The brat yelled.


    I gotta give it to him. Naruto made it difficult to dislike him. I grabbed his cheeks. Abused them until I was satisfied.


    ¡°Hi-hinata-chan?¡± The brat stuttered. His ears were red. Dammit. I forgot I was still a teen. To me was like an older sister pinching a sibling¡¯s cheeks. To him, it was probably a cute gal flirting.


    I took my board. Better nip this on the bud. ¡°It¡¯s like pinching my idiot brother¡¯s cheek. You have the bell future Hokage-sama, if the worst happen. Medic-nin.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s touching.¡± Kakashi-sensei said from behind us. I hadn¡¯t been paying attention to him. I hadn¡¯t noticed him approaching. ¡°Follow me.¡± He said. Turned around. Led us away from the devastated area.


    We were back at the starting clearing, with the three wooden pillars, the stone memorial behind it. Kakashi-sensei looked at us for a moment. ¡°Who will keep the bells?¡± He asked.


    Naruto tried to give me his once more. I slapped the back of his head. Now wasn¡¯t the time to be a brat. Sasuke just looked away. Damn emo. Not even Kakashi could guilty trip him into being a decent human being. What had happened? Why was he behaving like that?Upstodatee from


    Kakashi nodded. ¡°What have you learned about this exercise?¡±


    ¡°That we can beat you!¡± Naruto hollered. I face palmed. Sasuke huffed.


    ¡°What else?¡± He asked. He stared at me. Wealp, I guess he wanted me to speak. I popped my board out. Thought about what to say. ¡°Explosion¡¯s are a girl¡¯s best friend!¡± I showed the board to the boys. This time Sasuke face-palmed. Naruto laughed. Kakashi-sensei stare dug into my soul. I sighed.


    Kakashi-sensei looked at me. His eyes crinkled. ¡°Will you now?¡±


    I nodded, serious. Crouched down. Dug inside my backpack. Took a roll of my seals. Spread it open to show the miniature seal at work. Triggered a few. Took a kunai with one of my special exploding tags, handed it to sensei.


    The man took it. Inspected closely. ¡°Oh my. That¡¯s dangerous. Did you made it yourself?¡±


    I nodded. Finished unrolling the seal scroll. Kakashi-sensei eyes bugged out. I mean, I wasn¡¯t kidding when I said explosions are a girl¡¯s best friend. And I had been stuck at sealing for years. This was just one of the many storage scrolls I had. All filled to the brim with all manner of delicious explosives. And maybe cupcakes. And exploding cupcakes. Can¡¯t blame me. The idea just begged to be released into the world.


    ¡°Right.¡± Kakashi-sensei said.


    I took off my boots, removed the ankle seals, put my boots again. I removed the arms seals. Opened my shirt a smidgen, removed the necklace seal. Handed them over so Kakashi could inspect them.


    He took them. He was silent for a while. ¡°How heavy are they?¡±


    I shrugged. I had no idea. I had stopped keeping track. I got up, unlimbered. Didn¡¯t remember when it was last time I removed those. Years ago? I felt so light. I felt like a could fly. I stretched. My back popped pleasantly. Kakashi-sensei watched all that with interest.


    I placed a few shuriken in the waistband of my skirt, like all ninja stuff, it was full of hidden pockets. I strapped a few kunai to my thigh, hidden beneath my skirt. Moved away from my backpack, settled on a stance.


    ¡°I better take this serious.¡± Sensei said. Pulled his forehead protector up. Red eye with three circling tomoe stared at me.


    I nodded at him. Sensei nodded back. I attacked.

 2.5

    2.5


    Kakashi hadn¡¯t wanted to take a team of genin to train. He was fully prepared to fail them, even if Naruto was his sensei¡¯s son. The team spelled trouble; a jinchuriki, an revenge obsessed Uchiha, a possible plant by Orochimaru. All of them were trouble in their own way. But Hinata was still a mystery.


    Danzo had claimed the girl was a Orochimaru spy when they first found her. All but demanded the girl be given to him. The third had refused. The clans already knew of her rescue. Antagonizing the Hyuga even more wouldn¡¯t do. It was one thing to keep the girl alive. It was another have her disappear into Konoha¡¯s darkness. It would have meant civil war.


    Imagine Kakashi surprise when the girl provoked the old traitor, and delivery a secret code via a food gift. He admired the girl¡¯s creativity. Even if her coded message left much to be desired. He had read the girl¡¯s diary and storybook. He was sure the little chef story was some sort of code. Kakashi just couldn¡¯t find the cipher anywhere. None of the patterns he used worked. It was still a mystery.


    Kakashi only learned later about the other concerns regarding the girl. The seals in her body. Those behind her eyes, in her heart, around her bones. No one knew what they did. Speculation said Orochimaru might be able to see through the girls eyes, or maybe even take control over her body.


    The other can of worms was her befriending Naruto as soon the academy started. That raised more than a few hackles.


    Plant or not, her ¡®dreams¡¯ led to one of Konoha¡¯s most recent crisis. Shimura fucking Danzo, bloodline thief, traitor, assassin. Even years after the man escaped, a few horrors turned up every now and then. It was Orochimaru all over again. A few good things came from that debacle, however. The Uchiha clan was appeased, their budding plan of rebellion squashed. It helped the most verbal person about it had died just a few years later. Killed by Danzo. Who stole Fugaku¡¯s eyes.


    The council decided it was too risky to have the Hokage meeting with the girl. He still gave her control exercises, which it seems the girl had mastered all. Impressive for a children.


    Kakashi¡¯s belief was the girl was an unwilling and unknowing plant. The dreams, fabricated memories implanted by Orochimaru to implicate Danzo and this other group Akatsuki. Another surprise when Jiraiya-sama came back with news of the group, years later than Hinata¡¯s warning.


    Hinata academy records were strange. She did well in mental tasks. Poor physical results in the beginning with surprising results in later years. There was a note from traitor Mizuki the girl was holding back, hiding her strength. Kakashi could see it now. How she wrangled both brats into going with her plan. How she tried to play their emotions. He had been surprised at their group attack. The girl was strong, too strong for a small girl like she was. The exploding tags he had accounted for, they were in her academy records. The girl always smiled when exploding things.Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com


    ¡°Aside the basic fuinjutsu I learned from the scrolls the old man gave me, I know only the tree basic academy jutsu. I¡¯m stuck. I don¡¯t know where and which jutsu to learn. I can¡¯t progress with my fuinjutsu. I ran out of chakra control exercises.¡± It came all tumbling in a single sentence. I might have been a bit too frustrated with my lack of progress.


    Kakashi-sensei crouched in front of me. ¡°How is your control?¡±


    I did the basic three jutsu with one hand seals. Did them again with no seals. Then, just to make a point, I used my chakra threads to erase the message on board, write a new message, flip the board so Kakashi-sensei could read it.


    Kakashi-sensei nodded. ¡°Very good.¡±


    I sighed. Yeah, damn. I had expected to surprise Kakashi-sensei. But guess my control was just normal. I mean, I knew I was better than any other academy students in my year, but that¡¯s because they didn¡¯t train it as much as I did. I just have years ahead of training on them.


    ¡°What type of ninja you want to be?¡± Kakashi-sensei asked.


    I perked up. Since I was showing up, I did my best. I jumped. Made a heroic pose. My threads kept writing. ¡°Yondaime Hokage! I wanna be Konoha¡¯s next Black Flash!¡±


    Kakashi-sensei chuckled. Eye turning into a crescent again. ¡°We better get to work then!¡± He said, standing up and dusting his trousers. ¡°Let¡¯s start with Shushin no Jutsu.¡± He flickered two steps back. ¡°Did you know? Yondaime was hailed as the fastest ninja alive.¡±


    Ohmygawd. I can¡¯t. I jumped. I danced. I cheered. So freaking cool!

 2.6

    2.6


    That night, head full of dreams of Konoha¡¯s Black Flash, I sought Naruto out. I was sore, it probably would bruise fierce the next day, but I was happy. Excited. Talk about Yondaime gave me another idea. There was another cheat just waiting for me: Shadow Clones. The ultimate learning tool. I might not have Naruto¡¯s fortitude and sheer amount of chakra to create hundreds of the buggers, but to practice? To read? To train? It was perfect. I wanted it. I wanted it real bad.


    I knocked on the brat¡¯s door. A disheveled Naruto opened it. It was already late at night. He had a cup of ramen in one hand, his orange uniform scattered in the room behind him. The room smelled ripe, like a lazy teenager boy¡¯s apartment.


    ¡°Hinata-chan?¡±


    I stopped breathing with my nose. Didn¡¯t want to die poisoned. I took my board. Wrote my request. I didn¡¯t beat around the bush. ¡°Naruto-kun, teach me your shadow clone jutsu.¡±


    Naruto scratched his head. Looked away. ¡°It¡¯s a secret technique. I¡¯m not supposed to teach anyone.¡±


    I nodded, made sense. Dug inside my bag, took my priority storage seal. Wrote another message on the board. ¡°I¡¯ll give you my special series cupcake: Sunshine and Orange!¡± I pop one of the seals, held the cupcake for the brat.


    Naruto eyed the cupcake, the seal. Gulped down. I delivered the ultimate move. I wrote the irresistible words. ¡°All twenty of them!¡±


    I saw it. The moment my words corrupted such a sweet, innocent boy.


    Cheat get!


    Kage Bushin no Jutsu was a strange experience. It was night. I had left Naruto to his spoils after the brat taught me the jutsu. I was in my apartment. I was alone, save for four others. Four me stared back. Round face, bob cut, button nose, dark eyes, black hair. I moved closer to one of the clones, treaded my hand in her hair. Clone1 closed her eyes. Sighed. I blinked. So weird.


    I did a mental guts pose. Good impression get!


    Naruto took one of the other containers. Sasuke pretended he didn¡¯t want, but ended up taking another. The big thermos had enough tea for us three. We sat. We ate. Naruto chattered. Today, Kakashi was late by only two hours.


    It had been a few days. D-rank mission were boring. Babysit some brat. Deliver letters. Pull out weed from fields. Not everyday we have a D-rank mission, but we train everyday with Kakashi. It was a whole different beast to have a experienced jounin to personally tutor you. We focused on teamwork practice. Kakashi insisted I used my explosive babies, but prevented Naruto and Sasuke from training with them all the time, just in some particular training scenarios.


    ¡°They don¡¯t know how to make it.¡± He stated flatly. ¡°It will only give them bad habits to use weapons they can¡¯t always have.¡±


    Sasuke nodded. Naruto looked devastated. I shrugged. More explosives for me. In the afternoon, I had more focused training. Not always supervised. Kakashi-sensei and me would spar. He pointed the flaws on my own style. Left me to practice for myself. He taught me two jutsu, Shushin no Jutsu and Shikoku fuin.


    That last one surprised me. When I managed to use the jutsu I looked at sensei, head tilted.


    ¡°Mah, you see, my cute genin is still stuck to ink to create her seals.¡± The man said, eyes crinkling with laughter. My ears burned. Why couldn''t a cute girl call me cute? ¡°Now you can write them using your chakra.¡±


    I nodded. It was useful. I almost wanted to hug him, but better not. He was already messing with me with the cute. He did that on purpose. I nodded in thanks, and fled the training soon after.


    Sometimes, I dropped by the Hokage tower to visit Secretary-chan. Let her try my new concoctions. Sneak a hug whenever I had motives, and even when I didn¡¯t. Give her a peck on the cheek when I could. Don¡¯t judge me. I was lonely. I felt isolated. I wanted to cuddle someone. Hugging my own clones wasn¡¯t the same thing as a real person.


    I was young. Health. Fit. Teenager hormones messed with my head. That the tip of Secretary-chan¡¯s ears turned pink was just the icing on the cake. So to speak.

 2.7

    2.7


    Knee deep into the flooded paddy field, I plucked the weed, threw it inside the basket on my back. I straightened. My back popped. Harsh sun light baked my head. I yawned. Idyllic and peaceful. Up ahead, Naruto bickered with Sasuke. Something about a competition, who plucked more weeds. Sasuke scowled ¡ª but didn¡¯t refuse, I noticed.


    A smile broke on my face. Days of constant training, contact and forced cooperation had it¡¯s way of changing people. Sasuke was still a arrogant jerk, but I could see why he became friends with Naruto. It was hard to keep disliking that ball of sunshine. And I was started to guess that, despite his clan surviving, Sasuke was starved for meaningful attention and affection as much as Naruto was. I hadn¡¯t considered how life must have been for him under the shadow of his living legend brother.


    I understand why hire shinobi in training to do farm work. The paddy rice fields were huge, and despite the boys bickering, we worked hard and fast. A day¡¯s work for us would probably take more people way more time to complete. It was a good investment. That way, farmers could focus on cultivating the rice, instead of wasting all that manpower on weeding weeds.


    Kakashi-sensei sat by the field border, Icha Icha book in hand. Couldn¡¯t even complain with him. This was genin work. I didn¡¯t think it added anything other than team camaraderie, but that was fine. At end of day and end of work, we met with our client. I hadn¡¯t had time to prepare this morning, but I was always prepared. I wrote on my board, popped my container of cupcakes. ¡°Thank you for hiring us, Client-sama!¡± I bowed and offered the pastries. After the man took it, I erased the text wrote some more. ¡°Please hire us again soon!¡±


    Kakashi-sensei like usual, just chuckled at my antics. Sasuke looked unimpressed. Naruto looked envious. Client-sama laughed. He held the container of pastries like his life depended on it.


    I did a guts pose. Yosha! Diplomacy points get!


    All four boys laughed. Not sure why.


    We started on the hour long walk back to the village. I ran ahead of the trio, turned toward them, walked backwards on the road. I wrote on my board. ¡°Sensei, will you come to the mission celebration today? I have new things to share!¡±


    ¡°New food Hinata-chan? What is it, what is it?¡± Naruto asked. Eyes wide.


    I shrugged. Wrote more. ¡°It¡¯s a secret, to celebrate our tenth successful mission! Will you join us, Sensei? Please?¡±


    Kakashi-sensei scratched his chin. I could see the refusal in the set of his shoulders, the tenseness of his jaws hidden beneath the cloth on his face. He sighed. Nodded. I cheered. Did a victory dance.


    E-rank team fraternization mission was a success!


    ¡°What is the distance to the target?¡± Kakashi-sensei¡¯s voice sounded in the ear-piece we wore for this mission. It was an urgent request for a high profile client. We received this one directly from the old man Hokage himself. It was the first time I had seen him in years.


    ¡°Five meters, I¡¯m ready anytime.¡± Sasuke¡¯s serious voice sounded soon after.


    ¡°Me too,¡± Naruto added.


    ¡°Please accept this one old man! I named this Will and Fire!¡± Naruto gasped behind me. He recognized it: one of my special series cupcake. I guess he would. He was the recipient of the other one in the series.


    Hokage-sama took it. Chuckled. ¡°Thank you Hinata-chan.¡± He turned to the four of us. Took a paper from the desk. ¡°Now, Kakashi¡¯s team seven. Your next duty is,¡± he looked at us again. ¡°Hmm, babysitting an elder¡¯s grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, and help with the potato digging.¡±


    ¡°No! No! No! No thank you!¡± Naruto hollered. Arms crossed on a x. ¡°I want to do, you know, a more incredible mission! Find us a better one!¡±


    I nodded. D-rank were boring. Even Sasuke seemed to agree this time. Kakashi-sensei just sighed.


    Iruka-sensei exploded. He slapped both hands on the desk. Papers falling from their neat piles. ¡°You idiot! You are just a rookie. Everyone starts off with simple duties and works their way up.¡± Hokage-sama lowered his hat. Yeah, I wouldn¡¯t want to deal with Naruto when he was in brat mode.


    The bickering escalated. The old man got fed up and lectured us on the mission rankings and organization. At some point, Naruto had sat on the ground, in front of me. He had his back to the still lecturing old man. I sat down with him.


    ¡°Last night I had pork ramen. It was tasty, but I wish I had some of your cakes after.¡±


    I nodded. I could see that. Pastries after meals were the best.


    ¡°Hey, listen!¡± Hokage-sama demanded.


    ¡°I apologize.¡± Kakashi-sensei said, scratching the back of his head.


    Naruto turned around, arms crossed, still pouting. ¡°All you do is give lectures,¡± he whined. ¡°But you know what? I¡¯m not that trouble making brat you still think I am!¡±


    Hokage-sama stopped. A smirk crossed his face. Naruto had turned his back again, he didn¡¯t see it.


    ¡°Ok.¡± The old man said. ¡°If you want it that much, I¡¯ll give you a C-rank mission. It¡¯s a protection mission of a certain individual.¡±


    ¡°Yay!¡± Naruto cheered, mood turned 180. ¡°Who? A feudal lord? A princess?¡±


    Hokage sighed. ¡°Calm down, I¡¯m about to introduce him.¡± He turned to Iruka-sensei. ¡°Would you bring the client over?¡±

 2.8

    2.8


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Naruto hollered. ¡°I¡¯m prepared to do anything to become Hokage! Once I do, you¡¯ll acknowledge me!¡±


    ¡°No, I won¡¯t you brat. Even if you become Hokage.¡±


    Naruto walked ahead, bickering with Tazuna. They¡¯ve been at it for days. Ever since we left the village. Between the two, it was hard to decide who was the kid. Kakashi-sensei had gone over the ninja lands overview, and the five hidden villages. I knew most of it already. Sasuke listened intently. I doubt Naruto remembered anything other than five kages.


    To our left, among the trees, I felt it again. I skipped ahead, catching up to Naruto and Tazuna. I clapped a few times to get Naruto¡¯s attention. When he looked, I popped my board. Wrote a message. ¡°Naruto-kun, be respectful to Client-sama.¡±


    The clap was a coded message. Shinobi, two, west, affiliation unknown. I don¡¯t think anyone other than Kakashi understood the message.


    Kakashi-nodded. Tazuna laughed. ¡°You listen to the girl brat.¡±


    The bundles of chakra moved away, ran ahead of us. Out of my range. But not for long. The dirt path continued ahead. A conspicuous puddle of water by the side of the path. Naruto, Tazuna and Sasuke walked past the water without even looking at it. I¡¯ll admit that if I couldn¡¯t feel the chakra, I¡¯d probably not even notice as well. It had been years since I last read Naruto, and some of the finer details had become... hazy.


    From the Land of Waves arc, I remembered the broad strokes. Gato, Zabuza, Haku. Was there any other attack? I hackled my brain, but couldn¡¯t really remember. I glanced at Kakashi-sensei. He was at the back of the group. I didn¡¯t notice him moving there. He scratched his hair. The fingers movement held his message. Observe. Find target.


    I tapped Naruto to get his attention. Popped my board. Wrote. ¡°What you think this bridge will look like?¡± Naruto chattered away. My tapping held the code. Understood. I had to hold in my smile, and my squirming, and my dancing, and my jumping. This was so cool! I¡¯m so glad I learned all the shinobi coded messages. I felt like an bad-ass actress in a action flick. Difficult to hold all my excitement.


    It happened fast. With no sound or warning, the chakra behind us flared. I turned around. There were two shinobi by Kakashi-sensei¡¯s side. A bladed chain held sensei trapped. The chain connected to each of the shinobi strange metal claw.


    Kakashi-sensei was by my side. Second ninja unconscious under his arm. ¡°Good job.¡± He patted my head. ¡°But try to get them alive when possible.¡± The man added.


    I nodded. I felt a bit icky right now. My fan-girl powers had dominated that moment, and I never stopped to think exactly what I was doing. I just killed a person. Should I feel anything? I mean, I did felt icky and gross. I was covered in body bits and gore and blood. But aside from that? I felt... good? Yeah, good. Not about killing the man. About that, I felt nothing. But about doing a good job, protecting the client. And the awesome explosion.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t save you immediately Naruto. You got injured. I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d freeze like that.¡± Kakashi-sensei turned to Sasuke, who was still staring at me. Naruto was staring as well, his face was a mix of conflicting emotions. ¡°Nice job, Sasuke.¡± Kakashi praised Emosuke.


    Sasuke shook his head, like dismissing a bad idea. Looked at Naruto. Smirked. ¡°You alright there, mister I froze up?¡±


    Naruto finally got out of his funk. Face a scowl. Kakashi cut him before the hollering started. ¡°Naruto, save it for later. Their claws are soaked in poison. We have to remove it quickly. We must open up the wound and release the poison. Don¡¯t move much, or the poison will spread.¡±


    Naruto locked up again. This time a different kind of panic. Kakashi-sensei tied the surviving ninja to a tree. Called Tazuna over.


    ¡°This guy is a chunin from Hidden Mist. They don¡¯t give up on their mission.¡± He looked at the old drunkard. ¡°I waited to see who their real target was.¡± Kakashi-sensei said, voice serious. ¡°They weren¡¯t after us. You were the target.¡±


    The man stood silent. Facing Kakashi-sensei.


    ¡°You lied. This has become at least a B-rank mission. I¡¯m sure you have your reasons, but it causes problems when you lie about the details of the mission. We are operating now outside our duties.¡± He looked around, the splattered gore, Naruto¡¯s ever worsening face. Sweat beaded Naruto¡¯s brown. The poison perhaps?


    ¡°This might be too much.¡± Kakashi-sensei said. ¡°I guess we should return to the village.¡±

 2.9

    2.9


    Naruto stabbed his own hand, cutting deep the injury already there. He had his back to us. His whole body trembled. ¡°With this kunai,¡± the brat said, turned to face us, bleeding hand held in front of this face. His eyes were resolute. He had a fierce smirk. ¡°I¡¯ll protect the old man. We¡¯re continuing the mission!¡±


    I was caught between my wanting to fan-girl at the awesome Naruto moment, and face-palm at the brat gall. Kakashi-sensei beat me to any reaction.


    ¡°Naruto, it¡¯s good you are releasing the poison, but anymore bleeding,¡± Kakashi stepped closer, crouched in front of the kid, ¡°you¡¯ll die from blood loss, seriously.¡±


    ¡°No! That¡¯s bad! I can¡¯t die from something like this! Save me sensei!!¡±


    Kakashi dealt with Naruto¡¯s hand. Tazuna, who had been silent for a while finally spoke up. ¡°Sensei, I have to talk with you..."


    Heavy mist blocked most of our vision. We were almost at our destination. Tazuna had spilled his sob story, and guilty tripped Naruto, who convinced Kakashi into following up with the mission, even if Tazuna had Gato¡¯s thugs and hired ninja after his sorry drunkard ass.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see the bridge soon. We¡¯re almost in Wave territory now.¡± The boat guy whispered.


    Introspection dominated my mind since the attack. I had never considered the whole Gato problem. Even after being placed on team seven, it had slipped my mind. I knew the mission was trouble, but never considered what I wanted to do with it. Even with my failing memory, I remember it was sad. Haku living to be a tool. Zabuza crying when his boy died. Gato mob trying to kill everyone at the end.


    Many of the Naruto fanfiction I read often meddled with things to save Haku and Zabuza. But, did I want to? It was implied that Zabuza killed more than a hundred kids of his year¡¯s cohort during his academy days. I didn¡¯t know if the guy was really worth saving.


    ¡°Wow! It¡¯s huge!¡± Naruto yelled.


    ¡°Hey, be quiet!¡± Boat guy chastised. ¡°Why do you think we are hiding in the mist and not using the engine?¡±


    I blinked, the interaction distracting me. I blinked again, thinking back on my own rationale. That was... surprisingly narcissistic of me. Out of context, it sounded like some wannabe villain with delusions of godhood, deciding to save or not some minor character. That raised a question I hadn¡¯t considered yet. I doubt that on earth I¡¯d be this callous about taking a life, or deciding other¡¯s future. Was I still myself?


    If nothing else, that decided it. I would do my best to keep both alive. Kakashi-sensei could take the lead on that one after, if the situation called for it.


    Momochi Zabuza¡¯s sword flew above us. It hit a tree, got stuck there. The man soon appeared, posing on the handle of his weapon. His back to us, looking down on us. I kinda wanted to cheer him out. Edgy af. Cool af.


    Naruto got up, a stupid smile on his face. I could see the dumb idea there.


    ¡°Well, well, if it isn¡¯t Hidden Mist missing-nin Momochi Zabuza-kun.¡± Kakashi-sensei said. Naruto took a step forward. Kakashi¡¯s hand stopped Naruto from going toward the enemy. ¡°Everyone, get back. This one is on a whole other level.¡±


    Zabuza kept looking down on us.


    ¡°It¡¯ll be a little tough, unless I do this...¡± Kakashi said. Pulled his forehead protector up, red eye in full display.


    ¡°You are Sharingan Kakashi. Sorry but, the old man is mine.¡± Zabuza¡¯s rough voice sounded out.


    Naruto looked confused. Sasuke looked intense. Kakashi looked serious. ¡°Surround and Protect Tazuna-san. Do not try to interfere with the fight. That is your teamwork.¡±


    ¡°What the hell is that eye?¡± The brat yelled.


    Emosuke answered. His voice dark. ¡°It¡¯s said some have the ability to read and defeat all types of genjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu. The sharingan is one of type of pupil that gives you this power.¡±


    Zabuza chuckled. Creepy. Edgy. I loved it. ¡°Hehe, but that¡¯s not all. What is even scarier is that you can copy your opponent jutsu once you see them. I kept this handbook before. It had information about you. The man who copied more than a thousand jutsu. Copy Ninja Kakashi. My orders were to kill you on sight.¡± Zabuza crouched on top of his sword handle. Finally facing us. ¡°Enough talking. I have to kill that man.¡±


    We moved as one, surrounded Tazuna drunk ass. Kakashi stood in front of us, facing the enemy.


    ¡°But seems I have to beat you first.¡± Zabuza said. Kicked the tree, removed his big ass sword. Flew above us. Fell on the river. He stood tall on top of the water, one hand up, other curled on a seal in front of his mouth. Water swirled around him. Mist blowed outward. Chakra spilled forward. Heavy, dense, suffocating. Like someone squeezed my heart. But not worse than that one time with Shimura fucking Danzo.


    ¡°Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu.¡± Zabuza¡¯s voice echoed from inside the mist.

 2.10

    2.10


    ¡°Eight choices.¡± Zabuza¡¯s creepy voice sounded inside the ever thickening mist. ¡°Liver, lungs, spine, subclavian vein, neck vein, brain, kidney, heart.¡± The moment stretched.


    ¡°The mist is getting thicker!!¡± Naruto yelled the obvious.


    ¡°Which one should I go after?¡± Zabuza crooned.


    It was all theatrics, but effective. The pressure from his chakra doubled up. It felt like I had a sword at my neck, and I¡¯d die any moment. Was that killing intent? Naruto and Sasuke weren¡¯t doing any better. Sweat poured from Sasuke¡¯s face. He held a kunai, but he trembled like a leaf on the wind. His eyes were wide and unfocused.


    ¡°Sasuke.¡± Kakashi called out. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll protect you guys even if it kills me.¡± He looked back at us. Smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t let my comrades die.¡±


    Damn that man! Why now of all times to trigger my fan-girl side? I kinda wanted to cheer, even if the moment wasn¡¯t appropriate. It helped calm down the boys and the client, at least for a moment.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see about that.¡± Zabuza¡¯s guttural whisper echoed. Strange bundles of chakra spread around us, inside the cloying mist. Faster than I could perceive, one appeared between us. Zabuza had his sword over his back, ready to attack. ¡°It¡¯s over.¡± The man said.


    I reacted, but not fast enough.


    Kakashi flickered among us. Somehow, he managed to push all four of us away, while still sinking his kunai into Zabuza¡¯s stomach. Water spilled from the wound. From the mists behind sensei, another Zabuza materialized.


    ¡°Behind you, sensei!¡± Naruto yelled at the same time the first Zabuza dissolved into water.


    The missing-nin huge sword moved in a fast arc, cleaving Kakashi into two pieces, that soon also dissolved into water. It was at that moment Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza, holding a Kunai to the man¡¯s neck.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move. It¡¯s over.¡± Kakashi-sensei declared.


    The byplay between Sasuke and Naruto happened, and the visible clone attacked Sasuke. A crowed of shadow clones emerged, and the battle on that front was on. But I had my own problems.


    ¡°How did you notice my clone, little girl?¡± The creepy voice asked from the mist. ¡°Not even your sensei had, how did you?¡±


    The clone kept walking around me and Tazuna. I couldn¡¯t let the ninja get behind my back. That was asking for trouble. I moved as well, kunai in hand, circling around Tazuna to avoid any attack. The chakra flared, appeared behind Tazuna. I flickered too, Kunai held in both hands. The silent attack came, it hit my kunai. Stopped. I grunted, pushed the sword back. The clone wasn¡¯t physically stronger than me.


    Zabuza stared me down. ¡°You can sense chakra. Who are you?¡±


    I pushed forward. Moved my kunai to let the sword slide on the side. I ducked low. Kicked as hard as I could. Zabuza brought the flat of the sword to defend. My feet hit the metal with a dull clang. The man used the momentum to disengage and disappear in the mists again.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± The clone demanded again. ¡°Why don¡¯t you speak? Scared?¡±


    I gnashed my teeth, cursed my muteness. I wanted to banter with the enemy. I wanted to taunt and say cool shit.


    ¡°If you won¡¯t talk, I¡¯ll just need to make you.¡± The clone mocked.


    More and more attacks came my way. The more blows we traded, more confident I got. I could follow the clone¡¯s movements better. Used my own hodgepodge style to deflect most of the sword attacks. Zabuza ramped up the attempts, but I was more than the clones match. The battle around us still raged between Naruto, Sasuke and the other clone. I needed to finish this fast. I followed the clone once it retreated into the mists again, not giving it any chance to retaliate.


    ¡°Naive,¡± the man whispered, and I realized my mistake when the Zabuza dissolved into mists, only to appear on the other side near Tazuna, which I had left unguarded while chasing the enemy.


    ¡°Suiton: Mizutama.¡± Zabuza¡¯s voice echoed. I panicked. Didn¡¯t have time for hand seals. Didn¡¯t need them. With a puff of smoke, I swapped places with Tazuna. The water projectile meant for his stomach pierced my shoulder, blood splattering on the other side. I yelled, wordlessly. A hand covering the injury.


    The clone formed again from the mist. Two handed sword held high. Shit. I was so fucked.

 2.11

    2.11


    ¡°You did well, little ninja. You can die¡ª¡±


    Zabuza¡¯s clone cut mid taunt. Splashed into a puddle of water. The mist billowed out. Over by the river, Naruto flailed, trying to keep his head above water. Kakashi-sensei, now freed from the prison, matched the real Zabuza seal by seal. Huge water dragons formed from the water, clashed against one another.


    Naruto washed into the clearings pushed by the waves. Was that Kakashi-sensei¡¯s doing? I still couldn¡¯t rest. I shambled toward Tazuna, stood in front of the man. Put the pain out of my mind. Had to protect the client. He didn¡¯t even seem to notice me, so captivated with the battle.


    In the river, the battle raged on. Kakashi-sensei copied the enemy movement to the smallest of details. Zabuza started his speech, Kakashi finished it. Mind games, I realized. It worked too.


    Mid cast one jutsu, Zabuza stopped, surprised, on the last seal. Kakashi didn¡¯t. A huge whirlwind of water exploded around him. It hit the surprised Zabuza. Caught unaware, the man couldn¡¯t defend himself. The water threw him back into the clearing. The missing-nin slammed against a tree. I didn¡¯t see when sensei did it, but kunais pierced Zabuza¡¯s arms, legs. Kakashi stood on the same tree, on a branch, looking down on the enemy.


    ¡°It¡¯s over.¡± Kakashi-sensei declared.


    ¡°How?¡± Zabuza demanded. ¡°Can you see the future?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kakashi agreed. ¡°You¡¯re going to die.¡±


    Two thick senbon needles pierced Zabuza¡¯s neck. The man¡¯s eyes went wide. He toppled over.


    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± A soft, melodic voice echoed. ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡±


    Up on a tree opposite Kakashi¡¯s stood another ninja. Dressed in dark green and orange robes, mask covering their face, hair tied in a bun. Kakashi dropped down, checked Zabuza¡¯s pulse. Looked at the newcomer.


    ¡°Thank you very much.¡± The surprise attacker bowed. ¡°I¡¯ve been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time.¡±


    ¡°You are a Kirigakure hunter-nin.¡± Sensei stated.


    ¡°Hinata-chan! You¡¯re awake!¡± Naruto was the first to notice me. He came running and for a moment I thought he would hug me. The kid stopped just before that. He looked surprised.


    Not just Naruto. Everyone looked like they didn¡¯t expect me to be awake. I did what a girl my age, undressed in a room full of boys would do: I pulled the blanket close, covered my bandaged chest.


    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± The woman yelled. ¡°Out, everyone out!¡±


    ¡°But, but,¡± Naruto complained. Sasuke brooded. Tazuna scratched the back of his head. The room was soon empty save for a still paralyzed sensei and a bustling woman. She walked to me, sat down seiza by my side. ¡°How are you, dear?¡± She asked.


    I tilted my head. Wasn¡¯t sure why she was treating me like a wild puppy. I looked around, Kakashi was looking at me too.


    ¡°You lost a lot of blood,¡± Sensei said, probably understood my confusion. ¡°We didn¡¯t expect you to be awake for a few days, at least.¡±


    I looked at the woman fussing over me. She... looked like a mother? Dressed plainly in light and dark green tones, full of mother energy. I looked at my arms. My bracelets, and seals were gone. I looked around, saw them deposited atop my small backpack. I pointed to it.


    ¡°You want that, dear?¡± The woman asked. I nodded. She handed me over the things.


    I sifted through my belongings until I found my comms board. Then sifted through my bag, took my prepared seals. Placed them in front of me to curious stares of Kakashi and Oka-san. Out popped the board, to a surprised gasp from the woman.


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Hinata,¡± I wrote on my board. ¡°We¡¯re here to protect Tazuna-san and his family while he finishes the bridge. You can count on us!¡±


    Oka-san read my board, looked bewildered. I knew what I had forgotten. I popped my prepared mission pastries, offered them to the woman. She took it hesitantly.


    ¡°We¡¯ll protect you without fail!¡± I wrote. ¡°Meanwhile, please enjoy these pastries.¡±


    Kakashi-sensei stared for a moment, broke out chuckling, burst out in a full laughter. Oka-san sighed. Muttered under her breath. It sounded a lot like ¡°these damn crazy ninjas¡±. It couldn¡¯t have been. I wasn¡¯t crazy. I just introduced myself.


    Kakashi-sensei laughter went on for a while. I think he did that on purpose. That was so uncool.

 2.12

    2.12


    Oka-san, I learned her name was Tsunami and was full of mom energy because, well, she was a mother. Her son, Inari, was even a bigger brat than Naruto. That¡¯s to say, the two hit off like brothers. They bickered all the time. Sad boy Inari trying to convince Naruto the world was bleak. Sunshine ball of positivity Naruto hollering he was a hero. It was nuts, it was funny. The gentle gaze I often caught on Tsunami¡¯s face said she agreed.


    Tsunami somehow decided I needed to be mommy¡¯ed over, with constants murmuring complaints that translated to ¡®children should be playing, not fighting for their life¡¯. I kinda agreed with her, but didn¡¯t really. I chose this life. I was happy with this life, even if a bit lonely. I let her fuss over me. I even enjoyed it. If it meant the client was satisfied, why should I deny her the chance to do what she wanted?


    I summoned another set of clothes. Threw the blanket over Kakashi-sensei¡¯s face, and let the woman help me get dressed. It was embarrassing, I¡¯ll tell you that. But after a grueling awkward session, I was dressed, with the bloodied and dusty clothes set aside for cleaning.


    ¡°I¡¯ll wash them for you,¡± Tsunami said.


    I bowed deeply in thanks. I couldn¡¯t move my right arm, my shoulder hurt a lot whenever I tried. I also felt a bit woozy, but not enough I thought I needed to be in bed.


    That same night, we sat down around sensei futon, food bowl in hand. It had been a while since I ate someone¡¯s else food. It tasted nice. It tasted like a mother¡¯s food. Tsunami¡¯s Oka-san powers were over 9000.


    ¡°Can you explain your last message Hinata-chan?¡± Kakashi sensei broke the silence.


    ¡°What message?¡± Naruto asked. Sasuke looked at me suspiciously.


    I nodded. Took a kunai. Repeated the message the same way I did before, tapping the kunai to my protector. The ringing sound spread in the room. Enemy alive, enemy gone.


    Kakashi nodded. Sasuke looked thoughtful. Naruto was just confused.


    I took my board. ¡°I can feel chakra. Always could ever since Daikoku-sensei helped me sense chakra at the start of academy. Everyone has chakra inside them, unless they are dead.¡± I wrote, remembering the dead ninja who tried to kidnap me.


    Sasuke glared at me. Naruto tilted his head. Gasped in surprised. Pointed at me. Hollered. ¡°That¡¯s how you always won the hide and seek games!¡±


    I stuck my tongue out at him. Naruto gaped. I erased my board, wrote the rest of the message. ¡°Even after the hunter-nin killed Zabuza, he still had chakra, which shouldn¡¯t be possible.¡±


    Kakashi-sensei nodded. ¡°I should have realized that.¡± The man admitted. ¡°Hunter-nin disposes of the body immediately, they don¡¯t take it away. And a senbon is a strange choice for a killing weapon.¡±


    For once, Sasuke agreed with Naruto. ¡°Naruto is right. We can already use jutsu.¡±


    ¡°Nope!¡± Kakashi said cheerfully. ¡°You are not using chakra properly.¡±


    ¡°What?!!¡± Naruto yelled.


    ¡°Like Hinata-chan wrote earlier, to release chakra means to bring physical and spiritual energy and mix them inside your body. Even if you are able to release a high amount of chakra, unless you control it properly, the jutsu will be weakened or might not even work at all.¡±


    ¡°What are we going to do, then?¡± Naruto asked.


    ¡°Tree climbing.¡± Sensei delivered.


    I wanted to face palm. I had forgotten Naruto and Sasuke were still newbies. Things I¡¯ve been doing for years they were just starting. Yet, they were still strong enough on their own. Was that the power of the protagonist? A spike of sadness punctured my heart. I thought I was strong. But I couldn¡¯t even beat a simple water clone.


    ¡°We learned that in the academy!¡± Naruto whined.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t the normal tree climbing. You¡¯ll climb without using your hands.¡± That caught the boys attention. ¡°Watch well,¡± Sensei said. He did a hand seal, his small bundle of chakra stirred. The man walked over to the tree and kept walking.


    I nodded. That would have been cool if I didn¡¯t knew about it as well.


    Kakashi was upside down, eye turned into a crescent. ¡°You understand now? Gather chakra in the bottom of your feet, and climb up a tree. This is something you can do once you can use chakra well.¡± Sensei threw kunais at our feet. ¡°The purpose of this exercise is to teach you control. If you can master this, you should be able to master any jutsu,¡± The man sighed, said in a lower voice, ¡°in theory.¡± He looked at us again. ¡°That also helps you build stamina needed to control chakra properly. Get some momentum, use the kunais to mark how high you went. Your goal is to climb the highest you can.¡±


    ¡°This training is nothing to me!¡± Naruto hollered. ¡°I could do it before breakfast, ¡®cause I¡¯m the most improved!¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you stop bragging, pick a tree and hurry up to climb it?¡± Sensei said.


    Sasuke and Naruto did just that. Concentrated for a moment, their chakra bubbling. They ran toward the tree. I watched, still dejected. I wanted some more chakra training myself.

 2.13

    2.13


    I sat down on the grass, looking the boys trying to climb the tree. Sasuke had a good advantage on Naruto. Naruto looked at the tree, then at me sitting on the grass. I had climbed as well when Naruto complained I wasn¡¯t training. It shut him right up, and lit a fire under his feet.


    Naruto walked over, crouched by my side. Whispered his question. ¡°How did you do it, Hinata-chan?¡±


    I considered popping the brat¡¯s bubble. Tell him it took me almost a month of daily training to get it right. I didn¡¯t. That was petty, because I was feeling petty. I took my board, wrote on it. ¡°Call Sasuke-kun over as well?¡± Naruto looked conflicted. I added a new line. ¡°We¡¯re a team Naruto-kun.¡±


    He nodded, determined. ¡°Oi, Sasuke, get your ass here. Hinata-chan wants to tell us something.¡±


    I kinda wanted to hug Naruto? It was awesome how he could put out any perceived competition and be the better person. I didn¡¯t think I could do it. Instead of hugging him, I did the best next thing. Popped a cupcake, presented it to him. The blinding smile he gave me back was so worth it.


    Sasuke joined us, after Naruto hollered three more times. ¡°What is it? Don¡¯t you see I¡¯m busy with training?¡±


    ¡°Shut your mouth!¡± Naruto yelled. ¡°Hinata-will teach us how she did it.¡±


    Sasuke scoffed. I couldn¡¯t fault him. The way Naruto said was like I was better than Kakashi-sensei. I wrote on my board. ¡°There isn¡¯t any shortcut I can teach you guys, but I can tell you how I trained myself. It might help.¡±


    ¡°What, but, Hinata-chan...¡± Naruto looked devastated. Sasuke, finally, looked interested.


    ¡°Good idea with the alternative ways of training.¡± Sensei said, patted me on the head. I stood quiet, wasn¡¯t in the mood for conversation. ¡°What¡¯s eating you, my cute genin?¡± Kakashi-sensei asked, sat by my side.


    I didn¡¯t even blush at the obvious teasing. I sighed, still felt down. At least with sensei, I didn¡¯t need to hold back. My chakra threads picked up the eraser, wiped the words on my board. Another set of threads held the pen, wrote the message. All the while, I still looked down. ¡°I want to train. I thought I was strong. I couldn¡¯t defeat a single clone.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± Sensei asked. ¡°How did you get hurt?¡±


    I plucked some of the grass. My threads kept their work. ¡°I got arrogant. Felt like I could defeat the clone, then help the boys. Zabuza tricked me into leaving Tazuna alone. I had to use kawarimi no jutsu to take his place, or Zabuza would have killed him. I think I would have died had you not broken free of the prison.¡±


    I threw away the grass I obsessively plucked. The frustration from the last years bubbled out. I couldn¡¯t contain it anymore. ¡°I thought I was strong. It feels like I barely improved the last few years. I don¡¯t know how else to practice my control, my taijutsu is a mess, I don¡¯t know any jutsu, I¡¯m stuck at my seals. I don¡¯t know what to do.¡±


    Tears spilled from my eyes. I grabbed my injured shoulder. Pressed hard on it. The pain felt something I deserved, even if that was a dumb sentiment. I knew I had done my best. I wasn¡¯t some kid genius S-rank ninja at the age of 7. I would climb through hard work. But nothing felt like hard work anymore. I only saw walls I couldn¡¯t climb.


    ¡°You¡¯re strong.¡± Kakashi-sensei said. I mute scoffed at his words. Rolled my eyes. ¡°You¡¯re the strongest rookie I¡¯ve seen in a while. What you lack is experience, and that you can only learn with time.¡±


    I threw away another handful of plucked grass leaves. Yeah, thank you very much sensei. That helped a lot.


    Sensei didn¡¯t seem to have any other words of wisdom. I got up, bowed. Turned around and returned back to Tazuna¡¯s house. Better help Tsunami with breakfast, and the house chores. That felt like a better use of my time.


    Kakashi-sensei stare followed me until the trees blocked the view.

 2.14

    2.14


    Fully decked with all my seals and bracelets, dressed in my ninja statement outfit, I followed Tazuna out of the house. I spent the rest of the early morning helping Tsunami with all the normal house chores. The boys had eaten breakfast for three, ran out of the house to continue training. Since Kakashi-sensei was out of commission for at least a week, it fell down to me ¡ª injured me ¡ª to protect the client while he did his bridge building thing.


    That was more than fine with me. The shoulder injury didn¡¯t seem as bad as it first appeared, and I could fight if the situation demanded. And I needed space, and time to think. I thought after I joined a team, I would improve faster, but aside from helping me with taijutsu, and teaching me those two jutsu, Kakashi-sensei hadn¡¯t actually helped me that much. Naruto and Sasuke were improving fast, and it felt I was being intentionally train-blocked. Yeah, sure, I had improved my teamwork, we learned a lot about politics and how the world functioned. But I had not seen any big personal improvement. Or at least that was what it felt like.


    Kakashi-sensei might be right that what I need was experience. It just felt like it wasn''t enough. If I couldn¡¯t defeat Zabuza¡¯s clone, how could I interfere with Orochimaru and the Third¡¯s fight? How could I make sure the old man wouldn¡¯t die?


    I followed Tazuna through a shanty town. He waved and talked and shook hands. The man seemed to know everyone. The people were happy and energized by his presence. Was that the same rude drunkard Tazuna we escorted from the Land of Fire? The difference was uncanny.


    A bunch of thugs walked onto the still unfinished bridge, pushing workers out of their way, threatening people with their improvised weapons. They beelined straight for Tazuna. The trio stopped, weapons held in both hands.


    My work was boring. I mean, super boring. I just had to stand around, and make sure no one messed with Tazuna. Like what those assholes were doing just now.


    ¡°Look here old man.¡± The biggest of the lot declared. ¡°Gato-sama¡ª¡±


    I didn¡¯t let him finish. That was more than enough confirmation they were sent by the enemy. I moved, ninja speed fast. I punched the man on the stomach. I might have used a bit more strength than appropriate. I didn¡¯t care, really. My fist sunk into the man¡¯s stomach. His eyes bugged out. He went flying away, crashed against the bridge railing, toppled over and fell into the river.


    I helped Tsunami-san around the house again. She fussed over my still recovering arm. I let her. Felt good to be pampered. The boys went back to training. I followed Tazuna to the bridge.


    A peaceful morning of work came and went. I upped my control training. I could always increase the number of threads I was using, and how many things I controlled at the same time, while still keeping stuff glued to my skin, while still paying attention to the surroundings. Couldn¡¯t let a ninja or a normal thug attack the client after all. It felt nostalgic to push myself with this type of control exercise. Not that I ever really stopped training, even if the exercises were easy most of the times.


    I followed Tazuna to a restaurant. The man had some sort of agreement with the owner. A lot of the workers came to eat here. The place looked shoddy. The client sat on a bigger table, surrounded by workers. I sat a bit further away. Popped my own food out of my seals. I had just bitten into the first bite of my rolled eggs when I felt it.


    A bundle of chakra, a bonfire, one I often felt on trained shinobi. I hadn¡¯t sense any other shinobi yesterday or today morning. Just some thugs with a bit more chakra than the average person. I packed my lunch. Looked at Tazuna still eating with his boys. Walked outside. If this was a shinobi casing the joint, so to speak, I needed to know who they were.


    I followed the chakra until I stood outside what looked like a flower shop, or maybe a herb shop? Was this shinobi buying poison? Was that the next avenue of attack? I considered what to do. Going inside and confronting the shinobi was out of the question. It would put me at risk, it would alert them I had ways of detecting them. No, better observe, enter the store after to investigate.


    Course of action decided, I walked into an alley, dimmed my presence and settled down to wait.


    It didn¡¯t take long. The bundle of chakra moved closer to the wooden door, and out of the store came the prettiest girl I had ever seen. Soft delicate features, long black silky hair, simple make-up around the eyes, soft pink lips. The girl was dressed on a pink kimono with red spiral details. My ears burned a bit. She was so pretty. I was pretty sure I blushed.


    Then reality hit me like a truck. It was a trap. I was struck speechless. I was struck dumb. Was that fucking Haku? How in the hells was he so pretty?

 2.15

    2.15


    I thought for a moment what to do. No, that¡¯s a lie. I didn¡¯t think. Without seals, or any puff of smoke, out popped a shadow clone. I stared myself in the eyes. I looked so dumb right now. Rosy cheeks and ears. Wild eyes. Damn Haku. Why? Oh god, why?


    My clone looked back at me. There was no need for communication between us. My clone henged. I was now looking at any other street urchin. We nodded to each other again, the copy saluted me, walked out of the alley, followed Haku, I returned to the restaurant. Gotta keep the client safe, after all.


    Original me looked so dumb right now. I had to stifle a silent laughter. Wouldn¡¯t do to mock myself. I used henge no jutsu to fit in with the crowd, saluted. It was time to start the mission. Being a clone was strange. I had done some experimenting the prior weeks, and learned a few interesting facts. All I had in me when I made a clone got duplicated as well. Clothes, weapons, seals. They were, however, all chakra constructs.


    I could use a kunai if it was on my body, I couldn¡¯t activate any of the fuinjutsu to summon more. Any strong impact would disrupt the chakra flow and turn the thing into smoke. Clone-me was weaker, since I didn¡¯t have my arsenal of exploding weapons at hand. But that was fine, this was a stealth and recon mission.


    Haku¡¯s path led her, err, him ¡ª gawdammit ¡ª they across the desolated town. Their pretty robes and manicured appearance drew attention, the wrong sort of attention. Even so, no one bothered them. Which I found strange. Before I had kicked the shit out of those thugs, I had to contend with some low level of annoyance, mostly with people trying to steal things from my backpack while they thought I hadn¡¯t been looking. It took beating the crap of Gato¡¯s thugs to scare most of them off.


    I didn¡¯t pay attention yesterday, but the town was poor, more like a slum than town, really. Almost empty stores, high prices, broken windows. Places uncared for, trash pilled around alleys, and beggars. The amount of beggars begged belief. Old, young, adults, teenagers. Everywhere I looked I saw more and more people that needed a good meal. Their skin sallow and cheeks sunk. Clothes that were more straps than actual garments.


    I shook my head. Now wasn¡¯t the time. Things would get better, I knew they would. It didn¡¯t change the fact I felt pretty crappy about just enjoying my ninja life while these people suffered. There wasn¡¯t much I could do, however. I hadn¡¯t brought enough food to feed a starving city. I didn¡¯t have money to buy stuff. Even so, where I would by stuff? Could I steal from Gato? I tossed that idea away. Not the time, not the place, not the mission.


    Haku crossed most of the town, stopping to enter a shop here and there, herbs shops, flower shops. They left with bundled of old, dried flowers in their basket. I think I had a pretty good idea of the situation. Haku was scouring the towns shops for any type of medicinal herb. Disguised it as buying flowers.


    You got your mother in a whirl, she¡¯s not sure if you¡¯re a boy or a girl.


    I almost bobbed to the music. Caught myself before doing something stupid. Although, by the way sensei looked at me, I might have moved, just a bit.


    Sensei nodded. ¡°Good job Hinata-chan.¡± He tried to pat my head. I ducked away. Was still bitter about the whole training thing. I nodded, bowed, went to sleep.


    Crack of dawn we left for training again. Naruto had a huge smiled on his face, walked with hands behind his head. Sasuke looked sullen, more than usual. It didn¡¯t really make me feel better like I thought it would. Kakashi-sensei followed the boys to their training ground. I waved them away and went to do my own thing.


    When I was outside view of the others, I put part one of my plan to work. I removed all my weight seals, created four shadow clones, put my seals again. The clones all unlimbered, it was pretty funny, it looked like they were moving on fast forward. It was perfect.


    ¡°Now, shoo.¡± I wrote, waving my clones away. We nodded at each other, Clones-chan paired, each duo moving into a different direction. It didn¡¯t matter what they did, as long they didn¡¯t use too much chakra. What I wanted was the experience of moving without my seals.


    I popped my koto out, adjusted the bridges. I couldn¡¯t use my right hand to pluck the strings, my shoulder recovered fast, too fast now that I thought about it, but I still couldn¡¯t move my arm. That¡¯s when my new training exercise came in. I had been focusing on chakra strength of the threads, and amount of threads. Maybe best now if I trained finesse? I realized when trying to use the threads to manipulate the pen to write. Small, delicate movements with them was difficult. I didn¡¯t know if this was a valid or even useful type of exercise, but at least it was something else I could improve. That was what really mattered to me.


    Koto ready and bridges adjusted, I created some chakra threads, plucked a few tentative strings. Or at least I tried. I plucked one string too strong, the other too slow, even missed one string entirely. I smiled. Yes, I could train this.

 2.16

    2.16


    The first clone¡¯s memory popped inside my head just a few minutes after training started. I blinked at the deluge of information, then laughed. That was so dumb. Clone-chan decided she wanted to sprint as fast as she could. Clone-chan couldn¡¯t dodge the unmoving tree. She crashed and the clone dispersed.


    Second Clone-chan came just a few moments later. She decided she wanted to fly, or as close as possible of flying she could. She climbed the tallest tree she could find, then jumped up as far as she could go. She mute laughed, mute yelled, mute hooted. She was still smiling like a loony when gravity-kun reasserted himself, and Clone-chan fell and broke her neck.


    About one hour later, clone three and four popped out at the same time. That duo decided they wanted to fight each other. Which turned into a game of tag, then tickling, then just cuddling under the morning sun. They fell asleep, dispersed. Was I so lonely my clones couldn¡¯t even train like they were supposed to? Koto playing hadn¡¯t gone well. My dreams of Rebel Rebel were squashed, although I had improved. Now instead of sounding like a kid slapping the instrument, I sounded like a kid who just started to learn playing. Progress!


    I got up, looked at my instrument. Instead of storing it, I popped another clone. For the heck of it, since apparently I was so touch starved I cuddled with myself, I gave Clone-chan a hug. Might have been longer than intended. Clone-chan smiled, waved me away. She sat down to practice. I huffed, and returned to Tazuna¡¯s house. Helped Tsunami with breakfast. Popped some of my dwindling stock of pastries, much to Naruto¡¯s happiness and Tsunami¡¯s chagrin.


    The third day of guarding duty went about the same: boring. Haku didn¡¯t case the joint again. No other thugs attacked. I kept inventing ever strange things to do with my threads.


    One thing I had not considered training with clones was the mental fatigue. When afternoon arrived, it felt I had spent days without sleep. I wasn¡¯t physically tired, I was just spent out. It got even worse when koto Clone-chan unpopped after giving me back the musical instrument. I went to sleep without dinner. I barely managed to find my bed before I collapsed. How did Naruto do it?


    The fourth day started with me sending two clones this time. One to go and explore the island. The other to sit down and practice the koto. I needed practice doing normal things without the weight seals.


    Breakfast was drama between the family. Brat Inari got pissed when Tazuna talked about the boy¡¯s father. Tsunami got upset, which triggered Tazuna to spill the family sob story. Yeah, super sad. At least it served to lit a fire under Naruto¡¯s bum. The sunshine brat left to train, determined to finish climbing the tree that same day. I wished him luck. Sneaked a cupcake in his pocket when he passed me by.


    I nodded. ¡°I have another exercise you might want to try, how about it?¡±


    Naruto tilted his head. ¡°Tree climbing?¡±


    I tilted my hand in a so-so gesture. The boy nodded.


    ¡°Watch well,¡± I wrote. Plucked a leaf from a nearby tree. Stuck it to my forehead.


    Naruto looked confused. ¡°We already learned that on the academy, Hinata-chan.¡± He whined.


    I nodded. Showed him the board again, with the same words. Then, still keeping the leaf on my forehead, I walked to the tree, and kept walking up. I held my skirt and hair in place with chakra, but I don¡¯t think Naruto noticed that. His eyes bugged out, looking at the leaf still on my forehead.


    I erased my board, wrote again. ¡°Try it?¡±


    Naruto nodded, stuck a leaf to his forehead. Went to climb a tree. I held back a mute giggle when he fell down on the first try. Yeah brat, think simultaneous control is easy? On the other side of the clearing, Sasuke stared daggers at me. I wanted to dismiss it. But I guess it was time to grow up, and stop playing favorites. I waved him over, he scowled, but came. Now to see how I could help a natural genius to be even more of a genius.

 2.17

    2.17


    How do you teach someone something that can¡¯t be taught? I had no trick or tips for Sasuke. Chakra control was repetitive, exhausting work, however, Sasuke was railed as a genius. What we did was talk. I told him about all the issues I had when I started, how it felt to move the chakra, my experiences, what type of exercises I tried what exercises I still practiced. I even pulled up my shirt and showed him the row of coins stuck to my stomach. I never stopped that.


    Sasuke had a faraway look on his face. I wasn¡¯t sure if I helped at all.


    He bowed. Stiff and formal. ¡°Thank you, Hinata-san.¡± Left soon after to train again.


    What was up with that formality? I scratched my head.


    ¡°He probably thinks you just told him clan secret training methods.¡± Kakashi-sensei was by my side. How did he kept doing that when he could barely walk? I looked at the man, shrugged. It wasn¡¯t any secret. Just no one ever asked. ¡°You realize some of those could be considered clan secrets, right?¡±


    I scratched my cheek. Used my threads to write on the board. ¡°They are not though. Just an extension of the three basic exercises.¡±


    That small interaction set the tone for the rest of the day. Did I want to create a clan? I pushed that idea away. I was too young to think such things, and I had gods of shinobi and aliens to deal with before I could think of settling down.


    It was, again, another boring day of guard duty. Updated chapters at novelhall.com


    In the evening, the mood was tense. Tsunami looked stressed. Inari, even more sullen. That night, Naruto and Sasuke didn¡¯t return from training. Kakashi-sensei didn¡¯t look worried. I didn¡¯t as well.


    It was still dark when I got up on the sixth day. I went out alone. My shoulder had healed to a point I could move my arm with just a twinge of pain. Today was relaxation day. I took the liberty to use Tsunami kitchen to do some light cooking. I made tea, heated a few pastries, made finger sandwich. With everything ready, I went to out to have a picnic.


    I walked away from the house until I found a nice open clearing among the trees. I placed a piece of cloth over the dew covered grass. Unsealed the thermos, a few cupcakes and finger sandwich. I unsealed my koto, and sat down by the instrument. Plucked a few cords, adjusted the bridge under the strings. My right hand was a bit stiff, and a bit of pain followed my movements, but it was doable.


    I did the host thing, glad for the kunoichi classes telling me what do do. I got up from behind my koto, also sat seiza. Took the thermos, filled the cup, observed the customary movements. Once I had served the tea, I offered the cupcake. It wasn¡¯t the traditional offering, but it was what I had. I wrote more. ¡°Please, help yourself.¡± I waved my hand over the tea, pastries and finger sandwich. They looked interested in my confections.


    Haku took the cup, sipped the tea, nibbled the pastry, eyes widening. That one was for my own consumption, might have put a tad more sugar than needed. Don¡¯t judge me, girls and sweets, I wasn¡¯t immune.


    Customs observed, I returned to my place behind the koto. I was in a pinch right now. Traditionally, the cumbersome zither was seen as a romantic instrument, given the soft sounds and playing style. I didn¡¯t play the traditional way. Well, nothing for it I guess. Since I was in a Katy Perry mood, I went with another: Wide Awake. That song always had me in a strange mood, which this one certainly counted for.


    I plucked the strings, tried to get into the groove again. I couldn¡¯t. Haku sitting across from me set my teeth on edge. It showed in the song. It was more tense that the original music already was. The song ended, and it hadn¡¯t felt good.


    Haku noticed that. ¡°I apologize for intruding,¡± they said, ¡°I was out looking for medicinal herbs, and heard your music. You looked like you were enjoying yourself.¡±


    I nodded. I had been enjoying myself. It was relaxation day after all. I decide just to roll with it. Haku could have attacked when I was playing. For a moment there, I had been completely off guard and distracted.


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Hinata,¡± I wrote on my board. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you.¡±


    Haku smiled. Looked down, pushed a strand of hair behind the ear. Damn they were beautiful. So unfair. ¡°I¡¯m Haku.¡±


    I wrote again. ¡°Do you want to listen to more music?¡±


    They nodded. I nodded.


    I scoured my memory for that lovely acoustic version from that survival horror game with Ellie. I had listened non stop to it for weeks, it wasn¡¯t because Ellie was pretty, I promise, the music was that good. I plucked the strings on my best rendition of Aha¡¯s Take On Me. Again, it was more of a improvisation business, I barely remembered the melody. But I did my best. Not sure why I decided to play a love song for Haku. Was it because of the forbidden love I assumed existed between them and Zabuza?

 2.18

    2.18


    ¡°That headband, are you a ninja?¡±


    The question came out of nowhere. I guess the novelty of music ended and it was ninja business time. Time to see who learned more about the other. I didn¡¯t deny. I had used seals already. I nodded.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it too early to be out?¡± They asked.


    I wrote: ¡°I was trying to relax before the day began.¡± When Haku read, I flipped the board with the second part of the message. ¡°Aren¡¯t you working early as well?¡±


    ¡°The medicinal leaves are more effective if you pluck them still covered in dew.¡± They demurred.


    That was an interesting tidbit. It was the first time I heard that, but I wasn¡¯t sure if I was just being led on.


    ¡°Why are you a ninja? Is that for yourself? Or someone else?¡±


    That was a simple question to answer. I was a ninja because I knew things, horrible, terrible things, and didn¡¯t want to be at mercy of those stronger than me. I puffed my chest on with my non-existent pride. I wrote. ¡°For myself!¡±


    Haku giggled. Damn they looked cute. ¡°Do you have someone who is important to you?¡±


    I shrugged. I had myself. ¡°What about you, do you have a special someone?¡± I sent the question back.


    They nodded, looked away. ¡°There¡¯s someone.¡± Haku started, ¡°I owe him my life. I want to make his plans come true. I¡¯d give my life to make his plans come true.¡±


    Haku was talking about Zabuza, right? They had this weird master-disciple relationship. I remember how it made me uncomfortable the first time I read the story. Haku was willing to die for Zabuza. At the time, I thought it was unrequited love: Haku was a boy, Zabuza was a man. Forbidden love and all. But this Haku in front of me didn¡¯t sounded like they were enamored with Zabuza, Haku sounded like a religious fanatic. It fascinated me, just a bit.


    I asked another question. Intentionally misinterpreting the situation. ¡°Does he love you back?¡± I expected Haku to get angry, maybe defensive. Goes to show how little I understood them.


    Haku giggled. A dainty hand covering their smile. ¡°It¡¯s not like that. He...¡± Haku stopped, had a faraway look, ¡°...was the first to look at me and tell me I wasn¡¯t a monster. Tell me I was useful. The first to give me purpose. I¡¯m happy as long as I can be of any use to him.¡±


    I nodded. I could read between the lines. We¡¯re already operating out of mission bounds. We¡¯re not taking unpaid for assassination jobs. There were also other things to consider. What if we failed the attempt? How would Gato retaliate?


    That same night, after another boring day of guard duty, there were surprising developments. Sasuke walked inside the house supporting Naruto. Both looked satisfied. Naruto looked utterly exhausted. ¡°We did it!¡± Naruto called out. ¡°We reached the very top!¡±


    Kakashi-sensei nodded. Smiled. ¡°Very good. Starting from tomorrow, you¡¯ll also help protect Tazuna-san.¡±


    Finally, I could share the boredom.


    ¡°I¡¯m also tired from all the days hard work,¡± Tazuna said, ¡°anyway, the bridge is almost complete.¡±


    ¡°Father, Naruto-kun, don¡¯t overdo it, okay?¡± Tsunami engaged Oka-san mode and fussed over the workaholics.


    That should have been the end, but there was family drama abound. Brat Inari didn¡¯t seem happy that Naruto looked satisfied with his progress and training, and their hard work. No one had seen the boy¡¯s tears until the yelling started.


    ¡°Why do you guys even bother to work so hard?¡± The crying brat yelled, slammed both hands on the table. ¡°No matter how hard you train, you¡¯re still no match for Gato¡¯s men!¡±


    That triggered Naruto something fierce, who to my surprise didn¡¯t also started yelling. He waited until the boy had spilled his grievances out. Inari had stopped to take a breath when Naruto¡¯s voice hung out.


    ¡°So, it¡¯s ok for you to pose as the star of a tragedy and cry about I all day long?¡± Inari looked up, surprised. ¡°Just keep on crying forever, you little sissy!¡±


    Silence filled the room again. Oppressive silence. Naruto got up, left the house. Inari started crying even more, also fled. In the awkward silence, Kakashi also got up, followed Inari.


    I got up, bowed to our host. According to Kakashi, tomorrow was the day. I wanted to get a good night¡¯s rest. I couldn''t really deal with the crying kid, I had no words to comfort the family. I was a horrible person. At least I wasn¡¯t pretending I wasn¡¯t.

 2.19

    2.19


    In the morning, before we set out, Kakashi-sensei called me over, away from the others. ¡°I have a mission for you.¡± He said after we were out of earshot.


    That didn¡¯t sparkle my fan-girl like I thought it would. I still thought Kakashi-sensei was train-blocking me. But a mission was a mission. I would do as asked. I nodded.


    ¡°You are the most observant in our team, and you can sense chakra, even through the mists.¡± I nodded, that was a fair assessment. ¡°Between you and the boys, you¡¯re also the fastest if you remove your weight bracelets.¡± I nodded to that as well. Sensei stared at me for a moment. ¡°Good job on using the shadow clones to get used to moving without the weights, it was an inspired idea.¡±


    My ears burned. Couldn¡¯t very well tell him the idea was his, could I? I was pretty sure Kakashi had been the one to suggest this training method in the original story. I also didn¡¯t fail to noticed he kept tabs on me. Was it just to make sure I was safe or something else? Nor did I missed the fact he knew I had convinced Naruto to teach me the jutsu.


    ¡°If things happens how I think they will, Zabuza will attack us today. You¡¯re are on guard duty. Your mission is to protect Tazuna-san and your teammates, but let Sasuke and Naruto fight otherwise.¡±


    I nodded again. I could do that. I wanted to fight, prove I had improved, but keeping other alive was more important. The mission came first, not my personal wants. I took out my seals, stored them. Had to be prepared.


    Naruto still slept when the four of us left the house. How many clones did the brat use to get that exhausted? I mean, Naruto¡¯s cheat was infinite chakra and infinite stamina. I poked Sasuke, who looked at me without the usual angst. I showed him my board.


    ¡°What did you guys to yesterday? How did Naruto got so tired?¡±


    Sasuke¡¯s sighed, a mix of bitterness and annoyance. ¡°He filled the whole clearing with clones. All day long practiced climbing while keeping the leaf on his forehead.¡±


    Oh yea, that would do it. I got taken out by five clones. Couldn¡¯t imagine the mental fatigue of hundreds of the buggers. Still, Sasuke was strangely polite today. I bowed back. No need to antagonize him.


    Sasuke, Kakashi and me followed Tazuna to the bridge. The more we walked, the clear something was wrong. Where on the previous day the bridge had been bustling with workers, we didn¡¯t see anyone. I told sensei just that.


    ¡°Good job.¡± Sensei said, ¡°Keep your guard up.¡±


    Like Tazuna said, the bridge was almost complete. It was to the point I could jump from the unfinished edge and above the cliff where the Land of Fire started. Work had ground to a halt for that day. We found workers. All strum on the bridge. All of them looked dead, save for one.


    Tazuna was on the man in an instant. ¡°What the hell happened here?¡± He asked.


    ¡°A monster!¡± The man gasped.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be foolish.¡± Was Sasuke¡¯s scoffing answer.


    ¡°Very well.¡±


    Still keeping Sasuke¡¯s kunai at bay, Haku brought a hand up, with dizzying speed, he went through a gamut of one handed seals, ended up by slapping his feet against the ground. The water around both flew up, transformed into needles, surrounded Sasuke by all sides. The water crashed where Sasuke just was. The boy pumped his legs full of chakra, and escaped by jumping up. A rain of shuriken followed Haku retreating form. Distracted by the attack, Haku didn¡¯t see Sasuke moving behind them.


    Both jounin observed the duel. Not interfering.


    There was another exchange of blows, one which Sasuke visibly had the advantage. It ended with Sasuke kicking Haku¡¯s face, and the hunter-nin rolling midair, landing nearby Zabuza.


    ¡°You can¡¯t underestimate my team by calling them brats.¡± Sensei threw back the retort.


    Watching Sasuke¡¯s fight was the final nail I needed to understand how dumb I had been. My no chakra policy was at my academy years and training, but I was crippling myself by not using chakra to strengthen my body during battle. I really wanted to give past me a few slaps. Even present me for not noticing it sooner.


    Zabuza chuckled. It was drawn out and creepy. ¡°He he he he he, Haku, do you realize? At this rate, we¡¯ll be driven back¡±


    Like a switch had been flipped, Haku stood strait. ¡°Yeah, we can¡¯t let that happen.¡± Chakra built visibly around him. The temperature dropped. Sasuke, even knowing the water had been used against him one time already, hadn¡¯t left the area splashed by the water clones. Water turned to ice, and ice turned mirror, mirrors formed a prison.


    ¡°Hijutsu: Makyo Hyosho.¡± Haku said before they stepped inside the ice mirror.


    Kakashi-sensei cursed, dashed toward Sasuke, only to be stopped by Zabuza. ¡°Your opponent is me. If you leave those two,¡± he said looking at me and Tazuna, ¡°I¡¯ll kill them.¡±


    In the ice mirror prison, things changed. Haku¡¯s movement had accelerated beyond belief. Sasuke couldn¡¯t keep up and with each pass from one mirror to the other, a new senbon puncture wound appeared on him.


    I was prepared to interfered when I sensed it. Naruto¡¯s blazing sun of chakra was hidden just around the bridge railing. Was he... waiting for an opportunity? That was pretty smart. I could help with that. I pushed chakra into my arms. They blurred, a kunai flew toward the mirror.


    Haku noticed. Popped out of the ice to catch the attack. Naruto didn¡¯t let the chance go. He dashed in, punched Haku out of the mirror. Then, instead of pressing his advantage, the dumb brat took a pose.


    ¡°Uzumaki Naruto has finally arrived!!¡± He hollered.


    I wanted to punch him myself.

 2.20

    2.20


    ¡°I¡¯m here to sa¡ª¡±


    Zabuza reacted faster than Haku or even Kakashi. His arm blurred, the man threw a handful of shuriken at Naruto, cutting off the brat hollering.


    Kakashi-sensei hadn¡¯t been in a position to stop Zabuza. Nor did I think Naruto could evade the attack. But I had been watching. Like Kakashi asked. I didn¡¯t miss the man drawing the weapons from the hidden pockets of his clothing. I done the same. My own shuriken intercepting Zabuza¡¯s mid flight.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com


    Zabuza turned his stare at me. Naruto looked confused as always.


    ¡°Good job, Hinata-chan.¡± Sensei praised. I huffed, those praise wouldn''t work on me, but please praise me more!


    Naruto, unfortunately, instead of attacking the still stunned Haku, walked inside the mirror prison. ¡°Yo, Sasuke! I¡¯m here to rescue you.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t pay attention to the unfolding drama and idiocy over the ice prison. The mist thickened, blocking my vision. I couldn¡¯t even see in front of me.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen through your tricks, Sharingan Kakashi. You can¡¯t copy what you can¡¯t see. You can¡¯t use a genjutsu on me if I keep my eyes closed.¡±


    Kakashi growled. ¡°But you can¡¯t see anything either, why?¡±


    ¡°Hehe, you¡¯ll never know. Farewell, Sharingan Kakashi.¡±


    I listened to that byplay between the two experienced Ninjas. All the while, Zabuza crept closer to me. It was deception after deception. The man was still taking me for a fool. He was trying to bait me again, because he knew I could sense chakra. A clone formed behind Tazuna, the swooshing sound of that big sword cutting air.


    A second bundle of chakra flickered in front of me. This one bigger. The real Zabuza. Kakashi¡¯s chakra had also started moving. He wouldn¡¯t get here on time, or he would put himself at risk to do it. While all these thoughts passed through my mind, the world seemed to have slowed down. I learned my lesson: No holding back on chakra anymore, not on a fight. I hadn¡¯t know that flooding my head with chakra helped me think faster.


    Without seals or sounds, out popped a shadow clone. Clone-chan flickered. She tackled the water copy out of the way, and left a kunai plunged in its sides.


    I also flickered. I was behind Zabuza, who had started his swing. The man noticed. Of course he noticed. Don¡¯t know what I expected. I aborted my attack, flickered back toward Tazuna. Clone-chan moved back as well, and the two of us faced the mist, ready for any other attack.


    Zabuza moved deeper into the mists, Kakashi-sensei hot in pursuit. Zabuza¡¯s plan had been a good one. With no jutsu to copy, Kakashi held no advantage over the missing-nin, and Zabuza was clearly more adept at silent assassination.


    The stalemate broke with Naruto agonized yell. ¡°I¡¯m gonna kill you!!¡±


    Dense, evil, violent, and angry chakra like I¡¯ve never felt before pushed against me. It felt like I was inside a volcano and it intent hadn¡¯t even been directed at me. Wind billowed, the mist moved. There was a sound of breaking glass.


    I did the same with Haku. I tied them down. Haku was insensate, didn¡¯t even put a fight. Naruto started crying, happy his boy friend was alive? Zabuza didn¡¯t stay unconscious for long. After waking up, the man glared at me from the place Kakashi kept him tied up.


    ¡°It¡¯s over Zabuza. There¡¯s no way you can beat me now.¡±


    The missing-nin looked at the scene, all the blood, his torn out arm lying nearby, Haku subdued and tied up.


    Before he could say anything, another voice broke the silence. ¡°I wonder how the fight is going.¡±


    There on the bridge, stood a short man with spiky hair and black sunglasses, dressed in black formal clothes. Huh, I knew my own ninja uniform wasn¡¯t that strange.


    ¡°Well, he¡¯s certainly made a fine mess out of you. What a pity Zabuza.¡± The midget said.


    ¡°What are you doing here, and why did you bring all of them?¡± Zabuza growled.


    The midget laughed. ¡°This was the plan all along, I never intended to pay you, Demon.¡± Gato said the word demon like an insult. ¡°All those insults and trouble. I¡¯ll kill you all, and solve all my problems myself.¡±


    Zabuza glared at Gato, and his fifty-something gang thugs.


    Yeah, that did it. Kakashi sensei thought the same. He walked to Zabuza. ¡°Do we still have a reason to fight?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    Kakashi-sensei nodded. Untied the missing-nin. Helped the man up.


    Haku stirred under me. Their eyes regaining a bit of their focus. I kept them pinned and tied. I didn¡¯t think Haku was in any condition to join Zabuza. I hadn¡¯t gone through all this stress to let them die at the end. No, Haku could stay put. There were no ninjas among the crowd.


    ¡°We¡¯re tools, and we die as tools.¡± The missing-nin said. He picked up his sword, let if fall against his shoulder. With one hand seal, mist billowed out again. ¡°But even tools have their pride.¡± Chad Zabuza didn¡¯t even seen to notice his missing arm. Trippy.


    I always thought Zabuza hadn¡¯t fight us with real intent to kill. That moment I realized how right I was. It was a massacre.

 Chapter 3: Chunin Exams.

    Chapter 3: Chunin Exams.


    I sat on the same clearing I first met Haku. Haku sat in front of me.


    It¡¯s been two weeks since the battle of the bridge. I talked with Naruto about his argument with Haku after the mirror prison broke. Haku had insisted Naruto killed them. The duo had talked about Haku¡¯s past, the persecution because of his bloodlimit, the tragedy of their own father trying to kill them, and how it was Zabuza that had given them a new purpose, how Haku was nothing more than a tool. A tool that had lost its purpose after being defeated, and prevented from sacrificing themselves for Zabuza.


    I might have strongly suggested Naruto go and confront Zabuza about it. Naruto had a way of convincing others. Much hollering and man tears might have been involved. I didn¡¯t regret it. Not one bit.


    Still, the bridge would be finished tomorrow, and we would leave soon after, return to Konoha, return home.


    Zabuza, contrary to my expectation, hadn¡¯t killed the whole of Gato¡¯s gang. After decapitating the midget gang boss, he killed about half of the present thugs, before scaring the rest away. I still thought the town would have been served best by killing them all, but as Kakashi-sensei said, we weren¡¯t here on a assassination mission.


    I poured tea for Haku, who took it silently. Then I popped my secret weapon, the last specimen of the special series: Sunshine and Orange, the cupcake. I surrendered my prized possession. Haku took it. Their eyes recovered a bit of their life.


    ¡°Is that...¡±


    I nodded. Gave them a smile. The one I got in return was a tired, sad one.


    Today was my last attempt to convince Haku, and I was willing to use meta-knowledge. I took my board, thought on my words. ¡°He doesn¡¯t see you as a tool,¡± I wrote. ¡°It might have been like that at the beginning, he might not even realize yet, but you aren¡¯t a tool for him anymore.¡±


    ¡°But if I¡¯m not, then what I am?¡±


    Fuinjutsu: Still stuck on that one, with no idea how to proceed. Who did I know was a seal master I could seek out to help me? The Uzumaki clan had dispersed, and even if there were still survivors, I didn¡¯t knew any aside from Naruto. The only ones I could think of that I could potentially meet were the Third, mostly because he was railed as the man who mastered all jutsu, Jiraiya, who some also railed as a seal master, and... Orochimaru. Yeah, nope, that last one was out. No sir, thank you sir.


    Summoned creatures: Another avenue I hadn¡¯t considered. Another thing that was super clan secret related. Maybe I could corrupt Naruto to teach me the summoning jutsu as well? If nothing else, that is the prime space-time jutsu out there. It should help me with my dreams of Konoha¡¯s Black Flash.


    Chakra boosting: It always came back to my own younger self decisions. Lesson learned. Use chakra boost in battles!


    Chakra training: For about a couple of years I had been struggling with new ways to train my control. Worse, I¡¯d been gushing to Kakashi-sensei I wanted to follow on the fourth footsteps. And for all my fan-girl bluster, I had forgotten about Rasengan. The ultimate chakra control exercise disguised as a A-Rank jutsu. Created by the Yondaime to protect his wife. It took me seeing the Chidori, which was Kakashi¡¯s attempt at Rasengan to remember.


    I looked at my open palm. How was it again?


    Rotation. My chakra surged, rotated wildly. Power. I didn¡¯t had a rubber ball, but I had been using my chakra to manipulate things for years. The fine lines of chakra glowed, I pumped chakra into them, making it as dense as possible. It looked like a forest of thin shiny tentacles sprouting from my hand. Containment. I kept my chakra spinning, I kept the density. Compressed it in as much as I could, pressing it into a ball.


    The chakra resisted, I pushed harder, put all my focus and will behind it. The world dissolved away, there was only the chakra in my hand. It felt almost like a popping sensation, like something gave way. I blinked, checked my hand. There was a ball of visible chakra there, the size of a small marble ball. It was nowhere near the size a Rasengan should be. It didn¡¯t felt strong as it should be.


    A smile broke on my face. Finally a new way to train my control. I released the chakra. Put away my picnic stuff. Packed everything and returned to Tazuna¡¯s house. One more day before we started the week long journey home. I was excited to go back. With the mission points of this mission, I might be able to get a new C-Rank jutsu, B-Rank if I manage to wrangle Kakashi into giving me permission. I was inclined on spending those points in fuinjutsu. Maybe with more complex techniques I¡¯d be able to break the code, and finally start creating my own seals.

 3.2

    3.2


    ¡°Will you be careful? Don¡¯t let any boys talk you into anything strange. When in doubt, talk with your sensei.¡± Tsunami told me, for the nth time.


    I rolled my eyes, wrote on my board. ¡°Yes, Oka-san.¡± How do you translate sarcasm into written words? I think I did a good job.


    ¡°Will you come to visit?¡± Tsunami asked, eyes full of tears.


    Where was this coming from? My interactions with her were always the quiet type. I helped her with house chores, helped her cook, even helped her repair and wash clothes, but we rarely talked. Was she seeing on me some sort of daughter or something? What a silly woman.


    I hugged the silliest woman. Might have cried a bit. You can¡¯t blame me, girls and emotions, you know how that is. There was some more hollering around. Something about being a hero or stuff. Naruto was a crying mess, Inari was a crying mess. Lots of town¡¯s folk had come to see us off. Bridge got named after Naruto.


    Fate reasserting itself.


    We took it easy on the way back. Light training while on the road. Idyllic. Almost like the near death experience from the last days was just a dream. Or a nightmare. I brooded a fair bit on the way back. I should have prepared more, maybe changed things more. Felt strange just letting things go where they may. Even so, the days went by almost like we were on a tourist trip.


    Naruto and Sasuke started to behave strange ever since the bridge battle. Whenever they crossed eyes, they would look away, annoyed. Was that teenager love finally? I hope not. They were annoying as they were, no need for love drama added.


    We were back at Konoha. After reporting and explaining the situation, our C-rank mission had been reclassified as A-rank, but without A-rank pay, at least in ryo. If I understood the whole logic, was because we decided to continue with the mission even after it was clear it wasn¡¯t a C-rank anymore. That was fine. We still got mission points credit, which was the important part for me.


    We gathered to celebrate another completed mission. No one complained Naruto insisted we visit his favorite ramen store. The food there was tasty. What little team camaraderie we had build before the mission had vanished, Sasuke glared at me and Naruto, who glared back. I wanted to put an stop to that. We had a few days off to rest from the mission, I planned otherwise.


    ¡°We¡¯re training, tomorrow at six, training ground three.¡± I showed them my board.


    ¡°W-what Hinata-chan?¡± Naruto whined. ¡°Why so early?¡± Sasuke just scoffed. I looked at sensei, puppy-eyed him to help.


    ¡°You read her. Training tomorrow, six.¡± Kakashi-sensei agreed cheerfully. I was pretty sure he wouldn¡¯t show up. The cool lazy ninja. But that settled it.


    I handed him my weight seals. He took them, looked at me for guidance.


    ¡°Place your arm on the ground, put one of the bracelets.¡± I instructed. Sasuke did that. Then I smiled while the sullen brat tried to take his arm off the ground. It was pretty funny.


    ¡°Since when?¡± The boy gasped.


    I shrugged. ¡°Seven?¡± I showed him my board, tilted my head. I didn¡¯t really remembered when I started with that.


    Clones-chan army decided they wanted to crowd pile Naruto. And given Naruto¡¯s laugh, he didn¡¯t mind it. I really wanted to know what my clones were thinking. I guess I would learn now. I unpopped all my clones. Had to face palm. Really, I just wanted to fan-girl in front of the story protagonists? And since the clones knew they didn¡¯t need to deal with any of the fallout... Was fan-girl-sama a masochist or something?


    ¡°Why now?¡± Sasuke pressed.


    I told him the truth. ¡°I need training fighting without the seals, you guys need training fighting someone physically stronger and faster. We need to improve our teamwork.¡±


    Naruto had approached, looking sad for some reason. I handed him a kunai. ¡°What do you think of it?¡±


    Naruto took the weapon, swished it up and down, threw it in the air, picked it up. ¡°It¡¯s a kunai?¡± He asked, confused.


    I nodded. Kunai-clone-chan changed shape into myself again.


    ¡°What? How?¡± Naruto gaped again.


    I really wanted to face-palm. Hadn¡¯t he done that in the battle with Zabuza? I had to hear and ever exaggerated accounted of that battle for days. ¡°Didn¡¯t you do the same in the First battle with Zabuza?¡± I asked.


    Naruto had the gall to look surprised, like he had forgotten it.


    ¡°Naruto-kun, can you create a clone?¡± I asked. The boy nodded, did so. ¡°My own clone led Naruto clone away.¡± We watched the two clones walk away. Hinata-clone wrote something on the ground. Naruto squirmed, looked away, then started yelling. ¡°No!¡±. Original Naruto looked at the scene with curiosity, Sasuke was still staring at us. Hinata-clone wrote something else, unpopped herself. Naruto clone did the same.


    Original Naruto looked at me horrified, pointed at my face. Looked at Sasuke, looked away. ¡°No!¡± He closed his mouth. His face was tomato red. He scowled.


    ¡°Did you understand now, Naruto? When your clone disappear, you learn the same things it did.¡± I showed him the board.


    Naruto mouth, who he had opened, probably to deny again, closed with an audible click. Dummy hadn¡¯t realized it.


    That was enough for now. It was time to train, and train hard.

 3.3

    3.3


    That same day, after the morning training, I worked on modifying the weight seals. I already had a prototype design drawn, created in idle time in the Land of Waves. Now was to build and test. My new concept was simple, even if I still had some kinks to settle.


    With this new version, instead of always active, I could activate or deactivate using chakra. What I hadn¡¯t yet been able to figure out was how to make so I could raise or lower the weight at any time. Until now, every time I wanted it to be more heavy, I had to re-create the whole thing. I wanted one version solves all solution. The on/off switch was easy, the variable output wasn¡¯t.


    To keep up with my new resolve I crafted a test version that let me activate and deactivate the seals on command. I also increased the weight some more. I gotten pretty used to the current setup and it was time to amp the training again. I would keep toiling for the improvements I wanted.


    I managed to beg two new jutsu from the mission control center. It turns out, that S-rank mission Kakashi gave me when I was a toddler wasn¡¯t bogus talk to keep me silent. My current mission record was ten D-rank, one A-rank, one S-rank. Wild. More than wild: I was rich! I mean, not really rich, but S-rank missions paid super well, I didn¡¯t need to worry about money for a long time.


    That and the mission points. Given the mission reward ratio to cost of Jutsu, it wasn¡¯t enough to get that many jutsu, but when combined with the rewards for the A-rank one. Yeah.


    I went to town, so to speak. But really, not. Given my mission record, I was allowed to get B-rank jutsu. I didn¡¯t even look at all the categories because I didn¡¯t want to be tempted. I went for fuinjutsu and browsed the smaller catalog. In the end, I picked up a perimeter barrier. I wanted to deconstruct that jutsu for more building blocks for my own seals. For the rest of my points, I debated between one C-rank jutsu or two D-rank. I went with the C-rank: Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu. It was time to put my ability to sense chakra to use, and hiding under the earth was such a classic move I couldn¡¯t let pass.


    For my own personal projects I had mastered the Rasengan. I couldn''t practice that jutsu just anywhere. No way to explain to Kakashi-sensei how I knew it. Which meant sneaking off training hours when I was sure no one was watching. Now I was working on multiple Rasengan. It was suitably difficult, which triggered my control training mania hard.


    Other than that, for physical training I decided to focus on speed. I had my goal: Black Flash. Couldn¡¯t very well be a slow flash. I did bug Kakashi-sensei to give me pointers about speed training. I expected him to bail out on me, but to my surprise, he didn¡¯t.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see your training plans.¡± The man said.


    I nodded, showed him the many small exercises focused on strengthening leg muscles, or promote coordination.


    ¡°These and these you should remove.¡± He pointed to some of my routines. ¡°They won¡¯t work like you expect them to.¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll prepare a few others for you. I¡¯ll give you tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Hinata-chan!¡± Ino smiled, waved. ¡°I¡¯ll be with you in a moment.¡± She called out, turned back to her customer.


    I went to check the flowers. Or maybe smell them.


    Not long after Ino was upon me. The girl grabbed my hand, pulled me deeper into the place. ¡°Mom!¡± she yelled. ¡°Can you mind the shop for a bit? Hinata is here!¡±


    Ino didn¡¯t wait for her mother response. I was already used to the treatment. The few times I visited wasn¡¯t that different. She dragged me up stairs and across doors to a sparsely decorated living room. To no one¡¯s surprise, most of the decorations were flower themed. Ino pushed me on a couch, then fled in the other direction.


    I got comfortable, sat over one crossed leg. Looked a my collection of pastries. I wasn¡¯t confident enough in the mango mousse yet, despite Secretary-chan¡¯s reaction. Decided to go with the usual assortment of cupcakes.


    Ino returned not long after. She brought tea. Flower flavored, of course.


    We ate, we drank, we gossiped. I told her about my A-rank mission, she told me all about her boring D-ranks.


    ¡°I have a new concoction in the works.¡± I wrote, when it was time to go. ¡°But it still needs some work.¡±


    ¡°Really? What it is?¡± Ino asked, eyes sparkling.


    I gave her a cheeky grin. ¡°A surprise. I¡¯ll have it ready for the next time I see you.¡±


    ¡°You better!¡± Ino demanded.

 3.4

    3.4


    In the mornings, team seven ¡ª sans sensei ¡ª always met for training. Sasuke had been holding out on us, but when it turned out he couldn¡¯t keep up with my speed, he thought his sharingan would be the answer. I was still faster than he could react even when he used his cheat dojutsu. Sucks to be him. Dare I hope I was faster than Rock Lee? I had no idea.


    Sasuke improved fast, and he also knew my own fighting style. It didn¡¯t take much for him to start predicting my attacks, and anticipating them even when he couldn¡¯t react to my speed. Talk about a cheat. So unfair. Years of hard work gone down the drain because of bloodline advantages. But that was fine, once I broke the fuinjutsu code, not even the sharingan would be capable of contending with the Black Flash!


    With Naruto, training focused more on integrating his clones to everything. From spying, to recon, or simply as distraction. I hammered a lot about disguising himself as a weapon or something similar to trick an enemy. Naruto grumbled a bit, he wanted to fight head on, always. The dumb brat.


    I also spent some time perfecting the jutsu I knew. Shushin no jutsu needed to be, for now, my answer for speed. When I started using those in my spar with the boys, I tried to be unpredictable as possible. I practiced my doton jutsu without hand seals. Like all others, it took some effort until I understood the chakra circulation, but once I figured that without using the hand seals to guide the chakra, it was easy to replicate.


    The barrier, I mastered the normal application, and soon modified it to use weight seals: Weight would serve as a phenomenal way to disable someone without lethal means. I might have also, just for fun, you know, created a exploding version of the barrier trap. I mean, come on. Trap someone and explode them? That is ninjutsu 101, I mean, explosive ninjutsu 101. Whatever, I wanted to explode stuff. The barrier just made sure I wouldn¡¯t explode the wrong stuff. Win-win, right? Don¡¯t judge me.


    I also did a bit of research on how to modify the B-rank barrier jutsu to create shield on demand. The way a see it, a on demand, almost unbreakable barrier to block stuff was just too good to pass. Once I managed to create seals out of thin air ¡ª it was just a matter of when ¡ª I could pop those shields whenever I needed them. Seemed to me a good strategy.


    Our days off soon ended, and we started to complete missions again.


    The missions we got were the boring type. Help with farm work, babysit, deliver letters. We got one more C-rank mission to escort a merchant to the land of river, and not even bandit attacked us. Weeks and weeks of boring walk. Naruto and Sasuke drama vanished somehow when I wasn¡¯t looking. They still hadn¡¯t returned to the same level of camaraderie from the Land of Waves mission, but they were cooperating, training together, and most important of all, not bickering all the time.


    We walked down the streets of Konoha, Naruto with his hands behind his head. Today¡¯s mission hadn¡¯t been bad. A wild boar was terrorizing a small village. Hunting the animal had been fun, in a ¡®I never hunted wild animals before¡¯ way. Better than babysitting. Or taking care of Tora. Madam Shifmi had requested us to care for her pet Tora four times already. Always our team. I was starting to think it was because of the post mission client pastries. Her eyes gleamed every time the mission ended.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you guys.¡± Naruto said, unimpressed. ¡°What¡¯s up with the goggles?¡±


    ¡°He he he, you¡¯re our idol right? We¡¯re copying the style you used to wear.¡± Konohamaru said, grinning.


    I watched in amusement Naruto talking with the kids. Didn¡¯t even got mad when Konohamaru asked Naruto if I was his girlfriend and Naruto didn¡¯t deny immediately. Of course he did so after I had slapped the back of his head. Don¡¯t know why the bugger doesn¡¯t take the hint. No marrying Naruto in my future. No way, I refuse!


    ¡°But... but you promised to play ninja with us!¡± Konohamaru whined.


    Naruto looked at me pleadingly. I shrugged, I didn¡¯t mind, really. Worse came to worse, we could always sent a clone to keep the children company while we trained. I nodded.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go then!¡± Naruto yelled, pointed down the road. ¡°The last to arrive have to throw a hundred kunai!¡±


    Konohamaru and the girl I still didn¡¯t knew the name fled down the road. The chubby kid with glasses and running nose shambled after. Naruto pretended to chase the kids.


    Konohamaru turned a corner. ¡°Yipe.¡± Cried out.


    I dashed forward. Naruto did too. Kankuro and Temari stood looking down on the fallen kid. ¡°That¡¯s gotta smart.¡± Kankuro said.

 3.5

    3.5


    Kankuro lifted the kid by the collar of his shirt. ¡°That hurt, snot-face.¡±


    Temari rolled her eyes. ¡°Knock it off. You know why we are here.¡±


    ¡°Put him down, you big ape!¡± Naruto yelled.


    Kankuro smirked. ¡°I just wanted to play with him a bit, while waiting.¡± He pulled harder on the kid¡¯s collar. Konohamaru whimpered.


    Naruto leaned forward. I put a hand on his shoulder. I couldn''t see it, but I could feel it. Chakra threads around Kankuro, concentrated where Naruto would move. Naruto looked back at me, I shook my head.


    I popped my board, got raised eyebrow from the two Sunagakure shinobi. I wrote. ¡°You two are shinobi from Sunagakure, right? Is it wise to attack a civilian kid in the middle of Konoha?¡± I didn¡¯t tell them they were threatening the Third Hokage¡¯s grandson. That was a can of worms I wanted no part on it.


    Kankuro didn¡¯t seem willing to back down. He shook the boy again. ¡°What, afraid?¡± He taunted. He looked at Naruto and grinned.


    Idiot stop paying attention to me. I disabled my seals. Flickered forward inside his personal space. With one hand, I plucked Konohamaru from his grasp, with the other, I pressed my exploding Kunai to his throat.


    He was taller and older than me. Fourteen or fifteen. Even so, I stared him down. I released Konohamaru who fled, sniffling. Kankuro¡¯s threads moved. I could feel the chakra being pumped on them. I could also feel the utter blazing sun of chakra that rivaled even Naruto across the road, up on a three.


    ¡°Stop it, Kankuro. You¡¯re a disgrace to our entire village.¡± Gaara¡¯s called out. ¡°It annoys me that you¡¯d lose control in a quarrel with children. Have you forgotten why we came here?¡±


    Kankuro looked away from me, toward the tree. ¡°But Gaara, they started it, this midget even attacked me.¡±


    ¡°Shut up or I¡¯ll kill you.¡± Gaara dead-paned.


    His delivery was so emotionless that even I felt a smidgen of fear. I took the chance to disengage. I flicked away, appeared next Naruto. Gaara seemed to like my display. He flickered from the tree, appeared near his two teammates.


    ¡°I know we are early, but we didn¡¯t come to play around.¡± Gaara said. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He ordered, turned around. Kankuro and Temari followed him. They had disappeared from view when Naruto couldn¡¯t keep quiet anymore.


    The academy was bustling with Ninja. I had to stop paying too much attention to my chakra perception because it became a bit overwhelming. I had never considered that could actually be a problem, but it was also the first time I was in a place with so many ninja gathered. Something to consider later on.


    We walked past the mass of bodies, climbed the first and second floor. The markings in the wall that told the numbers had been blocked or covered. Part of the deception I guessed. The genjutsu tried to invade my mind as soon as we stepped inside the second floor. It didn¡¯t work. It never worked.


    There was a crowd of people in front of room 201, or 301 if someone hadn¡¯t been able to shrug off the genjutsu. A boy with a bowl cut, green leotard and huge eyebrows made a scene out of himself confronting the two guys guarding the wrong door. I wanted to cheer a bit. Rock Lee was cool. The two disguised ninja went on about a speech about sparing us, because we would all die yada yada.


    Sasuke, for all his combat potential, proved he was just a attention seeking boy. I think secretly he liked all those fan-girls chasing after him all the time. Instead of just walk past the obvious trap, he stopped. I wanted to slap him.


    ¡°You better drop this genjutsu. I¡¯m going to the third floor.¡±


    There was a small hubbub of conversation at his declaration. I mean, really, and I thought Naruto was an attention whore.


    ¡°So you¡¯ve noticed.¡± One of the distraction ninja said.


    ¡°Heh, you had no chance of ever fooling us.¡± He smirked. ¡°Even more with Hinata here.¡± He pointed at me. People looked at me at the obvious call out. Dafuq was his problem now? I rolled my eyes. My ears burned a bit. Was I an attention whore as well? Bummer.


    The sign above the room distorted, the genjutsu dispelled. ¡°Not bad.¡± One of the distraction said. ¡°But seeing through isn¡¯t¡ª¡± midway speech he dashed forward, sweeping kick aimed at Sasuke¡¯s head. ¡°¡ªenough!¡±


    The past months of training hadn¡¯t been in vain. Sasuke reacted fast, aimed a counter kick. To my surprise, Naruto also reacted. He kicked low, on a sweeping attack. The distraction noticed. He was dressed as a genin, but I was sure it was at least a chunin behind the facade. He retreated, scowled. ¡°You¡¯ll pay for that.¡± He said, before skedaddling.


    Without Sakura-chan around, I guess Rock Lee had no motive to intervene. There was a bit of drama between Neji and Sasuke. The Hyuga heir had finally stopped staring at me. For a while I had forgotten it: Sasuke was considered a prodigy, even by Uchiha standards, even if Itachi had been a precocious little ninja. It was hard to not notice when every time we were near other clan ninja, every one wanted a piece of the boy.


    They huffed at each other, Neji glared at me again for some reason, then we parted ways.

 3.6

    3.6


    Without Sakura-chan in team seven, Rock Lee didn¡¯t follow us to challenge Sasuke. I guess the impetus behind that decision was probably teenager hormones. Which was a shame, I wanted to see second coolest ninja, Konoha¡¯s Sublime Green Beast of Prey: Maito Gai. Soon, I hoped. We kept pace, climbed to the next floor. Kakashi-sensei stood before door 3o1.


    Naruto squinted, scratched his head. ¡°Why are you here, sensei?¡±


    Cool guy Kakashi, still leaning against the wall gave us a small wave. ¡°From the start, only a three man squad can participate on the exam.¡±


    Naruto tilted his head. ¡°But sensei, you said we could decide for ourselves, were you lying?¡±


    Sensei smiled. Eye turned into a crescent. ¡°If I had told the truth, and one of you didn¡¯t feel ready to participate, the others might have pressured that person into participating. That wouldn¡¯t do. Half attempts at this exam will only get you killed. But you guys came on your own will and I¡¯m very proud of you guys. You are a team that I¡¯m proud of. Now, go on.¡±


    The boys smirked. My ears burned. With head held high, chest puffed up ¡ª to no visible difference ¡ª I crossed the fated door.


    Glares, all manner of glares and scowls greeted us on the other side.


    The room was packed full of people. Most from Konoha, almost all of them a lot older than us. I caught movement from the corner of my eye: a dash of yellow hair coming our direction. I ducked around Naruto, waited for the perfect moment.


    ¡°You¡¯re late Sa¡ª¡± I didn¡¯t let Ino finish. She had her arms open ready to hug Emosuke. The boy didn¡¯t need any more attention, and I wanted that hug for myself. I tackled the blonde instead of letting her finish, cut off her remark.


    ¡°¡ª oof.¡± Ino grunted, hugged me back. Her eyes glinted, face opened with a smile. ¡°Did you bring it?¡± She asked, as if hugging me had been her intention all along.


    I nodded, serious.


    Ino threw herself into the hug fully. ¡°Yes!¡±


    I held onto the hug for a while longer, noticed the intricate scent of flowers from the blonde girl. Released her waist. She looked at me expectantly. I dug into one of the hidden pockets in my skirt waistband. Took a miniature seal. Offered it.


    Ino took the seal with trembling hands. Stored it in a pocket. Threw her arms around my neck on another hug. Ino¡¯s reaction reminded me of food addicts. Had I hooked the girl on sweets addiction and was now her fixer? No, that was silly. I pushed that idea away.


    This fucker needed to die. Fast. Decisively, and permanently. But how? He might be pretending to be a genin still, but Kabuto was strong. Jounin like strong. At this point in time, how many body modification had he already performed? Could he even be killed?


    Kabuto glanced at me, flashed a smile. I looked away. Gotta be careful.


    Naruto started trembling. Sasuke noticed. Looked worried.


    Naruto took a pose, pointed his fingers at the room at large. ¡°My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I wont lose to any of you bastards!¡± He hollered. Put hands behind his head. ¡°Ah, that felt great!¡±


    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s what with him?¡± Ino grabbed my arm, demanded. I just flashed her a smiled. Might have passed a new seal with more pastries.


    Sasuke smirked.


    We were in a room full of ninja, people who should know how to control their reactions. The glares, the tense jaws, clenched fists and cursing, told otherwise. I could grab at the tension in the air. Otogakure ninjas moved. The trio dashed forward, attacked their disguised pal, Kabuto. Was this planned as well? It made no sense why the ninjas would go for Kabuto when the rookies were an easier target. Was that planned to make us sympathize with the traitor?


    Kabuto dodged, but suffered the consequences of the sound attack, barfing all over the place. Naruto rilled up, ready to cause another commotion to defend Kabuto. Smoke exploded at the far end on the other side from where we were. ¡°Quiet down, you worthless bastards!¡± The voice bellowed. Out of the smoke popped the scary Intelligence Department Squad, or at least I thought they were.


    A ninja stood in front of the group. He was dressed in a black duster, his protector worn like a bandanna. He smiled. It did nothing to warm his scarred face. ¡°Sorry to keep you guys waiting. I¡¯m Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the first test of the Chunin exam.¡± Ibiki''s voice, a low growl that echoed through the room, silenced the chatter instantly. His eyes, cold and piercing, scanned the crowd, lingering on each face as if daring anyone to challenge him.


    It was pretty interesting seeing the man work. The glare, the stare, the scars. Yep, I wouldn¡¯t want to be alone with that guy. He listed the rules, threatened to disqualify anyone who didn¡¯t obey.


    ¡°Turn in your written application, take one of these seating assignment cards.¡± Ibiki showed a small card with a number. ¡°Report directly to the seat indicated. When Everyone is seated, we¡¯ll pass out the written part of the exam.¡±


    Naruto grabbed his hair. Soul leaving his body. ¡°A written test?¡± He yelled.

 3.7

    3.7


    I want to say I kicked ass and took names in this first exam, but that would be a lie. The seating arrangement made no sense to me. Some table had only one person, others had three side by side. The exam rules didn¡¯t trigger any alarm bell in my mind. I was pretty sure it was the exact same as the original story, even if I didn¡¯t remember the rules word by word.


    Chunin proctors sat one per roll by the walls. There were a lot of proctors here. I would have been intimidated if I hadn¡¯t know what this was all about. I hoped all our training and talk would help Naruto realize the nature of the test.


    ¡°You have one hour,¡± Ibiki growled, ¡°starting now!¡±


    I turned my paper test, read the questions. Question ten would only be revealed fifteen minutes before the test ended. Yep, damn fate.


    I turned back to the first question: Decode the following cipher and summarize its meaning. No way Naruto could answer this one. Although, the code looked fun. I tilted my head. I remember seeing a similar code while studying that myself. That made me remember I never re-coded my story book. I shook my head, not time to get distracted. I ran the cipher in my head, tested possibilities, wrote down the answer.


    All around me chakra flared, crowding my perception even with me trying to ignore it. People had started to cheat in earnest.


    I turned to the second question. It was an integrated problem based on predictions of uncertain conditions and dynamic energy analysis application. I nodded. No way Naruto could answer this one as well, I wasn¡¯t even sure if Sasuke could. I ran the scenario in my head, trying to visualize the problem. Wrote a few possible equations, crossed them, tested others.


    A shinobi ahead of me stood up, both hands on the table. ¡°The one thing I¡¯m wondering is how many top ranking teams they intend to pass?¡±


    From the front, Ibiki laughed. ¡°Haha. Knowing that wouldn¡¯t help would it? Unless you¡¯re planning on failing the exam.¡±


    The shinobi sat down. ¡°Sorry.¡±


    The movement of chakra intensified. Some people were subtle, others cheated blatantly. A chakra infused bug landed on my desk, near the question I just finished answering. Way to go Shino! I left the bug alone. Focused on going through the test questions.


    A kunai flew from one of the proctors, pierced a test paper just behind Naruto.Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com


    The test taker barked out. ¡°What was this about?¡±


    Ibiki pressed. One genin gave up. Like floodgates open, more and more people opted out of the test. Until Naruto happened.


    The brat raised his hand, slapped it on the table hard. Hollered. ¡°Never underestimate me!! I don¡¯t quit and I won¡¯t run! I¡¯ll accept your stupid question. Even if I risk being a genin forever, I¡¯ll still become the Hokage, even if by pure stubbornness, I don¡¯t care!¡± He stepped on the table, pointed at Ibiki scarred face. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of you!¡±


    Yeah, I could see why Hinata liked the brat. I even felt a bit moved by his hollering. Still not marrying him. No sir, thank you sir.


    Ibiki growled again. ¡°I¡¯ll ask one more time, this is a decision that could affect the rest of your life, quit now while you still have the chance.¡± The scary jounin tried, but the mood in the room had shifted. The remainder shinobi looked confident, inspired.


    ¡°I never go back on my word!¡± Naruto declared.


    Ibiki smirked. ¡°Good call. Everyone who is still here, you¡¯ve just passed the first exam!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Ino asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s no tenth question, beyond the whole accept or reject thing.¡± Ibiki said with a nice smile. Others reacted. Temari got angry, asked about why the waste of their time. Ibiki went on to explain the whole point of the exam. Naruto sad down, arms crossed. Nodded like he understood everything. The brat. He looked back, I gave him a big smile, a thumbs up. He tried to blind me again.


    Midway through a question, Ibiki removed his protector. The man''s head was a scarred mess of cuts, burns, claw marks, slashes, and punctures¡ªa horrifying sight that killed the mood. Despite this, the jounin smiled as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Still smiling like he was the nicest guy around, Ibiki answered questions, explained the purpose of the exam, which was to cull out people who couldn¡¯t gather information, or didn¡¯t have enough resolve.


    ¡°Hell yeah!¡± Naruto hollered. ¡°Bring it on!¡± He cheered.


    Something, or someone crashed through the window. The blur moved midair. Kunai shot out from the new arrival, sticking to the ceiling and floor. A banner opened behind the woman. The banner coincidentally hid Ibiki, revealing a woman who wore a single wire mesh clothing piece, a dark orange skirt, and a brown duster. She had purple hair, wore shin protectors. Oh man, that¡¯s Anko right?


    ¡°None of you are in any position to celebrate.¡± The purple haired woman slapped the fabric behind her. It had words written on it: Newly arrived second chief command officer, which was a bit unneeded, because Anko introduced herself soon after.


    ¡°I¡¯m the second chief examination officer, Mitarashi Anko! Time¡¯s a-wastin¡¯ people, let¡¯s go! Follow me!¡±

 3.8

    3.8


    No one moved. Anko''s face darkened. Ibiki poked his head from behind the cloth. ¡°Can¡¯t you sense the mood in here?¡±


    ¡°Seventy eight?¡± Anko turned to the scary jounin commander. ¡°You obviously went easy on them.¡±


    Ibiki shrugged. ¡°We have,¡± he paused, just for a moment, ¡°exceptional applicants this year.¡±


    ¡°Right, right,¡± Anko dismissed, ¡°I¡¯ll cut that number by half before the next test is done. Come on people, follow me. I¡¯ll explain things at our next location.¡±Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com


    We followed Anko out of the building, around the less frequented parts of the village, until we stood out of a fenced area. Huge rooty and contorted trees filled the field in front of us. The atmosphere was heavy on the other side of the fence, not helped by Anko¡¯s introduction of the place.


    ¡°This is the arena for the second exam: training ground 44, also known as Forest of Death.¡±


    Anko did the song and dance of scaring people. I thought I would fangirl over her. Anko had been one of my favorites, even if she didn¡¯t have much screen time in the original show. But not here, not now. She creeped me out. It might have been because she smiled while she cut Naruto¡¯s face with a thrown kunai, only to appear behind the brat, grab his head and lick the blood. It made all my innards churn. Worse still when what I really hoped wouldn¡¯t happen, happened.


    The tall, pale lady with long black hair and longer tongue provoking Anko. That was Orochimaru, wasn¡¯t it? I looked away. Started trembling. Wasn¡¯t even sure why I was scared.


    Anko continued with her piece. Handed out consent forms. Did that mean we were adults already? I guess so. Explained the two scrolls, each team had a random one, Heaven and Earth, we needed the second of the pair. Five days to reach the tower at the center. Forty four entrances. If any of your team dies, you¡¯re out. You need all three members of the team alive and with two scrolls to enter the tower. Do not open the scrolls until you are at the tower. Under no circumstances could you leave the forest before the five days ran out. There would be no jounin interference, with no exceptions. Not once did she say we couldn''t maim or kill the opponents. The kid gloves were off, it seemed.


    ¡°That¡¯s all explanation you¡¯ll get. When you¡¯ve got your scroll, a proctor will take you the gate you¡¯ll start from. Everyone will start at the same time.¡± Anko looked serious. ¡°And one final piece of advice. Stay alive!¡±


    Teams were called inside a cabin with red curtains. Soon we were called out. The proctor handed me a heaven scroll. I handed it over to Naruto. ¡°Keep it hidden Naruto-kun, don¡¯t ever tell anyone you have it. They¡¯ll expect Sasuke-kun to be the one holding it, you¡¯re our secret weapon.¡±


    It was a bit cheesy, but it did the job. Naruto smiled wide, before schooling his expression. We left the cabin to wait until all teams had their scroll. I hoped the proctor wouldn¡¯t complain about the pebble-clone-chan I left inside the place to scout the remaining teams. We¡¯re ninja after all, we needed information.


    Mid Naruto speech, three bundle of chakra entered my perception, then, like they knew were we were, circled around us. I tapped my foot, like I was impatient. Enemy, north, east, west, trees. To my immense surprise, it was Naruto who answered.


    He scratched his head, fingers spelling the code. Understood, received. Out loud he said something else. ¡°Urgh, I gotta take a leak.¡± He walked toward a bush, which placed him on the path of the east enemy.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take too long.¡± Sasuke growled, then turned around and walked west. That settled, I took a knee, pretending to check something on my bag.


    Things kicked off when the bush Naruto walked behind exploded. I¡¯d recognize those explosions anywhere, it was my extra spicy seal. I used the c-rank doton jutsu to hide under earth, left a normal clone in my place as decoy. Sasuke also moved, he threw another exploding kunai toward a particular branch, forced the hidden enemy to flee, gave chase.


    The enemy in the north fell for my trap. With my clone being left behind and looking scared, the shinobi from Amegakure with the strange breathing mask and cloth covering both eyes attacked. I activated the perimeter barrier once he got close, then the exploding tags I hid there. It wasn¡¯t one of my best, just a normal explosion, but the explosion in the confined space did it¡¯s job. I left my hiding place, went to my enemy. The shinobi was burned and battered, but still alive. I tied him down. He wasn¡¯t in any condition to fight, but that wasn¡¯t my problem. I patted him down for the scroll, found none.


    There were a few yelling from Naruto side, a few explosions ¡ª not from my seals ¡ª from Sasuke side, and soon after both boys returned. Naruto was a bit banged up, dragging another unconscious ninja and a large metal crossbow. He had a cut on his arm and hand. Sasuke looked fresh and unhurt. He dragged the third shinobi. The only way I could differentiate these guys was by the number of eyes on display. I remember this team. Wasn¡¯t they some sort of genjutsu user or something? My guess is that we looked weak enough to not warrant any serious attack from a perceived ambush. We turned things up pretty easily.


    I looked at Naruto and Sasuke. Gave them a thumbs up. Once the enemy were gathered, I searched them for the scroll. They had earth. Lucky! I stored it on one of my miniature seals. Hid it in my skirt waistband pocket. Then we ran, deeper inside the forest. I couldn''t believe how easy that had been. Would we break the exam record?


    Unfortunately, I thought too soon. Cursed myself, cursed our team. The huge blaze of chakra, dwarfed only by Naruto¡¯s own, entered my perception. I didn¡¯t stop. I had a feeling I knew who that was. My body agreed with me.


    With trembling hands I took my special kunai, ten of them. Clinked one against my forehead. Enemy, strong, run. I calculated the distance, the speed and what I thought the explosion range would be. A dark part of my mind remembered question two. Heh, I could calculate. I threw all of them on an area around and behind us, ran faster.


    ¡°What, Hinat¡ª¡± Naruto didn¡¯t finish. We had left the trap area, but we were still too close. The blaze of chakra entered the trap area, the kunais exploded. Couldn''t waste that opportunity. It felt like I detonated a nuke, the explosion impact and devastation way bigger than I thought it would have been. It would have been beautiful if I wasn¡¯t so scared.

 3.9

    3.9


    The funny thing about explosions, they don¡¯t really care who triggered them. My precious babies exploded and almost took us out. The blast was stronger than I could have dreamed of. Naruto hadn¡¯t braced himself. He flew away from us, fell somewhere I couldn¡¯t see. I crashed against a tree, felt my shoulder crack. I didn¡¯t see what happened to Sasuke, but his chakra presence was nearby, I hoped he was alright.Chee?ck out latest novels at novelhall.com


    And in the end, it was all for nothing.


    The shinobi chasing us hid under the earth. Moved underneath, crossed over past where we fell, blocking our path forward. I got up, moved toward Sasuke. When I got there, he was already up, standing straight, kunai in hand, facing the tall long tongued lady from the start of the exam. Shit, shit, shit. What do I do? My legs refused to move when I set my eyes on the enemy.


    Tall Lady looked at me. ¡°What gave me away?¡± The raspy voice asked. My trembling got worse. Move, dammit, move. I took a kunai. Held it in front of me with a white death grip. The lady didn¡¯t seem bothered by my lack of answers. She took a scroll. Another earth one. ¡°I suppose you¡¯d like to get my Earth scroll, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± She opened her mouth, tongue came out, snaked around the scroll. Gulped it down like it was candy.


    My trembling got out of control. I wanted to run. Sasuke looked at me, worry written on his face. He moved closer, stood by my side. I could have kissed him right now. A chaste one, on the cheek, but a kiss nonetheless.


    ¡°Now, shall we see who will steal from who?¡± Tall Lady glared at us. ¡°We¡¯ll fight to the death.¡±


    Chakra full of killing intent washed over me. I don¡¯t know what Sasuke felt, how it affected him. For me? I remembered. Memories flashed too fast in my mind.


    Strapped to a table, the sterile walls, pain, yelling. The same scratchy voice. ¡°We can¡¯t have you yelling like that,¡± the voice said, a finger burned my throat, ¡°there, that will keep you quiet.¡±


    There was more, a lot more.


    My thorax cut open, my bones dug out, my guts hung in the open. All the while, the pale man chuckled or scribed something away. Not even when he took out my eyes it ended. It just turned worse.


    The killing intent infused chakra abated. I was on the ground. Water leaked from everywhere. My pores, my eyes, my mouth, between my legs. My mouth was open in a horrifying scream that created no sound. What was that? A genjutsu? I thought those couldn''t affect me. Was it a memory? It didn¡¯t felt like one, It didn¡¯t felt like I was Hinata strapped to that table. I felt like my old self, I was Camilla.


    By my side, Sasuke had spilled his lunch. He looked at me. Still trembling. Called out. ¡°Hinata?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t take my eyes from the lady, man, snake. Whatever.


    Tall Lady ninja smirked. Threw kunai at me. I saw them, calculated their path: Neck and heart. I couldn¡¯t move. My body refused to obey. The world blurred and we were elsewhere.


    Sasuke had somehow dragged me out of the clearing, hid behind the trunk of one of the biggest tree. He held both of my trembling hands with one of his. The boy looked at me eyes full of worry. Looked out from the corner of the trunk, searching for the enemy. Silly boy wasn¡¯t paying attention to the snake sneaking up on him from above.


    Orochimaru¡¯s turned back to Naruto. The tip of his tongue raised up Naruto¡¯s shirt, revealed the seal on the boy¡¯s stomach. Orochimaru¡¯s fingers burned with purple chakra. He hit the seal. Like pressing an off button on one of those jolly chimp toys, Naruto flopped off, unconscious. Orochimaru tossed Naruto away. Sasuke threw a kunai, pinned Naruto to the tree by his jacket.


    The snake man turned to Sasuke then to me. His next words chilled me to the bone. ¡°How curious, I¡¯m sure you were dead.¡± I didn¡¯t think he was talking about this fight.


    Pressed beyond what was reasonable, we fought. Sasuke feinted, attacked, dodged. I kept moving, kept flickering, threw kunai, shuriken, placed explosive trap barriers. My lack of jutsu rearing its ugly head. Sasuke used my own attacks, capitalized on any chance. Used a wire trick with the sharingan and shuriken to trap Orochimaru. Spewed flames all over the enemy face.


    For a normal enemy, it would have been more than enough. I dare say even some weaker jounin wouldn''t come unscathed from that. Not that Orochimaru wasn¡¯t hit. The fire melted away half of the skin the man wore, revealing even paler flesh beneath. I had expected to see the snake pupils. I didn¡¯t. Instead the eyes were white on white. Hyuga byakugan eyes.


    Were those my fucking eyes?


    ¡°I¡¯m Orochimaru,¡± the man introduced himself to Sasuke. Took the earth scroll from inside his mouth. ¡°If you¡¯d ever like to become strong, pass this exam and come find me.¡± Orochimaru burned the Earth scroll. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a taste of true power.¡±


    Sasuke held his ground, another kunai in hand. ¡°What are you babbling about?¡±


    The snake sannin neck elongated, faster than the eye could move, bit down on Sasuke¡¯s neck. Sasuke screamed. For a moment, the selfish part of me dared believe it was over. The man had done what he wanted. Marked Sasuke with this seal. Now please just leave. He didn¡¯t. He turned to me. His white eye glowed, filled all my vision. My body burned. I fell down like a puppet with its strings cut.


    What just happened.


    Orochimaru walked closer. Picked me up by the hair. Like I was a piece of rare furniture, inspected me. Looked at my arms, pried open my eyes. Stuck a finger inside my throat. All the while, the white eye stared at me. He took my pouch, checked my seals. ¡°They haven¡¯t taught you.¡± Orochimaru said. ¡°Dangling bits in front of your face and never giving you real power. I can teach you.¡± Orochimaru grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. ¡°No matter how much you beg, Konoha won¡¯t help you, they can¡¯t. Not even the third can remove those seals.¡±


    What seals? I had no idea what he was talking about. Was this a recruitment pitch? In the background, Sasuke had stopped screaming after a hoarse grunt.


    Orochimaru chuckled. ¡°Think about it, I can teach you things they never even dreamed about.¡± He looked away, to the far horizon, beyond the trees. The man pushed a glowing finger onto my forehead.


    Agony invaded my mind. I felt dirty, violated, unclean, my bones burned, my blood boiled.


    The man took his finger away. ¡°My offer is the same. Come and find me when you get tired of them denying you. But first, you have to prove you¡¯re worth it.¡± Orochimaru released me. I crumpled on the branch. The man turned, left without looking back.

 3.10

    3.10


    Pain like I had never felt before burned me from the inside. It was agony on a whole new level. It felt like every cell of my body was on fire, that they had a will of their own, and that the will was to destroy me, inflict as much pain as possible.


    It went on I don¡¯t know for how long, until it stopped. Night had fallen in the Forest of Death.


    I still couldn¡¯t move. Whatever Orochimaru did removed my ability to control my own body. I was pretty sure it was related to the seals he mentioned, but I didn¡¯t have the time to analyze that now. The agony would return, I could already feel the onset of pain starting again. I couldn¡¯t move, and the solution seemed so obvious I wanted to slap myself.


    For years, I¡¯ve used chakra threads, manipulating things close and far. I never gave much thought to which branch of techniques used threads: puppet techniques. I even saw Kankuro manipulating threads near him, trying to trip Naruto.


    I pushed my threads out, wrapped them around my arms, legs, waist, head. Like a shambling corpse, my body rose up from where I had fallen. With that same shambling movement, I collected the boys. Naruto wasn¡¯t hurt, Kyuubi regeneration already healed the injuries. Sasuke burned hot with fever. I crawled down the tree, dragged the boys away from the site of the battle, not too far, time was running out. I found a nook in the base of one great tree. Placed Naruto and Sasuke there. I laid traps around the place. Barriers, explosives, tripwire. All manner of things I could think of.


    I would have done more. But I didn¡¯t have the time. I barely managed to return to our hidden place when pain took me, and the world went hazy again.


    Obviously, Orochimaru had done something to me. A diagram populated my mind. It described a fuinjutsu work, one meant to be inscribed on one person¡¯s bones. Foreign knowledge, implanted directly in my brain. From that, I learned what seals Orochimaru had talked about. That diagram described the seals in my bones. It was used to restrain, to reinforce, to control, and so much more.


    I was so close now. I cobbled together a cumbersome thing of a lock. Big, ugly, inefficient when compared to the pristine door. I tried the key. It fit, but still the lock wouldn¡¯t turn. But I knew the problem now. It wouldn¡¯t be long until I finished it. But again, the world wouldn¡¯t leave me alone.


    Another blob, yellow and purple, approached. It was slow, nonthreatening, almost like it was afraid. The frustration of being interrupted so close to freeing myself showed up. I yelled, or better say I howled. It didn¡¯t sound like a person. The yellow and purple retreated. I heard a sound. The wind turned, brought new smells, a particular mix of flowers. Wait. I knew that scent.


    My head turned into the blob¡¯s direction, my hands pushed out, questing for the source of the fragrance. The blob approached. It had a fuzzy shape of a person. Someone I knew. Fingers treaded around my extended hands. The world held still for a moment. I plugged the last building block of the lock, fit in the key, opened the door.


    The haziness vanished. The dream became clear.


    Ino knelt in front of me. Held my hand. The place around didn¡¯t look like anything I remembered. Roots, branches and all manner of wood created something that looked like a demented madman¡¯s dream. Body parts dangled from the suspended wood: a head here, three arms there, a foot on the other side of the clearing.


    But the nightmare was over. I solved the lock. I was free. A smile broke on my face. Ino shuddered, but didn¡¯t let go. But then again, this was a genjutsu induced nightmare. Ino could be excused. A devilish idea came to mind. I was all for it. When else would I have the chance to snog my favorite female cast if not in a dream?


    ¡°You were always my favorite in the entire show, Ino-chan,¡± I croaked out, blood falling out of my mouth with my words. ¡°So pretty. You¡¯re just too good for Sai.¡± I pushed forward, hugged a freaked out Ino. Her spooked face looked cute. ¡°I¡¯m going to wake up from this nightmare now. I¡¯m glad I saw you at the end.¡± I pushed up, pecked her lips. I chickened out and went for a peck instead of a full snog. Left a bloody smear there. Nightmare Ino could deal, I was sure. I rested my head on her shoulder and let go. Darkness took me. It was time to wake up.


    Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com

 3.11.i

    3.11.i


    Like usual, Shikamaru had a plan for this exam. Like usual, it involved the least amount of effort, which somehow meant going after team seven, and taking their scroll. Team seven were the easiest opponents in this forest, according to Shikamaru¡¯s analysis.


    Ino didn¡¯t mind messing with Naruto, he was annoying, weak and not really anything to worry about. Sasuke would be harder to deal with, and the idea of making him fail left a bad taste in her mouth. He had been her crush for as long as she remembered, even if the scales fell from her eyes recently. Time and distance, like her mother always said.


    No, the problem was Hinata. For all of Shikamaru¡¯s brain, he dismissed the girl as someone easy to deal with. Had counter arguments for everything: Hinata was physically strong, but her taijutsu was laughable. She had no way of escaping his shadow-bind. Choji could thump her out cold if necessary. Her seals could be ignored, she hadn¡¯t used them for anything else than storing sweets. She didn¡¯t know any dangerous jutsu. The excuses went on and on.


    He didn¡¯t know all the things Hinata talked of her missions, and the little tidbits Ino learned over the years. Ino had never managed to put Hinata into a genjutsu, not even her family jutsu ¡ª Ino would never admit to using it on her classmates ¡ª worked on the girl. Hinata never outright admitted to it, but Ino could read behind the words. She killed on her mission, and aside from an A-Rank jounin, none other shinobi they faced had been a danger to her.


    No, Shikamaru was focused on Sasuke. In his plan, if they took Sasuke out, they¡¯d win. Naruto was just plain bad, didn¡¯t really factor in. Choji never questioned Shikamaru¡¯s decisions. Ino tried to hint ¡ª without telling them the things both girls talked about ¡ª that Hinata was stronger than she let on. Neither of the boys took Ino seriously. Ino didn¡¯t push too hard. She had no proof, just a gut feeling.


    The team set out. Moving slowly to avoid other attackers. Like right now, when they hid behind a bush to avoid Neji. Team Gai was off limits. No way Ino wanted to fight those monsters.


    ¡°Come out of hiding, unless you¡¯re cowards.¡±


    Ino scowled. How did Neji noticed them so fast? She looked at Shikamaru, who sighed and nodded. It was time for plan B. They stepped out of the bush.


    ¡°Wow, can I have your autograph?¡± Shikamaru asked in the poorest imitation of someone amazed.


    Ino untied her hair, swished it seductively, gave Neji doe eyes. ¡°What an honor Lord Hyuga Neji, I can¡¯t tell how long I¡¯ve dreamt of meeting you.¡±


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you three.¡± Neji turned away from them, talked with his back toward team ten. ¡°Get lost. I¡¯ll be a laughing stock if I take the scroll from you weaklings.¡±


    Neji walked away. The whole team sighed in relief after the Hyuga heir disappeared among the trees. The plan worked, sort of. Team ten kept their path, sneaked, hid. Until the explosions. Out in the distance, the world shook. A plume of smoke and fire billowed into the air.


    ¡°What was that?¡± Ino asked. It was in the same direction they¡¯ve been moving. Shikamaru scowled, Choji just pumped his mouth full of chips. Where the boy kept getting those was a mystery even to his team.


    ¡°Be careful,¡± Shikamaru warned, but they didn¡¯t change paths.


    Hours dragged, the team stopped for the night, hiding among the trees. It was a tense, disturbing night. Every small sound jolted the team awake. The morning sunlight just crested through the canopy when yet more explosions, closer, shook the world a second time.


    ¡°You were always my favorite in the entire show, Ino-chan.¡± The girl rasped. Her voice hoarse and scratchy, but not unpleasant. Blood fell from Hinata¡¯s mouth, she didn¡¯t seem to notice it. ¡°So pretty. You¡¯re just too good for Sai.¡± Hinata moved forward, threw her arms around Ino¡¯s neck in a hug.


    The whole situation scared the crap out of Ino.


    After a brief moment, Hinata moved back, with her arms still around Ino¡¯s neck. ¡°I¡¯m going to wake up from this nightmare now. I¡¯m glad I saw you at the end.¡± Her voice was eerily cheerful, with a hint of mischief. Hinata leaned forward, kissed Ino¡¯s lips with her own bloody ones. She sighed, placed her head on Ino¡¯s shoulder. Closed her eyes. Fell unconscious.


    The forest stopped moving, like it had just lost its life. Ino had no idea what to do now. Hinata still held strong to the hug. A finger to the girl¡¯s neck confirmed she was still alive.


    ¡°What the hell happened here?¡± Shikamaru complained, pointedly not commenting on the bloody smear on Ino¡¯s lips.


    Ino ¡ª with Choji¡¯s help ¡ª managed to pry open Hinata¡¯s arms. How was the girl this strong? While Ino held the unconscious Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji scoured the battlefield: three confirmed dead, the Otogakure team. Among the body parts they found an earth scroll.


    On team seven, Naruto held a heaven scroll, same as team ten.


    ¡°What should we do with this?¡± Choji asked, holding the earth scroll. They put Naruto¡¯s scroll back in his pocket.


    Shikamaru shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s our payment for helping them, now let''s get out of here, this place creeps me out.¡±


    Choji took Naruto. Shikamaru carried Sasuke. Ino was left with Hinata.


    No one said anything while they moved deeper into the forest. They had two scrolls already, and didn¡¯t even need to fight for it.


    ¡°At least, your plan worked.¡± Ino said, attempting to lighten the mood.


    Shikamaru rolled his eyes. ¡°Troublesome.¡±


    Choji guffawed.


    Ino took one last look at the hellscape behind them: the branches, roots, body parts, blood, and viscera. A shudder ran through her. She looked over her shoulder, at Hinata¡¯s innocent face resting like she had nothing to do with the carnage back there. She remembered the words: ¡®favorite in the entire show¡¯. What was Hinata talking about? And that kiss. Ino was just so confused.

 3.12

    3.12


    I woke up to the sounds of battle, with several blazes of chakra around me. I didn¡¯t even have time to curse my bad luck, or even process what happened in the past how many hours or days. I sprang up, tossing away the cloth covering me. I was inside some sort of improvised tent. My hands went to my pouches. They weren¡¯t at my waist. I steeled myself, ran out.


    Outside was chaos.


    Ino-Shika-Cho stood together guarding the entrance to the improvised shelter. On the other side of the clearing, a group of shinobi from Amegakure fought Sasuke. Or better yet, were being toyed with by Sasuke. Sasuke¡¯s chakra had grown exponentially. He moved faster, his attacks sharper and crueler. That was bad. I couldn¡¯t let Sasuke use the cursed seal for long.


    I burst from behind team ten, much to their surprise. Had my nightmare included Ino at the end because she was nearby? I tossed that question out of my mind. Not the time. I didn¡¯t have kunai, Sasuke was too close for my exploding shuriken. My weight seals were already disabled. I flickered forward. Faster than anyone could react I punched, kicked and broke bones. In the blink of an eye, only me and Sasuke were left standing. I faced him, didn¡¯t lower my guard.


    ¡°What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Sasuke growled. His eyes reminded me of Orochimaru. ¡°They were trying to attack you and Naruto.¡± Sasuke¡¯s sharingan kept track of every single of my movements. The cursed seal covered most of his face already and I could see it already creeping toward his right hand.


    I didn¡¯t take my eyes off him. I slapped my foot to the ground. One of our coded messages. Enemy disabled, stop, safe.


    Sasuke¡¯s eyes flickered to my feet. He growled. ¡°No.¡± The boy attacked, not me, I noticed. He was fast, faster than anything he could have done before. I flooded my body with chakra again. Time seemed to slow down. Sasuke was fast, but so was I.


    Sasuke tried to push past me, I grabbed his arm. Emosuke hadn¡¯t expected it. I turned around, threw him down, twisted his arm, my knee pushing against the center of his back. Sasuke struggled. I was running out of options other than to hurt him. ¡°Stop.¡± I croaked out. My throat stung, felt like something tearing. I tasted iron.


    The sound surprised me. Surprised Sasuke. The Uchiha heir stopped struggling. After a moment of silence he asked. ¡°Hinata?¡± I got up, released him. Looked around, bewildered. The cursed seal receded, and Sasuke¡¯s eyes turned back to normal. He held his left arm. Looked more lost than I. ¡°What happened to me?¡±


    I scratched my head. I could ask the same. Where are we? It looked nothing like the maze of roots and tall trees we fought Orochimaru in. I cast my gaze about. Ino-Shika-Cho still regarded us with guarded eyes. I waved at them. Naruto was asleep just behind team ten. I popped my board. Took a step toward them, Choji and Shikamaru retreated. I stopped. Wrote. ¡°Hi guys. Where are we? What happened?¡±


    Ino¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°You... don¡¯t remember?¡±The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))


    I thought about the last things I remembered. Orochimaru attacked, we got defeated, he put me on a genjutsu. I shook my head. ¡°We fought someone strong. He defeated us, put me inside a genjutsu. That¡¯s the last I remember.¡±


    ¡°You still have the scroll?¡± I wrote.


    Naruto searched his pockets. Took out the heaven scroll. I nodded. Took it from him. Now we just needed to reach the tower at the center.


    I turned to Ino, she looked back questioningly. I shook my head. ¡°You know which direction the tower is?¡± I wrote back.


    It turned out, we weren¡¯t that far. Ino-Shika-Cho had dragged our unconscious behind close, but they didn¡¯t enter the tower because of us. I owed them a big one. We didn¡¯t delay. After tying up the enemy shinobi, we rushed the last stretch. The big metal door was closed when we arrived.


    Naruto pushed it open, the six of us entered. There was no one inside. On the wall opposite to us, a poem painted by the old man Third.


    ¡°The scrolls.¡± Shikamaru said after reading the poem. ¡°How troublesome.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Naruto asked, scratching his head.


    ¡°We need to open the scrolls.¡± Sasuke said, to the rest¡¯s agreement. After an exchange of nods I took both scrolls. Handed it over to Sasuke and Naruto. On the other side, Shikamaru and Ino held theirs.


    At the same time, we opened it. It contained a seal. Smoke puffed out of the two seals. Naruto and Sasuke threw it away. Out of the smoke popped Iruka-sensei.


    On the other side, pretty, glorious, awesome Yuhi Kurenai popped out to greet her team. Damn, even now lazy man Kakashi let me down. Even if his indifference was cool.


    ¡°Hey kids, it¡¯s been a while.¡± Iruka-sensei greeted us. ¡°You three look like you¡¯ve been through the wringer.¡±


    On the other side, I heard Kurenai¡¯s cheerful voice. ¡°You made it!¡±

 3.13

    3.13


    ¡°Congratulations! You¡¯ve all passed the second exam.¡± Iruka-sensei said after checking an old fashioned clock. ¡°This calls for celebration, I wish I could take you out for ramen at Ichiraku¡ª¡±The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))


    ¡°Yes!¡± Naruto hollered, tackled his favorite teacher.


    I smiled at the scene. Iruka-sensei went on and on about the Third¡¯s message on the wall. Heaven mind, earth body, train your weakness. It was all super interesting, and I made a mental note to research the meaning of that later. I just couldn¡¯t right now. I had just woken up a few hours back, but I was tired. With the confirmation the exam was over, adrenaline left me. I hadn¡¯t realized how tense I was. But there was one more thing I needed to do. While Iruka chattered about this and that, I collected the discarded Heaven and Earth scrolls. It was prime material for my dreams of flying god and Konoha¡¯s Black Flash. With the insights Orochimaru forced on me, I was sure it was only a matter of time until I deciphered the space-time logic.


    Team seven passed the second exam, but the five days hadn¡¯t ended yet. According to Anko¡¯s rules, no one could leave before five days ended. It took us two days to arrive at the tower, which meant we had to wait three days until the test was over. Iruka-sensei led us inside. I glanced at Ino and waved her goodbye. Ino smiled, waved back. I sighed in relief. For a moment there, I thought it hadn¡¯t been a nightmare and I kissed Ino.


    The place we headed to was some sort of open area. There was no real accommodation, not ones we could use. We¡¯ve passed the exam, but we were still being tested. There was no food, water, or anything provided for us. We were confined with only the supplies we carried with us. It wasn¡¯t really a problem for our team. I had my seals with me, it would last more than three days, but I was curious how the other teams would deal with this situation.


    A few teams were already inside the arena. The Suna trio. A team from Ame. A team from Taki. Iruka-sensei waved us goodbye, left after a few more words of wisdom. With nothing else to do, I moved to one of the walls, sat down with my back to it. Better keep an eye on our enemies. Naruto and Sasuke followed. Sasuke winced, hand went to his neck. Yeah, better talk about that soon.


    ¡°Hey guys,¡± I said, talking out loud. I spoke when trying to snap Sasuke out of his cursed seal induced psychopathic episode, but I wasn¡¯t sure if it would work again. It did, but that same tearing sensation came once more. This time stronger. The taste of blood in my mouth felt stronger as well. My voice was raspy. More of a croak than a real voice. My throat hurt, like it wasn¡¯t supposed to make that sound.


    I never considered how Sasuke felt about the whole thing. I still didn¡¯t know why he was so obsessed with revenge, even if the boy had mellowed a lot after joining team seven. He was still broody and trying to act cool and distant, but he often bantered with Naruto, and did seem to like the sunshine brat.


    My lack of response was some sort of trigger. Sasuke looked at me again. Scowled. ¡°Why do you care?¡± His voice rose slightly. ¡°I see how you look at me. You think I¡¯m pathetic. You¡¯ve done it from the first time you saw me when we were five.¡±


    I blinked. Sasuke¡¯s words slapping me in the face. Was that how I looked at him? I never liked Sasuke, if I was being honest. The reason I didn¡¯t was because I never liked his whole theme and style in the original story. The broody obsessed emo character that caused trouble for everyone, but because of plot armor, turned out to be the cool guy and most loved in the whole story. Yeah, I hated that. And I had been treating Sasuke with the same distaste.


    Sasuke pressed. His eyes were harsher. ¡°Why? You¡¯re just a clanless girl. Why can you be better than me? Why?¡± His eyes turned red, tomoe spinning. Black creepy tattoo crawled out from his neck, covering the lower part of his face.


    I panicked. Didn¡¯t know what to do. I needed to snap him out of that mood. I hugged Sasuke. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I croaked out. Ignored the taste of blood.


    For a long while, Sasuke didn¡¯t react. I couldn¡¯t see his face, but I felt how tense he was, and his trembling. He exhaled and like a scared kid, put his hands around my waist.


    I didn¡¯t know what to do. I kept Sasuke at bay, because I didn¡¯t want to deal with the whole emotional baggage he had. The only thing I could think of was that dealing with Sasuke just became more complicated. And we didn¡¯t even got to talk about the issue at hand, the cursed seal. I was a horrible person.

 3.14

    3.14


    Three days of waiting looked like a lot, but it really wasn¡¯t. We took shifts resting. I wasn¡¯t sure if the exam had really ended, or it was just another layer of deception. Nor did I want to be defenseless near all the other arriving teams.


    In the end, I never talked with Sasuke about the cursed seal. After that embarrassing moment I hugged him, every time I tried to talk with him, it just felt like a mistake. His words kept replaying back on my head. I felt like a horrible person, even more so than usual. Was I friends with Naruto because he was the jinchuriki? Did I have a crush on Ino and Sakura because they were part of the original show? Was I fond of Kakashi-sensei because he was the coolest of Konoha¡¯s ninja? Everytime those thoughts haunted me, I pushed them away. I would obsess over that later, now wasn¡¯t the time.


    I couldn''t tell Sasuke about the seal directly. He was emo, not stupid. If I started to talk about the seal like I knew what it was, he would notice things didn¡¯t match up. I had no way of explaining how I knew things. And, honestly, I didn¡¯t want to delve into the emotional part of the attack in the forest. I didn¡¯t want to think about Orochimaru, nor talk about Sasuke¡¯s reactions, or remember waking up inside an experiment vat. He and I weren¡¯t friends like I was with Naruto. Was I really friends with Naruto? I pushed the thought away.


    My considerations about Sasuke aside, it didn¡¯t mean we didn¡¯t socialize with the other teams during those three days. Ino¡¯s team was in a spot of trouble. They brought no food. I was more than happy to repay the favor. I also wanted to talk with Ino. Alone.


    It didn¡¯t take much to accomplish that. Shikamaru and Choji avoided me like I was out to kill them, even if they still ate my pastries. I led Ino a fair distance away from the others. I sat down, took my bag out. Pulled my reserve seals. Ino looked expectantly at me. I popped a few of my best reserves: lemon pudding, mango mousse, cookies, cupcakes. Much to Ino¡¯s delight. I let the girl have her due.


    ¡°Ino, tell me what happened?¡± I wrote. Ino looked up, mouth full of mousse. I giggled. It was adorable. I caught the small tensing of her shoulders. The giggle died.


    Ino didn¡¯t know what that meant, or how the wood moved and reacted, but I knew. I should have suspected it. Fucking Orochimaru¡¯s experiment. What else aside from his hard on for dojutsu was the man famous for? All the human experimentation and grafting Senju cells into everything he could put his hands on. He really wanted wood release that much. I don¡¯t know why I never considered that. Why did I think the creep would only steal my eyes? Of course he did more. And now I had no idea what else he had done. Was it only the Senju cells? What about my eyes? Where did they come from? And that snake pupil?


    The clues were all there all along, I just missed them. It didn¡¯t happen when I was younger, which might be why I ignored it, but my shoulder and hand healed fast in the Land of Waves mission. Even my cracked shoulder from the fight with Orochimaru didn¡¯t hurt anymore, I forgot about it. Wood manipulation and self-healing. Shit shit shit. What else had the snake done to me? Worse, wasn¡¯t I a prime candidate for possession? I even had my own bones carved with seals that let Orochimaru disable me whenever he wanted. Fuck fuck fuck. What do I do, what do I do?


    A hand touched my shoulder.


    I jerked back. Panic flickered a few meters away. Ino looked at me with wide eyes. Her hand extended in front of her. I looked away. I needed to be alone. I bowed deeply. ¡°Thank you Yamanaka Ino. I owe you.¡± I wrote. I fled after that. Panic settled in. I didn¡¯t know what to do.


    Not that I had the chance to go into full panic mode. I was so out of it that I didn¡¯t notice it until arms wrapped around me, holding me tight. Ino¡¯s gentle voice sounded just by my ear. ¡°It¡¯s over, you¡¯re safe.¡±


    A whole other type of panic crawled inside my mind. I don¡¯t know if I preferred the existential panic or the gay-panic. Shit, I was so screwed.

 3.15

    3.15


    In my post exam fatigue and general ¡®this speech from Iruka-sensei is boring¡¯, I missed the opportunity to report the forest¡¯s events to Iruka-sensei. Worse, there were no proctors inside the waiting area; I wasn¡¯t sure if I could leave to search for one. In the end, I decided I would report to Kakashi-sensei first opportunity I got.


    I didn¡¯t want to leave the tower and risk failing the team. Konoha¡¯s jounin must already know Orochimaru was here by now, and if they weren¡¯t doing anything yet, a first hand account of the confrontation with the man wouldn¡¯t change much. The second part, the one about my thoughts and human experimentation and traitors, that one could wait. At least I hope it could.


    Team Gai arrived just a day later. Tenten refused to look at me. Neji glared from afar. Rock Lee actually came over, talked to me, even if it didn¡¯t make any sense.


    Rock Lee pointed at my face. ¡°My springtime of youth will prevail. I¡¯ll defeat you!¡± After saying that, he bowed and left without giving me the chance to say anything. What a cool weirdo. There was a bit more comedy when team eight arrived.


    Rock Lee looked a the newcomers, eyes going wide when he noticed them. He did a guts pose. Tenten facepalmed, sighed exasperated. ¡°Here we go again.¡±


    Konoha¡¯s green beast walked to the newly arrived team eight. Stopped by the girl with pink hair and red sort-of-qipao.


    ¡°Hi, my name is Rock Lee, you are Sakura...¡± He trailed off for a bit. Sakura looked pretty spooked off. ¡°Would you go out with me? I¡¯ll protect you with my life!¡± The boy winked, and gave Sakura a dazzling smile. I could see from here the sparkling teeth.


    I did a small victory dance. Rock Lee was so cool!


    ¡°No... way... you¡¯re lame.¡± Sakura-chan answered. But was that a light blush on her cheeks? Way to go Konoha¡¯s beautiful green wild beast!


    On the last day of waiting, Kabuto¡¯s team joined the gathering. He looked at us, before looking away. Was that a flicker of annoyance on his face? I would have gone after the fucker in the forest if I had any confidence in killing him. He did try to ingratiate with our team soon after arriving, but his was the last passing team, and soon after they arrived, more people entered the arena, ending any attempt at socializing.


    Ninjas flooded into the open area. All the team leaders, proctors and even the old man Hokage. We stood in lines with our teams. All waiting for the old man¡¯s wisdom. And wisdom he dispensed. Talked about the shinobi alliance, the purpose of the chunin exams, and the mini war between allied nations concept. On and on the old man went.


    The logistics of it all didn¡¯t seem to make sense, that was what I always considered about the original story. The original show made it seem that promoting chunin happened only during the exams, and each exam promoted just a few ninja at time. The exam happened only two times a year. The numbers just didn¡¯t match. There was no way the hidden villages could keep the necessary number of ninjas by promoting less than ten shinobi per year. It was all bogus talk the old man wanted to push down our throat.


    The chunin exam was, at least what I really thought it was, a publicity stunt: ¡®Here are our youngest and more talented ninja. Let us put them to the grinder to give them a chance to grow and show how our village is strong.¡¯ I didn¡¯t really remember all the political ramifications, and the story never went into detail about what happened to all other genin promoted out of the academy not put in a four man cell with a jounin. In the end, we were just prized horses to put on a show for an audience.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com


    Sasuke actually smirked. ¡°Shut up, you clown.¡±


    I was glad both boys were on good terms again.


    Kakashi-sensei had flickered to the arena, and after a brief talk, led Sasuke away. I guess now that he had won, Kakashi could finally deal with the cursed seal. I don¡¯t know why Anko added such a dumb rule to the exam.


    The next battle was Shino against one of the Amegakure shinobi. The battle wasn¡¯t even interesting. The Ame ninja hadn¡¯t seen the bugs, and fainted after having his chakra sucked out of him. Yeah, Shino was one of those I really wouldn¡¯t want to fight against. No sir, thank you sir. Unless explosions were involved.


    Third match was Kankuro against yet another traitor from team Kabuto. The traitor was one of those who could modify their body. Soon after the battle started, he dashed in, wrapped himself around Kankuro. Shame for him though, it wasn¡¯t Kankuro he wrapped himself around, but the doll. Kankuro had hidden himself as the big wrapped thing ¡®Kankuro¡¯ carried all around on his back. The proctor called the match soon after.


    Kakashi returned soon after. ¡°Sasuke is sleeping in the medical bay, you don¡¯t need to worry about him anymore.¡± I noticed he seemed even more distant now, or distracted. Was that because of Orochimaru? I guess I was about to make his day even worse then. I leaned against the railing, pretending I was looking into the arena. My fingers tapped a soundless message. Report, intel, enemy, strong, important.


    Fan-girl me squirmed a bit, even after all this time, secret communication and coded messages triggered her super hard. I had to hold in the smile, the grin, the happy dance. Kakashi-sensei patted my head, like I was an excitable little kid. The movement of his hand was another message. Understood.


    Fourth match was Ino versus Sakura. I won¡¯t lie here. I was hoping Ino won.


    The battle was a mess. Almost like a cat-fight. None of the girls used any jutsu; they just ducked it out like street thugs. At some point, Ino tried her mind control jutsu. She managed to even start the surrender, but loudmouth Kiba and Naruto yelling at Sakura to not surrender somehow helped the pink haired kunoichi to break the technique. It ended with both girls punching themselves unconscious. Much to my displeasure.


    But the fight hadn¡¯t been angry, for lack of better words. I saw Sakura smiling, even Ino too. Would they become friends again? I sure hope so. Emosuke didn¡¯t deserve any of them.


    Fifth bout was Tenten versus Temari. It was almost a massacre. Temari shut down Tenten hard. Temari ended the fight without suffering a single wound. Scary.


    Sixth fight was Shikamaru versus another Ame shinobi. It wasn¡¯t exciting. Without knowing about the shadow jutsu, the kunoichi walked right into his trap and Shikamaru ended the fight by forcing the woman to bang her own head against the walls. It was cool-ish, but not exciting to watch.


    Seventh fight was Loudmouth Kiba versus Loudmouth Naruto.

 3.16

    3.16


    Naruto and Kiba¡¯s fight wasn¡¯t bad. Kiba was a good fighter, and it was clear he had trained a lot. Unfortunately for him, so had Naruto.


    Kiba did get Naruto at times with beast mode, transformation, and twin clones with Akamaru. But he never stood a chance. Naruto wouldn¡¯t stay down, and was better at combination attacks than Kiba. Naruto was also better at transformation, managing to fool Kiba even with the other¡¯s enhanced sense of smell. I did notice Naruto having trouble with his usual techniques, which was probably because of his messed up seal, but even so it wasn¡¯t enough to stop him.Fi?ndd new updates at novelhall.com


    In the end, Naruto had more stamina, had trained harder, and was used to fighting stronger and faster opponents. He used one of his many clone combinations to finish the battle. I cheered. He was becoming cool-ish. Still a brat though. Other shinobi present seemed to appreciate the effort. When Naruto came over, I even gave him a hug.


    ¡°Good job Naruto-kun. You really improved.¡± Kakashi-sensei praised, much to Naruto¡¯s delight.


    The electronic panel lit up again. Out popped two names: Hinata versus Hyuga Neji.


    Eighth match was fate all over again. Fate or manipulation. I was sure some of the Hyuga higher up pulled strings to have Neji fight me. And I was sure the Hokage allowed it. Not that I cared or minded, even if I sounded petulant about it.


    I high-fived Naruto, nodded to all other shinobi in my path, walked down to the arena where Neji already waited for me. I bowed to the proctor. Debated if he should receive my good impression package. After the fight, I decided.


    From across the arena, Neji glared at me. I waved at him. He scowled. What was his problem?


    ¡°It¡¯s not personal.¡± Neji said, although his glare said otherwise. It reminded me, just a bit, of how Orochimaru looked at us in the forest.


    On and on I went until someone grabbed me. I had my leg up, about to stomp Neji¡¯s head into the floor.


    Hayate had his fingers pointed at my forehead. Kakashi held my leg. Gai had his arm around my neck. Even Kurenai was there, holding my arm.


    ¡°It¡¯s over, you won.¡± Kakashi-sensei said. ¡°Any more and you¡¯ll kill him.¡± His stare was calm, not judgmental. I guess they really were bound to protect the precious Hyuga offspring. Politics. Bah.


    I nodded. Kakashi released me, so did the others. I took my foot away. Bowed. Croaked out. ¡°Thank you for stopping me sensei.¡± My throat hurt, and I felt blood pooling in my mouth. Speaking was still a no go. I got a few raised eyebrows for that. A group of medic-nin hurried inside the arena. They checked Neji, rushed him away.


    Time for the finale.


    Clone-chan, who had just plummeted Neji half to death, unpopped herself. I, who had disguised myself as the special kunai, still stuck to the wall, released the transformation.


    That caused a commotion alright. You see, I knew the byakugan could see chakra, but could it identify a shadow clone? From what I knew, no dojutsu out there could tell a shadow clone from the real thing. What about if I pretended to be a kunai? Could Neji tell the difference? I did transform before arriving at the arena. I was sure Neji would figure it out if I tried the transformation in front of him. But if I did outside his view? It would be just a kunai full of chakra. One he singled out at the start of the battle, deflected, and made sure it was out of the way. The original idea to do this wasn¡¯t really mine, but something I read so long ago. It got stuck in my mind for some reason.


    I walked to the jounins that stopped me. Their stare was a bit intimidating. Time to salvage things. I popped my good impression kit to everyone. ¡°Thank you for preventing me from committing a mistake.¡± I wrote. I bowed again. Kakashi-sensei chuckled. Kurenai took my pastries with a smile. Hayate didn¡¯t seem to care one way or another. Gai looked at me like I had grown a third head. I turned around and fled.


    I hadn¡¯t expected clone-chan to lose her cool like that during the fight. I wanted to defeat Neji, not kill him, maybe. I knew my clones tended to behave like they didn¡¯t need to care for the consequences, but even so. Dangerous. I might need to think more carefully next time I decide to use a clone like that.


    I jogged toward Naruto enduring the stares. I ignored it all. I stopped in front of a smiling sunshine brat. Took a pose. Did a V for victory. ¡°Easy!¡± I hoarsely yelled, to more blood inside my mouth. It made people look at me even funnier, but I was past caring about that. I didn¡¯t even mind the hug Naruto gave me.

 3.16 – POVS

    3.16 ¨C POVS


    ¡°Yosha!¡± Rock Lee pumped his fist again. Excitement bubbled inside him after watching Sasuke¡¯s fight. There were no two ways about it. He was the strongest genin in Konoha, even without ninjutsu or genjutsu. He would win this preliminaries, prove to Sakura-chan how strong he was, and ask her out again. The exuberance of youth would prevail!


    Rock Lee looked around. Nearby, Gai-sensei and Kakashi-san watched the fights, commenting here and there. Rock Lee¡¯s eyes found Hinata. The girl leaned against the railing, a massive smile on her face, bobbing like a kid. Even more after Kakashi-san patted her head. A trickle of fear bubbled in his gut, but Rock Lee squashed it. He hoped to fight her in the preliminaries; Neji said it was a talisman seal she used, but Lee wasn¡¯t so sure.


    Kurenai carried an unconscious Sakura back to the stands. A gentle smile on her face. She was proud of the girl. She had grown splendidly. Kurenai was sure Sakura could have won the match had she decided to use the new jutsu she learned over the last few months, but she also knew it was a matter of pride and friendship. Not just once, they talked about her crush on the Uchiha boy, which Sakura seemed to be growing out of, and her fight with Ino over that same crush, even if the girl was too proud to admit it.


    Sakura''s not being able to reach the finals was something she had expected. Kurenai entered her team because they needed the experience. Maybe sooner than predicted if international tensions kept escalating.


    Kurenai was satisfied with the current results. Kiba was the only one from her squad still left to fight. He had a good chance of reaching the finals with Shino.


    Gai shook his head, already ready to interfere with Tenten¡¯s match. It was a shame the pairing was so unfortunate. Any other, and Tenten probably would have a better chance, but the Suna girl countered Tenten at every step. He carried his pupil to the hospital and returned to the arena after settling her there. Just in time to see Naruto defeat Kiba.


    Then, the monster disappeared.


    Neji¡¯s eyes widened. The thing appeared by his side, a punch already approaching his head. Neji didn¡¯t have time to dodge; he lashed out, aiming for a trade to hit the thing¡¯s meridians. He could take one blow. He would win in the end, like always.


    Stars exploded in his head. White dominated all his vision. Neji couldn¡¯t breathe, couldn¡¯t move, couldn''t think. He gasped, pulling in a much-needed breath, and tried to move. A soft voice and a gentle hand held him down.


    ¡°It¡¯s over. You are in the hospital, and you¡¯re safe.¡±


    Neji heard Gai-sensei¡¯s voice, but still, it made no sense. What happened? His body hurt; he couldn¡¯t open his eyes, move his arms, or move his legs.


    Gaara, from the place where he fell after the attack, looked at the boy dressed in green across from him in the arena. Mother screamed in his head. She wanted blood. Gaara obliged. He wanted to kill them all. His fist closed in, and even through his jutsu, he felt the bones break and shatter. The agonized screaming joined with the joyful screams in his head. Yes, he would feed everyone¡¯s blood to mother.


    Soon.

 3.17

    3.17


    The fight after mine was Gaara of the Desert versus Rock Lee.


    I was very conflicted about this one. It was one of those moments in the original story that stayed with me for a long time. I never forgot this fight, it was still clear in my mind even after all those years. I wanted to kick Gai sensei in the nuts for giving a impressionable boy a suicide jutsu, but would I have done anything different?


    I couldn''t say. Probably not.


    With bated breath, I watched a hardworking boy fight against a monster. The fight went about the same as I remembered. After an initial probing, Rock Lee removed the weighted ankle bands, dropped them from atop the statue. The whole tower shook. Wind billowed.


    I cheered, couldn¡¯t help it. I based my weight seals on Rock Lee¡¯s after all.


    That was followed by Rock Lee¡¯s taijutsu onslaught, the Lotus, the Gates. And the realization that even with that, it wasn¡¯t enough. Rock Lee¡¯s arm and leg got crushed by sand. Gai-sensei finally interfered with the fight to save his pupil.


    It was touching, the fight had been awesome. I was sure I would also copy a few of Rock Lee''s attacks just because they were that cool. Not long after, the whole arena went silent at the medic-nin declaration regarding Rock Lee¡¯s health. I didn¡¯t react like the others to the notice that he might not ever be able to fight again. I knew Tsunade could heal him. And I made a promise that if fate disagreed on that one point, I¡¯d hunt down Tsunade myself. Couldn''t let the third coolest shinobi in Konoha down.


    I did feel bad for copying Rock Lee, basing my own improvement on traits that defined Rock Lee in the original story, but just a bit. Rock Lee was cool.


    Last match was Choji versus the last Ame shinobi. The match didn¡¯t last long. Choji turned into a big ball, and ran all over the place. Amen-nin had no counter to that. It didn¡¯t take long until Choji managed to crash against a wall with said shinobi between him and the wall. After being declared the winner, Choji was the one most surprised for actually winning his fight.


    After all the cheering and celebration, eight of us stood in front of the old man again.


    Hayate took the stage once more. ¡°Congratulations to those of you who won and are qualified to participate in the third phase of the exam. Although one of you isn¡¯t here.¡± Hayate nodded, then turned to the Third Hokage. ¡°Lord Hokage, they are all yours.¡±


    Like always, Hiruzen took the chance to wax philosophy and politics at a bunch of children that had no maturity to understand half of the concepts he went on about. He couldn¡¯t even make his speech interesting, his droning cadence the worst offender to all the impatient around. The details, however, were the same. One month break to give the important people time to arrive. During this time we could train, prepare, gather information and do all those important ninja stuff.


    We finished by drawing lots for the tournament phase of the competition. I firmly believe the results were a set up. With how people from the same team were arranged to fight each other, be it in the first, or second round. I would fight the first match of the tournament. My opponent was Naruto. Sasuke would fight Gaara, Kankuro against Shino. Temari was an off seed and would fight the winner of Shikamaru versus Choji.


    There were more questions asked, and explanations given. But nothing that stood out to me. In the end, we were show horses, and the Hokage urged us to put on a good show. I got it, old man. Formalities done, I grouped up with Naruto. He seemed a little sad to have to fight me in the first battle.


    ¡°The genjutsu led me to discover seals inside my body. I cracked the one on my throat that prevented me from speaking. I managed to suspend the one in my bones that is trying to kill me. Ino recounted the story of how team ten found us. According to her, the forest itself reacted like it was a part of me. I also noticed I heal fast. I injured my shoulder during the fight with Orochimaru. I didn¡¯t even remember the injury when I woke up.¡±


    Kakashi took fake notes, nodded for me to continue.


    ¡°During the exam, a Konoha¡¯s shinobi by the name of Kabuto has tried to ingratiate himself to our team at every possible opportunity.¡± I would have never thought about this if I didn¡¯t know Kabuto was a traitor. ¡°Said shinobi claimed to have participated in the exam seven times. He had a comprehensive collection of information from all participant ninjas, Konoha¡¯s or otherwise. During an altercation at the first exam with the Otogakure team, Kabuto behaved like he received a glancing blow from the Oto-nin, but he has more chakra than most jounin, Kakashi-sensei included. I didn¡¯t have the opportunity to learn more about it.¡±


    Kakashi had an intent look on his face. Time to finish this.


    ¡°Sunagakure shinobi Gaara of the Desert has amounts of chakra comparable to Naruto.¡± I didn¡¯t think Gaara being the host of the one tail was a secret, or maybe it was. I¡¯d drop that one on Kakashi and let him deal with the fallout.


    Kakashi-sensei nodded. ¡°Thank you for your report.¡±


    I knew it was a mistake, but couldn¡¯t help it. I blurted out. ¡°Is it true?¡± A trickle of blood fell from my lips. I really needed to stop speaking.


    Sensei put away his notebook, the one he¡¯d been pretending to write his report on just to feed fan-girl-chan. He understood the question, even without context. ¡°As you surmised, there are a number of seals inside your body: Bones, eyes, heart, throat.¡±


    What? Heart? Eyes? Shit, shit, shit. My attention snapped back to sensei.


    ¡°Some among the council argued it was too risky to leave you alone, that you are an Orochimaru sleeper agent.¡± Ah, well, that explained things, didn¡¯t it? ¡°Your dreams about being Orochimaru didn¡¯t help either.¡± Oof, shoot myself on the foot there. ¡°The Third believes you are just an innocent girl caught in an unfortunate incident. He¡¯s the reason no one ever bothered you.¡±


    That just did it, didn¡¯t it? For all my annoyance with the old man, I never doubted he was a nice old grandpa. Too soft to be Konoha¡¯s leader, but the best grandpa out there. Now I had to prevent his death. No two ways about it.


    I wrote to sensei, using my own hands. ¡°And what do you think?¡±


    Kakashi fixed his eyes on me, answered immediately. His eyes turned into a crescent. ¡°I know you love Konoha and would never do anything against it.¡± The smile faded from his face. ¡°But that option might be forcefully taken away from you.¡±


    Bless the man, he didn¡¯t put me down. I might have tackle-hugged him and opened the floodgates. You can¡¯t blame me. It felt good to know Kakashi didn¡¯t think I was evil.

 3.18

    3.18


    Kakashi-sensei let me have my emotional breakdown without comment. I just broke a lot of shinobi rules, but who cared? I didn''t, really. Not long after, we left the room. Kakashi-sensei waved me goodbye, flickered away. He probably had to report stuff, and I had lots on my mind. With the second phase of the chunin exam done, it was time to prepare for . Don¡¯t judge me, celeb crush Hayley haunted me enough already.


    I was in a bit of a pinch. Kakashi would help Sasuke, I was sure of that, even if I wasn¡¯t sure to what extent, now that most of Sasuke¡¯s family was still alive. Naruto would end up with Jiraiya. Who could I ask to train me? One particular shinobi came to mind. It would help with my dreams of Black Flash. I guess it costs nothing to ask.


    I meandered my way through the tower in search of my target. I had an idea where I would find the man. His three students had been beaten pretty badly, and given the man''s exuberance, I was sure he would be with them. I didn¡¯t actually know where the infirmary was in the tower, but a small bit of questioning later ¨C because I also had a teammate there ¨C landed me with directions to follow, only they weren¡¯t here in the tower, but taken back to Konoha¡¯s hospital. That made sense, not sure why I thought they would still be here.


    Leaving the forest was a strange affair. There was a transport system set up that let people come and go, only it wasn¡¯t used for the contestants. It didn¡¯t take long until I was back in Konoha proper. Since I was going to visit people at the hospital, I needed to prepare stuff. Fresh fruits and flowers and all that jazz.


    At the hospital reception desk, I confirmed the rooms my targets were in. First I went to visit Sasuke. I knocked on the door.


    ¡°Come in.¡±


    I didn¡¯t recognize the voice, or the two chakra bundles aside from Sasuke¡¯s inside. I steeled myself, walked inside. Sasuke was out cold, but didn¡¯t seem to be in any danger. I guess whatever Kakashi-sensei did to contain the cursed seal took a lot out of Sasuke. Sat by his bed, was a beautiful fair-skinned woman with long, straight black hair and bangs hanging on either side of her face to roughly frame her cheeks and black eyes. She wore a simple dark purple blouse with a red-plum skirt, and looked nothing more than a mother and housewife, but I wasn¡¯t fooled.


    By the bed¡¯s side was another person. I won¡¯t lie here. My heart raced and I had to suppress my trembling. He was a tall man of fair complexion. Had black eyes, under which were long, pronounced tear-troughs. Jet-black hair pulled back in a low ponytail and center-parted bangs that extended to his chin, framed his face. He wore the traditional Uchiha attire. Dark Blue with the symbol on the back. Itachi nodded at me. Black eyes following my every movement.


    How much did he know? Was he still part of ANBU? After his father died, Itachi became the clan leader, but that was the last I heard about him.


    I bowed to both. Popped out my board. ¡°Hello. I¡¯m Hinata, Sasuke¡¯s teammate.¡±


    The reaction wasn¡¯t what I expected. The woman chuckled, Itachi just shook his head, smiling.


    ¡°Hello Hinata-san, I¡¯m Uchiha Itachi, and this is my mother Mikoto.¡±


    Mikoto nodded, still smiling. I handed her the fruit basket.


    Mikoto took it with grace. ¡°Thank you Hinata-chan for the fruits, and thank you for looking after Sasuke. He speaks often about you.¡±


    ¡°What is it to you?¡± Tenten demanded. ¡°You don¡¯t even know him!¡±


    I stopped. That was fair. I knew of Rock Lee, not the boy himself. I gushed about him being third coolest, but I never actually talked to him. I nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± I admitted. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I wrote soon after. I turned and left under Tenten¡¯s glare. I still hadn¡¯t done what I came here to do. I sat down in the corridor and settled in to wait. I didn¡¯t mind giving them time if needed.


    It didn¡¯t take long. Gai sensei left the room a few minutes after. I got up, the man motioned me to follow.


    He led me up a flight of stairs to an open terrace or roof. It was a pretty view of the village, with a premium vista of the Hokage mountain. By one of the corners, I saw two familiar shapes. It was some sort of water tank. But try as I might, I couldn¡¯t recall why they seemed familiar.


    Gai was the first to break the silence. ¡°You were looking for me.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question.


    I knew exuberance was the name of the game. I didn¡¯t hold back. I raised my hand. Raised my board as high as my arms would let me. ¡°Gai-sensei, please help me train for the third phase of the chunin exam!¡±


    Gai stare was cold, unmoved. ¡°You humiliate my student, beat him to an inch of death, and now you want me to train you?¡±


    I didn¡¯t hold back nor did I back down. I also wasn¡¯t against throwing some truths around. With more time to think, Neji was up to no good when trying to fight me. I remembered his glare. In my mind, it somehow overlapped with Orochimaru¡¯s. I suppressed a shudder. ¡°Yes sensei!¡± I wrote. ¡°He would have done worse to me had I not been stronger! I had to make sure he understood I was not to be messed with!¡±


    Gai stared at me for a long while. I expected him to pose and yell and be the boisterous self I knew from the story. The man in front of me didn¡¯t look like that. ¡°Why not Kakashi?¡±


    ¡°Kakashi will have his hands full with Sasuke and Naruto, and what I want and need is speed and taijutsu. There¡¯s no one better to train with than you in that regard.¡±


    For a moment, I considered if it had been wise to seek out the man. I was acutely aware now that I didn¡¯t know him. I was just going by half remembered stories from my past life. Acting like I knew everything.


    ¡°No.¡± Gai-sensei said finally. His tone left no room to argue.


    It was again, another slap to the face. Once more, I took my knowledge from the show and other stories as gospel. In my mind, Gai was supposed to be boisterous: to pose, to yell his youth mantra, gladly take me under his wing. Almost all the things I remember from the second coolest ninja was that he always wanted to make people train more, train harder.


    I bowed. Wrote after. ¡°Thank you for hearing me out sensei!¡± I turned, left the Gai to his contemplations. I didn¡¯t look back. My dreams of Black Flash took a hit, but it meant I¡¯d just need to do it myself. I had one month to train and prepare before the invasion. I didn¡¯t think it was enough, but I would try my best. It was time to change the world once again.

 Chapter 4: Konoha Crushcrushcrush

    Chapter 4: Konoha Crushcrushcrush


    I didn¡¯t wait until the next day to start my training and preparations. I hadn¡¯t missed the between-the-lines talk about the council of elders being against me. I was pretty sure Danzo had wanted me for his house of horrors and that I was alive and safe and unmolested because the Third had gone soft. It also explained an old question I had - who tried to kidnap me for the second time? And who else other than the damn traitor Shimura fucking Danzo?


    First thing I did was, surprise surprise, create a training schedule. Mornings were divided into two exercise periods: Physical and taijutsu. Afternoon another two different training focuses: Control and jutsu. Evening reserved for fuinjutsu research: I had to break the time-space code, I couldn''t see any other way of interfering with that roof fight without it. Not to mention the seals inside my body.


    Done with that, I slapped myself because I was being dumb, I forgot about the clone cheat. The schedule stayed, but instead of dividing days into periods, each clone would take one task to perform. I expanded on my training program, adding more sessions and more comprehensive exercises to shore up other points I gimped because I thought I would have only a few hours per day.Fi?ndd new updates at novelhall.com


    When I finished, I wanted to cry just a bit. I just condemned myself to grueling physical boot camp training hell while my clones worked on the fun stuff. But such was life.


    I started immediately. My weight seals needed to be finished. I couldn¡¯t create a new one every time I needed to up the intensity. It would take too much of my already limited time, and limit my training. I had an idea about what I missed with the whole design. With the new revelation of the will component, it wasn¡¯t even difficult, even if it took hours, and three failed attempts.


    The new seals... didn¡¯t look great. The increased complexity demanded more space. I didn¡¯t have time to refine the logic behind how it should work, because of that, I had to increase the surface area. It wasn¡¯t bad, It just looked like leather bracers and a collar, moreso with all the squiggly lines that looked like decoration and stuff.


    I guess the time had finally arrived. I was twelve, I already lived alone, I already dressed in all black: Goth phase was upon me.


    I wasn¡¯t entirely satisfied with the result, but redesigning to improve the presentation was pushed to after I wasn¡¯t crushed for time. I put the collar and bracelets on, adjusted the weights, then went to sleep. Tomorrow I might add black lipstick and mascara as well, just to cement the goth looks.


    One was familiar. After so many months, I could point out Kakashi-sensei¡¯s chakra among a crowd if necessary. The other one was unfamiliar. It even had a unique texture. Like the smell or taste of wood, no idea why.


    I turned around, let my arms fall. Too heavy to keep them up if I wasn¡¯t using them. Sweat coated my whole body, and I was haggard, tired and grumpy. Kakashi-sensei walked into the training field with another ninja I had never seen before. Just a few centimeters shorter than sensei, but the man was leaner. He wore a helmet-like forehead protector that covered his cheeks, and the under-suit went up to the middle of his chin. The man¡¯s irises were huge and totally black. I couldn¡¯t even see where the iris ended and the pupil started.


    ¡°My, you¡¯re training hard.¡± Kakashi gave me one of his eye crescent smiles. ¡°And adopted a new fashion sense.¡± I just grunted. It was just the third day of training, but I was tired beyond compare. I didn¡¯t have the energy to be annoyed or fangirl over stuff.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been busy helping Sasuke train.¡± Kakashi started. I just looked on. ¡°So I made sure to find an excellent teacher for you.¡± Kakashi gestured to the shinobi by his side. ¡°This is Yamato.¡±


    Yamato gave me a small wave.


    Oh, I recognized the man now. One of Orochimaru¡¯s surviving experiments. I should have recognized those eyes. I grunted again. Nodded. ¡°Hello,¡± managed to croak out.


    The three of us exchanged stares. I had no idea what to do. This was awkward.


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to it.¡± Kakashi-sensei promptly deflected, fled the social interaction. Still cool. I just didn¡¯t have the energy to fan-girl over it.


    I looked at Yamato who didn¡¯t seem to know what to do as well. I shrugged. Wouldn¡¯t stop my training just because of a slight deviation to the plans. I bowed, and wrote with much difficulty. ¡°Hello Yamato-sensei, Jutsu-chan will be here in a moment, please wait just a bit.¡± Things explained, I turned back, assumed my stance, went back to my training. Crushcrushcrush was less than a month away, and time and training waited for no one.

 4.2.y

    4.2.y


    Yamato had just arrived from his three week mission outside the village, when his old friend Kakashi ambushed him. The village had assigned him another mission already. He followed Kakashi to their usual haunt, nodding at the waitress on their way in. Like usual, Kakashi requested a private room, but it wasn¡¯t needed. The bar was empty at this time of the day.


    Kakashi handed over a stack of papers. ¡°Here.¡±


    Yamato took the mission information first. Still sealed. He opened it and read the report in full.


    His hands didn¡¯t tremble, Yamato was too trained for that, but his grip crumpled the borders of the parchment. Another survivor of Orochimaru¡¯s experiments, another one with mokuton.


    Of course he had heard of Hinata¡¯s kidnapping years before, what Shinobi hadn¡¯t when the Hyuga threatened civil war when it happened? He also heard about the subsequent finding of the girl. Which was quickly suppressed by the communications department. Yamato only learned now about the full details: Orochimaru kidnapped the heir of the Hyuga, experimented on the girl, stole her eyes, left a number of unknown seals behind. Hiashi tried to kill the girl and the Lord Third intervened.


    The mission report didn¡¯t explain why Hiashi tried to kill his own daughter.


    It was a lot to take in. An S-rank mission issued by Lord Hokage and the council of Elders, dated from a week ago. Yamato glanced at the other stacks of paper piled on the table, it was a series of reports about the girl.


    Orochimaru made contact with Hinata, the Uchiha heir and the jinchuriki. He read the girl¡¯s own report about the encounter. Read the report from team Gai and team ten. Read the ANBU battle site investigation report. The details matched. There were no glaring inconsistencies in the tale. Even the sensor specialists used to listen to the chakra reverberation in the area didn¡¯t find anything different from what was reported.


    He picked the next parchment, it was a previously sealed report.


    Hinata was the informant that leaked the information that led to Danzo¡¯s arrest order. She claimed she dreamt about being Orochimaru. In after action reports and intel added to the whole case after the raid there was one small note added by Aobe: information extracted from Danzo¡¯s lair contradicted the current theory. There was no sign of any friction between Danzo and Orochimaru. Danzo even cooperated with Orochimaru on human experiments. It had been dismissed as not important. If Orochimaru wanted to betray Danzo, he wouldn¡¯t alert the paranoid old bastard before the back-stab.


    The next papers gave Yamato pause. It was a series of older reports from when the girl was found, about the seals in her body. In the period of time she was unconscious after being found, a number of tests and check ups were performed at the Lord Hokage¡¯s request. The medical staff at the time reported that without knowing the procedure used by Orochimaru, the only recourse they had to remove the seals was to cut the girl open again, which she was estimated to have a 30% chance of survival. Danzo insisted they needed to know what Orochimaru had done. Lord Third refused to risk the girl¡¯s life further.


    The rest of the report was speculation of what the seals did based on information gathered by the notes left behind in the laboratory. It didn¡¯t paint a good picture, and also explained why the council wanted the girl under surveillance. Yamato felt a pang of sympathy for Hinata.


    Yamato put the intelligence reports down and picked up the academy reports and Kakashi¡¯s reports as her jounin commander.


    ShinobiNinjutsuTaijutsuGenjutsuIntelligenceStrengthSpeedStaminaHand sealsTotal0126121.51.5133.5432.520


    ¡°No, Gai refused.¡± Kakashi scratched his cheeks, sighed, this time in relief? ¡°He knew about your mission, and I don¡¯t think he was happy with the girl.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t check the news about the exam?¡± Kakashi asked and Yamato just shook his head. ¡°Hyuga higher ups might have set Neji to kill or cripple her. He sought her out in the Forest of Death, Hinata drove them off using mokuton.¡± Yamato nodded, he remembered that part of the report, there was nothing regarding Neji¡¯s motives however. ¡°Like every other arrogant bastard, Hiashi pressed the Hokage to set up Neji to fight her in the second phase preliminaries.¡±


    Nothing out of the ordinary until now. Clan politics was just that, clan politics. It was Lord Hokage¡¯s duty to mediate those.


    ¡°It was a disaster.¡± Kakashi started. ¡°Hinata never gave Neji a chance to fight back. Her speed combined with the ability to use jutsu without hand seals were advantages enough. Even with his Byakugan Neji couldn''t keep up. She would have killed him had we not interfered. To make matters even worse, Hinata never actually fought Neji. She had transformed herself into a Kunai, and her shadow clone did all the battling for her. Gai wasn¡¯t happy with the girl after that. The injury was one thing, the blatant humiliation another.¡±


    Nothing in her psychoanalysis hinted at this sort of behavior. Yamato tilted his head. ¡°Why did she do that?¡±


    Kakashi shrugged. ¡°All I have are guesses.¡± Yamato just waved on the ¡®guess away¡¯ gesture. ¡°Orichimaru put the girl under some sort of pain inducing genjutsu, after he spooked all of them with killing intent alone. Neji displayed killing intent before his battle with Hinata. I don¡¯t know what the clan told him, but Neji clearly sees her as an enemy. Hinata admitted to Gai she had to, quoting her words, make sure Neji understood she was not to be messed with.¡±


    ¡°Shall we meet her then?¡± Yamato asked. Kakashi nodded and led them away, toward one of the many training grounds.


    They found Hinata practicing the basics of taijutsu. She was a mess. Looked like someone put to the grinder and without sleep for weeks. Dressed in black, large strange bracelets on her legs, arms and neck. Black lipstick and paint around her eyes. Was this something young people did nowadays?


    After Kakashi¡¯s lame introduction and subsequent retreat came the written message that made no sense.


    ¡°Hello Yamato-sensei, Jutsu-chan will be here in a moment, please wait just a bit.¡± After Yamato read it, Hinata turned around and went back to training.


    Yamato wanted to ask questions, but decided it was best to just wait. And sure enough another Hinata walked into the training field. Still dressed in black, but without the black paint and lipstick and no collar or bracelets. The new Hinata looked at Yamato and the other one training. Jogged toward the training girl. Crouched. They had a brief, silent conversation.


    ¡°Hi, Yamato-sensei.¡± The new one spoke. Was this one a clone or the real girl? ¡°Hinata-chan, the original, is busy with physical training. I¡¯m Jutsu-chan, shadow clone. Please take care of me!¡± The girl¡¯s voice was raspy, like those voices of people with throat injury.


    Yamato just nodded. Somehow he felt old. Really old.

 4.3

    4.3


    Hinata-chan was just so silly. Why name the clones? But it mattered not. I, Jutsu-chan, had the best training schedule of all the four of us. I got to train my control, I got to use cool jutsu. No extreme physical training for me.


    One could argue that Seal-chan also had it good. I mean, the idea of finally breaking the space-time code left me giddy, but that was Seal-chan¡¯s work. Mine was to play ninja, use jutsu, push my control. All the awesome things about being a shinobi, right?


    It didn¡¯t take me long to master the Rasengan after that first attempt at the Land of Waves. I used the jutsu as chakra control exercises, mostly because I had no idea how to explain to Kakashi-sensei how I knew about this one particular jutsu. Which was why I didn¡¯t plan to use it in front of anyone. At least, not until Naruto also learned it. After that, I could say I bribed the brat to teach me, like usual.


    I held the ball of concentrated chakra on the palm of my open hand. One Rasengan wasn¡¯t difficult anymore. I looked at my other hand, tried to create a second Rasengan there. It didn¡¯t work that well. The first one wobbled and looked about to explode, the chakra holding my hair in place dispersed, the threads playing the koto broke, even the chakra holding me stuck at the ceiling wobbled and almost gave out.


    I cut off the attempt at the second Rasengan. Perhaps I should take it easy? Two Rasengans while sitting on the ceiling, playing my koto with threads, holding my hair and clothes in place was a bit of a struggle. Giddy happiness bubbled inside my gut. If it was hard, it meant I had room to improve!


    Besides my control, I trained using jutsu. For now, I was focused on Shushin no jutsu. I couldn¡¯t properly space-time yet, flickering around would have to do meanwhile. It massively increases the speed of movement in short bursts, and while I could already use the jutsu without seals, I could improve the efficiency and activation speed. That was my sole focus for the month.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m


    The first few days felt like vacation time. I trained control, played a lot of music, zoom-zoomed around with shushin. I even went to restaurants and other places to practice being invisible. Clamp on my chakra, dim my presence, gather information, all the fun stuff.


    Of course Hinata-chan had to go and make a mess of things. Communication with the shadow clones was interesting; not exactly telepathy, but I did get the impression Hinata-chan needed to see me, with some measure of urgency. I appreciated she didn¡¯t just unpop me and pop another me for this. I didn¡¯t want the ickiness Hinata-chan was cursed to endure for the rest of the day.


    I left the cafe? I was stealthing at. Flickered to a nearby rooftop. Pumped chakra on my feet and let loose.


    Training field three wasn¡¯t far. It took me just a few minutes to arrive. Hinata-chan, the ever diligent girl, was training. There was another shinobi there, one I hadn¡¯t seen before. Hinata-chan didn¡¯t seem worried or even guarded against him. That was interesting. I approached the training girl.


    ¡°Original-chan, what is it?¡± I husked. Been also practicing lowering my pitch. I wanted that husky-sexy, and I was a clone, injuries didn¡¯t matter to me.


    ¡°New sensei, Yamato,¡± Hinata-chan croaked out, ¡°Kakashi-sensei brought him over.¡±


    I nodded. That was enough info. I knew about Yamato. Should have recognized those eyes and head protector. ¡°Leave it to me.¡± I husked again, to an amused grunt from Hinata-chan. Man, she looked so ruffled out, focused. That combined with her goth looks made her super charming. I wanted to give her a hug, but then there was all that sweat and grit. An involuntary shudder put an end to that idea. Yeah, no. Sorry, Hinata-chan.


    I turned to Yamato. Walked closer. ¡°Hi, Yamato-sensei. Hinata-chan, the original, is busy with physical training. I¡¯m Jutsu-chan, shadow clone. Please take care of me!¡± I didn¡¯t use the husky voice on him. That was for future me to seduce pretty girls with, or when I got older. It just wouldn¡¯t work while I was a kid.


    I pushed the cupcake to his hand. ¡°Naruto-kun, teach me your summoning jutsu?¡±


    Naruto looked really conflicted this time. ¡°Hinata-chan, you need to sign a contract I don¡ª¡±


    I cut the silly boy off, placed a storage seal in his hand together with the cupcakes. Showed him my board. ¡°No, silly. I don¡¯t want to summon the frogs, I just want you to teach me the hand-seals and how to mold my chakra.¡±


    Naruto scratched his head. Still looking confused. He repeated the words from Jiraiya, demonstrated the hand seals. I nodded. Gave him a high-five. Debated joining Jiraiya again. Shook my head, not the time. Went back to my research lab, aka, apartment.


    ...


    One thing became clear to me after studying the examples from space-time jutsu. Unless someone gave me the exact same jutsu the fourth used, with instructions and all, it would be easier to just create a new jutsu that did what I needed than learn space-time like the fourth. To that effect, I listed what exactly I wanted the jutsu to do:


    1 - Create a seal that serves as a beacon. Ideally the beacon should also give a general idea of where it is. Other shinobi should not be able to tap into that beacon. For this one, I had an idea. Tie the beacon to the user¡¯s chakra signature. Considering all I knew, it was unique to each person.


    2 - Put safety measures on the beacon, to prevent teleporting into walls or places I couldn¡¯t fit.


    3 - The signal shouldn¡¯t be intrusive. Can¡¯t have a constant ping in my head all the time from the beacons.


    4 - The actual summoning jutsu should be fast and easy to perform. Can¡¯t be called Black Flash if it takes more than an instant to teleport.


    5 - Range, in the best case scenario it should be tied to chakra cost. With more distant places costing more chakra.


    6 - Chakra cost should be manageable. The jutsu is supposed to be spammable. Can¡¯t get tired after using it just a couple of times.


    7 - The jutsu should not disorient the user. Makes no sense to teleport and arrive spilling my guts.


    I guess it was time to change the world and conquer my dreams. I, Seal-chan the Tenth, would lay the foundations to our future awesomeness.

 4.4

    4.4


    It was three and a half weeks into my training regimen. Today was the last day of bootcamp hell mode.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m


    Even my other clones looked dead on their feet. Jutsu-chan nodded, flickered away toward the village entrance. She¡¯d meet with Yamato there like they¡¯d done for the past weeks. Seal-chan dragged herself to the table with all the diagrams and notes and theories and prototypes, all but collapsing on the chair, head lolling. I was so close, yet so far away. I had the whole logic ready, but I couldn¡¯t figure out how to tie the beacon to my chakra signature, which in turn made it impossible to hone in on that same beacon.


    The prototype version of the jutsu was the simplest version it could be: there were no safety measures, no awareness of the beacon¡¯s destination, no padding to avoid mishaps, it would take a monstrous amount of chakra, activation time was too long to be usable in battle. If I managed to finish the jutsu, refinement would come with more ¨C possibly years of ¨C research. But for now, I just needed to be able to teleport inside the sound four barrier. I glanced at the hunched form of my clone reading the notes on her desk. Even if the task seemed impossible, it was Seal-chan''s work.


    I shook my head. Pushed those complicated thoughts away. I had simpler concerns to worry about. I looked at my third clone: Research-chan sat on the bed cross legged, meditating, like all other versions had done since day one. It had been a faint hope, and while there was progress, it too would take years more to disentangle that.


    I shambled out of the apartment. Activated my weight seals. My clones didn¡¯t need to suffer the added physical strain the whole day. My vision was a bit hazy, things started to blur together a few days ago. I was so tired. But I couldn''t stop. I added just a little more to the weight seals. If I had the energy to complain, it meant I wasn¡¯t training hard enough.


    From jogging to physical exertion, to explosive muscle conditioning, to taijutsu training. I tried to focus on my tasks. My eyes kept drooping, but I couldn¡¯t sleep. If I did, all clones would unpop and it would be a waste of my day.


    ...


    I hit the training dummy for I don¡¯t know how many times. Even in the haziness of exhaustion, I saw the flaw in my form. It wasn¡¯t even due to how tired I was. Whenever I performed this particular attack, my left hand went down, leaving a glaring opening. I learned that the hard way.


    The same day Yamato-sensei came to recruit Jutsu-chan to his hip nature retreat, Kiba wandered in the training field looking for a place to train. I decided that a spar would help my training. Kiba returned the next day, and from there, the info leaked out. Sometimes Kiba came alone, other times he dragged more shinobi to spar. Ino and Sakura took to visiting, although they didn¡¯t join the training.


    The sparring with other shinobi let me identify and fix flaws in my hodgepodge style, except this one that kept returning, no matter how much I tried. I hadn¡¯t found yet what was causing the problem. It wasn¡¯t a matter of my arm moving down. Something in my stance pulled my arm down on and if I didn¡¯t find the root cause, that flaw would stay there. Was it time to give up and ask for help? I¡¯m sure Kakashi-sensei could help me understand what I was doing wrong.


    I lifted my arm again. A selfish and dumb part of me didn¡¯t want to ask for help. I prepared to perform the attack again.


    Information flooded my head. It was the same deluge of information when a clone dispersed. Jutsu just unpopped herself. It was a rollercoaster of memories and impressions and sensations, dwarfed by elation. That disrupted my control and the rest of my clones also unpopped. Even more stuff jammed itself in my head. Moments before the world turned to black, I smiled. Jutsu-chan did it.


    My voice shook a bit. The pain didn¡¯t even bother me. ¡°How long does it last?¡±


    Yamato¡¯s gaze was strange. ¡°For as long as you keep it.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t perfect, I realized. It wasn¡¯t a permanent tracker, it was, after all, created from a wood clone, and even if it was solid wood, it still had the same limitations of a clone. But it was a solution for my problem, even if it was a temporary one.


    I got up, couldn¡¯t stay still, needed to think some more and staying still caused brain fog. In my head, I reviewed Seal-Chan¡¯s Black Flash jutsu prototype. I knew it well enough that I didn''t even need the papers anymore. I remade a few connections, adjusted the chakra path, integrated the inbuilt transmission from the seed.


    ¡°Hinata-san?¡±


    I was lost in my mind. Yeah, it would work. I moved a few of the blocks around, taking into account the changes because of the wood chakra. That left one last issue: how to inscribe the transmission seal? I could make the seed larger, or a different shape. Then another realization hit me like Truck-kun. It was so obvious I wanted to slap myself. I already had a jutsu to use chakra to inscribe a seal instead of using ink.


    I dispelled the seed. Summoned another clone. Transformed it into a wood kunai. Don¡¯t blame me, tired and Yondaime. Pushed my chakra, inscribed the modified beacon on the kunai. I held it there, I could feel the beacon.


    I looked at Yamato. Yamato stared at me. I laughed. Might have danced. I certainly cheered.


    ¡°Yamato-sensei, you¡¯re the fucking best!¡± I called out, threw myself at the man in a hug. A hug I quickly released. I had more important things to do.


    ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± The man asked, looking at my wood kunai and black lines of chakra from my imprinted seal.


    I grinned. Threw the kunai away. It landed a few meters to the side, stuck to the ground. The beacon beckoned to me. Ra?, look at me, making puns. I grinned wider, did the hand seal: Seal of Confrontation. I pushed the last of my chakra, honed on the Kunai. Stopped just before activating the jutsu. Didn¡¯t want Yamato to know it just yet. But one more push, and I¡¯d teleport. I felt it in my guts.


    It worked, it fucking worked! The jutsu was not combat ready. Probably wouldn¡¯t be for months or years. But it was enough to break the barrier.


    ¡°I gotta go!¡± I yelled, Hinata-chan needed to know this. I Jutsu-chan was the bestest, smartest clone! I did ¡ª without trying ¡ª what Seal-chan spent weeks struggling with. She was going to be so mad! Under the confused gaze from Yamato, I unpopped myself.

 4.5

    4.5


    I opened my eyes.


    I was in a room of sorts. Light green walls, sterile smell, white curtains blocking the windows, a small cupboard by the side of the bed, a jar with flowers, a basket full of fruits on the cupboard, a chair by the bed, an Ino sitting on the chair. A smiling Ino sitting on the chair.


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, a bit dumbly. How did I get here? ¡°Hi?¡± Pain laced my throat and I held back in the urge to cough.


    ¡°You¡¯re awake! Just in time too.¡± Ino cheered. She wasn¡¯t in her shinobi gear, but casual clothes. She wore an orange shirt and black shorts, hair tied in a high ponytail. Cute.


    My brain was still a bit mushy. I looked around, thankfully some caring soul put my comms board by the bed. I picked it up, wrote. ¡°Time for?¡±


    ¡°The third exam!¡± Ino said. ¡°It¡¯s in the afternoon, you¡¯ve been asleep for days. The village is bustling with visitors. Even Naruto left already! He was here just a few hours ago. Training exhaustion as well.¡± Ino gave me a look that I couldn¡¯t really understand. ¡°Did you have to overdo it?¡±


    Oh. Oooh, oh! Damn, it was today already? My plan was to stop a few days before the exam to rest, relax and prepare. Shit. Did I have time to prepare? I looked at the windows. The curtains blocked the view from outside. Couldn¡¯t tell what time it was. ¡°What time is it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s still morning.¡±


    Relief flooded my body. I still had time. I needed to plant the beacons, prepare my survival kit, weapons and explosives. Stuff was about to hit the fan. It would be dangerous, but I was determined to do the best I could. I got up, looked at the light blue comfy shirt, white pajama trousers I wore. Urgh, where was my gear? Under Ino¡¯s curious gaze, I pulled the cupboard drawers and doors open. Neatly folded there was my black ninja outfit. Cleaned and ironed. Nice. I pulled off my shirt.


    Ino squeaked. ¡°I¡¯ll wait outside until you finish getting ready.¡± Ducked out of the room. Closed the door.


    I tilted my head in confusion. Shrugged. I wouldn¡¯t have minded her staying, we¡¯re both girls after all. Promptly, I took off the rest of the hospital wear and wore my usual black stuff. Stopped when it came down to the weight seals. Did I need them today? Unfortunately, I did. I still had trouble going all out, and the induced weight sensation helped more than caused troubles at this juncture. I guess goth era isn¡¯t ending anytime soon.


    Once done, I looked myself over. Nothing out of place. I nodded, walked out of the room. Ino, like she promised, was there waiting for me. She looked me over as well, there was this mischievous smirk on her face. Her cheeks rosy. ¡°No black lipstick and make-up today?¡±


    Ino rolled her eyes, sat down. Took a muffin. Ate a bit. Sighed. She looked happy, peaceful. Her eyes focused on the open view of the village, the greenery and exotic architecture, even if I think she didn¡¯t find it exotic, but familiar.


    We ate in silent comfort. I had a lot on my mind. I was worried that even with all my effort, it wouldn¡¯t be enough. I had a plan. It wasn¡¯t a good plan, and I would have to deal with the consequences after, but I wanted to save the old man. I might need to come clean with some details I wanted to keep secret after I saved him, but I was almost sure he was on my corner and would help me. I hoped. I knew I was a bit silly and impressionable, but I don¡¯t think I was dumb. I knew some in the village didn¡¯t like me. It¡¯s been in their eyes all along. Not to the same point as Naruto. I wanted to believe Kakashi-sensei and the Third Hokage were my allies. Even if I wasn¡¯t happy with the old man for not giving me proper instructions and Kakashi for, potentially, train-blocking me.


    I understood it well enough. I wasn¡¯t happy, but I understood. I could be a spy. I might be a spy and not even know it.


    The bustling view of the village drew my attention again. The many strange houses, the people milling about, kids running, laughing and being brats. Despite everything, I liked this place. It felt like home. Imperfect, unfair, and not the utopia I dreamed it would be, but home nonetheless. I did what I could to prepare for the events to come, to change the world again, but now that the time was here, it felt wholly inadequate.


    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    I looked from the village to the blonde girl. Her eyes scanned the horizon, taking in all of the village. My eyes refused to leave her face. ¡°Beautiful,¡± I whispered. My ears burned a bit. I blamed teenage hormones. Definitively teenage hormones.


    Still looking over the village, Ino asked. ¡°Will you win?¡±


    ¡°Probably not.¡± I wrote to her the truth. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can beat Naruto.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Ino looked at the board, jerked back, looked at me, surprised. ¡°What? You beat the crap out of Neji!¡±


    I shrugged. Wrote more. ¡°Naruto is strong. He always gets up. I don¡¯t have any way of stopping him without hurting him.¡± That was a white lie. Yamato taught me how. I just wasn¡¯t willing to reveal that in front of a crowd, nor burn all my chakra in a fight that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.


    Ino¡¯s shoulder sagged, a frown on her face. ¡°Shame.¡±


    The moment didn¡¯t last long. We finished eating. People started to arrive, trickling inside the arena. I got up, Ino did the same. I cleaned any mess from our impromptu picnic and left the roofs. First part of the preparations was over. Only a few hours until crushcrushcrush.

 4.6

    4.6


    I stood inside the arena by Naruto¡¯s side. The rest of the competing genin spread in the same line. The Sunagakure trio was to my right: I was shoulder to shoulder with Temari. Konoha''s other genin were on the opposite side to Naruto. We all faced forward.


    The three viewing areas in front of us were packed. Ninjas and normal people alike, gathered to see children fight and hurt each other, and maybe some cool jutsu. In the central structure, on the second floor, sat the old man Hokage and the Kazekage. Each with their shinobi escort. From my place down in the arena, I glared at the disguised Orochimaru. Or who I thought was Orochimaru.


    By my side, Naruto kept looking left and right. Tiptoeing. Often looking at the arena¡¯s entrance.


    Cool guy proctor, toothpick in his mouth, chastised Naruto. ¡°Stop fidgeting, stand still and face forward, toward the guests. All of you are the stars of these finals.¡±


    I scanned the rows of people here to watch the show-horses exhibition, in a particular section of the central structure, where a group of black haired, white eyed people sat. I saw a young girl by Hiashi¡¯s side. She looked around seven years old. Face set in a serious mask. Black hair framing her young face. Was that Hanabi? A spark of something bloomed in my chest, almost like longing, dampened by Hanabi¡¯s glare that I could feel even from here. What were those Hyuga telling their children about me to cause such a reaction?


    Old man Hokage stood, it was speech time. I turned off my brain. I took deep breaths, thought happy thoughts. On the stand, Sakura, Ino and Kiba sat near each other. Cloaked ninjas spread among the spectators, animal masks hidden beneath the hood. If things went the same as before, Kabuto was disguised as one of the ANBU. I tried to push my perception, feel the chakra around. If I found Kabuto, I could report him, or maybe try taking him out in the confusion. Blinding pain greeted my attempts. There were too many shinobi inside the arena for me to use the chakra perception.


    ¡°Please sit back and enjoy!¡± Old man Hokage called out at the end of his speech. Returned to his seat.


    Proctor-san turned to us after the old man sat down. ¡°Listen up, all of you. This is the last exam. The landscape may be different, but as in the second exam preliminaries, there¡¯s no rules. You fight until one of you dies or admits defeat.¡± He looked at each of us. ¡°Unless I determine that a clear winner has already been decided, in which case I¡¯ll stop the match before anyone is killed, understood?¡±


    No one said anything. At least they didn¡¯t want to blatantly kill us young shinobi.


    ¡°All right¡ª¡±


    Naruto looked around again, raised his hand. Interrupted Proctor-san. ¡°Sasuke isn¡¯t here yet. What happens if he doesn¡¯t arrive until his match starts?¡±


    ¡°He loses by forfeit.¡± Proctor-san declared. He waited for a moment. No other question came his way. ¡°First match Uzumaki Naruto versus Hinata. You two stay down here, the rest of you proceed to the waiting room outside the arena.¡±


    A fist broke the earth under me. Naruto, coated in red glowing evil chakra, punched me like he had something against me. Like I just tried to explode him to bits. Sunshine brat had no doton jutsu, and just brute forced his way from under the earth. He had this degree of control over Kurama¡¯s chakra already? What a cheat. Caught off guard, I couldn¡¯t move with the impact this time. I saw stars, my feet left the ground. Damned Naruto took no pity on me, clones popped all around. Three of them were by my side. Kicked me higher. Ugh, no way. I braced for the pain. Four clones punched me down. Another Naruto was ready to plaster me when I swapped positions with one of Naruto¡¯s own clones. I flickered away. Hid behind one fallen tree.


    Shit, that was too close. My back hurt, I had trouble breathing. It hurt. Damn cool protag MC cheat. I wasn¡¯t jelly of Naruto. No way. I wanted no part of whatever powerup Naruto got at the cost of hosting the ninetails. Even if it was still bullshit. Not even one tail mode yet and he was already almost physically stronger than me.


    Instead of fighting with himself like he did with Kakashi-sensei, he unpopped the clones. A red eyed Naruto turned, scanned the arena for my presence.


    Something burned inside my chest. I wanted to go all out, to give the brat a fight he wouldn¡¯t forget, to carve my name, for the briefest of moments in the mind of those watching. I sighed. Squashed that feeling, threw it away. I left my hiding spot behind one of the fallen trees. Naruto¡¯s eyes zeroed on me instantly. I walked toward him, he walked towards me. I could have tried to hide, but well, time to give the audience a show, right?


    ¡°Win or lose.¡± I murmured.


    ¡°Win or lose.¡± Red-eyed Naruto grinned.


    I pumped my body full of chakra. Flickered to his side. I punched his head. Unfortunately, unlike Neji who didn¡¯t react in time, Naruto was ready for me. His hand lashed out, grabbed onto my shirt. Damn brat held me there, punched me in the face. Again, and again. For each one punch Naruto threw, I hit him three or four times, but it was a losing battle. I didn¡¯t have Naruto¡¯s stamina. Each punch took a lot out of me. After the tenth hit, when I felt my ribs crack, my face swollen, and the pain in my stomach intensify, I decided it was enough. Instead of hitting Naruto, I caught his fist.


    Naruto¡¯s face was bruised and swelling. I was sure my own wasn¡¯t better. Possibilities crawled inside my head: Turn my arm into wood, wrap wood around the brat, seal away the Kyuubi chakra. Summon wood clones, trap Naruto inside a barrier, trap Naruto inside an explosive barrier. Or explosions, always explosions.


    It was, in the end, just a pipe dream. I knew only the theory about chakra sealing. Yamato explained and demonstrated it to me. I knew the hand seals. He never explicitly said it could be used to seal the jinchuriki, but what else would it be? Nature transformation wasn¡¯t my forte, it creeped me out too much to use at a moment¡¯s notice. Explosive barrier would work, but I didn¡¯t want to kill, or cripple the brat.


    ¡°I surrender.¡± I gritted out, much to his confusion, and my own frustration.


    ¡°What?¡± Naruto asked. Released my shirt. His eyes that burned red turned baby blue.


    Proctor guy appeared by our side. ¡°Winner is Uzumaki Naruto,¡± he declared.

 4.7

    4.7


    Naruto wasn¡¯t happy with me or with how the fight ended. Not one bit, if the glare he sent my way meant anything. I expected him to holler, to yell and cause a mess. He just glared. Silently. He was still silent when we left the arena and entered the corridor leading to the waiting area.


    I didn¡¯t want to leave yet another thing to fester. I still felt guilty over the whole Sasuke situation, and it was just easier to talk with Naruto, for some reason. I wrote on my board, presented it to the brat. ¡°Naruto-kun, something is wrong, haven¡¯t you noticed it?¡±


    Naruto¡¯s glare worsened. He crossed his arms. ¡°Noticed what?¡±


    Well, good thing I wasn¡¯t really lying. ¡°In the crowd up there, the amount of ANBU shinobi in disguise.¡±


    ¡°An-what? What are you talking about?¡± Naruto asked, sounded interested.


    I forgot Naruto didn¡¯t really know much about how the village operated, even after yelling that he was gonna be the Hokage left and right. I erased the previous message, wrote another. ¡°Black ops shinobi, the Hokage secret police. They aren¡¯t supposed to be out and about. I think Orochimaru is going to attack again.¡±


    Naruto looked left and right, like Orochimaru would attack right now. ¡°That freaky snake lady?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I got closer, showed him the next message. ¡°I don¡¯t have the same stamina as you do Naruto-kun. I can¡¯t get up like you always do.¡± I praised the brat, just a bit. No, I wasn¡¯t feeling guilty about not fighting him properly. ¡°If we went all out, and Orochimaru attacked again...¡± I left the outcome unwritten.


    Naruto furrowed his brow. ¡°What should we do? Tell Kakashi-sensei? Where is Kakashi-sensei?¡±


    I dismissed his idea. ¡°Sensei is probably helping Sasuke train. We can only wait and see. Be alert, but don¡¯t let others realize you know, we don¡¯t want to scare the people watching and let the attackers know we know.¡±


    Naruto squinted his eyes, nodded.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, or we¡¯ll miss the next fight.¡± I turned around, ran up towards the waiting area. I hoped this would be enough to patch things up. If not, I would think of another way to appease the sunshine brat. Perhaps more cupcakes? I was already working on the third cupcake of the special series, this next one dedicated to Kakashi-sensei.


    Choji wasn¡¯t immune to crowd peer pressure. The boy looked more nervous with each yell from the crowd. His hands flashed on multiple seals, and big ball Choji appeared again.


    That, at least, got the crowd happy again.


    It wasn¡¯t a great move. Human cannonball Choji sped toward Shikamaru, throwing dirt and dust into the air. The moment he got close enough, Shikamaru¡¯s shadow connected to the fast moving ball. In a display of their group team-jutsu, Shikamaru directed the ball away from him, and into a wall. Choji crashed, the walls shook, dust billowed. When the commotion died, big ball Choji was still stuck to the wall. Soon after he released his jutsu, but wasn¡¯t in any condition to continue the fight. Proctor guy called out Shikamaru as the winner.


    There were a few claps here and there. Shikamaru scowled, massaged his shoulder, prepared to leave. He didn¡¯t even get the chance to climb up to rest. After Choji was escorted out of the arena, proctor guy called the next competitor. Temari.


    She got down on her flashy giant fan. This one got the crowd happy and yelling. She didn¡¯t even wait until proctor guy called the fight. She waved her giant fan, blew wind everywhere. Having already seen the shadow jutsu in action, she, too, kept from the shadowed area, which didn¡¯t save her. It went the same classic way: Shikamaru tricked the girl to flee from the flying kunai parachute, only to catch her by using the hole Naruto dug in his fight with me. Then, much to everyone¡¯s surprise except those who really knew him, Shikamaru surrendered, after having succeeded in his plot to catch the girl.


    That got some cussing from everyone around. Naruto and Kiba hollered their displeasure. Sakura looked thoughtful. Ino scowled. At least Ino¡¯s scowling face was cute, but I might be biased.


    ¡°Why did he give up? Is he stupid or something?!¡± Naruto kept hollering. ¡°That really makes me mad! I¡¯m gonna go give him a lecture.¡± Then the sunshine brat jumped into the arena. Pointed at Shikamaru. ¡°Stupidhead!¡± Hollered again.


    The comedy down in the arena didn¡¯t keep the crowd entertained forever. Everyone wanted a piece of the Uchiha genius, the top of the year rookie. It hadn¡¯t been five minutes when the crowd got restless again.


    ¡°What¡¯s up with the next fight? Where¡¯s Uchiha?¡±


    The crowd wasn¡¯t disappointed for long. A whirlwind of leaves filled the center of the arena. Three shinobi stood there: Kakashi-sensei with his hands in his pockets and a cool man¡¯s pose. An older, cooler Uchiha, dressed in the clan¡¯s traditional dark blue with his hand on Emosuke¡¯s shoulder. Did Itachi help Sasuke train as well? And the most wanted boy Sasuke, who looked cocky, confident, dressed in a strange black singlet, left arm covered in bandages and dark bracelets.


    By my side, Sakura looked smitten, Ino blushed.


    That moment, I realized Sasuke had a very punchable face. I hoped Gaara did the punching for me.

 4.8

    4.8


    Proctor-san looked at Emosuke; there was a small smirk on his face. ¡°Your name?¡±


    Emosuke¡¯s eyes glinted, sharp. ¡°Uchiha Sasuke.¡±


    Completely unaware of the mood, Naruto butted in. ¡°Hey! You¡¯re real late huh? I was wondering if you got cold feet about fighting me.¡±


    To my immense surprise, Sasuke grinned. ¡°Heh, chill out you big dork, I gotta beat someone else first.¡± Sasuke¡¯s eyes were glued to the waiting area, to Gaara, most likely. He looked back at Naruto. ¡°From that attitude, you won against Hinata?¡±


    Naruto¡¯s face soured, before he grinned even wider. ¡°And now I get to beat the crap outta you!¡±


    While sunshine brat teased emosuke, Kakashi scratched the back of his head, looked at Shikamaru, Naruto and finally the proctor. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me... Sasuke lost by forfeit?¡± He asked.


    There was a bit more back and forth between sensei and the proctor. The gist of the talk was about the same. Politics postponed the match. No one wanted the Uchiha heir to lose without fighting. Itachi, who had been silent the whole time, touched Sasuke¡¯s forehead, then flickered away. Kakashi said a few more words, also left.


    Proctor-san called Gaara out. ¡°Gaara, come down.¡±


    At that point, Naruto and Shikamaru left the arena. The anticipation among the crowd and other shinobi was palpable. I knew I was missing something here. In the original story, Sasuke was famous for being the ¡®last¡¯ Uchiha, but that wasn¡¯t the case anymore, most of his clan was still alive. What was the reason for all this hullabaloo over his fight? Clan politics? Propaganda? I regretted not trying to learn more about the affairs of the village, something I probably should rectify as soon as possible.


    Gaara arrived, faced off against Sasuke. Psycho boy Gaara looked possessed.


    Kakashi-sensei arrived at the stands, waved at us. ¡°Yo, guys. And you too Lee, Gai.¡± He addressed the two other shinobi that had stopped to watch the match. Lee was still dressed in a hospital gown and walking with crutches. ¡°Hinata-chan, I¡¯m sorry I missed your match.¡±


    I nodded at the apology. Before sensei mentioned it, I wasn¡¯t even thinking about that, but now that he apologized, I did feel a bit miffed that he wasn¡¯t here to see my beautiful explosions, even if I never expected him to be here in the first place. Conversation sparked between the two jounin, but I didn¡¯t pay attention. Anticipation started to build ever since Gaara got down into the arena.


    ¡°Begin!¡± Proctor-san called out.


    Instead of duking it out like a good shinobi should do, Gaara talked with himself. It looked creepy if one didn¡¯t know his conversation was with the one tail. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but don¡¯t worry, this time I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be tasty.¡± Sand billowed from the container on Gaara¡¯s back, floated around him.


    Giant serpents, with strange red colored fabric around their neck appeared in the distance. Even from here, I could see the giant monsters outside the village. They dove toward the walls, broke through it and spilled inside, destroying everything in their path. Anyone still awake in the stands was attacked by disguised Sunagakure and Otogakure shinobi, who until now pretended to watch the battle.


    I flickered toward the stand railing. Couldn¡¯t afford to miss the opportunity to disrupt the Sound Four¡¯s barrier.


    Movement caught my attention. Kankuro and Temari jumped inside the arena. When I wasn¡¯t looking, the Sand team jounin moved closer to Gaara, faced the proctor. With a few words from the jounin, they took the injured Gaara, leaped over the arena¡¯s walls, fled the place. Sasuke looked confused for a moment, until proctor talked with him. The Uchiha heir nodded, followed the Suna shinobi.


    A blur of movement sped toward me. A wash of cold cruel intent pressed against me, but it was nothing compared to Orochimaru¡¯s or even Danzo¡¯s. I turned to face the enemy, barely had time to grab a kunai, before the shinobi was on me.


    Everything then was a haze of movement. I parried, dodged, counter attacked. The enemy wasn¡¯t as fast as me, but they were more experienced. It felt like I was fighting three people at the same time. I ducked under a rock projectile aimed at my head, then flickered away from the sand clone behind me. I flickered forward, trying to end the fight with a sudden attack, but the shinobi expected that move, blocked my attack, retaliated with another of his.


    On the stands, Kakashi flickered in front of Sakura, killed two attacking ninjas. Gai straight up punched a guy through the wall.


    Burst of flames, wind-blades, stone lances, shuriken. Ninja killed ninja while normal people slept under Kabuto¡¯s genjutsu.


    Up on the roof of the middle viewer stand, a purple barrier appeared. It covered most of the structure. Shit, now was the time and I couldn¡¯t let this fucker derail all my plans. The ninja attacking me was relentless. I threw a normal explosive tag at him, out popped three shadow clones. Clone one and clone two picked up the attack, giving me some breathing room.


    I cast my mind to the beacon I left there earlier in the day while I flir¡ª had a picnic with Ino. A lone wood clone turned beacon. A chance to change the world again.


    The third clone extended her hands. I gave Suicide Clone-chan the bomb. You see, I had no intention of getting close to Orochimaru who could disable me with a look, or any of the previous Hokage, who were by all intents and purposes literal gods of shinobi. I wasn¡¯t arrogant enough to think I could actually influence that fight. I was liable to make things worse for the Third if I went there, because I¡¯m sure the old man would try to protect me at the cost of his own safety. No, my plan was just to explode one of the sound four. Without one of them, the barrier integrity would be compromised and the ANBU could do their job and join the fight, protect the Third.


    I would need to explain later how I knew to leave a teleport beacon there, but that was a concern for the future. I concentrated on my newly developed jutsu, pushed my mind toward the beacon. I connected to it, It was still there. I looked at Suicide Clone-chan, saluted her sacrifice.


    An explosion at the roofs shook me and the whole arena.


    In the central viewing stands, the purple barrier bulged and contorted, breaking like glass before fading from view. Every manner of roots, tree branches, explosions, water and more cascaded from the roof. Hit the still sleeping people on the stands. The beacon faded from my mind before clone-chan could teleport.


    I stood frozen, watching things spiral out of control. What just happened?

 4.9

    4.9


    The screams of the dying crowd hit me first, then a thrown kunai, and the explosion from an exploding tag. Like a moron, me and my clones stopped to watch the rooftop in the middle of an active battlefield, of course the enemy took the opportunity to attack. The kunai punctured my arm, the tag took out my clones, fire and shrapnels pierced my skin, sent pain into my body. I fell back, hit a wall. White filled my vision. Pain dominated my mind.


    Even through the haze of pain, I saw things on top of the central viewing area had become even more frantic. Detonations and the impact of S-rank jutsu used by S-rank shinobi shook the whole arena again and again. Tore chunks out of the surrounding.


    I got up, pulled the kunai from my arm, prayed to any god out there that it wasn''t poisoned. Drank an antidote, just to be sure. I looked around for my enemy. My clones had dispersed, and the shinobi who attacked me was dead already. Near the dead enemy, another Konoha¡¯s shinobi fighting two Oto-nins. Right, gotta get my shit together. I looked at the stands again. I couldn¡¯t see Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru or Shino. Did Kakashi send them after Sasuke like he did in canon?


    This was uncharted territory for me. Things changed, even if I had not personally intervened. Why? Fate-kun had been insistent on keeping things as close to canon as possible. I didn¡¯t know if this was a better outcome. I would reflect on that later, right now I had to do what a shinobi had to do. A quick glance showed that most of the shinobi ignored the civilians, often fighting around the sleeping people while Konoha¡¯s shinobi tried to force the enemies away. Kakashi-sensei and Gai were nowhere around, same as most of the ANBU. None of the Konoha¡¯s shinobi fighting near me were people I knew, which decided things: I was armed and dressed in my custom shinobi gear, most people saw me fight in the first match. I was a target. Staying near the civilians would only cause more trouble for them. I turned from the stands, flickered down toward the arena.


    The battle still waged there.


    I pumped my body full of chakra, flickered behind an enemy. Stabbed their back with my special exploding kunai, or that is what I tried. By this point, I guessed all the weak shinobi had either died or retreated already. The Suna shinobi whirled, deflected my attack. His hands blurred, and the earth beneath me shook. An earth spike lanced up toward me. With a burst of speed that would leave Emosuke jelly, something I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do before hell month training, I dodged, moved behind the Suna-nin. I threw a kunai as a distraction. While the shinobi blocked my attack, four paper seals flew from my hands, lodged around the poor bastard.


    I flickered back, watched the barrier sprang into existence. The four tags that created the barrier exploded. The enclosed detonation exploded the enemy into little chunks. It was gory, but oh so beautiful.


    From the corner of my eye, I saw another Otogakure shinobi running toward the other side of the arena, almost as if fleeing. They passed nearby me. I reacted on instinct, threw an exploding kunai. The kunoichi moved fast, changing direction abruptly, evading the explosion. She was a pink haired, slender woman, wearing a black shirt under a tan tunic with short sleeves. The tunic had a modified yin-yang symbol on the hem, it was all white with no black part. She wore black arm-warmers, black skin-tight shorts, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around her waist.


    Something in my brain squealed at that image. I¡¯m certain she was someone from the story, but I couldn¡¯t put a name to the person.


    The woman narrowed her eyes, jaw tightened. I flickered forward, ready to also explode the woman. It didn¡¯t happen. The kunoichi fled with a burst of chakra and speed that surprised me. I chased. Pink-chan evaded my throw kunai, shuriken wasn¡¯t enough to stop her, every burst of speed from my side was matched with another by hers. Her chakra kept getting higher and higher.


    Pink-chan carried a tube-like thing, which turned out to be a flute. Even while fleeing and evading me, the kunoichi had the time to play her flute. The resulting melody was a tune that carried a discordant, chilling vibrato that creeped me out. Even more when chakra tendrils crawled inside my head. Fortunately, aside from Orochimaru, it didn¡¯t seem any other person could put me in a genjutsu. My own chakra surged, slurped the invading technique.


    ¡°Running away from me again?¡± Kakashi taunted.


    ¡°For now, yes.¡± Kabuto admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t want to show you my jutsu so you can copy them. Even if it seems you haven¡¯t fully mastered that eye.¡±


    There was a tense moment of silence. It broke when Tayuya cursed, before joining back with the other three. ¡°Fucking hell.¡±


    ¡°Well then.¡± Kabuto said. Smoke exploded from their location and when it cleared, none of the four were in sight anymore.


    Before I could think things through, I flickered up toward the Hokage battle. With Kabuto gone, the genjutsu he used to keep people asleep dispersed, and now the civilians started to panic, yell and cry. The rooftop was a maze of roots and branches. A few ANBU shinobi were around.


    Standing over Orochimaru¡¯s dead body were a few shinobi of note: The third Hokage, dressed for battle in his black ninja gear. A tall, muscular monkey, dressed in shinobi gear, with long flowing white hair, the Third summon¡¯s: Enma the monkey king. A dark haired man dressed in white kimono. Like he had eyes in the back of his head, he turned at my approach, looked at me with his white eyes. The Hyuga guy looked a lot like Hiashi, but the lack of open hostility in his eyes told me it was uncle Hizashi instead. Hizashi gave me an almost invisible nod.


    What? Wasn''t he mad I almost killed Neji?


    His action attracted the attention of other shinobi. A couple of ANBU nearby turned and looked at me as well. One particular ANBU had a mask with a red inverted triangle in the forehead, with lines from the border of the mask to the eyes. Red wave patterns on the side. It resembled a bird beak, like a hawk. The mask wasn¡¯t the problem. What scared the crap out of me was the red eyes that watched from behind it. Like a four point shuriken.


    It was just a brief glance, but one that shook me to the core. Wasn¡¯t that Shisui?


    More and more shinobi arrived. The third didn¡¯t seem to be in a good shape. But I also didn¡¯t see any sword wounds on his back. The ANBU I was pretty sure was Shisui leaned closer to the Third, whispered something. The old man nodded, turned to face me.


    There, on his torso, a strange spiral seal, which reminded me a lot of Naruto¡¯s own jinchuriki seal. The mark of the Shinigami. My face fell. In the end, none of my meddling changed the outcome. The old man died. Even if he was still alive.

 4.10

    4.10


    Old man Hokage smiled, waved. Turned back to talk with all the assembled shinobi.


    I didn''t stay there. I couldn''t stay there. There was nothing for me to do or see. Not with all those people up there. The noise from the viewer stands had grown a lot in the moments I was woolgathering up here. With one last regretful look at the God of Shinobi, and a glance at Orochimaru''s dead body, I left.


    From the roof I flickered to the stands. My first priority was to make sure Ino¡ª I mean¡ª the people I knew were safe. A brief look around still reveals none of my teammates. I moved closer to the blonde, popped out my board, wrote. ¡°Are you hurt?¡±


    Ino was still confused. She looked around, eyes wide and slack jawed. ¡°Hinata? What happened?¡±


    ¡°The village got attacked, Sunagakure and Otogakure.¡±


    ¡°Shit! I slept through it all?¡±


    I nodded, patted her head. She didn''t even react to my gesture. I guess the situation was that bad.


    ¡°Mom!¡± Ino jumped up, started to run, stopped a few paces later. Turned to me. Eyes went even wider. ¡°Are you okay? You''re bleeding!¡±


    I waved her off, the injury wasn''t as bad as it looked. ¡°Go check your family. And stay safe.¡± I wrote.


    Ino looked at the direction she was headed to, then back to me. ¡°Come with me?¡±


    I looked around. There was a lot I could do to help here. I needed to find Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. I should, by all means, stay here to help. I turned to Ino, nodded. She gave me a small, tight smile. She ran toward her house. I followed, feeling just a bit guilty.


    I didn¡¯t consider it before. There was no fade to black and plot returning three years later when Naruto arrived back at Konoha. What would happen to me? To Sasuke? To Sakura?


    A slithering sound caught my attention. I tensed, looked about. I felt no chakra that wasn¡¯t there a moment before. The noise came again, this time louder. From beneath the door, a brown snake sneaked inside the apartment. I froze up, trying my best to remain unseen.


    Fucking no. Was that Orochimaru? Was this some possession shit? Did that many shinobi really let the murderhobo disguise as a snake and flee?


    The snake¡¯s tongue flickered, it turned toward me. Slithered closer. I jumped out, away from it. Took a kunai, threw at the snake. Against all odds, I hit the thing. But instead of piercing the snake¡¯s scales, the clang was like metal hitting metal. The kunai flew away, the snake remained unhurt.


    To my utter bafflement, the snake didn¡¯t attack. Instead, it changed shape. The scaled form transformed into the deadly metal blade of Orochimaru¡¯s sword. Oh, shit. The sword could do that. There was that time, when Orochimaru stabbed Sai, it did that. But why was the sword here?


    I stared at the sword, that, like any sword, didn¡¯t stare back. It just stayed there, on the ground, threatening me without doing anything. I didn¡¯t know what to do. Was that thing safe? Would it still follow me if I left the apartment? Could I even leave the apartment?


    Seconds turned to minutes. The sword didn¡¯t transform back into a snake. I didn¡¯t have the courage to approach it. The sheer tension of it all faded, somewhat. It was hard to keep tense when the sword wasn¡¯t doing anything and exhaustion weighed on my mind. To leave the apartment, I had two choices. Go past the sword, out the front door. Go past the sword toward the bedroom and out of the window. None of those choices were great.


    I didn¡¯t feel any chakra or anything that said Orochimaru was hidden inside that sword. I didn¡¯t even know if that was possible. I don¡¯t think the man ever possessed any inanimate object in canon. But the sword clearly wasn¡¯t inanimate. Or was it?


    I took a step closer, then another when nothing changed. I flickered past the thing, threw the door open, burst outside. I took the highway, ran further away. My mind raced. What could I do here, who could I seek out? The Hokage tower? I didn''t want to go there, not after failing to save the old man. Kakashi-sensei? Where would I find him? Yamato? I also didn''t have any way of contacting the jounin.


    My steps led me to the hospital again. I passed by Sasuke''s room, a brief glance inside and I saw his mother sitting by the sleeping boy''s bed. I didn''t go in. Sasuke never talked about family, never invited us to visit. Didn''t seem right to butt in right now. I kept going down the hallway, entered Naruto''s room. I hadn''t brought any flowers, or fresh fruits. The room was empty save for the sleeping brat. I pulled a chair from near the bed, sat down.


    The stress of the whole day came crashing down. The third was dead. I failed. It started with a scowl, then my throat closed up. I tried to imagine good things, happy things. None came to mind. To disguise the tears, I leaned forward, laid my face on my arms, used the bed as support. I don''t remember when I fell asleep.

 4.11

    4.11


    I snapped awake and ready to battle. My hands went to my waist pouch, looking for my kunai. The chair tumbled behind me, crashed with a loud bang. On the bed in front of me, Naruto stirred, rolled to the side, mumbled something I couldn¡¯t understand, drooled on the mattress, kept sleeping.


    I took deep breaths through the nose, exhaled slowly. I had the worst nightmare ever. Even if I couldn¡¯t recall it now. Something about snakes and swords and stuff. I shuddered at the thought. I took more deep breaths. It felt like Orochimaru was hidden in the shadows, waiting for me to lower my guard.


    ¡°Hinata-chan.¡± Kakashi-sensei¡¯s voice sounded from behind me. I was glad I didn¡¯t normally talk, or I would have yelled high and embarrassing. Even so, I still jumped, and turned toward the voice. Lazy Kakashi looked even more tired than usual. His jounin uniform still had marks of battle, and his eyes were even more dead than normal. He looked at the fallen chair, the bed and the sleeping Naruto. ¡°Trouble sleeping?¡±


    I shook my head. Wiped away a bit of drool with the back of my hand. Cleaned the crust from my eyes. Cool guy Kakashi waited until I composed myself. What a chad. When I was done, I popped my board. ¡°Something at my apartment last night. Didn¡¯t know where else to go.¡±


    Bless the man, his first question wasn¡¯t about what happened. ¡°Are you hurt?¡±


    I felt all fuzzy and warm at the question, even if a nagging voice in the back of my mind whispered this was manipulation 101. I looked at my wounds, noticed most had already scabbed over and now looked weeks old. I shook my head. Wrote more. ¡°A snake, which transformed into a sword. It scared me. I left the apartment and came here.¡±


    Kakashi-sensei nodded, looked me over. ¡°I¡¯ll check it out. Wait until I come back.¡±


    I nodded. Wasn¡¯t planning on going anywhere near anything belonging to Orochimaru. No sir, thank you sir. Kakashi left after that. I wasn¡¯t sure what to do now. Naruto was still asleep, and I didn¡¯t want to wake him. I stepped outside, looked about. Sasuke¡¯s door was closed. Didn¡¯t seem worth checking it again. The embarrassing comments from his mother last time still caused my cheeks to burn when I remembered it. I meandered about, asked a passing nurse where I could find Sakura-chan¡¯s room.


    My steps took me there. I stood in front of the door, hesitated just for a moment, knocked.


    An older female voice answered. ¡°Come in.¡±


    I opened the door a smidgen, peeked inside. Sakura¡¯s mom sat by the side of the bed. Sakura was still sleeping or unconscious, didn¡¯t know which. The woman smiled at me, waved me inside. I sat down by the bed. Looked at Haruno Mebuki.


    I gave the older girl a peck on the cheeks. She gave me a small smile back.


    ¡°Go on up,¡± she said after wiping away the tears. ¡°They¡¯re waiting for you.¡±


    I looked at the stairs leading up, then at Secretary-chan again. I gave her another hug, then left my two last seals for the woman. One with a thermos and tea, another with sweets. I hoped it would make her day just a bit better. Then I fled up the stairs.


    It was strange to see the tower in such disarray. In all the times I came here before, there was always this sense of calm urgency. Like every ninja had an important task they needed to attend to. Now, most just looked tired, and beaten up. A lot of the ninjas still wore battle scarred vests. It seems none of them had slept after the attack. I knocked at the indicated door, entered when called.


    A chunin looked up from behind a mountain of papers. ¡°Name?¡±


    I popped my board, wrote: ¡°Hinata.¡±


    Chunin-san took a notebook from his mountain of paper, flipped a few pages. Looked back at me, then at the notebook again. ¡°You¡¯re late.¡± He said, but continued without giving me a chance to say anything in response. ¡°Just wait there a moment, someone will come to take your report.¡±


    I nodded at that. Looked about. There was nowhere to sit. I leaned against the wall. I don¡¯t think this guy deserved my good impression¡¯s pastries kit, he didn¡¯t leave a good impression. Not that I had one to give, even if I wanted. My supplies were utterly depleted. Minutes passed with the only sound being the man¡¯s writing. About ten minutes later, the door opened.


    In entered a shinobi I knew. Long ash blond hair, with a spiky top ending in a ponytail. A sharp jaw, light green eyes, same as Ino¡¯s. Protector wore over his forehead. Standard flak jacket over a black outfit, with a long black overcoat on top of it all.


    I bowed to the man. He nodded back.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take it from here.¡± Ino¡¯s dad said to the chunin, who nodded in response. ¡°Follow me, Hinata-chan.¡± Inoichi said to me, then instead of leading me up or to another room, we took the stairs down. And down we went until I was certain we were underground. Shit.

 4.12

    4.12


    Down stairs, corridors with sturdy bare stone walls, and dungeon-like passages I followed Inoichi. Was this where they kept captured enemy ninjas? I didn¡¯t know. Probably not. I don¡¯t think they would keep dangerous enemies so close to the administrative center of the village. Why was I here? We crossed paths with a few other shinobi, all dressed in the same oppressive black attire Ibiki wore during the first phase of the chunin exam. It was all very sus. I think I was in a spot of trouble.


    We stopped in front of a heavy wooden door. Inoichi pushed it open, looked at me.


    I shrugged. It wasn¡¯t like I could refuse. I stepped inside. Soft white walls, two opposite couches and a small center table. Warm light above illuminated the room. No windows or any other door. Chakra bundles across the wall to the right side of the door. An observation room? I didn¡¯t follow protocol. I sat down before being invited to.


    Inoichi followed me inside, closed the door after him. Sat down on the other couch.


    ¡°Thank you for looking after Ino during the attack.¡± Inoichi gave me a sort of half seated bow. ¡°I¡¯m glad she has such good friends.¡±


    That wasn¡¯t what I had been expecting. For a moment, I thought the man would put me in shackles, throw me into a dank, dark little room, accuse me of some conspiracy or another. Exile me. Did they exile shinobi? I didn¡¯t think so. I popped my board out. Wrote my question. ¡°Am I in trouble?¡± I guess being direct wouldn¡¯t hurt.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s¡ª¡± A knock at the door interrupted the man. ¡°Just a moment,¡± he said. Got up, went to the door. On the other side, a kunoichi with dark hair held a bunch of papers. She offered them up. Inoichi took them. ¡°Thank you.¡± He said. The woman bowed, left. The door closed again. Inoichi returned to the couch, sat down. Placed the papers on the table. ¡°Tell me about yesterday¡¯s events?¡±


    This wasn¡¯t how normally I made my reports, but I guessed the situation was strange enough with the attack and the Hokage¡¯s death. I recounted the things I remembered. Seeing the ANBU shinobi among the crowd, suspecting something could happen during the matches, not going all out against Naruto to save my chakra and stamina. I told him what I remembered about the ninjas I fought. The conversation between Kabuto, Kakashi and the shinobi from sand, which I still didn¡¯t know the name of. I described my fight with Tayuya, her jutsus, speed, actions. I told him about going up the roof, seeing Orochimaru¡¯s body. Leaving and helping Ino reach her house. The other parts after that I left out, at least until the part about the sword. I recounted the events, about Kakashi¡¯s suggestion and lastly my arrival here.Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com


    Inoichi didn¡¯t push. ¡°Tell me about the dreams you told ¡®Wolf-san¡¯ when you were five.¡±


    That was a big jump. I guess he wasn¡¯t interested in my years in the academy. I tilted my head. Inoichi didn¡¯t talk about the S-rank mission first. That was my code with Kakashi-sensei. Those were his instructions to me. Never talk about it to anyone, but if someone wanted to talk, they¡¯d mention the S-rank mission first. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about.¡± I wrote.


    The page flip stopped mid gesture. Ino¡¯s father looked up from his papers to me. ¡°I work for the intelligence division. I have access to all the reports. There¡¯s no need to keep that information secret.¡±


    To make my point, I erased my message, wrote the same thing again. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about.¡± Even if he was from the intelligence division, he didn¡¯t know the code. I wasn¡¯t about to ignore the mission Kakashi-sensei gave me when I was five.


    Inoichi placed the papers down, rifled through the others, picked a different one. ¡°I¡¯ve been having dreams.¡± He read out loud. ¡°In my dreams, I¡¯m not myself. But someone called Orochimaru.¡± He placed the paper down, took another. ¡°This is a report made by Wolf-San of the ANBU.¡± Inoichi looked at me. ¡°Signs of stress, higher heart rate, frequent deep breaths, constant fidgeting, avoids eye contact.¡± He looked at me. ¡°You know what those point out to?¡±


    I knew. I learned about it at the academy. Kunoichi lessons talked a lot about reading body language. A ninja needed to know when they were being lied to. Those were the most common things to look out for. But why now? It¡¯s been seven years already. Was it because the Third was dead? Couldn¡¯t they even wait until his corpse cooled down?


    You think I lied. I was about to write, but realized the trick. The man wanted me to admit to knowing about the dreams by going at it from another angle. I shrugged, there was nothing I could say here, even if my reaction gave a lot away.


    Like he had read my mind, but probably just interpreted my body reactions, the man spoke again. ¡°I know you lied then, and that you are lying now. It isn¡¯t smart to lie.¡± He put the papers down. Looked at me. His voice was emotionless, cold. ¡°Tell me about your dreams.¡±

 4.13

    4.13


    We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity but wasn''t more than just a few seconds. I wrote on my board again. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about.¡± No secret code, no talking.


    Inoichi pushed back into his couch, looked between me and the papers. ¡°Must we make this unpleasant?¡±


    What kind of Danzo bullshit was this? I would have expected this sort of behavior had the man still roamed Konoha¡¯s darkness, but he was gone. For years. Why now?


    I kept my eyes fixed on the man, all the academy training coming back. Don¡¯t show fear, don¡¯t show vulnerability. You must be strong at all times or the enemy will use any opportunity you give to dig deeper. The need to think of Ino¡¯s father as an enemy hackled me, but these were the circumstances. Being tortured, if that was what the man implied, would suck. Real bad. I don¡¯t think I had a strong will and pretty much would break fast. But disobeying the mission was also out of the question. The only thing I could think of was to escape. I don¡¯t think Konoha¡¯s ninja knew about my prototype flying thunder god jutsu yet, or the beacon I left at the apartment. Should I be happy I never got to use the new jutsu to save the Third?


    I liked Konoha. The place wasn¡¯t perfect, or fair, but it was home. If they tried to torture information out of me, I¡¯d escape, look for Kakashi-sensei. He would clear things up, I hope. If not, well, I didn¡¯t know what to do. Evil Hinata route? Where would I even go? Do an Itachi routine and join Akatsuki as a spy? Hunt Danzo? I erased the words on my board, wrote the same thing for the fourth time. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about.¡±


    Inoichi leaned back. Stared at me for very long seconds. Then he gave me a small curt nod. The harshness on his face softened, he smiled a small smile. ¡°That will be all then, Hinata-chan.¡± His tone was casual, not like the seriousness of the previous conversation. ¡°Come by the shop tomorrow before the ceremony,¡± he said while organizing the papers, ¡°Ino said she wanted to go with friends.¡±


    I wiped my board. My movements were a bit wild. My words came all sharp and without the care I usually took to write them. ¡°What was this all about?¡±


    The damn man actually chuckled. So bewildered I was I didn¡¯t even dodge when he leaned over the table and ruffled my hair. ¡°You¡¯ll learn soon enough,¡± he said, winked. ¡°Now, let me escort you to the entrance, we wouldn¡¯t want you to get lost down here, would we?¡±Findd new stories at novelhall.com


    Things after that moved fast. I followed the family to the ceremony. We stood in line on top of the tower, just below the Hokage monument. Rain poured down on us. Ninja stood straight, serious faces under the rain, paying respect to our deceased leader. No one said anything, no one showed any emotion. Except for Konohamaru, who balled his eyes out. Naruto was also here, banged up and bandaged, wearing the protector around his neck. Sasuke stood with the rest of the Uchiha. He had a few bandages I could see, and still looked sick. I saw Itachi, Sasuke¡¯s mother, an older shinobi with short hair. Shisui? I wasn¡¯t sure, his eyes weren¡¯t red this time. Nearby I saw the Hyuga clan, all glaring my way. The clan head and his twin. Hiashi and Hizashi. Neji and Hanabi. Another assortment of black haired, white eyed people. I really wanted to know what kind of things were spread about me to cause this amount of hate.


    The ceremony was a strange thing. We stood there, silent and alert. Paying respects. There was no speech or any show of overt affection, just a few minutes of silence. Some ninjas deposited flowers over the memorial, others left small tokens. A picture, a kunai, a talisman, a tag seal. I left the Will and Fire Special Series Cupcake.


    It was Naruto who broke the silence. ¡°Why do people risk their life for the sake of others?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no reason to do it. People just do things like that because of the bonds forged, because they have things they have to protect.¡± Iruka-sensei¡¯s voice sounded out in response. There was a lot condensed in his response. The bonds of friendship formed during life and death missions. Bonds of family, bonds of love, bonds of loyalty.


    ¡°Yeah, I think I¡¯m starting to get that now.¡± Naruto muttered. ¡°But it¡¯s too painful to die, too.¡±


    To my utter surprise, Sasuke was the one who interjected. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll understand eventually.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± Naruto protested. ¡°Gimme some credit, I understand!¡±


    The ceremony didn¡¯t last long after that. Ninjas dispersed, went about rebuilding their lives and village. I was about to follow Ino when Kakashi-sensei waved me over. I stopped, looked at the waiting blonde, looked at sensei. Popped my board. ¡°Sensei wants to talk with me, I¡¯ll see you later?¡±


    Ino nodded, waved goodbye, left with her family. Inoichi gave me a nod. Ino¡¯s mom waved. I turned toward sensei, who stood with Yamato and another shinobi that looked like an older version of Shikamaru. Nara Shikaku? What was this about?

 5.1 – Search for…

    5.1 ¨C Search for...


    I didn¡¯t have time to write anything when I approached the jounin commander. Nara Shikaku addressed me and the other two gathered shinobis as soon as I got closer.


    ¡°You¡¯re here, please follow me.¡± Shikaku turned around, moved off the terrace and inside the tower. With a quick glance and nod towards me, Kakashi followed. Yamato did the same. With no choice, and my curiosity picked, I followed the jounin commander as well.


    We went down, thankfully not underground, but into an absolute mess of a room a few floors away from the top floor. There was a huge map hung on the wall, scrolls and papers littered everywhere. The room was large, with desks scattered around, serious faced ninja reading, writing or in one¡¯s case looking inside a small aquarium? Wild. We crossed the place, going to a door on the other side. It opened to a smaller office, still filled to the brim with paper, scrolls and a few personal details: two picture frames on the desk, a dark haired woman and a young Shikamaru. Even with all the chaos, the room had a feeling of organization to it. It was chaotic, but controlled.


    Shikaku went behind the desk, sat down, his gaze briefly going to the pictures before he picked up a sheet of parchment. ¡°Please, have a seat.¡±


    I noticed Kakashi and Yamato didn¡¯t sit. I didn¡¯t either. I popped my board. ¡°Thank you sir, but I¡¯ll stand.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure about the formality of things, but I was sure there was no harm in calling the jounin commander sir.


    The man nodded, still reading the paper. ¡°It¡¯s abrupt, but we¡¯re sending you on a mission.¡± Shikaku said without preamble. I tilted my head, not sure where this was going. ¡°We found critical intel that can lead us to one of Orochimaru¡¯s labs, and given your past record with him and your abilities,¡± Shikaku looked from the paper to Yamato, ¡°the jounin leading this mission requested your assistance.¡±


    Yamato nodded when I looked at him. Kakashi-sensei put his hand on my shoulder, gave it a comforting squeeze.


    ¡°It¡¯s a dangerous mission, and given the recent developments, we lack the manpower to send a full search party.¡± Shikaku took another paper, read from it as well. ¡°We are sending a jounin,¡± he nodded to Yamato again, ¡°And three chunin to investigate this lead. Your objective is to acquire as much information on Orochimaru¡¯s as possible, as well disable or capture any high importance target you may find. Any questions?¡±


    It was dumb, and I already knew what was happening here, but an inner squealing fangirl-sama demanded I ask the question. It all made so much sense now. I wrote. ¡°I¡¯m not a chunin?¡±


    Shikaku nodded, like he had expected it. ¡°In the absence of an appointed Hokage, the jounin commander may give a field promotion when necessary.¡± He put the paper down. ¡°Your performance on the chunin exam was exemplary, and you passed Inoichi¡¯s test about keeping village secrets.¡±


    I knew it! That whole situation smelled so bad it could only be a test! Damn I was glad I didn¡¯t cave because Inoichi scared the crap out of me. I gave a mental fist pump, all the while my inner Fan-Girl danced and jumped and laughed.Chee?ck out latest novels on


    ¡°Your detailed reports of the situation, and crucial information gathering, the decision to save strength in the match to be at peak shape for a possible attack was noted. You have the recommendations of three jounin, and the Hokage¡¯s endorsement.¡± The man stopped, looked away. Returned his gaze to me. ¡°Sarutobi Hiruzen¡¯s last request before he passed away.¡±


    I blinked, blinked a few more times, sand got in my eyes, somehow. All the euphoria of the promotion died. My throat felt heavy and full. I was glad that no one expected me to speak. I felt even worse about not managing to save the old man. I nodded. Thought a bit, wrote another question. ¡°Who are the other two chunin?¡±


    Kakashi-sensei looked at me. I shrugged. I didn¡¯t know the place. ¡°Bring us two servings of the house special.¡±


    With one last bow, the woman left, leaving me alone with Kakashi. He sat down, gestured for me to follow. I did as requested.


    Kakashi, like me, didn¡¯t seem to like beating around the bush. ¡°Some of the Elders in the council want you interrogated for any information regarding Orochimaru. And with Lord Third dead, there¡¯s no one to stop them.¡±


    That made some sense. I knew the council of elders didn¡¯t like me. I blamed Danzo for that. Even after all these years. I wrote. ¡°Is the mission busy work to keep me away?¡±


    Kakashi-sensei shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s a real, time-sensitive mission. But it also serves to take you away from the village until a new Hokage can be appointed.¡±


    ¡°Will the new Hokage look favorably on my situation?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s our hope.¡± Kakashi admitted eying the food. His tone didn¡¯t give me a lot of confidence, but I knew the next Hokage would be Tsunade, and she was also cool, and pretty, and possessing a very distinct pair of characters.


    ¡°Who is being considered for the position?¡± I asked back.


    Before Kakashi could answer, we were interrupted. The woman returned with food, another attendant, a young man dressed in formal ceremony clothing brought the drinks. The food was something like a hot pot. I saw a few ingredients I recognized there: Hard boiled eggs, dipped into an inviting brown broth. Daikon radish, konjac and an assortment of small balls that, going by the smell, were most likely some type of fish cake. There were, of course, more ingredients. Small pieces of potato, thin sliced cabbage and even noodles. It wasn¡¯t a ramen, at least not in the sense I was used to, but it smelled so good.


    The servers bowed after delivering the food, and Kakashi finally answered my question.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about that, my cute chunin.¡± Sensei said, patted my head.


    I did blush a bit this time. Thank god the lighting was dim and my rosy cheeks wouldn¡¯t show. It was nice being called a chunin, even if I think the promotion was fishy. ¡°Do I need to wear that awful flak jacket now that I¡¯m a chunin?¡± I asked sensei to disguise my embarrassment.


    Full ARC name: Search for the Snake Hideout.


    Alternative ARC name: The Honey Badger Contract.

 5.2

    5.2


    Thankfully, the flak jacket wasn¡¯t mandatory. Konoha wasn¡¯t as strict as other villages with its dress code. Shinobis could usually dress in their clan clothes or anything that took their fancy in their day to day lives, or even during missions. At least outside official events. I knew some shinobis used the jacket even outside normal ¡°working hours¡±. Take Kakashi-sensei for example: Never seen him wear casual attire. I¡¯m guessing if there was any war out there, everyone would be required to wear the full shinobi regalia. The jacket, pants, shoes, belt pouches. The important thing was: My ninja statement outfit was safe! No need to add the jacket that would clash so much with my carefully prepared looks.


    We ate the food, which was delicious, and there was this awkward moment where Sensei tried to small talk, I guess my embarrassment showed, because he soon gave up on the attempt. Soon after, I fled the hidden restaurant? Bar? Well, I ran away from the hidden place. I didn¡¯t have much time left and had so many things I needed to prepare.


    My first priority was to seal a good number of cupcakes, sweets and pastries. They were my secret weapons. I wasn¡¯t leaving home without them. Problem was, I didn¡¯t have enough time to bake everything I needed in a single afternoon. I¡¯m ashamed to admit, but I resorted to the lazy¡¯s man way out. I purchased a lot of other ¨C inferior quality ¨C sweets, and stored them in my usual first impression packages and other routine seals. I kept the ones I baked by myself for the important moments.


    After that, my supply of explosives, the special ones. Anything Orochimaru related deserved my good explosives. Not all of it of course, I didn¡¯t think I would need hundreds, just a few dozen of the buggers was enough. Explosives set, I made sure my koto was in good shape, sealed and stored. Important stuff dealt with, it was finally time to check my other tools, clothes and normal everyday necessities.


    My preparations took a good part of the afternoon. I hadn¡¯t finished everything, when the sun approached the horizon. Before it got dark, I went hunting for Naruto. No idea where the goofball was, but the Ichiruka Ramen was a good starting bet. To no one¡¯s surprise, that¡¯s where I found the brat. I got in, bowed to the owner. Gestured that I wanted one bowl of ramen.  I sat down by Naruto¡¯s side. He had his face hidden by a ramen bowl.


    The small food stall didn¡¯t have many customers at this time, but the ambient smell was amazing. The booth had this comfy atmosphere that made you want to sit down and grab a bite. My stomach agreed. It growled like an enraged beast. The shop owner¡¯s daughter heard it, she grinned. My ears burned. I popped my good impression kit v1.3, offered it to her. Her small grin turned into a full blown smile. Totally worth it.


    Not long after, I also had my face hidden behind the bowl. Noisily slurping down tasty noodles.


    Naruto finished eating, placed the bowl down. Still without looking my way, patted his belly. ¡°Hiyaaa. That¡¯s what I needed.¡± The brat burped. Muttered. ¡°Missing only Hinata-chan¡¯s cupcake.¡±


    Surreptitiously, I sneaked one cupcake toward Naruto.


    ¡°Old ma¡ª¡± Naruto started, but saw the cupcake. ¡°Lucky!¡± The brat yelled. Took the sweet, glomped it down.


    I facepalmed. Naruto wasn¡¯t stupid, but he could be so dumb at times. What if that was poisoned? That gave me a wicked idea. Laxative cupcakes. That would teach him to check his food before eating. But that was for the future.


    A few weeks after our team was not available for missions, Madam Shijmi sent me a letter, proposing a deal: She offered a lot of money for regular sweets deliveries. Her letter had enough seals to cover at least the three months the mission was supposed to last. I wanted to make sure I wouldn¡¯t break our agreement by staying away for too long.


    ¡°Ahhh, the fat lady!¡± Naruto hollered.


    I rolled my eyes. What a brat.


    Naruto looked at the pile of correspondence, scratched the side of his head. ¡°But Hinata-chan, if we¡¯re going on a mission, how will I deliver it?¡±


    I sighed. ¡°No, Naruto-kun. It¡¯s not a team seven mission. I¡¯ve been requested by another jounin.¡±


    It took a moment for Naruto to understand what I wrote, but when he did, his face fell. ¡°But!¡± He looked devastated. I almost expected him to burst into tears.


    I patted his shoulder. Tried to explain the reality of things. ¡°Many shinobi died protecting the village. We have a shortage of people, we might not be able to work as a full team for a while.¡± I even threw him a bone. ¡°You might also be leaving on a mission soon.¡±


    Having done my part with Naruto, I returned home. I needed to talk with Sasuke, but somehow, it always wasn¡¯t the right time. First was the lack of privacy in the second phase, then Kakashi stealing Sasuke away for training. That and the attack and all the chaos that followed. Now, the dust hadn¡¯t even settled yet and I had to leave the village because some old codger wanted me dead or worse.


    Things weren¡¯t that bad. Sasuke had mellowed out over the months after joining the team. He didn¡¯t even try to burn my hair anymore during spars. He and Naruto also became good friends. Without Itachi to put Sasuke into a genjutsu and flame his obsession, and with Orochimaru gone, I was confident Sasuke wouldn¡¯t defect. Where would he go? His family was here. If he wanted to get stronger, he just needed to talk with Itachi and Shisui.


    The feeling that I was missing something nagged at the back of my mind. I stopped, cast my mind inwards, trying to remember what I had forgotten. A few minutes later I sighed. This was annoying. I felt like those dense anime protagonists that knew they needed to do something before too late, but always kept pushing it away until disaster struck.


    Should I seek Sasuke out? The memory of the boy''s outburst came back to my mind. I shook my head. No, there was no hurry. Sasuke was safe. Distance and time would help him. And help me.

 5.3

    5.3


    One might think I had trouble sleeping the night before an important mission. And well, they would be right. I couldn¡¯t sleep that night. I turned and tossed in bed for a few hours before I gave up on sleeping and went to bake more pastries. The lack of my ultimate weapons, or the new mission wasn¡¯t what kept me awake. It was everything else. I¡¯ve been so focused and worried about Konoha¡¯s Crush that I never stopped to think about what would come next. No, not what would come next, but what would I do next.


    There were a lot of things to consider. Going after Orochimaru¡¯s lab was a stroke of luck, at least for me. I had some things I needed to confirm before I could plan my next steps. Had Kabuto already learned the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu? My assumption was that he only learned that from Orochimaru after Konoha¡¯s Cruch, since before that, Kabuto wasn''t following the snake all around. Another assumption was that Orochimaru taught Kabuto that jutsu because he couldn¡¯t use his arms, after they were sealed by the shinigami.


    My primary goal then, I decided after taking another batch of cupcakes from the oven, was to learn what Kabuto knew and kill him if possible. Scour anything Orochimaru related for any clues about the seals in my body and the Impure Resurrection Jutsu.


    Talking about the snake, at least one of Orochimaru¡¯s eyes ¨C the one I saw after Sasuke burned the disguise in half of the snake¡¯s face in the Forest of Death ¨C was a byakugan. It stood to reason that it was my eye, since I never heard anything else about any other Hyuga going missing or dying. Given how much of a diva the whole clan was, they wouldn¡¯t not make a fuss about such a thing happening.


    What happened to that? With Hizashi standing over Orochimaru¡¯s dead body like a lioness reclaiming her stolen cub, I was sure that trying to get anywhere closer wouldn¡¯t end well. Or maybe I was just projecting and people would just let me waltz in and pluck eyes from a dead body.


    A shudder ran through me and I almost let a batch of sweets fall. If nature transformation already made me feel icky, the thought of plucking eyes out of bodies and plopping them on my own head made me nauseous. How would that even work? It wasn¡¯t like I was attached to byakugan or anything. Sure, I think it looked cool. White eyes rulz, it was also useful. All around vision? Sign me in. But I never had those eyes. Yes, intellectually I knew they belonged to Hinata, and that I was Hinata. But I never had them, so to speak. I never even thought about it most of the time.


    Even so, I was curious to know what happened. Was the Hyuga clan now in possession of a pair of twice orphaned eyes? Would someone tell me anything if I asked? I pushed those thoughts aside. I looked at the baked treasures on every surface of my small kitchen. I looked through the window and noticed the sky brightening. Right, no time to woolgather. I sealed my secret weapons, took a shower, put on a clean outfit, got all my prepared things, left to start my mission.


    I met Yamato in front of the Tower at dawn. Despite not being late, I was the last to arrive. Yamato was out of his shinobi uniform, head protector and any other trait that could identify him as a ninja. By his side, a taller boy, with spiky black hair, wearing a grayish blue sweater and jeans. He carried a bag on his back and no other discernible ninja gear. The other ninja, cadaver pale Sai, wore the same style of clothing I remembered from the show: Black sort-of-jacket that left his midriff exposed, black pants, black open toed shoes. The only difference being the lack of a forehead protector. He also had a bag at his back. I wasn¡¯t good at judging people¡¯s age by their face, but Hayase looked closer to nineteen, while Sai looked about a few years older than me.


    Anger, or maybe jealousy bubbled inside my gut. I glared at the pale boy. He was another one I never liked from the original show. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath. I didn¡¯t know him. I needed to stop judging people like the characters portrayed on the show. And things have changed. Danzo was gone. There was no need to think that Sai was the same emotionless person from the original story.


    ¡°Is that the last member of this mission?¡± An emotionless voice broke my introspection. I looked up, Sai stared at Yamato. ¡°She looks weak. Is she even a chunin? And what are those clothes, wasn¡¯t this an important mission?¡±


    This fucker! Here I was, trying to convince myself to be nice and there he was putting me down. What¡¯s wrong with him?


    The other shinobi, Hayase, raised both hands, smiled. ¡°Now, stop it, Sai. We talked about this, you shouldn¡¯t say whatever comes to mind.¡±


    Hayase took a step back. ¡°Really? Isn¡¯t it dangerous? Why are they sending a bunch of chunin and a genin on this mission?¡± He looked at me by the end of the question.


    Yamato nodded again. The man didn¡¯t seem bothered by Hayase questioning the mission. ¡°Hinata was promoted to chunin by the jounin commander. Due to the attack, the village cannot spare any other shinobi for this mission.¡±


    Hayase tilted his head, looked deep in thought for a moment. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we stay here and help the village then?¡±


    Yamato shook his head. ¡°The potential intel we might gather is too important. With Orochimaru¡¯s death, we cannot let that information fall on the wrong hands. It could spell disaster if any of the other villages manages to get the info before us.¡±


    ¡°Are the other villages moving?¡±


    I looked at Sai, who just asked that question. What was he talking about?


    Yamato sighed. ¡°The situation with Kumogakure is still tense. There have been some skirmishes in the Land of Hot Waters, and given our current situation, it¡¯s expected they will attack again. Maybe even start another war.¡±


    Kumogakure? What were they talking about? I remember hearing during my academy days about increased hostilities, but that was it, just rumors and hearsay. Nothing I heard made it seem the situation was that complicated, or urgent, or even tense, and it was years ago.


    Hayase grabbed his hair. ¡°Shit.¡±


    I looked at my board. There was so much I wanted to ask right now. From the looks of things, genin were pretty much excluded from any important information regarding the village inner workings. I had no idea the situation was this bad. It also felt like everything was my fault. I remember some of the rumors, the bad relationship with Kumogakure started because of the so-called Hyuga affair. Turned worse because the whole Kumo delegation was killed, and the Raikage blamed Konoha for it. And now, I failed to save the third, leaving the village in even worse waters.


    I saved the whole Uchiha clan, removed the poison that Danzo was, but still things turned sour. In a way, Konoha should be on better standing, but given Yamato¡¯s face and disposition, it looked like the man believed war was inevitable and just around the corner.


    I agreed wholeheartedly with Hayase. Shit.

 5.4

    5.4


    Snake Hideout Search mission, or the Honey Badger trip, as I was calling it, took us away from Konoha.


    The Land of Rice Fields wasn¡¯t as far away as the Land of Waves, if we only counted the direct distance from Konoha to the border. The expectation was to reach the border in less than a week, because we¡¯d be traveling like normal people. I wasn¡¯t sure on the whys of that decision. Which, instead of guessing and stumbling, made me question the intelligence officer in our team.


    I took out my board, wrote my question. ¡°Hayase, why are we talking the long path instead of rushing to the place? I thought this was a time-sensitive mission.¡±


    Hayase¡¯s eyes gleaned, like he just found someone to nerd something he was passionate about. ¡°Ah, I understand your confusion, you just got promoted.¡± He shook his head, but soon kept talking. ¡°It is impossible to root all spies from other villages from Konoha. Based on the circumstances, I¡¯m guessing this is some smokescreen. Others will pay even more attention to any shinobi leaving current events. Even if our destination is suspect, given we are going to where we suspect Orochimaru settled down, our team isn¡¯t rushing, which is the same as saying it is not a priority mission.¡±


    I blinked at that convoluted logic. But wouldn¡¯t people see through that bluff?


    Maybe reading my mind, Hayase continued. ¡°I¡¯m certain a few other teams were dispatched before us, and more will be dispatched after, some to urgent missions, others not in a hurry at all.¡± Spiky hair bobbing with the movement of his head, the chunin turned to me. ¡°If you were a spy and saw several teams leaving the village, some with some seemingly urgent mission, others not worried for time at all, who would you spend more resources to track?¡±


    I had no answer. The way Hayase explained, felt too simplistic. A bluff that would be easy to see through, but maybe that was just the tip of the iceberg. From his reaction, I was pretty sure he dumbed down his explanation. I didn¡¯t get the sense of contempt or even the feeling he was looking down on me, just that he believed I didn¡¯t have enough information to understand the whole concept, thus the dumbing down of the explanation.


    Besides that, our traveling plans were simple. Our group assumed the guise of a traveling family, plus a friend. Given the age difference, my disguise was Yamato¡¯s daughter, which somewhat made me a bit sour at the whole situation: Yamato didn¡¯t have any dad energy.


    Hayase was my cousin.  Sai, a friend of Hayase, who joined us for a bit of travel. The trip¡¯s destination was to visit Hayase¡¯s parents in the daimyo court city, which¡¯s name I didn''t know about, nor where it was. That suited me just fine. If anyone asked, I could just say dad forced me to travel, and I didn¡¯t care where we were going. Perfect spoiled girl behavior.


    There was one last check up before we left. Yamato approached me looking over my things. ¡°Hinata-san, you need to pack a normal traveling bag. Your disguise will be suspicious if you¡¯re not carrying anything on an extended trip.¡±


    I imagined the brat¡¯s entry in the bingo book: Loudmouth, dumb, naive, likes ramen, annoying as hell, a pacifist at heart. Is also the nine tails host.


    I snickered at my own silly ideas. By my side Hayase glanced at me. I schooled my face, stopped giggling. The chunin continued with his political lesson.


    ¡°¡ª it¡¯s expected that if Iwagakure attacks, they will do so by invading the Land of Grass. They currently have an alliance with the Land of Waterfall. Grass has a good trading relationship with us. Because of that, it becomes the best avenue of attack to reach Konoha, damaging our relationship with the smaller villages at the same time. If we can¡¯t protect our allies our credibility will be like sand on the wind.¡±


    I cast my mind again to my own knowledge. Between Wind and Fire, there was the Land of Rivers, Akatsuki¡¯s hideout. Grass, sat between Fire and Earth, could become a battlefield with Iwakagure, Land of Whirlpools was already being invaded by Land of Bears, as a front for Kumogakure. Things didn¡¯t look good when put in that light.


    ¡°¡ª which makes this mission even more important.¡± I put my own ideas away, and looked again at Hayase. ¡°If Kumo or Iwa learn about the hideout and manage to get there before us, they might learn a lot about Konoha. You need to remember that Orochimaru was a student of Lord Third. The potential information he has on the village is too valuable to leave out for others to find.¡±


    By our side, Yamato finally joined the conversation. ¡°The mission is important, but be careful. We don¡¯t know what awaits us there. Other villages shouldn¡¯t know about this operation, we are not expecting any interference from them, but keep your wits sharp.¡±


    I wanted to facepalm. Had Yamato never heard about fate flags? Why was the man tempting fate like that?


    The discussion didn¡¯t continue for long. Sai finished his cooking, served bowls of hot food to us. I looked at the thing he handed me. It was a hot bowl of something, that¡¯s for sure. It smelled alright, but there was no care at all for the presentation: the vegetables were cut in a haphazardly manner, the pieces of meat looked burnt. Not sure how a soup could have burnt meat. The broth was hazy and viscous, not at all like a nice thick soup broth.


    Was this thing even safe to eat? I wasn¡¯t brave enough to try. I looked at my companions.


    Sai gulped down his food, and his face betrayed nothing. I didn¡¯t know if he enjoyed it or not. Yamato ate a mouthful, stopped for a moment after, methodically eating the rest. Hayase, however, took one bite, and his face turned wan. He placed the bowl down. Ran away from the campsite. From not that far, I heard his raul-ing noises.


    I looked at my bowl. Placed it down, untouched. I took my board. ¡°Sai is forbidden from cooking from now on.¡± I wrote. Yamato nodded, sighed, his shoulders sagged. Was that relief?

 5.5

    5.5


    Due to the nature of our mission, there would be no training for the foreseeable future. I was very conflicted about that. Pre Crushcrushcrush was an intense month of improving both myself and my techniques. The days of walking, talking, and not improving felt off, like I was wasting my time. I still felt guilty of my failure to save the old man, and the lack of concrete improvements only made that worse. Or maybe I was a masochist and enjoyed physical and mental suffering. The jury was still out on that one.


    Not that we had that much time. On the first days of walking Yamato set a hard pace. A whole day of walking wasn¡¯t hard for a trained shinobi, but walking, pretending to be someone else, while constantly paying attention to your surroundings wasn¡¯t easy. Come night, I was exhausted. Not to the same point as the hell month training, but still drained. Then we had to set up camp, cook food, and prepare things for the next day.


    Once the team gathered, Yamato started what I called an infodump meeting. ¡°Hayase, can you update the whole team on Konoha¡¯s current political scenario?¡±


    Hayase lit up with interest. Gave a sharp nod and started talking.


    It was interesting, but also boring. It was hard to keep attention after a day of travel and mental concentration. My bed roll called my name. Whispered tempting promises. Hayase''s droning voice made it even harder to pay attention.


    Days of travel went by.


    I think after the second day Yamato noticed my restlessness. Our strategy meetings after the second day turned into impromptu lessons about intelligence gathering, infiltration and politics. We talked about ways to use our techniques, discussed scenarios and possible outcomes. Fan-girl-chan had the time of her life. Even if boring Sai still annoyed me with his lack of enthusiasm and direct responses.


    There was no clear indicator we left the Land of Fire, but after close to a week of travel, when we arrived at a small village, the difference was impossible to miss. The architecture, the style of buildings, the colors, not to mention the rolling plains of rice fields. Not that it really changed anything we saw: The place looked like a horror movie ghost town.


    Decrepit wooden houses, broken doors, burnt walls. If this was a western village, I would even expect a dust devil rolling around. The wind coming from the village carried the stench of carrion and rot.


    Yamato raised his hand. We stopped. He moved his fingers, gave us orders. Sai, Hinata, scout.


    That night, we didn¡¯t sleep, nor did we light a fire. Hayase was the first to question that decision. ¡°Why? Normal travelers don¡¯t camp in the dark.¡±


    Yamato looked around. ¡°Too risky.¡±


    Hayase opened his mouth again, maybe to argue. Yamato just stared at the chunin, huge black eyes framed by darkness. Inner me wanted to fangirl at finally seeing the man¡¯s ultimate weapon to control Naruto, but I couldn¡¯t. Hayase soon looked away, shivered like it was cold. Didn¡¯t complain again.


    That killed any other further complaint. Given the circumstances, Yamato didn¡¯t even mind when I popped a few cupcakes after an awful cold dinner. I kept vigil the entire night. Cast my senses as far as I could, trying to feel any chakra presence nearby.


    I don¡¯t know if it was my imagination, but it felt like something was watching me from the dark. I had no basis for why I thought that. There was no noise, no chakra presence, not even the sound of night animals. But the nagging sensation of being watched persisted the whole night.


    Aside from that, the only thing out of normal was a distant roar of some unknown animal. It was so low and distant I wasn¡¯t even sure it wasn¡¯t my imagination. It also seems I wasn¡¯t the only one keeping an eye on the surroundings. It wasn¡¯t Sai¡¯s watch schedule, but he still sent a few chakra birds flying out. That earned him a few points. I guess he was also worried about being attacked at night.


    The next day, we pressed hard on our journey, while still trying to keep a normal travelers¡¯ appearance. I was feeling a bit tired, but again, it was nothing compared to the hell month. I could endure a few more days without sleep, even more when I circulated my chakra. Something I started doing more and more in that month of training. It left me feeling energized and ready.


    It was the start of the afternoon when Sai reported. ¡°There¡¯s a town, just ahead.¡±


    Yamato nodded. ¡°Good job, Sai.¡± He turned to the rest of us. ¡°Remember, we are travelers, don¡¯t draw unnecessary attention. Hinata, you are with me. Hayase and Sai, you two stick together. Don¡¯t wander alone, be discreet when trying to find out more about our goal.¡±


    Tasks decided and orders given, we crossed the remaining distance until we found a walled town, with locked and barred gates. Peeking from above the wall, a rough voice hailed us. ¡°Who goes there? State your business!¡±

 5.6

    5.6


    ¡°Who goes there? State your business!¡±


    Yamato took a step forward, hands raised, palms open and towards the voice at the walls. ¡°We¡¯re travelers on the way to the capital. We seek home and hearth for the night.¡±


    I assumed right at that time my disguised persona of a distracted daughter dragged on a trip she didn¡¯t want to go. I looked out, towards the rice fields. Crossed my arms, huffed in annoyance. Kept sneaking glares at ¡®dad¡¯ for dragging me on this trip. But inside I was so giddy about visiting other places in Naruto¡¯s world that I had to hold in my smile.


    I kept an ear out for the important bits of the conversation, but I tuned out most of it. There were too many other interesting things to pay attention to. The walls, the people, the accents, the smells. In my mind, my lack of attention was justified. I was gathering information, learning about the place. I wasn¡¯t behaving like a country bumpkin traveling to interesting places for the first time. Nope, not at all. I was just paying extra attention to my information gathering mission.


    Yamato went back and forth answering questions from the guy at the wall¡¯s and introducing our group. He patted my head, when introducing me. My hand moved without my consent, swatting the appendage away, much to the man at the wall''s amusement.


    ¡°What news do you bring?¡± The same rough voice asked. He wasn¡¯t outright hostile.


    Yamato stopped, considering. Hayase answered in his stead. He took a step closer.  ¡°We had to camp in the wilds for the past two nights!¡± His voice had a bit of a whine to it. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was fake. ¡°Last village we passed was attacked by some beast or something, no one survived.¡±


    Hushed whispers and muttered swearing broke out from the other side of the wall. While only one person asked questions so far, the amount of voices suggested there was a crowd on the other side. I focused on my chakra sense, but no one other than us had any bundle of chakra. Civilians?


    The wooden gates creaked open while I pondered that question. On the other side, a group of disheveled people armed with hoes, sickles, a shovel and an assortment of wooden sticks that didn¡¯t look like weapons. There was one individual holding a rusty katana. If the lack of chakra to my senses wasn¡¯t confirmation enough, a single glance at the crowd cleared any remaining doubt.


    A hairy man, holding a sickle called us out. It was the same gruff voice. ¡°Come in, quickly.¡±


    The Honey Badger was on the hunt for the snake¡¯s lair.


    "..."


    That was so bad. Delete, delete, delete. I needed better ways to think about the mission. But the situation was an unexpected opportunity. In the past month of hell training, Research-chan spent all day, every day, trying to map and understand the seals in my body. It was a time bomb I needed to solve sooner rather than later. The problem was, aside from that one blueprint for the bone seals the creep shoved into my head, I had no other information.


    That whole month of carefully probing every part of my body with chakra wielded interesting results. I learned that it was the seal on my bones that was responsible for my enhanced physical strength. The whole circulating chakra thingy? Hogwash I don¡¯t even want to remember I came up with. Assumptions over assumptions based on faulty anime logic. I still circulated chakra because it felt therapeutic, and made me feel better, but now I knew that as long as the seal was on my bones, I¡¯d grow stronger with time. This wasn¡¯t an effect that I would lose if I removed the seal, on the contrary, it had permanently made my body stronger.


    It was my own protagonist¡¯s cheat. The longer I live, the stronger I¡¯d become. This whole thing reinforced my bones, muscles, and overall made me healthier and more resistant. At the cost of being a time bomb Orochimaru could pop anytime he wanted. Case in point, the seal was still trying to kill me. Damned snake never gave me a lock to disable the seal, just suppress it. I guess his real reason was to force me to seek him out when it turned out I couldn¡¯t stop the timed bomb. But now the snake was dead, and I my hope was to find anything useful in its lair.


    ... I really needed to stop the badger references. I was the future Black Flash dammit, not the future Black Badger.


    Case was, I wanted to find Oro¡¯s base. Maybe if I was lucky, some part of his research survived and I could start disabling the bad part of the seals. However, I wanted to keep the good parts. The thought of getting stronger with the passage of time was something that made me giddy with anticipation. I don¡¯t know what the limit of that was, but stronger was stronger. Imagine if I could rival Tsunade on brute strength in a few years?


    I still needed to learn about the other seals: The heart, the eyes. I had a few theories. My educated guess was that the seal on my heart was the one responsible for eating all the foreign chakra entering my body. Maybe it was a defense mechanism Orochimaru added to prevent others from meddling with the seals? Only the effect now was to make me resistant to external influences. It didn¡¯t work on Orochimaru because, being his own work, it recognized the chakra signature and offered no protection at all. That was also what made me bad at mokuton. Maybe the seal was incomplete, or parts of it aren¡¯t working as intended, which in turn forced me to use way more chakra than needed.


    It was a far fetched theory, but I had no other ideas. I shook my head. Pushing the distractions away. I''ve been following Hayase almost on instinct. The older chunin talked to a few of the locals. Even attracted a bit of attention from some older folk. I scanned around, found a group of kids huddled together looking at us, then discussing furiously among themselves.


    I didn¡¯t think I would learn anything new by following Hayase like a pup. I pulled at his shirt, gestured to the group of kids when he looked my way. Well, I guess it was time to meet the local kids.

 5.7

    5.7


    Years of partial isolation and unusual communication methods left me at a loss on how to approach the local kids. Did they know how to read? Should I just approach, write on my board and demand they tell me all the rumors around? The things adults thought kids wouldn¡¯t know or understand?


    I looked between the kids and the boring conversation Hayase was a part of. Considered if I should really approach the locals.


    Why was I hesitating? When did I become this timid?


    I steeled my resolve. Tapped Hayase¡¯s arm. Pointed at the kids when he looked. Got a nod from the chunin. I got this. It was just a bunch of kids. I was a strong, independent kunoichi. I knew how to interact with people, I knew how to charm people. I knew how to extract information from people. It was a class subject in the third year of the academy. My grades were almost top of the class on that one. I can do this. No backwater peasant would scare me into timidness.


    ...


    I approached the group of huddled kids. It drew some attention, but it wasn¡¯t until I was right by their side that they became aware of my presence. I flipped the board I had been carrying under my arm, and under the curious gaze of the small crowd, I wrote. ¡°Hello! I¡¯m Hinata. Is there anything fun to do around here?¡±


    The gathered kids were what you would expect from a small town. The boys had an assortment of gray, browns and earthen tones: loose-fitting coats and pants, simple sandals made of straw. One of the five boys also wore those socks with separated toes, tabi. Another one barefooted. The barefooted one was also the biggest of the lot, with worse looking clothes, a crooked nose, and a nasty smile. The leering grin she shot my way earned him the name of Jerkface.


    Among the small crowd of boys, there were two girls. One was as thin as a bean pole, tall and long faced. Sun tanned skin, pockmarked with acne and smeared with a few spots of dirt. The second girl looked younger than me, maybe nine or ten, dressed in fancy looking and colored clothes. She wore the full regalia: a light pink kimono, the skirt-like hakama, the wide sash over the kimono, the toed socks and wooden sandals.


    It wasn¡¯t a surprise when the gathered kids turned to the smaller, better dressed girl and stared at her. The younger girl looked around, wide eyes, almost as if looking for an escape route. She stammered her way through reading what I wrote. Poor girl.


    I glanced at Linlin. If before I thought I saw stars in her eyes, now it was whole galaxies. Sasame, that name sounded familiar, even if I couldn¡¯t place it. The kid didn¡¯t seem to notice my confusion.


    ¡°She¡¯s like, super strong as well, and not afraid to boss that big bully around.¡± Her face fell, and her voice lost a bit of fervor. ¡°He¡¯s been so annoying ever since they left.¡±


    My kunoichi-y senses tingled. I knelt in front of Linlin, tugged at her hands gently, coaching her to release me. When I was free, I took my board, wrote on it. ¡°Where did they go?¡± I didn¡¯t know yet who ¡®they¡¯ were, but I was about to find out.


    ¡°Sasame-chan wouldn¡¯t tell me.¡± The girl pouted. Kicked at the ground. Looked away. ¡°Clan secrets.¡±


    Instead of taking Linlin back into the market proper, I took a turn toward one small park-like area I¡¯d seen when moving with the other brats. There was this charming wooden bench made from a fallen tree, and a few other rustic looking tables. I sat, and Linlin did the same. I considered what to do. After thinking about it for a bit, I wrote on my board.


    ¡°You promise to keep this a secret?¡±


    The girl nodded. Head bobbing up and down so fast I could barely keep with her movements. It was kinda cute.


    I took one of my mini seals from the pouch on my skirt waistband. Under the kid¡¯s curious gaze, I placed it on the table and my finger on the center of the seal. There was a puff of smoke, a gasp from the kid, and out popped an assortment of cupcakes, sweets, and pastries. As well as a thermos with tea. The surprised squeal from Linlin when she saw the sweets brought a smile to my face.


    I took my board again, wrote for the girl. ¡°Eat, and tell me everything about Sasame-chan.¡±

 Halloween Special

    Halloween Special


    If I could make a sound, I¡¯m pretty sure someone would say I was cackling like an evil witch. I couldn¡¯t help it. My masterpiece sat there, just in front of me.


    It was perfect. Beautiful.


    I threw my head back, silent-cackled again. Clawed fingers up. The classic crazy villain pose.


    It took a while until I regained my bearings. I wiped an errant tear away. Damn, that was embarrassing. Laughing until you cry. I closed my eyes. Deep breaths helped me take control of myself. When I calmed down, I looked over the perfection on my kitchen table.


    Small rectangular forms. Chocolate, wine red, sun yellow and sky blue. Colored caramel sprinkled with powdered sugar. An urge to laugh almost overcame me again, but I held back. With trembling hands, I took one candy. Took a sniff. Debated if I should risk a bite. Shook my head. Not worth it.


    I gathered my magnum opus, taking care to not jostle the candy too much. With careful and deliberate movements, everything went into the container I had prepared. With one final longing glance, I sealed it. I placed it on the stack, with the rest of the explosive candies. On the left, was the other normal candy I prepared for tomorrow¡¯s academy exercise. A sigh of contentment escaped me.


    The inspiration hit me after I finished baking the candy for the event. I already had exploding cupcakes, but what about exploding candy? The idea was perfect! Of course, I wasn¡¯t crazy. This one, different from the cupcakes, wasn¡¯t a real explosive. It was just explosive. I mean, if everything worked like I planned, it would expand and burst out, splashing sugary syrup everywhere. Not to mention the extra effects. I really wanted to test those.


    A loud knock at the door interrupted my musings. ¡°Hinata-chan!¡± The sunshine brat called out. Why was he here? Did something happen? Why was he banging on my door in the middle of the night? ¡°Hinata-chan, we¡¯ll be late for the training mission.¡±


    I blinked a few times. Looked at the clock on the wall. Seven and half in the morning. Looked to the window and toward the sky. Overcast, dark clouds, but definitely morning. Shit, I was going to be late. How did time pass so fast?


    The banging on my door sounded again. ¡°Hinata-chan? Are you still sleeping?¡±


    Without waiting, I turned around, ran. I was at the door before Naruto could rattle it again. Pulled it open. The brat had his hand raised, ready to cause even more fuss. He looked at his hand, the door, then at me. His cheeks turned pink, he looked away. I looked down. Last night, inspiration struck when I was preparing to sleep. I was still in my pajamas. I rolled my eyes. Brats will be brats.


    Without waiting for anything, I grabbed Naruto, pulled him inside the apartment. Before he could say anything, out popped my board. ¡°Naruto-kun, I overslept. There''s a stack of seals on my kitchen table. Can you gather them for me?¡± I showed him the board.


    Naruto tilted his head. Nodded. He turned, but before he left I grabbed his arm. He looked at me again. I went to write again on the board. ¡°The stack on the left. Leave the ones in the center there.¡±


    Naruto read it again, scratched his head. Shrugged, nodded.


    After that, I bolted for my bedroom. Had to take a shower and get out of my pajamas. Today was a special day.


    I looked at my reflection in the mirror: Soft round face, fair skin, big black eyes, snake pupil in one of my eyes. Hair was done in a half bob cut, with the left side shaved. Shaved by virtue of necessity. Emosuke had, once again, tried to burn off my face for no reason. The gall of the brat. What was he? Depressed or something?


    The face on the mirror reflected my annoyance with Emosuke. Or annoyance with all else. I mean, how could I compete with the clan kids at this rate? The three basic academy jutsu? That was just unfair. Stupid village rules and clan favoritism.


    Iruka-sensei held up the container of colorful candies I had made. My eyes widened. I recognized it. It was the wrong ones ¡ª the experimental ones. I reached for my board, scribbled as fast as I could. Kiba shouldered past me, reaching for his prize.


    ¡°Second place isn''t so bad,¡± he grinned, picked up a bright blue candy. Next to him, Shino accepted a yellow one, while Sasuke examined a wine-red piece with his usual brooding persona.


    I looked at Naruto, who was rubbing his neck. Our eyes met. He looked at my board, the message I scribbled there. Realization dawned on his face. His mouth formed a perfect ''O''.


    But it was too late.


    The first explosion came from Kiba. The blue candy expanded in his mouth like a balloon before bursting with a soft pop. A cloud of sugar powder erupted, coating his hair in a spectacular array of bright colors. The edible glitter sparkling with a rainbow shine under the sparse sunlight. Akamaru barked, licked Kiba¡¯s face. Barked again, tail wagging fast.


    ¡°What the¡ª¡± Shino started, but never finished. His sun yellow candy burst next, and suddenly the air was filled with the excited buzzing of his kikaichu. Oh no, insects and sugar.


    But the best¡ªor worst¡ªwas Sasuke. He had just taken a tentative bite of the wine-red candy when it exploded in a shower of crystalline sugar. The Uchiha heir stood there, frozen.  Powder settled on his face and hair. Then a stray beam of sunlight broke through the clouds, and Sasuke sparkled.


    The class fan girl¡¯s squeals of delight could probably be heard in Suna.


    But that wasn¡¯t the end. The rest of the candies on Iruka-sensei¡¯s hand exploded. Syrup and powdered sugar, and all those other things mixed into my experimental candies covered the rest of the class.


    Mizuki bellowed, face red with fury. "What is th¡ª" He stopped mid-sentence, having accidentally inhaled some of the airborne candy powder. His next words came out in squeaky high pitch: "What is this?"


    The entire class fell silent. Even Sasuke stopped trying to wipe off the sparkles.


    "When I find out who''s responsible, they''ll clean the Academy for a week!" Mizuki continued, looking mortified, his voice even higher.


    I erased the warning I had written on my board, started to write an explanation. Wasn¡¯t sure if Mizuki would accept this was just a misunderstanding, but Naruto jumped forward, hands behind his head and wearing his biggest grin.


    "Got you all good, dattebayo!" he declared. "This is my best prank ever!"


    There was another moment of silence. The whole class yelled. ¡°NARUTO!!!¡± He ran. The class ran after him.


    Later that night, I went to visit the brat. Even made sure to buy his favorite ramen. I looked at Naruto. He slurped his food. Gave me me a thumbs up, ¡°Your pranks are way better than mine, Hinata-chan!¡±


    I rolled my eyes, but couldn¡¯t hide my grin. Next time, better make sure Naruto wasn¡¯t anywhere near my experiments... or maybe not.


    After all, Sasuke did look much better with a bit of sparkle.

 5.8

    5.8


    Between mouthfuls of cupcakes, pudding, and sweets induced squealing, Linlin spilled all her secrets. Which didn''t amounted to much more than what her questions had already revealed. This Sasame was an older girl ¡ª or perhaps my age, given the way Linlin tended to exaggerate everything related to this girl. She was this awesome ninja, capable of beating anyone ¡ª or maybe just bullying the normal annoying kids. She could fly between trees and hide in plain sight ¡ª pretty normal for a trained shinobi. Sasame-chan belonged to this family of legendary ninjas ¡ª maybe just a small town shinobi clan?


    In the end, what I learned was that Sasame was a two meters tall girl, unrealistically super strong, with a penchant to bully normal kids when they were being annoying, and that all of her family ¡ª a hidden shinobi family ¡ª were legendary people that lived somewhere close but obviously hidden. All in all, the only thing I was certain of was that this Sasame was a girl, and she had orange hair.


    Even so, the kid was cute. I mean, it was pretty funny how much she went gaga for the sweets, like she never ate any before. Not even her forehead escaped. Not sure how she managed to splash pudding there. It was like the kid was on fire. She ran, she yelled, she even puppy eyed me into playing tag.


    ¡°Please? No one plays with me anymore, ever since Sasame-chan left months ago.¡± From running and yelling to on verge of tears in seconds. I was sure the kid was yanking my chains, but I didn¡¯t have the heart to deny it. So I played. Tag, hide and seek, ken-ken-pa, Nawatobi ¡ª No idea where she got the rope from. I might have gotten too much into playing. The sun started to dip behind the mountains in the distance, Linlin began yawning. I felt a bit ashamed of enjoying it that much. Crazy good ninja I was. This was just an act. I was just doing my part.


    I might not have learned much, but I learned some things. There was a shinobi family in this town. A lot of them disappeared months ago, the remaining fled or might be hiding from Orochimaru, or perhaps working with Orochimaru. I¡¯d report that to Yamato.


    I patted the kid¡¯s head, she leaned into my hand. Still not sure why people liked doing that to me. She yawned again. I took my board again. ¡°It¡¯s getting late, should I take you home?¡± I poked the girl after I finished writing.


    Linlin eyed me with sleepy eyes, nodded. Her movements were slow, like she was almost asleep already, which surprised me. She yawned once more, then raised her arms to me. The sacred gesture of kids everywhere begging to be carried. I rolled my eyes, stowed my board, extended my arms to the girl.


    Linlin moved closer, draped her arms around my neck. Gently, I coached the girl until I was carrying her piggyback style. It was a bit awkward because, even though she was young, she wasn¡¯t small. Carrying her took some adjusting, more because I didn¡¯t want people to see how easy it was to carry her.


    Under sleepy instructions, and a few gentle shakes to keep Linlin awake, we arrived at her house. Not one bit surprised to learn she lived in the same place as the town¡¯s headman. If my history lessons didn¡¯t fail me, the correct term was shoya, or nanushi depending on the region, but I was going to call it what it was: the mayor¡¯s house. Was Linlin the man¡¯s daughter? That would explain the nice clothes and why she knew how to read. I stepped forward, the guards at the door already moving toward me. At the same time, the gates opened and out stepped Yamato, Sai and a portly man, followed by a gamut of servants.


    While the boys looked around, I went searching for lamps to light and fend off the night¡¯s darkness. The house wasn¡¯t bad, all things considered. I wasn¡¯t sure what Yamato said to the portly man to warrant such treatment or accommodations. I was pretty sure no random travelers were escorted to a house where they can rest for the night. Had Yamato paid for any of this? Did he come to some sort of agreement with the mayor? In the end, it was kind of funny, because I was sure that if it wasn¡¯t because of our disguises, Yamato could conjure a better, and cleaner, house for us to rest for the night. The things we ninja did to keep on our disguises.


    Shaking my head at the useless thoughts, I got to work. After a cursory examination of the place, I plotted how to do it in my mind, then moved back to the entrance. The rest of the team was still there, looking around, and talking in low voices. Bunch of lazybones.


    I took my board, wrote things. ¡°Hayase, you go back into the market, see if you can find any merchant still there. Buy fresh vegetables and meat, if you can.¡±


    Hayase scratched his head, looked at Yamato, but when the jounin didn¡¯t say anything he shrugged. ¡°Anything in particular?¡±


    I thought about it for a bit. ¡°No mystery meat?¡± Hayase scratched his head again, nodded, left the house. I looked at my next victim: even after days, I couldn¡¯t put away my dislike for Sai Everytime I looked at the boy, annoyance bubbled in my chest. I wasn¡¯t sure what his deal was, but he didn¡¯t seem to like me either. It was in the way his dead eyes kept following me. Or the veiled contempt in his voice. Or it was just my imagination because I didn¡¯t like him. My bias toward the fictional character I disliked.


    Mulling over things, I wrote on my board. ¡°Sai, can you check the bedrooms and clear some of the dust?¡±


    Sai didn¡¯t agree, or disagreed. His emotionless eyes stared just for a fraction too long, smiled without feelings never reaching his eyes. He turned round, moved inside the house.


    The last one was Yamato. I didn¡¯t want to order him around, but since he hadn¡¯t said anything, I kept with my original plan. ¡°Yamato, can you clean the living room? Meanwhile, I¡¯ll clean the kitchen and get started on dinner.¡±


    The jounin smiled, nodded, then started on his task.


    I turned around and went to do my part as well. Had to clean things off before Hayase returned. I wasn¡¯t sure yet what to cook for dinner, that would depend on what Hayase managed to find, but I¡¯m sure it would be better than anything we could come up with on the road. My stomach rumbled. I thought back on the day. Linlin kept mentioning this Sasame-chan, and given everything, it seems she and her family left the town a few months back. Had they really left? Maybe there was an answer there that I wasn¡¯t seeing.

 5.9

    5.9


    Hayase managed to find eggs, a chicken, potatoes, cabbage, and rice. I won¡¯t say dinner was the best affair out there, but it was decent. The team sat in the living room around the table with the food spread over it. Egg fried rice, chicken with potato, stir fried cabbage. I still wish I had packed more than salt.


    While we devoured dinner, we talked and talked. On the surface, we¡¯re discussing the day of travel, the food, how our day was in the city, all that boring travel talk. Meanwhile, we also talked using Konoha¡¯s standard coded language to convey actual information.


    Between bites of rice and chicken, Yamato ordered through a coded hand movement. ¡°Hayase, report.¡±


    Hayase, eating a mouthful of rice, replied ¡°Trade all but ended with nearby towns and villages. People are too scared to leave the walls. Rumors of a man-eating monster outside the walls started a few days ago. There¡¯s something most people are too afraid to talk about with a stranger. They might have been threatened by someone. I was followed to the market and back, but didn¡¯t see anyone that wanted to attack.¡±


    He looked bored on the outside, but the signs were all there. The way his mouth kept curving up in almost a smile, the movement of his fingers, just a bit faster than necessary for the message he wanted to convey, the gleam in his eyes, his posture, just slightly forward in anticipation. Our eyes met, I held back the smile. Another one that understood how coded messages were cool! I gave him a thumbs up, barely containing my anticipation at my turn to report.


    My turn was next. ¡°Hinata, report.¡± Coded Yamato.


    ¡°There was a shinobi clan in the town. I don¡¯t know what the clan¡¯s name is, but they left, or moved out a few months ago. I couldn¡¯t find where their base of operations was, but according to what I managed to find, while the clan had a base of operations inside the town, a shop or bar, most of the clan lived somewhere outside the town.¡±


    Yamato nodded, ate another bite, turned to Sai. ¡°Report.¡±


    ¡°The mayor has someone watching the house, and as Hayase said, followed him to the market and back. They don¡¯t look like trained shinobi.¡±


    The four of us had set up our sleeping bags in the living room. Hayase and Sai wanted to sleep in the bedrooms, but I argued that it was a risk factor when we didn¡¯t need to risk being separated. Now, I know, I did send Sai to clean those bedrooms, but I never claimed I wasn¡¯t petty, and that my dislike for the show version of Sai wasn¡¯t influencing my decision making. Thankfully, no one called me on that. The decision to not split apart was always a good one.


    I yawned again. Cleaned crust from my eyes, wiped away a bit of drool with the back of my hand. Still on sleep mode, I got to my morning ablutions.


    It always surprised me the mix of modern commodities and charming medieval customs the world of Naruto had. I finish cleaning my mouth, spit out the mint flavored mixture, put away my toothbrush. All this while, I keep my senses honed on the outside.


    Ready for the day. I step through the room with my sleeping teammates. A quick look and I move on. Nothing here to see, aside from Yamato sleeping like he was in a coffin, with his back on top of the sleeping bag, instead of sleeping inside it. He even kept his hands clasped over his chest. I think he does that on purpose. Creepy.


    Checking the other rooms in the house didn¡¯t reveal anything, which was expected. I would have sensed chakra if there was someone hiding there. It was good practice to not get complacent, just because I could sense chakra. Done with the inside of the house, I did a tour of the outside.


    The town was as quiet as a graveyard. In the darkest hour of the day, just before dawn, it had a sinister look, and I all but expected the town destroying monster to jump on me. Nothing of the sort happened. The place was quiet, only the cold wind breaking the silence.


    My steps almost faltered midway my patrol route. There it was again, that feeling of being observed. I focused on the sounds of the night, or the lack thereof. The only thing I could hear was the wind and rustling of leaves. Night animals, insects and the many noises you usually hear were not there anymore. I didn¡¯t remember when they had stopped. For all my focus, I hadn¡¯t been paying attention to sounds disappearing.


    Like the other times this happened, nothing jumped at me. There was no sound, no presence, no chakra, nothing. I wasn¡¯t going to report it again. I reported the first three times. The rest of the team went on full alert, and we spent hours scouring the surroundings trying to find what was the cause. Cadaver pale Sai dismissed me as being paranoid and over reacting, Hayase was on the fence about the whole thing. Yamato took me seriously and didn¡¯t dismiss my concerns. But each time I raised the alarm, it disrupted the whole team, and at this point, I was starting to believe annoying Sai might be right on some level. Maybe I was just paranoid.


    The sensation of being watched disappeared when the sun showed up on the horizon and the voices and buzz from the waking town heralded a new day. I wasn¡¯t sure if going monster hunting was a good thing, but I was itching to do some cool ninja stuff. I mean, infiltration mission was cool and all, but it had been a while since I trained or even used my jutsu. A smile crept on my face. My fingers twitched in anticipation. You can¡¯t blame a girl for feeling anxious because she¡¯s been separated from her explosions for too long.

 5.10

    5.10


    Before we left town, we visited the mayor again. I think it was a courtesy visit rather than an obligation on our part. Maybe Yamato didn¡¯t want to burn bridges if we somehow needed to come back here. I didn¡¯t mind either way. While waiting for the ¡®grown ups¡¯ to talk the important talk, I took the opportunity to meet Linlin again. Pat her head, leave more pastries for the girl. These ones I popped out of their seal before we even left the house we slept in. No need to give even more people more information about us.


    It shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise that after the girl learned I was leaving, she clammed up. Her face flashed with a lot of expressions too quickly to parse. She looked down, and her shoulders began to shake. I didn¡¯t hear a single sound from her. What was I expecting? From everything I saw, she didn¡¯t fit with the other kids, and her only friend, this Sasame-chan, left without even saying goodbye months ago. I knelt in front of the silent sobbing girl. Wrapped my arms around her. She grabbed my clothes, sobbed harder.


    We stayed like that until the same woman from yesterday came looking for me. ¡°Your father is waiting for you.¡±


    I patted Linlin¡¯s head. Took my board, thought about what to write. I didn¡¯t want to lie, but I didn¡¯t want to make any promises I couldn¡¯t keep either. After I wrote my message, I guided the girl¡¯s face to read from the board. ¡°I¡¯ll come back to visit if I can. If I find Sasame-chan, I¡¯ll tell her to visit too.¡±


    Linlin looked at me with those big, sad, tear filled eyes. She nodded, lips quivering.


    Urgh, I always thought I was bad with children, but this was too much. Lilin looked like a sad puppy. I closed my eyes. Exhaled, my whole body releasing tension I didn¡¯t even know was there. I patted the puppy¡¯s head. I didn¡¯t dare to look. That girl was way too adept at puppy eyeing others. I couldn¡¯t risk it.


    After that, I took my leave. No reason to keep this awkward moment longer than it needed to be. It left me thinking about a similar situation that happened in the Land of Waves, where Tsunami also went all emotional on me when I was leaving. No, I didn¡¯t get emotional. Not then, not now. I just got a bit of dust in my eyes. That¡¯s all.


    I met with the rest of the team outside. We were ready to leave. Yamato said a few last words to the mayor and off we went into the sunset. No, of course not. It wasn¡¯t even noon yet. Officially, our destination was Daimyo city, same as yesterday, this being just one more stop in our journey to visit family. But again, that was just our disguise. What we wanted was to search the surrounding areas for any clue about this monster in the hopes it would lead us to Orochimaru¡¯s hideout.


    We kept on the road for a few hours. Sai¡¯s ink birds flying overhead to make sure no one followed us. When we were distant enough from the town, we left the road and ventured into the surrounding wilderness. The area around the trading town was surrounded by farming communities and rice fields. Our goal was one of the nearby forests. Hayase pointed out during the strategy meeting the previous day that any hideout wouldn¡¯t be in the open or in a rice field. There were also the details from the monster attack: all the information happened near this one particular patch of forest. It was still a huge area to search, but it was a lead nonetheless.


    I sealed away my backpack. Took out my ninja tools. I cast a Henge no Jutsu to change how I look. My ninja outfit was just too distinct to keep wearing when I didn¡¯t want to be recognized. Which was a bummer. A thought I might mull over later. A small, rebel voice in the back of my head yelled that I should dress like a proper ninja. I ignored it¡ªfor now. That voice didn¡¯t know what it was talking about. I don¡¯t think this kind of disguise would fool a competent shinobi, but every little detail helped. The others did the same.


    With thoughts of new training methods in mind, I jumped from the branch I was perched on, landing by Hayase¡¯s side. His brow was furrowed, fingers touching a particular spot on the ground.


    I took out my board, wrote my question. ¡°Did you find anything?¡±


    Hayase looked up, then shook his head. ¡°Not sure. See here?¡± He pointed at a patch of soil near the base of the tree. I saw dirt, dry branches, decaying leaves, shrubs and all those things you see in forests. ¡°It looks like someone hid something here, but it was removed some time ago.¡±


    No matter how much I looked, I had no idea how Hayase reached that conclusion. Shinobi academy taught basic tracking, mostly in the form of games, but nothing that let me see whatever this clue was.


    Hayase shook his head, got up. ¡°I can¡¯t say for certain, it was some time ago, weeks, maybe months. Let¡¯s keep looking.¡±


    I didn¡¯t want to look that incompetent, I nodded my agreement and off we went again searching for a needle in a haystack.


    Minutes turned into hours. Hayase pointed out more of those spots he was certain were used in the past, but even with those spots, we couldn¡¯t pinpoint what they were used for, or even if it had any link to Orochimaru¡¯s hideout. It was a good lead that there was something to find here, but not where to find said something.


    I did find other clues. Not that it took any super ninja tracking skills on my part. Not when the clue was a motherfucking uprooted tree, used like a baseball bat to bat other trees away. At least that was what it looked like to me.


    We were still looking around for any other information when the ink bird nearby us screeched, soon followed by Sai¡¯s voice. ¡°We¡¯re under attack. Please follow the bird.¡±


    We didn¡¯t have time to send a message back. The bird took off flying southeast, Hayase hot on its heels. I grabbed an exploding kunai, dashed after Hayase. I didn¡¯t really care if anything happened to annoying Sai. He could take a beating, it would serve him right. But Yamato was Kakashi-Sensei¡¯s friend and my part time teacher. Couldn¡¯t leave him hanging for no good reason.

 5.11

    5.11


    Tree hopping was, at least for me, one of those quintessential ninja staples. I mean, who doesn¡¯t remember those moments of Naruto jumping from tree to tree, and the image of those same trees blurring past? Or that impression of movement, in which most ninjas didn¡¯t really hop from one tree to the next, but threw themselves, like a toss from a slingshot, with turning in the air and landing with an impact and all. I didn¡¯t have it in me to do that, even if envy burned inside me at seeing Hayase do just so.


    He threw himself from one branch to another, flipping upside down before landing on the next branch.


    My thoughts didn¡¯t stay in ninja hopping for long. In the distance, roars of an unknown creature, and the sounds of battle, took all of my attention.


    The sounds weren¡¯t anything I could place. It didn¡¯t sound human, not any animal I knew. The place of battle wasn¡¯t even hard to find. Not with huge branches popping out into the sky. Yamato was going all out. Which didn¡¯t bode well. Yamato was a strong jounin. He had the experience, the techniques, and his kekkei genkai. From what I knew of the man, he preferred small scale attacks. His mokuton lent well to restraining enemies, and if he was forced to bring out the big guns, then whatever he was fighting wasn¡¯t anything easy to deal with.


    Hayase sped up, a muttered curse under his breath. ¡°Shit.¡±


    I understood his sentiment. I didn¡¯t know what enemies we were facing, but I could at least plan. For some reason, Yamato didn¡¯t want me using Mokuton. The first day of our mission, he called me out away from the others.


    ¡°Hinata-san,¡± the man started in his serious voice, big black eyes staring at me. ¡°Unless it¡¯s an emergency, please avoid using your Mokuton jutsu.¡± I tilted my head, unsure of why. ¡°It drains too much of your chakra.¡± Yamato had explained.


    Sai sat down, leaned against a tree. Hands on his stomach, blood pooling out of a wound. The other hand on a scroll laid on the ground. Around the battlefield, a group of ink tigers harassed and distracted the monstrosity.


    In the moments I stood there gawking at the scene, the living black hair pierced through Yamato3. In a puff of smoke, Yamato-Three transformed into wood. A mokuton clone. But the clone¡¯s defeat left Sai vulnerable to enemy attack.


    The ink tigers leapt in the hair¡¯s path, protecting Sai, but the situation wasn¡¯t sustainable.


    The many combat scenarios Yamato had us discussing in our strategy meeting at nights came to my mind. None of them covered this exact situation, but I knew what was expected of me. In team seven, my usual role was one of support and control. Sasuke and Naruto were good at engaging the enemy head on, and improvising mid fight and abusing opportunities to turn any fight in our favor. My role there was to distract, create opportunities, reinforce them when needed. In this mission, my role was similar. Create distractions and opportunities, set up traps, precision strikes whenever possible.


    With a single glance at Hayase, who gave a brief nod, I prepared to engage. My hands flashed with a Tiger seal. I pushed my chakra in the necessary pathways. By my side, in a puff of smoke, out popped two shadow clones. Without waiting, I dug into my pouch, share some of my tools.


    Clone-chan 1, newly dubbed Distraction-chan, took the smoke bombs and explosives. Clone-chan 2, aka Seal-chan, took my prepared barrier kunais, among other supplies, gave me a grave nod. I took out some of my special explosive seals. Giddy excitement bubbling in my gut. It was finally time to explode things! Err, no, it was time to save our teammates and do cool ninja stuff.


    I glanced at Distraction and Seal-chan. Both had this silly, goofy grin on their faces. Feet boobing, body coiled, like they were trying not to move. I shook my head. My clones could be so silly. They didn¡¯t have my amazing self control. With one last nod the clones flicked and operation Explode stuff... err Rescue Annoying Sai officially started.

 5.12

    5.12


    The battle didn¡¯t wait for deliberations on my part. The preparations, even if it took little to no time, was time the enemy used. Without Yamato-Three to provide protection, Sai was left vulnerable to the creature¡¯s living hair. Yamato-One tried to compensate, creating even more roots and branches, but the chimera¡¯s huge Guts sword swung like a kid¡¯s toy was more than enough to cut off the attempt. Yamato-Two was still busy keeping the other arms busy. I understood it very well, if that thing started to toss shurikens and kunais on top of everything Sai was done for.


    Distraction-Chan took to her task with gusto. She leapt into action, explosive kunais soon followed by smoke bombs. It still wasn¡¯t any of my special supply¡ªSai and Yamato were too close for that¡ª but the explosion impact, followed by choking clouds of smoke, served to distract and obscure the creature¡¯s view. Meanwhile Seal-chan flitted around the battlefield, placing barrier kunais around the enemy.


    The enemy response was a howl. Many overlapping voices screaming in what sounded like pure agony. It reverberated through the air, made my skin crawl. From inside the cloud of smoke, I heard something cutting through the air, then wood breaking and splintering.


    Hayase moved, hands flashing with seals. Globules of water shot towards and into the smoke. I knew that jutsu. It was the same Zabuza used after tricking me to leave that drunkard bridge-builder from the Waves defenseless. A shudder of phantom pain spiked on my shoulder. Damn that man, how was the missing-nin and Haku doing? Had they managed to reach an agreement?


    I shook my head. Had my part to play. I didn¡¯t think getting close and personal with the enemy was the way to go. I wasn¡¯t afraid of getting injured, but I also wasn¡¯t the best in close quarters combat. I¡¯d leave that for Yamato. No, my goal was to provide distractions and bail the team out if needed. My hands flashed into seals: Tiger, dog, snake. My chakra, already divided between three, myself and the clones, tanked.


    Manipulating the wood clone jutsu to create the transmission seed wasn¡¯t easy. The way Yamato taught me was to create a clone, then morph the clone into a seed. I did similar, but instead of allowing the clone to form, I twisted it into a wooden kunai, used Shikoku Fu?in to imprint the beacon into the formed hardwood.


    A kunai wasn¡¯t a mandatory shape for my Kuro Raikou no Jutsu (Early access, alpha version v0.1). I could very well have used a shuriken, a katana, a frisbee or anything else, but if I was going to style myself after the Yondaime and his overpowered jutsu, I would god damn well use a kunai. Fangirl-sama demanded it, sue me. I didn¡¯t throw it, however. Yamato¡¯s orders were still clear in my mind. Mokuton was a last resort measure, and the situation didn¡¯t call for it yet. Even if I really wanted to use my jutsu. I mean, I needed to start my own legend at some point, right? Right?


    Another roar took me back to the now. I stashed the wooden kunai; a secret weapon should remain secret, even if I really wanted to use it and be awesome.


    The ringing in my ears told me I would suffer for a while. A quick glance showed me that Sai, still alive, was now unconscious. A disheveled Hayase popped nearby. He said something. I shook my head, pointed to my ears. He nodded, walked closer, knelt, took Sai in his arms and fled.


    I turned my attention back to the still ongoing battle. Yamato, two of them now, double tagged the enemy, herding it toward the area Seal-chan prepared.


    Blood poured from the enemy¡¯s many injuries. Patches of skin were burned and cracked. One of the heads, the one with green hair had stopped screaming, it was now a listless dead face. Some of the creature¡¯s arms were missing. Even hurt like that, the monster hadn¡¯t stopped.


    Yamato¡¯s hand, clone or not I couldn¡¯t say, flashed into seals and a huge closed fist sprang out of the ground. Without the sword in hand, the chimera couldn¡¯t cut the wood and prevent the attack. Like a plasticized boxer delivering a left hook, it hit the enemy, throwing it back¡ª and into the trap Seal-chan prepared. A shade of a smile came unbidden to my face. I don¡¯t know if my heart was beating faster because of the anticipation or the battle.


    The result was a bit anticlimactic, in a way. When the enemy crossed the perimeter, the barrier came to life. The explosion tags, set in each of the corners were of my special supply. There was a muted thump and thunder, one I could feel on my bones. The barrier held, which I guess would make it worse for whatever would be trapped inside.


    When I was sure the explosion payload had ended and the barrier wasn¡¯t going to break, I moved closer, another kunai in hand. Yamato and his clone also approach.


    It took a while for the dust to clear inside the trap. When it did, there were only unmoving, partially charred corpses. Five of them. One, I noticed, looked like a young girl, maybe my age, or a bit older. The bits of hair that had survived the explosion was orange.


    Linlin¡¯s smiling, sparkling eyes, gushing about her amazing older ninja sister came to mind. ¡°Shit.¡± I cursed. I didn¡¯t even mind the pain and blood in my mouth. It felt deserved.

 5.13

    5.13


    Yamato and I stood side by side, watching the results of the trap. My eyes were still glued to the corpse of the orange haired girl. A theory had started to brew in my head ever since I saw her, about the rumors and words spoken by the town¡¯s people regarding the elusive shinobi family living nearby, and their sudden disappearance.


    Linlin¡¯s sad frown talking about how her cool older ninja sister disappeared a few months back without warning. Information gathered by Hayase indicated that most of this shinobi family had gone missing. There was also another thing nagging at me. This whole trip felt strangely familiar to me. Like an old memory that wanted to come to life. Like something important I was forgetting.


    The silence stretched for what felt like minutes, but wasn¡¯t more than a few moments.


    ¡°Good job, Hinata-san. You did well. Kakashi would be proud.¡±


    I blinked, tore my eyes away from the corpses, stared at the jounin. My mind was still reeling from everything, not able to make sense of his words. More on reflex than conscious thought, I gave him a thumbs up.


    Yamato¡¯s hand flashed into the seals. Out of the earth, another Yamato popped out. Both original and clone¡¯s big black eyes bore into me, until the original looked away, toward where Hayase had fled, then back at me. ¡°I¡¯ll go check on Sai. See what you can learn from our enemies meanwhile. I¡¯ll leave a clone here to protect you.¡±


    The clone nodded, flickering away after a few moments.


    I looked at the Yamato, where the clone had been, at the corpses, back at Yamato again. My mind still insisted on not working like it should, and the sick feeling in my gut wasn¡¯t going away. After a while, I nodded.


    Yamato opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something, then shook his head, looked away, back at me. ¡°If anything happens, blast something nearby. I¡¯ll hear and come as fast as I can. I don¡¯t think we need to worry about being stealthy anymore.¡± After one last long look, Yamato left.


    Those words at any other time would have made me super giddy. No, I¡¯m lying, they still made me giddy. Being praised by a canon famous jounin was like a dream come true, but the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach dulled the moment. My eyes somehow returned to the orange haired, burned body. Why was that? These weren¡¯t the first people I killed. I killed that chunin in the land of waves, I killed more genin in the forest of death, I killed people during Konoha¡¯s Crush. That wasn¡¯t to say I enjoyed killing. On the contrary, I didn¡¯t feel anything at all.


    I froze for a moment, then relaxed. My arms found their way around Investigation-Chan, pulled her closer. It was nice. She smelled of moist earth and explosions. I didn¡¯t even remember how long it was since someone hugged me like that. We stayed there for a while, more than appropriate, until Investigation-Chan pulled away. She pressed her own forehead to mine, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.


    Memories, information and impressions flooded my mind. I took a deep breath, trying to organize my thoughts. There was something I needed to confirm.


    My hand found its way toward my storage pouches, and to a particular seal. I took out my timeline diary. The one I wrote when I was five, just after arriving in this world. It seemed so long ago. Most of my memories of the original show were fuzzy and distant. I still remembered the important parts, but the smaller details were not so easy to remember anymore, and for some reason, it had been a while since I last consulted my notes.


    In a puff of smoke, my old story book popped out of the seal. I opened it, read the pages. The story book was a childish account of Little Chef Camilla¡¯s adventures to learn all the recipes in the world. In my storybook, the first main dish was Camilla¡¯s first foray into the cooking arts, trying to combine Orange, Lemon and Strawberry into a delicious pie with the help of a spirit mentor, a chibi wolf-like spirit, that was a complete tsuntsun. For this main dish, Camilla had to travel to distant islands, only to be waylaid by brigands and a bridge defending troll. Don¡¯t judge me too much, please. Orange represented Naruto, Lemon was Sasuke, Strawberry Sakura, while the mentor spirit was Kakashi-sensei.


    The thing is that, at the time, I was confident that just a few mentions of the elements of the plot of the original story would be enough to make me remember everything. Yet, years later, the things I wrote barely made sense to me. Oh, I still knew the broad strokes. Land of Waves, Exams, Crushcrushcrush, Search for Tsunade, Sasuke Recovery mission, Timeskip, Kazekage Rescue Mission and more. I flipped a few pages ahead. Stopped on a particular story, marked as a side dish.


    Camilla¡¯s search for all recipes took her to a rice farm, where a perverted frog helped her find the evil snake that had lured her prized Lemon away. To make the travel acceptable, she took Orange and Strawberry, in the hopes of finding Lemon and guilt tripping him into returning to the fruit basket.


    It was hogwash, of course. Side dish was my way of saying this wasn¡¯t story canon, but part of the dreaded TV show filler episodes. In this one, Jiraya, the perverted frog, took Naruto and Sakura to the land of rice in the search of Orochimaru¡¯s hideout. The problem was that I was a bit of a snob Naruto fan. To me, the comics were the true canon, with the TV show being a so-so adaptation, while the fillers were trash that shouldn¡¯t be watched, or even exist¡ª even if I did watch that one about unmasking Kakasi-sensei. Don¡¯t blame me, it was fun.


    But back to the topic. I remember now, I never really watched that series of episodes, but I¡¯ve seen the images, and read the synopses. The Fuma clan, Orochimaru¡¯s hideout, a monster created and left behind, a confrontation with Kabuto. Was Kabuto still hiding here?


    The story book went again into the seal. I hid it with my other things. I needed to consider the original story and how my meddling had changed things. I had been putting it off for far too long. What were my plans to deal with Akatsuki? Deal with Danzo? How was I going to change the world again? But now wasn¡¯t the time. I hated raising flags, but I would do it as soon as I was back at home.


    I looked around, Yamato¡¯s clone was nowhere to be seen. I turned away and toward where my teammates had moved to. There was a report to make, and a hideout to find, a Kabuto to hunt down. With a bit of luck, the coded notes would have that information.

 5.14

    5.14


    It didn¡¯t take long to find the rest of my team. Sai was still out cold, sides cleaned and bandaged. Next to him, Yamato and Hayase talked. They looked alert, but not worried. My arrival didn¡¯t go unnoticed. The jounin waved me over.


    ¡°Welcome back Hinata-san, how did the investigation go?¡±


    Out of the armband popped my communication¡¯s board. I don¡¯t really think I had to keep it hidden anymore. I wrote down part of my report. ¡°Victims confirmed to be the missing shinobi family from the town.¡± I took out the clan symbols and notes and personal items that confirmed that idea. ¡°My current theory is this family decided to fight against Orochimaru, and in turn, were experimented on.¡±


    Hayase¡¯s eyes were glued to the items I presented, but then he looked at me. ¡°How did you arrive at that result?¡±


    I tilted my head. For someone so smart, Hayase did ask silly questions. I shrugged, wrote on my board. ¡°They were turned into monsters. I don¡¯t think anyone would have signed up for that.¡±


    Hayase nodded. ¡°That is a fair assumption.¡±


    ¡°Anything else of interest?¡± Yamato brought us back to topic.


    From inside the pouch, I took the parchment with the coded message. ¡°I found this, I couldn¡¯t decipher it, however.¡±


    The chunin¡¯s eyes sparkled. He leaned forward, eyes intense. ¡°Can I see it?¡±


    Good thing he asked. Hayase was the reason I brought those papers. I remember him geeking about ciphers and codes. Papers exchanged hands. Eyes sparkled with even more interest. Hayase soon took out a notebook and pen and started scribbling and mumbling, lost to the world.


    The impetus to join was there. I wanted nothing more to help, learn more about this kind of stuff. It was right up Fangirl-sama¡¯s alley. I shook my head, there was more stuff to do. I turned around, left Hayase lost to the world. My steps took me back to the corpses. Yamato had followed me, thankfully in silence.No?v(el)B\\jnn


    When we arrived at the location, I wasn¡¯t sure how to do this. Options flashed into my mind. Use barriers, explosions, or even doton jutsu to open up a hole in the ground. I shook my head. Somehow, I didn¡¯t want to. Didn¡¯t feel like the right thing to do. I thought about the many tools I had stored in my seals. My hands searched for one in particular. Out popped a spade and I got up to dig.


    I nodded at Yamato in thanks, ignored Hayase who was still lost in his own obsession and hadn¡¯t even seen the house spring out of the ground. We ventured inside, Yamato carrying Sai to one of the bed rooms. I went straight toward the kitchen. I wanted a decent meal. No more cold dinners and eating dry travel rations.


    I cooked, we ate, Sai still slept, Hayase was still not with us.


    I took this time to work on my still unnamed barrier jutsu. I had managed to use it before that explosion, even if the barrier didn¡¯t hold up like I wanted. But it was progress. I think that after that trial run, I could at least name it. What would be a good name for a jutsu like that? My musings on possible names were interrupted by a shout from Hayase.


    ¡°I got it!¡± The chunin yelled, a fist closed, pointed at the sky. ¡°I broke the code!¡±


    That got our attention. Yamato soon returned from the bedroom where he¡¯d been keeping vigil over the still unconscious Sai. I moved closer as well, keen on learning if those notes had any useful information.


    Yamato¡¯s stoic voice congratulated the chunin. ¡°That is amazing work. Did you learn anything useful?¡±


    Hayase beamed. Shook the original note. ¡°Better than that, the note was a secret communication of the Fuma clan. They were using a mix of the Hashirama principle with two other sets of encryption to hide the message. It took me a while to break it. You see, I don¡¯t think I would have managed if not by¡ª¡±


    Yamato coughed, interrupting the tirade.


    Hayase scratched his head, looked embarrassed. ¡°Right, sorry. The note is a secret communication of the Fuma clan detailing a plan to attack Orochimaru¡¯s hideout. It has information about where the place is.¡±


    ¡°Good job Hayase. I doubt anyone else would¡¯ve managed it in such a small time frame.¡± Yamato praised the chunin again.


    I nodded, gave him a small punch in the shoulder, then a thumbs up and a smile when he looked my way. Hayase looked happier than I ever saw him. I even forgot my gloomy mood as well. It felt good, knowing that finally we had a conclusive clue. From there, I took out the area map we got from the town, and using the clues provided, Hayase was able to pinpoint the area the hideout was located in. It still wasn¡¯t the definitive location, but better than we had before.


    ¡°You guys did well. Make sure to rest and prepare for tomorrow, we don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll find there.¡±


    I nodded. Gave the map one last look. With luck, tomorrow we¡¯d find the place. With even more luck I would find information to help me up with my seals. Or if fate smiled on us, we¡¯d find Kabuto. I won¡¯t lie here. I was hoping for the last one. Somehow, I wanted to blame, maybe punch someone, and Kabuto was the perfect target.

 5.15

    5.15


    I followed hot on Yamato¡¯s heels.


    It was a few days after the chimera battle and the two of us moved through the trees in search of the damnable hideout. Hayase stayed behind at camp, keeping Sai¡¯s company. Due to his injury, Sai wasn¡¯t in any condition to join, which left us with a few options: retreat, wait or press on.


    Option one wasn¡¯t really an option. No way I wanted to have that black mark on my perfect completion record. I wasn¡¯t about to abandon the mission just because someone got hurt, and it wasn¡¯t because of my dislike for Sai. I wasn¡¯t going to lie and say I liked the boy. At this point, I could just shrug and accept that. I don¡¯t think I was ever going to be friends with him, but I respected him as a shinobi. His condition wasn¡¯t critical, he wasn¡¯t in any risk of dying. What he needed was time to recover. Abandoning the mission because of a non critical injury was out of the question. It was nice of Yamato to bring up the option, however, even if no one, Sai included, considered that a choice.


    The second option was to wait. Like I said, Sai needed only time to recover. Thankfully, the injury wasn¡¯t laced with poison, nor had it hit any vital organs. Given a couple of weeks, maybe less, Sai would be in top condition again, ready to face even more dangerous enemies for the glory of Konoha!


    Third option was to split the team. If anyone out there ever played TRPG to any length of time, they would know that option was also known as the party killer prelude. Splitting the party was tantamount to summoning death flags. Several of them, all at once.


    A mix of second and third option was the agreed upon path forward. Hayase would stay behind at the hidden camp to protect Sai and hold down the fort. Yamato and I, on the other hand, would scout for the hideout location. The clues we got from the deceased members of the Fuma clan was enough to point us in the right direction, even if we still didn¡¯t have a precise location. It was a huge area to search, but at least we didn¡¯t need to scour the whole forest anymore.


    Up ahead, Yamato jumped on a tall tree branch, but instead of jumping ahead, he stopped. Raised one hand, palm open. I jumped closer, stopped by his side.


    Ahead of us, in the distance, inside a clearing by the base of the giant trees, a stair led down inside the earth. The walls were constructed of a purple tinted stone. The roof tiles above were created of a deeper shade of the same hue. At the bottom, a doorless threshold. Above it, two crimson snakes coiled, painted on either side of a grated vent. Fitting for a snake.


    Yamato was silent, but his hands conveyed the new orders. ¡°Careful, scout, investigate.¡±


    We had discussed what to do when we found the place. Yamato wasn¡¯t keen on taking any unnecessary risks, not while half of the team was still at the camp, but we couldn¡¯t also just leave without gathering any information, which was the reason the two of us were here. He had wood clones, I could use shadow ones. We were the ultimate¡ªdanger free¡ª scouting duo. With a silent nod, my hands flashed with seals. Out popped a shadow clone.


    By my side, growing out of the tree, a Yamato clone appeared. My clone, Scout-chan, saluted, flickered away to do scout things. Yamato-clone nodded, merged with the tree and disappeared.


    I took out a few seals, slapped them around us. These weren¡¯t mine, but supplies provided by the village. They muted our presence, helped us hide.


    I could see it. The divas from the Hyuga clan threatening something dumb in case the second eye wasn¡¯t returned. I mean, they threatened civil war when I was kidnapped, and I¡¯m sure they weren¡¯t happy with the Old-man after he stopped Hiashi from killing me. Huh, weird.


    Yamato sighed again, shoulders slumping. ¡°Yes, but also no.¡±


    For some reason, Yamato went quiet after that. Was he really going to drop that bomb and then say nothing else? I moved to erase my question and write another, when a raised hand from the jounin stopped me.


    ¡°You have to understand the political situation in the village is a powder-keg waiting to blow. The council wanted Lord Jiraiya to take the position of fifth Hokage, him being one of the three illustrious sannin and disciple of the third. Jiraiya refused.¡±


    I nodded. That made sense. It was why, in the original story, Jiraiya took Naruto on a trip to find Tsunade, to convince the woman to return, and to keep Naruto safe from the Akatsuki.


    Yamato didn¡¯t stop his explanation. ¡°In the wake of that, the Hyuga clan started to pressure the council to appoint Hyuga Hizashi as the new Hokage. One of their main claims was the village''s inability to protect Konoha¡¯s clan bloodlines. Danzo stole sharingan eyes, Orochimaru experiments with the first Hokage cells and your kidnapping among other attempts from outside agents.¡±


    Wasn¡¯t that a bit of a master plan from the Hyuga clan? I mean, I knew about the family seal on the branch family. Wasn¡¯t that just placing a puppet Hokage for the main family? I wasn¡¯t sure why they didn¡¯t push for Hiashi instead. That one didn¡¯t make sense to me. More importantly, wasn¡¯t I screwed if one of them became Hokage?


    ¡°The problem is, while the Hyuga are powerful as a clan, none of their members are at the same level of strength as Lord Third, or Jiraiya, and a strong leader is needed to prevent the other villages from declaring an all out war against Konoha. Killing Orochimaru helped, losing Lord Third didn¡¯t.¡±


    I nodded, digesting that information.


    ¡°The chances are slim, but if we manage to recover the last eye, that could be used to dismiss the Hyuga main claim to the position.¡±


    Huh, in the end, I thought myself smart for realizing the mission was more than they told me, but I was also way off the mark. The full scope of the mission made sense, but a nasty feeling brewed in my gut.


    What about me? Was I supposed to just hand over my eye, if we ever found it?


    Why was I even getting angry over this? Wasn¡¯t I just thinking I didn¡¯t care for that damn eye?

 5.16

    5.16


    That revelation distracted me enough that I couldn¡¯t concentrate on deciphering the wood clone details for the rest of our vigil. I knew there was more happening behind the scenes. If the Hyuga was making a play for the Hokage position, I was sure the other shinobi families wouldn¡¯t let this opportunity pass. Another clan came to mind that could also use this opportunity: the Uchihas¡¯.


    I didn¡¯t know much about them even after many years. They controlled the police force. They were ridiculously strong. Emotions ran hot on that clan. They already wanted to try a coup before. I wasn¡¯t sure what the clan political situation was at the moment. Danzo, I think, was the one in the original story oppressing the clan to the point of rebellion. Itachi¡¯s father was the one more vocal about fighting back. Itachi was a pacifist at heart, and Shisui was willing to use a genjutsu on his own clan to prevent civil war.


    Itachi was now the Uchiha¡¯s clan leader. Shisui was a member of the ANBU.


    That particular branch of secret ninjas was the last one I would expect to cause trouble to the village. They operated directly under the Hokage.


    A deluge of information flooding my mind put a stop to any political consideration. I pushed thoughts about the shinobi family, Hokage¡¯s succession and stolen eyes out of my mind. Scout-chan finished her job and unpopped herself.


    There was a lot to parse through, but also, not that much actionable intel. Scout-chan found many things to report: hidden traps, places where paper seals were placed, battle scars and trails. From the looks of it, this hideout used a similar technique to Yamato¡¯s house jutsu, only that those seals had faded and not been replaced in a while. Perhaps there was no one still keeping the hideout operating?


    I organized the information, saluted in Scout-chan''s last known direction. She would be missed. Then I turned and went looking for Yamato.


    I found him talking to his clone. Yamato-clone¡¯s report was similar to Scout-chan. None of them entered the hideout, and there was no evidence that anyone, apart from a big heavy humanoid creature with claws and a big sword, went in or out recently. When the clone was done, I wrote my report. Yamato was patient enough to wait until I wrote everything my clone found out. When I was finished, the man was scratching his chin.


    The cells were... not a good place.


    Small, rough stone cubicles, with a single opening barred by thick metal doors. A small slit on the metal door let me see the interior. It reminded me of those solitary confinement cells in the before. The whole prison stank of decay and shit. A single peek inside the cells was enough for me. I¡¯d leave identifying the bodies to the others. I was, after all, a young impressionable kunoichi. I wasn¡¯t averse to playing the child card to avoid that particular duty.


    The cells all fed into this one corridor that led to an underground arena. The arena¡¯s floor was full of crusted and dried blood.


    The sequence of events in my mind was like this: After days without anyone to keep maintenance in place, the chimera escaped. It tore a path toward the exit, springing most of the traps in its way. Once outside, the creature attacked nearby settlements, but often returned to the hideout for one reason or another.


    I think the passage I was casing at the moment led to the labs. I had already found what seemed to be a dormitory, a common area, and storage. There were a few more passages to explore. Yamato was on the other side of the complex, trying to break past one particular nasty trap. He was sure it was a vault of sorts. If we were lucky, most of the information we wanted was stored there.


    The dark corridor I was in now didn¡¯t seem trapped. No strange markings on the walls, no fissures on the ground, no wires or strange devices. I summoned Decoy-chan, the Eleventh. She glared at me, gave me the finger, but did her duty. She strode toward the door, and when nothing happened, pulled it open.


    Somehow, I was expecting an explosion, maybe poison, or something more insidious.


    Decoy-chan peeked inside and froze. Without looking back, she unpopped herself. I was right. This tunnel led into the labs. The room was large, partially hidden in darkness. In the middle of the room, an operation table, with a corpse on top of it. On the walls, rolls of vat tubes, filled with green goop. Human shaped silhouettes barely visible inside said goop.


    I closed my eyes. Tried to stop my trembling hands. I knew there was a chance to find more experiments. I had avoided thinking about it until now. I had hoped there would be no mad-lab here.

 5.17

    5.17


    In my seven years of living my best ninja life, I tried my damnedest to never think about that first day and what it really meant. Unfortunately, this wasn¡¯t a case of ¡°trauma begone!¡±, it was a severe case of ¡°trauma be repressed!¡±. This attitude had already bitten me in the behind once: I could barely function in the brief fight against Orochimaru in the Forest of Death. There, I was subjected to the role of kunoichi in distress, and Emosuke had to save me, much to my chagrin.


    Now, here I was, trying my hardest to enter the lab. Only, my body wouldn¡¯t obey me.


    There was this quake that hit me every time I tried to take a step forward, and this unseen marathon I ran that took my breath away, leaving me gasping, not to mention the invisible booze I drank. That was the only explanation of why the world spun around me.


    I closed my eyes. Tried to recenter myself. Took one, or maybe ten deep breaths. Opened my eyes, took a step toward the door. I whimpered, but pushed forward. The part of me that was the original Hinata stirred, wailed in my mind, distressed. Weird, why now? She¡¯d been quiet for years.


    It wasn¡¯t easy, but I think I did my best here. Quakes, marathons and booze didn¡¯t stop me. I crossed the door, looked inside the room. The light I carried illuminated part of the lab, and the many vat tubes lining the walls. Near the door, there was one of those antiquated computers, like those eighties¡¯ looking DOS based machines: big and bulky and utterly useless.


    I approached the table, peeked at the corpse. It was a young woman, face covered in seal inscribed fabric, black hair spilling from behind the cloth. Given her proportions, she looked around my age, maybe a couple of years older. All of her body was inscribed, the lines moving from the skin to the table and beyond. Some of those symbols were familiar. I didn¡¯t know what they meant, but I recognized Orochimaru¡¯s sealwork. I had, after all, a prime example etched on my own bones.


    My gaze inevitably found its way to the rolls of vat tubes. They continued down the room, further into the darkness where the light wasn¡¯t enough to illuminate them. It was macabre, like those silly drawings of monkeys turning humans representing evolution. The vat nearest the door contained an embryo. The further deeper into the room, the more developed the person inside. From embryo to an unformed baby, to a small toddler, to a young girl and more.


    It was surreal seeing the same girl in various stages of growth. The same round, soft face, black hair, button nose. It was evident the girl inside the vat was dead. There was no power in the whole complex. There was no movement from the person inside the tube. The green goop wasn¡¯t all that clear anymore, patches of red and brown mixed with the green.


    I refocused on my task, or I tried. It was really hard to think. The small, quiet voice I always thought of as the original Hinata was neither small nor quiet anymore. I could barely hear my own thoughts amid all her screaming.


    Turning, I took a step toward the computer. If I could make that thing work, I might get information regarding the experiments. I moved, but there was something wrong with the world. It tilted and hit me on the face with the ground. I blinked, surprised. My throat really hurt. I closed my eyes. My head buzzed.


    The screaming hadn¡¯t stopped.


    Hinata was walking down a corridor. She seemed out of breath, but not in danger or being attacked.


    He pushed the connection to the back of his mind again. Yamato took no pride in spying on Hinata, but orders were orders, even if the real reason he did it was to make sure the girl was safe, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t have let her explore alone. He knew the girl was strong, but he wasn¡¯t about to let her face Orochimaru¡¯s traps without support. She was under his care, no matter what the council thought about her.


    His clone, who had stayed unmoving while Yamato checked things, started to move again. He concentrated on the earth around the clone. Doton: Iwagakure no Jutsu wasn¡¯t his favorite jutsu, even if it was extremely useful. Finger pointed toward the faultline, he urged the clone¡¯s finger to transform into wood, questing for an opening.


    There was a whimper, then a low wail, which soon turned into hoarse screaming in the back of his mind.


    Yamato bolted up, concern spiking. The attempt to enter the vault was discarded. His hands flashed with seals: Ram, Dog, Rat, Bird. The tunneling technique wasn¡¯t meant to be used on walls, but all of the hideout¡¯s walls were carved from stone. He opened a straight tunnel toward where Hinata was.


    The noise coming from her hadn¡¯t stopped, if anything, she screamed even louder. A quick peek through the link didn¡¯t show what was the problem. She was in a huge room, there was no one attacking her.


    It took four more jutsu to finish the path. By now, Yamato didn¡¯t need his transmission seed to hear the girl. He burst inside the room, kunai in hand, ready to fight for his life and protect his charge.


    Yet, there were no enemies.


    The room was large, a laboratory. Hinata was on the ground, holding her head, screaming. There was an operation table in the middle of the room, with a surprisingly familiar corpse on top of it. Yamato¡¯s eyes scanned the room, looking for enemies, then he saw the vat tubes.


    And the girl inside it.


    And Hinata¡¯s dead face, from toddler to adult.

 5.18

    5.18


    I stared at the wooden ceiling of Yamato¡¯s mobile home base. I was on my bed, tucked in comfy warm blankets. That had been a nice touch from the stoic jounin. My evaluation of him had to change a bit. I once thought he had no dad energy, but now I knew the truth: he just had hidden dad energy.


    Time had been hard to keep up with. I wasn¡¯t about to lie and say I didn¡¯t remember anything. There was no timely loss of sanity this time for me. No passing out and dealing with dreams, no merciful oblivion of unconsciousness. I was all too aware that some part of my mind couldn¡¯t deal with what we found in the lab. That same part refused to let me forget.


    My throat was a stinging, agonising mess, that not even my enhanced regeneration had been able to keep up with. Not when I screamed for hours, until I couldn¡¯t anymore. After that, I just hadn¡¯t the will to move. Yamato carried me out of the Hideout, tucked me in bed. I didn¡¯t resist, even if the screaming hadn¡¯t stopped.


    I did, however, hear Yamato¡¯s explanation of the situation to Sai and Hayase.


    He was kind enough to fudge the truth. I wasn¡¯t having a mental breakdown, no, in his version of events I had fallen prey to an insidious trap when trying to enter the labs. For that reason, that wing the hideout was off-limits for now. Too dangerous to explore alone. My guess was that Yamato wanted to keep the others away from learning about the clones.


    It was a good plan. That was a disaster waiting to happen.


    Was that Orochimaru¡¯s plans here? An army of cloned Hyuga? Somehow, that didn¡¯t seem to fit my idea of the murder-hobo. He was evil, not burdened by morals or sentimentality, he didn¡¯t mind killing, nor did he mind bringing back the dead. He didn¡¯t mind using people, then discarding them. But an army of clones? Maybe I was jumping the gun here.


    How long had it been since I was placed on this bed? I considered getting up, but just wasn¡¯t feeling up to it. My eyes were dry, and stung every time I tried to blink. My stomach roiled. It felt like I was about to spill it at any time.


    There was a cup and wooden jug of water by the bed, a bowl of some soup I couldn¡¯t identify. I really wanted a sip of water, but the cup was too far away. The effort to get up and take it didn¡¯t seem worth the hassle of getting out of the bed.


    While I contemplated what I should do, the door to my bedroom opened. Yamato walked in, holding a bowl. He walked to my bed, removed the old bowl, placed the new one there. Steam billowed out from the container, the smell of veggies and cooked meat reached me.


    My stomach protested. I looked away.


    How was I going to solve this problem, then?


    I ignored all the world shattering, mind-boggling and trauma inducing revelations and questions. Put away my anger, and resignation, and sadness at the loss of life. I ¨Cvery reluctantly¨C shelved my burning need to be a good shinobi and obey my orders. In the end, what did I want right now?


    Unburdened by all those thoughts, the answer was simple, and sad.


    I just wanted someone to hold me.


    With difficulty, I climbed to a sitting position. While I was there, I stretched toward the small table by the bed, took the cup and sipped the water. It hurt going down, but that was fine. I placed the cup down again, settled once more on the bed.


    It was ironic that my solution in the end involved clones, when this whole mess also started with clones. My hands flashed, my chakra churned. In front of me, there was another me. Round face, black eyes, black circle under her eyes, face pale and wan.


    This time, I didn¡¯t change her name. No cute, endearing nicknames today. Today, we faced the truth. ¡°Hinata-chan,¡± I whispered.


    My other self nodded. Tears welled in her eyes.


    I scuttled closer, pulled her on a tight hug. She placed her arms around me, trembled at the contact, or maybe I shuddered, I wasn¡¯t sure anymore. We didn¡¯t talk, there was no need to. We went from sitting down to laying on the bed, still clinging to each other. I wasn¡¯t sure how to convince myself everything was alright, even if I knew it wasn¡¯t. At some point, I started to shower her face with small kisses. Her forehead, eyelids, cheeks, nose, chin. It wasn¡¯t the passion-filled kind. I just couldn¡¯t think of any other way of saying what I needed to say.


    There was this old adage, actions speak louder than words. I just wanted me to understand that I still loved myself.


    At some point, not sure when, we fell asleep. I had a nice dream.

 5.19

    5.19


    I woke up the next day not refreshed, but feeling better, ready to get out of the bed and start a new day. The trauma hadn¡¯t gone away, but it was contained, after a fashion. A memory of the laboratory surfaced, and I had to close my eyes, force the shaking to stop. I wasn¡¯t going to have another mental breakdown. Not here, at least. I was sure I¡¯d be able to complete the mission. Delving deeper into the nature of what happened to me, and what it really meant could wait until I was back at home safe, sound, and hopefully happy.


    Maybe I should try counseling? Did Konoha even have the concept of therapy?


    A thought flashed in my mind, I imagined how a therapy session would be like in Konoha: A comfortable room, and a comfortable chaise lounge. On a similar comfortable chair opposite the chaise sat Yamanaka Inoichi, with a book in hand titled: The secrets of the mind. With his grave voice he would say. ¡°Now, relax and open your mind. This won''t hurt a bit.¡±


    I shook the silly thought away. My chest burned with thirst, my stomach growled in hunger. More than that, I needed to find the loo. It was a matter of life and death.


    That need spurned me out of the warm blankets and into a new day. The water jug had been replaced at some point, and the bowl of food swapped to bread, cheese and a few dried fruits. I remember those. We purchased them back in the town to complement our own supplies.


    Before the day really started, I pushed my chakra, out popped another me. She had bed hair, lines on her face from the blanket, eyes still crusty, clothes in disarray from staying in bed for days without removing her ninja gear. But her eyes, while sad, weren¡¯t despairing. Her mouth curved with a small smile.


    I hopped closer, gave her a big hug, then kissed her forehead. I know what you¡¯re thinking, but don¡¯t blame me too much. I just decided I was done lying to myself and ignoring my own loneliness. With my particular set of skills, I could actually give myself a hug, so why not? Other me gave me a cheeky grin, like she knew what I was thinking, then another hug before unpopping herself.


    I ran toward the restroom and worked on my business, relieved myself before things got even more awkward. Done with my morning ablutions, I swapped for a cleaner outfit, adjusted the weight seals, made sure I was presentable. It was time to face the music.


    Yamato¡¯s default house was a two story building with the bedrooms on the upper floor, living room, small rooms that I thought of as offices and the kitchen. Given how dark and cold the house was, the sun hadn¡¯t risen yet. I climbed down the stairs, and found Sai sitting cross legged on a cushion. His eyes were closed, hand in front of his stomach, with each finger meeting the opposite hand counterpart.


    Cadaver pale Sai opened his eyes, maybe alerted by the sound of my footsteps. The light was dim, but I could see him glance my way. He gave me a nod, I waved back. Then he closed his eyes again. Behind his facade of calm politeness, I saw something else: indifference, contempt, annoyance.


    It wasn¡¯t the first time I had the impression Sai didn¡¯t like me. But it was the first time the feeling was this strong. What was that about? Hold on, was Sai jelly of Yamato taking care of me? I wouldn¡¯t be that, would it? Imagine it, Sai wanted some of Daddy Yamato¡¯s care.


    Yamato read the words, his big eyes stared into my soul. ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°Help me with the vault then. Once we finish there, we can move toward the lab and work there together.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s safe?¡± Hayase, who still looked ready to sleep more, asked. ¡°Whatever that trap was, I don¡¯t think I ever heard something screaming like that.¡± He glanced my way, gave me a chagrined shrug before looking at Yamato again.


    The jounin sipped his tea. ¡°It might be, but we still have to investigate the lab. It was my mistake splitting up from Hinata-san, and sending her to investigate the rest of the complex while I dealt with the vault. A mistake I won¡¯t make again.¡±


    I looked down. I didn¡¯t like this. Yamato was taking the blame for something he hadn¡¯t done. It felt nice knowing he was ready to take the fall if it meant keeping others from asking about my mental breakdown, but I also felt indignant that he was coddling me that much. I might be only twelve, but I was proud of being a ninja.


    With those conflicting feelings bubbling inside my chest, I followed Yamato into the snake¡¯s lair again. I won¡¯t say I was over all the things that had happened. I was still confused with my own feelings and reactions, but this felt too important to ignore. And, somehow, Yamato wasn¡¯t trying to keep me away from learning.


    For some reason, I was expecting that if we ever found anything important related to Orochimaru¡¯s experiments, Yamato would try to keep me as far away from it as possible. It didn¡¯t look like that to me. The man just looked worried for me.


    Weird. Was he actually on my corner, and not a spy for the village? I mean, there were all these confusing signals from him. If his goal wasn¡¯t to keep me under surveillance, why did he always hide some of his transmission seeds on my stuff? This wasn¡¯t a new thing, he¡¯d been doing it since hell month when he started to train me. I never really minded the privacy invasion because I didn¡¯t have anything I actually wanted to hide from him, and guessed the man was just following orders.


    And he was probably aware I could feel the chakra in the seeds. Yes, I couldn¡¯t tap into that connection and transmission to learn what he was seeing, but Kakashi-sensei knew I could sense chakra. The seed still had chakra inside it, even if it was a tiny bit.


    So many mixed signals messing with my head.

 5.20

    5.20


    Crouched down in the dark tunnel, I studied the walls, floor and ceiling.


    There was a hole in the wall that created a direct path from the vaults to the labs. That was an interesting way to use a jutsu. Would Yamato teach me that one if I asked him? I guess I just found what to do on the trip back to Konoha. Thinking about that, I might as well try to leech that water bullet jutsu from Hayase as well.


    In the original story, Hinata¡¯s Nature Type was fire and lightning. I¡¯m guessing my affinity to earth came from the implanted Senju cells. Wood release was, after all, a mix of earth and water. If that theory holds true, I could potentially excel in four out of five types of elements. Missing only wind to join the exalted group of very rare ninjas capable of using all five basic elements.


    The entrance to the lab had been sealed by a barrier created out of wood. Yamato¡¯s attempt to keep the place out of reach? Said jounin stood by my side, observing me carefully. He didn¡¯t press me, for which I was thankful.


    We¡¯d managed to break into the vault a few hours ago. Thankfully, the insides weren¡¯t trapped. There were a lot of things there. Books, scrolls, papers, curios, organic samples sealed inside glass containers. It was a lot. From a quick glance, most of that was in some sort of code. We left Hayase to catalog the contents while we tackled the lab, as Yamato had suggested at breakfast.


    Sai was still outside, keeping vigil at the hideout entrance. True to his word, Yamato was being a lot more careful this time. He left a wood clone with Sai, another with Hayase. I tried to leave a shadow clone as well. I wanted, after all, to do my part. But Yamato told me not to.


    I could guess his reasons. If I had another breakdown, the clones might disperse and cause confusion.


    All these considerations were just me trying to procrastinate. I was serious about facing this head on, but wanting was one thing, going forward with it, another. I got up, took a deep breath. Nodded to Yamato, who nodded back.


    His hands flashed with seals, and the wood sealing the lab retreated, leaving the door unbarred.


    I closed my fists. Took another deep breath. Repeated in my mind one, maybe ten times, that it was going to be alright. I wasn¡¯t in any danger. Whatever truth I found inside could only help. There was no lower point to fall anymore. I was already aware and living the worst case scenario: I could be a living clone with a ticking bomb inside her body, mistrusted by her own village, with her staunchest ally in this whole thing dead, because she failed to save him.


    The only way things would get worse was if there was some possession shit waiting for me inside that lab. I didn¡¯t think that was probable.


    Eyes open, head held high, I entered the damn laboratory.


    The first drawer was filled to the brim with even more notes, drawings and sketches. Was all of this related to this one particular experiment? I would find out, one way or another.


    I gathered all available dossiers, notes, and parchments into a pile. There wasn¡¯t time right now to try deciphering them. That would take a lot of time and effort.  From my own seals, I unsealed a bigger piece of parchment. Placed it on the ground, my hand at the center. Before I pushed my chakra, an idea struck me. I blamed Hayase and his endearing dorkness of all things code related.


    The idea was simple. What if I could create a cipher of my own, but for my storage seals? That sparkled another thought. How would I go about it? A subdued smile found its way to my face. Now that I think about it, Seal-chan and her many iterations had already figured that, back in hell month. Sure, at the time, I failed in tying the beacon to my chakra signature in particular, but I did learn how to infuse it with my own jutsu. So, I just needed...


    I took another piece of parchment, a small one this time. I modified the seal, created more building blocks from my own vocabulary. These were simple, they¡¯d take the chakra of the person activating the seals, and change the end result. That way, only a person with that same chakra signature would be able to release the seal contents. I pushed my chakra, and inscribed the new seal. Took one of the pencils from the table, placed it on top of the experimental version and activated it. With a puff of smoke, the pencil disappeared, the sealing complete.


    Somewhat giddy at how easy it had been, I tapped the seal with my finger, willed the seal undone. Out popped a pencil. Slightly worn, marks of abuse, a cracked end. It was the same.


    That changed things. This new version of my seals did need more chakra, but I thought it was a worthy trade. Not everything would need this security measure, but the contents of this laboratory? It wasn¡¯t even worth considering not using the new yet to be named jutsu.


    I turned back to the bigger parchment, keeping the shape of the new seal in my mind, Shikoku Fuin did the rest. Guided by my will, the chakra spread through the parchment, creating in seconds a seal that would have taken me minutes to inscribe with ink.


    I owed Kakashi-sensei a hug. I never really thanked the man for this jutsu. It saved so much time.


    That done, I scoured the lab for any other note, paper or drawing I could find. I placed everything on top of my prepared storage seal, pushed in my chakra, and sealed everything away. Now I just needed to think of a way of keeping this information to myself without those geezers in the village taking it off from me. Problems for the future.


    The next part was a lot less interesting. I walked to the table, pulled the inscribed fabric off the corpse¡¯s face. She was almost an exact copy of my own, maybe one or two years older. Out of curiosity, I opened her eyes. Lifeless black eyes stared back at me. Gently sliding my hand over her face, I closed her eyes again.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I whispered to the dead version of me.


    My hands hovered over the trolley. With one last deep breath, I took a scalpel. Gruesome as it might be, I wasn¡¯t about to pass on the chance to see with my own eyes if she also had other seals in her body. It could be a clue to understand what the ones in my heart and eyes did. A clue to disabling the ticking time bomb the seals on my bones were.


    This decision made me feel like I was following in Orochimaru''s footsteps. I wasn¡¯t happy about that.

 5.21

    5.21


    Absentminded, I cleaned my hands against the apron. Lines of red decorating the white fabric. My forehead was damp with sweat. I worked very hard for the past hours, but I was almost done. With firm steps, I walked to the last tube. Holding a kunai, I struck the container. Glass broke and green goop poured out.


    My hands shot inside the broken container and supported the corpse before it fell down as well. I unplugged the many sensors tied to her body. Those things were small, wicked needles-like thingies that gave me the heebie-jeebies. Soon after, I pulled the tube out of her mouth. It came away flecked with blood and more. I was past trying to keep my hands clean. That ship sailed with the autopsy. Thus the apron.


    I took the corpse in my arms, walked back to the middle of the room. With deliberate care, I placed her together with the others. From embryo to adult, I left none behind. Around the bodies, six kunais were placed in a rough circle, inside a formation of four other kunais. Each of those kunais had a tag on them.


    No, I wasn¡¯t about to explode my clones. I liked explosions, but it had its time and place. Those six tags were a modified version meant to produce fire. The outer ones, a simple barrier setup to contain the blaze. The second barrier also prevented the fire from burning all oxygen underground and giving me CO poisoning. That led me into a rabbit-hole trying to understand how to make jutsu fire still burn in an enclosed space. Despite all those implications, the answer was simple: Burn chakra, instead of oxygen. Modifying the seal hadn¡¯t taken long when I decided what I wanted to do. I wasn¡¯t about to take the corpses back to the village. No chance in hell I would deliver this many versions of myself to those codgers.


    I guess that after the emo phase, I finally hit the teenage angst phase. Rebelling against authority. How normal of me.


    With one last look at the bodies, I stepped out of the prepared area, activating the seals.


    The blaze burned for hours. In the end, all that was left were ashes. My work wasn¡¯t done, however. While the pyre burned, I went about dismantling and storing the beast of an old computer. The thing was too unwieldy to store in one single seal. I tried my best to not break anything, but I might have forced some cables out of their place with a little more fervor than delicate bulky machinery should be dealt with. I guess I¡¯d trust the Intelligence nerdy ninjas to fix the thing.


    Imagine that, Shinobi IT Geeks.


    When I was done, my eyes felt heavy, and I was tired. I think it was already the next day when I was finally finished with everything I wanted to do. The lab looked like a hurricane swept past it. Broken glass everywhere, green goop making the floor slippery, a huge patch of burned stuff in the middle. A few cables and wires stuck out where the computer once was. The operation table tossed aside.


    I placed the last explosive tag by the door. This time, it was the best of my best supplies. I hadn¡¯t skimped on it either. By the time I was done, there would be no more lab, and hopefully no trace of the travesty perpetuated inside. All that would be left were my memories, trauma, and stuff I stored on my seals.


    I didn¡¯t see Yamato when I walked outside the lab. Had he left me alone? I took the path leading toward the entrance, but before I could have walked more than a few meters, Yamato phased through the walls. Damn, that was another jutsu I really wanted. At this point, I was considering if I should really lean into the daughter''s disguise. I mean, dad Yamato would have to teach me his jutsu, not just the mokuton stuff, right?


    I didn¡¯t stop. Yamato matched my pace and together we walked to the hideout entrance. Before we left I stopped. There was this angry part of me that didn¡¯t want to obey my orders and follow the mission, but if anything, now wasn¡¯t the time to rock the boat. From what I remembered, Tsunade would be a good Hokage. I was more than willing to give her the benefit of a doubt before taking more drastic actions. Not that I had any idea what those drastic actions would be. I hadn''t thought that far ahead yet.


    I erased the words on my board, wrote others. ¡°Those were my good ones. I meant what I said. Only my best.¡±


    His hand pinched the bridge of his nose. His voice sounded strained. Body tense. ¡°When are they going to go off?¡±


    I shrugged. Who did he think I was? ¡°On command.¡±


    Yamato¡¯s shoulder sagged again. ¡°Hinata-san, we¡¯ll need to talk about acceptable levels of destructive force sometime soon.¡±


    I shrugged again. There wasn¡¯t much to talk about. Explosion made things go boom. The bigger the boom, the better.


    Outside the house, patrolling the perimeter, we found a tired looking Hayase. When he noticed us leaving the hideout, he walked closer, then came to a screeching halt when he saw me. He pointed at me, then looked from Yamato to me a few times.


    ¡°Why are you wearing a bloody apron?¡± The chunin demanded.


    I looked at myself. Hands covered in dried blood, apron splashed with red and bloody handprints.


    I scratched my head. Oops?


    We sat around a small table in the dining area of the camp. On the table, crumbles of cupcakes and an empty tea thermos. I was still tired, and a bit sleepy, but the sugar fix gave me a few motes of energy back into my body.


    Hayase was still giving me strange glances from time to time. Even after I removed the apron, took a bath, donned a new outfit, and made sure the blood under my nails was gone, it still didn¡¯t seem enough for him. Might be because I played that off as an everyday occasion, answering as if walking out of a madman hideout covered in blood was the most normal thing in the world.


    Huh, who would have thought that was where he drew the line.


    Yamato took a last sip of his tea, placed it down and looked at me. ¡°Hinata-san, report.¡± He ordered.

 Kunoichi 101 – Tea Making

    Kunoichi 101 ¨C Tea Making


    To say I was nervous was an understatement. I tiptoed in the bathroom, trying my best to see more of myself in the mirror. My hair had grown out a little¡ªit looked good, I thought. My big, sparkling black eyes looked back. It was still hard to believe I was Hinata. Without the white eyes, of course.


    I moved a few strands of hair in place, made sure my clothing was prim and proper. Today was the first Kunoichi lesson.


    Up until now, surrounded by the other 26 students, it hadn''t been hard to avoid the other girls in class. There were the numbered npcs. Those six girls I relegated to One through Six in my head. I know they were real, living people, but I also knew those girls wouldn¡¯t amount to much in the grand scheme of things. They were barely even mentioned in the original story.


    Whenever I tried to think of them, I could only think of them as a number to fill the student count. Thus, those names. It wasn¡¯t the reality here, of course. But I had a lot more to deal with and prepare for, I couldn¡¯t spare the effort to know and learn about them. No, the problem was the duo; Best girl Ino-chan and cute tsuntsun Sakura-chan. I was just a teensy-weensy bit nervous. It was easy to stay out of their radar with Emosuke and Sunshine Brat taking all the class attention.


    I hopped out of the bathroom, took my communication board, belt pouch with academy supplies, mine and Naruto¡¯s bento, locked the apartment and left.


    My morning routine was pretty set by this point. Get up, exercise, prepare food, run to Naruto¡¯s apartment, wake up the brat, deliver the food, drag him to academy, try to learn how to be a good shinobi while the other kids were still treating this like playing and games.


    Naruto grumbled all the way into class, but I ignored him. Damn brat still couldn¡¯t read properly, talking with him was a pain. Not that I had the time today. Naruto went to do Naruto things. I glanced one last time over my own clothes, pushed an errant strand of hair out of my face. Heart beating a mile a minute, I walked inside the room reserved for the Kunoichi classes.


    The setup was cool. A large room with a polished wooden floor gleaming under the sunlight streaming in from tall, paper-paneled windows. The walls were painted a soft lavender, dotted with scrolls depicting cherry blossoms and serene landscapes. Was that an attempt to create a feminine atmosphere? Low tables arranged in rows, each with a tea set and flower vases. At the far end of the room stood a tall shelf with colorful fabrics, ribbons, and labeled jars. Some of the labels read incense, dye, and herbal sachets.


    In one corner, a mannequin draped in an elegant kimono stared back at me, blank face somehow judging. The entire room smelled faintly of sandalwood, and the atmosphere was quiet. Somehow, I was the first to arrive.


    Lucky break! I moved inside, and sat in the uppermost corner desk. That way, the only person I¡¯d need to worry about was the person sitting to my right and the teacher. Like they say, out of sight, out of mind.


    Soon after, the Numbered NPCs entered the room. They sat at the back desks, small groups forming with enough gossip to keep them occupied. I had my own habits to keep. I got up, took my sweets, walked by the Numbers, gave each a candy, a smile, a thumbs up or a high five. They were already used to my idiosyncrasies. I even got a few smiles in return.


    Best girl Ino and Tsun Sakura arrived together. Huddled, gossiping. They passed by me, Ino-chan looked up, saw me holding the candies. Sakura-chan said something, it sounded rude, but Ino took a candy, smiled, then gave me a quick hug.


    That freaked me so much I fled to my own desk, much to the rest of the class¡¯ amusement. Ino giggled especially loudly. Did she... do that on purpose? I mean, come on. I knew I had trouble dealing with the two, but come on.


    But sensei¡¯s quirks aside. It was time. I was going to brew the best tea ever!


    Sakura and Ino-chan were again, glued at the hips. Giggling, talking and doing everything together. It was cute. They took their time at the cabinet, riffled through a lot of things, took a few others, returned to their desk, still giggling.


    The numbered gaggle of NPCs caused an even greater mess. I waited out the whole hush hour. Once it had ended, I approached the cabinet to get my own supplies.


    Like I guessed. It was an utter mess. Pots misplaced, labels missing, doors that weren¡¯t open now ajar. I glanced at the chaos. I couldn¡¯t find the labels I had seen when entering the room. Poked around in the upper compartment, but it was nowhere in sight. I looked at the lower parts of the cabinets. There was a lot more stuff there, most of it unlabeled as well.


    A particular sachet caught my attention, it had dried grey leaves inside. It did look like those tea sachets often used in the before. Another scan didn¡¯t produce the tea leaves Sensei told us to use. Hum, that got me thinking. Could I do a modern tea making style? Sensei might not approve, but I had the impression she wouldn¡¯t scold me for some reason. Yeah, I liked that idea.


    I fiddled with the glass container where the sachet was, had a bit of trouble getting the thing open. So many locks. But I persisted. I snagged a sachet and returned to my desk.


    Ready to dazzle sensei, the numbered npcs and the star duo. I got to work.


    Fire started, water into the pot. I waited until it boiled. From sensei¡¯s example, we shouldn¡¯t let the water boil, but again, modern way of doing stuff, always boil the water. I moved the boiling water to the teapot, took a cup and placed the sachet inside. I poured piping hot water.


    There was this acrid smell. The water bubbled a bit strangely. Was I missing something? Ah, yes. Can¡¯t be modern tea without sugar. I got up, ran to the cabinet, took the crystalline treat, returned to my seat.


    The teacup was... not like I was expecting. It somehow had faint bubbles, and the acrid smell was stronger. Had I got a bad batch of tea? I shrugged, if it tasted bad, I could just make some more.


    I poured in the sugar. The bubbling fizzled, hissed, popped.


    Hum, did I mess up? I didn¡¯t have time to consider more. Sensei was by my side. Faster that I could see, she threw the teapot away. It hit the wall. Then it expanded, like those science experiments when you place the thingy inside the catalyst and it grows. One of those growths hit an open fire, then the whole thing burst with flames. There was this moment where the world seemed to freeze. Then, the whole thing exploded.


    It threw the whole class room to the ground. I felt the impact through my whole body. The colors, the flames, the anticipation before the impact. It was... beautiful.

 5.22

    5.22


    I had, again, made attempts to smooth things over with Sai. I prepared breakfast ¡ªpancakes, yay¡ª and even unpopped a few of my cupcakes. Once the food had been served, I tried to strike a conversation. It went something like this:


    ¡°Hello Sai-kun, are you feeling better? Any trouble with the injuries?¡±


    I know those weren¡¯t the best ice breaking conversation starters, but I was a bit lost on what else to talk about with the guy. I thought his jutsu was cool, and was curious if his hobby was painting, but it would have been strange to ask that directly, when he was just coming out of a battle injury.


    Sai looked at me. Nodded. ¡°I am well.¡± He answered in a tone that made clear the conversation wasn¡¯t going anywhere.


    I wasn¡¯t going to push. Maybe I¡¯d try a few more times, just to make sure I didn¡¯t catch him on a bad day.


    Yamato didn¡¯t let the silence linger for long. We had already finished eating when he ordered. ¡°Report.¡±


    That command always made fangirl-chan happy. Today wasn¡¯t any different. She was still giddy, but a more subdued kind of happy. I understood her. I¡¯d give her a hug if I could. I saluted, then took out my board. Words flowed. There was a lot to report.


    ¡°I finished the lab investigation. Disposed of all organic matter that wasn¡¯t fit to be stored or transported. Gathered all available information. Disassembled the computer and stored it as well.¡±


    I gave the boys time to read my report while I wrote on the other side of the board. When I was finished, I flipped it, showing the second part of the report. ¡°I placed explosives at the lab and am ready to trigger them at any point to make sure anything that I missed won¡¯t fall on the wrong hands.¡±


    Well, guess what, my report wasn¡¯t that long.


    Yamato gave time for the other chunin to read before he addressed me again. ¡°Good job Hinata-san. You¡¯ll have to coordinate with Hayase today to pack and store the vault contents. I know it¡¯s a lot to ask, but you¡¯re the only one in our team capable of creating those storage seals.¡±


    I gave the man a nod. I didn¡¯t mind using jutsu. It was cool, and awesome, and fun.


    ¡°Sai, report.¡± Yamato ordered again.


    Hayase had started nodding even before Yamato finished his question. ¡°I should be done with it today. The part I think will take the longest is storing everything in seals.¡± He cast me a glance, one that had pity written all over.


    I shook my head. Silly boy, he didn¡¯t know that was the easiest, and most enjoyable part of the work. Seals were cool. I took my board, wrote my words. ¡°If everything is already organized and prepared, it shouldn¡¯t take me long. Watch.¡± I let the boys read the words then dug into my pouch for a small parchment. I placed it on the table, and put my finger on top of it. With an effort of will, my chakra spread over the paper, drawing squiggly black lines. After that, I took the empty thermos, placed it on the seal, activated it.


    Under three pairs of eyes, I stored my trusty thermos with my other stuff.


    Under three pairs of eyes, I gave them a V for victory.


    Under three pairs of confused eyes, my shoulders slumped. Damn, when would they start learning the cool modern symbols?


    ¡°That''s impressive Hinata-san.¡± Yamato said when the silence stretched for too long. I just hung my head, defeated. If only they understood. Did I need to become Hokage to start some cool new trends? I shook my head. Forget it. That was sunshine¡¯s brat dream. I wanted no part of it.


    ¡°That¡¯s decided then.¡± Unaware of my despair, Yamato continued. ¡°Tomorrow we leave for the Land of Waves.¡±


    I perked up. Not Konoha?


    ¡°Not Konoha?¡± Hayase mirrored my question.


    ¡°No, this is too important to afford the delay.¡± Yamato traced a line in the map. ¡°We¡¯ll cut through the Land of Hot Waters. Speed is our priority now. If that facility was used to hold prisoners we need to find it as soon as possible.¡± We nodded, but Yamato wasn¡¯t done with his orders. ¡°Sai, I¡¯ll trouble you to contact the village with your ink constructs. You¡¯ll relay the basics of the information and request reinforcements.¡±


    There were more technical details after that. New protocols to follow. Land of Waves was, after all, home to Kiri. Transgressing into another hidden village¡¯s domain was asking for trouble. I wasn¡¯t sure how Yamato planned to smooth things over, if he even planned to. My guess was that our best bet was to just not get found out.


    But even with all that important information being bandied about, something else was on my mind. Land of Waves means Naruto¡¯s Bridge. That made me think of Tsunami. There was this strange fluttering feeling in my belly. Silly as it might be, I wouldn¡¯t mind being mommied over again by her. Her mom''s energy was top notch, and now that I decided to stop deceiving myself, I did enjoy being fussed over by her. It made me think of my own mom in the before.


    I missed her.

 Kunoichi 201 – Flower Arrangements

    Kunoichi 201 ¨C Flower Arrangements


    I raised my board, eyes defiant. We were in the classroom. Suzume-sensei had just left, but the gaggle of girls was still here. The numbered NPCs stood arrayed behind Sakura-chan, all interested in our face-off. Pretty, cute, Tsuntsun Sakura wasn¡¯t going to intimidate me this time. No, I was going to hold my own. No more running off whenever she or Ino-chan even looked my way. It was time to girl up and face the truth. Not that I was going to admit I messed up.


    I blamed Naruto for this. The sunshine brat dumbness infected me. That¡¯s the only reason I could think of. Why else would I want to brag, of all things, to Sakura?


    By the pink-haired girl¡¯s side, Best Girl Ino rolled her eyes at the two of us. She tugged on Sakura¡¯s arm. ¡°Come on, you told me you¡¯d help look after the store today.¡± She complained to Sakura, but was ignored. She looked at me, gave me pleading eyes. ¡°Can¡¯t you, you know, just drop it?¡±


    I wavered, my confidence taking a critical hit. I still had trouble dealing with the star duo, and actually standing up to Sakura had been harder than anything else, but a direct request from Ino? Damn, it was super effective.


    ¡°Stay out of it, Ino-chan.¡± Sakura said, eyes still on me. She gave me a half glare, that somehow looked more amused than anything else. ¡°Let¡¯s see you do it then.¡± Sakura challenged me. The gaggle of numbers giggled behind her. ¡°Tomorrow.¡±


    I gritted my teeth, maybe swayed a bit. I wasn¡¯t angry, I kinda wanted to do a happy dance. Maybe I should thank Naruto instead of blaming him? I mean, wasn¡¯t this a wonderful opportunity? I erased the words on my board. Wrote others. ¡°Tomorrow. We let Suzume-sensei decide who wins. And the loser has to do one thing the winner says.¡±


    Sakura¡¯s grin was fierce. She pointed down. ¡°You¡¯re going down! And when I win, you¡¯ll have to give me a lot of cupcakes!¡±


    I huffed. Turned around, marched out of the classroom. The gaggle giggled even harder at my departure. The gall of Sakura-chan! I mean, she didn¡¯t need all of this for cupcakes. I was more than happy to part with my treasures. But now the bet was on.


    Ino caught up with me not long after. ¡°What are you going to do, Hinata-chan?¡±


    I gave her a thumbs up, wrote on my board. ¡°I have a plan. A secret weapon!¡± and ran ahead to start preparing stuff, leaving Best Girl Ino behind.


    My track record might not be the best in the kunoichi classes. I know, I know. Like, I might have exploded the tea ceremony. Broken up a few music instruments. Got even Suzume-sensei angry with my ever increasing questions about infiltration. I might have totally overdressed for that disguise mission test¡ª you can¡¯t blame me on that one, how was I supposed to know we were to dress like civilians? No, I did my best to come up with a ninja attire, with black clothing and black bandanna face covering. I even managed to get one of those small swords and the like to tie at my back.


    The point was, I wasn¡¯t going to mess up this one. It was just flower arrangements. How hard could it be?


    But to win this I had to be logical about things. I couldn¡¯t jump the gun like the previous attempts. I... had to admit I had no idea about flowers and their meanings. I was sure I could create a pretty arrangement, but I don¡¯t think that would be enough. Not to convince Suzume-sensei. It had to be pretty, it had to have meaning. Better yet if it was dangerous. Maybe poisoned flowers?


    I ran toward my apartment, a quick dip to leave all the other unnecessary stuff there and to pick up some particular brand of cupcakes and tea, and out I went hunting for information. I knew where I was going, and what I was about to do.


    My destination was the Grandma''s Gossip Club aka GGC.


    There was this house in the neighborhood where all the granny''s congregated everyday to gossip and reminisce about the good old days. I knew that was just a front for some elaborate information gathering setup. Those old ones knew about everything and everyone! There was no way it wasn¡¯t an information network hidden under the facade of cheerful, sometimes grumpy, old grannies.


    But I knew their secret, and I wasn¡¯t against abusing this opportunity for a chance to win. They were my secret weapon.


    I marched to the house door. Knocked, loud, firm.


    A toothy grandma, face wrinkled, eyes squinting, white hair tied in a bun, greeted me. Her voice was as wrinkly as her face. ¡°Hinata-chan, you¡¯re visiting again. Come in, come in.¡± The grandma waved me inside. I gave her a bow, a big smile and a quick hug.


    Granny laughed, it was infectious, but before she could tousle my hair, I dodged the hand and slipped past her defences and into the information gathering center. Seated around the room in comfy chairs or cushions were the rest of my targets.


    Chiyo-baa, a sharp-tongued old lady who was always ¡°in the know¡± and loved to drop cryptic one-liners.


    Tama-obasan. Sweet on the surface but had a knack for spinning exaggerated tales.


    Natsu-baachan. She was warm and motherly, but her sharp eyes missed nothing; it was like she could even read my thoughts.


    Mika-bachan. She always started her gossip with, ¡°You didn¡¯t hear it from me, but...¡±


    The one who had let me in was the most fearsome of them all. Kiyo-Obacchan. The leader of the group. She had an infectious laughter and a talent for pulling juicy details out of even the quietest of ninjas. I would know. I was a mute and could barely keep my secrets from her.


    I walked to the center table, placed the cupcakes and tea. These weren¡¯t my favorite: sugarless cupcakes and bitter green tea. I mean, don¡¯t judge me. I wasn¡¯t going to give a sugar overdose to these grannies. I wasn¡¯t a monster.


    There was this round of thanks and more hair tousling hands that had to be dodged before the information gathering agents settled down. It was time. I paid the bribe. Time to learn the secrets of flower arrangements.


    I shrugged. How was I supposed to answer that one?


    ¡°What do you think about Sasuke-kun?¡±


    I tilted my head. Was she already developing a crush on emoboy? I scribbled my answer. ¡°He¡¯s annoying. I wish he¡¯d leave me alone.¡±


    Ino grinned, swatted my shoulder. We gossiped about this and that, talking about anything and everything. I learned a lot about Ino, things I had never considered. It was nice? I mean, I was happy, but also sad. At some point, the silence stretched and when I focused on the blonde, she was asleep. My hand moved on its own accord, pushing the hair out of Ino¡¯s face. She mumbled something. Cute.


    I closed my eyes. This was nice, peaceful even.


    I woke up and it was chilly, aside from the nice flower smelling bundle of warmth resting against me. I blinked. Ino was nested against my arm, head resting on my shoulder, shivering from the cold early evening wind. It was almost night, sun already hidden behind the horizon.


    How was it this late already? I shook Ino awake.


    She mumbled more, got up, with the back of her hand cleaned a bit of drool from her mouth. She looked around, then at the sky, back at me. Her face opened with a big smile. ¡°That was fun. Let''s do this again some other day, Hinata-chan.¡± She pushed forward and gave me a hug.


    Under my bewildered eyes, she got up, waved and left me there dumbfounded. It was only when she had already disappeared that I came to my senses. I hadn¡¯t picked a single damn flower!


    The next day, I slumped over my desk. In front of me, a simple flower jar with a few basic flowers. It didn¡¯t look good, nor was it any elaborate arrangement. I was super conflicted about this. On the one hand, a hangout session with Ino. On the other hand, my bet with Sakura. Why, oh why?


    By the side, Sakura was gloating at me. Her arrangement looked beautiful. Purple and pink mixed with a few white flowers in an elaborate display. She looked smug. My shoulders slumped even more.


    I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable.


    Suzume-sensei didn¡¯t take long. She looked at the arrangements. Gave me just a nod. Sakura¡¯s on the other hand, the woman gushed with praise. ¡°Well done, Haruno-san.¡± The germaphobe sensei even smelled the flowers. The arrangement was that good. There was a moment of silence when she stopped by Ino¡¯s display. I didn¡¯t look, I couldn¡¯t, really. I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to be mad or happy with Ino-chan.


    ¡°Who has the best arrangement, sensei?¡± Number Two, who couldn¡¯t wait to see the result of the bet, prompted the start of my doom.


    Suzume-sensei looked around again, her eyes ended up on Sakura¡¯s arrangement. Yes, I know already, goddammit, why? Then, her eyes moved to a different one. Ino¡¯s.


    My eyes followed sensei¡¯s. The arrangement looked familiar, the colors, the balance, the presentation. Wasn¡¯t that what Obacchan told me to make? ¡°Yamanaka-san is the best one.¡±


    The whole class gasped.


    ¡°But she¡¯s from the Yamanaka clan. What are you all acting so surprised about?¡± Suzume-sensei said in a tired voice.


    Ino jumped, cheered. She gave me a devious smirk. That cheating little!


    ¡°I won!¡± She approached, hands on her hips. Her smile was smug. ¡°Now you have to do one thing I say.¡±


    I raised my hands in protest, she wasn¡¯t even part of the bet!


    ¡°What! No, Ino-chan. You aren¡¯t even part of the bet!¡± Sakura echoed my thoughts.


    Ino just shrugged. ¡°The bet was who Suzume-sensei chose as the winner. I won.¡± Ino stuck her tongue out at Sakura. She turned back to me, eyes evil and menacing. ¡°You will come to my house and bring cupcakes.¡± She ordered. ¡°And stay for a sleepover.¡± She added as an afterthought.


    Sakura ground her teeth. ¡°No, she¡¯s coming to my place!¡±


    ¡°Dream on,¡± Ino challenged. ¡°You just want the cupcakes.¡±


    Sakura pointed a finger at Ino¡¯s nose. ¡°Like you¡¯re any different!¡±


    Was this heaven? Had I died and gone to paradise? My ears burned.

 5.23

    5.23


    Packing up everything left me empty of chakra and exhausted. Hayase chatted all day long about this or that code, often trying for minutes to understand some new piece of information or another. I could understand his enthusiasm, but I just wasn¡¯t feeling the same. Mental breakdowns and gruesome autopsies weren¡¯t conducive to a happy mood. Even so, I nodded at the appropriate times, displaying the appropriate level of tired, but genuine interest. I liked that stuff, after all. I think Hayase got so into his own geekness he forgot to be weirded out by me.


    That night, chakra depleted and tired, Yamato excused me from the watch rotation. I wasn¡¯t going to complain. If ordered, I would have tried, but I don¡¯t think I was in any condition to stay awake and concentrate all night.


    Warm blankets embraced me. My eyes drooped. Before I fell asleep, I pushed my chakra one last time. Another Hinata-chan joined me under the blankets. It felt nice to cuddle with her. Sleep found me soon after.


    The feeling of being watched woke me up. The side of the bed was empty, my other self dispersed when I fell asleep. I cast my senses out, trying to feel anything that could point out why this kept happening.


    Two bundles of chakra, one was the familiar earthy flavored one that I knew was Yamato. Something about that was nagging at my mind, chakra flavor? Another, this one smaller, slept in the adjacent room. By the size, I knew it was Hayase. Which left the one at the living room as Sai.


    All around, other smaller bundles of chakras were moving around the camp. Sai¡¯s ink constructs. Somehow, my sensing range seemed to have expanded, or Sai was keeping his constructs closer. While I was still looking for the source of the disturbance, Sai¡¯s chakra churned. He held the new small bundle for a while, and soon after it left the house. It flew out of my perception range. I guess Sai was doing a staggered recon area. For a moment I thought my range had gone up.


    I brushed those thoughts away, sleepiness making me think strange things. I kept searching for what had woken me up, but when I caught myself dozing for the third time, I called it a bad job, tucked back into covers, and fell asleep once more. When I catch the peeping bastard, I¡¯d teach them a lesson.


    We departed the next morning before dawn. Yamato unsummoned his awesome portable house. I adjusted my travel bag. Somehow, it fell to me to carry all the stuff we gathered. It was just paper seals, but outside their storage, they were bulky. I think Yamato was bullying me, or maybe obfuscating the fact he left me with the laboratory data. I wasn¡¯t sure.


    Yamato turned to our team, specifically the pale boy. ¡°Sai, please report our new plans to Konoha. We¡¯ll use the same details we discussed yesterday.¡±


    Sai nodded, pulled out a seal scroll, pencil and ink. With a flourish, he created an ink bird. The construct flew up and landed on his shoulders. Next, Sai took a more mundane piece of parchment, and held it to the bird. The ink thing swallowed the paper, fluttered its wings, took off flying.


    I followed the construct until it left the range of my chakra perception.


    ¡°Stay focused, we will travel fast.¡± Yamato advised, then started running.


    We stopped a few miles later. I judged that was far enough. Yamato gave me a considering look, Hayase looked nervous, Sai was just indifferent. That was fine, it was my moment. My hands flashed, out popped a clone. She was alert and ready. Eyes sparkling and face open in a full-wicked smile. Body swaying in anticipation. I understood her, I wanted to smile myself. But I didn¡¯t. I had better self control than my clones. I adjusted my footing. Found something to hold on to quiet questing hands.


    My clone, the awesomest Bomber-chan, gave me a nod, a salute. With a quick hop my way and a devious smirk, she took me into a hug and planted a kiss on my cheek. The gall of that gal! Three pairs of startled eyes stared at me. My ears burned. Damn it. The clones were getting out of control.


    With another cheeky grin, Bomber-chan saluted the three flabbergasted boys, then flickered away. I endured their curious gazes until I knew it was time. They might have asked more than a few questions. I didn¡¯t bother with answers. Pretended I hadn¡¯t heard it. I raised my hand, fingers splayed, then lowered one by one.


    5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I hoped they understood.


    The explosion was a muted thump that shook the world. It was glorious. Even prepared as I was, I windmilled to keep my balance. There was no plume of smoke or blast of fire. The hideout was too deep underground for that, but I did see a huge swath of trees toppling in the distance. Nice! Another good memory. I needed more of those.


    Yamato had crouched, both hands on the ground for support. Sai, fast on the uptake, had copied the jounin. Hayase was still trying to ask silly questions. Served him right, now he was picking himself up from the ground. With one last salute to Bomber-chan, the ever short lived, I turned around and led the way away. They wouldn¡¯t ask questions if we kept running, right?


    This time, we weren¡¯t worried about not being seen. Our pace was fast and demanding. We kept out of traveled paths, preferring to tree hop in a direct line toward our destination. Yamato set a grueling pace even for shinobis. We didn¡¯t even stop for lunch. The devil!


    Disguised as traveling companions, we left the port city. There was no running today. Our objective was to reach the coast, near where the island was, and scout from there, while we waited for the reinforcements. We could have reached there in a few hours at a ninja go brrr speed, but again, we wanted to stay unnoticed. There was no way to say if the people in the hideout had spies nearby, nor did we want to alert Kiri about our presence.


    Problem was, the world didn¡¯t want us unnoticed.


    When we were a few hours away from the city, I noticed the first bundle of chakra. Further than I normally would. Did my perception range really increase? I thought it was dumb sleepy brain thoughts. Did confronting my inner demons give me a power up? I scoffed at that last thought.


    Noticing the chakra wasn¡¯t all that uncommon, sometimes, a blip of chakra passed near my perception. It happened often enough on Konoha or on the road that a single blip wasn¡¯t really worrying. But then there was a second, and a third, and a fourth and more. Worse, they were all around us. At the distance they were, they had stopped just shy of what once was my previous sensory range.


    How? Why? What gave us away? I looked up, Sai¡¯s bird was a small black dot in the sky, barely visible. How had these shinobi escaped Sai¡¯s notice?


    Urgency building inside me, I skipped forward closer to Yamato while still keeping up with my excited daughter persona. Tapped his shoulder, hands flashing with my code. A part of me really hoped these were our promised reinforcements. Waring. Shinobi. Strong. Surrounded. Quantity unknown.


    I was expecting Yamato to try to play it cool, try to investigate. It didn¡¯t happen. The man¡¯s hand flashed with seals. Out popped two wood clones, he barked orders and all hell broke loose.


    The enemy attacked. Each I could see was dressed in a dark uniform, with no visible markings. A featureless white mask with no opening for the mouth or nose. Kunais, exploding tags, smoke bombs, enemies flickering and trying to stab us in the back. More and more chakra blazes appeared around us. From the intensity, I couldn¡¯t think of anything else than chunins and jounins. My hands trembled. I gripped a kunai in return.


    The first few moments of the ambush was utter chaos. It also managed to separate our team.


    Out popped a shadow clone, just in time to intercept a shinobi trying to stab me. I whirled, parried another attack. I flickered to avoid a thrown shuriken, only to be hit by a chunk of earth protruding from the ground. I threw my explosive, in the ensuing boom, I took two other explosive tags, threw them and flickered again. Yamato wasn¡¯t far away, but there were so many shinobi between me and him that I couldn¡¯t approach. I tried.


    I kept fighting, and injuries kept pilling. I failed to dodge a punch. A shuriken found its way into my leg. A group attack from three other ninjas left me with a kunai stuck to my sides and having to flicker wildly to escape. Not even pumping my body full of chakra was enough. No matter what I tried, the enemy was prepared. My speed, which I considered my best asset, was matched and surpassed. It was like they knew everything that I could do.


    At some point, I found myself back to back with Sai, panting and trying to catch my breath. The nausea from the seasickness hadn¡¯t left me entirely. My legs still hurt from all that running.


    Sai stumbled into me when I was being attacked by two other shinobis, with my clone too far away to help fend them off. His ink counstructs swarmed the attacking enemies, forcing them to retreat.


    Now, I guarded his back and he guarded mine. Sai looked ragged and hurt, but still in better shape than me. His ink constructs were all over the place: birds, tigers, giants and more. Great distractions, keeping the enemy busy. Giving us a chance to breathe. By this point, I was about to throw caution to the wind. Using mokuton would leave me chakra drained, but what other choice did I have?


    I was cursing myself for not having prepared a beacon for my prototype thunder god jutsu. I had no idea where Hayase was, or what happened to Yamato. At some point, they just weren¡¯t in the range of my perception anymore.


    Before I pulled the big guns and burned myself with mokuton, I whispered a question to Sai. In the original story, the chunin was someone Danzo considered a prodigy. He was also more prepared, fit and powerful in battle than Hayase, who was years older. Even here, he managed to push away enemies I was having trouble dealing with. ¡°Do you have a plan?¡± The pain on my throat was nothing compared to my worry about the others.


    There was a moment of silence, then I felt a prickle of pain on my neck. My body froze, my breath hitched. I couldn¡¯t move, couldn¡¯t keep my balance. I fell down. Sai¡¯s indifferent face made its way into my field of vision. Looked down on me.


    ¡°Yes.¡± He answered, voice emotionless. ¡°It¡¯s working perfectly.¡±


    His foot found my face and darkness claimed me.

 Kunoichi 301 – Music Lessons

    Kunoichi 301 ¨C Music Lessons


    ¡°Won¡¯t you reconsider?¡± I showed my board to Sakura.


    We sat on pink cushions with a low table between us in her room. Sakura could be cute when she wanted ¨C even if I couldn¡¯t point that out, it would be asking for trouble. On the table, a spread of pudding and cake. Ever since ¡®the fight¡¯, Sakura wasn¡¯t keen on cupcakes anymore. I had my suspicions on why, or better yet, who was the reason. It was blonde, loved my cupcakes, name started with I and ended with O.


    Sakura nibbled her cake, face a scowl. ¡°You invited that pig as well?¡± Bingo.


    I don¡¯t think the scowl was because of the cake¡¯s flavor. This one was another experiment. I was trying a coconut-like type of fruit. It wasn¡¯t my favorite, even if the flavor was similar to what I remembered. The locals loved it. The GGC¡¯s wanted nothing more than this one now. It had become their favorite.


    Board ready, I wrote my response. ¡°I invited the whole class, the whole class families, the sensei, the Hokage¡¯s secretary, the old man himself.¡± I took a few more invitation cards and slipped toward Sakura-chan. Flipped my board, wrote on the other side. ¡°For your mom and dad.¡±


    Sakura looked away, face in a pout. She didn¡¯t take the invitations. ¡°I won¡¯t go.¡±


    It was time to use my secret weapon. This could backfire, but at this point, I was willing to risk it. I erased the previous words, wrote more. ¡°I even invited Sasuke-kun.¡±


    The pink-haired girl¡¯s head snapped from the board to me. Her eyes narrowed. ¡°You like Sasuke-kun as well?¡±


    I rolled my eyes, didn¡¯t even need to hide my distaste. Under Sakura¡¯s glare, I plucked my short hair, the one side all but shaved. ¡°I wish he¡¯d leave me alone and stop trying to burn my face.¡±


    ¡°Why did you invite him, then?¡±


    I shrugged. Wrote my answer. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? I invited everyone.¡±


    It made sense to me. Emosuke was a pain, had a grudge against me for some inexplicable reason, and I wasn¡¯t fond of the brat, but I wasn¡¯t his enemy, nor did I have any reason to exclude him.


    This whole mess, you see, started a few weeks ago. Suzume got pulled on a mission, and a different kunoichi came to cover for our germaphobe sensei¡¯s absence. The temporary sensei was... an interesting character once I got to know her. At first, it was just another stuffy, severe, demanding teacher. But one day, she noticed me practicing with my koto. I was jamming to my bad rendition of Miley¡¯s awesome .


    I wasn¡¯t bored, but it was good to have some fun now and again. I even rewrote the lyrics. My new version was named Party in the ANBU way.


    Tenma Sayuri-sensei wasn¡¯t old. She looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. Jet black hair, steel-grey eyes. Lean and wiry, usually dressed in the typical shinobi uniform, with a dark grey high-collared duster on top of the flak jacket. ¡°What music is this? I never heard it before.¡± Her eyes bore into me. They were intense, kinda scary. Was she angry?


    I had to fight the urge to squirm under her gaze. I straightened my back, looked Sensei in the eye, then promptly looked away. My board was a good enough reason to avoid eye contact. I wrote the words. ¡°Is it new?¡± Was it plagiarism if the music only existed in my memories?


    ¡°Play it again,¡± Sensei said.


    I nodded, thinking back on the original song. Adapting pop music to play with the Koto was a challenge in itself, but I was getting the hang of it. It was nowhere near as good as the original version, but again, I liked it.


    I plucked the last string. Head still bobbing to the rhythm in my mind. At some point, Sayuri-sensei had pulled a shakuhachi from somewhere and blew on it, trying to match the pop music. Her look was so intense that I found it cute, if still a bit scary.


    Sensei looked from the flute to me and the koto. ¡°Is it missing something?¡± she asked. I don¡¯t think she was talking to me. The woman looked confused.


    I rolled my eyes. Of course, it was missing something. I took my board. Too deep into enjoying the music I didn¡¯t consider my words when I wrote my response. ¡°No one to sing the lyrics. Someone to bang on the taiko drums and a shamisen to complement the arrangement wouldn¡¯t be bad either.¡±


    Sensei blinked, like remembering I was there. ¡°Lyrics?¡± She rounded on me, eyes blazing.


    I adjusted my koto stand, watching the civilians trickling in. There were... a lot more than what I invited. Had Sayuri-sensei spread the word around as well? A few shinobi lounged in nearby trees or perched on rooftops. Making sure this wasn¡¯t a trap? I couldn¡¯t blame them, this looked sus as hell even to me.


    ¡°Your positioning is off,¡± Sayuri-sensei said. She pushed my koto to an unseen line to the left. Her eyes had that intense gleam again. I shivered. Was she excited or plotting to kill someone? ¡°Don¡¯t forget the choreography.¡±


    I held up my board. My ears burned. ¡°Are we really doing that performance?¡±


    Sensei looked around, at the gathering people. She smiled. ¡°Of course.¡±


    Damn my younger self for teaching this monster the dance moves. I wasn¡¯t keen on imitating Goddess Gaga¡¯s dance moves in front of a crowd.


    The big guy with the taiko drums placed his hit behind us while the kid took center stage with Sensei, the housewife with the biwa opposite me.


    The crowd, mostly civilian families and children, grew by the minute. I spotted a few enterprising people setting up food stalls. Among them was the owner of the Ichiraku Ramen, while his daughter sat on a picnic blanket by his side. A few other students showed up. I saw Naruto, Kiba, a few of the Numbers. Emosuke didn¡¯t show up. A few moments after the performance started, the whole of GGC arrived, dragging a cohort of laughing, running, and snotty brats behind them. Oh god, I wasn¡¯t going to live this one down, was I?


    When the performance started, most of the shinobi population scattered almost immediately. Many more popped in for a few minutes, gave skeptical glances, and then wandered off, shaking heads. I could practically hear the ¡°pointless nonsense¡± complaints from them.


    Sayuri-sensei''s voice carried through the park. She belted out my modified lyrics, and I had to admit, she made them sound better than they had any right to be. The bodybuilder-looking shinobi got into the taiko drumming, it was almost like mini explosions were going off just behind me. The housewife with the biwa turned out to have some serious skills. The boy was like a machine, clapping his pair of Kane with the rhythm.


    The first song was the ANBU parody, which was a crowd-pleaser. Sayuri-sensei¡¯s voice was melodic despite her stern demeanor, carrying the humor in the lyrics. The many kids in the crowd loved it. From among the crowd, I saw Kiyo-Obacchan''s calculating look toward me. I suppressed a shiver. Oh god. I was seriously screwed here. The rest of the GGC wasn¡¯t better. Muttering and talking among themselves.


    Midway through the second song ¡°Explode It Off¡± ¨C Sensei having dragged me from behind the safety of my koto to perform the dance moves with her ¨C I caught a glimpse of a familiar pink head. Sakura stood near the edge of the park, arms wrapped around herself. Her face was a mix of embarrassment and fascination. Not far, Ino had a similar expression, munching on another cupcake from the ones I¡¯d given her. I noticed that they were still ignoring each other.


    The performance ended with my version of Ninja Face, Sayuri-sensei, holding the last note on her shakuhachi. The applause was scattered but genuine.


    I bowed along with the others, and soon, I was off that small stage. I was somewhat giddy and flushed. That had been terrifying. My part in this mess ended there, but Sayuri-sensei and her gang weren¡¯t ready to stop. They took up more music; not pop songs like I have taught them, but clearly inspired by it. The crowd, somehow, had increased even more.


    It had started as a small gathering, but now it looked almost like a festival, without all the normal decorations that usually accompany these events. The civvies, kids, and grandmas, at least, seemed to be having fun. On the stage, Sayuri-sensei and her gang shone like they were living their best lives.


    I approached Ino and Sakura, held my board for both to see. ¡°Did you enjoy it?¡± I wrote, smiling despite my nerves.


    Sakura hesitated. ¡°It was... interesting.¡±


    Ino grinned. ¡°You were the best part, Hinata-chan. Was that some type of strange new martial art?¡±


    I rolled my eyes, but the smile hadn¡¯t left my face. I wrote. ¡°Maybe we should try something like this together?¡±


    They exchanged glances, and for a moment, I thought they might agree. But then Sakura¡¯s face darkened. ¡°I¡¯m not doing anything with her.¡±


    ¡°Same here,¡± Ino snapped.


    I sighed. So much for the duo making up. I waved at them, left, plotting new ways to mend their friendship. Maybe I should try a tea party next time?


    Next kunoichi class, Sayuri-sensei was gone. An old shinobi was there to teach us the ¡°proper way¡± to use the instruments. Yikes. I guess some people really didn¡¯t like music.

 Chapter 6: Ginger, Honey and a Dash of Purple.

    Chapter 6: Ginger, Honey and a Dash of Purple.


    Two days after the Sunagakure and Otogakure attack.


    Scattered piles of reports, slips of encrypted communication piled on a ceramic bowl, rolls of opened archived scrolls for reference, drawings, analysis, speculations, facts. Nara Shikaku¡¯s mind churned with cause and effect, choices and possibilities. He considered what he knew and the Third Hokage¡¯s last request.


    A knock at the door disturbed his concentration. The person outside didn¡¯t wait to be invited in. Inoichi¡¯s face looked even more drawn in and hard. His long-time friend pulled a chair and sat in front of Shikaku¡¯s desk, back pressing against the chair¡¯s rest, face turned to the ceiling, eyes closed.


    ¡°You owe me a big one.¡± Inoichi said without opening his eyes.


    Shikaku pulled back on his chair, hands resting on the desk. He waited. He knew his friend. There would be more said.


    Inoichi looked down. His face was even more haggard. ¡°Ino will never forgive me if she learns of this. She¡¯s taken with Hinata.¡±


    Shikaku shook his head, eyes finding the picture of his wife and son on the desk. He knew all too well how women could make life a living hell. He tore his gaze away from the images. It wasn¡¯t time to reminisce. ¡°What did you find?¡±


    Inoichi shrugged. ¡°Nothing we didn¡¯t already know.¡± The jounin looked around.


    Shikaku noticed those details. His fingers moved, one of their signals from their time on the same team. ¡®Safe, private, speak freely.¡¯


    ¡°She¡¯s hiding something. I can¡¯t enter her mind. I don¡¯t believe she has any harmful intentions toward Konoha. I don¡¯t believe she¡¯s a willing spy, if she¡¯s a spy at all.¡± The man shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve read the reports, same as you did. They didn¡¯t let us make any attempts to earn her trust, why is the council now mad that she''s keeping her secrets?¡±


    ¡°Your opinion then?¡± It was just a formality. Shikaku already knew his friend¡¯s answer.


    ¡°I¡¯m endorsing her promotion to Chunin. It¡¯s the least I can do after interrogating her like that.¡±


    Shikaku took a piece of paper, handed it over.


    ¡°You¡¯re sending her away then?¡±


    A knock interrupted his thoughts. Shikaku shelved that analysis to pick it up again later. He hid the secret reports, all the confidential information, disabled the privacy seal. Once he was ready, he called out. ¡°Come in.¡±


    The visitor was one of the Intelligence department chunin in charge of external communication. The boy had a rolled up parchment in his hand. ¡°A report from Yamato, sir.¡±


    Shikaku waved the boy closer, took the still sealed parchment. ¡°Thank you.¡± He dismissed, mind already full with the implications. Once the chunin left, he broke the seal and read the report.


    It was surprisingly light on details. They found a hideout, cleared the place, found a lead to a second place in Kirigakure where Orochimaru kept prisoners. Something about the report bothered Shikaku. He got up from his desk, moved to the door. Poked his head out. The intelligence room was still the same, frantic organized chaos it ever was.


    ¡°I need to speak with Hatake Kakashi, send a bird, please?¡±


    He didn¡¯t wait for a response. Shikaku got back to his table and started to consider options. Who could he send? If he wanted to change things and start fostering Hinata¡¯s loyalty, a familiar face would be preferable. Kakashi, perhaps? He discarded that idea. Kakashi¡¯s expertise was needed elsewhere. Naruto was away with Lord Jiraiya, searching for Tsunade. Sasuke wasn¡¯t in any condition to travel, the young Uchiha¡¯s heir suffering from some unknown malediction.


    That left only one option. Inoichi would have his head for this.


    Before he got up, he felt the presence in his room. He looked up. Kakashi was inside his office, leaning by the door. Never one to abide by protocol, that one. He met with the detached eyes of the white haired jounin. ¡°Thank you for coming. I need your expertise.¡± He got up, walked closer and handed Kakashi the report from Yamato.


    Kakashi read the report, then reread it. ¡°ANBU code. There isn¡¯t much aside from that he couldn¡¯t put that information on the report. Too dangerous for long distance communication.¡±


    Shikaku sighed. That didn¡¯t make things easy. More plans started to form. Could he still send Ino¡¯s team?


    ¡°I heard of your disagreement with the council,¡± Kakashi¡¯s voice interrupted Shikaku¡¯s thoughts.


    The jounin commander looked back at Team Seven¡¯s leader, all too aware of Kakashi¡¯s opinion regarding Hinata. ¡°I fear that¡¯s a mistake we¡¯ll all pay for.¡± He didn¡¯t say more. There was no need.


    Kakashi nodded. Turned and left without saying anything else. Shikaku made up his mind. Poked his head out of the door again. ¡°Please send a bird for Sarutobi Azuma. There¡¯s a new urgent mission for his team.¡±


    Maybe he could still salvage this situation.

 6.2.i

    6.2.i


    ¡°pack up, we¡¯re leaving for a mission.¡±


    ino looked up from her food to asuma-sensei. the trio had started eating while they waited for their teacher. the man looked haggard and tired. he hadn¡¯t even sat down yet and was already dropping bombs. team ten was at their usual barbeque place, yakiniku q. choji was stuffing his face like usual, shikamaru looked even more annoyed than normal.


    ¡°troublesome.¡±


    choji despaired. ¡°what? no! we just started lunch!¡±


    ino put the chopsticks down, cleaned her mouth with a napkin. she was as annoyed, if not more so, than the rest of the team, but there was no need to be immature about it. ¡°what is the mission?¡±


    asuma-sensei looked at the table, the food, and the empty chair that was his usual place. he sighed, sat down. ¡°another team has requested reinforcements for an infiltration, asset acquisition and possible extraction mission.¡±


    shikamaru scowled. ¡°why the hell are they sending us?¡±


    asuma-sensei sighed again, lit a cigarette. ¡°short staffed.¡±


    shikamaru¡¯s scowl didn¡¯t go away. ino knew him well enough to know that they would only waste time if she didn¡¯t change the talk to something more productive. ¡°what are the mission details? what do we need to prepare?¡±


    asuma-sensei nipped the cigarette at the table. he hadn¡¯t taken a single puff. he looked at the food, took a piece of meat, chewed, spoke after he swallowed. ¡°the details are confidential and are not to be discussed outside our team. not to friends, family, or any other shinobi that might ask, do you understand?¡±


    ino nodded. shikamaru shrugged. choji stuffed his face even more.


    asuma-sensei placed both hands on the table. ¡°about two weeks ago, a team left looking for the hideout of the enemy that attacked konoha. they¡ª¡±


    ¡°a single four-man cell?¡± shikamaru interrupted. ino glared at the chunin, but he wasn¡¯t paying attention to her; his face was grave. asuma-sensei¡¯s answer was a single nod. ¡°a full complement of jounin?¡± sensei shook his head. ¡°shit.¡±


    ¡°hinata, age twelve. logistic specialist.¡± the man repeated, eyes not leaving choji. ¡°former member of the hyuga clan, proficient at combat, can use shadow clones, can use jutsu without hand seals, is effectively immune to genjutsu. like yamato, she can use mokuton. she fought and killed three chunin during the attack. she killed the full otogakure team during the forest of death preliminary exam, fought and survived a battle against an s-rank missing-nin, fought and survived against an a-rank missing-nin on her first mission outside the village. created a new type of explosive tag with at least five times the yield of normal ones. created a new type of storage seal that can store four times more while using three times less space.¡±


    the silence stretched. no one said anything.


    asuma-sensei pressed. ¡°yes, that hinata.¡± he sighed. ¡°look, choji, i know you¡¯re trying, but yes, that silly-looking, happy-go-lucky girl who likes to give candy to everyone is the most dangerous person on that team beside the jounin. you can¡¯t judge a ninja just from their appearance. hinata has done an excellent job of building a harmless persona. don¡¯t be tricked like many others.¡±


    ino disagreed with asuma¡¯s assessment. she didn¡¯t believe for a second that hinata was putting on an act. that was just how she was. ino¡¯s lips curled into a smile. it was fitting, she guessed. cute on the outside, deadly when provoked. like an adorable kitten.


    ¡°what are you smiling about?¡± choji complained. ¡°you got tricked by her too!¡±


    asuma got up and lit another cigarette. ¡°finish eating, pack up everything you think might help. we''ll meet at the mission hall in one hour.¡± he didn¡¯t wait for their response and flickered away.


    ¡°what? no!¡± choji cried out. ¡°what about dessert?¡±


    ¡°how troublesome,¡± shikamaru complained again.


    ino pushed the food away. her appetite was gone. ¡°see you guys in a bit.¡± she turned around, left for her house. one hour wasn¡¯t enough time to prepare. she took to the roofs, or as hinata liked to say, konoha¡¯s shinobi exclusive lanes. ino rolled her eyes and smiled. strange. when did remembering hinata¡¯s silliness become nostalgic?


    she dropped at the store entrance and rushed inside. her mother was at the counter; there were no clients in the store. ¡°mom, i got a mission. it''s confidential. i''m leaving in one hour.¡± she didn¡¯t wait for an answer. she rushed up to her room and started packing.


    kunai, explosives, wire, parchment, makeup, skincare, haircare, bandages¡ªshe made sure the essentials were secured. her eyes found the letter naruto had delivered a few weeks back. she took it, read the neatly written letters, pulled the parchment closer, smelled it¡ªcherry blossoms. another smile came to ino¡¯s face. hinata wasn¡¯t one to use perfume herself, but it was a nice touch to send a perfumed parchment.


    she folded the letter again, then, after a moment of deliberation, stored it in her pouch as well. lastly, she packed the few remaining seals she received from hinata. those were supposed to last for months. hinata knew she might be away for a long time. ino was ashamed to admit she might have... over indulged. maybe just a bit.


    ¡°that¡¯s fine.¡± she said to no one in particular. ¡°just need to help her finish the mission and return. then i can get more.¡±

 6.3.i

    6.3.i


    hidden in the tree¡¯s canopy, squirrel-ino nibbled the nut, looked at the lone shinobi in the clearing.


    the shinobi wore the standard kirigakure pinstriped outfit with a green haori and white trimmings over it. she had a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped twice around the waist. she wore light-brown platoon sandals with straps in the same color as the kimono. the hair gathered in a white bun holder while two locks fell loose, framing a beautiful face. a dainty hand pulled the hair out of the girl¡¯s face. the nail polish on her fingernails matched her toenails¡ªsoft blue-green. the shinobi wore a black forehead protector with the kirigakure''s symbol.


    this whole mission had become a mess of untold proportions. konoha¡¯s spies, who should have greeted them at the port city, prepared team ten disguise and transportation, were awol. that forced team ten to water-run the whole night to reach the main island.


    the main island wasn¡¯t any better. kirigakure shinobi squads fighting each other and attacking without provocation, aggressive locals, corrupt officials¡ªit was one problem after another. what should have taken four days had turned into a week-long slog of hiding, evading, or fleeing enemies. now, they arrived at the meeting point, only to find a lone kiri shinobi waiting for them.


    it had to be a trap, but it was so out there that ino wasn¡¯t sure, not anymore.


    the shinobi description also sparked something in her mind. maybe something hinata said? ino wasn¡¯t sure. squirrel-ino took one last nibble of the treat, then she released the jutsu, already regretting not having finished eating the acorn. now back where her body rested and her team was gathered, she organized her thoughts. ¡°there¡¯s a single kirigakure shinobi waiting there in the open. i don¡¯t think it¡¯s a trap.¡±


    asuma-sensei scratched his chin, gave them new orders. ¡°i¡¯ll meet with them. get ready to back me up if things go south.¡±


    team ten moved into formation, with ino ready to use her family jutsu again, shikamaru to take over the enemy¡¯s shadow, and choji to smash, if needed.


    ino didn¡¯t like this situation. political considerations aside, why was a kirigakure shinobi waiting where hinata¡¯s team was supposed to be? a gnawing pit of worry ravaged her stomach. she felt sick. her hands itched.


    asuma-sensei walked inside the clearing. the target noticed him. waved. the jounin stopped a few paces away. words were exchanged.


    ¡°can you hear what they¡¯re saying?¡± ino found herself asking shikamaru. the genin shook his head. ino bit her lip, eyes scanning the surroundings for an ambush.


    down in the clearing, asuma turned toward them, signaled to approach. ino moved from her position until she was by asuma¡¯s side.


    ¡°this is my team.¡± sensei said, gesturing to each in turn. ¡°shikamaru, ino and choji.¡±


    the shinobi, a pretty teenage girl a few years older than ino, looked at each of them in turn. bowed. ¡°nice to meet you. i¡¯m haku.¡±


    that name was familiar. shikamaru tsked, looked away. choji looked smitten. ino tilted her head. the memory was almost there. then she remembered; a conversation hinata mostly glossed over. as usual, the mute girl was more interested in talking about the sweets and the people who got to eat them. ¡°that haku?¡± the words escaped her mouth. it wouldn¡¯t be that same person, would it? that haku wasn¡¯t a kirigakure shinobi, but allied with a missing-nin named zabuza. no, wait, what was it that hinata said? that haku pretended to be a kirigakure shinobi, but they had become somewhat friends by the end.


    asuma turned her way, one eyebrow up.


    ¡°the fourth mizukage learned about this incident, and has taken an interest in our guests.¡±


    ino remembered her lessons. karatachi yagura was considered a bloody, despotic leader, and the reason why kirigakure was also known as bloody mist. ¡°what does he want with them?¡±


    ¡°what do you think, little girl?¡± zabuza mocked. ¡°what does a bloody tyrant do with spies from an enemy village?¡±


    ¡°what zabuza is trying to say,¡± haku interrupted again before things could escalate, ¡°is that unless we do something about it, the two konohagakure shinobi are in deep trouble.¡±


    ¡°you¡¯re talking about a coup.¡± shikamaru, who had been silent until now, spoke. ¡°and you¡¯re using konoha shinobi as leverage to force our hand.¡±


    zabuza looked at shikamaru. ¡°look at that. at least one of these brats can think.¡±


    ¡°i¡¯m not a brat,¡± ino muttered, but no one paid her any attention.


    ¡°we¡¯ll follow you.¡± asuma-sensei said finally, ¡°but if there is any sign of treachery, we¡¯ll end you.¡±


    zabuza laughed. he turned to asuma-sensei. ¡°sarutobi asuma. you were in my bingo book. but you¡¯re no sharingan kakashi. i may have lost an arm, but you¡¯re still no match for me.¡± his gaze turned to the rest of the team; it was intense and full of madness.


    sweat beaded on ino¡¯s brow, she could barely breathe. a wave of dread washed over her. she wanted to scream, and she wanted to flee. her legs felt weak, she felt like spilling her guts.


    ¡°and these brats are useless. a bit of killing intent and they¡¯re already quaking like little ducks.¡±


    before ino could do anything, hinata¡¯s face flashed in her mind. she remembered that one time she asked the mute girl about the person who attacked her in the forest. the one now ino knew was an s-class shinobi. she remembered hinata¡¯s faraway look and shudder. she also remembered that hinata fought and survived.


    ¡°stop it, or i¡¯ll put you down,¡± asuma growled.


    ino bit down on the insides of her cheek. coppery taste filled her mouth, but the need to flee lessened. ¡°who¡ª ¡± she started, coughed. ¡°who are you keeping hostage?¡±


    zabuza gave her a considering look. the wave of dread lessened and then disappeared entirely. ¡°the mokuton shinobi and the injured guy he was lugging around.¡±


    the world fell from under ino¡¯s feet at his words.

 6.4.i

    6.4.i


    The evil turtle roared in the distance, soon followed by yet more explosions.


    Ino wiped the blood off her mouth with her one good hand. She tried moving the other, winced at the pain. She¡¯d been too late to release the jutsu, suffered some of the damage as well.


    Out in the distance, the chaos of battle was dying down. The gigantic three-tailed spiky turtle was finally defeated, with limbs bound in wood, and the parts not tied down covered in boiling lava. It was a mess. How did a simple meeting with that woman, Terumi Mei, turn into such a disaster?


    She looked around, tears falling from her eyes. The field was in ruins, littered with craters and bodies and blood.


    ¡°You¡¯re alright?¡± Choji¡¯s hoarse voice found Ino¡¯s ears. She heard sniffling, then a muffled sob. ¡°I thought... I thought.¡±


    Ino looked up from where her body had been propped against a rock. Choji¡¯s chakra still burned in soft blue light, covering his fists, sprouting from his back, like butterfly wings. The chubby boy was no more. He looked gaunt, like someone who lived a lifetime of starvation.


    ¡°Thank¡ª¡± He started, but his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he toppled forward.


    ¡°Choji!¡± Ino cried out, tried to get up, then cried out again. One of her legs was broken, bent in the wrong direction. She looked around. There was no one near her that she trusted to help. She couldn¡¯t find Shikamaru or Asuma-sensei.


    Gritting her teeth, Ino crawled closer to the unconscious boy. Time was of the essence here. She crawled to his side and, once there, dug into his pockets and pouches until she found the antidote. She pried open Choji¡¯s mouth and put the small pill inside. With luck, it would be enough to cancel the effects of his clan¡¯s secret medicine.


    Ino tried to stand, but her arm gave away, and she fell on top of Choji. She didn¡¯t try to get up again. It hurt too much, and she was too tired. The last thing she thought was: At least now Choji can say a beauty fell all over him.


    Ino gripped her crutches with white-knuckled fingers. Choji was still unconscious, but not in danger anymore. Shikamaru had suffered injuries, but his injuries were the least serious of the team. Asuma-sensei¡¯s injuries were serious, but the man behaved like they were nothing at all. With the three of them was the other Konoha shinobi, the mokuton user called Yamato.


    The man looked even more haggard than Choji had been. Dark circle under his already large dark eyes. His uniform was in need of serious repair, and the blotches of dried blood glared against the green color of the flak jacket.


    Asuma-sensei approached, placed a hand on Ino¡¯s shoulder. The touch should have been comforting, but it wasn¡¯t. Ino held in a shudder.


    ¡°Come, Ino. We have to leave. We¡¯re returning to Konoha.¡±


    Ino didn¡¯t look away from the bloody chains. Her voice was flat. ¡°Are they giving up on her?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Asuma-sensei said after a brief pause. ¡°But the trail has gone cold. Without any new clues, there¡¯s nothing we can do here. Returning to Konoha and reporting the situation is our best bet.¡±


    Excuses after excuses. They were giving up. Ino knew it in her gut. She nodded, turned, and left.


    The mission to Kirigakure was reclassified as S-Rank. Her first S-Rank mission, and Ino couldn¡¯t muster the will to care about it. Her dad tried to talk about it, but Ino ignored the attempt. She hadn¡¯t forgiven him for what he¡¯d done to Hinata. Her mother hinted she was there if Ino needed anything, but it felt hollow.


    In the days following her return to Konoha, Ino talked less and less with her friends, spending more and more time training. Sometimes, she¡¯d meet with Naruto, who had also returned from a month-long trip. He cried when he heard the news. Ino cried telling him the news.


    A few times, she met with Sasuke, who was still sick, but getting better. More often, she met with Sakura, but her friend was distracted. Ino knew the signs: Boy trouble, and it wasn¡¯t Sasuke.


    A new Hokage was appointed, Ino didn¡¯t participate in the ceremony. Shikamaru was promoted to chunin, Ino wasn¡¯t in the mood to celebrate with her team.


    It was silly, but all Ino could think about was getting stronger. If she were stronger, she could look for her friend on her own. If she were stronger, Choji wouldn¡¯t have to eat his clan¡¯s secret medicine to protect her. If she were stronger, Hinata wouldn¡¯t need to leave Ino behind.


    She punched the wooden dummy again. Her fist was bloodied. The tears hadn¡¯t stopped falling.


    Ino knew it was irrational. She didn¡¯t care.

 6.5

    6.5 Announcement


    Heya, sweet ones.


    I did, after a lot of deliberation, create a page. It has about ten advanced chapters, for anyone who wants to read ahead, and help me get sweets.


    Thank you. <3


    I remember a time in the before when all I wanted was to sleep. Dad had passed away not long before. Mom didn¡¯t have the mental bandwidth to worry about all the trouble that followed, her job, the press attention, and the death threats. It was, now that I think about it, closer to how I felt after finding the clones.


    No, wait. That example got away from me. Point is, for a time, I just couldn¡¯t care about caring for myself. It took Kimby¡¯s literal bitch slapping me into action to leave that funk. Huh, dear chubby Kimberly. I hope that bitch Veronica didn¡¯t mess with my bae too much.


    Argh, no, that wasn¡¯t what I wanted to think as well. The real point is, at that time, I felt like I had no control over myself. I knew what I had to do, I just couldn¡¯t. After our first kiss, Kimby had asked me about that time, and no amount of words was enough to explain how I felt. I think she never had the frame of reference to understand.


    But for the last time, the real point of this strange monologue was, I knew I had to do something. And I couldn¡¯t. But this time, it wasn¡¯t some sort of mental fugue keeping me down. It was just physical abuse.


    In the brief moments my consciousness surfaced from that haze, things just turned worse. I learned pretty quickly that moving was a bad idea, circulating chakra was an even worse idea. Trying to look around only earned me punishment.


    I remembered bits and pieces. The ambush, getting separated from the team. Meeting up with Sai, his betrayal. Why?


    As far as I could piece together, things took a strange turn. I was a bonafide kunoichi in distress now. Captured and kept under constant physical strain. That one took me a while to puzzle out why. A conversation helped me understand.


    It was one of brief moments when I surfaced, half lucid, and still confused. I tried to lash out, move and get away. The hit to the head left me reeling and seeing stars. The comment after was illuminating.


    ¡°Again?¡± A voice I didn¡¯t recognize asked.


    ¡°Third time today,¡± another voice answered.


    I groaned, which was a mistake. Something else hit me.


    ¡°She¡¯s tenacious.¡± A third voice said.


    ¡°She can regenerate, use jutsu without hand seals, can use shadow clones, and will murder everyone here if she ever wakes up.¡± An emotionless voice said. It felt familiar, but I couldn¡¯t place a face to the voice.


    Peeking on shinobies through chakra perception let me learn a few of their patterns. Every few hours, a three man cell¡ª jounin and two chunin¡ª left. They never stayed away for long. Sometimes one hour, sometimes less. Sometimes, they took some of the imprisoned genin with them; other times, they brought more. I had my suspicions about things but, back to my plan.


    Maybe because my lack of visible resistance lulled the enemies into going easy. Maybe they mistook how much my regeneration was capable of. The more time passed, the more alert and aware of my surroundings I was. That gave me an urgent feeling that I had to get the hell outta of here. The sooner, the better.


    It wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Careful probing told me a few things: I don¡¯t think I was naked¡ª thank god¡ª but I wasn¡¯t wearing my shinobi gear. My weight seals weren¡¯t on me anymore, my bag of supplies was awol. My hands were tied to the walls, maybe ceiling. The feelings from there left me thinking about Iron chains, maybe.


    No explosions, no kunai, no shinobi gear. Impaired vision, hurt, thirsty and hungry.


    Thankfully, it wasn¡¯t the worst-case scenario. If I could release the shackles from my arms and legs, I could puppeteer my body with threads. I was also planning on using them to get a good feel for my surroundings. Made me think of a spider spreading her silk.


    Timing was going to be of the essence here. I was on a clock. The three-man squad had already left, taking two genin with them. They would be back soon. I already had my chakra primed and ready, a single thought away from creating a beacon nearby. Now I just needed my jailer to piss off for a moment. Perhaps Fate-kun heard my pleas. The jailer left the cell, and the replacement was still a few rooms away.


    I pushed my chakra. It burned, most of my reserves tanked. The beacon blossomed in my mind.


    For the first time ever, I activated my jutsu. There was this brief moment of confusion. I was hanging by my hands, then I flopped on the ground on top of the wood kunai. My chakra exploded around with countless threads. I couldn¡¯t see, but I didn¡¯t need to see.


    I wasn¡¯t confident I could move on my own. Threads wrapped around my limbs. Jerky hand swatted the hardwood kunai, my beacon. I heard voices from the other side of the door, my escape hadn¡¯t been unnoticed. Wood kunai in hand, I flickered forward, appearing behind the chunin that had just left the cell.


    He might have been too surprised to react. My hand grabbed his neck. The other pushed the kunai below his chin, up to his brain. The man flailed, I let the body topple.


    There was this moment of silence, before the place turned to chaos. The replacement was now rushing my way. The jounin and one other chunin were fast approaching as well. The trapped genin started screaming. Some cursed, others yelled for me to help them.


    With my threads, I forced my swollen eyes open. I was doing my best to ignore the horrendous amount of pain I was in. If I stopped to think about that, I might just pass out, which wouldn¡¯t do. With hazy vision, I noticed the place looked like a dank, dark cellar. There were several small cubicles barred by metal. Inside, children and teenagers yelling and screaming for help.


    A flash of red behind one of the cubicle doors caught my attention, but I had other things to do before anything else. I had a few precious moments to assess the situation; a quick scan didn¡¯t reveal anything I could use as a weapon. I doubled over and snatched the tool belt from the dead chunin. Smoke bombs, shuriken, kunai, wire. Useful, but nothing vital.


    I was out of time. The replacement chunin was about to enter the cellar. The door burst open, I threw the hardwood kunai. The kunoichi, a girl this time, walked in, and I pushed my flying thunder god prototype again. She tried to dodge the kunai, unaware that the real threat was me. I teleported in the air near the beacon. I snatched the weapon before it collided with the walls. With my other hand, I stabbed the kunoichi with the kunai I stole from the dead guy. Or I tried. My hand was empty. The kunai hadn¡¯t teleported with me. The stab turned into a punch, which gave me time to move my other hand and stab with the beacon.


    I felt around with the threads. Yes, my clothes were left behind.


    Huh, look at that. That emotionless voice person was right. I was absolutely going to murder the fuck out of everyone. In my birthday suit. Murder-exhibitionist-hobo me, I guess.

 Okashihime in: AMA

Okashihime in: AMA


    So, I saw something like this and thought it might be fun to try.


    Ask me anything. I''ll answer any and all questions.


    Troll questions will prob receive troll answers. You''ve been warned.

 6.6

    6.6


    The murdering turned out to be easy, in a certain definition of easy. After killing the kunoichi, I threw the smoke bomb through the door. Right now, I was navigating with my chakra sense and threads¡ªthread-vision? Thread-sense? Blocking the enemy vision gave an advantage for this next confrontation.


    On the other side of the door, it seemed like a bigger underground storage sort of room. It was a large square shaped room, with a lot of wooden boxes and sacks inside. Now that I could sense the room, I noticed there were two more doors. From the mental layout I constructed, I don¡¯t think I ever saw anyone using the one at the side of this warehouse.  The important passage was the one on the opposite side from where I was, from where the jounin levels of chakra just entered through. That was the path that led out of the complex.


    By my count, there were still two more shinobi in the complex. Kill the jounin, kill the chunin waiting two rooms down, don¡¯t die, escape. Easy.@@@@


    I waited inside the smoke for my moment. I considered if I should use more clones, but my chakra levels were too low to divide it even more among clones. This one would have to be close and personal.


    The jounin took their sweet time approaching. The wait would have been nerve wracking if I couldn¡¯t sense their position through the smoke. I won¡¯t lie here. I wasn¡¯t about to try anything fancy. I had no idea what the enemy was capable of, and my Kuro Raikou no Jutsu had already scored me two easy kills. Why change a winning strategy?


    I threw more smoke bombs, this time away from the jounin. The bombs hit the wall, exploded. At the same time, I threw the stolen shuriken, stolen kunai and my hardwood beacon. In my empty hand, I created a rasengan.


    The shinobi swirled toward the explosion, then again to deflect the thrown weapons. Again, like magic, super op, no one expected me to appear from the flying wood kunai. At the same time I did, I brought down my rasengan. I hit the jounin, another man with no visible village markings, on the chest. Pushed all the chakra I could manage on my jutsu. The enemy reacted fast. Even under my attack, his hands flashed, he spewed fire all over me.


    The op combo worked better than I hoped. The ball of chakra expanded on my hand, flew forwards, carrying the jounin away. The man hit the opposite wall, the rasengan expanded, things got shredded. It was gruesome. I was suspicious before, but I was certain now. These guys weren¡¯t the same ones that ambushed us. It was not just the different way of dressing. They were just too weak when compared to the ones that ambushed us.


    The impact of the jutsu dispersed most of the fire and smoke. The remaining enemy had just entered the room to see the end of that fight. I stood at the center of the room, my back to them, still smoking; at the other side of the room, a dying jounin.


    Perhaps, the enemy decided the better part of valor was to wait for reinforcements. They turned around and bolted. Blew away the passage behind them, trapping me inside.


    I would have gone after the fleeing ninja, and tried to contest that retreat. I didn¡¯t. I couldn¡¯t.


    Cruel hands pried my mouth open, and something soft prevented me from closing my mouth.


    ¡°Bite,¡± the voice asked again, ¡°bite!¡± She yelled when I tried to push away.


    That was really annoying. Fuck it, have it your way. I chomped down. Hard. The girl shrieked. I tasted something warm and coppery. But more than that, another type of warmth spread through my body. It was like a refreshing breeze, and sweet candies. Or maybe vanilla ice cream. I wasn¡¯t sure. I wanted more. I bit again, tried to drink, but the thing on my mouth wasn¡¯t the nice feeling. It just left me feeling grossed out.


    The voice¡¯s owner cried out again. My hands moved, holding up the arm to my mouth. Huh, I could move now. The pain, I also noticed, was all but gone. The puncture on my chest and side smarted but was the weeks old kind of smarted. The injury on my thigh stopped demanding my attention.


    ¡°Stop.¡± The annoying voice sobbed.


    I didn¡¯t listen. I kept biting.


    ¡°Stop!¡± The girl shrieked. Something slapped my face when I didn¡¯t.


    That, I think, broke the spell. I opened my eyes to find myself holding the red-haired girl¡¯s arms. There were several bite marks on her arm. Bleeding bite marks. My mouth tasted strange. There were a few other kids around. They were looking at me like I was a monster.


    I turned my attention back to the girl whose arm I was still holding. She glared at me, eyes full of tears, cheeks rosy. She pulled her arm free. I let it go.


    I looked around. The cells were open; no other enemy was in sight. I was lying flat on the ground, head on the red hair¡¯s lap. Someone, thankfully, had laid a shirt over me. I wasn¡¯t flashing everybody here. Meanwhile, a mental checklist appeared in my mind.


    Red hair? Check.Red eyes? Check.Glasses? No, but due to circumstances, a maybe.Scars? No. What was this one about?Heals people by letting them bite her arm? Double check.


    Three in favor, one against, one undecided. I guess I could make this assumption.


    ¡°Karin?¡±

 6.7

    6.7 AnnouncementI have a server now.


    Wow, look at me, getting updated with the times. I''m not online often, but I promise to check every now and again. xD


    Karin¡¯s eyes were a mix of startled, scared and curious. She pushed me back. My head flopped out of her lap onto the ground.


    ¡°What? How do you know my name?¡±


    Oh, right. I wasn¡¯t supposed to let people know I knew this stuff. Goes to say I wasn¡¯t fully recovered yet if I messed up this bad with my most guarded secret. Hadn''t something similar happened with Ino-chan as well? No, not the time. It was thinking-very-fast-no-jutsu time. I had no idea how to answer Karin. Change-subject-no-jutsu, made a surprise appearance to save the day.


    ¡°How long was I out?¡± I rasped out, felt the familiar stinging on my throat. The healing healed the injury, but it hadn¡¯t fixed the root cause. Talking was still a chore, and it still hurt. I didn¡¯t wait for a response. I got up, and under a half dozen pairs of wide eyes, I got dressed in the rags that had been covering me until now.


    I mean. What else could I do? I wasn¡¯t going to show how shy I was about this whole stuff. No, my face wasn¡¯t burning. My ears weren¡¯t red. That just didn¡¯t happen. I was a badass strong kunoichi who just kicked a lot of ass, in her birthday suit, then just decided to traipse back into the cells. Nothing out of ordinary here. Move along, citizens.


    Dressed and not flashing anyone, I looked at my injuries. The stab in my chest looked like a months old injury, same with the side and leg. Most of the small injuries were gone, the burning had faded, leaving a barely visible scar on the worst parts. No wonder Orochimaru kept her around. I wanted to keep her around myself.@@@@


    Out of the corner of my eyes, I tried to check the others. Aside from Karin, there was one more girl and four boys. The girl looked like a very thin fifteen year old, dressed in dirty rags. There were some sort of markings on her face that looked like a clan mark, but I couldn¡¯t place them. The boys were a mix of young and older. There was this one kid that looked like ten, while the oldest around seventeen. All of them looked rough, dressed in hand-me-down type of clothing. They also looked roughed up, but I was guessing that was courtesy of our captors.


    Between the boys, two of them also had some sort of markings that made me think of shinobi families or clans.


    That sparked a memory. Wasn¡¯t this a thing in Kiri? Wasn¡¯t that Haku¡¯s whole situation as well before they met up with Zabuza? The persecution and discrimination against bloodlimit shinobi families due to the constant wars and violence and how those shinobi were used as tools of war.


    Was this whole bunch all kekkei genkai shinobi?


    Like a reflex, I tried to pop out my comms board, only to glance at my bare arm in a bit of confusion. Ah, yes, taken, prison, bad. My brain really wasn¡¯t working properly. I had to talk with these people if we were to have a chance to leave this place alive. A small sigh escaped me. I had only one choice left if I didn¡¯t want to keep hurting myself. My hands flashed with seals. Out popped another me.


    The kids all around took another step back. I saw a few looking for ways to escape. Even Karin looked startled now. Why? I mean, yes, here I was using clone jutsu, but that wasn¡¯t bad, right? I nodded to my clone. Communication-chan had only one job: talk with this gaggle of people and make them ready while I prepared for our escape.


    I had to shake my head at that. Why was Comm-chan using our Seduce Best Girl voice with Karin?


    Karin looked from me to the clone, and I took the chance to leave them while explanations were given.


    I left the cells and scoured the underground rooms for anything we could use. There wasn¡¯t much. There wasn¡¯t much time I could spare. None of my stuff was here. Back at where I faced the other shinobi, I salvaged all the weapons I could, picked up the used kunais, shuriken wires and all that. Ran back to the cells and shared it with the other prisoners. It wasn¡¯t much. Four kunais, a dozen shuriken, two spools of wire, two exploding tags. That would have to be enough.


    While I was scavenging, Comm-chan managed to get others on board with the escape plan. Among the other prisoners, only Karin had shinobi training. The others were mum about it, but by the looks of it, yes, they were descendants of bloodlimit clans. I think only the tall girl actually knew how to use her bloodlimit. A misty hazy cloud that could be used to block vision, and other types of perception. Could be useful, but that also somehow interfered with my chakra sensing, which was less than ideal.


    The escape plan was simple. I was going to blow up the blocked passage, and we would storm out of the complex before their reinforcements arrived. Time was of the essence here. There were lots of questions being thrown around, none I had the patience to answer.


    I mean, how would I know where that kid¡¯s pet was?


    While the others bickered, I went on with my preparations. First, I created another beacon. I pushed my chakra, and a hardwood kunai formed on my hand. One of the downsides of using a modified mokuton clone for this was showing up in a ugly way. When I passed out for a few minutes, the kunai dispersed, just like a clone would do.


    If Karin hadn¡¯t healed me and let me suckle on her arm for a chakra top up, I¡¯d be screwed right now. No, who am I kidding? If it wasn¡¯t for her, I¡¯d be dead right now. I owed her big time.


    Now, while Comm-chan wrangled the kids into some semblance of order, I was about to start stuff. We spent enough time already. For this part, I was almost chakra depleted again, even after being topped up by Karin. Why? You ask? Well, the reason was simple. I had to reinforce the walls and pillars with mokuton for what was about to come. I couldn¡¯t sense anyone in the complex above. The remaining chunin was nowhere near my perception range when I woke up.


    With one last glance, I got a nod from my clone. It was time. I approached the blocked passage, found a place where I could inscribe my seal. Only the best explosions for our escape. I pushed my chakra, black lines drawing the shape of freedom. Then I ran back to cover.


    Yes, I know, blowing stuff underground was a bad idea, which is why I made sure to reinforce the whole thing with hardwood. Now I just had to deal with I don''t know how many more enemies outside, without using chakra.


    If everything went to shit, I could always sacrifice Comm-chan like a chakra refuel package. I hope she didn¡¯t catch me thinking that. That would be so much trouble.


    Blow stuff up, kill anyone trying to stop us. Escape.


    Should be easy, right?

 6.8

    6.8


    The blast reverberated underground, deafening. The whole room shook, the ceiling cracked, pieces of stone fell around us, dust blocked our vision, but we weren¡¯t smashed by a fuckton of rock, so I reckon my reinforcements worked.


    I was starting to have this feeling about explosions, the way they made my bones tremble, how the impact flowed through my body. This one was seven out of ten, ten being an evil laboratory pile of explosions after effect. The payload wasn¡¯t the highest, but I think being underground was enough to amplify the reverberations. Nice!


    Me and Comm-chan were probably the only ones enjoying it, however. The other kids were scattered around, hands blocking ears, groaning, disoriented. Ugh, some people didn¡¯t know the good things in life. I pulled Karin-chan up, then the other kids. Comm-chan helped, and soon after, we ran through the exploded passage.


    On the other side of the once barred passage, were stairs leading up. It opened up into a bigger complex, with lots of doors and other areas to explore. We didn¡¯t. From the layout I had memorized, I guided the sorry lot toward the door. There was no enemy yet in my sensory range, which I was conflicted about.


    I had given Karin-chan a kunai, an explosive tag and, call me selfish, my Kuro Raiku beacon . Impressed upon her the importance of not losing the damn thing. I think I managed to convey how important it was. She held the hardwood kunai in a white death grip.


    The lot behind us was a disorganized mess. The tall girl held a kunai, the oldest boy held another. The younger had shuriken, while the one in between had the wires. I had the remaining kunai, while Comm-chan had the last of the explosive tags, shuriken and smoke bombs.


    The above complex still had locked doors we had to bypass, but they were just reinforced wood, nothing that normal explosion wouldn¡¯t solve. For a moment, I considered if I should try to find my supplies, the things I took from the laboratory. Having my own seals and weapons would help, having my own reinforced shinobi uniform would help more. I discarded the idea. But I vowed to return. I needed the data from the hideout.


    We climbed yet another set of stairs, and blew yet more doors, until we burst out into an open area under a canopy of trees. The sky was foreboding and angry, full of dark clouds. Evening or dawn, I wasn¡¯t sure which. Looking back the place we just left was just an unremarkable patch of grass, with no indication whatsoever that something hidden lay beneath. Not even my chakra sense could pick up the fluctuations on the walls I could feel when inside.


    Outside, there were no enemies. No ambush, no mob of shinobi waiting for us. The group stopped. For a moment, no one moved. Then the other prisoners fled as fast as they could, each running into a different direction, and leaving me behind, alone.


    Karin-chan¡¯s hand found my arm. She grabbed it in an ever worse death grip. ¡°No! Don¡¯t run!¡± She yelled, which only spurred the brats even faster. I looked at her, she was looking wildly. ¡°It¡¯s a trap,¡± she whispered. ¡°They¡¯re waiting around us.¡±


    I looked around, I paid attention to my chakra senses again, and felt nothing. I knew Karin-chan was a sensor type, but was her sensing ability that better than mine?


    Comm-chan gave Karin a hug and her biggest smile, and debated if she should snog the startled redhead. Decided against. Kissing Karin just to mess with the original was a tad too much, and she would feel bad. Comm-chan wanted to snog Ino, not Karin. Karin was cool, but she wasn¡¯t Best Girl Ino.


    She saluted Hinata, then flickered away. Thoughts about the future pushed away from her head. Comm-chan was just a clone, there was no need to worry about the many hard decisions to come. No, she had a different purpose and goal.


    It was finally time.


    Original-chan finally decided it was time to stop holding back. She could see it in Original¡¯s eyes. A new name was needed. A fitting name.


    Assassination-chan, the newly appointed, regretted she wasn¡¯t dressed up for her part. A ratty shirt and nothing underneath. She wasn¡¯t going to lie. It was embarrassing as hell, but that was life. Couldn¡¯t choose the cards dealt.


    Her first victim entered her sensing range. It was a medium blaze, a bit over chunin. She knew ranking people over their chakra reserves wasn¡¯t the best metric, given she knew a sunshine brat that had more chakra than anyone else, but was also almost like an inoffensive puppy. Killing him would be so easy. Teleport, hug him, stab his eye while he is distracted.


    ...


    Why was she thinking on how to kill the brat? Was she that far gone? She cast away those thoughts, the first victim was here. Hidden behind a tree trunk. She picked up a pebble, tossed it to one side of the soon to be dead enemy, the beacon to the other. As soon the pebble hit and the enemy bolted, she teleported, knee already in position to strike the fleeing enemy. He tumbled, she grabbed his head, filled her arms with chakra, snapped his neck.


    Assassination-chan let go of the body, watched it flop to the ground. She nodded at a well done job. Being physically strong had its perks.


    Then she tsked, bent down and grabbed the corpse. She slapped her hand at the corpse¡¯s back. Inscribed the explosion seal, special vintage. Propped the corpse against the tree, with the seal hidden. Jumped on another nearby tree, and threw nearby one of the normal explosive tags.


    Assassination-chan was dedicated to the job, but chasing after prey was boring. Better set up the bait and make prey come to her.


    The clone stopped. Thought back on that statement. Nodded. That was a suitable edgy and dark line for an assassin. She snickered, dimmed her chakra presence. It was time to get to work.

 6.9

    6.9


    It was evening and getting darker fast. For a while now, Karin had been quiet. There were no enemies around us, and we were so far away from the prison that the sound of battle didn¡¯t reach us anymore. Somehow, Comm-chan was still alive and exploding things. I could feel the beacon moving with her, and if I paid enough attention, caught glimpses of the action on the other side.


    I know I prayed for her to kill as many as she could, but did she need to transform every enemy she could put her mittens on in a bomb carrier? Wasn¡¯t that a tad too much? Even if the body count wasn¡¯t as big as I thought it would have been, exploding enemies was somehow, way worse than just killing them. Was Comm-chan trying some sort of mind game or something against the enemies?


    Cold darkness fell. With the clouds blocking the sky, there was no light to help me see. No star light, no moon light. Just pure darkness. I pushed out with my threads to sense the surroundings. I had to move slower to avoid tripping, but the important thing was to keep moving.


    As soon the threads spread out, Karin-chan gasped. ¡°How¡¯re you doing that?¡± She looked this way and that. Finger touching some of the threads. ¡°It¡¯s beautiful.¡±


    That was nice to hear. I think my control, and thus threads, was my most developed skill. I spent literal years training this stuff. Felt good to be appreciated. Karin didn¡¯t seem to be waiting for a response. She kept trying to grab the threads, and at some point, it became almost like a game. It was a good bit of distraction that kept me moving late into the night.


    I kept fleeing but even so, I had my limits. I was tired, cold, hurting, hungry and thirsty. I wanted water so bad. So much for a place called Land of Waves. There was no river or water nearby. No lakes or ponds. I wasn¡¯t even sure if we still were in the Land of Waves.


    But now it wasn¡¯t just being tired anymore. Moving around wasn¡¯t enough to keep warm, not when I had barely anything to wear. The cold wind cut deeper than any kunai.


    From running, to jogging to walking to shambling.


    At some point, my clone, the drama queen Assassination-chan met her end. I was proud of her, and maybe a bit scared. Was I that dangerous when I didn¡¯t have to worry about anything else? She led the enemy in circles, abusing the teleport to strike from places they wouldn¡¯t expect, planting explosions whenever she could.


    She... made a mess. But now with her memories, I understood why. She wanted to attract attention. Maybe that would also help the others escape. Maybe that would prompt Kiri to investigate. We could only hope.


    The beacon was still there with one of the enemies. He didn¡¯t seem to know what my kunai was for. He had bagged it, and now was lugging it around. I kept part of my attention on the guy, hoping to find any clue to what was happening. The nameless shinobi had put it among other items that looked like contraband or loot. He left soon after, but there were people nearby.


    And people talked, and stuff was discussed. Two of the masked shinobi were talking around the contraband. Most of it was in some sort of code or shorthand I couldn¡¯t understand, but there was one word that stood out above all else.


    ROOT.


    I could even hear the capitalization in the words. I should have guessed. I¡¯m kinda mad I didn¡¯t.


    In the show, Sai was emotionless and disconnected from his emotions due to ROOT training. Now, here he was, seven years free from Danzo, supposedly not part of ROOT and yet still emotionless and disconnected. Why hadn¡¯t I seen it? Was I that blind?


    I stumbled, almost dropped Karin, who had fallen asleep while I carried her. She yelped, windmilled, grabbed my hair, pulled it.


    I couldn¡¯t keep going this way. Now that the adrenaline had faded, and the cold snuck in, the past how many days of abuse was catching up. Karin might have healed my injuries, but that didn¡¯t erase the mental strain. I changed focus from moving away to find somewhere to hide.


    In total darkness, I carried Karin through a small cave opening.


    Jagged rocks and twisting paths made it look like a nice place to hide. However, it turned out to be a dead end. The passage wasn¡¯t long, and it tapered off in a small crack in the stone that wasn¡¯t big enough for Karin or me to fit through. I considered staying here, but I didn¡¯t like being trapped with only one way of escape.


    Karin looked at the invisible words. I could only tell because I had threads on her to keep up with her movements. ¡°Stronger than you. Their chakra feels... different. Too controlled, dark, bitter.¡±


    What could I do here? I wasn¡¯t in any condition to fight. Assassination-chan had burned through most of her chakra. When she dispersed, I barely got anything back. I hadn¡¯t recovered enough to put up a serious fight.


    Could I use the beacon? I cast my mind again, then shook my head. It vanished when I fell asleep, and even if it hadn¡¯t, what about Karin? If I used the beacon, I¡¯d leave her behind.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± The redhead asked. Her voice was a whispered whimper.


    A crazy idea hit me. It was so crazy that it might just work. ¡°I... have a crazy idea, I can¡¯t promise it will work.¡±


    ¡°Is it dangerous?¡±


    I tilted my head, then wrote more when I realized she couldn''t see it. ¡°There¡¯s a chance it won¡¯t work at all. There¡¯s a chance we¡¯ll be separated, or it will work only for me. I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Karin patted my shoulder, released my neck and dropped down. She grabbed the kunai I gave her at the start of this mess. ¡°Do it,¡± she whispered.


    That was kinda cool. And foolhardy. She didn¡¯t even know what I wanted to do. Still cool.


    I moved closer, hugged Karin. She let out a strangled yelp. ¡°H-hinata-san?¡±


    Huh, why the formality? I shook my head. Wrote with my threads. ¡°Hug me as tight as you can. Don¡¯t let go.¡± She did just that, arms sneaking around me and pulling me closer. I popped out more of my threads, made them tangible, but instead of spreading them around, I wove them around us, like an invisible cocoon, then used it to press us even closer.


    The surprised gasp from Karin sounded wrong, even to my ears. Not the time, brain. It was life or death here. By now, I could already feel the jounins approaching. They finally entered my sensing range. Karin was right, there was something wrong with them. Their chakra was too still, too controlled, and an absolute fuckton.


    I brought my hand to my mouth, bit my thumb until it drew blood, then I willed the Kuchiyose no Jutsu I learned from Naruto from what felt so long ago. My already low chakra got sucked up by the activation, and when it ran out, my threads started to disperse. I couldn¡¯t let them. I pushed and pulled from reserves I didn¡¯t know I had; it drained something else I couldn¡¯t put into words, but my threads remained.


    The world spun, and it was like I was being pulled in all directions at once. It wasn¡¯t painful, just disorienting.


    It ended as soon as it started, and we fell into a warm, dark area. Soft, warm earth beneath us, a strong musk scent, and pale crystal-looking lights in the sky. No, not the sky, the ceiling. The faint light illuminated the cavernous walls and the small ¡ª was it a hill? ¡ª nearby. Karin was still with me, breathing loudly.


    I didn¡¯t have time to be glad my gamble paid off. My threads cocoon unraveled. I didn¡¯t get up. My whole body burned. Worse yet, a familiar onset of agony spiked. It took me back to that time in the Forest of Death, with Orochimaru burning heretical knowledge into my mind. My body ached, my bones burned.


    Karin looked up, gawked at the ceiling and wall. She grabbed me by the shirt, shook me like her life depended on it. ¡°What the fuck did you¡ª¡± She didn¡¯t finish. The redhead froze, woodenly looking around. It was like she¡¯d seen a ghost.


    Try as I might, I couldn¡¯t answer. I knew this feeling all too well. The seals on my bones were trying to kill me, and I had no chakra left to suppress it. An agonized scream escaped my mouth. Karin yelped, let go, and I fell back on the ground, hands trying to dig into my skin, reach my burning bones.


    The nearby hillock shifted, shattering the quiet of the place. From all around, I heard hustling, grunting, chattering, and growling. From behind the moving mound, a car-sized black-furred triangular face with beady eyes approached and stared at us.

 6.10.k

    6.10.k


    Karin knew that participating in the chunin exam in Konohagakure was a terrible idea. The team she was forced onto was wholly unprepared, and the higher-ups in Kusagakure somehow believed that because she could heal her teammates, they were qualified to compete against the geniuses of the bigger villages.


    Case in point: she was the only survivor of her team after they entered that damnable forest. Karin should have, by all accounts, died as well. She remembered the bear and trying to fight it. She remembered the claws that should have taken her eye. She remembered the pain and the teeth. Then she woke up in the hospital with a scar to remind her that it hadn¡¯t been a dream.


    Karin considered if she should just flee. The life of a missing-nin looked more appealing than the forced servitude her own life was. She looked down on her arms and the many bite marks from abusing her healing ability. The jounins in her village knew she risked her own life every time they overused her lifeforce. Karin¡¯s mother was proof of that. Kusagakure¡¯s ninjas didn¡¯t care. Every time a battle broke out, she was dragged to the battlefield.


    The same day she woke up in that hospital, Zosui took her away from Konohagakure and back to her village.


    Her life of enslavement continued, day after day, week after week, until, once again, she was taken to the battlefield to heal injured ninjas. Or that was what should have happened.


    Days away from Kusagakure and preparing for the confrontation, Zosui commandeered the village¡¯s elders¡¯ house for the night for him and his squad. Karin got the cellar treatment. Locked in the damp underground with no hope of escaping. That same night, Karin sensed a large group of shinobi approaching. She found a dank and dark place and hid. For two days, she waited alone in the dark.


    The skirmish lasted all night and all day. In the chaos, no one came to find her in the dark cellar. Karin escaped into daylight again once she couldn¡¯t feel anyone outside anymore.


    The village had been razed, and her minder was nowhere in sight. Hopeful for the first time in her short life, Karin ran, but not for long. Not two days passed, and she was accosted by two shinobi who recognized her cursed lineage.


    Karin tried to put up a fight, but they were stronger. She blacked out after a well-placed kick to the head. The next time she woke up, she was somewhere underground, surrounded by shinobi. Strong shinobi with bitter and rotten chakra.


    The whole situation was more than disheartening. Karin was ready to give up. Why keep struggling when, at every turn, things become even worse? Fate, however, didn¡¯t seem keen on letting her go.


    Karin stared for a few uncomprehending seconds before the yells of the other prisoners woke her from her surprise. She tried the keys and managed to open her cell on the second try. She pushed the door open, and as much as she wanted to help the dying girl, she needed to do something else first. She ran toward the nearest cell¡ªit was the older teen''s.


    ¡°Here!¡± Karin yelled, thrusting the bundle of keys at the boy.


    The decision to save the dying shinobi wasn¡¯t wholly altruistic. If injured and unarmed this ninja managed to kill most of the jailers, saving her life would also improve Karin''s chances of surviving this whole fiasco. Now, she just needed to wake up a half-dead shinobi and make that person bite her arm.


    From the moment she decided to heal Hinata, Karin never would have imagined she¡¯d now be in some godforsaken cave, staring down a mountain-sized honey badger, while Hinata screamed herself hoarse.


    Karin was petrified. All at once she wanted to help Hinata, run and hide, scream hysterically, but she ended up doing nothing. That massive, triangular face and beady eyes kept her rooted in place. Worse, that wasn¡¯t the only one. All around, the cave had come to life. She heard grunting, rustling, growling, and chattering.


    Another hoarse groan from Hinata broke the standoff. Karin flinched. Looked at the contorting girl at her feet. She didn¡¯t dare to move more than that, however.


    A rumbling, deep voice cut through her panic. ¡°Tend to your companion, unworthy one.¡± The voice from the massive badger resounded in her whole body. ¡°We can decide what to do with you once the heretical summoner isn¡¯t about to die.¡±


    Karin stared at the massive animal before her, still frozen stiff.


    ¡°Or you can let her die.¡± The voice rumbled, amused. All around, the tittering and chattering grew. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since our little cubs ate an unworthy one.¡±


    Karin whirled and dropped to her knees. She pulled her sleeves up on the arm that wasn¡¯t bandaged. Not enough time had passed since she last let Hinata drain her life force, which would probably mean another set of scars. These, at least, were her choice. The big one behind needn¡¯t threaten her into helping. She wasn¡¯t about to let Hinata die.

 6.11

    6.11


    Keeping the seals in my bones suppressed had never taken much conscious effort. The key Orochimaru provided drew from my chakra to suppress the ongoing kill effect. I should have asked this question before, but what would happen if I ran out of chakra? Well, as it turned out, the damn thing was trying to eat me alive in an excruciating way.@@@@


    A detached part of my mind watched the seal at work in fascination. I wasn¡¯t a fan of the Snake Sannin, nor did I approve of his methods, even more so when those methods were directed at me, but I couldn¡¯t deny that his work was exceptional. Beautiful even.


    It was a level of mastery I could only dream of. My seals looked like a patchwork of cobbled-together dirt. No, that was just my depressed side getting out of control. There wasn¡¯t a good way to compare my seals with the Snake¡¯s. They were different paradigms. Oro¡¯s seal was like a well-oiled machine designed to use every iota of fuel available, while mine somehow had a better conversion rate. My seals had trouble converting the chakra into energy, but the small amounts it did, somehow had better output.


    All of that was to say that now ¨C out of chakra ¨C the seal was converting my life force into fuel to kill me. It was devious, brilliant, awesome, even. And it hurt like hell.


    I was aware of movement around me. I heard voices¡ªone deep and rumbling, Karin¡¯s gentle and insistent, others squeaky and chattering.


    ¡°Bite, Hinata-chan,¡± Karin whispered, ¡°but gently this time.¡±


    Even with the whole dying situation, that one threw me off kilter. Not hours ago, I had chomped down on her arms to the point we had to bandage the entire forearm to hide away the gruesome teeth marks. And now, here she was, offering me the other one. That inflicted me with a severe case of feelings. Not the good kind.


    I was tired of being the damsel.


    Teeth found flesh, and sweetness poured again in my mouth. I didn¡¯t chomp this time. I wasn¡¯t that far gone. The groan-slash-moan from Karin told me she wasn¡¯t doing well either.


    The chakra top-off gave me enough to avoid the draining of my life force. It didn¡¯t, however, stop the seal. For that, I had to work on the key again. But I had already done it once. I could do it again.


    Even if I was days too late to help, I could at least try to learn what happened with the rest of the team.


    No, that wasn¡¯t the real reason. That was just the lie I told myself to make me feel better. What I was worried about was the revelations I learned from the laboratory. Was I a clone? I still thought I wasn¡¯t, but on the not-zero chance I was, where was the original Hinata? Could she be, for example, being held, for years, in some dank, dark prison Orochimaru used to keep his captives? Like the one in the Land of Waves?


    My moving around attracted attention.


    A small shape approached from the darkness. It was also a tiny bundle of chakra. I placed the bowl down, sat up, and waited. It didn¡¯t take long for the interloper¡ª or was I the interloper?¡ª to approach.


    Small ¡ª maybe a bit bigger than a Miniature Pinscher¡ª, stocky, triangular head with beady eyes and small ears. Dark fur covered most of its face, with white hair from above its eyes to the end of its short tail. It had wicked claws on the front paws. It also wore what looked like a shinobi¡¯s uniform, with dark-colored fabric covering parts of its body and a utility belt around its torso.


    A honey badger. A mini ninja honey badger.


    It stopped, got on its hind legs, and stared at me. Still stunned, I could only stare back. Why badgers, of all things? I wasn¡¯t going to lie. It looked cute as heck. I wanted to pick it up, cuddle, maybe pet it.


    The badger raised its paw; its wicked claw pointed at my face¡ªno, not at my face, at my eye¡ªthe one with the snake pupil. My hand moved, tracing the skin just beneath said eye. The badger tilted its head, tittered. It was so cute. Then it spoke, a soft, squeaky female voice.


    ¡°Imma gonna gouge out that eye and eat it up.¡± The tittering rose into laughter. ¡°Just wait till pops says you¡¯re food.¡±


    I take back what I said. She wasn¡¯t cute. She was freaking adorable! Like a creepy-cute-little-murder-ninja. I wanted to cuddle her. I might even have tried.

 6.12

    6.12


    I lay on the fur pile, nursing a bitten finger and trying to sleep. Karin, the grabber, had ensnared me the moment I settled by her side. She wasn¡¯t only a grabber, though. In the ten minutes I was here staring at the darkness and trying to sleep, she pulled my hair, kicked my legs, scratched my arms.


    Was she having a bad dream? A careful, probing look left me with more questions than answers. Her face was calm and peaceful, as if she dreamed of something pleasant. This was contrary to the reality I was experiencing, but I decided to endure it instead of shaking the redhead awake. It had nothing to do with her holding me and the human contact. Nu-uh. I just didn¡¯t want to wake her up. That was all.@@@@


    I closed my eyes, thinking of blondes, cupcakes, and dates. I wanted to see Ino.


    It felt like I had just blinked when everything changed. The light from the ceiling crystals was brighter, the chattering and rustling all around louder. My mini-ninja-killer abused finger was no longer smarting from the bite, and Karin was still making me her pillow. For the second time, I disentangled myself from her.


    I got up, looking around. The previous night, tired from the ordeal and lack of sleep, I wasn¡¯t in the right frame of mind to realize we could be in real trouble. I cleared the crust from my eyes, unlimbered my sore limbs. It was time to get the ball rolling. I pushed my chakra, created a beacon for my Kuro Raikou no Jutsu. There was a tinge of painful heat inside my body following that. I held back in a groan. Fucking fucker Orochimaru.


    Karin was still asleep even after all that moving about. Was this a side effect of me draining her life force twice in a single day? I shook her awake.


    I pressed the wood kunai to Karin, and while she got ready, with one last stretch, I left the furs. I looked around, trying to see what was different from before I fell asleep. The guards I noticed before falling asleep weren¡¯t here anymore, but many more were going around outside the alcove.


    Badgers, a lot of ninja badgers. Tiny cubs running, grunting, and playing. This small group was trying to throw shuriken, which was too big to hold. Another older group was play-fighting. Or at least, I hoped they were play-fighting. It looked brutal enough, but there was no blood, so I was keen on thinking they were only playing.


    ¡°Good morning, Karin-chan.¡± I wrote with my threads.


    Karin pulled the bed hair out of her face. Fur lines marks on her skin. She looked worse than I¡¯d seen her ever. ¡°Errrhhr¡± she groaned. I took that as a yes.


    The small nook we slept in led to a larger tunnel or area. The crystals in the ceiling provided some illumination, but it was like faint moonlight. Enough to move by. With no idea where exactly to go, I picked the direction with the most chakra bundles. Karin shambled behind me.


    A familiar female squeaky voice squeaked in response, ¡°Imma no cub no more pops. I earned my name.¡± The little devil turned to me and growled. It was adorable. ¡°And why not? She¡¯s tainted and brought an unworthy one!¡±


    I didn¡¯t like where that conversation was going.


    A chuckle that sounded more like an earthquake preceded the answer. ¡°Right, Kumoko.¡±


    That was a strange choice of name. If I understood it right, didn¡¯t that mean Spider Child? Why would a mini murder badger be named that, of all things?


    The big face turned toward me. It was marred with many scars. Most were hidden beneath the coarse black and white fur but still visible if I paid enough attention. Somehow, the atmosphere changed after the chuckle, like a switch turned on.


    ¡°You arrived uninvited and dying,¡± the big one said. ¡°I gave you shelter. I shared my food and water. You partook in my hospitality. No harm befell on you,¡± the big one stopped, glanced down at Kumoko, ¡°that wasn¡¯t of your own making.¡± Was he implying the little-she-devil was right in biting me? I mean, I did try to pet her, but still. ¡°Customs were observed.¡±


    There was a pregnant pause. Was I supposed to say something?


    ¡°I¡¯m the patriarch of this clan, and you may call me Tsuchigaru. Why have you come here, Hebigan Kuchiyose-te?¡±


    My mind raced at the question. I knew why I was here. It had been a gamble, and I needed to escape. I hadn¡¯t known where I would appear, but as long as it wasn''t snakes, I was happy with making a contract with any other shinobi animal clan. But there was something strange in his way of addressing me. Names, I was coming to realize, meant a lot to these badgers. The big one meant Earth Growler, which was fitting, all things considered. If I took it at face value, the way he addressed me meant Snake-Eye summoner.


    I wasn¡¯t sure what that meant, but I could convince them to sign a contract with me as long as they weren''t hostile. I thought back on what benefits I could provide. I had my modified storage seals, my explosives. I could help them get things from the human population and bring it back here. It might be expensive, but I wasn¡¯t that poor anymore. I nodded. I could work with that. I opened my mouth. I didn¡¯t manage to speak.


    ¡°You reek of the snake clan. Why shouldn¡¯t I let my daughter eat your eye and entrails for trespassing into my lands?¡±

 6.13

    6.13


    Tension thick enough to cut with a kunai pressed on me. Tsuchigaru¡¯s massive eyes bore down on us. Karin¡¯s grip on my arm reached the death-grip settings. I fought the urge to shrink back. That¡¯s not how I expected things to go after the somewhat peaceful start, but I noticed a few things. For one, that the big one hadn¡¯t killed us yet. For another, what was this about the snake¡¯s stench? The only thing I could think of regarding the snake was my eye and Orochimaru. Orochimaru also meant Ryuchi Cave and his summons.


    That gave me an idea to try. I wasn¡¯t a friend of the snakes; I very much had a blood feud with Orochimaru. I could use that, but I wasn¡¯t willing to give that information for free. I remembered the murals, and the pictographs of badgers and humans trading. Maybe they liked to barter? Why else would they have a history lesson over that? I could do bartering. It was even in my favor since I had nothing else besides information to offer.


    The best case scenario was to enlist their help with a contract, gather supplies, and have them send me back from wherever their lands were. In a worst-case scenario, I¡¯d settle up to leaving here alive, with information on how to return to Konoha.


    I puffed my non-existent chest, raised my head. Confidence, that was now my middle name.


    ¡°I am no snake friend. I fought and killed them before.¡± I mean, not me, me. It was Naruto and Sasuke who killed those giant snakes in the Forest of Death, but I helped, right? I even had a hand in their training. I hope they didn¡¯t mind me taking credit.  ¡°I have a blood feud against their summoner; I orchestrated his fall.¡± Even if I didn¡¯t believe that was the last I had seen of Orochimaru and that it wasn¡¯t me who killed him, but the Hokage and Shisui. I was the one that moved the pieces years before. That also counted as my kill, right? Right?


    Alliances declared, boast stated, I started my sales pitch. ¡°You¡¯ll sign a summoner contract with me,¡± I rasped, held in the urge to cough. I wasn¡¯t good at negotiations, but I knew you should always shoot up for the biggest you can and negotiate to a more realistic outcome. ¡°You¡¯ll send us back, give us supplies and equipment. In return, I¡¯ll provide you with news regarding the snake-clan.¡±


    A rumble from above followed my declaration. ¡°You want to barter?¡± The voice asked, amused. Tsuchigaru¡¯s eyes glinted in the semi-darkness of the cave.


    Kumoko¡¯s tiny chakra bundle moved. She dashed from the big paws side until she was at Tsuchigaru¡¯s face. ¡°Pops! Lemme handle this!¡± Her small, fur-covered frame shook. She looked a bit silly, glaring up at her giant father.


    ¡°And why should I let you, cub? You¡¯ve already meddled enough when I ordered our guests to be left alone.¡±


    ¡°Cause I earned my name!¡± The answer came in a high-pitched, squeaky growl. ¡°I can handle this stuff now!¡± Kumoko¡¯s puffed tail pointed straight up. She turned to me. ¡°Let me barter with the snake girl. If she¡¯s lying, I can always eat her eye after.¡±


    Why was Kumoko so obsessed with my eye?


    Another quake-chuckle rumbled through the room. ¡°Have it your way then, Kumoko.¡±


    Kumoko preened, tail still straight up. ¡°Snake girl,¡± she squeaky-growled my way. Was she trying to be intimidating? ¡°Here are my terms for you: The snake girl will surrender all her secrets, give me her eye, and the Iron Skin clan will let her leave this place alive!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you the eye if and when I recover my own to replace it.¡± I rasped out.


    I wasn¡¯t sure if I could ever recover my eye from the Hyuga or where the other eye was, but on the chance I did, I wasn¡¯t against letting Kumoko have the snake eye. I¡¯d even cheer her on if she wanted to snack on the thing. I just wasn¡¯t about to set myself on fire to make her feel warm, so to speak.


    Kumoko growled and clawed the ground. I saw the refusal coming, but a rumble from the silent patriarch ended her building comeback. Kumoko shook for a moment, pawed the ground again, and lashed her tail even more.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± She finally asked.


    I shrugged. ¡°Someone stole my eyes; put this one in its place. I want to get my own back.¡±


    Kumoko stared for a long while, then she nodded. ¡°Agreed.¡±


    I let out a sigh of relief. That had been way more difficult and tiring than I had anticipated.


    ¡°Good job, cub,¡± Tsuchigaru praised and ignored the growly ¡°not a cub¡± from Kumoko. He turned to me. ¡°Thank you for letting my daughter have her first barter, the opportunities are rare these days.¡±


    I nodded at the patriarch. Mostly, I was glad this was over.


    ¡°Kumoko will take you to our storage to gather equipment and lead you to the hive; I¡¯ll have the contract ready once you return.¡±


    What was he talking about? Return from what hive? ¡°Return?¡±


    Tsuchigaru¡¯s eyes bore on me again. ¡°Of course,¡± the clan leader said, ¡°no respectable badger clan will sign a contract without a gift of royal jelly. Kumoko will guide you to the Bee¡¯s hive.¡±


    My shoulder slumped. Of course, why had I thought it would be this easy? I could even hear the capitalization of the word bee from the patriarch. These were going to be some giant killer bees, weren¡¯t they?@@@@

 6.14

    6.14


    It was the day after the negotiations. Kumoko led the way through a series of tunnels, some big, others small, twists and turns and passages that sometimes looked all the same.


    Even after another day of rest, Karin wasn¡¯t in better condition. The redhead lagged behind, and I often had to stop and wait until she caught up. At one point, I offered to carry her, but she just shook her head and pushed me to keep moving. Had I sucked out that much of her life force? I wasn¡¯t in the right frame of mind at the time ¡ª dying and all ¡ª and I don¡¯t really remember how much I took from her.


    The path Kumoko led us through would take us near the so-called hive. We¡¯ve been walking for the better part of the day in the twisting labyrinthine tunnels.@@@@


    Karin and I visited the badger¡¯s ¡°storage¡± to get the gear I bargained for. There wasn¡¯t much we could use there; most of the contents were designed for badgers. Even so, we managed to find things we could use. I found a green kimono that fit me more or less. The lack of underthings, I solved by cosplaying a mummy. Lack of shoes? Bandages. Lack of gloves? Bandages. Lack of a bra? Bandages. No belt? Well, you get it.


    On the other hand, the redhead still had some of her gear from when she got captured. Her captors hadn¡¯t bothered to take all of her stuff, only weapons and tools. After raiding the storage, Karin now wore a dark brown kimono over a fishnet bodysuit. She still had the open-toed shinobi footwear. All in all, she looked good. At least, that is what I thought, anyway.


    Kumoko stopped near a small tunnel leading upwards. ¡°We¡¯re here, snake girl.¡±


    I looked at the mini-badger; the tunnel upward. Kumoko didn¡¯t seem keen on going up. I wrote words and Karin read them out loud for me. ¡°Aren¡¯t you coming with us?¡±


    ¡°Nuh-uh, can¡¯t help ya.¡± The she-devil said, entire body shaking in denial. She was already used to mine and Karin¡¯s antics. ¡°You gotta get the royal jelly yourself; otherwise, what would be the point?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s up there?¡± Karin read my next question.


    ¡°Forest,¡± Kumoko¡¯s head looked back toward the tunnel we just came from. ¡°Pops said there¡¯s a path nearby, find and follow it, shoulda take you to the hive.¡±


    That smelled fishy. I was pretty sure something was wrong with this whole situation, I just couldn¡¯t say what. I looked at Karin, who just shrugged. I started toward the tunnel.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take too long, snake girl,¡± Kumoko called out after us, tail lashing. ¡°I won¡¯t wait forever.¡±


    Delaying the royal jelly gathering mission for a whole day wasn¡¯t just to let Karin recover. I wanted to prepare. Both badgers ¡ª giant dad and mini she-devil¡ª were mum about the bee¡¯s hive. Both ignored subtle questions and direct inquiries. That left me trying to prepare for things I wasn¡¯t aware of.


    Fortunately, raiding the badger¡¯s storage didn¡¯t result only in new clothing fashion. We managed to find a few kunai and shuriken that were similar to what I was used to. But the jackpot was finding sealing paper. That gave me a good idea to try. Bee¡¯s were weak to smoke, right? I didn¡¯t need to fight any assumed giant killer bees to steal their jelly. I could, you know, just put the whole hive to sleep and sneak in to steal the jelly.


    That was how the previous day ended. I returned to our designed alcove with a shambling Karin in tow. She slept, and I prepared seals.


    Tight stone walls of the tunnel Kumoko led us to pressed closer around us. The tunnel was dark, and the passage grew steeper the more we climbed. I wasn¡¯t one to be claustrophobic, but it felt uncomfortable. Until now, I hadn¡¯t considered we were underground this whole while. The soft crystal lights managed to trick me somehow. This passage had no crystals to provide illumination, forcing Karin and me to navigate through the darkness. I used my threads to help me navigate, kept a bandaged hand on the rough wall to steady myself, and held one of Karin¡¯s.


    Karin followed behind, breaths shallow. Even without being able to see her, I kept looking back. Karin was never a front-liner combatant in the show, more of a supporting cast. I was worried about her.


    When we emerged from the tunnels, the sunlight blinded me. I stood still at the passage entrance, eyes closed, breathing the fresh scent of earth and greenery. Slowly, the spots in my vision disappeared, and a strange forest stretched out before us; a wild and untamed expanse of towering trees and thick undergrowth. The canopy above let in scattered rays of sunlight.


    It was quiet¡ªalmost too quiet. There were no bird calls or sounds of other animals. Only the faint hum of insects broke the silence.


    It felt strange misleading Karin like that. I was hoping she would take my words as the kunai being a tracking device, which wasn¡¯t wrong. The original function was that, but I could also spy on her, and teleport to her if needed. That way, if the worst happened, I¡¯d be able to react in time, use her as bait, or even lead any enemy away then go back to Karin after she gave them the slip. Was I being this paranoid because of Sai?


    Karin gave me a considering look. She was reading my chakra again, wasn¡¯t she? Damn it. She took the kunai, gave me a nod. She turned, looked in the distance, like she was looking through the trees.


    ¡°I can sense chakra, a lot of it, it feels different, somehow.¡±


    ¡°Different how?¡± I wrote.


    Karin looked back at me, shrugged. ¡°Remind me of the badgers?¡±


    ¡°Are they close?¡±


    Karin shook her head, looked in the distance again. ¡°About half an hour out, if we walk slowly.¡±


    How... large was her sensing distance? I thought mine was good, about a hundred meters all around me. What did it mean for her range if this chakra presence was that far away? So fucking unfair. The more I learned about her chakra sense, the more mine looked like a discounted, cheap version no one else wanted. I shook those thoughts away. It wasn¡¯t time to be petty, or jelly. I could do that later, once we were safe back at Konoha.


    I looked around. Trying to find said trail Kumoko told us about. After a moment, I summoned two clones to help me. While my clones got their bearings, I walked a bit further away from the entrance, then took my water-skin to take a sip. That much walking left me thirsty.


    ¡°Hello, Ojou-chan. You¡¯re so pretty!¡± One of my clones husked out.


    I coughed, spat the water I had just drank.


    ¡°Eh?¡± Karin gasped.


    I looked around. My clones were around Karin. One was slightly hunched over, one hand on her hips, another grabbing Karin¡¯s waist, with a lecherous grin on her face. The second clone had a hand on her chin, a calculating look on her face, like checking merchandise. Karin was trapped between the two, with the clones invading her personal space.


    ¡°How about ya come with us?¡± Clone two said, hand going to Karin¡¯s mane of red hair and gently tugging free a lock. Clone two looked at me, sent me a quick devilish grin before she turned to Karin. ¡°We¡¯ll take good care of ya.¡± She husked again.


    ¡°Eeh?¡± Karin looked spooked. She glanced from my clones at me and then back at the clones.


    I face-palmed. Why were the clones behaving like that? I wasn¡¯t that bad, right? ...Right?


    ...


    That decided it; no more clones. I might as well take a page from Shikamaru¡¯s book and name them Troublesome-chan, The First and Second. Resigned to my fate, I crouched, kept looking, drank more water. I hoped that by the end of this, my clones didn¡¯t traumatize Karin...


    ...Too much.

 6.15

    6.15


    The trail Kumoko mentioned wasn¡¯t obvious. A quick search gave me no clue about where it was. Not that it was a concern at this point, not with Karin¡¯s absurd sensing range. For some reason, Karin took refuge behind me from my clones. Trouble-chan, First and Second, tried to harass the redhead again, but my stern glare was enough to dissuade them.


    Under Karin¡¯s scared eyes, I had a brief signal conversation with my clones. It went something like this:


    Me: Kunai, seal, placement, around, smoke.


    T1: Explosion?


    Me: Negative, smoke, objective, explosion bad.


    T2: Indignation, protest, revise plan, explosion good.


    Me: Mission objective, critical, capture, asset acquisition, destruction bad.


    T1: Foul play, unfair.


    T2: Unhappy, protest.


    Once prepared, we set off toward the chakra Karin could sense in the distance.


    The forest floor was a carpet of moss and fallen leaves, broken by massive roots. Strange fungi growing in clusters, some glowing with soft phosphorescent light, others looking decidedly alien and potentially poisonous.


    I found the trail a couple of minutes away from the tunnel entrance. It was tiny markers on tree bark. It was subtle enough that if I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d have missed it. The trail led to a narrow, winding path cutting through the dense foliage.@@@@


    The forest changed the closer we got to our destination. Trees grew sparser, and a low humming became audible. Not the tiny buzz of normal bees but a deeper sound that vibrated through the air.


    We slowed our pace, made sure to walk in silence. I peeked from behind a huge tree, then I saw it.


    The hive was enormous. Easily the size of a three-story building, it was a massive structure of waxy, honeycomb-like material clinging to the side of a massive tree. Giant bee sentinels, each the size of a large dog and bigger, crawled across its surface. Their bodies were jet black with sharp yellow markings, mandibles that looked like curved daggers.


    That mural I saw back at the badger¡¯s lair came to mind. I remembered the dead badgers around the sole surviving one.


    Why were my clones so insistent in teasing Karin like that? I mean, I knew why. They were teasing me, and Karin was just a bonus, but even so. That was a bit unfair.


    I had my clone teleport because I didn¡¯t want another flashing incident. The clone¡¯s clothes were chakra constructs. She was in no danger of leaving her clothes behind. If I tried that, on the other hand... Well, let¡¯s just not.


    ¡°See?¡± I wrote when Karin looked back at me. ¡°If you¡¯re somewhere safe, I can always use your position to escape if I need to run.¡± I tilted my head, added more regarding my reason. ¡°And I know you¡¯re not in top condition because I drained you from your life force.¡±


    Karin glanced at her bandaged arms, then looked away.


    In all the confusion and events after our escape, I never took the chance to thank her for saving my life twice. I walked closer, and taking a page from my clone¡¯s books, I gave Karin a hug.


    ¡°Eeep!¡± She squeaked again.


    Huh, yeah, that was pretty funny. I guess I know now why my clones do it. But I shook my head; not the time to get distracted.


    ¡°Thank you for saving my life twice,¡± I croaked out. I didn¡¯t feel like writing a ¡®thank you¡¯ was the best option. ¡°I owe you.¡±


    After a moment, her arms found their way around me, nestling her head around my neck. She mumbled something I couldn¡¯t understand, but I decided it meant ¡°You¡¯re welcome¡± or something similar.


    It didn¡¯t last. She pushed me away, looked back toward the trail that led to the tunnel. She looked back at me after a moment.


    ¡°Be careful, okay?¡± Karin said.


    I nodded.


    ¡°I don¡¯t trust them.¡± She added.


    I nodded again.


    ¡°They said I would be food if you died.¡±


    I scowled, nodded a third time, wrote my answer. ¡°I will be careful.¡±


    Karin turned and started her way back, away from the hive of giant killer bees. I turned to my clones. It was time to get the ball rolling. With luck, the smoke plan would work.

 6.16

    6.16


    Plant the smoke bombs, put the killer bees to sleep, sneak in, steal the jelly.


    That was not how I imagined my shinobi companion contract would go. This plan was conditional on the smoking working on the killer bees as it did for normal-sized ones. I wasn¡¯t a bee expert. The most I knew was from idle chatter when buying honey for my pastries. And even so, I often didn¡¯t pay much attention to the beekeeper¡¯s chattering.


    The knowledge amounted to vague recollections about pheromones and instinctive feeding responses.


    I placed the last kunai, cast one more look at the hive in the distance. I wasn¡¯t sure how I would get to the jelly without causing too much damage. With the setup done, I sneaked away. Trouble-chan, First and Second, had already placed their kunais in the formation and unpopped themselves. That was easier than trying to move back and alerting the bees. I thought back on the plan one last time: Trigger the smoke, wait a few minutes until the bees are¡ª hopefully¡ª calm and pacified, sneak to the hive, cut a way in, steal the jelly.


    Once I was far enough away, I activated the barrier, then the smoke bombs. The humming cut immediately when the barrier formed, and soon after, the area was covered in white smoke.


    I took a prepared seal from my temporary gear. Out popped a large machete and a clay jar. I counted the minutes. Placed a piece of fabric around my mouth to help filter the smoke out. Once enough time had passed, I dispersed the barrier and sneaked inside again to steal from royalty.


    The smoke-filled area created an eerie atmosphere. I approached the hive, paying close attention to any new buzzing. I walked to the base of the tree and looked up at the massive structure: complex hexagonal chambers and giant bees walking slowly over them. The movements were sluggish and unfocused.


    So far, so good.


    I coated my feet with chakra and climbed the tree until I reached the hive. Now I had to find the thing. I pressed my hand against the waxy surface, tested how strong it was. The material was warm, and yielded under my hand. That was good, the knife would work.


    Through my chakra perception, I could somewhat sense what was happening above. The guard bees split into groups, each pursuing what they thought was their target. Decoy-chan, the Twelfth and Thirtieth, leading the angry insects on a wild chase through the forest.


    I moved through the earth, careful to maintain enough distance that the vibrations from my passage wouldn¡¯t be noticeable from above. The queen¡¯s buzzing was still audible even through several feet of soil. Were they some contract shinobi insects? It wouldn¡¯t be, would it? Imagine now if this created a blood feud with the Aburame clan. I would be pissed.


    Soon after, one of my clones dispersed, sending me a rush of memories. Three guards had cornered her, tried to fight them, scare them off, but the damn insects were frenzied. They kept attacking. Not even our still unnamed mobile barrier was enough to stop their mandibles. It cut through the chakra construct like it was nothing. Twelfth wasn¡¯t willing to kill and got killed instead. Was their mandible able to bypass chakra? That was good to know, but it was not information I wanted to test personally.


    The second clone was still going, long out of my perception range. Through the innate sense I shared with every clone, I knew she was getting further and further away, but not exactly where.


    I kept moving through the earth, jar of stolen royal jelly now a damming weight. I was beginning to think these damn badgers hoodwinked me with this whole thing. The mission was accomplished, even if it hadn''t gone according to plan.


    After what felt like an eternity but was probably only about fifteen minutes, my second clone unpopped herself. Her memories showed she¡¯d managed to lose her pursuers in a dense part of the forest; she created more clones and divided her pursuers. Clever girl. Was it hubris praising her?


    I waited a bit longer, moving through the earth, before surfacing in a small clearing far from the hive. The first thing I noticed was the silence. There was no angry buzzing, no wing beats, just the normal sounds of the forest. Well, as normal as anything was in this strange place.


    My chakra perception found nothing immediate. The queen¡¯s buzzing was a distant vibration now, more felt than heard. I took a moment to catch my breath, checking my reserves. The clones and earth technique had taken a chunk out of my chakra¡ª clones creating clones somehow took even more chakra¡ª but I still had enough to fight if needed.


    I closed my eyes and peered into the spying beacon I left with Karin. She was pacing by the tunnel entrance. That was good. I was afraid the bees would find her even at that distance. Now, I just had to return to the Badger¡¯s tunnels without getting caught by angry giant bees or anything else here. Simple, right?

 6.17

    6.17


    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it.¡± That was how Karin greeted me when I got back to her.


    I tilted my head, trying to play the innocent card. I¡¯d made my way back, slow and steady, dipping inside the earth at any nearby buzz. I might have been planning to hug or tickle her, because, you know, my clones might have corrupted me and her reactions were funny.


    Karin narrowed her eyes, gaze dipping toward my navel.


    Yeah, bullshit chakra-mind-reading detector. So unfair. Time to change topics. I wrote words. ¡°I got the jelly.¡±


    My proud announcement met me with a suspicious nod. Then her face softened, and she smiled. ¡°That¡¯s good. We can finally leave this place, right? I don¡¯t like them.¡±


    I could understand her reluctance. We only interacted with two of the clan¡¯s badgers, the patriarch and the she-devil. One didn¡¯t seem to mind if we just bugged off and got offed somehow, while the other wanted to gouge my eye out. And the other clan members were often indifferent, if not hostile. I knew I was missing something here.


    Was it the eye? That was supposed to be my only connection to Orochimaru and the snakes. But what had Tsuchigaru said? That I reeked like a snake. Was there more to that comment?


    Had Orochimaru added his DNA as well when experimenting on me?


    I shook my head at the idea. If I went down that path, I might as well imagine even more ridiculous scenarios. He might as well have used my body as a gene bowl, mixing Senju, his own, Uchiha, and Hyuga to create a super host.


    ¡°Hinata-chan?¡± Karin¡¯s voice sounded like she was far away.


    No, this was ridiculous, even for him. I was letting my imagination and paranoia get the better of me.


    ...


    He wouldn¡¯t have done it, would he?


    I paced.


    ¡°Changing how?¡± I asked, not bothering with threads this time.


    Karin looked from my navel to my face, then down again. ¡°It¡¯s usually clear and bubbly¡ª¡±


    ¡°This is a mating ritual, innit?¡± Kumoko¡¯s voice cut Karin¡¯s explanation. ¡°Pops said you humans have weird ways of showing you wanna mate. Is that it? You¡¯re scared of bees, so now you¡¯re mating?¡±


    Karin squeaked, let go of my cheeks like it burned her, pushed me away. I noticed a bit of a blush and had to roll my eyes. How innocent was she? Nothing like I remembered from the original story.


    Kumoko had the worst of timings. It felt like Karin was about to tell me something important, but there was no way I would bring the topic up again near the she-devil. As Karin said earlier, I didn¡¯t trust them either, at least not until both sides signed that contract, and maybe not even then.


    I pushed my threads; no time to waste. I wanted to leave this place and return to Konoha, return home. ¡°No mating here. Yet.¡± I wrote. I will admit that the yet was just to tease Karin. ¡°I got the jelly.¡±


    Karin looked at the words, then at me, then at the words again. She stuck her tongue at me, then read the second part of the message. ¡°We got the jelly.¡±


    ¡°Already?¡± Kumoko said, moving closer. ¡°Where¡¯s it? Lemme see it.¡± She demanded.


    The glint in her eyes promised terrible things if I took the jelly out. I wasn¡¯t about to let this she-devil ruin things and mess up my contract offerings. I shook my head. Wrote words. Karin read them out loud.


    ¡°No,¡± Karin said, also shaking her head. ¡°It is stored and hidden. We¡¯ll take it out once we¡¯re back at the nest.¡±


    ¡°Take it out, or I¡¯m gonna show you why my name is Kumoko.¡± The she-devil squeaky growled. It was adorable. But I didn¡¯t give in, wrote more words. Mouthpiece Karin read them for me.


    Karin looked between me and Kumoko before reading my words. ¡°The jelly is an offering for your clan. Are you willing to derail your first barter because you¡¯re greedy?¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± Kumoko said, tail lashing. ¡°When pops tells you the jelly isn¡¯t good enough ¡®cause you didn¡¯t let me check, it¡¯s your loss.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll risk it.¡± Karin said, eyes narrowed. ¡°Lead the way.¡±

 6.18

    6.18


    As it turned out, the Jelly was good enough.


    When we got back, the patriarch was ready for us. Kumoko led us toward a bigger cave than the one we arrived in. There, we were met by what looked like the whole Badger clan. Shapes in the dim light, big and small, cubs growling, playing, and chasing. Behind Tsuchigaru, lost in the darkness, an even bigger shape loomed.


    Kumoko¡¯s tail waved in what I thought was excitement or maybe anticipation. I hadn¡¯t yet had that much contact with her to learn all her tail-tells. The only one I was confident about was the frustrated lashing. She did that a lot, by which I mean all the time. Such a young badger already behaving like a grumpy old grandma.


    I imagined Kumoko and Chiyo-baa meeting. I had to hold in a giggle.


    ¡°You¡¯ve returned,¡± the giant said, rumbling voice ending my silly musings. ¡°Unscathed.¡±


    An open scroll lay in front of him, splayed on the ground. Even from a distance, I could see names written on it. I knew what to do; a seed of bubbly happiness blossomed inside my gut. I had to hold in Fangirl-sama. My own summoning contract! Oh man, could it get even more ninja than that?


    I walked closer, took out the seal, popped out the jelly jar. Presented my offering.


    ¡°I¡¯ve returned with the jelly.¡± I rasped out.


    ¡°So you have,¡± Tsuchigaru said.


    The cave descended into expectant silence.


    ¡°It¡¯s hereby declared a contract with Hebigan Kuchiyose-te.¡± The patriarch said.


    The cave exploded in growling and chattering and even roars.


    ¡°The summoner will provide the Iron Hide clan information about the snakes, pay in honey for our services, and facilitate acquiring products from the human lands, as well as any other prices negotiated between her and named members of the clan.¡±


    Tsuchigaru stopped, looked at the loud room, then at Kumoko.


    ¡°As negotiated by my youngest cub,¡± ¡ª I heard an annoyed ¡®not a cub¡¯ ¡ª ¡°Who earned the name Kumoko, the Iron Hide clan will provide our services for payment in honey, supply the summoner with equipment and provide a guide to lead her back to human lands.¡±


    There was a moment of pause. By my side, Kumoko was all but buzzing with anticipation, the annoyance at being called a cub all but forgotten. The room had become quiet again like every badger held its breath. The bubbly happiness in my stomach morphed into something different. I had a sinking feeling that something was very wrong here. I just wasn¡¯t sure what.


    ¡°Yes. She was not called, yet she came.¡± Said the patriarch. His tone was final, and even though Kumoko kept grumbling, she didn¡¯t argue back.


    Tsuchigaru¡¯s stare turned back to me. Bore down for a few moments before it shifted to Karin. ¡°Take her away.¡±


    ¡°No!¡± Karin shouted.


    From the room¡¯s darkness, four badgers, big as horses, wearing armor, fishnet, weapons, ready to fight, stepped out. They moved toward us.


    ¡°Why?¡± Karin yelled, looking in every direction. ¡°We got the jelly.¡±


    I stared at the big, then the tiny badger, still too stunned to react. I knew now what the trick Kumoko played on me was: the contract never included Karin.


    My mind raced, analyzing this situation, trying to understand what I could do. There had to be a way.


    Tsuchigaru had punished Kumoko for tricking me but hadn¡¯t overridden our negotiated terms. He had, in his way, repaid the trickery by forcing Kumoko to answer my summons for a whole year without pay. I was still dubious about the value of one year of servitude compared to whatever they planned to do to Karin. I was sure he wouldn¡¯t shy away from drastic measures, but I don¡¯t think we were there yet.


    What had he said? ¡°Wished us ill.¡± I hadn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t even know about the clan before coming here. On the contrary, I was giddy and more than willing to help my fated ninja companions for explosion¡¯s sake!


    Wasn¡¯t there a clue in the way they addressed Karin? Unworthy one. Why was she unworthy? Was this about not having any affinity with the Badgers as a summoner? I mean, summoning animals in Naruto¡¯s world was all but fate. Would she be unworthy because I dragged her here instead of her arriving guided by her own efforts or fate?


    The warriors were closer, and I was running out of time. Karin was now by my side, still holding my hardwood kunai in white-gripped fingers. Her face was a determined scowl.


    I wasn¡¯t about to let them take Karin. I owed her two lives, and I was the one who dragged her here. I would do my damnedest best to make sure she left here alive and kicking, even if fighting was out of the question. That left me with only one alternative I could think of.


    ¡°Name your terms.¡± I said.


    Tsuchigaru raised his massive paw. Wicked sharp claws in the air. The warriors stopped.


    ¡°You brought someone who shouldn¡¯t be here,¡± Tsuchigaru rumbled, eyes flicking to Karin. ¡°In times past, intruders paid for their release, fought, or died.¡± The silence lingered. ¡°Which one will it be?¡±


    I looked at Karin, who now death-gripped my arm. Fighting and dying was out of the question.


    ¡°I¡¯ll pay.¡±

 6.19

    6.19


    To my utter horror, part of the contract ceremony involved eating a dollop of jelly. I didn¡¯t mind bottled honey, which was already cleaned and ready to be savored, but eating from the grub¡¯s private tub was a tad too much. To make matters worse, it involved a procession of badgers taking small licks of the thing. My only consolation was that I was third in line.


    The first was a small and old-looking one. They came out of the darkness, tasted the jelly, then left in silence again. Who was this one? The big one hidden in the darkness? The one that declared the contract sealed? But that one was even bigger than the patriarch. It wouldn''t be, would it?


    My answer came next when Tsuchigaru morphed from his giant size to a shape just a few centimeters larger than Kumoko. That was good enough for me. Old one equals ginormous one; do not mess with.


    Tsuchigaru took a lick, retreated, then it was my turn.


    By the convenience of having fingers, I didn¡¯t need to lick the jelly, just stick my finger in the milky white substance and bring it to my mouth. I approached the jar, looked at the contents. Milky white, with a consistency that made me think of less than appetizing stuff. I looked at the room. Badgers watched me with intense eyes. Karin still looked spooked. Kumoko glared at me like I stepped on her tail.


    Yes, I was procrastinating. I didn¡¯t want to eat from the grub¡¯s butt water and third-hand licking. That was gross, okay?


    The stares didn¡¯t let me delay for long. Kumoko was by my side, now growling at my delay.


    I took the plunge. A finger went in, out, then in again.


    It tasted... good. It was slightly sweet and tangy, with hints of bitterness. Mixing it with lemon and a bit of milk might make it a good snack.


    ¡°It¡¯s my turn!¡± Kumoko demanded I leave the jelly pot. I obliged.


    She bounced up to the jar, took a lick, moaned in what could only be described as a food orgasm. Did it have a different taste for them? It was good, but nowhere was a flavor intense enough to cause a reaction like this.


    ¡°Please, forgive my youngest,¡± Tsuchigaru said, even small, his voice rumbled. ¡°It¡¯s her first time enjoying the jelly, and she hasn¡¯t yet learned to control her impulses.¡±


    I nodded; yeah, maybe it tasted different for them.


    After Kumoko, there was a procession, with each badger taking a tiny lick and going back into the darkness. I noticed, however, that none of the other cubs partook in the ritual. Was this something for named badgers only?


    And why didn¡¯t the badgers storm the hive and take the jelly if they liked it this much? Did it have another significance?


    Another thing I also noticed was that once each badger took a lick, they left the room. It didn¡¯t take long until the only ones remaining were the patriarch, the four guards, Kumoko, Karin, and me.


    He turned to Kumoko. ¡°Leave, cub; I have matters to discuss with the summoner.¡±


    ¡°Why, pops?¡±


    ¡°By asking that question, you prove me right,¡± Tsuchigaru said in a tone that wasn¡¯t the first time he said those same words. He approached his youngest, bobbed her in the head. ¡°If you want to be treated as an adult, you must behave like one.¡±


    ¡°Am an adult,¡± Kumoko grumbled. ¡°Got my name.¡±


    ¡°And yet, here you stand,¡± he said, eyes locked onto mine. ¡°You, who reek of snakes, but declare to be their enemy.¡±


    It was good the patriarch didn¡¯t expect me to say anything; I had no idea what to say.


    ¡°That is your price.¡±


    I scowled. That wasn¡¯t fair.


    ¡°You want me to kill the White Snake?¡± I didn¡¯t even try to hide the disbelief in my voice.


    Tsuchigaru burst into laughter. ¡°You couldn¡¯t, not even in a hundred years, cub.¡±


    He was still laughing when he said the next part. ¡°No, you¡¯ll help me kill my mate''s killer, the snake known as Manda.¡±


    I scowled even more. Manda, the murderous serpent, Orochimaru¡¯s pet, the leader of the snakes in Ryuchi cave. How was I supposed to kill that damn thing? I was no Deidara to detonate a nuke in the snake¡¯s face.


    ...


    Could I detonate a nuke?


    ¡°You¡¯ll have five years.¡± His eyes bore into me. ¡°Five years to grow, to train, become strong enough to fight by my side to kill Manda.¡±


    ¡°And if I fail?¡± I asked. My voice sounded weaker than I wanted.


    The patriarch did not blink. ¡°Then the contract is broken, and we will never answer your call again.¡±


    Oh, that was bad, but not too bad. I thought he would threaten to eat me or worse.


    I exhaled, my mind racing. Five years was a fucking long time; I didn¡¯t even know what state the world would be in when the time ended. If I hadn¡¯t meddled with Fate-kun¡¯s design, the snake would be dead in less than that.


    It was insane.


    Could I do it? What choice did I have? Tsuchigaru didn¡¯t say anything regarding Karin, but I was sure there¡¯d be consequences if I refused this deal.


    ¡°I accept,¡± I said. My imagination ran rampant with ideas of even bigger explosions. A legendary explosion to kill a legendary monster?


    The patriarch nodded. ¡°Then it is done.¡±


    He took another step toward the darkness. Somehow, I don¡¯t think I was supposed to follow him.

 6.20

    6.20


    Kumoko led me and I led Karin through dark tunnels.


    When the Iron Hide clan promised a guide to lead us back to human lands, I had expected overland forest travel, pretty sights, interesting vistas, and exotic places.


    What I got was days of walking through dark tunnels.


    This whole situation forced me to rely on my thread-sense (name still in progress) to navigate the twisting underground corridors ¨C and after Karin¡¯s third fall ¨C to make sure the redhead didn¡¯t kiss the ground anymore. Which was the reason why we walked hand-in-hand.


    In the past days, I had more hand-holding than I ever thought I would get in my whole life. It was a shame it wasn¡¯t with Best Girl Ino. Karin was pretty and nice, but she wasn¡¯t Ino. I also don¡¯t think Karin played for my side of the team. It was fun to tease her, but it was just that, teasing. There was no chemistry there, no spark. Maybe I wasn¡¯t her type? What was even her type? Dark and brooding?


    Navigating dark tunnels with my thread-sense was an unexpected boon, in a way. I could now ¡®see¡¯ more clearly than before. I had also become somewhat proficient in using my threads to puppeteer people. By that, I meant wrapping my threads around Karin¡¯s body to ensure she didn¡¯t lose her footing on the uneven, dark tunnel floor.


    This had become a habit after the third day of travel. I suspected Karin sometimes fell asleep while I piloted her body around.


    Huh, that was weird to think.


    Most days, we walked in silence, ate rooty food prepared by the badgers, drank from underground lakes. Our guide, who had never been a badger in a good mood, was now worse. When she wasn¡¯t complaining, she just ignored whatever Karin said. She set up a pace that would have been grueling if I wasn¡¯t used to worse. Karin was the only one suffering, but she often just let me pilot her around. Not sure yet how that worked for her.


    And talking about the redhead, she wasn¡¯t in the best of moods.


    I had negotiated a new contract with the patriarch to ensure she could leave the nest. But by the terms of that same contract, I couldn¡¯t disclose information to anyone who wasn¡¯t a part of it. Karin and Kumoko weren¡¯t privy to what I agreed to pay, nor could I tell them. That made Karin more introspective and Kumoko angrier.


    Kumoko was easy to figure out why. She wanted to be treated as an adult, not realizing her actions just pushed her into the silly cub category.


    That raised another question. How old was Kumoko? The conversation with the patriarch left me feeling like he hadn¡¯t taken another mate after his died, betrayed by her summoner, and that was a few decades ago, and Kumoko is his youngest... doesn¡¯t that mean she¡¯s decades old?


    Maybe there was something here I was missing.


    As for Karin, I suspect that she was imagining worse and worse prices than I promised.


    Sure, the price was heavy, but after some consideration, I don¡¯t think I minded it at all. I was even going out on a limb here and saying I would have done it for free. And even though I wasn¡¯t a betting ninja, I was willing to bet a few cupcakes that had been the big¡¯un intentions.


    That went a long way to somewhat un-souring my whole experience with that contract business. Even though it still left a bad taste in my mouth. I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to rely on the badgers at all anymore, or even if I wanted a contract with them.


    ¡°And don¡¯t summon me.¡± She said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.


    Yes, that kid needed lots of honey. So grumpy.


    I looked around, cast my eyes toward the sun, which was already dipping toward the horizon. I looked at the peaceful field, the clear blue sky. Sniffed the air, felt a pang of nostalgia when I smelled flowers. Karin was looking down, even more dejected than the last few days.


    ¡°Where will you go?¡± I wrote.


    It took her a while to answer. She looked at my words, at me, the ground, back at the tunnel. She shrugged, bit her lip. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Well, that decided it, didn''t it? I still had two lives to repay her.


    ¡°Come with me to Konoha.¡±


    ¡°Would they even accept me?¡± Karin asked, not looking me in the eyes.


    ¡°Have you ever seen Konoha¡¯s shinobi uniform?¡± I asked.


    Karin looked up, tilted her head. ¡°Green flak jacket?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°The red spiral in the arm and back. Don¡¯t they remind you of anything?¡±


    Karin scowled. Yeah, I could sympathize. Konoha might walk around with their allegiance branded on their uniform, but the village did nothing to prevent the Uzumaki from being wiped out. But I had a strong suspicion Karin would do fine in Konoha.


    Even more if we managed to sell our sob story to Tsunade. It was just old story knowledge, but I had this feeling Tsunade was cool, and wouldn¡¯t leave a kunoichi in distress, a member of the Uzumaki clan, hanging.


    ¡°I¡¯m probably declared a missing-nin. What if they imprison me?¡±


    I considered that. I don¡¯t think it would get to that point. Worst it could happen was them exiling her, and if that happened, I think I could call in some favors. I mean, the Daimyo¡¯s wife was my cupcake customer, if worse came to happen, it wouldn''t be hard to arrange somewhere for Karin to stay in the capital. She didn¡¯t need to live in Konoha.


    ¡°It won¡¯t.¡± I wrote with all the confidence I could muster. I really hoped it wouldn¡¯t. ¡°And if it does, I¡¯ll bail you out, I promise.¡±


    Karin bit her lip, nodded.


    I turned around, walked toward the direction Kumoko pointed us to. There was so much I had to do back at Konoha.

 6.21

    6.21


    It was closer to nightfall when I saw Konoha¡¯s walls and gate. Our approach hadn¡¯t been unnoticed. Hidden chakra bundles following our passage for the past quarter hour. With her cheat-like sensing ability, Karin sensed them way before I ever did. That was fine. At least they weren¡¯t attacking. I had no markings identifying me as a Konoha shinobi, and Karin was unknown. We were two strangers approaching a place we shouldn¡¯t.


    A group of shinobi waited for us at the gate. The pleasant feeling of returning home took a dunk when I saw them: ANBU. A whole squad. Then, I relaxed somewhat. I knew the squad leader. It was Yamato''s chakra. That same woody texture, with hints of earth. The one with the mask, it was Tenzo, right? I should think of him like that, even in my mind. No need to risk slipping and letting people know who he was behind the ANBU disguise.


    I walked until I was a few meters away from the squad. Stopped.


    Tenzo walked away from the group, stopped a few paces from me. We looked at each other. For a moment, I thought he would ¡ª god forbid ¡ª hug me or do something even more embarrassing.


    Regretfully, he didn¡¯t.


    Tenzo gave me a curt nod. Spoke. The mask muffled his voice.


    ¡°Chunin 012612, Hinata.¡± He said.


    I reciprocated with a curt nod. We stared some more.


    ¡°Welcome back.¡±


    My posture softened, muscles relaxed. I smiled. Nodded again, a bit faster this time. Might have blinked away the sand grains that entered my eyes. Or maybe even cleared the rain from my face. I mean, it was raining, right? The sky was dark and cloudy and angry. Sunlight? What was that? No, it was rainy as shit here.


    Tenzo gave me time to compose myself, but not that much time. His voice was gentle, but firm.


    ¡°The Hokage is waiting for you and your friend. We should go.¡±


    I cast a glance at Karin. Her face was a mix of embarrassed and expectant, maybe a bit afraid. I gave her a smile, offered my hand. I was home, and Tsunade wouldn¡¯t let me down. Redhead secured, I gave Tenzo a thumbs up, flicked my fingers with a message.


    Understood.


    She gave me a startled look, her face still full of tears. Then she nodded. She kissed my forehead, let me go.


    The only sour point was the new guy at the desk giving me a judgemental look. I think he was jelly. I flipped him the bird. There were gasps all around. I was past caring what people thought about me.


    I returned to my escorts. Secretary-chan had released me from her hug but hadn¡¯t released my hand. The ANBU looked uncomfortable at the PDA, but no one objected. With one more in our entourage, we ascended the tower.


    The intelligence department floor was like usual, frantic ninjas doing ninja things. I took a quick peek inside. It was like someone had turned the dial up to eleven. With a glance, I couldn¡¯t see Hayase anywhere. Was he okay? I wanted to break protocol here and ask Yamato ¡ª Tenzo about what happened after we got separated. We climbed to the Hokage¡¯s office floor.


    Tenzo led us to the office¡¯s door, knocked.


    An unseen signal passed, the door opened without any movement from the blaze of chakra on the other side.


    I stepped inside, Karin followed behind. Tenzo and Secretary-chan didn¡¯t. He gave me a last nod; I waved one last goodbye at my favorite secretary before the door closed, leaving us alone with the new Hokage.


    It was the same office I remember visiting when younger. The hardwood desk, the tall chair, the Hokage hat on the table. The shelves and many scrolls and books.


    My early disappointment with not being able to enjoy my full reunion with Secretary-chan was forgotten. The chair wasn¡¯t turned toward us, but I knew Tsunade was on the other side. That blaze of chakra couldn¡¯t be anyone other than her. It was absurd with how much it was. Was I feeling her seal? It was supposed to have years of chakra stored, right?


    Anticipation built until the Hokage¡¯s chair turned, and the person sitting there faced us.


    Karin let out a strangled gasp.


    I held on to a scowl.


    Behind the table sat on the fancy chair, a dark-haired, red-eyed guy stared at us. No, I knew who it was. Red pupils like a four-pointed shuriken. Big, expressive eyes.


    The new Hokage wasn¡¯t Tsunade, but fucking Shunshin no Shisui.

 6.22.n – Sunshine brat in: Where is this granny-ttebayo? Part 1

    6.22.n ¨C Sunshine brat in: Where is this granny-ttebayo? Part 1


    ¡°Go on a mission.¡± Naruto held Gama-chan, shook his deflated wallet, hoping a coin had gotten stuck inside and survived the Ero-sennin. None did. ¡°It will be fun.¡±


    The Ero-sennin walked up ahead, without a care in the world. Not a thought spared to Naruto''s murdered wallet.


    Naruto stomped the ground. Yelled. ¡°Where the hell is this granny?¡±


    ¡°Ehh, I heard from that nice lady back in town that Tsunade is in the next city over.¡±


    Naruto eyed the perverted frog guy with distrust. It wasn¡¯t the first or second time the Ero-sennin had said that.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t you going to teach me a jutsu stronger than Chidori?¡±


    If Naruto¡¯s voice had a bit of whining, he couldn¡¯t be blamed for that. That had been the whole reason he agreed to travel with the old sannin in the first place.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Jiraiya said.


    Naruto squinted his eyes. ¡°Really?¡±


    The frog sannin nodded.


    ¡°Then hurry up and teach me something!¡±


    Jiraiya smiled. ¡°Now, don¡¯t be impatient. It would be pointless to just train without collecting intelligence on Tsunade at the same time.¡±


    Naruto narrowed his eyes again. Wasn¡¯t this the same line the Ero-sennin used in the past three towns as an excuse to spend all night drinking?


    ¡°Focus, focus.¡±


    Naruto repeated the mantra, imagining the chakra moving toward the drawing in his palm. He wasn¡¯t alone; there were a few others him trying the same. He hadn¡¯t forgotten Hinata¡¯s advice. Her face popped on his head; a smile appeared on Naruto¡¯s face.


    Would Hinata try to learn this jutsu from him as well?


    ¡°Focus, focus.¡± One of the nearby clones said.


    Naruto focused harder, thoughts of the semi-mute girl and her cupcakes reluctantly pushed aside. The chakra moved like a whirlwind, gathering on the palm of his hand at the leaf¡¯s symbol he had drawn there.


    ¡°Now!¡±


    With one last push, the chakra moved, and the rubber ball exploded. It created a small crater on the ground. Naruto flew away at the impact, fell a dozen meters away.


    ¡°I did it!¡± He muttered, looking at his burned palm.


    ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve mastered the second stage,¡± Ero-sennin said.


    When had the old lecher arrived?


    ¡°...Of course I did. Let¡¯s do the third stage now.¡± Naruto said, then he closed his eyes. Just for a bit. He was exhausted.


    ¡°...¡± Naruto looked at the balloon the Ero-sennin had tossed his way, not believing his eyes. ¡°Isn¡¯t this just a normal balloon?¡±


    ¡°First stage was rotation,¡± Ero-sennin said, raising one finger. ¡°Second was power.¡± He took another empty balloon from his pocket, filled it, then held it in his hand. ¡°And this is the third step.¡±


    Naruto looked at the balloon. It was just a regular balloon. Nothing was happening.


    ¡°You¡¯re messing with me? Nothing is happening!¡±


    Jiraiya laughed. ¡°It might seem like that to you, but let me show you.¡±


    He raised his other hand, and a tight coiled ball of swirling chakra appeared there.


    ¡°Like a mini cyclone. Isn¡¯t it beautiful?¡± Ero-sennin asked.


    Naruto looked at the unmoving balloon. His voice wavered. ¡°...The one in your right hand, is the same thing happening there?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Ero-sennin said. ¡°You have to take everything you learned and contain it.¡±


    ¡°Not interested,¡± The young-looking Obaa-san said.


    They had finally found the old lady, but she looked like a young woman. Had the Ero-sennin mistaken this pretty young lady for the granny they¡¯ve been looking for? It was a sort of open bar or restaurant, where half walls separated the tables between the customers.


    Together with the young Obaa-san, there was another woman and a piglet. A spread of skewers and drinks on the table between them.


    ¡°The title of Hokage is a joke. Only an idiot would want it.¡±


    Naruto acted before his brain could process things. He was on top of the table, trying to punch her drunk face off, but a hand held him by the scruff of his neck.


    ¡°Lemme go!¡±


    ¡°Calm down, Naruto, this is a bar.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t let her just stand there and insult the Old Man or the Fourth Hokage!¡±


    Naruto clenched his fists. Glared.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care if you are an old lady or not; I¡¯m gonna hit you!¡±


    Tsunade got up, leaned in, her face closer to Naruto. ¡°Outside, brat.¡± She taunted.


    Naruto tried to disentangle himself from the crater on the ground. He had tried to hit her with a Rasengan. It hadn¡¯t worked the way he wanted. He shivered. That young lady created this huge crater with a single finger. She was scarier than Ino and Sakura when angry!


    ¡°You taught him that?¡± Tsunade said, looking at the Ero-sennin.


    Jiraiya nodded.


    ¡°Why?¡± Tsunade asked. ¡°There¡¯s no way he¡¯d master that jutsu. Isn¡¯t it cruel teaching him a jutsu he has no hope of mastering?¡± The young Obaa-san looked at Naruto.


    ¡°That¡¯s how dreamy-eyed brats get duped into the whole ¡°I¡¯ll be the Hokage¡± farce.¡±


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Naruto yelled. ¡°It¡¯s not a farce!¡± There was a moment of silence. ¡°Three days, and I¡¯ll have that jutsu mastered.¡±


    Tsunade smirked. ¡°You¡¯re all bark, brat. But a man doesn¡¯t break his words.¡±


    Naruto glared back. ¡°I never go back on my word. That¡¯s my shinobi way.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a week then,¡± Tsunade said.


    ¡°A week?¡±


    ¡°If you master the jutsu, I¡¯ll give you this necklace,¡± Oba-san said, showing the pretty green necklace tied to her neck. ¡°If you don¡¯t, this is mine.¡± She threw Gama-chan up, caught it.


    The pleasant jingling of coins was a stab in Naruto¡¯s heart. When had the granny taken his wallet?


    It was the fourth day since the bet, and Naruto wasn¡¯t sure if he could do it. It didn''t seem enough even with Hinata-chan¡¯s secret training method. He couldn¡¯t compress the chakra enough until it stayed inside the balloon. Was there a secret to this no one told him? Was that why the Obaa-san waged the bad luck necklace?


    Naruto thought back on the thing. It looked silly, a green piece of stone, but he thought Hinata-chan might like it as a gift. He felt his face burning, remembering his first and best friend. He had never forgotten that first academy day when she sat with him and offered him food, while all the other kids did their best to avoid him.


    ¡°Yosha!¡± Naruto yelled. He wouldn¡¯t go back on his word. He would win this stupid bet, win the silly necklace and gift it to Hinata.


    Maybe she¡¯d pinch his cheeks again? A silly smile crept on his face. That one time Hinata¡¯s clones crowd-piled him just after they returned from Wave came to mind. It¡¯s a shame she never did it again.


    ¡°Are you Naruto?¡±


    The voice was young, a boy. Naruto turned and looked at the newcomer.


    It was a teen dressed in a strange black cloak with red clouds on it. He had white hair and two red dots on the forehead near the eyes. But what caught Naruto¡¯s attention was the eyes. One was a vivid green, the other pure white.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Naruto asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m Kimimaro,¡± the boy said.


    There was a moment of silence before he raised a hand to his shoulder, parting his cloak to reveal bare skin beneath.  He pulled a sword-like bone from inside his body.


    ¡°You¡¯ll come with me.¡±

 6.23.n – Sunshine brat in: Where is this granny-ttebayo? Part 2

    6.23.n ¨C Sunshine brat in: Where is this granny-ttebayo? Part 2


    Naruto flooded the clearing with clones and swarmed the enemy.


    Kimimaro spun faster than Naruto expected. Bones protruded from the joints of his elbows and knees, from his chest and back. Attacks were deflected, dodged, or simply ignored. More often than not, Kimimaro moved in a way that made Naruto¡¯s clones impale themselves in the bones.


    Naruto moved around until he was at the enemy¡¯s back. He threw shuriken when an opportunity arose.


    Without turning, Kimimaro deflected the thrown weapons.


    How? Did that guy have eyes in the back of his head or something?


    ¡°You¡¯re weak,¡± Kimimaro said.


    He killed a dozen of the clones in a sweeping, fast strike. More swarmed, but it wasn¡¯t enough. The guy was faster than Hinata-chan even when she went all out, better at taijutsu than Bushy Brows and Sasuke combined. The clones couldn¡¯t touch him, and in the rare moments they did, they ended up impaling themselves in the bones.


    In the distance, a quake hit the whole city. Naruto¡¯s attention tore away from the bone-guy and toward the commotion: Giant waves crashed through the houses, sweeping the place in destruction.


    Pain exploded on Naruto¡¯s side.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t take your eyes off the enemy,¡± Kimimaro said.


    Naruto looked at the white-haired boy who didn¡¯t look that older than some other chunin in the village. Kimimaro held the bone sword, the pointy end piercing Naruto¡¯s side.


    Rage bubbled inside Naruto¡¯s gut. In the back of his mind, he heard the damned fox chuckling. Chakra spilled forward. Naruto pushed the sword away. The puncture wound regenerated in but a moment.


    ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± Naruto asked, teeth gritted.


    ¡°Telling you is a waste of time,¡± Kimimaro said.


    Naruto¡¯s hand flashed with a seal. He flooded the jutsu with the Kyuubi¡¯s chakra. He covered the whole clearing with even more clones.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna beat you up!¡± Naruto hollered.


    His clones swarmed the enemy again, trying for the same strategy that worked against Gaara while he was half-transformed into the one tail. Meanwhile, Naruto concentrated on his hand, trying to form a complete Rasengan.


    Naruto just realized that... he had no other jutsu to help him in this situation.


    Hinata-chan had her explosions and doton jutsu, as well as her body flicker and barriers. Sasuke had his family fire and Chidori; he could copy the enemy''s movements with his Sharingan and use shinobi tools better than anyone Naruto had seen.


    Naruto, on the other hand, had no other jutsu other than shadow clones.


    ¡°Naruto! We got your message.¡± A woman¡¯s voice called out.


    He followed the voice. It wasn¡¯t just one woman. It was the young-looking Obaa-san and her companion. The one who called out was Shizune, the pretty black-haired one. The words registered in Naruto¡¯s mind. What message?


    Shizune was fast. She pointed her arm toward Kimimaro and did something Naruto couldn¡¯t see.


    Kimimaro reacted even faster than before. His bone sword spun, and Naruto heard clinking sounds¡ªlike metal hitting metal. Then Kimimaro pointed his hand toward Shizune. No, not his hands, his fingers.


    With a wet popping sound, a small white something flew from his fingertips. Shizune threw herself out of the way. The projectiles hit the earth behind her, creating a small hole.


    Out in the distance, the other battle still raged on. The sounds and impacts doing a good job of telling Naruto he had no business whatsoever with whoever was causing that much ruckus.


    Tsunade, who had been mostly quiet, dashed in, waving between Naruto¡¯s clones. She punched down. The ground broke into a vast crater. Most of the copies got caught up in the ensuing devastation and dispersed.


    ¡°You punk, you¡¯re too young to be this cocky,¡± She said.


    ¡°You are Tsunade,¡± Kimimaro said from where he had fled. ¡°Orochimaru told me how to deal with you.¡±


    Orochimaru? Who was that? Naruto had heard that name before.


    ¡°You¡¯re working with that snake?¡± Shizune demanded.


    Tsunade moved in again, ready to attack once more. This time, Kimimaro didn¡¯t evade; he punctured his hands with a bone and splashed blood all over Tsunade.


    The young Obaa-san stopped, staring at her bloody hands. She started to shiver like she was lost in her mind.


    Kimimaro advanced on the now frozen young-old lady.


    ¡°Tsunade!¡± Shizune yelled, but she was too far away to help.


    Naruto wasn¡¯t, or his clones weren¡¯t. In that one moment of clarity, he knew what he had to do. His problem was that he couldn¡¯t control his chakra. One of him wasn¡¯t enough to contain it. But hadn¡¯t Hinata-chan taught him better? His copies were more than just copies.


    Clones rushed Kimimaro, getting in his way and preventing him from approaching the obaa-chan.


    Meanwhile, Naruto built the power and rotation while a second clone contained it. Once it was done, a third clone grabbed Naruto¡¯s other hand, spun, and threw the original at Kimimaro, who was still fending off clone waves.


    Kimimaro spun toward Naruto. His arm morphed into a large bone structure-like shield. The Rasengan hit the bone, bone cracked, but that gave Kimimaro time to move and throw Naruto away from him.


    Naruto fell, hand first. His complete Rasengan hit the ground, created another huge crater.


    ¡°Time¡¯s up, Kimimaro.¡± Another voice said. Naruto cast a glance. It was a guy that looked a lot like a shark. He even had gills and a tail, like a shark. The guy was also banged up pretty badly. Blood poured out of his mouth; pieces of flesh were missing from his arms and chest.


    ¡°The Frog Sannin will be here any second.¡±


    ¡°Annoying,¡± Kimimaro said.


    Dark lines spread from his neck until it covered most of his face and shoulder. He placed his hands on the ground, and a forest of bones sprouted around Naruto. The bones looked wicked sharp and dangerous.


    Naruto heard an agonized yell. Shizune or Obaa-chan, he couldn¡¯t tell.


    Kimimaro walked from between the bones. ¡°You¡¯re coming with¡ª¡±


    Between one moment and another, Ero-sennin was in front of Naruto. He looked different, with two tiny frogs on his shoulders.


    ¡°No, he¡¯s not,¡± He said.


    Kimimaro looked around, then, as if he had heard someone say something, nodded and retreated back inside the bones.


    Jiraiya turned toward Naruto. The man didn''t look like he had just fought a battle that wreaked the whole city.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry it took me so long, Naruto.¡±


    Naruto looked in stunned silence for a while, then he yelled. ¡°The obaa-chan!¡±


    ¡°Shit!¡± Jiraiya whirled, dashed inside the forest of deadly bones.


    As it turned out, the forest of bones wasn¡¯t something that affected only the area where Naruto was. Half of the already destroyed city had been caught in the attack. Many had died.


    Shizune and Tsunade hadn¡¯t come out unscathed as well.


    Somehow, the Obaa-san had managed to stay alive even with a bone piercing her stomach and out her back. Right now, she was healing Shizune. The woman looked dead on her feet, and now, old; really old, like an old wrinkly hag.


    Jiraiya approached, carrying Tonton, Shizune¡¯s pink pet pig.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Tsunade,¡± He said, placed the dead piglet by the Obaa-chan side.


    ¡°Shizune is going to live,¡± Tsunade said, her wrinkling voice sounding weak. She got up with difficulty and walked to the dead piglet. With gentle movements, she picked it up and hugged it.


    ¡°Take her back to Konoha,¡± Obaa-chan said. She turned away and started walking.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Jiraiya asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t try to find me again,¡± Tsunade answered without looking back.


    Naruto looked at the scene, feeling conflicted. He didn¡¯t have a good impression of the old lady, but this felt bad on a whole new level. He didn¡¯t even have the courage to demand the necklace, even if he had won the bet.

 6.24.d

    6.24.d


    Danzo traversed the corridors of his headquarters. The disruption of his activities in the Land of Waves was unfortunate, but any recruit from there probably wouldn¡¯t be ready in time. He would need to reinforce and ensure the other fronts of his operations weren¡¯t exposed now that more scrutiny was directed his way.


    He crossed a door and, from the railing, looked at the training soldiers.


    Some still needed work, but they¡¯d fall in line sooner or later. Danzo had been in the business of making the perfect soldiers for years. By now, his process was the closest someone could come to perfection.


    A shinobi covered in a dark cloak and deformed animal mask flickered behind Danzo. His operative knelt with one knee on the ground.


    ¡°Hinata¡¯s location was found. She arrived in Konoha.¡±


    Danzo didn¡¯t take his eyes off the new batch of recruits. Among those, he was particularly interested in the mist generator. The suppressive abilities of her bloodlimit had interesting applications if others could replicate it.


    ¡°Your orders?¡± His operator asked.


    ¡°What about the information from the Laboratory?¡±


    ¡°Our team is still unable to break the seal.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Danzo asked.


    ¡°Uncertain. The seals are linked to a chakra signature we can¡¯t replicate.¡±


    ¡°What is the status of the Iwagakure cell?¡± Danzo asked.


    The operator¡¯s answer was immediate.


    ¡°We are ready. The decoy squad has been assembled and outfitted. We¡¯re waiting only for your orders.¡±


    ¡°And Kumogakure?¡±


    ¡°Preparations are slower than expected. One of your cells was wiped out by the Eight-Tails jinchuriki, and effort had to be redirected to cover the fallout.¡±


    ¡°They suspect our involvement?¡± Danzo asked.


    ¡°No, the cell in question was posing as a Konoha infiltration team; it cannot be traced back to us.¡±


    Danzo nodded. He¡¯d have to move other resources to shore up the front on that side. Losing that cell also served to add even more pressure on Konohagakure.


    ¡°Your orders for the girl?¡± The operator asked.


    Capturing the clone had its benefits, but now that she had returned to Konoha, Danzo had other means of keeping her from escaping. He made a mental note to send new orders to his agent in Konoha.


    ¡°Leave her be for now.¡±


    Danzo turned from the conditioning arena, walked deeper into the complex. The operator followed. Among his recruits were some that were worth cultivating the bloodlimit. Settling down his agents as Konoha¡¯s citizens would be a good solution. New blood to fertilize the soil the tree grew upon.


    ¡°As you command.¡±


    Danzo had to admit he underestimated the girl¡¯s capabilities. Nowhere in the information he possessed were there details about her learning a version of Thunder Flying God or creating explosions without seal paper. The countermeasures designed to contain her were wholly inadequate. But now that she returned to Konoha, her fate was set.


    It was only a matter of time now.


    ¡°What about the Nine-tails jinchuriki?¡± Danzo asked.


    ¡°A squad from Akatsuki is moving to intercept him.¡±


    That would need his intervention, but he didn¡¯t say anything for now. Danzo couldn¡¯t allow the nine-tails to fall in someone else¡¯s hand, not after all the preparation he¡¯d done to control it. However, those orders would need to wait until the interloper had left.


    ¡°Initiate the next phase of the operation,¡± Danzo ordered.


    ¡°As you command,¡± the operator said, then disappeared.


    Danzo walked alone, but not for long.


    ¡°You failed,¡± the newcomer said.


    Danzo looked at the intruder. Dressed in their particular black robes, flytrap protruding from beneath, the black and white face. The same as the clone had described when she was five years old. How?


    ¡°She¡¯s where I want her to be.¡± He said.


    ¡°You failed,¡± the voice repeated, tone mocking.


    Danzo didn¡¯t answer. There would come a time when he¡¯d rid the world of the abomination. That little band of criminals had their use, but they were fast approaching the end of their usefulness.


    ¡°It¡¯s only a matter of time before I have her,¡± Danzo said.


    ¡°How did a mere child thwart your plans?¡± The creature taunted.


    Danzo didn¡¯t deign to answer that. His weren¡¯t the only plans thwarted.


    ¡°Your master must be so proud,¡± Danzo said, putting as much scorn he could in his voice. ¡°I¡¯ll have her in due time.¡±


    ¡°And here I thought you were Konoha¡¯s greatest spymaster... tricked by a child?¡± The interloper said before it disappeared inside the earth again.


    Danzo had long pondered how the girl had learned of his plans regarding Shisui. It shouldn¡¯t have been possible, but it happened. While the pretense that he was obsessed with the clone was helpful in distracting his ¡°allies,¡± his concerns were other.


    But now, years later, he needed to thank her for her intervention. It left him free to achieve his true goal. Danzo had failed to acquire Kotoamatsukami before, but soon, it would be his.


    Shisui and the Uchiha clan had their fates sealed when the boy accepted the Hokage position. The optimal result would have been that wastrel of a woman taking the position herself, but this was a minor setback at most.


    Danzo had years to prepare the field for his victory. Leaked information, spread rumors that built paranoia and mistrust. Shisui¡¯s allies would never feel safe, not when the new Hokage had their mind at his beck and call.


    It didn¡¯t matter that Shisui wasn¡¯t one to abuse his eyes. If he did, it would only validate the rumors Danzo¡¯s agents spread: The new Hokage couldn¡¯t be trusted. If Shisui tried to fight back without evidence, it would look like attacking the respected council of elders without reason. If he didn¡¯t, Danzo¡¯s influence would only grow until he was ready to make his move.


    Best of all, if Shisui gave up on the position, Danzo could move in, muster the village¡¯s support, and deal with the Uchiha once and for all.


    For now, all that remained was to stoke the flames of war, to let Konoha burn just enough to realize they needed him.


    Danzo wouldn¡¯t deny that Shisui and the Uchiha clan were formidable, but there wasn''t much they could do surrounded on all sides by years of his influence and blackmail.


    When war finally erupted, and the Hokage failed to protect Konoha, Danzo would return to claim what was always his. And if everything else failed?


    Sometimes, you must burn the old and rotten to grow a new, stronger forest.


    As long as Danzo was alive, Konoha¡¯s roots would grow stronger, even if he had to start from the beginning again. And once he was there, his real goals could truly begin.


    A world of peace and prosperity united under a single goal. United under his guidance.

 6.24.a

    6.24.a


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Orochimaru is dead.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°The Three-Tails was killed.¡±


    ¡°That will delay some of our plans.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°We still need time. Pain must recover.¡±


    ¡°Orochimaru¡¯s task?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Partially successful.¡±


    ¡°Make preparations. We start when the Three-Tails reforms.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡±


    ¡°...¡±

 6.24.??

6.24.??


    AnnouncementIf you''re here from the main page, go back and read the previous two chapters:


    ¡°Kukukuku.¡±

 Chapter 7: Ninja politics and politicking.

    Chapter 7: Ninja politics and politicking.


    Where was Tsunade? How had Shisui become the Hokage? And why? Had he... used his Sharingan to manipulate his way into the position?


    At some point, I had stepped in front of Karin. I didn¡¯t even remember when. Was I trying to shield her from him? Shisui blinked, and his eyes weren¡¯t red anymore, but the usual Uchiha¡¯s black.


    ¡°Hello, Hinata.¡± He said. His voice was quiet but had a presence I couldn¡¯t place. ¡°I apologize for the greeting. I had to make sure you were still you.¡±


    I tilted my head. Had he... used his Sharingan on me? It wouldn¡¯t have been, would it? I would have sensed if he had, maybe even resisted the attempt. But if I hadn¡¯t resisted, why hadn¡¯t he brainwashed me to make me forget the sharingan? I scowled. That was so fucked up. That went a long way in showing my current state of mind if the first thing I thought about the new Hokage was that he had used his dojutsu to manipulate people or if he had done the same to me.


    ¡°Here,¡± Shisui said, pushing a board, a set of pencils, and an eraser toward me. Those weren¡¯t mine. Mine was lost in the Land of Waves, and I had no idea where they were.


    I tried to step forward, but Karin still gripped my hand. She hadn¡¯t moved or glanced away. Her face was paler than Sai''s cadaver pale.


    ¡°You¡¯re¡ª¡± She didn¡¯t finish; she broke eye contact and looked away.


    ¡°I¡¯m Uchiha Shisui,¡± the new Hokage nodded. ¡°Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure. I¡¯ve also been called Shunshin no Shisui.¡±


    Karin flinched at the title, a low whimper escaping her lips.


    ¡°And you? What¡¯s your name?¡±


    The redhead looked like she wanted nothing more than to run away. What had she heard about him to be this scared? I gave her hand a comforting squeeze. The Hokage wasn¡¯t Tsunade like I was hoping for, but I was willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to Shisui even if that trust had already taken a hit with that sharingan¡¯s greeting.


    ¡°Uzumaki Karin.¡± She said.


    Shisui tilted his head. ¡°From Kusagakure? You participated in the last chunin exam.¡±


    Karin nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯ll arrange a messenger to commu¡ª ¡±


    I knew where that was going. Karin had retreated into herself, shoulder slumping, face empty. ¡°No,¡± I said, cutting him off.


    The new Hokage stopped. Looked between me and Karin. ¡°Explain?¡±


    I walked to the desk, took the offered board. Wrote my words. ¡°They were abusing her for her ability. She was never a willing shinobi from Kusagakure.¡±


    Shisui nodded, waved, pointing to the chairs. ¡°Please, sit,¡± Shisui said. ¡°There¡¯s no need to stand while we talk.¡±


    I pulled Karin closer. She was still lifeless, like she¡¯d already given up and was just waiting for the axe to fall. I hadn¡¯t known her situation was so bad that the briefest mention of sending her back left her this way.


    ¡°Karin¡¯s situation is delicate,¡± Shisui said. ¡°Kusagakure is an ally of Konoha, and keeping her could cause problems.¡±


    Karin¡¯s head dropped even lower, and she grabbed her other arm with her free hand.


    ¡°But I won¡¯t send you back if you don¡¯t want to go.¡± The Hokage said.


    The redhead perked up, eyes wide.


    ¡°We¡¯ll discuss the details later.¡± He smiled at Karin, turned to me.


    ¡°Hinata, I know you must have questions, but please let me start by saying this. I¡¯m proud of you for escaping and returning. Not many shinobi would have been able to do the same as you did.¡±


    Shisui¡¯s face was serious, but not unkind.


    ¡°Unfortunately, some of your teammates weren¡¯t that fortunate.¡±


    What? Hayase hadn¡¯t returned?


    ¡°Yamato and Hayase managed to escape. Hayase suffered serious injury and might never be fit for field duty again.¡± Shisui said.


    I scowled. I would kill Sai very dead and very slow when I got my hands on him.


    ¡°Sai, unfortunately, we never learned of his whereabouts. Wasn¡¯t he taken to the same place as you?¡±


    They... didn¡¯t know?


    My scowl worsened. Teeth gritted.


    Karin was looking at me, startled. Her hand, already in mine, squeezed again.


    Shisui noticed my mood. He looked between us then said.


    ¡°Please tell me what happened. I read the reports from Team Ten, Yamato, and the delegation from Kirigakure. But your recounts of events would shed light on the mystery.¡±


    I tried to calm my thoughts and organize what I wanted to say. Shisui¡¯s request hadn¡¯t triggered Fangirl-sama for some reason. Was it the way he asked it? Or because I was just too tired and angry? I could ponder on that later. I didn¡¯t want to recount all the details about my time in the lab and my mental breakdown. I don¡¯t think those were the critical bits they needed to know.


    ¡°We found the lab, I gathered the research notes, burned the bodies.¡± I wrote. I never told Karin what had happened before I met her; somehow, she had never asked. Was she trying to keep her distance because we were from different villages? I glanced at her.


    The redhead seemed more relaxed. Still looking spooked, but not as afraid as she had been at the start.


    I wrote more. ¡°On our way to Orochimaru¡¯s prison, Sai betrayed us.¡±


    Shisui read my message, looked at me. ¡°Are you sure?¡± He asked. I nodded.


    ¡°The kidnappers, I have reason to believe, are from an organization called ROOT.¡± I wrote next.


    ¡°Why is that?¡± Shisui didn¡¯t seem surprised at my revelation. Did they know something I didn¡¯t? Or maybe he had reasonable control over his body.


    I erased the text, wrote more. ¡°I heard one of them using that word.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°And how did you escape the chains?¡±


    Huh, so they learned about that. Had they found the prison? I wasn¡¯t sure if Assassination-chan¡¯s attempt to cause a ruckus would attract our reinforcements attention. ¡°New jutsu.¡± I wrote.


    I wasn¡¯t against telling Shisui about my imitation of Thunder God. It might even earn me a few pointers if he felt generous. I just wasn¡¯t in the mood now. I would write a complete report later, submit it. He also knew because he didn¡¯t press me for more details.


    I wrote more words. ¡°Karin saved my life more than once.¡±


    There was a hint of a smile on Karin¡¯s face. ¡°She saved mine as well, several times over.¡±


    I shrugged. I hadn¡¯t, really. But I wasn¡¯t going to keep a score. It was a bit hypocritical when I was using that as a reason why I wanted to help her.


    ¡°After we escaped the prison, we were surrounded. I had reason to believe I wouldn¡¯t fare well in an open confrontation. I used Kuchiyose no Jutsu to reverse summon me and Karin to the lands of the Iron Hide Badger clan.¡±


    Shisui nodded.


    ¡°Made a contract with them, and finally got back home.¡±


    Shisui looked from my board to me. ¡°The badgers have an... interesting reputation.¡±


    I half scowled, half grinned. Yeah, tell me about it.


    ¡°I appreciate your recounting of events. I would also like the extended version, but that can be later. I know you must be tired, but there are important things we must discuss.¡±


    He turned to Karin.


    ¡°As for you,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll arrange a place for you to stay while we find a solution for your situation.¡±


    ¡°I want to stay with Hinata,¡± Karin said. Her voice was strong, contrasting to her withdrawn demeanor.


    Shisui looked at me, and I shrugged.


    ¡°Hinata¡¯s apartment is small. We can settle you in a comfortable place if you prefer.¡±


    I caught the quick glance Karin sent my way and the tiny upturn of her lips. I had a bad feeling about this.


    ¡°She must take responsibility!¡± Karin said.


    I blinked. Take responsibility for what? Shisui seemed as confused as I felt.


    ¡°Responsibility... for?¡± He asked.


    Karin leaned toward my way, resting her head on my shoulder. Her hand had never left mine, and she now sneaked her other arm around my waist. I could see the red creeping her neck.


    ¡°She ravaged me again and again. Even when I begged for mercy, she was relentless! She left marks on my body, paraded naked around me, and made me sleep with her.¡± With her head still on my shoulder, she cast an innocent glance my way. A picture of a maiden in love: ¡°How can I stay alone? After all she¡¯s done to me, she can¡¯t abandon me now.¡±


    The silence inside the room was absolute. I could even hear the hawk flying outside. Shisui cleared his throat. The man looked like a fish out of water.


    It took a moment longer until my brain rebooted.


    I what now?

 7.2

    7.2


    ¡°I... see.¡± That was all the new Hokage said.


    I scowled. Pushed Karin away or tried to. She had a death grip on my waist and hand.


    Those were some ludicrous claims. I did bite her arm and kept biting even when she asked me to stop that one time when I first met her. Yes, that left marks on her arm, both arms. I also, yes, paraded naked in front of her. I had no clothes then; what was I supposed to do? Kill all the prisoners because they¡¯d seen me naked? Execute them for the crime of having eyes? And we did sleep together. At first, because it was cold, then because the badgers only provided a single fur pile, and then while traveling to stave off the chill in the night.


    My scowl deepened. Karin hadn¡¯t lied. But did she need to phrase it that way?


    The weeks of peaceful cohabitation and talk had lulled me with a false sense of normalcy.


    I had assumed that Karin¡¯s most prominent traits from the original story were learned behaviors resulting from her exposure to Orochimaru, but wasn¡¯t she saying some outrageous things here?


    I didn¡¯t believe for a second she was interested in me in a romantic way. Like I said before, there was no spark, so why this? She¡¯d done something similar in the original show, pretending to be mentally ill to keep something that let her escape later. Was this a setup for some other plan or something? No, that was silly. I don¡¯t think it was anything complicated. Maybe she was just afraid and didn¡¯t want to be alone. I could understand that.


    Shisui cleared his throat. ¡°Well, if that¡¯s the case.¡±


    I erased the words on my board. Scribbled others. ¡°It wasn¡¯t like that.¡± I defended myself, but even as I wrote it, I knew it would read bad.


    Shisui shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s fine, you don¡¯t need to explain yourself.¡±


    That only made things worse. I... wanted to punch him. Karin must have noticed. She snickered, still resting her head on my shoulder, looking every bit like a smug, satisfied fox. Was this payback for all those times I teased her? It wouldn¡¯t be, would it?


    Any response on my part was cut short when the door to the Hokage¡¯s office opened without the visitors being announced. I had sensed the chakra bundle approaching, but I didn¡¯t think their destination was the Hokage¡¯s office. I looked back. Two old people walked inside. An old lady with squinting eyes and an old dude with a pointy goatee and glasses.


    Under the newcomer¡¯s judgemental stare, Karin finally let go of me. She sat straight, with her hands resting on her lap. All prim and proper.


    There was this moment of silence or a standoff between Shisui and the two old geezers. Shisui was the first to talk.


    ¡°Homura, Koharu.¡± He didn¡¯t get up from his chair; he just dipped his head in greetings. ¡°Our meeting isn¡¯t for a few hours yet.¡±


    The guy cast a glance at me before addressing Shisui again. ¡°Circumstances changed,¡± the old man said.


    The old lady was the one who spoke next.


    ¡°We¡¯ve explained why,¡± her squinting gaze flickered to me before returning to Shisui. ¡°Other shinobi agree with us.¡±


    Were they talking about me? Are these two old codgers part of the council? I never understood what the council had against me. Up until now, I always thought it was remnants of Danzo¡¯s influence that pushed people to mistrust me.


    No one outright treated me badly, nor was I discriminated against like Naruto. It was more subtle than that. A few stares, some pitying, others suspicious. The lack of resources, training, and instruction.


    It was never something I could point my finger at and blame one thing or another. For example, most other shinobi have their clans and families as a support network, and from them, they learn jutsu, techniques, and other clan-related knowledge. I hadn¡¯t, much like Naruto, I was on my own since I came here.


    That shaped how I saw and did things. I knew I had a bad habit of trying to do everything alone. But that was how I learned. Aside from basic instructions at the academy, I had no one else to ask things from. Even the Third skimped on the knowledge about seals. I never got the chance to ask him why before I failed to save him and let him die. If Kakashi-sensei wasn¡¯t lying and the old man really was on my side, why hold back knowledge from me? Why not ¡ª selfish as it was to wish ¡ª give me a hand and some nice jutsu?


    ¡°I¡¯ve read your reasoning,¡± said Shisui. His eyes hadn¡¯t left the two old people.


    If those two were part of the council, it would pay for me to learn more about them, wouldn¡¯t it? I focused my chakra perception on the two. More often than not, while inside Konoha, I pushed my perception to the background of my mind. Too many people with chakra walking about. It was easy to get distracted or even overwhelmed. Ever since entering Konoha again, I had done the same, even without noticing.


    The two... weren¡¯t that different from other people. Their reserves were on the average size. Lower than an active jonin, bigger than a newly promoted chunin. I knew that wasn¡¯t an indication of their combat capabilities, but I had the impression that if push came to shove, I¡¯d win. If it came down to pure brawling and reaction time, I was confident I could take them. I¡¯d need to hit them hard before they could pull whatever bullshit jutsu they learned over their long life, but I was somewhat confident of my chances.


    It was strange that, now that I was focusing more on their chakra, I did notice other things. Like a flavor or texture. The old woman¡¯s chakra was stale, like old, but not in a bad way, while the guy was acrid, like a bad smell. Was my perception being influenced by my dislike? Had my perception gotten more refined as well?


    Their conversation hadn¡¯t ended. The two, somehow, never said it openly, but I had the impression they wanted me locked and isolated.


    A new bundle of chakra popped into my perception. Then another.


    I forgot about the two geezers and Shisui. I got up, the chair scrapped back with a loud screech, cutting off the conversation. For the second time that day, the door busted open again.


    In rushed a ginormous blaze of chakra contained in a small-sized pack wrapped in orange jumpers.


    ¡°Hinata-chan!¡± Sunshine brat hollered, face already full of tears.


    ¡°Hi,¡± I said back, eyes misting again.


    Naruto grabbed me and hugged me like he was afraid I would disappear again. A few moments later, the second bundle of chakra entered the room, cool, calm, and placid. Kakashi-sensei leaned against the door and gave me one of his eye-crescent smiles.


    I might have started to cry even harder. I wasn¡¯t sure. Maybe it was just Naruto crying, not me.

 7.3

    7.3


    Conversation was made impossible by much hollering and tears. Naruto wasn¡¯t even aware that there were other people inside the room. Shisui had a forlorn look on his face like he¡¯d seen this scene many times.


    Was he reminiscing about the number of times he saw the brat causing a ruckus while shadowing the third?


    The nice welcome home moment ended with the old codger with glasses clearing his throat.


    ¡°Uzumaki Naruto,¡± the man said. From his mouth, it sounded like the name was a bad thing.


    Karin¡¯s head snapped toward the old man, then to Naruto.


    Sunshine brat let go of me, cleared some snot with the back of his hand, turned.


    ¡°That¡¯s my name,¡± he said. Then he turned to me, tilted his head. ¡°Hinata-chan, who are these old people?¡±


    I shrugged, croaked. ¡°No idea who these old people are.¡±


    From the corner of my eye, I caught Kakashi-sensei stiffening, then turning around, shoulders shaking. Was he... laughing? Why? I mean, no one told me who these people are. I had suspicions, but nothing other than that.


    ¡°Naruto-kun, these are Councilman Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu.¡± Shisui introduced.


    I looked at the two again. Were they the ones responsible for making my life not the best ninja life it could have been? At least I knew their faces and names. Now I just need a black cover book and to write down their names on it.


    Naruto scratched his head. ¡°Council something, gotcha.¡± Then he turned back to me. ¡°Hinata-chan, you won¡¯t believe it! I learned this super powerful jutsu¡ªthe Fourth made it, and the Ero-sennin taught¡ª¡±


    Homura cleared his throat again.


    Naruto stopped his recounting, looked at the old man with glasses. ¡°Is your throat hurt? I think I have a few candies if you want.¡±


    Homura¡¯s face twitched. ¡°We¡¯re busy with important things,¡± he said.


    ¡°Ahh, okay.¡± Naruto nodded like that made perfect sense. He grabbed my hand and started dragging me toward the door.


    ¡°Come Hinata-chan, let¡¯s leave these old folks to their business.¡±


    ¡°Our business is with her,¡± Koharu said, stopping Naruto again.


    Naruto blinked, glancing around the room, at the new Hokage, at Kakashi-sensei, who was definitely laughing now, at the two grumpy council members, and at Karin, who still looked surprised and hadn¡¯t stopped looking at Naruto.


    ¡°Hinata-chan, do these old people also want your cupcakes?¡±


    I shrugged. I don¡¯t think my cupcakes were their problem with me. Even so, I had to answer Naruto. I erased the words from my board, wrote others.


    ¡°I dunno, Naruto-kun.¡±


    Once he read the message, I erased it and wrote another. ¡°Did you deliver the letters?¡±


    ¡°I did!¡± Naruto said, nodding. ¡°The fat lady kept asking when you¡¯d be back.¡± Naruto stopped, face troubled. He pointed a finger at my nose.


    ¡°Hinata-chan, you shouldn¡¯t let people capture you, you made Ino cry.¡±


    ...What? I think Naruto saw my confusion.


    ¡°Ino-chan¡¯s team went to help with your secret mission,¡± he said. ¡°She cried a lot when she got back.¡± His expression darkened. I heard a bit of waver in his voice. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t make her cry, Hinata-chan.¡±


    His eyes were misting again. Was he talking about Ino or himself?


    ¡°Listen¡ª¡± Homura started, voice impatient.


    Koharu stopped him by touching his shoulder. She shook her head. ¡°Leave the young ones to their reunion.¡±


    Both councilmen exchanged looks, the kind that carried entire conversations without a single word, the way people who had worked together for decades often did.


    Homura turned to Shisui. ¡°We¡¯ll continue this discussion later.¡±


    Without waiting for a response, or even acknowledging anyone else in the room, they left.


    As soon as the door closed and I felt their chakra moving down the stairs, I pulled Naruto into another hug.


    ¡°Thank you, Naruto-kun,¡± I whispered.


    ¡°Ehh, for what?¡± Naruto scratched the side of his head. His ears were pink.


    ¡°You¡¯re an Uzumaki?¡± Karin¡¯s voice cut in the moment.


    I let go of Naruto, and he turned toward the voice, answered like it was a reflex. ¡°That¡¯s my name,¡±


    His eyes widened as if he¡¯d seen her for the first time. I caught a slight blush on the brat¡¯s cheeks. Teenagers, who would have thunk?


    He turned to me, ¡°Hinata-chan, who is she?¡±


    I rolled my eyes, wrote. ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask her?¡±


    The brat read the message, then turned back to Karin, a little bashful now. ¡°Uh... what¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°Uzumaki Karin,¡± the redhead said.


    Naruto tilted his head. His eyes widened. ¡°You¡¯re my sister!?¡±


    I face-palmed.


    Kakashi-sensei was the one who answered this time. ¡°No, Naruto-kun, it means she¡¯s from the Uzumaki clan.¡±


    Naruto looked from Karin to Kakashi and then to me. ¡°What Uzumaki clan?¡±


    ¡°Kakashi,¡± Shisui cut through any response to Naruto¡¯s question. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take Naruto and Karin outside and explain the situation to him while I finish talking with Hinata?¡±


    Kakashi nodded.


    ¡°Come, Naruto-kun, you¡¯ll have time to tell Hinata about your mission later.¡± He turned to Karin and gave her one of his signature eye-crescent smiles. Cool Kakashi-sensei was such a chad material that I caught a dusting of pink on Karin¡¯s cheeks before she looked away and nodded shyly.


    It was my time to have a forlorn look on my face now while I watched the trio leave the office. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should be happy or sad.


    Wait. Why would I be sad?


    ¡°Please, sit Hinata-san,¡± Shisui said, taking me out of my musings.


    I gave the door one last troubled look. Turned and sat. Shisui didn¡¯t seem keen on wasting time.


    ¡°I think you noticed there are issues we must deal with.¡±


    I nodded. Was he going to demand I spill all my secrets now? Or maybe ask me to swear an oath or something?


    ¡°The council has gathered enough influence with the shinobi families that I cannot just dismiss them out of hand.¡±


    I blinked. What was he talking about?


    ¡°Nominally, I¡¯m the village leader, but they have considerable pull with other shinobi that I more often than not have to maneuver around them.¡±


    That was strange. Should a Hokage admit to weakness in front of a chunin? A possible traitor chunin? Wasn¡¯t this how people saw me?


    ¡°Ever since Lord Hiruzen passed away, they have been pushing for drastic measures regarding you.¡±


    Shisui stopped, looked back at the picture of the old man hung on the back wall.


    ¡°Shikaku did what he could and sent you on a mission that kept you out of reach. It seemed the best choice at the time.¡± The Hokage got up from his chair and bowed. ¡°I apologize that this caused you such hardships.¡±


    I was dreaming, wasn¡¯t I? There was no way people would start being honest with me. Was this a trick? Numbly, I just nodded. I didn¡¯t know what else to say or do.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you the full details later, but right now, we need to prepare for two things.¡±


    That sounded ominous as heck.


    ¡°The Hyuga clan and the Council.¡±


    Wait, what? The Hyuga, why?

 7.4

    7.4


    ¡°...information about the laboratory leaked...¡±


    Night had fallen and I was back in my apartment helping Karin settle. My abode was tiny: A single bedroom, a living room, a kitchen. Karin didn¡¯t seem to mind that we''d have to sleep in the same bed. I didn¡¯t either, even if I was getting conflicted about this.


    Some blessed soul kept my apartment clean. We didn¡¯t have to worry about dust bunnies or drowning in dust while trying to clear it.


    On the other side of the bedroom, Karin looked pensive. She looked over my almost identical outfits and everyday clothes. She¡¯d have to wear my stuff until we bought more for her later. That would be for tomorrow.


    It had taken a while to appease Naruto once we left the tower. The brat didn¡¯t seem willing to leave, and he only did after I promised I wouldn¡¯t go on any other mission without telling him first.


    I might have pinched his cheeks until he fessed up about that crying business. It left me feeling all warm and guilty and happy and sad. Best Girl Ino went to my rescue? And she even cried? I didn¡¯t know how I felt about that, but that decided what I had to do. Ino¡¯s been haunting my thoughts with increasing frequency.


    He¡¯d also told me about his new awesome jutsu¡ª Rasengan¡ª that the perv sannin taught him. He let slip a few more details. His mission hadn¡¯t been a peaceful one. It took forever to find the granny, and in the end, she didn¡¯t even want to come back, not to mention the two freaks that attacked them. The shark dude and bone guy.


    Naruto promised to tell me the story in detail later. I even made him pink swear it. Shark guy could only be Kisame, but what about this bone dude? Was he talking about Kimimaro?


    While Karin debated what to wear, I got into the showers and took a relaxing bath. It took a while to clean all the spots of dirt from the weeks of travel underground. No one had pointed it out, but I was sure the reason the councilman fled without pushing things further was the lovely smell coming from me and Karin.


    ¡°...probably due to council meddling...¡±


    Cleaned, refreshed, and finally ready. I picked up a set of everyday clothes. Shorts, a pink shirt, and ordinary everyday shoes. I wasn¡¯t really in the mood for ninja stuff right now.


    I really wanted to go out and meet Ino, but it was already late. Begrudgingly, I postponed the meeting to the next morning. That would give me the whole day to talk with her. It was better that way, right?


    Karin was already aware of my plans. She didn¡¯t seem to mind staying alone while I dealt with essential matters outside. It was a shame I didn¡¯t have any of my prepared supplies. My stock was nil before the mission, and I don¡¯t think I can replenish it, at least not before dealing with the fallout.


    After Karin finished bathing, we settled down, and I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. Karin¡¯s grabiness not even registering.


    I woke up the next day with sunlight streaking inside my bedroom. I got up, disentangled myself from Karin, took another bath. Hot water, how had I missed thee!


    When I left the apartment about one hour later, Karin was in the bath again. I guess that like me, she was compensating for the whole month without cleaning. I wrote her a note to ensure she knew I was out. It was time. I had delayed enough. I wasn¡¯t going to delay anymore.


    I took the shinobi highways and sped toward my destination. It had been just over a month, but the village looked different. I could still see marks of the invasion, the new patch of wall still in construction, and buildings that looked new compared to others nearby.


    My path led me again near the GGC, but this time, I swerved away. I didn¡¯t want to meet them yet. There was only so much I could deal with, and while I liked the grannies, I had more important things to do. My already exhausted emotional battery wouldn¡¯t be enough if I had to appease them.


    Without fanfare, I dropped from the highway in front of my target. I scanned my surroundings, read the familiar sign: Yamanaka Flower Shop.


    I took a deep breath, steeled my nerves, stepped inside.


    I stepped outside with a mix of relief and disappointment on my face. None of the Yamanaka were present. Ino¡¯s mom was busy somewhere else, Inoichi wasn¡¯t home, Ino was training. I had a new destination now. My old haunt, training field three.


    Was there any reason why Ino chose that particular place to train?


    The path there wasn¡¯t long. I knew my way around this part, and even with some of my preferred roofs missing or destroyed, finding a new path to the training field didn¡¯t take long.


    I looked over my clothing, pushed a rebel strand of hair out of my face, and ensured my shirt wasn¡¯t dirty or worse. With yet another deep breath, I walked inside the field.


    Ino had her back toward the entrance. She wore her usual shinobi gear, a purple ensemble with bandages covering parts of her legs and midriff. Her hair was tied in a haphazard ponytail. From her movements, she was punching the wooden dummy. Each punch sounded like she meant business.


    What had the poor dummy done to her?


    An idea crossed my mind. I wanted to hug Ino a lot. Only one of me didn¡¯t seem enough. My hands moved without my consent. Seals flashed, and out popped another me. We exchanged glances. Hug-chan gave me a nod, her grin almost feral.


    We approached. Stopped a few meters away from the training blonde.


    Hug-chan cleared her throat.


    Ino ignored us.


    My clone cleared her throat again, louder this time. I winced in perceived sympathy. That probably hurt a lot.


    ¡°Go away,¡± Ino said without looking back.


    I exchanged glances with my clone. She shrugged, shook her head. Okay, fine, it was my turn.


    I cleared my throat.


    ¡°Leave me alone,¡± Ino hissed without looking back.


    That... wasn¡¯t like Ino at all.


    My clone looked worried like I felt. I cleared my throat again.


    ¡°Are you deaf?¡± Ino growled. She swirled, took one step toward us, teeth bared. She had bags under her eyes, wore no makeup, her hands were wrapped in bloodied bandages. She looked disheveled, for lack of a better word.


    Then the blonde stopped. Her eyes were wide. A hand flew to her mouth.


    ¡°Hinata-chan,¡± Ino whispered, looking at me and my clone.


    It seemed such a dumb idea now. Why hadn¡¯t I just called out her name? Why did I have to create a clone? Dumb idea or not, I think my clone and I felt the same. We moved at the same time. No, not moved, we flickered forward and appeared by the blonde¡¯s side. We sandwiched her in the tightest hug we could manage without breaking her ribs.


    In the back of my mind, Shisui¡¯s words still echoed.


    ¡°...they¡¯re claiming you¡¯re not Hinata, but a clone...¡±


    Ino flopped on my arms, her face a mess of tears, snot, and babbling words. She fought between hugging and touching and making sure I was real. She was the prettiest ugly crier I had ever seen.


    ¡°Hinata-chan,¡± she said, mid-crying.


    Was I a clone? Maybe. There was always the possibility. Did it bother me? Yes, it did. But right now, hugging best girl Ino and hearing her sobbing in our arms, it didn¡¯t seem that important anymore.


    What council hearing? What Hyuga problem?


    None of that seemed urgent. It was Best Girl Ino time now. I could deal with everything else later.

 7.5

    7.5


    I exchanged glances with my clone. Hug-chan scowled.


    I signed a message. She scowled even more.


    We were still in training field three. At this point, I don¡¯t think Hug-chan needed to be here. She could go out and do something else, like visiting the grocer to buy ingredients for a baking session.


    Hug-chan shook her head. Her fingers flashed a very uncouth message.


    I blinked, surprised. Was she... jealous? It wouldn¡¯t be, would it?


    I don¡¯t know what I had expected when I came to look for Ino. Maybe we¡¯d have a happy reunion, she¡¯d tell me all the gossip I missed. Maybe she¡¯d punch me for getting captured. That one felt like a real possibility. According to Naruto, Ino was hella pissed with me.


    You know what I hadn¡¯t expected?


    For Ino to cry until she fell asleep. What had she been doing?


    So here we were. My clone and I were sitting side by side, holding a sleeping Ino.


    I wanted my clone to bug off¡ª I mean, go buy ingredients. Hug-chan didn¡¯t want to leave, and I couldn¡¯t just disperse her. Ino was leaning on her too. If I did, Ino would wake up.


    Difficult scenario.


    I glared at Hug-chan, jerking my head toward the exit. Go away already.


    Hug-chan flipped me the finger.


    Our silent argument didn¡¯t last for long. I felt it before I saw it. Chakra presences that made no sense at all. It was like a huge bonfire, filled with countless small ones. I was still trying to puzzle the situation when the newcomers entered the training field.


    Two shinobi from Konoha. One, I knew; the other, I could guess who it was.


    The first one wore dark round sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar, dark, bushy, brown hair. My friend, Shino, even though it had been a while since I last talked with him. We drifted apart after I was assigned to team seven, instead of team eight.


    The other one was like an older version of Shino. The man had dark glasses with a single tassel hanging down from one side, even spikier black hair and a mustache, and he wore a collared outfit and carried a gourd on his back. Part of the chakra I felt from him also was inside that gourd. Was that Shino¡¯s dad?


    The chakra I was sensing now made sense. Back in the academy, Shino¡¯s chakra felt like anyone else. After expanding my range, was I also getting better definition? It made me super icky, knowing that swarming chakra inside him was just that, a swarm of insects. I held in a shudder.


    Both looked at the scene: me, my clone, and the sleeping Ino. They didn¡¯t approach but didn¡¯t leave either.


    Hug-chan looked my way, leered.


    I ground my teeth. Fine. Have it your way.


    Carefully, I disentangled from Ino and got up. I wasn¡¯t about to let these two wake Best Girl Ino up.


    With a temporary comms board and writing supplies in hand, I cast one last longing look at Ino, glared at Hug-chan, then went to meet the duo. We didn¡¯t speak. I waved both to follow me and guided them until we were far from the training field. If things somehow turned sour, I didn¡¯t want any of them near Ino.


    Once we were far enough, I wrote words.


    ¡°Hello, Shino; how have you been?¡±


    ¡°Hello, Hinata-san,¡± Shino said, looked at the other shinobi. ¡°This is Aburame Shibi, my father and head of the Aburame clan.¡±


    I waved at the jonin.


    He gave me a curt nod.


    I had no idea what was going on. Wrote more words. ¡°Is there something I can help you with?¡±


    It might have come more brusque than I liked, but these two were intruding on my Ino time. It just wasn¡¯t fair.


    ¡°You stink,¡± Shino said.


    I scowled, sniffed beneath my arms, sniffed again when I felt no smell.


    Shibi coughed, looked at Shino, and then at me. ¡°Hello, Hinata-san. Please don¡¯t mind my son. What he meant to say is that you¡¯ve been marked by pheromones.¡±


    ¡°And it¡¯s stinking up the whole village,¡± Shino added.


    It was the damned bees, wasn¡¯t it? I fucking knew it would be trouble. Why, oh, why. Those damned badgers. Was this a new blood feud now? Danzo, council, Hyuga, and now the Aburame clan?


    ¡°Which one was it?¡± Shino asked.


    I tilted my head. Wrote words. ¡°Which one what?¡±


    ¡°Which insect marked you?¡±


    ¡°Fucking killer bees that would put grown-up Akamaru to shame,¡± I said out loud instead of writing.


    Shibi¡¯s hand reached into his jacket, pulled out a small spray bottle, tossed it my way.


    ¡°This will help eliminate the scent.¡±


    Shino looked like he wanted to say something, but a faint buzz from his father, one I felt inside my bones, held him back. The clan head turned to me.


    ¡°I''d like to invite you to the Aburame compound. There are things we''d like to discuss with you.¡±


    I looked at the spray bottle and the two insect shinobi. Under both gazes, I sprayed myself with the thing. It didn¡¯t smell like anything at all, but I caught Shino''s small twitch and the agitated movements from the small swarm of chakra inside his body.


    ¡°I just returned to the village,¡± I wrote to both of them. ¡°I don¡¯t know how things are, but maybe next week?¡±


    Shibi nodded, gave me a small smile.


    ¡°I¡¯ll send Shino to guide you to our compound. Would dinner be alright?¡±


    A bit speechless at the turn this took, I nodded at the duo.


    ¡°Use the spray again in two hours,¡± Shino said, before bowing and leaving. His dad gave me a curt bow and left as well.


    That was weird as heck. What did they want? Maybe they wanted to meet the bees? I¡¯m guessing that meeting a hive of killer bees is like Xmas arriving early for an insect-based clan?


    I looked for a while longer in the duo¡¯s direction, then shrugged. I would deal with this later. It was just another thing to pile on. The council hearing in two weeks, the Hyuga problem looming in the horizon, and now dinner at the Aburame in a week.


    It was good that they left. I pushed it all out of my mind. It was time to get back to my Ino time, and no one would get in my way again. I turned and moved back to the training field.


    With each step closer, my mood sank.


    I dashed forward, not caring about making noise anymore. I arrived at the training field like a clap of thunder. It was empty. Where once was a sleeping beauty and a traitorous clone, now there was only a scribbled message in the dirt.


    Grocer. BGIWS, BTYFS.


    I scowled. Torn between wanting to strangle Hug-chan or maybe hug her. I could decide that later. Now I had to go and bake sweets. Ino wanted them, after all.

 7.6.h

    7.6.h


    Hug-chan watched the Original leave the training field with the visitors. Ino stirred and mumbled, hands gripping the clone¡¯s clothing and pulling closer.


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m dreaming.¡±


    The clone looked at the blonde¡¯s face. Her eyes were half-lidded, and she didn¡¯t look at all there. Ino looked worse than Hinata had ever seen before. It wasn¡¯t just the bags under her eyes; her clothes were unkempt, the bandages on her hands flecked with blood, and most alarming of all, she wore no makeup.


    In the years since Ino learned about it in the Kunoichi classes, this was the first time she¡¯d seen the girl without.


    Ino nuzzled her face against the clone¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°I want to go home.¡±


    That was easy enough. The clone didn¡¯t mind taking the sleeping girl home. It was a good idea even. Put her in bed where she could rest properly. It was a shame the original wasn¡¯t here right now, but that was life.


    ¡°I want cupcakes.¡±


    Another line that sent her heart racing. Best girl Ino wanted sweets. That decided things even more.


    Hug-chan got up, taking care not to jostle the drowsy girl too much. The clone adjusted Ino so the blonde¡¯s front rested against her back, and Ino¡¯s arms were draped over the shoulders. Ino¡¯s head nestled near Hug-chan¡¯s neck. Her hours of carrying Karin around gave her the know-how needed to keep Ino comfortable and stable. Before she left, she scribbled an abridged note for the original.


    Grocer. BGIWS. BTYFS.


    That should be more than enough. Once Original-chan had the sweets, dropping by the Yamanaka flower shop would be easy.


    The clone took one last look at the training field, made sure she wasn¡¯t leaving anything behind, then left.


    She didn¡¯t run, or take to the highways; no intense movement or jumping. Hug-chan Express would do her best to deliver a comfortable travel experience to her sleeping passenger. Bump and jolt free.


    The walk gave Hug-chan time to think about things. Maybe it was the perspective of being a clone, but her thoughts weren¡¯t on the growing list of the original¡¯s problems. No, what concerned the clone was feelings.


    Feelings or obsession?


    It was difficult to tell them apart. She¡¯d been so obsessed with the characters in the show, and so consumed with wishing to meet them that, now that she did, she wasn¡¯t sure if her feelings were real or some form of idol worship.


    God knows she already did that a lot in the form of fangirling.


    There was this happy feeling building in her gut, knowing that Ino cared enough to be in this state because Hinata went missing. Was it selfish to feel happy at her friends¡¯ suffering?


    The original never considered a relationship at all. For all her bluster and obsession, romance had never seriously crossed her mind. Too young, she¡¯d mostly dismiss. There are horrors in the future, can¡¯t worry about feeling right now. Every time a hint of that came up, justifications popped left and right.


    When not caring about the many horrors of the future, the clone really wanted to cuddle and snog and go on dates. She even suspected Ino might not be totally against it. Maybe not in a romantic sense yet, but Hug-chan could dream.


    The concept of same-sex relationships might not even exist here, with clans pushing for their children to find a good match and continue the clan¡¯s bloodline. It might even be frowned upon or outlawed. Hinata never even heard about gay couples in all her years around.


    Hug-chan¡¯s steps led her to the flower shop. She pulled the door open, then stepped inside. One of the workers was on the counter. He looked startled when Hug-chan stepped inside carrying a sleeping Ino, but a quick gesture ensured he didn¡¯t cause a fuss.


    It wasn¡¯t the first time she¡¯d been here, so Hug-chan walked inside, past the storefront, and into the Yamanaka residence. The house was quiet and still.


    The clone adjusted her steps and walked toward Ino¡¯s bedroom. Once there, she laid the blonde on the bed, removed her shoes, unwrapped the bandages from her hands. Hoping Ino would forgive the intrusion, she searched the blonde¡¯s room for cleaning supplies and a first aid kit.


    Back at the bed, she cleaned and re-wrapped the hands. She noticed a shift in Ino¡¯s breathing. Maybe it was the stinging cleaning agent or the strong alcohol scent. Ino¡¯s eyes were open and looking at the clone¡¯s face.


    ¡°You¡¯re really back.¡± Ino whispered.


    Hug-chan smiled. Nodded. She finished tying up the bandages, put the first aid kit away. Under Ino¡¯s intense stare, she made sure the blonde was tucked in and comfortable, even bringing over the sheets.


    Tucked in and comfortable, Ino spoke again.


    ¡°Are you leaving?¡±


    Hug-chan shook her head. She was a clone; there was nowhere she needed to be. Taking care of Ino was more important than worrying about all the other problems.


    Ino¡¯s hand sneaked from beneath the sheets and pulled Hug-chan into the bed, too. Ino hugged the clone, hiding her face against the clone¡¯s chest.


    ¡°Promise you won¡¯t disappear again.¡±


    ¡°I promise.¡± Hug-chan husked out. She wrapped her arms around Ino. It didn¡¯t take long until the blonde was asleep again.


    Now, alone with her thoughts, the clone had even more time to think.


    Could she promise it? At that moment, the clone knew even the original wouldn¡¯t hesitate to make that promise. That also highlighted another issue that bothered every created clone, which the original was keen on ignoring.


    If the original ever wanted a real relationship, she had to be honest. About her past, about the knowledge, about her plans.


    Hug-chan wasn¡¯t about to spill the beans, even if she thought that would be the best course of action, but she imprinted enough reaction on her mind just to make sure the Original knew that she had to address this sooner rather than later.


    To truly be friends with Ino, and hopefully something more, Original-chan needed to be honest. It wasn¡¯t fair to the other girl to keep to herself all the secrets that could cause many problems in the future.

 7.7

    7.7


    I took one of the bags from the shelf and compared it with the one in my basket. The shop lady said good things about this flour, but I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to abandon my tried and true supplier. I put one small bag in with the other things. I guess experimenting wouldn¡¯t hurt.


    What else did I need? I went over the list in my mind. Baking powder?


    I rummaged through the items I had already collected, found it.


    Sugar, then?


    I looked inside the basket again: Granulated, brown, powdered, and honey. No, I had what I needed already.


    What about flavorings? Vanilla, nutmeg, cardamom, dried fruits, nuts, and even chocolate. I found everything already. That was enough. I would need to order more, but that would be later.


    Doing grocery shopping and worrying about ingredients wasn¡¯t how I imagined the rest of my day. Not that I had anything planned before meeting Ino. I didn¡¯t know how she would react. After meeting her, I got a new mission. S-Tier Mission: Cuddle with Best Girl Ino until she woke up.


    That mission went into the drain when the Aburame clan decided to pay a visit¡ªand died an even worse death when Hug-chan took Ino back to the Yamanaka residence. No, I wasn¡¯t jelly of my clone. No, I wasn¡¯t bitter either.


    ...


    And yes, I knew I would experience everything when she unpopped. But I mean, I wanted to cuddle with Ino-chan, too. I wanted it so bad.


    I couldn¡¯t even blame my clone. I''d have done the same had she gone to meet the Aburames instead. I planned to do the same if she had gone to meet the Aburames. I guess I have only myself to blame here.


    But now that I no longer had the Ino excuse, thoughts kept coming.


    The first problem: A lack of Tsunade.


    The slug princess was my hope of getting the seal under control. In the past weeks, the amount I managed to suppress kept worsening. The more I used my chakra, the faster the suppression deteriorated.


    I had been confident that if she couldn¡¯t help me, she¡¯d be at least able to point me in the right direction. Now, I needed to decide whether I wanted to trust Shisui or not.


    Along the same lines, my promise now reared its head. My meddling thwarted Rock Lee¡¯s chance of recovery. I wasn¡¯t going to leave him without help. Maybe I could convince Shisui to send me after Tsunade? I still needed to extract what happened from Naruto, but without Orochimaru to push Tsunade with the promise of bringing her loved ones back, she wanted nothing with Konoha.


    But before I could leave the village, two problems needed to be addressed.


    The council: Shisui¡¯s intervention was enough to push them back for now.


    The two codgers of the council had somehow managed to entrench themselves in every pie available. Merchants, trading partners, noble families, and even a few allied minor villages. They controlled or influenced most of the village¡¯s non-military infrastructure by this point.


    That was enough to put a lot of pressure on the Hokage position.


    I suspected they had been preparing for years, waiting until the third was out of the picture. I also suspected they might be just figureheads for a third party, someone who loved to dwell in darkness and shady deals.


    That man spent decades building spy networks, implanting sleeper agents, and pushing things from behind the scenes. Not even the other great villages escaped his meddling. Why would his ¡°exile¡± from Konoha change anything? It just meant he didn¡¯t need to worry about appearances anymore.


    Danzo had a hard-on hatred for the Uchiha. Would he leave the clan¡¯s political power intact? I doubt it.


    Shisui had military power, and I¡¯m sure he could just genjutsu his way into winning. And while the Uchiha clan was powerful, they might face years of entrenched schemes and bureaucratic manipulations.


    On the other hand, Shisui had a penchant for diplomacy and vying for peace. Did this play a part in why he was selected as the Hokage? Someone who wouldn¡¯t jump to when presented with years of carefully curated obstructions?


    I also needed to gather my allies to resist their influence. Shisui did hint that the Uchiha clan might be willing to help, but that would be best discussed with the clan¡¯s head, Itachi.


    I wanted to get rid of those old codgers. Why couldn¡¯t they just leave me alone?


    No, that was a bad turn of phrase. I don¡¯t think killing them would help my case. This would be a battle won with words. It was a damn shame I had no words.


    The question was, what allies did I have? I was a social outcast.


    Then there was the Hyuga. The clan head, my father, was also marshaling allies, the council included, to take me out of the picture. Hiashi was convinced I wasn¡¯t his daughter but an impostor taking her place.


    ...


    That hurt, even if he wasn¡¯t entirely wrong. I wasn¡¯t just Hinata anymore, but I still was Hinata. I had her feelings and memories tempered by memories of another world and life.


    Ah, yes, butter. I knew I was forgetting something.


    I walked past an oba-san and her little boy; a few more steps further, I picked the butter. I think I was set. Now, to pay and return home.


    Having my stuff stolen was also a big blow to my plans. All the research documents I gathered hadn¡¯t been found at the prison. My only hope now was that the new chakra-locking measures I added to my seals held. I didn¡¯t want to deal with an army of Hinata clones in a few years.


    ¡°Miss?¡±


    The cashier¡¯s voice interrupted my musings. I looked at the man, nodded, and placed the basket in front of him.


    He calculated the price. I paid, then left.


    I coated my feet in chakra and walked up the walls until I was at the highway; it was time to go home and bake.


    Maybe Jiraiya could help? The sannin didn¡¯t strike me as someone dependable, but Naruto seemed fond of the old man. From what I remembered, Jiraiya wasn¡¯t willing to get involved in political matters, but if not with the council, maybe with the seals?


    Head full of thoughts and possibilities, I arrived at my apartment.


    There were more people there besides Karin. Maybe I should have expected that. Today was a day to put my social tolerance to the test.


    I opened the door and stepped inside.


    ¡°Hinata-chan!¡±


    A mop of pink hair glomped on me as soon as I entered. I held my arms out so my grocer didn¡¯t hit Sakura-chan. From between her hugs, I cast a glance at the second visitor. The bags fell from my trembling fingers.


    In my living room, sitting on my couch, no one other than Konoha¡¯s Beautiful Green Wild Beast, The Handsome Devil of the Hidden Leaf: Rock Lee in the flesh.


    ¡°Watch out!¡± Rock Lee cried out.


    Sakura let go of me and tried to pick up my bags. It slipped through her fingers, fell, and caused a huge mess.


    More details filtered in.


    Rock Lee wore his iconic green leotard, orange leg warmers, and red forehead protector as a belt. His hands were covered in bandages, and crutches were propped against the couch.


    Karin was also in the room. After almost a month of forced proximity with the redhead, it was easy to pick on her habits. She kept sneaking glances¡ª when she thought no one was looking ¡ª at Rock Lee¡¯s stomach, no, not stomach, his navel. She was totally checking out his chakra, wasn¡¯t she?


    I could see it. I could even make a good guess about what was happening. Karin wasn¡¯t someone to be attracted by appearance but by chakra. How would Rock Lee¡¯s chakra feel to her?


    A smile crept into my face. I was totally in favor. Karin and Rock Lee¡¯s ship? Heck yeah! The Beautiful Green Beast Got game!


    Then I caught a second glance¡ªthis time toward Sakura.


    Oh my. Karin was on fire!

 7.8

    7.8


    From the kitchen counter, where I worked preparing the baking dough, I heard Karin recounting the events from when we met to the two visitors.


    To hear Karin tell it, I fought and overpowered an army of ninjas. I mean, her tale wasn¡¯t wrong. I did fight a fair number of enemies, but most of the fight was done by Assassination-chan to distract the opposition and let us flee. Even so, my clone mostly did hit-and-run tactics, which resulted in much chasing around and much less killing. Assassination-chan, despite her dramatic name, hadn¡¯t killed more than four, and those were mostly the weaker ones.


    Once jonins joined the fray, she was relegated to more fleeing than fighting.


    Still, the audience seemed captivated. Rock Lee¡¯s eyes shone with enthusiasm at the recounting, while Sakura looked parts scared, parts relieved, parts interested.


    But while I kneaded the dough, there was one question that kept nagging me.


    Why was Rock Lee here?


    Not that I was against him being here. No, I was giddy in a way I hadn¡¯t been since academy graduation and my assignment with Kakashi-sensei. Rock Lee, in my living room. The barely suppressed snicker from Sakura was enough to tell me I wasn¡¯t able to suppress all the excitement, or dancing.


    I mean. I might have fangirled¨C just a little ¨C once the surprise had its time to settle in. It was Rock Lee, gawdamnit. He was cool. Can you blame me?


    That even led to a whole conversation in which Sakura-chan gleefully spilled some of my less-than-savvy early-years incidents. Ugh, it was embarrassing yet nice.


    Sakura, I could guess why she was here. Naruto, or maybe someone else, might have told her the news that I was back. I was pretty good friends with the tsuntsun, and it was normal she¡¯d want to visit after I went missing. That still didn¡¯t explain Rock Lee. And from the way the two talked to each other, this didn¡¯t look like a new development.


    Hadn¡¯t Ino, not so long ago, told me Sakura had left flowers for Rock Lee and visited him a few times? Was there more to this? Had Sakura finally let go of her Emosuke obsession? Again, at the risk of allowing Fangirl-sama to take over too much, Rock Lee was cool. I¡¯d even go for him if I had any interest in boys.


    Yeah, he might look silly and maybe could do with a better haircut and maybe trimming his eyebrows, but those were just details that¡ª Gah, stop. Deep breaths, control the Fangirl, don¡¯t let her control you.


    I divided the dough in small bits and placed them on the cupcake molds. Once I had distributed all the dough, I put the molds in the oven. It was a waiting game now. In the living room, Karin was now going over how I ¡®saved¡¯ her from the badgers. She conveniently left out I was the reason she was in danger with the badgers in the first place. I cleaned my hands in the apron, took a jar of juice, some cups, returned to the living room. I had visitors, and I was going to do my best to be a good host.


    ¡°These are so good.¡± Karin moaned after taking yet another bite of her cupcake.


    Pressed for time and opportunity, I went with simple flavors. I did have to hide a batch of the cupcakes, however. By the rate they just disappeared between the three teens, if I hadn¡¯t, Ino¡¯s sweets would have been devoured before I could leave the house.


    At some point, I had taken an older version of my comms board from my room and strapped it to my arm. That got me an interested glance from Karin when the board popped out of the seal. It reminded me that even though we shared a lot of time together, fuinjutsu was never discussed.


    The weeks walk underground had given me plenty of time to think and design changes to my seals. Something I¡¯d have to start working on soonish.


    I gave her a nod and a smile, she gave me another in return.


    I wrote my question.


    ¡°How are you faring, Rock Lee?¡± I cast a glance at the crutches.


    The mood soured a little. Sakura¡¯s smile dropped. Rock Lee¡¯s smile was slightly brittle, but he still sounded cheerful when answering.


    ¡°This is nothing!¡± He boasted. ¡°This small injury won¡¯t get in my way of becoming a splendid ninja!¡±


    Two things I noticed, or maybe three. Rock Lee didn¡¯t seem to be even a little bit doubtful about that declaration despite what should have been horrible news from the doctors. Sakura looked at Rock Lee with a gaze full of something I couldn''t place. Karin did blush a bit, looking at both Sakura and Rock Lee.


    I wished the redhead all the best of luck. She was in for a rough journey.


    ¡°But Hinata-san,¡± Rock Lee said after a brief silence. ¡°There¡¯s one thing I never understood. Why did you almost kill Neji? Isn¡¯t he also a Hyuga?¡±


    Karin looked at Rock Lee and then at me, trying to understand what the boy had said. Then her eyes widened, and a hand covered her mouth. I gave her a slight shake of the head. Wrote words with my threads in a way I knew only Karin would be able to read. ¡°I¡¯ll explain later, promise.¡±


    To Rock Lee, I did have to consider things before writing my answer.


    Why did my clone almost kill Neji? Maybe I could blame it on my clones being a bit wild and somewhat out of control, but that wasn¡¯t the real reason. The question here was, do I want to tell them the truth? Whatever I said here might go back to the Hyuga.


    I asked a question before answering.


    ¡°Ino-chan told me Hyuga Neji sought me out in the forest. Why?¡±


    Lee read my words, tilted his head. Scrunched his bushy brows. ¡°He never told us.¡±


    I erased my words, wrote others. Decided I wasn¡¯t going to lie. ¡°He looked at me like he wanted to kill me. I had to disabuse him of that notion.¡±


    ¡°He wouldn''t!¡± Rock Lee said, agitated. ¡°You¡¯re the daughter of the clan leader.¡±


    ¡°Am I?¡± I wrote back. Rock Lee opened his mouth, maybe to argue, but I cut him off. ¡°My name is Hinata, I don¡¯t have a surname.¡± I rasped out. Left the implications of that for them to decide.


    The room sunk into silence. Karin looked at me like she was seeing me for the first time. Sakura had tears in her eyes for some reason. Lee looked troubled. I got up from the couch, went back to the kitchen to check the second batch of pastries. Maybe to flee from the awkward mood as well.


    Not that I managed to flee for long. A knock at my apartment¡¯s door forced me out of the kitchen into the awkwardness of the living room. On the other side was a bundle of chakra that had changed in the almost two months I was away, but it was still inherently recognizable.


    I opened the door.


    There on the other side was Sasuke, wearing the traditional Uchiha attire, looking at me.


    There was this moment of silence, like he didn¡¯t know what to say or why he was even here. I blame the awkward mood from the talk earlier making me overly emotional. Or maybe it was just teenage hormones messing with my head.


    I crossed the distance and hugged Sasuke, something I never thought I would do again. I was glad he hadn¡¯t fled or something silly like that.


    Man, I was a horrible mess if seeing Emosuke made me this happy.

 7.9 – The real one

    7.9 ¨C The real one


    ¡°Is he your boyfriend?¡±


    I scowled, looked at Karin like she¡¯d grown a second head. How did all the awkwardness in the living room give her the impression I had anything going on with Sasuke? Was it the hug? It was the hug, wasn¡¯t it?


    We were in the kitchen preparing more refreshments and pastries. No, I was here fleeing from the embarrassing. Karin had followed me to ask horror inducing questions.


    The redhead walked to my side, bumped shoulders with me. ¡°That Hyuga girl?¡± She whispered.


    I looked at her, confused. What was she talking about? Then, memory hit me. That day in the forest, soon after we escaped. Hadn¡¯t she asked something similar? I nodded, then shrugged. Threads wrote my message. ¡°It was a long time ago.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    My hands stopped, shoulders slumped. I didn¡¯t want to talk about it, at least not now. ¡°Later?¡±


    Karin looked at the words I wrote, nodded. She gave me a sort of one-arm hug that I leaned into. Couldn¡¯t this day just end? I needed time to breathe, to recharge, to untangle my thoughts before I drowned in all these interactions. I wasn¡¯t myself right now, and people kept pushing me into social situations I had no defense against.


    I took a deep breath. I was a badass strong kunoichi. I could survive some emotional torture. I just needed to endure a while longer before I could flee, go meet Best Girl Ino. Maybe I¡¯d have some peace and quiet there. Maybe snuggling a cute blondie.


    Ugh, I hated feeling this vulnerable and needy. I felt like a stranger inside my own mind.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Karin whispered.


    I nodded, wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. It was time to face the worst kind of battle.


    The living room was a mix of moody silence and cringe tension.


    On one side sat Dark and Brooding, casting signature brooding looks at Konoha¡¯s Green Beautiful Beast. On another, the Handsome Devil alternated between looking at Sasuke, Sakura, and the kitchen where I had fled.


    Maybe worse was Sakura, who sat between the two. She didn¡¯t know what to do with herself and her hands, like she¡¯d been caught snogging her best friend¡¯s boyfriend behind the shed. It made no sense at all.


    With one glance, I knew that if I didn¡¯t do anything, everyone would suffer the cringe until a bomb exploded and put us all out of our misery. I placed the new round of pastries and juice on the table, then pulled chairs for me and Karin.


    I popped my board, wrote words. ¡°How have you been Sasuke-kun?¡± That was a safe enough question to start things.


    Emosuke looked at my board and the room as if the other¡¯s presence was an issue. Ugh, what was his deal now? Why was he always so hard to deal with? Maybe something showed on my face, or maybe he finally noticed the unusually long silence since I asked my question.


    ¡°Training with Itachi,¡± Sasuke said, then added. ¡°Doing boring D-rank missions inside the village since Kakashi, you, and Naruto were busy.¡±


    Huh, well, that was a normal answer?


    ¡°What happened?¡± Sasuke asked before I could do anything else. ¡°The only thing I¡¯ve been told is that you went missing in action.¡±


    I was guessing this wouldn¡¯t be the first or last time I would repeat this story, so I wrote words.


    ¡°Well, it all started when I was promoted to chunin.¡± I showed the board.


    ¡°You¡¯re a chunin?¡± ¡°You were promoted?¡± ¡°You never told me that!¡±


    Sakura, Lee, and Karin all spoke at the same time. Yeah, this was going to take a while.


    After the recounting started, things went much smoother than expected. Even Karin, who had participated in most of the journey, seemed interested in reading my side of events. I did skip a few things.


    I told them about the chimera we fought but skipped the clones. I also told them about the research data being stolen, but I didn¡¯t elaborate on my plan to steal it myself before it was stolen.


    ¡°Flying Thunder God? The Yondaime jutsu?¡± Rock Lee gasped.


    After much peer pressure and against my best judgment, I created the wood beacon. ¡°Black Thunder!¡± I protested, but no one paid attention.


    The kunai passed from hand to hand like it was a shiny new toy or something.


    ¡°Can you do it?¡± He asked, eyes shining in anticipation.


    I hated that I couldn''t do what he asked. I shook my head. A bit of red touching my ears.


    ¡°Why?¡± It was Sasuke this time.


    ¡°It¡¯s not complete,¡± I wrote, then wrote more. ¡°When I use it, it just takes me, not my earthly possessions.¡±


    There was a moment of silence before Karin gasped.


    ¡°That¡¯s why you were naked?¡±


    I scowled. Really, Karin? She was doing this on purpose, wasn¡¯t she?


    ¡°What?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    The redhead did look a bit sheepish, bombarded by questions.


    ¡°Well, when Hinata-chan escaped from her cell, she wasn¡¯t wearing anything at all. She killed a bunch of shinobi and then just walked back inside the cells like it was the most normal thing in the world. I just thought she liked to fight naked or something.¡±


    I facepalmed. Sakura looked horrified. Rock Lee¡¯s eyes shone. He looked inspired for some reason. Worst of all was Sasuke¡¯s barely there blush. Oh, please, spare me.


    Things went on like that for a while longer, with Karin always trying to inject some levity into the situation, even though most of the time, it was at the cost of saying something I had done that, in hindsight, was embarrassing as hell.


    I did notice that yes, it was on purpose. Was she trying to distract me? I mean, it was working. Being embarrassed was way better than emotionally traumatized. I guess I could let her off the hook just this once.


    My pastries were almost depleted, and the living room was a mess. Sakura and Rock Lee had already left, and Karin somehow had made herself scarce inside my three-room apartment. How she managed that was a mystery. That left me with Emosuke, who had wanted to say something for a while but couldn¡¯t seem to find the words.


    ¡°What is it, Sasuke-kun?¡± I asked gently.


    It was selfish of me, but I wanted him gone. I enjoyed seeing him, and the afternoon of talking was nice, good even, but I still had an Ino to appease and sweets to deliver. Between Sasuke and Ino, there was no need to even guess.


    ¡°Mom wanted me to invite you for dinner,¡± he said, finally.


    I tilted my head. As far as I know, this was the first time Sasuke invited someone to visit his house.


    Was this why he¡¯d been acting so strange? I could even guess why the Uchiha were inviting me for dinner.


    Shisui had said Itachi wanted to talk regarding all that political fallout. I wasn¡¯t sure why a noble shinobi family like the Uchiha would wish to support an outcast like me. And I was curious about how things were going for the Uchiha with all the changes from how canon things were supposed to go.


    I nodded, wrote words. ¡°Should we invite Naruto and Kakashi-sensei as well? Make it a team seven thing?¡±


    Sasuke looked at the words, then shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s fine. I think Mom wants to talk with you after dinner.¡±


    Not Itachi? He was, what, fifteen? He might be acting as clan head, but maybe Mikoto was pulling the strings. That was a real possibility. I didn¡¯t know Mikoto¡¯s character. My sole interaction with her was that one meeting at the hospital.


    ¡°Three days from now?¡±


    Sasuke nodded. There was this brief moment of silence when I thought he might say or do something else, but he got up.


    ¡°Meet here at sunset?¡± He asked.


    I nodded, wrote more. ¡°I¡¯ll invite Naruto-kun and Kakashi-sensei.¡±


    Sasuke nodded again. I walked him to the door, waved him goodbye. Somehow, Karin reappeared between me walking him to the door and waving him off. From where, I had no idea. I took one look at her, the gleam in her eyes, the barely contained smirk.


    ¡°Nope!¡± I said. Ran out of the apartment, closed the door behind me. I had sweets to deliver. Karin could hold in whatever that was for a little while longer.

 7.10

    7.10


    I landed in front of the flower shop. Before going in, I made sure I was presentable. Rebellious strands of hair went behind the ear, shirt smoothed over, cupcake crumbles dusted off. Ready, I pushed the door open and walked in.


    The Receptionist-san blinked, like he was surprised to see me here. I gave him a nod, then hurried inside before he could say anything.


    Walking into someone¡¯s home uninvited wasn¡¯t exactly polite, but I was already here ¡ª kind of. Circumstances made fuzzy with clones and all.


    The place was quiet.


    I crossed the living room, looked at the picture frames on the wall and photos of a young Ino and her family. I walked up the stairs and, without knocking, pulled the door open.


    Hug-chan was in bed, hugging a sleeping Ino. There was this tiny spark of jealousy that I quickly squashed. It was dumb and not the time. My clone tried to disentangle herself, but sleeping Ino wasn¡¯t keen on letting go. My clone signed a message.


    I followed her suggestion, lay on the other side of Ino, and hugged her. It didn¡¯t take long until Ino turned around, releasing my clone and holding me instead. Hug-chan took the chance to make her escape, not before hugging Ino one last time.


    Once she was up and about, she signed a few more messages and unpopped herself without fanfare.


    I was inundated with a whole afternoon of thoughts, ruminations, memories, and sensations. It was... a lot.


    I scowled at the ideas from her. Telling people secrets was how things stopped being secrets. But she wasn¡¯t wrong. Obsession or not, I liked Ino, and I did want to get closer to her. It wasn¡¯t fair to involve her further and keep her in the dark.


    The real question now was: did I want to involve Ino?


    Honestly, no. Not because I didn¡¯t trust her, but because I didn¡¯t want to endanger her. That was such a patronizing sentiment that I even wanted to slap myself. It was how I felt, however.


    Could I push all this on Ino? Was it even fair? I¡¯ve been doing my best to enjoy my life, but my time was running out. This most recent brush with death only highlighted that this wasn¡¯t a world where things always worked out in the end.


    A chakra bundle entered the house. It made a beeline to Ino¡¯s room. I watched the door open.


    The Yamanaka matriarch ¡ª whose name I still didn¡¯t know ¡ª stood in the doorway, watching us. She looked regal and collected.


    Now, I know. How could I not know Ino¡¯s mom''s name? Well, Ino never introduced her mother and never called her anything other than mom. I wasn¡¯t around for any family reunion, so there''s no way I might have overheard Inoichi. I wasn¡¯t going to ask the mind ninja his wife¡¯s name or even Ino her mom¡¯s name. That was just weird. A label slotted into my mind. Yamanaka Mother. That was good enough until I learned the woman¡¯s moniker.


    Our eyes met. She gave me a nod. Pulled the door close.


    Was that approval? Or maybe she just didn¡¯t want to wake up Ino? At times like this, I did envy Karin¡¯s ability to know how others were feeling based on their chakra. That was such a nice thing to have, privacy be damned. It would make social encounters manageable for me, especially with all the social hardships to come.


    Shisui said I should gather allies. Maybe the Yamanaka clan? I didn¡¯t have that much contact with Ino¡¯s parents, but I think they didn¡¯t dislike me. At least, I hoped they didn¡¯t.


    Who else could I call upon?


    ¡°...¡±


    Kakashi-sensei? He was famous, and I also think he might be somewhat fond of me. Or maybe I was projecting. Yamato, maybe?


    I had the inkling that I should have done more to build connections instead of training to be a good shinobi because, unless I reached Madara levels of absurdness, I might lose the battle to politics.


    Or I could flee. There was always that possibility. Just harder now that they also knew about my new jutsu.


    Ino stirred, rubbed her face against mine. It was almost like a cat. I even imagined the purring.


    ¡°Hinata-chan?¡± she mumbled.


    I threaded my fingers through her hair. It felt nice. ¡°Hello, beautiful,¡± I husked out. I blamed the clone for putting all those ideas in my head.


    Ino stared at me from ten centimeters away. Her crystalline blue orbs were intense. ¡°What happened?¡±


    For the third time that day, I told the story. But this time, I didn¡¯t censor the details. I spoke in low, hoarse whispers, trying to lower the hurt in my throat, but also unwilling to get up from the bed to write down my explanation. It might have been a spur of the moment, but I didn¡¯t keep anything from Ino.


    I told her about the labs, about the clones, about my breakdown.


    Ino¡¯s face changed when I recounted the betrayal. She cried, then I cried when I told her about the prison and escaping. Like me, she didn¡¯t have a good impression of the badgers, even if Kumoko was still cute, in an ¡®I¡¯ll kill you¡¯ kinda way.


    When the recounting was done, maybe an hour later, we were still in bed, still hugging.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said after a moment of silence.


    I shook my head. There wasn¡¯t anything she needed to apologize for. ¡°None of that,¡± I whispered back. Swallowed the blood. ¡°It wasn¡¯t your fault.¡±


    ¡°I know, but,¡± she said.


    I stopped her again. ¡°I¡¯m back, but I¡¯m still in trouble,¡± I admitted.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    More words spilled forth. I told Ino about all the discrimination over the years, and the council wanting me gone or worse. I told her about the Hyuga and the issues with the clan head and the matter of the eye. I told her about Shisui¡¯s suggestion, to gather allies, but I had none.


    Aside from my past life secrets, I told her everything.


    My worries about how Sasuke was behaving. About me not being myself, about other me¡¯s trapped in some dungeon being experimented on. I might have become a bit incoherent midway. I wasn¡¯t sure.


    It all spilled out even when I wanted to keep it all in.

 7.11

    ¡°How long do you young ladies plan to sleep for?¡±


    I stirred in my bed and pulled the blankets over my face. The room light was on, and I didn¡¯t want to wake up. The bed was nice, and the pillow I was holding felt good, warm, and soft.


    ¡°Five more minutes, Mom,¡± I muttered.


    The pillow moved, groaned, complained. ¡°Moooom, it¡¯s too early.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that. It¡¯s halfway to lunch already.¡± The stern voice said. ¡°I understand why you want to practice, but that¡¯s no excuse to sleep without at least showering or removing your training clothes.¡±


    I opened one eye. I wasn¡¯t in my room. By the side of the bed, Yamanaka Mother glared at Ino. Her gaze flickered toward me, softened for a moment, before turning stern again.


    ¡°And you,¡± she said, then paused. ¡°Welcome back, and thank you for looking after Ino.¡±


    Heat crawled up my neck. I nodded, then disentangled my limbs from Ino¡¯s. I didn¡¯t remember when I fell asleep. At some point, the hug party turned into a cry party and then a sleep party. I felt better, a lot better. I still wasn¡¯t fine, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be fine for a long while, but I felt more like myself.


    I slipped out of bed while the matriarch still berated Ino, who didn¡¯t want to get out of bed. The scene brought a smile to my face. It was also an excellent opportunity to slip out. I needed to come back and talk with Ino again, but right now, I just wanted some time alone to think. I made some impulsive decisions the night before. I now had to live with it.


    Silent steps took me toward the door. It didn¡¯t work.


    ¡°And where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±


    I froze. Even without using my name, I knew deep in my gut that the stern woman was talking to me. Woodenly, I turned around, opened my mouth, and closed it. I looked around for my board; I couldn¡¯t see it anywhere.


    ¡°Well?¡±


    ¡°...Home?¡± I offered.


    The matriarch rolled her eyes. It was slow and deliberate, like she was dealing with a toddler whining that his candy fell down.


    ¡°Bathroom with you, and clean this¡ª¡± her hand moved over her face, the movement like she was afraid of touching something terrible. ¡°Then to the kitchen and set the dishes. Breakfast is already getting cold with you two empresses not wanting to leave bed.¡±


    I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again.


    The regal woman approached, stopped in front of me. Her eyes bore down on me. Then she kneeled, hugged me. Kissed my forehead.


    She got up, returned to Ino¡¯s bedside, and resumed her scolding.


    I was still stuck frozen, not knowing what to do. What the hell was happening?


    Yamanaka Mother turned to me again. ¡°What are you waiting for? Breakfast won¡¯t serve itself.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± I squeaked. Fled toward the bathroom.


    I got to the lavatories and looked at the wall mirror. Eye crust, old dirt, and flecks of blood. Yikes, now I know why. I was surprised the woman braved the mess to kiss my forehead. She was a lot braver than me.


    Breakfast was strange.


    Steamed rice, miso soup, grilled fish, pickled veggies with tea. Even after living here for years, this type of traditional spread still took me by surprise. When I was cooking for myself, it often resembled my old world: bread, juice or tea, maybe cake or pancakes.


    Inoichi ate and drank his tea in silence. He wished me good morning and gave me a nod as if me being here was an everyday thing. Yamanaka Mother sat regal and imperiously on her chair, surveying her domain. Ino poked the food here and there, but didn¡¯t seem keen on eating.


    ¡°I wanted cupcakes,¡± I heard her complain.


    I rummaged through the things I¡¯d brought yesterday but forgot to hand them over. Under a pair of eyes, I placed the miniature seal on the table. Ino¡¯s face lit up. The matriarch looked at me disapprovingly, but said nothing. Inoichi kept drinking his tea.


    Out popped the cupcakes I¡¯d baked the day before; the ones I hadn¡¯t told anyone about. Cardamom cupcakes with brown butter buttercream, chocolate cupcakes, dried fruits cupcakes.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ino cheered and almost climbed on top of the table to pick some of the pastries. The matriarch tsked in displeasure but accepted one of each when I presented her with the peace offering.


    Inoichi picked one of the dried fruit cupcakes, took a bite.


    ¡°A bit too sugary,¡± he said, then took another bite, drank from his bitter green tea after.


    ¡°What are we going to do about things, Hinata-chan?¡±


    Breakfast had ended a while ago, and I was in the kitchen doing dishes. No one had asked me to do it, and I don¡¯t even think they expected me to, but after intruding on their family moment, it was the least I could do to appease my guilty mind.


    I popped out my comms board, propped it against the wall. I don¡¯t think I even need to hide my threads anymore. I wrote. ¡°We?¡±


    Ino looked startled at the pencil that, for her, was moving on its own. Then she rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re not dumb, so don¡¯t pretend.¡±


    A warm fuzzy feeling started from the pit of my stomach and crept to the tip of my ears. It was a nice feeling. It also felt nice knowing Ino wanted to help, even after all the pile of crap I dumped on her the previous night.


    ¡°I dunno,¡± I admitted.


    ¡°Right,¡± Ino said after a while. Then she walked to my side, shoulder bumped me and started helping with the dishes.


    ¡°We train in the mornings when there¡¯s no mission. That¡¯s non-negotiable," she said, picking up a dirty ceramic bowl.


    I stopped and looked at the blonde.


    She didn¡¯t look my way, she kept talking. ¡°Tell me everyone you know and have even a passing relationship with. Don¡¯t leave anyone out.¡±


    I nodded. Wrote slowly while still washing dishes. I wrote about all the ninjas I knew. Ino was also acquainted with most of the people I knew. Then, there were the civilians. I listed the shopkeepers, the ingredients suppliers, the people I met and talked to during my missions, Haku and Zabuza, Lady Shijimi and my trade deal. The old grannies from the GGC, the ramen store owner. Even about Linlin I wrote. Finally, I wrote about the two dinner invitations from the Uchiha and Aburame clans.


    Ino listened in silence.


    ¡°You¡¯ll prepare for the Uchiha and Aburame dinner,¡± Ino said after a moment. She nodded, then continued. ¡°Be on your best behavior and see if they¡¯d be willing to support you against the council.¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°Dad owes me a big one,¡± she offered as a side thought. ¡°I¡¯ll bug him to convince his Nara and Akimichi clan friends.¡±


    ¡°Ino,¡± I whispered.


    The blonde stopped, looked my way.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t told you everything.¡± I mulled on things. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can.¡±


    She nodded, wiped her hands on her clothes, and hugged me. ¡°Tell me when you¡¯re ready.¡±


    I nodded against her shoulder. But deep down, another thought gnawed at me.


    This was too good. Everyone was being too nice, treating me like a person. The other shoe was going to drop¡ªI could feel it in my bones. And I wasn¡¯t going to like it.

 7.12

    I visited the tower before I went home. After a quick hug to Secretary-chan and a dash toward the Hokage¡¯s office, I sat before Shisui.


    ¡°Thank you for coming, Hinata-san,¡± he said.


    I dipped my head.


    ¡°Like we assumed, Hiashi wants to talk with you. He¡¯s requested a meeting in the Hyuga compound.¡± I gave him a nod. ¡°He wanted to meet today, and I hope you¡¯ll forgive me for taking the liberty, but I pushed it to the day after dinner to give you time to rest, at least for a bit.¡±


    That was more than fine to me. Now calmer and rested, I did a complete report to the Hokage. I told him most of the details I remembered from the mission. I even admitted why I had burned the clone¡¯s corpses. Once I was done with my report, I left. It still felt like Shisui wanted to tell me something else, but he didn¡¯t. I bowed to him, hugged and pecked Secretary-chan at the exit, dashed toward home.


    I landed in front of my apartment, my head still full of dreadful thoughts and warm feelings bubbling in my chest. It was a bit paradoxical, but that was my current state of being. I wanted to dance, maybe cheer, and I certainly wasn¡¯t able to contain the smile.


    Nothing had happened between Ino and me except talking, hugging, and hanging out, but man, I felt like the luckiest girl in the whole Narutoverse. Was there something more on Ino¡¯s side of things? No idea. I hoped so, though probably not. Despite her outgoing personality, Ino put a lot of importance on her friends. That she also classified me as one of those friends was enough for now.


    I didn¡¯t mind a spot of friendzone for the moment.


    Before I could enter, the door swung open. Karin stood on the other side, wearing some of my day-to-day clothes. At some point, while I was gone, the redhead had even found a pair of glasses.


    I took one look at her face, the impish smile, the gleam in her eyes.


    ¡°Nope!¡± I declared, spun around, fled.


    ¡°Hinata-chan, wait!¡± Karin called out. But yeah, nope.


    I had important things to do¡ªtotally justified, completely reasonable things¡ªthat just so happened to involve avoiding Karin. Nope, I wasn¡¯t fleeing her. I just... remembered I had other stuff to do.


    Karin called a few more times but, thankfully, didn¡¯t follow.


    My destination was a small store that sold a few bobs and ends, and I needed them for this next part of the plan. What plan? Well, training with Best Girl Ino, of course.


    I was more than willing to help the blonde get stronger. And I¡¯d do my best to make her stronger. That meant sharing some of my training aids. That also meant a copy of the The Ultimate Variable Weight Distribution System For The Discerning Shinobi. With an extra the, because that was part of the name.


    My weight seals were never found, and it had been over a month since I had dedicated effort to my personal training. I needed to get back into weighted exercises and chakra control. And since I was about to make a set of the weight seals for myself, might as well make one for Ino, right?


    But I couldn¡¯t just slap a collar and goth bracelets on Ino, even if the idea did appeal to me. Ino wouldn¡¯t wear something that clashed that much with her sense of aesthetics. And unfortunately, goth phase was over. I liked black; I still wanted some black in my life, but maybe not all black anymore? A few spots of color here and there, maybe pink? I liked pink.


    This was the same shop where I got the leather for my old bulky-weight seals, and the owner had a few other materials I could use. My goal? Small wrist and ankle bracelets, a pretty necklace that could be tucked under clothing so it wouldn¡¯t get yanked mid-fight.


    I landed in front of my apartment, my head full of plans for the weight seals and pretty things to gift Ino with. Warm feelings bubbled in my chest. I wanted to dance, maybe cheer, and I couldn¡¯t contain the smile. It was going to be great!


    Before I could enter, the door swung open. Karin stood on the other side, wearing some of my day-to-day clothes. Her face was placid, emotionless, like she was trying her hardest not to emote anything.


    I nodded at the redhead, walked past her, stepped inside. While I was at the store, I also got materials to craft a set of training aids for Karin. I didn¡¯t know if she wanted help with training, but if she did, I wouldn¡¯t need to go out and buy another set.


    Karin followed me deeper into the house.


    I went straight to my room, put the materials on the desk, opened the drawer, and pulled out a set of leather working tools, needles, and the other things I had used in my previous work. From the pack I got from the store, I pulled the parts I needed and got to work.


    A chair scraped nearby. I looked to the side, saw Karin had sat there, looking at my mess of tools.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± She asked.


    I turned back to the desk; my threads wrote the answer. ¡°Re-creating some of my training aids. Do you want a set as well?¡±


    I heard movement; Karin got closer, looking over my shoulder. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°The Ultimate Variable Weight Distribution System For The Discerning Shinobi.¡± I wrote.


    ¡°The what?¡± She asked.


    ¡°...Weight seals to help with training.¡±


    ¡°Is that why you¡¯re so strong?¡±


    I waved my hands in the usual so-so gesture. ¡°Part of the reason.¡±


    ¡°Does it hurt?¡±


    ¡°Only if you abuse it.¡±


    Karin sat back, pulled the chair closer. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me you were a fuinjutsu master.¡±


    I stopped. Turned and looked at the redhead. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±


    Karin gave me a skeptical look, but just nodded. I turned back to my desk and started working again.


    Motivated as I was, it didn¡¯t take long to remake the seal to be more compact and efficient. I looked at the finished products: three sets of bracelets, three sets of ankle bracelets, and three necklaces. Mine was decorated with black-and-white details, Ino¡¯s had purple hints, and Karin¡¯s had shades of red. They looked nice, pretty even.


    I adjusted the seals so that they could be calibrated by infusing chakra with a touch instead of threads since, as far as I knew, Ino and Karin couldn¡¯t manifest threads.


    Karin had not left my side for the hours I worked on. I had even forgotten she was there. I picked her set, turned toward her.


    ¡°Come closer and stand still,¡± wrote and waved for her to approach.


    She did, looking at the stuff in my hand.


    I knelt in front of her, and tied the ankle bracelets. Tested the clasping mechanism. Worked like the guy said it would. I got up, clasped the bracelets on her arms. Karin observed without comment. Finally, I walked behind the redhead and tied the necklace around her neck. I popped my threads out. I wasn¡¯t sure how strong Karin was. I set the weights on a very low setting. Just fifty kilograms on each.


    Karin groaned, bucked over, and I had to catch her to prevent her from falling face first. Err. Well.


    I adjusted the seals to twenty kilograms each. That was low enough, right?


    ¡°Ow, so heavy.¡± Karin complained, straightening her back. She lifted one leg, then the other. She raised and lowered both arms a few times.


    ¡°Am I heavier now?¡±


    I shook my head, wrote words. ¡°The seals just make your muscles think you¡¯re carrying that much weight.¡±


    ¡°Have you created other things like this?¡± She asked, looking at the weight seals.


    I shrugged. ¡°Better explosions, better storage, still working on the teleport jutsu. A few different types of barriers.¡±


    ¡°And you aren¡¯t a fuinjutsu master?¡± She asked.


    I shook my head.


    ¡°What is this then?¡± She waved her arms, showing the bracelets.


    I tilted my head. Shrugged. ¡°Any one fuinjutsu user could have done the same.¡± I wrote.


    Karin opened her mouth, like she wanted to argue, then closed it. ¡°Can you teach me?¡± She asked instead.


    Wasn¡¯t the Uzumaki famous for their seals? I wasn¡¯t sure I could actually teach her, but I could try. It cost me nothing, really.


    ¡°Okay.¡± I wrote, head already full of teaching ideas and training methods. That also reminded me I had to come up with a training schedule for Ino. I don¡¯t think she would accept something like hell month, but some of the steps there were good. The meditation helped more than I liked to admit.


    Arms sneaked around me from behind, grabbing and keeping me from moving.


    ¡°Where did you sleep last night?¡±


    Karin¡¯s face was a mix of angry and amused.


    ¡°You abandoned me on the second night of living together? I even had to fend off a lot of people looking for you.¡±


    Err, really? That¡¯s how she wanted to deal with this?


    ¡°Right,¡± I wrote, rolled my eyes. ¡°You think I didn¡¯t see you checking out Rock Lee and Sakura-chan¡¯s chakra?¡±


    Karin squeaked, let go of me. Her face built a pretty shade of burgundy.


    Yeah, take that. Two can play this game.

 7.13

    7.13


    ¡°And then Hinata-chan, the bone freak said: ¡®You¡¯re too important and amazing Naruto-kun; I¡¯m taking you somewhere nefarious to do horrible, horrible things to you.¡¯¡±


    I had already met with Kakashi-sensei and invited him for dinner at Sasuke¡¯s. I wasn¡¯t sure if he would attend. His response left me more confused than anything else. He just nodded, patted my head, gave me a sad eye-smile, spouted one lame excuse or another, then fled. Yes, fled.


    What did I do to scare off Kakashi-sensei?


    Now, Naruto, Karin, and I were at the brat¡¯s favorite ramen stall, slurping down tasty noodles while the sunshine brat told the details of his mission. This was the same day after I crafted the new weight seals. Karin had hers, and I often caught her fiddling with her bracelets between giggles. Was it still too heavy? Should I craft a set for Naruto as well?


    I was somewhat skeptical about the whole story. It might be just a hunch, but I think Naruto was exaggerating things¡ªjust a little bit.


    Before the retelling started, I had told Naruto about dinner at Sasuke¡¯s. To no one''s surprise, Naruto was more than happy to attend. Given how he was obsessed with Sasuke in the original story, it was a miracle that nothing more than friendship developed there.


    Was this obsession because of that whole fate thing? The Curse of Hatred and Will of Fire? Naruto was the latest iteration of Asura, while Sasuke was Indra¡¯s.


    That reminded me that I still had to talk with Sasuke about many things: the person he wanted to kill, making sure he¡¯s not suffering too much because of the seal, and maybe just trying to see him as a person instead of the character I didn¡¯t like in the show.


    Naruto¡¯s story took me back to the present.


    ¡°My clones and I plummeted the bone freak like we did with Gaara. You should¡¯ve seen Hinata-chan. My super powerful combo attacks ¨C the Uzumaki Naruto Nisen Rendan! I was about to send him packing when the young-obaa-chan and the black-haired one arrived.¡±


    It was hard to take Naruto¡¯s story seriously. By my side, Karin was in a constant state of giggles. Given how much the stall owner rolled his eyes at every new development, it was fair to assume he also didn¡¯t believe it that much.


    Young-obaa-chan was Tsunade, right? So, Naruto fought Kimimaro, and the slug princess and Shizune arrived to help? Where was Jiraiya?


    ¡°Where was Jiraiya?¡± I wrote my question with threads. Karin stopped giggling just enough to read it.


    ¡°Ehh, ah, right! The Ero-sennin was getting his butt kicked by that other freak, the shark dude.¡± Naruto slurped more of his noodles. ¡°You see, Karin-chan, the Ero-sennin might like frogs, but he can¡¯t swim! Shark dude somehow transformed the whole area into a huuuge lake, and If I wasn¡¯t there to pull the Ero-sennin out, he might have drowned.¡±


    Jiraiya getting beat up by Kisame? The stall owner shook his head.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t you busy with the bone guy, Naruto-kun?¡± Karin read my other question out loud. I had to keep Naruto¡¯s focus. Learn what happened with Kimimaro.


    ¡°Right, so, yes, obaa-chan arrived and was like: Imma gonna kick your ass, but then got her ass kicked instead. I had to save her and the Shizune lady. That was when I mastered my new awesome jutsu, the Rasengan.¡±


    Naruto¡¯s hands flashed with seals, and a clone appeared by his side. He went through the whole song and dance of creating the ball of chakra.


    ¡°Cool, right? It¡¯s super powerful!¡±


    Ayame, the stall owner¡¯s daughter, covered her ears. I had a brief moment to wonder why before I learned of the reason.


    Naruto lost control of the jutsu. At least he had the sense to hurl it away before it exploded on us.


    The impact shook the whole street. It was almost as good as an explosion.


    ¡°NARUTO!¡±


    The bellow was deafening. A bit late, I also covered my ears¡ªnot that it helped. Ayame gave me a sympathetic look. While the locals crowded around Naruto with angry glares and gestures, I stopped to think about the whole situation.


    Kimimaro and Kisame teamed up. Was Orochimaru still part of Akatsuki? In the original story, he left after losing to Itachi, but Itachi never joined Akatsuki due to my meddling. What about Kimimaro¡¯s disease? Wasn¡¯t he supposed to be on death¡¯s door? Why was he going about and picking fights with legendary ninjas?


    And now that I think about it, what about Itachi? Wasn¡¯t he sick as well? Is he still sick? Should I try to find out?


    The commotion died down, and Naruto returned, somewhat ruffled and slightly banged up. His face was still full on with a smile.


    ¡°What happened next? And no demonstrations!¡±


    ¡°Ah, right. The bone freak went even more freakish, with black lines crawling his face and chest. He created a huuugee and deadly forest of bones. I managed to fend them off near me, so I was safe, but the obaa-chan and the other couldn¡¯t.¡±


    Ok, so at some point, Kimimaro used part of his cursed seal. Not the second stage, I don¡¯t think; otherwise, Naruto would have talked about Kimimaro shifting into a monster-like thing.


    Naruto sat down again and looked at the food, part of his enthusiasm gone.


    ¡°Then the other dude arrived. And was like: You can¡¯t defeat this magnificent Naruto? We need to flee for our lives.¡±


    ¡°A lot of people died, Hinata-chan,¡± He said, now without the early fervor.


    That... took a turn?


    ¡°The young-obaa-chan turned into an old-obaa-chan trying to save Shizune, but Tonton still died.¡±


    What? The piglet died? Shit. She was so cute.


    ¡°Tsunade left after telling us to bring Shizune back. I don¡¯t know where she went.¡±


    Tsunade¡¯s alone now? Shit, that was a bad outcome. Somehow, I think Shizune was a bigger part of why Tsunade hadn¡¯t fallen even lower, but now, the slug princess had isolated herself even more.


    Naruto looked forlorn, sad. I could deal with those details later. I didn¡¯t like seeing Naruto like this. I got up, walked to the brat. Hugged him. He looked a bit startled. I pinched his cheeks.


    ¡°You did your best, right?¡± I asked.


    He nodded. His eyes were a bit misty.


    ¡°Then all you can do is train harder and do better next time.¡±


    He nodded again. I pinched his cheeks harder. Let go of him and returned to my stool.


    Wrote on my board. ¡°How did the bone guy fight?¡±


    Naruto perked up, the heavy mood from earlier gone.


    ¡°It was like fighting two of you and Sasuke at the same time. He was fast and good at taijutsu.¡±


    Naruto pushed the empty bowl of ramen aside.


    ¡°I tried doing like you always tell me to do, send in the clones and attack from behind, but it didn¡¯t work at the start. It was like the guy had eyes in the back of his head.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡± It was Karin who asked now.


    ¡°Eh, no idea. Like I said, he was creepy.¡±


    I mulled over things. Naruto hadn¡¯t said anything about clothing, but if Kimimaro had joined Akatsuki, he would be wearing the black robes, right?


    ¡°What did he look like, Naruto-kun?¡±


    ¡°Older than us, younger than Iruka-sensei. Dressed in black robes.¡± The brat paused, one hand at his chin. ¡°White hair, red marks on the forehead. One eye green, another white.¡±


    I blinked. No, it wouldn¡¯t be, would it? White eye and seeing things behind his back. I knew about a dojutsu that matched those descriptions. I even knew there was one eye yet to be found.


    ¡°White eye?¡± I wrote.


    ¡°Yeah, creepy,¡± Naruto said.


    ¡°Did it look like Neji¡¯s white eye?¡± I wrote again.


    Naruto stopped, scratched his head. Then he nodded like he had just understood something that had been bothering him for a while.


    ¡°Yes! I knew I had seen white eyes like that somewhere; I just didn¡¯t remember where.¡±

 7.14

    It wasn¡¯t even the morning of the next day when I disentangled myself from Karin. I needed to get a new bed for her. My sleep and sanity depended on it. Maybe it was because Karin was somewhere new, but she¡¯d been even more grabby and kicky than usual. It was impossible to sleep.


    Not that I was feeling sleepy, anyway.


    I walked to the window and looked at the still-dark sky. The sun was late today. Rood.


    Since no amount of wishing would make the sun rise faster, I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast and bake pastries.


    For this first training session, I was going with the standard finger sandwiches and tea. I¡¯d use the pastries as a reward for the training. That was positive reinforcement 101, right? Also known as manipulation, the good kind. It didn¡¯t matter in this instance, though. Ino wanted to get stronger; I would make her stronger even if I had to drag her kicking and screaming into the stronger.


    I didn¡¯t make stuff just for me and Ino. I made extra portions for Karin and Naruto. Since I was already cooking for two, why not do it for more people? The effort increase was negligible.


    After the sandwiches were the cupcakes and muffins. I know, the order was strange, but it didn¡¯t matter. I still had hours until the damn sun decided to grace us with its presence. Why was it taking so long today?


    Hours idled away while I baked, made tea, and thought about training ideas.


    The talk with Karin regarding the seals gave me a few ideas I wanted to try. I might have been... a bit too enthusiastic about explosions and dealing in lethal force. I didn¡¯t regret the enemies I killed, even if I still thought somehow my reaction to that whole affair was strange. But again, I was a soldier and had been training to kill since I got here in this world, even if most of the lessons were coated with a layer of pink.


    Was it that surprising that killing didn¡¯t affect me that much?


    No, what I regretted was not trying to help the chimera from Orochimaru¡¯s lab. I had theorized and even created barrier seals that increased the weight of those inside. A non-lethal version to capture instead of the deadlier exploding barrier.


    I didn¡¯t even consider that one then, so enamored was I with the booms. It probably would not have been enough or feasible to help them, but I could have at least tried.


    Outside, the sky started to brighten, and the lazy sun was finally on its way.


    I organized the packs, sealed what needed to be sealed, left others on the table for Karin. I labeled everything and even left a written note to make things easier.


    Back inside my room, I glanced at the redhead that was now torturing¡ªgrabbing my pillow. I wished the poor pillow luck in its next life. I looked over my outfits. The dress shirt, the skirt and tie. All in black.


    I picked a blue shirt and shorts. It was civilian clothing, but that was fine. I had ideas about a new outfit. I¡¯d start working on it after the training.


    I left the apartment, made a quick detour to Naruto¡¯s house. Left breakfast hanging on his door. The brat would see the stuff there, right?


    Konoha¡¯s shinobi highway was deserted at this time of the morning. Sun had just risen when I landed in front of the Yamanaka shop. I had agreed to meet Ino here at sunrise to start training. The street was deserted, apart from sleepy-eyed civilians walking to and fro.


    I looked around, just to make sure I wasn¡¯t missing a hidden Ino anywhere, but nope. Had she forgotten?


    Should I knock? Had I mistaken the time?


    A chakra bundle crossed the store and arrived at the entrance. I looked at the door in time to see it open and Yamanaka Mother looking at me from inside.


    ¡°Good morning, Hinata-chan,¡± she said.


    I waved.


    ¡°Come in, Ino¡¯s still sleeping.¡±


    I scratched my cheeks. Man, this was embarrassing. I walked closer, and before I entered the store, I presented my offering.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Yamanaka Mother asked.


    I popped my board, wrote words. ¡°Finger sandwiches and muffins.¡±


    Yamanaka Mother moved away from the door and waved me in. I got past her, closed the door behind me, and followed her inside.


    ¡°Sandwiches? What¡¯s that?¡±


    I erased the words, wrote more. ¡°Thin slices of white bread with chicken, cheese, mayo, and lettuce.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± the woman hummed, looking at the miniature seal.


    We crossed the store and entered the residence. Inoichi was already up, drinking tea. He gave me a nod.


    ¡°Are you going to open a confectionery?¡± Yamanaka Mother asked.


    I considered that question. I did want to open a bakery. I just never had the time to think about it in detail. But that was a good idea, wasn¡¯t it? It could serve as a front for my ninja activities as the flower shop did for Ino¡¯s family.


    ¡°Come speak with me when you¡¯re ready.¡± The matriarch said. ¡°I can give you tips on managing a business.¡±


    I bowed in thanks.


    ¡°Now go wake up the princess, or you won¡¯t train today.¡± She said, waved me off.


    With one last bow to Inoichi, I changed paths and ran toward Ino¡¯s bedroom. I knocked, but when no one answered, I slid the door open and stepped inside.


    The blonde was fast asleep.


    I approached, gently shook her shoulder. ¡°Wake up, Ino-chan.¡±


    Ino mumbled, blinked. ¡°Hinata-chan?¡± Questing hands appeared from beneath the blanket, holding out to me. I held her hands, ready to help Ino out of the bed. It didn¡¯t happen. Ino pulled me onto it instead. She turned around, pulling the sheets over us, then promptly fell asleep again.


    I luxuriated in the warmth. This wasn¡¯t bad. Perhaps I could indulge for five minutes? I wiggled in Ino¡¯s embrace until I was comfortable. She smelled nice. But I couldn¡¯t indulge for long. Five minutes, then training.


    ¡°Weren¡¯t you going to train today?¡±


    Inoichi¡¯s voice woke me up from a pleasant dream. I opened a bleary eye. He was at the door, resting against the frame.


    ¡°It¡¯s halfway into the morning already.¡± He said.


    Oh... oh! Damn, the training!


    I disentangled from Ino and got out of bed. The blonde turned around, pulled the covers over her head. Inoichi shook his head, smiled, left the room. I turned back to Ino. The nap was nice, but it was time to train!


    ¡°Wake up, Ino-chan.¡± I shook the blondie and whispered.


    ¡°Don¡¯t wanna,¡± she whined.


    It was time for my secret weapon. ¡°If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll give the cupcakes to Naruto-kun.¡±


    Twenty minutes later, we were at the training field. Ino still looked sleepy, and her hair was a bit of a mess, but that was fine. She was pretty anyhow, anywhere, anytime.


    God, so sappy. I had to control this. What was I? A teen in love?


    ¡°...¡±


    I ignored that thought, popped my comms board.


    ¡°I have something for you,¡± I wrote.


    Ino yawned. Read the message.


    ¡°What is it?¡± she asked.


    I pulled the small bag I had prepared and presented it to Ino. She took it, opened and found the bracelets and necklace.


    ¡°What is this? It¡¯s pretty.¡± She said, running a finger over the purple stone in the necklace.


    ¡°The Ultimate Variable Weight Distribution System For The Discerning Shinobi.¡± I wrote.


    Ino looked at the board. Blinked. ¡°The what?¡±


    My shoulders slumped. I erased the cool name and wrote the boring description: ¡°Weight seals to help with training.¡±


    Once she had read, I showed her mine.


    Ino walked closer, looked at the bracelets, then the necklace.


    ¡°Are they the same?¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°Let me see it.¡± She said, pointing to my seals.


    I tilted my head, shrugged. Removed the bracelets ¡ª ankle and arm ¡ª removed the necklace. Placed them in Ino''s hand.


    She picked it up, looked at them. Nodded.


    ¡°How do they work?¡± She asked, then clasped mine on her arms.


    I blinked. I was still surprised when Ino also clasped the ankle ones, then handed me over the black necklace.


    ¡°Help me put it?¡±


    I nodded, took it, walked behind Ino. She pulled up her hair, exposing the back of her neck. My fingers brushed against her skin while I was tying the necklace.


    Ino giggled. ¡°It tickles.¡±


    Damn, it was a lost cause. I sighed.


    ¡°How do they work?¡± Ino asked again.


    She didn¡¯t let me answer. She took the purple bracelets and clasped them around my arm. Same with the ankle ones. She faced me, ordered. ¡°Turn around.¡±


    I did.


    My hair wasn¡¯t long enough to cause trouble for her, but I did the same as she did, exposing my neck. After she¡¯d tied the necklace, I took the board. ¡°Send chakra in on each. Adjust how much you want them to weigh.¡±


    I stopped. Thought back on what Karin had asked. Wrote more words.


    ¡°They don¡¯t make you heavier, just make your muscles think you¡¯re heavier.¡±


    I saw the moment Ino activated it. She groaned, but unlike Karin, she didn¡¯t fall.


    ¡°Ow, ow. Forty is good, right?¡± She asked with eyes full of expectation.


    I opened my mouth. Closed it. Looked away. Then nodded.


    ¡°Hinata-chan,¡± Ino said, voice almost like a growl. ¡°How much is yours?¡±


    I turned around, power walked deeper into the training field toward the wooden dummies.


    ¡°Let¡¯s train Ino-chan!¡± I said instead of writing. I didn¡¯t look back. ¡°Taijutsu?¡± I asked, hoping to distract Ino.


    ¡°Hinata-chan! How much!¡±

 7.15

    ¡°How...¡± Ino wheezed, taking deep breaths. Sweat poured out of her every pore. ¡°Is this...¡± She lifted her arms, tried to punch the dummy. ¡°Even possible?¡±


    I understood Ino very well. Training with seals was a different beast, but I still think she was overdoing it.


    ¡°Lower the weights a bit?¡± I wrote, showed Ino my board.


    She wanted to get stronger, but it was her first time doing this. Abusing it like she was now might backfire.


    Ino¡¯s scathing glare was my response. She still hadn¡¯t let it go, huh?


    I wrote more words. ¡°Ino-chan, It took me almost two years to reach the same amount in each seal.¡± I tried again.


    ¡°And... how... old¡ª ¡± Ino shuddered, wheezed again. ¡°Were you?¡±


    I looked away. I was seven, maybe eight? I didn¡¯t remember the details that well. I looked back at Ino, still trying to hit the dummy. I wrote more words.


    ¡°Fill your arms and legs with chakra. It helps.¡± Once the blonde had read, I erased the words and wrote others. ¡°In the evening, soak in hot water. It¡¯ll hurt tomorrow, but don¡¯t give up, okay?¡±


    If she wasn¡¯t backing down, the least I could do was help.


    It was the third day since my return, which left me two days to what would be the most embarrassing dinner of all time and three days to what could be a deadly confrontation with the Hyuga.


    I wasn¡¯t keen on entering the Hyuga compound. I had only agreed because Shisui promised to come with to mediate things. Whatever that meant.


    But right now, I sat on the grass of training field three. Ino had her head on my lap, and I pretended I didn¡¯t see the tears in her eyes.


    Silly girl. Abusing weight seals on her first day wasn¡¯t smart.


    When I went to her house this morning and found her worse than a shambling zombie, I tried to convince her to stay in bed and rest for the day, but Ino refused. She put on a brave face while we were still in front of her parents, only to break down once we were alone.


    Could I do something to help?


    ¡°Ino-chan, I¡¯ll try something that might help, okay?¡± I whispered. At this point, I didn¡¯t even know why I didn¡¯t speak all the time. The pain from speaking was nothing when compared to the bone seals. Habit, maybe?


    Ino, the poor thing, groaned. I took that as a yes.


    I wasn¡¯t a masseuse, but I was utterly familiar with my muscles and body, given the amount of meditation time I spent trying to learn all the details about the seals and after resting from my training sessions.


    The tip of my index finger touched the shoulder I¡¯d seen Ino try to relieve the pain more than once. I pushed my chakra inside the muscles, circled it, and stimulated it like I did to mine after a training session.


    The breathy moan-sigh Ino let out told me it worked.


    I stopped the chakra flow and removed my finger. Ino whined, like I had just taken her favorite candy away. I created many, many chakra threads. Who needed fingers, right? Why not go all in?


    My ears were still burning hours later. It had been a success on all accounts. What I had forgotten was how massages can cause pleasure, even more so after intense training sessions. Ino¡¯s moans would haunt me until the end of my days.


    But it had worked! Within fifteen minutes, Ino recovered enough to move. The improv massage session lasted for about an hour.


    ¡°...¡±


    Now, we were discussing training strategies, and I was trying to convince Ino Kage Bushin was the training cheat.


    ¡°Shadow clones?¡± Ino asked.


    I nodded, and my threads wrote the message. ¡°You need to be careful because the jutsu splits your chakra between the clones, but it helps with training.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    Well, this might be a secret, but maybe not? Kakashi-sensei already knew it, Naruto also knew it.


    ¡°The clones are independent copies,¡± I wrote. ¡°Once they disperse, you receive their memories and experiences. Even if you create just one clone, it¡¯s like double the training time.¡±


    Ino scowled. ¡°So, is it just more training? I¡¯ll have to suffer double?¡±


    I opened my mouth. Closed it. Ino wasn¡¯t wrong. I nodded.


    Ino¡¯s scowl turned worse.


    After Kage Bushin, I taught Ino Shunshin no Jutsu, and Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu.


    Ino, for her part, taught me a trapping technique for which she had no name. I recognized it for what it was: the one she used when fighting Sakura in the original show to trap her with hair. Ino¡¯s family used this technique to immobilize the enemy and hit them with mind transfer. She also taught me another one, which Azuma insisted her team learn, a defensive earth release that created a wall on demand: Doton: Renga no Jutsu.


    Right now, Ino was showing me her family jutsu.


    ¡°Let me show you,¡± Ino said. Her hands flashed with seals. She pointed towards me, and immediately, I felt the chakra trying to invade my head. My own rose in response, but this time, I held it back. This was a demonstration of her family¡¯s techniques; there was no need to interrupt Ino¡¯s jutsu.


    There was this moment of weightlessness like I wasn¡¯t in my body anymore.


    ¡°Huh? It worked?¡± I heard my voice say. I felt the sting of pain in my throat, but it was distant, muted.


    ¡°Ow, ow, ow,¡± I heard it again. ¡°Why does it hurt so much?¡± My voice whined. The chakra inside my head vanished, and I regained control of my body.


    Ino covered her mouth with one hand before she turned to the side and spilled her guts out. Her face crumpled on a mess of tears and snot.


    What happened?


    I got up, walked to Ino, knelt beside her. I rubbed slow circles on her back. Once we cleaned the mess, Ino hugged me like I was a lost puppy who needed help or something. I didn¡¯t mind being hugged, but I wasn¡¯t sure why she was hugging me.


    It took her minutes to speak again.


    ¡°Why are you always in pain, Hinata-chan?¡± Her voice trembled.


    I tilted my head. Thought about Ino¡¯s jutsu. Ah, right, damn. I hadn¡¯t considered that.


    ¡°Orochimaru left seals inside my body,¡± I whispered.


    Ino shuddered.


    ¡°One of them is trying to kill me, and I¡¯m failing to contain it.¡±


    Ino gawked at me, her expression caught between disbelief and anger. Then she shot to her feet and yanked on my arm, trying to haul me up. ¡°We¡¯re asking Dad to help.¡±


    I didn¡¯t budge. Ino kept pulling my arm, but she wasn¡¯t strong enough to move me if I didn¡¯t want to be moved. She yanked again, and again. When I didn¡¯t follow, she whirled on me.


    ¡°What?¡±


    How could I tell Ino I didn¡¯t trust people in the village to poke around my insides? I was willing to trust Inoichi, but he wasn¡¯t a seal master or a medic-nin, to my knowledge. Could I really let some stranger tamper with the seals inside me? What if that person screwed up? What if they didn¡¯t have my best interest in mind?


    ¡°Remember I told you about Danzo?¡± I wrote out.


    Ino read the message, nodded.


    ¡°How can I be sure whoever your dad finds won¡¯t be a spy?¡±


    Ino¡¯s face turned dark, teeth clenched. ¡°Can¡¯t we just talk to him, please? Maybe he knows something that might help, even if you don¡¯t let anyone check the seals.¡±


    Ino¡¯s pleading eyes stabbed my heart. Could I refuse it? I couldn¡¯t. I sighed, nodded.


    Ino¡¯s face lit up, and she dragged me toward her house.


    One thing followed another. Before I knew it, I was being led into Konoha¡¯s hospital, except instead of a regular room, we went underground. Ino and Inoichi never left my side, which went a long way in making me feel better. With the mind ninja here, the chances a spy would try to mess with me were all but nil, right?


    Unless the mind ninja was the spy.


    I shuddered, pushed away that thought. Couldn¡¯t live without trusting people.


    The underground room stretched wide, looking like it took up the entire floor. Against the walls, I saw computers and other diagnostic tools, a trolley, desks, computer monitors, and several other tools that were a mix of medicine and fuinjutsu.


    The door opened, and two people entered. One I recognized immediately¡ªthe new Hokage. The other was a young woman dressed in a black kimono with a fishnet shirt under it.


    ¡°Hello, Hinata-san,¡± Shisui said when he approached. Now that I was closer, I got a better look at the woman: short dark hair, black eyes, and a sallow and tired face. ¡°This is Shizune,¡± he said, gesturing to the woman. ¡°Tsunade¡¯s apprentice.¡±


    Oh... oh! Damn, Shizune was here? Fangirl-sama, who had been sleeping for the past days, stirred.


    ¡°I see you recognize the name,¡± Inoichi said. There was this strange gleam in his eyes I couldn¡¯t place. I nodded.


    The door swung open again, cutting the conversation short. Another figure stepped inside.


    Tall and broad-shouldered. Spiky white hair pulled into a long ponytail. Red lines slashed down his face. A forehead protector stamped with the Kanji for ''Oil.'' The big rolled scroll strapped to his back.


    Jiraiya walked until he was in front of us.


    I shook, just a bit. I had seen the Ero-sennin once when Naruto taught me the frog summoning jutsu, but at the time, I was too tired and didn¡¯t interact with him; but now? The man, the legend, was here on my behalf. How could I stay calm?


    ¡°You¡¯re..., you¡¯re...¡± My whisper was hoarser than usual.


    Ino gave me a strange glance, then looked back at the newcomer.


    Jiraiya heard me. He smiled. Took a pose.


    ¡°I¡¯m the most holy hermit of Mount Myoboku: the Frog Sannin. Pleased to meet ya, young lady!¡±


    Shisui looked at me; I caught the brief hints of a smile. ¡°I invited Lord Jiraiya. He might know more about Orochimaru¡¯s seals.¡±


    My mind focused like never before, inspiration struck. I knew what I had to do. Something that was missing, and only now I realized. A fundamental part of me that couldn¡¯t be denied. Something I couldn¡¯t not do it, if I was ever to be myself again.


    With trembling hands, I rummaged through my stuff, happy I had already started resupplying my essential supplies. Out popped my comms board, and my threads wrote my message. That got me a few raised eyebrows from everyone around, aside from Ino.


    I took samples of my good impression kit v:2.2. Out popped the cupcakes and tea. I turned the board around so that people could read my message.


    My words spelled: ¡°Please, take care of me, Ero-sennin!¡±

 7.16

    Jiraiya¡¯s smile turned brittle before he burst out laughing.


    ¡°Hayahahya. You¡¯re that brat¡¯s little heartache, huh?¡±


    I scowled. Crossed both arms, made the perfect denial X across my chest. My threads even propped my comms board and wrote the message.


    ¡°Denied!¡±


    Jiraiya laughed even harder. Beside me, Ino snorted, glared at the old man. The other adults just smiled, like they¡¯d seen something nice, not Ero-sennin blasphemies.


    It took a moment longer until Jiraiya calmed down. Once he did, the man summoned a frog and sat on top of it. No one batted an eye or complained. I wouldn¡¯t have dared to, either. For all his bluster, Jiraiya was op as hell. The man could very well do whatever he wanted.


    I took notes, however. I remembered the horse-sized badger guards. Would they let me use them for improv seating?


    ...


    Next time, I would seal some chairs or stools. That way, I could sit down.


    Conversations between the adults happened while I was distracted thinking about seating arrangements. The sannin greeted Shizune, exchanged a few quiet words with her. He greeted Ino, Inoichi, and Shisui.


    ¡°Out with it,¡± Jiraiya said, looking at the Hokage. ¡°What was so important that I had to stop my research?¡±


    I noticed Shizune also looked curious. They hadn¡¯t been told?


    Shisui looked at me, I saw the unspoken question. I nodded.


    ¡°Young Hinata is another survivor of Orochimaru¡¯s experiments,¡± the Hokage said.


    Shizune¡¯s face turned into a blank mask. Jiraiya nodded. Well, I guess the Sannin already knew most of the details.


    ¡°Inoichi informed me of new developments.¡± Shisui turned to me. ¡°Could you explain?¡±


    I looked around. The area was big enough. I walked further from them, placed my hand on the ground. Black chakra lines spread from my hand, replicating the diagram Orochimaru had branded into my mind that day in the Forest of Death.


    Once it was done, I took a few steps to the side, imprinted the key, a few more steps, and the lock I cobbled together.


    ¡°This is the seal,¡± my threads wrote. ¡°Until a month ago, it was under control, but I ran out of chakra escaping, and now I can¡¯t stop it anymore.¡±


    Shizune was the first to approach, looking the seal over. Jiraiya was next. The frog went puff and the sannin walked around the black lines, scratching his chin.


    ¡°Shikoku Fuin,¡± he said, glancing at me before turning back to the seal. ¡°Kakashi taught you that?¡±


    I nodded, but the sannin wasn¡¯t paying attention to me. Inoichi, Ino, and Shisui also approached. They looked interested, but not the same as Shizune and Jiraiya.


    ¡°This...¡± Shizune started, then stopped. She looked at Shisui, then at me.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Jiraiya confirmed.


    What were they seeing? I knew all the details of the diagram, even if parts of it still made no sense to me. I knew what it did and what it was doing. But was there something more?


    ¡°It¡¯s incomplete,¡± Jiraiya said, still walking around the first diagram.


    ¡°See here?¡± Shizune had approached the frog sannin. ¡°You think?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± he nodded.


    What were they seeing? I approached, looked over the same area they were looking at. That one part dealt with the reinforcement of my body, the reason that I got stronger the older I got.


    ¡°And this part here,¡± Jiraiya said, pointing to another node. That node wasn¡¯t referenced anywhere in Orochimaru¡¯s data dump. I could only guess what it did.


    He turned to me.


    ¡°Is there more?¡±


    I nodded, then shook my head. I took my board, erased the words, but before I could write, Jiraiya stopped me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s fix this first,¡± he said, approaching me.


    I looked up, then up some more. The man was huge.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen examples of his work to keep his victims from speaking.¡± His finger burned with visible chakra.


    Under my disbelieving eyes, he poked me in the throat. It stung and burned, like whatever the seal on my throat was didn¡¯t want to be modified. Then it stopped.


    ¡°Can¡¯t remove it without more preparation, but with this, you should be able to speak for a short while and not hurt yourself.¡±


    I felt things around my throat. Like Jiraiya said, the seal now had an on/off switch. That was the best way I could explain it. It wasn¡¯t free. I had to burn chakra to deactivate it, which seemed paradoxical.


    A horrid feeling brewed inside of me. I schooled my face. Took a deep breath. I wanted to scream. To claw his eyes out. To punch his face. To bust his damn balls.


    If it was this easy, why the fuck hadn¡¯t he done so before?


    Seven years. Why the fuck had it taken seven years?


    Tears fell from my eyes unbidden. I looked away, wiped my eyes.


    Jiraiya mistook the sentiment, smiled, patted my head.


    I did my best not to slap the offending appendage away. Thankfully, Ino was soon by my side, smiling and crying, giving me a reason to get away from the sannin.


    ¡°Hinata-chan,¡± she whispered.


    ¡°Ino,¡± I said back, buried my head on her shoulder, wrapped my hands around her to avoid doing something stupid.


    There was a bit of conversation behind us, but it entered one ear, left through the other, no words were captured.


    I knew I was being irrational. I knew I was overreacting. I just couldn¡¯t stop. It felt so cheap. In my mind, I¡¯d master fuinjutsu, break the seals on my own, surpass Orochimaru. I never complained, even from the beginning. It was just another reason to learn more, study harder, another minor inconvenience I could deal with.


    I pulled deep, wheezing breaths, my face still hidden on Ino¡¯s shoulder. I was making a mess there. I hope she¡¯d forgive me.


    Minutes dragged on, and the more rational side of my mind got to work. For one, I knew Jiraiya had often been away from Konoha. Years, if I wasn¡¯t mistaken. He might not even have been here when stuff happened in the years that followed. Two, Jiraiya didn¡¯t have the motive to seek me out and help. Why would he? I was just another poor sod suffering in this world, out of sight, out of mind. I think he only did something here because he was just there, and it cost him nothing.


    I don¡¯t think Jiraiya was the type to go out and seek the poor and desperate.


    The situation was different if that poor and desperate just happened to be in front of him. Take the original Akatsuki orphans, for example. The man abandoned the war front for three years to train the kids.


    Calmer now, I released Ino. She looked worried. I wiped my face, forced a brittle smile. It was fine, this changed nothing. If they wanted to help now, that was only in my favor. It didn¡¯t matter that the more they acted like they cared, the worse it felt.


    I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling they were building to something horrid.


    My recovery was noticed. People gave me kind looks, not knowing what went inside my mind. I nodded, smiled again.


    ¡°Thank you, Ero-sennin.¡±


    My voice was still a bit scratchy. Damn, all that work for the sexy husky down the drain.


    Jiraiya rolled his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t learn Naruto¡¯s bad habits. It¡¯s Frog-Sannin.¡±


    I cast a brief look around. Shizune and Shisui were discussing something near the imprint I had created. Inoichi wasn¡¯t here anymore. I hadn¡¯t seen him leave.


    ¡°From what I know,¡± I said to Jiraiya. ¡°There¡¯s still two more seals that I don¡¯t know what they do. In my heart, in my eyes.¡±


    The conversation between Shizune and Shisui stopped, they approached.


    Jiraiya scratched his chin, looked at Shizune, who shook her head.


    ¡°The good news is,¡± he said, looking at me. ¡°No one tried to remove the seals when you were younger. You¡¯d not have survived the attempt.¡±


    I glared at the man. That was his good news?


    There was another unspoken conversation between Shizune and Jiraiya.


    ¡°If nothing is done, you¡¯ll die in a few months,¡± Ero-sennin said, still scratching his chin.


    The growl escaped me before I could stop it. ¡°So, I should wait until I croak, then?¡±


    Ino gasped, grabbed my arm. ¡°What?¡± she demanded.


    I really, really wanted to kick his nuts.


    ¡°I can help you contain the seal; it won¡¯t last forever but it should give you time to find another solution.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you do anything?¡± Ino demanded.


    ¡°If Tsunade was here, perhaps.¡±


    ¡°What if you had Orochimaru¡¯s research notes? There was another diagram there, similar but different.¡± I said, teeth still gritted.


    ¡°That might help,¡± The Ero-sennin said. ¡°But the problem is that you won¡¯t survive without Tsunade, maybe not even with her.¡± Jiraiya pointed to the node that I didn¡¯t know what it was or did.


    ¡°This part here will fight back if we try to remove the seal,¡± he looked back at me. ¡°You already saw part of that when you ran out of chakra, it triggered some of the fail-safes to prevent removal.¡± He looked at the other diagrams I had inscribed, then back at me. ¡°Not to mention we¡¯d need to cut you open to reach the seals.¡±


    Great, fantastic.


    Now I had to find the lab data. Track down Tsunade. Deal with the council. The dinners. The Hyuga.


    Peachy.

 7.17

    I lay on the cold floor with nothing but a flimsy towel to protect my modesty. Shizune and Jiraiya paced around me, tracing symbols in black ink. An hour had passed, and they didn¡¯t seem close to finishing.


    Did I really have to be here for the creation of the seal outer framework?


    Shisui had left some time ago. The Ero-sennin had insisted Ino leave too, but thanks to all gods, Best Girl Ino refused to abandon me alone with them.


    ¡°Who taught you fuinjutsu?¡± Jiraiya asked while drawing symbols closer to my head.


    ¡°The Old Man gave me primers,¡± I said, still feeling conflicted about the lack of pain when speaking. ¡°But it wasn¡¯t until Orochimaru¡¯s that I understood.¡±


    ¡°And the storage?¡±


    From my place on the ground, I shrugged.


    ¡°Seemed the logical thing to do, just connecting wires.¡±


    ¡°The training seals,¡± he said. ¡°What gave you the idea?¡±


    I grinned despite myself. Opened my mouth, then snapped it shut. I was about to say Rock Lee, but I hadn¡¯t ¡®known¡¯ the Beautiful Green Beast then. Or maybe that wasn¡¯t his question. I mulled it over, decided on another approach.


    ¡°I was tired of remaking the seals each time I wanted to increase the weights.¡±


    That was safe enough, wasn¡¯t it?


    ¡°Done,¡± Shizune announced somewhere to my right. I saw her wipe sweat from her brow, smearing a streak of black ink across her forehead. If she noticed, she didn¡¯t care.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be done in a moment,¡± Jiraiya answered to my left.


    The moment of quiet was only disturbed by the rustling noises of the ink brush.


    Jiraiya walked closer, used the brush to retouch a few of the lines crossing my body. He gave one last look, nodded.


    ¡°Done,¡± he said.


    Shizune approached, gave one last glance at the seal, nodded. She walked opposite Jiraiya, crouched and placed both hands on the ground. On the other side, Jiraiya did the same.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Hinata-chan,¡± I heard him say. ¡°This is going to hurt, just a bit.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have time to say anything. I felt the chakra building. There was blinding pain. I heard screaming. Mine or Ino¡¯s, I couldn¡¯t say.


    I opened my eyes. Light green walls, sterile smell, white curtains over the windows, a small cupboard by the side of the bed. This time, there was no jar with flowers or basket full of fruits on the cupboard.


    There was a chair by the bed, and Ino sat there. A worried Ino on the chair.


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, a bit dumbly. Sat up. ¡°Hi?¡±


    ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Her hand took mine, squeezed.


    I stopped to think about her question, inspected my body. For one, most of the pain was gone. There was still a smidgen left, but nothing like it was before.


    ¡°Most of the pain is gone,¡± I said.


    Ino nodded, wiped away a stray tear. I pulled her in a hug.


    ¡°How long was I out?¡± I asked, looking at the window.


    ¡°Just a couple of hours.¡±


    The hug lasted a moment longer before I released Ino. My clothes and bracelets were folded and piled by the side of the bed. I pulled the sheets away, got up, got dressed.


    This time, I noticed that Ino didn¡¯t leave the room while I put on my clothes. She did look away. There was a bit of pink on her neck. Cute.


    Ino¡¯s voice wavered. ¡°What are we going to do, Hinata-chan?¡±


    Now that I was calmer, more collected, and not in pain, plans formed in my mind. I knew what I had to do.


    ¡°We¡¯ll talk outside,¡± I said to Ino. The look on her face told me she understood my reason. She gave me a nod.


    After dressing, I dragged Ino with me and we left the hospital. There was a bit of a commotion before I left, some of the nurses wanted me to stay at least for the rest of the day, but my time was too limited to waste an entire day woolgathering and doing nothing.


    I led Ino back to training field three. Once there, I cast my chakra senses around; only when I sensed no one nearby did I sit down.


    Ino sat by my side but didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°First is the Hyuga,¡± I said in a low voice. ¡°I don¡¯t know what they want with me, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s pleasant.¡±


    Ino schooled her face. Gave me a severe nod.


    ¡°After that, the council.¡±


    ¡°Do you have a plan already?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Not yet. I¡¯ll know once I talk with Sasuke¡¯s mom tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll help?¡±


    ¡°Shisui hinted so,¡± I said.


    ¡°I talked to Dad,¡± Ino said, looking toward her home. ¡°He¡¯ll help you. Nara Shikaku will too, but he isn¡¯t sure about the Akimichi clan.¡±


    ¡°After the council, I¡¯ll ask Shisui to send me on a mission to find Tsunade.¡±


    ¡°The legendary healer?¡±


    ¡°The slug princess, yes.¡±


    ¡°What if he doesn¡¯t send you on that mission?¡±


    I shrugged. Cast my senses about again. Lowered my voice. ¡°If it¡¯s between obeying orders or trying to save my life...¡± I left the rest unsaid. But Ino was smart.


    Her face turned serious. She nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll come with you.¡± There was no doubt or hesitation in her voice.


    Time waited for no one. Hours blurred while I hung¡ªtrained with Ino, baked more of my essential supplies, prepped for the Uchiha dinner, picked new clothes, and ordered a new shinobi outfit. I still had plenty to do, but dinner time had arrived.


    Between all that, I found time to craft another set of weight seals. It was a gift for Hanabi. It was naive of me to hope things would work with the clan, but I guess that was what dreams were for.


    I encrypted these using the same method I used with the storage seals from the lab. I wasn¡¯t about to let the Hyuga profit from my efforts when things went to shit.


    But again, time waited for no one.


    Somehow, Karin had talked me into dressing in a white kimono. She tried to adorn my head in some strange hairdo, but short hair and a vigorous denial ended that disaster. But no amount of scowling saved me from her treating me like a dress-up doll. She even applied makeup!


    The giggles she let out when she thought I wasn¡¯t looking told me she was up to something. I just didn¡¯t know what yet.


    By my side was Naruto. To no one surprise, he wore another one of his orange jumpers. The brat kept sneaking glances my way.


    I wanted to slap the silly out of him.


    It took a few minutes more until Sasuke arrived. Kakashi-sensei was nowhere to be found. Maybe he wasn¡¯t coming? Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t the only one dressed up for the event. Sasuke had also opted out of his usual blue shirt and white shorts to wear what looked like a traditional kimono.


    A vein throbbed on my face. Karin¡¯s motives now plain to see. I heard giggles from inside the apartment. There would be retribution. Terrible, terrible retribution.


    ¡°Yo, Sasuke!¡± Naruto greeted the newcomer. ¡°What¡¯s up with that fancy robe?¡±


    Sasuke looked somewhat uncomfortable, but he smirked nonetheless. ¡°Don¡¯t you have anything else to wear? What, you''re afraid people won¡¯t see you if it¡¯s not orange?¡±


    Light bickering ensued, but it brought a smile to my face. It was nice to see Naruto have a friend who wasn¡¯t obsessed with another man.


    ¡°Hello, Hinata-chan,¡± Sasuke said, giving me a slight bow. Was that a bit of pink on his cheeks? ¡°You look good.¡±


    ¡°Hello Sasuke-kun.¡± I nodded back. ¡°You look good too.¡± I answered in kind, and immediately regretted it.


    There was this moment of silence where no one said anything. Naruto looked between me and Sasuke, scratched his head.


    God, please kill me now and end the awkwardness.


    ¡°Kakashi-sensei isn¡¯t coming?¡± Naruto asked.


    I shrugged, happy for a distraction. ¡°I invited him; no idea if he¡¯ll come,¡± I said.


    Naruto turned to me. ¡°No more writing board?¡±


    My smile soured somewhat before I grinned wider.


    ¡°Ero-sennin helped me with that.¡±


    ¡°Ehh? How?¡±


    Sasuke didn¡¯t seem keen on wasting time, however. ¡°Should we wait?¡±


    Naruto shrugged. I did, too.


    ¡°Better not,¡± I said, thinking about Kakashi-sensei and being on time. ¡°He¡¯ll probably show up¡ª¡± I felt the bundle of chakra appear behind me. ¡°¡ªthree hours later or something.¡±


    ¡°Mah, I wouldn''t leave my favorite genin and chunin waiting.¡±


    ¡°Sensei!¡± Naruto hollered.


    I turned around, waved at sensei. He looked even more haggard than usual, dressed in his official ninja attire. I guess that, like Naruto, he didn¡¯t care about appearances.


    I turned back to Sasuke. ¡°Lead the way, Sasuke-kun.¡±


    It¡¯s time to see what this dinner was about.

 7.18

    It was strange to walk into a walled village and see many people who shared similar looks. Black hair, tear troughs, and black eyes. Almost everyone was dressed in the familiar Uchiha blue.


    They weren¡¯t rare to spot in daily village life, them being the police and all. I had my fair share of run-ins with the police when I started using explosions in my training until they learned to ignore the mute girl in training field three.


    If it wasn''t for the others, I might have wandered off exploring the Uchiha village. It was my first time here, after all. My inherent dislike for Sasuke pushed me to keep him at arm¡¯s length most of the time. I wasn¡¯t as familiar with him as with Naruto, but the clan intrigued me, a lot. I wanted to know why Shisui and Itachi managed to break free from the Curse of Hatred.


    Most of the people we passed by cast wary glances our way. Undisguised stares followed us until we crossed exterior walls stamped with the Uchiha¡¯s symbol into a house yard. It didn¡¯t diminish my want to explore the place, sharp glares thrown my way or not.


    A small path led to a house of traditional architecture and sliding paper doors. Warm light spilled from inside, and a woman I recognized as Mikoto waited for us at the entrance.


    She bowed when we got closer.


    ¡°Thank you for coming,¡± she said, then gestured for us to enter.


    The house was spacious and mostly wooden. The floor was covered with tatami mats, with just a few elegant furnishings. She led us inside, and through a set of doors. Inside was an altar of some sort, with flowers and incense burning.


    Our destination was past the reception room, to a living room with an ample low table and several comfy-looking cushions for us to sit on.


    Itachi was already here. He wore a dark blue kimono that looked elegant on him. When we entered, he got up and bowed to us. I was torn between being happy and afraid. Vague memories from before coming here told me that Itachi was an absolute madman, capable of atrocities. And that was because he was a kind person at heart.


    The other part was just straight-up fangirl-sama. She wanted to cheer, maybe ask for his autograph. That would be weird, wouldn¡¯t it?


    ¡°Welcome, and thank you for coming,¡± he said.


    I held in a shudder or trembling. Wasn¡¯t sure which.


    ¡°Thanks!¡± Naruto hollered, then walked to the low table and plopped his butt on one of the cushions. Sasuke sat near Naruto, and they started chatting.


    I took out my offerings: an expensive sake bottle and baked pastries. Unsure about the protocols, I offered them to Itachi, who took them with a smile.


    ¡°Are these the famous cupcakes Sasuke keeps telling us about?¡±


    Behind me, Kakashi and Mikoto had started a conversation. To my side, Naruto and Sasuke¡¯s talk was getting animated.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about famous,¡± I deflected.


    There was this moment of awkward silence when I wasn¡¯t sure what to say. It didn¡¯t last. Hollering soon interrupted all other conversations.


    ¡°...better than that Chidori of yours!¡± Naruto bragged. He got up, and by his side, a clone appeared. Chakra started to build in his hand.


    Oh, no. I covered my ears.


    In a puff of smoke, Kakashi-sensei was behind Naruto. He held the brat¡¯s hand. ¡°Not inside the house, Naruto-kun.¡±


    Naruto was unperturbed by this turn of events.


    ¡°Outside, Sasuke, I¡¯ll show you!¡±


    It was Mikoto who walked closer now. ¡°How about you show it after dinner, Naruto-kun?¡±


    We sat around the table. Naruto was by my side. On the opposite side sat sensei and Mikoto. Itachi was at the head of the table, while Sasuke was on the other end.


    I don¡¯t know what I had expected. Maybe a parade of servants bringing food. Nothing of the sort happened. After we sat down, Mikoto served us tea, and while we drank, Itachi and Sasuke served dinner.


    Seeing both in such... homely scenes brought a smile to my face. I always thought Itachi¡¯s role in the story was one of the most tragic, even if I never understood why he did what he did. Were things so dire that he saw no other way than to kill his whole family?


    Anger flared at the thought, anger directed at Danzo and all these old codgers that for all their wisdom, were incapable of looking past their own boots and self interest.


    Dinner was a mix of veggies ¡ª boiled, sauteed, fresh ¡ª rice, and grilled fish.


    ¡°No broth...?¡± I heard Naruto¡¯s disbelieving whisper.


    He looked at the dinner like he couldn¡¯t understand why it wasn¡¯t ramen. Or why would someone go into trouble cooking something like this when buying ramen was much easier and faster?


    The conversation had turned into sharing stories, somehow. Naruto had shared about his favorite ramen and cupcakes, to no one''s surprise, and about beating the crap out of Mizuki and graduating. It was interesting to listen things from his perspective.


    From the head of the low table, Itachi pointed his chopsticks in my direction.


    ¡°Five years ago, we had a surge of reports about someone trying to attack the village.¡±


    Why was he pointing at me?


    ¡°When we investigated, it turned out that Hinata-chan had just learned how to create explosive tags and was... practicing.¡± He coughed, looked away. ¡°With a little too much zeal. We had to post an extra notice at the department to ignore the explosions from training field three.¡±


    I scowled. It wasn¡¯t that bad. Maybe a few dozen explosions a day. What did they expect me to do? Not train?


    ¡°It was just training,¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Hinata-chan has some really good training ideas,¡± Naruto bragged. ¡°Like using the shadow clones, and tree walking and the coin trick.¡±


    ¡°Coin trick?¡± Mikoto asked.


    ¡°Yeah! She keeps these coins stuck to her stomach all day, even while training other stuff.¡±


    Naruto babbled out things he shouldn¡¯t. I cringed. Not that I minded the knowledge spreading, but the image of me with coins stuck to my skin wasn¡¯t how I wanted to be remembered.


    ¡°Naruto-kun,¡± Kakashi-sensei said from the other side of the table. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t tell others secret training from your friends.¡±


    Naruto tilted his head. Scratched his blond hair. ¡°But Hinata-chan also told Sasuke.¡±


    Mikoto smiled, and Itachi shook his head. Sasuke got up from his cushion, grabbed Naruto by a headlock, and noogied the shit out of the Sunshine Brat.


    ¡°Don¡¯t spill secrets,¡± Sasuke said.


    After that, it didn¡¯t take long to finish the meal. After dinner, dessert was the pastries I had prepared, which Mikoto served with bitter tea. While we nibbled the sweets, conversation somehow turned to training, from there to the academy curriculum, Itachi¡¯s early graduation, and Kakashi-sensei¡¯s time as a student.


    ¡°Eh, Kakashi-sensei on a team?¡± Naruto asked, like the idea that Kakashi was a genin once never crossed his mind.


    Silent and brooding, Kakashi nodded.


    Oh, damn. I got it now. Kakashi¡¯s mood was because being here reminded him of Obito and Rin, right? I hadn¡¯t even considered that when I suggested to Sasuke that we should invite him.


    ¡°He was a student of the Fourth Hokage,¡± Mikoto said.


    Naruto¡¯s eyes shone like stars. He looked between Mikoto and Kakashi. I don¡¯t know why he was surprised. That was common knowledge, wasn¡¯t it? Maybe Naruto had forgotten? Or maybe my memories were playing tricks on me.


    ¡°Sensei!¡± Naruto hollered. ¡°Tell us about the Fourth Hokage!¡±


    I held my breath. I wasn¡¯t sure what was going to happen. I had no idea how Kakashi would react.


    ¡°Oh, my,¡± Kakashi-sensei said in the most tired voice I had ever heard from him. ¡°Look at the time; I have a report to submit.¡± He got up, bowed to our hosts. ¡°Thank you for the dinner.¡±


    Then he flickered away, disappeared.


    ¡°Eeh? Working at this hour?¡± Naruto complained, oblivious to the whole situation.


    That also signified the end of small talk. I caught a quick exchange of glances between Itachi and Mikoto before Itachi spoke.


    ¡°Naruto-kun, weren¡¯t you going to show us your new jutsu? Let¡¯s go outside,¡± he said, getting up from his place at the head of the table.


    ¡°You betcha! Come Sasuke, Hinata-chan, let me show you my amazing new jutsu!¡±


    ¡°You boys go ahead,¡± Mikoto said without getting up. ¡°I need to talk with Hinata-chan.¡±


    ¡°What about?¡± Naruto asked.


    Mikoto gave Naruto a gentle smile, then a wink. ¡°Girl¡¯s talk.¡±


    My face twitched. I wanted to go outside and see the inevitable mess Naruto would cause, and see how Itachi would react to it all. But that wasn¡¯t the reason I was here. I was here to gather allies. See if the Uchiha clan would support me.


    ¡°Come, Naruto.¡±


    Sasuke pulled Naruto to the courtyard, and once Itachi had also left, pulled the paper door close, leaving me alone with Mikoto.


    I was nervous about this whole thing. To stave off embarrassment, I popped out more pastries and tea.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Mikoto said after nibbling one of the cupcakes.


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± I said back. I fidgeted, looked toward the door, the plates and stuff that were still on the table. I got up and started picking things up to take them to the kitchen. We could work and talk, right?


    ¡°Let me help, Hinata-chan,¡± Mikoto said, doing the same.


    We worked in silence for a few moments before the woman broached the reason for the dinner.


    ¡°Shisui told us about what you did, and I can¡¯t thank you enough.¡±


    I glanced at her from my place in the sink, washing dishes. She still had that same gentle smile on her face.


    I shrugged. I wouldn¡¯t break the first mission I ever received and confirm or deny anything. I hope that didn¡¯t come off as rude or something.


    ¡°We¡¯ll help you as much as we can,¡± she said, picking a plate and letting water fall over it.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, feeling like my weight seals had been disabled, and I was back at my base self again.


    ¡°What do you think of Sasuke?¡± Mikoto asked.


    I tilted my head. That question had come out of nowhere. I guess the vital talk was done, and it was time to learn Sasuke¡¯s embarrassing children''s stories. I grinned. I didn¡¯t mind acquiring blackmail material.


    ¡°He¡¯s... somewhat too intense,¡± I said. I hoped that didn¡¯t sound bad. I think I was Sasuke¡¯s friend, but I still couldn¡¯t put away the preconceived ideas from the show.


    Mikoto chuckled. ¡°That he is.¡±


    I picked up another plate, dunked it into soapy water.


    ¡°What do you think about marrying him?¡±


    The world came to a screeching halt. My grip tightened, and the plate shattered, just like my brain at that moment. Pieces of porcelain cut into my palm. It stung.


    I looked wide-eyed at Mikoto, who was still smiling at me. What the hell was that?

 7.19

    Deer in headlights. That was me, alright.


    ¡°You¡¯re hurt.¡±


    Mikoto¡¯s eyes landed on my palm, on the red seeping from my skin. She stepped closer, took my hand, and rinsed it in the flowing water.


    ¡°It¡¯s not deep,¡± she said after looking over the cut. ¡°I¡¯ll bandage it for you.¡±


    I was so bewildered that I didn¡¯t even react when she dragged me out of the kitchen and to what looked like a bedroom of sorts. She sat me on the bed, turned around, rummaged through drawers and boxes until she found herbal-smelling pieces of fabric. I was still catatonic while she cleaned and tied the cut.


    ¡°A future marriage agreement would make things a lot easier for you, I think,¡± Mikoto said, tying the bandages. ¡°It ties you directly to our clan, and any action against you, can also be considered an action against us.¡±


    She finished arranging the fabric, cupped my hand in both of hers.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want you thinking we¡¯d only help if you accept. We¡¯ll do our best, no matter what you decide, but think it over?¡± She patted my hand. ¡°You¡¯re young, and any marriage is still years away, but the engagement might help your council problem.¡±


    The broken pieces of my mind grasped for anything I could say. I wanted to flee from here so bad.


    ¡°What¡¯s Sasuke¡¯s opinion on this?¡± I croaked out.


    Mikoto laughed. ¡°He¡¯ll never admit it, but I think he¡¯ll be the happiest if you say yes.¡±


    Unwanted and uninvited thoughts barged into my head. In them I was older, carrying a toddler in my arms, with Sasuke by my side.


    .


    ..


    ...


    ....


    .....


    Delete, delete. God fucking dammit, delete!


    Mikoto leaned over, kissed my forehead. ¡°Now, let¡¯s see what the boys are up to?¡±


    She led me toward the yard, and each step I took was heavier than the last. Dammit. What the fuck was happening?


    Outside, One Naruto held a complete Rasengan while another taunted Sasuke. Emosuke tried to look indifferent, but the line of his jaw and the set of his shoulders told me he wanted to do something silly. Thankfully, Itachi was there to keep the situation under control.


    I didn¡¯t miss the knowing glance he threw my way.


    Yeah, right. This marriage thing wasn¡¯t a spur of the moment decision then. Did Sasuke also know? Was that why he¡¯d been acting even more brooding than usual?


    What the hell was I going to do?


    I was back in the apartment.


    Karin caught me in a tight hug before I even stepped inside. Thank god she didn¡¯t say anything or ask questions. She just held me, and I did my best not to bolt. I didn¡¯t even know where I would go.


    The redhead guided me to the bedroom, and put me in bed, and settled by my side soon after. My brain just wasn¡¯t working right now. There were a lot of thoughts clamoring for attention. Most of them were a variation of something drastic and disproportional.


    It was so bad that I had to get up and bake the moment my brain asked: ¡®Should I do a Danzo and go on the Uchiha extermination route?¡¯


    After that, I clocked out. I disentangled from Karin¡¯s grabbiness, went to the kitchen, baked until morning. No thoughts, no strange ideas, just baking and more baking.


    Karin was still asleep when I left to meet Ino for our morning training.


    I met the blonde in front of her house. The sun peeking from behind the horizon.


    Ino yawned. ¡°Good morning, Hinata-chan.¡±


    I gave her a tired wave. ¡°Morning, Ino-chan.¡±


    We walked in silence for a few minutes. Peace didn¡¯t last.


    ¡°How was the dinner?¡±


    Something ugly escaped my grasp and crept into my face. Ino noticed before I could hide it away.


    ¡°...They won¡¯t help?¡±


    I shook my head, nodded, shook my head again.


    ¡°They will help,¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good!¡± Ino cheered, saw my face. ¡°It isn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s good,¡± I said.


    We walked a few more minutes in silence, until we arrived at the training field. Ino kept sneaking glances my way. Training proceeded in tense silence, broken only by grunts of exertion and sometimes pained whimpers.


    Ino was abusing the weights again. Silly girl. She didn¡¯t learn.


    The basics of our training was a mix of muscle conditioning, followed by practicing jutsu or taijutsu.


    When training was over, Ino lay on the ground, groaning, but also tapping over her shoulder. I rolled my eyes. Was I hooking her into post training relaxation the same way she was now hooked into sweets? That was a scary thought.


    Ino¡¯s distracting noises kept my mind off things while the session lasted. In the afternoon, I had yet another trouble ahead. The Hyuga compound visit.


    The night without sleep was now catching up to me. I leaned against the wooden dummy, looking at the training field entrance trying to muster the motivation to get on with my day.


    Ino sat by my side, leaned against me. ¡°What happened? You¡¯ve been acting strange.¡±


    I didn¡¯t want to tell Ino, but her question was a good one. Why was I acting strange? There was no way I was marrying Sasuke. Not even for political advantages. I knew I was overreacting. I just couldn¡¯t control it.


    No, enough being silly. ¡°Uchiha Mikoto asked if I wanted to marry in the Uchiha clan,¡± I said, my voice flat.


    ¡°Marry Sasuke-kun?¡± Ino asked. Her voice sounded strained. I didn¡¯t look at her. I didn¡¯t want to see whatever face she was making.


    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna.¡±


    A hand grabbed my shoulder. Squeezed hard. ¡°Why? It''s Sasuke we¡¯re talking about!¡±


    I made sure my eyes were focused anywhere but Ino.


    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna.¡±


    ¡°But won¡¯t that help you? They are strong and have a lot of influence.¡±


    I didn¡¯t say anything. Kept my mouth shut. There was this tense moment of silence where no one spoke. The hand left my shoulder. I heard movement, and Ino¡¯s head leaned against mine.


    Minutes stretched into eternity.


    In the original story, Ino had a crush on Sasuke for a long time. Things only changed after the time skip when she met Sai. In this timeline, I knew she wasn¡¯t as obsessed with Emo boy as she once was. Even Sakura was moving on, setting her sights on Konoha¡¯s Beautiful Green Beast.


    ¡°I think you should accept,¡± Ino said. Her voice was low, hesitant.


    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna,¡± I whispered back.


    ¡°Why?¡± She asked.


    Before my brain could process, my mouth acted.


    ¡°I like girls.¡± I heard my voice saying.


    There was a soft gasp, ¡°Oh.¡±


    My insides churned, I felt immediately sick. Why the hell had I said that? That was game over, wasn¡¯t it? I didn¡¯t even know if same sex relationships were a thing here.


    Ino moved. Her head found a more comfortable spot on my shoulder. ¡°So that¡¯s why you never showed interest in Sasuke-kun?¡±


    Confusion hijacked my panic. Brain OS was still frozen, but my traitorous mouth kept running. ¡°I know he¡¯s handsome, but I don¡¯t like his personality, and all the brooding.¡±


    Ino giggled. ¡°What¡¯s your type then?¡±


    I didn¡¯t get the chance to answer.


    ¡°No, let me guess.¡± Ino cut me off. ¡°It¡¯s blond,¡± my heart tried to flee from my chest. The butterflies rebelled, toes tingled. ¡°Small, very loud, and loves ramen!¡±


    The feelings died a cruel death.


    ¡°Denied!¡± I growled.


    Ino burst out laughing, then into fits of giggling.


    This was... nice. I wasn¡¯t happy to admit it, but I might have overreacted to his whole marriage thing.


    We stayed there in comfortable silence. This was very nice.


    ¡°Was that why you kissed me?¡± Ino¡¯s voice was barely more than a whisper. ¡°And what did you mean by favorite in the whole show?¡±

 7.20

    The question caught me off-guard, but panic wasn¡¯t my response. Without realizing it, I had already decided I wanted Ino to know most of the stuff I was keeping secret. Not everything. I don¡¯t think I could ever talk about everything.


    Warm, bubbly feelings danced in my chest. Had Ino been thinking about that moment in the forest? I hadn¡¯t scared her with the bloody kiss or the crazy talk?


    ¡°It¡¯s the secret I can¡¯t talk about,¡± I said.


    Ino¡¯s voice was a sad whisper. ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°But I want to tell you, anyway.¡±


    Ino¡¯s head left my shoulder, hands gripped it instead, turning me until we faced one another.


    ¡°Are you sure? If it¡¯s a secret, I can wait.¡±


    I looked around, cast my chakra perception. There was no chakra nearby. I looked back at Ino. Her brows were furrowed, but her eyes were intense, searching mine, as if looking for a piece of a puzzle.


    ¡°There¡¯s this place Kakashi-sensei took me once, kind of a private restaurant,¡± I said. Ino nodded. ¡°It¡¯s private and quiet,¡± I added.


    Ino blinked, tilted her head. The furrow on her brows disappeared. She gave me a firm nod.


    ¡°I¡¯m going with you to meet the Hyuga,¡± she said. ¡°We can go there after.¡±


    The warm feeling on my chest grew. I smiled. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be dangerous, the Hokage will also be there.¡±


    Ino looked at my face, touched my cheeks. ¡°Then I need to go home and get ready,¡± she said.


    I leaned on the touch, just a bit. ¡°I¡¯ll meet you at the shop, and bring supplies.¡±


    ¡°Cupcakes?¡± Her voice was hopeful.


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Among other things.¡±


    Her face bloomed into a full smile. She nodded again, got up. I did the same.


    ¡°Meet in one hour?¡±


    ¡°Make it two,¡± I said. It was cutting too close to the scheduled time, but I had things I needed to prepare.


    Ino waved, sped toward her house. I also left, took the highway toward the commercial district. Houses blurred past me until I landed by the store entrance. I walked inside, waved at the Owner-san. He waved back.


    ¡°Oji-san, give me two jars of your best honey.¡±


    The owner did a double take, blinked a few times. ¡°Oh my, you can speak now? That¡¯s marvelous!¡±


    I smiled. ¡°I¡¯m in a bit of a hurry. I¡¯ll drop by later to chat?¡±


    ¡°Right, right,¡± Owner-san waved me off. ¡°You shinobi are always running everywhere, with no time to sit and talk.¡±


    After that, he went deeper into his shop, returned a few minutes later with two sealed jars and a small clay dish containing a dollop of honey. He placed everything on the counter, and picked up a bowl with water and a hand towel.


    ¡°Here, have a taste,¡± he said, handing me the dish. ¡°These are more expensive than you usually buy, but I¡¯m sure they will satisfy.¡±


    I washed and dried my hands, then stuck my finger into the honey. Finger went into mouth, moan escaped mouth. Damn this one was good. Owner-san smiled, crow¡¯s feet showing up by his eyes.


    After I polished the sample, I composed myself. ¡°These will do.¡±


    He nodded. Under his interested eyes, I paid for the honey and stored the jars in seals.


    ¡°Hinata-chan, you¡¯ve been away for a while, so don¡¯t forget about this old man. Bring me some of the storage seals later.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it as soon as possible,¡± I said, then waved and ran out of the store.


    With the honey acquired, I went toward the clothing store. The clerk, Oba-san, saw me, smiled, and took a package from under the counter.


    ¡°One set is ready,¡± she said, tapping the package. ¡°The others will take more time.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s more than enough,¡± I said. Paid for the outfit, left after a few more moments of small talk.


    Now prepared, I returned to the apartment.


    Karin wasn¡¯t around. I was curious to know what the Redhead was up to, but I was happy to know she wasn¡¯t hiding inside the house all day long. It would have been better if she were here, but that was my mistake. I should have told her beforehand.


    I hopped into the shower, cleaned the training grit away. Afterwards, I put on my new shinobi gear. It wasn¡¯t anything fancy, or complicated: a fishnet undershirt, black shorts, and fishnet leg protectors that left almost no skin visible, black open-toed shoes, a sort of qipao shirt. Around my thigh, bandages for style.


    The qipao reminded me of something Tenten would wear. I thought it was pretty.


    Over all that, I wore my flak jacket. The look with the jacket wasn¡¯t perfect, and I wasn¡¯t planning to wear it all the time. But this was official business, and I wanted the Hyuga to know I was a Konoha shinobi.


    After one last look in the mirror to make sure nothing was out of place, I put the finishing touches. A bit of makeup, just enough to show I was taking care of myself, the weight seals, because those were integral parts of my style. Lastly, I tied my new forehead protector around my arm, similar to Shikamaru.


    Not to toot my own horn, but I looked damn good, like a proper shinobi. I wish I had a phone for some pics. Fangirl-sama agreed.


    After admiring myself for a while longer, I left the bedroom toward the living room. With a bit of effort, I pushed the table to the corner, cleared a space in the middle of the room. Out popped the honey jars. Open palm up, I created two hardwood beacons.


    Those took about half my chakra reserves. I sighed; there was nothing I could do about that.


    I hid one of the beacons inside my apartment, near a prepared supply pack and clothes. Back in the living room, I bit my thumb, placed the hand with the bloody finger on the ground, pushed my chakra and summoned Kumoko.


    In a puff of smoke, the badger appeared. She looked around, eyes stopping near the jars before glaring my way. Strangely, she didn¡¯t say anything. Her tail was still and unmoving. No frustrated lashing this time?


    ¡°How have you been, Kumoko?¡±


    Her tail lashed out. ¡°Fine,¡± she growled. ¡°What do you want?¡±


    Well, so much for small talk. I placed the hardwood kunai in front of her. Kumoko looked at it, sniffed the beacon.


    ¡°I need a favor,¡± I said.


    Kumoko looked away, her voice was a squeaky whisper I barely caught. ¡°Like I could refuse.¡±


    ¡°Take this back to your burrow, please,¡± I said, ignoring her whisper. Then I pointed at the jars of honey. ¡°And here is your payment. The best I could find.¡±


    Kumoko looked longingly at the honey, tail lashing, agitated. She sighed; it was a defeated half-growling. ¡°I can¡¯t take payment.¡±


    She walked toward the kunai, stuck it inside the bandoleer around her chest. Then she looked at me. She didn¡¯t blink. Creepy, but also cute.


    I nodded. ¡°Not payment then,¡± I said and walked to the jars of honey. I took seals, and stored the two jars separately. I gave them to Kumoko. ¡°It¡¯s a gift. One for you, the other for your dad.¡±


    Kumoko looked at me like I was planning something foul. Well, I was planning something. In the end, I still didn¡¯t know what I wanted to do with the badgers, but I was still interested in learning about Kumoko. I¡¯d keep my interactions with her only, and see how things developed.


    ¡°Pops said I can¡¯t,¡± she squeaky growled.


    I nodded. ¡°Your dad said you can¡¯t take payment. He said nothing about gifts.¡±


    She looked between me and the seals a few times, before nodding. She walked closer, took them and put them in her bandoleer.


    She looked around my room, still not saying anything. Well, at least she wasn¡¯t demanding my eye anymore. It was a good start, right?


    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± I said. ¡°Do you need anything, Kumoko?¡±


    The she-devil looked at me, blinked a few times. ¡°This place smells strange.¡± It was all that she said.


    I gave her a sagely nod. ¡°The kunai will disappear in about half a day, don¡¯t need to worry about it, just place it on the alcove from before.¡±


    Kumoko gave me one last look, her tail lashed again. I noticed it wasn¡¯t the full frustrated lash, just halfway there.


    ¡°I¡¯m leaving then,¡± she said.


    I nodded. In a puff of smoke, she was gone. With my retreat secured, it was time to meet Ino, then Shisui and the Hyuga people. I wasn¡¯t looking forward to seeing Neji again. I think he¡¯d be madder at me than before.


    I mean, I almost killed him. But that was fair play, right? He wanted to do the same to me.

 7.21

    I met Ino outside her family¡¯s shop.


    She was dressed in her iconic purple ensemble, but there were two differences. She did not wear arm warmers; fishnet elbow protectors replaced those. She had protectors for her knees.


    I noticed she was armed and ready, pouch at the back with shinobi tools. I smiled, glad to know she hadn¡¯t missed my hint.


    She waved, I waved back.


    ¡°You look good,¡± I said.


    Ino rolled her eyes, slapped my arm.


    ¡°You¡¯re wearing makeup and the jacket.¡± Her fingers brushed my cheeks. ¡°And what happened to the other outfit? I liked it.¡±


    A bit of heat crept up my neck, but I soldiered on. ¡°I wanted a new start, and it¡¯s official business.¡±


    From the shop¡¯s entrance, I saw Yamanaka Mother casting condemning glares. I guess she disapproved of Ino getting involved? I¡¯d prefer the same, but I wouldn¡¯t push Ino away because of my insecurities. I waved at the woman, who gave me a grave nod. I nodded back.


    I¡¯m going to keep Ino safe. I tried to tell her through the gesture. I¡¯m not sure if she understood it.


    ¡°Follow me,¡± I said to Ino and took to the highways.


    Once we were further away, I moved to an empty patch of land.


    Under Ino¡¯s interested eyes, I took one of the rolls of storage scrolls, one of the many I created over the years, full of delicious exploding kunai and maybe exploding cupcakes. Out popped a bunch of weapons. I took a dozen of my best explosives and handed them to Ino. I took one of the still rolled-up scrolls and gave it to her as well; a few dozen more explosives, just to be sure.


    ¡°These are about ten times stronger than the normal ones,¡± I explained.


    Ino looked wide-eyed at the explosives in her hand, the rolled scroll I gave her and all the other rolls strapped to my thighs, waist.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s overkill?¡±


    I shook my head. I was done being walked over. ¡°If they want to start something, I¡¯m ready to finish it.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t practiced in summoning weapons mid-fight, but this was more of a deterrent than anything else. I wanted them to know I was not going to be messed with. I was ready to escalate things, if that¡¯s what they wanted.


    This reminded me of Tenten¡¯s fighting style. Maybe I could approach Tenten to discuss fighting tips later. Given her reaction to me last time, that might as well be a pipe dream.


    Fully armed and ready, we made our way to the Hokage Tower.


    With all the goings-on around, I didn¡¯t meet a lot of people that I needed to meet: Yamato, Hayase, and Secretary-chan, which was a damn shame and something that needed fixing asap.


    ¡°Tomorrow after your shift?¡± I asked.


    Secretary-chan was still patting my head. ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡±


    ¡°We never meet if it¡¯s not here,¡± I said looking around.


    Secretary-chan nodded. Gave me a gentle smile. ¡°Now tell me the real reason.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°It took months, but I finished that mango mousse recipe,¡± I confessed. Just remembering her reaction that one time made my cheeks a bit rosy.


    She smiled. ¡°Where?¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure yet. ¡°I¡¯ll meet you here in the evening?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a date then,¡± Secretary-chan said, then kissed my forehead.


    Ino looked at me and Secretary-chan¡¯s interaction with narrowed eyes. Secretary-chan looked between me and Ino.


    ¡°Bring your friend too? You never talk about any of your friends.¡±


    I looked at the blonde. Her eyes were still narrowed. She nodded.


    ¡°Now up you go, the Hokage is waiting for you.¡±


    I gave Secretary-chan a quick hug, climbed toward the Hokage¡¯s room. I could feel Ino¡¯s glare at the back of my head.


    ¡°Who¡¯s she?¡±


    I stopped, turned around. From my position on the stairs, I looked down on Ino. I didn¡¯t like that. I climbed a few steps down until I was by her side.


    ¡°My first friend,¡± I answered truthfully.


    Ino¡¯s narrowed eyes kept shooting daggers at me.


    ¡°I met her during my first Academy year,¡± I added.


    The blonde gave me a nod, as if to say, go on.


    I sighed. ¡°I was lonely, and most kids ignored or avoided me. She never did.¡±


    Ino looked away. I caught a hint of red on her ears.


    ¡°She¡¯s been helping me test new recipes for years,¡± I confessed.


    Ino¡¯s head snapped back to me. Her eyes were wide. ¡°Years?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I shrugged. ¡°If she doesn¡¯t like it, I usually scrap the recipe. But it¡¯s been a while since I''ve created something she doesn¡¯t like.¡±


    Ino pointed a finger at my nose. ¡°Me too,¡± she demanded.


    ¡°You want to taste test my experimental concoctions as well?¡±


    She gave me a solemn nod.


    ¡°It might not taste good,¡± I warned her.


    ¡°I still want it.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I looked up the stairs again. ¡°I have one from my special series, but I¡¯m still unsure about it.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    Ah, right, she never got one of those.


    ¡°Explain later? We better not let the Hokage wait.¡±


    Matters settled for now, we climbed. Once we arrived, I knocked, and ignored the invisible chakra bundle that moved closer to trail us.


    ¡°Come in,¡± came Shisui¡¯s voice.


    I opened the door, gestured for Ino to go in first. Once she did, I walked inside and closed the door behind me.


    Shisui wasn¡¯t on his seat. He was standing, already ready to move out. The man wore the standard Uchiha blue, with the Hokage coat and hat. He looked at Ino, then at me.


    ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    I nodded, gave him a V for victory. I didn¡¯t even mind that he had no idea what that was about.


    ¡°Ready to kick butts and take names,¡± I declared. Huh. That sounded way cooler in my head.


    Ino giggled. Shisui sighed. He cast a glance at all the weapons I was packing.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t. We want a peaceful resolution,¡± the Hokage said.


    ¡°That¡¯s up to them,¡± I said and shrugged.


    It hurt being cast away for something that wasn¡¯t my fault and over which I had no control, but even after all these years, I never had any beef with the Hyuga clan. I knew there was something fishy happening with all the hostility, even if I had no contact with them for years. I was more than happy to let bygones be bygones. They could even keep the damn eye, for all that I cared.


    Still, if possible, I¡¯d like to, if not make friends, at least be in a cordial relationship with them. Part of me wanted to meet family and have a family in this world. I was ready to forgive and turn on a new page. I looked around the room, then at my gear, ensuring all my weapons were strapped and ready. I was also ready to end any feud. I nodded and followed the Hokage out.


    Good guy Shisui decided we had to walk toward the compound. Why? The highways were so much better.


    It was strange walking around the village accompanied by the Hokage. People stopped, bowed, saluted, but it wasn¡¯t like with Old Man Third. Almost no kids ran up to Shisui to climb on his legs, and most of the reverence I saw had a hint of apprehension. It felt like fear.


    Why would they be afraid of the Hokage?


    Most of the people who approached had the hallmarks of a Uchiha. A squad of the Uchiha¡¯s police followed us from a distance, making the situation tenser. I was missing something here. I knew some didn¡¯t like the Uchiha clan, but Itachi and Shisui were supposed to be good guys, and somehow not affected by the Curse of Hatred.


    It made no sense to me why even civilians would behave like that. Other shinobi I could understand. Shisui¡¯s sharingan scared the crap out of me, but that was because I knew what his mangekyou was capable of.


    From the tower, we walked near the Uchiha compound. The difference was stark. We had to stop there, and Shisui had to fend off kids, well-mannered neighbors, and grandmas. Ino and I still got a bit of a stinky eye at times, but walking around with the new Hokage seemed to soften most of their distrust.


    Past the Uchiha compound, we walked a bit more until we arrived at our destination, the vast walled area closer to the edge of the village with the inverted triangle with a fire burning inside stamped across the walls.


    White eyed shinobi greeted us. Their posture was rigid. The gate opened, and we walked inside.


    It was time to meet family, and hope no one died.

 Chapter 8: Family Business, secrets and dates.

    It didn¡¯t take long to know things wouldn¡¯t be easy. Our Hyuga escorts guided us not toward a guest room, a reception room, or even the yard with the nice little pond, cute little fish, and the peaceful clacking of a shishi odoshi. No, our destination was the family dojo.


    The paths we took were familiar, like an old dream I could never properly remember but never really forget. They were the same manicured paths, tall walls, and a severe atmosphere. I remembered running down this path many times, only to be scolded by Father. I remember moving to follow the path on the left, toward the inner yard, and sitting by the pond watching the cute, colorful fish while Mother fussed with my hair. I remembered walking past tall family members and feeling uber uncomfortable as they bowed to me.


    I shared a glance with Ino. Her back was tense, eyes a little wide. Shisui didn¡¯t seem bothered. His stride was steady, unrushed, his face calm with a hint of a smile. Was he seeing something I wasn¡¯t?


    At the dojo¡¯s entrance, I stumbled into the first conundrum: Should I remove my shoes?


    Removing shoes to enter was a sacred dojo rule; I should enter barefooted. However, the choice of meeting place was highly suspicious. This was something they insisted upon, a meeting which the Hokage was also participating in. Meeting here could be an insult, a power play, or just general disregard toward me and the Hokage.


    Perhaps this was how they told me I wasn¡¯t a part of the clan anymore. That I didn¡¯t deserve a meeting in the formal reception hall. Maybe this was a challenge and not a discussion.


    The dojo was a place of training, discipline, and combat. Not for political discussions.


    What other meaning did meeting here have, aside from violence?


    And what about the Hokage? Forcing Shisui to meet them inside a dojo was more than a snub at his position. The Hokage position was one of military strength, but the settings were all wrong. Was Hiashi trying to make a statement, that these were the Hyuga lands, and they operated by their own rules? Or worse, the Hokage¡¯s presence was just tolerated, and he had no authority regarding the outcome?


    I looked at Shisui. His face was still peaceful, the hint of a smile still present. He didn¡¯t seem bothered by any of what was happening. He strode to the door, took out his shoes, and walked inside like it was just another Tuesday.


    This might be a calculated insult, most likely some form of power play. I wasn¡¯t willing to be the first to start a war, so to speak. I¡¯d give them the benefit of the doubt before anything else.


    It might be that they genuinely believed meeting in the dojo was the best option.


    ...Yeah, as if.


    I shrugged, walked after the Hokage without removing my shoes. Behind me, Ino gasped. I heard angry hisses from the ones escorting us. I didn¡¯t look back, nor did I stop.


    The dojo was even more impressive than my faded memories told me. Massive, with polished wooden floors stretching far and wide. Lanterns hanging from thick dark beams. Walls lined with calligraphy banners displaying the Hyuga words of wisdom.


    The racks with training weapons I remembered from my childhood weren¡¯t here. Instead, most of the sparse furniture had been removed. Along the walls sat a lot of people in seiza. They were all dark-haired, white-dressed, with white eyes glaring at me and my shoes.


    I smiled at them, waved cheerfully.


    By doing so, I ended up looking back. Best Girl Ino hadn¡¯t removed her shoes either. I didn¡¯t know if I wanted to hug or slap that silly girl. Why was she picking a fight here? She should have done the same as Shisui. Warm, bubbling feelings accosted me, and I didn¡¯t fight the slight reddening of my cheeks and the impish smile. But still, I was going to have words with her about acceptable levels of recklessness. Even though I appreciated the support, she shouldn¡¯t have done that. I had nothing to lose. She had a whole clan to think about.


    At the center of the dojo was the main family. Hiashi sat on a cushion center stage, Neji on his right, Hanabi on his left. Behind him, there were a lot of others from the clan. Familiar faces I hadn¡¯t seen in almost a decade. Elders and high-ranking members of the main family.


    Hizashi sat behind and to the right of Hiashi. His eyes were calm. Not angry or judging. Just serious and focused.


    Without meaning to, my eyes wandered and stopped on a woman behind and to the left of Hiashi. Her eyes found mine, and I had to fight not to lose my composure. Hinata¡¯s mom. My mother. Was she my mother? I didn¡¯t know. Her eyes were full of something I couldn¡¯t decipher. She didn¡¯t seem happy with the situation. Was it because I was here or because of what was happening? The warm feelings from Ino were replaced by a stab of pain.


    I missed Mom, both of them.


    None of the people inside got up to greet the Hokage, let alone me. A few meters away from Hiashi was a single cushion meant for Shisui. Yep, well, that clarified things: calculated insults. I guess I didn¡¯t need to worry about causing problems or my shoes. They were good enough on my feet.


    Shisui stopped by the cushion, looked at all the stern-faced people around us. He looked back at me. The question was easy to interpret. I gave him the briefest nod I¡¯m sure every Hyuga in the room saw. I appreciated his gesture. This was almost the same as shouting that he was in my corner. That made me feel a lot better.


    The Hokage smiled, sat on the cushion.


    I walked to his side. Lots of eyes were on me. Hiashi¡¯s face was a mask of indifference. Neji looked possessed, teeth gritted, veins bulging from his forehead. I guess he still wasn¡¯t over his defeat. Hanabi glared, which was a shame. Dear little sister looked at me like I was a monster.


    I rummaged through my prepared supplies. I hadn¡¯t thought I would use this so soon. I might have to thank the Ero-Sennin later.


    Out of my seals popped two stools. I arranged them by Shisui¡¯s side. I gestured for Ino to sit. Then I also sat. I folded one leg over the other and shifted to get more comfortable. Next time, I would store whole chairs instead of stools.


    I ignored the angry mutterings and hissed words. A quick look told me there were no refreshments prepared for the guests. Well, that was easy enough to solve. I got up. Out popped a piece of fabric, which I laid before our group.


    I rummaged through my pouches. I made no attempt to pay attention to people around me, their hissing, angry muttering, or pointed glares. I compared the seals. Which one? Good impressions v2? Casual Picnic v3? I shrugged, chose the casual picnic pack.


    Out popped an assortment of cakes, cupcakes, pudding, and other goodies. From another seal popped a jar with juice ¡ª mango juice ¡ª and cups. I walked around and gave the cup to Shisui and Ino. Under his amused gaze and the hostile glare from the whole crowd, I served him and Ino and offered the sweets.


    ¡°I apologize for the lack of manners,¡± I said, letting my voice carry out.


    Ino, bless that pretty girl, giggled. She took a pudding, ate it. Shisui took a sip of his juice, nibbled one of the cupcakes.


    ¡°Thank you for the refreshments, Hinata-san,¡± he said.


    It was the first words uttered since we entered.


    ¡°Eh, it¡¯s fine,¡± I shrugged, returned to my stool, sat with pudding in one hand and a cup of juice in the other.


    I looked at Hiashi and all the agitated elders behind him. Mom had an even stranger look on her face. I wanted to get up and serve her but decided against it. Shrugged again, took another sip of my juice.


    ¡°So, what do you want with me?¡± I asked, not bothering with nice words.

 8.2

    I was guessing things hadn¡¯t gone as Hiashi had expected. I wasn¡¯t the meek, shy girl Hina¡ªI once was. The many death experiences and recent traumas left me frazzled and with little patience for politics and power moves.


    Hypocritical, given what I was doing.


    Hiashi¡¯s face went through several expressions, too fast for me to decipher, before it settled on the calm, indifferent facade again.


    Not everyone else had his control.


    An elder at the back had risen to his feet only to be pulled down by someone at his side. The peanut gallery kept trying to stare me into submission. Bared teeth and clenched fists weren¡¯t uncommon either. Some even activate their Byakugan.


    Hiashi dipped his head. ¡°Welcome, Hokage-sama,¡± he said, as if nothing at all had happened. ¡°Thank you for taking the time to oversee this matter.¡±


    Shisui dipped his head in acknowledgment.


    ¡°I had refreshments prepared,¡± he said, looking at me. ¡°But it seems our clan''s wayward daughter has taken it upon herself to observe the clan¡¯s customs while breaking others.¡±


    I narrowed my eyes. What kind of nonsense was this?


    He clapped his hands twice. From one of the side entrances, a couple of family branch members hurried over. They arranged a small table between Hiashi and the Hokage as well as the utensils for a tea ceremony. After everything was settled everything, Hiashi spoke again.


    ¡°As you well know, we are a clan of warriors, but we observe the customs.¡± His eyes weren¡¯t on me, but I could feel the jab aimed my way.


    Then he went on to explain the tea ceremony, the properties of the tea, where the leaves had been planted, how long they had matured, the steps to grind it, and all that annoying talk that often happens at the traditional tea ceremony. Worse, after the introduction, came the tea preparation.


    I couldn¡¯t do or say anything. By all accounts, I had been the one to throw the first stone, and now I was paying the price. If I said anything or interrupted, I¡¯d be giving them grounds to do something stupid, which wasn¡¯t what I wanted. I wanted peace and to be left alone.


    I had to give a begrudging nod of respect to Hiashi. I got played like a fiddle. I saw the dangling insult and played my hand. My bluff got called, and now, I was the one in the wrong. I couldn¡¯t be rude anymore because that¡¯d be grounds for escalation, which I guess was his goal all along.


    Gah, I hated politics.


    To add salt to the wound, Hiashi served tea to the main family, the Hokage, Ino, and me, as if my previous actions hadn¡¯t meant anything.


    There was a tense moment when it was my turn to be served, but there were no pointed stares, rude gestures, or anything of the sort. Hiashi served me, then Ino, and then moved on with the ceremony.


    I sipped the tea. Bitter, strong.


    The appreciation part of the ceremony followed, and by this point, I had given up trying to follow things. I inched closer to Ino while nibbling sweets to contrast the bitter tea flavor.


    My patience was wearing thin, which I think was his goal. I took a deep breath, aware that most of the people in the dojo were trained in cold reading and would learn a lot from that one gesture.


    Hiashi was the one who broke the silence. He clapped his hands two times again, and the same people from before returned to take away the tea set and cups. Worse yet, they even took away my stuff.


    ¡°I invited you here to observe while we resolve the dispute between my clan and our estranged daughter,¡± Hiashi said to Shisui after the utensils were taken away.


    I rolled my eyes, scoffed. ¡°Oh, please,¡± I objected out loud.


    Hiashi stopped, looked at me. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°What dispute?¡± I said, aware I was being riled up, but too annoyed to care. ¡°I left you and your clan well alone.¡±


    Hiashi nodded. Face still calm. ¡°Until you tried to kill my son,¡± he said, looking at Neji. Behind, I saw Hizashi shift; the movement was minute, but it was there. ¡°And would have if others hadn¡¯t interfered.¡±


    Neji had his Byakugan active, his eyes having never left me, but his face was back in control.


    I tilted my head. ¡°He tried to kill me first. It was only fair.¡±


    It was Hiashi¡¯s time to tilt his head. ¡°Did he?¡± he asked, looking at Neji, the Hokage, and then me. ¡°When?¡±


    I opened my mouth. Closed it with a snap. I had read the reports. Neji had sought me out in the Forest of Death, but that could have been explained by his trying to take my scroll. Maiming there was fair game. At the preliminaries, he¡¯d displayed killing intent, but I had been the one to react with overwhelming force to prevent any mishap.


    Shit.


    ¡°Semantics,¡± I said after a while. ¡°You know what happened. Twist the truth now if it suits you.¡±


    It was a petty insult, but I had nothing better. It was my word against his, which was a losing battle if there was ever one. My insult didn¡¯t go unreacted to, however. Hanabi¡¯s face turned red, and Hiashi¡¯s appeasing hand was the only thing that kept her from leaping at me.


    Hiashi nodded. ¡°I see. The years away from the clan haven¡¯t helped with your manners. That¡¯s something we¡¯ll have to fix.¡±


    I shrugged, then squared my shoulders. Pushed down the anger and outrage. ¡°You wish,¡± I said. ¡°That ship sailed long ago.¡± I waited until he opened his mouth to start an answer before I kept talking loudly. ¡°Seven years ago, to be exact, when I was in that hospital bed. What did you say back then?¡± I asked, voice carrying.


    Hiashi¡¯s mouth snapped shut.


    I pointed at him, finger glowing with chakra. The same way he¡¯d done when he tried to kill me after Kakashi saved me from Orochimaru¡¯s lab. Some around us got to their feet, chakra flared. Byakugan activated. ¡°My daughter died two years ago,¡± I repeated the exact words and cadence, even if I couldn¡¯t imitate his timbre. ¡°This thing is not her.¡±


    A ripple of murmurs spread through the room. Some were giving Hiashi strange looks.


    ¡°So, cut the crap, you were the one who said I wasn¡¯t your daughter. You were the one who kicked me out of the clan.¡±


    I leaned forward, put some, maybe a lot of, of my resentment on my glare.


    ¡°Don¡¯t go on saying now that I¡¯m your daughter. People might believe you, and I don¡¯t want that.¡±


    Hiashi calling me his daughter, acting like he had any authority over me, rankled bad. I was lashing out. I knew I was, but it felt so satisfying. Even if this wasn¡¯t what I wanted. No. I wanted peace. Maybe a family. Why was I pushing them away? At this point, I was expecting someone would try something dumb. And someone did.


    The surprise didn¡¯t come from the irascible elders or offended branch family.


    Hanabi stood, Byakugan active. Before Hiashi could stop her, she shouted.


    ¡°Fight me!¡± She took a step toward me. ¡°You tried to kill brother Neji and now spit on our clan¡¯s dignity and disgrace father with your lies. I won¡¯t let you.¡±


    I looked around, unsure of what to do. Hiashi wasn¡¯t saying anything, nor was the Hokage.


    Ino reacted though. ¡°This is insane, you won¡¯t fight her, right?¡±


    Hiashi turned to Ino. His face was stern. ¡°Quiet, Yamanaka. I accepted your presence and your offense even though you weren¡¯t invited. Don¡¯t make me reconsider my tolerance.¡±


    Ino wilted on herself. I glared at Hiashi.


    Hanabi approached. I sighed. Deep and tired. Got up from my stool. Walked toward a suspiciously open area in the dojo. Had this been planned all along? Was this why no one was stopping this madness?


    Not everyone moved. The branch family seated near the walls stood but didn¡¯t approach. The ones who came closer were Mom, now with a sad look on her face, Hizashi, Hiashi, and some of the elders. Ino and Shisui also joined the spectators.


    Hanabi shed her white kimono to reveal dark grey training clothes beneath. A sleeveless shirt, trousers, and fishnet undershirt. A pouch at her back with ninja tools. I sighed again. More and more, this seemed like something that had been planned. Why would she be wearing that if it wasn¡¯t.


    I took a fighting stance. Opposite me, Hanabi grabbed a kunai. I sent a pleading look to Shisui. Couldn¡¯t he, as Hokage, stop this?


    It was Hiashi who spoke. ¡°This is a spar between family,¡± he said, looking at me. ¡°Be gentle with your sister.¡±


    Hanabi¡¯s glare and the beginnings of killing intent sent my way contradicting Hiashi¡¯s call for a peaceful spar.


    I didn¡¯t say anything. I lifted a hand and beckoned her forward.


    She did.

 8.3

    It was all a giant farce. I wasn¡¯t sure why people were letting this happen.


    Crushed were my hopes of connecting with my sister; the gift I had prepared heavy in my pocket. I was sad for a lot of different reasons. I wanted a cute little sister to play dress-up doll with. No, that was silly. I was sad because Hiashi was spreading lies about me to the clan. What else could it be?


    I hadn¡¯t had any contact with their clan for years. Where was all this hatred and animosity coming from, if not from Hiashi?


    Hanabi was a good fighter: fast, agile, and strong for her age. But she was seven. What did the Academy even teach at this age? Exercises disguised as children¡¯s games?


    It was like she was moving in slow motion. I raised a hand, blocking her arm and preventing the kunai from stabbing my ribs. She used the momentum to spin, trying to trip me. I took a step back and out of her reach.


    My sister threw the kunai at my face, drew another, and ran toward me. All the while, her Byakugan followed my every movement.


    I deflected the weapon toward the ceiling, where it stuck. Anyone here was a shinobi, but I didn¡¯t want to risk hurting Ino because of a badly deflected weapon.


    The attack and defense repeated a few more times. Each time Hanabi missed, she got angrier. She threw her current kunai at me, and I deflected it again.


    She dashed closer, hands burning with blueish chakra. The gathered audience murmured. A few gasped.


    Hanabi struck, each blow aimed at a tenketsu. She wasn¡¯t as precise as I knew others were, which made sense. She was only seven. Even this amount of proficiency was already in the genius category.


    I coated my hands in chakra and blocked or deflected her attacks. Our exchange continued for a few more moments before she stopped a few feet away, breathing heavily, her glare still aimed at me.


    ¡°Fight me, monster!¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    She ground her teeth. ¡°You walk around wearing my sister¡¯s face and ask why?¡±


    Was this their problem with me, that I wasn¡¯t Hinata?


    Hanabi ran at me. Her attacks were wild, uncoordinated. She punched ¡ª ¡°Give,¡± ¡ª she tried to kick my face ¡ª ¡°me,¡± ¡ª pushed chakra on her hands, they flared with blue light. She went for vitals ¡ª ¡°my sister!¡±


    I still had no idea what Hiashi¡¯s goal was for letting this happen, but I wasn¡¯t happy. I caught both her fists. Around me, people tensed, ready to intervene. I opened my mouth, almost said something I would¡¯ve regretted. Maybe this was Hiashi¡¯s plan all along. Shake me enough, so I said something I shouldn¡¯t. Or maybe they thought I was going to hurt Hanabi, like I did with Neji. That would have been bad in so many ways.


    A feeling I couldn¡¯t control and had no answer for bubbled in my chest, hot, painful, and ugly. My eyes felt puffy and my throat full, but I wasn¡¯t going to cry in front of a crowd. I refused.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said finally.


    Threads exploded from me, wrapping around Hanabi, tying her up. There was movement around, but when I didn¡¯t do anything besides piloting Hanabi¡¯s body toward the crowd, people calmed down.


    All the while, my sister yelled and snarled.


    I delivered her into Mom¡¯s arms. I didn¡¯t look at her face. I couldn¡¯t. I hated it all. I turned to Hiashi.


    ¡°Satisfied?¡±


    Neji stepped forward and into the fighting ring.


    ¡°Fight me properly,¡± he accused.


    I sighed. I was exhausted.


    Neji took a position opposite me, the usual gentle fist stance. I considered what to do. I didn¡¯t want to fight anymore. I wanted to be done with this whole thing. I shouldn¡¯t have ever come here. A damn white eye wasn¡¯t worth the suffering. I wanted to go home, bake something, hang out with Ino. Even felt a bit longing for Karin¡¯s annoying pranks.


    ¡°This time, you won¡¯t take me by surprise,¡± he said.


    I nodded. ¡°Just a moment, please,¡± I said, turning toward Ino and waving her closer.


    The blonde approached while I unfastened my scrolls, shuriken, and tools, stacking them into Ino¡¯s waiting arms. She gave me a curious look, but didn¡¯t comment. Once I had finished, she returned to Shisui¡¯s side, carrying my stuff.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what they¡¯ve told you, Neji,¡± I said, turning toward him. ¡°I don¡¯t regret attacking you, even if I think I went overboard.¡± Gritted teeth were my response. ¡°You can¡¯t blame me. I had just been tortured by Orochimaru a few days prior. What did you expect to happen when you came at me with killing intent?¡±


    More murmurs rose around us. Fuck the peanut gallery.


    ¡°Is there any way we can settle this another way?¡±


    Neji didn¡¯t say anything. He kept his stance.


    Hiashi announced the start of a new bout.


    Unlike last time, Neji didn¡¯t wait. He lunged, aiming to end it in a single strike. I wasn¡¯t confident enough in my taijutsu to engage Neji in a fistfight; that was too dangerous, even if his movements felt slow to me. I flickered back, and at the same time, four clones appeared. They dashed outward, forming a perimeter around us.


    Neji stopped, still looking at me, but I¡¯m sure he was also observing the clones.


    ¡°Clones won¡¯t work on me this time,¡± he said, prepared to fight five of me.


    I nodded. ¡°I know.¡±


    My clones crouched, placed their hands on the ground. Black chakra lines spread, completing the jutsu. The transparent barrier sprang to life. I disabled my weight seals at the same time the Weight Trap barrier activated. Neji and I were at the center. He hadn¡¯t considered I¡¯d use a barrier formation with me still inside.


    I didn¡¯t want to kill or hurt Neji. It was just about four times the weight I reckon Rock Lee lugged around in each leg. Not even worth mentioning.


    Neji buckled, his face reddening, then collapsed. He groaned, trying to move, to breathe, but couldn¡¯t.


    The strain on me wasn¡¯t nil, but really, it wasn¡¯t that bad. Should I increase my weights again? I shook my head, not the time. ¡°You train with Gai and Rock Lee and can¡¯t handle the increased weight?¡±


    When it was clear Neji couldn¡¯t deal with the barrier, I undid it, dispersed my clones. He tried. Oh, he tried. He struggled, flared his chakra, tried to get up.


    I turned to Ino, who was eyeing me with clear accusation.


    ¡°You could have won against Naruto.¡±


    I blinked. A bit of whiplash trying to understand what she meant, then I sighed. I walked to her and nodded. My failure in saving the Third Hokage stabbed me. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, unsure why I was apologizing. ¡°I had other things in mind. I¡¯ll tell you later tonight?¡±


    Ino¡¯s narrowed eyes softened into something more thoughtful. She nodded, helping me strap my tools again.


    Behind me, Neji groaned and forced himself up. His breath was haggard. ¡°You haven¡¯t won,¡± he coughed out.


    I looked over my shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s going to hurt tomorrow, Neji. Take a long hot bath, circulate your chakra through your body. Ask the clan¡¯s acupuncture masters to help you relax your muscles,¡± I said and turned around to Hiashi. ¡°Can we talk about why you called me here instead of all these power plays?¡± I sighed again, already regretting everything. ¡°Can¡¯t you just leave me alone?¡±


    Hiashi didn¡¯t seem happy with my request or even inclined to acquiesce. Thankfully, and finally, Shisui intervened.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this enough, Hiashi? You haven¡¯t called her here to test her battle capabilities.¡±


    Hiashi turned to the Hokage and looked at everyone around him. He moved his hand. His gesture was sharp and commanding. The branch family and most elders bowed toward him and the Hokage and then left.


    A few elders helped Neji walk, even if he seemed unwilling to go. Mom delivered Hanabi to an older woman which I vaguely remembered. Soon after, it was only Hiashi, Hizashi, Mom, Shisui, Ino, and me inside the enormous dojo.


    Hiashi¡¯s eyes were on mom. I wasn¡¯t the best at cold reading people, but he looked angry. Mom squared her shoulders in response. He turned back to me after a few long moments.


    ¡°I¡¯m willing to overlook your acts against the clan, and welcome you back,¡± Hiashi said. As if it were an afterthought, he added, ¡°Give you the eye back. Support you against the council.¡±


    I tilted my head. I couldn¡¯t really understand his reasoning. A strange pressure settled in my chest: anger, hurt, something else I couldn¡¯t name.


    ¡°Why would I want that?¡±


    ¡°We are the strongest clan in Konoha,¡± Hiashi said as if that explained everything.


    I locked my body, tried my best to not roll my eyes. That boast might have been true in the original timeline with the Uchiha¡¯s clan gone, but here? I don¡¯t think Itachi was as strong as in the original story; he might not even have awakened his mangekyo yet, given Shisui was still alive, but Shisui was still alive. No way the Hyuga had a chance against the Uchiha.


    I glanced at the new Hokage, gauging his reaction. His face was still calm. I thought about the Uchiha¡¯s clan offer, almost blurted ¡®denied¡¯ out loud.


    ¡°And what are the conditions?¡± Joining back the Hyuga would be a pain, but it was something I was somewhat willing, if only to end this whole mess.


    ¡°You¡¯ll not aim for the heir position,¡± he said. Behind him, I saw Hizashi give an almost imperceptible nod. ¡°And you¡¯ll accept a seal that will prevent the Byakugan from being stolen again.¡±


    Did he think I didn¡¯t know about the cursed Hyuga seal? How its real purpose was to control the branch family. I had been too young at the time to be told about that, but I knew what it was: slavery. I¡¯d submit my whole life to them with no choice whatsoever. So much for even considering the offer.


    ¡°And if I refuse?¡±


    There was a moment of tense silence.


    Hiashi¡¯s voice was a dangerous whisper. ¡°You don¡¯t want us as your enemies.¡±


    I looked around, remembering things from my childhood before the kidnapping. Was I the real Hinata, or did I just have her memories? I didn¡¯t know.


    I pointed at a nick in one of the wooden pillars. ¡°I remember that,¡± I said after a while. ¡°I was tired of training taijutsu and wanted to train something else. Throwing shuriken.¡± The silence lasted a moment longer. ¡°You were very disappointed with me for ¡®wasting¡¯ my time with toys instead of practicing the gentle fist.¡±


    I looked around at all the familiar, nostalgic sights.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t even three; you were always disappointed with me.¡±


    A growl from Hiashi interrupted my musings. ¡°You¡¯re not her. Stop pretending.¡± His face was a mask of anger and sorrow.

 8.4

    ¡°You¡¯re not her,¡± Hiashi said again, spittle flying from his mouth.


    Hearing that hurt in a way I never thought it would. I lowered my head. ¡°But what if I am?¡± I whispered.


    What if I was, indeed? There were a lot of things I didn¡¯t know. There was a gap in my memories from when Hinata was taken to when I woke. I knew those memories weren¡¯t gone, but repressed. Did I want to remember? A shudder ran through me. No, not really.


    ¡°Why do you think I¡¯m not?¡±


    My question was a whispered thing that I barely heard myself. It was the one thing that still didn¡¯t make sense to me.


    ¡°You think I wouldn¡¯t recognize my daughter¡¯s chakra signature?¡±


    I hadn¡¯t expected an answer; my head snapped up when I got one. His Byakugan stared inside my soul.


    I took a deep breath.


    ¡°You know chakra theory,¡± I said, still looking into his eyes. ¡°Of course you do. You are a Hyuga.¡± I pushed my chakra through my leg and into the wooden floor, forcing a small tree to grow by my side.


    I heard a gasp somewhere nearby, but didn¡¯t break eye contact. ¡°Tell me then, what would happen to your chakra signature if I grafted into you the bloodlimit of another?¡±


    Creating that small tree took much of my remaining chakra, but that was fine. It would be worth it if I could change his mind.


    Hiashi¡¯s gaze never left me, but the intensity lessened. His face twitched. There was this moment when I thought he would relent, but he scoffed.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen the reports,¡± he said, face hard again. ¡°You¡¯re nothing but a clone. Don¡¯t try to deny it.¡±


    I looked at Shisui. That one was for him. What was this report Hiashi was talking about?


    ¡°Hiashi, I believe the information was leaked to antagonize the Hyuga clan. We hadn¡¯t had the chance to validate the report when you were informed about it.¡±


    Hiashi¡¯s eyes finally left me to stare at the Hokage. I expected him to argue, but the clan head chuckled.


    ¡°You know nothing,¡± he spat. ¡°You think I¡¯m talking about the laboratory and the bodies she burned? I¡¯ve known about it since she was found seven years ago. I¡¯ve been forced to endure this thing parading as my daughter for seven years.¡±


    What was he talking about? I hadn¡¯t known about the clones until the mission. I looked at the Hokage, bewildered. Shisui, for the first time, looked at a loss for words. It was clear he had no idea what Hiashi was talking about.


    Hiashi took the Hokage¡¯s silence as a victory and turned again to me. ¡°You¡¯ll accept.¡± Chakra started to build again. ¡°Or you won¡¯t leave this place.¡±


    ¡°Are you crazy?¡± Ino yelled. ¡°She¡¯s Hinata!¡±


    ¡°Quiet, Yamanaka, unless you want your pitiful clan to be declared an enemy as well.¡±


    Shit, shit. This wasn¡¯t good. I stepped in front of Ino. I didn¡¯t want her clan getting into trouble because of me, and I wouldn¡¯t let Hiashi hurt her.


    ¡°Hiashi, this is¡ª¡± Shisui started, but Hiashi cut him off.


    ¡°Stay out of this, boy.¡± The scorn in his voice was palpable. I couldn¡¯t believe his courage. I wouldn¡¯t dare talk to Shisui like that. ¡°This doesn¡¯t concern you.¡±


    I pressed my back against Ino, pushing her away and trying to tell her, without saying anything, that she should leave. Ino grasped my jacket instead.


    Hiashi¡¯s chakra rose.


    If that is how he wanted things to go, I was about to teach him a nasty surprise. I could take him; I just couldn¡¯t let him touch me.


    My hand hovered over my pouch with the explosives, chakra primed and ready to use.


    Explosions were, after all, a girl¡¯s best friend.


    If everything else failed, I could flee. I had my beacons stored away.


    Not that I would. No way in hell I would leave Ino here alone. No, maybe I could. Shisui was here, and he wouldn¡¯t let Hiashi hurt Ino, but I didn¡¯t want to abandon her. That was a line I wouldn¡¯t cross.


    I scanned the room, trying to plan. I¡¯d need to worry about Hizashi and Mom. I had no idea what they would do if a fight broke out, but I was hoping Shisui would side with me.


    Hiashi took a step toward me, and all hell broke loose.


    I was low on chakra, but this wasn¡¯t a fight I could win by spamming jutsu. If fighting Neji in close quarters was dangerous, engaging in a fistfight with Hiashi was assisted suicide.


    Out popped a clone, who grabbed Ino and dashed backward, pulling the blonde away.


    Ino tried to resist, but she wasn¡¯t strong enough to break from my clone¡¯s grip. ¡°Hinata, no!¡±


    Threads exploded around me. I had a plan. If one could touch Hiashi, I could use Ino¡¯s jutsu to immobilize him.


    Shisui, somehow, was in three places at once. He hadn¡¯t used a jutsu. He was in front of my clone and Ino, between Hizashi and Hiashi; he was closer to Mom. But to my dismay, he wasn¡¯t stopping Hiashi.


    Hiashi saw the threads; of course he did. His Byakugan was the best counter to invisible chakra lines. He ducked and waved between the threads. I threw kunais at him, trying to block his path. They weren¡¯t the explosive ones. That was too dangerous with Ino this close.


    It didn¡¯t work. Hiashi was fast. He blocked or deflected my weapons, moving closer. His approach felt like something inevitable.


    Which meant I had no choice.


    I was more than aware of the others in the dojo, the chakra bundles from outside. Mom and Hizashi, observing, waiting.


    I pumped my body full of chakra, summoned clones that swarmed Hiashi while I threw as many ranged weapons as I could.


    Like I thought he would, Hiashi spun, white glowing chakra swirling in a sphere shape.


    My clones hit the barrier, the force spinning them away from Hiashi. It wasn¡¯t just that; somehow, Hiashi hit every clone strong enough for them to disperse.


    Would this ever end?


    I pushed away all doubts. He started. I was going to finish it.


    I counted the milliseconds. The white chakra dome started to disperse, and I flickered again, moving in the same line as that small area at the back of the neck above the first thoracic vertebra. When Hiashi stopped spinning, I was at his blind spot.


    Before he could move again, I threw the kunai, one of my best.


    I saw the weapon flying. I calculated the trajectory, completed the path in my mind. I wouldn¡¯t miss.


    Shisui was everywhere at the same time. He was in front of me; he was between me and Hiashi, he was deflecting my attack; four of him were around Hiashi; he was blocking Hizashi and Mom; he was defending Ino.


    The kunai he deflected hit the ceiling. The explosion shook the whole dojo and created a crater.  Warm sunlight spilled in from the hole.


    ¡°Enough,¡± all versions of him said at the same time. His eyes were red, but thankfully, not Mangekyo red.


    I landed, took a step back to catch my balance. Pieces of wood fell around me from the exploded ceiling.


    Hiashi¡¯s eyes were wide, glaring at me and at the hole in the ceiling.


    No one moved until someone did; a person who, even with all the commotion, hadn¡¯t done or said anything.


    She walked around Shisui, not minding the Hokage¡¯s red eyes following her movements. Mom¡¯s steps were heavy. Her eyes were fixed on me. I tore my gaze away from the clan head, watched her approach.


    ¡°Hinami?¡± I heard Hiashi¡¯s question.


    Each step she took toward me was like a stab. Her face was a blank mask. I couldn¡¯t tell what she was thinking.


    She stopped in front of me, eyes looking into mine. I swallowed. An eternity passed. She smiled, and her hand caressed my cheeks gently. She fell to her knees, pulling me into a tight embrace.


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, my precious daughter,¡± Mom said into my hair.


    The pain was unbearable now. My throat hurt, my eyes stung. My hands shook, but I didn¡¯t move; I couldn¡¯t.


    Chakra flared behind Mom. The force of it was so great that Mom¡¯s hair and clothes moved. ¡°Hinami!?¡±


    Mom patted my head one last time before getting up. She stood between me and Hiashi.


    ¡°I let you do what you wanted, and I hated myself ever since.¡± Her chakra also flared; I could see the telltale signs of Byakugan on her face. ¡°For seven years, you prohibited me from looking for her. For seven years, I obeyed because you told me it wasn¡¯t her. I believed you.¡±


    Mom glanced my way, her face softened.


    ¡°You think I wouldn¡¯t recognize my daughter?¡±


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Hiashi barked.


    ¡°What I should have done long ago,¡± Mom answered. Then she spoke to me without taking her eyes away from Hiashi. ¡°Go now, my baby.¡± Her voice was full of something I couldn¡¯t place. ¡°Can I visit your apartment later?¡±


    It took me a moment to parse her question, but when I did, I nodded. I would like that, I think, even if my head was a mess right now.


    She then addressed Shisui. ¡°I apologize for the poor display, Hokage-sama. Please don¡¯t take it to heart. My husband¡¯s heart never healed after our daughter was taken from us.¡±


    Shisui nodded. He walked toward me and led me toward Ino. I placed my hand on her trembling ones. Gently pried away from her hands the exploding kunai and put it in her pouch.


    ¡°Think nothing of it,¡± Shisui said. He put a hand on our shoulders and guided us away.


    I guess the whole almost-death battle was just business as usual?


    We left, and Hizashi followed.


    Outside, a crowd of white-eyed, Byakugan active shinobi stared us down. A gesture from Hizashi didn¡¯t calm them, but no one attacked.


    When we left the dojo, there were sounds, voices, chakra explosions, and what else I couldn¡¯t say. I was feeling a bit guilty now, even if I knew none of this was my fault.


    ¡°Don¡¯t blame yourself,¡± Hizashi said, reading my mood. ¡°No matter what happens, it isn¡¯t your fault.¡±


    Then we were out, the gates of the Hyuga compound clacking closed behind us, putting a physical barrier between us and the mess inside.


    We walked in silence until the compound disappeared from view.


    I looked at Shisui. In a very unhokage-like gesture, he shrugged. ¡°Please visit me tomorrow, Hinata-san. There are more things I need to discuss with you.¡±


    I nodded. He gave Ino and me a shallow bow before disappearing like he had never been there. There was no puff of smoke, afterimage, or chakra buildup. He just disappeared. So unfair.


    My gaze moved to Ino, who was still looking a bit frazzled. She walked up to me and hugged me. I wrapped my arms around her.


    ¡°Do you still want to talk?¡± She asked, giving me a way out. I nodded.


    ¡°If you still want to know,¡± I said.


    Her head still on my shoulder, she nodded. ¡°Mom knows I¡¯ll go out with you tonight.¡±

 8.5

    I led Ino toward the inconspicuous bar-slash-restaurant entrance. We crossed the administrative district into the commercial area and landed in front of an out-of-the-way alley. I knocked at a regular-looking door. A young woman, elegant and serious, opened it.


    Ino looked around, at the lack of signs and what looked to be just a regular house door, at the pretty Kunoichi looking at us.


    ¡°A private room at the back, please,¡± I repeated Kakashi-sensei¡¯s words almost verbatim.


    The kunoichi nodded. ¡°Please, come in.¡± It might have been my fake confidence or the flak jacket.


    She led us inside, past the booths, and to a room at the back. We entered what looked a lot like a private dining area. I could feel Ino¡¯s burning curiosity, then her wilting.


    Unlike the first time I was here, the place wasn¡¯t empty. There were not many people, but all of them blazed with chakra. Jonin stared at Ino and me. Some shook their head, others just glanced and looked away, some shrugged.


    I took Ino¡¯s hand. The Kunoichi led us to one of the private rooms and asked the same question I expected.


    ¡°Should I take your orders now or come back later?¡±


    I didn¡¯t know the menu. Last time, Kakashi-sensei ordered for me. If everything else failed, I had my seals. ¡°Bring us something light for dinner,¡± I asked. ¡°No alcohol,¡± I added after she bowed.


    ¡°It will be just a moment,¡± she said and left, closing the door behind her.


    Ino rounded on me. ¡°What¡¯s this place, Hinata-chan?¡±


    I scratched my cheek. ¡°I dunno,¡± I answered truthfully. ¡°Kakashi-sensei brought me here when he explained my last mission.¡±


    We stewed in silence for a bit before I sat. The room¡¯s layout reminded me of those modern hotpot restaurants, with comfy seats around a center table, only there were no cooking utensils.


    That gave me a good idea. Ninjas were a paranoid bunch, right? Maybe opening a hotpot restaurant? That way, even the most paranoid of ninjas wouldn¡¯t have what to complain about; they¡¯d be cooking their meals, after all.


    Ino scuttled closer and sat by my side instead of across, shoulders touching mine.


    I cast away thoughts of restaurant lines to focus on the blonde. I didn¡¯t mind the contact; I liked it very much, but wasn¡¯t it too much? It was like she was afraid I would disappear if she weren¡¯t near or touching me.


    She sighed. It was deep, shuddering.


    ¡°What a mess,¡± she said, hand pulling the hair out of her face. ¡°I thought he would...¡±


    I thought back on the shitshow the visit had been. ¡°Me too.¡±


    That also led me to think about Mom. I didn¡¯t know if I was happy or sad. I didn¡¯t know her reasons, but the more I thought about it, the harder I twisted the knot of ugliness in my chest¡ªseven years.


    We didn¡¯t talk for a long while until there was a knock.


    ¡°Please, come in,¡± I called out.


    The waitress entered carrying out food: stir-fried veggies, eggs, rice, soup, and grilled fish. It smelled nice and not what I had expected, even if I didn¡¯t know what I was expecting.


    She arranged the food between us. From behind her, another waitress entered carrying steaming water and tea leaves. Both waitresses bowed and left after the food was served.


    Ino looked at the spread, picked up a plate, started serving.


    Only after seeing the other shinobi did I realize this might not have been the best place to talk about such dire secrets.


    For a moment, I considered calling the whole thing off. There was a justifiable reason to delay, to tell Ino the place wasn¡¯t the best, and to find somewhere other people wouldn¡¯t have the chance of spying on us. I recognized that for what it was. I was afraid and trying my best to avoid the conversation.


    I got up, placed my hands on the wall nearest us. Under her interested eyes, I replicated the seal I¡¯ve seen Kakashi-sensei use a few times to ensure privacy. I did the same to all the walls around us.


    The difference was immediate. The sound from outside died. My version of the privacy seal even blocked chakra perception. It had taken a bit of thought on the trip back from the land of the badgers to figure out how the kidnappers did it in their prison, but replicating the effect wasn¡¯t hard once I did.


    I wasn¡¯t leaving things to chance.


    After placing the seals, I dug into the food Ino had served.


    She didn¡¯t question or hurry me. We ate in silence and drank bitter tea.


    I tried to build my courage.


    I¡¯ve kept this secret for so long, even when I knew I shouldn¡¯t have. This was too big, too overreaching. Even so, it was my secret to keep or tell. My decisions and meddling had cost lives. I wasn¡¯t sure that, in the end, I made things better. I could have done more if I had told the truth, but I still believed that if I had, I¡¯d not be here anymore, one way or another.


    Was it too much to ask to live the way I wanted? I just wanted to be a ninja, do cool ninja stuff, bake sweets, maybe snog some pretty girls.


    But, to snog a pretty girl, I couldn¡¯t lie to her. I mean, I could; nothing stopped me from spinning a lie to Ino and not telling her anything. But I didn¡¯t want to. Hug-chan was right. If this was ever going to work ¡ª and I knew it wouldn¡¯t, teenage crush never lasted ¡ª I didn¡¯t want a relationship built on lies.


    Even if I couldn¡¯t tell all the truth, there were things I don¡¯t think I¡¯d ever tell anyone.


    Ino had stopped eating a while ago. She was studying my face. I could see the worry in her eyes. That only made it more difficult for me. It felt like I was deceiving her somehow.


    I opened my mouth, closed it, cleared my throat, tried again.


    Her expectant eyes bore into me.


    I turned away, rummaged through my stuff, took out a few of my sweets. Without looking at Ino, I popped them out and placed them on the table before us.


    Ino¡¯s attention shifted from me to the cupcakes. She took one, nibbled, let out a small moan of food pleasure. But she soon turned back to me, waiting.


    I knew I could have just said I wasn¡¯t ready, and Ino would understand. I could have deflected again and talked about anything else. Ino would follow my lead, pretend we weren¡¯t here to talk about secrets.


    ¡°You have to promise me,¡± I hated that my voice didn¡¯t sound as strong or confident as I wanted. ¡°That you¡¯ll not tell this to anyone else.¡±


    The pretty blonde nodded. ¡°I promise,¡± she said.


    I took a deep breath and shook my head. She didn¡¯t understand. ¡°You can¡¯t tell anyone. Not your father or your mother, or any friends, not even to a flower. No matter what I say, promise me, please.¡±


    That got the message across. She squared her shoulders, cupped my hand on hers. Looked me in the eyes. ¡°I promise.¡±


    ¡°I think,¡± I broke eye contact, licked my lips; they were dry for some reason, ¡°that I might not be Hinata.¡±


    Ino¡¯s breath hitched. She gripped my hands tighter, but she didn¡¯t let go. I didn¡¯t dare look at her face, even if I could feel her chakra spiking and moving. Was this what Karin felt all the time?


    ¡°What do you mean, Hinata-chan?¡± There was an emphasis on the name when she said it.


    I took a deep breath. It came out shuddering. I blinked a few times, turned, and faced Ino, who still hadn¡¯t let me go. Her eyes were wide, her mouth slightly open. The walls felt like they were pressing down on me.


    ¡°Not like that,¡± I said.


    Ino tilted her head. Nodded. Waited. Still held my hands.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m Hinata,¡± I said, trying to avoid looking away. Why was this so difficult? ¡°I remember living in the compound and being taken away, but I also remember other things.¡±


    Silence trailed. Ino squeezed my hands.


    ¡°What other things?¡± She asked. Her voice was soft, almost careful now.


    ¡°I have this whole other set of memories,¡± I said, licking my lips again. I looked away, then forced myself to meet her eyes once more. ¡°In them, I¡¯m not Hinata, but someone else.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, Hinata-chan?¡± Ino repeated her question without emphasizing the name this time.


    I held in the urge to look away. ¡°It¡¯s like a dream, I dunno,¡± I said, pulling my hands from Ino¡¯s. She let it go without resistance. I waved, hands moving without purpose, trying to explain something I didn¡¯t know how.


    ¡°I remember following Hiashi to meet the visiting guests from the other village. I remember someone pressing something over my mouth and nose,¡± I said, ¡°and the next thing I knew, I was inside a tube in the laboratory with this whole new set of memories.¡±


    Ino looked at my waving hands, nodded.


    ¡°I was only three when they took me,¡± I said, looking away. ¡°And in these memories... I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m Hinata or if I somehow took over her body. Sometimes, it feels like I stole her body,¡± I admitted.


    The words tasted like burnt cupcakes in my mouth. Like saying them made it real. I shuddered.


    This wasn¡¯t something I liked to think about. Not one bit. Was I someone from another world reincarnated and merged with Hinata? Or was I somehow another life she had? I had no idea how things worked here. I knew reincarnation was a thing; I need only look at Naruto and Sasuke, but did it also include souls from a different world? Was this even a different world?


    Ino pulled me into a hug. I didn¡¯t resist. I placed my head on her shoulder, closed my eyes.


    Why had I decided to talk about this again? Oh, right. Massive crush on the blonde. And Hug-chan, the traitor, made some excellent points about honesty. I wanted to slap Hug-chan.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t all,¡± I said, my head still hidden on her shoulder. Ino¡¯s fingers threaded through my hair. It felt nice. I shuddered for a whole different reason this time. ¡°From these memories, I know what will happen in the future, and the things I remember, what will happen, it¡¯s¡ª¡±


    Ino gripped my hair like she was also afraid.


    ¡°What happened, Hinata-chan?¡± she whispered, voice shaky and barely above a breath.


    I pulled away a little, looked her in the eyes. ¡°Remember your promise,¡± I said. Ino nodded. She looked spooked out. I laid my head on her shoulder again. It was easy to talk like this.


    ¡°In the world of my memories, Danzo stole one of Shisui¡¯s eyes. Shisui¡¯s eye can brainwash anyone without them knowing it. Danzo then turned the whole village against the Uchiha clan and ordered Itachi to kill his whole family.¡±


    I remember meeting Itachi. His smile. How he helped serve dinner, the happy, almost peaceful look in his eyes. I remembered him from the original story, killing his whole family because he¡¯d been ordered to.


    ¡°Only Sasuke survived,¡± I whispered.

 8.6.i

    Growing up, Ino always knew what she wanted. She was smart, having graduated at the top of her class along with Sasuke and Shino. She was pretty, had good friends, and was her clan¡¯s heiress.


    Her future goals were simple: Find a handsome husband ¡ª Sasuke, preferably ¡ª to marry, learn her clan¡¯s secret techniques, have a lot of friends, become a famous kunoichi, enjoy life. Easy, simple goals.


    But things weren¡¯t so simple anymore. They hadn¡¯t been for a while.


    Ino¡¯s eyes lingered on the now quiet Hinata, still resting on her shoulder.


    When did things become complicated? Ino couldn¡¯t say. If pressed for an answer, she might say it started during the preliminaries of the second exam. As strange as the situation was, that kiss never really faded from her mind.


    It... hadn¡¯t been nice, far from it. Ino could still feel the blood-soaked lips against her own. She pushed that memory away.


    That day might have made her pay more attention to Hinata, but it wasn¡¯t when the once-mute girl became a recurrent thought. Ino wasn¡¯t sure when or how, but she¡¯d usually think about Hinata even before that.


    Before that kiss, she would¡¯ve dismissed the strange flutter as just a craving for sweets and cupcakes. But after that kiss...


    It just didn¡¯t make sense. Ino already knew what she wanted: Friends, a good husband, and happiness.


    So why did the thought of separating from Hinata sting so much?


    Ino¡¯s thoughts drifted back to the weeks before Hinata had returned, when she had to hope against hope that her friend was still alive. Those days were a blur that she barely remembered. Holding Hinata¡¯s forehead protector until she cried herself to sleep. Wishing she were strong enough to go and look for her friend.


    Ino knew what she wanted. Friends, be famous, be happy.


    Then there were all the things Hinata had said. When Hinata first mentioned secrets, Ino had imagined many things: maybe a secret crush on Sasuke, perhaps that she was secretly Naruto¡¯s girlfriend ¡ª those two ideas bothered Ino more than she would admit ¡ª maybe she was the secret daughter of someone else famous and that¡¯s why she wasn¡¯t part of the Hyuga clan anymore.


    Even with all that Ino already knew ¡ª the kidnapping, the experiments, and everything else ¡ª these new secrets... Ino couldn¡¯t wrap her head around it.


    Millennia-old goddess hidden inside the moon? A world-spanning genjutsu? The whole of the Uchiha clan¡¯s traditions manipulated by some shadowy being?


    Had everything she suffered broken her mind?


    Ino didn¡¯t want to think that, but what if it was true? Her fingers traced spots on Hinata¡¯s head, the other girl shuddering.


    If it wasn¡¯t madness, the future was grim. The Fourth Shinobi War. The death toll. The sheer scale of it all was too much.


    ¡°And these people,¡± she groped for the right words, ¡°they need the Kyubi sealed inside Naruto to complete their plan? And that¡¯s also just another trap by this goddess?¡±


    The tale Hinata told had lasted hours, even if Hinata had been vague on the details. Often, she got sidetracked, talking about things that made no sense, like how Kakashi¡¯s sensei¡¯s face looked beneath that mask. Or something she called Inner Sakura.


    There were significant differences between the tale and reality. In Hinata¡¯s version, Tsunade, the slug sannin, had become Hokage instead of Shisui. More shinobi had died in the attack during the chunnin exam, while no civilians watching the exam had been hurt. That man, the one she often talked about, Danzo, was still a council member, plotting and mind-controlling people.


    It was so unreal.


    Ino¡¯s fingers found that exact spot in Hinata¡¯s head that had caused a reaction. She pressed down, just a little harder this time.


    Still in her arms, Hinata¡¯s breath hitched and she shuddered. It was a whole-body thing this time.


    When she answered, her voice was barely a wheeze. ¡°Yes.¡±


    Ino¡¯s first impulse was to tell her father about it. He would know how to deal with the situation, but she remembered her promise. Maybe the story wasn¡¯t real. Perhaps it was just a fabrication of Hinata¡¯s broken mind. But Hinata believed it. Ino could see how hard it had been for her to open up and tell this secret.


    Having memories of another life, it was absurd. Ino didn¡¯t know what to believe. For now, Ino chose to believe in Hinata, or at least that Hinata believed in her own story. That would have to be enough.


    The sweets sat untouched. The tea long gone bitter. Time slipped past unnoticed. How many hours already? It was probably late at night, it was hard to tell. There were no windows, and Ino couldn¡¯t hear anything from outside.


    There was one thing that Ino needed to know, two things. If this whole story was real, she needed to know what they could do to prevent it.


    ¡°What¡¯s our plan, Hinata-chan? How do we stop this?¡± Her nails dug just a bit harder on Hinata¡¯s skin.


    Something about the way Hinata shuddered, because of her, stuck in Ino¡¯s chest. Something Ino liked.


    Hinata floundered, breath hitching, until Ino finally loosened her grip.


    Her voice was breathy, heavy. ¡°I have plans,¡± Hinata whispered, still catching her breath. ¡°But right now, I¡¯m nowhere near strong enough.¡±


    Silence stretched between them, broken by Hinata¡¯s whispered voice.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll live long enough.¡±


    Pain laced through Ino¡¯s chest. She gripped Hinata closer, fingers digging harder into her scalp. That was bullshit. Ino had thought Hinata had died once. She wasn¡¯t going to let it happen.


    ¡°Bullshit,¡± she said.


    ¡°Hum.¡±


    ¡°You talked about those diagrams you lost, or maybe this Tsunade woman. She¡¯s a miracle medic-nin, right? We can go looking for her.¡± Ino said. There must be a way to help.


    Hinata pushed away, breaking the hug. Her face had cloth marks; her eyes were a bit puffy.


    ¡°Tomorrow, when I talk with Shisui, I¡¯ll ask him to send me looking for Tsunade.¡±


    Wasn¡¯t that what Naruto¡¯s mission had been? He had often talked about going after this Obaa-chan with the Ero-sennin.


    ¡°I¡¯m coming with,¡± Ino said before she could think things through.


    A hint of a smile showed on Hinata¡¯s face. Her dark eyes fixed on Ino¡¯s.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Hinata said. ¡°If Tsunade can¡¯t help, then I have no choice but to hunt down Danzo and hope I can recover the things he stole.¡±


    Ino looked at Hinata¡¯s determined eyes. Every time she remembered that Hinata might not be alive in a few months, pain laced through her chest. It wasn¡¯t fair. But Ino wouldn¡¯t let it come to that. There must be a way; if not, Ino would make one herself.


    After all, Ino knew what she wanted.

 8.7

    Telling Ino my secrets was one of the hardest things I''ve ever done. I included in that list facing the lab, suffering a spot of torture, and all the loneliness living in this world. I was exhausted but also happy. I don¡¯t think she fully believed in my story, but I was glad she didn¡¯t think I was crazy and that she hadn¡¯t decided she didn¡¯t want to talk with me anymore.


    At least I didn¡¯t need to worry about her pulling away. She¡¯d been very touchy the whole evening.


    I walked the blonde toward her house. It wasn¡¯t that far from the restaurant-slash-bar-slash-hideout I took her to. She¡¯d been quiet like she was mulling something over. I left her to her thoughts. I had a lot on my mind as well.


    We stopped in front of her house. Ino looked at the closed store, then at me. She nodded, like she had just decided something.


    ¡°There¡¯s one thing I still don¡¯t understand, Hinata-chan.¡± Her voice was low. There was a hint of secrecy in it, mischief.


    I looked around; no one was near, but I could feel the chakra bundles from a few houses down the street and Ino¡¯s parents inside her home. Was this the best place to talk secrets?


    ¡°Why did you kiss me?¡±


    The question hit me like an exploding kunai. I had been expecting something related to the story I told and the grim future ahead of us, not... this.


    I floundered a bit, mouth opening and closing. I didn¡¯t know what to say. Could I tell her it was because she was a fictional character in that other world and I always liked her the best? That would just make things worse. I already didn¡¯t know if I liked Ino or was just obsessed with her in some demented idol worship taken to eleven. What should I do?


    Ino didn¡¯t seem to be waiting for a response. She stepped closer, pecked me on the lips. It lasted a fraction of a second.


    It felt like an explosion had detonated inside my brain. My whole body shuddered, and my toes tingled. I felt like I had just baked the best cupcake ever, exploded up an entire mountain.


    Then, she turned around and ran toward her house. She stopped there, turned toward me.


    ¡°It feels better without all that blood,¡± she said, stuck her tongue at me, then disappeared inside the house.


    I stood there, frozen, brain OS having suffered a critical failure and trying its best to reboot.


    Five minutes later, the door banged open, and Ino peeked outside. ¡°Go home, Hinata!¡± She ordered before the door closed again.


    Like the good ninja I was, I obeyed, though I might have taken a few detours, including hitting a wall, getting stuck on a rooftop, and nearly falling off it. You know, typical ninja stuff.


    It must¡¯ve been the whole brain OS freeze thing. The navigation app wasn¡¯t working properly.


    A few other near misses later, I was in front of my apartment. Karin opened the door before I reached it. The new normal. I schooled my face. My ears weren¡¯t burning, and I wasn¡¯t sporting a silly grin. No, sir, not at all.


    I was a mask of unfeelingness. No emoting from me. I was a bad-ass cold killer. Not an easily flustered teen.


    Karin stepped out of the way. Her face was calm, indifferent. Had something happened? I crossed into the apartment. She closed the door behind me. I hadn¡¯t taken more than two steps when hands grabbed me from behind. Arms crossing over my shoulder and around my neck, pinning me in place.


    Then her ticklish breath on my already burning ears.


    ¡°Who was it?¡± She asked, sultry and sexy. ¡°That pretty boy Sasuke? Or my blonde disaster of a cousin Naruto?¡±


    I squeaked, tried to move away, but her grip was strong. Her hands around my neck didn¡¯t let me go.


    ¡°You can¡¯t escape me,¡± she said, gripping me tighter. ¡°Fess up!¡±


    I tried to pry her hands open to no avail.


    ¡°Wait, it wasn''t that Kakashi was it?!¡±


    Ultimately, I couldn¡¯t escape and had no choice but to admit my sins.


    ¡°So, you went on a date with this Ino?¡± Karin asked.


    We were on the bed, a blanket fort around us. I managed to get a bath and get out of my ninja outfit and into comfortable clothes. Karin had guarded the door like a hawk. Now, she had that impish grin, like she had caught me with the hand in the explosive¡¯s tag crate.


    ¡°Not a date,¡± I scowled. ¡°Ino went with me to meet my ex-family, and we had dinner afterward.¡±


    ¡°So you went on a date with this Ino,¡± Karin repeated. I scowled harder.


    She teased me a bit more before the conversation turned serious.


    ¡°How did the meeting with the,¡± she made quotation marks, something she picked up from me, I think, ¡°ex-family go?¡±


    ¡°It was a mess,¡± I admitted. ¡°I hate politics.¡±


    I recounted the events, including the fights with Hanabi and Neji, the almost disaster with Hiashi, and Mom¡¯s intervention.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t know what¡¯s up with Hizashi, though.¡±


    Karin tilted her head. ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Neji is his son, not Hiashi¡¯s. He should have been mad at me for almost killing him, but the two times I met him, he was a decent enough guy. It makes no sense.¡±


    Karin shrugged. ¡°Maybe he¡¯s just a decent guy.¡±


    I thought back on what I knew. Hizashi had died early on in the story, a sacrifice to save the village and his brother. What Karin said made some sense. I just had a hard time trusting it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll start teaching you seals tomorrow,¡± I said to change the topic. I was tired from all the heavy talk all day long.


    Karin smiled. ¡°Okay.¡±


    We talked more about her day and how she was settling in the village.


    ¡°It¡¯s strange,¡± she confessed. ¡°When people learn I¡¯m a Uzumaki, I get strange glances, half full of fondness. Other times, it¡¯s like they expect me to start behaving like I¡¯m crazy.¡±


    I giggled. Well, that made sense.


    ¡°What¡¯s it?¡±


    ¡°Remember who else shares the same name?¡±


    ¡°Naruto?¡± She asked.


    ¡°He used to prank the whole village all the time. Once, he even painted graffiti on the Kage¡¯s monuments up in the mountains.¡±


    Karin let out an adorable gasp. ¡°He didn¡¯t!¡±


    ¡°He did!¡±


    I learned that Karin had made fast friends with Sakura. She often left to hang out with the pink kunoichi and visit Rock Lee at the hospital. I pretended I didn''t see the pink dusting on her cheeks talking about both.


    Oh, dear Karin. I wish you the best of luck.


    I waited until Karin had stopped daydreaming to ask her another question. ¡°Say, I¡¯ll meet with Ino and another friend tomorrow evening. Do you want to come with? We could also invite Sakura-chan and make it a girl¡¯s night.¡±


    Karin¡¯s eyes got wider the more I spoke. She nodded, her head bobbing up and down very fast.


    ¡°Yes! I¡¯ll invite Sakura-chan.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know yet where, but meet me here for lunch tomorrow? I¡¯ll have decided by then.¡±


    Not long after, tired from the whole stressful day, I slept. Karin grabbing, kicking, and pulling my hair didn¡¯t bother me much this time.


    I woke up early, as usual. Disentangled myself from Karin, took care of my morning ablutions. The sun hadn¡¯t risen yet, which was fine. I prepared my supplies for the day, left Hanabi¡¯s unused gift in the drawer. I might still have the chance to give it to her.


    A half-hour of light cooking and meal preparation later, I was ready. I left Karin¡¯s food on the kitchen table and packaged breakfast for Naruto. Then I walked into my bedroom again.


    Karin was still asleep, torturing my pillow.


    My hands flashed. Out popped a clone. I looked at Teacher-chan; she looked back at me. Grinned.


    I cleared my throat. ¡°Karin, wake up.¡±


    The redhead rolled on the bed, pulled the pillow over her head.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t, I won¡¯t teach you anything.¡± I said loudly.


    Karin groaned, sat up, still bleary-eyed. She looked at me, then at the clone by my side. Her eyes widened.


    My clone, Teacher-chan, made a few hand seals. She created with mokuton a wood ruler on the palm of her hand. Once it was finished she grasped it, slapped the palm of her other hand with it.


    I didn¡¯t need to look at my clone¡¯s face to know she was grinning wide. I was, too.


    ¡°Bad girls that don¡¯t wake up for class get punished,¡± Teacher-chan said, using our husky sexy voice. She slapped the ruler on the palm of her hand again.


    Karin whimpered. Her eyes were frantic. She looked at me.


    ¡°Please, Hinata-chan,¡± she pleaded.


    I turned on my heels, walked to the door. I stopped there before leaving, looked over my shoulder.


    ¡°Have fun learning,¡± I said sweetly, then walked away.


    ¡°Hinata-chan, don¡¯t leave me alone with her,¡± Karin pleaded again.


    Karin¡¯s distress was music to my ears. That would teach the little devil the consequences of teasing me. Now, it was time to take care of my business. Deliver Naruto¡¯s breakfast, then meet with Ino for morning training.


    A goofy grin spread on my face. I couldn''t help it. Best Girl Ino kissed me!

 8.8

    I waited for Ino outside her family shop.


    She wasn¡¯t late today. She stepped out, her hand on her neck, holding the black stone I used for the weight seals. She looked at me, rolled her eyes. Stuck her tongue at me.


    I grinned wider.


    She approached, and her eyes turned from playful to sad.


    ¡°Let¡¯s train, Hinata-chan,¡± she said.


    The teenage silliness fled me faster than rowdy children when the mom looked at the broom.


    ¡°We gotta get strong,¡± she said in barely more than a whisper.


    I nodded. Ino was right. Now wasn¡¯t the time. There was still so much to do. Fooling around would come later after I survived.


    ¡°Let¡¯s,¡± I said, then offered my hand.


    Ino¡¯s face blossomed into a fantastic smile. ¡°Let¡¯s,¡± she said, taking my hand.


    A few hours later, we were in the winding-down part of the training, which meant a massage. I pretended I didn¡¯t hear Ino¡¯s noises. Paying attention to those only inflamed the teenage silliness in me.


    ¡°I was thinking Yakiniku Q,¡± I said after one particularly distracting sound from Ino.


    ¡°Humm?¡± Her voice sounded sleepy as if she wasn¡¯t all there.


    ¡°For a meeting later,¡± I added. ¡°I also invited Karin, and Karin will invite Sakura-chan.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Ino deflated a bit.


    ¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡±


    From her position, she shook her head, nodded. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± she said, but I could hear the unhappiness.


    ¡°What is it?¡± I coaxed gently.


    Ino sighed. ¡°My team,¡± she said after a moment. ¡°We go there after every mission.¡±


    I nodded; that made sense. I had thought about that restaurant because it was well known and the food was supposed to be good. But it wasn¡¯t anywhere new to Ino.


    ¡°Maybe the same place as yesterday?¡± I asked.


    Ino perked up. She propped herself on her elbows and looked at me. Grinned. ¡°I liked it there; let¡¯s do it.¡±


    I nodded, sent a bit more chakra through the threads. Ino flopped down on the fabric again. More distracting noises ensued.


    Before meeting with the Hokage, I dropped by the apartment to inform Karin about the plans for later that day. She seemed happy to see me. Hugged me tightly. Hid behind me when Teacher-chan walked from inside the bedroom.


    ¡°Will you ask Sakura out?¡± I asked, double entendre unintentional.


    She nodded, biting her lip. ¡°Yes!¡±


    Oh my, good luck, dear Karin.


    I patted her head. She flinched a bit at the touch, looking at me like I had something in my hand and was about to hit her. I hope Teacher-chan hadn¡¯t traumatized her that much.


    I turned to my clone. I was feeling guilty now. ¡°Be nice,¡± I scolded her.


    Teacher-chan gave me that one-eyebrow-raised kind of look. I kept eye contact just for a moment before I looked away. Damn it.


    ¡°Now,¡± Teacher-chan husked once I took a few steps away. The wood ruler hit the palm of her hand with a meaty twak. ¡°Ready to get back to your studies?¡±


    ¡°Eep!¡± I heard Karin squeak. ¡°Yes, sensei!¡± Her voice was terrified. She ran inside the apartment again.


    I shook my head. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be using clones to teach Karin anymore.


    ...


    Eh, whatever. How bad could it be?


    Karin ran inside the apartment, away from the demon in the shape of Hinata. She hated the clones. Hated them so much.


    She sat at the table, reviewing the numerous theory sheets.


    Teacher-chan paced behind, like a hound, sniffing for any distraction.


    Karin gritted her teeth. It was unforgivable. The war was on. Hinata would rue the day. Oh, how she would!


    A meaty twak of the ruler hitting the clone¡¯s hand sounded behind.


    Karin eep¡¯d again.


    ¡°What happens to bad girls who don¡¯t pay attention to their studying?¡± The demon clone whispered.


    Karin stopped thinking about any future retribution plans and focused on the papers again. But retribution would come. As sure as the sky was blue.


    Once again, the person at the desk was the Uchiha guy, who kept giving me the stinky eye. I waved, didn¡¯t wait for him before I ran up the stairs and towards Shisui¡¯s office. I wanted to enter the intelligence department but shook my head. Not now.


    I knocked at the door, entered when called.


    ¡°Good afternoon, Hokage-sama,¡± I said, polite.


    ¡°Hello, Hinata-san,¡± Shisui looked from a pile of papers to me. He sighed, pushed the papers away, waved in the vague direction of the chair in front of him.


    I sat. Without him saying anything, I popped out pastries and tea. Poured for him and me.


    Shisui sipped the hot tea, nibbled a cupcake. It might have been my impression, but I thought I heard a sigh, like the ones Ino often let out when eating. It wouldn¡¯t be, would it?


    ¡°The Hyuga clan have stopped pushing for actions against you for trying to kill the clan heir,¡± Shisui said, then sipped more of his tea. ¡°They also haven¡¯t said anything more about you being a clone, but I don¡¯t believe the trouble there has ended.¡±


    I took a slice of cake. Nibbled. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said after a while.


    Shisui waved his hand, dismissing the formality.


    Before he could talk about whatever he wanted to talk about, I took the initiative. Ino was right. She hadn¡¯t said it to my face, but I could read between the lines. She was trying to take charge, make me do things when I was just letting things pass me by. It was time I stopped being passive.


    ¡°Send me to look for Tsunade,¡± I said.


    Shisui, who was about to take another sip of his tea, stopped, put the cup down, looked at me.


    ¡°I could,¡± he said. He retook his cup and sipped the beverage. ¡°But will you listen to a proposal of mine?¡±


    I nodded. Ate more.


    ¡°Do you know where Tsunade is or where she went?¡±


    I shook my head.


    ¡°Do you know the surrounding lands and customs?¡±


    I shrugged.


    Shisui nodded, like he had expected it all along. ¡°I know you don¡¯t have many reasons to trust us,¡± he said.


    I scowled, opened my mouth, but a shake from Shisui¡¯s head stopped me.


    ¡°No one gave you a reason to,¡± he said, looking toward the window and the bustling life outside. ¡°That you love this place is evident enough, but I think,¡± he placed his cup back on the table, both hands palms down, ¡°the alienation was intentional.¡±


    I tilted my head. What was this now?


    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about this since yesterday. What report was Hiashi talking about?¡± The Hokage said, and the question sounded like it was rhetorical. ¡°I couldn¡¯t find any, or anyone in the intelligence division that is aware of such a report.¡±


    That left me feeling like someone just gut-punched me.


    ¡°And then, there were all the other things.¡±


    I blinked. Maybe a bit too fast.


    ¡°I¡¯m not blind, Hinata-san. I know how others treated you. It mainly stems from the council not trusting you. That bled towards the jonins and, ultimately, to everyone else.¡±


    I took a deep breath; this was starting to sound like a trap all of a sudden. ¡°And what do you want from me?¡±


    Shisui blinked. I scowled. I might have put too much hostility on my voice. Shit.


    ¡°Right, we got sidetracked, I apologize.¡±


    I shook my head. Best not to delay this any longer. ¡°No, please. What do you want from me?¡±


    Shisui stared at me for a long while.


    I spoke more. ¡°I¡¯m not blind either. Ever since I returned, everyone is treating me,¡± I waved erratically, ¡°I dunno, like they are scared I¡¯ll run away or something.¡±


    Shisui chuckled.


    ¡°What?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°It was Nara Shikaku¡¯s recommendation.¡±


    ¡°For what?¡± I asked, bristling.


    The Hokage sighed. ¡°Shikaku thinks, and Inoichi agrees, that you know a lot more than you¡¯re telling us.¡±


    It was like a stone dropped on top of me. If Shisui noticed, he didn¡¯t say anything; he kept talking in his calm voice. Thankfully, his eyes were still black.


    ¡°He also thinks that someone,¡± Shisui stopped, tilting his head. ¡°He thinks Danzo¡¯s been manipulating things from behind the scenes to alienate you, to push you away from Konoha. He already tried to kidnap you more than a few times.¡±


    I blinked. The question blurted out before I could stop myself. ¡°A few?¡± I mean, I remembered one attempt, when I was still five. Kakashi-sensei saved me. There were more?


    Shisui nodded. ¡°We have no proof they were his agents, but in and up to a couple of years after you¡¯ve been found, there had been frequent attempts. So much so that for a time, there was always an ANBU agent stationed near your house.¡±


    ¡°Are they there still?¡± I didn¡¯t like the idea of ANBU spying on me all the time.


    Shisui shook his head. ¡°Not for a few years.¡±


    ¡°And you won¡¯t ask what is this thing I know?¡± I asked, face still a scowl.


    ¡°I could,¡± Shisui said, then shrugged. ¡°But I won¡¯t. If you wanted to cause us harm, you¡¯d never have ousted Danzo.¡±

 8.9

    Shisui got to his feet, bowed deeply at the waist.


    ¡°I never thanked you for ousting Danzo. You probably saved my life.¡±


    My scowl deepened. They were manipulating me, weren¡¯t they? Trying to guilt-trip me.


    I thought about coming clean, telling him everything. There were things I could say that wouldn¡¯t be too damning. I opened my mouth.


    ...


    In the end, I shrugged. They wouldn¡¯t believe me. I wasn¡¯t sure if I would believe myself. No, that was just the lie I held on to feel better. I was, after all, a very selfish person. I didn¡¯t want to risk it; I didn¡¯t want to talk about it. Not now, of all things.


    A goofy grin might have slipped onto my face. I shook my head.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± I said, forcing a lightness into my voice.


    Shisui chuckled. ¡°Oh, right. The S-Rank mission passphrase. I forgot.¡±


    I scratched my cheek. Kinda wanted to fan-girl a bit. Even if this was all so sus, Shisui was cool as heck.


    ¡°But we got sidetracked again.¡± He sat down, took a slice of cake, ate it. This time, I heard the content sigh. He cast a glance at his mountain of paperwork and blinked, tired. ¡°What do you think about leading a squad of genin?¡±


    I tilted my head. ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll send other shinobi to investigate Tsunade¡¯s locations or at least clues about her whereabouts.¡±


    I opened my mouth, but he raised his hand. I stopped.


    ¡°Meanwhile, you lead a team of genin to complete simple missions around the village. That will help in many ways.¡± He looked at one piece of paper. ¡°We need more shinobi to complete low-rank missions. Ever since the attack, we¡¯ve been overworking our jonins. I¡¯d like to change that. Appointing you as a squad leader won¡¯t solve the problem, but it will help.¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t only you if you¡¯re curious. Other Chunin are also being assigned teams. Your classmate Shikamaru included.¡±


    I nodded again, grinned, imagining lazy Shikamaru leading a squad.


    ¡°That will also placate the council. They¡¯d resist¡ª¡± he blinked like a thought just hit him. ¡°They¡¯d resist too much if I tried sending you away right now.¡±


    Oh, oh! ¡°You think they want to keep me here for some reason?¡±


    Shisui sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but that is what it feels like.¡±


    I considered what to do and what he said. Shisui gave me time to think. Right then and there, I decided big things for the future. Two years. That was my deadline, or in the worst-case scenario, one, to do things my way. If Fate-kun was still steering stuff from the back lines, I had about three before the real shit hit the proverbial fan.


    I didn¡¯t want to risk anyone else¡¯s life just because I was being selfish. I didn¡¯t want to see Ino sad because Asuma died. I didn¡¯t want the many deaths the fourth shinobi war would bring.


    Dead-man¡¯s switch.


    The thought popped into my head. That was a good idea. I could hide my storybook away and what was needed to decipher it. If somehow I didn¡¯t survive the year, they¡¯d have all the information.


    If I survived and in two years I couldn¡¯t do anything, I¡¯d come clean. If I died before that, they¡¯d get my book. I could at least be selfish like that, right?


    ¡°Four months,¡± I said.


    Shisui tilted his head.


    ¡°I can wait four months.¡± It was risky, but that also gave me time to finish my black flash jutsu, learn more things, help Ino get stronger, and prepare for hunting Danzo. ¡°Then, with or without your blessing, I¡¯ll have to look for Tsunade.¡±


    Shisui nodded. ¡°I understand. Thank you.¡±


    I sighed. Well, let¡¯s abuse, right?


    ¡°I want permission to learn an A-rank jutsu,¡± I said.


    ¡°Which one?¡± Shisui asked.


    ¡°Mystic palm technique,¡± I shrugged. ¡°It might be useful.¡±


    There was a reason I wanted that one. I had my improved healing, but having a way to heal myself or others would help. After my last mission and all the trouble that followed, I don¡¯t think I wanted to be as vulnerable as I was. That technique wasn¡¯t the panacea I wanted, but it was a start.


    Shisui nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll see if Shizune can teach you.¡±


    That would be good. ¡°Can I invite others to learn too?¡±


    ¡°Who do you have in mind?¡±


    ¡°I think,¡± I said, slowing my words and thinking very fast, ¡°every four-man cell should have a medic-nin.¡±


    ¡°Tsunade of the Sannin said much the same.¡±


    ¡°And I know a few kunoichi that might have enough chakra control to learn.¡±


    Shisui blinked. ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°Me, Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino. Uzumaki Karin, if you allow.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll think it over,¡± Shisui said, but he sounded distracted. ¡°The curriculum would have to change,¡± he muttered.


    Better strike while the iron was still hot. ¡°Can I see the manuals for the yellow flash jutsu?¡± I blurted out. Then I looked away, ashamed.


    Shisui chuckled. ¡°That might not be possible.¡±


    I deflated.


    ¡°The last person I knew was capable of performing that technique was Lord Third. He might have stored copies of the jutsu at his house, but it would be,¡± he stopped, searching for words. ¡°Inappropriate for me to request such a technique.¡±


    I sighed. Yeah, it made sense.


    Shisui looked at the pastries on his desk, then the paper piles. He sighed, and I knew dismissal was imminent. ¡°Don¡¯t forget what I told you about gathering allies.¡±


    I nodded, packed my stuff, left the Hokage to his mountains of paperwork. Gave the Uchiha guy at the desk the bird before walking out of the tower.


    The conversation with Shisui gave me a lot to think about: new plans, new training opportunities, new jutsu, and new genin to boss around.


    Thoughts churned inside my head until I returned to the apartment. The door banged open before I could open it, Karin running and hiding behind me.


    Teacher-chan followed soon after. She rolled her eyes. Unpopped herself.


    I waded through the deluge of information, then pushed most of it away. Her methods weren¡¯t the best; scaring Karin might be counterproductive, but I¡¯d let my clone have her fun. If Karin complained, then I¡¯d do something about it.


    ¡°Don¡¯t ever leave me alone with her again!¡± Karin pleaded, still hiding behind me and looking inside the apartment, like she was afraid the clone was still there.


    Had my clone been that bad? Did she hit Karin? I looked over the clone¡¯s memories again.


    My clone had never even considered hitting Karin, which was what I had been afraid of. A small hint of relief flooded me. I don¡¯t think I was that kind of person, but I could never be sure with the clones. No, Teacher-chan just mentally scarred Karin.


    ...


    That might be worse than bodily harm.


    I chuckled. If I was a bit nervous, I think I could be excused in this situation. I turned around, patted Karin¡¯s head. Then gave her a hug, for good measure. She leaned into the affection.


    My mind inevitably drifted to the events of the day. I had a lot to think about. I had to update Ino on what Shisui told me, but not today. Tonight was girls¡¯ night out. No brooding over a depressing future.


    ¡°Go invite Sakura-chan,¡± I said, still patting Karin¡¯s head and holding her in a hug. ¡°I know where we¡¯re going.¡±


    It was selfish, yes. But I wanted to enjoy being alive, not just live.

 8.10

    I showered and slipped into the same white kimono I¡¯d worn to the Uchiha dinner. I was going out with friends. I wanted to look nice, feel pretty.


    Karin didn¡¯t take long to return. The redhead¡¯s grin was even sillier than mine. I shook my head. There was no need to ask if Sakura-chan accepted. Karin was braver than me. Inner Sakura was terrifying.


    While she got ready, I inspected my supplies. Made sure the mango-flavored pastries were there. It wouldn¡¯t do to lure Secretary-chan away from the tower and not deliver on my promise.


    Karin slipped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. She left a few minutes later dressed in a beautiful black kimono ¡ª I didn¡¯t know where she got it from.


    ¡°You look pretty,¡± I said.


    Karin smiled. ¡°You too.¡±


    She helped me apply makeup, and I helped her in turn. Then, ready, we left the apartment.


    We walked toward Ino¡¯s house, with Karin still wide-eyed at anything and everything. I agreed with her. Even after living here for years, it still amazed me every time. I loved the village even if it didn¡¯t love me back.


    Ino was waiting for us outside the shop. By some unspoken agreement, she was also dressed in a kimono. To no one¡¯s surprise, purple.


    She was beautiful. I said as much.


    Ino looked at me, my silly grin, rolled her eyes. Then, her gaze settled on the redhead.


    ¡°Karin?¡± she asked.


    Karin nodded. Smiled. I caught the mischievous look and didn¡¯t have time to stop the disaster.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re the mistress?¡±


    I face-palmed.


    Ino blinked. ¡°Mistress?¡±


    Karin sauntered closer, gave Ino a once-over. ¡°Hinata and I live together,¡± Karin said with an innocent smile. ¡°And sleep in the same bed.¡± She looked at me, then at Ino, tilted her head. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that make you the mistress?¡±


    I turned around; power walked away.


    Damn it, Karin. Why? Oh god, why? I hadn¡¯t taken more than two steps when I heard and felt Ino¡¯s yell.


    ¡°Hinata-chan!¡±


    Ino stormed off, my flimsy explanations falling on deaf ears.


    ¡°Ino-chan, wait,¡± I called out. She ignored me, kept walking.


    Behind, Karin snickered. I shot her a baleful glare. She snickered harder. ¡°Go chase her like a good puppy,¡± Karin teased.


    I wanted to argue, but instead, I ran a few steps until I was by Ino¡¯s side. I wasn¡¯t sure what to say or why she got this mad.


    ¡°Ino-chan,¡± I started again, stopped.


    Ino glanced my way, stuck her tongue at me. She was grinning. She interlocked her arm with mine and pulled me along toward Sakura¡¯s house.


    Was she mad or not? I was so confused.


    We collected Sakura, who was wearing a pink kimono.


    I looked at Karin, her red ears hidden beneath the red hair, and thought about payback. Ino was still by my side, a strange look on her face, observing Sakura and Karin talking. I gave up on escalation. I¡¯d let Karin win this one.


    Karin offered her arm to Sakura. ¡°Shall we go?¡±


    Sakura looked at me, Ino, our locked arms. She took Karin¡¯s.


    ¡°Where are we going?¡± She asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Karin said.


    I looked at Ino. She just grinned. ¡°It¡¯s a surprise.¡±


    Then we were off again, this time toward the tower. We made a strange sight: four girls, all around the same age, dressed in colorful kimonos, walking around the village. We attracted a fair amount of attention, but it wasn¡¯t the bad kind.


    We crossed the residential area until we got closer to the Academy and the tower. Secretary-chan was already there, wearing a pretty green kimono, hair braided and over one shoulder.


    She smiled warmly at our approach. I let go of Ino¡¯s arm, ran toward the prettiest Secretary of them all. Grabbed her in a tight hug. She hugged me back.


    ¡°Are those your friends, Hinata-chan?¡±


    I nodded. Released Secretary-chan. ¡°The redhead is Uzumaki Karin, and her date is Haruno Sakura.¡± I couldn¡¯t resist adding a bit of teasing. Karin¡¯s face turned the exact shade of her hair. Sakura gaped, then quickly looked away, her cheeks pink.


    I looked at Ino, ¡°This is Yamanaka Ino.¡± Secretary-chan nodded. ¡°Guys, this is my friend¡ª¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you all,¡± Secretary-chan said. She turned to me. ¡°Where are we going, Hinata-chan?¡±


    I grinned. ¡°Surprise.¡±


    We set off again. It was like four kids accompanied by their bigger sister. Weird, but exciting all the same.


    I led the group back toward the commercial district and into the out-of-the-way alley. Sakura looked around like she was starting to have doubts, while Karin was still too overwhelmed by walking arm-in-arm with Sakura.


    We reach the inconspicuous-looking door. Under their curious stares, I knocked.


    A few moments later, the door opened. It was a different kunoichi this time. She looked at me, then our group. She blinked a few times, surprised.


    ¡°A private room for five, please.¡±


    She opened her mouth, closed it, and then nodded. ¡°Please, come in.¡±


    We followed her inside. We crossed the bar. There were even more jonins here than the last time. Our entrance caused an even greater reaction, but no one stopped us. We had crossed half the place toward the backroom when I recognized two chakra signatures. I stopped on my tracks.


    The waitress kept going a bit longer before she realized I wasn¡¯t following.


    ¡°Is there a problem?¡±


    I shook my head, leaned closer to Ino. ¡°I¡¯ve seen someone I need to talk with. Can you lead the girls inside?¡±


    Ino looked around, trying to find who I was talking about, but then gave up and nodded, releasing my arm.


    ¡°I¡¯ll follow in a minute,¡± I said and walked off.


    I heard a question behind me, Karin¡¯s voice, I think, and then Ino¡¯s explanation. A bit later, I felt their chakra moving again. I crossed the open bar toward one of the booths. I knocked at the wall to gather the attention of the two inside.


    The curtain was thrown open, and I stared into Yamato¡¯s big, expressive eyes.


    He opened his mouth. I pushed in and hugged him. Inside, I heard Kakashi¡¯s chuckles.


    ¡°I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re okay,¡± I said, sniffling. I had seen him before, but at the time, he was wearing his ANBU mask. I couldn¡¯t behave like I knew him.


    Yamato placed a hand on top of my head. ¡°Thank you, Hinata-san.¡±


    I let go of him, waved at Kakashi-sensei.


    ¡°Mah, what¡¯s my cute chunin doing here? And dressed all pretty.¡±


    Yamato walked inside the booth. I followed and sat by Kakashi¡¯s side.


    ¡°It¡¯s girls night out,¡± I said.


    Both looked at me uncomprehendingly.


    It was Yamato who spoke. ¡°And you brought your friends here?¡± There was a hint of disbelief in his voice.


    I nodded. ¡°Yep.¡±


    Kakashi chuckled, then laughed. Yamato just shook his head.


    I looked at both, tilted my head. ¡°Why? What is this place?¡±


    ¡°Nothing, don¡¯t worry about it, Hinata-san.¡±


    I opened my mouth, sighed. It wasn¡¯t worth it. I looked at Yamato, who still looked chagrined.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said.


    ¡°For?¡± Yamato looked confused.


    ¡°Sai,¡± I started, shrugged. ¡°The clues were all there. I just didn¡¯t put things together.¡±


    Kakashi and Yamato exchanged looks.


    ¡°What do you mean,¡± Kakashi asked.


    ¡°It was how he behaved. I felt him sending his constructs at night, but I didn¡¯t even think to find it suspicious.¡± I hung my head. ¡°I should have, at the very least, told Yamato about it. Sai was acting strange, and I ignored it.¡±


    ¡°The failure wasn¡¯t yours, Hinata-san,¡± Yamato said. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have known.¡±


    But that was the problem. I could, couldn¡¯t I? I knew Sai was a ROOT agent in the original story. This one was on me.


    ¡°How¡¯s Hayase?¡± I asked instead. ¡°I didn¡¯t have time to visit him yet.¡±


    Yamato smiled. ¡°He¡¯s sad that all the laboratory data was stolen.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d think the injury would be his biggest concern, but no, what really upset him was losing access to Orochimaru¡¯s code.¡±


    I chuckled. Then I laughed. Wiped the tears with the back of my hand.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you are okay, Hinata-san.¡±


    ¡°Mah, she¡¯s my student. You think some two-bit villain could take her down?¡±


    My ears burned at Kakashi¡¯s offhand self-compliment. He was so cool. But it wasn¡¯t the time to fangirl. I still had one more question to ask.


    ¡°What happened to the hideout at Waves?¡±


    The easy banter between both jonins died faster than the will to train after gorging on pastries. They shared a glance.


    I fidgeted.


    ¡°It took some time until we could arrange a team to check out the place,¡± Yamato said, voice careful. ¡°When they got there, the place was recently abandoned. There were signs of struggle.¡±


    I hung my head, defeated. ¡°Did they...?¡± I couldn¡¯t finish the question.


    Kakashi-sensei was the one who answered. ¡°They found no labs or tubes.¡±


    I glanced up, nodded. If there was any clone there, it was alive and probably taken. Now I wanted to cry.

 8.11

    After a few more minutes of small talk, I left Kakashi-sensei and Yamato. I liked both and enjoyed talking with them, but my questions were already answered, and I wasn¡¯t here to catch up. It was girls¡¯ night out. They were boys and not allowed.


    I crossed paths with other jonin, nodded. Some nodded back, most just ignored me. I followed the girl¡¯s chakra until I was in front of a sliding door. I heard giggling and laughing from inside. Well, I was in the right place.


    I slid the door open and entered. The giggling didn¡¯t stop. If anything else, they saw me and giggled harder.


    Karin and Sakura sat together on one side. Ino and Secretary-chan on the other. That left me to sit at the head of the table, between Secretary-chan and Sakura or Ino and Karin. Call me biased. I sat near Ino.


    One of the waitresses stood near the table, also smiling for some reason.


    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± I asked after sitting down.


    Ino and Karin exchanged looks, started giggling again.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± both said at the same time.


    Sus, very sus.


    ¡°Hinata-chan,¡± Sakura said. ¡°We haven¡¯t ordered anything yet; what should we get?¡±


    I looked at the kunoichi, at the girls. Shrugged.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know either. It¡¯s my third time here,¡± I admitted.


    That prompted the kunoichi to explain how things worked. Each took their turn ordering nibble food and drinks. The kunoichi took our order, bowed, looked at me one last time, giggled and then left.


    Still very sus.


    Secretary-chan leaned over. ¡°How have you been, Hinata-chan?¡±


    I looked at Ino, who was still giggling. ¡°It¡¯s been hectic,¡± I said after a while. ¡°Met my,¡± I made quotation marks, ¡°ex-family yesterday. It was a mess.¡±


    That quieted the smiles. I felt terrible for bringing down the mood.


    ¡°But I think,¡± I said, trying to salvage the situation, ¡°that I made up with mom!¡±


    That helped things somehow. I went on with redacted details about the meeting with the Hyuga. The almost disastrous fight with Hiashi turned into a spat, Shisui¡¯s intervention was him overseeing things. Ino gave me weird looks but didn¡¯t contradict me.


    ¡°I¡¯m happy that you did,¡± Secretary-chan said. Her eyes were a bit misty. ¡°You always looked so lonely.¡±


    I shrugged. It was fine. It wasn¡¯t that bad.


    Sakura¡¯s mind was on something else. ¡°Hinata-chan, what are these bracelets you are all wearing?¡± She looked between me, Ino, and Karin.


    I puffed my non-existent chest. Displayed my arm and the necklace. ¡°The Ultimate Variable Weight Distribution System For The Discerning Shinobi!¡±


    Sakura tilted her head. Her eyes changed from confused to calculating. Nice, Sakura-chan didn¡¯t let me down! I knew she would understand.


    ¡°The what?¡± Secretary-chan asked instead.


    I deflated. ¡°Weight seals to help with training.¡± This was such a cruel world.


    ¡°Where do you get them from?¡± Sakura asked, still eyeing the seals disguised as bracelets.


    I shrugged. ¡°I made them.¡±


    Could see the gears turning in her head. Would she ask for a set as well? Should I peddle the idea to Shisui? And thinking about the Hokage reminded me I had to inform them about their fate.


    ¡°Early today when I was talking with the new Hokage,¡± I started, the girls attention on me again, ¡°I asked permission to learn a new jutsu.¡±


    I got tilted heads, blinking eyes, squinting eyes.


    ¡°A medic jutsu: Mystic palm technique.¡±


    ¡°A medic jutsu?¡± ¡°You can learn?¡± ¡°What did he say?¡±


    I ignored the questions, looked at red, pink and yellow-chan. ¡°I volunteered you guys to learn it too.¡± I stuck my tongue at them.


    That stirred up things, but food was served soon after. All appetizers, from spring rolls to chicken and scallion skewers. It distracted them, for the most part. We nibbled, shared stories, mostly regarding our time in the academy and the troubles we got up to.


    But then, it was time for the main event.


    ¡°It¡¯s time,¡± I declared, standing. I walked to the door, waved one of the kunoichi in. We exchanged a few words. She nodded, removed the food and drinks, cleaned the table.


    Once she had left, I took the seals I had prepared.


    Expectant eyes followed my every move.


    I displayed the mini storage seal. ¡°This one is part of my special series.¡± That got me interested looks. ¡°Each means something to me.¡±


    Out popped a cupcake. It had yellow frosting decorated with cat-whiskers. ¡°Sunshine and Orange,¡± I said after I placed it down.


    ¡°Naruto?¡± Karin asked, looking at the cupcake.


    I took the second one. Red frosting in the shape of flames. ¡°Will and Fire.¡±


    Sakura blinked. ¡°Is that...?¡±


    Secretary-chan let out a muffled, choked sob. ¡°Lord Third.¡±


    I gazed over my audience. With a flourish, I popped the third in my special series.


    Mango-flavored frosting, resembling a girl wearing glasses. I smiled. Offered it to Secretary-chan. ¡°Mango and Happiness.¡±


    Secretary-chan¡¯s hand flew to her mouth. The eyes behind the glass were now full of tears.


    What? Why?


    She shot up, grabbed me into a tight hug. I put my ninja reflexes to use and make sure the cupcake survived the assault. ¡°Hinata-chan,¡± the taller girl sobbed.


    That reaction hadn¡¯t been what I expected.


    It took a while for Secretary-chan to calm down. When she did; she took the cupcake and looked like she was gazing at the most precious thing in the world.


    ¡°Can I?¡± She asked after a beat.


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± I said. I took more seals, placed them on the table.


    The gathered covenant watched in intense curiosity Secretary-chan take a nibble. A second passed.


    She let out the lewdest and loudest of food moans. I turned to the walls, slapped my hands there, and summoned my privacy seals. I should have done that before giving her the cupcake. Maybe I should rename this one Mango and Lewdness?


    Sakura and Ino, already used to my seals, attacked the storage with surprising enthusiasm, popping out the spread I had prepared. It was a mix of the usual fare, with the addition of mango-flavored things: pudding, cupcakes, candies. I hadn¡¯t skimped for this gathering. Even the juice was mango-flavored.


    I was glad that after that first hiccup, I added the privacy seals. I wouldn¡¯t want people thinking something untoward was happening inside the room.


    It was already late at night. The streets were deserted. We had shared stories, shared embarrassing stories. I teased Sakura and Ino about their crush on Emosuke. They told even more embarrassing stories about my quirks in the academy. Even Secretary-chan added to the teasing. I felt betrayed, in a good way.


    Before we left, I gifted the kunoichi waitress a few of my packs: the good impression kit. I liked this place; no need to leave a bad impression on the staff.


    Outside, we shared hugs and goodbyes. Secretary-chan was the first to leave.


    ¡°Thank you, Hinata-chan,¡± she hugged me again. Kissed my forehead. I got on the tip of my toes and kissed her cheeks. I didn¡¯t miss Karin¡¯s snickering.


    ¡°Let¡¯s meet more like this instead of only in the tower,¡± I said.


    She nodded, hugged the rest of the gaggle, much to their chagrin, kissed their forehead.


    ¡°I enjoyed meeting you all,¡± she said, waved, and then she was off.


    Karin left second, escorting Sakura to her house. I shook my head. Good luck, Karin.


    I walked Ino to her home. It wasn¡¯t far, really, just a few minutes.


    We stopped in front of her house. I was ready to leave, but she pulled me toward the door.


    ¡°Ino-chan?¡± I asked, confused.


    She looked at me, rolled her eyes, but I noticed her cheeks were pink.


    ¡°It¡¯s the mistress¡¯ turn tonight,¡± she said, sticking her tongue at me.


    Oh. ¡°Oh,¡± I said dumbly. My face burned.


    She slapped my arm. ¡°Don¡¯t overthink it,¡± she added hastily, ¡°It¡¯s just a sleepover.¡±


    I nodded fast. I liked that. I didn¡¯t mind that. I wanted that.


    The door opened. Yamanaka Mother looked at us. Her mouth was a severe line, eyes narrowed.


    ¡°And where,¡± the woman said, ¡°have you been at this hour of the night?¡±


    I looked at Ino, then her mother. Yamanaka Mother looked two times more intimidating than she already was. Ino looked everywhere but her mom.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t tell her?¡±


    Ino shook her head.


    I turned to the angry matriarch. Popped my Good Impression Kit, hastily renamed Apology Kit v1.


    ¡°I invited her and other friends for a girls¡¯ night out,¡± I told her the truth.


    The woman looked at my offering. Took it. She stepped out of the door. ¡°Inside,¡± she ordered.


    Ino¡¯s shoulders sagged. She moved in.


    I wasn¡¯t sure what to do. Was I still invited to the sleepover? I looked away. Best I leave.


    ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± Yamanaka Mother asked.


    I looked back at her. She pointed to the still-open, waiting door. ¡°Get in.¡±

 8.12

    That night, ears burning, I went to bed with Ino. It was like a walk of shame, with every step under the scrutiny of the Yamanaka Matriarch.


    Despite the late hour, we didn¡¯t go to sleep immediately.


    And no, we didn¡¯t make out either.


    I don¡¯t even know if Ino saw us in a relationship or what. She¡¯d been clingy, but she had started no attempt at intimacy other than being touchy. I wasn¡¯t going to push her. I was more than happy to let Best Girl Ino find peace with her choices and take the lead.


    We talked, hushed words and whispers and plans.


    ¡°I talked with Kiyo-Obacchan,¡± Ino said after we finished giggling over the night¡¯s events. ¡°You should visit them.¡±


    ¡°You think they can help?¡± I was still convinced that the den of gossiping grandmas was more than just, well, gossiping grandmas. It had been years, and I had found no evidence of it yet, but that didn¡¯t diminish my certainty.


    Her hand followed the contours of my ear. I closed my eyes. Gooseflesh rippled down that side of my body.


    ¡°She wouldn¡¯t say, but I think so.¡± Her other hand threaded my hair.


    I held back the urge to squirm. Ino was so mean. ¡°I¡¯ll talk with the merchants that buy my seals. Maybe they can make their voices known or something.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea,¡± Ino said.


    The silence was only interrupted by breathing until Ino spoke again.


    ¡°Did you meet with Tora¡¯s owner?¡±


    ¡°Madam Shijimi?¡± I shuddered. Was it memories of the lady or Ino¡¯s hands? ¡°Not yet,¡± I admitted.


    ¡°What about the Aburame¡¯s clan visit?¡±


    I leaned my head against her shoulder. ¡°That¡¯s still a few days away.¡±


    We didn¡¯t talk more after that. I wrapped my hands around her waist, pulling her closer. The contact and proximity felt good. Calming, peaceful.


    I drifted to sleep thinking about flowers. They smelled nice.


    Things after that day moved fast. I avoided visiting the flower shop too much. The mood was strange. I think Ino¡¯s mom was mad at me for putting Ino at risk but also not willing to get on my case about that.


    I visited the GGC. Paid a copious amount in pastries and submitted my head to vengeful tousling hands. Chiyo-baa was in the ¡°known¡± about current events. War with Kumogakure was all but inevitable now. They were accusing Konoha of attacking one of their outposts.


    Mika-bachan also added to the rumor mill. ¡°You didn¡¯t hear this from me,¡± she started, ¡°but I heard the Hyuga clan head got in a huge fight with his wife.¡± She turned to me, eyes squinting. ¡°You know something about that?¡±


    I shook my head. Maybe a bit too fast. Had to dodge a lot of hands after that. Was Mom okay? I hoped so. When was she going to visit?


    By the end of the spy meeting session, Kiyo-Obacchan updated me on the situation.


    ¡°We know some people. We¡¯ll spread the word,¡± was all she said about my issues with the council codgers.


    The problem of trying to be social was dealing with people. I spent deep hours in the night baking. In the morning, I rushed to the mission hall, met with Madam Shijimi. Somehow, Tora had fled again. She was annoyed that it wasn''t my team completing the mission, but calmed down after I gave her one of my post-mission pastry packages.


    We moved to a private room where I delivered the traded goods, got my payment, endured the hug that I was sure caused Tora to flee.


    ¡°Thank you, Hinata-chan,¡± she said after releasing me. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I would¡¯ve done if you hadn¡¯t returned.¡±


    I bobbed my head. ¡°I apologize for causing you worry, Shijimi-sama,¡± I said and bowed.


    ¡°None of that, dear,¡± her heavy hand pressed me to the ground. She pocketed the many seals I had prepared. I even included a few of the mango-flavored ones. They passed muster, after all.


    She turned, ready to leave.


    I took a deep breath. ¡°Shijimi-sama,¡± I don¡¯t know why it was so hard to ask for her help. ¡°Could I ask for a favor?¡±


    The woman stopped, sat down again, patted the seat by her side. I obeyed, and let her fuss over me.


    ¡°What is it, Hinata-chan? Tell me, and I¡¯ll help.¡±


    ¡°You see, I¡¯m in a spot of trouble.¡±


    I gave her the abridged version of events. I had been kidnapped when younger, and held prisoner for a few years. Because of that, some in the village believed I was a sleeper agent, with most of the discrimination coming from the two councilmen.


    The woman hugged me. By the end of my tale, she was in tears.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Hinata-chan, I¡¯ll tell hubby about it.¡± I offered her a handkerchief. She blew her nose. ¡°You¡¯ll hear from me soon.¡±


    I gave her another hug. ¡°Thank you, Shijimi-sama.¡±


    In the mornings, when possible, I kept training with Ino. She had said nothing, but guessing by how she often avoided talking about home, she hadn¡¯t made up with her mom yet. Guilty prickled my insides at the thought I was the cause.


    In the rare moments we weren¡¯t training, we played.


    Still sprawled on the ground, taking deep breaths from the last spar, Ino spoke up. ¡°Hinata-chan, let¡¯s play tag next.¡±


    I sat by her side, also trying to relax. ¡°Tag?¡± Did she mean what I think she did?


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ino said.


    Euphoria overrode training tiredness. I got up to my feet, pulled Ino up as well. She groaned. Gave me a betrayed look.


    Gently, I pushed her away. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a count of five head start.¡±


    Ino blinked, looking at me like she did not know what was going on.


    I pulled a tag, just a normal exploding one.


    Ino¡¯s eyes bulged out. ¡°That¡¯s not¨C¡±


    ¡°Three, two,¡± I counted out loud.


    ¡°Shit.¡± Ino pivoted and fled.


    I finished the counting in my head and threw the first exploding kunai.


    A few minutes later, once I had tagged Ino more than a few times, we ended the game.


    Ino¡¯s clothes were not in the best shape. Dust and grass and sweat clung to her skin and clothes. Her hair was a mess. She was still the most beautiful girl.


    ¡°Never again!¡± Ino yelled. She turned her back to me and stormed off.


    Did I misunderstand something?


    Karin had demanded I stop using clones to teach her. I obliged. Left the entire theory there, and we¡¯d often discuss it later in the day. I learned Karin had been in contact with the Hokage more than once. By the looks of it, they were negotiating with Grass to take her in as a genin officially.


    ¡°That¡¯s so nice, Karin!¡± I said, hugged her.


    Karin¡¯s smile was full of happiness. ¡°Thank you, Hinata-chan.¡±


    Faster than I expected, it was time for the Aburame dinner. This time, I went alone. Ino wanted to tag along too, but I was still skeptical regarding the last time. I made much of the same preparations. Got Kumoko to hide a beacon at the badger¡¯s land for me. Gifted her another batch of honey since she couldn¡¯t take payment. Dressed in civilian clothes and not the pretty kimono.


    I had a few weapons with me, but not to the same extent I did when visiting the Hyuga compound.


    The dinner was a normal dinner. I ate with Shino and his family, and we made small talk.


    In the end, what they wanted was information about the bees. I should have guessed that. I sounded them for support regarding the whole ¡°you are a spy¡± situation, but Shibi didn¡¯t seem willing to take sides.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Hinata-san,¡± he said after taking a sip of his tea. ¡°If I promise my support, we¡¯d be getting in the middle of the trouble between you, the Hyuga, the Council, and the Uchiha clan.¡±


    That soured my mood, but I also understood his position. The idea of trying to force them to support me in exchange for information about the bees crossed my mind, but I gave up on that. I didn¡¯t want to create any more resentment.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to check with the badgers,¡± I said after a while. ¡°They are not the most hospitable with strangers.¡±


    Aburame Shibi nodded. ¡°I understand. Any information you can provide will help. We¡¯ll compensate you for that.¡±


    We parted ways soon after. Thankfully, it was just a normal dinner, a possible business arrangement, and not another marriage proposal.


    The day after the dinner, I was summoned to the tower, official business. I dressed in my new shinobi gear, put on the flak jacket, and left for the tower.


    There, me, Shikamaru, and other Chunin I didn¡¯t know met the Hokage. The chunin was older than us, a lot older. He seemed closer to Yamato¡¯s age. He had brown hair, dark eyes. His hair was combed down, covering his right eye. His forehead protector was like a bandanna, along with the standard Konoha shinobi outfit, which went to his chin similar to Yamato¡¯s.


    Wait, wasn¡¯t he the chunin who tried to trick people during the exam? He and that other guy with the spiky hair.


    We stood at attention in front of the Hokage.


    ¡°Thank you for coming,¡± Shisui said. ¡°We¡¯re assigning you a team of genin while our jonins are busy with priority missions.¡±


    Me and the older chunin nodded. Shikamaru tsked.


    ¡°Shikamaru,¡± Shisui said, looking at the lazy Nara. ¡°You¡¯ll take over Kurenai¡¯s team.¡±


    I caught the muttered ¡°Troublesome¡± but held in the urge to giggle.


    ¡°Izumo,¡± Shisui said to the other chunin, ¡°Your team is Hyuga Neji, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Hokage-sama!¡±


    That was a strange team composition. Sasuke and Neji on the same team? Then you add Naruto. Hell, that was scary.


    ¡°Hinata,¡± it was my turn now. ¡°Your team is Tenten, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Choji.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± I saluted.


    The Hokage handed us a slip of paper. "We informed your team to gather and they are waiting for you at the specified location.¡±


    I looked at my paper, training field three. Was that on purpose?


    ¡°That¡¯s all,¡± Shisui said and returned to his mountain of paperwork.


    I saluted again, then saluted my fellow chunin, left to meet my team. It was so strange, thinking I¡¯d be leading a team. But I had plans. I¡¯m sure the grin on my face matched my excitement. Grandiose plans. But first, I needed a pair of bells.

 8.13.t

    Finally, she was getting missions again. Things had been strange ever since the attack. Sometimes in a week, Tenten completed one or two D-rank missions, others she had nothing to do.


    Rock Lee¡¯s injuries still prevented him from working. Neji was dealing with clan issues, and Gai sensei hadn¡¯t been available for weeks, out on some dangerous mission or another. Tenten heard rumors and whispered words.


    The situation with Kumogakure and Iwagakure was worse than ever. Skirmishes at the borders, entire teams missing. Was this why all the missions were inside the village now?


    She made her way to training field three, still unsure why the meeting place was there.


    She wasn¡¯t the first to arrive, but thankfully, the jonin team leader hadn¡¯t arrived yet. She glanced between Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Choji. The chubby boy sat on the grass, eating chips. Ino was at the wooden dummy, training. Her movements were sluggish. Something Tenten recognized from her many days of seeing Rock Lee doing the same.


    ¡°Weight training?¡± she asked after approaching.


    Ino stopped mid-punch. Sweat covered her face. She smiled. ¡°Tenten!¡±


    ¡°Hello, Ino-chan,¡± Tenten waved, then dodged the sweaty hug.


    Choji snorted.


    ¡°Hello too, Choji-kun.¡±


    ¡°Hi, Tenten,¡± Choji said before stuffing his mouth with more chips.


    Choji still hadn¡¯t fully recovered from his last mission. His cheeks were not as chubby as they had been.


    ¡°You guys know who is the jonin leading the team?¡± Tenten asked.


    Ino shook her head. Choji shrugged.


    There was nothing but to wait. If their new team leader was anything like the legendary Kakashi, the wait could be hours.


    Ino returned to her training. Tenten looked on, full of curiosity, but didn¡¯t ask for the reasons. It was strange the blonde girl was training so seriously, when the impression Tenten had was that Ino had always been more worried about her looks than being a shinobi, but it wasn¡¯t Tenten¡¯s business.


    She opened the roll of scrolls in front of her, organizing the many weapons in her collection. She¡¯d probably use them today. It was a tradition for the team leader to test their team.


    Minutes dragged on until someone showed up.


    Tenten looked from her collection to the girl walking into the training field. She wore different clothes this time and had the flak jacket on, but Tenten¡¯s hair stood on end. She shuddered. The memory of that day in the forest, the bestial howling, the murderous trees, the dismembered bodies. It all came unbidden, strong, vivid. She remembered the other things, how this same girl almost killed Neji. She would have done it hadn¡¯t the jonins stopped her.


    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Tenten hissed. Before she even registered, she was standing, hands over weapons.


    Ino stopped her training. Turned. Smiled. It was a full-blown smile, big and radiant. How could Ino smile like that?


    ¡°Hinata-chan!¡±


    Even hearing the name sent shivers into Tenten¡¯s body.


    Choji just ate more chips. He was stuffing his mouth now like an obsession.


    ¡°Hi, guys,¡± Hinata said. Waved. Her voice was raspy. Wasn¡¯t she mute?


    Ino hugged Hinata, the latter not minding the sweat and grit and training mess.


    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Tenten asked again. She pulled her hands away from the weapons. Best not give the wrong impression or escalate things. She wasn¡¯t sure she could take the girl in a fight. Not if Hinata could defeat Neji that easily.


    Hinata scratched her cheeks. ¡°I¡¯m your new team leader.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ino cheered, hugged Hinata again.


    Choji¡¯s eyes were wide. More food disappeared down his gullet.


    Tenten opened her mouth. This couldn¡¯t be happening. ¡°Bullshit,¡± she called out.


    Hinata walked closer, handed over a slip of paper. Tenten snapped it from her hands, read it. They were the hokage¡¯s orders to meet her team at training field three.


    ¡°Shit,¡± she cursed.


    This was going to suck so badly. Tenten could feel it in her bones. Then came the words that made no sense at all. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she heard.


    Tenten looked around. Hinata had released Ino and bowed.


    ¡°I know things were strange in the forest and the preliminaries. I didn¡¯t mean to make you uncomfortable.¡±


    Tenten noticed she didn¡¯t apologize for what she¡¯d done. Tenten gritted her teeth, then sighed. Best to let it go. It wasn¡¯t worth it. Even if she still felt angry at this girl for almost killing Neji. Was she angry because Neji was her friend and crush?


    ¡°Forget it,¡± Tenten said, looking away.


    Hinata straightened up. Gave a shy smile.


    ¡°Follow,¡± she said and moved toward the open area of the training field.


    Once there, she took two small bells from her pocket. ¡°Let¡¯s do a team exercise today,¡± she said, jingling the bells. ¡°You¡¯ll have to work together to take them from me.¡± She took out two seals that were too small to be one of the standard storage seals. From one, she popped an absurd amount of sweets.


    It made no sense how such a small seal could store so many things. What were those? Tenten¡¯s mind spiraled with ideas.


    ¡°Whoever gets the bell wins the prize.¡± She pointed at the two bells, the pastries, and the still unused seal. ¡°But to make it more interesting,¡± Hinata said, some sweets displayed disappeared. ¡°The longer you take to get the bells, the less you will have at the end.¡±


    Ino gasped. ¡°No!¡± She was the first to react. She rushed in, ready to pick the bell.


    Then Hinata was behind Ino, holding a kunai to her neck. Ino first turned pale, then pink. Tenten hadn¡¯t seen Hinata move.


    ¡°But there¡¯s only two bells,¡± Choji complained.


    ¡°One of you won¡¯t get sweets, then,¡± Hinata said like it explained everything.


    She released Ino, who stepped back. ¡°Well, start, then?¡± Hinata said.


    The three genin looked at each other, then bolted away, leaving Hinata to defend her prize and bells. They¡¯d need a strategy. Tenten wasn¡¯t that interested in the sweets, even if they were famous. Who hadn¡¯t heard about the mute girl and her pastries? Tenten even heard rumors that her ¡°post-mission pastries¡± were the reason some clients requested her team. She didn¡¯t believe it.


    Tenten had, years ago, eaten one of those sweets when she was still at the academy. She had wandered off and joined, by mistake, a younger year class. That was when she saw Hinata for the first time: small, dark blue hair shaved and burnt on one side, strange black eyes. The younger girl had run up to Tenten, propped a board, and wrote on it. ¡°Have a sweet!¡±


    Unsure of what was happening, Tenten had taken one. Hinata hadn¡¯t waited for a response. She ran inside the room and started giving sweets to the other kids, who were almost forming a line, waiting for their turn.


    It had tasted good. Tenten wouldn¡¯t lie. Even with all the recent distaste for Hinata, she remembered how good the ¡°cupcake¡± was. It was a shame now she wasn¡¯t interested in those anymore. Tenten would take the damn bell and prove she could best Hinata. Then, she would demand satisfaction for what she¡¯d done to Neji.


    If she got some sweets at the end, that would be just a bonus.

 8.14.t

    ¡°It won¡¯t work,¡± Ino said, looking at the hastily drawn plan on the ground.


    ¡°Why?¡± Tenten asked.


    She looked over the drawing again. It made sense to her. Choji and Tenten would distract Hinata. Choji, with his family jutsu, Tenten, with her weapons. That would give Ino time to focus on her family technique and take control of Hinata¡¯s body.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t work on her,¡± Ino said.


    ¡°What, how?¡±


    Ino just shrugged. ¡°None of my family techniques work on Hinata-chan.¡±


    Tenten scribbled furiously on the ground again with the stick, redrawing battle plans. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, Choji, you overwhelm her, you¡¯re stronger. The bigger, the better. Ino and I will give you support with ranged attacks.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t work,¡± Ino said again, not for the second or third time.


    Tenten scowled. ¡°Why?¡±


    Ino raised her arm, showed a pretty bracelet decorated with black and white stones. Tenten caught the beginnings of inscribed fuinjutsu. They were small, compact, and mind-bogglingly complex.


    ¡°Hinata made those for me,¡± Ino said. Tenten noticed the fond smile on the blonde¡¯s face. ¡°It¡¯s weight seals.¡±


    ¡°And?¡± Tenten asked, patience a little frayed.


    ¡°Hinata¡¯s been using those since she was seven, I think? What Rock Lee showed in the preliminaries doesn¡¯t compare to what she uses. There¡¯s no way Choji can match her in brute strength.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s utter bullshit,¡± Tenten grumbled but scribbled more, arrows pointing in different directions. She explained what she wanted to do. Two distract, while one ambushes.


    ¡°It won¡¯t work,¡± Ino said again.


    Tenten growled. She was getting fed up with those words. Ino giggled.


    The blonde didn¡¯t wait for the question.


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you why. It¡¯s something Hinata told me, and I think it¡¯s a secret, but believe me, it won¡¯t work.¡±


    ¡°How the hell do we get those bells, then?¡± Tenten¡¯s grip tightened on the stick until it snapped.


    ¡°Offer her some chips?¡± Choji suggested. Ino giggled again.


    Tenten wanted to strangle both. She sighed, took one of her storage seals, and unsealed a gamut of weapons.


    ¡°If no strategy works, we have to brute force it, then.¡±


    She took a black wood staff, tested the weight and length. She glared at Ino. ¡°Now you¡¯re going to tell me she¡¯s a taijutsu prodigy as well?¡±


    Ino shook her head. ¡°Her taijutsu is poor, but she makes up for it by being stronger and faster.¡±


    ¡°We attack at the same time. We can overwhelm her,¡± Tenten said. Her voice was more confident than she felt.


    ¡°But who gets the sweets?¡± Choji asked as if that was the critical part of the whole thing.


    Tenten shrugged. ¡°If we manage to get the bells, you can take mine.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, Tenten!¡± Chubby Choji said, got up, popped a few more chips in his mouth.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Choji,¡± Tenten said and smiled. She stored most of the weapons again, strapped the scrolls to her body. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t matter if we can take the bells or not,¡± she said after thinking for a while, ¡°but I¡¯d prefer if we took it.¡±


    Tenten looked at the two younger genin.


    ¡°Hinata is the same age as you, younger than me. We can¡¯t let her walk all over us.¡±


    It was still a mystery how Tenten had never even heard of Hinata other than her sweets, being mute, or that Neji hated her for some reason.


    ¡°One last thing,¡± Ino said, pulling the hair out of her face.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Choji asked.


    ¡°If Hinata ever takes an exploding kunai, drop everything and run. Trust me, please.¡±


    Tenten shared glances with Choji. He nodded, like what Ino had said made sense.


    ¡°Why?¡± Tenten asked.


    Ino shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s classified. Asuma sensei told us because it was information regarding a mission, I can¡¯t say it.¡± She tilted her head. ¡°But if you ask her to show you the exploding tags, she¡¯ll probably be happy to let you see them.¡±


    Tenten turned, walked toward where Hinata was. This made no sense at all.


    Ino and Choji followed. When they got there, Hinata was getting up.


    ¡°You ready?¡± She asked, yawning.


    Tenten ground her teeth. Hinata was doing that to rile them up. There was no other reason. Maybe because she was frustrated, she blurted the first thing on her mind.


    ¡°Let me see your explosives.¡±


    Hinata blinked, tilted her head. Smiled. Wide, happy, and maybe just a bit unhinged. ¡°Sure, here,¡± she unfastened a scroll roll from her thigh. Tenten saw more of that strange storage fuin. Out popped a lot of kunais. All of them with the tag already rolled around it.


    ¡°Shit!¡± Ino cursed, then bolted away.


    ¡°Ino, wait!¡± Choji ran after Ino.


    That left Tenten facing a grinning Hinata. Somehow, Tenten had the impression she just made a horrible mistake.


    ¡°Catch,¡± Hinata said, then threw the kunai Tenten¡¯s way.


    It had been worse than a horrible mistake. Hinata was mad, deranged, and dangerous. Why the hell no one told her about the damned explosives? They were, like, three times stronger than the normal ones, and Hinata was throwing them out like they were candy.


    Worse was that, even pebbles, the madwoman turned into explosives. How, though? They were just rocks. Rocks weren¡¯t supposed to explode. That shouldn¡¯t be possible!


    Whatever had been the plan had turned into a mad run for her life, with Hinata hot on her heels throwing the damn explosives. When the madwoman wasn¡¯t chasing her, she barely had time to catch her breath before even more explosions came flying her way from afar. It was like Hinata knew where Tenten was all the time, even when she was nowhere near.


    Tenten couldn¡¯t get close, nor did she have the opportunity to join with Choji and Ino again. Every time they tried, Hinata rained down more explosives.


    By noon, the nightmare was over. They met back near the training dummy. Hinata was waiting for them like the madness from the previous hours hadn¡¯t been anything. She had a pebble in her hand, which she threw up and caught.


    Tenten had lots of small scraps from the shrapnel, and dirt in her hair. Her breaths came in ragged gasps. Ino was glaring her way like this had been her fault.


    Tenten was too tired to be angry with Hinata. She gasped the question out. ¡°How are you doing this?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Hinata asked. She sounded confused.


    ¡°Pebbles don¡¯t explode.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy, watch.¡± She showed the pebble in the palm of her hand and then placed a finger on it. Tenten saw the black lines from a fuinjutsu, then Hinata threw the pebble away. It exploded on impact.


    ¡°Bullshit,¡± Tenten said, resting her head against the cold grass. Utter bullshit.


    ¡°It¡¯s a jutsu called Shikoku Fuin, I can teach you later.¡±


    Tenten bolted up. Looked at Hinata with narrowed eyes. ¡°What?¡±


    Hinata shrugged, scratched her cheek. ¡°You¡¯re my team. That makes me responsible for teaching you guys stuff, right?¡± She didn¡¯t sound confident.


    She walked closer. From somewhere, she took a fabric and placed it in front of them. Out of her seals appeared a lot of sweets, water, tea, and juice.


    ¡°Dig in,¡± Hinata said, picking up a cup and serving water to Ino.


    ¡°Thank you, Hinata-chan!¡± Ino said, smiling, like the hours of hell weren¡¯t even a thing anymore. She took a cupcake and snarfed it down.


    Choji didn¡¯t wait, either. He sat by the fabric, took one of the jars, and just chugged it down.


    ¡°But we didn¡¯t get the bell,¡± Tenten said.


    Hinata just rolled her eyes. ¡°You believed that?¡±


    Too angry to argue, Tenten took one of the sweets. She had no idea what it was, but if she couldn¡¯t defeat Hinata, she could at least put a dent in the food. Payback.


    She bit off the thing. It tasted like liquid happiness.


    A squeal of food pleasure escaped her. So unfair. She ate more.


    ¡°We¡¯ll meet in the mornings for training,¡± Hinata said, ¡°and complete missions in the afternoon. Meet me here tomorrow at seven.¡±

 8.15

    That same day, after having fun¡ª training with my new team, I returned home to find out we had visitors.


    Three chakra bundles inside the apartment. One was Karin¡¯s already familiar one, with its swirling, sometimes spiking movements. The other two, I didn¡¯t know. By the size alone, I was guessing a jonin and maybe a child. The second one was small enough to make me think of kids back in the academy days.


    Not knowing who was inside, I braced myself for trouble. I had used most of my early years of explosives in the tag game with the team, so I palmed one of my new ones. The good ones.


    As usual, Karin noticed me. She opened the door before I could knock. That went a long way to calming down the paranoia. Karin wouldn¡¯t act like everything was normal if she were in danger or something. I hid the exploding kunai in one of the jacket pockets. Plastered a smile on my face.


    Karin hugged me. The hugging disguised her words.


    ¡°You have visitors, no danger.¡±


    Oh, right, damn cheat chakra sensing ability. I nodded, wrote an answer with my threads. ¡°Thank you, Karin.¡±


    I walked in, and Karin followed just a few steps behind.


    The two people in my living room weren¡¯t who I had expected, even if they were who I was hoping for.


    Mom sat looking toward the door, her face downcast, like she was sad. Hanabi, curled up in Mom¡¯s lap, looked ready to bite something.


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. Stopped in my tracks.


    Karin walked around me, then, with one last glance, disappeared inside the bedroom without saying anything.


    ¡°Hello, Hinata,¡± Mom said. Hanabi just glared.


    I stood there staring, without knowing what to do.


    Mom got up, sat Hanabi on the couch. A few words were exchanged. It sounded something like. ¡°Give your sister a chance, and behave.¡± Then she moved closer, stopped in front of me. Our eyes met.


    ¡°May I hug you?¡± She asked.


    My throat felt full and painful. I nodded. Blinked the haziness out of my eyes.


    Mom hugged me; warm, caring arms wrapped around me, making me feel safe, protected. I clung to her clothes like a small kid.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my baby,¡± she whispered.


    That broke the last dregs of my restraint.


    It was strange that I was happy I had cried like a toddler. I knew I wasn¡¯t in a good headspace right now. I¡¯ve been overly emotional the past few days and getting every day more obsessed with certain things. But I felt good, light, in a way. Like I had cried most of my worries away and that things would finally start looking good.


    I doubted that, but that was how I felt.


    We sat on the couch, making small talk. I wanted to sit near Mom, but Hanabi¡¯s glare and possessive hug told me pushing my luck wasn¡¯t the best idea right now.


    I tried to start a conversation, but my sister didn¡¯t seem interested or happy to be here.


    ¡°Hello, Hanabi,¡± I said.


    Hanabi just turned her face and refused to look at me. That was fine. At least she wasn¡¯t sending killing intent my way. That was progress, right?


    Karin had also left the bedroom, joined us. Between us, I had placed a few pastries and hot tea. Mom was nibbling one of my cupcakes, her eyes scanning every inch of my apartment like she was trying to decipher something I couldn¡¯t see.


    The awkward silence lasted a moment longer before I asked one of the questions that was bugging me after visiting the GGC.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t get into much trouble with Hiashi, did you?¡±


    I wasn¡¯t proud to admit that, but I had sneaked a few glances at her arms, neck, face, and hands, looking for signs of injury. I¡¯d put Hiashi on my black cover book if he had hurt Mom. I just got her back. I¡¯d probably blow the world if someone took her from me again.


    Mom smiled. ¡°He¡¯s an old grumpy man, but he¡¯s not a bad man.¡±


    ¡°Mom!¡± Hanabi said, eyes wide.


    ¡°It¡¯s true, Hanabi.¡± She patted my little sister¡¯s hair. ¡°He could worry less about the clan¡¯s prestige and more about his family.¡±


    Mom took one of the cupcakes, placed it on Hanabi¡¯s hand. ¡°You should eat,¡± she said, tousling Hanabi¡¯s hair. ¡°It¡¯s delicious.¡±


    Heat sneaked on my face. It was so good hearing Mom say that.


    After a while, she turned to me. ¡°But no, Hinata, I¡¯m not in trouble.¡±


    I had the distinct impression there was an unspoken yet there. What was Mom planning?


    ¡°It might take him some time to come around to it, but I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll see reason.¡± Mom added after a while.


    I understood her unspoken message. Hiashi still believed I wasn¡¯t his daughter but someone taking her place. There was probably more trouble on the horizon, but for now, I had breathing room.


    Mom looked around the apartment again. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind, Hinata, but I asked someone to keep the apartment clean once I learned you were away.¡± Her voice had a hint of melancholy to it.


    I shook my head. ¡°Thank you,¡± I was still unsure how to behave around her. After that first moment, it was awkward. Should I call her Mom? Hinami?


    ¡°How was Hinata when she was little?¡± Karin asked when the silence stretched a bit too long again.


    Mom blinked, looked at Karin, then she smiled, hands still patting Hanabi¡¯s hair.


    ¡°Ever since she was little, she was soft-spoken and polite, always so kind,¡± Mom said, looking my way. There was again that note of melancholy in her voice.


    ¡°Hinata soft-spoken?¡± Karin asked, as if not believing the words.


    I scowled. ¡°I grew up, okay?¡±


    That got chuckles out of the two and huffs from Hanabi. Then Mom started recounting stories from when I was littler. I paid attention to those. Most of what she said, I had forgotten myself.


    I don¡¯t know why people liked telling embarrassing stories about me. First, it was Mom telling things I barely remembered, then Karin recounting an abridged and redacted version of our escape together, meeting the badgers, and returning to Konoha.


    Hanabi had, at some point, stopped glaring at me. She still hugged Mom like she was afraid Mom would disappear, but no more glares. My sister also hadn¡¯t spared the cupcakes. After eating the one mom gave her and pretending for a few minutes she didn¡¯t want it, she dug in like a chubby kid forgot inside a candy shop.


    ¡°Give me a moment,¡± I said, got up, and ran toward the bedroom.


    I wasn¡¯t sure if this was the best moment, but I guess giving gifts was a better way to win people over, right? I collected Hanabi¡¯s prepared gift, returned to the living room. Debated one last time if I should do it before I shrugged. If she didn¡¯t want it, I could gift it to Sakura. She looked interested enough in my weight seals.


    ¡°I have a gift for you, Hanabi,¡± I said, holding up the small package to her.


    Her face went from enjoying the sweets to guarded in an instant. She looked at me, at Mom, and lastly at Karin before settling on me again. ¡°What is it?¡± She didn¡¯t take it from my hands.


    I displayed my bracelets, then pointed to the ones Karin was also wearing. ¡°Something to help you train.¡±


    Hanabi looked at the package, then at Mom, who gave her an encouraging nod.


    My sister released Mom, approached, took it. She unwrapped the package, looking at the set of bracelets. ¡°What are they for?¡±


    ¡°Weight seals.¡± I approached, pointed to the seals. ¡°May I?¡±


    Hanabi looked conflicted before she gave a hesitant nod.


    I helped her put it on, and while I did, I explained how they worked.


    ¡°If you touch here,¡± I said, showing the bigger stone and the seal inscribed there, ¡°and send your chakra in, you can change how much they weigh.¡± After fastening everything, I activated the seals for her. Given how young Hanabi was, I didn¡¯t want to hurt her. I settled the weights for two kilograms on each piece.


    Hanabi raised her hands, paced around a bit. ¡°It is strange,¡± she said finally, then returned to Mom¡¯s side and hugged Mom again.


    Mom smiled, patted Hanabi¡¯s head. ¡°What do you say when someone gives you a gift?¡±


    Hanabi scowled but turned to me and bowed. ¡°Thank you.¡± Then she hugged Mom once more.


    ¡°We must go,¡± Mom said after that but then turned to Karin. ¡°Can you keep Hanabi company outside for a moment? I¡¯d like a private word with my daughter.¡±


    Karin looked at me, and I nodded. I didn¡¯t like the sound of that, but I don¡¯t think Mom would hurt me. Hanabi was none too happy, but a stern look from Mom made her reconsider complaining.


    Once we were alone, Mom approached again, then cupped my face in her hands. She looked me in the eyes. ¡°Thank you, and please forgive me,¡± she said.


    I shook my head. Throat felt full again. But I wasn¡¯t going to cry. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to forgive,¡± I said.


    She hugged me, almost crushing. It lasted way too little.


    ¡°Have you been well, eating proper meals?¡± She looked me in the eyes. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like carrots, but don¡¯t forget the five colors.¡±


    I scowled. Sure, carrots were icky. I didn¡¯t like the texture, but I also didn¡¯t really mind eating them if they were mixed with other things, just in small amounts.


    ¡°Meals are fine,¡± I grumbled, but I was happy, really happy.


    ¡°And what¡¯s this I hear about you and that Uchiha¡¯s boy?¡±


    I scowled harder. How¡¯d she even learn about that? Did everyone know?


    ¡°No,¡± I said with as much finality as I could put on my voice. ¡°Not interested. Boys are too complicated.¡±


    She hugged me again, kissed my forehead. But the look in her eyes told me she misunderstood something. Mom didn¡¯t broach the subject again. Instead, she let go of me, reached into the folds of her kimono, and handed something over.


    I took the thing. A knot of something stabbing my chest and staring at me, literally.


    Inside a small crystal container was none other than a single white eyeball.


    My hands shook. ¡°Won¡¯t he be angry, and won¡¯t you be in trouble?¡± The words escaped me.


    ¡°Leave your father for me to handle,¡± Mom said, not denying my words.


    I took a deep breath. Then tried to hand back the eye.


    Mom didn¡¯t take it. ¡°It¡¯s yours.¡±


    ¡°But¡ª¡±


    Mom¡¯s hands cupped my cheeks again. ¡°No, my baby. You leave me to deal with the clan. I know you have no reason to like us, but please don¡¯t hate us either. Losing you broke something in your father. He never recovered.¡±


    I opened my mouth, closed it. I wasn¡¯t even sure what to say. I hung my head, hands still gripping the crystal container.


    ¡°Can I visit again?¡± Mom said, her warm hands still cupping my cheeks.


    I nodded. Fought the urge to cry.


    She kissed my forehead one last time, hands now patting my hair.


    ¡°And if marrying that Uchiha¡¯s boy is what you want,¡± she said, returning to that damnable idea again, the words cutting me like a knife, ¡°you should follow your heart and not worry about the politics behind it.¡±


    Mom hugged me one last time and left.


    I wanted to scream.


    From inside its crystal prison, the white eye judged me


    And when the full weight of the inevitable shitshow on the horizon crashed down on me, I wanted to scream even harder.

 8.16

    Karin found me having a staring contest with a disembodied eye. Orphaned eye? No, that didn¡¯t sound right. I wasn¡¯t dead. Thankfully, instead of asking questions, she just gave me a quick one-armed hug, then left me in my turbulent mood.


    The foremost thought in my mind was a silly one. Do I just pluck out one eyeball and plug the other in?


    That didn¡¯t sound healthy or advisable.


    Thinking about the logistics distracted me for a few moments until other, more relevant thoughts intruded. Should I keep it? I had limited options. Giving it back was out of the question. Because I didn¡¯t want to, nor was I going to throw away Mom¡¯s act of goodwill by returning the thing. The eye was mine, dammit. Gross as it was to think about plugging it into my head after the eye spent how many years rooming inside Oro¡¯s skull.


    I couldn¡¯t fathom what went into Mom¡¯s head to do this. Maybe Hiashi wasn¡¯t the only one broken when Hina¡ªI got kidnapped. But if she was, how do I fix it? Worse yet, if I accepted Mom wasn¡¯t of sound judgment, what about Hiashi? I tried to kill him. I don¡¯t think the kunai would have killed the clan head. Injury, yes. Cripple, maybe. Kill? No, he was too strong a jonin to fall for a single explosion, no matter if it was one of my best, aimed at his weak spot.


    The container went inside a pocket. I needed to prepare for the fallout. I probably needed advice, too.


    My hands flashed, and out popped a clone. From across the room, I heard Karin¡¯s gasp and whimper, but I didn¡¯t have time for that. I nodded at my clone, who sped out of the house.


    ¡°What¡¯s it?¡± Karin asked when it became clear the clone wasn¡¯t here to teas¡ªteach her seals.


    ¡°Preparations,¡± I said and ran toward the bedroom.


    Karin followed me. ¡°For?¡±


    ¡°Trouble.¡± Going looking for advice was the better option, but I didn¡¯t want to be caught unprepared. There was no trouble that enough explosives couldn¡¯t solve.


    I plopped my behind on the chair near the desk, my workshop, and got to work. Maybe because people treating me nicely lulled me into a false sense of security, or perhaps it was because the council didn¡¯t seem a physical threat, but just an annoyance I had to deal with. I let things fall to the wayside.


    Couldn¡¯t let that continue. I drew the inscription for the Kuro Raikou no Jutsu.


    Karin dragged a chair and sat by my side, watching me work. I paid her no mind.


    Two things I needed to fix to make this jutsu combat-ready. First, it couldn¡¯t be temporary. It wouldn¡¯t be a problem if my chakra conversion when using mokuton was like Yamato¡¯s, but it wasn¡¯t. It took too much chakra. This meant I had to disconnect it from mokuton somehow.


    Weeks of traveling underground with nothing to do gave me more than enough time to revise my approach and think of new solutions. My theory was mostly complete.


    The other issue was porting and leaving my stuff behind. That one just rose in the scale of importance, almost more than disassociating the jutsu from mokuton. With the damn eye now burning a hole in my pocket, I couldn¡¯t teleport and leave it behind. That was a disaster waiting to happen.


    About an hour later, my clone returned.


    I looked over my shoulder, gave her a nod. Worker-chan placed a seal near me, one with special kunais I had requested some time ago, but never used, since the jutsu wasn¡¯t ready yet. Then my clone plopped on the bed, took out one of those big scroll rolls, like those Jiraiya carried on his back, and started inscribing.


    Hours flowed. Karin left at some point but soon returned with food and drinks. I picked some, nibbled while thinking.


    I held a wood-inscribed kunai.


    ¡°Did you finish it?¡± Karin leaned closer, trying to read the many diagrams.


    ¡°One of the problems.¡±


    ¡°Which one?¡± Karin asked.


    I grinned. Threw the kunai to the other side of the room and made a confrontation sign.


    Karin eep¡¯ed, face as red as her hair. My clone burst out laughing.


    ¡°This never happened!¡± I growled, flickered back toward the desk, and picked up the clothes that had stayed behind. Dammit. I was sure I had fixed that problem.


    Two more attempts, some more flashing episodes later, I held the kunai. Wood, inscribed and fixed.


    ¡°This time it will work.¡± I declared.


    Karin nodded. She was numb. She covered her eyes. I rolled mine, then threw the kunai, teleported.


    I appeared on the other side of the room, still gear clad.


    ¡°Got it on the first try!¡±


    A cheer escaped me while I victory danced.


    The past few hours never happened. I didn¡¯t flash people. Nope, that was impossible.


    Worker-chan got up and delivered the day¡¯s work to me. I looked over, nodded, hugged her. In a puff of smoke, she was gone.


    ¡°Karin, come here, please.¡±


    The red-faced redhead approached. ¡°What is it?¡±


    I gave her several sets of kunais. Each set, four inscribed kunais. ¡°When you want to disable someone,¡± I tapped the ones with the white tags. ¡°When you need someone gone,¡± I said, tapping the ones with the red tags. ¡°Weight barrier.¡± I tapped again on the white. ¡°Explosion barrier.¡± I tapped the second.


    Karin took those, looking wide-eyed at me.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    I took the eye from my pocket. ¡°Trouble will come calling.¡±


    With that, I ran outside and, using some of the newly prepared seals, placed a barrier around the apartment walls. It wouldn¡¯t make the place impenetrable, but it probably would give me enough time to react if someone came looking for trouble.


    Back inside the apartment, I looked at my bedroom. It was a mess.


    Near the bed went most of the seals Worker-chan created, as well as the big scroll. Inside that one were most of my remaining supplies. The tools on my desk went into the drawers, and finally, I cleaned the bed.


    ¡°Sorry for keeping you awake until so late,¡± I said to Karin, fully aware she wouldn¡¯t have been able to sleep with me messing around in the bedroom. ¡°Let¡¯s sleep.¡±


    Karin looked at me, at the table, at the bed. ¡°I think,¡± she said, face going even redder. ¡°I¡¯ll sleep in the living room.¡±


    I flickered forward, grabbed her retreating form. ¡°Get into bed,¡± I ordered.


    I met my team the following day. Before we started training, we discussed strategy, which was to keep training what you¡¯ve been training and the ¡®don¡¯t slack, let¡¯s get strong¡¯ speech. As usual, I helped Ino train. In the afternoon, while my team had lunch and rested after training, I went to the mission center to get our mission. Shisui was there waiting for me.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t your first mission,¡± he said, handing me a slip of paper. ¡°But it is your first mission as team leader. I thought it was enough to keep the tradition.¡±


    I bowed. ¡°Thank you, Hokage-sama.¡±


    The slip of paper in my hand wasn¡¯t the most impressive. Painting walls. Ugh, D-ranks, I forgot how boring they were.


    The Hokage hadn¡¯t finished. ¡°That wasn¡¯t the only reason I¡¯m here. Shizune agreed to teach you and your friends.¡±


    I nodded, gave him a salute. My fingers flicked a message: Complication, clan.


    It surprised me that an army of Hyuga hadn¡¯t stormed my apartment demanding the eye back. Had Mom dealt with things like she said she would? It was prudent to keep Shisui informed, since he seemed to be in my corner.


    He nodded. ¡°Come visit me in the tower after you finish your mission.¡±


    I saluted again. Popped two of my Good Impression kits. One went to the Hokage, the other to the Kunoichi responsible for the mission desk today.


    Her eyes were wide. ¡°Are those...?¡± She muttered, then she got up, bowed. ¡°Thank you!¡±


    Huh, weird. I shrugged. Left. Pretend I didn¡¯t see the other people looking at the Kunoichi like they wanted to steal her pastries away.

 8.17

    I reported the eye incident to Shisui, who didn¡¯t have words of advice aside from asking Shizune for help if I wanted to ¡®install¡¯ the wetware, which I agreed was a good choice.


    That same day, I also met with Hayase, who had returned to the tower. Like Yamato said, the boy was devastated that we lost the data, not about his injuries.


    ¡°You remember nothing?¡± Hayase had asked me, his face despairing.


    I shook my head.


    ¡°Dammit that Sai,¡± he cursed. ¡°Even the data we delivered to the agents at the border was stolen; how long had he been planning that for?¡±


    We commiserated in the hardships of life for a moment longer before I left him to his work.


    Things got busier after that, even if there wasn¡¯t much to tell regarding the days before the council hearing. I talked with everyone I could. Made inquiries to the merchants I had business dealings with, sounded for support, even promised a few favorable deals regarding my seals if they helped.


    That got me a bit of interest, and a promise that they¡¯d send someone to represent the merchants to participate in the hearing to show their support. Still, my biggest hope was Madam Shijimi.


    The day after that, I dragged Ino, Tenten, Sakura, and Karin to meet Shizune at the hospital for our mystic palm lessons. We met in what looked like a classroom of sorts. The kunoichi still looked tired, but better than the last time I saw her.


    ¡°Hello Shizune,¡± I said, waving. She waved back. ¡°These are my friends,¡± I ignored Tenten¡¯s scowl and Ino¡¯s eye roll. ¡°We¡¯re here to learn.¡±


    Shizune looked at us, at the extra person, but didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Nice to meet you all,¡± Shizune said, and didn¡¯t waste time. ¡°Medical jutsu isn¡¯t something everyone can learn. It takes a lot of delicate control, dedication, and hard work.¡± She looked over us again, then shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll start with improving control.¡±


    Among the group, only Tenten could water-walk. Worse was Karin, who couldn¡¯t even wall-walk yet. I looked at the girls, gears turning in my head. Had I messed up? I was so focused on taijutsu and ninjutsu training that I neglected to add control to our training routine.


    That first meeting ended a few minutes after it started. Shizune gave us homework to practice our control, then dismissed us.


    I waved Karin and Sakura goodbye. Turned to Tenten and Ino. ¡°I¡¯ll meet you guys after lunch for today¡¯s mission.¡±


    ¡°See you later, Hinata-chan,¡± Ino said, waved.


    Tenten just scowled at me. She still wasn¡¯t willing to be friends, for some reason. Once they left, I returned to the room to talk with Shizune.


    ¡°Can we talk?¡±


    She gave me a tired nod and led me to an office. Once we were seated and comfortable, I popped tea and a few sweets for her.


    ¡°I think my control is enough to learn,¡± I said, feeling bad about doing this, but I didn¡¯t want to wait that long to learn the jutsu because the others¡¯ control wasn¡¯t good enough. I knew my control was just above average, and the difference between me and others was the amount of effort I put into it, but with the years of effort, and given how... simple the exercises she prescribed were, I didn¡¯t want to waste time.


    Shizune sighed, like she was expecting trouble. ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I can already do everything you told them to practice.¡±


    She hadn¡¯t even drunk or eaten yet, which is why I think her mood was a bit sour. ¡°Show me.¡±


    I did just that. Went through the whole gamut of exercises. It was the bare basics of tasks. I don¡¯t know why she expected these to be difficult. It didn¡¯t even include multi-tasking and different intensities for each exercise.


    Shizune gave me a few more exercises, which I completed without any issue.


    ¡°Who trained you?¡± she asked, after a pause.


    I shrugged. ¡°No one,¡± I admitted. Tilted my head. ¡°Although, the Old Man gave me control training exercises when I was younger.¡±


    ¡°Old Man?¡±


    ¡°The Third Hokage.¡±


    Shizune nodded, eyes sparkling up like she¡¯d just solved a big mystery.


    ¡°Wait here,¡± she said and left.


    I nibbled the sweets and drank tea.


    The medic-nin returned about half an hour later carrying an armful of parchments, books, and scrolls. She dumped it all in front of me. Took one of the books at the top, handed it over.


    ¡°Start with this one,¡± she said.


    I took the book, flipped through the pages. It looked a lot like a biology book, ninja style. She handed me an ordered list.


    ¡°Once you¡¯ve finished with that, these next.¡±


    I sighed. Damn, this was going to take forever. Somehow, I had expected I¡¯d come and talk with Shizune, she¡¯d demonstrate the jutsu, and I¡¯d amaze her by copying it on the first try. That will teach me to be arrogant.


    ¡°We can start training once you¡¯ve finished the first book,¡± she said, maybe noticing my defeated looks. ¡°But you should still read through all that.¡±


    That was fine. I had a plan in mind for that already. I took out parchment, inscribed a new seal. Stored everything.


    I wasn¡¯t entirely satisfied with how things went, but it was time to discuss the second thing I wanted to discuss with her. I put the seal away, cleaned my hands of crumbles, and then took out the eye. Showed her the crystal prison and the white eye staring from inside.


    ¡°Can you help me?¡±


    That one request didn¡¯t pan out like I wanted. Shizune asked for permission to run a diagnostics jutsu on me, then the eye, then me again.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you should, Hinata-san,¡± she said after a long while of thinking.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know how the seals in your body will react if we try to remove one of your eyes,¡± she said.


    I scowled. Damn it, I hadn¡¯t considered that.


    ¡°Like Lord Jiraiya said, the seal has fail-safes to prevent it from being removed. Without knowing what the ones in your eyes do, I don¡¯t think you should risk replacing the eye.¡±


    There wasn¡¯t much to talk about after that. I left, disillusioned and sad. I had the eye. I couldn¡¯t fucking use the eye. There went my hopes of using the see-through vision to study the seals inside my body.


    All the trouble and drama and whatnot, and right now, it was just a trouble-attracting trinket. Not fucking fair.


    In the days that followed, I started leaving two clones in the apartment. One of them worked on the Kuro Raikou, while the other read through the medicine books Shizune gave me.


    No one from the Hyuga came to cause trouble. Mom also didn¡¯t visit again, unfortunately.


    The climate in the village shifted. A battle broke out in the lands between Fire and Lightning, in the lands allied with Konoha. At the same time, skirmishes started happening between Earth and Fire as well, with the Grass village as the backdrop for that mess.


    A lot of shinobi were mobilized and sent out. Shikamaru¡¯s team was sent to Grass Village with another contingent of shinobis. Mine and Izumo¡¯s team stayed in the village, doing the boring D-rank missions. I didn¡¯t know if I should be happy or sad that I was being spared the hurdles of war.


    Prices around the village increased. Mood dropped. There was now more tension between normal people and the Uchiha¡¯s police, like somehow the civilians thought it was the Uchiha clan¡¯s fault that a war was on the horizon.


    Tension spiked when the Daimyo came calling. I don¡¯t know why the man and all his court were here. I heard rumours it was because of a war declaration, or maybe it was because of that town that got destroyed by Kimimaro when he tried to kidnap Naruto. It just made the atmosphere heavier in the village.


    In regard to training, I added to our morning sessions, much to everyone¡¯s displeasure, control exercises. I had to bribe Choji with pastries to keep him from complaining too much.


    The routine of training, practicing control, doing missions in the afternoon only ended when it was time to meet the codgers and hope all my preparations were enough. I managed to amass a good amount of support. The Uchiha, Hokage, Nara, Yamanaka, Haruno, a few merchants, the GGC. From Shijimi, unfortunately, I didn¡¯t hear anything. I guess that one was a big flop.

 8.18

    Way back then when the Hokage mentioned a meeting with the council, the first image that popped into my head was something like House of Lords meeting chambers: a tall, grandiose hall, full of seats where observers could watch and judge and participate.


    It ended up being nothing like my expectations.


    The meeting wasn¡¯t in the tower, and from the looks of it, also not a public affair. I couldn¡¯t bring the people whom I convinced to support me. It wasn¡¯t that kind of meeting. Instead, I had to get from them letters of endorsement or confidence. It smelled of bull.


    Ino wanted to join the meeting. ¡°But what if they want to, I don¡¯t know, keep you captive and you have to flee?¡± She held the hen of my shirt, tight in white-knuckled grip.


    ¡°That might happen,¡± I agreed. Before she could say anything else, I held out my hand. Out popped a beacon. I placed it on her hand, then I also gave her my prepared supplies. ¡°If I do, I¡¯ll come find you.¡±


    I had packed all my tools, seals, and food for months.


    ¡°You promised,¡± Ino said, staring at the kunai.


    ¡°I won¡¯t leave you behind,¡± I said.


    I wasn¡¯t prepared for violence, but to flee. If in the end I couldn¡¯t be free of their influence, then I¡¯d have no other choice than to leave home and strike out on my own. Karin was also aware of my plans, and if I left, she wanted to follow. No words convinced her to stay in Konoha, which ended with both her and Ino ¡®training¡¯ in field three.


    Pretty sure if there were someone watching, the pretend training wouldn¡¯t be hard to see through, but the gesture warmed my heart.


    I wore my new shinobi gear and flak jacket for the occasion; it was official business, after all.


    Shisui and Nara Shikaku led the way. Despite not being allowed into the meeting proper, Kiyo-Obacchan and another grandpa I didn¡¯t know followed us into the residence, ignoring the stern shinobies guarding the place. We entered the building.


    Before going toward the meeting place, Kiyo-Obacchan grabbed me in a tight hug, even tousled my hair.


    ¡°Show those ¡®codgers¡¯ who they¡¯re messing with,¡± she said, voice full of mirth at the codger word. I might have let that one slip one or two times.


    The two grandpas made themselves comfortable in the reception room, and after that, I followed Shisui and Shikaku through a reception hall and headed toward a small room tucked in the back.


    The room had bare wooden walls and a blue tatami floor. In the center stood a table with gold tones, surrounded by four couches: two single-seaters at either end, and two larger ones along the sides, each able to seat two people. The couches were upholstered in dark red leather, with armrests decorated in the same golden shade as the table.


    The two codgers were already inside.


    Shisui took a position at the head of the table. Nara Shikaku sat on the opposite end. I walked inside, closing the door behind me. I sat facing the councilmen. Papers and reports were placed on top of the table. I glared at the two. Koharu ignored me, Homura glared back.


    We had barely exchanged glanced accusations when the sliding door opened.


    Kakashi-sensei walked inside, gave me an eye crescent smile.


    ¡°You weren¡¯t invited,¡± said Homura.


    Kakashi-sensei waved, uncaring. ¡°Don¡¯t mind me, I¡¯m just here to keep my cute chunin company.¡± He didn¡¯t sit, instead he leaned against the wall, from where he could see the whole room.


    I wanted to get up and hug the man. I mean, wow, that was so cool. He gave me another eye crescent smile, a nod. I nodded back.


    ¡°Thank you all for coming,¡± Shisui said, bringing us back to the moment. ¡°We¡¯re here to address a few concerns regarding Hinata.¡± There were nods all around. He turned to the councilmen. ¡°Councilmen Homura and Koharu, supported by several families and clans, raised a list of concerns.


    ¡°Shikaku,¡± he said, turning to the jonin commander, ¡°Can you list those concerns so we may address them?¡±


    Shikaku took a paper from the pile and started reading¡ªand reading, and reading.


    Some of the things in the list didn¡¯t even make sense. It was like they¡¯ve been following me my whole life, taking notes and finding faults.


    Leaking secrets, destabilizing allies, betraying my team, espionage. Accusation after accusation flew at me.


    ¡°When have I leaked village secrets?¡± I interrupted. That one didn¡¯t make any sense.


    Koharu had one paper in hand, maybe following along with the accusations? She was the one who answered.


    ¡°You¡¯ve sold village secret knowledge for money.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°This is a baseless accusation.¡±


    Homura fixed his glasses in place. Started reading a list of ¡®transactions¡¯. It clicked then. They were talking about me selling storage seals to the merchants.


    ¡°The Third Hokage entrusted you with fuinjutsu knowledge, and you gave it to civilians, who in turn sold it to other villages.¡±


    I scowled. ¡°No one told me I couldn¡¯t sell that.¡±


    ¡°Ignorance doesn¡¯t absolve you of guilt.¡±


    What the hell. I¡¯ve been selling my seals for years. It was my go-to for a tiny bit of extra money while still at the academy. Baking ingredients were expensive, after all.


    Each item was more ridiculous than the last until I had to interrupt again.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t leaked any confidential information.¡±


    Koharu sighed; she sounded exasperated. ¡°The mission to find Orochimaru¡¯s base was a classified one, and you¡¯ve been telling everyone you meet about the details.¡±


    I opened my mouth. Closed it shut with a snap. It hadn¡¯t even occurred to me that I couldn''t talk about it. I was so relieved because I was back and with friends that I forgot.


    Shisui spoke on my behalf. ¡°Those were extenuating circumstances,¡± he said, looking at me and Shikaku. The jonin commander took the hint.


    ¡°The mission left its classified status once we received the full report from Yamato and Hayase.¡±


    Homura shrugged. ¡°She didn¡¯t know, thus she still acted with the intent to leak secrets.¡±


    Kakashi chuckled. ¡°Are we to act on what ifs now?¡±


    The accusations went on until it started to veer into the absurd. I was being accused of inciting trouble with allied villages, by bringing Karin to Konoha, and ¡®demanding¡¯ she stay, instead of shipping her back to Grass.


    ¡°Saving an allied shinobi is now a crime?¡± I asked.


    Homura answered me. ¡°We would commend you, if that was what you had done.¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°What did I do then?¡±


    Koharu took a different set of papers, placed on the table. It passed around until it reached me. It was a series of reports. Sai¡¯s reports about me. The paper didn¡¯t look new, like it had been handled a lot of times already, even if that didn¡¯t mean anything.


    The report was a list of concerns. Sai was concerned about my motives for joining the mission, and my constant attempts to ¡°be friendly¡± and make him lower his guard. He also reported about my reaction when we found the lab, and my insistence on destroying the evidence. His last report was that he was afraid I was suspecting him for some reason.


    ¡°This is bull,¡± I growled.


    ¡°Is it?¡± Homura said, fixing his glasses again.


    ¡°What? You think I attacked Sai? Why would I do that?¡±


    ¡°Why, indeed,¡± Koharu said. ¡°You¡¯ve escaped an ambush that almost killed one of our best jonins. You managed to ¡®save¡¯ an allied shinobi, only to bring her here instead of sending her to Grass. Your actions put Yamato in the crossfire of the whole Kirigakure civil conflict.¡±


    Homura glanced my way. ¡°You have nothing to say?¡±


    I growled, not sure what to say. ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡±


    Homura scoffed.


    ¡°There is no evidence she orchestrated her capture,¡± Shikaku said, looking again at the reports. ¡°These reports from Sai, where did you get them from? They weren¡¯t delivered to the Intelligence Department.¡±


    Homura just shrugged. ¡°He was afraid you¡¯d disappear his reports, and send them to me instead.¡±


    They weren¡¯t even trying to be subtle about things. Fucking hell.


    Shikaku stopped, picking up another piece of paper. I could see the disbelief in his face. ¡°Instigating turmoil between two noble families, the Uchiha and Hyuga, by seducing the Uchiha¡¯s heir to put them in direct opposition to the Hyuga clan.¡±


    Shisui¡¯s face was a blank mask. Kakashi-sensei, by the door, chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to send me an invite to the marriage, Hinata-chan.¡±


    The sarcasm in his voice was thick.


    I blinked, then I laughed. I couldn¡¯t stop it. This was just dumb.


    The two councilmen didn¡¯t seem bothered by my reaction.


    Homura took out one more piece of paper. ¡°We have evidence she knows secrets that can endanger the whole village, but has been keeping them to herself.¡±


    That shut me up real quick. What were they on about? Had they somehow learned the things I told Ino?


    Their evidence was reports from the intelligence department. A detailed recounting of the story I told them when I was five, all the holes in that story, as well as observational logs from ANBU squads, Ibiki, Inoichi, and Aobe with cold reading reports between body language and other evidence of lies and more.


    I scowled. What the hell was this?


    ¡°Those are confidential reports, dismissed by the Third Hokage,¡± Shikaku said. His face was serious.


    Koharu spoke next. ¡°Lord Hiruzen was an excellent Hokage,¡± she said with a slight nod, ¡°but he¡¯d grown soft in his late years. He was the reason no action was taken when she was found, even despite all evidence.¡±


    She turned to me. ¡°If she¡¯s not a clone, she¡¯s partially responsible for his death.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± The question escaped me before I could stop.


    ¡°Orochimaru used the stolen Byakugan to bypass most of Lord Third¡¯s defense and deal a killing blow,¡± Homura said.


    ¡°I¡¯m guilty now of being kidnapped?¡± I growled out. Fuck these codgers.


    Homura glanced my way. ¡°It¡¯s a clan¡¯s responsibility to protect and make sure their bloodlimit is not used against the Land of Fire.¡±


    And since I was clanless, then I was guilty of ¡®not stopping¡¯ Orochimaru from using the Byakugan to hurt the old man. Conveniently, since I wasn¡¯t part of the Hyuga clan anymore, that didn¡¯t apply to them.


    Homura straightened. ¡°She should be contained and interrogated. Like it should have been done seven years ago, when she was found.¡±


    Shisui shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no real evidence she¡¯s a spy, or is acting against Konoha. Her actions in the past seven years have been exemplary, and in line with any other loyal shinobi from Leaf.¡±


    Koharu shrugged. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± she said, looking at everyone in the room. ¡°Others agree with us. The Hyuga, the Akimichi, the Inuzuka, and many other families agree she shouldn¡¯t be allowed to remain free.¡±


    She pushed over the table a list with many names and clans.


    I took my list.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a popularity contest,¡± I said, fed up with everything. ¡°There are just as many who think you¡¯re the ones out of line.¡± I looked at Shikaku and Shisui, who gave me nods. ¡°Nara, Yamanaka, Hatake, Uchiha,¡± I counted off. ¡°Even merchants agree you¡¯re going too far.¡±


    Koharu rolled her eyes. ¡°The same merchants you sold our village secrets to?¡±


    That sparked a different debate. The Hyuga supporting the decision wasn¡¯t unexpected. I tried to kill the clan leader, and even had the eye. But Akimichi and Inuzuka? I liked Choji and Kiba, I thought they were friends.


    I didn¡¯t have time to dwell on that either. I felt a crowd approaching the residence, then walking inside. Many, many chakra signatures. All strong, jonin level or more. Almost a dozen jonin. My head snapped into that direction. I got up, looking at the door.


    The discussion stopped.


    Kakashi-sensei looked at the door, then at me. ¡°What is it, Hinata-chan?¡±


    My fingers flew, messages sent in a way the codgers wouldn¡¯t be able to read. Shinobi, approaching, strong, many.


    Kakashi-sensei took a step away from the door, watching it warily.


    I wasn¡¯t sure what to do. Should I flee? By the looks of things, Shisui and Shikaku didn¡¯t agree with what they wanted, but what if they didn¡¯t have the necessary pull to ignore all the other families? Which I thought was bullshit. Shisui was the Hokage, what the hell.


    I took too much time to decide.


    The door slid open, and in entered a veritable army of dangerous-looking shinobi escorting a single man. He had small, circular eyes with dark pupils, wearing what looked like a fan decorated with flame symbols as a headpiece. The man even had a fan in his hand, open in front of his face, covering his mouth.


    Everyone got up and bowed. I did the same.


    ¡°Lord Daimyo,¡± Shisui said.


    The man closed his fan, looked around the room. ¡°What is this?¡±


    It was Homura who answered. ¡°There have been concerns about the security of our village, Lord Daimyo. We¡¯re discussing how to solve it.¡±


    I raised my head a little, watched the people around. I saw a blob of pink behind the whole army of shinobi, heard a familiar yowl of a tortured cat.


    ¡°Which concerns?¡± Daimyo asked dismissively.


    Both councilmen exchanged glances. ¡°There¡¯s reason to believe she¡¯s a spy trying to infiltrate our ranks,¡± he said, gesturing to me.


    The Daimyo turned my way. ¡°Girl,¡± he said.


    I snapped up, saluted. ¡°Yes, my Lord.¡±


    ¡°Are you a spy?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I squeaked.


    ¡°Do you plan to betray the Land of Fire?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, more firmly this time.


    The Daimyo looked at one of the people in his entourage who gave him the smallest of nods.


    ¡°There, she¡¯s innocent,¡± said the Daimyo. ¡°Why are you wasting your time with this when there are bigger concerns? What about Iwagakure¡¯s attack? And what are you doing about that city that was destroyed recently?¡±


    I saw faces change. Shisui still looked calm, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes. The councilmen looked like they had swallowed a lemon. Shikaku was still his serious self, organizing papers.


    The meeting got hijacked by the Daimyo wanting to discuss war. I stood there frozen, watching the two codgers scramble to answer the questions and propose plans to deal with future events.


    Kakashi¡¯s gentle hands held my shoulders, led me outside, away from this whole other meeting. I was still a bit numb from all the whiplash.


    Outside the room, chubby arms smushed me against pink bosom and a dishevelled cat.


    ¡°I told you hubby would take care of it,¡± Madam Shijimi said.


    Sensei just chuckled again.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I croacked out, still bewildered.


    This counted as my win, right?


    Oh, I knew it was far from over. Some of those accusations might as well stick, even if the troublesome ones might not. It was a battle won, not a war. To get those out of my hair, I¡¯d need to deal with the root of the problem. Their rhetoric reminded me a lot of Danzo, which only confirmed for me that the two codgers were just figureheads.


    But this, at least I hoped, gave me some time to breathe and plan, and hopefully, find Tsunade and get her to help me disable the ticking bomb.